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diff --git a/39316.txt b/39316.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c9001c9 --- /dev/null +++ b/39316.txt @@ -0,0 +1,30988 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Loyalists of Massachusetts, by James H. Stark + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license + + +Title: The Loyalists of Massachusetts + And the Other Side of the American Revolution + +Author: James H. Stark + +Release Date: March 31, 2012 [EBook #39316] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOYALISTS OF MASSACHUSETTS *** + + + + +Produced by Andrew Wainwright, Jonathan Ingram and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made +available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + +Transcriber's note: + +Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + +Text enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=). + +Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. + + +[Illustration: THOMAS HUTCHINSON. + +Born in Boston, Sept. 9, 1711. Governor of Massachusetts 1771-4. Died in +London June 3, 1780.] + + + + + THE + LOYALISTS OF MASSACHUSETTS + + AND + + THE OTHER SIDE OF + THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION + + BY + + JAMES H. STARK + + + "_History makes men wise._"--BACON. + + + W. B. CLARKE CO. + 26 TREMONT STREET + BOSTON + + + + + COPYRIGHTED 1907 + + BY + + JAMES H. STARK + + + + + To + The Memory of the Loyalists + of + The Massachusetts Bay + + WHOSE FAITHFUL SERVICES AND MEMORIES ARE NOW FORGOTTEN + BY THE NATION THEY SO WELL SERVED, THIS + WORK IS DEDICATED BY THE + AUTHOR + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS. + + + INTRODUCTION 5 + + CHAPTER I + + THE FIRST CHARTER 7 + + CHAPTER II + + THE SECOND CHARTER 16 + + CHAPTER III + + CAUSES THAT LED TO THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 27 + + CHAPTER IV + + BOSTON MOBS AND THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLUTION 40 + + CHAPTER V + + THE LOYALISTS OF MASSACHUSETTS 54 + + CHAPTER VI + + THE REVOLUTIONIST 68 + + CHAPTER VII + + INDIANS IN THE REVOLUTION 88 + + CHAPTER VIII + + THE EXPULSION OF THE LOYALISTS AND THE SETTLEMENT OF + CANADA 93 + + CHAPTER IX + + THE WAR OF 1812 AND THE ATTEMPTED CONQUEST OF CANADA 98 + + CHAPTER X + + THE CIVIL WAR AND THE PART TAKEN BY GREAT BRITAIN IN + SAME 107 + + CHAPTER XI + + RECONCILIATION. THE DISMEMBERED EMPIRE REUNITED IN + BONDS OF FRIENDSHIP. "BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER." 113 + + + + + PART II + + + BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE LOYALISTS OF MASS. 122 + + THE ADDRESS OF THE MERCHANTS AND OTHERS OF BOSTON TO + GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON 123 + + ADDRESS OF THE BARRISTERS AND ATTORNEYS OF MASSACHUSETTS + TO GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON 125 + + ADDRESS OF THE INHABITANTS OF MARBLEHEAD TO GOVERNOR + HUTCHINSON 127 + + ADDRESS TO GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON FROM HIS FELLOW TOWNSMEN + IN THE TOWN OF MILTON 128 + + ADDRESS PRESENTED TO GOVERNOR GAGE ON HIS ARRIVAL AT + SALEM 131 + + ADDRESS TO GOVERNOR GAGE ON HIS DEPARTURE 132 + + LIST OF INHABITANTS OF BOSTON WHO REMOVED TO HALIFAX + WITH THE ARMY MARCH, 1776 133 + + MANDAMUS COUNSELLORS 136 + + THE BANISHMENT ACT OF MASSACHUSETTS 137 + + THE WORCESTER RESOLUTION RELATING TO THE ABSENTEES + AND REFUGEES 141 + + THE CONFISCATION ACT 141 + + CONSPIRACY ACT 141 + + ABSENTEES ACT 143 + + + BIOGRAPHIES + + THOMAS HUTCHINSON 145 + + LIST OF GOV. HUTCHINSON'S CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK + COUNTY 174 + + THOMAS HUTCHINSON, SON OF THE GOVERNOR 175 + + ELISHA HUTCHINSON 177 + + FOSTER HUTCHINSON 177 + + ELIAKIM HUTCHINSON 178 + + LIST OF ELIAKIM HUTCHINSON'S CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK + COUNTY 180 + + ANDREW OLIVER--LIEUT. GOVERNOR 181 + + THOMAS OLIVER 183 + + PETER OLIVER--CHIEF JUSTICE 188 + + SIR FRANCIS BERNARD 191 + + SIR WILLIAM PEPPERRELL 205 + + JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY AND HIS SON LORD LYNDHURST 216 + + KING HOOPER OF MARBLEHEAD 221 + + WILLIAM BOWES 224 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES OF WILLIAM BOWES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY 225 + + GENERAL TIMOTHY RUGGLES 225 + + THE FANEUIL FAMILY OF BOSTON 229 + + THE COFFIN FAMILY OF BOSTON. ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN + SIR THOMAS ASTON COFFIN ADMIRAL FROMAN H. COFFIN + GENERAL JOHN COFFIN 233 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES OF JOHN COFFIN IN SUFFOLK COUNTY 246 + + JUDGE SAMUEL CURWEN 246 + + JAMES MURRAY 254 + + SIR BENJAMIN THOMPSON--COUNT RUMFORD 261 + + COL. RICHARD SALTONSTALL 272 + + REV. MATHER BYLES 275 + + THE HALLOWELL FAMILY OF BOSTON 281 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES OF BENJAMIN HALLOWELL IN SUFFOLK + COUNTY 284 + + THE VASSALLS 285 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES OF JOHN VASSALL IN SUFFOLK COUNTY 290 + + GENERAL ISAAC ROYALL 290 + + GENERAL WILLIAM BRATTLE 294 + + CONFISCATED ESTATE OF WILLIAM BRATTLE IN BOSTON 297 + + JOSEPH THOMPSON 297 + + COLONEL JOHN ERVING 298 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO COL. JOHN ERVING 299 + + MAJOR GENERAL SIR DAVID OCTHERLONY 299 + + JUDGE AUCHMUTY'S FAMILY 301 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES OF ROBERT AUCHMUTY 305 + + COLONEL ADINO PADDOCK 305 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES OF ADINO PADDOCK IN SUFFOLK COUNTY 308 + + THEOPHILUS LILLIE 308 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO THEOPHILUS + LILLIE 313 + + DR. SYLVESTER GARDINER 313 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO SYLVESTER + GARDINER 317 + + RICHARD KING 317 + + CHARLES PAXTON 318 + + JOSEPH HARRISON 319 + + CAPTAIN MARTIN GAY 321 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO + MARTIN GAY 325 + + DANIEL LEONARD 325 + + JUDGE GEORGE LEONARD 332 + + COLONEL GEORGE LEONARD 333 + + HARRISON GRAY--RECEIVER GENERAL OF MASSACHUSETTS 334 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO HARRISON + GRAY 337 + + REV. WILLIAM WALTER, RECTOR OF TRINITY CHURCH 338 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO + REV. WILLIAM WALTER 342 + + THOMAS AMORY 343 + + REV. HENRY CANER 346 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO + REV. HENRY CANER 349 + + FREDERICK WILLIAM GEYER 350 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO + FREDERICK WILLIAM GEYER 351 + + THE APTHORP FAMILY OF BOSTON 351 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO + CHARLES WARD APTHORP 354 + + THE GOLDTHWAITE FAMILY OF BOSTON 355 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO + JOSEPH GOLDTHWAIT 361 + + JOHN HOWE 361 + + SAMUEL QUINCY, SOLICITOR GENERAL 364 + + COLONEL JOHN MURRAY 376 + + JUDGE JAMES PUTNAM, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MASSACHUSETTS + BAY 378 + + JUDGE TIMOTHY PAINE 382 + + DR. WILLIAM PAINE 385 + + JOHN CHANDLER 388 + + JOHN GORE 392 + + JOHN JEFFRIES 394 + + THOMAS BRINLEY 395 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO + THOMAS BRINLEY 397 + + REV. JOHN WISWELL 398 + + HENRY BARNES 399 + + THOMAS FLUCKER, SECRETARY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY 402 + + MARGARET DRAPER 404 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO + MARGARET DRAPER 405 + + RICHARD CLARKE 405 + + PETER JOHONNOT 409 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO + PETER JOHONNOT 411 + + JOHN JOY 411 + + RICHARD LECHMERE 413 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO + RICHARD LECHMERE 414 + + EZEKIEL LEWIS 414 + + BENJAMIN CLARK 415 + + LADY AGNES FRANKLAND 417 + + COLONEL DAVID PHIPS 418 + + THE DUNBAR FAMILY OF HINGHAM 421 + + EBENEZER RICHARDSON 422 + + COMMODORE JOSHUA LORING 423 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO + JOSHUA LORING 426 + + ROBERT WINTHROP 426 + + NATHANIEL HATCH 429 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO + NATHANIEL HATCH 430 + + CHRISTOPHER HATCH 430 + + WARD CHIPMAN 431 + + GOVERNOR EDWARD WINSLOW 433 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO + ISAAC WINSLOW 439 + + SIR ROGER HALE SHEAFFE, BARONET 439 + + JONATHAN SAYWARD 443 + + DEBLOIS FAMILY 445 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO + GILBERT DEBLOIS 446 + + LYDE FAMILY 447 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO + EDWARD LYDE 447 + + JAMES BOUTINEAU 448 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO + JAMES BOUTINEAU 449 + + COL. WILLIAM BROWNE 449 + + ARCHIBALD CUNNINGHAM 451 + + CAPTAIN JOHN MALCOMB 451 + + THE RUSSELL FAMILY OF CHARLESTOWN 452 + + EZEKIEL RUSSELL 453 + + JONATHAN SEWALL 454 + + CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY BELONGING TO + SAMUEL SEWALL 457 + + THOMAS ROBIE 457 + + BENJAMIN MARSTON 459 + + HON. BENJAMIN LYNDE, CHIEF JUSTICE OF MASSACHUSETTS 462 + + PAGAN FAMILY 464 + + THE WYER FAMILY OF CHARLESTOWN 465 + + JEREMIAH POTE 467 + + EBENEZER CUTLER 468 + + + + + APPENDIX + + THE TRUE STORY CONCERNING THE KILLING OF THE TWO SOLDIERS + AT CONCORD BRIDGE, APRIL 19, 1775. THE FIRST BRITISH + SOLDIER KILLED IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR 471 + + THE ENGAGEMENT AT THE NORTH BRIDGE IN CONCORD WHERE + THE TWO SOLDIERS WERE KILLED 476 + + PAUL REVERE, THE SCOUT OF THE REVOLUTION 477 + + WILLIAM FRANKLIN, SON OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 481 + + THE ROYAL COAT OF ARMS 482 + + JUDGE MELLEN CHAMBERLAIN'S OPINION OF COLONEL THOMAS + GOLDTHWAITE 483 + + NOTE ON PELHAM'S MAP OF BOSTON 483 + + NOTE ON GOV. JOHN WINTHROP 483 + + LIST OF LOYALISTS WHOSE NAMES OR BIOGRAPHIES ARE NOT + FOUND IN THIS WORK 484 + + PELHAM'S MAP OF BOSTON IN POCKET IN THE BACK COVER. + + + + +ACKNOWLEDGMENT. + + +The author wishes to acknowledge the great assistance he has received +from the New England Historic Genealogical Society, of which he has been +a member for twenty-eight years,--whose library consisting of +biographies and genealogies is the most complete in America. Other +authorities consulted, have been the "Royalist" records in the original +manuscript preserved in the archives of the State of Massachusetts, the +Record Commissioners' Reports of the City of Boston, the Proceedings of +the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the numerous town histories, +and ancient records published in recent years, to the most important of +which he has acknowledged his obligations in the reference given, and +also to the Boston Athenaeum for the use of their paintings and +engravings, in making copies of same. + +He also wishes to acknowledge the assistance rendered him by his +daughter, Mildred Manton Stark, in preparing many of the biographies, +also the assistance rendered by Mr. Thomas F. O'Malley, who prepared the +very copious index to this work, which will, he thinks be appreciated by +all historical students who may have occasion to use same. + + James H Stark + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + Thomas Hutchinson's Portrait, Opposite the title page. + + James H. Stark, Portrait, Opposite page 7. + + Landing of the Commissioners at Boston, 1664, " " 13. + + Randolph threatened, " " 15. + + Proclaiming King William and Queen Mary, " " 17. + + Killing and scalping Father Rasle at Norridgewock, " " 32. + + Reading the Stamp Act in King street, opposite the + State House, " " 37. + + Andrew Oliver, Stamp Collector attacked by the Mob, " " 41. + + Bostonians paying the Exciseman or Tarring and Feathering," " 49. + + Colonel Mifflin's Interview with the Caughnawaga Indians, " " 89. + + Cartoon illustrating Franklin's diabolical Scalp story, " " 91. + + Burning of Newark, Canada, by United States Troops, " " 103. + + Burning of Jay in Effigy, " " 105. + + Map, Boundary line between Maine and New Brunswick, " " 115. + + Governor Hutchinson's House Destroyed by the Mob, Page 155. + + Benjamin Franklin Before the Privy Council, Opposite Page 165. + + Views from Governor Hutchinson's Field, Page 168. + + Governor Hutchinson's House on Milton Hill, " 170. + + Inland View from Governor Hutchinson's House, " 171. + + Andrew Oliver, portrait, Opposite page 181. + + Andrew Oliver Mansion, Washington street, Dorchester, " " 183. + + Thomas Oliver and John Vassall Mansion, Dorchester, " " 185. + + Revolutionists Marching to Cambridge, " " 187. + + Sir Francis Bernard, Portrait, " " 191. + + Province House, " " 195. + + Pepperell House, " " 210. + + Reception of the American Loyalists in England, Page 214. + + Arrest of William Franklin by order of Congress, Opposite page 215. + + John Singleton Copley, Portrait, " " 218. + + Lord Lyndhurst, Lord High Chancellor of England, + Portrait, " " 221. + + King Hooper Mansion, Danvers, " " 223. + + Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, Portrait, " " 239. + + Curwin House, Salem, Page 247. + + Samuel Curwin, Portrait, Opposite page 253. + + Country Residence of James Smith, Brush Hill, Milton, Page 256. + + Birthplace of Benjamin Thompson, North Woburn, " 261. + + Sir Benjamin Thompson, Portrait, Opposite page 267. + + Rev. Mather Byles, D. D., Portrait, " " 277. + + The Old Vassall House, Cambridge, " " 285. + + Colonel John Vassall's Mansion, Cambridge, " " 289. + + General Isaac Royall's Mansion, Medford, " " 293. + + Major General Sir David Ochterlony, Portrait, " " 299. + + British Troops preventing the destruction of New York, " " 303. + + Landing a Bishop, Cartoon, " " 341. + + Rev. Henry Caner, Portrait, " " 349. + + Leonard Vassall and Frederick W. Geyer Mansion, " " 351. + + Bishop's Palace, Residence of Rev. East Apthorp, " " 353. + + Samuel Quincy, Portrait, " " 369. + + Dr. John Jeffries, Portrait, " " 395. + + Clark-Frankland House, " " 417. + + Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe, Baronet, Portrait, " " 439. + + The Engagement at the North Bridge in Concord, " " 471. + + Monument to Commemorate the Skirmish at Concord Bridge, " " 475. + + Pursuit and Capture of Paul Revere, " " 479. + + Pelham Map of Boston, In the envelop of the back cover. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +At the dedication of the monument erected on Dorchester Heights to +commemorate the evacuation of Boston by the British, the oration was +delivered by that Nestor of the United States Senate, Senator Hoar. + +In describing the government of the colonies at the outbreak of the +Revolution, he made the following statement: "The government of England +was, in the main, a gentle government, much as our fathers complained of +it. Her yoke was easy and her burden was light; our fathers were a +hundred times better off in 1775 than were the men of Kent, the vanguard +of liberty in England. There was more happiness in Middlesex on the +Concord, than there was in Middlesex on the Thames."[1] A few years +later Hon. Edward B. Callender, a Republican candidate for mayor of +Boston, in his campaign speech said: "I know something about how this +city started. It was not made by the rich men or the so-called +high-toned men of Boston--they were with the other party, with the king; +they were Loyalists. Boston was founded by the ordinary man--by Paul +Revere, the coppersmith; Sam Adams, the poor collector of the town of +Boston, who did not hand over to the town even the sums he collected as +taxes; by John Hancock, the smuggler of rum; by John Adams, the +attorney, who naively remarked in his book that after the battle of +Lexington they never heard anything about the suits against John +Hancock. Those were settled."[2] + + [1] Speech of Senator Hoar at South Boston, March 18, 1901. + + [2] Speech of Hon. Edward B. Callender, at Dorchester, Nov. 10, 1905. + +These words of our venerable and learned senator and our State Senator +Edward B. Callender, seemed strangely unfamiliar to us who had derived +our history of the Revolution from the school text-books. These had +taught us that the Revolution was due solely to the oppression and +tyranny of the British, and that Washington, Franklin, Adams, Hancock, +Otis, and the host of other Revolutionary patriots, had in a supreme +degree all the virtues ever exhibited by men in their respective +spheres, and that the Tories or Loyalists, such as Hutchinson, the +Olivers, Saltonstalls, Winslows, Quincys and others, were to be detested +and their memory execrated for their abominable and unpatriotic actions. + +This led me to inquire and to examine whether there might not be two +sides to the controversy which led to the Revolutionary War. I soon +found that for more than a century our most gifted writers had almost +uniformly suppressed or misrepresented all matter bearing upon one side +of the question, and that it would seem to be settled by precedent that +this nation could not be trusted with all portions of its own history. +But it seemed to me that history should know no concealment. The people +have a right to the whole truth, and to the full benefit of unbiased +historical teachings, and if, in an honest attempt to discharge a duty +to my fellow citizens, I relate on unquestionable authority facts that +politic men have intentionally concealed, let no man say that I wantonly +expose the errors of the fathers. + +In these days we are recognizing more fully than ever the dignity of +history, we are realizing that patriotism is not the sole and ultimate +object of its study, but the search for truth, and abiding by the truth +when found, for "the truth shall make you free" is an axiom that applies +here as always. + +Much of the ill will towards England which until recently existed in +great sections of the American people, and which the mischief-making +politician could confidently appeal to, sprung from a false view of what +the American Revolution was, and the history of England was, in +connection with it. The feeling of jealousy and anger, which was born in +the throes of the struggle for independence, we indiscriminately +perpetuated by false and superficial school text-books. The influence of +false history and of crude one-sided history is enormous. It is a +natural and logical step that when our children pass from our schoolroom +into active life, feelings so born should die hard and at times become a +dangerous factor in the national life, and it is not too much to say +that the persistent ill will towards England as compared with the +universal kindliness of English feeling towards us, is to be explained +by the very different spirit in which the history of the American +Revolution is taught in the schools of one country and in those of the +other. + +[Illustration: James H Stark with signature] + + + + +THE LOYALISTS OF MASSACHUSETTS + +AND THE OTHER SIDE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +_THE FIRST CHARTER._ + + +A nation's own experience should be its best political guide, but it is +not certain that as a people we have improved by all the teachings of +our own history, for the reason that our "patriot" writers and orators +mostly bound their vision in retrospect by the revolutionary era. And +yet, all beyond that is not dark, barren, and profitless to explore. It +should be known that the most important truths on which our free forms +of government now rest are not primarily the discoveries of the +revolutionary sages. + +Writing of the Revolution, Mr. John Adams, the successor of Washington, +declared that it was his opinion that the Revolution "began as early as +the first plantation of the country," and that "independence of church +and state was the fundamental principle of the first colonization, has +been its principle for two hundred years, and now I hope is past +dispute. Who was the author, inventor, discoverer of independence? The +only true answer must be, the first emigrants." Before this time he had +declared that "The claim of the men of 1776 to the honor of first +conceiving the idea of American independence or of first inventing the +project of it, is ridiculous. I hereby disclaim all pretension to it, +because it was much more ancient than my nativity." + +It was the inestimable fortune of our ancestors to have been taught the +difficulties of government in two distinct schools, under the Colonial +and Provincial charters, known as the first and second charters. The +Charter government as moulded and modelled by our ancestors, was as +perfect as is our own constitution of today. It was as tender of common +right, as antagonistic to special privilege to classes or interests, and +as sensitive, too, to popular impulses, good or evil. And it is thus in +all self-governing communities, that their weal or woe, being supposedly +in their own keeping, the freest forms of delegated government written +on parchment are in themselves no protection, but will be such +instruments of blessing or of destruction as may best gratify the +controlling influences or interests for the time being. + +In tracing the origin and development of the sentiment and the desires, +the fears and the prejudices which culminated in the American +Revolution, in the separation of thirteen colonies from Great Britain, +it is necessary to notice the early settlement and progress of those New +England colonies in which the seeds of that Revolution were first sown +and nurtured to maturity. The Colonies of New England were the result of +two distinct emigrations of English Puritans, two classes of Puritans, +two distinct governments for more than sixty years--one class of these +emigrants, now known as the "Pilgrim Fathers," having first fled from +England to Holland, thence emigrated to New England in 1620 in "the +Mayflower," and named their place of settlement "New Plymouth." Here +they elected seven governors in succession, and existed under a +self-constituted government for seventy years. The second class was +called "Puritan Fathers." The first installment of their immigrants +arrived in 1629, under Endicott, the ancestor of Mr. Joseph +Chamberlain's wife. They were known as the "Massachusetts Bay Company," +and their final capital was Boston, which afterwards became the capital +of the Province and of the State. + +The characteristics of the separate and independent governments of these +two classes of Puritans were widely different. The one was tolerant, +non-persecuting, and loyal to the King, during the whole period of its +seventy years' existence; the other was an intolerant persecutor of all +religionists who did not adopt its worship, and disloyal, from the +beginning, to the government from which it held its Charter, and +sedulously sowed and cultivated the seeds of disaffection and hostility +to the Royal government until they grew and ripened into the harvest of +the American Revolution. + +English Puritanism, transferred from England to the head of +Massachusetts Bay in 1629, presents the same characteristics which it +developed in England. In Massachusetts it had no competitor, it +developed its principles and spirit without restraint; it was absolute +in power from 1629 to 1689. During these sixty years it assumed +independence of the government to which it owed its corporate existence; +it made it a penal crime for any immigrant to appeal to England against +a local decision of courts or of government; it permitted no oath of +allegiance to the King, nor the administration of the laws in his name; +it allowed no elective franchise to any Episcopalian, Presbyterian, +Baptist, Quaker or Papist. Every non-member of the Congregational church +was compelled to pay taxes and bear all other Puritan burdens, but was +allowed no representation by franchise, nor had he eligibility for any +public office. + +When the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Company emigrated from +England, they professed to be members of the Church of England, but +Endicott, who had imbibed views of church government and of forms of +worship, determined not to perpetuate here the worship of the +Established Church, to which he had professed to belong when he left +England, but to establish a new church with a new form of worship. He +seemed to have brought over some thirty of the immigrants to his new +scheme, but a majority either stood aloof from, or were opposed to his +extraordinary proceeding. Among the most noted adherents of the old +Church of the Reformation were two brothers, John and Samuel Brown, who +refused to be parties to this new and locally devised church revolution, +and resolved for themselves, their families, and such as thought with +them, to continue to worship God according to the custom of their +fathers. + +It is the fashion of many American historians, as well as their echoes +in England, to apply epithets of contumely or scorn to these men. Both +the Browns were men of wealth, one a lawyer, the other a private +gentleman, and both of them were of a social position in England much +superior to that of Endicott. They were among the original patentees and +first founders of the colony; they were church reformers, but neither of +them a church revolutionist. The brothers were brought before the +Governor, who informed them that New England was no place for such as +they, and therefore he sent them both back to England, on the return of +the ships the same year. + +Endicott resolved to admit of no opposition. They who could not be +terrified into silence were not commanded to withdraw, but were seized +and banished as criminals.[3] + + [3] Mass. His. Soc. Vol. ix-3-5. + +A year later John Winthrop was appointed to supersede Endicott as +Governor. On his departure with a fleet of eleven ships from England an +address to their "Fathers and Brethren of the Church of England" was +published by Winthrop from his ship, the Arbella, disclaiming the acts +of some among them hostile to the Church of England, declaring their +obligations and attachment to it. He said: "We desire you would be +pleased to take notice of the principles and body of our Company as +those who esteem it an honor to call the Church of England, from whence +we rise, our dear Mother, and cannot part from our native countrie, +where she especially resideth, without much sadness of heart and many +tears in our eyes." It might be confidently expected that Mr. Winthrop, +after this address of loyalty and affection to his Father and Brethren +of the Church of England, would, on his arrival at Massachusetts Bay, +and assuming its government, have rectified the wrongs of Endicott and +his party, and have secured at least freedom of worship to the children +of his "dear Mother." But he did nothing of the kind; he seems to have +fallen in with the very proceedings of Endicott which had been +disclaimed by him in his address. + +Thus was the first seed sown, which germinated for one hundred and +thirty years, and then ripened in the American Revolution. It was the +opening wedge which shivered the transatlantic branches from the parent +stock. It was the consciousness of having abused the Royal confidence, +and broken faith with their Sovereign, of having acted contrary to the +laws and statutes of England, that led the Government of Massachusetts +Bay to resist and evade all inquiries into their proceedings; to prevent +all evidence from being transmitted to England, and to punish as +criminals all who should appeal to England against any of their +proceedings; to claim, in short, independence and immunity from all +responsibility to the Crown for anything they did or might do. This +spirit of tyranny and intolerance, of proscription and persecution, +caused all the disputes with the parent Government, and all the +bloodshed on account of religion in Massachusetts, which its Government +inflicted in subsequent years, in contradistinction to the Governments +of Plymouth, Rhode Island, Connecticut and even Maryland. + +The church government established by the Puritans at Boston was not a +government of free citizens elected by a free citizen suffrage, or even +of property qualification, but was the "reign of the church, the members +of which constituted but about one-sixth of the population, five-sixths +being mere helots bound to do the work and pay the taxes imposed upon +them by the reigning church but denied all eligibility to any office in +the Commonwealth." It was indeed such a "connection between church and +state" as had never existed in any Protestant country; it continued for +sixty years, until suppressed by a second Royal Charter, as will appear +in the next chapter. + +The Puritans were far from being the fathers of American Liberty. They +neither understood nor practiced the first principles of civil and +religious liberty nor the rights of British subjects as then understood +and practiced in the land they had left "for conscience sake." + +The first Charter obtained of Charles I. is still in existence, and can +be seen in the Secretary's Office at the State House, Boston. A +duplicate copy of this Charter was sent over in 1629 to Governor +Endicott, at Salem, and is now in the Salem Athenaeum. + +If the conditions of the Charter had been observed the colonists would +have been independent indeed, and would have enjoyed extraordinary +privileges for those times. They would have had the freest government in +the world. They were allowed to elect their own governor and members of +the General Court, and the government of the Colony was but little +different from that of the State today, so far as the rights conferred +by the charter were concerned. The people were subjects of the Crown in +name, but in reality were masters of their own public affairs. The +number of the early emigrants to New England who renounced allegiance to +the mother church was exceedingly small, for the obvious reason that it +was at the same time a renunciation of their allegiance to the Crown. A +company of restless spirits had been got rid of, and whether they +conformed to all the laws of church and state or not, they were three +thousand miles away and could not be easily brought to punishment even +if they deserved it, or be made to mend the laws if they broke them. The +restriction of subjecting those who wished to emigrate to the oaths of +allegiance and supremacy did not last long. Those who chose "disorderly +to leave the Kingdom" did so, and thus what they gained in that kind of +liberty is a loss to their descendants who happen to be antiquaries and +genealogists. + +Under the charter they were allowed to make laws or ordinances for the +government of the plantation, which should not be repugnant to the laws +of England; all subjects of King Charles were to be allowed to come +here; and these emigrants and their posterity were declared "to be +natural-born subjects, and entitled to the immunities of Englishmen." +The time of the principal emigration was auspicious. The rise of the +civil war in England gave its rulers all the work they could do at home. +The accession of Oliver Cromwell to the Protectorate was regarded very +favorably by the colonists, who belonged to the same political party, +and they took advantage of this state of affairs to oppress all others +who had opinions different from their own. The Quakers, both men and +women, were persecuted, and treated with great severity; many were hung, +a number of them were whipped at the cart's tail through the town, and +then driven out into the wilderness; others had their ears cut off, and +other cruelties were perpetrated of a character too horrible to be here +related. It was in vain that these poor Quakers demanded wherein they +had broken any laws of England. They were answered with additional +stripes for their presumption, and not without good reason did they +exclaim against "such monstrous illegality," and that such "great +injustice was never heard of before." Magna Charta, they said, was +trodden down and the guaranties of the Colonial Charter were utterly +disregarded. + +The following is a striking example of the very many atrocities +committed by the authorities at that time: "Nicholas Upshall, an old +man, full of years, seeing their cruelty to the harmless Quakers and +that they had condemned some of them to die, bothe he and Elder Wiswell, +or otherwise Deacon Wiswell, members of the church in Boston, bore their +testimony in publick against their brethren's horrid cruelty to said +Quakers. And Upshall declared, '_That he did look at it as a sad +forerunner of some heavy judgment to follow upon the country_.'... Which +they took so ill at his hands that they fined him twenty pounds and +three pound more at their courts, for not coming to this meeting and +would not abate him one grote, but imprisoned him and then banished him +on pain of death, which was done in a time of such extreme bitter +weather for frost, and snow, and cold, that had not the _Heathen +Indians_ in the wilderness woods taken compassion on his misery, for the +winter season, he in all likelihood had perished, though he had then in +Boston a good estate, in houses and land, goods and money, as also wife +and children, but not suffered to come unto him, nor he to them."[4] + + [4] "Persecutors Maul'd With Their Own Weapons," p. 41. See also Court + Records, 1662. + +After the death of Oliver Cromwell, Charles II. was proclaimed in London +the lawful King of England, and the news of it in due time reached +Boston. It was a sad day to many, and they received the intelligence +with sorrow and concern, for they saw that a day of retribution would +come. But there was no alternative, and the people of Boston made up +their minds to submit to a power they could not control. They, however, +kept a sort of sullen silence for a time, but fearing this might be +construed into contempt, or of opposition to the King, they formally +proclaimed him, in August, 1661, more than a year after news of the +Restoration had come. Meanwhile the Quakers in England had obtained the +King's ear, and their representations against the government at Boston +caused the King to issue a letter to the governor, requiring him to +desist from any further proceedings against them, and calling upon the +government here to answer the complaints made by the Quakers. A ship was +chartered, and Samuel Shattock, who had been banished, was appointed to +carry the letter, and had the satisfaction of delivering it to the +governor with his own hand. After perusing it, Mr. Endicott replied, "We +shall obey his Majesty's command," and then issued orders for the +discharge of all Quakers then in prison. The requisition of the king for +some one to appear to answer the complaints against the government of +Boston, caused much agitation in the General Court; and when it was +decided to send over agents, it was not an easy matter to procure +suitable persons, so sensible was everybody that the complaints to be +answered had too much foundation to be easily excused, or by any +subterfuge explained away. It is worthy of note that the two persons +finally decided upon (Mr. Bradstreet and Mr. Norton) were men who had +been the most forward in the persecutions of the Quakers. And had it not +been for the influence which Lord Saye and Seale of the king's Council, +and Col. Wm. Crowne, had with Charles II., the colony would have felt +his early and heavy displeasure. Col. Crowne was in Boston when Whalley +and Goffe, the regicides, arrived here, and he could have made +statements regarding their reception, and the persecution of the +Quakers, which might have caused the king to take an entirely different +course from the mild and conciliatory one which, fortunately for Boston, +was taken. Having "graciously" received the letter from the hands of the +agents, and, although he confirmed the Patent and Charter, objects of +great and earnest solicitude in their letter to him, yet "he required +that all their laws should be reviewed, and that such as were contrary +or derogatory to the king's authority should be annulled; that the oath +of allegiance should be administered; that administration of justice +should be in the king's name; that liberty should be given to all who +desired it, to use the Book of Common Prayer; in short, establishing +religious freedom in Boston." This was not all--the elective franchise +was extended "to all freeholders of competent estates," if they +sustained good moral characters. + +[Illustration: LANDING OF THE COMMISSIONERS AT BOSTON, 1664. + +The Royal Commissioners were appointed to hold Court and correct +whatever errors and abuses they might discover.] + +The return of the agents to New England, bearing such mandates from the +king, was the cause of confusion and dismay to the whole country. +Instead of being thankful for such lenity, many were full of +resentment and indignation, and most unjustly assailed the agents for +failing to accomplish an impossibility. + +Meanwhile four ships had sailed from Portsmouth, with about four hundred +and fifty soldiers, with orders to proceed against the Dutch in the New +Netherlands (New York), and then to land the commissioners at Boston and +enforce the king's authority. The Dutch capitulated, and the expedition +thus far was completely successful. The commissioners landed in Boston +on Feb. 15th, 1664, and held a Court to correct whatever errors and +abuses they might discover. The commission was composed of the following +gentlemen: Col. Richard Nichols, who commanded the expedition; Sir +Robert Carr, Col. Geo. Cartwright and Mr. Samuel Maverick. Maverick had +for several years made his home on Noddle Island (now known as East +Boston), but, like his friends, Blackstone of Beacon Hill and other of +the earliest settlers, had been so harshly and ungenerously treated by +the Puritan colonists of Boston that he was compelled to remove from his +island domain. An early adventurous visitor to these shores mentions him +in his diary as "the only hospitable man in all the country." These +gentlemen held a commission from the king constituting them +commissioners for visiting the colonies of New England, to hear and +determine all matters of complaint, and to settle the peace and security +of the country, any three or two of them being a quorum. + +The magistrates of Boston having assembled, the commissioners made known +their mission, and added that so far was the king from wishing to +abridge their liberties, he was ready to enlarge them, but wished them +to show, by proper representation of their loyalty, reasons to remove +all causes of jealousy from their royal master. But it was of no avail; +the word loyalty had been too long expunged from their vocabulary to +find a place in it again. At every footstep the commissioners must have +seen that whatever they effected, and whatever impressions they made, +would prove but little better than footprints in the sand. The +government thought best to comply with their requirements, so far, at +least, as appearances were concerned. They therefore agreed that their +allegiance to the king should be published "by sound of trumpet;" that +Mr. Oliver Purchis should proclaim the same on horseback, and that Mr. +Thomas Bligh, Treasurer, and Mr. Richard Wait, should accompany him; +that the reading in every place should end with the words, "God save the +King!" Another requirement of the commissioners was that the government +should stop coining money; that Episcopalians should not be fined for +non-attendance at the religious meetings of the community, as they had +hitherto been; that they should let the Quakers alone, and permit them +to go about their own affairs. These were only a part of the +requirements, but they were the principal ones. Notwithstanding a +pretended acquiescence on the part of the government to the requests of +the commissioners, it was evident from the first that little could be +effected by them from the evasive manner in which all their orders and +recommendations were accepted. At length the commissioners found it +necessary to put the question to the Governor and Council direct, +"Whether they acknowledged his Majesty's Commission?" The Court sent +them a message, desiring to be excused from giving a direct answer, +inasmuch as their charter was their plea. Being still pressed for a +direct answer, they declared that "it was enough for them to give their +sense of the powers granted them by charter, and that it was beyond +their line to determine the power, intent, or purpose of his Majesty's +commission." The authorities then issued a proclamation calling upon the +people, in his Majesty's name (!), not to consent unto, or give +approbation to the proceedings of the King's Commission, nor to aid or +to abet them. This proclamation was published through the town by sound +of trumpet, and, oddly enough, added thereto "_God save the King_." The +commissioners then sent a threatening protest, saying they thought the +king and his council knew what was granted to them in their charter; but +that since they would misconstrue everything, they would lose no more of +their labor upon them; at the same time assuring them that their denial +of the king's authority, as vested in his commission, would be +represented to his Majesty only in their own words. The conduct of Col. +Nichols, at Boston, is spoken of in terms of high commendation; but +Maverick, Carr and Cartwright are represented as totally unfitted for +their business. It is, however, difficult to see how any commissioners, +upon such an errand, could have given greater satisfaction; for a +moment's consideration is sufficient to convince any one that the +difficulty was not so much in the commissioners, as in their +undertaking. + +After the return of the commissioners to England the government +continued their persecutions of the Quakers, Baptists, Episcopalians, +and all others who held opinions differing from their own. The laws of +England regulating trade were entirely disregarded; the reason alleged +therefor being, "that the acts of navigation were an invasion of the +rights and privileges of the subjects of his Majesty's colony, they not +being represented in Parliament." + +Again the king wrote to the authorities of Boston, requiring them not to +molest the people, in their worship, who were of the Protestant faith, +and directing that liberty of conscience should be extended to all. This +letter was dated July 24th, 1679. It had some effect on the rulers; but +they had become so accustomed to what they called interference from +England, and at the same time so successful in evading it, that to stop +now seemed, to the majority of the people, as well as the rulers, not +only cowardly, but an unworthy relinquishment of privileges which they +had always enjoyed, and which they were at all times ready to assert, as +guaranteed to them in their charter. However, there was a point beyond +which even Bostonians could not go, and which after-experience proved. + +[Illustration: RANDOLPH THREATENED. + +This Royal Commissioner reported that he was in danger of his life, and +that the authorities resolved to prosecute him as a subverter of their +government.] + +Edward Randolph brought the king's letter to Boston, and was required to +make a report concerning the state of affairs in the colony, and to see +that the laws of England were properly executed; but he did not fare +well in his mission. He wrote home that every one was saying they were +not subject to the laws of England, and that those laws were of no force +in Massachusetts until confirmed by the Legislature of the colony. + +Every day aggravated his disposition more strongly against the people, +who used their utmost endeavors to irritate his temper and frustrate his +designs. Any one supporting him was accounted an enemy of the country. + +His servants were beaten while watching for the landing of contraband +goods. Going on board a vessel to seize it, he was threatened to be +knocked on the head, and the offending ship was towed away by Boston +boats. Randolph returned to England, reporting that he was in danger of +his life, and that the authorities were resolved to prosecute him as a +subserver of their government. If they could, they would execute him; +imprisonment was the least he expected. Well might the historian +exclaim, as one actually did, "To what a state of degradation was a king +of England reduced!" his commissioners, one after another, being +thwarted, insulted and obliged to return home in disgrace, and his +authority openly defied. What was the country to expect when this state +of affairs should be laid before the king? A fleet of men-of-war to +bring it to its duty? Perhaps some expected this; but there came again, +instead, the evil genius of the colony, Edward Randolph, bringing from +the king the dreaded _quo warranto_. This was Randolph's hour of +triumph; he said "he would now make the whole faction tremble," and he +gloried in their confusion and the success which had attended his +efforts to humble the people of Boston. To give him consequence a +frigate brought him, and as she lay before the town the object of her +employment could not be mistaken. An attempt was made, however, to +prevent judgment being rendered on the return of the writ of _quo +warranto_. An attorney was sent to England, with a very humble address, +to appease the king, and to answer for the country, but all to no +purpose. Judgment was rendered, and thus ended the first charter of +Massachusetts, Oct. 23rd, 1684. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +_THE SECOND CHARTER._ + + +Charles II. died Feb. 6th, 1685, and was succeeded by his brother, James +II. News of this was brought to Boston by private letter, but no +official notification was made to the governor. In a letter to him, +however, he was told that he was not written to as governor, for as much +as now he had no government, the charter being vacated. These events +threw the people of Boston into great uncertainty and trouble as to what +they were in future to expect from England. Orders were received to +proclaim the new king, which was done "with sorrowful and affected +pomp," at the town house. The ceremony was performed in the presence of +eight military companies of the town, and "three volleys of cannon" were +discharged. Sir Edmund Andros, the new Royal Governor, arrived in Boston +Dec. 20th, 1686, and, as was to be expected, he was not regarded +favorably by the people, especially as his first act after landing was a +demand for the keys of the Old South Church "that they may say prayers +there." Such a demand from the new governor could not be tolerated by +the now superseded governing authority of Boston, and defy it they +would. The Puritan oligarchy stoutly objected to being deprived of the +right to withhold from others than their own sect the privileges of +religious liberty. To enjoy religious liberty in full measure they had +migrated from the home of their fathers, but in New England had become +more intolerant than the church which they had abandoned, and became as +arbitrary as the Spanish inquisition. Under direction of the king, +Andros had come to proclaim the equality of Christian religion in the +new colonies. Too evidently this was not what was wanted here. + +At last came the news of the landing of the Prince of Orange in England +and the abdication of James the Second. The people of Boston rose +against Andros and his government and seized him and fifty of his +associates and confined them in the "Castle" until February, 1690, when +they were sent to England for trial; but having committed no offence, +they were discharged. Andros was received so favorably at home that +under the new administration he was appointed governor of Virginia and +Maryland. He took over with him the charter of William and Mary college, +and later laid the foundation stone of that great institution of +learning. + +[Illustration: PROCLAIMING KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY, 1689. + +This is said to have been the most joyful news ever before received in +Boston.] + +Andros has never received justice from Massachusetts historians. Before +his long public career ended he had been governor of every Royal +Province in North America. His services were held in such high esteem +that he was honored with office by four successive monarchs. + +It is gratifying to notice that at last his character and services are +beginning to be better appreciated in the provinces over which he ruled, +and we may hope that in time the Andros of partisan history will give +place, even in the popular narratives of colonial affairs, to the Andros +who really existed, stern, proud and uncompromising it is true, but +honest, upright and just; a loyal servant of the crown and a friend to +the best interests of the people. + +Not only were the governor and all of his adherents arrested and thrown +into jail, but Captain George, of the Rose frigate, being found on +shore, was seized by a party of ship carpenters and handed over to the +guard. + +So strong was the feeling against the prisoners that it was found +necessary to guard them against the infuriated people, lest they should +be torn into pieces by the mob. The insurrection was completely +successful, and the result was that the resumption of the charter was +once more affirmed. A general court was formed after the old model, and +the venerable Bradstreet was made governor. Nothing now seemed wanting +to the popular satisfaction but favorable news from England, and that +came in a day or two. On the 26th of May, 1689, a ship arrived from the +old country with an order to the Massachusetts authorities to proclaim +King William and Queen Mary. This was done on the 29th, and grave, +Puritanical Boston went wild with joy, and all thanked God that a +Protestant sovereign once more ruled in England. This has been said to +have been the most joyful news ever before received in Boston. + +May 14, 1692, Sir William Phipps, a native of Massachusetts, arrived in +Boston from England, bringing with him the new Charter of the province, +and a commission constituting him governor of the same. Unfortunately he +countenanced and upheld the people in their delusion respecting +witchcraft, and confirmed the condemnation and execution of the victims. +The delusion spread like flames among dry leaves in autumn, and in a +short time the jails in Boston were filled with the accused. During the +prevalence of this moral disease, nineteen persons in the colony were +hanged, and one pressed to death. At last the delusion came to an end, +and the leaders afterwards regretted the part they had taken in it. + +The new Charter of Massachusetts gave the Province a governor appointed +by the Crown. While preserving its assembly and its town organization, +it tended to encourage and develop, even in that fierce democracy, those +elements of a conservative party which had been called into existence +some years before by the disloyalty and tyranny of the ecclesiastical +oligarchy. + +Thus, side by side with a group of men who were constantly regretting +their lost autonomy, and looking with suspicion and prejudice at every +action of the royal authorities, there arose another group of men who +constantly dwelt upon the advantages they derived from their connection +with the mother country. The Church of England also had at last waked up +to a sense of the spiritual needs of its children beyond the seas. Many +of the best of the laity forsook their separatist principles and +returned to the historic church of the old home. This influence tended +inevitably to maintain and strengthen the feeling of national unity in +those of the colonists who came under the ministration of the church. In +all the Royal Provinces there was an official class gradually growing +up, that was naturally imperial rather than local in its sympathy. The +war with the French, in which colonists fought side by side with +"regulars" in a contest of national significance, tended upon the whole +to intensify the sense of imperial unity. + +"The people of Massachusetts Bay were never in a more easy and happy +situation than at the conclusion of the war with France in 1749. By +generous reimbursement of the whole charge of L183,000 incurred by the +expedition against Cape Breton, the English government set the Province +free from a heavy debt by which it must otherwise have remained +involved, and enabled by it to exchange a depreciating paper medium, +which had long been the sole instrument of trade, for a stable medium of +gold and silver. Soon the advantage of this relief from the heavy burden +of debt was apparent in all branches of their commerce, and excited the +envy of other colonies, in each of which paper was the principal +currency."[5] + + [5] Hutchinson, History Mass. Bay, Vol. III., page 1. + +The early part of the eighteenth century was filled with wars: France, +England and Spain were beginning to overrun the interior of North +America. Spain claimed a zone to the south, and France a vast territory +to the north and west of the English colonies. Each of the three +countries sought aid from the savage to carry on its enterprises and +depredations. While the English colonies were beset on the north by the +French, on the south by the Spaniards, on the west by native Indians +along the Alleghany Mountains, and were compelled to depend on the +"wooden walls of England" for the protection of their coasts, they were +then remarkably loyal to the Crown of England. Their representative +assemblies passed obsequious resolutions expressing loyalty and +gratitude to the King, and the people; and erected his statue in a +public place. This feeling of loyalty remained in the minds of a large +majority of the people down to the battle of Lexington. + +In May, 1756, the English government, goaded by the constantly continued +efforts of the French to ignore her treaty obligations in Acadia, and +her ever-harrassing, irritating "pin-pricks" on the frontiers of the +English colonies, declared war against France. Long before this official +declaration the two countries had been, on this continent, in a state of +active but covert belligerency. Preparations for an inevitable conflict +were being made by both sides. French intrigue and French treachery were +met with English determination to defend the rights of the mother +country and of her children here. Money was pledged to the colonies to +aid in equipping militia for active service, and the local governments +and the inhabitants of every province became as enthusiastic as the home +government in the prosecution of war. + +On the northern and western borders of New England and of New York, +along the thin fringe of advanced English settlements bordering +Pennsylvania and Virginia, Indians had long been encouraged or employed +in savage raids, and in Nova Scotia, which, by the treaty of Utrecht had +been ceded to England, systematic opposition to English occupation was +constantly kept up. + +Intriguing agents of the French government, soldiers, priests of the +"Holy Catholic" church--all were active in a determined effort to check +and finally crush out the menacing influence and prosperity of the +growing English colonies. + +The ambushing and slaughter of Braddock's force on the Monongahela, the +removal of Acadians from Annapolis Valley, the defeat of Dieskau at +Crown Point, the siege and occupation of Fort Beausejour, all occurred +before the formal declaration of war. Clouds were gathering. Men of +fighting age of the English colonies volunteered in thousands; British +regiments, seasoned in war, were brought from the old country to the +new, and with them and after them came ships innumerable. A fight for +life of the English colonies was at hand. The brood of the mistress of +the seas must not be driven into the ocean. France must be compelled to +give pledges for the performance of her treaty engagements or find +herself without a foothold in the country. + +With the hour came the man. Under the direction of the greatest war +minister England had ever seen, or has since seen, William Pitt, the +"Great Commoner," war on France was begun in earnest. + +At first a few successes were achieved by the French commanders. Fort +William Henry, with its small garrison, surrendered to Montcalm, and +Abercrombie's expedition to Fort Ticonderoga was a disastrous failure. +But the tide of battle soon turned. + +The beginning of the end came in 1758. Louisbourg, the great fortress +which France had made "The Gibraltar of the West," became a prize to the +army and navy of Britain. New England soldiers formed a part of the +investing force on land, and their record in the second capture of +Louisbourg was something to be proud of. Fort Frontenac, on Lake +Ontario, was taken, together with armed vessels and a great collection +of stores and implements of war. Fort Duquesne, a strongly fortified +post of the French, whose site is now covered by the great manufacturing +city of Pittsburgh, surrendered to a British force. For many years after +it was known as Fort Pitt, so called in honor of the great minister +under whose compelling influence the war against France had become so +mighty a success. + +In 1759, General Wolfe, who had been the leading spirit in the siege of +Louisbourg, was placed in command of an expedition for the capture of +Quebec. Next after Louisbourg, Quebec was by nature and military art the +strongest place in North America. The tragic story of the capture of +Quebec has been so often told that it is not necessary for us to repeat +it here. + +Of the long, impatient watch by Wolfe, from the English fleet, for +opportunity to disembark his small army, drifting with the tides of the +St. Lawrence, passing and repassing the formidable citadel, the stealthy +midnight landing at the base of a mighty cliff, the hard climb of armed +men up the wooded height, and the assembly, in early morning mist, on +the Plains of Abraham, are not for us to write of here. In the glowing +pages of Parkman all this is so thrillingly described that we need not +say more of the most dramatic and most pathetic story in all American +history, than that Quebec fell, and with it, in short time, fell the +whole power of France in North America. + +In the following year (September 8, 1760), Montreal, the last stronghold +of the French in Canada, capitulated to Sir Jeffrey Amherst, who had +ascended the St. Lawrence with a force of about 10,000 men, comprising +British regiments of the line artillery, rangers and provincial +regiments from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The provincial +contingent numbered above four thousand. + +With the fall of Montreal the seven years' fight for supremacy was +ended. + +Such a defeat to proud France was a bitter experience, and definite +settlement of the terms of peace, which Great Britain was able to +dictate, was not made until, on the 10th of February, 1763, the treaty +of Paris was signed. + +By this treaty to Great Britain was ceded all Canada, Nova Scotia, Cape +Breton and the West India Islands of Dominica, St. Vincent, Tobago and +Grenada. Minorca was restored to Great Britain, and to her also was +given the French possession of Senegal in Western Africa. In India, +where the French had obtained considerable influence, France was bound +by this treaty to raise no fortifications and to keep no military force +in Bengal. To remove the annoyance which Florida had long been to the +contiguous English colonies, that province of Spain was transferred to +the English in exchange for Havana, which had been only recently wrested +from the occupation of Spain by the brilliant victory of Pocock and +Albamarle. + +And so 1763 saw the British flag peacefully waving from the Gulf of +Mexico to the northern shores of Hudson's Bay. The coast of the Atlantic +was protected by the British navy, and the colonists had no longer +foreign enemies to fear. + +For this relief the colonists gave warm thanks to the king and to +parliament. Massachusetts voted a costly monument in Westminster Abbey +in memory of Lord Howe, who had fallen in the campaign against Canada. +The assembly of the same colony, in a joyous address to the governor, +declared that without the assistance of the parent state the colonies +must have fallen a prey to the power of France, and that without money +sent from England the burden of the war would have been too great to +bear. In an address to the king they made the same acknowledgment, and +pledged themselves to demonstrate their gratitude by every possible +testimony of duty and loyalty. James Otis expressed the common sentiment +of the hour when, upon being chosen moderator of the first town meeting +held in Boston after the peace, he declared: "We in America have +certainly abundant reason to rejoice. Not only are the heathen driven +out, but the Canadians, much more formidable enemies, are conquered and +become fellow subjects. The British dominion and power can now be said +literally to extend from sea to sea and from the Great River to the ends +of the earth." And after praising the wise administration of His +Majesty, and lauding the British constitution to the skies, he went on +to say: "Those jealousies which some weak and wicked minds endeavored to +infuse with regard to these colonies, had their birth in the blackness +of darkness, and it is a great pity that they had not remained there +forever. The true interests of Great Britain and her plantation are +mutual, and what God in his providence has united, let no man dare +attempt to pull asunder." + +In June, 1763, a confederation, including several Indian tribes, +suddenly and unexpectedly swept over the whole western frontier of +Pennsylvania and Virginia. They murdered almost all the English settlers +who were scattered beyond the mountains, surprised every British fort +between the Ohio and Lake Erie, and closely blockaded Forts Detroit and +Pitt. In no previous war had the Indians shown such skill, tenacity, and +concert, and had there not been British troops in the country the whole +of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland would have been overrun. + +The war lasted fourteen months, and most of the hard fighting was done +by English troops, assisted by militia from some of the Southern +colonies. General Amherst called upon the New England colonies to help +their brethren, but his request was almost disregarded. Connecticut sent +250 men, but Massachusetts, being beyond the zone of immediate danger, +would give no assistance. After a war of extreme horror, peace was +signed September, 1764. In a large degree by the efforts of English +soldiers Indian territory was rolled back, and one more great service +was rendered by England to her colonies, and also the necessity was +shown for a standing army.[6] + + [6] Trumbull's "His. of the U. S.," 445-467. Hildreth, Graham, + Hutchinson. + +The "French and Indian War," as it was commonly called, waged with so +much energy and success, doubled the national debt of England and made +taxation oppressive in that country. The war had been waged mainly for +the benefit of the colonists, and as it was necessary to maintain a +standing army to protect the conquered territory, it was considered but +reasonable that part of the expense should be borne by the Americans. +This was especially so in view that the conquest of Canada had been a +prime object of statesmen and leading citizens of the colonies for many +years. + +It has been said on good authority that Franklin brought about the +expedition against Canada that ended with Wolfe's victory on the Plains +of Abraham. In all companies and on all occasions he had urged conquest +of Canada as an object of the utmost importance. He said it would +inflict a blow upon the French power in America from which it would +never recover, and would have lasting influence in advancing the +prosperity of the British colonies. Franklin was one of the shrewdest +statesmen of the age. After egging England on to the capture of Canada +from the French, and then removing the most dreaded enemy of the +colonies, he won the confidence of the court and people of France, and +obtained their aid to deprive England of the best part of a continent. +He was genial, thrifty, and adroit, and his jocose wisdom was never more +tersely expressed than when he advised the signers of the Declaration of +Independence to "hang together or they would hang separately." + +At the conclusion of the Peace of Paris in 1763, Great Britain had +ceased to be an insular kingdom, and had become a world-wide empire, +consisting of three grand divisions: the British Islands, India, and a +large part of North America. In Ireland an army of ten or twelve +thousand men were maintained by Irish resources, voted by an Irish +Parliament and available for the general defence of the empire. In India +a similar army was maintained by the despotic government of the East +India Company. English statesmen believed that each of these great parts +of the empire should contribute to the defence of the whole, and that +unless they should do so voluntarily it was their opinion, in which the +great lawyers of England agreed, that power to force contributions +resided in the Imperial Parliament at Westminster, and should be +exercised. It was thought that an army of ten thousand men was necessary +to protect the territory won from France and to keep the several tribes +of American Indians in subjection, especially as it was believed that +the French would endeavor to recapture Canada at the first opportunity. + +Americans, it should be remembered, paid no part of the interest on the +national debt of England, amounting to one hundred and forty million +pounds, one-half of which had been contracted in the French and Indian +war. America paid nothing to support the navy that protected its coasts, +although the American colonies were the most prosperous and lightly +taxed portion of the British Empire. Grenville, Chancellor of the +Exchequer, asked the Americans to contribute one hundred thousand pounds +a year, about one-third of the expense of maintaining the proposed army, +and about one-third of one percent of the sum we now pay each year for +pensions. He promised distinctly that the army should never be required +to serve except in America and the West India islands, but he could not +persuade the colonists to agree among themselves on a practical plan for +raising the money, and so it was proposed to resort to taxation by act +of Parliament. At the time he made this proposal he assured the +Americans that the proceeds of the tax should be expended solely in +America, and that if they would raise the money among themselves in +their own way he would be satisfied. He gave them a year to consider the +proposition. At the end of the year they were as reluctant as ever to +tax themselves for their own defence or submit to taxation by act of +Parliament. Then the stamp act was passed--it was designed to raise one +hundred thousand pounds a year, and then the trouble began that led to +the dismemberment of the empire. Several acute observers had already +predicted that the triumph of England over France would be soon followed +by a revolt of the colonies. Kalm, the Swedish traveller, contended in +1748 that the presence of the French in Canada, by making the English +colonists depend for their security on the support of the mother +country, was the main cause of the submission of the colonies. A few +years later Argenson, who had left some of the most striking political +predictions upon record, foretold in his Memoirs that the English +colonies in America would one day rise against the mother country, that +they would form themselves into a republic and astonish the world by +their prosperity. The French ministers consoled themselves for the Peace +of Paris by the reflection that the loss of Canada was a sure prelude to +the independence of the colonies, and Vergennes, the sagacious French +ambassador at Constantinople, predicted to an English traveller, with +striking accuracy, the events that would occur. "England," he said, +"will soon repent having removed the only check that would keep her +colonies in awe. They stand no longer in need of her protection; she +will call upon them to contribute towards supporting the burden they +have helped to bring on her, and they will answer by striking off all +dependence."[7] + + [7] Bancroft's His. of the U.S., Vol. I., 525. + +It is not to be supposed that Englishmen were wholly blind to this +danger. One of the ablest advocates of the retention of Canada was Lord +Bath, who published a pamphlet on the subject, which had a very wide +influence and a large circulation.[8] There were, however, some +politicians who maintained that it would be wiser to restore Canada and +to retain Guadaloupe, St. Lucia, and Martinique. This view was supported +with distinguished talent in an anonymous reply to Lord Bath. + + [8] "Letters to Two Great Men on the Prospect of Peace." + +This writer argued "that we had no original right to Canada, and that +the acquisition of a vast, barren, and almost uninhabited country lying +in an inhospitable climate, and with no commerce except that of furs and +skins, was economically far less valuable to England than the +acquisition of Guadaloupe, which was one of the most important of the +sugar islands. The acquisition of these islands would give England the +control of the West Indies, and it was urged that an island colony is +more advantageous than a continental one, for it is necessarily more +dependent upon the mother country. In the New England provinces there +are already colleges and academies where the American youths can +receive their education. America produces or can easily produce almost +everything she wants. Her population and her wealth are rapidly +increasing, and as the colonies recede more and more from the sea, the +necessity of their connection with England will steadily diminish. They +will have nothing to expect, they must live wholly by their own labor, +and in process of time will know little, inquire little, and care +little, about the mother country. If the people of our colonies find no +check from Canada they will extend themselves almost without bounds into +inland parts. What the consequences will be to have a numerous, hardy, +independent people, possessed of a strong country, communicating little, +or not at all, with England, I leave to your own reflections. By eagerly +grasping at extensive territory we may run the risk, and that, perhaps, +in no distant period, of losing what we now possess. The possession of +Canada, far from being necessary to our safety, may in its consequences +be even dangerous. A neighbor that keeps us in some awe is not always +the worst of neighbors; there is a balance of power in America as well +as in Europe."[9] + + [9] Remarks on the Letter Addressed to Two Great Men. Pp. 30-31. + +These views are said to have been countenanced by Lord Hardwicke, but +the tide of opinion ran strongly in the opposite direction; the nations +had learned to look with pride and sympathy upon that greater England +which was growing up beyond the Atlantic, and there was a desire, which +was not ungenerous or ignoble, to remove at any risk the one obstacle to +its future happiness. These arguments were supported by Franklin, who in +a remarkable pamphlet sketched the great undeveloped capabilities of the +colonies, and ridiculed the "visionary fear" that they would ever +combine against England. "This jealousy of each other," he said, "is so +great that, however necessary a union of the colonies has long been for +their common defence and security against their enemies, yet they have +never been able to effect such a union among themselves. If they cannot +agree to unite for defence against the French and Indians, can it +reasonably be supposed there is any danger of their uniting against +their own nation, which protects and encourages them, with which they +have so many connections and ties of blood, interest, and affection, and +which it is well known, they all love _much more than they love one +another_."[10] + + [10] Canada Pamphlet, Franklin's Works, IV., 41-42. + +Within a few years after Franklin made this statement he did more than +any other man living to carry into effect the "visionary fear" which he +had ridiculed. + +The denial that independence was the object sought for was constant and +general. To obtain concessions and to preserve connection with the +empire was affirmed everywhere. John Adams, the successor of Washington +to the presidency, years after the peace of 1783 went farther than this, +for he said, "There was not a moment during the Revolution when I would +not have given everything I possessed for a restoration to the state of +things before the contest began, provided we could have had a sufficient +security for its continuance." + +In the summer of 1774, Franklin assured Chatham that there was no desire +among the colonists for independence. He said: "Having more than once +travelled almost from one end of the continent to the other, and kept a +variety of company, eating and conversing with them freely, I have never +heard in any conversation from any person, drunk or sober, the least +wish for a separation or a hint that such a thing would be advantageous +to America." + +Mr. Jay is quite as explicit: "During the course of my life," said he, +"and until the second petition of Congress in 1775, I never did hear an +American of any class or of any description express a wish for the +independence of the colonies." + +Mr. Jefferson affirmed: "What eastward of New York might have been the +disposition towards England before the commencement of hostilities I +know not, but before that I never heard a whisper of a disposition to +separate from Great Britain, and after that its possibility was +contemplated with affliction by all." + +Washington in 1774 fully sustains their declarations, and in the +"Fairfax County Resolves" it was complained that "malevolent falsehoods" +were propagated by the ministry to prejudice the mind of the king, +particularly that there is an intention in the American colonies to set +up for independent state. + +Mr. Madison says: "It has always been my impression that a +re-establishment of the colonial relations to the mother country, as +they were previous to the controversy, was the real object of every +class of the people till they despaired of obtaining redress for their +grievances." + +This feeling among the revolutionists is corroborated by DuPortail, a +secret agent of the French government. In a letter dated 1778 he says: +"There is a hundred times more enthusiasm for the revolution in a +coffee-house at Paris than in all the colonies united. This people, +though at war with the English, hate the French more than they hate +them; we prove this every day, and notwithstanding everything that +France has done or can do for them, they will prefer a reconciliation +with their ancient brethren. If they must needs be dependent, they had +rather be so on England." + +Again, as late as March, 1775, only a month before the outbreak of +hostilities at Lexington, John Adams wrote: "That there are any that +hunt after independence is the greatest slander on the Province." + +This feeling must have arisen from gratitude for the protection afforded +by the mother country, or at least satisfaction with the relations then +existing. It is true, as has been shown in a previous chapter, that for +some years before the English Revolution, and for some years after the +accession of William and Mary, the relations of the colonies to England +had been extremely tense, but in the long period of unbroken Whig rule +which followed, most of the elements of discontent had subsided. The +wise neglect of Walpole and Newcastle was eminently conducive to +colonial interests. The substitution in several colonies of royal for +proprietary government was very popular. There were slight differences +in the colonial forms of government, but everywhere the colonists paid +their governor and their other officials. In nearly every respect they +governed themselves, under the shadow of British dominion, with a +liberty not equalled in any other portion of the civilized globe; real +constitutional liberty was flourishing in the English colonies when all +European countries and their colonies were despotically governed. The +circumstances and traditions of the colonists had made them extremely +impatient of every kind of authority, but there is no reason for +doubting that they were animated by a real attachment to England. Their +commercial intercourse, under the restructions of the navigation laws, +was mainly with her. Their institutions, their culture, their religion, +their ideas were derived from English sources. They had a direct +interest in the English war against France and Spain. They were proud of +their English lineage, of English growth in greatness, and of English +liberty. On this point there is a striking answer made by Franklin in +his crafty examinations before the House of Commons in February, 1766. +In reply to the question, "What was the temper of America towards Great +Britain before the year 1763?" he said, "The best in the world. They +submitted willingly to the government of the crown, and paid their +courts obedience to the Acts of Parliament. Numerous as the people are +in the several old provinces, they cost you nothing in forts, citadels, +garrisons, or armies to keep them in subjection, they were governed by +this country at the expense only of a little pen, ink, and paper; they +were led by a thread. They had not only a respect, but an affection for +Great Britain, for its laws, its customs, and manners, and even a +fondness for its fashions that greatly increased the commerce. Natives +of Britain were always treated with particular regard; to be an 'Old +England' man was of itself a character of some respect and gave a kind +of rank among us." In reply to the question, "What is their temper now?" +he said, "Very much altered." It is interesting to inquire what happened +during the three years intervening to change the temper of the +colonists. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +_CAUSES THAT LED TO THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION._ + + +One of the principal causes that led to the American Revolution was the +question of what was lawful under the constitution of the British +empire, and what was expedient under the existing circumstances of the +colonies. It was the contention of the American Whigs that the British +parliament could not lawfully tax the colonies, because by so doing it +would be violating an ancient maxim of the British constitution: "No +taxation without representation." + +On the contrary, many of the profoundest constitutional lawyers of +America as well as of England, both rejected the foregoing contention, +and at the same time admitted the soundness and the force of the +venerable maxim upon which the contention was alleged to rest, but the +most of them denied that the maxim was violated by the acts of +parliament laying taxation upon the colonies. Here everything depends on +the meaning to be attached to the word "representation"--and that +meaning is to be ascertained by examining what was understood by the +word in England at the time when this old maxim originated, and in +subsequent ages during which it had been quoted and applied. During this +whole period the idea was that representation in parliament was +constituted not through any uniform distribution among individual +persons, but rather through a distribution of such privileges among +certain organized communities, as counties, cities, boroughs, and +universities. Very few people in England then had votes for members of +the house of commons--only one-tenth of the population of the entire +realm. Such was the state of the electoral system that entire +communities, such as the cities of Leeds, Halifax, Birmingham, +Manchester, and Liverpool, communities which were as populous and as +rich as entire provinces in America, and yet they had no vote whatever +for members of parliament. The people of these several communities in +England did not refuse to pay taxes levied by act of parliament, because +of that reason. It is still a principle of parliamentary representation +that from the moment a member is thus chosen to sit in parliament, he is +the representative of the whole empire, and not of his particular +constituency. He "is under no obligation, therefore, to follow +instructions from the voters or the inhabitants of the district from +which he is chosen. They have no legal means of enforcing instructions. +They cannot demand his resignation. Moreover, members of the house of +lords represent, in principle, the interest of the whole empire and of +all classes, as truly as the Commons."[11] Therefore the historic +meaning of the word "representation," as the word has always been used +in English constitutional experience, seemed to justify the Loyalist +contention that the several organized British communities in America, as +an integral part of the British empire, were to all intents and purposes +represented in the British parliament, which sat at the capital as the +supreme council of the whole empire and exercised legislative authority +coextensive with the boundaries of that empire. The Loyalists admitted +that for all communities of British subjects, both in England and +America, the existing representation was very imperfect; that it should +be reformed and made larger and more uniform, and they were ready and +anxious to join in all forms of constitutional agitation under the +leadership of such men as Chatham, Camden, Burke, Barre, Fox and Pitt, +to secure such reform, and not for a rejection of the authority of the +general government, nullification, and disruption of the empire. +Accordingly, when certain English commoners in America at last rose up +and put forward the claim that merely because they had no votes for +members of the house of commons, therefore that house did not represent +them, and therefore they could not lawfully be taxed by parliament, this +definition of the word "representation" up to that time had never been +given to it in England or enjoyed by commoners in England. Nine-tenths +of the people of England did not vote. Had not those British subjects in +England as good a right as these British subjects in America to deny +they were represented in parliament, and that they could not be lawfully +taxed by parliament? It was the right and duty of the imperial +legislature to determine in what proportion the different parts of the +empire should contribute to the defence of the whole, and to see that no +one part evaded its obligation and unjustly transferred its part to +others. The right of taxation was established by a long series of legal +authorities, and there was no real distinction between internal and +external taxation. It now suited colonists to describe themselves as +apostles of liberty and to denounce England as an oppressor. It was a +simple truth that England governed her colonies more liberally than any +other country in the world. They were the only existing colonies which +enjoyed real political liberty. Their commercial system was more liberal +than that of any other colony. They had attained under British rule to a +degree of prosperity which was surpassed in no quarter of the globe. +England had loaded herself with debt in order to remove one great danger +to their future; she cheerfully bore the whole burden of their +protection by sea. At the Peace of Paris she had made their interests +the very first object of her policy, and she only asked them in return +to bear a portion of the cost of their own defence. Less than eight +millions of Englishmen were burdened with a national debt of 140,000,000 +pounds. The united debt of about three millions of Americans was now +less than 800,000 pounds. The annual sum the colonists were asked to +contribute was less than 100,000, with an express condition that no part +of that sum should be devoted to any other purpose than the defence and +protection of the colonies, and the country which refused to bear this +small tax was so rich that in the space of three years it had paid off +1,755,000 pounds of its debt. No demand could be more moderate and +equitable than that of England. The true motive of the resistance was a +desire to pay as little as possible and to throw as much as possible +upon the mother country. Nor was the mode of resistance more +honorable--the plunder of private houses, and custom-houses, and mob +violence, connived at and unpunished. This was the attitude of the +colonies within two years after the Peace of Paris, and these were the +fruits of the new sense of security which British triumphs in Canada had +given to the colonists. + + [11] John W. Burgess, "Political Science and Comparative Constitutional + Law," 67-68, also 65-69. + +This is a brief statement and a fair one of the principal arguments of +the Loyalists. Certainly the position taken by them was a very strong +one. A learned American writer upon law, one of the justices of the +Supreme Court of the United States, in referring to the decision of +Chief Justice Hutchinson sustaining the legality of the writs of +assistance, gave this opinion: "A careful examination of the question +compels the conclusion that there was at least reasonable ground for +holding, as a matter of mere law, that the British parliament had power +to bind the colonies."[12] This view has been sustained by the highest +English authorities upon British constitutional law, from the time of +Lord Mansfield to the present. "As a matter of abstract right," says Sir +Vernon Harcourt, "the mother country has never parted with the claim of +ultimate supreme authority for the imperial legislature. If it did so, +it would dissolve the imperial tie, and convert the colonies into +foreign and independent states." It is now apparent that those Americans +who failed in their honest and sacrificial championship of measures that +would have given us political reform and political safety, but without +civil war, and without an angry disruption of the English-speaking race +can justly be regarded as having been, either in doctrine or in purpose, +or in act, an unpatriotic party, and yet even at the present time it is +by no means easy for Americans, if they be descended from men who fought +in behalf of the Revolution, to take a disinterested attitude, that is +an historical one towards those Americans who thought and fought against +the Revolution. + + [12] Horace Gray, Quincy's Mass. Reports, 1761-62, Appendix I., page + 540. + +No candid historian, however, now contends that the government of +England had done anything prior to the commencement of the Revolutionary +War that justified a Declaration of Independence; for, as previously +stated, the amount of taxes required by Parliament was moderate, the +money was needed for a proper purpose, and it seemed there was no other +way of obtaining it. + +Another important factor in the causes of the American Revolution was +the so-called "Quebec Act." This act John Adams asserted constituted a +"frightful system," and James Rowdoin pronounced it to be "an act for +encouraging and establishing Popery." The policy of this legislation may +be doubted. Of its justice there can be no doubt. The establishment of +the Catholic clergy in Canada and their resultant domination has +entailed many disadvantages upon the governing powers of the dominion. +But at the time the law was passed it was a simple act of justice. Had +Parliament refused to do this it would have been guilty of that tyranny +charged against it by the Revolutionists, and today the dominion would +not be a part of the British Empire. To the student of American history +it at first seems very strange and unaccountable why at the outbreak of +the Revolution, the recently conquered French provinces were not the +first to fly to arms, especially as their mother country, France, had +espoused the cause of the Revolutionists. Instead of this the French +Canadians remained loyal to their conqueror and resisted by force of +arms all attempts to conquer Canada. The explanation of this curious +state of affairs is the "Quebec Act." + +By this act the French Canadians were to retain their property, their +language, their religion, their laws, and to hold office. In fact, they +were allowed greater liberty than they had when subject to France. All +this was allowed them by the British Parliament, and this was resented +by the English colonists, for they were not allowed to confiscate their +lands and drive out the inhabitants as the New Englanders did when they +conquered Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. They +also claimed that by the laws of the realm Roman Catholics could not +vote, much less hold office. At a meeting of the first Continental +Congress, held October 21, 1774, an address to the people of Great +Britain was adopted, setting forth the grievances of the colonies, the +principal one of which was as follows: + +"Nor can we suppress our astonishment that a British Parliament should +ever consent to establish in that country a religion that has deluged +your island in blood and dispersed impiety, bigotry, persecution, murder +and rebellion through every part of the world, and we think the +legislature of Great Britain is not authorized to establish a religion +fraught with such sanguinary and infamous tenets." + +This act also granted the Catholic clergy a full parliamentary title to +their old ecclesiastical estates, and to tithes paid by members of their +own religion, but no Protestant was obliged to pay tithes. It provided +for a provincial governing council in which Catholics were eligible to +sit, and it established the Catholic clergy securely in their livings. +There were then in the Province of Quebec two hundred and fifty +Catholics to one Protestant[13]. Surely it would have been a monstrous +perversion of justice to have placed this vast majority under the +domination of this petty minority, it would have degraded the Catholics +into a servile caste and reproduced in America, in a greatly aggravated +form, the social conditions which existed in Ireland, but those +determined sticklers for freedom of conscience and "the right of +self-government," those clamorers for the liberty of mankind, the +disunion propagandists, were horrified at the bestowal of any "freedom" +or "right" upon a people professing a religion different from their +own. "The friends of America" in England, Chatham, Fox, Burke, Barre and +others, joined them in their denunciation of the act, the last named +especially deprecating the "Popish" measure. + + [13] In the debates on the Canadian bill in 1779, it was stated that + there were but 365 Protestants and 150,000 Catholics within the Province + of Quebec. + +On February 15, 1776, it was resolved that a committee of three, "two of +whom should be members of congress," be appointed to pursue such +instructions as shall be given them by that body.[14] Benjamin Franklin, +Samuel Chase and Chas. Carroll were chosen for this purpose, and John +Carroll, a Jesuit, who afterwards became the first Roman Catholic +Archbishop of the United States, accompanied them. The two Carrolls were +chosen because they were Catholics, but they were not justified in +joining an expedition that might kindle the flame of religious war on +the Catholic frontier. The commissioners carried with them an "Address +to the Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec"[15] from Congress, which +for cool audacity and impertinence can scarcely be paralleled. It +commenced with "We are too well acquainted with the liberality of +sentiment distinguishing your natures to imagine that difference of +religion will prejudice you against a hearty amity with us," etc. + + [14] Washington's Writings, Vol. III., page 361. + + [15] Debates, etc., page 603. + +The address from the Continental Congress was translated into French and +was very favorably received. They then begged the translator, as he had +succeeded so well, to try his hand on that addressed to Great Britain. +He had equal success in this, and read his performance to a numerous +audience. But when he came to that part which treats of the new +modelling of the province, draws a picture of the Catholic religion and +Canadian manners, they could not restrain their resentment nor express +it except in broken curses. "O the perfidious, double-faced Congress! +Let us bless and obey our benevolent prince, whose humanity is +consistent and extends to all religions. Let us abhor all who would +seduce us from our loyalty by acts that would dishonor a Jesuit, and +whose address, like their resolves, is destructive of their own +objects." + +While the commissioners were applying themselves with the civil +authorities, Rev. Mr. Carroll was diligently employed with the clergy, +explaining to them that the resistance of the united colonies was caused +by the invasion of their charter by England. To this the clergy replied +that since the acquisition of Canada by the British government its +inhabitants had no aggression to complain of, that on the contrary the +government had faithfully complied with all the stipulations of the +treaty, and had in fact sanctioned and protected the laws and customs of +Canada with a delicacy that demanded their respect and gratitude, and +that on the score of religious liberty the British government had left +them nothing to complain of. + +And therefore that when the well-established principle that allegiance +is due to protection, the clergy could not teach that even neutrality +was consistent with the allegiance due to such ample protection as +Great Britain had shown the Catholics of Canada. The judicious and +liberal policy of the British government to the Catholics had succeeded +in inspiring them with sentiments of loyalty which the conduct of the +people and the public bodies of some of the united colonies had served +to strengthen and confirm. Mr. Carroll was also informed that in the +colonies whose liberality he was now avouching, the Catholic religion +had not been tolerated hitherto. Priests were excluded under severe +penalties and Catholic missionaries among the Indians rudely and cruelly +treated. + +John Adams, who was a member of the congress that sent the commissioners +to Canada, in a letter to his wife, did not state the true reason for +sending a Jesuit priest there, and also warned her against divulging the +fact that a priest had been sent, for fear of offending his +constituents[16] + +He wrote as follows:-- + +"Mr. John Carroll of Maryland, a Roman Catholic priest and a Jesuit, is +to go with the committee, the priests of Canada having refused baptism +and absolution to our friends there. Your prudence will direct you to +communicate the circumstances of the priest, the Jesuit, and the Romish +religion, only to such persons as can judge of the measure upon large +and generous principles, and will not indiscreetly divulge it."[16] + + [16] Letter of John Adams to his wife, Vol. I., page 86. + +John Adams also wrote: "We have a few rascally Jacobites and Roman +Catholics in this town (Braintree), but they do not dare to show +themselves."[17] + + [17] Life and Works of John Adams, Vol. IX., page 335. + +[Illustration: KILLING AND SCALPING OF FATHER RASLE AT NORRIDGEWOCK + +By Massachusetts scalp hunters, L100 bounty was offered for the scalp of +a male Indian, and L50 for that of women or children.] + +To any statesman who looked into the question inquiringly and with clear +vision, it must have appeared evident that, if the English colonies +resolved to sever themselves from the British Empire, it would be +impossible to prevent them. Their population was said to have doubled in +twenty-five years. They were separated from the mother country by three +thousand miles of water, their seaboard extended for more than one +thousand miles, their territory was almost boundless in its extent and +resources, and the greater part of it no white man had traversed or +seen. To conquer such a country would be a task of greatest difficulty +and stupendous cost. To hold it in opposition to the general wish of the +people would be impossible. The colonists were chiefly small and +independent freeholders, hardy backwoodsmen and hunters, well skilled in +the use of arms and possessed of all the resources and energies which +life in a new country seldom fails to develop. They had representative +assemblies to levy taxes and organize resistance. They had militia, +which in some colonies included all adult freemen between the ages of +sixteen and fifty or sixty, and, in addition to Indian raids, they had +the military experience of two great wars. The first capture of +Louisburg, in 1745, had been mainly their work. In the latter stages of +the war, which ended in 1763, there were more than twenty thousand +colonial troops under arms, ten thousand of them from New England alone, +and more than four hundred privateers had been fitted out in colonial +harbors.[18] + + [18] Ramsey, History of the American Revolution, Vol. I, page 40; + Hildreth, Vol. II., page 486; Grahame, Vol. IV., page 94. + +There were assuredly no other colonies in the world so favorably +situated as these were at the close of the Seven Years' War. They had +but one grievance, the Navigation Act, and it is a gross and flagrant +misrepresentation to describe the commercial policy of England as +exceptionally tyrannical. As Adam Smith truly said, "Every European +nation had more or less taken to itself the commerce of its colonies, +and upon that account had prohibited the ships of foreign nations from +trading with them, and had prohibited them from importing European goods +from any foreign nation," and "though the policy of Great Britain with +regard to the trade of her colonies has been dictated by the same +mercantile spirit as that of other nations, it has, upon the whole, been +less illiberal and oppressive than any of them."[19] + + [19] Wealth of Nations, Vol. IV., chapter 7; Tucker's Four Tracts, page + 133. + +There is, no doubt, much to be said in palliation of the conduct of +England. If Virginia was prohibited from sending her tobacco to any +European country except England, Englishmen were prohibited from +purchasing any tobacco except that which came from America or Bermuda. +If many of the trades and manufactures in which the colonies were +naturally most fitted to excel were restrained or crushed by law, +English bounties encouraged the cultivation of indigo and the +exportation to England of pitch, tar, hemp, flax and ship timber from +America, and several articles of American produce obtained a virtual +monopoly of the English market by their exemption from duties which were +imposed on similar articles imported from foreign countries. + +The revenue laws were habitually violated. Smuggling was very lucrative, +and therefore very popular, and any attempt to interfere with it was +greatly resented. The attention of the British government was urgently +called to it during the war. At a time when Great Britain was straining +every nerve to free the English colonies from the incubus of France, and +when millions of pounds sterling were being remitted from England to pay +colonists for fighting in their own cause, it was found that French +fleets, French garrisons, and the French West India Islands were +systematically supplied with large quantities of provisions by the New +England colonies. Pitt, who still directed affairs, wrote with great +indignation that this contraband trade must be stopped, but the whole +community of the New England seaports appeared to favor or was partaking +in it, and great difficulty was found in putting the law into +execution.[20] + + [20] Hildreth Vol. II., page 498; McPherson's Annals of Commerce, Vol. + III., page 330; Arnold's History of Rhode Island, Vol. II., pages + 227-235. + +From a legal point of view, the immense activity of New England was for +the most part illicit. In serene ignorance the New England sailor +penetrated all harbors, conveying in their holds, from the North, where +they belonged, various sorts of interdicted merchandise, and bringing +home cargoes equally interdicted from all ports they touched. The +merchants, who since 1749, through Hutchinson's excellent statesmanship, +had been free from the results of a bad currency, greatly throve. The +shipyards teemed with fleets, each nook of the coast was the seat of +mercantile ventures. It was then that in all the shore towns arose the +fine colonial mansions of the traders along the main streets, that are +even admired today for their size and comeliness. Within the houses +bric-a-brac from every clime came to abound, and the merchants and their +wives and children were clothed gaily in rich fabrics from remote +regions. Glowing reports of the gaiety and luxury of the colonies +reached the mother country.[21] The merchants and sailors were, to a +man, law-breakers. It was this universal law-breaking, after the fall of +Quebec, that the English ministry undertook to stop over its extended +empire. This caused friction, which gave rise to fire, which increased +until the ties with the mother land were quite consumed. + + [21] Gordon's History of the American War, Vol. I., page 157. + +As early as 1762 there were loud complaints in Parliament of the +administration of custom houses in the colonies. Grenville found on +examination that the whole revenue derived by England from the custom +houses in America amounted only to between one and two thousand pounds a +year, and that for the purpose of collecting this revenue the English +exchequer was paying annually between seven and eight thousand pounds. +Nine-tenths, probably, of all the tea, wine, fruit, sugar and molasses +consumed in the colonies, were smuggled. Grenville determined to +terminate this state of affairs. Several new revenue officers were +appointed with more rigid rules for the discharge of their duties. +"Writs of assistance" were to be issued, authorizing custom house +officers to search any house they pleased for smuggled goods. English +ships of war were at the same time stationed off the American coast for +the purpose of intercepting smugglers. + +Adam Smith, writing in 1776, says: + +"Parliament, in attempting to exercise its supposed right, whether well +or ill-grounded, of taxing the colonies, _has never hitherto demanded of +them anything which even approached to a just proportion to what was +paid by their fellow subjects at home_. Great Britain has hitherto +suffered her subjects and subordinate provinces to disburden themselves +upon her of almost the whole expense." + +The colonists had profited by the successful war incomparably more than +any other British subjects. Until the destruction of the French power, a +hand armed with a rifle or tomahawk and torch seemed constantly near the +threshold of every New England home. The threatening hand was now +paralyzed and the fringe of plantations by the coast could now extend +itself to the illimitable West in safety. No foreign foe could now +dictate a boundary line and bar the road beyond it. The colonists were +asked only to bear a share in the burden of the empire by a +contribution to the sum required for maintenance of the ten thousand +soldiers and of the armed fleet which was unquestionably necessary for +the protection of their long coast line and of their commerce. + +James Otis started the Revolution in New England by what Mr. Lecky calls +an "incendiary speech" against writs of assistance, and if half of what +Hildreth asserts and Bancroft admits in regard to smuggling along the +coast of New England is true, there is no reason to wonder that such +writs were unpopular in Boston. James Otis, whose father had just been +disappointed in his hopes of obtaining a seat upon the bench, was no +doubt an eloquent man and all the more dangerous because he often +thought he was right. That it is always prudent to distrust the +eloquence of a criminal lawyer we have ample proof, in the advice he +gave the people on the passage of the Stamp Act. "It is the duty," he +said, "of all, humbly and silently to acquiesce in all the decisions of +the supreme legislature. Nine hundred and ninety-nine in a thousand of +the colonists will never once entertain a thought but of submission to +our sovereign and to authority of Parliament, in all possible +contingencies. They undoubtedly have the right to levy internal taxes on +the colonies." + +In private talk he was more vigorous than in his formal utterance. +"Hallowell says that Otis told him Parliament had a right to tax the +colonies and he was a d---- fool who denied it, and that this people +would never be quiet till we had a council from home, till our charter +was taken away and till we had regular troops quartered upon us."[22] + + [22] John Adams' Diary, January 16, 1776. + +John Adams wrote in his diary, under date of January 16, 1770, +concerning Otis, as follows: "In one word Otis will spoil the club. He +talks so much and takes up so much of our time and fills it with trash, +obsceneness, profaneness, nonsense and distraction that we have none +left for rational amusements or inquiries. I fear, I tremble, I mourn +for the man and for his country. Many others mourn over him with tears +in their eyes." + +Again John Adams says, after an attack upon him by Otis: "There is a +complication of malice, envy and jealousy in the man, in the present +disordered state of his mind, that is quite shocking."[23] On the 7th of +May, 1771, Otis, who at this time had recovered his reason was elected +with John Hancock to the assembly. They both left their party and went +over to the side of the government. John Adams wrote "Otis' change was +indeed startling. John Chandler, Esq., of Petersham gave me an account +of Otis' conversion to Toryism, etc." Hutchinson writing to Governor +Bernard, says, "Otis was carried off today in a post-chaise, bound hand +and foot. He has been as good as his word--set the Province in a flame +and perished in the attempt." + + [23] John Adams' Diary, October 27, 1772; John Adams' Works, Vol. II + page 26; Letters to Bernard December 3, 1771. + +In Virginia the revolutionary movement of the poor whites or +"crackers," led by Patrick Henry, was against the planter aristocracy, +and Washington was a conspicuous member of the latter class. In tastes, +manners, instincts and sympathies he might have been taken as an +admirable specimen of the better class of English country gentlemen, and +he had a great deal of the strong conservative feeling which is natural +to that class. He was in the highest sense a gentleman and a man of +honor, and he carried into public life the severest standard of private +morals. + +It was only slowly and very deliberately that Washington identified +himself with the disunionist cause. No man had a deeper admiration for +the British constitution, or a more sincere desire to preserve the +connection, and to put an end to the disputes between the two countries. +From the first promulgation of the Stamp Act, however, he adopted the +conviction that a recognition of the sole right of the colonies to tax +themselves was essential to their freedom, and as soon as it became +evident that Parliament was resolved at all hazards to assert its +authority by taxing the Americans, he no longer hesitated. Of all the +great men in history he was the most invariably judicious, and there is +scarcely a rash word or action of judgment related of him. America had +found in Washington a leader who could be induced by no earthly motive +to tell a falsehood or to break an engagement or to commit a +dishonorable act. + +In the despondency of long-continued failure, in the elation of sudden +success, at times when his soldiers were deserting by hundreds, and when +malignant plots were formed against his reputation; amid the constant +quarrels, rivalries and jealousies of his subordinates; in the dark hour +of national ingratitude and in the midst of the most universal and +intoxicating flattery, he was always the same calm, wise, just and +single-minded man, pursuing the course which he believed to be right, +without fear, favor or fanaticism. + +In civil as in military life he was pre-eminent among his contemporaries +for the clearness and soundness of his judgment, for his perfect +moderation and self-control, for the quiet dignity and the indomitable +firmness with which he pursued every path which he had deliberately +chosen. + +[Illustration: READING THE STAMP ACT IN KING STREET: OPPOSITE THE STATE +HOUSE.] + +As previously stated, the heart of the Old Dominion was fired by Patrick +Henry, one of the most unreliable men living. Byron called him a +forest-born Demosthenes, and Jefferson, wondering over his career, +exclaimed: "Where he got that torrent of language is inconceivable. I +have frequently closed my eyes while he spoke and, when he was done, +asked myself what he had said without being able to recollect a word of +it." He had been successively a storekeeper, a farmer and a shopkeeper, +but had failed in all these pursuits and became a bankrupt at +twenty-three. Then he studied law a few weeks and practiced a few years. +The first success he made in this line was in an effort to persuade a +jury to render one of the most unjust verdicts ever recorded in +court. Finally he embarked on the stormy sea of politics. One day he +worked himself into a fine frenzy, and in a most dramatic manner +demanded "Liberty or Death," although he had both freely at his +disposal. He was a slaveholder nearly all his life. He bequeathed slaves +and cattle in his will, and one of his eulogists brags that he would buy +or sell a horse or a negro as well as anybody. + +John Adams of Braintree, now Quincy, was a graduate of Harvard College, +and a lawyer by profession. He ranks next to Washington as being the +most prominent of the Revolutionary leaders. He was the son of a poor +farmer and shoemaker. He married Abigail Smith, the daughter of the +Congregational minister in the adjoining town of Weymouth. Much +disapprobation of the match appears to have been manifested, for Mr. +Adams, the son of a poor farmer, was thought scarcely good enough to be +match with the minister's daughter, descended from many of the shining +lights of the colony.[24] + + [24] "Letters of Mrs. Adams." Memoirs, XXIX. + +John Adams was a cousin of Samuel Adams. He joined the disunionists, +probably, because he saw that if the Revolution was successful there +would be great opportunity for advancement under the new government. +This proved to be the case, for he was the first minister to Great +Britain, the successor of Washington as second president of the United +States. His eldest son became the sixth president, and his grandson, +Charles Francis Adams, ably represented his country as minister to Great +Britain during the Civil War of 1861. + +The Stamp Act received the royal assent on March 22, 1765, and it was to +come into operation on the first day of November following. The +"Virginia Resolutions," through which Patrick Henry first acquired a +continental fame, voted by the House of Burgess in May following, denied +very definitely the authority of Parliament to tax the colonies. At +first men recoiled. Otis was reported to have publicly condemned them in +King street, which was no doubt true, for, as we have seen, he fully +admitted the supremacy of Parliament. + +The principal objection made by the colonists to the Stamp Act was that +it was an internal tax. They denied the right of Parliament to impose +internal taxation, claiming that to be a function that could be +exercised only by colonial assemblies. They admitted, however, that +Parliament had a right to levy duties on exports and imports, and they +had submitted to such taxation for many years without complaint. + +In order to soften the opposition, and to consult to the utmost of his +power the wishes of the colonists, Grenville informed the colonial +agents that the distribution of the stamps should be confided not to +Englishmen but to Americans. Franklin, then agent for Pennsylvania, +accepted the act and, in his canny way, took steps to have a friend +appointed stamp distributor for his province. This made him very +unpopular and the mob threatened to destroy his house. + +The Stamp Act, when its ultimate consequences are considered, must be +deemed one of the most momentous legislative acts in the history of +mankind. + +A timely concession of a few seats in the upper and lower houses of the +Imperial Parliament would have set at rest the whole dispute. Franklin +had suggested it ten years before, anticipating even Otis, Grenville was +quite ready to favor it, Adam Smith advocated it. Why did the scheme +fail? Just at that time in Massachusetts a man was rising into +provincial note, who was soon to develop a heat, truly fanatical, in +favor of an idea quite inconsistent with Franklin's plan. He from the +first claimed that representation of the colonies in Parliament was +quite impracticable or, if accepted, would be of no benefit to the +colonies, and that there was no fit state for them but independence. His +voice at first was but a solitary cry in the midst of a tempest, but it +prevailed mightily in the end. + +This sole expounder of independence was Samuel Adams, the father of the +Revolution. Already his influence was superseding that of Otis, in +stealthy ways of which neither Otis nor those who made an idol of him +were sensible, putting into the minds of men, in the place of the ideas +for which Otis stood, radical conceptions which were to change in due +time the whole future of the world. "Samuel Adams at this time was a man +of forty-two years of age, but already gray and bent with a physical +infirmity which kept his head and hands shaking like those of a +paralytic. He was a man of broken fortunes, a ne'er-do-well in his +private business, a failure as a tax collector, the only public office +he had thus far undertaken to discharge."[25] He had an hereditary +antipathy to the British government, for his father was one of the +principal men connected with Land-Bank delusion, and was ruined by the +restrictions which Parliament imposed on the circulation of paper money, +causing the closing up of the bank by act of Parliament and leaving +debts which seventeen years later were still unpaid. + + [25] Hosmer, Life of Hutchinson, page 82. + +It appears that Governor Hutchinson was a leading person in dissolving +the bank, and from that time Adams was the bitter enemy of Hutchinson +and the government. Hutchinson in describing him says, "Mr. S. Adams had +been one of the directors of the land bank in 1741 which was dissolved +by act of Parliament. After his decease his estate was put up for sale +by public auction, under authority of an act of the General Assembly. +The son first made himself conspicuous on this occasion. He attended the +sale, threatened the sheriff to bring action against him and threatened +all who should attempt to enter upon the estate under pretence of a +purchase, and by intimidating both the sheriff and those persons who +intended to purchase, he prevented the sale, kept the estate in his +possession and the debts to the land bank remained unsatisfied. He was +afterwards a collector of taxes for the town of Boston and made +defalcation which caused an additional tax upon the inhabitants. He was +for nearly twenty years a writer against government in the public +newspapers. Long practice caused him to arrive at great perfection and +to acquire a talent of artfully and fallaciously insinuating into the +minds of readers a prejudice against the characters of all he attacked +beyond any other man I ever knew, and he made more converts to his cause +by calumniating governors and other servants of the crown than by +strength of reasoning. The benefit to the town from his defence of their +liberties, he supposed an equivalent to his arrears as their collector, +and prevailing principle of the party that the end justified the means +probably quieted the remorse he must have felt from robbing men of their +characters and injuring them more than if he had robbed them of their +estates."[26] + + [26] Hutchinson's History, Vol. III., pages 294-295. + +In a letter written by Hutchinson about this time he thus characterizes +his chief adversary: + +"I doubt whether there is a greater incendiary in the King's dominion or +a man of greater malignity of heart, who has less scruples any measure +ever so criminal to accomplish his purposes; and I think I do him no +injustice when I suppose he wishes the destruction of every friend to +government in America."[27] + + [27] M. A. History, Vol. XXV., page 437. + +In a letter dated March 13, 1769, Adams petitioned the town, requesting +that he be discharged from his indebtedness to the town for the amount +that he was in arrears as tax collector. He states that the town +treasurer, by order of the town, had put his bond in suit and recovered +judgment for the sum due L2009.8.8. He stated that his debts and +L1106.11 will fully complete the sum which he owes and requests "that +the town would order him a final discharge upon the condition of his +paying the aforesaid sum of L1106.11 into the province treasury." This +letter of Adams to the town of Boston fully confirms the statement made +by Hutchinson that he was a defaulter, for it appears from this letter +that during the several years he was collector of taxes for the town, +that he did not make a proper return for the taxes which he had +collected, and it was only after suit and judgment had been obtained +against his bondsmen that restitution was made, his sureties having to +pay over $5000 in cash and the balance was made up of uncollected +taxes.[28] + + [28] This letter was purchased at the E. H. Leffingwell sale of January + 6, 1891, for $185, by the city of Boston, and can be seen at the city + clerk's office. In connection with this see "Life of Samuel Adams," by + his great-grandson, William V. Wells, Vol. I., pages 35-38. Here he + emphatically denies that bonds or sureties were given by collectors. + Evidently he had not consulted Boston Town Records, 1767, page 9, when + it was voted that Samuel Adams' bond "shall be put in Suit," and when + bonds and sureties were required of his successor, neither could he have + known of the existence of this letter. + +Adams was poor, simple, ostentatiously austere; the blended influence of +Calvinistic theology and republican principles had indurated his whole +character. He hated monarchy and the Episcopal church, all privileged +classes and all who were invested with dignity and rank, with a fierce +hatred. He was the first to foresee and to desire an armed struggle, and +he now maintained openly that any British troops which landed should be +treated as enemies, attacked and if possible destroyed. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +_BOSTON MOBS AND THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLUTION._ + + +After the adoption in Massachusetts of Patrick Henry's resolves, the +people, brooding over the injuries which Adams made them believe they +were receiving under the Stamp Act, became fiercer in temper. Open +treason was talked, and many of the addresses to the Governor, composed +by Adams, were models of grave and studied insolence. The rough +population which abounded about the wharves and shipyards grew riotous, +and, with the usual indiscrimination of mobs, was not slow to lift its +hands against even the best friends of the people. "Mob law is a crime, +and those who engage in mobs are criminals." This is a fundamental axiom +of orderly government that cannot be denied. + +The first great riot was in anticipation of the arrival of the stamps. +On the morning of August 14, 1765, there appeared, at what is now a +corner of Washington and Essex streets, two effigies, hanging on an elm +tree, representing Andrew Oliver, the stamp agent, and Lord Bute, the +former prime minister. In the evening these images were carried as far +as Kilby street, where there was a new unfinished government building, +wrongly supposed to have been erected for use as a stamp office. This +the mob completely demolished, and, taking portions of its wood-work +with them, they proceeded to Fort Hill, where a bonfire was made in +front of the house of Mr. Oliver, burning the effigy of Lord Bute there, +and committing gross outrages on Oliver's premises, which were plundered +and wrecked. + +A few nights later riots recommenced with redoubled fury, the rioters +turning their attention to the house of Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson, +who was also chief justice, and kinsman of Oliver. Hutchinson was not +only the second person in rank in the colony, but was also a man who had +personal claims of the highest kind upon his countrymen. He was an +American, a member of one of the oldest colonial families, and, in a +country where literary enterprise was very uncommon, he had devoted a +great part of his life to investigating the history of his native +province. His rare abilities, his stainless private character, and his +great charm of manner, were universally recognized. He had at one time +been one of the most popular men in the colony, and although Hutchinson +was opposed to the Stamp Act, the determined impartiality with which, as +Chief Justice, he upheld the law, soon made him obnoxious to the mob. + +[Illustration: ANDREW OLIVER, STAMP COLLECTOR ATTACKED BY THE MOB. + +His beautiful mansion on Oliver street, Fort Hill, was wrecked and he +narrowly escaped with his life.] + +When the mob surrounded his house in Garden Court street, they called +for him to appear on his balcony, to give an account of himself as to +the Stamp Act. He barred the doors and windows and remained within. One +of his neighbors, alarmed, no doubt, as to the safety of his own +property, told the mob that he had seen Hutchinson drive out just at +nightfall, and that he had gone to spend the night at his country house +at Milton. On hearing this the mob dispersed, having done no other +damage than the breaking of windows. + +The popular fury had now become so ungovernable and perilous that +Governor Bernard took refuge in the Castle, leaving Hutchinson to bear +the brunt of this vehement hostility. Shortly after the governor's +retreat, on the 26th of August, occurred a riot as disgraceful as any on +record on either side of the Atlantic. It commenced at dusk with a +bonfire on King street. One of the fire-wards attempted to extinguish +it, but he was driven from the ground by a heavy blow from one of the +mob which had assembled. The fire was doubtless kindled as a signal for +the assembling of a ruffianly body of disguised men, armed with clubs +and staves. They first went to the house of the register of the +admiralty court, broke into his office in the lower story, and fed the +fire hard by with the public archives in his keeping, and with all his +own private papers. Next they went to the house of the comptroller of +customs in Hanover street, tore down his fence, broke his windows, +demolished his furniture, stole his money, scattered his papers, and +availed themselves of the wine in his cellar as a potent stimulant to +greater excesses. + +They then proceeded to Hutchinson's house, the finest and most costly in +Boston. He had barely time to escape with his family, otherwise murder +would no doubt have put a climax to the criminal orgies of the night. +The rioters hewed down the doors with broad axes, destroyed or stole +everything of value, including important historical data which he had +spent years in collecting, papers which, if preserved to his countrymen, +would be worth many times their weight in gold; and still further +maddened by the contents of the cellar, the incendiary crowd broke up +the roof and commenced tearing down the wood-work of the mansion. + +There exists competent evidence that the municipal authorities had +timely notice of the pendency of this riot. They held a town meeting +next day, denounced the rioters by unanimous vote, in which many who had +been foremost in the affair gave assent to their own condemnation, but +nothing was done towards punishing the perpetrators of the outrages, and +it was evident that the prevailing feeling was with the rioters. Those +who were arrested and committed for trial were released by a formidable +body of sympathizers, undoubtedly fellow criminals, who went by night to +the jail, forced the jailer to deliver up the keys, and released the +culprits. + +The Custom House was selected for assault and pillage on the following +night. The collector somehow gained information of this purpose. He had +in his custody about four thousand pounds in specie, which could not be +removed so secretly as to elude the espionage of eyes intent on rapine +and plunder. The governor, at the urgent demand of the collector, +called out the cadets, who constituted his special guard. The mob +assembled. The commanding officers addressed them, first with +persuasion, then with threats, but in vain. Driven to extremity he +ordered his company to prime and load, and then begged the rioters to +retire. They remained immovable until the order was given to "aim," when +a hurried retreat of the tumultuous rabble ensued. + +There were, subsequently, various public demonstrations of a disorderly +character; effigies of unpopular members of the home and provincial +governments were hanged and burned, and there were frequent displays of +violent hostility to the administration; but it was not till June, 1768, +that there was another dangerous and destructive riot. In this there +cannot be the slightest doubt that the mob had on their side as little +moral justification as legal right. The sloop "Liberty," belonging to +John Hancock, a leading merchant of the patriot party, arrived at +Boston, laden with wine from Madeira, and a custom-house officer went on +board to inspect the cargo. He was seized by the crew and detained for +several hours, while the cargo was landed, and a few pipes of wine were +entered on oath at the Custom House as if they had been the whole. On +the liberation of the customs' officers the vessel was seized for a +false entry, and in order to prevent the possibility of a rescue it was +removed from the wharf to the protection of the guns of a man of war. A +mob was speedily collected, and as the rabble could not get possession +of the sloop, they attacked the revenue officers for doing their duty in +properly seizing the vessel for false entry and smuggling. The +collector, his son, and two inspectors, received the most barbarous +treatment, were badly bruised and wounded, and hardly escaped with their +lives. The mob next went to the house of the inspector-general, and to +that of the comptroller of customs, and broke their windows. They then +dragged the collector's boat to the Common and burned it there. + +When we consider the lawless condition of Boston, there cannot be any +question that Governor Bernard was fully authorized to seek the presence +of troops. The crown officers were in a rightful possession of their +offices, and it would have been cowardly for them to desert their posts +and sail for England, and thus to leave anarchy behind them. Meanwhile +their lives were in peril, and they had an unquestionable right to +demand competent protection. This they could have only by sending out of +the province for it. The colonial militia could not be relied upon, for +the mob must have been largely represented in its ranks. Nor could +dependence be placed on the cadets, for Hancock, in whose behalf the +last great riot had been perpetrated, was an officer of that corps. The +only recourse was to the importation of royal troops--a measure which +legal modes of remonstrance by patriots worthy of the name would never +have rendered necessary or justifiable. + +Two regiments, the 14th and 29th, of about five hundred men each, +arrived on Sept. 28, 1768. These soldiers were, of course, a burden and +annoyance. They could not have been otherwise. Individually they were +not gentlemen, and they could not have been expected to be so. Yet had +their presence been desired or welcome, there is no reason to suppose +that there would have been any unpleasant collision with them. + +The first token of resentment on the part of the populace occurred +eleven days after their arrival. The colonel of one of the regiments had +ordered a guard-house to be built on the Neck. The site was visited in +the night by a mob, who tore down the frame of the building and cut it +in pieces, so that no part of it could be put to further use. From that +time on there were perpetual quarrels and brisk interchanges of +contumely, abuse, and insult between the soldiers and the inhabitants, +in which gangs of ropemakers bore a prominent part. There was +undoubtedly no lack of ill-blood on either side, but, after patiently +reading the contemporary record of what took place, we are inclined to +adopt the statement of Samuel G. Drake, whose intense loyalty as a +loving citizen of Boston no one can question, and who writes "That +outrages were committed by the soldiers is no doubt true; but these +outrages were exaggerated, and they probably, in nine cases out of ten, +were the abused party."[29] + + [29] "History of Boston," Samuel T. Drake, page 778. + +Passing over intervening dissensions and tumults, we now come to the +so-called "Boston Massacre," on the 5th of March, 1770, an occasion on +which loss of life was inevitable, and the only question was whether it +should be among the soldiers or their assailants. The riot was evidently +predetermined, as one of the bells was rung about eight o'clock, and +immediately afterwards bands of men, with clubs, appeared upon the +streets. Early in the evening there had been some interchange of +hostilities, chiefly verbal, between the soldiers and town people, but +an officer had ordered his men into the barrack-yard, and closed the +gate. The "main guard," for that day's duty, was from the 29th regiment. + +About nine o'clock a solitary sentinel in front of the custom-house on +King street, now known as State street, was assailed by a party of men +and boys, who pelted him with lumps of ice and coal, and threatened him +with their clubs. Being forbidden by the rules of the service to quit +his post, he called upon the "main guard," whose station was within +hearing. A corporal and seven soldiers were sent to his relief. They +were followed by Captain Preston, who said, "I will go there myself to +see that they do no mischief." By that time the crowd had become a large +one, intensely angry, and determined on violence. The mob supposed the +soldiers were helpless and harmless; that they were not permitted to +fire unless ordered by a magistrate. The rioters repeatedly challenged +the soldiers to fire if they dared, and the torrent of coarse and +profane abuse poured upon the soldiers is astonishing even in its echoes +across the century, and would furnish material for an appropriate +inscription on the Attucks monument. The soldiers stood on the defensive +while their lives were endangered by missiles, and till the crowd closed +upon them in a hand-to-hand conflict. The leader of the assault was +"Crispus Attucks," a half Indian and half negro, who raised the +blood-curdling war-whoop, the only legacy save his Indian surname and +his strength and ferocity, that he is known to have received from his +savage ancestry. He knocked down one of the soldiers, got possession of +his musket, and would, no doubt, have killed him instantly had not the +soldiers fired at that moment and killed Attucks and two other men, two +more being fatally wounded. There is no evidence that Captain Preston +ordered the firing, though if he did he certainly deserved no blame, as +the shooting was, for the soldiers, the only means of defence. There is +no doubt that the mobs on these occasions were set in movement and +directed by some persons of higher rank and larger views of mischief +than themselves. + +Gordon, the historian of the American Revolution, informs us that the +mob was addressed, in the street, before the firing, by a tall, large +man, in a red cloak and white wig, and after listening to what he had to +offer in the space of three or four minutes, they huzza for the "main +guard" and say, "We will do for the soldiers." He also said, "But from +the character, principles, and policies of certain persons among the +leaders of the opposition, it may be feared that they had no objection +to a recounter that by occasioning the death of a few might eventually +clear the place of the two regiments." + +This avowal, which, coming from such a source, has all the weight of +premeditation, chills us with its deliberate candor, and begets +reflections on the desperate means resorted to by some of the leaders of +the populace in those trying times, which historians generally have +shrunk from suggesting. + +Hutchinson fulfilled at this time, with complete adequacy, the functions +of chief magistrate. He was at once in the street in imminent danger of +having his brains dashed out,[30] expostulating, entreating, that order +might be observed. His prompt arrest of Preston and the squad which had +done the killing was his full duty, and it is to the credit of the +troops that the officer and his men, in the midst of the exasperation, +gave themselves quietly into the hands of the law. + + [30] "Life of Thomas Hutchinson," page 162. + +In the famous scenes which followed, the next day, Samuel Adams and +other leading agitators, as representatives of the people, rushed into +the presence of Hutchinson, and rather commanded than asked for the +removal of the troops. Hutchinson hesitated. He was not yet +governor--Bernard was in England. The embarrassment of the situation for +the chief magistrate was really appalling. He knew that their removal +would, under the circumstances, be a great humiliation to the government +and a great encouragement to the mob. On the other hand, if the soldiers +remained it was only too probable that in a few hours the streets of +Boston would run with blood. He consulted the council, and found, as +usual, an echo of the public voice. He then yielded, and the troops were +sent to Fort William, on Castle Island, three miles from the town. + +Although, from that day to this, it has been held that the British +uniform was driven with ignominy out of the streets of Boston, they +deserve no discredit for their submission to the Governor and his +council. They were two weak regiments, together amounting to not more +than eight hundred effective men, isolated in a populous province which +hated them, and were in great peril of life. It does not appear that +they showed the white feather at all, but rather that they were +law-abiding. Probably few organizations in the British army have a +record more honorable. The 14th was with William III. in Flanders; it +formed, too, one of the squares of Waterloo, breasting for hours the +charges of the French cuirassiers until it had nearly melted away. The +29th was with Marlboro at Ramillies, and with Wellington in the +Peninsula; it bore a heavy part, as may be read in Napier, in wresting +Spain from the grasp of Napoleon. To fight it out with the mob would no +doubt have been far easier and pleasanter than to yield; for brave +soldiers to forbear is harder than to fight, and one may be sure that in +the long history of those regiments few experiences more trying came to +pass than those of the Boston streets. + +Few things contributed more to commence the American Revolution than +this unfortunate affray. Skillful agitators perceived the advantage it +gave them, and the most fantastic exaggerations were dexterously +diffused. It, however, had a sequel which is extremely creditable to the +citizens of Boston. + +It was determined to try the soldiers for their lives, and public +feeling ran so fiercely against them that it seemed as if their fate was +sealed. The trial, however, was delayed for seven months till the +excitement had in some degree subsided. Captain Preston very judiciously +appealed to John Adams, who was rapidly rising to the first place among +the lawyers and the popular party of Boston, to undertake his defence. +Adams knew well how much he was risking by espousing so unpopular a +cause, but he knew also his professional duty, and though violently +opposed to the British Government, he was an eminently honest, brave, +and humane man. In conjunction with Josiah Quincy, a young lawyer who +was also of the popular party, he undertook the invidious task, and he +discharged it with consummate ability. Three years afterwards he wrote +in his diary: "The part I took in defence of Capt. Preston and the +soldiers procured me anxiety and obloquy enough. It was, however, one of +the most gallant, generous, manly, and disinterested acts of my whole +life, and one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country. +Judgment of death against those soldiers would have been as foul a stain +upon this country as the execution of the Quakers or witches, anciently. +As the evidence was, the verdict of the jury was exactly right." + +These noble words and his actions in this matter are sufficient alone to +prove that John Adams was a fit successor to President Washington. He +was entirely just in the estimate he put upon his conduct in these frank +terms. His defence of the soldiers was one of the most courageous acts +that a thoroughly manly man performed, and his summing up of the matter +just quoted, is perfectly accurate. If John Adams showed himself here a +man of sense and a hero, as much cannot be said of his cousin, Samuel +Adams, who undoubtedly was one of the leaders who incited the mob to +attack the soldiers, as hinted at by Gordon. And, again, in the +vindictive persecution which followed, in the attempt to arouse in +England and America indignation against the soldiers, by documents based +on evidence hastily collected in advance of the trial, from wholly +unreliable witnesses, and in the attempt to precipitate the trial while +passion was still hot, the misbehavior of the people was grave. In all +this no leader was more eager than Samuel Adams, and in no time in his +career, probably, does he more plainly lay himself open to the charge of +being a reckless demagogue, a mere mob-leader, than at this moment. + +Captain Preston and six of the soldiers, who were tried for murder, were +acquitted; two of the soldiers, convicted of manslaughter, were branded +on the hand and then released. The most important testimony in the case +was that of the celebrated surgeon, John Jeffries, who attended Patrick +Carr, an Irishman, fatally wounded in the affray. It is as follows: "He +said he saw many things thrown at the sentry; he believed they were +oyster shells and ice; he heard the people huzza every time they heard +anything strike that sounded hard. He then saw some soldiers going down +towards the custom-house; he saw the people pelt them as they went +along. I asked him whether he thought the soldiers would fire; he said +he thought the soldiers would have fired long before. I then asked him +if he thought the soldiers were abused a great deal; he said he thought +they were. I asked him whether he thought the soldiers would have been +hurt if they had not fired; he said he really thought they would, for he +heard many voices cry out, 'Kill them!' I asked him, meaning to close +all, whether he thought they fired in self-defence or on purpose to +destroy the people; he said he really thought they did fire to defend +themselves; that he did not blame the man, whoever he was, that shot +him. He told me he was a native of Ireland; that he had frequently seen +mobs, and soldiers called to quell them. Whenever he mentioned that, he +called himself a fool; that he might have known better; that he had seen +soldiers often fire on people in Ireland, but had never in his life seen +them bear so much before they fired." + +John Adams, in his plea in defence of the soldiers, said: "We have been +entertained with a great variety of phrases to avoid calling this sort +of people a mob. Some called them shavers, some called them geniuses. +The plain English is, they were probably a motley rabble of saucy boys, +negroes, mulattoes, Irish teagues, and outlandish Jack-tars, and why we +should scruple to call such a set of people a mob, I can't conceive, +unless the name is too respectable for them." + +Chief-Justice Lynde, eminent for his judicial integrity and +impartiality, said on the announcement of the verdict: "Happy am I to +find, after much strict examination, the conduct of the prisoners +appears in so fair a light, yet I feel myself deeply affected that this +affair turns out so much to the disgrace of every person concerned +against them, and so much to the shame of the town in general." + +In 1887, at the instigation of John Boyle O'Reilly and the negroes of +Boston, the Legislature passed a bill authorizing the expenditure of +$10,000 for the purpose of erecting a monument to the memory of the +"victims of the Boston Massacre." The monument was erected on Boston +Common, notwithstanding the fact that the Massachusetts Historical +Society, and the New England Historic Genealogical Society, voted +unanimously against it. "That it was a waste of public money, that the +affray was occasioned by the brutal and revengeful attack of reckless +roughs upon the soldiers, while on duty, who had not the civilian's +privilege of retreating, but were obliged to contend against great odds, +and used their arms only in the last extremity; that the killed were +rioters and not patriots, and that a jury of Boston citizens had +acquitted the soldiers." A joint committee, composed of members of both +societies, presented the resolutions to Governor Ames, and requested him +to veto the bill. He admitted that "the monument ought not to be +erected, but if he vetoed the bill it would _cost the Republican party +the colored vote_." When the monument was erected and uncovered, it +presented such an indecent appearance that the City Council immediately +voted $250 for a new capstone. It now represents an historical lie, and +is a sad commentary on the intelligence and art taste of the citizens of +Boston. To be sure monuments of stone will not avail to perpetuate an +error of history, as witness the monument erected to commemorate the +Great Fire of London. The inscription on that monument, embodying a +gross perversion of history, was effaced in 1831, after it had stood +there one hundred and fifty years, but the just resentment, the +ill-feeling, the grief and shame which it engendered during that period, +had been evils of incalculable magnitude. The time will surely come when +the monument on Boston Common will be removed for the same reason. + +On the 18th of March, 1766, the Stamp Act was repealed. It had remained +in force but one year, and was then repealed in an effort to pacify the +colonists. A duty was placed on tea and other imports which the +colonists had always admitted to be a valid act of the Parliament. +Whatever might be said of the Stamp Act, the tea duty was certainly not +a real grievance to Americans, for Parliament had relieved the colonists +of a duty of 12d. in the pound which had hitherto been levied in +England, and the colonists were only asked, in compensation, to pay a +duty of 3d. in the pound on arrival of the tea in America. The measure, +therefore, was not an act of oppression, but of relief, making the price +of tea in the colonies positively cheaper by 9d. per pound than it had +been before. But the turbulent spirits were not to be satisfied so +easily. They organized an immense boycott against British goods and +commercial intercourse with England, and appointed vigilance committees +in many communities to see that the boycott was rigidly enforced. +Hutchinson, in describing them, says: "In this Province the faction is +headed by the lowest, dirtiest, and most abject part of the community, +and so absurdly do the Council and House of Representatives reason, that +they justify this anarchy, the worst of tyranny, as necessary to remove +a single instance of what they call oppression; they have persecuted my +sons with peculiar pleasure." August 26, 1770, he wrote to William +Parker, of Portsmouth: "You certainly think right when you think Boston +people are run mad. The frenzy was not higher when they banished my +pious great-grandmother, when they hanged the Quakers, when they +afterwards hanged the poor innocent witches, when they were carried away +with a Land Bank, or when they all turned "New Lights," than the +political frenzy has been for a twelve-month past."[31] + + [31] "Life of Hutchinson," page 195. + +In December, 1773, three ships laden with tea, private property of an +innocent corporation, arrived at Boston, and on the 16th of that month, +forty or fifty men, disguised as Mohawk Indians, under the direction of +Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and others, boarded the vessels, posted +sentinels to keep all agents of authority off at a distance, and flung +the three cargoes, consisting of three hundred and forty-two chests, +into the harbor. How can we, law-abiding citizens, applaud the "Boston +Tea Party" and condemn the high-handed conduct of strike-leaders of the +present time? In this transaction some respectable men were engaged, and +their posterity affects to be proud of it. But they were not proud of it +at the time. In their disguise as Indians they were not recognized, and +the few well-known names among them were not divulged till the rebellion +became a successful revolution. It probably made no "patriots." We have +proof that it afterwards turned the scales against the patriot cause +with some who had sympathized with it and taken part in it. + +Looking back to those times during later years, John Adams wrote: "The +poor people themselves, who, by _secret manoeuvres_, _are excited to +insurrection_, are seldom aware of the purposes for which they are set +in motion or of consequences which may happen to themselves; and _when +once heated and in full career_, _they can neither manage themselves nor +be managed by others_." + +[Illustration: BOSTONIANS PAYING THE EXCISEMAN, OR TARRING AND +FEATHERING. + +A cartoon published in London in 1771, showing how the authority of the +government was wholly disregarded in Boston.] + +The illegal seizure of the tea was in a certain sense parallel to the +so-called "respectable" mob which on the 11th of August, 1834, destroyed +the Charlestown convent, and, a year later, nearly killed Garrison and +made the jail his only safe place of refuge. Had slavery triumphed, that +mob would at this day be the object and the subject of popular +glorification; every man who belonged to it, who was present abetting +and encouraging it, would claim his share of the glory, and a roll of +honor would have been handed down for a centennial celebration in which +every slaveholder in the land would have borne a part. But now that +slavery is dead, and the statue of Garrison has its place in the +fashionable avenue of Boston, there is no longer any merit in the +endeavor to buttress the fallen cause. Had the Revolution failed, the +disgrace of the men who threw the tea overboard would never have been +removed, and the best that history could say of them would be that, like +the Attucks mob, they were enthusiasts without reason. + +John Hancock, one of the principal leaders of the Tea Party Mob, and the +owner of the sloop "Liberty," which was seized for smuggling, and later +the first to sign the Declaration of Independence, inherited L70,000 +from his uncle, who had made a large part of it by importing from the +Dutch island of St. Eustacia great quantities of tea, in molasses +hogsheads, and, by the importation of a few chests from England, had +freed the rest from suspicion, and not having been found out, had borne +the reputation of a "fair trader." Partly by inattention to his private +affairs, and partly from want of sound judgment, John Hancock became +greatly involved and distressed, and his estate was lost with much +greater rapidity than it had been acquired by his uncle.[32] + + [32] His. Mass. Bay, page 207. + +John Adams had very positive opinions concerning the mobs of the +Revolution. In a letter to his wife he says: + +"I am engaged in a famous cause. The cause of King of Scarborough +_versus_ a mob that broke into his house and rifled his papers and +terrified him, his wife, children and servants, in the night. The terror +and distress, the distraction and horror of this family, cannot be +described in words, or painted upon canvas. It is enough to move a +statue, to melt a heart of stone, to read the story. A mind susceptible +of the feelings of humanity, a heart which can be touched with +sensibility for human misery and wretchedness, must relent, must burn +with resentment and indignation at such outrageous injuries. These +private mobs I do and will detest."[33] + + [33] Letters of John Adams to his wife, Vol. I, pages 12-13. + +Concerning the Loyalists, he says: "A notion prevails among all parties +that it is politest and genteelest to be on the side of the +administration, that the better sort, the wiser few, are on one side, +and that the multitude, the vulgar, the herd, the rabble, the mob, only +are on the other."[34] + + [34] Letters of John Adams to his wife, Vol. I., page 12. + +As regards his own actions towards the Loyalists, he writes in his later +years as follows: + +"Nothing could be more false and injurious to me than the imputation of +any sanguinary zeal against the Tories, for I can truly declare that +through the whole Revolution, and from that time to this, I never +committed one act of severity against the Tories."[35] + + [35] Diary of John Adams, page 413. + +At the time of the shedding of the first blood at Lexington, Hancock was +respondent, in the admiralty court, in suits of the crown to recover +nearly half a million of dollars, as penalties alleged to have been +incurred for violation of the statute-book. It was fit that he should +be the first to affix his name to an instrument which, if made good, +would save him from financial ruin. + +One-fourth of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were bred +to trade or to the command of ships, and more than one of them was +branded with the epithet of "smuggler."[36] + + [36] Sabine. Vol. I., page 13. + +In 1773 John Hancock was elected treasurer of Harvard college. "In this +they considered their patriotism more than their prudence." The amount +of college funds paid over to him was upwards of fifteen thousand and +four hundred pounds, and, like his friend, Samuel Adams, he, too, proved +to be a defaulter. For twenty years the corporation begged and entreated +him to make restitution. They threatened to prosecute him and also to +put his bond in suit, as Adams' was, but it was all of no avail. He +turned a deaf ear to their entreaties, and it was only after his death, +in 1793, that his heirs made restitution to the college, when a +settlement was made, in 1795, in which the college lost five hundred and +twenty-six dollars interest. + +Josiah Quincy, the president of Harvard college, in referring to this +matter, says: + +"From respect to the high rank which John Hancock attained among the +patriots of the American Revolution, it would have been grateful to pass +over in silence the extraordinary course he pursued in his official +relation to Harvard college, had truth and the fidelity of history +permitted. But justice to a public institution which he essentially +embarrassed during a period of nearly twenty years, and also to the +memory of those whom he made to feel and to suffer, requires that these +records of unquestionable facts which at the time they occurred were the +cause of calumny and censure to honorable men, actuated in this measure +solely by a sense of official fidelity, should not be omitted. In +republics, popularity is the form of power most apt to corrupt its +possessor and to tempt him, for party or personal interests, to trample +on right to set principle at defiance. History has no higher or more +imperative duty to perform than, by an unyielding fidelity, to impress +this class of men with the apprehension that although through fear or +favor they may escape animadversion of contemporaries, there awaits them +in her impartial record, the retribution of truth."[37] + + [37] "History of Harvard University," by Josiah Quincy, Vol. II., pp. + 182-209. + +The action of the tea mob was the culmination of mob violence in Boston. +It brought the king and parliament to decide that their rebellious +subjects in Boston must be subdued by force of arms, and that mob +violence should cease. General Thomas Gage was to have at his command +four regiments and a powerful fleet. He arrived at Boston, May 13, 1774, +and was appointed to supersede Governor Thomas Hutchinson, as governor, +who had succeeded Governor Sir Francis Bernard in 1771. General Gage was +now in the prime of life. He had served with great credit under several +commanders, at Fontenoy and Culloden, and had fought with Washington, +under Braddock, at Monongahela, where he was severely wounded, and +carried a musket ball in his side for the remainder of his life as a +memento of that fatal battle. An intimacy then existed between him and +Washington, which was maintained afterwards by a friendly +correspondence, and which twenty years later ended regretfully when they +appeared, opposed to each other, at the head of contending armies, the +one obeying the commands of his sovereign and the other upholding the +cause of his people. How many cases similar to this occurred, eighty-six +years later, when brother officers in arms faced each other with hostile +forces, and friendship and brotherly love were changed to deadly hatred. + +The claim has been set up by American historians, and accepted as true +by those of Great Britain, that hostilities were commenced at Lexington +and by the British commander. This is not so. The first act of +hostilities was the attack upon the government post of Fort William and +Mary at Newcastle, in Portsmouth harbor, New Hampshire. The attack was +deliberately planned by the disunion leaders, and executed by armed and +disciplined forces mustered by them for that purpose.[38] The fort +contained large quantities of government arms and ammunition, and being +garrisoned by but a corporal's guard, it was too tempting a prize to be +overlooked by Samuel Adams and his colleagues. + +Sir John Wentworth, governor of New Hampshire, tells us that the raiding +party was openly collected by beat of drum in the streets of Portsmouth, +and that, being apprised of their intent to attack a government fort, he +sent the chief justice to warn them that such an act "was short of +rebellion," and entreated them not to undertake it, "but all to no +purpose." They embarked in three boats, sailed to the fortress and +"forced an entrance in spite of Captain Cochrane, the commander, who +defended it as long as he could. They then secured the captain +triumphantly, gave three cheers, and hauled down the king's colors."[38] + + [38] Letter of Governor Wentworth, New Eng. His. Gen. Reg., 1869, page + 274. + +Thomas Coffin Amory, in his "Military Service of General Sullivan," says +(p. 295) that "the raiding force consisted of men whom Sullivan had been +drilling for several months; that they captured 97 kegs of powder and a +quantity of small ammunition which were used against the British at +Bunker Hill." + +The attack on this fort is worthy of far more consideration than has +been given to it, for not only did it occur prior to the conflict at +Concord, but was the direct cause of that conflict. It was as much the +commencement of the Revolutionary war as was the attack on Fort Sumpter +by the disunionists, in 1861, the commencement of the Civil War, and had +precisely the same effect in each case. When the news reached London +that a government fort had been stormed by an organized force, its +garrison made prisoners and the flag of the empire torn down, the +ministers seem to have become convinced that it was the determination of +the colonists to make war upon the government. To tolerate such a +proceeding would be a confession that all law and authority was at an +end. Some vindication of that authority must be attempted. An order was +dispatched to General Gage to retake the munitions that had been seized +by the disunion forces, and any other found stored that might be used +for attacking the government troops; surely a very mild measure of +reprisal. It was in obedience to this order that the expedition was +dispatched to Concord, that brought about the collision between the +British and colonial troops and the so-called "Battle of Lexingon." + +In Rhode Island, a revenue outrage of more than common importance +occurred at this time. A small schooner named the Gaspee, in the +government service, with a crew of some 25 sailors, commanded by +Lieutenant Duddingston, while pursuing a suspected smuggler on June 6, +1772, ran aground on a sand-bar near Providence, and the ship which had +escaped brought the news to that town. Soon after a drum was beat +through the streets, and all persons who were disposed to assist in the +destruction of the king's ship were summoned to meet at the home of a +prominent citizen. There appears to have been no concealment or +disguise, and shortly after 10 at night eight boats, full of armed men, +started with muffled oars on the expedition. They reached the stranded +vessel in the deep darkness of the early morning. Twice the sentinel on +board vainly hailed them, when Duddingston himself appeared in his shirt +upon the gunwale and asked who it was that approached. The leader of the +party answered with a profusion of oaths that he was the sheriff of the +county, come to arrest him, and while he was speaking one of his men +deliberately shot the lieutenant, who fell, badly wounded, on the deck. +In another minute the "Gaspee" was boarded and taken without any loss to +the attacking party. The crew was overpowered, bound and placed upon the +shore. Duddingston, his wounds having been dressed, was landed at a +neighboring house. The party set fire to the "Gaspee," and while its +flames announced to the whole county the success of the expedition, they +returned, in broad daylight to Providence. Large rewards were offered by +the British government for their detection, but though they were +universally known, no evidence could be obtained, and the outrage was +entirely unpunished. It is to be observed that this act of piracy and +open warfare against the government was committed by the citizens of a +colony that had no cause for controversy with the home government, and +whose constitution was such a liberal one that it was not found +necessary to change one word of it when the province became an +independent republic. + +General Gage, being informed that powder and other warlike stores were +being collected in surrounding towns for the purpose of being used +against the government, he sent, on Sept. 1, 1774, two hundred soldiers +up the Mystic river, who took from the powder house 212 barrels of +powder, and brought off two field-pieces from Cambridge. On April 18, +1775, at 10 o'clock at night, eight hundred men embarked from Boston +Common and crossed the Charles river in boats to the Cambridge shore. +At the same time Paul Revere rowed across the river, lower down, and +landed in Charlestown, and then, on horseback, went in advance of the +troops to alarm the country. He was pursued, and with another scout +named Dawes, was captured by the troops. At the dawn of day Lexington +was reached, 12 miles distant from Boston, where the troops were +confronted on the village green by the Lexington militia, which was +ordered by the commander of the British expedition to disperse, but +failing to do so they were fired on by the troops, and several of them +killed. The militia dispersed without firing a shot. + +The troops gave three cheers in token of their victory, and continued +their march to Concord, their objective point, where they were informed +munitions of war were being collected. They arrived there at 9 o'clock, +and after destroying the stores collected there, they took up their +march for Boston. But now the alarm had spread through the country. The +troops had hardly commenced marching, when, crossing the North Bridge +they were fired upon by the Americans; one soldier was killed and +another wounded.[39] + + [39] As the wounded soldier was crawling away he was met by a boy who + had been chopping wood, and who, inflamed by the spirit of the hour, + killed him with his axe. The two soldiers lay buried near the stonewall + where they fell. More than a century later a young woman came here + recently from Nottinghamshire, who was a relative of one of them. She + went to the graves and placed upon them a wreath, singing as she did so, + "God save the King!" + +Captain Davis and Abner Hosmer, two Americans, were killed by the +British fire. On the march towards Boston the troops were met by the +fire of the Americans from the stonewalls on either side of the highway, +along the skirt of every wood or orchard, and from every house or barn +or cover in sight. The troops, exposed to such a galling attack in flank +and rear, must have surrendered had they not been met with +reinforcements from Boston. This very emergency had been anticipated, +and General Gage had sent out a brigade of a thousand men, and two +field-pieces, under Earl Percy. The forces met at Lexington about 2 +o'clock in the afternoon. After a short interval of rest and +refreshment, the troops took up their line of march for Boston. At every +point on the road they met an increasing number of militia, who by this +time had gathered in such force as to constitute a formidable foe. It +was a terrible march. Many were killed, on both sides, and it was with +the greatest difficulty that Lord Percy was able at last, about sunset, +to bring his command to Charlestown Neck under cover of the ships of +war. The troops lost that day in killed, wounded, and missing, 273; the +Americans, 93. The war of the Revolution had commenced. The fratricidal +struggle was entered into, between men of the same race and blood who +had stood shoulder to shoulder in many a hard-fought field; brothers, +fathers and sons, were to engage in a deadly struggle that should last +for years, and which, eighty-six years after wards, was to be repeated +over again in the war between the North and South. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +_THE LOYALISTS OF MASSACHUSETTS._ + + +At the outbreak of the American rebellion the great majority of men in +the colonies could be regarded as indifferent, ready to stampede and +rush along with the successful party. Loyalty was their normal +condition; the state _had_ existed and _did_ exist, and it was the +disunionists who must do the converting, the changing of men's opinion +to suit a new order of things which the disunionists believed necessary +for their welfare. Opposed to the revolutionists were the crown +officials, dignified and worthy gentlemen, who held office by virtue of +a wise selection. Hardly to be distinguished from the official class +were the clergy of the Established Church, who were partially dependent +for their livings upon the British government. The officers and clergy +received the support of the landowners and the substantial business men, +the men who were satisfied with the existing order of things. The +aristocracy of culture, of dignified professions and callings, of +official rank and hereditary wealth, was, in a large measure, found in +the Loyalist party. Such worthy and talented men of high social +positions were the leaders of the opposition to the rebellion. +Supporting them was the natural conservatism of all prosperous men. The +men who had abilities which could not be recognized under the existing +regime, and those that form the lower strata of every society and are +every ready to overthrow the existing order of things, these were the +ones who were striving to bring about a change--a revolution. + +The persecution of the Loyalists by the Sons of Despotism, or the "Sons +of Liberty," as they called themselves, was mercilessly carried out; +every outrage conceivable was practiced upon them. Freedom of speech was +suppressed; the liberty of the press destroyed; the voice of truth +silenced, and throughout the colonies was established a lawless power. +As early as 1772 "committees of correspondence" had been organized +throughout Massachusetts. Adams exclaimed in admiration: "What an +engine! France imitated it and produced a revolution."[40] Leonard, the +Loyalist, with "abhorrence pronounced it the foulest, subtlest and most +venomous serpent ever issued from the egg of sedition."[41] Insult and +threat met the Loyalist at every turn. One day he was, perhaps, set upon +a cake of ice to cool his loyalty,[42] and was then informed that a +certain famous liberty man had sworn to be his butcher. Next he was told +that he might expect a "sans benito" of tar and feathers, and even an +"auto da fe." The committee sent "Patriot" newspapers and other +propaganda to the wavering or obstinate, but seldom failed to follow +this system of conversion with a personal interview if the literature +failed. Such were the means that were used by the "Sons of Despotism" to +bring over the mass of the people to the disunion cause. + + [40] John Adams' Letters. Vol. X, page 197. + + [41] "Massachusettsensis." + + [42] "Moor's Diary." Vol. I., page 359. + +In the courts of law, not even the rights of a foreigner were left to +the Loyalist. If his neighbors owed him money he had no legal redress +until he took an oath that he favored American independence. All legal +action was denied him. He might be assaulted, insulted, blackmailed or +slandered, though the law did not state it so boldly, yet he had no +recourse in law. No relative or friend could leave an orphan child, to +his guardianship. He could be the executor or administrator of no man's +estate. He could neither buy land nor transfer it to another; he was +denied his vocation and his liberty to speak or write his opinions. All +these restrictions were not found in any one place, nor at any one time, +nor were they always rigorously enforced. Viewed from the distance of +one hundred years, the necessity of such barbarous severity is not now +apparent. + +When this ostracism was approved by a large majority of the inhabitants +of a town the victim was practically expelled from the community. None +dared to give him food or comfort. He was a pariah, and to countenance +him was to incur public wrath. + +On January 17, 1777, Massachusetts passed an Act punishing with death +the "Crime of adhering to Great Britain." The full extent of this law +was not carried into effect in Massachusetts, but it was in other +colonies. The "Black List" of Pennsylvania contained the names of 490 +persons attainted of high treason. Only a few actually suffered the +extreme penalty. Among these were two citizens of Philadelphia--Mr. +Roberts and Mr. Carlisle. When the British army evacuated Philadelphia, +they remained, although warned of their danger. They were at once seized +by the returning disunionists and condemned to be hanged. Mr. Roberts's +wife and children went before congress and on their knees supplicated +for mercy, but in vain. In carrying out the sentence the two men, with +halters around their necks, were walked to the gallows behind a cart, +"attended with all the apparatus which makes such scenes truly +horrible." A guard of militia accompanied them; but few spectators.[43] + + [43] "Penn Packet," Nov. 17, 1778. "Penn Archives," Vol. VIII, page 22. + "Dallis," Vol. I., pp 39, 42; "Galloway's Examinations," page 77. + +At the gallows Mr. Roberts' behavior, wrote a loyal friend, "did honor +to human nature," and both showed fortitude and composure. + +Roberts told his audience that his conscience acquitted him of guilt: +that he suffered for doing his duty to his sovereign; that his blood +would one day be required at their hands. Turning to his children he +charged and exhorted them to remember his principles for which he died, +and to adhere to them while they had breath. "He suffered with the +resolution of a Roman," wrote a witness. + +After the execution, the bodies of the two men were carried away by +friends and their burial was attended by over 4000 in procession.[44] +Some of the more heartless leaders of the rebellion defended this +severity of treatment and thought "hanging the traitors" would have a +good effect and "give stability to the new government." "One suggested +that the Tories seemed designed for this purpose by Providence."[44] The +more thoughtful leaders, however, denounced the trial of Loyalists for +treason, and Washington feared that it might prove a dangerous +expedient. It was true, he granted, that they had joined the British +after such an offence had been declared to be treason; but as they had +not taken the oath, nor entered into the American service, it would be +said that they had a right to choose their side. "Again," he added, "by +the same rule that we try them may not the enemy try any natural-born +subject of Great Britain taken in arms in our service? We have a great +number of them and I, therefore, think we had better submit to the +necessity of treating a few individuals who may really deserve a severer +fate, as prisoners of war, than run the risk of giving an opening for +retaliation upon the Europeans in our service."[45] + + [44] "Records of North Carolina," Vol. XI., page 561. + + [45] "Washington's Writings," Vol. VI., page 241. + +American writers never fail to tell of the "brutal and inhuman +treatment" of the American prisoners by the British in the prisons and +prison-ships at New York, where about five thousand prisoners were +confined. We are informed that their sufferings in the prison-ships were +greater than those in the prisons on land; that "every morning the +prisoners brought up their bedding to be aired, and after washing the +decks, they were allowed to remain above till sunset, when they were +ordered below with imprecations and the savage cry, "Down, rebels! +Down!" The hatches were then closed, and in serried ranks they lay down +to sleep," etc.[46] That many died from dysentery, smallpox and prison +fever, there is no doubt; but there is not any record that _they were +starved to death_. Compare the above treatment of prisoners by the +British with that of the Loyalists by the disunionists! In East Granby, +Connecticut, was situated an underground prison which surpassed the +horrors of the Black Hole of Calcutta. These barbarities and +inhumanities were the portion of those who had been guilty of loyalty to +their country, a social class distinguished by both their public and +private virtues. It seemed almost incredible that their +fellow-countrymen should have confined them in a place unfit for human +beings. + + [46] Lossing, "Field Book of the Revolution," Vol. II., page 661. + +This den of horrors, known as "Newgate Prison," was an old worked-out +copper mine, sixty feet under ground, in the hills of East Granby. The +only entrance to it was by means of a ladder down a shaft which led to +the caverns under ground. The darkness was intense; the caves reeked +with filth; vermin abounded; water trickled from the roof and oozed from +the sides of the cavern; huge masses of earth were perpetually falling +off. In the dampness and the filth the clothing of the prisoners grew +mouldy and rotted away, and their limbs became stiff with rheumatism. + +During the Revolutionary war Loyalists of importance were confined in +this place of horrors, then of national importance, although now but +seldom referred to by American writers. Loyalists were consigned to it +for safe keeping by Washington himself. In a letter dated December 11, +1775, addressed to the Committee of Safety, Simsbury, Conn., he informed +them that the "charges of their imprisonment will be at the Continental +expense," and "to confine them in such manner so that they cannot +possibly make their escape."[47] + + [47] "History of Simsbury and Granby," page 125. + +"Driven to desperation the Loyalists rose against their guards. About 10 +o'clock at night, on the 18th of May, 1781, when all the guards but two +had retired to rest, a wife of one of the prisoners appeared, to whom +permission was given to visit her husband in the cavern. Upon the +hatches being removed to admit her passing down, the prisoners who were +at the door, and prepared for the encounter, rushed up, seized the gun +of the sentry on duty, who made little or no resistance, and became +master of the guard-room before those who were asleep could be aroused +to make defence. The officer of the guard who resisted was killed, and +others wounded. The guard was easily overcome, a few sought safety in +flight, but the greater number were disarmed by the prisoners. The +prisoners, numbering twenty-eight persons, having equipped themselves +with the captured arms, escaped, and, with few exceptions avoided +recapture."[48] + + [48] "History of Simsbury and Granby," pp. 123, 124. + +The heart sickens at the recital of the sufferings of the Loyalists, and +we turn in disgust from the views which the pen of faithful history +records. + +After the legislation of 1778 every grievance the colonists had put +forward as a reason for taking up arms had been redressed, every claim +they had presented had been abandoned, and from the time when the +English parliament surrendered all right of taxation and internal +legislation in the colonies, and when the English Commissioners laid +their propositions before the Americans, the character of the war had +wholly changed. It was no longer a war for self-taxation and +constitutional liberty. It was now an attempt, with the assistance of +France and Spain, to establish independence by shattering the British +empire. + +There were brave and honest men in America who were proud of the great +and free empire to which they belonged, who had no desire to shirk the +burden of maintaining it, who remembered with gratitude that it was not +colonial, but all English blood that had been shed around Quebec and +Montreal in defence of the colonies. Men who with nothing to hope for +from the crown were prepared to face the most brutal mob violence and +the invectives of a scurrilous press; to risk their fortunes, their +reputation, and sometimes even their lives, in order to avert civil war +and ultimate separation. Most of them ended their days in poverty and +exile, and, as the supporters of a beaten cause, history has paid but a +scanty tribute to their memory. But they comprised some of the best and +ablest men America has ever produced, and they were contending for an +ideal which was at least as worthy as that for which Washington fought. + +It was the maintenance of one great, free, industrial, and pacific +empire, comprising the whole British race, holding the richest plains of +Asia in possession, blending all that was most venerable in an ancient +civilization with the abundant energies of a youthful social combination +likely in a few generations to outstrip every commercial competitor, and +to acquire an indisputable ascendency among the nations. Such an ideal +was a noble one, and there were Americans who were prepared to make any +personal sacrifice to realize it. These men were the LOYALISTS of the +Revolution. Consider what the result would be today had not this +"Anglo-Saxon Schism," as Goldwin Smith calls it, taken place. There +would be a great English-speaking nation of 130,000,000 that could +dominate the world. They would in all substantial respects be one +people, in language, literature, institutions, and social usages, +whether settled in South Africa, in Australia, in the primitive home, or +in North America. + +Because the Revolution had its origin in Massachusetts, and the old Bay +State furnished a large part of the men and the means to carry it to a +successful issue,[49] it seems to have been taken for granted that the +people embraced the popular side almost in a mass. + + [49] The Southern States furnished 59,330 men; the Middle States 54,116, + and New England 118,355, of which number Massachusetts furnished 67,907. + ("General Knox's Report.") + +A more mistaken opinion than this has seldom prevailed. At the +evacuation of Boston, General Gage was accompanied by eleven hundred +Loyalists, which included the best people of the town. Boston at that +time had a population of 16,000. "Among these persons of distinguished +rank and consideration there were members of the council, commissioners, +officers of the customs, and other officials, amounting to one hundred +and two; of clergymen, eighteen; of inhabitants of country towns, one +hundred and five; of merchants and other persons who resided in Boston, +two hundred and thirteen; of farmers, mechanics and traders, three +hundred and eighty-two."[50] + + [50] Sabine, "Loyalists of the Revolution," Vol. I., page 25. + +Cambridge lost nearly all her men of mark and high standing; nearly all +the country towns were thus bereft of the very persons who had been the +most honored and revered. With the exiles were nearly one hundred +graduates of Harvard college. + +Among the proscribed and banished were members of the old historic +families, Hutchinson, Winthrop, Saltonstall, Quincy, the Sewells, and +Winslows, families of which the exiled members were not one whit behind +those that remained, in intelligence, social standing and moral worth. + +At the evacuation of New York and Savannah no fewer than 30,000 persons +left the United States for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. From northern +New York and Vermont the Loyalists crossed over into Upper Canada, and +laid the foundations of that prosperous province under the vigorous +leadership of Governor Simcoe, who, during the war, commanded a regiment +of Loyalist rangers which had done efficient service. Many of the +Southern Loyalists settled in Florida, the Bahamas and the West India +Islands. + +Familiar New England names meet one at every turn in the maritime +provinces, especially Nova Scotia. Dr. Inglis, from Trinity church, New +York, was the first bishop, and Judge Sewell, of Massachusetts, the +first chief justice there. The harshness of the laws and the greed of +the new commonwealth had driven into exile men who could be ill spared, +and whose absence showed itself in the lack of balance and of political +steadiness which characterized the early history of the republic, while +the newly-founded colonies, composed almost exclusively of +conservatives, were naturally slow, but sure, in their development. The +men who were willing to give up home, friends and property, for an idea, +are not men to be despised; they are, rather, men for us to claim with +pride and honor as American--men of the same blood, and the same speech +as ourselves; Americans who were true to their convictions and who +suffered everything except the loss of liberty, for their political +faith. We look in vain among the lists of voluntary and banished +refugees from Massachusetts for a name on which rests any tradition of +disgrace or infamy, to which the finger of scorn can be pointed. Can +this be said of the Revolutionary leaders of Massachusetts, the +so-called patriots, to whom the Revolution owes its inception? If the +reader has any doubts on this subject, then let him compare the lives of +the Loyalists, as given in this work, with those of Samuel Adams, John +Hancock, and other Revolutionary leaders. The Loyalists were generally +people of substance; their stake in the country was greater, even, than +that of their opponents; their patriotism, no doubt, fully as fervent. +"There is much that is melancholy, of which the world knows but little, +connected with this expulsion from the land they sincerely loved. The +estates of the Loyalists were among the fairest, their stately mansions +stood on the sightliest hill-brows, the richest and best-tilled meadows +were their farms; the long avenue, the broad lawn, the trim hedge about +the garden, servants, plate, pictures, for the most part these things +were at the homes of the Loyalists. They loved beauty, dignity and +refinement." The rude contact of town meetings was offensive to their +tastes. The crown officials were courteous, well-born and congenial +gentlemen. + +"The graceful, the chivalrous, the poetic, the spirits over whom these +feelings had power, were sure to be Loyalists. Democracy was something +rude and coarse, and independence to them meant a severance of those +connections of which a colonist ought to be proudest." + +"Hence when the country rose, many a high-bred, honorable gentleman, +turned the key in his door, drove down his tree-lined avenue with his +refined dame and carefully-guarded children at his side, turned his back +on his handsome estate, and put himself under the shelter of the proud +banner of St. George. It was a mere temporary refuge, he thought, and he +promised himself a speedy return when discipline and loyalty should have +put down the rabble and the misled rustics." + +"But the return was never to be. The day went against them; they crowded +into ships, with the gates of their country barred forever behind them. +They found themselves penniless upon shores sometimes bleak and barren, +always showing scant hospitality to outcasts who came empty-handed, and +there they were forced to begin life anew. Consider the condition of +Hutchinson, Apthorp, Gray, Clarke, Faneuil, Sewell, Royal, Vassall, and +Leonard, families of honorable note bound in with all that was best in +the life of the Province." "Who can think of their destiny +unpityingly."[51] + + [51] Hosmer's "Life of Hutchinson." pages 321, 322. + +A man suspected of loyalty to the crown was not left at peace, but was +liable to peremptory banishment unless he would swear allegiance to the +"Sons of Liberty," and if he returned he was subject to forcible +deportation, and to death on the gallows if he returned a second time. + +One of the first acts of the revolutionary party when they returned to +Boston after the British evacuation, was to confiscate and sell all +property belonging to Loyalists and apply the receipts to supply the +public needs. The names and fate of a considerable proportion of these +Loyalists and those that preceded and succeeded the Boston emigration, +will be found in succeeding pages. Most of them went to Halifax, Nova +Scotia, and St. John, New Brunswick, where they endured great privation. +Many, however, subsequently went to England and there passed the +remainder of their lives. We find seventy or more of the Massachusetts +Loyalists holding offices of greater or less importance in the +provinces, and many of them were employed in places of high trust and +large influence in various parts of the Empire. They and their sons +filled for more than half a century the chief offices in the Nova Scotia +and New Brunswick judiciary, and they and their descendants must have +contributed in a degree not easily estimated to the elevation and +progress of those provinces. + + Men whose fathers, mocked and broken + For the honor of a name. + Would not wear the conqueror's token, + Could not salt their bread with shame. + + Plunged them in the virgin forest + With their axes in their hands, + Built a Province as a bulwark + For the loyal of the lands. + + Won it by the axe and harrow, + Held it by the axe and sword, + Bred a race with brawn and marrow, + From no alien over-lord. + Gained the right to guide and govern; + Then with labor strong and free + Forged the land a shield of Empire, + Silver sea to silver sea. + + --Duncan C. Scott. + +In this way the United States, out of their own children, built upon +their borders a colony of rivals in navigation and the fisheries, whose +loyalty to the British crown was sanctified by misfortune. It is +impossible to say how many of these Loyalists would have been on the +Revolutionists' side had the party opposed to the crown been kept under +the control of its leaders. But they were, most of them, of the class of +men that would have the least amount of tolerance for outrage and +rapine, and when we consider how closely they were identified with the +institutions of their native province, and how little remains on record +of anything like rancor or malignity on their part, there can be little +doubt that a considerable proportion of them would have been saved for +the republic but for the very acts which posterity has been foolish +enough to applaud, and for their loss Massachusetts was appreciably the +poorer for more than one or two generations. + +It is also admitted by those who are authorities on the subject, that if +it had not been for the brutal and intolerant persecution of the +Loyalists, the ruthless driving of these unfortunate people from their +homes, with the subsequent confiscation of property, the attempt to +throw off the authority of Great Britain at the time of the +Revolutionary War would not have succeeded; that is, people entirely or +at least reasonably content with the previous political condition were +terrorized into becoming patriots by the fear of the consequences that +would follow if they remained Loyalists. + +The fact is, that, as far as the Americans were in it, the war of the +Revolution was a civil war in which the two sides were not far from +equality in numbers, in social conditions, and in their manners and +customs. The Loyalists contended all through the war that they were in a +numerical majority, and if they could have been properly supported by +British forces, the war might have ended in 1777, before the French +alliance had given hope and strength to the separatist party. Sabine +computes that there were at least 25,000 Americans in the military +service of the King, at one time or another, during the wars. In New +York, New Jersey, the Carolinas, and Georgia, the Loyalists outnumbered +the Revolutionists. Even in New England, the nursery of the Revolution, +the number was so large and so formidable, in the opinion of the +Revolutionary leaders, that in order to suppress them there was +established a reign of terror, anticipating the famous "Law of the +Suspected" of the French Revolution. An irresponsible tyranny was +established, of town and country committees, at whose beck and call were +the so-called "Sons of Liberty." To these committees was entrusted +absolute power over the lives and fortunes of their fellow citizens, and +they proceeded on principles of evidence that would have shocked and +scandalized a grand inquisitor.[52] + + [52] "Essays in American History," 180-181. + +The rigorous measures adopted by the new governments in New England +States, and the activity of their town committees, succeeded in either +driving out these Loyalist citizens, or reducing them to harmless +inactivity. In New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the Carolinas and +Georgia, they remained strong and active throughout the war, and loyalty +was in those states in the ascendancy. + +If the Loyalists were really a majority, as they claimed to be, the +disunionists were determined to break them up. Loyalists were tarred and +feathered and carried on rails, gagged and bound for days at a time; +stoned, fastened in a room with a fire and the chimney stopped on top; +advertised as public enemies, so that they would be cut off from all +dealings with their neighbors; they had bullets shot into their +bedrooms, their horses poisoned or mutilated; money or valuable plate +extorted from them to save them from violence, and on pretence of taking +security for their good behavior; their houses and ships burned; they +were compelled to pay the guards who watched them in their houses, and +when carted about for the mob to stare at and abuse, they were compelled +to pay something at every town. For the three months of July, August and +September of the year 1776, one can find in the American archives alone +over thirty descriptions of outrages of this kind, and all this done by +so-called "patriots" in the name of liberty! In short, lynch law +prevailed for many years during the Revolution, and the habit became so +fixed that it has never been given up. It was taken from the name of the +brother of the man who founded Lynchburgh, Virginia. + +Wherever the disunionists were most successful with this reign of +terror, they drove all the judges from the bench, and abolished the +courts, and for a long time there were no courts or public +administration of the law, notably in New England. + +To the mind of the Loyalists, all this lynching proceeding were an +irrefragible proof not only that the disunionist party were wicked, but +that their idea of independence of a country free from British control +and British law were silly delusions, dangerous to all good order and +civilization. That such a people could ever govern a country of their +own and have in it that thing they were crying so much about, +"liberty," was in their opinion beyond the bounds of intelligent belief. +A recent American writer says: "The revolution was not by any means the +pretty social event that the ladies of the so-called 'patriotic' +societies suppose it to have been. It was, on the contrary, a rank and +riotous rebellion against the long-established authority of a nation +which had saved us from France, built us up into prosperity, and if she +was ruling us today would, I am entirely willing to admit, abolish +lynch-law, negro burning, municipal and legislative corruption, and all +the other evils about which reformers fret." The same writer also says: +"All that saved this country from complete annihilation was the +assistance after 1778 of the French army, fleet, provisions, clothes, +and loans of money, followed by assistance from Spain, and, at the last +moment, by the alliance of Holland, and even with all this assistance +the cause was, even as late as the year 1780, generally believed to be a +hopeless one."[53] "In fact, Washington, at this time, was prepared to +become a guerilla." In case of being further pressed, he said: "We must +retire to Augusta County, in Virginia. Numbers will repair to us for +safety, and we will then try a predatory war. If overpowered, we must +cross the Allegheny Mountains."[54] + + [53] "The American Revolution and Boer War," By Sidney Fisher, 1902. + + [54] Irving's "Life of Washington," Vol. II., chap. xli. + +The question will naturally be asked why, if they were so numerous, were +they not more successful, why did they yield to popular violence in New +England, and desert the country while the contest was going on, Why did +they not hold the Southern States, and keep them from joining the others +in the Continental Congresses, and in the war? + +In the first place, a negative attitude is necessarily an inactive one, +and in consequence of this, and the fact that they could not take the +initiative in action, the Loyalists were put at a disadvantage before +the much better organization of the Revolutionary leaders. Though these +were few in number in the South, they were of families of great social +influence, and in the North were popular agitators of long experience. +They manipulated the committee system so carefully that the colonies +found themselves, before they were aware of the tendency of the actions +of their deputies, involved in proceedings of very questionable +legality, such as the boycotting agreement known as the "American +Association," and other proceedings of the Continental Congress.[55] In +regard to the subject of legal attainder and exile, Mr. Sabine remarks, +very moderately and sensibly: "Nor is it believed that either the +banishment or the confiscation laws, as they stood, were more expedient +than just. The latter did little towards relieving the public +necessities, and served only to create a disposition for rapacity, and +to increase the wealth of favored individuals. Had the estates which +were seized and sold been judiciously or honestly managed, a +considerable sum would have found its way to the treasury; but, as it +was, the amount was inconsiderable. Some of the wisest and purest Whigs +of the time hung their heads in shame because of the passage of measures +so unjustifiable, and never ceased to speak of them in terms of +reprobation. Mr. Jay's disgust was unconquerable, and he never would +purchase any property that had been forfeited under the Confiscation Act +of New York."[56] + + [55] "Essays in American History," 179. See also "Royalists' Archives," +Mass. State House. + + [56] "North American Review," LIX., page 280. + +Judge Curwen, a Salem Loyalist, says: "So infamously knavish has been +the conduct of the commissioners, that though frequent attempts have +been made to bring them to justice and to respond for the produce of the +funds resting in their hands, so numerous are the defaulters in that +august body, the _General Court_, that all efforts have hitherto proved +in vain. Not two pence on the pound have arrived to the public treasury +of all the confiscation."[57] + + [57] The "Journal and Letters of Samuel Curwin," 147. + +"The Loyalists, to a great extent, sprung from and represented the old +gentry of the country. The prospect of seizing their property had been +one great motive which induced many to enter the war. The new owners of +the confiscated property now grasped the helm. New men exercised the +social influence of the old families, and they naturally dreaded the +restoration of those whom they had dispossessed." + +At the close of the war, the Revolutionists committed a great crime. +Instead of repealing the proscription and banishment acts, as justice +and good policy required, they manifested a spirit to place the humbled +and unhappy Loyalists beyond the pale of human sympathy. Hostilities at +an end, mere loyalty should have been forgiven. When, in the civil war +between the Puritans and the Stuarts, the former gained the ascendancy, +and when at a later period the Commonwealth was established, Cromwell +and his party wisely determined not to banish nor inflict disabilities +on their opponents, and so, too, at the restoration of the monarchy, so +general was the amnesty act in its provisions that it was termed an act +of oblivion to the _friends_ of Charles, and of grateful remembrance to +his _foes_. The happy consequences which resulted from the conduct of +_both_ parties, and in both cases, were before the men of their own +political and religious sympathies, the Puritans of the North and the +Cavaliers of the South in America, but neither of them profited by it, +at that time; but since then the wisdom of it has been exemplified by +the happy consequences which have resulted to both parties engaged in +the war of secession, where the United States wisely determined not to +banish, confiscate, or inflict any disabilities on their opponents in +the late seceded states. + +The crime having been committed, thousands ruined and banished, new +British colonies founded, animosities to continue for generations made +certain, the violent Revolutionists of Massachusetts, New York and +Virginia, were satisfied: all this accomplished and the statute-book was +divested of its most objectionable enactments, and a few of the +Loyalists returned to their old homes, but by far the greater part died +in banishment. + +No one who studies the history of the American Revolution can fail to be +convinced that the persecution of the Loyalists had for its final result +the severance of the North American continent into two nations. The +people who inhabited Nova Scotia prior to the Revolution were largely +New England settlers, who dispossessed the Acadians, and who for the +most part sympathized with the revolutionary movement. But for the +banishment of the Loyalists, Nova Scotia would have long continued with +but a very sparse population, and certainly could never have hoped to +obtain so enterprising, active, and energetic a set of inhabitants as +those who were supplied to it by the acts of the several states hostile +to the Loyalists. The same can also be said of Upper Canada. The hold of +the British government upon the British provinces of North America which +remained to the crown, would have been slight indeed, but for the active +hostility of the Loyalists to their former fellow-countrymen. They +created the state of affairs which consolidated British power on this +continent, and built it up into the Dominion of Canada, which in another +century will probably contain one hundred million inhabitants. + +The treaty of peace with Great Britain, like other documents of its +kind, contained provisions of give and take. After signature by the +commissioners in Paris it was ratified with due consideration by the +Continental Congress. The advantages which it secured were not merely of +a sentimental nature, but material. It was justly regarded by +enlightened citizens of the states as a triumph of diplomacy. The credit +of Britain in the bargain was more of the heart than of the head. She +was willing to concede substantial and important benefits in order to +secure the lives and property of the Loyalists who had clung to her and +had sustained her arms. Looking at the matter now, in a cool light, she +blundered into sacrifices that were altogether needless, even with this +aim in view, and knowledge of the knavery that was to follow. + +The game was played, and she had lost. North America, in the eyes of her +statesmen, was a strip of eastern seaboard; the great lakes were but +dimly understood; the continent beyond the Mississippi was ignored. She +gave much more than she needed to have given both in east and west, to +attain her honorable end, and what was more immediately distressing, she +received little or no value in return for her liberal concession. + +"That each party should hold what it possesses, is the first point from +which nations set out in framing a treaty of peace. If one side gives up +a part of its acquisitions, the other side renders an equivalent in some +other way. What is the equivalent given to Great Britain for all the +important concessions she has made? She has surrendered the capital of +this state (New York) and its large dependencies. She is to surrender +our immensely valuable posts on the frontier, and to yield to us a vast +tract of western territory, with one-half of the lakes, by which we +shall command almost the whole fur trade. She renounces to us her claim +to the navigation of the Mississippi and admits us to share in the +fisheries even on better terms than we formerly enjoyed. As she was in +possession, by right of war, of all these objects, whatever may have +been our original pretensions to them, they are, by the laws of nations, +to be considered as so much given up on her part. And what do we give in +return? We stipulate that there shall be no future injury to her +adherents among us. How insignificant the equivalent in comparison with +the acquisition! A man of sense would be ashamed to compare them, a man +of honesty, not intoxicated with passion, would blush to lisp a question +of the obligation to observe the stipulation on our part."[58] In return +for these advantages which Hamilton informs us Great Britain gave to the +States, Congress had most solemnly undertaken three things, and people, +wearied by the sufferings of our eight years' war, would have gladly +purchased the blessings of peace at a much higher price. The first of +these conditions was that no obstacle or impediment should be put in the +way of the recovery of debts due to British subjects from the citizens +of the Republic; the second that no fresh prosecution or confiscation +should be directed against Loyalists; the third, that Congress should +sincerely recommend to the legislatures of the various states a repeal +of the existing acts of confiscation, which affected the property of +these unfortunate persons. On the last no stress could be laid, but the +first and second were understood by every man, honest or dishonest, in +the same sense as when peace was joyfully accepted. The American states +took the benefits of peace which the efforts of Congress had secured to +them, they accepted the advantages of the treaty which their +representative had signed, they watched and waited until the troops of +King George were embarked in transports at New York for England, and +then proceeded to deny, in a variety of tones, all powers in the central +government to bind them in the matter of the _quid pro quo_. It was not +a great thing which Congress had undertaken to do, or one which could be +of any material advantage to their late enemy. All their promises +amounted to was that they would abstain from the degradation of a petty +and personal revenge, and this promise they proceeded to break in every +particular. + + [58] The Works of Alexander Hamilton, by H. C. Lodge, 2d edition, Vol. + IV., page 239. + +As Hamilton wisely and nobly urged, the breach was not only a despicable +perfidy, but an impolitic act, since Loyalists might become good +citizens and the state needed nothing more urgently than population. But +no sooner was danger at a distance, embarked on transports, than the +states assumed an attitude of defiance. The thirteen legislatures vied +with one another in the ingenuity of measures for defeating the recovery +of debts due to British creditors. They derided the recommendation to +repeal oppressive acts, and to restore confiscated property, and +proceeded, without regard either for honor or consequences, to pass new +acts of wider oppression and to order confiscation on a grander scale. +There was a practical unanimity in engaging in fresh persecutions of +Loyalists, not merely by the enactment of oppressive civil laws, but by +even denying them the protection afforded by a just enforcement of the +criminal laws. In many districts these unfortunate persons were robbed, +tortured, and even put to death with impunity, and over a hundred +thousand driven into exile in Canada, Florida and the Bahamas. + +Measures were passed amid popular rejoicing to obstruct the recovery of +debts due to British merchants and to enable the fortunate Americans to +revel unmolested in the pleasure of stolen fruits. It is remarkable how +at this period public opinion was at once so childish and rotten, and +one is at a loss whether to marvel most at its recklessness of credit or +its unvarnished dishonesty; it was entirely favorable to the idea of +private theft, and the interest of rogues was considered with compassion +by the grave and respectable citizens who composed the legislatures of +the various states. It was the same spirit which had violated the +Burgoyne convention at Saratoga, the same which in later days preached +the gospel of repudiation, greenbackism, silver currency, violated +treaties with the Indians, that produced a "Century of Dishonor." + +Meanwhile the policy of breach of faith was producing its natural crop +of inconvenience. Dishonest methods were not the unmixed advantages +which these adherents had supposed, when they engaged upon them in a +spirit of light-hearted cunning. For in spite of all the ill-feeling, a +large demand arose for British goods. For these, specie had to be paid +down on the nail in all cases where wares or material were not taken in +exchange, since no British merchant would now give one pennyworth of +credit, out of respect to the measures of the various states for the +obstruction of the payment of British debts. It was true that Britain +was in no mood to embark upon a fresh war for the punishment of broken +promises. She had surrendered the chief hostage when she evacuated her +strategical position at New York, but she declined to hand over the +eight important frontier posts which she held upon the American side of +the line between Lake Michigan and Lake Champlain. These posts were much +in themselves, and as a symbol of dominion to the Indian tribes. They +were much also as a matter of pride, while their retention carried with +it the whole of the valuable fur trade, which consequently, until 1795, +when they were at last surrendered, brought considerable profits to +British merchants. + +To the short-sighted policy which banished the Loyalists may be traced +nearly all the political troubles of this continent, in which Britain +and the United States have been involved. "Dearly enough have the people +of the United States paid for the crime of the violent Whigs of the +Revolution, for to the Loyalists who were driven away, and to their +descendants, we owe almost entirely the long and bitter controversy +relative to our northeastern boundaries, and the dispute about our right +to the fisheries in the colonial seas." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +_THE REVOLUTIONIST._ + + +The American Revolution, like most other revolutions, was the work of an +energetic minority who succeeded in committing an undecided and +fluctuating majority to courses for which they had little love; leading +them, step by step, to a position from which it was impossible to +recede. To the last, however, we find vacillation, uncertainty, half +measures, and, in large classes, a great apparent apathy. There was, +also, a great multitude, who, though they would never take up arms for +the king; though they, perhaps, agreed with the constitutional doctrines +of the revolution, dissented on grounds of principle, policy, or +interest, from the course they were adopting. + +That the foregoing is a correct presentation of the case is shown by a +letter written by John Adams, when in Congress, to his wife. He says: + +"I have found this congress like the last. When we first came together, +I found a strong jealousy of us from New England, and the Massachusetts +in particular--suspicions entertained of designs of independency, an +American republic, Presbyterian principles, and twenty other +things."[59] + + [59] Letters of John Adams to His Wife, Vol. I., p. 45. + +It was an open question with many whether a community liable to such +outbreaks of popular fury did not need a strongly repressive government; +and especially when the possibilities of a separation from the mother +country was contemplated, it was a matter of doubt whether such a people +were fit for self-government. Was it not possible that the lawless and +anarchical spirit which had of late years been steadily growing, and +which the "patriotic" party had actively encouraged, would gain the +upper hand, and the whole fabric of society would be dissolved? + +In another letter of John Adams to his wife at this time, he gives us an +idea of what the opinion was of the Loyalists concerning the doctrines +taught by the disunionists, and which, he says, "Must be granted to be a +likeness." "They give rise to profaneness, intemperance, thefts, +robberies, murders, and treason; cursing, swearing, drunkenness, +gluttony, lewdness, trespassing, mains, are necessarily involved in +them. Besides they render the populace, the rabble, the scum of the +earth, insolent and disorderly, impudent and abusive. They give rise to +lying, hypocrisy, chicanery, and even perjury among the people, who are +drawn to such artifices and crime to conceal themselves and their +companions from prosecution in consequence of them. This is the picture +drawn by the Tory pencil, and it must be granted to be a likeness."[60] + + [60] Letters of John Adams to His Wife, Vol. I., p. 8. + +There are several passages in the writings of John Adams that seem to +indicate that he at times had doubts of the righteousness of the course +he had pursued. They were written in his later years, though one refers +to an incident alleged to have occurred during his early manhood. In a +letter to a friend in 1811, he thus moralizes: "Have I not been employed +in mischief all my days? Did not the American Revolution produce the +French Revolution? And did not the French Revolution produce all the +calamities and desolations to the human race and the whole globe ever +since?" But he justifies himself with the reflection: "I meant well, +however; my conscience was as clear as crystal glass, without a scruple +or doubt. I was borne along by an irresistible sense of duty." In his +diary Mr. Adams recalls to mind one incident which occurred in 1775. He +mentions the profound melancholy which fell upon him in one of the most +critical moments of the struggle, when a man whom he knew to be a +horse-jockey and a cheat, and whom, as an advocate, he had often +defended in the law courts, came to him and expressed the unbounded +gratitude he felt for the great things which Adams and his colleagues +had done. "We can never," he said, "be grateful enough to you. There are +now no courts of justice in this province, and I hope there will never +be another." "Is this the object," Adams continued, "for which I have +been contending?" said I to myself. "Are these the sentiments of such +people, and how many of them are there in the country? Half the nation, +for what I know; for half the nation are debtors, if not more, and these +have been in all the countries the sentiments of debtors. If the power +of the country should get into such hands--and there is great danger +that it will--to what purpose have we sacrificed our time, health and +everything else?"[61] + + [61] Adams' Works, Vol. II., 420. + +Misgivings of this kind must have passed through many minds. To some may +have come the warning words of Winthrop, the father of Boston, uttered +one hundred and fifty years before these events occurred, in which he +said: "Democracy is, among most civil nations, accounted the meanest and +worst of all forms of government, and histories record that it hath +always been of least continuance and fullest of trouble."[62] + + [62] Life of Winthrop, Vol. II., 427. + +There was a doubt in the minds of many people, which we have often heard +uttered in recent times, with reference to the French people in their +long series of revolutions, and equally so with the Spanish-American +republics with their almost annual revolutions, whether these words of +Winthrop were not correct, and that the people were really incapable of +self-government. It was a doubt which the revolution did not silence, +for the disturbing elements which had their issue in the Shay Rebellion, +The Whiskey Insurrection and the mutiny of the Pennsylvania Line, in +1781, were embers of a fire, smothered, not quenched, which rendered +state government insecure till it was welded into the Federal Union. +There was a widespread dislike to the levelling principles of New +England, to the arrogant, restless and ambitious policy of its +demagogues; to their manifest desire to invent or discover grievances, +foment quarrels and keep the wound open and festering.[63] + + [63] See Adams' Works, Vol. II, pp. 350, 410. + +Those who rebelled in good faith did so because they feared that the +power of Parliament to tax them moderately to raise money for their own +defence might be used sometime in the future for a less worthy purpose, +and then they would all be "slaves." Their argument led to mob rule and +anarchy, till the adaption of the Federal Constitution, after the close +of the Revolutionary War. + +The opinion of such an authority as Lecky on our revolutionary movements +must be worthy of thoughtful attention; and his opinion is this: "Any +nation might be proud of the shrewd, brave, prosperous and highly +intelligent yeomen who flocked to the American camps; but they were very +different from those who defended the walls of Leyden, or immortalized +the field of Bannockburn. Few of the great pages of history are less +marked by the stamp of heroism than the American Revolution and perhaps +the most formidable of the difficulties which Washington had to +encounter were in his own camp."[64] And he concludes his survey of the +movement with these words: "In truth the American people, though in +general unbounded believers in progress, are accustomed, through a kind +of curious modesty, to do themselves a great injustice by the +extravagant manner in which they idealize their past. It has almost +become as commonplace that the great nation which in our own day has +shown such an admirable combination of courage, devotion and humanity in +its gigantic Civil War, and which since that time has so signally +falsified the prediction of its enemies and put to shame all the nations +of Europe by its unparalleled efforts in paying off its national debt, +is of far lower moral type than its ancestors at the time of the War of +Independence. This belief appears to me essentially false. The nobility +and beauty of Washington can, indeed, hardly be paralleled. Several of +the other leaders of the Revolution were men of ability and public +spirit, and few armies have ever shown a nobler self-devotion than that +which remained with Washington through the dreary winter at Valley +Forge. But the army that bore those sufferings was a very small one, and +the general aspect of the American people during the contest was far +from heroic or sublime. The future destinies and greatness of the +English race must necessarily rest mainly with the mighty nation which +has arisen beyond the Atlantic, and that nation may well afford to admit +that its attitude during the brief period of its enmity to England has +been very unduly extolled. At the same time, the historian of that +period would do the Americans a great injustice if he judged them only +by the revolutionary party, and failed to recognize how large a +proportion of their best men had no sympathy with the movement."[65] + + [64] Lecky, "American Revolution," p. 230. + + [65] Lecky's "American Revolution," p. 375. + +Our native historians and the common run of Fourth of July orators have +treated their countrymen badly for a hundred years. They have given the +world to understand that we are the degenerate children of a race of +giants, statesmen, and moralists, who flourished for a few years about a +century ago and then passed away. An impartial examination of the +records would show that we are wiser, better, more benevolent, quite as +patriotic and brave as the standard heroes of 1776. We may give our +ancestors credit for many admirable virtues without attempting to +maintain that a multitude of unlettered colonists, scattered along the +Atlantic coast, hunting, fishing, smuggling, and tilling the soil for a +slender livelihood, and fighting Indians and wild beasts to save their +own lives, possessed a vast fund of political virtue and political +intelligence, and left but little of either to their descendants. The +public is beginning to tire of this tirade of indiscriminate eulogy, and +the public taste is beginning to reject it as a form of defamation. And +so the ripening judgment of our people is beginning to demand portraits +of our ancestors painted according to the command that Cromwell gave the +artist; to paint his features, warts, blotches, and all, and to demand +an account of our forefathers in which we shall learn to speak of them +as they were. + +Sabine, in his valuable work, "Loyalists of the American Revolution," +says: "I presume that I am of Whig descent. My father's father received +his death-wound under Washington, at Trenton; my mother's father fought +under Stark at Bennington. I do not care, of all things, to be thought +to want appreciation of those of my countrymen who broke the yoke of +colonial vassalage, nor on the other hand, do I care to imitate the +writers of a later school, and treat the great and the _successful_ +actors in the world's affairs as little short of divinities, and as +exempt from criticism. Nay, this general statement will not serve my +purpose. Justice demands as severe a judgment of the Whigs as of their +opponents, and I shall here record the result of long and patient study. +At the Revolutionary period the principles of unbelief were diffused to +a considerable extent throughout the colonies. It is certain that +several of the most conspicuous personages of those days were either +avowed disbelievers in Christianity, or cared so little about it that +they were commonly regarded as disciples of the English or French school +of sceptical philosophy. Again, the Whigs were by no means exempt from +the lust of land hunger. Several of them were among the most noted land +speculators of their time, during the progress of the war, and, in a +manner hardly to be defended, we find them sequestering and +appropriating to themselves the vast estates of those who opposed them. +Avarice and rapacity were seemingly as common then as now. Indeed, the +stock-jobbing, the extortion, the fore-stalling of the law, the arts and +devices to amass wealth which were practised during the struggle, are +almost incredible. Washington mourned the want of virtue as early as +1775, and averred that he 'trembled at the prospect'--soldiers were +stripped of their miserable pittance that contractors for the army might +become rich in a single campaign. Many of the sellers of merchandise +monopolized (or 'cornered') articles of the first necessity, and would +not part with them to their suffering countrymen, and to the wives and +children of those who were absent in the field, unless at enormous +profit. The traffic carried on with the army of the king was immense. +Men of all descriptions finally engaged in it, and those who at the +beginning of the war would have shuddered at the idea of any connection +with the enemy, pursued it with increasing avidity. The public +securities were often counterfeited, official signatures forged, and +plunder and jobbery openly indulged in. Appeals to the guilty from the +pulpit, the press, and the halls of legislature were alike unheeded. The +decline of public spirit, the love of gain of those in office, the +plotting of disaffected persons, and the malevolence of factions, became +widely spread, and in parts of the country were uncontrollable. The +useful occupations of life and the legitimate pursuits of commerce were +abandoned by thousands. The basest of men enriched themselves, and many +of the most estimable sank into obscurity and indigence. There were +those who would neither pay their debts nor their taxes. The indignation +of Washington was freely expressed. 'It gives me sincere pleasure,' he +said, in a letter to Joseph Reed, 'to find the Assembly is so well +disposed to second your endeavor in bringing those murderers of our +cause to condign punishment. It is much to be lamented that each state, +long ere this, has not hunted them down as pests of society and the +greatest enemies we have to the happiness of America. No punishment, in +my opinion, is too great for the man who can build his greatness upon +his country's ruin.'" + +In a letter to another, he drew this picture, which he solemnly declared +to be a true one: "From what I have seen, heard, and in part known," +said he, "I should in one word say, that idleness, dissipation, and +extravagance seem to have laid fast hold on most; that speculation, +peculation, and an insatiable thirst for riches, seem to have got the +better of every other consideration, and almost every order of men, and +that party disputes and personal quarrels are the great business of the +day." + +In other letters he laments the laxity of public morals, the "distressed +rumors, and deplorable condition of affairs," the "many melancholy +proofs of the decay of private virtue." "I am amazed," said Washington +to Colonel Stewart, "at the report you make of the quantity of provision +that goes daily into Philadelphia from the County of Bucks." +Philadelphia was occupied at that time by the British army, who paid in +hard money and not in "continental stuff." and mark you! this was +written in January of that memorable winter which the American army +passed in nakedness and starvation at Valley Forge. There was always an +army--on paper. At the close of one campaign there were not enough +troops in camp to man the lines. At the opening of another "scarce any +state in the Union," as Washington said, had an "eighth part of its +quota" in service. The bounty finally paid to soldiers was enormous. The +price for a single recruit was as high sometimes as seven hundred and +fifty, and one thousand dollars, on enlistment for the war, besides the +bounty and emoluments given by Congress. One hundred and fifty dollars +"in specie" was exacted and paid for a term of duty of only five months. +Such were the extraordinary inducements necessary to tempt some men to +serve their country when its vital interests were at issue. Making every +allowance for the effects of hunger and want, for the claims of families +at home, and for other circumstances equally imperative, desertion, +mutiny, robbery, and murder are still high crimes. There were soldiers +of the Revolution who deserted in parties of twenty and thirty at a +time, and several hundred of those who then abandoned the cause fled to +Vermont and were among the early settlers of that state. A thousand men, +the date of whose enlistment had been misplaced, perjured themselves in +a body, as fast as they could be sworn, in order to quit the ranks which +they had voluntarily entered. In smaller parties, hundreds of others +demanded dismissals from camp under false pretexts, and with lies upon +their lips. Some also added treason to desertion, and joined the various +corps of Loyalists in the capacity of spies upon their former friends, +or as guides and pioneers. Many more enlisted, deserted, and re-enlisted +under new recruiting officers for the purpose of receiving double +bounty, while others who placed their names upon the rolls were paid the +money to which they were entitled, but refused to join the army; and +others still who were sent to the hospitals returned home without leave +after their recovery, and were sheltered and secreted by friends and +neighbors, whose sense of right was as weak as their own. Another class +sold their clothing, provisions, and arms to obtain means of indulgence +in revelry and drunkenness; while some prowled about the country to rob +and kill the unoffending and defenceless. A guard was placed over the +grave of a foreigner of rank, who died in Washington's own quarters, and +who was buried in full dress, with diamond rings and buckles, "lest the +soldiers should be tempted to dig for hidden treasure." Whippings, +drummings out of the service, and even military executions were more +frequent in the Revolution than at any subsequent period of our history. + +If we turn our attention to the officers we shall find that many had but +doubtful claims to respect for purity of private character, and that +some were addicted to grave vices. There were officers who were +destitute alike of honor and patriotism, who unjustly clamored for their +pay, while they drew large sums of public money under pretext of paying +their men, but applied them to the support of their own extravagance; +who went home on furlough and never returned to the army; and who, +regardless of their word as gentlemen, violated their paroles, and were +threatened by Washington with exposure in every newspaper in the land as +men who had disgraced themselves and were heedless of their associates +in captivity, whose restraints were increased by their misconduct. At +times, courts-martial were continually sitting, and so numerous were the +convictions that the names of those who were cashiered were sent to +Congress in long lists. "Many of the surgeons"--are the words of +Washington--"are very great rascals, countenancing the men to sham +complaints to exempt them from duty, and often receiving bribes to +certify indisposition with a view to procure discharge or furlough"; and +still further, they drew as for the public "medicines and stores in the +most profuse and extravagant manner for private purposes." In a letter +to the governor of a state, he affirmed that the officers who had been +sent him therefrom were "generally of the lowest class of the people," +that they "led their soldiers to plunder the inhabitants and into every +kind of mischief." To his brother, John Augustine Washington, he +declared that the different states were nominating such officers as were +"not fit to be shoe-blacks." Resignations occurred upon discreditable +pretexts, and became alarmingly prevalent. Some resigned at critical +moments, and others combined together in considerable number for +purposes of intimidation, and threatened to retire from the service at a +specified time unless certain terms were complied with. Many of those +who abandoned Washington were guilty of a crime which, when committed by +private soldiers, is called "desertion," and punished with death. +Eighteen of the generals retired during the struggle, one for +drunkenness, one to avoid disgrace for receiving double pay, some from +declining health, others from weight of advancing years; but several +from private resentments and real or imagined wrongs inflicted by +Congress or associates in the service. + +John Adams wrote in 1777: "I am worried to death with the wrangles +between military officers, high and low. They quarrel like cats and +dogs. They worry one another like mastiffs, scrambling for rank and pay +like apes for nuts."[66] + + [66] Sabine, Vol. I, pp. 139-150. + +"The abandoned and profligate part of our army," wrote Washington, "lost +to every sense of honor or virtue as well as their country's good, are +by rapine and plunder spreading ruin and terror wherever they go, +thereby making themselves infinitely more to be dreaded than the common +enemy they are come to oppose. Under the idea of Tory property, or +property that may fall into the hands of the enemy, no man is secure in +his effects, and scarcely in his person."[67] American soldiers were +constantly driving innocent persons out of their homes by an alarm of +fire, or by actual incendiarism, in order more easily to plunder the +contents, and all attempts to check this atrocious practice had proved +abortive. The burning of New York was generally attributed to New +England soldiers. The efforts of the British soldiers to save the city +were remembered with gratitude, and there is little doubt that in the +city, and in the country around it, the British were looked upon not as +invaders, but as deliverers. + + [67] Washington's Works, IV., 118, 119, Lecky, 257. + +"Wherever the men of war have approached, our militia have most manfully +turned their backs and run away, officers and men, like sturdy fellows, +and these panics have sometimes seized the regular regiments. + +"....You are told that a regiment of Yorkers behaved ill, and it may be +true; but I can tell you that several regiments of Massachusetts men +behaved ill, too. The spirit of venality you mention is the most +dreadful and alarming enemy America has to oppose. It is as rapacious +and insatiable as the grave. This predominant avarice will ruin America. +If God Almighty does not interfere by His grace to control this +universal idolatry to the mammon of unrighteousness, we shall be given +up to the chastisement of His judgments. I am ashamed of the age I live +in."[68] + + [68] Letter of John Adams to His Wife, Vol. I., p. 171. + +Nor was the public life of the country at that time more creditable. In +the course of the war, persons of small claims to notice or regard +obtained seats in Congress. By force of party disruptions, as was +bitterly remarked by one of the leaders, men were brought into the +management of affairs "who might have lived till the millennium in +silent obscurity had they depended upon their mental qualifications." +Gouverneur Morris was, no doubt, one of the shrewdest observers of +current events in his day, and the purity of the patriotism of John Jay +entitled him to stand by the side of Washington. One day, in a +conversation, thirty years after the second Continental Congress had +passed away, Morris exclaimed: "Jay, what a set of damned scoundrels we +had in that second Congress!" And Jay, as he knocked the ashes from his +pipe, replied: "Yes, we had." + +Near the close of 1779, Congress, trying to dispel the fear that the +continental currency would not be redeemed, passed a resolution +declaring: "A bankrupt, faithless republic would be a novelty in the +political world. The pride of America revolts at the idea. Her citizens +know for what purpose these emissions were made, and have repeatedly +pledged their faith for the redemption of them." The rest of the +resolution is too coarse for quotation, even for the sake of emphasis. +In a little more than three months from the passage of that resolution a +bill was passed to refund the continental currency by issuing one dollar +of new paper money for forty of the old, and the new issue soon became +as worthless as the former emission. Indeed, the patriots repudiated +obligations to the amount of two hundred million dollars, and did it so +effectually that we still use the expression, "not worth a continental" +as a synonym for worthlessness. + +It is a common belief that scurrilous and indecent attacks upon public +men by American journalists is an evil of modern growth; but this is an +error. A century ago such attacks exceeded in virulence anything that +would be possible today. Among the vilest of the lampooners of that age +were a quartette of literary hacks who for some years were engaged in +denouncing the federalist party and government. Philip Freneau owned +"_The National Gazette_," a journal that Hamilton declared disclosed "a +serious design to subvert the government." He was among the most +virulent assailants of Washington's administration, denouncing not only +the members of the cabinet, except Jefferson, but the chief himself. +Among other charges brought against him, Washington was accused of +"debauching the country" and "seeking a crown," "and all the while +passing himself off as an honest man." Benjamin F. Bache was a grandson +of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. He inherited all his ancestor's duplicity, +love of intrigue, and vindictiveness, but none of his suavity and tact. +Sullen and malevolent of disposition, scarcely could he keep in accord +with men of his own party. He owned and edited "The Aurora," a paper +which in depth of malice and meanness exceeded the journal of Freneau. +He also made vicious attacks upon Washington, both in the "Aurora" and +other publications. Washington's "fame" he declared to be "spurious"; he +was "inefficient," "mischievous," "treacherous," and "ungrateful." His +"mazes of passion" and the "loathings of his sick mind" were held up to +the contempt of the people. "His sword," it was declared, "would have +been drawn against his country" had the British government given him +promotion in the army. He had, it was asserted, "cankered the principles +of republicanism" "and carried his designs against the public liberty so +far as to put in jeopardy its very existence." + +William Duane, a man of Irish parentage, assisted Bache in the conduct +of the "Aurora," and upon his death, in 1798, assumed full control of +it. He was responsible for some of the most virulent attacks upon +Washington, published in that paper. Bache and Duane both received +severe castigations, administered in retaliation for abusive articles. + +James Thompson Callender, who disgraced Scotland by his birth, was a +shameless and double-faced rascal. A professional lampooner, his pen was +at the service of any one willing to pay the price. He, too, had a fling +at the President, declaring that "Mr. Washington had been twice a +traitor," and deprecating "the vileness of the adulation" paid him. + +In this quartette of scoundrels may be added the notorious Thomas Paine, +who, after exalting Washington to the seventh heaven of excellence, upon +being refused by him an office that to confer upon him would have +disgraced the nation, showered upon him the vilest denunciation. "As for +you, sir," he wrote, addressing him, "treacherous in private friendship, +and a hypocrite in public life, the world will be puzzled to decide +whether you are an apostate or an impostor; whether you have abandoned +good principles, or whether you ever had any." That these attacks upon +members of the government were the direct results of the teachings of +Jefferson there is no room for doubt. That he encouraged and supported +their authors has been proved beyond a doubt. He was one of the worst +detractors of Great Britain. For fifty years he employed his pen in +reviling the mother country. Then occurred one of the most remarkable +instances of political death-bed repentance that the annals of +statecraft have to show. He who had so often asserted that Great Britain +was a nation powerless, decrepit, lost to corruption, eternally hostile +to liberty, totally destitute of morality and good faith, and warned his +countrymen to avoid intercourse with her lest they become contaminated +by the touch; he who had yearned for her conquest by a military despot, +and proposed to burn the habitations of her citizens, like the nests of +noxious vermin, is suddenly found proclaiming "her mighty weight," +lauding her as the protector of free government, and exhorting his +fellow citizens to "sedulously cherish a cordial friendship with her." +This change of heart was brought about by the announcement by Great +Britain of the so-called "Monroe Doctrine." In Jefferson's letter to +Monroe of October 24, 1823, he said: "The question presented by the +letters you have sent me (the letters of Mr. Rush, reciting Mr. +Canning's offer of British support against the attempt of the "Holy +Alliance" to forcibly restore the revolted Spanish-American colonies to +Spain), is the most momentous that has ever been offered to my +contemplation since that of Independence. And never could we embark +under circumstances more auspicious. By acceding to Great Britain's +proposition we detach her from the bonds, bring her mighty weight into +the scale of free government, and emancipate a continent at one stroke. +With her on our side we need not fear the whole world. With her then we +should most sedulously cherish a cordial friendship." + +Alexander Hamilton was a soldier of fortune of the highest type. He was +born on the island of Nevis, in the West Indies. He was of illegitimate +birth; his father was Scotch and his mother French. Endowed with a high +order of intellect, possessed of indomitable energy and passionate +ambition, he went forth into the world determined to win both.[69] +Chance threw him into the colonies at a time when the agitation for +independence was at its height. He landed at Boston in October, 1772; +thence he went to New York, where in his sixteenth year he entered +King's (now Columbia) College. At first he affiliated with the +Loyalists, but soon deserted to the Disunionists, which gave him greater +opportunities of realizing his ambitious dream. As a Loyalist the world +would never have heard of him, but as John Marshall informs us, he ranks +next to Washington as having rendered more conspicuous service to the +United States than any other man in the Revolution. A great orator, a +talented lawyer, a good soldier, master of every field he entered, +punctilious and haughty of temperament, he scorned to bend even to the +proud spirit of Washington. His position on Washington's staff was +literally a secretaryship more civil than military. It was "the +grovelling condition of a clerk," which his youthful genius revolted at. +This caused him to resign his staff appointment. Alexander Hamilton was +the deviser and establisher of the government of the United States. He +it was that framed the Constitution, who urged and secured its adoption +by the original thirteen states at a time when but a rope of sand bound +them together. To Hamilton, more than any other man, is due the fact +that the United States today form a nation. He lived long enough to see +the nation to which he gave political stability submitting itself in +entire respect and confidence to the declaration contained in the most +remarkable document ever written. + + [69] In a letter written by Hamilton when he was but thirteen years of + age, employed as a clerk, he declared: "I condemn the grovelling + condition of a clerk to which my future condition condemns me, and would + willingly risk my life, though not my character, to exalt my station." + +Like many of his contemporaries he was an _intrigaunt_, injuring his +health and impairing the sanctity of his home, and was destined to meet +his death at the hands of a man more dissolute than himself, and +destitute of his honorable traits of character. + +Professor Sumner says: "It is astonishing how far writers kept from the +facts and evidence. This is so much the case that it is often impossible +to learn what was really the matter. The colonists first objected to +internal taxes, but consented to import duties. Then they distinguished +between import duties to regulate commerce, and import duties for +revenue. They seem to have changed their position and to be consistent +in one thing only, to pay no taxes and to rebel." After patiently +examining their pamphlets and discussions, Sumner concludes: "The +incidents of the trouble offer occasion at every step for reserve in +approving the proceedings of the colonists. We therefore come to the +conclusion that the Revolutionary leader made a dispute about the method +of raising a small amount of revenue a pretext for rending an empire +which, if united, might civilize and wisely govern the fairest portion +of the globe." + +The foregoing statements are more than corroborated by a letter written +to Washington by Rev. Jacob Duche, a former rector of Christ Church, +Philadelphia, a man of great learning, eloquence, and piety, who was +appointed chaplain to the first Congress. His prayer at the opening of +the session was pronounced not only eloquent, but patriotic in the +extreme. While it was being uttered there was but one man in that whole +assembly who knelt, and that man was George Washington. When Washington +received the letter he immediately transmitted it to Congress. The +letter was in part as follows:-- + + Philadelphia, 8th October, 1777. + +"Sir--If this letter should find you in council or in the field, before +you read another sentence I beg you to take the first opportunity of +retiring and weighing its important contents. You are perfectly +acquainted with the part I formerly took in the present unhappy contest. +I was, indeed, among the first to bear my public testimony against +having any recourse to threats, or indulging a thought of an armed +opposition. + +"The current, however, was too strong for my feeble efforts to resist. I +wished to follow my countrymen as far only as virtue and the +righteousness of their cause would permit me. I was, however, prevailed +on, among the rest of my clerical brethren of this city, to gratify the +pressing desires of my fellow citizens by preaching a sermon, and +reluctantly consented. From a personal attachment of nearly twenty +years' standing and a high respect for your character, in private as +well as public life, I took the liberty of dedicating this sermon to +you. I had your affectionate thanks for my performance in a letter, +wherein was expressed, in the most delicate and obliging terms, your +regard for me, and your wishes for a continuance of my friendship and +approbation of your conduct. Further than this I intended not to +proceed. My sermon speaks for itself, and wholly disclaims the idea of +independence. My sentiments were well known to my friends. I +communicated them without reserve to many respectable members of +Congress, who expressed their warm approbation of it then. I persisted +to the very last moment to use the prayers for my Sovereign, though +threatened with insults from the violence of a party. + +"Upon the declaration of independence I called my vestry and solemnly +put the question to them whether they thought it best for the peace and +welfare of the congregation to shut up the churches, or to continue the +service without using the prayers for the Royal Family. This was the sad +alternative. I concluded to abide by their decision, as I could not have +time to consult my spiritual superiors in England. They determined it +most expedient, under such critical circumstances, to keep open the +churches that the congregations might not be dispersed, which we had +great reason to apprehend. + +"A very few days after the fatal declaration of independence I received +a letter from Mr. Hancock, sent by express to Germantown, where my +family were for the summer season, acquainting me I was appointed +Chaplain to the Congress, and desired my attendance next morning at nine +o'clock. Surprised and distressed as I was by an event I was not +prepared to expect, obliged to give an immediate attendance without the +opportunity of consulting my friends, I easily accepted the appointment. +I could have but one motive for taking this step. I thought the churches +in danger, and hoped by this means to have been instrumental in +preventing those ills I had so much reason to apprehend. I can, however, +with truth declare I then looked upon independence rather as an +expedient, and hazardous, or, indeed, thrown out in _terrorem_, in order +to procure some favorable terms, than a measure that was seriously +persisted in. My sudden change of conduct will clearly evince this to +have been my idea of the matter. + +"Upon the return of the Committee of Congress appointed to confer with +Lord Howe I soon discerned their whole intentions. The different +accounts which each member gave of this conference, the time they took +to make up the matter for public view, and the amazing disagreements +between the newspaper accounts, and the relation I myself had from the +mouth of one of the Committee, convinced me there must have been some +unfair and ungenerous procedure. This determination to treat on no other +strain than that of independence, which put it out of his lordship's +power to mention any terms at all, was sufficient proof to me that +independence was the idol they had long wished to set up, and that +rather than sacrifice this they would deluge their country with blood. +From this moment I determined upon my resignation, and in the beginning +of October, 1776, sent it in form to Mr. Hancock, after having +officiated only two months and three weeks; and from that time, as far +as my safety would permit, I have been opposed to all their measures. + +"This circumstantial account of my conduct I think due to the friendship +you were so obliging as to express for me, and I hope will be sufficient +to justify my seeming inconsistencies in the part I have acted. + +"And now, dear sir, suffer me in the language of truth and real +affection to address myself to you. All the world must be convinced you +are engaged in the service of your country from motives perfectly +disinterested. You risked everything that was dear to you, abandoned the +sweets of domestic life which your affluent fortune can give the +uninterrupted enjoyment of. But had you, could you have had, the least +idea of matters being carried to such a dangerous extremity? Your most +intimate friends shuddered at the thought of a separation from the +mother country, and I took it for granted that your sentiments coincided +with theirs. What, then, can be the consequences of this rash and +violent measure and degeneracy of representation, confusion of councils, +blunders without number? The most respectable characters have withdrawn +themselves, and are succeeded by a great majority of illiberal and +violent men. Take an impartial view of the present Congress, and what +can you expect from them? Your feelings must be greatly hurt by the +representation of your native province. You have no longer a Randolph, a +Bland or a Braxton, men whose names will ever be revered, whose demands +never ran above the first ground on which they set out, and whose truly +glorious and virtuous sentiments I have frequently heard with rapture +from their own lips. Oh, my dear sir, what a sad contrast of characters +now presents! others whose friends can ne'er mingle with your own. Your +Harrison alone remains, and he disgusted with the unworthy associates. + +"As to those of my own province, some of them are so obscure that their +very names were never in my ears before, and others have only been +distinguished for the weakness of their undertakings and the violence of +their tempers. One alone I except from the general charge; a man of +virtue, dragged reluctantly into their measures, and restrained by some +false ideas of honor from retreating after having gone too far. You +cannot be at a loss to discover whose name answers to this character. + +"From the New England provinces can you find one that as a gentleman you +could wish to associate with, unless the soft and mild address of Mr. +Hancock can atone for his want of every other qualification necessary +for the seat which he fills? Bankrupts, attorneys, and men of desperate +fortunes are his colleagues. Maryland no longer sends a Tilghman and a +Carroll. Carolina has lost her Lynch, and the elder Middleton has +retired. Are the dregs of Congress, then, still to influence a mind like +yours? These are not the men you engaged to serve; these are not the men +that America has chosen to represent her. Most of them were chosen by a +little, low faction, and the few gentlemen that are among them now are +well known to lie on the balance, and looking up to your hand alone to +turn the beam. 'Tis you, sir, and you only, that supports the present +Congress; of this you must be fully sensible. Long before they left +Philadelphia their dignity and consequence were gone; what must it be +now since their precipitate retreat? I write with freedom, but without +invective. I know these things to be true, and I write to one whose own +observation must have convinced him that it is so. + +"After this view of the Congress, turn to the army. The whole world +knows that its only existence depends upon you, that your death or +captivity disperses it in a moment, and that there is not a man on that +side--the question in America--capable of succeeding you. As to the army +itself, what have you to expect from them? Have they not frequently +abandoned you yourself in the hour of extremity? Can you have the least +confidence in a set of undisciplined men and officers, many of whom have +been taken from the lowliest of the people, without principle, without +courage? Take away them that surround your person, how very few there +are you can ask to sit at your table! As to your little navy, of that +little what is left? Of the Delaware fleet part are taken, and the rest +must soon surrender. Of those in the other provinces some are taken, one +or two at sea, and others lying unmanned and unrigged in your harbors. + +"In America your harbors are blocked up, your cities fall one after +another; fortress after fortress, battle after battle is lost. A British +army, after having passed unmolested through a vast extent of country, +have possessed themselves of the Capital of America. How unequal the +contest! How fruitless the expense of blood! Under so many discouraging +circumstances, can virtue, can honor, can the love of your country +prompt you to proceed? Humanity itself, and sure humanity is no stranger +to your breast, calls upon you to desist. Your army must perish for want +of common necessaries or thousands of innocent families must perish to +support them; wherever they encamp, the country must be impoverished; +wherever they march, the troops of Britain will pursue, and must +complete the destruction which America herself has begun. Perhaps it may +be said, it is better to die than to be made slaves. This, indeed, is a +splendid maxim in theory, and perhaps in some instances may be found +experimentally true; but when there is the least probability of a happy +accommodation, surely, wisdom and humanity call for some sacrifices to +be made to prevent inevitable destruction. You well know there is but +one invincible bar to such an accommodation; could this be removed, +other obstacles might readily be removed. It is to you and you alone +your bleeding country looks and calls aloud for this sacrifice. Your arm +alone has strength sufficient to remove this bar. May Heaven inspire you +with this glorious resolution of exerting your strength at this crisis, +and immortalizing yourself as friend and guardian to your country! Your +penetrating eye needs not more explicit language to discern my meaning. +With that prudence and delicacy, therefore, of which I know you +possessed, represent to Congress the indispensable necessity of +rescinding the hasty and ill-advised declaration of independence. +Recommend, and you have an undoubted right to recommend, an immediate +cessation of hostilities. Let the controversy be taken up where that +declaration left it, and where Lord Howe certainly expected to find it +left. Let men of clear and impartial characters, in or out of Congress, +liberal in their sentiments, heretofore independent in their +fortunes--and some such may be found in America--be appointed to confer +with His Majesty's Commissioners. Let them, if they please, propose some +well-digested constitutional plan to lay before them at the commencement +of the negotiation. When they have gone thus far I am confident the +usual happy consequences will ensue--unanimity will immediately take +place through the different provinces, thousands who are now ardently +wishing and praying for such a measure will step forth and declare +themselves the zealous advocates for constitutional liberty, and +millions will bless the hero that left the field of war to decide this +most important contest with the weapons of wisdom and humanity. + +"O sir, let no false ideas of worldly honor deter you from engaging in +so glorious a task! Whatever censure may be thrown out by mean, +illiberal minds, your character will rise in the estimation of the +virtuous and noble. It will appear with lustre in the annals of history, +and form a glorious contrast to that of those who have fought to obtain +conquest and gratify their own ambition by the destruction of their +species and the ruin of their country. Be assured, sir, that I write not +this under the eye of any British officer or person connected with the +British army or ministry. The sentiments I express are the real +sentiments of my own heart, such as I have long held, and which I should +have made known to you by letter before had I not fully expected an +opportunity of a private conference. When you passed through +Philadelphia on your way to Wilmington I was confined by a severe fit of +the gravel to my chamber; I have since continued much indisposed, and +times have been so very distressing that I had neither spirit to write a +letter nor an opportunity to convey it when written, nor do I yet know +by what means I shall get these sheets to your hands. + +"I would fain hope that I have said nothing by which your delicacy can +be in the least hurt. If I have, I assure you it has been without the +least intention, and therefore your candor will lead you to forgive me. +I have spoken freely of Congress and of the army; but what I have said +is partly from my own knowledge and partly from the information of some +respectable members of the former and some of the best officers of the +latter. I would not offend the meanest person upon earth; what I say to +you I say in confidence to answer what I cannot but deem a most +_valuable purpose_. I love my country; I love you; but to the love of +truth, the love of peace, and the love of God, I hope I should be +enabled if called upon to the trial to sacrifice every other inferior +love. + +"If the arguments made use of in this letter should have so much +influence as to engage you in the glorious work which I have warmly +recommended, I shall ever deem my success the highest temporal favor +that Providence could grant me. Your interposition and advice I am +confident would meet with a favorable reception from the authority under +which you act. + +"If it should not, you have an infallible recourse still left--negotiate +for your country at the head of your army. After all, it may appear +presumption as an individual to address himself to you on a subject of +such magnitude, or to say what measures would best secure the interest +and welfare of a whole continent. The friendly and favorable opinion you +have always expressed for me emboldens me to undertake it, and which has +greatly added to the weight of this motive. I have been strongly +impressed with a sense of duty upon the occasion, which left my +conscience uneasy and my heart afflicted till I fully discharged it. I +am no enthusiast; the course is new and singular to me; but I could not +enjoy one moment's peace till this letter was written. With the most +ardent prayers for your spiritual as well as temporal welfare, I am your +most obedient and humble friend and servant, + + Jacob Duche." + +The estimation in which Mr. Duche was held before he wrote this letter, +by John Adams, who was not particularly friendly to Episcopalians, who +as a class were Loyalists (although Washington was one), is here shown. +Adams says: "Mr. Duche is one of the most ingenuous men, and of best +character, and greatest orator in the Episcopal order upon this +continent; yet a zealous friend of liberty and his country."[70] + + [70] Letters of John Adams to His Wife, Vol. I., p. 24. + +In the cold light of truth it now seems quite clear that Americans took +up arms before they were in any real danger of oppression, and George +III. was persuaded to concede more than all their reasonable demands, +but yielded too late to save the integrity of the empire. + +We are taught in many of our histories that George III. was a tyrant, +seeking to establish despotism, and that Washington rescued and +preserved Anglo-Saxon liberty, not only in America, but wherever it +existed in the British domains; but this is too extravagant a compliment +to the king. We may admit that he was a respectable man in private life, +that he acted on principle, as he understood it, in his public career, +and that he had some princely accomplishments, but was far from a great +man. Certainly he was not in the class of conqueror, nor was he able to +commit "a splendid crime." His mother was ever croaking in his ears: +"George, be a king!" Thackeray gives us a touching account of the king's +last years. All history, he tells us, presents no sadder picture. It is +too terrible for tears. Driven from his throne, buffeted by rude hands, +his children in revolt, his ending was as pitiful and awful as that of +King Lear. In a lucid moment the Queen entered his room and found him +singing and playing on a musical instrument. When he had finished he +knelt and prayed for her and for his family, and for the nation, and +last for himself. And then tears began to flow down his cheeks, and his +reason fled again. Caesar, Henry VIII., and Napoleon tried to establish +a dynasty of despots, and failed. As we glance at the figure of George +III. and recall the traits of his character, we see that Anglo-Saxon +civilization or liberty was in no danger of permanent injury from the +last king of England who tried to reign. + +As we review the conflict we are apt to forget that the Americans were +not alone in their efforts to throw off the restraint of law and +authority of the government during the twenty years preceding the +surrender at Yorktown; Wilkes, "Junius," and Lord George Gordon +surpassed the efforts of Patrick Henry, Sam Adams, and Crispus Attucks, +to make life unpleasant for King George. Mobs surged about the streets +of London as they did in Boston, defying the law, destroying property, +and disturbing the public peace. The house of Lord Mansfield, chief +justice of England, was wrecked and burned to the ground in the same +manner as the home of Thomas Hutchinson, chief justice of Massachusetts, +was wrecked and pillaged. Both mobs claimed to act "on principle," and +there is a curious likeness in the details of these two acts of +violence. It was an age of insurrection, with no political genius able, +or in a position, to direct the storm. During the Wilkes riots, in 1768, +the civil power in England was reduced to extreme weakness. Lecky tells +us "there were great fears that all the bulwarks of order would yield to +the strain," and Franklin, then in London, said that if Wilkes had +possessed a good character and the king a bad one, Wilkes would have +driven George III. from the throne. In 1780, during the Gordon riots, +chaos came again to London, and all England was threatened with anarchy. +The time was out of joint on both continents, and George III. was not +born to set it right. We may be sure there is something more serious +than glory in all this turmoil that embittered the most beneficent of +civilizing races. Whoever examines the dispute with impartial care, will +probably perceive that the time had come for a new adjustment of the +constitutional relations of the several parts of the British Empire, but +the temper of George III. and the disorderly elements, active both in +England and America, were unfavorable to rational treatment of the great +problem. + +Early in the Revolution it was considered necessary, in order to insure +its success, to obtain aid and recognition from the French. + +Mr. Silas Deane, of Connecticut, and three agents, were sent to France +to feel the pulse of the king and nation upon the subject. They, +however, neither acknowledged the agents nor directed them to leave the +kingdom. + +It was not so with individuals, among whom was M. Beaumarchais, who, on +his own account and credit, furnished the United States with twenty +thousand stand of arms and one thousand barrels of powder of one hundred +pounds weight each. Ten thousand of the muskets were landed at +Portsmouth, N. H., and the remainder in some southern State. The first +opportunity of testing the qualities of the new French muskets occurred +September 19, 1777, which engagement led up to the battle of Saratoga +October 7, which terminated in the convention with Burgoyne October 17, +1777. Major Caleb Stark, the eldest son of Gen. John Stark, who was +present in these actions, says: "I firmly believe that unless these arms +had been thus timely furnished to the Americans, Burgoyne would have +made an easy march to Albany. What then? My pen almost refuses to record +the fact that these arms have never been paid for to this day. When the +war ended, application was made to Congress for payment, which was +refused on the frivolous pretext that they were a present from the +French king. The claim was referred to the United States +attorney-general, who reported in substance that he could find no +evidence of their having been paid for, or that they were presented as a +gift by the court of France. + +"Supposing the most favorable plea of Congress to be true, that there +was an underhand connivance by France to furnish the arms, or the king +had thought proper to deny it, is it just or magnanimous for the United +States to refuse payment? Suppose the arms were clearly a 'gift' +bestowed upon us in our poverty, ought not a high-minded people to +restore the value of that gift with ten-fold interest, when their +benevolent friend has become poor, and they have waxed wealthy and +strong? + +"Congress, skulking behind their sovereignty, still refused payment. Yet +the cries of Beaumarchais, reduced to poverty by the French Revolution, +have not been heeded."[71] + + [71] Memoir of Gen. John Stark, by his son Caleb Stark, pp. 356-7-8. + +The action of Congress concerning the Saratoga Convention was equally +base. The whole number of prisoners surrendered by Burgoyne was 5791. +The force of the Americans was, according to a statement which Gates +furnished to Burgoyne, 13,222. The terms of the Convention was that +Burgoyne's troops were to march out of their camp with all the honors of +war, the artillery to be moved to the banks of the Hudson, and there to +be left, together with the soldiers' arms; that a free passage should be +granted the troops to Great Britain, on condition of their not serving +again during the war; that the army should march to the neighborhood of +Boston by the most expeditious and convenient route, and not delayed +when transport should arrive to receive them; that every care should be +taken for the proper subsistence of the troops till they should be +embarked. Although Congress ratified the terms of the Convention entered +into by General Burgoyne and Gates, yet they violated them in the most +perfidious manner. Many Americans now regard this as the most +disgraceful act ever perpetrated by the United States. There was not the +slightest excuse for this treachery. When the British ministry charged +Congress with positive perfidy, Congress added insult to injury by +charging the ministry with "meditated perfidy," for they "believed the +British would break their parole if released." After the arrival of the +troops at Boston they were quartered at Cambridge, where they were +subjected to the most cruel and inhuman treatment. Officers and soldiers +were shot down and bayoneted in the most cold-blooded manner without the +slightest provocation. If the officers resented any insults, they were +sent to Worcester and treated as felons. They were charged the most +exorbitant prices for food. Burgoyne alone was allowed to go home on +parole; all the other officers and men were marched into the interior of +Virginia, where they were kept in confinement for five years.[72] + + [72] "Travels Through the Interior Parts of America," by Thomas Aubury. + +There is probably not one American in a thousand that knows the origin +and meaning of Washington's advice to his countrymen against entering +into "entangling foreign alliances," and the often quoted phrase: +"French Spoliation Claims," and yet the two are inseparably connected, +and form a most important phase in the early history of the United +States. American historians have passed over this episode, fearing that +it would bring odium on the "Fathers of the Revolution." By the treaty +made by Franklin with France, in which she recognized the United States +and by which means American independence was secured, it was agreed that +the United States should assist France in foreign complications in which +she might be involved, and furthermore to protect her possessions in the +West Indies. This was the first treaty made by the United States. When +the time came for putting these pledges into force, the United States +refused to act. + +"The expense of the war of the Revolution was as much, if not more, to +France, than to the United States, and it is a matter of historical +truth that the expenses incurred in this war by France bankrupted the +nation and hurried on the terrible events which convulsed the world from +the commencement of the French Revolution until the battle of Waterloo. +During all this distress and disaster, the Americans were chuckling in +their sleeves, and wasting the treasures of the old world to embellish +the half-fledged cities of the new world. Gratitude is a virtue often +spoken of with apparent sincerity, but not so frequently exhibited in +practice." This is the language of a well-known Revolutionary +officer.[73] Therefore, the United States acted in a most shameful and +disgraceful manner in violating the first treaty she ever entered into, +through which she secured her independence; she did not give the French +that assistance she had agreed to give by treaty, but remained neutral +and indifferent, while England seized upon the larger part of the French +colonies in the West Indies. The base ingratitude of the United States +exasperated the French, so they issued orders to seize and destroy +American property wherever found. Several naval engagements between the +late allies ensued, and 898 vessels were seized by the French government +or were destroyed by its cruisers, prior to the year 1800. Hence, when +Ellsworth, Van Murray and Davie, the commissioners appointed by the +United States to negotiate with France, and to settle the dispute, asked +for damages for the seizure and destruction of American vessels, the +French foreign minister turned upon them with the assertion that in +performing her part of the Franklin treaty of 1778, France had spent +$28,000,000, and had sacrificed the lives of thousands of her people, +simply for the purpose of gaining the independence for the United +States. All it had asked had been the friendship and assistance of the +United States in the manner provided in this treaty. Instead of meeting +these claims and requiting the generosity of France in the way such +conduct deserved, the United States had ignored its obligations, and now +came forward and advanced a petty claim for money, utterly forgetful of +how much France had sacrificed in its behalf. + + [73] "Letter of Major Caleb Stark in Memoir of General John Stark," p. + 364. + +As might be supposed, there was no answer that could be made to this +assertion, and hence the new treaty then drawn up, in which the two +states agreed to renounce respectively whatever pretensions they might +have had to claims one against the other, was ratified by the Senate, +and promulgated by President Jefferson December 21, 1801, thus +relieving France of all responsibility for damages caused by her +cruisers prior to 1800, and throwing the responsibility of liquidating +these demands upon the United States government--a responsibility it +succeeded in avoiding for a hundred years, as it succeeded in avoiding +the demands which the French government could and did make upon it to +defend French West India possessions. These were the "entangling foreign +alliances" referred to by Washington. + +Bills granting payment of these claims, which originally amounted to +$12,676,000, passed Congress twice, and were vetoed first by President +Polk and then by President Pierce. If ever there was a just claim +brought before Congress, these French spoliation claims deserve the +title, and it is a historical disgrace to the government of the United +States that the payment of them was delayed for nearly a hundred +years.[74] + + [74] During Cleveland's administrations a bill was passed allowing + claimants to present claims for adjudication to the amount of their face + value. If interest was added, they would exceed $100,000,000. The owners + of the 898 vessels destroyed, who were called upon to make this + sacrifice as a means of relieving the government from a great + responsibility, in many cases were reduced to poverty by the duplicity + of the government, and even now with this scant justice, there are many + that find it very difficult to prove their claim, so long a time has + elapsed, and many are dead without legal representation. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +_INDIANS IN THE REVOLUTION._ + + +The writers of American histories severely condemn the British +government for employing Indians in the war of the Revolution as well as +in 1812, and give unstinted praise to the Americans for humanity in +refusing to make use of the warlike but undisciplined and cruel Indian +as an ally in the activities of a military campaign. Either an attempt +is made to suppress the whole truth of this matter, or the writers have +failed in their duty to thoroughly investigate sources of history easily +accessible to the honest historian. + +The fact is, that in the incipient stage of the Revolutionary war, +overtures were made by the political disturbers and leading instigators +of trouble to win over to the side of the American party the fiercest, +if not the most numerous Indian nation on the North American continent. + +From Concord, on the fourth of April, 1775, the Provincial Congress +thought fit, with cunning prudence, to address the sachem of the +Mohawks, with the rest of the Iroquois tribes, in the following words: + +"Brother, they have made a law to establish the religion of the pope in +Canada, which lies near you. We much fear some of your children may be +induced, instead of worshipping the only true God, to pay his due to +images, made with their own hands."[75] + + [75] American Archives, series I, p. 1350. + +Here, then, a religious reason was advanced, in lieu of the real one, +why the Indians should oppose the British, by whom they had always been +generously treated. The response to the insinuating address was not +encouraging. May it not be assumed that these Indians had already +experienced some of the same kind of love, generosity and good faith, as +later every tribe has received from every government at Washington, from +the days of the first president to the latest, through the past "century +of dishonor." + +_Before the 19th of April_, the Provincial Congress had authorized the +enlistment of a company of Stockbridge (Massachusetts) Indians. These +Indians were used by the Americans during the siege of Boston. A letter, +dated July 9, 1775, says: "Yesterday afternoon some barges were sounding +the Charles River near its mouth, but were soon obliged to row off by +our Indians, fifty in number, who are encamped near that place." + +[Illustration: COLONEL MIFFLEN'S INTERVIEW WITH THE CAUGINAWAGA INDIANS. + +At Watertown during the seige of Boston, the Revolutionists endeavored +to obtain their assistance.] + +On the 21st of June, two of the Indians killed four of the regulars with +their bows and arrows, and plundered them. Frothingham says the +British complained, and with reason, of their mode of warfare. + +Lieut. Carter, writes July 2, 1775: "Never had the British army so +ungenerous an enemy to oppose. They send their riflemen, five or six at +a time, who conceal themselves behind trees, etc., till an opportunity +presents itself of taking a shot at our advanced sentries, which done, +they immediately retreat."[76] + + [76] American Archives. Series I, p. 1350. + +During the siege of Boston, John Adams visited Washington's camp at +Watertown, and wrote the following letter to his wife, which goes to +prove the efforts made by the Americans to enlist the Canadian Indians +in their cause, and which they afterwards complained so bitterly of the +British for doing: + + "Watertown, 24 January, 1776. + +"I dined at Colonel Mifflin's with the general and lady, and a vast +collection of other company, among whom were six or seven sachems and +warriors of the French Caughnawaga Indians, with several of their wives +and children. A savage feast they made of it, yet were very polite in +the Indian style. One of the sachems is an Englishman, a native of this +colony, whose name was Williams, captivated in infancy, with his mother, +and adopted by some kind squaw."[77] + + [77] Frothingham Siege of Boston, p. 212. Letters of John Adams to his + Wife Vol. I., p. 79. + +Many attempts were made by the Americans to use the Indians. Montgomery +made use of them in his Canadian expedition. + +In April, 1776, Washington wrote to Congress, urging their employment in +the army, and reported on July 13th that, without special authority, he +had directed General Schuyler to engage the Six Nations on the best +terms he and his colleagues could procure, and again submitting the +propriety of engaging the Eastern Indians. John Adams thought "we need +not be so delicate as to refuse the assistance of Indians, provided we +cannot keep them neutral." A treaty was exchanged with the Eastern +Indians on July 17, 1776, whereby they agreed to furnish six hundred for +a regiment, which was to be officered by the whites. As a result of +this, the Massachusetts Council subsequently reported that seven +Penobscot Indians--all that could be procured--were enlisted in October +for one year.[78] It is interesting to remember, in this connection, +that the courteous and chivalrous Lafayette raised a troop of Indians to +fight the British and the Tories, though his reputation has been saved +by the utter and almost ludicrous failure of his attempt.[79] + + [78] Windsor Nar. and Crit. His. Vol. VI., 655, 657. + + [79] Essays in American History, 178. + +When all this had been done, it needed the forgetfulness and the blind +hypocrisy of passion to denounce the king to the world for having +"endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless +Indian savage." Yet Americans have never had the self-respect to erase +this charge from a document generally printed in the fore-front of the +Constitution and Laws, and with which every schoolboy is sedulously made +familiar. + +The Revolutionists failed to enlist the Indians in their cause, for the +Indian and the Colonist were bitter and irreconcilable foes. The Indian +had long scores to pay, not upon the English nation or the English army, +but upon the American settler who had stolen his lands, shot his sons, +and debauched his daughters. It is well here to remember the speech of +Logan, the Cayuga chief, on the occasion of the signing of the treaty of +peace in 1764, at the close of the Pontiac Conspiracy. Logan said: "I +appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry +and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and naked and he clothed +him not. Such was my love of the white man that my countrymen in passing +my cabin said: 'Logan is the friend of the white man.' I have even +thought to have lived with you but for the injuries you did me last +spring, when in cold blood and unprovoked, you murdered all the +relations of Logan, not sparing even my women and children. There runs +not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called +for revenge. I have sought it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted +my vengeance." Logan's family, being on a visit to a family of the name +of Greathouse, was murdered by them and their associates under +circumstances of great brutality and cowardice. It is known that in +revenge, Logan took over 30 scalps with his own hand. And others than +Indians had old scores to wipe out. Many loyalists who desired to be +left alone in peace had been tarred and feathered by their former +friends and fellow-townsmen; were driven from their homes and hunted +like wild beasts; imprisoned, maimed, and compelled to suffer every kind +of indignity. In many cases fathers, brothers and sons were hanged, +because they insisted on remaining loyal to their country. Therefore it +is not to be wondered at that many of these loyalists sought a terrible +revenge against those who had maltreated them. If the loyalists of New +York, Georgia and the Carolinas resolved to join the Indians and wreak +vengeance on their fellow countrymen at Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and +to take part in the raids of Tyron and Arnold, there was a rude cause +for their retaliating. Their actions have been held up to the execration +of posterity as being exceptionally barbarous, and as far surpassing in +cruelty the provocative actions of the revolutionists, Sullivan's +campaign through the Indian country being conveniently forgotten. There +was not much to choose between a cowboy and a skinner, and very little +difference between Major Ferguson's command and that of Marion and +Sumpter. There were no more orderly or better behaved troops in either +army than Simcoe's Queen's Rangers. There can be no doubt that the +action of the loyalists have been grossly exaggerated, or at least dwelt +upon as dreadful scenes of depravity, to form a background for the +heroism and fortitude of the "patriotic" party whose misdeeds are passed +lightly over. The methods of the growth of popular mythology have been +the same in America as in Greece or Rome. The gods of one party have +become the devils of the other. The haze of distance has thrown a halo +around the American leaders--softening outlines, obscuring faults, while +those of the British and the loyalists have grown with the advanced +years.[80] + + [80] Essays in American History, 176, 177. + +[Illustration: CARTOON ILLUSTRATING FRANKLIN'S DIABOLICAL SCALP STORY. + +From an old print in the possession of the Bostonian Society.] + +The following brief entry in a diary, will show that among the American +forces savage customs found place: "On Monday, the 30th, sent out a +party for some dead Indians. Toward morning found them, and skinned two +of them from their hips down, for boot legs; one pair for the major, the +other for myself."[81] + + [81] Proceedings, N. J. His. Soc. II, 31. + +It has been the policy of American historians and their echoes in +England to bring disrepute upon the Indians and the British government +who employed them, and not only to magnify actual occurrences, but +sometimes, when facts were wanting, to draw upon imagination for such +deeds of ferocity and bloodshed as might serve to keep alive the +strongest feelings of indignation against the mother country, and thus +influence men to take the field for revenge who had not already been +driven thither by the impulse of their sense of patriotism. Dr. Franklin +himself did not think it unworthy of his antecedents and position to +employ these methods to bring disrepute on the British. The "deliberate +fiction for political purposes," by Franklin, were written as facts. +Never before was there such diabolical fiction written as his well known +scalp story, long believed and recently revived in several books +purporting to be "authentic history." The details were so minute and +varied as to create a belief that they were entirely true. For a century +supposed to be authentic, it has since been ascertained to be a +publication from the pen of Dr. Franklin for political purposes. It +describes minutely the capture from the Seneca Indians of eight bales of +scalps, which were being sent the governor of Canada, to be forwarded by +him as a gift to the "Great King." The description of the contents of +each bale was given with such an air of plausibility as to preclude a +suspicion that it was fictitious. The following are a few brief +abstracts from this story: "No. 1 contains forty-three scalps of +Congress soldiers, also sixty-two farmers, killed in their houses in the +night time. No. 2 contains ninety-eight farmers killed in their houses +in the day time. No. 3 contains ninety-seven farmers killed in the +fields in the day time. No. 4 contains 102 farmers, mixed, 18 burnt +alive, after being scalped; sixty-seven being greyheads, and one +clergyman. No. 5 containing eighty-eight scalps of woman's hair, +long-braided in Indian fashion. No. 6 containing 193 boys' scalps of +various ages. No. 7, 211 girls' scalps, big and little. No. 8, this +package is a mixture of all the varieties above mentioned, to the number +of 122, with a box of birch bark, containing twenty-nine infants' scalps +of various sizes."[82] + + [82] Life of Brandt. Appendix No. 1, Vol. I. + +With the bales of scalps was a speech addressed to the "Great King." + +One of the most cruel and bloodthirsty acts of the Americans was the +massacre of the Moravian Indians. "From love of peace they had advised +those of their own color who were bent on war to desist from it. They +were also led from humanity, to inform the white people of their danger, +when they knew their settlements were about to be invaded. One hundred +and sixty Americans crossed the Ohio and put to death these harmless, +inoffensive people, though they made no resistance. In conformity with +their religious principles these Moravians submitted to their hard fate +without attempting to destroy their murderers. Upward of ninety of these +pacific people were killed by men who, while they called themselves +Christians, were more deserving of the names of savages than were their +unresisting victims."[83] + + [83] Dr. Ramsay's His. U. S., Vol. II., Chapter XIX, pp. 330, 332. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +_THE EXPULSION OF THE LOYALISTS AND THE SETTLEMENT OF CANADA._ + + +The Huguenots and the proscribed of the French Revolution found +sanctuary as welcome guests in England and the English colonies. + +The Moors were well treated when banished from Spain; the Revocation of +the Edict of Nantes was civil death to all Huguenots; the Americans made +the treaty of peace of 1783 worse than civil death to all Loyalists. + +The Americans, at the inception and birth of their republic, violated +every precept of Christianity and of a boasted civilization, even to +confiscating the estates of helpless women. For all time it is to be a +part of American history that the last decade of the eighteenth century +saw the most cruel and vindictive acts of spoliation recorded in modern +history. + +At the treaty of peace, 1783, the banishment and extermination of the +Loyalists was a foregone conclusion. The bitterest words ever uttered by +Washington were in reference to them: "He could see nothing better for +them than to recommend suicide." Neither Congress nor state governments +made any recommendation that humane treatment should be meted out to +these Loyalists. John Adams had written from Amsterdam that he would +"have hanged his own brother had he taken part against him."[84] + + [84] Address to the "United Empire Loyalists," by Edward Harris, + Toronto, 1897. + +At the close of the war the mob were allowed to commit any outrage or +atrocity, while the authorities in each state remained apparently +indifferent. An example of Loyalist ill-treatment is to be found in a +letter written October 22, 1783, to a Boston friend, and preserved in +New York City manual, 1870:-- + +"The British are leaving New York every day, and last week there came +one of the d----d refugees from New York to a place called Wall Kill, in +order to make a tarry with his parents, where he was taken into custody +immediately. His head and eyebrows were shaved, tarred and feathered, a +hog-yoke put on his neck, and a cowbell thereon; upon his head a very +high hat and feathers were set, well plumed with tar, and a sheet of +paper in front with a man drawn with two faces, representing the traitor +Arnold and the devil." + +Some American writers have been extremely severe upon Americans who +served in the royal armies. Such condemnation is certainly illogical and +unjust. They must have reasoned they were fighting to save their +country from mob rule, from the domination of demagogues and traitors, +and to preserve to it what, until then, all had agreed to be the +greatest of blessings, the connection with Great Britain, the privilege +of being Englishmen, heirs of all the free institutions which were +embodied in a "great and glorious constitution." If the Loyalists +reasoned in this manner, we cannot blame them, unless we are ready to +maintain the proposition that the cause of every revolution is +necessarily so sacred that those who do not sympathize with it should +abstain from opposing it. + +Very early in the Revolution the disunionists tried to drive the +Loyalists into the rebel militia or into the Continental army by fines, +and by obliging them to hire substitutes. The families of men who had +fled from the country to escape implication in the impending war were +obliged to hire substitutes, and they were fined for the misdeeds of the +mercenary whom they had engaged. Fines were even imposed upon neutral +and unoffending persons for not preventing their families from entering +the British service. If the fines were refused, the property was +recklessly sold to the amount of the fine and costs of action. Loyalists +convicted of entering the enemy's lines could be fined as high as 2000 +pounds, and even the unsuccessful attempt to enter might be punished by +a fine of 1000 pounds.[85] If the property of the offender failed to +answer for his offence, he became subject to corporal punishment, +whipping, branding, cropping of ears, and exposure in the pillory being +resorted to in some of the states. + + [85] "Acts of New Jersey," Oct. 8, 1778, p. 60. + +The Disunionists had early a covetous eye upon the property of the +Loyalists. The legislative bodies hastened to pass such laws as would +prevent those suspected of Loyalism from transferring their property, +real or personal, by real or pretended sale. Friends who tried to guard +the property of refugees nailed up the doors that led to the room +containing valuable furniture, but were obliged by bullying committeemen +to remove their barricades and give up their treasures. + +The members of one wealthy refugee's family were reduced in their +housekeeping to broken chairs and teacups, and to dipping the water out +of an iron skillet into a pot, which they did as cheerfully as if they +were using a silver urn. The furniture had been removed, though the +family picture still hung in the blue room, and the harpsichord stood in +the passage way to be abused by the children who passed through. These +two aristocratic ladies were obliged to use their coach-house as a +dining-room, and the "fowl-house" as their bed chamber. The picture +continues: "In character the old lady looks as majestic even there, and +dresses with as much elegance as if she were in a palace."[86] This +mansion was General Putnam's headquarters at the battle of Bunker Hill, +and was afterward confiscated. + + [86] James Murray, Loyalist, p. 245, 253. + +When the treaty of peace was signed, the question of amnesty and +compensation for the Loyalists was long and bitterly discussed. Even +the French minister had urged it. John Adams, one of the commission, +favored compensating "the wretches, how little soever they deserved it, +nay, how much soever they deserve the contrary."[87] + + [87] John Adams' Works, Vol. IX., p. 516. + +The commission hesitated "to saddle" America with the Loyalists because +they feared the opposition at home, especially by the individual states. +The British demand had been finally met with the mere promise that +Congress would recommend to the states a conciliatory policy with +reference to the Loyalists. This solution neither satisfied the +Loyalists nor the more chivalrous Englishmen. They declared that the +provision concerning the Loyalists was "precipitate, impolitic," and +cruelly neglectful of their American friends.[88] But all of this +cavilling was unreasonable and hasty, for England had gotten for the +Loyalists the utmost attainable in the treaty, and later proved +honorable and generous in the highest degree by compensating the +Loyalists out of her own treasury--an act only excelled in the next +century by the purchase and emancipation of all the slaves in the +British Empire, for which the people of Great Britain taxed only +themselves--the most generous act ever performed by any nation in the +history of mankind. + + [88] Stevens' "Facsimiles," 1054. + +In spite of the recommendation of Congress which had been made in +accordance with the terms of the treaty, confiscation still went on +actively. Governors of the states were urged to exchange lists of +proscribed persons, that no Loyalists might find a resting-place in the +United States, and in every state they were disfranchised, while in many +localities they were tarred and feathered, driven from town and warned +never to return again. Some were murdered and maltreated in the most +horrible manner. Thousands of inconspicuous Loyalists did, nevertheless, +succeed in remaining in the larger cities, where their identity was +lost, and they were not the objects of jealous social and political +exclusion as in the small town. In some localities where they were in +the majority, the hostile minority was not able to wreak its vengeance. + +With the treaty of peace there came a rush for British American +territory. The numbers were increased in Canada to some 25,000 during +the next few years, and those in Nova Scotia and other British territory +swelled the number to 60,000. + +Most of these exiles became, in one way or another, a temporary expense +to the British government, and the burden was borne honorably and +ungrudgingly. The care began during the war. The Loyalists who aided +Burgoyne were provided with homes in Canada, and before the close of +1779 nearly a thousand refugees were cared for in houses and barracks +and given fuel, household furniture, and even pensioned with money. +After the peace, thousands of exiles at once turned to the British +government for temporary support. The vast majority had lost but little, +and asked only for land and supplies to start life with. The minority +who had lost lands, offices and incomes, demanded indemnity. As for the +members of the humbler class, the government ordered that there should +be given 500 acres of land to heads of families, 300 acres to single +men, and each township in the new settlements was to have 2000 acres for +church purposes and 1000 for schools. Building material and tools, an +axe, spade, hoe and plow, were furnished each head of a family. Even +clothing and food were issued to the needy, and as late as 1785 there +were 26,000 entitled to rations. Communities were equipped with +grindstones and the machinery for grist and saw mills. In this way +$5,000,000 were spent to get Nova Scotia well started, and in Upper +Canada, besides the three million acres given to the Loyalist, some +$4,000,000 were expended for this benefit before 1787. + +But there was a far greater burden assumed by the British government in +granting the compensation asked for by those who had sacrificed +everything to their loyalty. Those who had lost offices or professional +practice were, in many cases, cared for by the gift of lucrative offices +under the government, and Loyalist military officers were put on half +pay. It is said with truth that the defeated government dealt with the +exiled and fugitive Loyalists with a far greater liberality than the +United States bestowed upon their victorious army. + +After the peace, over five thousand Loyalists submitted claims for +losses, usually through agents appointed by the refugees from each +American colony. In July of 1783, a commission of five members was +appointed by Parliament to classify the losses and services of the +Loyalists. They examined the claims with an impartial and judicial +severity. The claimant entered the room alone with the commissioners +and, after telling his services and losses, was rigidly questioned +concerning fellow claimants as well as himself. The claimant then +submitted a written and sworn statement of his losses. After the results +of both examinations were critically scrutinized, the judges made the +award. In the whole course of their work, they examined claims to the +amount of forty million of dollars, and ordered nineteen millions to be +paid. + +If to the cost of establishing the Loyalists in Nova Scotia and Canada +we add the compensation granted in money, the total amount expended by +the British government for their American adherents was at least thirty +million dollars. There is evidence that the greatest care that human +ingenuity could devise was exercised to make all these awards in a fair +and equitable manner. The members of the commission were of +unimpeachable honesty. Nevertheless there was much complaint by the +Loyalists because of the partial failure of giving the loyal exiles a +new start in life. The task was no easy one--to transfer a disheartened +people to a strange land and a trying climate, and let them begin life +anew. But when, years later, they had made of the land of this exile a +mighty member of the British empire, they began to glory in the days of +trial through which they had passed. + +At a council meeting held at Quebec, November 9, 1789, an order was +passed for "preserving a register of the Loyalists that had adhered to +the unity of the empire, and joined the Royal Standard previous to the +treaty of peace in 1783, to the end that their posterity may be +distinguished from future settlers in the rank, registers, and rolls of +the militia of their respective districts, as proper objects for +preserving and showing the fidelity and conduct so honorable to their +ancestors for distinguished benefit and privileges." + +Today their descendants are organized as the United Empire Loyalists, +and count it an honor that their ancestors suffered persecution and +exile rather than yield the principle and idea of union with Great +Britain. + +The cause of the Loyalists failed, but their stand was a natural one and +was just and noble. They were the prosperous and contended men--the men +without a grievance. Conservatism was the only policy that one could +expect of them. Men do not rebel to rid themselves of prosperity. +Prosperous men seek to conceive prosperity. The Loyalist obeyed his +nature, but as events proved, chose the ill-fated cause, and when the +struggle ended, his prosperity had fled, and he was an outcast and an +exile. + +If, when George III. and his government recognized the independence of +the thirteen colonies, the Loyalists had been permitted to remain here +and become, if they would, American citizens, the probabilities are +that, long before this time, an expansion would have taken place in the +national domain which would have brought under its control the entire +American continent north of the United States, an extension brought +about in an entirely peaceful and satisfactory manner. The method of +exclusion adopted peopled Canada, so far as its English-speaking +inhabitants were concerned, with those who went from the United States +as political exiles, and who carried with them to their new homes an +ever-burning sense of personal wrong and a bitter hatred of those who +had abused them. + +The indifference shown to treaty obligations by Congress and the states, +and the secret determination to eradicate everything British from the +country, is now known to have been the deliberate, well-considered +policy of the founders of the Republic. + +This old legacy of wrongdoing has been a barrier in the way of a +healthful northern development of the United States. The contentions +which gave rise to these hostile feelings have been forgotten, but the +feelings themselves have long outlived the causes which gave rise to +them. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +_THE WAR OF 1812 AND THE ATTEMPTED CONQUEST OF CANADA._ + + +When the Revolutionary War had ended came the long twenty-three years' +war in which Great Britain, for the most part, single-handed, fought for +the freedom of Europe against the most colossal tyranny ever devised by +a victorious general. No nation in the history of the world carried on a +war so stubborn, so desperate, so costly, so vital. Had Great Britain +failed, what would now be the position of the world? At the very time +when Britain's need was the sorest, when every ship, every soldier and +sailor that she could find was needed to break down the power of the man +who had subjugated all Europe except Russia and Great Britain, the +United States, the land of boasted liberty, did her best to cripple the +liberating armies by proclaiming war against Britain in the hour of her +sorest need. + +Napoleon was at the height of his power, with an army collected at +Boulogne for the invasion of England. England was growing exhausted by +the contest. Her great Prime Minister, Pitt, had died broken hearted. +Every indication was favorable to the conquest of Canada by the United +States and therewith the extinction of all British interests on the +western continent. + +In the motherland it seemed, to the popular imagination, that on the +other side of the Atlantic lived an implacable enemy, whose rancor was +greater than their boasted love of liberty. Fisher Ames, who was +regarded by his party as its wisest counsellor and chief ornament, +expresses this general feeling on their part in a letter to Mr. Quincy, +dated Dedham, Dec. 6, 1807, in which he says: "Our cabinet takes council +of the mob, and it is now a question whether hatred of Great Britain and +the reproach fixed even upon violent men, if they will not proceed in +their violence, will not overcome the fears of the maritime states, and +of the planters in Congress. The usual levity of a democracy has not +appeared in regard to Great Britain. We have been steady in our hatred +of her, and when popular passions are not worn out by time, but +argument, they must, I should think, explode in war."[89] + + [89] Life of Josiah Quincy, p. 119. + +The action of the United States in declaring war against Great Britain +when she was most sorely pressed in righting for the liberty of mankind +is best set forth in the famous speech of Josiah Quincy, delivered +before Congress on the 5th of January, 1813. It was, as he himself says +of it, "most direct, pointed and searching as to the motive and conduct +of our rulers. It exposed openly and without reserve or fear the +iniquity of the proposed invasion of Canada. I was sparing of neither +language nor illustration." Its author, on reading it over in his old +age, might well say that "he shrunk not from the judgment of after +times." Its invective is keen, its sarcasm bitter, its denunciations +heavy and severe, but the facts from which they derive their sting or +their weight are clearly stated and sustained. + +As a means of carrying on the war, he denounces the invasion of Canada +as "cruel, wanton, senseless, and wicked--an attempt to compel the +mother country to our terms by laying waste an innocent province which +had never injured us, but had long been connected with us by habits of +good neighborhood and mutual good offices." He said "that the +embarrassment of our relations with Great Britain and the keeping alive +between this country and that of a root of bitterness has been, is, and +will continue to be, a main principle of the policy of this American +Cabinet." + +The Democratic Party having attained power by fostering the old grudge +against England, and having maintained itself in power by force of that +antipathy, a consent to the declaration of war had been extorted from +the reluctant Madison as the condition precedent of his nomination for a +second term of office. + +When war against Great Britain was proposed at the last session, there +were thousands in these United States, and I confess to you I was myself +among the number, who believed not one word of the matter, I put my +trust in the old-fashioned notions of common sense and common prudence. +That a people which had been more than twenty years at peace should +enter upon hostilities against a people which had been twenty years at +war, the idea seemed so absurd that I never once entertained it as +possible. It is easy enough to make an excuse for any purpose. When a +victim is destined to be immolated, every hedge presents sticks for the +sacrifice. The lamb that stands at the mouth of the stream will always +trouble the water if you take the account of the wolf who stands at the +source of it. We have heard great lamentation about the disgrace of our +arms on the frontier. Why, sir, the disgrace of our arms on the frontier +is terrestrial glory in comparison with the disgrace of the attempt. Mr. +Speaker, when I contemplate the character and consequences of this +invasion of Canada, when I reflect on its criminality and its danger to +the peace and liberty of this once happy country, I thank the great +Author and Source of all virtue that, through His grace, that section of +country in which I have the happiness to reside, is in so great a degree +free from the iniquity of this transgression. I speak it with pride. The +people of that section have done what they could to vindicate themselves +and their children from the burden of their sin. + +Surely if any nation had a claim for liberal treatment from another, it +was the British nation from the American. After the discovery of the +error of the American government in relation to the repeal of the Berlin +and Milan Decrees in November, 1810, they had declared war against her +on the supposition that she had refused to repeal her orders in council +after the French Decrees were in fact revoked, whereas it now appears +that they were in fact not revoked. Surely the knowledge of this error +was followed by an instant and anxious desire to redress the resulting +injury. No, sir, nothing occurred. On the contrary the question of +impressment is made the basis of continuing the war. They renewed +hostilities. They rushed upon Canada. Nothing would satisfy them but +blood. + +I know, Mr. Speaker, that while I utter these things, a thousand tongues +and a thousand pens are preparing without doors to overwhelm me, if +possible, by their pestiferous gall. Already I hear in the air the sound +of "Traitor," "British Agent," "British Gold!" and all those changes of +calumny by which the imagination of the mass of men are affected and by +which they are prevented from listening to what is true and receiving +what is reasonable.[90] + + [90] Life of Josiah Quincy, pp. 256, 280, 281, 282, 283, 286, 287, 288, + 289, 291. + +As will be noticed in the foregoing extract from Josiah Quincy's +celebrated speech, New England refused to take any part in the war. In +fact, it must be said in their favor that they refused absolutely to +send any troops to aid in the invasion of Canada. They regarded the +pretexts on which the war had been declared with contemptuous +incredulity, believing them to be but thin disguises of its real object. +That object they believed to be the gratification of the malignant +hatred the slave-holding states bore toward communities of free and +intelligent labor, by the destruction of their wealth and prosperity. + +A town meeting was held in Boston at Faneuil Hall on June 11, 1812, at +which it was "Resolved: That in the opinion of this town, it is of the +last importance to the interest of this country to avert the threatened +calamity of war with Great Britain," etc. A committee of twelve was +appointed to take into consideration the present alarming state of our +public affairs, and report what measures, in their opinion, it is proper +for the town to adopt at this momentous crisis. + +The committee reported in part as follows: "While the temper and views +of the national administration are intent upon war, an expression of the +sense of this town, will of itself be quite ineffectual either to avert +this deplorable calamity or to accelerate a return of peace, but +believing as we do that an immense majority of the people are invincibly +averse from conflict equally unnecessary and menacing ruin to themselves +and their posterity, convinced as we are that the event will overwhelm +them with astonishment and dismay, we cannot but trust that a general +expression of the voice of the people would satisfy Congress that those +of their representatives who had voted in favor of war, have not truly +represented the wishes of their constituents, and thus arrest the +tendency of their measures to this extremity." + +Had the policy of government been inclined towards resistance to the +pretentions of the belligerants by open war, there could be neither +policy, reason or justice in singling out Great Britain as the +exclusive object of hostility. If the object of war is merely to +vindicate our honor, why is it not declared against the first aggressor? +If the object is defense and success, why is it to be waged against the +adversary most able to annoy and least likely to yield? Why, at the +moment when England explicitly declares her order in council repealed +whenever France shall rescind her decrees, is the one selected for an +enemy and the other courted as a conqueror? "Under present circumstances +there will be no scope for valor, no field for enterprise, no chance for +success, no hope of national glory, no prospect but of a war against +Great Britain, in aid of the common enemy of the human race, and in the +end an inglorious peace." + +The resolution recommended by the committee was adopted and it was voted +that the selectmen be requested to transmit a copy thereof to each town +in this commonwealth. + +At a town meeting held August 6, 1812, the following resolutions were +passed: "That the inhabitants of the town of Boston have learned with +heartfelt concern that in the City of Baltimore a most outrageous +attack, the result of deliberate combinations has been made upon the +freedom of opinion and the liberty of the press. An infuriated mob has +succeeded in accomplishing its sanguinary purpose by the destruction of +printing presses and other property, by violating the sanctuary of +dwelling houses, breaking open the public prison and dragging forth from +the protection of civil authority the victims of their ferocious +pursuit, guilty of no crime but the expression of their opinions and +completing the tissue of their enormities by curses, wounds and murders, +accompanied by the most barbarous and shocking indignities." + +"In the circumstances attending the origin, the progress, and the +catastrophe of this bloody scene, we discern with painful emotion, not +merely an aggravation of the calamities of the present unjust and +ruinous war, but a prelude to the dissolution of all free government, +and the establishing of a reign of terror. Mobs, by reducing men to a +state of nature, defeat the object of every social compact. The sober +citizen who trembles in beholding the fury of the mob, seeks refuge from +its dangers by joining in its acclamations. The laws are silenced. New +objects of violence are discovered. The government of the nation and the +mob government change places with each other. The mob erects its horrid +crest over the ruins of liberty, of property, of the domestic relations +of life and of civil institutions."[91] + + [91] Boston Town Records, City Document No. 115, pp. 317, 318, 319, 320, + 321, 322. + +The foregoing is a fair example of the feelings shown in New England +towards this unjustifiable war, and which culminated in the famous +Hartford convention which was accused of designing an organized +resistance to the general government, and a separation of the New +England states from the Union if the war was not stopped. The +resolutions condemning the Baltimore mob also show the change in public +opinion that had taken place in Boston during the thirty-seven years +that had elapsed since the commencement of the Revolution in Boston, +which was inaugurated by mob violence, participated in by many who, by +the strange irony of fate, by these resolutions condemned their own +actions. + +Mr. Quincy did not stand alone among his countrymen of that day in a +general championship of Great Britain in the hour of her extremity. The +Reverend John Sylvester, John Gardner, rector of Trinity church, Boston, +a man of great scholarship, among others lifted up his voice in protest +against unfair treatment of Great Britain by the government and people +of the United States. + +In a sermon at this time he said: "Though submissive and even servile to +France, to Great Britain we are eager to display our hatred and hurl our +defiance. Every petty dispute which may happen between an American +captain and a British officer is magnified into a national insult. The +land of our fathers, whence is derived the best blood of the nation, the +country to which we are chiefly indebted for our laws and knowledge is +stigmatized as a nest of pirates, plunderers and assassins. We entice +away her seamen, the very sinews of her power. + +"We refuse to restore them on application; we issue hostile +proclamations; we interdict her ships of war from the common rights to +hospitality; we have non-importation acts; we lay embargoes; we refuse +to ratify a treaty in which she has made great concessions to us; we +dismiss her envoy of peace who came purposely to apologize for an act +unauthorized by her government; we commit every act of hostility against +her in proportion to our means and station. Observe the conduct of the +two nations and our strange conduct. France robs us and we love her; +Britain courts us and we hate her." + +It was during the summer of 1812, when Jefferson truly stated that every +continental power of importance, except Russia, was allied with +Napoleon, and Great Britain stood alone to oppose them, for Russia could +not aid her if she would--her commerce paralyzed, her factories closed, +commerce and her people threatened with famine. It was at this moment of +dire extremity that Madison chose to launch his war message. His action +was eagerly supported by Jefferson, Clay and Calhoun, and the younger +members of his party. + +Jefferson wrote to Duane: "The acquisition of Canada this year (1812) as +far as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, +and will give us experience for the attack on Halifax, the next and the +final expulsion of England from the American continent. Perhaps they +will burn New York or Boston. If they do, we must burn the city of +London, not by expensive fleets of Congreve rockets, but by employing a +hundred or two Jack-the-painters, whom nakedness, famine, desperation +and hardened vice will abundantly furnish from among themselves."[92] + + [92] "Jack-the-painter" was a miscreant employed by Silas Deane, one of + the U. S. Commissioners to France and the colleague of Dr. Franklin, to + burn the docks at Bristol. He partially succeeded and was hanged for the + crime, a far less infamous one than that advocated by Jefferson, the + champion of the rights of man. + +[Illustration: BURNING OF NEWARK, CANADA, BY UNITED STATES TROOPS. + +In retaliation for the destruction of the Public landing at Toronto and +Newark, and other villages, the public building at Washington was +burned.] + +Three months after making this prediction, the surrender of the United +States invading force to the British General Brock, or as Jefferson +preferred to style it, "the detestable treason of Hull," "excited," he +writes, "a deep anxiety in all breasts." A few months later we find him +lamenting that "our war on the land was commenced most inauspiciously." +This has resulted, he thinks, from the employment of generals before it +is known whether they will "stand fire" and has cost us thousands of +good men and deplorable degradation of reputation.(*) "The treachery, +cowardice, and imbecility of the men in command has sunk our spirits at +home and our character abroad."[93] + + [93] Jefferson's Works, Vol. VI., pp. 99, 193, 104. + +At the commencement of the war of 1812, the whole number of British +troops in Canada was 4450, supplemented by about four thousand Canadian +militia. With this corporal guard it was necessary to protect a frontier +of over 1600 miles in length. Any part of this line was liable to an +invasion of United States troops whose lines of communication were far +superior. Moreover Great Britain was unable to send reinforcements until +after the fall of Napoleon in June, 1814, when the war was nearly fought +out. + +American writers have always severely criticised the British for burning +the public buildings when they captured Washington. Ex-President +Jefferson, who proposed that the criminal classes of London should be +hired to burn that city, stigmatized the burning of Washington as +"vandalism," and declared it would "immortalize the infamy" of Great +Britain. He who could contemplate with equanimity the fearful horrors +that must have resulted from the putting in practice of his monstrous +proposition to burn a city crowded with peaceful citizens, professed to +be horrified at the destruction of a few public buildings by which no +man, woman or child, was injured in person or property. With equal +hypocrisy he professed to believe that no provocation for the act was +given by the United States commanders. Upon this point he was taken to +an account by an open letter from Dr. John Strachan, afterwards Bishop +of Toronto. This letter should be preserved as long as there lives a +British apologist for the acts of the United States in the War of 1812. +In part it was as follows: + +"As you are not ignorant of the mode of carrying on the war adopted by +your friends, you must have known it was a small retaliation after +redress had been refused, for burnings and depredations not only of +public but private property, committed by them in Canada." In July, 1812, +General Hull invaded Upper Canada and threatened by proclamation to +exterminate the inhabitants if they made any resistance. He plundered +those with whom he had been in habits of intimacy for years before the +war. Their linen and plate were found in his possession after his +surrender to General Brock. He marked out the loyal subjects of the king +as objects of peculiar resentment, and consigned their property to +pillage and conflagration. + +In April, 1813, the public buildings at York (now Toronto) the capital +of Upper Canada, were burned by the troops of the United States contrary +to the articles of capitulation. Much private property was plundered and +several homes left in a state of ruin. Can you tell me, sir, the reason +why the public buildings and library at Washington should be held more +sacred than those at our York? + +In June, 1813, Newark came into possession of your army, and its +inhabitants were repeatedly promised protection to themselves and +property by General Dearborne and General Boyd. In the midst of their +professions the most respectable of them, almost all non-combatants, +were made prisoners and sent into the United States. The two churches +were burned to the ground; detachments were sent under the direction of +British traitors to pillage the loyal inhabitants in the neighborhood +and to carry them away captive. Many farm-houses were burned during the +summer and at length, to fill up the measure of iniquity, the whole of +the beautiful village of Newark was consigned to flames. The wretched +inhabitants had scarcely time to save themselves, much less any of their +property. More than four hundred women and children were exposed without +shelter on the night of the tenth of December, to the extreme cold of a +Canadian winter, and great numbers must have perished, had not the +flight of your troops, after perpetrating their ferocious act, enabled +the inhabitants of the country to come to their relief. General McClure +says he acted in conformity with the order of his government. + +In November, 1813, your friend General Wilkinson committed great +depredations through the eastern district of Upper Canada. The third +campaign exhibits equal enormities. General Brown laid waste the country +between Chippewa and Fort Erie, burning mills and private houses. The +pleasant village of St. David was burned by his army when about to +retreat. On the 15th of May a detachment of the American army pillaged +and laid waste as much of the adjacent country as they could reach. They +burned the village of Dover with all the mills, stores, distillery, and +dwelling houses in the vicinity, carrying away such property as was +portable, and killing the cattle. + +On the 16th of August, some American troops and Indians from Detroit +surprised the settlement of Port Talbot, where they committed the most +atrocious acts of violence, leaving upwards of 234 men, women and +children in a state of nakedness and want. + +[Illustration: BURNING OF JAY IN EFFIGY. + +For signing the Treaty of 1797 Jay was burned in effigy. Hamilton was +stoned and the British Minister at Philadelphia insulted.] + +On the 20th of December, a second excursion was made by the garrison of +Detroit, spreading fire and pillage through the settlements of Upper +Canada. Early in November, General McArthur, with a large body of +mounted Kentuckians and Indians, made a rapid march through the western +part of the London districts, burning all the mills, destroying +provisions and living upon the inhabitants. Other atrocities committed +by the American troops, among them the wanton destruction of a tribe of +Indians, unarmed and helpless, are detailed by Dr. Strachan. He adds, +addressing Jefferson: "This brief account of the conduct of your +government and army will fill the world with astonishment at the +forbearance of Great Britain." + +After two years and a half had been expended in vain and puerile attacks +on the "handful of soldiers" with which Great Britain was able to resist +its invasion, combined with such assistance as the patriotic Canadians +were able to afford, it was found that not only Canada could not be +conquered, but that much of the territory of the United States had +passed into the hands of the enemy, with not one foot of that enemy's +territory in their own hands to compensate for the loss. + +When the arms of the United States had suffered many reverses and it +became plain that they must accept the best terms from Great Britain +that they could procure, John Adams declared that he "would continue the +war forever rather than surrender one iota of the fisheries as +established by the third article of the treaty of 1783." He boasted that +he had saved the fishermen in that year, and now in 1814 he learned with +dismay that they were again lost to his country, their relinquishment +being one of the terms insisted on by the British commission as the +price of peace. + +The Federalists also were not easily satisfied. They admitted that peace +was a happy escape for a country with a bankrupt treasury, and all +resources dissipated. "But what," they asked, "have we gained by a war +provoked and entered into by you with such a flourish of trumpets? Where +are your 'sailors' rights?' Where is the indemnity for our impressed +seamen? How about the paper blockade? The advantages you promised us we +have not obtained. But we have lost nothing? Have we not? What about +Grand Manan and Moose Island and the fisheries and our West Indian +commerce?" So severely did Boston suffer that there were sixty vessels +captured at the entrance to the harbor by one small fishing smack of +Liverpool, Nova Scotia, cruising in Massachusetts Bay. + +All who were concerned in the passage of the treaty were the subjects of +the popular wrath. Jay was declared to be an "arch traitor," a "Judas +who had betrayed his country with a kiss," and was burned in effigy in a +dozen cities. Hamilton was stoned; the name of Washington was hooted, +and the British flag dragged in the mud. + +Edmund Quincy, in the life of his father, says, "The fall of Bonaparte, +although it occasioned as genuine joy to New England as to the mother +country herself, did not bring with it absolutely unalloyed +satisfaction." There was reason to apprehend that the English +administration, triumphant over its gigantic foe, its army and navy +released from the incessant service of so many years, might concentrate +the whole of the empire upon the power which it regarded as a volunteer +ally of its mighty enemy, and administer an exemplary chastisement. No +doubt many Englishmen felt, with Sir Walter Scott, that "it was their +business to give the Americans a fearful memento, that the babe unborn +should have remembered," and there is as little question that infinite +damage might have been done to our cities and seacoast and to the banks +of our great rivers, had Great Britain employed her entire naval and +military forces for that purpose. But happily the English people wisely +refrained from an expenditure of blood and gold which could have no +permanent good result, and which would only serve to exasperate passions +and to prolong animosities which it was far wiser to permit to die out. +It is not unlikely that the attention of English people had been so +absorbed by the mighty conflict going on at their very doors that they +had not much to spare for the distant and comparatively obscure fields +across the Atlantic, and indeed the sentiments of the English people and +the policy of English governments have never exhibited a spirit of +revengefulness. The American war was but a slight episode in the great +epic of the age. At any rate the English ministry were content to treat +with the American commissioners at Ghent and to make a peace which left +untouched the pretended occasion for the war, over in expressive +silence, and peace was concluded, leaving "sailors' rights" the great +watchword of the war party, substantially as they stood before +hostilities began, except that our fishermen were deprived of the +valuable privilege they enjoyed of catching and curing fish on the +shores of the Gulf of the St. Lawrence.[94] + + [94] Life of Josiah Quincy, p. 358. + +The news of peace was received in Boston with great joy. It was a day +given up to rejoicing; salutes were fired; the bells rang out their +merriest peals; the volunteer companies with their bands filled the +streets; the school boys took a holiday; the wharves so long deserted +were thronged, and the melancholy ships that rotted along side them were +once more gay with flags and streamers. Thus rejoicing extended all +along the seaboard and far inland, making glad all hearts and none more +glad than those of the promoters of the war in high places and low.[95] + + [95] Life of Josiah Quincy, pp. 360, 361. + +And so the "war of 1812" ended amid a general joy, not for what it had +accomplished, for the American forces were defeated in their invasion of +Canada, and the United States did not acquire one foot of additional +territory, or the settlement of any of the questions which were the +pretext for the war. + +Much that occurred during the war of 1812 has been conveniently +forgotten by American historians, and much that had not occurred, +remembered. By degrees failure was transformed into success. The new +generations were taught that in that war their fathers had won a great +victory over the whole power of Great Britain single handed and alone. +This amazing belief is still cherished among the people of the United +States, to the astonishment of well informed visitors who meet with +evidence of the fact. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +_THE CIVIL WAR AND THE PART TAKEN BY GREAT BRITAIN IN SAME._ + + +For the first fifty years after the Revolution, the wealthy aristocratic +slave-holding Southern states governed the Union and controlled its +destiny. The acquisition of Florida and the Louisiana purchase doubled +the area of the United States, and the territory derived from the +Mexican War doubled it again. It was the intention of the South to +extend slavery over this immense territory, but they were checked in the +northern part of it by the enormous European immigration that poured +into it and prevented it from becoming slave territory. Then came the +"irrepressible conflict," the border war in Missouri and "bleeding +Kansas," the battle of Ossawatomie and Harper's Ferry raid, and the +constant pin-pricking of the abolition societies in the North, the +headquarters of which were in Boston. + +The presidential election of 1860 showed the South that they had lost +control of the government and that the free states were increasing +enormously in wealth and population, and that, following the example of +Great Britain, it would be only a question of time before they would +insist on abolishing slavery. Then it was that the Southerners decided +to do what their fathers had done eighty-five years before, secede and +become Dis-unionists. They could not believe that there would be any +opposition to their leaving, especially from Massachusetts, that place +that had always been foremost in disunion sentiments. Besides, had not +the Abolitionists said repeatedly in Faneuil Hall, "The Cradle of +Liberty," that if they would leave the Union they would "pave their way +with gold" to get rid of them, and did not the New York Tribune, which +had been the organ of the Abolitionists, and which now declared that "if +the cotton states wished to withdraw from the Union they should be +allowed to do so"; that "any attempt to compel them to remain by force +would be contrary to the principles of the Declaration of Independence, +and to the fundamental idea upon which human liberty is based," and that +"if the Declaration of Independence justified the secession from the +British Empire of three million subjects in 1776, it was not seen why it +would not justify the secession of five million of Southerners from the +Union in 1861." This was quite consistent with the remark of a leading +Abolitionist paper in Boston that "the Constitution was a covenant with +hell." The South also contended that even if they were not justified in +becoming Dis-unionists in 1776, they had established their right to +independence by force of arms and that when they had entered into a +confederation with the other seceding colonies, they had never assigned +any of their rights which they had fought for, that they were sovereign, +independent states, and that the bond that bound them together was +simply for self-protection and was what the name signified "United +States," and not a nation. In proof of this they stated that when the +convention met in Philadelphia in May, 1787, for the purpose of adopting +a constitution for a stronger form of government, the first resolution +presented was, "Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee that +a national government ought to be established, consisting of a supreme +legislature, executive and judiciary." This was followed by twenty-three +other resolutions as adopted and reported by the committee in which the +word "national" occurred twenty-six times. Mr. Ellsworth, of Connecticut +moved to strike out the word "national" and to insert the words +"Government of the United States." This was agreed to unanimously, and +the word "national" was stricken out wherever it occurred, and nowhere +makes its appearance in the Constitution finally adopted. The prompt +rejection of this word "national" is obviously much more expressive of +the intent of the authors of the Constitution than its mere absence from +the Constitution would have been. It is a clear indication that they did +not mean to give any countenance to the idea that the government which +they organized was a consolidated nationality instead of a confederacy +of sovereign members. The question of secession was first raised by men +of Massachusetts, the birthplace of secession. Colonel Timothy Pickering +was one of the leading secessionists of his day. He had been an officer +in the Revolution; afterwards Postmaster General, Secretary of War, +Secretary of State in the cabinet of General Washington and senator from +Massachusetts. + +Writing to a friend on December 24, 1803, he says: "I will not despair. +I will rather anticipate a new confederacy exempt from the corrupt and +corrupting influence and oppression of the aristocratic Democrats of the +South. There will be (and our children, at farthest, will see it) a +separation. The white and black population will mark the boundary."[96] + +In another letter, written in January 29, 1804, he said: "The principles +of our Revolution point to the remedy--a separation. This can be +accomplished and without spilling one drop of blood, I have little +doubt. It must begin in Massachusetts."[96] + + [96] Life of Cabot, p. 491. + +In 1811, on the bill for the admission of Louisiana as a state of the +Union, the Hon. Josiah Quincy, a member of Congress from Massachusetts, +said: "If this bill pass, it is my deliberate opinion that it is +virtually a dissolution of this Union; that it will free the states from +other moral obligations, and as it will be the right of all, so it will +be the duty of some definitely to prepare for a separation, amicably, if +they can, violently if they must." + +The war between the North and the South produced an abundant crop of +bitter prejudices against the mother country. This sentiment was shared +by the South as well as by the North. Each imagined it had been unfairly +treated by the British Government. + +Americans continually point to the period of the Civil war and +triumphantly declare that Englishmen were unfriendly to the United +States at that time. So they were. And Englishmen were unfriendly to the +Confederate states during that time. In fact, Englishmen did exactly +what Americans did at that time--some took the side of the North and +others took the side of the South. This it was their privilege to do. +They simply asserted the right of free men to think as they pleased, and +to express those thoughts freely. But that in so doing they showed +hostility to the United States it is false and foolish to assert. There +was neither unfriendliness nor malice. This hostility to the South, so +far as it existed, was based solely upon the existence of slavery there. +That which existed against the North was based solely upon the belief +that a stronger power was taking advantage of its strength to trample +upon the political rights of a weaker one. Any person living either +North or South at that time cannot deny that they met many examples of +both of these opinions among their respective acquaintances in both +these sections. + +At the commencement of the Civil War, the Queen issued a proclamation of +neutrality, forbidding the sale of munitions of war to either party, +warning her subjects against entering any blockaded port for purposes of +trade under penalty of forfeiture of vessel and cargo if captured by +either contestant. + +Great Britain, as well as all other civilized powers, granted to the +Confederacy belligerent rights, the same as had been accorded to them by +the United States. Many, through cupidity, were tempted to enter into an +illegal traffic with the seceded states. + +A writer at that time says: "It is to the disgrace of our country that +some of the goods smuggled into the Confederacy via Nassau were from +Northern ports, as for example, shiploads of pistols brought from Boston +in barrels of lard." There was also a considerable trade between Boston +and Confederate ports via Halifax during the war, as well as an immense +amount of contraband trade along the border even by the United States +officials, as for example, the exploits of General Benjamin F. Butler +while in command at Norfolk, Va., in 1864. If citizens of the United +States, even those of Massachusetts, the home of the abolitionists, +entered into this traffic, what could be expected of Great Britain with +her mills closed and thousands of operatives obliged to resort to the +poor rates for subsistence, because she was prevented from buying cotton +with which the wharves of the Southern states were loaded down awaiting +shipment. It was claimed by Unionists that the British ministry and +aristocracy, from political and commercial considerations, openly and +heartily sympathized with the South, and that, under the friendly flag +of Great Britain, secessionists and blockade-runners were welcomed and +assisted in the nefarious traffic; that this unfriendliness of the +British government at that time furnished a solid foundation upon which +the rebellion rested their hopes, thereby protracting the war. It +should not be forgotten, however, that the Queen and the royal family +stood faithfully by the Union in the days of its sorest peril, and +refused to listen to the importunities of the French emperor, to +recognize the Southern Confederacy and open the southern ports. + +France, having taken advantage of the Civil War, set the Monroe Doctrine +at defiance and conquered Mexico. Her remaining there depended on the +success of the Confederacy, as after events proved. Had Great Britain +listened to France and joined her in recognizing the Southern +Confederacy, the South would have surely succeeded. It is generally +admitted that the strict blockade of the Southern ports is what defeated +the Confederacy. It is due to Great Britain that the United States is +not dismembered. It should be remembered that during the Civil War the +great body of British workmen were on the side of the North. Even in the +cotton famine districts they preferred to starve rather than have the +Southern ports opened whereby they could obtain an abundance of cotton, +thereby relieving their sore necessities. + +It is also true that the Confederacy had many friends in Great Britain; +that Gladstone, the great Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer, so far +forgot what was due to his position as to make a speech in which he said +"he expected the liberation of the slaves by their own masters sooner +than from the North; that Jefferson Davis and the leaders of the South +have made an army; they are soon, I understand, to have a navy, but +greater than all this, they have made a nation." + +It must be admitted that in building a navy the government connived at +the building of cruisers, such as the Alabama, in British shipyards, for +which they had to pay dearly afterwards. In answer to this speech of +Gladstone, the robust yet tender tones of John Bright's voice rang out +for the Northern cause in the darkest hour of the Civil War. His voice +was heard with no uncertain sound when he uttered his indignant protest +at anything like a reception being tendered Mason and Slidell on their +release. John Bright for a long time sustained the enormous loss of +keeping his mills open at hast half time with no material to work with. +There he stood, all Quaker as he was, praying that the North might not +stay its hand till the last slave was freed, even if no bales of cotton +were sent to relieve his grievious losses protesting against outside +interference. When the day came that marked the passing away of this +venerable patriot, one of earth's greatest and best, an attempt was made +in Congress to pass a vote of sympathy to his family and to the shame +and disgrace of the United States it must be said that Congress refused +to pay even this poor tribute to the memory of the best friend the +United States had in the whole wide world in the hour of her great +distress. This was done because it would be "offensive to the Irish." +John Bright could see no difference between dis-union in the United +States and dis-union in the United Kingdom. He had written to Mr. +Gladstone concerning Parnell, Dillon, O'Brien, etc., saying, "You deem +them patriots; I hold them not to be patriots, but conspirators against +the crown and government of the United Kingdom." These men were +afterwards found guilty of criminal conspiracy and Parnell was received +with honor on the floor of Congress. + +Henry Ward Beecher stated that during the American Civil War there were +thousands of mass meetings held in Great Britain in favor of the Union +cause, and not one in favor of the Confederacy. + +Jefferson Davis complained bitterly of the action of Great Britain. He +says "The partiality of Her Majesty's government in favor of our enemies +was further evinced in the marked difference of its conduct on the +subject of the purchase of supplies by the two belligerents. This +difference was conspicuous from the commencement of the war."(*) Great +Britain endeavored to deal justly with both parties in the contest, but +pleased neither and was blamed by both. This is probably the best +evidence that can be given to show the impartiality of Great Britain in +the great Civil War, and it is safe to say that there were ten times +more British subjects serving in the Northern armies than there were in +the Southern. + +As previously stated, Great Britain has been greatly blamed by American +historians for her treatment of American prisoners of war during the +Revolution, and at Dartmouth prison in the war of 1812. In view of these +facts it will be interesting to see how the Americans treated their +prisoners when at war between themselves in the Civil War of 1861. One +of the worst cases recorded in the history of the world is that of +Andersonville. The first prisoners were received there in March, 1864. +From that time till March, 1865, the deaths were 13,000 out of a total +of 50,000 or 26 per cent. This enormous loss of life was due to the fact +that in order to subjugate the South their crops were destroyed, their +fields devastated, their railroads broken up, which interrupted their +means of transportation, which reduced their people, troops and +prisoners to the most straitened condition for food. If the troops in +the field were in a half-starved condition, certainly the prisoners +would fare worse.(*) The Confederates have been blamed for this enormous +loss of life, but when the facts are examined it is found that it was +due to the cold-blooded policy of the Federal Government, who would not +exchange prisoners for the atrocious reason set forth in the dispatch +from General Grant to General Butler, dated West Point, August 18, 1864. + +General Grant says: "On the subject of exchange, however, I differ from +General Hitchcock. It is hard on our men in Southern prisons not to +exchange them, but it is humanity to those left in the ranks to fight +our battles. Every man released on parole or otherwise becomes an active +soldier against us at once, either directly or indirectly. If we +commence a system of exchange, which liberates all prisoners taken, we +will have to fight on till the whole South is exterminated. If we hold +those caught, they amount to no more than dead men. At this particular +time to release all rebel prisoners North would insure Sherman's defeat +and would compromise our safety." + +What brought forth this letter was a statement made by the Confederate +government concerning the excessive mortality prevailing among the +prisoners of Andersonville. As no answer was received, another +communication was sent on Aug. 22, 1864 to Major General E. A. +Hitchcock, United States Commissioner of Exchange, concerning the same +proposal. But again no answer was made. One final effort was made to +obtain an exchange. Jefferson Davis sent a delegation of prisoners from +Andersonville to Washington. "It was of no avail. They were made to +understand that the interest of the government required that they should +return to prison and President Lincoln refused to see them. They carried +back the sad tidings that their government held out no hope of their +release."[97] + + [97] Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Vol. II., p. 606. + +Up to this time the mortality among the prisoners had been far greater +in the Northern prisons than in the Southern prisons, notwithstanding +there was an abundance of food and clothing and medical supplies in the +North. In proof of this it is only necessary to offer two facts. First, +the report of the Secretary of War, E. M. Stanton, made on July 19, +1866, shows that of all the prisoners held by the Confederates during +the war, only 22,576 died, while of the prisoners held by the Federal +government, 26,246 died. + +Second, the official report of Surgeon General Barnes, an officer of the +U. S. Government, stated that the number of Confederate prisoners in +their hands amounted to 220,000. The number of U. S. prisoners in +Confederate hands amounted to 270,000. Thus out of 270,000 held by the +Confederates 22,000 died, and of the 220,000 Confederates held in the +North, 26,000 died. Thus 12 per cent of the Confederates died in +Northern prisons and only 9 per cent U. S. prisoners died in the +South.[98] + + [98] Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Vol. II., p. 606. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +_RECONCILIATION. THE DISMEMBERED EMPIRE RE-UNITED IN BONDS OF +FRIENDSHIP. "BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER."_ + + +It is well known and now acknowledged that for the past hundred years it +has been the deliberate and well considered policy of the United States +to eradicate everything British from the country to the north of us. + +During the Canadian rebellion of 1837, as well as during the Fenian raid +of 1866, the American frontier was openly allowed to be made a base of +operation against British North America. + +Canada has always claimed that she has been deprived of enormous areas +of territory by the United States through sharp practice and +unjustifiable means, especially in Oregon, Maine and Alaska. The most +notable case of duplicity on the part of the United States was that of +the Northeast boundary settled under the Ashburton Treaty of Washington +in 1842. After a bitter controversy it was left out to arbitration for +the King of the Netherlands to decide. The award was accepted by Great +Britain and rejected by the United States. The question remained in +abeyance for two years, during which there was imminent danger of a +collision and of war. Military posts were simultaneously established and +rashly advanced into the wild country which both parties claimed as +their own. Redoubts and blockhouses were erected at several points. +Reinforcement of troops from either side poured in. The public mind in +the United States became inflamed by the too ready cry of "British +outrage," proclaimed in all quarters by the reckless politicians of both +parties in order to lash the national spirit into fury. The people in +the whole length and breadth of the Union were, to a man, convinced of +the justice of their claim and of the manifest wrong intended by Great +Britain. The Nation at large was ready and anxious for war, and had a +skirmish taken place on the frontier involving the death of a dozen men +during the so-called "Aroostook War," the whole country would have +rushed to war and plunged the two nations into hostilities, the end of +which no man then living could have foreseen. + +During this trouble, the English people were quite calm and almost +apathetic. With a vague notion of the locality of the disputed +territory, a total ignorance of the merits or demerits of the dispute, +and a profound contempt of the blustering and abuse of American +politicians and newspapers, they were perfectly content to leave affairs +in the hands of the government. + +Finally a joint commission was appointed from the States of Maine and +Massachusetts (both having rights in the disputed territory) and sent to +Washington to negotiate a treaty with Lord Ashburton, a nobleman well +adapted to the occasion from his connection by marriage, and property in +the United States. + +The odds were greatly against the British negotiator. His principal +adversary was Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, who in one of his +letters said: "I must be permitted to say that few questions have arisen +under this government in regard to which a stronger or more general +conviction was felt that the country was in the right than this question +of the northeast boundary." He reiterated his own belief in "the justice +of the claim which arose from our honest conviction that it was founded +in truth and accorded with the intention of the negotiators of the +treaty of 1783." The whole of the disputed territory amounted to +6,750,000 acres. At last a compromise was effected which granted to +Great Britain 3,337,000 acres, and to the United States 3,413,000 acres, +and acknowledged the title of England to all the military positions upon +the frontier, and 700,000 acres more was awarded her than was assigned +to her by the King of the Netherlands. + +But the decision of the Commissioners suited neither party. The factions +in England pronounced Lord Ashburton to have been sold, and those in +America declared that Webster had been bought. The most violent +opposition to the treaty was made; every part of it was denounced, and +it became at last doubtful if the Senate would ratify it. That final +consummation was, however, suddenly effected in a most remarkable +manner, the Senate coming to its decision by an unexpected majority of +thirty-nine to nine, after several days of secret debate. The sanction +of the Queen and the British government had been given without +hesitation and the people on both sides of the Atlantic were well +satisfied with the termination of the long and virulent dispute, and the +Northeastern Boundary Question would have sunk into the archives of +diplomatic history, but truth like murder will out, and it so happened +that Mr. Thomas Colley Grattan, British Consul for Massachusetts[99] +who, at the request of the commissioners, had accompanied them to +Washington to assist them in their negotiation, had the fortune to +discover after the treaty was signed, the duplicity of the Senate during +their secret debates leading to the ratification of the treaty. He says: +"My informant gave unmeasured expression to his indignation, which he +assured me was fully shared in by his friends, Judge Story and Dr. +Channing. Judge Story expressed himself without reserve on Webster's +conduct as a 'most disgraceful proceeding.'" Other gentlemen of Boston +entirely coincided in these opinions. + + [99] For full particulars see his work, "Civilized America," Vol. I, + Chap. XXI, XXII, XXIII. + +[Illustration: Map of the Boundary Line between Maine and New +Brunswick.] + +"It is obvious to all persons familiar with boundary disputes that the +most important evidence in such disputes is founded on surveys and maps. +Early in the controversy there was a strange disappearance of the one in +the archives of the State Department, that had been transmitted by +Franklin to Jefferson in October, 1790, with the true boundary line +traced on it. It was, therefore, with great astonishment that I learned +from the confidential communication just alluded to that during the +whole of the negotiations at Washington, while the highest functionaries +of the American Government were dealing with Lord Ashburton with seeming +frankness and integrity, pledging their faith for a perfect conviction +of the justice of their claim to the territory which was in dispute. Mr. +Webster had in his possession and had communicated to them +all--President, Cabinet, Commissioners and Senate--the highest evidence +which the case admitted, that the United States had never had a shadow +of right to any part of the territory which they had so pertinaciously +claimed for nearly fifty years. This evidence, as my conscientious +informant told me, was nothing less than a copy of an original map +presented by Dr. Franklin to Count de Vergennes, the Minister of Louis +XVI, on December 6, 1782 (six days after the preliminaries of the treaty +of Paris of 1783 were signed) tracing the boundary, as agreed upon by +himself and the other commissioners, with a strong red line south of the +St. John, and exactly where a similar line appears in an unauthenticated +map discovered in London subsequent to Lord Ashburton's departure on his +mission." + +Public attention being aroused by the statements made by the British +Consul to his government, the injunction of secrecy imposed by the +Senate on its members was dissolved, and permission was given for the +publication of the speeches made in secret session of August 17-19, +1842. The most important of those speeches was that of Mr. Rives, +chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. His principal argument was +that if they did not sign the treaty, the dispute would be referred to a +second arbitration with very great danger of their losing the whole, Mr. +Webster, the Secretary of State, having sent to him to be laid before +the Senate a communication and a copy of the map presented by Dr. +Franklin to Count de Vergennes. In short, it is exactly the line +contended for by Great Britain except that it concedes more than is +claimed. When this communication was read, Senator Benton informed the +Senate that he could produce a map of higher validity than the one +referred to. He accordingly repaired to the library of Congress and soon +returned with a map which there is no doubt was the one sent by Franklin +to Jefferson already alluded to as having been surreptitiously removed +from the archives of the State Department some years before. The moment +it was examined it was found to sustain, by the most precise and +remarkable correspondence in every feature, the map communicated by Mr. +Webster. Mr. Benton then stated that "if the maps were really authentic +the concealment of them was a fraud on the British, and that the Senate +was insulted by being a party to the fraud," and further that "if +evidence had been discovered which deprived Maine of the title to +one-third of its territory, honor required that it should be made known +to the British." + +The sudden acceptance of the treaty was in consequence of the evidence +of the maps, and the conviction of all concerned that a discovery of +their existence before the conclusion of a treaty would have given +irresistible strength to the English claims. + +Calhoun said: "It would be idle to suppose that these disclosures would +not weigh heavily against the United States in any future negotiations." + +The settlement of the Oregon boundary question again showed American +hatred of England to be chronic. The question finally resolved itself +into whether the threat of 54.40 or fight should be carried out, (a +threat to deprive Canada of access to the Pacific Ocean and the +possession of most of the enormous wheat fields now being developed in +the northwest) or to fight Mexico and extend its boundaries to the South +instead of the north. This latter scheme suited the slaveholders best +who were then in power. The United States government then entered into a +war with Mexico, one of the most unjustifiable contests ever entered +into by a civilized nation. By this war of conquest the United States +nearly doubled its territory. It must be said to the credit of New +England that she would not take any part in this war any more than she +did in the war of 1812. + +When confederation of the Canadian provinces occurred in 1867, there was +placed on record in the House of Representatives at Washington that it +was disapproved and that the House regarded the Act of Confederation as +a menace to the United States. For a hundred years after the Revolution +it had been the policy of the United States to force Canada into +annexation, and it was considered that she would be more likely to come +into the Union if she was harrassed by a high tariff, boundary and +fishing disputes, but now it is known to have been all wrong. The +factors worked out just the reverse. Conditions have arrived that were +little foreseen until within ten years. The American people have +recognized the fact that a great change has taken place in Canada which +materially effects the relation between Canada and the United States. +Mr. Root, U. S. Secretary of State, recently said: + +"Canada is no longer the outlying northern country in which a fringe of +descendants of royalists emigrating from the colonies when they became +independent of Great Britain, lived and gained a precarious subsistence +from a fertile soil. It has become the home of a great people increasing +in population and wealth. The stirrings of a national sentiment are to +be felt. In their relations to England one can see that while still +loyal to their mother country, still a loyal part of the British Empire, +they are growing up, and, as the boy is to his parents when he attains +manhood, they are a personality of themselves. In their relations to us +they have become a sister nation. With their enormous national wealth, +with their vigor and energy following the pathway that we have followed, +protecting their industries as we have protected ours, proud of their +country as we are proud of ours, they are no longer the little remnants +upon our borders; they are a great and powerful sister nation." + +For years after the Civil War there came from the press, from the +lecture platform, and from the political rostrum, the most relentless +abuse of Great Britain and everything British. Lecturers gave their +audiences vivid descriptions of the Revolution and the war of 1812, in +which American valor was always rated high and British brutality was +held up to scorn. These lectures were frequently of thrilling interest +because the speakers were not handicapped by matters so paltry as facts +of history. But the most formidable batteries of wrath were trained +against everything British from the political stump. The iron-lunged +orators told of the iniquity of England, of its infamous tariff laws, +the oppression of Ireland, etc. He was but a poor speaker who could not +enliven a political meeting by twisting the tail of the British lion. +All this is now changed. It was brought about by President Cleveland's +Venezuelian message of December, 1895, and the Spanish War. When the +Venezuelian episode occurred, England was believed to be isolated and +without an ally. It proved that war could be declared against Great +Britain at any time, in ten minutes, upon any pretext. The insolent +message fell upon every one in England, from Lord Salisbury down, as a +bolt from the blue sky. Englishmen were as innocent as babes of +intentional offence to the United States. They had no conception that +there existed in the United States such latent irritation or antagonism +as under the first provocation would lead to an almost open avowal of +national enmity. It, however, happily disclosed the fact that there +still existed in the United States a numerous highly educated and +conservative element (not dissimilar to the vanished Loyalists of the +last century) in which one seldom finds a trace of antagonism to the old +mother country. Following the message, magazine reviews, the public +press, and the pulpit overflowed with a brilliant series of public +utterances and these soon checked the noisy approving outbursts of a +reckless half-educated majority to obtain whose votes at the next +election undoubtedly prompted the presumptuous interference of the chief +of the Republic and the unfriendly tone of his message. + +Within three years after the message a wonderful change came over the +people of the United States. The Spanish War had taken place and instead +of finding Great Britain to be the hereditary enemy of the United +States, which they had been taught in the school histories to believe, +it was found that among the great powers of the world, Great Britain was +the only friend which the United States had, and that "blood was thicker +than water." It was discovered that the nations were envious of the +great Republic, and that Britain alone was proud of her eldest daughter. +It was remarked to the writer by a Spanish officer shortly after the +surrender of Porto Rico: "But mind you, this from an old man who has +studied history. You would never have had these islands had not England +stepped in at the beginning of the trouble and said to all the nations +of the world, 'Allow me to present my daughter, America.'" It was found, +too, that the "traditional friendship" of Russia was of but little +account at that time. + +It was Russia that eagerly became the spokesman for envious Europe and +gave voice to the words: "Now is the time for us to combine and crush +this huge American monster before she becomes too strong for all of us, +as she is already too strong for any one of us." It was Russia that +planned to have the "concert of Europe" warn us that we were not to pose +as champion of any other American people against any form of misrule by +Europe--and that we were not to dare to meddle in Europe on any pretext. + +She failed because England refused to join the league, or to enter with +the other powers into a naval demonstration before Cuba, but so long as +the war lasted with Spain the Russian diplomats kept pounding at every +backdoor in Europe with an insistence that something be done to cut our +comb, or make trouble or lose us the friendship of England. Our people +in Washington know all this. They know also the behavior of the Russian +minister at Washington who thought to poison us against England in the +very days when we were buying in that country and shipping in secret +from that country the vital necessities which the war demanded and which +we had not got; when great steamers were found abandoned off New York +loaded with contraband of war, cannon, arms, ammunition, etc., and towed +into port by United States warships; when coal and ammunition were left +on desert islands in the Philippines by British warships for the use of +the United States navy; when England's fleet at Manila stood ready to +take sides with Dewey and to open fire, to begin war on the Germans +should occasion arise. American naval officers who were there know these +facts to be true, and it is very significant that the Navy Department +has not published the correspondence between it and Admiral Dewey at +that time. We are hated all over the continent of Europe. Paris made a +fete day when she imagined Sampson's fleet was destroyed. + +The Germans hate us for taking 3,000,000 fighting men away from them, +and also because we prevented them from purchasing the Philippines from +Spain, and because the Monroe doctrine prevents them from obtaining +colonies or naval stations in the Western Hemisphere. The Austrians hate +us for humiliating Spain. There is not a country to the south of us but +what hates us. Every republic in South America would put a knife in our +back if the opportunity occurs. + +Very significant, too, was the reception and banquet given at Windsor +Castle in 1896 by Queen Victoria to the Ancient and Honorable Artillery +Company of Boston--the oldest military organization in the Western +Hemisphere--and the grand reception they received everywhere they went +in England. It was a revelation to the Americans, as every one of them +acknowledged, to receive such marked expression of kindliness and +brotherhood at the old home. It was something they did not expect. The +company more than reciprocated when the parent company, The Honourable +Artillery of London, visited Boston in 1903. Once more were seen armed +British sailors and soldiers marching through Boston's streets under the +British flag, the buildings along the entire route beautifully +decorated, and the visitors received with vociferous welcome wherever +they went. We will hope that something even better and more substantial +may yet come to us, when the United States and Great Britain will be +allied in amity as firm as that which now holds together these federal +states. "Old prejudices should be cast aside; the English-speaking +states recognizing their kinship, should knit bonds together around the +world, forming a kingly brotherhood inspired by beneficence, to which +supreme dominion in the earth would be sure to fall; for whatever may be +said today for other stocks, the 135,000,000 of English-speaking men +have been able to make themselves masters of the world to an extent +which no people has thus far approached. + +"If love would but once unite, the seas could never sever. Earth has +never beheld a co-mingling of men, so impressive, so likely to be +frought with noble advantages through ages to come, as would be the +coming together of English-speaking men in one cordial bond."[100] + + [100] Short History of Anglo-Saxon Freedom. + +The statesmen of Britain and America can do no worthier service than to +find a way by which their strength may be combined to secure the peace +of the world and the betterment of mankind. It is not necessary that +their governments should be unified, or even that any hard and fast +treaty obligation incurred. It is only necessary that they should agree +to be friends and to stand by each other in all that will further these +great objects. They alone of all the nations can do this and that they +ought to do it few will deny. Both must forget certain bitterness born +of the past and certain jealousies growing out of the greatness of both. + +What Great Britain is doing for the many peoples under her care and what +this nation is doing for the few outside our borders that we have in +hand we might unitedly do for a great portion of the globe and its +inhabitants. This combination must be strong enough to check certain +highwaymen in international relations and to install a wholesome regard +for human rights. Such an outcome of present friendliness will not be +achieved in a day or generation. But it will come; it must come. Asia +and the continent of Europe may become Chinese or Cossack, but the +English-speaking race shall rule over every other land and all the +islands and every sea. + +The present time is a critical period in the life of the American +Republic, and therefore in the life of the world. The impotence of the +federal government to stop strike disturbances, lynchings and +disfranchisements, the growing power of an oligarchial and plutocratic +Senate, and the perils of imperialism are disquieting enough, but worst +of all is the evil of party rule and party strife. + +Washington abhorred party and regarded it as a disease which he hoped to +avert by putting federalists and anti-federalists in his cabinet +together. The intuition of the founders of the Republic was that the +president should be elected by a chosen body of select and responsible +citizens, but since the Jacksonian era, nomination and election have +been completely in the hands of the Democracy at large, and the election +has been performed by a process of national agitation and conflict +which sets at work all the forces of political intrigue and corruption +on the most enormous scale, besides filling the country with persons +almost as violent and anti-social as those of the Civil War. + +The qualification for public office from that of president down to that +of a member of a city council in national, state or city politics is not +a question of which man is most worthy of public confidence. It is no +longer eminence but availability. The great aim of each party is to +prevent the country from being successfully governed by its rival. Each +will do anything to catch votes and anything rather than lose them. +Government consequently is at the mercy of any organization which has +votes on a large scale to sell, or corporations that will freely +contribute its funds. The Grand Army of the Republic is thus enabled to +levy upon the nation tribute to the amount of a hundred and fifty +million dollars each year, thirty-six years after the war, although +General Grant at the close of the war said that the pensions should +never exceed seven millions each year. And now both parties in their +platform promise their countenance to this exaction. + +The recent exposures of the millions contributed by the trusts, tariff +protected industries, life insurance companies, etc., to the campaign +funds has astonished the world. The history of the most corrupt +monarchies could hardly furnish a more monstrous case of financial +abuse, to say nothing of the effect upon national character. + +Each party machine has a standing army of wire pullers with an apparatus +of intrigue and corruption to the support of which holders of office +under government are assessed. The boss is a recognized authority, and +mastery of unscrupulous intrigue is his avowed qualification for his +place. The pest of partyism invades all the large cities of the country. +New York is made the plunder of the thieves of one party and +Philadelphia of thieves of the other. It is surely impossible that any +nation should endure such a system forever. A nation which deliberately +gives itself up to government by faction, under the name of party, signs +its own doom. The end may be delayed but it is sure. The American people +undoubtedly have the political wisdom and force to deal with this +crisis, but there is no evidence that these qualities are being brought +to bear on the situation nor is there any great man arisen to lead the +reform. + + + + + PART II. + + BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES + + of the + + LOYALISTS OF MASSACHUSETTS + + with + + THE ADDRESSES TO GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON. THE CONSPIRACY ACT; AND + RESOLUTION, RELATING TO THE BANISHING AND CONFISCATION OF THE + ESTATES OF THE ABSENTEES, AND REFUGEES, AND A LIST OF THE LOYALISTS + THAT WENT TO HALIFAX ON THE EVACUATION OF BOSTON. + + + + + The Loyalists of Massachusetts + +WHO WERE THE INHABITANTS OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES AT THE TIME OF THE + REVOLUTION? + + +The first and second chapters of this work treated of the settlement of +Massachusetts and the framing and establishing of that social system and +form of government which through successive generations, the settlers +and their descendants took part, which culminated in the Revolution. The +founders of Massachusetts and of all New England, were almost entirely +Englishmen. Their emigration to New England began in 1620, it was +inconsiderable till 1630, at the end of ten years more it almost ceased. +A people consisting at that time of not many more than twenty thousand +persons, thenceforward multiplied on its own soil, in remarkable +seclusion from other communities, for nearly two centuries. Such +exceptions to this statement are of small account. In 1651 after the +battle of Dunbar, Cromwell sent some four or five hundred of his Scotch +prisoners to Boston, but very little trace of this accession is left. +After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, about one hundred +and fifty families of French Huguenots came to Massachusetts; their +names and a considerable number of their posterity are yet to be found. +A hundred and twenty Scotch-Irish families, came over in 1719 and +settled in Boston, and New Hampshire. Some slight emigrations from it +took place at an early date, but they soon discontinued, and it was not +till after the Revolution that those swarms began to depart, which have +since occupied so large a portion of the territory of the United States. +During that long period their identity was unimpaired. No race has ever +been more homogeneous than this, at the outbreak of the Revolution, and +for many years later. Thus the people of New England was a singularly +unmixed race. There was probably not a county in England occupied by a +population of purer English blood than theirs. Down to the eve of the +war in 1775, New England had little knowledge of the communities which +took part in that conflict with her. Till the time of the Boston Port +Bill, Massachusetts and Virginia, the two principal English settlements, +had with each other scarcely more relations of acquaintance, business, +mutual influence, or common action, than either of them had with Bermuda +or Barbados. + +During the latter part of the nineteenth century vast numbers of Irish, +and next to them German, came to New England, so at the time of writing, +1908, it is claimed that one half of the inhabitants of Boston are +Irish, or of Irish parentage. During the past ten years the places of +the Irish are being taken by the Italians, Jews, Portuguese, Greeks, +Armenians, French Canadians, and others. The reader will see from the +foregoing that the contestants in Massachusetts during the Revolutionary +war were a race representing a peculiar type of the Englishmen of the +seventeenth century who, sequestrated from foreign influences formed a +distinct character by their own discipline, and was engaged in a work +within itself, on its own problem, through a century and a half, and +which terminated in the Revolutionary War, that dismembered the Empire. +That the foregoing statement concerning the purity of the race at the +time of the Revolution is a correct one, is shown in the following +biographies of the Loyalists of Massachusetts, for in nearly every case +their ancestry date back to that of the first settlers, through several +generations. + + + THE ADDRESSERS. + +The importance of the following addressers is out of all proportion to +their apparent significance. They are an indispensable genesis to the +history of the Loyalists. For the next seven years the Addressers were +held up to their countrymen as traitors and enemies to their country. In +the arraignments, which soon began, the Loyalists were convicted not out +of their mouths, but out of their addresses. The ink was hardly dry upon +the parchment before the persecution began against all those who would +not recant, and throughout the long years of the war, the crime of an +addresser grew in its enormity, and they were exposed to the perils of +tarring and feathering, the horrors of Simbury mines, a gaol or a +gallows. + + + ADDRESS OF THE MERCHANTS AND OTHERS OF BOSTON + TO GOV. HUTCHINSON. + + _Boston_, May 30, 1774. + +We, merchants and traders of the town of Boston, and others, do now wait +on you, in the most respectful manner, before your departure for +England, to testify, for ourselves the entire satisfaction we feel at +your wise, zealous, and faithful administration, during the few years +that you have presided at the head of this province. Had your success +been equal to your endeavors, and to the warmest wishes of your heart, +we cannot doubt that many of the evils under which we now suffer, would +have been averted, and that tranquility would have been restored to this +long divided province; but we assure ourselves that the want of success +in those endeavors will not abate your good wishes when removed from +us, or your earnest exertions still on every occasion to serve the true +interest of this your native country. + +While we lament the loss of so good a governor, we are greatly relieved +that his Majesty, in his gracious favor, hath appointed as your +successor a gentleman who, having distinguished himself in the long +command he hath held in another department, gives us the most favorable +prepossessions of his future administration. + +We greatly deplore the calamities that are impending and will soon fall +on this metropolis, by the operation of a late act of Parliament for +shutting up the port on the first of next month. You cannot but be +sensible, sir, of the numberless evils that will ensue to the province +in general, and the miseries and distresses into which it will +particularly involve this town, in the course of a few months. Without +meaning to arraign the justice of the British Parliament, we could +humbly wish that this act had been couched with less rigor, and that the +execution of it had been delayed to a more distant time, that the people +might have had the alternative either to have complied with the +conditions therein set forth, or to have submitted to the consequent +evils on refusal; but as it now stands, all choice is precluded, and +however disposed to compliance or concession the people may be, they +must unavoidably suffer very great calamities before they can receive +relief. Making restitution for damage done to the property of the East +India Company, or to the property of any individual, by the outrage of +the people, we acknowledge to be just; and though we have ever +disavowed, and do now solemnly bear our testimony against such lawless +proceedings, yet, considering ourselves as members of the same +community, we are fully disposed to bear our proportions of those +damages, whenever the sum and the manner of laying it can be +ascertained. We earnestly request that you, sir, who know our condition, +and have at all times displayed the most benevolent disposition towards +us, will, on your arrival in England, interest yourself in our behalf, +and make such favorable representations of our case, as that we may hope +to obtain speedy and effectual relief. + +May you enjoy a pleasant passage to England; and under all the +mortifications you have patiently endured, may you possess the inward +and consolatory testimonies of having discharged your trust with +fidelity and honor, and receive those distinguishing marks of his +Majesty's royal approbation and favor, as may enable you to pass the +remainder of your life in quietness and ease, and preserve your name +with honor to posterity. + + William Blair, John Greenlaw, Theophilus Lillie, + James Selkrig, Benjamin Clark, Miles Whitworth, + Archibald Wilson, William McAlpine, James McEwen, + Jeremiah Green, Jonathan Snelling, William Codner, + Samuel H. Sparhawk, James Hall, James Perkins, + Joseph Turill, William Dickson, John White, + Roberts & Co., John Winslow, jr., Robert Jarvis, + William Perry, Joseph Scott, Thomas Aylwin, + Jas. & Pat. McMasters, Samuel Minot, William Bowes, + William Coffin, Benjamin M. Holmes, Gregory Townsend, + Simeon Stoddard, jr., Archibald McNiel, Francis Green, + John Powell, George Leonard, Philip Dumaresq, + Henry Laughton, John Borland, Harrison Gray, + Eliphalet Pond, Joshua Loring, jr., Peter Johonnot, + M. B. Goldthwait, William Jackson, George Erving, + Peter Hughes, James Anderson, Joseph Green, + Samuel Hughes, David Mitchelson, John Vassall, + John Semple, Abraham Savage, Nathaniel Coffin, + Hopestill Capen, James Asby, John Timmins, + Edward King, John Inman, William Tailor, + Byfield Lynde, John Coffin, Thomas Brinley, + George Lynde, Thomas Knight, Harrison Gray, jr., + A. F. Phipps, Benjamin Green, jr., John Taylor, + Rufus Green, David Green, Gilbert Deblois, + David Phips, Benjamin Green, Joshua Winslow, + Richard Smith, Henry H. Williams, Daniel Hubbard, + George Spooner, James Warden, Hugh Turbett, + Daniel Silsby, Nathaniel Coffin, jr., Henry Lyddell, + William Cazneau, Silvester Gardiner, Nathaniel Cary, + James Forrest, John S. Copley, George Brinley, + Edward Cox, Edward Foster, Richard Lechmere, + John Berry, Colbourn Burrell, John Erving, jr., + Richard Hirons, Nathaniel Greenwood, Thomas Gray, + Ziphion Thayer, William Burton, George Bethune, + John Joy, John Winslow, Thomas Apthorp, + Joseph Goldthwait, Isaac Winslow, jr., Ezekial Goldthwaite, + Samuel Prince, Thomas Oliver, Benjamin Gridley, + Jonathan Simpson, Henry Bloye, John Atkinson, + James Boutineau, Benjamin Davis, Ebenezer Bridgham, + Nathaniel Hatch, Isaac Winslow, John Gore, + Martin Gay, Lewis Deblois, Adino Paddock. + + + ADDRESS OF THE BARRISTERS AND ATTORNEYS OF + MASSACHUSETTS TO GOV. HUTCHINSON, MAY, 30, 1774. + +A firm persuasion of your inviolable attachment to the real interest of +this your native country, and of your constant readiness, by every +service in your power, to promote its true welfare and prosperity, will, +we flatter ourselves, render it not improper in us, barristers and +attorneys at law in the province of Massachusetts Bay, to address your +Excellency upon your removal from us with this testimonial of our +sincere respect and esteem. + +The various important characters of Legislator, Judge and first +Magistrate over this province, in which, by the suffrages of your +fellow-subjects, and by the royal favor of the best of kings, your great +abilities, adorned with a uniform purity of principle, and integrity of +conduct, have been eminently distinguished, must excite the esteem and +demand the grateful acknowledgements of every true lover of his country, +and friend to virtue. + +The present perplexed state of our public affairs, we are sensible, must +render your departure far less disagreeable to you than it is to us--we +assure you, sir, we feel the loss; but when, in the amiable character of +your successor, we view a fresh instance of the paternal goodness of our +most gracious sovereign; when we reflect on the probability that your +presence at the court of Great Britain, will afford you an opportunity +of employing your interests more successfully for the relief of this +province, and particularly of the town of Boston, under their present +distresses, we find a consolation which no other human source could +afford. Permit us, sir, most earnestly to solicit the exertion of all +your distinguished abilities in favor of your native town and country, +upon this truly unhappy and distressing occasion. + +We sincerely wish you a prosperous voyage, a long continuation of health +and felicity and the highest rewards of the good and faithful. + + We are, sir, with the most cordial affection, esteem and respect, + Your Excellency's most obedient and very humble servants, + + Robert Achmuty, Andrew Cazneau, David Ingersoll, + Jonathan Sewall, Daniel Leonard, Jeremiah D. Rogers, + Samuel Fitch, John Lowell, David Gorham, + Samuel Quincy, Daniel Oliver, Samuel Sewall, + William Pynchon, Sampson S. Blowers, John Sprague, + James Putnam, Shearjashub Brown, Rufus Chandler, + Benjamin Gridley, Daniel Bliss, Thomas Danforth, + Abel Willard, Samuel Porter, Ebenezer Bradish, + + + From the Essex Gazette of June 1, 1775. + + _Salem, May 30, 1775._ + +Whereas we the subscribers did some time since sign an address to +Governor Hutchinson, which, though prompted to by the best intentions, +has, nevertheless, given great offence to our country: We do now +declare, that we were so far from designing by that action, to show our +acquiescence in those acts of Parliament so universally and justly +odious to all America, that on the contrary, we hoped we might in that +way contribute to their repeal; though now to our sorrow we find +ourselves mistaken. And we do now further, declare, that we never +intended the offence which this address occasioned; that if we had +foreseen such an event we should never have signed it; as it always has +been and now is our wish to live in harmony with our neighbors, and our +serious determination is to promote to the utmost of our power the +liberty, the welfare, and happiness of our country, which is inseparably +connected with our own. + + John Nutting, N. Sparhawk, Thomas Barnard, + N. Goodale, Andrew Dalglish, Nathaniel Dabney, + Ebenezer Putnam, E. A. Holyoke, William Pickman, + Francis Cabot, William Pynchon, C. Gayton Pickman, + +In Committee of Safety, Salem, May 30, 1775.--The declaration, of which +the above is a copy, being presented and read, it was voted unanimously +that the same was satisfactory; and that the said gentlemen ought to be +received and treated as real friends to this country. + + By order of the Committee, + + RICHARD DERBY, JR., Chairman. + + + ADDRESS OF THE INHABITANTS OF MARBLEHEAD TO + GOV. HUTCHINSON. + + _Marblehead, May 25, 1774._ + +His Majesty having been pleased to appoint his Excellency the Hon. +Thomas Gage, Esq., to be governor and commander-in-chief over this +province, and you, (as we are informed,) begin speedily to embark for +Great Britain: We, the subscribers, merchants, traders, and others, +inhabitants of Marblehead, beg leave to present your our valedictory +address on this occasion; and as this is the only way we now have of +expressing to you our entire approbation of your public conduct during +the time you have presided in this province, and of making you a return +of our most sincere and hearty thanks for the ready assistance which you +have at all times afforded us, when applied to in matters which affected +our navigation and commerce, we are induced from former experience of +your goodness, to believe that you will freely indulge us in the +pleasure of giving you this testimony of our sincere esteem and +gratitude. + +In your public administration, we are fully convinced that the general +good was the mark which you have ever aimed at, and we can, sir, with +pleasure assure you, that it is likewise the opinion of all +dispassionate thinking men within the circle of our observation, +notwithstanding many publications would have taught the world to think +the contrary; and we beg leave to entreat you, that when you arrive at +the court of Great Britain, you would there embrace every opportunity of +moderating the resentment of the government against us, and use your +best endeavors to have the unhappy dispute between Great Britain and +this country brought to a just and equitable determination. + +We cannot omit the opportunity of returning you in a particular manner +our most sincere thanks for your patronizing our cause in the matter of +entering and clearing the fishing vessels at the custom-house, and +making the fishermen pay hospital money; we believe it is owing to your +representation of the matter, that we are hitherto free from that +burden. + +We heartily wish you, sir, a safe and prosperous passage to Great +Britain, and when you arrive there may you find such a reception as +shall fully compensate for all the insults and indignities which have +been offered you. + + Henry Saunders, John Fowle, Thomas Lewis, + Richard Hinkly, Robert Hooper, 3d, Sweet Hooper, + Samuel Reed, John Gallison, Robert Hooper, + John Lee, John Prince, Jacob Fowle, + Robert Ambrose, George McCall, John Pedrick, + Jonathan Glover, Joseph Swasey, Richard Reed, + Richard Phillips, Nathan Bowen, Benjamin Marston, + Isaac Mansfield, Thomas Robie, Samuel White, + Joseph Bubler, John Stimson, Joseph Hooper, + Richard Stacy, John Webb, John Prentice, + Thomas Procter, Joseph Lee, Robert Hooper, jr. + + + ADDRESS TO GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON FROM HIS FELLOW + TOWNSMEN IN THE TOWN OF MILTON. + +This document which was printed recently in the "History of Milton," was +not a matter of record, and had never been printed before, it had also +failed to meet the searching eye of the antiquarian, and the author said +"it has come down to us in its original manuscript yellow with age." + +It will be noticed the signers were obliged to recant, so as to save +their property from being destroyed by the mob, and from personal injury +and insult such as tarring and feathering, etc. It was with such doings +that the "Sons of Despotism" amused themselves, and made converts to the +cause of "liberty." It, however, did not save James Murray and Stephen +Miller, who were banished, and Miller's estate confiscated. + + +_To_ THOMAS HUTCHINSON _Esquire Late Gov. &c._ + +SIR,--We the Select Men, the Magistrates and other principal Inhabitants +of the Town of Milton, hearing of your speedy Embarkation for England, +cannot let you leave this Town which you have so long honored by your +Residence without some publick Expression of our sincere wishes for your +health and happiness. + +We have been Eye Witnesses, Sir, of your amiable private and useful +publick Life; We have with concern beheld you, in the faithful and +prudent Discharge of your Duty exposed to Calumnies, Trials and +Sufferings, as unjust as severe; and seen you bearing them all with +becoming Meekness and Fortitude. + +As to ourselves and Neighbours in particular; altho many of us, in +future Perplexities will often feel the Want of your skillful gratuitous +advice, always ready for those who asked it, we cannot but rejoice for +your Sake Sir, at your being so seasonably relieved by an honourable and +worthy Successor, in this critical and distressful period from the +growing Difficulty of the Government of your beloved native Province. +And we see your Departure with the less Regret, being convinced that the +Change at present will contribute to your and your Family's Tranquility: +possessed as you are of the applause of good men, of the favour of our +Sovereign, and the Approbation of a good Conscience to prepare the Way +to Rewards infinitely ample from the King of Kings; to whose Almighty +protection, We, with grateful hearts commend you and your family. + + Signed + + SAML. DAVENPORT STEPHEN MILLER BENJAMIN HORTON + JA. MURRAY JOSIAH HOW ZEDAH CREHORE + + + REPLY OF GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON. + + GENTLEMEN + + I have received innumerable marks of respect and kindness from the + Inhabitants of the Town of Milton, of which I shall ever retain the + most grateful Remembrance. I leave you with regret. I hope to + return and spend the short remains of my life among you in peace + and quiet and in doing every good office to you in my power. + + THO. HUTCHINSON. + + * * * * * + +Milton, Sept. 21, 1774.--Messrs. Davenport Miller and How were taken to +Task by the Town Meeting for having signed the above address altho it +was never presented or published. They were required by next day to make +an acknowledgement of their offence--And a Committee of fifteen was +chosen to treat with them and Mr. Murray. + +Sept. 22. These Culprits attended and made the following +acknowledgement, of which the Committee accepted, requiring them to sign +it and to read it severally before the Town Meeting on the green. This +done the Meeting by some Majority voted it not satisfactory. The +offenders all but Capt. Davenport went home without making any other. + + + ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. + +Whereas We the Subscribers did sign and endeavour to promote among the +Inhabitants of our Town of Milton an Address to Gov. Hutchinson a few +days before his Embarkation for England, which Address contained +Compliments to the Gov. that we did and do still, in our consciences, +believe to be justly due to him; and Whereas we did further believe that +it would be very acceptable to the Town to give them such an Opportunity +of showing their gratitude to the Governor. + +Now since the Temper of the Times is such, that what we meant to please +has eventually displeased our Neighbours, We, who desire to live in +peace and good will with them are sorry for it. Witness our hands this +22d. day of Sept. 1774. + + Signed + + JA. MURRAY SAML. DAVENPORT + STEPHEN MILLER JOSIAH HOW + + +After the departure of the first three of these, the meeting insisted on +Capt. Davenport's making the following acknowledgement, and that the +committee should have the rest to make it at or before the next +town-meeting on Monday, 3d October:-- + +Whereas We the Subscribers have given the good People of this Town and +Province in General just Cause to be offended with each of us, in that +unguarded action of ours in signing an address to the late Governor +Hutchinson, for which we are heartily sorry and take this opportunity +publickly to manifest it, and declare we did not so well consider the +Contents. And we heartily beg their forgiveness and all others we may +have offended: Also that we may be restored to their favour, and be made +Partakers of that inestimable blessing, the good Will of our Neighbours, +and the whole Community. + + Witness our hands + + Milton 22d Sept. signed SAML. DAVENPORT + 24 Sept. ---- JOSIAH HOW + 25 Sept. ---- JA. MURRAY + 25 Sept. ---- STEPHEN MILLER + + + ADDRESS PRESENTED TO HIS EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR GAGE, JUNE 11TH, 1774, + ON HIS ARRIVAL AT SALEM. + + To his Excellency Thomas Gage, Esq., Captain-General, Governor and + Commander-in-Chief of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in New + England, and Lieutenant-General of his Majesty's Forces. + +May it please your Excellency: + +We, merchants and others, inhabitants of the ancient town of Salem, beg +leave to approach your Excellency with our most respectful +congratulations on your arrival in this place. + +We are deeply sensible of his Majesty's paternal care and affection to +this province, in the appointment of a person of your Excellency's +experience, wisdom and moderation, in these troublesome and difficult +times. + +We rejoice that this town is graciously distinguished for that spirit, +loyalty, and reverence for the laws, which is equally our glory and +happiness. + +From that public spirit and warm zeal to promote the general happiness +of men, which mark the great and good, we are led to hope under your +Excellency's administration for everything that may promote the peace, +prosperity, and real welfare of this province. + +We beg leave to commend to your Excellency's patronage the trade and +commerce of this place, which, from a full protection of the liberties, +persons and properties of individuals, cannot but flourish. + +And we assure your Excellency we will make it our constant endeavors by +peace, good order, and a regard for the laws, as far as in us lies, to +render your station and residence easy and happy. + + John Sargent, John Prince, Benjamin Lynde, + Jacob Ashton, George Deblois, William Browne, + William Wetmore, Andrew Dalglish, John Turner, + James Grant, Joseph Blaney, P. Frye, + Henry Higginson, Archelaus Putnam, Francis Cabot, + David Britton, Samuel Porter, William Pynchon, + P. G. Kast, Thomas Poynton, John Fisher, + Weld Gardner, Samuel Flagg, John Mascarene, + Nathaniel Daubney, Nathan Goodale, E. A. Holyoke, + Richard Nicholls, William Pickman, Jos. Bowditch, + William Cabot, C. Gayton Pickman, Ebenezer Putnam, + Cabot Gerrish, Nathaniel Sparhwak, S. Curwen, + William Gerrish, William Vans, John Nutting, + Rowland Savage, Timothy Orne, Jos. Dowse, + William Lilly, Richard Routh, Benjamin Pickman, + Jonathan Goodhue, Stephen Higginson, Henry Gardner. + + + THE "LOYAL ADDRESS FROM THE GENTLEMEN AND PRINCIPAL INHABITANTS OF + BOSTON TO GOVERNOR GAGE ON HIS DEPARTURE FOR ENGLAND, OCTOBER 6, + 1775," WAS SIGNED AS FOLLOWS: + + John Erving, James Selkrig, John Greecart, + Thomas Hutchinson, jr., Archibald Cunningham, Richard Clarke, + Silvester Gardiner, William Cazneau, Benjamin Fanieul, jr., + Wm. Bowes, David Barton, Thomas Amory, + John Timmins, John Semple, George Brindley, + Nathaniel Coffin, Henry Lawton, Ralph Inman, + John Winslow, jr., William Brattle, Edward Winslow, + Alexander Bymer, John Troutbeck, Benjamin M. Holmes, + Robert Hallowell, Stephen Greenleaf, William Jackson, + Robert Jarvis, William Walter, Richard Green, + David Phips, James Perkins, James Murray, + John Tayler, Phillip Dumaresque, Joseph Scott, + Archibald McNeal, Joshua Loring, jr., Peter Johonnot, + Francis Green, Henry Lloyd, Nathaniel Cary, + Benjamin Davis, William Lee Perkins, Martin Gay, + Thomas Courtney, George Leonard, Samuel Hughes, + John Sampson, Thomas Brinley, William Coffin, jr., + William Tayler, Daniel Hubbard, Adino Paddock, + John Inman, Samuel Fitch, Andrew Cazneau, + Wm. Perry, John Atkinson, Henry Lindall, + John Gore, Joseph Turill, Theophilus Lillie, + Isaac Winslow, jr., Samuel Hirst Sparhawk, Henry Barnes, + William Dickerson, Ebenezer Brigham, M. B. Goldthwait, + William Hunter, William Codner, Lewis Gray, + Robert Semple, Jonathan Snelling, Nathaniel Brinley, + John Joy, Benjamin Gridley, John Jeffries, jr., + Gregory Townsend, Gilbert Deblois, Archibald Bowman, + Isaac Winslow, Edward Hutchinson, Jonathan Simpson, + Byfield Lyde, Miles Whitworth, Nathaniel Tayler, + John Love, Daniel McMasters, James Anderson, + Hugh Tarbett, John Hunt, 3d, Lewis Deblois, + Nathaniel Perkins, James Lloyd, + John Powell, William McAlpine, + + + THE LOYAL ADDRESS TO GOVERNOR GAGE ON HIS DEPARTURE, OCTOBER 14, + 1775, OF THOSE GENTLEMEN WHO WERE DRIVEN FROM THEIR HABITATIONS IN + THE COUNTRY TO THE TOWN OF BOSTON, WAS SIGNED BY THE FOLLOWING + PERSONS: + + John Chandler, Seth Williams, jr., David Phips, + James Putnam, Charles Curtis, Richard Saltonstall, + Peter Oliver, sen., Samuel Pine, Peter Oliver, jr., + Jonathan Stearns, Thomas Foster, Edward Winslow, jr. + Ward Chipman, Pelham Winslow, Nathaniel Chandler, + William Chandler, Daniel Oliver, James Putnam, jr. + + + List of the inhabitants of Boston, who on the evacuation by the + British, in March, 1776, removed to Halifax with the army. Taken + from a paper in the handwriting of Walter Barrell from the + Proceedings of the Mass. Hist. Soc., Vol. 18, page 266. + + Lieutenant-Governor Oliver and servants 6 + + _Council, &c._ + + Peter Oliver and niece 2 + Harrison Gray and family 5 + Timothy Ruggles and sons 3 + Foster Hutchinson and family 13 + Josiah Edson 1 + John Murray and family 7 + Richard Lechmere 12 + John Erving 9 + Nathaniel Ray Thomas and son 2 + Abijah Willard and two sons 3 + Daniel Leonard and family 9 + Nathaniel Hatch 7 + George Erving 6 + + _Custom House._ + + Henry Hulton 12 + Charles Paxton 6 + Benjamin Hallowel 7 + Samuel Waterhouse, _Secretary_ 7 + James Porter, _Comptroller Gen'l_ 1 + Walter Barrell, _Inspector Gen'l_ 6 + James Murray, _Inspector_ 7 + William Woolen, _Inspector_ 2 + Edward Winslow, _Collector, Boston_ 1 + Charles Dudley, _Collector, Newport_ 2 + George Meserve, _Collector, Piscataq_ 1 + Robert Hallowel, _Comptroller, Boston_, 6 + Arthur Savage, _Surveyor, &c._ 6 + Nathaniel Coffin, _Cashier_ 4 + Ebenezer Bridgham, _Tide Surveyor_ 8 + Nathaniel Taylor, _Dep'y Naval Officer_ 2 + Samuel Mather, _Clerk_ 3 + Samuel Lloyd, _Clerk_ 6 + Christopher Minot, _Land Waiter_ 1 + Ward Chipman, _Clerk Sol._ 1 + Robert Bethel, _Clerk Col._ 1 + Skinner, Cookson, and Evans _Clerks_ 3 + James Barrick, _Clerk Insp._ 5 + John Ciely, _Tidesman_ 4 + John Sam Petit, _Tidesman_ 6 + John Selby, _Clerk_ 2 + Edward Mulhall, _Tidesman_ 1 + Hammond Green, _Tidesman_ 1 + John Lewis, _Tidesman_ 6 + Elkanah Cushman, _Tidesman_ 1 + Edmund Duyer, _Messenger_ 3 + Samuel Chadwel, Tidesman__ 1 + Samuel Sparhawk, _Clerk_ 5 + ---- Chandler, _Land Waiter_ 1 + ---- Patterson, _Land Waiter_ 1 + Isaac Messengham, _Coxwain_ 1 + Owen Richard, _Coxwain_ 1 + + _Refugees._ + + Ashley, Joseph 1 + Andros, Barret 1 + Atkinson, John, _Merchant_ 4 + Atkins, Gibbs 1 + Ayres, Eleanor 3 + Allen, Ebenezer 8 + Bowes, William, _Merchant_ 4 + Brinley, Thomas, _Merchant_ 3 + Burton, Mary, _Milliner_ 2 + Bowen, John 2 + Blair, John, Baker 1 + Bowman, Archibald, _Auctioneer_ 1 + Broderick, John 3 + Butter, James 2 + Brown, Thomas, _Merchant_ 6 + Byles, Rev'd Doctor 5 + Barnard. John 1 + Black, John 7 + Baker, John, Jun'r 1 + Badger, Rev'd Moses 1 + Beath, Mary 4 + Butler, Gilliam 1 + Brandon, John 2 + Brattle, William 2 + Coffin, Williamn 2 + Cazneau, Andrew, _Lawyer_ 1 + Cednor, William 1 + Connor, Mrs. 2 + Cummins. A. and E. _Milliners_ 3 + Coffin, William, Jun'r, _Merchant_ 4 + Cutler, Ebnezer 1 + Campbel, William 1 + Caner, Rev'd Doctor 1 + Cook Robert 1 + Chandler, John, Esq'r 1 + Chandler, Rufus, _Lawyer_ 2 + Chandler, Nathaniel 1 + Chandler, William 1 + Carver, Melzer 1 + Cooley, John 4 + Courtney, Thomas 11 + Carr, Mrs. 3 + Deblois, Gilbert 5 + Doyley, John 4 + Dunlap, Daniel 1 + Danforth, Thomas 1 + Dumaresq, Philip, _Merchant_ 8 + De Blois, Lewis 3 + Duncan, Alexander 1 + Doyley, Francis 1 + Dickenson, Nathaniel 1 + Draper, Margaret 5 + Dougherty, Edward 2 + Dechezzan, Adam 7 + Duelly, William 3 + Emerson, John 1 + Etter, Peter 7 + Fisher, Wilfree 4 + Foster, Thomas 1 + Faneuil, Benjamin, _Merchant_ 3 + Fitch, Samuel, _Lawyer_ 7 + Foster, Edward, _Blacksmith_ 7 + Full, Thomas 5 + Foster, Edward, Jun'r 5 + Forest, James 7 + Flucker, Mrs. 6 + Gilbert, Thomas 1 + Gallop, Antill 1 + Gray, Andrew 1 + Gray, John 3 + Goldsbury, Samuel 3 + Gardiner, Doctor Sylvester 8 + Gridley, Benjamin 1 + Grison, Edmund 2 + Gay, Martin 3 + Gilbert, Samuel 1 + Grozart, John 1 + Gray, Mary 1 + Green, Francis 8 + Greenwood, Samuel 5 + Grant, James 1 + Griffith, Mrs. 3 + Gore, John 3 + Griffin, Edmund 4 + Hill, William 17 + Hallowel, Rebecca 4 + Hall, Luke 1 + Henderson, James 5 + House, Joseph 1 + Hughes, Samuel 1 + Hooper, Jacob 2 + Hicks, John, _Printer_ 1 + Hurlston, Richard 1 + Holmes, Benjamin Mulberry 11 + Hatch, Hawes 1 + Hale, Samuel 1 + Hester, John 6 + Hutchinsen, Mrs. 7 + Horn, Henry 7 + Hefferson, Jane 1 + Heath, William 1 + Jones, Mary 6 + Jarvis, Robert 1 + Inman, John 3 + Joy, John 8 + Ireland, John 2 + Jefferies, Doctor John 6 + Johannot, Peter 1 + Jones, Mrs. 4 + Knutter, Margaret 4 + King, Edward and Samuel 7 + Lazarus, Samuel 1 + Lovel, John, Sen'r 5 + Leonard, George 9 + Liste, Mrs. 5 + Lillie, Theophilus 4 + Lutwiche, Edward Goldston 1 + Lyde, Byefield 5 + Leddel, Henry 4 + Laughton, Henry 5 + Lloyd, Henry 10 + Linkieter, Alexander 4 + Lowe, Charles 2 + Loring, Joshua, Jun'r 1 + Murray, William 3 + Moody, John, Jun'r 1 + McKown, John 1 + McAlpine, William 2 + Moody, John 4 + McKown, John (of Boston) 5 + Macdonald, Dennis 1 + Mackay, Mrs. 1 + Mitchelson, David 2 + McNeil, Archibald 13 + Marston, Benjamin 1 + Moore, John 1 + Miller, John 5 + Mulcainy, Patrick 4 + MacKinstrey, Mrs. 12 + Morrison, John 1 + McMaster, Patrick and Daniel 3 + McMullen, Alexander 1 + Mitchel, Thomas 1 + Mills, Nathaniel 2 + McClintock, Nathan 1 + Nevin, Lazarus and wife 2 + O'Neil, Joseph 4 + Oliver, William Sanford 1 + Oliver, Doctor Peter 1 + Powel, John 8 + Philips, Martha 3 + Phipps, David 11 + Pelham, Henry 1 + Putnam, James 7 + Paine, Samuel 1 + Perkins, Nathaniel 1 + Patterson, William 3 + Philipps, Ebenezer 1 + Paddock, Adine 9 + Pollard, Benjamin 1 + Patten, George 3 + Perkins, William Lee 4 + Price, Benjamin 2 + Page, George 1 + Rummer, Richard 3 + Rogers, Jeremiah Dummer 2 + Rogers, Samuel 1 + Richardson, Miss 1 + Rose, Peter 1 + Read, Charles 1 + Ramage, John 1 + Roath, Richard 6 + Rhodes, Henry 5 + Russell, Nathaniel 3 + Richards, Mrs. 3 + Ruggles, John and Richard 2 + Smith, Henry 6 + Sullivan, George 1 + Serjeant, John 1 + Scoit, Joseph 3 + Simonds, William 3 + Stow, Edward 4 + Sterling, Elizabeth 1 + Sterling, Benjamin Ferdinand 1 + Simpson, John 5 + Simpson, Jonathan, Jun'r 2 + Semple, Robert 4 + Stayner, Abigail 3 + Stearns, Jonathan 1 + Savage, Abraham 1 + Saltonstal, Leveret 1 + Service, Robert 5 + Snelling, Jonathan 6 + Sullivan, Bartholomew 2 + Smith, Edward 4 + Spooner, Ebenezer 1 + Selknig, James 6 + Scammel, Thomas 1 + Shepard, Joseph 2 + Thompson, James 1 + Taylor, Mrs. 5 + Terry, Zebedee 1 + Terry, William 4 + Taylor, William 2 + Winslow, Isaac 11 + Winslow, Pelham 1 + Winslow, John 4 + Winslow, Mrs. Hannah 4 + Winslow, Edward 1 + Williams, Seth 1 + Willis, David 4 + Wittington, William 3 + Warden, William 2 + Williams, Job 1 + Warren, Abraham 1 + Willard, Abel 4 + Warden, Joseph 3 + Willard, Abijah 1 + Whiston, Obadiah 3 + Wheelwright, Joseph 1 + Winnet, John, Jun'r 1 + Wright, Daniel 2 + Welsh, Peter 1 + White, Gideon 1 + Wilson, Archibald 1 + Welsh, James 1 + Worral, Thomas Grooby 5 + ---- + [927]926 + + + FOR MR. SAMUEL B. BARRELL + From his friend and kinsman, + THEODORE BARRELL + + Saugerties Ulster Co., + New York, Aug. 16, 1841 + + + MANDAMUS COUNSELLORS. + +_Salem, Aug. 9, 1774._ The following were appointed by his majesty, +counsellors of this province by writ of mandamas,[101] viz:-- + + [101] Those whose names are in italics alone took the oath of office. + +Col. Thomas Oliver, Lieut. Governor, President; Peter Oliver, _Thomas +Flucker_, _Foster Hutchinson_, Thomas Hutchinson, Jr., _Harrison Gray_, +Judge Samuel Danforth, Col. John Erving, Jr., James Russell, Timothy +Ruggles, _Joseph Lee_, _Isaac Winslow_, Israel Williams, Col. George +Watson, Nathaniel Ray Thomas, Timothy Woodbridge, William Vassall, +_William Browne_, Joseph Greene, _James Boutineau_, Andrew Oliver, Col. +Josiah Edson, Richard Lechmere, _Commodore Joshua Loring_, John +Worthington, Timothy Paine, _William Pepperell_, Jeremiah Powell, +Jonathan Simpson, Col. John Murray, Daniel Leonard, Thomas Palmer, Col. +Isaac Royall, Robert Hooper, Abijah Willard, _Capt. John Erring, Jr._ + + BANISHMENT ACT OF THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS. + + An Act to prevent the return to this state of certain persons + therein named, and others who have left this state or either of the + United States, and joined the enemies thereof. + +Whereas Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., late governor of this state, Francis +Bernard, Esq., formerly governor of this state, Thomas Oliver, Esq., +late lieutenant governor of this state, Timothy Ruggles, Esq., of +Hardwick, in the county of Worcester, William Apthorp, merchant, Gibbs +Atkins, cabinet maker, John Atkinson, John Amory, James Anderson, Thomas +Apthorp, David Black, William Burton, William Bowes, George Brindley, +Robert Blair, Thomas Brindley, James Barrick, merchant, Thomas Brattle, +Esq., Sampson Salter Blowers, Esq., James Bruce, Ebenezer Bridgham, +Alexander Brymer, Edward Berry, merchants, William Burch, Esq., late +commissioner of the customs, Mather Byles, Jun., clerk, William Codner, +book-keeper, Edward Cox, merchant, Andrew Cazneau, Esq., barrister at +law, Henry Canner, clerk, Thomas Courtney, tailor, Richard Clark, Esq., +Isaac Clark, physician, Benjamin Church, physician, John Coffin, +distiller, John Clark, physician, William Coffin, Esq., Nathaniel +Coffin, Esq., Jonathan Clark, merchant, Archibald Cunningham, +shop-keeper, Gilbert Deblois, merchant, Lewis Deblois, merchant, Philip +Dumaresque, merchant, Benjamin Davis, merchant, John Erving, Jun. Esq., +George Erving, Esq., Edward Foster and Edward Foster, Jun., blacksmiths, +Benjamin Faneuil, Jun., merchant, Thomas Flucker, Esq., late secretary +for Massachusetts Bay, Samuel Fitch, Esq., Wilfret Fisher, carter, James +Forrest, merchant, Lewis Gray, merchant, Francis Green, merchant, Joseph +Green, Esq., Sylvester Gardiner, Esq., Harrison Gray, Esq., late +treasurer of Massachusetts Bay., Harrison Gray, Jun., clerk to the +treasurer, Joseph Goldthwait, Esq., Martin Gay, founder, John Gore, +Esq., Benjamin Hallowell, Esq., Robert Hallowell, Esq., Thomas +Hutchinson, Jun., Esq., Benjamin Gridley, Esq., Frederick William Geyer, +merchant, John Greenlaw, shopkeeper, David Green, merchant, Elisha +Hutchinson, Esq., James Hall, mariner, Foster Hutchinson, Esq., Benjamin +Mulbury Holmes, distiller, Samuel Hodges, book-keeper, Henry Halson, +Esq., Hawes Hatch, wharfinger, John Joy, housewright, Peter Johonnot, +distiller, William Jackson, merchant, John Jeffries, physician, Henry +Laughton, merchant, James Henderson, trader, John Hinston, yeoman, +Christopher Hatch, mariner, Robert Jarvis, mariner, Richard Lechmere, +Esq., Edward Lyde, merchant, Henry Lloyd, Esq., George Leonard, miller, +Henry Leddle, book-keeper, Archibald McNeil, baker, Christopher Minot, +tide-waiter, James Murray, Esq., William McAlpine, bookbinder, Thomas +Mitchell, mariner, William Martin, Esq., John Knutton, tallow-chandler, +Thomas Knight, shop-keeper, Samuel Prince, merchant, Adino Paddock, +Esq., Charles Paxon, Esq., Sir William Pepperell, baronet, John Powell, +Esq., William Lee Perkins, physician, Nathaniel Perkins, Esq., Samuel +Quincy, Esq., Owen Richards, tide-waiter, Samuel Rogers, merchant, +Jonathan Simpson, Esq., George Spooner, merchant, Edward Stowe, mariner, +Richard Smith, merchant, Jonathan Snelling, Esq., David Silsby, trader, +Samuel Sewall, Esq., Abraham Savage, tax-gatherer, Joseph Scott, Esq., +Francis Skinner, clerk to the late council, William Simpson, merchant, +Richard Sherwin, saddler, Henry Smith, merchant, John Semple, merchant, +Robert Semple, merchant, Thomas Selkrig, merchant, James Selkrig, +merchant, Robert Service, trader, Simon Tufts, trader, Arodi Thayer, +late marshal to the admiralty court, Nathaniel Taylor, deputy naval +officer, John Troutbeck, clerk, Gregory Townsend, Esq., William Taylor, +merchant, William Vassal, Esq., Joseph Taylor, merchant, Joshua Upham, +Esq., William Walter, clerk, Samuel Waterhouse, merchant, Isaac Winslow, +merchant, John Winslow. jr., merchant, David Willis, mariner, Obadiah +Whiston, blacksmith, Archibald Wilson, trader, John White, mariner, +William Warden, peruke-maker, Nathaniel Mills, John Hicks, John Howe, +and John Fleming, printers, all of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, +Robert Auchmuty, Esq., Joshua Loring, Esq., both of Roxbury, in the same +county, Samuel Goldsbury, yeoman, of Wrentham, in the county of Suffolk, +Joshua Loring, jr., merchant, Nathanial Hatch, Esq., both of Dorchester, +in the same county, William Brown, Esq., Benjamin Pickman, Esq., Samuel +Porter, Esq., John Sargeant, trader, all of Salem, in the county of +Essex, Richard Saltonstall, Esq., of Haverhill, in the same county. +Thomas Robie, trader, Benjamin Marston, merchant, both of Marblehead, in +said county of Essex, Moses Badger, clerk, of Haverhill, aforesaid, +Jonathan Sewall, Esq., John Vassal, Esq., David Phipps, Esq., John +Nutting, carpenter, all of Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex, Isaac +Royall, Esq., of Medford, in the same county, Henry Barnes, of +Marlborough, in said county of Middlesex, merchant, Jeremiah Dummer +Rogers, of Littleton in the same county, Esq., Daniel Bliss, of Concord, +in the said county of Middlesex, Esq., Charles Russell, of Lincoln, in +the same county, physician, Joseph Adams, of Townsend, in said county of +Middlesex, Thomas Danforth, of Charlestown, in said county, Esq., Joshua +Smith, trader of Townsend, in said county, Joseph Ashley, jr., +gentleman, of Sunderland, Nathaniel Dickenson, gentleman, of Deerfield, +Samuel Bliss, shopkeeper, of Greenfield, Roger Dickenson, yeoman, Joshah +Pomroy, physician, and Thomas Cutler, gentleman, of Hatfield, Jonathan +Bliss, Esq., of Springfield, William Galway, yeoman, of Conway, Elijah +Williams, attorney at law, of Deerfield, James Oliver, gentleman, of +Conway, all in the county of Hampshire, Pelham Winslow, Esq., Cornelius +White, mariner, Edward Winslow, jr., Esq., all of Plymouth, in the +county of Plymouth, Peter Oliver, Esq., Peter Oliver, jr., physician, +both of Middleborough, in the same county, Josiah Edson, Esq., of +Bridgewater, in the said county of Plymouth, Lieutenant Daniel Dunbar, +of Halifax, in the same county, Charles Curtis, of Scituate, in the said +county of Plymouth, gentleman, Nathaniel Ray Thomas, Esq., Israel +Tilden, Caleb Carver, Seth Bryant, Benjamin Walker, Gideon Walker, Zera +Walker, Adam Hall, tertius, Isaac Joice, Joseph Phillips, Daniel White, +jr., Cornelius White, tertius, Melzar Carver, Luke Hall, Thomas Decrow, +John Baker, jr., all of Marshfield, in the said county of Plymouth, +Gideon White, jr., Daniel Leonard, Esq., Seth Williams, jr., gentleman, +Solomon Smith, boatman, all of Taunton, in the county of Bristol, Thomas +Gilbert, Esq., Perez Gilbert, Ebenezer Hathaway, jr., Lot Strange, the +third, Zebedee Terree, Bradford Gilbert, all of Freetown, in the same +county, Joshua Broomer, Shadrach Hathaway, Calvin Hathaway, Luther +Hathaway, Henry Tisdel, William Burden, Levi Chace, Shadrach Chace, +Richard Holland, Ebenezer Phillips, Samuel Gilbert, gentleman, Thomas +Gilbert, jr., yeoman, both of Berkley, in the said county of Bristol, +Ammi Chace, Caleb Wheaton, Joshua Wilbore, Lemuel Bourn, gentleman, +Thomas Perry, yeoman, David Atkins, laborer, Samuel Perry, mariner, +Stephen Perry, laborer, John Blackwell, jr., laborer, Francis Finney, +laborer, and Nehemiah Webb, mariner, all of Sandwich, in the county of +Barnstable, Eldad Tupper, of Dartmouth, in the county of Bristol, +laborer, Silas Perry, laborer, Seth Perry, mariner, Elisha Bourn, +gentleman, Thomas Bumpus, yeoman, Ephraim Ellis, jr., yeoman, Edward +Bourn, gentleman, Nicholas Cobb, laborer, William Bourn, cordwainer, all +of Sandwich, in the county of Barnstable, and Seth Bangs, of Harwich, in +the county of Barnstable, mariner, John Chandler, Esq., James Putnam, +Esq., Rufus Chandler, gentleman, William Paine, physician, Adam Walker, +blacksmith, William Chandler, gentleman, all of Worcester, in the county +of Worcester, John Walker, gentleman, David Bush, yeoman, both of +Shrewsbury, in the same county, Abijah Willard, Esq., Abel Willard, +Esq., Joseph House, yeoman, all of Lancaster, in the said county of +Worcester, Ebenezer Cutler, trader, James Edgar, yeoman, both of +Northbury, in the same county, Daniel Oliver, Esq., Richard Ruggles, +yeoman, Gardner Chandler, trader, Joseph Ruggles, gentleman, Nathaniel +Ruggles, yeoman, all of Hardwick, in the said county of Worcester, John +Ruggles, yeoman, of said Hardwick, John Eager, yeoman, Ebenezer Whipple, +Israel Conkay, John Murray, Esq., of Rutland, in said county of +Worcester, Daniel Murray, gentleman, Samuel Murray, gentleman, Michael +Martin, trader, of Brookfield, in the said county of Worcester, Thomas +Beaman, gentleman, of Petersham, in the same county, Nathaniel Chandler, +gentleman, John Bowen, gentleman, of Princeton, in the said county of +Worcester, James Crage, gentleman, of Oakham, in the same county, Thomas +Mullins, blacksmith, of Leominster, in the said county of Worcester, +Francis Waldo, Esq., Arthur Savage, Esq., Jeremiah Pote, mariner, Thomas +Ross, mariner, James Wildridge, mariner, George Lyde, custom house +officer, Robert Pagan, merchant, Thomas Wyer, mariner, Thomas Coulson, +merchant, John Wiswall, clerk, Joshua Eldridge, mariner, Thomas Oxnard, +merchant, Edward Oxnard, merchant, William Tyng, Esq., John Wright, +merchant, Samuel Longfellow, mariner, all of Falmouth, in the county of +Cumberland, Charles Callahan, of Pownalborough, in the county of +Lincoln, mariner, Jonas Jones of East Hoosuck, in the county of +Berkshire, David Ingersoll, of Great Barrington, Esq., in the same +county, Jonathan Prindall, Benjamin Noble, Francis Noble, Elisha Jones, +of Pittsfield, in the said county of Berkshire, John Graves, yeoman, +Daniel Brewer, yeoman, both of Pittsfield, aforesaid, Richard Square, of +Lanesborough, in the said county of Berkshire, Ephraim Jones, of East +Hoosuck, in the same county. Lewis Hubbel, and many other persons have +left this state, or some other of the United States of America, and +joined the enemies thereof and of the United States of America, thereby +not only depriving these states of their personal services at a time +when they ought to have afforded their utmost aid in defending the said +states, against the invasions of a cruel enemy, but manifesting an +inimical disposition to the said states, and a design, to aid and abet +the enemies thereof in their wicked purposes, and whereas many dangers +may accrue to this state and the United States, if such persons should +be again admitted to reside in this state: + +Sect. 1. Be it therefore enacted by the Council and House of +Representatives, in general court assembled, and by the authority of the +same, that if either of the said persons, or any other person, though +not specially named in this act, who have left this state, or either of +said states, and joined the enemies thereof as aforesaid, shall, after +the passing this act, voluntarily return to this state, it shall be the +duty of the sheriff of the county, and of the selectmen, committees of +correspondence, safety, and inspection, grand jurors, constables, and +tythingmen, and other inhabitants of the town wherein such person or +persons may presume to come, and they are hereby respectively empowered +and directed forthwith to apprehend and carry such person or persons +before some justice of the peace within the county, who is hereby +required to commit him or them to the common gaol within the county, +there in close custody to remain until he shall be sent out of the +state, as is hereinafter directed; and such justice is hereby directed +to give immediate information thereof to the board of war of this state: +and the said board of war are hereby empowered and directed to cause +such person or persons so committed, to be transported to some part or +place within the dominions, or in the possession of the forces of the +king of Great Britain, as soon as may be after receiving such +information: those who are able, at their own expense, and others at the +expense of this state, and for this purpose to hire a vessel or vessels, +if need be. + +Sect. 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that if +any person or persons, who shall be transported as aforesaid, shall +voluntarily return into this state, without liberty first had and +obtained from the general court, he shall, on conviction thereof before +the superior court of judicature, court of assize and general gaol +delivery, suffer the pains of death without benefit of clergy.--[_Passed +September, 1778._] + + +WORCESTER RESOLUTIONS RELATING TO THE ABSENTEES AND REFUGEES. + +The following votes were passed by the citizens of Worcester, May 19, +1783, and contain the substance of their doings relative to the +refugees: + +Voted,----That in the opinion of this town, it would be extremely +dangerous to the peace, happiness, liberty and safety of these states to +suffer those who, the moment the bloody banners were displayed, +abandoned their native land, turned parricides, and conspired to involve +their country in tumult, ruin and blood, to become subjects of and +reside in this government; that it would be not only dangerous, but +inconsistent with justice, policy, our past laws, the public faith, and +the principles of a free and independent state, to admit them ourselves, +or have them forced upon us without our consent. + +Voted,----That in the opinion of this town, this commonwealth ought, +with the utmost caution, to naturalize or in any other way admit as +subjects a common enemy, a set of people who have been by the united +voice of the continent, declared outlaws, exiles, aliens and enemies, +dangerous to its political being and happiness. + +Voted,----That while there are thousands of the innocent, peaceable and +defenceless inhabitants of these states, whose property has been +destroyed and taken from them in the course of the war, for whom no +provision is made, to whom there is no restoration of estates, no +compensation for losses; that it would be unreasonable, cruel and +unjust, to suffer those who were the wicked occasion of those losses, to +obtain a restitution of the estates they refused to protect, and which +they abandoned and forfeited to their country. + +Voted,----That it is the expectation of this town, and the earnest +request of their committees of correspondence, inspection and safety, +that they, with care and diligence, will observe the movements of our +only remaining enemies; that until the further order of government, they +will, with decision, spirit and firmness, endeavor to enforce and carry +into execution the several laws of this commonwealth, respecting these +enemies to our rights, and the rights of mankind; give information +should they know of any obtruding themselves into any part of this +state, suffer none to remain in this town, but cause to be confined +immediately, for the purpose of transportation according to law, any +that may presume to enter it. + + + CONFISCATION ACT. + + CONSPIRACY ACT. + + An Act to confiscate the estates of certain notorious conspirators + against the government and liberties of the inhabitants of the late + province, now state, of Massachusetts Bay. + +Whereas the several persons hereinafter mentioned, have wickedly +conspired to overthrow and destroy the constitution and government of +the late province of Massachusetts Bay, as established by the charter +agreed upon by and between their late majesties William and Mary, late +King and Queen of England, etc., and the inhabitants of said province, +now state, of Massachusetts Bay; and also to reduce the said inhabitants +under the absolute power and domination of the present king, and of the +parliament of Great Britain, and, as far as in them lay, have aided and +assisted the same king and parliament in their endeavors to establish a +despotic government over the said inhabitants: + +Sect. 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives, in +General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, that Francis +Bernard, baronet, Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., late governor of the late +province, now state, of Massachusetts Bay, Thomas Oliver, Esq., late +lieutenant governor, Harrison Grey, Esq., late treasurer, Thomas +Flucker, Esq., late secretary, Peter Oliver, Esq., late chief justice, +Foster Hutchinson, John Erving, jr., George Erving, William Pepperell, +baronet, James Boutineau, Joshua Loring, Nathaniel Hatch, William +Browne, Richard Lechmere, Josiah Edson, Nathaniel Rae Thomas, Timothy +Ruggles, John Murray, Abijah Willard, and Daniel Leonard, Esqs., late +mandamus counsellors of said late province, William Burch, Henry Hulton, +Charles Paxon, and Benjamin Hallowell, Esqs., late commissioners of the +customs, Robert Auchmuty, Esq., late judge of the vice-admiralty court, +Jonathan Sewall, Esq., late attorney general, Samuel Quincy, Esq., late +solicitor general, Samuel Fitch, Esq., solicitor or counsellor at law to +the board of commissioners, have justly incurred the forfeiture of all +their property, rights and liberties, holden under and derived from the +government and laws of this state; and that each and every of the +persons aforenamed and described, shall be held, taken, deemed and +adjudged to have renounced and lost all civil and political relation to +this and the other United States of America, and be considered as +aliens. + +Sect. 2. Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all the goods +and chattels, rights and credits, lands, tenements, and hereditaments of +every kind, of which any of the persons herein before named and +described, were seized or possessed, or were entitled to possess, hold, +enjoy, or demand, in their own right, or which any other person stood or +doth stand seized or possessed of, or are or were entitled to have or +demand to and for their use, benefit and behoof, shall escheat, enure +and accrue to the sole use and benefit of the government and people of +this state, and are accordingly hereby declared so to escheat, enure and +accrue, and the said government and people shall be taken, deemed and +adjudged, and are accordingly hereby declared to be in the real and +actual possession of all such goods, chattels, rights and credits, +lands, tenements and hereditaments, without further inquiry, +adjudication or determination hereafter to be had: any thing in the act, +entitled, "An act for confiscating the effects of certain persons +commonly called absentees," or any other law, usage, or custom to the +contrary notwithstanding; provided always, that the escheat shall not be +construed to extend to or operate upon, any goods, chattels, rights, +credits, lands, tenements or hereditaments, of which the persons afore +named and described, or some other, in their right and to their use, +have not been seized or possessed, or entitled to be seized or +possessed, or to have or demand as aforesaid, since the nineteenth day +of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and +seventy-five.--[_Passed April 30, 1779. Not revised._] + + + STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS. + + An Act for confiscating the estates of certain persons commonly called + absentees. + +Whereas every government hath a right to command the personal service of +all its members, whenever the exigencies of the state shall require it, +especially in times of an impending or actual invasion, no member +thereof can then withdraw himself from the jurisdiction of the +government, and thereby deprive it of the benefit of his personal +services, without justly incurring the forfeiture of all his property, +rights and liberties, holden under and derived from that constitution of +government, to the support of which he hath refused to afford his aid +and assistance: and whereas the king of Great Britain did cause the +parliament thereof to pass divers acts in direct violation of the +fundamental rights of the people of this and of the other United States +of America; particularly one certain act to vacate and annul the charter +of this government, the great compact made and agreed upon between his +royal predecessors and our ancestors; and one other act, declaring the +people of said states to be out of his protection; and did also levy war +against them, for the purpose of erecting and establishing an arbitrary +and despotic government over them; whereupon it became the indispensable +duty of all the people of said states forthwith to unite in defence of +their common freedom, and by arms to oppose the fleets and armies of the +said king; yet nevertheless, divers of the members of this and of the +other United States of America, evilly disposed, or regardless of their +duty towards their country, did withdraw themselves from this, and other +of the said United States, into parts and places under the acknowledged +authority and dominion of the said king of Great Britain, or into parts +and places within the limits of the said states, but in the actual +possession and under the power of the fleets or armies of the said king; +thereby abandoning the liberties of their country, seeking the +protection of the said king, and of his fleets or armies, and aiding or +giving encouragement and countenance to their operations against the +United States aforesaid: + +Sect. 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives, in +General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, that every +inhabitant and member of the late province, now state, of Massachusetts +Bay, or of any other of the late provinces or colonies, now United +States of America, who, since the nineteenth day of April, Anno Domini +one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, hath levied war or +conspired to levy war against the government and people of any of the +said provinces or colonies, or United States; or who hath adhered to the +said king of Great Britain, his fleets or armies, enemies of the said +provinces or colonies or United States, or hath given to them aid or +comfort; or who, since the said nineteenth day of April, Anno Domini one +thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, hath withdrawn, without the +permission of the legislative or executive authority of this or some +other of the said United States, from any of the said provinces or +colonies, or United States, into parts and places under the acknowledged +authority and dominion of the said king-of Great Britain, or into any +parts or places within the limits of any of the said provinces, +colonies, or United States, being in the actual possession and under the +power of the fleets or armies of the said king; or who, before the said +nineteenth day of April, Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and +seventy-five, and after the arrival of Thomas Gage, Esq., (late +commander-in-chief of all his Britannic Majesty's forces in North +America,) at Boston, the metropolis of this state, did withdraw from +their usual places of habitation within this state, into the said town +of Boston, with an intention to seek and obtain the protection of the +said Thomas Gage and of the said forces, then and there being under his +command: and who hath died in any of the said parts or places, or hath +not returned into some one of the said United States, and been received +as a subject thereof, and (if required) taken an oath of allegiance to +such states, shall beheld, taken, deemed and adjudged to have freely +renounced all civil and political relation to each and every of the said +United States, and be considered as an alien. + +Sect. 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all +the goods and chattels, rights and credits, lands, tenements, +hereditaments of every kind, of which any of the persons herein before +described were seized or possessed, or were entitled to possess, hold, +enjoy or demand, in their own right, or which any other person stood or +doth stand seized or possessed of, or are or were entitled to have or +demand to and for their use, benefit and behoof, shall escheat, enure +and accrue to the sole use and benefit of the government and people of +this state, and are accordingly hereby declared so to escheat, enure and +accrue.--[_Passed April 30, 1779. Not revised._] + + + + + BIOGRAPHIES + + OF THE + + LOYALISTS _of_ MASSACHUSETTS + + + + + THOMAS HUTCHINSON. + + GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS 1771-4. + + +Among all the loyalists of the revolted colonies, there was none so +illustrious, through his position and abilities, as Thomas Hutchinson, +Governor of Massachusetts. No public man of this State was ever subject +to more slander, personal abuse, and misrepresentation than he, and no +son of Massachusetts ever did so much to benefit and advance the best +interests of the State; beyond all question he was the greatest and most +famous man Massachusetts has ever produced. + +Descended from one of the oldest and most noted of Massachusetts +families, he was not one of the first members of it to acquire +prominence, that distinction belongs to the celebrated Ann Hutchinson, +wife of William Hutchinson who came over in 1634, "that woman of ready +wit and bold spirit," more than a match for her reverend and magisterial +inquisitors, and who won to her side men even of such power as John +Cotton and Sir Henry Vane. She was finally banished and with her +followers went to live under the protection of the Dutch, at Long Island +where she and all of her family except one child were killed by the +Indians[102], her husband having died the year previous.[103] Her +grandson, Elisha Hutchinson, became the first chief justice under the +old charter and afterwards assistant and commander of the town of +Boston. His son, Col. Thomas Hutchinson, was of scarcely less note. He +it was who seized Captain Kidd when he resisted the officers of justice +sent against him, and was the father of Governor Thomas Hutchinson. He +was a wealthy merchant, and councillor who made his native town a sharer +in his prosperity by founding the North End Grammar School. He lived in +the North Square in the finest house in Boston. Here his son, the future +governor, was born Sept. 9, 1711 and the two, father and son, occupied +it for more than sixty years, till it was sacked by the mob in 1765. + + [102] This was Colonel Edward H. Hutchinson who was killed by the + Indians during King Philip's war. He was father of Elisha Hutchinson. + + [103] William Hutchinson was the first grantee of East Milton, where the + Governor afterwards resided. He settled in Boston on the "Old Corner + Bookstore" lot, corner of School and Washington streets. William + Hutchinson was the grandson of John Hutchinson, Mayor of Lincoln, + England. + +When five and a half years old the boy was sent to the school +established by his father, and at the age of twelve went thence to +Harvard College. He graduated in 1727, and three years after he took the +degree of Master of Arts. He then became a merchant--apprentice in his +father's counting room. At the age of twenty-one, he had amassed by his +own efforts L500. He married Margaret Sanford, daughter of the Governor +of Rhode Island. In 1735 he joined the church, in 1737 he became +selectman of Boston, and four months later, was elected Representative +to the General Court. At the age of twenty-six, he entered upon his +wonderful career, so strangely and sadly varied. When he stepped into +leadership, he seemed simply to come to his own, for since the +foundation of Massachusetts Bay there had been no time when some of his +name and line had not been in the front. + +From the first he is set to deal with questions of finance; as early as +June 3, 1737, he is appointed to wrestle with a tax bill, and before the +end of the year he is settling a boundary dispute with New Hampshire, +and it was a mark of confidence when in 1740 he was appointed, being +then 29, to go to England to represent the case to men in power. A far +more memorable service than this had already been entered upon by him, +and was resumed upon his return in which he was thoroughly successful in +spite of great difficulties, it also having a close relation with the +coming into being of the United States. + +New England was at this time cursed with an irredeemable paper currency. +Democracies never appear to so poor advantage as in the management of +finances, and no more conspicuous instance in point can be cited, than +that of provincial New England, throughout the first half of the 18th +century. The Assembly, the members of which were simply the mouthpieces +of the towns, surrendered their private judgment and became submissive +to the "Instruction" which they received at the time of their election, +was uniformly by a large majority, in favor of an irredeemable paper +currency. Before the enormous evils which early became apparent and +constantly grew in magnitude, the Assembly was impotent. Widows and +orphans, classes dependent on fixed incomes, were reduced to distress, +creditors found themselves defrauded of their just dues, till almost +nothing was left, a universal gambling spirit was promoted. The people +saw no way to meet the evil but by new, and ever new issues of the +wretched script, until with utter callousness of conscience, men +repudiated contracts voluntarily entered upon, and recklessly discounted +the resources of future generations by placing upon them the obligations +their own shoulders should have borne. The action of the Council in +which the higher class was represented was uniformly more wise, and +honorable, than that of the lower House during this period of financial +distress, and it is especially to be noted that King and Parliament +threw their influence on the right side, and sought repeatedly to save +the poor blind people from themselves. The right of the home government +to interfere in colonial affairs was then never questioned. +Massachusetts would dodge if she could, the government mandates, but the +theories of a later time, that Parliament had no jurisdiction over sea +and that the King, having granted the charter, had put it out of his +power to touch the provincial policy, in these days found no expression. + +The Revolution was now preparing, the Colonies were chafing under +restrictions imposed beyond the ocean for their own benefit. It is now +generally admitted, that this was one of the first causes of the +Revolution, perhaps the most potent of all causes. In all this time of +distress no figure is apparent so marked with traits of greatness as +that of Thomas Hutchinson. All the Colonies were infected with the same +craze, but no other man in America saw the way out. Franklin, level +headed though he was, elaborately advocated paper money, turning a good +penny in its manufacture.[104] The father of Samuel Adams was one of the +directors of the iniquitous "Land Bank" and the part taken by Hutchinson +in causing Parliament to close it, was what led to the undying hatred of +Samuel Adams towards Hutchinson, and the Government. When "Instructions" +were reported in Town Meeting, Hutchinson was immediately on his feet, +and declared he would not observe them, there were immediately cries +"Choose another Representative." This could not be done during the +session; he consistently threw his influence on the hard money side, and +so far lost popularity that he was dropped in 1739. He was, however, +elected again in 1742, and was Speaker in 1746-7-8. + + [104] A Modest Inquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper + Currency. + +What saved the province from financial ruin at this time was the capture +of Louisburg. This warlike enterprise of Shirley led the country to +increase its debt to between two and three million dollars, but the +paper money was so depreciated at the close of the war that L1,200 was +equal to only L100 sterling. Parliament very generously voted to +reimburse the Province for the expense it had gone to in this war, and +voted to pay L183,649, 2s 7 1-2d sterling. + +Mr. Hutchinson, who was then Speaker of the House of Representatives, +considered this to be a most favorable opportunity for abolishing bills +of credit, the source of so much iniquity, and for establishing a stable +currency of gold and silver for the future. L2,200,000 would be +outstanding in bills in the year 1749 L180,000 sterling at eleven for +one, which was the rate at that time, would redeem all but L220,000. It +was therefore proposed that Parliament should ship to the Province +Spanish dollars, and apply same to redeem the bills, and that the +remainder of the bills should be met by a tax on the year 1749. This +would finish the bills. The Governor approved of the bill prepared by +Mr. Hutchinson but when the Speaker laid the proposal before the House, +it was received with a smile; for a long time the fight was hopeless, +many weeks were spent in debating it. + +The large class of debtors preferred paper to anything more solid. +Others claimed that though the plan might have merit, the bills must be +put an end to in a gradual way, a "fatal shock" would be felt by so +sudden a return to a specie basis. When the vote was taken the bill was +decisively rejected. The chance of escaping from bondage seemed to be +irrecoverably gone. A motion to reconsider having been carried, the +conviction overtook some men of influence, and the bill for a wonder +passed. The Governor and Council were prompt to ratify, and while the +people marvelled, it was done. The streets were filled with angry men +and when it was reported that Hutchinson's home was on fire there were +cries in the street "Curse him, let it burn." His fine home at Milton, a +recent purchase, many thought should be protected by a guard. The +infatuation was so great, the wish was often expressed that the ship +bringing the treasure might sink. Many doubted whether the treasure +would really be sent, and this uncertainty perhaps helped the adoption +of the bill. + +But the treasure came, seventeen trucks were required to cart from the +ship to the Treasury, two hundred and seventeen chests of Spanish +dollars, while ten trucks, conveyed one hundred casks of coined copper. +At once a favorable change took place. There was no _shock_ but of the +pleasantest kind, a revulsion of popular feeling followed speedily, +until Hutchinson, from being threatened at every street corner, became a +thorough favorite. Twelve years after this time Hutchinson wrote, "I +think I may be allowed to call myself the father of the present fixed +medium." There is no doubt of it. He alone saw the way out of the +difficulty, and nothing but his tact, and persistency, pushed the +measure to success. This is admitted by his enemy, John Adams, who +thirty years after Hutchinson's death said, "If I was the witch of +Endor, I would wake the ghost of Hutchinson, and give him absolute power +over the currency of the United States, and every part of it, provided +always that he should meddle with nothing but the currency. As little as +I revere his memory, I will acknowledge that he understood the subject +of coin and commerce better than any man I ever knew in this country. He +was a merchant, and there can be no scientific merchant, without a +perfect knowledge of a theory of a medium of trade."[105] Hutchinson, in +the third volume of his history of Massachusetts, remarks that the +people of Massachusetts Bay were never more easy and happy, than in 1749 +when, through the application of the Louisburg reimbursement to the +extinction of the irredeemable bills, the currency was in an excellent +condition. It excited the envy of the other colonies where paper was the +principal currency. + + [105] Curwen's Journal p. 456. + +In 1750 he was again elected to the Assembly and "he was praised as much +for his firm" as he had before been abused for "his obstinate +perseverance." He was made chairman of a commission to negotiate a +treaty with the Indians of Casco Bay. He also settled the boundary +question with Connecticut, and Rhode Island, as he had done previously +with New Hampshire. Massachusetts became greatly the gainer by this +settlement of its boundaries. The present boundaries of Massachusetts +are those established by Hutchinson. In 1752 he was appointed Judge of +Probate, and Justice of the Common Pleas, for the County of Suffolk. In +the spring of 1754 he lost his wife. With her dying voice and with eyes +fixed on him she uttered three words, "Best of husbands." He loved her +tenderly; twenty years later, taking thought for her grave, as we shall +see later on in this article (where his countrymen could not let her +bones rest in peace, but they must desecrate her grave on Copps Hill.) + +"In 1754 he was sent as delegate to the Convention held in Albany, for +the purpose of Confederating the Colonies, the better to protect +themselves from the French. Hutchinson and Franklin were the leading +minds of the body. To these two the preparation of important papers was +confided and plans made to prevent the 'French from driving the English +into the sea.'" + +In 1758 Hutchinson became Lieutenant Governor. The excellent financial +condition produced by Hutchinson's measure ten years previous, still +continued, and was made even better than before. Quebec had fallen, and +Canada was conquered by the English, and the mother country, made +generous by success, sent over large sums of money to reimburse the +Colonies for the share they had taken in bringing about the brilliant +success, the result was that the taxes became a burden of the lightest +ever before known. + +In 1760 Chief Justice Sewall died. Hutchinson was appointed his +successor by Governor Bernard. James Otis, Sr., then Speaker of the +Assembly, desired the place. James Otis, Jr., a young vigorous lawyer, +who was soon to arrive at great distinction, vigorously espoused his +father's cause. Hutchinson warned the Governor of trouble, in case the +Otises were disappointed. Bernard however, saw the risk of this, and +declared he would in no case appoint Otis, but named Hutchinson instead. +At once the younger Otis vowed vengence, a threat which he soon after +proceeded to execute by embarrassing the Governor, including the new +Chief Justice also in his enmity. Though before friends of government, +the Otises now became its opposers, and as the younger man presently +developed power as an unequalled popular leader, he became a most +dangerous foe. "From so small a spark," exclaimed Hutchinson, "a great +fire seems to have been kindled." Henceforth the two men are to have no +feelings for each other, but dread and hatred. An agitation began +between these two men, destined before it closes, to affect most +profoundly the history of the whole future human race. + +In February, 1761, Hutchinson just warming to his work as Chief Justice, +was a principal figure in the disturbance about "Writs of Assistance" or +"Search Warrants." The customs taxes were evaded the whole country over, +in a way most demoralizing. The warehouses were few indeed in which +there were no smuggled goods. The measures taken for tariff enforcement +were no more objectionable than those employed today. Freedom to be sure +is outraged when a custom-officer invades a man's house, his castle, but +high tariff cannot exist without outrages upon freedom. A change had +come about; the government had declared the laws must be enforced, and +it lay upon Hutchinson to interpret the laws and see to this +enforcement. The position of the Chief Justice was an embarrassing one. +His own proclivities were for free trade; his friends had been concerned +in contraband commerce, according to the universal practice in the term +of slack administration. Hutchinson was as yet a novice in the Chief +Justiceship, but he made no mistake in postponing his decision, and have +the Court wait till the English practice could be known. When news came +from England, a form was settled on as near to that employed in England, +as circumstances would permit. Writs were issued to custom-house +officers, for which application should be made to the Chief Justice by +the Surveyor-General of the customs.[106] Before this determination was +reached James Otis made his memorable plea against "Writs of +Assistance," one of the epoch-making events in the history of America. +John Adams afterward said, "I do say in the most solemn manner, that Mr. +Otis's oration against Writs of Assistance breathed into this nation the +breath of life." + + [106] For further matter concerning the Writs of Assistance and James + Otis see p. 34. + +Hutchison's popularity from now begins to wane, and the main hand in +this was no doubt the teachings of James Otis whose phrase "no taxation +without representation" was used as a rallying cry. Boston at once +elected him as its Representative in the Assembly, and his leadership +thus was scarcely broken even when he became insane. At last he became a +great embarrassment to his party, from the fact that, although his wits +were gone, the people would still follow him. Peter Oliver, who +succeeded Hutchinson as Chief Justice is quoted by John Adams as saying +to him, that Otis would at one time declare of the Lieutenant Governor, +"that he would rather have him than any man he knows in any office"; and +the next hour represent him as "the greatest tyrant and most despicable +creature living."[107] + + [107] Adams' Diary, June 5th, 1762. + +Hutchinson was now known as a "prerogative man," ready to defer to the +home government in important things, but there was as yet no definite +line drawn between prerogative men and patriots. Otis always scouted the +idea of independence of the Colonies as disloyal folly, his successor, +Samuel Adams, was the first to preach disloyalty and secession. Otis, as +Moderator in Town Meeting in Boston, in 1763, spoke eloquently of the +British empire and constitution. He said, "The true interests of Great +Britain and her plantations are mutual, and what God in his providence +has united, let no man dare pull asunder." As to parliamentary +supremacy, Otis was much more emphatic than Hutchinson. He said, "the +power of Parliament is uncontrollable, but by themselves, and we must +obey. Forcibly resisting the Parliament and the King's laws is high +treason. Therefore let the Parliament lay what burdens they please upon +us; we must, it is our duty, to submit, and patiently to bear them till +they will be pleased to relieve us."[108] + + [108] Rights of the British Colonies. + +Otis conceded to Parliament supremacy, but insisted that the Colonies +should have representatives there. Hutchinson considered representation +there impracticable, and while conceding supremacy, thought it should be +kept well in the background, while the Colonies managed for themselves. +Great Britain has really always held to this position even to the +present day--"Although the general rule is that the legislative assembly +has the sole right of imposing taxes in the Colony, yet when the +imperial legislature chooses to impose taxes according to the rule of +law they have a right to do it." So decided the English judge Blackburn +in 1868 in a case when Jamaica was involved.[109] Mansfield's position +that the Colonies were _virtually_ represented in Parliament was an +entirely reasonable one. Parliamentary supremacy in the British empire +is, indeed kept well in the background at the present moment, but let +any great emergency arise, such as some peril to the mother country. If +the Colony should remain apathetic, or in any way render aid and comfort +to the enemy, the dependency would be as arbitrarily ridden over by the +fleets, and armies, as in the days of George III. So long as America +remained dependent, parliamentary supremacy was necessary. It would only +be got rid of by such a declaration as that of 1776. This, Hutchinson +was not ready for nor any other person in the Colonies until many years +after this time, except one man, Samuel Adams, who said taxation without +representation was tyranny and representation was impossible. + + [109] Yonge Const. His. of Eng. p. 66. See also Todd, Parl. Gov. in the + British Colonies 1899. + +The correctness of the position of Hutchinson in the case of the Writs +of Assistance have been maintained and exhibited in detail by so high an +authority as the late Horace Gray, Esq., for many years Chief Justice of +the Supreme Court of Massachusetts and at the time of his decease +justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.[110] A currency +dispute took place in 1762 as regards the parity between gold and +silver. Hutchinson represented the Council and Otis the House, the +former, true to the policy which had already been of such advantage, set +himself once more against a course certain to lead to a disastrous +depreciation. This financial controversy led to further unpopularity, +and lost him not only a great number of friends, but the House while +reducing the allowance to the Superior Court in general, refused to make +any allowance to him whatever as Chief Justice. After the great war with +France, which was waged mainly for the benefit of the Colonies, it was +found that England had a debt of L140,000,000 instead of L70,000,000 +which it had before the war. England also had paid the Colonies vast +sums of money as previously stated, expenses incurred in protecting +themselves from the French. The American civil and military +establishments before the war was L70,000 per annum, it was now +L350,000. George Grenville, Chancellor of the Exchequer thought that the +Colonies ought to contribute towards it; he did not expect them to raise +the whole, but a portion of it, and did not intend to charge them with +any interest on the national debt, although it was largely incurred on +their behalf. + + [110] See Quincy, Massachusetts Reports 1761-1772. Appendix 1. + +In February, 1765, he laid a bill before Parliament for further +defraying the expenses of protecting the colonies and he proposed to +charge certain stamp duties in said colonies. The agents of the several +colonies had an interview with him and tried to dissuade him from it. He +replied that he had considered the whole case and believed the colonies +should contribute something to the mother country to pay for their +protection, every penny of which would be spent in the colonies, and +that he knew of no better way than a stamp tax. "If," he said, "you can +tell of a better, I will adopt it." Benjamin Franklin, proposed that the +demand for money should be made in the old constitutional way in the +form of a requisition to the Assembly of each province. Can you agree, +rejoined Grenville, on the proportion that each colony should raise. The +question touched the heart of the difficulty, the agents were obliged to +answer in the negative, and the interview speedily closed, a few days +later the fatal Bill passed,--one of the most momentous legislative Acts +in the history of mankind. + +The position of Hutchinson was a trying one; he favored neither the +issuance of the Writs of Assistance nor the Stamp Act. The whole course +of the government he disapproved of he had been ready to cross the ocean +to remonstrate for the Colony, against the impolitic treatment. On the +other hand, the disloyal tone which daily grew rife about him, was +utterly against his mind, he saw no outcome for it but independence, a +most wise forecasting of the situation, in fact there was no middle +ground. Independence seemed to him and to every man then, except Sam +Adams, a calamity. If that was to be avoided, there was nothing for it +but to admit the supremacy of Parliament.[111] But the Province, to +which he had been like a father, was growing away from him, and before +the summer ended, he was to receive a blow as ruthless, and ungrateful, +as it was possible to give. He was at this time a Judge of the highest +Judicial Court, a member of the Council, and Lieutenant Governor at the +same time. He had performed the duties of these incompatible offices to +the satisfaction of the community, as is shown in the writings of John +Adams before he became Hutchinson's enemy. He says, "Has not his merits +been sounded very high by his countrymen for twenty years? Have not his +countrymen loved, admired, revered, rewarded, nay, almost adored him? +Have not ninety-nine in a hundred of them really thought him the +greatest and best man in America? Has not the perpetual language of many +members of both Houses and of a majority of his brother-counselors been, +that Mr. Hutchinson is a great man, a pious, a wise, a learned, a good +man, an eminent saint, a philosopher etc? Nay, have not the affections +and the admiration of his countrymen arisen so high as often to style +him the greatest and best man in the world, that they never saw, nor +heard, nor read of such a man--a sort of apotheosis like that of +Alexander and that of Caesar while they lived?"[112] + + [111] For further information concerning the Stamp Act, see p. 37. + + [112] John Adams, Diary, March 17, 1766. + +It is not possible to give a more glowing eulogy in the English language +of a person, than this written by John Adams, the successor of +Washington as second President of the United States, but it could +scarcely be less. The regularity of his life, his sympathy for the +distressed, his affability, his integrity, his industry, his talents for +business, and the administration of affairs, his fluency, and grace, as +public speaker. His command of temper, and courteousness under +provocation, united to form a rare man, and to give him influence. In a +country where literary enterprise was very uncommon, he had devoted a +great part of his life to investigating the history of his native +province, busy though he was in so many places, in behalf of the public, +he found time to carry it forward. In 1764 was published in Boston the +first volume of his "History of Massachusetts Bay," a carefully studied +work quite unparalleled in the meagre colonial literature, and is still, +and will always remain, of the first authority respecting the beginning +of New England. In 1767 came the second volume. He had access to +original papers such as no person now possesses which were of the +highest historical value. Writing to a friend in England in 1765, he +said, "I think from my beginning the work until I had completed it, +which was about twelve months, I never had time to write two sheets at a +sitting without avocations by public business, but forced to steal a +little time in the morning and evening while I was in town, and leave it +for weeks together so I found it difficult to keep any plan in my mind." + +In his third volume, written twenty years later and not published till +1828, more than forty years after his death, the heat of the fight is +still in the heart beating behind the pen, in painting the portraits of +his contemporaries. Otis, Sam Adams, Hancock and others, the men who +bore him down after the fiercest possible struggle. His portrait drawing +is by no means without candor, and one wonders that the picture is no +darker. His presentment is always clear and dignified; his judgment of +men and events are just. It is the work of the thoughtful brain whose +comments on politics, finance, religion, etc., are full of intelligence +and humanity. + +And now Hutchinson approaches the most crucial period of his life. As +seen in a previous chapter after the passing of the Stamp Act, and the +adoption of the Patrick Henry Resolves, the people grew riotous and +treason was talked of openly. The first great riot was on August 14, +1765. In the morning the effigies of Andrew Oliver, the Stamp agent, and +Lord Bute the former prime minister, were hung on an elm tree, on the +corner of what is now Washington and Essex streets, in the evening they +were taken down, carried as far as Kilby street, where a new government +building was torn down by the mob, who, taking portions of the wood-work +with them, proceeded to Fort Hill, where they burnt the effigies in +front of the home of Mr. Oliver and committed gross outrages on his +premises which were plundered and wrecked.[113] + + [113] See page 40 for a more full description. + +On the evening of the 26th the riots recommenced with redoubled fury. +Lieutenant Governor Hutchinson, also Chief Justice, the second person in +rank in the colony and a kinsman of Oliver, was made a mark for the most +unmeasured outrage. The story is best told in the words of the victim in +a letter to a friend. + + To Richard Jackson, Boston, Aug. 30, 1765. + + My Dear Sir--I came from my house at Milton the 26 in the morning. + After dinner it was whispered in the town there would be a mob at + night, and that Paxton, Hallowell, the custom house, and admiralty + officers' houses would be attacked; but my friends assured me that + the rabble were satisfied with the insult I had received, and that + I was become rather popular. In the evening, whilst I was at supper + and my children round me, somebody ran in and said the mob were + coming. I directed my children to fly to a secure place, and shut + up my house as I had done before, intending not to quit it; but my + eldest daughter repented her leaving me, hastened back and + protested that she would not quit the house unless I did. I + couldn't stand against this, and withdrew with her to a neighboring + house, where I had been but a few minutes before the hellish crew + fell upon my house with the rage of devils, and in a moment with + axes split down the doors and entered. My son being in the great + entry heard them cry 'Dam him, he is upstairs, we'll have him.' + Some ran immediately as high as the top of the house, then filled + the rooms below and the cellar, and others remained without the + house to be employed there. Messages soon came one after another to + the house where I was to inform me the mob were coming in pursuit + of me, and I was obliged to retire through yards and gardens to a + house more remote, where I remained until 4 o'clock, by which time + one of the best finished houses in the Province had nothing + remaining but the bare walls and floors. + + Not content with tearing off all the wainscot and hangings, and + splitting the doors to pieces, they beat down the partition walls; + and although that alone cost them near two hours, they cut down the + cupola or lanthorn and they began to take the slate and boards from + the roof, and were prevented only by the approaching daylight from + a total demolition of the building. The garden house was laid flat, + and all my trees, etc., broke down to the ground. Such ruin was + never seen in America. Besides my plate and family pictures, + household furniture of every kind, my own, my children, and + servants, apparel, they carried off about L900 sterling in money + and emptied the house of everything whatsoever, except a part of + the kitchen furniture, not leaving a single book or paper in it, + and have scattered or destroyed all the manuscripts and other + papers I had been collecting for thirty years together, besides a + great number of public papers in my custody. The next evening, I + intended to go to Milton with my children, but meeting two or three + small parties of the ruffians who I suppose had concealed + themselves in the country, and my coachman hearing one of them + say, 'There he is'! my daughters were terrified, and said they + should never be safe, and I was forced to shelter them that night + at the Castle.[114] + + [114] Mass. His. Soc. Vol. XXVI, p. 146. + +[Illustration: Governor Hutchinson's House Destroyed by the Mob.] + +Josiah Quincy, then twenty-one years old, writing in his diary Aug. 27, +1765, says that Hutchinson's life "it is more than probable, was saved +by his giving way to his eldest daughter and leaving the house." He +described "the coming into court the next day of the stripped Chief +Justice, clothed in a manner which would have excited compassion from +the hardest heart. Such a man in such a station, thus habited, with +tears starting from his eyes, and a countenance which strongly told the +inward anguish of his soul,--what must an audience have felt, whose +compassion had before been moved by what they knew he had suffered, when +they heard him pronounce the following words which the agitation of his +mind dictated, "Gentlemen,--There not being a quorum of the Court +without me, I am obliged to appear. Some apology is necessary for my +dress; indeed, I had no other. Destitute of everything,--no other shirt; +no other garment but what I have on; and not one in my whole family in a +better situation than myself. The distress of a whole family around me, +young and tender infants hanging about me, are infinitely more +insupportable than what I feel for myself, though I am obliged to borrow +part of _this_ clothing. + +"Sensible that I am innocent, that all the charges against me are false, +I can't help feeling: and although I am not obliged to give an answer to +all the questions that may be put to me by every lawless person, yet I +call God to witness--and I would not, for a thousand worlds, call my +Maker to witness to a falsehood--I say I call my Maker to witness, that +I never, in New England or Old, in Great Britain, or America, neither +directly or indirectly, was aiding, assisting or supporting--in the +least promoting or encouraging--what is commonly called the Stamp Act; +but, on the contrary, did all in my power, and strove as much as in me +lay, to prevent it. This is not declared through timidity, for I have +nothing to fear. They can only take away my life, which is of but little +value when deprived of all its comforts, all that was dear to me, and +nothing surrounding me but the most pressing distress. + +"I hope the eyes of the people will be opened, that they will see how +easy it is for some designing, wicked man to spread false reports to +raise suspicion and jealousies in the minds of the populace, and enrage +them against the innocent, but if guilty, this is not the way to +proceed. The laws of our country are open to punish those who have +offended. This destroying all peace and comfort and order of the +community--all will feel its effects; and all will see how easily the +people may be deluded, inflamed and carried away with madness against an +innocent man. I pray God give us better hearts." The Court then +adjourned to October 15th. + +Why Hutchinson should have fallen into such great disfavor, it is not +easy to say. Gordon, a writer of Whig leaning, but a fair minded witness +of all that occurred suggests that there were some who still +entertaining rancor towards him for doing away with paper money in 1748, +for, as we have seen, his position in 1762 on the currency was not +popular. Moreover the mob was led on to the house by a secret influence, +with a view to the destruction of certain public papers known to be +there relating to the grant of the New Plymouth Company on the Kennebec +River.[115] Hutchinson himself speaks on having given rise to animosity +against him for having taken certain depositions in the interest of +government, before him in his character of Chief Justice to which his +name was signed. They were purely official acts; for the depositions he +had no responsibility whatever, but the unreasoning mass of the people +confused him with others. There was nothing in his course at the time of +the Writs of Assistance, at which the people needed to feel aggrieved. +He was with the people in opposing the external taxes, also in +disapproving the Stamp Act. Now that they were imposed, he to be sure +thought nothing would answer but submission, but certainly in his +declaration here he was nothing like so emphatic as James Otis, who +still remained the popular idol. Otis had said in May, "It is the duty +of all humbly and silently to acquiesce in all the decisions of the +supreme legislature." In private talk he was still more vigorous in his +utterances. He said to Hallowell, "That Parliament had a right to tax +the Colonies, and he was a d----d fool who denied it and that this +people never would be quiet till we had a Council from home, till our +charter was taken away, and till we had regular troops quartered upon +us."[116] Hutchinson had never expressed his thoughts anywhere near so +definitely as this. + + [115] His. of Am. Rev., Vol. I., p. 180. + + [116] John Adams' Diary, Jan. 16, 1776. + +The inhabitants of Boston and the Province were generally ashamed of the +outrage upon Hutchinson, but the mob still dared to show its hand. +Though in the first rush of feeling many of the rioters were sent to +jail, they were afterwards set free. The chief actor seems to have been +a shoemaker, named Mackintosh, who, though arrested, was presently +discharged; Hutchinson declares this was through the interference of men +of good position, who feared that a confession from him would implicate +them. Hutchinson's demand of the legislature for compensation for the +destruction of his home, was at last effectual. He is said to have +received L3,194, 17s. 6d., a fair indemnity. The Act had attached to it +for a "rider" pardon to all who had taken part in the disturbance +connected with the Stamp Act. Bernard hesitated to sign the Act; but was +finally induced to do so by his earnest wish to have Hutchinson receive +justice. When the Act was sent to England, the King disallowed it; such +lawlessness could not be condoned, even that a faithful official might +receive his rights. But the money had been paid before the news of the +King's displeasure arrived. + +A period of lawlessness now followed. Riots were absolutely unpunished, +for no jury would convict the rioters. Governor Bernard wrote that his +position was one of utter, and humiliating impotence, and that the first +condition of the maintenance of English authority in Massachusetts was +to quarter a powerful military force at Boston. + +Two regiments arrived Sept. 28, 1768. Shortly before their arrival the +people gathered together in an immense meeting, and voted that a +standing army could not be kept in the province without its consent. On +the arrival of the troops everything was done by the people to provoke +and irritate them. A perfect reign of terror was directed against all +who supported the government. Soldiers could not appear in the streets +without being the objects of the grossest insults. A press eminently +scurrilous and vindictive was ceaselessly employed in abusing them. They +had become as Samuel Adams boasted 'the objects of the contempt even of +women, and children.' Every offence they committed was maliciously +exaggerated and vindictively prosecuted, while in the absence of +martial law, they were obliged to look passively on the most flagrant +insults to authority. At one time the "Sons of liberty" in a procession +a mile and a half long marched around the State House, to commemorate +their riots against the Stamp Act, and met in the open fields to chant +their "liberty song" and drink "strong halters, firm blocks, and sharp +axes, to such as deserve them." At another an informer, who was found +guilty of giving information to revenue officers, was seized by a great +multitude, tarred and feathered, and led through the streets of Boston, +which was illuminated in honor of the achievement. + +A printer who had dared to caricature the champions of freedom was +obliged to flee from his house, to take refuge among the soldiers, and +ultimately to escape from Boston in disguise. Merchants who had ventured +to import goods from England were compelled by mob violence to give them +up to be destroyed, or to be re-embarked. A shopkeeper who sold some +English goods, found a post planted in the ground with a hand pointing +to his door, and when a friend tried to remove it, he was stoned by a +fierce mob through the streets. A popular minister delighted his +congregation by publicly praying "that the Almighty would remove from +Boston the English soldiers."[117] + + [117] Lecky's Am. Rev. Chapt. XI., p. 127. + +These outrages led to the so-called Boston Massacre, more fully +described in a previous chapter.[118] None of the mobs of that time of +mobs was more brutal and truculent than that which provoked the firing +of the group of baited men, standing their ground with steady +discipline, among the clubs and missiles resorted to now, to enforce the +usual foul and blasphemous abuse. Lieutenant Governor Hutchinson +fulfilled at this time with complete adequacy the functions of chief +magistrate, for Governor Bernard was at this time in England. Hutchinson +was at once in the street, in imminent danger of having his brains +dashed out, expostulating, entreating that order might be +preserved.[119] It was a fine exhibition of power and courage. His +standing in the east balcony of the State House, with the snow reddened +beneath by the blood of the killed, with the regiments kneeling in rank +ready for street firing, and several thousand of enraged men on the +other side on the point of rushing into the fight, he was able to hold +both parties in check. His prompt arrest of Captain Preston and the +squad which had done the killing, was his full duty; and it is to the +credit of the troop that the officer and his men in the midst of the +exasperation gave themselves quietly into the hands of the law. Instead +of a bloody battle, there was substituted a well-ordered civil process, +due delay being observed that the passion of both sides might subside +and the evidence, pro and con be calmly weighed. A mild and just verdict +was the outcome, to which all submitted. Men they were, all of the same +stock, for the time being fallen into antagonism, seeing things +differently. All, however, bore themselves like Englishmen, showing the +quality which has made the Anglo-Saxon race a mighty one. + + [118] Boston Mobs, page 43. + + [119] Mass. A. His. Vol. XXXI., p. 491. Witness at the trial of the + soldiers said "He stood close behind him, and one of the mob lifted up a + large club over my head, and was going to strike, but he seized him by + the arm and prevented it." + +Since the departure of Bernard there had been no session of the +legislature. In March one took place that was the cause of a new dispute +between the Lieutenant Governor and the legislature, which was destined +to be long and important. It was as to how far the chief magistrate +could be bound by royal instruction. Hutchinson says the Assembly was +prorogued to meet at Boston March 14th, 1770, but before the time +arrived there came a further signification of the King's pleasure that +it should be held at Cambridge, unless the Lieutenant Governor had more +weighty reasons for holding it at Boston, than those which were +mentioned by the Secretary of State against it.[120] On the 15th of +March therefore the legislature met in the "Philosophy Room" in Harvard +College, in Cambridge. + + [120] Hutchinson His. Vol. III., p. 280. + +Remonstrances were passed by the Council and the House against the +removal to which Hutchinson replied "That the King by his prerogative +could remove the legislature from the 'Town House in Boston' did not in +his mind admit of a doubt and therefore he disregarded the +remonstrance." Soon after the Massacre, Hutchinson begged the Earl of +Hillsborough, the Colonial Secretary, to allow him to resign. He said, +"I must humbly pray that a person of superior powers of body and mind +may be appointed to the administration of the government of this +Province. I shall faithfully endeavor to support such person according +to the best of my abilities, and I think it not improbable that I may be +capable of doing his Majesty greater service in the Province, even in a +private station than at present."[121] Instead of accepting his +resignation he was appointed Governor in March, 1771, and his wife's +brother-in-law, Andrew Oliver, being at the same time commissioned +Lieutenant Governor, and Thomas Flucker Secretary. + + [121] M. A. Hist. Vol. XXVI., Mar. 27 to Hillsboro. + +At his inauguration while the Assembly and the Congregational ministers +were silent, there were many congratulations, among them Harvard +College. The students singing in Holden Chapel the anthem, "Thus saith +the Lord from henceforth, behold! all nations shall call ye blessed; for +thy rulers shall be of thine own kindred, your nobles shall be of +yourself, and thy governors shall proceed from the midst of thee." + +April 1, 1771, he writes to Colonel Williams of Hatfield. "It's certain +all the valuable part of the town have shown me as much respect +personally, as in my public character, as I could desire. Two Adamses, +Phillips, Hancock, and two or three others, who, with the least reason +have been the most injurious, are all of any sort of consideration who +stand out."[122] Again on April 19, 1771, in a letter to Hillsboro, +referring to the Town Meeting he says, "In these votes, and in most of +the public proceedings of the town of Boston, persons of the best +character and estate have little or no concern. They decline attending +Town Meetings where they are sure of being outvoted by men of the lowest +order, all being admitted, and it being very rare that any scrutiny is +made into the qualification of voters."[123] + + [122] M. A. Hist. Vol. XVII., p. 131. + + [123] M. A. Hist. Vol. XXVII., p. 151. + +The hopes Hutchinson and the friends of government were never brighter +since the troubles began with the government, than in the spring of +1771. Among Hutchinson opponents men like Andrew Eliot, thought "it +might be as well not to dispute the legal right of Parliament." Otis +too, pursued a strong reactionary course and when on May 29 the +legislature met, at his instance, while the remonstrance was passed as +had become usual, against the removal of the legislature from Boston, +the clause was struck out which denied to the crown the right to remove. +The principle so long contended for was then sacrificed, the right of +prerogative to infringe the charter at this point was acknowledged, and +it would be easy to proceed on the ground that the crown might take what +liberties it pleased with the charter. Otis's change was indeed +startling. Samuel Adams was going on in the old road, when Otis started +up, and said they had gone far enough in that way, the Governor had an +undoubted right to carry the court where he pleased, and moved for a +committee to represent the inconveniences of sitting there, and for an +address to the Governor. He was a good man; the minister said so, and it +must be so: and moved to go on with the business, and the House voted +everything he moved for.[124] + + [124] John Adams' Works, Vol. II., p. 266. + +"Serious as was the defection of James Otis that of Hancock was even +more so. His wealth, popular manners and some really strong qualities +made his influence great. Samuel Adams had exploited Hancock, with all +his consummate art ever since his appearance in public life, making him +a powerful pillar of the popular cause. Contemptuous allusions to +Hancock as little better than an ape, whom Samuel Adams led about +according to his will, have come down from those times."[125] Such +things were flying in the air and Hancock was feeble enough to be moved +by them, if they came to his ears. Whatever may have been the reason, +Hancock forsook his old guide, voted with the party of Otis for the +acknowledgment of Hutchinson's right to convene the legislature where +and when he choose. Hancock's defection at this time from the Whig cause +seemed imminent, and when Hutchinson fled to England, three years later +and his papers fell into the hands of his enemies, it was found +necessary to suppress certain documents, belonging to this time as it is +supposed they compromised Hancock, who in 1774 was once more firmly on +the side of the Colonies. + + [125] Hosmer's Life of Thomas Hutchinson p. 213. + +Samuel Adams probably never experienced a greater mortification than +when, as a member of a committee, he waited, by command of the House, +upon Hutchinson to present an address acknowledging the right of the +Governor to remove the General Court "to Housantonic in the western part +of the Province," if he desired, nor, on the other hand, did the +Governor ever enjoy a greater triumph. Hutchinson must have felt that he +was even with his chief adversary for the humiliation of the preceding +year, the driving out of the regiments. Adams felt his defeat keenly, +but gave no sign of it, he saw his influence apparently on the wane, but +was as unremitting as ever in his attempts to retrieve lost ground. But +for him the revolutionary cause at this time must have gone by the +board. + +The revulsion was not long in coming. Before Hutchinson had time to +restore the repentant legislature to the town house in Boston, the +hearts of the members became hardened against him. When it became known +that the decision of the king had been made for the support of the +Massachusetts town officials from the revenue of the Colony by warrants +drawn on the Commission of Custom, the wrath of the people became heavy, +and the voice of Samuel Adams led the discontented. The Governor was +paid L1500 sterling, instead of L1000, annually, which he was paid when +dependent on the people. Hutchinson now plainly announced that he should +now receive his salary from the King. The House protested in its usual +temper, the set of the opposition being so powerful that several of the +Loyalists withdrew disheartened. But in the midst of the fault-finding +"Sons of Liberty", he received a mark of confidence from the General +Court at which he was greatly pleased, as he had a right to be. We have +already seen him as the principal figure in settling the boundary lines +on the sides of New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut. The +boundary line on the side of New York, not settled in 1767, and still in +dispute, were equally in need of adjustment, and although his principles +were popularly denounced, and the scheme was already in progress which +was to drive him from his native land and deprive him of all his +possessions in it, yet none but he could be trusted to undertake the +delicate negotiations upon which the welfare of the Province +depended.[126] + + [126] The details are in Mass. Archives marked Colonial. Vol. IV. pp. + 335-344. + +The journal of the proceedings in the handwriting of the Governor, is +still extant. With William Brattle, Joseph Hawley, and John Hancock, +Hutchinson journeyed to Hartford, where on May 18, 1773, they discussed +the matter with Governor Tyron, John Watts, William Smith, R. R. +Livingston, and William Nicoll, Commissioners from New York. The New +York men, although more compliant than the negotiators of seven years +ago, were still disposed to exact hard concessions, to which all the +commissioners but Hutchinson were about prepared to agree. Hutchinson, +however, while diplomatic, was unyielding, insisting upon what had been +substantially the demand of 1767. At last it was conceded, establishing +for all time as a part of the Bay State the beautiful county of +Berkshire. This alone should entitle him to a monument by the State of +Massachusetts. He alone, it is said, prevented the giving up by +Massachusetts of her claim to western lands; these were retained and +afterwards sold for a large sum.[127] + + [127] N. E. His. and Gen Reg., Vol. I., p. 310. + +It was a great victory for the Governor, the Massachusetts Commissioners +had been left free to do what seemed to them best, but they cordially +acknowledged that success belonged to him. + +On the return to Boston, the legislature was in session and the assembly +authorized him to transmit the settlement to Lord Dartmouth, Secretary +of State, at once, without formally laying it before them. They trusted +him entirely. Hutchinson with some pride declared that "no previous +instance of a like confidence of our Assembly in a Governor can be found +in Massachusetts history."[128] This transient favor, and trust, +aggravated for him the force of the blow he was so soon to receive. How +bitter the home coming of Hutchinson was, the following extract from a +letter to Sir Francis Bernard, the late Governor will show: + + [128] Hutchinson His. Vol. III., p. 391, 392. + +June 29, 1773. "After every other attempt to distress me they have at +last engaged in a conspiracy which has been managed with infinite art, +and succeeded beyond their own expectation. They have buzzed about for +three or four months a story of something that would amaze everybody as +soon as the elections were over, it was said in the House something +would appear in eight and forty hours, which, if improved aright, the +Province might be as happy, as it was fourteen or fifteen years ago. +These things were spread through all the towns of the Province, and +everybody's expectations were raised. At length upon motion the gallery +was ordered to be cleared and the doors shut. Mr. Samuel Adams informed +the House that seventeen original letters had been put in his hands, +written to a gentleman in England by several persons from New England, +with an intention to subvert the constitution. They were delivered to +him on condition that they should be returned, not printed, and no +copies taken. If the House would receive them on these terms, he would +read them. They broke through the pretended agreement, printed the +resolves, and then the letters, which effrontery was never known before. +The letters are mere narratives which you well know to be true, as +respects remarks upon the Colonies, and such proposals as naturally +follow from the principles which I have openly avowed; but by every +malversation, which the talents of the party in each House, could +produce they have raised the prejudices of the people against me, and it +is generally supposed all the writers were concerned in one plan, though +I suppose no one of them ever saw or knew the contents of the letters of +any others unless by accident." + +After three weeks spent, the House resolved to address the King, to +remove the Governor and Lieutenant Governor.[129] The name of the person +to whom the letters were written was erased from all of them, but they +appear to be all Mr. Thomas Whatley's six from the Governor, four from +the Lieutenant-Governor, one from Rogers, and one from Auchmuty and the +remainder from Rhode Island and Connecticut. + + [129] M. A. His. Vol. XXVII., p. 502, etc. + +The affair of the Hutchinson Letter created great excitement both in +America and England, an affair in which the best men of Massachusetts +Bay were concerned, including Franklin, then the agent of his native +Province, although a citizen then of Pennsylvania; a shade has rested +therefrom upon the character of Franklin, which cannot yet be said to +have been explained away. Is it creditable that those wary, able men, +Franklin, Samuel Adams, Bowdoin, John Adams, Samuel Cooper, and others, +really thought the very quiet statements contained "in the letters in +which there was no sentiment which the Governor had not openly expressed +in his addresses to the Legislature, was a danger and menace to the +welfare of the colony?"[130] The only explanation is that they had +persuaded themselves that Hutchinson was so dangerous that if conduct +thoroughly above board would not answer, he must be cast out by +questionable means. Mr. Winthrop justifies their conduct by believing +that it may be classed among what Burke calls "irregular things done in +the confusion of mighty troubles, not to be justified on +principle."[130] When the printed copies of the letter arrived in +England they excited great astonishment. Thomas Whatley was dead. +William Whatley, his brother, and executor was filled with a very +natural consternation, at a theft which was likely to have such +important consequences, and for which public opinion was inclined to +make him responsible. He in turn suspected a certain Mr. Temple, who had +been allowed to look through the papers of his deceased brother, for the +purpose of perusing one relating to the colonies, and a duel ensued in +which Whatley was severely wounded. Mr. Temple continued to be +suspected. A letter of Jan. 4, 1774, says: "Although when they first +came abroad his own brother said: Whoever sent them was a d----d +villian."[131] + + [130] New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg. I., p. 307. + + [131] Hosmer's Life of Hutchinson, p. 274 + +Franklin then for the first time, in a letter to a newspaper, disclosed +the part he had taken. He stated that "he, and he alone, had obtained +and transmitted to Boston the letters in question, that they had never +passed into the hands of William Whatley, and that, therefore, it was +impossible, either that Whatley could have communicated them, or that +Temple could have taken them, from his papers." There is some reason to +believe that the original owner had left them carelessly in a public +office, whence they had been stolen, but the mystery was never +decisively solved. + +"In England Franklin's conduct was regarded with the utmost severity. +For the purpose of ruining honorable officials it was said, their most +confidential letters, written years before to a private member of +Parliament, who had at that time no connection with Government, had been +deliberately stolen; although the original thief was undiscovered, the +full weight of the guilt and dishonor rested upon Franklin. He was +perfectly aware that the letters had been written in the strictest +confidence, that they had been dishonestly obtained without the +knowledge of the person who received them, or the person who wrote them, +and that their exposure would be a deadly injury to the writers. Under +these circumstances he sent them to a small group of politicians whom he +knew to be the bitterest enemies of the Governor, and one result was a +duel in which the brother of the man whose private papers had been +stolen, was nearly killed. Any man of high and sensitive honor, it was +said, would sooner have put his hand into the fire than have been +concerned in such a transaction."[132] + + [132] Lecky's Am. Rev., pp. 149, 150. + +When the petition for the removal of Hutchinson and Oliver arrived the +Government referred it to the Committee of the Privy Council that the +allegations might be publicly examined with counsel on either side. The +case exerted an intense interest which had been rarely paralleled. No +less than thirty-five Privy Councillors attended; among the +distinguished strangers who crowded the Bar were Burke, Priestley and +Jeremy Bentham, Dunning and Lee, who spoke for the petitioners; they +appear to have made no impression; while on the other side Wedderburn, +the Solicitor-General, made one of his most brilliant but most virulent +speeches, which was received with boundless applause. + +After a brief but eloquent eulogy of the character and services of +Hutchinson he passed to the manner in which the letters were procured, +and turning to Franklin, who stood before him he delivered an invective +which appeared to have electrified his audience. "How the letters 'came +into the possession of anyone but the right owner's,'" he said, "is still +a mystery for Dr. Franklin to explain, and they could not have come into +his hands by fair means. Nothing will acquit Dr. Franklin of the charge +of obtaining them by fraudulent or corrupt means, for the most malignant +of purposes, unless he stole them from the person who stole them. I +hope, my Lords, you will brand this man for the honor of this country, +of Europe, and of mankind.... Into what country will the fabrication of +this iniquity hereafter go with unembarrassed face? Men will watch him +with a jealous eye. They will hide their papers from him, and lock up +their escritoires. Having hitherto aspired after fame by his writings, +he will henceforth esteem it a libel to be called a man of +letters--_homo trium literarum_. But, he not only took away those papers +from our brother, he kept himself concealed, till he nearly occasioned +the murder of another. It is impossible to read his account, expressive +of the coolest, and most deliberate malice, without horror." + +[Illustration: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BEFORE THE PRIVY COUNCIL. + +He stood there, conspicuous and erect, and without moving a muscle, was +compelled to hear himself denounced as a thief, or the accomplice of +thieves.] + +The scene was a very strange one, and it is well suited to the brush or +an historical painter. Franklin was now an old man, sixty-seven, the +greatest writer, the greatest philosopher America had produced, a member +of some of the chief scientific societies in Europe, the accredited +representative of the most important of the colonies of America, and for +nearly an hour, and in the midst of the most distinguished of living +Englishmen, he was compelled to hear himself denounced as a thief or the +accomplice of thieves. He stood there conspicuous, and erect, and +without moving a muscle, amid the torrent of invective, but his apparent +composure was shared by few who were about him. Fox, in a speech which +he made as late as 1803, reminded the House how on that memorable +occasion, "all men tossed up their hats, and clapped their hands, in +boundless delight, at Mr. Wedderburn's speech." The committee at once +voted that the petition of the Massachusetts Assembly was "false, +groundless, and scandalous and calculated only for the seditious purpose +of keeping up a spirit of clamor and discontent in the province." The +king and Council confirmed the report and Franklin was ignominiously +dismissed from his office of Postmaster.[133] From this time Franklin +and his friends had a deep personal grudge against the British +Government. + +As the autumn deepened Hutchinson interpreted as favorable to himself +the symptoms he perceived of the mood of the people. Oct. 16, 1773, he +writes, "I now see so great a change in the people wherever I travel +about the country, that I have reason to think I shall rather gain than +lose by the late detestable proceedings, and my friends express stronger +attachments to me than ever." This was only a brief Indian summer of +favor before the outbreak, not now distant, of a storm more cold and +pitiless than ever, for a crisis was now at hand more threatening than +any that had preceded it. As shown in a previous chapter,[133] after the +repeal of the Stamp Act in order to pacify the colonists, a duty was +placed on tea, and other imports, which the colonists had always +admitted to be a valid Act of the Parliament. No revenue probably had +ever been expected from it. It was felt that the principle that +Parliament might tax must be maintained; the cost of collection was +greater than the proceeds. Instead of paying 12d per pound export duty +from England, only 3d per pound was to be charged, when imported by the +East India Company to the Colonies, thereby making a saving to the +colonists of 9d per pound which would make tea cheaper than that +smuggled in from the Dutch colonies.[134] + + [133] Lecky's Am. Rev. pp. 150, 151, 152. + + [134] See p. 47, for further information concerning the Stamp Act and + the Tea Tax. + +The project of sending the tea, was decided on in May, 1773, and +Massachusetts was the Colony where the crisis was to come. The +consignees were important persons. Two of them were Thomas and Elisha +Hutchinson, sons of the Governor, a third was the Governor's nephew +Richard Clarke, father-in-law of Copley, the painter, a fourth was +Benjamin Faneuil, a nephew of Peter Faneuil, deceased, a fifth Joshua +Winslow, also of a memorable family. These held bravely to the task that +had been set for them, putting their property and lives in jeopardy +until finally they were driven to seek refuge in the Castle. Of those +opposed to them Samuel Adams was the chief, followed by Hancock, +Bowdoin, Dr. Thomas Young, Dr. Joseph Warren, Dr. Benjamin Church, +Josiah Quincy, John Scollay, and others who lent their hands to action +and their heads to counsel. Historic truth also compels the statement +that the man put forward to do the disreputable work for them was +"Captain Mackintosh" leader of the South End toughs in street fights +with the North Enders, leader of the rioters in the destruction of the +Governor's home in August, 1765. For his part in that affair he had +never been punished, and now seems to have been rather a popular pet. He +was styled the "First Captain-General of Liberty-Tree," and managed the +illumination, hanging of effigies, etc. Long afterwards, in speaking of +the Tea Party he said, "It was my chickens that did the job."[135] + + [135] Francis Drake. "Tea Leaves." Introd. p. CXXVII. + +An attempt was made to cause the consignees to resign their commissions +under "Liberty Tree;" this they refused to do and in consequence they +were mobbed in their houses, windows and doors were smashed and amid a +tempest of missiles their lives and persons were in great danger. +Hutchinson set himself against the "Sons of Liberty," "his course not +showing one sign vacillation from first to last, but throughout bearing +the marks of clear, cold, passionless inflexibility."[136] + + [136] Richard Frothingham. + +Another American writer says, "To candid men, the letters he wrote in +those days of struggle ought to have interest, as well as the +declarations of those who have portrayed him as the disgraced minion of +a tyrant."[137] Another writer, referring to his action at this time, +says, "We can at this day well afford to mete out this tardy justice to +a man, whose motives and conduct have been so bitterly and +unscrupulously vilified and maligned as have been those of Thomas +Hutchinson."[138] + + [137] Hosmer's Life of Hutchinson, p. 299. + + [138] Francis S. Drake. Tea Leaves. Int. LXIII. + +At last, in December, 1773, three ships laden with tea arrived at +Boston, and what followed has been told a thousand times, with all +possible elaborations by those who fully sympathize with the tea mob. +The cold facts are that "Captain Mackintosh" and "his chickens," +disguised as Mohawk Indians, instigated by Samuel Adams, John +Hancock[139] and other leading "patriots" flung the whole cargo +consisting of 342 chests, into the harbor. In the course of the violent +proceedings this year the Council, the militia, and the company of +cadets, had been vainly asked to assist in maintaining the law and +order. The sheriff was grossly insulted, the magistrates could do +nothing, and as usual, the crowning outrage of the destruction of the +tea was accomplished with perfect impunity, and not a single person +engaged in it was in any way molested, but every soul in Boston knew the +penalty must fall, as certain as night follows day. "The news of these +events convinced most intelligent Englishmen, that war was imminent, and +that taxation of America could only be enforced by the sword. Popular +opinion in England, which had supported the repeal of the Stamp Act, +was now opposed to further concession, England, it was said, had +sufficiently humiliated herself. The claim and the language of the +colonial agitators excited profound and not unnatural indignation, and +every mail from America brought news that New England at least was in a +condition of virtual rebellion, that Acts of the British Parliament were +defied and disobeyed with the most perfect impunity, that the +representatives of the British Government were habitually exposed to the +grossest insults, and reduced to the most humiliating impotence." + + [139] Hancock's uncle made his large fortune by smuggling tea. See + Hutchinson His., Vol. III., p. 297. + +The time for temporising, it was said, was over. It was necessary to +show that England possessed some real power of executing her laws and +the ministers were probably supported by a large majority of the English +people, when they resolved to throw away the scabbard, and to exert all +the power of Parliament to reduce Massachusetts to obedience.[140] The +measures that were taken were very stringent. By one Act, the harbor of +Boston was legally closed. "The Custom House officers were removed to +Salem. All landing, lading, and shipping of merchandise in Boston harbor +was forbidden, and English men-of-war were appointed to maintain the +blockade. The town which owed its whole prosperity to its commercial +activity was debarred from all commerce by sea and was to continue under +this ban, till it had made compensation to the East India Company for +the tea which had been destroyed, and had satisfied the crown that trade +would for the future be safely carried on in Boston, property protected, +laws obeyed, and duties regularly paid."[141] By another Act, Parliament +was to remodel the charter of Massachusetts, the Council or Upper +Chamber was now to be appointed as in most of the other colonies of +America by the crown. The judges and magistrates of all kinds, including +the sheriffs, were to be appointed by the royal governor. Jurymen were +to be summoned by the Sheriffs. That these Acts of the British +Parliament at this time was necessary is beyond question, for there was +a mob in revolutionary Boston at this time, scarcely less foul-mouthed, +pitiless, unscrupulous, than that which roared for the blood of the +Bourbons in revolutionary Paris, or that of the Commons of later times. +Mackintosh and his crew were unmistakably in evidence, certainly not +restrained, but connived at by the better men, so that those just as +conscientious and patriotic, who tried by lawful ways to oppose, found +destruction for their property imminent, and could feel that their lives +were secure only when they had fled down the harbor to the Castle. + + [140] Lecky's Am. Rev., pp. 154, 164, 165, 166. + + [141] 14 George III., c. 19, 45. + +John Adams was one of the very few "patriots" who really disowned and +opposed mob violence; not only did he defend the soldiers for killing +some of the mob, but in a letter to his wife, he said: "mobs I do and +will detest."[142] + + [142] Letters of John Adams, Vol. 1., p. 13. + +[Illustration: (View from Governor Hutchinson's Field.)] + +On May 10th, 1774, news reached Boston of the passing of the Boston Port +Bill, and the penalties the Tea-Party had brought upon the town. General +Gage, who was to command four regiments and a powerful fleet arrived +three days later. A military governor was now to succeed the civilian, +it being understood that Hutchinson, after the disturbances were +quelled, should return to power; in the meantime he was to go to +England, and help the King with personal counsel.[143] Hutchinson's work +in America was done. It may be asked, why did he remain in office in all +these years, up to this time, enforcing laws with which he had no +sympathy, the instrument of a policy he disliked, wrecking in the minds +of many of his countrymen the honorable name which for forty years he +had been establishing. It was certainly not for emolument. It was not +for fame, for instead of credit he had long received only abuse. He kept +hoping against hope, that the home government would become wiser, that +the supremacy of Parliament, having once been recognized, should be +allowed to sink out of sight, the Colonies being allowed to control +themselves as British Colonies do at the present time. He hoped that in +his own land the question of taxation would be less hotly contested by +the people. These things gained, the glorious empire of England might +remain undivided, mother and daughter remaining in peace together, an +affectionate headship dwelling in one, a filial and loving concession of +precedence in the other. To attain such a consummation seemed to the +Governor a thing worth suffering and striving for. To bring this about, +as is shown by all his acts, and all his words, he contended year after +year, sacrificing to his aim his reputation, his fortune, at last, +hardest of all, his citizenship, dying in exile of a broken heart. + + [143] Hutchinson Hist. Vol. III., p. 458. + +Before leaving Boston he received a most complimentary address signed by +the principal inhabitants of that and other towns endorsing this course +and conduct; they were known as "Addressers," and were afterwards +persecuted and subjected to many indignities from their fellow townsmen. + +June the 1st, 1774, he turned away from his beautiful mansion and +extensive farm, and walked down Milton Hill, to the Lower Mills, nodding +and smiling to his neighbors on this side and that, it is said, whether +Whig or Tory, he was good friends with all. He was in a cheerful mood on +that day when he left his home forever, for had not the best people of +the Province approved of him, and had shown him strong marks of favor in +their addresses. It is very evident, as shown in all his writing, that +he was greatly attached to his beautiful country home and to his Milton +neighbors, with whom he was a favorite. He mingled with them in social +life, and worshipped with them in the same church. His residence on +Milton Hill is situated in one of the pleasantest places in the vicinity +of Boston. It is the same to-day as it was when the Governor resided +there, with the exception that the house has been remodeled, and the +surrounding estates, now the homes of millionaires, have been greatly +improved by art. It is situated on the crest of Milton Hill--a +drumlin--to the south of which, across a beautiful valley are the Blue +Hills, called by the Indians the "Massachusetts" or the place of the +great hills, and from which the state has derived its name. They appear +like mountains rising through the atmosphere charged with fragrant mist +from the intervening blossoming fields, which give them a blue +appearance, and soften all their ruggedness into beauty. + +The mansion faces the north on the road leading to Plymouth; across the +road in front of the home is an extensive field sloping towards the +green waving marshes that line the banks of the beautiful Neponset +river, winding its course to the harbor, which bears upon its bosom many +picturesque islands and in the remote distance is seen the rocky +Brewsters, on which is situated the white lighthouse, marking the edge +of the ocean.[144] + + [144] Several wealthy citizens of Milton have recently purchased this + field donated it to the State as a public reservation to be known as the + "Governor Hutchinson Field." + +On that beautiful spring morning as the Governor walked down the hill he +had no thought of a lasting absence, though martial law for a time was +to be tried he was still Governor; meantime his salary was continued and +he was about to give an account of his stewardship to his royal master. +At the foot of the hill he crossed the river and there met his +carriage, next year to be confiscated, and appropriated to the use of +Washington. In it he rode to what is now South Boston Point; then +embarking in a boat, he was rowed to the Castle, on Castle Island, the +last bit of Massachusetts earth to feel his footfall. From here he +embarked on the warship Minerva, which was to convey him to England, +where he arrived July 1st, and was immediately received by the King, who +during the interview said, "I believe you generally live in the country, +Mr. Hutchinson, what distance are you from town?" Mr. Hutchinson +replied, "I have lived in the country. Sir, in the summer for 20 years, +but except the winter after my house was pulled down, I have never lived +in the country in the winter until the last. My house is 7 or 8 miles +from Town, a pleasant situation, and most gentlemen from abroad say it +has the finest prospect from it they ever saw, except where great +improvements have been made by art to help the natural view."[145] + + [145] Hutchinson Diary, Vol. II., pp. 164, 165. + +[Illustration: (Governor Hutchinson's House on Milton Hill.)] + +He often afterwards was at Court, and was treated with the greatest +kindness by both King and Queen. A baronetcy was offered him, which he +declined because of insufficient means to support the title, his +property in America having been confiscated. He was however handsomely +pensioned. He does indeed write under date of September 1st, 1778, "The +changes in the last four or five years of my life make the whole scene, +when I look back upon it appear like a dream or other delusions. From +the possession of one of the best houses in Boston, the pleasantest +house and farm at Milton, of almost any in the world and one of the best +estates in the Colony of Rhode Island, with an affluent income, and a +prospect of being able to make a handsome provision for each of my +children at my death--I have not a foot of land at my command, and +personal estate of L7000 only, depending on the bounty of Government for +a pension, which, though it affords a present ample provision for +myself, and enables me to distribute L500 a year among my children, yet +is precarious, and I cannot avoid anxiety. But I am still distinguished +by a kind Providence from my suffering relations, friends, and +countrymen in America as well as from many of them in England, and have +great reason to be thankful that so much money is yet continued to +me."[146] + + [146] Diary and Letters of H. Vol. II., p. 216. + +[Illustration: (Inland View from Governor Hutchinson's House.)] + +The Governor's diary in England is a profoundly pathetic record of a man +broken-hearted by his expatriation. His sons and daughters and their +families to the number of twenty-five were all dependent upon him. "He +is glad he has a home for them, when so many fellow-exiles are in +want." As Hutchinson was by far the ablest and most eminent of his +party, so his sufferings were especially sharp. His name was held to be +a stigma. Hutchinson Street in Boston became Pearl Street. The town of +Hutchinson in the heart of the Commonwealth, cast off its title as that +"of one who had acted the part of a traitor and parricide," substituting +for it that of Barre, the liberal champion in Parliament. + +The honorable name he had made through forty years of self-denying +wisely directed public service, was blotted out, for generations it was +a mark for obloquy. His great possession and large estate were +confiscated, and to the shame of his countrymen be it said, they did not +spare even his family tomb. It was sold by the State and the bones of +his ancestors, some of the greatest men of the colony, and those of his +wife and children were thrown out. The old stone with the Hutchinson +crest on it still remains over the tomb in Copp's Hill burial ground +with the name of the new owner of the tomb rudely marked on it. Could +the governor have had a premonition of what was going to happen when he +wrote to his son, Feb. 22, 1775, that he wished to have a new tomb built +at Milton, and the remains of his wife, deceased twenty-one years, to be +tenderly removed from Copp's Hill and deposited therein, with space for +himself, and bade him "leave the wall or any ornament or inscription +till I return, and the sooner it is finished the better." + +His son Thomas had left Milton and retired to Boston before he received +his father's letter. Hostilities immediately followed, and were +succeeded by the confiscation of the estates of the loyalists. Hence +this cherished design of the governor was never carried out. Again on +May 15th, 1779, he writes in his diary, "And though I know not how to +reason upon it, I feel a fondness to lay my bones in my native soil and +to carry those of my dear daughter with me." Again he writes, "The +prospect of returning to America and laying my bones in the land of my +forefathers for four preceding generations, and if I add the mother of +W. H. it will make five, is less than it has ever been." Then at last +this entry is found. "Sept. 16, 1779. Stopped at Croydon, went into the +church, looked upon the grave of my dear child, inquired whether there +was room for me, and was informed there was." He was indeed sinking +fast, and his end was rapidly approaching. A few months later, June 3, +1780, as he was walking down the steps of his house to his coach, going +for his morning drive, he fell into the arms of his servant, and with +one or two gasps he resigned his soul to God, who gave it. He was buried +at Croydon on the 9th of June. It would scarcely be possible for a human +life to close among circumstances of deeper gloom. Utter destruction had +overtaken his family. His daughters and his son dispirited, dropped +prematurely at the same time with him into the grave. His son "Billy" +died on Feb. 20. A child of Elisha's died on June 25th, and his daughter +Sarah died on the 28th. In daily contact with him was a company of +Loyalist exiles, once men of position and wealth, now discredited, +disheartened, and in danger of starvation. The country he loved and had +suffered so much for, had nothing for him but contumely. To a man like +Hutchinson public calamity would cause a deeper pang than private +sorrow. No more threatening hour for England has probably ever struck +than that in which the soul of this great and good man passed away. It +had become apparent that America was lost, a separation that might be +fatal to the empire, and which her hereditary enemies were hastening to +make the most of. To America herself the rending seemed to many certain +to be fatal. + +While the members were thus being torn away, destruction seemed to +impend at the heart. At the moment of his death, London was at the mercy +of the mob, in the Gordon riots. The city was on fire in many places, a +drunken multitude murdered, right and left, laying hands even upon the +noblest of the land. Lord Mansfield, Chief Justice of England, because +he had recommended to the mercy of a jury, a priest arrested for +celebrating mass, saved his life with difficulty, his home with all his +possessions going up in flames. What a remarkable coincidence this was +with what happened to the governor when he was Chief Justice of +Massachusetts. The exile's funeral passed on its way through smoke, and +uproar, that might easily have been regarded as the final crash of the +social structure. No one foresaw then what was immediately to come; that +England was to make good her loss twice over, that America was to become +the most powerful of nations, that the London disorders were on the +surface merely, and only transient. In Hutchinson's latest +consciousness, every person, every spot, every institution dear to his +heart must have seemed to be overwhelmed in catastrophe. Such was the +end of a life thoroughly dutiful and honorable.[147] + + [147] Hosmer's Life of Hutchinson, p. 349. + +On the death of Cromwell, his body was buried in Henry VII chapel, and +after the restoration it was disinterred and gibbeted at Tyburn, and +then buried under the gallows, the head being placed on a pike over +Westminster Hall, where Cromwell had Charles I condemned to death. And +now nearly two and one-half centuries since this event occurred a +beautiful monument of Cromwell has been erected by Parliament on the +lawn a few feet from Westminster Hall where the above events took place. +Will the city of Boston ever do likewise and erect a statue to Governor +Hutchinson in some public place as a slight atonement for the obloquy +cast upon his name, the desecration of his family tomb, and as a +recognition of the great services he rendered his native state, for +certainly he was one of the worthiest sons that Massachusetts has ever +produced, and there should be some memorial in the place of his birth, +to record his private virtues, his historical labors, his high station, +his commanding influences, and his sorrows, which have an interest, +which none acquainted with his life can fail to feel. + +The following list of estates belonging to Thomas Hutchinson situated +at, and near Boston, taken from him under the Conspiracy and +Confiscation Acts comprises nineteen parcels of land. The state +received for them L98,121, 4s or about $490,000. His mansion house on +the corner of Fleet and Hanover Streets brought L33,500. The Governor +owned other valuable real estate in Rhode Island and other parts of +Massachusetts, particularly in that part now the State of Maine. He was +probably the wealthiest person in the state of Massachusetts at the +commencement of the Revolutionary War. The author is indebted to the +late John T. Hassam, A. M., for the list of Confiscated Estates in +Suffolk County contained in this work, giving the name of the purchaser +at the sale, the Lib. and folio of the record and a brief description of +the confiscated estates. It was originally printed in the proceedings of +the Mass. His. Soc. for May, 1895. + + +LIST OF GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON'S CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY AND + TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Joseph Veasey, Dec. 27, 1779; Lib. 131, fol. 21; Land and + dwelling-house in Boston, Fish St. W., land purchased by Thomas + Stephenson N.; passageway E; heirs of William Graves S. + + To Samuel Broome, July 24, 1780, Lib. 131, fol. 233; Land, 43 A. 2 + qr. 34 r., in Milton, a back lane E., Mr. Ivers and Milton River + N., Stephen Badcock and a brook N.W.; lane to Stephen Badcock S.W.; + road to Milton meeting-house S.E.----Land, 33 A. 1 r., mansion + house and barn in Milton road to Braintree E., heirs of William + Badcock S.E. and S.W., road to Milton meeting-house N.W.----14 A. 3 + qr. 3 r. in Milton, road to Braintree S.W., Robert Williams S.E.; + heirs of William Badcock N., Milton River N.E.----Woodland, 48 A. 1 + qr. 9 r., in Milton, road by Moses Glover's N.W.; Braintree town + line S.E.; John Bois S.W.; John Sprague N.E.----Tillage land, 17 A. + 2 qr. 27 r., and salt marsh, 16 A. 14 r. adjoining, in Dorchester, + lower road from Milton bridge to Dorchester meeting-house W.; + Hopestill Leeds N.E.; John Capen and others E.; Amariah Blake and + the river N., Ebenezer Swift, Daniel Vose and a creek S.----Salt + marsh, 2 A. 3 qr. 9 r., near the Hummucks in Dorchester, Levi + Rounsavel N.; Robert Swan and Madam Belcher S., the river + W.----Salt marsh, 7 A., in Dorchester, Billings Creek S. and W.; + Robert Spurr N.; Henry Leadbetter S.E. and E.----One undivided + third of 8 A. salt marsh in Dorchester, held in common with Timothy + Tucker and Joseph Tucker. Billings Creek S.; Nathan Ford + W.----Woodland, 33 1-2 A. 9 r. in Braintree. + + To John Hotty. Aug 8, 1780, Lib. 131, 161, fol. 247; Land and + dwelling-house in Boston, Fish St. W., land purchased by Parsons + and Sargeant N.; passageways E. and S. + + To Ebenezer Parsons, Daniel Sargent, Feb. 25, 1783; Lib. 137, fol. + 95; Land and dwelling-house in Boston, Fish St. W.; passageways N. + and E., land purchased by Thomas Stephenson S.----Land and + dwelling-house, Fish St. W.; land purchased by John Hancock N.; + Thomas Hutchinson E.; land purchased by John Hotty S.----Land, + store, block-maker's shop, and other work places near the above, + passageways S.; W. and E; Thomas Hutchinson N.----Flats, dock, + wharf and stores near the above passage W.: dock N.; sea E.; dock + S.----Flats, dock and wharf adjoining the above-described wharf, + John Brick S.; passageways W. and N.; dock N., the sea E. + + To Ebenezer Parsons, Daniel Sargeant, Feb. 25, 1783; Lib. 137, fol. + 99; Land and dwelling-houses in Boston, Fish St. W.; land purchased + by said Parsons and Sargeant S.; passage N.; passage E.; land + purchased by said Parsons and Sargeant S.; passage W.; then running + W. and S. + + To Thomas Stephenson, Mar. 13, 1783; Lib. 137, fol. 161; Land and + dwelling-house in Boston, Fish St. W.; land purchased by Parsons + and Sargent N.; passage E.; land purchased by Joseph Veasey S. + + To Enoch Brown, Oct. 14, 1784; Lib. 145, fol. 126; Land and brick + dwelling-house in Boston, Middle St. W.; Fleet St. N.; street from + Clark's Square to Fleet St. E.; Lady Franklin S. + + + + + THOMAS HUTCHINSON. + + +Eldest son of Governor Hutchinson. He was born in Boston in 1740. He +married Oct. 10, 1771, Sarah, daughter of Lieut. Governor Andrew Oliver. +He was Judge of the Probate Court for the County of Suffolk. He was +Mandamus Councillor, and an Andresser of General Gage. He and his family +were in Boston during the blockade, and bombardment. At the evacuation, +they went aboard ship with their two children, when the third child was +born, as they were leaving for England. Dr. Peter Oliver, the second son +of Chief Justice Oliver, refers to this matter in his Diary, as follows: +"We remained blocked up in Boston till the beginning of March, 1776, +when we were ordered to embark. Tommy Hutchinson's family and mine went +aboard the Hyde Pacquet for England, March 25th, 1776, we set sail for +England. The day before we set sail from Nantasket, Tommy's wife was +delivered of a boy which had not a drop of milk during the whole +passage, was much emaciated, and no one thought it would have lived. The +lady well. As to myself, I was sick 21 days without any support; reduced +almost to a skeleton. Seven children on board ship, and the eldest not 6 +years old." + +The child born aboard ship was baptised Andrew, after its mother's +father, Lieut. Gov. Andrew Oliver. It grew up, married, left children, +was an eminent surgeon, and after a long life, died Dec. 23, 1846, aged +70 years. He was the father of the late Peter Orlando Hutchinson, great +grandson of the Governor who edited the two volumes of the Diary of +Governor Hutchinson, published in 1883. He was a local antiquary, of +local repute, and a gentleman of great kindness of heart. He was a +bachelor, and died at Sidmouth, Devon, Oct. 1st, 1897, aged 87, and was +the last of his generation. + +His last words at the end of the second volume, are as follows: "If in +these volumes, I have anywhere said anything of my American friends that +is untrue, or too harsh for the occasion, I regret it should have been +so, and I willingly withdraw it altogether. I need not apologise for any +unkind remarks that may have been made by the Governor, though most +concerned, for he made none; and when they have made reparation for all +the slander and misrepresentation which they have persistently heaped +upon him during the last 120 years, then--we shall be quits. It is time +to bury the hatchet. Farewell." + +Thomas Hutchinson, the subject of this sketch, writing to his brother +under date of Nov. 15th, 1788, alluded to the trying position in which +the Loyalists were placed, he says, "We will give a little attention to +a large and suffering body of people whose only crime had been that of +fidelity to the Mother country. Driven out of the land of their +adoption, they fled back to the land of their ancestors, where most of +them were strangers. Some pressed their claims for relief from the +English Government; others applied to the American Courts for recovery +of the estates themselves, while others despairing of success, gave up +everything for lost, and sat down resigned to their fate. Sir Francis +Bernard lost the valuable Island of Mount Desert, and Sir William +Pepperell lost miles of coast line, stretching away from Kittery Point +to Saco, extending miles into the interior." + +"These unfortunate people were very difficultly placed--if they had +joined the American party, they would have been Rebels to England, but +when the war was over and they applied for the restitution of their +estates they were told they were Rebels to America." + +Writing again under date of 1789, he said: "We proceeded to Exeter, and +I have taken a house at a mile from the town, but in the neighborhood, +the house furnished, and has every convenience about it, with about six +acres of land--mowing, orchard, and garden stocked with fruit trees. I +could have had my house and garden without the land, at L45, and am to +pay L60 per ann. for the whole. The last year my orchard produced 20 +hhds of cyder." + +Thus the family became settled in a respectable looking old house built +in the Queen Anne style, known as East Wonford near Heavitree church, +where it still stands. The rent appears to be extraordinarily low. He +would not bind himself to a lease, for he still had hopes of returning +to America, but the return was never to be. The Hutchinsons had very +little chance of a favorable hearing in Massachusetts, and their large +fortune there was forever lost to them. The family seems to have been +content with their new home, for in another letter to his brother of May +19, 1791, Thomas says:--"After eighteen months residence, we continue to +think this a very agreeable part of England; and perhaps I could not +have made a better pitch than I have done." + +Thomas Hutchinson, son of the Governor, died in 1811, and his wife in +1802. They were deposited in a vault in the middle of Heavitree church. +The church was pulled down in 1843 and a new one erected on the same +site. + +Thomas, his eldest son, grandson of the Governor, was born in America in +1772, brought to England by his father in 1776, he was a +Barrister-at-Law, resided during the early years of his career at No. 14 +New Boswell Court, Lincoln's Inn, London, and after that in Magdalen +Street, Exeter. He married twice, had three sons and one daughter. He is +buried in the N. W. corner of Heavitree churchyard. A stone with the +following inscription marks the spot: "Underneath this stone Lie the +mortal remains of Thomas Hutchinson, Barrister-at-Law, who departed this +life the 12th of November 1837, aged 65." + +Mary Oliver Hutchinson, daughter of Thomas Hutchinson, and granddaughter +of the Governor, was born in America, Oct. 14, 1773, and was brought to +England by her father in 1776, married Captain W. S. Oliver, R. N., +grandson of Lieut. Governor Andrew Oliver, at Heavitree, in Oct. 1811. +She died at East Tergnmouth, Devon, July 11th, 1833, leaving one son and +two daughters of whom more presently. + +William Hutchinson, son of Thomas and grandson of the Governor, was born +in England, June 14, 1778. He entered the church and was pastor for some +time at Heavitree and Colebrook, Devon. He had two sons and three +daughters. Rev. William Hutchinson, died May 3rd, 1816. + + + + + ELISHA HUTCHINSON. + + +Son of Governor Hutchinson, was born Dec. 24, 1745, at Boston. He +graduated at Harvard College in 1762. His wife Mary was the eldest +daughter of Colonel George Watson of Plymouth, Mass. He was the +commercial partner of his brother Thomas. They were the consignees of +one-third of the tea. Their names were given to the East India Company +by a London correspondent, who solicits the consignment for them, +without mentioning their connection with the Governor, although the +historian Bancroft falsely asserts that he had a pecuniary interest in +the shipment, of which there is not the slightest evidence.[148] He +accompanied his father to England in 1774, leaving his wife in America, +with the intention of rejoining her in a few months, but it was three +years before she could join him in England. Having reached his 80th year +he died at Tutbury, June 24, 1824, having had issue three daughters and +two sons. His son John, born Sept. 21, 1793, was perpetual curate of +Blurton near Trentham, Co. Staff. Percentor and Canon of Lichfield, +Editor of Vol. 3 of Gov. Hutchinson Hist. of Mass., in 1828. He married +his cousin Martha Oliver Hutchinson, May 10th, 1836. He died April 27, +1865, at Blurton, having had issue two daughters and one son, John +Rogers, born March 6, 1848, who married Ruth Hombersley, Oct. 19, 1882, +at Kirk Ireton, Derbyshire. + + [148] Tea Leaves, p. 324. + + + + + FOSTER HUTCHINSON. + + +Was brother of Governor Hutchinson, and one of the last judges of the +supreme court of Massachusetts. He graduated at Harvard University in +1743. He accepted the appointment of mandamus councillor in 1774 and +soon after was compelled to take refuge in Boston. He was proscribed and +banished and his estates were confiscated. He left Boston at the +evacuation in 1776, and with his family of twelve persons went to +Halifax. He died in Nova Scotia in 1799. His son, Foster, an Assistant +Judge of the Supreme Court of that Colony died in 1815, and his daughter +Abigail deceased at Halifax, July 1843, aged seventy-four years. Foster +and his brother Thomas had a dry goods store in 1765 below the "Swing +Bridge" near what is now the corner of Hanover and Salem streets. + + +CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO FOSTER HUTCHINSON ET AL IN SUFFOLK + COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Ebenezer Parsons, Daniel Sargent, Feb. 25, 1783; Lib. 137, fol. + 95; Land and dwelling-house in Boston, Fish St. W.; passageways N. + and E.; land purchased by Thomas Stephenson S.----Land and + dwelling-house, Fish St. W.; land purchased by John Hancock N.; + Thomas Hutchinson E.; land purchased by John Hotty S.----Land, + store, block-maker's shop and other work places near the above, + passageways S.; W. and E.; Thomas Hutchinson N.----Flats, dock, + wharf and stores, near the above, passage W.; dock N.; sea E.; dock + S.----Flats, dock and wharf adjoining the above described wharf, + John Brick S.; passageways W. and N.; dock N.; the sea E. + + To John Codman, Jr., Sept. 25, 1783; Lib 140, fol. 4; Land, wharf + and dock in Boston. Town Dock N.; heirs of William Clarke deceased + W.; heirs of Benjamin Andrews S.; passage from the Town Dock to + Green's wharf E. + + + + + ELIAKIM HUTCHINSON. + + +As previously stated, the ancestor of Governor Hutchinson who emigrated +to Boston was William Hutchinson, grandson of the Mayor of Lincoln; he +had a brother Richard in business in London whose son Eliakim also +settled at Boston. There is nothing to show that Richard ever came to +this country, and when William and his wife Anne was expelled from +Boston, the lot which had been granted to him in 1634, now known as the +"Old Corner Bookstore," which then extended to the City Hall lot, was +sold by his son Edward to Richard Hutchinson of London, linen-draper. +This was the father of Eliakim. The subject of this notice was the great +grandson of the emigrant. He was born in 1711 and married Elizabeth, +eldest daughter of Governor Shirley. He was a member of the Governor's +Council and Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Suffolk +County. In 1764 he purchased from his father-in-law "Shirley Hall," the +finest estate in Roxbury. In 1746 Governor Shirley bought thirty-three +acres of land and erected this palatial mansion on it. Its oaken frame +and other materials, even the bricks, it is said, were brought from +England, at a vast expense. It has been removed from its original +location, and is now occupied as a tenement house, yet, notwithstanding +the vicissitudes it has undergone, it is extremely well preserved. One +of the peculiarities of "Shirley Place," as the governor styled it, is +its double front. From the upper windows a fine view is obtained of the +city, harbor and islands. Each front was approached by a flight of stone +steps flanked by an iron railing of an antique and rustic pattern. +Entering the northern or proper front, you find yourself in a spacious +hall of grand proportions. To the right a broad staircase leads to a +balcony extending around to the left where two doors open into the guest +chambers in which Washington, Lafayette, Franklin, Daniel Webster and +many other celebrated men have from time to time been accommodated. From +the balcony the musicians entertained the company at the table in the +hall. The carved balusters around the staircase and gallery are of three +different patterns, and the rail surmounting them is inlaid at the top. +The base of the balustrade and staircase, is also adorned with a carved +running vine. To the right and left of the hall are doors leading into +the reception room, parlors, etc. Upon great occasions the two halls +were thrown into one by opening the folding doors between. Washington +paid a visit to Governor Shirley in March 1756, to relate to him the +circumstances of his son's death who was killed at the battle of the +Monongahela. In a letter to his friend and patron Lord Fairfax, he says, +"I have had the honor of being introduced to several governors, +especially Mr. Shirley, whose character and appearance, have perfectly +charmed me." The next time Washington visited "Shirley Place" it was not +as a guest, but as an enemy. + +Governor Shirley was a man of great industry and ability, thoroughly +able, enterprising, and deservedly popular. He was a strong advocate of +prerogative and in 1756 advised the ministry to impose a stamp tax in +America. In February, 1755, he was made a major-general, with +superintendence of military operations in the Northern Colonies. It was +then, after the disastrous defeat and death of General Braddock, that +Major Washington came to report it to him, and he was superseded both in +his command and his government, and ordered to England. Triumphantly +vindicating himself from the charges against him, he was made a +lieutenant-general in 1759, and was governor of the Bahamas from 1758 to +June 1769 when he returned to Roxbury, residing with his son-in-law in +the mansion built by him until his death, March 24, 1771, and was +interred in the burying ground of King's Chapel, which edifice he caused +to be built while governor. + +Judge Eliakim Hutchinson died in June, 1775. He had a high standing at +the bar, being well versed in his profession, and enjoyed a good +reputation as a general scholar, and as a man of high moral and +religious principles. He was early imbued with principles favorable to +the government, but was never a bitter, nor even a warm partisan. + +His patrimonial inheritance, aided by industry enabled him to acquire a +handsome fortune, one of the largest in the province. He adhered to +government from the beginning of the controversy, but the moderation of +his conduct, his superior fitness for his office, and the confidence in +his integrity, secured him public favor through the stormy period, which +commenced soon after his appointment to the Governor's Council. But this +was an unpardonable offence in the eyes of the "Sons of Despotism." It +was however unsolicited, unexpected and accepted with great reluctance, +and although he died before actual hostilities had scarcely commenced, +yet his large and valuable estate was confiscated. That portion of it in +Suffolk County was inventoried at L21,400, Shirley Place with eighty +acres of land was valued at L12,000. During the siege of Boston the +mansion was used as a barracks by the Revolutionary troops and was +greatly injured thereby. + +It was purchased from the State by John Read, and then passed through +many hands, and in 1819 was purchased by Governor Eustis, who passed +the remainder of his days there, dying in 1825. Among the guests that +accepted his hospitality was John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, Daniel +Webster, Aaron Burr, and John Calhoun. + +Judge Hutchinson's wife left Boston at the evacuation, and went to +England. She died at London in 1790. + +WILLIAM HUTCHINSON, son of Eliakim Hutchinson, graduated at Harvard +College in 1762. He went to the Bahamas when his grandfather Shirley +became Governor of same. In 1771 William Hutchinson was appointed Judge +of the Admiralty Court of the Bahama Islands. He died in England in +1790. + + +LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO ELIAKIM HUTCHINSON IN SUFFOLK + COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To William McNeill, Archibald McNeill. Feb. 21, 1782; Lib. 134, + fol. 27; Land in Boston, Cow Lane E., Howe's ropewalk S.; W. and + S.; Milk St. W.; Palmer's pasture N. + + To Edward Compton Howe, June 17, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 22; Land in + Boston, Milk St. N., Mr. McNeil E. and S.; McNeil's ropewalk E.; + Cow Lane S.; ropewalk of Ferister and Torrey W. + + To John Read, Sept. 9, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 196; Land 37A., in + Roxbury, bounded by the road from Roxbury to Dorchester, the brook + and salt water creek between Roxbury and Dorchester, the way to the + clay pit and by the lands of John Howes, John Humphrey, John + Williams, Aaron White, James White, Caleb Williams, Samuel Warren, + Joseph Clapp, Isaac Williams and Benjamin Williams.----Woodland 13 + A., in Roxbury, Elijah Wales S.; widow Bourne and heirs E.; Noah + Davis W. and N.----Right of William Shirley Esq., to the clay pits + above mentioned called the Town of Roxbury clay pits.----23 1-2 A. + in Roxbury, John Williams N.; Aaron White, Samuel Cheney, John + Hawes, widow Warren and heirs of Joseph Warren W.; Nehemiah Munroe + S; town way from Dorchester brook to Braintree road E.----Pasture + land, 19 A., in Roxbury, Daniel Holbrook N.; Braintree road W.; + James White S.W.; said town way S. and E.----22 A., in Roxbury, + said town way N.W.; John Williams and ---- Swan S.; John Humphrey + E. John Williams N.E.----Salt marsh and upland, 20 A., in Roxbury, + heirs of Benjamin Williams S.W.; town creek between Roxbury and + Dorchester S.E.; Joseph Curtis N. + + To John Lucas, Edward Tuckerman. Oct. 4. 1782; Lib. 136, fol. 22; + Land in Boston, on Dock Square and Cooper's Alley, bounded by lands + of Thomas Green, Joshua Blanchard, widow Apthorp, John Newell, + William Greenleaf, Jonathan Simpson and heirs of Thomas Young. + + To Nathan Spear, March 1. 1783; Lib. 137, fol. 131; Land in Boston, + passageway from the Town Dock to Green's wharf W.; Jonathan + Williams, William Hyslop, Nathaniel Correy, Alexander Hill, heirs + of John Gould, of Anthony Stoddard, and of John Walker deceased N.; + the end of the wharf E.; the dock between said wharf and Green's + wharf S. + + To Francis Bigelow, April 3, 1783; Lib. 137 fol. 260; Land in + Boston on Milk St.; bounded by a passageway and by land of said + Bigelow, said Hutchinson and Mr. Bourne. + + To Joseph Russell, July 12, 1783; Lib. 139. fol. 75; Land in Boston + near Fort Hill, Gridley's Lane S.; Cow Lane E.; land of Town of + Boston and of heirs of Andrew Oliver N.; Thomas Palmer W. + + To Thomas Green, Feb. 18, 1784: Lib 141. fol. 136; Land in Boston. + Dock Square S.; Eliakim Hutchinson W.; Mr. Blanchard N.; Thomas + Green E.; N. and E. + + To Thomas Walley, Aug. 28, 1784: Lib. 144. fol. 172; Land and + buildings in Boston, Cross St. S.; Thomas Walley W.; widow Holmes + N.; Samuel Ellinwood E. + + To Samuel Emmons, Jr., Victor Blair. Dec. 24, 1792; Lib. 174. fol. + 183; Land in Boston, Milk St. and Cow Lane, between a highway and + ropewalk of Farreter and Torrey. + + To Jeffery Richardson, May 17, 1793; Lib. 176, fol. 8; Land in + Boston. Cow Lane S.E.; Samuel Emmons N.E.; Thomas Davis S.W.; + extending towards Milk St. N.W. + + To Jeffery Richardson, Dec. 15, 1795; Lib. 182, fol. 27; + Confirmation of above. + + To Martin Brimmer, Apr. 13, 1796;, Lib. 183, fol. 37; Flats and + wharf in Boston, Minot's T N.; flats towards the town W.; wharf and + flats of William Davis S.; the channel E. + +[Illustration: ANDREW OLIVER. + +Born in Boston, 1707. Lieutenant Governor 1770-4. Died in Boston, March, +1774.] + + + + + ANDREW OLIVER. + + LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS 1770-1774. + + +The Oliver family are among the most prominent of the early colonial +families. Thomas Oliver came from Bristol in 1632. He was one of the +founders, and Elder of the First Church in Boston.[149] His son Peter +born in England in 1622 and died in Boston in 1670, was a prominent +merchant, and commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company +in 1669 and was one of the founders of the Old South Church. Peter's son +Daniel married Elizabeth, the daughter of Andrew Belcher, who was the +father of Governor Jonathan Belcher. + + [149] He lived on Washington Street; his lot extended north from Spring + Lane, including the head of Water Street. + +ANDREW OLIVER, son of Daniel Oliver, a member of the Council, and +brother of Peter Oliver, the Chief Justice. He graduated at Harvard +College in 1724. He was a representative from Boston, member of the +council and Secretary of the Province. In 1765, soon after receiving the +appointment of Stamp Collector, without his solicitation, he not +approving of the Act, he became very unpopular. The rough population +which abounded about the wharves and shipyards, whose movements were +directed by persons of higher rank and larger views of mischief, grew +riotous, and with the usual want of discrimination shown by mobs, were +not slow to lift their hands against even their best friends. The houses +of the Custom and Admiralty officials were attacked, which culminating +in an extraordinary outrage against Andrew Oliver, which led John Adams +to exclaim, "Has not the blind undistinguishing rage of the rabble done +that gentleman irreparable injustice"?[150] He was hung in effigy, a +drunken crowd carrying the effigy through the Town House, even while the +Governor and Council were in session. The building he had fitted for the +transaction of business was destroyed. Taking a portion of it for a +fire, the mob proceeded to Fort Hill where Mr. Oliver lived and burned +his effigy in a bonfire before his home; they then went to work on the +barn, fence, garden, and dwelling house. After breaking all the windows +they entered the house and damaged and destroyed his furniture, +completely wrecking this beautiful mansion. The business being finished, +the "Sons of Despotism" proceeded to the Province-house, gave three +huzzas and dispersed. On the day following the riot, Mr. Oliver resigned +his office. In writing to a friend he says, "I was persuaded to yield in +order to prevent what was coming on the second night." This action of +the mob caused intense suffering both to himself and family.[151] + + [150] John Adams' Diary, Aug. 15, 1765. + + [151] See page 40 for account of the riot. + +In 1770, Mr. Oliver was appointed Lieutenant Governor. In 1773, several +letters which he had written to persons in England, and which were +obtained surreptitiously by Franklin and sent to Boston, created much +excitement and abuse of the writers.[152] In addition to the assaults +at home, he was accused in England by Arthur Lee who signed himself +Junius Americanus with the grave crime of perjury. "Scarce any man ever +had a more scrupulous and sacred regard for truth, and yet, to such a +degree did the malignant spirit of party prevail as to cause this man in +the public papers in England, to bring against him a charge of perjury. +The Council of Massachusetts Bay, from whose votes and resolves this +writer attempted to support the charge, by vote which they caused to be +printed, repaired the injury as well as they could, but a consciousness +of his innocence and integrity, however, together with the reproaches +most injuriously cast upon him by the resolves of the council and house, +in which he was treated as the determined enemy of the liberties of his +country, the interest whereof according to the best of his judgment +(which was much superior to that of his most virulent persecutors) he +always had at heart, affected his spirits and evidently accelerated his +death."[153] Mr. Oliver was now advanced in life, and unable to endure +the disquiet and misery caused by his position in affairs at so troubled +a period, soon sunk under the burden. After a short illness he died at +Boston in March 1774, aged 67. By the testimony of foes as well as +friends, he was a most useful and estimable man, modest, indefatigable, +well-cultured, soundly sensible. He had been the most beloved member of +a family greatly beloved, and no charge could be brought against him +except that in his political principles he sided with the Government. He +was a liberal benefactor to his ALMA MATER in books, ancient +manuscripts, and anatomical preparations. At his funeral the mob was +again in evidence. The House of Representatives withdrew from the +procession because a certain punctilio was neglected. The mob of Boston +ran after the funeral train hooting and in an unseemly way hilarious, +gave three cheers when the mourners came out of the graveyard, his +brother the Chief Justice, intrepid as he was, did not dare to be +present, because his life was threatened. Had he died before this +violent spirit was raised, he would have been revered by all orders and +degrees of men in the Province. + + [152] See page 162, 163 concerning Hutchinson and other letters + abstracted by Franklin. + + [153] Curwin's Journal, pp. 462, 463. + +He was a man of large wealth for those days. The inventory of his real +estate was as follows: + +The Mansion House and Buildings situated near Fort Hill. + +The Brick School House near Griffin's Wharf. + +A Warehouse on Long Wharf. + +A right in said Wharf. + +The Buildings and Land etc., on Oliver's Dock. + +A Brick House on Union Street with a small Wooden Shop adjoining and +Land belonging thereto. + +A Dwelling House and about three Acres of Land at Dorchester. + +[Illustration: ANDREW OLIVER MANSION, WASHINGTON STREET, DORCHESTER. + +Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, 1770-74.] + +The last named building is the only one now in existence, and the +following description of it at the time of writing, may be interesting +to the reader. + +Lieut. Governor Oliver's country house in Dorchester is situated on the +corner of Washington and Park streets. In the old deeds it is described +as being "On the Road leading to Milton." The house appears the same as +in the olden times. Not one whit has the estate changed outside of the +interior of the great house. The broad acres that surround it still +spread out before and behind it, the same drives are lined with great +English Elms as in the old days; no finer old mansion house of the +colonial period is to be found in New England, none is richer in +memories of olden times. Here Lieut. Gov. Andrew Oliver entertained the +finest of the land, where gentlemen in powdered wigs and ladies in fine +old silks used to dance the minuet, and where the negro slaves used to +be happy in their own way. It was sold by John J. Spooner, administrator +of the estate of Andrew Oliver, to Col. Benjamin Hichborn, and was used +by him as a summer residence. In 1817 it went into the hands of his +brother, Samuel Hichborn, who entertained there Gen. Lafayette, and +Presidents Jefferson, and Munroe. For many years it was owned and +occupied by the famous chocolate manufacturer, Walter Baker. At the +decease of Mrs. Baker, it was purchased by the Colonial Club who now +occupy it as a club house. + + + + + THOMAS OLIVER. + + LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS, 1774-1775. + + +Thomas Oliver was born in Antigua and graduated at Harvard College in +1753, he was the son of Robert Oliver, a wealthy planter from Antigua +who settled in Dorchester. His parentage is unknown, there were Olivers +in Dorchester as early as 1637, and he may have descended from +them.[154] He brought with him from Antigua his wife Anne and one son, +Thomas, the subject of this notice. He purchased a number of pieces of +land of which 30 acres had been the property of Comfort Foster, on this +homestead lot he built in 1745 a fine mansion, on what is now known as +Edward Everett square. Tradition records, that he brought many slaves +with him, and when they were given wheelbarrows in which to carry the +dirt, in ignorance of their proper use they carried them upon their +heads, in just the same manner as the writer has seen negroes at the +present time carry burdens on their heads on the "Pope's Head" estate in +Antigua where these slaves came from. In Dorchester Robert Oliver had +born to him sons, Isaac and Richard, and a daughter, Elizabeth, who +became the wife of John Vassall, Jr. He died December 20, 1762. "The +Post Boy" contained the following brief obituary: "Thursday morning +last died at his seat in Dorchester, in the 63d year of his age, Col. +Robert Oliver. A Gentleman of extensive Acquaintance, remarkable for his +Hospitality to All, was kind to the Poor, and in his Military Character, +beloved and esteem'd, his Family and Neighbours, have met with a great +Loss in this Bereavement; His Remains are to be interr'd Tomorrow at 3 +o'clock in the Family Tomb at Dorchester." About two years before this +Thomas, his eldest son, had married Elizabeth, daughter of Col. John +Vassall of Cambridge, making a double connection by marriage between +these two families. Closely allied with them by marriage were the +Royalls, all three families being probably originally of New England, +then resident in Antigua and Jamaica, and returning here to enjoy their +acquired wealth. All three families built houses which have lasted to +our time: Royall in Medford, Vassall in Cambridge and Oliver in +Dorchester. + + [154] Sabine says Dorchester. Dorchester Record says Thomas Oliver, the + son of Robert Oliver, Esqr., and Ann, his wife, was born Jan. 5, 1733-4 + at ye Island of Antigua. + +Thomas Oliver remained for several years in Dorchester after his +father's death. He inherited a large estate from his grandfather, James +Brown, and from his great-uncle, Robert Oliver. He then began life under +the most favorable auspices. His father-in-law was John Vassall of +Cambridge, who married the daughter of Lieutenant-Governor Spencer +Phips. Being a man of fortune he did not mingle in the stormy political +contests of that period until a day fatal to his peace and quiet, when +he accepted the office of Lieutenant-Governor. He has been represented +as a mild, peaceable person, and gentlemanly in deportment. In 1766 he +removed to Cambridge and built the fine mansion recently occupied by +James Russell Lowell. He sold his Dorchester mansion to Richard +Lechmere, who was the uncle by marriage of Oliver's wife, he having +married May Phips, whose sister Elizabeth married Col. John Vassall, who +died in 1741. In 1771 the mansion passed into the hands of John Vassall, +a son of the Colonel, who was a Loyalist, and his property was +confiscated. It was sold by the State to John Williams; it afterwards +passed into the possession of Oliver Everett in 1792, and here his son +Edward Everett was born in 1794. The house was torn down in 1900 and the +square in front of it, previously known as the Five Corners, was named +Edward Everett Square. On the opposite side of the square on a part of +the same estate in a small park is situated a house built by one of the +earliest settlers, about 1640, owned and occupied by the Dorchester +Historical Society. + +Thomas Oliver was the last Royal Lieutenant-Governor and President of +the Council of Massachusetts. He received his appointment from the Crown +in 1774, after the decease of Andrew Oliver, who was of a totally +distinct family; it is understood that the King thought he was +appointing Chief Justice Peter Oliver, a brother of Andrew, a much more +active man in the politics of the times. + +[Illustration: THOMAS OLIVER AND JOHN VASSALL MANSION, DORCHESTER. + +It stood on the north side of Edward Everett square. A bronze tablet +marks its site. Edward Everett was born here April 11, 1794. (see p. +183.)] + +His appointment as Councillor was by the King's writ of mandamus which +was held, was contrary to the charter. This made him an object of +popular resentment. He detailed the course pursued against him, in +consequence of being sworn into office in the following narrative dated +September 7, 1774, which as throwing light on the transaction of the +times is inserted entire: + +"Early in the morning" (of September 2d), said he, "a number of +inhabitants of Charlestown called at my house to acquaint me that a +large body of people from several towns in the county were on their way +coming down to Cambridge; that they were afraid some bad consequences +might ensue, and begged I would go out to meet them, and endeavor to +prevail on them to return. In a very short time, before I could prepare +myself to go, they appeared in sight. I went out to them, and asked the +reasons of their appearance in that manner; they respectfully answered, +they 'came peaceably to inquire into their grievances, not with design +to hurt any man.' I perceived they were landholders of the neighboring +towns, and was thoroughly persuaded they would do no harm. I was desired +to speak to them; I accordingly did, in such a manner as I thought best +calculated to quiet their minds. They thanked me for my advice, said +they were no mob, but sober, orderly people, who would commit no +disorders; and then proceeded on their way. I returned to my house. Soon +after they had arrived on the Common at Cambridge, a report arose that +the troops were on their march from Boston; I was desired to go and +intercede with his Excellency to prevent their coming. From principles +of humanity to the country, from a general love of mankind, and from +persuasions that they were orderly people, I readily undertook it; and +is there a man on earth, who, placed in my circumstances, could have +refused it? I am informed I am censured for having advised the general +to a measure which may reflect on the troops, as being too inactive upon +such a general disturbance; but surely such a reflection on a military +man can never arise but in the minds of such as are entirely ignorant of +these circumstances. Wherever this affair is known, it must also be +known it was my request the troops should not be sent, but to return; as +I passed the people I told them, of my own accord, I would return and +let them know the event of my application (not, as was related in the +papers, to confer with them on my own circumstances as President of the +Council). On my return I went to the Committee, I told them no troops +had been ordered, and from the account I had given his Excellency, none +would be ordered. I was then thanked for the trouble I had taken in the +affair, and was just about to leave them to their own business, when one +of the Committee observed, that as I was present it might be proper to +mention a matter they had to propose to me. It was, that although they +had a respect for me as Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, they could +wish I would resign my seat. I told them I took it very unkind that they +should mention anything on that subject; and among other reasons I +urged, that, as Lieutenant-Governor, I stood in a particular relation to +the Province in general, and therefore could not hear anything upon that +matter from a particular county. I was then pushed to know if I would +resign when it appeared to be the sense of the Province in general; I +answered, that when all the other Councillors had resigned, if it +appeared to be the sense of the Province I should resign, I would +submit. They then called for a vote upon the subject, and, by a very +great majority, voted my reasons satisfactory. I inquired whether they +had full power to act for the people, and being answered in the +affirmative, I desired they would take care to acquaint them of their +votes, that I should have no further application made to me on that +head. I was promised by the Chairman, and a general assent, it should be +so. This left me entirely clear and free from any apprehensions of a +farther application upon this matter, and perhaps will account for that +confidence which I had in the people, and for which I may be censured. +Indeed, it is true, the event proves I had too much; but reasoning from +events yet to come, is a kind of reasoning I have not been used to. In +the afternoon I observed large companies pouring in from different +parts; I then began to apprehend they would become unmanageable, and +that it was expedient to go out of their way. I was just going into my +carriage when a great crowd advanced, and in a short time my house was +surrounded by three or four thousand people, and one quarter part in +arms. I went to the front door, where I was met by five persons, who +acquainted me they were a Committee from the people to demand a +resignation of my seat at the Board. I was shocked at their ingratitude +and false dealings, and reproached them with it. They excused themselves +by saying the people were dissatisfied with the vote of the Committee, +and insisted on my signing a paper they had prepared for that purpose. I +found that I had been ensnared, and endeavored to reason them out of +such ungrateful behavior. They gave such answers, that I found it was in +vain to reason longer with them; I told them my first considerations +were for my honor, the next for my life; that they might put me to death +or destroy my property, but I would not submit. They began then to +reason in their turn, urging the power of the people, and the danger of +opposing them. All this occasioned a delay, which enraged part of the +multitude, who, pressing into my back yard, denounced vengeance to the +foes of their liberties. The Committee endeavored to moderate them, and +desired them to keep back, for they pressed up to my windows, which then +were opened: I could from thence hear them at a distance calling out for +a determination, and, with their arms in their hands, swearing they +would have my blood if I refused. The Committee appeared to be anxious +for me, still I refused to sign; part of the populace growing furious, +and the distress of my family who heard their threats, and supposed them +just about to be executed, called up feelings which I could not +suppress; and nature, ready to find new excuses, suggested a thought of +the calamities I should occasion if I did not comply: I found myself +giving way, and began to cast about to contrive means to come off with +honor. I proposed they should call in the people to take me out by +force, but they said the people were enraged, and they would not answer +for the consequences. I told them I would take the risk, but they +refused to do it. Reduced to this extremity, I cast my eyes over the +paper, with a hurry of mind and conflict of passion which rendered me +unable to remark the contents, and wrote beneath the following words: +'My house at Cambridge being surrounded by four thousand people, in +compliance with their commands, I sign my name, THOMAS OLIVER,' The five +persons took it, carried it to the people, and, I believe, used their +endeavors to get it accepted. I had several messages that the people +would not accept it with those additions, upon which I walked into the +court-yard, and declared I would do no more, though they should put me +to death. I perceived that those persons who formed the first body which +came down in the morning, consisting of the landholders of the +neighboring towns, used their utmost endeavors to get the paper received +with my additions; and I must, in justice to them, observe, that, during +the whole transaction, they had never invaded my enclosures, but still +were not able to protect me from other insults which I received from +those who were in arms. From this consideration I am induced to quit the +country, and seek protection in the town." + +[Illustration: REVOLUTIONISTS MARCHING TO CAMBRIDGE. + +To oblige Lieutenant-Governor Thomas Oliver to resign from the Council +Board.] + +The document presented to Mr. Oliver on the 2d of September, and which +he signed, was as follows: "I, Thomas Oliver, being appointed by his +Majesty to a seat at the Council Board, upon, and in conformity to the +late Act of Parliament, entitled an 'Act for the better regulation of +the Province of Massachusetts Bay,' which being a manifest infringement +of the Charter rights and privileges of this people, I do hereby, in +conformity to the commands of the body of this county now convened, most +solemnly renounce and resign my seat at said unconstitutional Board, and +hereby firmly promise and engage, as a man of honor and a Christian, +that I never will hereafter, upon any terms whatsoever, accept a seat at +said Board on the present novel and oppressive plan of Government." To +this, the original form, he added the words above recited. Judge +Danforth and Judge Lee, who were also Mandamus Councillors and Mr. +Phipps, the sheriff, and Mr. Mason, clerk of the county, were compelled +to submit to the same body, and make written resignations. + +Governor Oliver, as stated by himself, went into Boston, and made +assurances both to General Gage and to the Admiral on the station, which +prevented a body of troops from being sent to disperse the large body of +people who assembled at Cambridge on this occasion; and to these +assurances it was owing, undoubtedly, that the day passed without +bloodshed. But for the peaceable demeanor of those whom he met in the +morning,--the landholders of the neighboring towns,--the first collision +between the King's troops and the inhabitants of Massachusetts, would +have occurred, very likely, at Cambridge, and not at Lexington. A +detachment was sent to the former town the day before, to bring off some +pieces of cannon, and from this circumstance arose, principally, the +proceedings related by Governor Oliver. Indignant because the "redcoats" +had been sent upon such an errand, thousands from the surrounding +country assembled in the course of the day, (September 2d.) armed with +guns, sticks, and other weapons; and when the Lieutenant-Governor's +promise on his return from Boston, rendered it certain that they would +not be opposed by the troops, they exacted from every official who +lived at Cambridge full compliance with their demands, as has been +stated. + +From this period Governor Oliver lived in Boston, until March, 1776, +when at the evacuation he accompanied the Royal Army to Halifax, and +took passage thence to England. + +His mansion near Mt. Auburn is the house in which he resided at the time +he was mobbed by four thousand Disunionists. When Benedict Arnold with +his Connecticut Company arrived at Cambridge just after the fight at +Lexington, they were quartered in this house. After Bunker Hill the +house became a hospital and the dead were buried in the opposite field. +The mansion was afterwards the residence of Governor Gerry, and at a +later period was owned and occupied by Prof. James Russell Lowell, which +made it still more famous under the name of "Elmwood." + +He was proscribed and banished in 1778 and in the year following was +included in the Conspiracy Act, and his large estate confiscated. Though +he forfeited his estates in Massachusetts, he was better situated +financially than most of his fellow sufferers, for he was wealthy from +his professions in the West Indies, still owned by his descendants. He +was a studious man and lived in retirement in England. He died at +Bristol, Nov. 29, 1815, aged 82, and left six daughters. + + + + + PETER OLIVER. + + CHIEF JUSTICE OF MASSACHUSETTS. + + +Peter Oliver, son of Daniel Oliver and brother of Andrew Oliver, the +Lieutenant Governor, born in 1713, married Mary, daughter of William +Clark. His son Peter, Jr., married Sarah, daughter of Governor +Hutchinson. Peter Oliver, Sr., graduated from Harvard College in 1730. +He received the degree of L.L. D. He was appointed to the supreme bench +of the province, September 15, 1756. + +An affair happened at the close of the year 1773, which drove Adams and +all his factions into madness. It was a grant from the King of a salary +to the judges of the Supreme Court. The Assembly had endeavoured to keep +the judges in absolute dependence upon their humor and because they +found them rather too firm to coincide with their views in the +subversion of government, they made them the object of their resentment. +The judges of the Court had the shortest allowance from the General +Assembly of any publick officers, even their Doorkeeper had a large +stipend. The judges' travel on their circuits were from 1100 to 1500 +miles in a year. Their circuit business engrossed seven months of the +year during the extremes of heat and cold in a severe climate. For all +their service, the highest grant made to them was L120 sterling per +year, and it had been much less; the Chief Justice had L30 sterling +more. + +His Majesty taking the cases of the judges into consideration, and from +his known justice and benevolence, ordered their salaries to be paid out +of his revenues in America, such salaries as would keep them above want, +and below envy. The judges upon hearing of His Majesty's intention of +such a grant had agreed to accept it, but four of them who lived at and +near the focus of tarring and feathering, the town of Boston flinched in +the day of battle, they were so pelted with soothings one day, and with +curses and threatenings the next, that they prudentially gave the point +up. The Chief Justice was now left alone in the combat, his brethren had +but lately been seated on the Bench. He had been 17 years in the +service, and had sunk more than L2000 sterling in it. He had offered not +to accept of the grant (if His Majesty would permit him to do so), +provided the Assembly would reimburse him one-half of his loss in their +service, and for this he would resign his seat on the Bench. The Chief +Justice very luckily lived at Middleborough, about 30 miles from Boston, +or perhaps he would have followed suit of his brethren in giving up the +King's grant. A message was sent to him by the Lower House signed +"Samuel Adams, Clerk," requiring him to make explicit answer whether he +would accept of the King's grant, or of their grant. He replied that he +should accept the King's grant. Nothing less than destruction now +awaited him. Col. Gardner, who was afterwards killed at Bunker Hill, +declared in the General Assembly, that he himself would drag the Chief +Justice from the Bench, if he should sit upon it. + +The Assembly voted that he had rendered himself obnoxious to the people, +as an enemy, and immediately presented a petition for his removal. +Articles of impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors were exhibited, +which Gov. Hutchinson refused to countenance. The grand jury at +Worcester on April 19th following, presented to the court a written +refusal to serve under the Chief Justice, considering it illegal for him +to preside until brought to answer to the above mentioned charges. He +became a refugee in 1775, and died at Birmingham, England, in October +1791, aged 79.[155] Of the five judges of the Superior Court of +Massachusetts at the commencement of the Revolution, four remained +loyal, viz., Peter Oliver, Edmund Trowbridge, Foster Hutchinson, and +William Browne. The Revolutionary member of the Court was William +Cushing. Judges at this time wore swords, ermine robes, etc., while on +the Bench. + + [155] Curwin's Journal, p. 516. + +DR. PETER OLIVER. Second son of Chief Justice Oliver, of Massachusetts, +graduated at Harvard University in 1761. He dwelt at Middleborough, +Plymouth County. He had practised in Scituate in early life, was one of +the eighteen country gentlemen who were driven into Boston and who were +Addressers of General Gage in 1775. He was proscribed and banished in +1778, and became a refugee in England, where he died at Shrewsbury, in +Sept. 1822, aged eighty-one. + +DANIEL OLIVER, son of Chief Justice Oliver, a learned and accomplished +lawyer of Worcester County, graduated at Harvard College in 1762. A +refugee loyalist of the Revolution, he died at Ashted, Warwickshire, May +6, 1826, aged 82. His father was an antiquarian, and copied with his own +hand Hubbard's manuscript History of New England, which the son refused +the loan of to the Massachusetts Historical Society for publication in +their Collection.[156] + + [156] Curwin's Journal, p. 510. + +Sabine says that it was Doctor Oliver who refused to lend his copy or at +least to permit a transcript of such parts of it as were missing in the +American manuscript. In consequence, we have "Hubbard" mutilated at the +beginning, and at the end. At this time, 1814, when the Massachusetts +Historical Society with the aid of the Legislature desired to publish +that work, there was a very bitter feeling towards the United States on +account of the war at that time existing between the two countries. + +ANDREW OLIVER of Salem, son of Lieutenant Governor Oliver, graduated at +Harvard College in 1749. Studied law. Was often a representative to the +assembly and a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was one of the +founders of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of +the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia; he was considered +one of the best scholars of his day, and possessed fine talents. Judge +Oliver was never fond of public life, but ardently attached to his books +and friends. He was honored with a commission of mandamus councillor, +which he declined. He married Mary, daughter of Chief Justice Lynde, and +many of his descendants are now living here, for although Judge Oliver +was a loyalist, he was the only member of his family that was not driven +out of his country in consequence of the Revolution. + +PETER OLIVER of Salem, the son of Lieutenant Governor Andrew Oliver, was +an Addresser of Gage in 1775 and was proscribed and banished in 1778. He +became a surgeon in the British Army, and died at London in April, 1795. +His widow afterwards married Admiral Sir John Knight, and died in 1839. + +BRINLEY SYLVESTER OLIVER, another son of Andrew Oliver, graduated at +Harvard in 1774. Later became a surgeon in the British service; was also +purser on the Culloden at the battle of the Nile. He died in 1828. + +[Illustration: SIR FRANCES BERNARD + +Born in 1712 at Brightwell England. Governor of Massachusetts from 1760 +to 1769. Died in England June 16, 1779. From Copley's painting in +Fiske's American Revolution.] + +A third son, WILLIAM SANFORD OLIVER, in 1776 accompanied the Royal Army +to Halifax. He settled at St. John, New Brunswick, at the peace, and was +the first Sheriff of the county. His official papers are dated at Parr +or Parr-town, by which names St. John was then known. In 1792, he held +the office of Marshal of the Court of Vice-Admiralty of New Brunswick. +At the time of his death, he was Sheriff of the County of St. John, and +Treasurer of the Colony. He died at St. John in 1813, aged 62. His son, +William Sanford Oliver, was a grantee of St. John in 1783, but left New +Brunswick about 1806, and entered the Royal Navy. He rose to the +position of Captain and was married at Heavitree, in October, 1811, to +Mary Oliver Hutchinson, the daughter of Thomas Hutchinson, Jr., who +was brought to England in 1770 by her father and mother, when she was +but three years of age. He was put on the retired list in 1844, and died +in England the next year, aged 71. + + + + + SIR FRANCIS BERNARD. + + GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS FROM 1760 TO 1769. + + +Sir Francis Bernard was descended from Godfrey Bernard of Wansford in +Yorkshire, who in the 13th century was a large landowner, whose clearly +defined armorial bearings were the first of the family entered in the +Heralds College. + +Francis, the only child of the Rev. Francis Bernard was baptized July +12th, 1712, in the church of Brightwell in Berkshire. He was unfortunate +in losing his father three years later. He became a scholar of St. +Peter's College in 1725, and was admitted as a student to Christ Church, +Oxford, later. In 1733 he entered himself a member of the Middle Temple +and was called to the Bar in 1737, and soon after settled at Lincoln as +a provincial counsel. Four years later he married Amelia, daughter of +Stephen Offley, Esq., of Norton Hill, Derbyshire. In 1744 he was elected +Steward of the City of Lincoln and Deputy Recorder of Boston. In 1745 he +was appointed Receiver-General of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln. In +1750 he was admitted Procter of the Consistory Court of the Diocese. The +years that Francis Bernard spent at Lincoln were probably some of the +happiest in his life. He was fortunate in his domestic relations, was +doing well in his profession, and his many accomplishments which were +always at the service of his friends, rendered him a general favorite in +society. + +In 1758 Mr. Bernard decided to seek a larger field for the support of +his now large family. He was on intimate terms with the second Viscount +Barrington, and his brothers and sisters; they were his wife's first +cousins. It was thus through his influence that Francis Bernard received +the office of Governor of New Jersey. The new world afforded an opening +for his sons which meant much to the father. Mr. and Mrs. Bernard and +four of their children left England in April, 1758. On his arrival in +New Jersey, he entered into negotiations with the Indians. The war at +the time raged between England and France rendering the positions of the +Indians peculiarly important. By his address and tact he conciliated the +Indians, and kept them steadfast in their allegiance to England, +Governor Pownall of Massachusetts being appointed to South Carolina. Mr. +Bernard was appointed as his successor. His residence in New Jersey was +remembered as a time of happiness by the governor and his wife. His life +was gladdened by a sense of the good he was able to achieve, and he was +hopeful for the future, the page written by Thomas Bernard, his son, of +this period reads like a pleasant fairy tale, but it was soon ended. +Notwithstanding the supposed indignity offered to the colony of +Massachusetts by the appointment of three officers of State by the +Crown, the Constitution remained exceedingly democratic. Thomas Bernard +gives a sketch of its leading features in which he depicts the colony as +forming one of the freest communities in the world. + +Governor Bernard reached Boston August 2nd, 1760. He was received with +great parade and ceremony. At Dedham he was met by Lieutenant-Governor +Hutchinson, several of the Council, and Brigadier-General Isaac Royal +and the troops escorted him to his residence at the Province House in +Boston. The Militia was drawn up in the main streets, and salutes were +fired from all the forts and ships in the harbor, and the Governor and +his family were entertained at a great dinner at Fanueil Hall, was then +escorted to the State House, and to the Kings Chapel where the Governors +were in the habit of attending. + +Governor Bernard's nine years' administration in Massachusetts was +during one of the most interesting periods in American history. When he +arrived at Boston he found affairs on an apparently peaceful and +prosperous footing. He stayed till all was in turmoil, and left only +just before the storm broke. The first part of his administration was +very agreeable. Soon after his arrival Canada was surrendered. The +General Court in an address to the Governor declared that without the +assistance of England the colonies must have fallen a prey to the power +of France, and that without the money sent from England the burden of +the war would have been too great to bear. For this relief the colonists +gave warm thanks to the king and to parliament, and made the Governor a +present of the great island of Mount Desert, and voted a costly monument +in Westminster Abbey to Lord Howe, who had fallen in the campaign +against Canada. + +Much harmony prevailed for two or three years, but this happy and +prosperous commencement did not continue. Governor Bernard was soon +classed with those who were desirous of strengthening the authority of +the government. + +Shortly after Bernard's appointment, Chief Justice Sewall died on +September 11. He was a great loss to the Province and it was a +misfortune that his death occurred just at this time. Colonel Otis, as +he was generally called, desired to succeed to this office. It was +believed that he and his son were not friendly to the government. +Governor Bernard, who had no doubt studied the affairs in Massachusetts, +considered Colonel Otis to be wholly unsuited to the position of a Chief +Justice, and determined not to appoint him. Thomas Hutchinson, the +Lieutenant-Governor, an able and intelligent man, was appointed to the +important office of Chief Justice. Governor Bernard had at once realized +Hutchinson's qualities and said many years later, when they were both +living in England, that he had never repented appointing Hutchinson +Chief Justice.[157] + + [157] Hutchinson's Diary & Letters. Vol. 1, p. 195. + +Lynde, the senior judge, who did not care particularly to succeed +Sewall, appears to have been satisfied with the appointment of +Hutchinson, also Gridley, the leader of the Bar, and apparently all +possible rivals, save Colonel Otis. Hutchinson discharged the duties of +his new office in the most satisfactory manner. He proved himself to be +efficient, and always kind, as evinced by his special attention to the +claims of the helpless. + +At this time, there were mutterings of a possible storm, and at this +critical moment, in October of 1760, George II died. Just previous to +his death Mr. Pitt, Secretary of State, sent a dispatch to the Governor +touching on the trade of England and her American colonies. The +organized system of smuggling that existed in the Colonies caused the +Custom House officers to apply for the "writs of assistance," that were +frequently employed in England. + +So far the Governor's course had been hampered only by factious +opposition from the chief offenders, but this opposition assumed +formidable dimensions when the question of "writs of assistance" was +brought forward. The rights of the Custom House officers to demand such +help was tried before the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. "The verdict +was in their favor, but public opinion was strongly excited, and James +Otis, the lawyer who opposed the Custom House officers, gained great +popularity."[158] Notwithstanding Otis' eloquence, the case as already +said was decided against his clients on the point of law. Governor +Bernard was only performing his duty when he was active in promoting +seizures for illicit trade. + + [158] Doyle's History of America, Ch. XVIII. + +In speaking of his early life in Boston, Julia Bernard, Governor +Bernard's youngest daughter, mentions their home in Boston as "the +Government House." She says that they employed both black and white +servants, and speaks of the formalities that existed while the family +lived there. "In Boston, none of the family, grown up brothers excepted, +ever walked out in the town. We had a large garden, but it seemed rather +a confinement." She also speaks of her father's home at Jamaica Pond. +"This residence we usually moved to in May I think, and here we enjoyed +ourselves extremely. We ran pretty much at liberty; there was no form or +ceremony. My father was always on the wing on account of his situation. +He had his own carriage and servants, my mother hers; there was a town +coach, and a whiskey for the young men to drive about. I was used from a +child to ride on horseback, and from childhood none of us had any fear +of anything." Speaking of these days she says, they "all seemed great, +enlightened, and enjoyable." + +In describing her parents Julia Bernard says: "My father, though not +tall, had something dignified and distinguished in his appearance and +manner; he dressed superbly on all public occasions. My mother was tall, +and a very fine woman. Her dresses were ornamented with gold and silver, +ermine, and fine American sable." + +The Province House was visited about the middle of the nineteenth +century by Nathaniel Hawthorne, who has written interesting but +melancholy pages on the subject.[159] + + [159] For description of House, see "The Bernards of Abington and Nether + Winchendon," by Mr. N. Higgins, Vol. I. p. 285. + +The Province or Government House occupied by Sir Francis Bernard was +situated nearly opposite the head of Milk street. It was purchased by +the Colonial Legislature in 1716, of the widow of Peter Sargent, who +built it. It was a magnificent building, no pains had been spared to +make it not only elegant, but also spacious and convenient. It stood +back some distance in its ample lot, and had the most pleasant and +agreeable surroundings of any mansion in town. It was of brick, three +stories in height, with a high roof and lofty cupola. The house was +approached over a stone pavement and a high flight of massive stone +steps, and through a magnificent doorway. Two stately oaks of very large +size, reared their verdant tops on either side of the gate separating +the grounds from the highway, and cast a grateful shade over the +approach, through the beautiful grass lawn in front of the mansion. + +After the evacuation of Boston the Province House and all other +Government property was confiscated and became the property of the +State. In 1811 the State gave the property to the Massachusetts General +Hospital who leased it for ninety-nine years. Stores were erected in +front of it. In 1864 it was destroyed by fire and only the walls are all +that remain of the Old Province House. The engraving shown here was made +from a sketch of it taken a short time before it was leased and altered. +The Royal Arms, and the Indian vane are on exhibition in the Old State +House. + +Sir Francis Bernard's country mansion was situated on the southwest side +of Jamaica Pond, fronting on Pond street, now a part of the Boston Park +system. This was and still is a most lovely spot. The mansion house was +surrounded with an estate of sixty acres. Here, but for the gathering +clouds which darkened the political horizon, the remaining years of this +scholarly and able representative of the government might have been +passed in the enjoyment of all that seemed the most enjoyable in life--a +delightful home, set in a lovely landscape, and the esteem and regard of +the people he had governed. His extensive and beautiful grounds were +filled with choice fruit trees, plants and shrubs including one hundred +orange and lemon trees besides fig, cork, cinnamon and other rare +exotics. + +[Illustration: OLD PROVINCE HOUSE.] + +After Bernard went to England, it was occupied by the second Sir William +Pepperell, until he too was driven out by the disunionists. Then came +the siege and the occupation of loyalist dwellings by the +revolutionists, this being the quarters of Col. Miller of Rhode Island, +in the summer of 1775. Afterwards it was used as a hospital for the camp +at Roxbury. The soldiers who died were buried on elevated ground some +distance back from the buildings. The governor's hot house was taken by +Major Crane and converted into a magazine for the artillery. Confiscated +by the State in 1779, it was bought by Martin Brimmer, a Boston +merchant, who died here in 1804. Capt. John Prince purchased it in 1806, +in 1809 took down the old house, a part of which had stood one hundred +and forty-one years, and no doubt many a bumper of good wine had been +drunk to the health of the seven sovereigns of Great Britain, who had +reigned during that period. + +Captain Prince made a road through the property from Pond to Perkins +street, now known as Prince street; the whole estate was divided up into +good sized building lots, on which many elegant residences have since +been erected. In front of one of them are some fine large English elms +probably planted by Gov. Bernard. One of them measures twenty-five feet +in circumference.[160] + + [160] The Town of Roxbury. Francis S. Drake. + +Governor Bernard soon after his arrival in Massachusetts became much +interested in Harvard College, and his interests extended far beyond the +formalities required of him in his official capacity. "Having regard to +the Governor's delight in Latin verse, it is not surprising that he +should have endeavored to refine and soften the somewhat rugged type of +student which Harvard then produced." He suggested that the college +should follow the custom established in the English universities, of +writing poetical tributes in commemoration of public events. Thirty-one +poems were written. Of these nine were by the Governor himself in Greek +and Latin, and the others owed their existence to the stimulus of prizes +offered by him. It was a difficult undertaking for him to start this +custom. A recent writer (Mr. Goddard) styles this volume, indeed, "the +most ambitious typographical and literary work attempted on the +continent previous to the Revolution, etc." + +Governor Bernard's interest and exertion for the development of the +material resources of his province should have won him lasting +gratitude. He encouraged with all his power the manufacture of potash, +the cultivation of hemp and flax on waste lands, and the carriage of +lumber to British markets. + +The Province prospered under Bernard during these years preceding the +Stamp Act, and peace came through his ability and guidance. Mr. +Hutchinson writes: "If at the expiration of that term he had quitted the +government, he would have been spoken of as one of the best of the New +England Governors." His son Thomas, also remarked upon his popularity +during these five out of the nine years he presided as Governor of +Massachusetts. The House of Representatives, conscious that Mr. Bernard +had expended a considerable sum of his own money in improving the +castle, and for other public benefits, passed a resolution that the +island of Mount Desert, lying on the northeastward of Penobscot Bay, be +granted to him and his heirs and assigns. The Council at once concurred +in the grant. The confirmation of the Assembly's grant of Mount Desert +was contained in a letter from the English Lords of Trade, dated May 21, +1763. + +In July, 1763 [writes Thomas Bernard], orders were transmitted to the +American Governors for carrying into strict execution the laws of trade, +at the same time notifying the new authority which had been delegated to +commanders of the King's ships stationed in America, to seize all +vessels concerned in any prohibited commerce. These were followed by +further orders for improvement of the revenue, and for suppression of +all clandestine and illicit trade with foreign nations; with directions +for the Governors to transmit such information as they had to +communicate on the subject.[161] + + [161] Life of Sir Francis Bernard. + +Governor Bernard was compelled in the discharge of his official +functions to enforce these commands, but he lost no time in +remonstrating. His letter to the Earl of Egremont, Secretary of State, +contains a plea for the indulgence granted, or tacitly allowed up to +that time, with regard to wine and fruit, especially lemons, which he +considered necessary to health in the climate of Massachusetts. This +letter was followed by another addressed to the Lords Commissioners for +Trade and Plantations, in which he entreats that the duties imposed by +the Molasses Act may at least be reduced in the interest of England as +well as of America, since it had been, and would be evaded, and its end +to a large extent defeated. He continues: "this Act has been a perpetual +stumbling block to the Custom House officers, and it will be most +agreeable to them to have it in any way removed."[162] + + [162] "The Bernards of Abington and Nether Winchendon," by Mr. Napier + Higgins. + +It was not until Bernard left America that the colonists knew of his +protest to the government. A large number evidently were satisfied at +his good will and perhaps suspected that he interceded in their favour, +so their regard for him survived the trial of the new orders from +England. + +In the midst of this agitation, the smallpox broke out in the capital, +and the Governor was compelled to move the General Assembly to +Cambridge. Here in January, 1764, another misfortune occurred. Harvard +Hall was burned to a heap of ruins, the only one of the ancient +buildings which still remained. Of five thousand volumes, only a hundred +were saved, and of John Harvard's books, but a single one. + +The Governor at once appealed to the Assembly and obtained a vote for +reconstruction. He set the example of contributing towards a new library +by the gift of some of his own books; he also drew the architectural +design for the new building and superintended its execution. +Subscriptions were made both in England and America for the erection of +the new hall. + +In June 1763, a confederation of several Indian tribes had suddenly and +unexpectedly swept over the whole western frontier of Pennsylvania and +Virginia, had murdered almost all the English settlers, and through +unusual skill captured every British fort between the Ohio and Lake +Erie, and had closely blockaded Fort Detroit and Pittsburg. After +desperate fighting, the troops under Amherst succeeded in repelling the +invaders and secured the three great fortresses of Niagara, Detroit and +Pittsburg. The severe fighting appears to have been done by the English +troops. Massachusetts seemed to be fatigued from the late war and could +give no help when aid was asked. Connecticut finally sent 250 men. Peace +was signed in September, 1764, the war having lasted fourteen months, +months of extreme horror. The credit of the war belonged to the English +soldiers, another great service rendered to the colonies by England. + +England felt that the colonies should help share the great expense of +the late wars. George Grenville as First Lord of the Treasury, and +Chancellor of the Exchequer, signalized his period of administration by +the Stamp Act. On the 10th of March the House of Commons on the motion +of the Minister, passed a variety of resolutions respecting certain +duties on foreign goods imported into the British colonies of America. + +Grenville remarked in his honest way to the colonial agents in London, +"I am not, however, set upon this tax. If the Americans dislike it, and +prefer any other method, I shall be content. Write therefore, to your +several colonies, and if they choose any other mode, I shall be +satisfied, provided the money be but raised."[163] + + [163] Samuel Adams (Hosmer) Ch. VI. + +The British Government gave the colonies a year to deliberate, and the +House of Representatives trusted Governor Bernard to plead for the +colonists. When the members met again on January 10, 1765, the Governor +honestly stated how much he had done. On January 14 began in the British +Parliament the vehement and eloquent debates, ending in a majority of +both Houses declaring in favour of the Stamp Act. The Ministry seems to +have paid no attention to Governor Bernard's suggestion. His "Principles +of Law and Polity" were ignored and also the Petition of the Assembly. +On March 22, 1765, the Stamp Act received the Royal Assent, and England +and her colonies were divided. + +When the Colonists learned that the hated act had been passed, they +became defiant. Riots soon took place in Boston, and Secretary Oliver, +who was appointed by the British government as Stamp Distributor, was +hung in effigy. This was during the summer of 1765 when the first cargo +of stamps was daily expected. Then came the attack upon Mr. Oliver's +house, and the complete destruction of Mr. Hutchinson's home.[164] + + [164] For further information concerning the Stamp Act, see pp. 40, 41, + 42. + +During the warm months the Governor and his family were in the habit of +residing at the castle. They were there when the stamps were expected +and during the riotous times in Boston. The night that Hutchinson's home +was destroyed seems to have made a deep impression on Julia Bernard, +then in her sixth year. She afterwards wrote: + +"While the family was resident at Castle William, my father came one +night in his barge from Boston and brought Lieutenant-Governor +Hutchinson, his sister, and two daughters, whom he had thus rescued from +the fury of the mob. They had forced the house; the family fled for +their lives; my father's barge was in waiting for him and he took them +under his protection. The house was stripped of everything, and pulled +down that night. They had nothing but what they had on. I can remember +my mother getting them out clothes, and ordering beds to be prepared. +Terror and distress sat upon their countenances." + +Governor Bernard assured the people he had their interest at heart, but +his road was a difficult one, and he was greatly worried over the +performance of his duty. Because he represented the government, he was +abused and insulted, and finally felt that he had no real authority, but +was totally in the hands of the people. His son quotes his father's +words: "Although I have never received any orders concerning the Stamp +Act until this day, nor even a copy of the Act, I have thought it my +duty to do all I could to get it carried into execution. And I must say +in so doing I have exerted all possible spirit and perseverance.... I +have made great sacrifices to his Majesty's service upon this occasion. +My administration, which before was easy, respectable, and popular, is +rendered troublesome, difficult, and dangerous, and yet there is no +pretext to charge me with any other offence than endeavoring to carry +the Stamp Act into execution; but that is here an high crime never to be +forgiven." The struggle was carried on without intermission, but towards +the end of April, Boston was delighted by the news of the repeal of the +Stamp Act. "Letters published in England," writes Hutchinson, "Allowed +that Governor Bernard's letters to the Ministry, and the petition from +the Council and House in 1764, which had been drawn by the +Lieutenant-Governor, forwarded the repeal. But they had no merit with +the prevailing party, because they solicited the repeal as a matter of +favour, and not as a claim of right." + +Great rejoicings now took place in the city and for a while Governor +Bernard's life became a little easier. + +In August 1768, the King offered the Governor a Baronet's title, which +he accepted. Rule and order was vanishing in Massachusetts. On September +28, 1768, two regiments from Halifax with artillery, arrived off Boston, +and the vessels which brought them, cast anchor in Nantasket Roads, a +few miles below Castle William. The troops were landed on Saturday, +October 1, and on Saturday, October 15, General Gage arrived with his +officers to look after the quartering of the troops himself, a difficult +problem to solve in this divided community. Thus was the Governor +placed, trying to fulfil his duty to England, and yet always with the +best interest of the people at heart. Commodore Hood wrote to Mr. +Stephens, Secretary to the Admiralty on November 25, 1768, stating that +"The General [Gage] and Governor Bernard have been lately burnt in +effigy, in a most public manner." + +All through the next winter a fierce controversy raged in the newspapers +regarding England and her colonies. Samuel Adams was the most prolific +and forcible writer, and his contributions went also to newspapers at a +distance. In the spring of this year the Governor became "Sir Francis +Bernard of Nettleham, in the county of Lincoln, Baronet." The patent +bears the date April 5, 1769. The King had ordered the expense of the +patent to be paid out of his privy purse, and this according to the +Governor's son, was a compliment seldom offered. + +The grant of the baronetcy was accompanied by an order summoning Sir +Francis Bernard to proceed to England and there report on the state of +his province. Ere long the Governor and the whole body of loyalists were +struck with consternation by the intelligence that General Gage had +ordered the removal of the troops from Boston. They considered this +extremely dangerous. + +On the 4th of January, 1770, a town meeting was held by which every one +was declared an enemy who had in any way assisted in obtaining or +retaining troops. Sir Francis Bernard was making preparations for his +departure, and this of course, was intended as a parting shot. He +yielded to the advice of friends to attend the Harvard Commencement as +usual and Mr. Hutchinson says that, "When he had gone through it without +any insult worth notice from the rude people, who always raise more or +less tumult on that day, he thanked his friends for their advice." It is +satisfactory to think that his last public appearance in Massachusetts +was at Harvard, the institution he had always felt such a deep interest +in. + +A few days before the Governor departed, he received a circular from the +Earl of Hillsborough announcing the intended repeal of the duties on +glass, paper and paint, and one of his last acts of administration +consisted in making this intention known, and the assurance of the good +will of the British Government for the American colonies. Governor +Bernard then bequeathed the administration to Lieutenant-Governor +Hutchinson and made his last farewells. + +"He embarked on board the Rippon, a man-of-war ordered from Virginia to +convey him, and sailed for England. Instead of the marks of respect +commonly shown, in a greater or less degree, to governors upon their +leaving the province, there were many marks of public joy in the town of +Boston. The bells were rung, guns were fired from Mr. Hancock's wharf, +Liberty Tree was covered with flags, and in the evening a great bonfire +was made upon Fort Hill."[165] The Governor sailed on August 1, 1769, a +sad ending to nine years of laborious and anxious administration. +Perhaps there were some staunch friends with him to the last in whose +sympathy he found consolation for sights and sounds which must have +jarred upon his feelings, and were of set purpose arranged to aggravate +his sorrow in parting, for an indefinite time, from his nearest and +dearest. Hosmer, the biographer and eulogist of Samuel Adams, speaks of +Francis Bernard as "an honourable and well-meaning man, and by no means +wanting in ability." + + [165] Hutchinson Hist. Mass., Vol. III., p. 253. + +Thomas Bernard, who accompanied his father, states that he was +graciously received in England and by George III. A petition arrived +from the colonies asking for a new governor, it concludes: + +"Wherefore we most humbly entreat your Majesty that his Excellency Sir +Francis Bernard, Baronet, may be forever removed from the government of +this province, and that your Majesty would be graciously pleased to +place one in his stead worthy to serve the greatest and best Monarch on +earth." + +The Governor's resignation soon followed. His life was filled with much +anxiety for the financial welfare of his family as during his eleven +years of residence in America, his private fortune had not been +increased. He received a pension, but many troubles arose which greatly +taxed his physical and mental strength. Mrs. Bernard and the remaining +members of her family, moved from their country home at Jamaica Pond, +which was afterwards occupied by Sir William Pepperell, to a new +residence called the Cherry House, which the Governor caused to be built +on a lot of land containing about 30 acres on the "Road leading to +Castle William" at Dorchester Neck, now South Boston. The Governor +probably selected this location on which to build his house on account +of its nearness to Castle Island, to which he and his family could take +refuge in case of mob violence.[166] John Bernard's name continued for +some time to head the list of proscribed traders and his position, +entailing loss, insult, and even danger, must have been a constant +source of apprehension to his relatives. After learning that her husband +had definitely resigned, Lady Bernard prepared to join him in England. +Many of their household possessions were sold at the Province house on +September 11. Just before the vessel sailed, young Francis Bernard died +November 20, 1770, at the age of twenty-seven, and is probably buried +beside his brother Shute in the burial ground of the King's Chapel at +Boston. Mrs. Bernard was accompanied by four of her children, Amelia, +William, Scrope and Julia. + + [166] One lot of 261/2 acres was purchased of John Baker et al. in + 1762. Lib. 98, Fol. 113. Another lot adjoining same, of 3 acres of James + Baker in 1764. Lib. 102, Fol. 39. During a raid made by the "Ministerial + Troops" from the Castle on Feb. 13th, 1776, nearly all the houses on the + Neck were burnt; among them was "An House and Stable and Barn belonging + to Francis Bernard burnt; valued at L100.00," also damage done "by our + Soldiers," L40.00. (See New Eng. Gen. Reg. Jan. 1897.) This tract of + land extended from Fourth street (Way leading to Castle William) to + Dorchester Bay, M street running through the center of it. The writer's + father in 1858 purchased a portion of this land, and it was here he + spent his boyhood days. After the war another house was erected on the + site of the one burnt; its location was on Fourth street between M and N + streets. The writer remembers that a boyhood companion that lived there + picked up in the garden an English guinea. + +Sir Francis took a house in the vicinity of Hampstead and for a while +the family was united, the children from America joining those in +England. The two youngest had never seen their eldest sisters, Jane and +Frances, who had remained in the mother country. A short time later, Sir +Francis suffered from a paralytic stroke and his recovery was partial +and imperfect. Realizing this, he applied for leave to resign his +appointment to Ireland, having been appointed to the Irish Board of +Commissioners. This was granted him in 1774, and his former pension +restored to him. The vigor of his mental faculties is evinced by the +fact that on July 2, 1772, he went to Oxford and received the degree of +D. C. L. and from Christ Church the honour of having his picture by +Copley among other illustrious students in the Hall of that society. + +After a stay at Nether Winchendon, the family removed to the Prebendal +House at Aylesbury, and now for a short period enjoyed comparative +peace. The colonies were in open revolt. Soon after Governor +Hutchinson's arrival in England, he resumed his habits of friendly +intercourse with Sir Francis Bernard and his family. Thomas Bernard +studied for the Bar, and William and Scrope were sent to Harrow. Jane, +the eldest daughter, married Charles White, a barrister, in 1774. Fanny, +the third daughter, became greatly attached to her newly found sister +Julia, and proved herself very capable with her pen. Scrope later +entered Christ Church at Oxford and William embarked for Canada. John +left England for America probably in 1775. William, who was a Lieutenant +in the army, was drowned before reaching Canada. He was on board a +provision ship bound for Quebec which took fire, and he, with some +others, took to a boat which overset and they all were drowned. This +cast a gloom over the family, from which the father and mother never +fully recovered. + +A London visit of Sir Francis and Lady Bernard in March, 1777, is +mentioned by Governor Hutchinson. + +"8th.--Sir Francis and Lady came to town last evening, and dined with us +to-day, with Paxton, Dr. Caner, Chandler, and Boucher." + +Later came Lady Bernard's death and Hutchinson in his "Dairy," 1778, +says: + +"2nd.--Lady Bernard died last week, the 20th. [May], at Aylesbury. +Paxton was there on a visit. She had been in poor health several months, +but took an airing the day before the night in which she died, or rather +towards morning." + +This remarkable woman was married to Sir Francis Bernard thirty-seven +years and had shared every vicissitude of his career. She had felt the +cares of his agitated public life in America and had seen him gradually +broken down by much trouble, not the least of which was the final blow +received in England at the hands of supposed friends. + +Thomas, who was now eight and twenty, relieved his father from business +cares, and became a worthy head to the family. News reached England of +the act of banishment. John Bernard had reached America before the +Declaration of Independence and lived in a remote part of Maine, but his +name does not appear among the proscribed. News of the Confiscation Act +did not reach Sir Francis before his death, and Thomas says that his +last days were free from anxiety on that ground. He died believing in +the honesty of America. + +The engagement of Julia Bernard about this time to the Rev. Joseph +Smith, brought a gleam of happiness into the family. + +On June 21, Hutchinson writes: + +"A gentleman, who knew me and asked how I had been since he last saw me, +informed me Saturday morning, as I was taking my morning walk, that he +went to Aylesbury a day or two before, and that Sir Francis Bernard died +Wednesday night, the 16, [1779], which has since been confirmed." + +He suffered from several complaints, and an epileptic fit more violent +than any he had had before, hastened the end. He died surrounded by his +children, within a month of completing his sixty-seventh year, and was +buried by the side of Lady Bernard in a vault under Aylesbury church. +Sir Francis Bernard's memory was held in high honor by his children, and +by none more tenderly than Thomas, his father's companion and confidant. +After his father's death, Thomas wrote: + +"May his children contemplate with pleasure and confidence, the talents +and probity of their father, and, soothed with the memory of his +virtues, forget the return which those virtues have received! And may +they, by retracing the events of his life, strengthen and fortify their +minds, that if ever they should be called to such a trial as he +underwent, they may imitate him in the conscientious and honourable +discharge of their duty, and in integrity of life."[167] + + [167] Life of Sir Francis Bernard, by One of his Sons. + +SIR JOHN BERNARD, on the death of his father, succeeded to the Baronetcy +in 1779. When, in 1769, Sir Francis was recalled from the government, he +possessed a large landed estate in Maine of which the large island of +Mount Desert, which was given him by the Colony, and afterwards +confirmed by the Crown, was a part. He also owned Moose Island, now +Eastport, and some territory on the mainland. John, at the time of his +departure, had an agency for the sale and settlement of these and other +lands, and until the war commenced, was in comfortable circumstances. In +order to hold his property and prevent its confiscation, he remained in +the country, and therefore it could not be claimed that he was an +absentee, or a refugee, and as he did not take any part in the +controversy, it could not be claimed that he was an enemy to the new +government. His place of residence during the war appears to have been +at Bath, Machias, and at Pleasant Point, a few miles from Eastport. An +unbroken wilderness was around him. The only inhabitants at the head of +the tidewater of the St. Croix were a few hunters and Indians. He lived +in a small hut built by himself, with no companions but a dog. +Robbinston and Perry were uninhabited, Eastport contained but a single +family, yet at the spot now occupied by the remnant of the Passamaquoddy +Indians, he attempted to make a farm. He had been bred in ease and +refinement, had hardly done a day's laborious work in his life, yet he +believed he could earn a competence by labor. He told those who saw him +that "other young men went into the woods, and made themselves farms, +and got a good living, and he saw no reason why he could not." But he +cut down a few trees, became discouraged, and after the confiscation of +the property of Sir Francis in 1778, he was in abject poverty, and the +misfortune of himself and family seemed to have unsettled his mind. +After the peace, he lived at Pleasant Point, and occasionally went to +Boston. His abject condition in mind and estate rendered him an object +of deep commiseration, and his conduct during hostilities having +entitled him to consideration, the Legislature of Massachusetts restored +to him one half of his father's estate, which included one half of the +island of Mount Desert, and an estate in Boston consisting of wharves, +land, and flats, which he sold for L600 to Wm. Allen. Of his subsequent +history while he continued in the United States, but little is known. +Later in life he held offices under the British Crown at Barbadoes and +St. Vincent. He died in the West Indies in 1809 in his sixty-fifth year, +without issue, and was succeeded by his brother Thomas. + +SIR THOMAS BERNARD, the third surviving son of Sir Francis, succeeded +his brother John to the Baronetcy. He took his degree from Harvard +College in 1767. After he took up his residence in England, much of his +time was devoted to institutions of benevolence in London, and he wrote +several essays with a design to mitigate the sorrows, and improve the +condition of the humbler classes of English society. The University of +Edinburgh conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws. He married a +lady of fortune who died in 1813 while preparing to go to church. + +Sir Thomas' account of his father's life makes him stand out perhaps the +most prominent of Sir Francis' children. His death occurred in England +in 1818. The Baronetcy of Sir Francis Bernard now stands in the name of +Morland. + +The following is a list of Sir Francis Bernard's confiscated property in +Suffolk County situated in what is now South Boston, and Jamaica Plain, +together with the name of the purchasers. He had also much property in +Maine, including one half of Mount Desert island, that was confiscated. + + + CONFISCATED PROPERTY OF SIR FRANCIS BERNARD SITUATED IN SUFFOLK COUNTY. + + To Martin Brimmer, Aug. 18, 1779; Lib. 130 fol. 178; Farm, 50 A., + mansion house and barn in Roxbury, highway to Benj. Child S.E.; + Jamaica Pond N.E.; Joseph Winchester N.W.;, Samuel Griffin and + school lands S.W.; the hill N.; Samuel Griffin W.; S W; W. and + S.W.--Wood lot in Roxbury, 12 A. 3 qr. 36 r., Sharp and Williams S; + land of heirs of William Douglas deceased W.; land of heirs of + Edward Bromfield deceased N. land of heirs of Elizabeth Brewer + deceased E.----Wood lot in Roxbury, 2A. 1 qr 17 r, highway W.: + Capt. Baker S.; John Harris E.; Mr. Walter N.----Salt marsh in + Roxbury, 3 A. 1 qr., John Williams S., creek N.W.; Robert Pierpoint + N; creek to Dorchester E. + + To William Allen, Jan. 2, 1781; Lib. 132 fol. 76; Land in + Dorchester, 25 A. 3 r., road to Point of Dorchester Neck N.; land + of town of Dorchester and Richard Withington deceased E; said + Withington, James Baker, Samuel Blake deceased and James Blake S.; + Jonathan [Clap] W.----Salt marsh in Dorchester. 2 A. 3 qr., Sir + Francis Bernard N.; salt marsh of Richard Withington deceased E.; + James Blake W; the sea S. + + + + + SIR WILLIAM PEPPERELL. + + BARONET OF KITTERY, MAINE. + + +William Pepperell was a native of Tavistock near Plymouth in Devon, who +at the age of twenty-two, about the year 1676, emigrated to the Isle of +Shoals, and became a fisherman. He acquired property and removed to +Kittery on the mainland, where he died in 1734, leaving an only son of +his own name, who continued the business of fishing, amassed great +wealth, and arrived at great honors. It is interesting and instructive +to trace the rising steps of the Pepperell family, from a destitute +young fisherman to the princely affluence and exalted station, civil, +political, and military, to which his son arrived. It throws light upon +the early history of the infant colonies, the character of the early +settlers, the nature of their occupations, their commerce, the +condition, and relative importance of places of trade, and the influence +of the times, and events, in forming the character and shaping the +fortunes of the illustrious subject of this memoir. The name once so +celebrated, has in America long since become extinct, and but for its +record in the page of history, would ere this have passed into oblivion. +To account for this curious fact, it will be necessary to give a more +extended notice of the history of the family than would otherwise seem +necessary. + +While a fisherman at the Isle of Shoals, Pepperell had frequent occasion +to sail to Kittery Point for the purpose of traffic, and for the +purchase and repair of boats. A shipwright there named John Bray +welcomed him to his home, and supplied his wants. He had a daughter +Margery, who had arrived at the age of seventeen when she first saw Mr. +Pepperell, who was smitten with her youthful charms. At the time of this +marriage Mr. Pepperell removed from the Shoals to Kittery Point, where +Mr. Bray gave him the site of the present Pepperell mansion. The south +part of this structure was built by him and the north part by his son +Sir William, who was born here in 1696, and here dwelt the two families +till the decease of the father in 1734, which left the son's family sole +occupants till 1759. The home has since been curtailed in its dimensions +by the removal of ten feet from each end of the building. It was during +this period of little more than half a century that the largest fortune, +then known in New England, was gradually accumulated. The principal +business of the Pepperells was done in the fisheries. They sometimes had +more than one hundred small vessels at a time on the Grand Banks. +Ship-building was also a very extensive branch of industry on the +Pascataqua, and its tributary streams. The Pepperells built many vessels +and sent them to the West India islands, laden with lumber, fish, oil, +and live stock, to exchange for cargoes of rum, sugar, and molasses, for +home consumption; others to European markets to exchange for dry goods, +wine, and salt, and to sell both vessel and cargo. To the Southern +colonies fish was sent in exchange for corn, tobacco, and naval stores. +Mills were erected by them on the small rivers, and lumber and +ship-timber, were floated down to Kittery Point, and Newcastle, to be +shipped to European and American ports. + +Sir William was his only son. About 1727 he was elected a member of the +Council of Massachusetts, and held a seat in that body by annual +election for thirty-two years, until his death. He was also selected to +command a regiment of militia, and being fond of society, rich, and +prosperous, was highly popular, and possessed much influence. With a +vigorous frame, firm mind, and great coolness, when in danger, he was +well fitted for his residence in a country exposed to ferocious enemies. + +The Treaty of Utrecht which secured Nova Scotia to the British Crown, +gave France undisputed right to Cape Breton. Here they built the city of +Louisburg at enormous cost, and protected it with fortresses of great +strength. The walls of the defences were formed with bricks brought from +France, and they mounted two hundred and six pieces of cannon. The city +had nunneries, and Palaces, gardens, and squares, and places of +amusement, and was designed to become a great capital, and to perpetuate +French dominion, and the Catholic faith in America. Twenty-five years of +time and six million dollars in money were spent in building, arming, +and adorning this city, "The Dunkirk of the New World." That such a plan +existed, at so early a period of our history, is a marvel, and the +lovers of the wonderful may read the works of Parkman which contain +accounts of its rise, and ruin, and be satisfied that "truth is +sometimes stranger than fiction." + +The possession of this stronghold by the French was a source of +continual annoyance to the New England fishermen, and at last became +intolerable. Situated as it was directly off the fishing grounds, it +meant destruction to the fishing interest every time there was a war +with France. At last its capture was seriously conceived and undertaken. +Governor Shirley, in 1744, listening to the propositions made to him on +the subject, submitted them to the Legislature of Massachusetts, and +that body in secret session, the first ever held in America, authorized +a force to be raised, equipped, and sent against it, and the command was +conferred upon Colonel William Pepperell. His troops consisted of a +motley assemblage of fishermen, and farmers, sawyers, and loggers, many +of whom were taken from his own vessels, mills, and forests. Before such +men, and others hardly better skilled in war, in the year 1745, +Louisburg fell. The achievement is the most memorable in the Colonial +annals. For this great service Colonel Pepperell was created a Baronet +in 1746. After the fall of Louisburg, he went to England and was +presented at Court. In 1759 he was appointed Lieutenant-General. He died +the same year at his seat at Kittery, aged sixty-three years, and was +buried in the large and beautiful tomb erected in 1734 which was placed +near the mansion home. His children were two, Andrew, a son who +graduated at Harvard University in 1743, and died March 1, 1751, aged +twenty-five, and a daughter, Elizabeth, who married Colonel Nathaniel +Sparhawk. Lady Pepperell, who was Mary Hirst, daughter of Grove Hirst of +Boston, and granddaughter of Judge Sewall of Massachusetts, survived +until 1789. Mrs. Sparhawk bore her husband five children, namely +Nathaniel, William Pepperell, Samuel Hirst, Andrew Pepperell, and Mary +Pepperell. Sir William, her father, soon after the decease of her +brother, executed a will, by which after providing for Lady Pepperell, +he bequeathed the bulk of his remaining property to herself, and her +children. Her second son was made the residuary legatee, and inherited a +large estate. By the terms of his grandfather's will he was required to +procure an Act of the Legislature to drop the name of Sparhawk, and +assume that of Pepperell. This he did on coming of age, and was allowed +by a subsequent Act, to take the title of Sir William Pepperell, +Baronet. He received the honors of Harvard University in 1766, +subsequently he visited England, and became a member of the Council of +Massachusetts. In 1774 when that body was recognized under the Act of +Parliament, he was continued, under the mandamus of the King, and +thereby incurred the wrath of the disunionists, who at a county +congress, held at Wells, York County, Maine, on the 16th of Nov. 1774, +declared a boycott against him, and denounced him in the following +manner: "The said William Pepperell, Esq., hath, with purpose to carry +into force, Acts of the British Parliament, made with apparent design to +enslave the free and loyal people of this country, accepted, and now +holds, a seat in the pretended Board of Councillors in this Province, as +well as in direct repeal of the charter thereof, as against the solemn +compact of kings, and the inherent right of the people. It is therefore +Resolved, that said William Pepperell, Esq. hath thereby justly +forfeited the confidence, and friendship of all true friends to American +liberty, and with other pretended councillors, now holding their seats +in like manner, ought to be detested by all good men, and it is hereby +recommended to the good people of this country, that as soon as the +present leases made to any of them by said Pepperell, are expired, they +immediately withdraw all connection, commerce, and dealings, from him, +and they take no further lease, or conveyance of his, farms, mills, or +appurtenances thereunto belonging (where the said Pepperell is the sole +receiver and appropriator of the rents and profits), until he shall +resign his seat, pretendedly occupied by mandamus. And if any persons +shall remain, or become his tenants, after the expiration of their +present leases, we recommend to the good people of this country, not +only to withdraw all connections, and commercial intercourse with them, +but to treat them in the manner provided by the third resolve of this +Congress." + +The Baronet not long after this denouncement retired to Boston. His +winter residence was on Summer street, near Trinity church, and his +country residence was an estate on the southerly side of Jamaica Pond +containing sixty acres, which he leased from Sir Francis Bernard. In +1775 he arrived in England under circumstances of deep affliction. Lady +Pepperell, who was Elizabeth, daughter of Hon. Isaac Royall, of Medford, +having died on the passage. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished, and +the year following was included in the Conspiracy Act. In May, 1779, the +Committee on confiscated estates offered for sale "his large and elegant +house, gardens, and other accommodations, &c., pleasantly situated on +Summer street, Boston, a little below Trinity church." His vast domain +in Maine, the largest owned by any individual in New England, though +entailed upon his heirs, was confiscated. This estate extended from +Kittery to Saco, with a coast line of upwards of thirty miles, and +extending back many miles into the interior, and, for the purposes of +farming and lumbering, was of great value, and the water power and mill +privileges, rendered it even at the time of the sequestration, a +princely fortune. His possessions were large in Scarboro, Elliot, +Berwick, Newington, Portsmouth, Hampton and Hubbardston. In Saco alone +he owned 5,500 acres, including the site of that populous town and its +factories. A large portion of this property was purchased by Thomas +Cutts who had served as a clerk in Sir William's counting room. He was +active during the revolution, was a noted merchant, president of a bank, +colonel of a regiment, senator in the Massachusetts Legislature, and one +of the founders of the Massachusetts General Hospital. He died in 1821. + +All of Sir William's brothers were loyalists and were forced to leave +the country, and their vast domains passed into other hands. A life +interest or dower right in the Saco lands was enjoyed by Lady Mary +Pepperell, the widow of the first Sir William and her daughter, Mrs. +Sparhawk, which was devised to them by the Baronet's will. In exchange +for the right thus arising, the State afterwards assigned two-ninths in +absolute property to Lady Pepperell and her daughter, by a deed executed +in 1788. This small portion of this great estate was saved through these +ladies residing in the country during the war, the "sons of despotism" +could hardly tar and feather two defenceless women, or drive them forth +as they did their sons and brothers, and make absentees or refugees of +them. + +Thus the princely fortune of Pepperell, that required a century to +construct, from the foundation laid by John Bray the shipwright to the +massive structure raised by the fisherman William Pepperell and +completed by his son Sir William, fastened and secured though it was, by +every instrument that his own skill and the best legal counsel could +devise to give stability and perpetuity, was in a brief hour overthrown, +and demolished by the confiscation act of 1778. So complete was the +wreck that two of his daughter's grandsons, were saved from the +almshouse by the bounty of some persons on whom they had no claim for +favor. + +Never before in the history of this country has there been a more +conspicuous fall of a family from a high estate. There has always been a +doubt as to the legality of the Confiscation Act, as far as the +remainder or reversionary interest, of the first Sir William was +concerned, since it is apparently clear that the life-interest of the +second Sir William could only be, or by the statute actually was, +diverted and passed to the State.[168] + + [168] This question was decided in the case of Roger Morris of New York + who married Mary, daughter of Frederick Phillips, who it is said had + previously refused George Washington, the estate which belongs in right + to his wife was confiscated, and that the whole interest should pass + under the Act Mrs. Morris was included in the attainder. Humanity is + shocked that a woman was attainted of treason, for no crime but that of + clinging to the fortunes of the husband whom she had vowed on the altar + never to desert. However, in the year 1809, their son, Captain Henry + Gage Morris of the Royal Navy, in behalf of himself and his two sisters, + sold their reversionary interest to John Jacob Astor of New York for the + sum of L20,000 sterling. In 1828 Mr. Astor made a compromise with the + State of New York by which he received for the rights thus purchased by + him, the large sum of five hundred thousand dollars, having obtained a + judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States affirming the + validity and perfectibility of his title. + +After the death of the first Sir William, his widow, Lady Pepperell, +caused a neat house to be erected near that of her daughter, and the +village church which still remain. Here she died in 1789 after being a +widow thirty years. + +This house came into the possession of Captain Joseph Cutts. He was a +large ship owner and a successful merchant. Ruined by Mr. Jefferson's +embargo, and the war of 1812, he lost his reason, and his two sons also +went insane. One fell by his own hand in Lady Pepperell's bedchamber, +the other was so violent at times that it was necessary to chain him. +Under these misfortunes the daughter Sally's reason gave way. The town +allowed a small sum for the board of her father, and her brother. Her +home even was sold to satisfy a Government claim for duties owed by her +father. It would seem that the doom of the Pepperells was transmitted to +all who should inhabit this house. Surely a blight seemed to have fallen +upon it which consumed the lives and fortunes of a family until its evil +destiny was fully accomplished. + +The old mansion built by the first Colonel Pepperell, and enlarged by +his son, is plain in its architecture, and contained a great many rooms +before it was curtailed ten feet from each end. It was well adapted to +the extensive domains and hospitalities of its former owners. The lawn +in front extends to the sea, and the restless waves over which Sir +William successively sought fortune and fame, still glitter in the +sunbeams, and dash around the disconsolate abode. The fires of +hospitality are extinguished. It is now occupied by the families of poor +fishermen who do not like to be troubled with visitors or strangers. The +hall is spacious and well finished; the ceiling is ornamented, and the +richly carved bannisters bear traces of former elegance. The large hall +was formerly lined with some fifty portraits of the Pepperell and +Sparhawk families and of the companions in arms of Sir William, such as +Admiral Sir Peter Warren Commodore Spry and others. We have now no +sympathy with the joyous acclamations once bestowed on these successful +victors returning from the field of glory to be crowned with laurels. +The American people feel no desire to perpetuate the fame of their +achievements, although characterized at the time by patriotism as pure, +and disinterested as any exhibited since this government was formed. +Patriotism in those days implied loyalty and fidelity to the king of +England, but how changed the meaning of that word in New England after +the Declaration of Independence? Words and deeds before deemed +patriotic, were now traitorous, and so deeply was the idea of their +moral turpitude impressed on the public mind, as to have tainted popular +opinion concerning the heroic deeds of our ancestors performed in the +king's service, in the French wars, but criticism of this is apt to +produce what Coleridge declared the cold waters of reason thrown on the +burning embers of democracy inevitably produced--namely a hiss. The +Revolution absorbed and neutralized all the heroic fame of the +illustrious men that preceded it. The extinction of their fame was not +more remarkable than the wreck of their fortunes. The Penns, Fairfaxes, +Johnsons, Phillips, Robinsons and Pepperells were stripped of their +immense possession, by confiscation, who up to that time had been but +little less than hereditary noblemen and viceroys of boundless domains. + +[Illustration: THE PEPPERELL MANSION.] + +During the Revolution the Baronet was treated with great respect and +deference by his fellow exiles in England. His home in London was open +for their reception, and in most cases in which the Loyalists from New +England united in representations to the ministry or to the throne, he +was their chairman or deputed organ of communication. He was allowed +L500 sterling per annum by the British Government, and this stipend, +with the wreck of his fortune, consisting of personal effects, rendered +his situation comfortable, and enabled him to relieve the distress of +the less fortunate. And it is to be recorded in respect for his memory, +that his pecuniary benefactions were not confined to his countrymen who +were in banishment, for their loyalty, but were extended to his +countrymen who were disloyal, who languished in England in captivity +sharing with them the pension which he received from the government, +after their government had despoiled him of all his great possessions. +It is to be remembered, too, that his private life was irreproachable, +and that he was among the founders of the British and Foreign Bible +Society. + +In 1779 the Loyalists then in London formed an Association, and Sir +William was appointed President. The first meeting was held at Spring +Garden Coffee House, May 29th, 1779, and the next at the Crown and +Anchor, in the Strand on the 26th. About ninety persons met at this +place composed of Loyalists from each Colony. A Committee appointed at +this meeting, on July 6th, reported an Address to the King. In this +document it is said, that, "notwithstanding your Majesty's arms have not +been attended with all the effect which those exertions promised, and +from which occasion has been taken to raise an indiscriminate charge of +disaffection in the Colonists, we beg leave, some of us from our own +knowledge, and others from the best information, to assure your Majesty +that the greater number of your subjects in the Confederated Colonies, +notwithstanding every art to seduce, every device to intimidate, and a +variety of oppressions to compel them to abjure their sovereign, +entertain the firmest attachment and allegiance to your Majesty's sacred +person and government. In support of those truths, we need not appeal to +the evidence of our own sufferings; it is notorious that we have +sacrificed all which the most loyal subjects could forego, or the +happiest could possess. But, with confidence, we appeal to the struggles +made against the usurpations of Congress, by Counter Resolves in very +large districts of country, and to the many unsuccessful attempts by +bodies of the loyal in arms, which have subjected them to all the rigors +of inflamed resentment; we appeal to the sufferings of multitudes, who +for their loyalty have been subjected to insults, fines, and +imprisonments, patiently enduring all in the expectation of that period +which shall restore to them the blessings of your Majesty's Government; +we appeal to the thousands now serving in your Majesty's armies, and in +private ships-of-war, the former exceeding in number the troops enlisted +to oppose them; finally, we make a melancholy appeal to the many +families who have been banished from their once peaceful habitations; to +the public forfeiture of a long list of estates; and to the numerous +executions of our fellow-citizens, who have sealed their loyalty with +their blood. If any Colony or District, when covered or possessed by +your Majesty's troops had been called upon to take arms, and had +refused; or, if any attempts had been made to form the Loyalist militia, +or otherwise, and it had been declined, we should not on this occasion +have presumed thus to address your Majesty; but if, on the contrary, no +general measure to the above effect was attempted, if petitions from +bodies of your Majesty's subjects, who wished to rise in aid of +Government, have been neglected, and the representations of the most +respectable Loyalists disregarded, we assure ourselves that the equity +and wisdom of your Majesty's mind will not admit of any impressions +injurious to the honor and loyalty of your faithful subjects in those +Colonies." + +Sir William Pepperell, Messrs. Fitch, Leonard, Rome, Stevens, Patterson, +Galloway, Lloyd, Dulaney, Chalmers, Randolph, Macknight, Ingram, and +Doctor Chandler, composing a committee of thirteen, were appointed to +present this Address. At the same meeting it was resolved, "That it be +recommended to the General Meeting to appoint a Committee, with +directions to manage all such public matters as shall appear for the +honor and interest of the Loyal in the Colonies, or who have taken +refuge from America in this country, with power to call General +Meetings, to whom they shall from time to time report." Of this +Committee, Sir Egerton Leigh, of South Carolina, was Chairman. This body +was soon organized. On the 26th of July, Mr. Galloway, of Pennsylvania, +who was a member of it, reported rules for its government, which, after +being read and debated, were adopted. The proceedings of this Committee +do not appear to have been very important; indeed, to meet and +sympathize with one another, was probably their chief employment. On the +2d of August, it was, however, "Resolved, That each member of the +Committee be desired to prepare a brief account of such documents, +facts, and informations, as he hath in his power, or can obtain, +relating to the rise, progress, and present state of the rebellion in +America, and the causes which have prevented its being suppressed, with +short narratives of their own, stating their facts, with their remarks +thereon, or such observations as may occur to them; each gentleman +attending more particularly to the Colony to which he belongs, and +referring to his document for the support of each fact." This resolution +was followed by another, having for its design to unite with them the +Loyalists who remained in America, in these terms: "Resolved, That +circular letters be transmitted from the Committee to the principal +gentleman from the different Colonies at New York, informing them of the +proceedings of the General Meeting, the appointment and purposes of this +Standing Committee, and requesting their co-operation and +correspondence." + +August 11, 1779, at a meeting of the Committee, report was made that +General Robertson had been "so obliging as to undertake the trouble of +communicating to our brethren in New York our wishes to have an +institution established there on similar principles to our own, for the +purpose of corresponding with us on matters relative to the public +interests of British America." Whereupon it was resolved, that, in place +of the circular letter resolved upon on the 2d, "a letter to General +Robertson, explanatory of our designs and wishes, and entreating his +good offices to the furtherance of an establishment of a Committee at +New York, be drawn up and transmitted." At the same meeting, (August +11th,) Sir William Pepperell stated that Lord George Germain had been +apprised of the proceedings of the "Loyalists for considering of +American affairs in so far as their interests were concerned, and that +his Lordship had been pleased to declare his entire approbation of their +institution." + +The framing of the letter to General Robertson, above mentioned, seems +to have been, now, the only affair of moment, which, by the record, +occupied the attention of the Association. It may be remarked, however, +that agreeably to the recommendation above stated, a Board of Loyalists +was organized at New York, composed of delegates from each Colony. +Another body, of which the Baronet was President, was the Board of +Agents constituted after the peace, to prosecute the claims of Loyalists +to compensation for their losses by the war, and under the Confiscation +Acts of the several States. Sir James Wright, of Georgia, was first +elected, but at his decease, Sir William was selected as his successor, +and continued in office until the Commissioners made their final report, +and the commission was dissolved. Sir William's own claim was of +difficult adjustment, and occupied the attention of the Commissioners +several day. In 1788, and after Mr. Pitt's plan had received the +sanction of Parliament, the Board of Agents presented an Address of +thanks to the King for the liberal provision made for themselves and the +persons whom they represented, which was presented to his Majesty by the +Baronet. On this occasion, he and the other Agents were admitted to the +presence, and "all had the honor to kiss his Majesty's hand." As this +Address contains no matter of historical interest, it is not here +inserted. But some mention may be made of West's picture, the "Reception +of the American Loyalists by Great Britain in 1783," of which an +engraving is here shown. The Baronet is the prominent personage +represented, and appears in a voluminous wig, a flowing gown, in advance +of the other figures, with one hand extended and nearly touching the +crown, which lies on a velvet cushion on a table, and holding in the +other hand, at his side, a scroll or manuscript half unrolled. + +The full description of this picture is as follows: "Religion and +Justice are represented extending the mantle of Britannia, whilst she +herself is holding out her arm and shield to receive the Loyalists. +Under the shield is the Crown of Great Britain, surrounded by Loyalists. +This group of figures consists of various characters, representing the +Law, the Church, and the Government, with other inhabitants of North +America; and as a marked characteristic of that quarter of the globe, an +Indian Chief extending one hand to Britannia, and pointing the other to +a Widow and Orphans, rendered so by the civil war; also, a Negro and +Children looking up to Britannia in grateful remembrance of their +emancipation from Slavery. In a Cloud, on which Religion and Justice +rest, are seen in an opening glory the Genii of Great Britain and of +America, binding up the broken fasces of the two countries, as +emblematical of the treaty of peace and friendship between them. At the +head of the group of Loyalists are likenesses of Sir William Pepperell, +Baronet, one of the Chairmen of their Agents to the Crown and Parliament +of Great Britain; and William Franklin, Esq., son of Dr. Benjamin +Franklin, who, having his Majesty's commission of Governor of New +Jersey, preserved his fidelity and loyalty to his Sovereign from the +commencement to the conclusion of the contest, notwithstanding powerful +incitements to the contrary. He was arrested by order of Congress and +confined for two years, when he was finally exchanged. The two figures +on the right hand are the painter, Mr. West, the President of the Royal +Academy, and his lady, both natives of Pennsylvania." + +[Illustration: RECEPTION OF THE AMERICAN LOYALISTS IN ENGLAND.] + +Sir William continued in England during the remainder of his life. He +died in Portman Square, London, in December, 1816, aged seventy. +William, his only son, deceased in 1809. The baronetcy was inherited by +no other member of the family, and became extinct. His daughters were +Elizabeth, who married the Rev. Henry Hutton, of London; Mary, the +wife of Sir William Congreve; and Harriet, the wife of Sir Charles +Thomas Palmer, Baronet. + +[Illustration: ARREST OF WILLIAM FRANKLIN BY ORDER OF CONGRESS. + +THE LAST ROYAL GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY, SON OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN] + +NATHANIEL SPARHAWK, brother of the second Sir William Pepperell, was +born August, 1744. Graduated at Harvard University in 1765. He was an +Addresser to Gov. Gage and went to England where he remained till 1809, +when he returned, and died in Kittery, 1814. His two sons never married, +and were by the kindness of their neighbors saved from the almshouse, on +account of their noble ancestor, being great grandsons of the elder Sir +William Pepperell. + +SAMUEL HIRST SPARHAWK, also brother to Sir William Pepperell, graduated +at Harvard University in 1771, an Addresser to both Hutchinson and Gage. +Subsequently he went to England with his family of four persons. He died +at Kittery, August 29, 1789, aged thirty-eight. He left an only +daughter, Miss Harriet Hirst Sparhawk, who at his request was adopted by +his sister in Boston, wife of Dr. Jarvis, with whom she lived till the +death of that lady in 1815. She afterwards lived at Portsmouth, and +expended one hundred dollars in repairing the old Pepperell tomb. She +was the last Sparhawk living of Pepperell blood, in America. + +ANDREW SPARHAWK, the fourth son of Colonel Sparhawk, married a Miss +Turner. Was a Loyalist and went to England with his brothers, where his +wife died soon after their arrival, and he died there in 1783, leaving +no children. + +MARY PEPPERELL SPARHAWK, married Dr. Charles Jarvis of Boston, and after +his death, she passed the remainder of her days at Kittery Point near +the village church, and nearly opposite the residence of her +grandmother, Lady Pepperell's dwelling, built after the Baronet's death. +She died in 1815. + + +LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO SIR WILLIAM PEPPERELL IN + SUFFOLK COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Thomas Russell, Jan. 2., 1783; Lib. 136, fol. 203; Land and + dwelling-house in Boston, Summer St. S.; Benjamin Goldthwait E.; + heirs of Benjamin Cunningham deceased N.; Samuel Whitwell + W.----Land and Buildings, Summer St. N.; widow Jones W. and N.; + Joseph Balch W.: John Rowe and Thomas Thompson S.; said Thompson + W.; John Rowe S.; Zachariah Brigdon E. + + + + + JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY + + AND HIS SON + + LORD LYNDHURST, LORD CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND. + + +John Singleton Copley of Boston was the son of Richard Copley of County +Limerick, who married Mary Singleton, of Deer Park, County Clare. Her +father was of a Lancashire house of that name which had settled in +Ireland in 1661. + +Richard and Mary came to Boston in 1736, and their son John was born +July 3rd, 1737. The father went to the West Indies and died there about +the time of the birth of his son. + +The widow of Richard Copley married Peter Pelham, an engraver and +artist, by whom she had one son, Henry Pelham, who followed his father's +profession. Peter Pelham died in 1751. John S. Copley became one of the +most famous painters of his time. Without instruction, or master, he +drew and painted, and "saw visions" of beautiful forms and faces which +he transferred to canvass. His pictures show up the features and the +figures of the aristocracy of Boston, of a time when there were +aristocrats here, so that it has been frequently said that one of these +ancestral portraits is a Bostonian's best title of nobility. + +Major George Washington visited Boston in 1755 and sat to young Copley +for a miniature. In 1766 Copley sent, without name or address, an +exquisite portrait of his half brother, Henry Pelham, known as the "Boy +and the Flying Squirrel," to Benjamin West, a fellow countryman then +settled in London with a request to have it placed in the Exhibition +Rooms of the Society of British Artists. The attention and admiration +excited by this wonderful painting were such that the friends of the +artist wrote most warmly to persuade him to go to England for the +pursuit of his vocation, and West extended to him a pressing invitation +to his own home. In 1769 he married Susannah Farnum, daughter of Richard +Clarke, a wealthy merchant of Boston, and agent of the East India +Company for their trade in that town. The tie between the artist and his +wife was peculiarly close. We constantly meet her familiar lineaments +through the whole course of Copley's works. Now Mary by the manger, with +the Divine Infant at her breast, in "The Nativity," again in "The Family +Picture" and in the fabled scene of Venus and Cupid, or in the female +group in "The Death of Major Pierson," dissolved in an agony of grief, +and fear, as they escape from the scene of violence and death. + +The locality associated with his married life in Boston was a solitary +house on Beacon Hill, chosen with his keen perception of picturesque +beauty. His prophecy has been fully verified that the time would come +when that situation would become the favorite site for the homes of the +wealthy. Singular as it may appear the site selected by Copley was the +same as that selected by William Blackstone, the first settler of +Boston. In after years Copley's thoughts fondly reverted to his early +home--his farm, he called it--which contained 11 acres on the southwest +side of Beacon Hill, now bounded by Charles, Beacon, Walnut, and Mt. +Vernon streets, Louisburg Square and Pinckney street. + +In 1771 Copley wrote that he was earning a comfortable income. At this +time, he moved in the best society, where his courtly manners and genial +disposition made him a general favorite. He was now approaching the +crucial period of his life. He saw the approaching storm that was soon +to break and deluge his country in blood. He was peculiarly situated, +and in a trying position. It is said that his sympathies were at first +with the revolutionists, and he acted as an intermediary between them +and his father-in-law, Richard Clarke,[169] to whom the tea was +consigned, but when the infuriated mob destroyed the tea, and attacked +the warehouse, and residence of Mr. Clarke, forcing him to flee for his +life, Copley could no longer tolerate mob rule. His case was like that +of many others of whom it is said "persecution made half of the king's +friends." These outrages occurred in December 1773. Less than two years +afterwards he wrote to his wife, from Italy, July 1775: "You know years +ago I was right in my opinion that this would be the result of the +attempt to tax the colony; it is now my settled conviction that all the +power of Great Britain will not reduce them to obedience. Unhappy and +miserable people, once the happiest, now the most wretched. How warmly I +expostulated with some of the violent 'Sons of Liberty' against their +proceedings, they must remember; and with how little judgment, in their +opinion, did I then seem to speak! But all this is past; the day of +tribulation is come, and years of sorrow will not dry the orphan's +tears, nor stop the widow's lamentations, the ground will be deluged in +the blood of its inhabitants before peace will again assume its dominion +in that country."[170] Copley embarked for England, June 1774, six +months after his father-in-law was driven out of Boston by the mob, and +one year before the conflict with the mother country commenced. Leaving +his aged mother, his favorite brother, his wife and children behind him, +he went to prepare a place of refuge for them from the impending storm. +Probably the desire to visit Europe and behold the work of the great +masters of the art he loved so well had something to do with leaving his +native land, to which he was never to return. After travelling and +studying two years on the Continent, he went back to London, and was +soon joined by his family. Then began a career of uninterrupted success. +He became the fashion, and many of the nobility sat to him as did also +three of the princesses, daughters of George III. Following the fashion +of the day he took up historical painting, which included the death of +Major Pierson and the death of Chatham (both now in the English National +Gallery): The siege of Gibraltar, now in the Guild Hall of London, and +Charles I demanding in the House of Commons, the surrender of the five +impeached members, which now hangs in the Boston Public Library. "The +death of Major Pierson" in repelling the attack of the French at St. +Helier's, Jersey, on the 6th of January 1781, was painted in 1783 for +Alderman Boydell, for his gallery. When this was dispersed it was bought +back by Copley, and remained in the house in George Street till Lord +Lyndhurst's death, when it was purchased for the National Gallery for +1500 guineas. The woman flying from the crowd in terror, with the child +in her arms, was painted from the nurse of Mr. Copley's family; the +figure between her and the wall, with the upraised arm, is Mrs. Copley; +the boy running by the nurse's side is young Copley. + + [169] Tea Leaves 322, 323, 327, 329. + + [170] Life of Copley, p 62. + +Copley was an Addresser of Hutchinson in 1774, the year he left Boston, +and in 1776, on his return from Italy to London, he became a member of +the Loyalist club, for weekly conversation and a dinner. He died at his +residence in George Street, London, Sept. 9, 1815, aged seventy-eight +and was buried in the tomb belonging to Governor Hutchinson's family in +the parish church at Croydon, near London. Copley had one son and two +daughters who lived to maturity. + +[Illustration: JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY + +Born in Boston July 3, 1737. Painter to the King. Died in London Sept. +9, 1815.] + +JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY, the younger, was born in Boston May 20, 1772, was +early destined for his father's profession, and, accordingly he attended +the lectures of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Barry, at the Royal Academy. +He, however, had no inclination to follow in his father's footsteps. He +threw off his instructors, impatiently declaring that he would not be +known as the "son of Copley the painter" but it should be "Copley, the +father of the Lord Chancellor." So early did he prognosticate his own +future eminence. He was entered 1790 at Trinity College, Cambridge. In +the mathematical tripos of 1794, was second wrangler, sickness alone +preventing him from obtaining the highest honor of the year. He was also +Smith's Prizeman, won the King William prize, and, the following year, +was appointed a "travelling bachelor" with a grant for three years of a +L100 a year, and, a month later, was elected a fellow of Trinity, +improved the opportunity to visit Boston, the town of his birth, with +the ulterior view of regaining the family estates on Beacon Hill, owned +by his father before leaving Boston, more than twenty years before. For +although Copley was an Absentee, or Refugee, and therefore had laid +himself liable to the confiscation of his property, yet, through his +well known sympathy with the Revolutionists before the commencement of +open war, and through the assistance of some of his friends, his +property, which consisted of the largest landed estate in Boston, had +not been confiscated. There were however several real estate speculators +who had profited largely by purchasing the confiscated estates of the +Loyalists for a mere trifle who determined to possess themselves of +Copley's property. Jonathan Mason, and Harrison Grey Otis, made a +contract with Gardiner Green, who was Copley's agent, to purchase the +same, without adequate authority from the owner. When the deed was sent +to him for execution he refused to sign it. A bill in equity was +bought to enforce the contract of sale. Copley executed a power of +attorney to his son, when he went to Boston, giving him authority to +settle the case. He arrived in Boston Jan. 2nd, 1796, and wrote to his +father: "The business cannot come on till May. If you can make yourself +a subject of the United States you are clear. If otherwise I am not yet +sufficiently informed to say what may be the result, if you are decreed +an alien, but take courage." He wrote again in February 27, 1796, +saying, "I have, my dear sir, concluded my negotiations with Messrs. +Mason, Otis, and others. I have acted for the best. I was very strongly +of the opinion that the event of the contest would be in favor of the +plaintiffs. Your counsel agreed with me in their sentiments upon that +head.[171] A compromise became, therefore, necessary, and for the +consideration of $18,450 a deed of release was given, dated February 22, +1796, recorded in Lib. 182, fol. 184, Suffolk Deeds."[172] + + [171] Life of Copley, p. 141. + + [172] Gleaner Articles, p. 196. + +No deed of any lands in Boston within a century will compare with this +in importance and interest. Taking into consideration the upland, beach, +and flats, this purchase is at a considerably less rate than $1,000 per +acre. That the son acted wisely his letters prove, but the transaction +was one of deepest regret to the whole family, and embittered the +remainder of the artist's life. + +In a letter to his mother from Boston, the young man says: "Shall I +whisper a word in your ear? The better people are all aristocrats. My +father is too rank a Jacobin to live among them. Samuel Adams is +superannuated, unpopular and fast decaying in every respect." Again he +wrote to his mother from Philadelphia: "_I have become a fierce +Aristocrat._ This is the country to cure your Jacobins. Send them over +and they will return quite converted. The opposition here are a set of +villains. Their object is to overset the government, and all good men +are apprehensive lest they should be successful. A great schism seems to +be forming, and they already begin to talk of a separation of the States +north of the Potomac from those on the southern side of the river."[173] +He was a visitor at Mount Vernon and spent a week as a guest of the +first President of the young Republic. + + [173] Life of Copley. p. 140, 145. + +After nearly two years spent in the new United States, John Singleton +Copley, the younger, returned to what had now become the settled home of +the Copley family. He commenced a long course of study and systematic +preparation for a life which was to become of the most distinguished, +among the most famous men of the first half of the 19th century. Called +to the bar in 1804 he, with no other influence than that of his own +commanding talents, soon ranked among the leading men of his profession +and that at a time when an unusually large number of great advocates +were at the English bar. + +But it was not at the bar only, or when on the bench at the head of the +judiciary of England that this son of Boston distinguished himself. In +both houses of Parliament, as Copley or Lyndhurst, he was an +acknowledged leader of men. + +Copley took his seat in the House of Commons as member for Yarmouth in +the Isle of Wight, in March 1818, and until his removal to the House of +Lords, nine years later, sat continuously as a member. Meanwhile +promotion, professionally and politically, was constantly growing. In +1819, he was made a king's sergeant (at large) and chief justice of +Chester. In June of the same year he was appointed Solicitor General +(with knighthood), five years later became Attorney General. In 1826 he +succeeded Lord Gifford as Master of the Rolls, a high judicial office, +which at that time and for many years after did not compel the vacating +of a seat in Parliament. + +The town Council of Bristol unanimously elected him in the same year +Recorder of that city. + +In April 1827 in his 55th year on the retirement of Lord Chancellor +Eldon, the ambition of his life was realized. The great prize of the +legal profession was offered to him by the express desire of the king +and with it of course a peerage, Sir John Singleton Copley became Baron +Lyndhurst of Lyndhurst in the County of Hampshire and, for nearly forty +years thereafter remained to adorn the House of Lords by his high +talents, his noble character, and his fervid eloquence. + +Lyndhurst's first Chancellorship, was not of long duration. From 1830 to +1834 we find him occupying the chiefship of the Court of Exchequer. He a +strong tory, had been honored by a whig ministry, in his appointment to +the office of Lord Chief Baron. This dignified and permanent position he +resigned again to became Chancellor following the passing of the Reform +Bill. As Lord Chancellor once more, and for the third time, from 1841 to +1846 he was a member of the ministry of Sir Robert Peel. The fame of the +great jurist and statesman had become as precious to the citizens of +Breton, as it was to the mother country. Here in Massachusetts he was +born, and from his American parents received the first vivid impression +of childhood. The reminiscences of his youth however, were +always-accompanied by a heartfelt effusion of gratitude that his lot was +cast in England. To London he was especially attached, and used to say +"that every product known to man, every wonder of art, and skill, which +the civilized world produced, could be found there."[174] + + [174] Life of Copley, p. 126. + +He was called the "Nestor of the House of Lords." His speeches were +remarkable for their clearness, vigor, and force, even when he had +reached nearly to his ninetieth year. A portrait of Lord Lyndhurst in +his Chancellor robes is in the portrait gallery of the New York +Historical Society. Lord Lyndhurst died October, 1863, in his 92nd year. +Leaving no male heirs, his title died with him. + +[Illustration: LORD LYNDHURST, LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND. + +Born in Boston May 20, 1772. Son of John Singleton Copley. Died in +London Oct. 12, 1863.] + +He married Sarah Geray, daughter of Charles Brunsden, and widow of +Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas, who fell at Waterloo. He was the father of +Sarah Elizabeth, Susan Penelope, and Sophia Clarence. His second wife, +Georgiana, daughter of Lewis Goldsmith, bore him a single child, +Georgiana Susan. + +His Lordship's eldest sister, Elizabeth Clarke, born in Boston, 1770, +was educated at a boarding school at Clapham, London, and married +Gardiner Greene of Boston, a man of high social standing and business +position, who had come to Boston from Demerara after the Revolution, +where he had accumulated a large fortune. While on a visit to London in +July, 1800, he married Miss Copley. She died at Boston in 1866, aged 95 +years. In her will she left to Harvard College a collection of proof +copies of all of Copley's historical paintings. Her daughter, Martha B. +Greene, born in 1812, married Charles Amory and wrote the Life of John +Singleton Copley, and to this valuable work we are indebted for much of +the information we have given in this biographical notice. She died in +1880 leaving many descendants. + + + + + KING HOOPER OF MARBLEHEAD. + + +Marblehead is a rough peninsular, projecting into the Bay, with craggy +shores, and a narrow harbor a mile and a half in length and a half mile +wide. It is distant about eighteen miles from Boston. + +From its peculiar adaptation to fisheries and commerce, though very +limited in territory, this place was once famous for the hardihood and +daring enterprise of its citizens. It was the principal fishing port in +all the colonies, and now it does not contain one single fisherman that +goes to the "Banks," but it has since become the principal yachting +centre in the United States if not in the world; frequently there will +be seen gathered here more than five hundred yachts of all classes and +descriptions. + +It was naturally a wilderness of rock, with here and there a green +valley or glade just fitted for a little garden, where the mariner +perched his pretty nest, on the adjacent cliff. No herds or flocks +ranged on this barren place. A Marbleheader ploughed only the deep for +his living, his pasture lay afar off on the Banks of Newfoundland, or +the Georges, and his harvest whitened the shores with their wide spread +fish flakes. Even at this day, with its cluster of antique dwellings and +rough trapesian streets, this seaport has an odd look, like some ancient +town in England. But in this secluded spot, where stands the dilapidated +fortresses of Sewall and Lee, several eminent men, merchants, mariners +and lawyers, were born and educated, who became staunch loyalists. They +were sincere in their convictions and had the courage to declare them in +defiance of a rough and turbulent population. They could not view the +revolutionary proceedings of their townsmen without deep concern, and +doing all in their power to dissuade their fellow-citizens from the +course they had taken, they protested that the entire policy of the +colonies was suicidal and that the town had been guilty of treason by +its action. With a sincere belief that these rebellious acts of the +colonists must sooner or later bring disaster and ruin upon the country, +and death and imprisonment to the leaders, they entreated their friends +and neighbors to recede from their position before it was too late, but +in vain. It was voted in town meeting that they "ought not to be +indulged in their wickedness" and that a committee should be chosen to +attend to the conduct of these ministerial tools and Jacobites, that +effectual measures might be taken "either for silencing them or +expelling them from the community". What brought about this action of +the Revolutionists was the address to Governor Hutchinson on his +departure for England signed by thirty-three of the principal citizens +of the town. Among these names there were five of the name of Hooper, +chief of whom was "King Hooper," the principal merchant in the town. He +had a high reputation for honor and integrity in his business dealings +and for his benevolence. + +ROBERT HOOPER, the first to appear in Marblehead, is first mentioned in +Massachusetts records as master of a shallop hired of Mr. Moses +Maverick, a wealthy business man of Marblehead, in 1663. From a +deposition he made in court, he was born about 1606. This would make him +old enough to have been the father of John, Robert and Henry Hooper, the +other very early residents of Marblehead. He died after 1686. + +ROBERT HOOPER, supposed to be the son of the aforesaid, was born as +early as 1655. Married Dec. 4, 1684, Anna, daughter of Peter and Hannah +Greenfield. Hannah was a daughter of John and Ann Devereux. He was an +inn keeper and died about 1689. + +GREENFIELD HOOPER, son of the aforesaid, was born about 1686. He resided +at Marblehead, was a merchant. He also had a "workshop," with loom for +weaving. He married, Jan. 16, 1706, Alice, daughter of Andrew Tucker, +Sr., and received a share of his real estate. He died about October 1, +1747. + +[Illustration: KING HOOPER MANSION, DANVERS. + +At his elegant mansion in Danvers, Robert Hooper entertained General +Gage, who made it his headquarters in 1774.] + +ROBERT HOOPER, known as "King Hooper," was born at Marblehead, June 26, +1709, son of the aforesaid Greenfield Hooper. He was married four times. +Was a merchant who rose from poverty to apparently inexhaustible wealth, +engrossing for years a large part of the foreign fishing business of +Marblehead, which was very extensive about the year 1760. For awhile he +purchased all the fish brought into that port, sent it to Bilboa and +other parts of Spain and received gold and silver in return, with which +he purchased goods in England. He owned lands in Marblehead, Salem, +Danvers, and an extensive tract at Lyndeborough, N. H., and elsewhere. +He had a large and elegant house at Marblehead, and also a mansion at +Danvers, where he did "royal" entertaining, rode in a chariot like a +prince, and was ever after known as "King Hooper." He was one of the +wealthiest and most benevolent men in the colony. He presented +Marblehead with a fire engine in 1751.[175] + + [175] Hooper Genealogy. Curwen's Journal. History of Marblehead. + +At his elegant house in Danvers he entertained General Gage for some +time in 1774, and was an Addresser of Hutchinson the same year. He was +appointed representative to the General Court in 1775, and declined a +seat in the Governor's council in 1759 on account of deafness. He was +one of thirty-six persons appointed as mandamus councillors of the +province in 1774, at the beginning of the agitation that led to the +Revolution, and was one of the twelve that did not accept of the honor, +his deafness previously referred to being probably the reason, for he +was a staunch loyalist. This, together with his age and known +generosity, prevented his being driven forth from the town; it however +did not prevent the loss of his great property, for when he died in 1790 +he was insolvent. In a letter dated Marblehead, March 17, 1790, +addressed to his granddaughter Ruth, the wife of Lewis Deblois, a Boston +loyalist residing at St. John, N. B., he says: "But as you justly +observe we have been and still are 300 miles distance from each other +and my advanced age make it doubtful whether I may ever see you more in +this world, your parting from me was next to burying you, there is +nothing would give more pleasure than to hear of the health and +prosperity of every branch of my family." This truly great and honorable +man died, a little more than a month after writing this letter. He died +May 20, 1790, aged 81 years. + +JOSEPH HOOPER, son of the aforesaid, was born at Marblehead, May 29, +1743, married Oct. 30, 1766, Mary, daughter of Benjamin and Lucy +(Devereux) Harris of Newburyport, Nov. 20, 1746. She died at Newburyport +Oct. 3, 1796. + +He graduated from Harvard College in 1763, was a merchant in his native +town, carrying on a foreign trade. He built the mansion in Marblehead +afterwards occupied by Chief Justice Sewall. He was an Addresser of +Governor Hutchinson in 1774. Being an ardent loyalist he was forced to +leave his home in 1775 and go to England. He became a paper manufacturer +at Bungay, Suffolk, England, where he died in 1812. The Marblehead +Revolutionary committee recorded May 8th, 1781, that "they believed he +had voluntarily gone over to our enemies," that is he was a loyalist, +and proceeded to administer on his affairs. One third share was set off +to his wife June 9, 1783, and the balance confiscated and sold. He had +two sons and two daughters. + +ROBERT HOOPER, son of King Hooper, was born at Marblehead, Feb. 9, 1746, +married May 23, 1769, Anna, daughter of Richard and Jemima Corwell. He +was an Addresser of Governor Hutchinson, but evidently made peace with +the Revolutionists and was allowed to remain. He died about 1781 at +Marblehead. "He had usually traded beyond the sea." + +SWEET HOOPER, son of King Hooper. Married at Boston, Aug. 4, 1779, Mary, +daughter of Hector McNeil. He was an Addresser of Governor Hutchinson, +but was allowed to remain. He was a merchant at Marblehead, died +October, 1781. + +ROBERT HOOPER, 3d. as described in the Addressers to Governor +Hutchinson, was probably a son of Deacon Robert Hooper, cousin to the +aforesaid Hoopers. He was born at Marblehead 1757, and married Sept. 21, +1777, Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Nathaniel Whittaker of Salem. In 1794 +he sold his two-sixths of the mansion house, etc., which had belonged to +his father, the late Deacon Robert Hooper. He removed to Lexington, +Maine, was master of Limerick Academy. He died May 11, 1836. + + + + + WILLIAM BOWES. + + +Nicholas Bowes of Cambridge, Mass., married 26 June, 1684, Sarah +Hubbard, who died 26 Jan. 1686, and for second wife married 6 May, 1690, +Dorcas Champney, and a third wife, Martha Remington, of Cambridge, June +21, 1718. It is claimed that he was descended from Sir Martin Bowes, +Lord Mayor of London. Nicholas Bowes, son of the preceding was born at +Boston, Nov. 2nd, 1706. He graduated at Harvard College as M. A., was +minister at Bedford from 1730 to 1754. He married Lucy Hancock, the aunt +of John Hancock, the Revolutionary Governor of Massachusetts. Their son + +WILLIAM BOWES, was born at Boston, 3 December 1734. He married Ann +Whitney, March 22, 1761, who died Jan. 2, 1762. His second wife was Mary +Stoddard, whom he married Oct. 30, 1769, and who died 9 May, 1774. He +was a merchant and had inherited in 1764 a large property from his +uncle, Thomas Hancock, one of the wealthiest merchants in Boston. He was +an Addresser of Governor Hutchinson in 1774, and of General Gage in +1775. At the evacuation of Boston he went to Halifax with his family of +four persons. In 1788 he was proscribed and banished, and his estates +confiscated. He died near London, April, 1805. His eldest son, + +WILLIAM BOWES, born at Boston, 15 Oct. 1771, lived in England and died +near London 10 June, 1850, aged 79. He married Harriet Troutbeck, +daughter of Rev. John Troutbeck, born at Boston 1 Oct. 1768, and died in +England, 14 January, 1851, aged 82. Their children were Emily Bowes born +1806, Edmund Elford Bowes, born 1808, M. A. Trinity College. Cambridge. +Arthur Bowes, born 1813. All born and living in England in 1856. + +Sarah Bowes, daughter of William Bowes, Sr., was born at Boston, Jan. +31, 1773, and died in England. July 1850, unmarried. + + +LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO WILLIAM BOWES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY + AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Richard Driver. Feb. 16, 1782, Lib. 134, fol. 23; Land in + Boston, Fitch's Alley W.; Margaret Phillips N., Corn Court E. + Andrew Oliver S. + + To Mungo Mackey. June 11, 1783; Lib. 139, fol. 16. One fourth of + land, brick distill house and other buildings in Boston, Cambridge + St. N.; George St E. heirs of John Guttridge deceased S.; Belknap + St. W. + + To Robert Jenkins, Feb. 16, 1784; Lib. 141, fol. 132; Land and + buildings in Boston. Wilson's Lane W.; Dock Square N.; Arnold and + Samuel Wells E. heirs of Charles Hammock deceased S. + + To James Welch. Nov. 6, 1784; Lib. 145, fol. 250; Land in Boston. + Wings Lane N., Nathan Frazier and heirs of Charles Apthorp deceased + E.; said heirs S.; E.; S. and W. + + + + + GENERAL TIMOTHY RUGGLES. + + +THOMAS RUGGLES of Nazing, Essex County, England, was born in Sudbury, +Suffolk County, England, in 1584. He came to Roxbury, Massachusetts, in +1637 and was freeman May 22, 1639. He married in Nazing, England, Mary +Curtis. He died in Roxbury, November 16, 1644, and his wife died in +1674, leaving four children. + +His son Samuel was many years selectman, representative, and captain of +the Roxbury company. His son Samuel succeeded his father in the several +offices named and in company with seven other persons purchased, Dec. +27, 1686, for L20, from John Nagers and Lawrence Nassawano, two noted +Indians, a tract of land containing by estimation 12 miles long north +and south and eight miles wide east and west. This purchase is now known +as the town of Hardwick, Mass. His son, the Rev. Timothy Ruggles, was +born in Roxbury, Massachusetts November 3., 1685, and married Mary +White, the daughter of Benjamin and Susanna White. He graduated from +Harvard College in 1707, and was ordained pastor of the Rochester church +in 1710, which office he held until his death which occurred October 26, +1768. He was a great worker in the community and much beloved. + +GENERAL TIMOTHY RUGGLES, born in Rochester, Mass., October 20, 1711, +eldest son of Rev. Timothy Ruggles, one of the fifth generation of +Ruggles in America, graduated at Harvard College in 1732 and commenced +practicing law in Rochester. He represented his native town in the +provincial assembly at the age of 25, and procured the passing of a bill +still in force prohibiting sheriffs from filing writs. He removed to +Harwich about 1753 on to the lands bought by his grandfather from the +Indians. In 1757 he was appointed judge and in 1762 Chief Justice of the +Court of Common Pleas, which he held till the Revolution. He was also +surveyor-general of the king's forest, an office of profit, attended +with but little labor. Besides professional employment he was engaged in +military and political occupation. + +In 1756 almost immediately before Mr. Ruggles' appointment to the +bench, he accepted a Colonel's Commission in the forces raised by his +native province for service on the frontier of Canada. In the campaign +which followed, he served under the command of Sir William Johnson, and +did good service in the expedition against Crown Point. In September of +the same year he was second in command under that leader at the battle +of Lake George, in which the French under Baron Dieskau, met a signal +defeat, after very severe fighting, in which he distinguished himself +for coolness, courage and ability, and so highly were his services +esteemed on that occasion that he was promoted to the position of General +of Brigade and placed under the command of the Commander-in-Chief. + +In 1758 he commanded the Third Division of the Provisional troops under +Abercrombie, in the unsuccessful attack upon Ticonderoga. He also served +with distinction and courage in the campaign of 1759-1760. In the winter +of 1762 while the belligerent forces on both sides were in winter +quarters, he had the honor to be chosen speaker of the House of +Representatives. On the passing of the Stamp Act in 1765 delegates were +chosen by the legislature of the various colonies, to seek out some +relief from immediate and threatened evils, by a representation of their +grievances to the king and parliament. Gen. Ruggles was chosen as one of +the delegates from Massachusetts. The Stamp Act Congress met at New +York, Oct. 19, 1765, and General Ruggles was elected president of same. +An address to the king was voted and certain resolves framed setting +forth the rights of the colonies, and claiming an entire exemption from +all taxes, excepting those imposed by the local assemblies. Gen. Ruggles +refused his concurrence in the proceedings for which he was censured on +his return by the House of Representatives, and was reprimanded by the +speaker who occupied his place. John Adams, who claimed relationship +with Ruggles before his defection found nothing in his character but +what was noble and grand. "Ruggles' grandeur" he wrote, "consists in the +quickness of his apprehension, steadiness of his attention, the boldness +and strength of his thoughts and his expressions, his strict honor, +conscious superiority, contempt of meanness, etc." He was, he said, a +man of genius and great resolution. At an early period of the Disunion +propaganda. Ruggles, conceiving that the course of the British +Government was neither politic nor just, and believing that the Disunion +leaders honestly intended to bring about a reform, joined hands with +them and as previously stated he was elected President of the Stamp Act +Congress, but on the discovery of the real aim of that body, he refused +to proceed any further on the road to Disunion and left the Congress. +Adams then suddenly discovered, "an inflexible oddity about him, which +has gained him a character for courage and probity, and that at +Congress." "His behavior was very dishonorable" and governed by +"pretended scruples and timidities" and ever since he was "held in utter +contempt and derision by the whole continent." But fifty years later, +when no advantage could be gained by blackening the character of this +brave and honest man, he remembered he was a high-minded man, an +exalted soul acting in scenes he could not comprehend.[176] General +Ruggles was a staunch, independent and fearless supporter of the +government, a son of Massachusetts of which she should be proud. + + [176] Diary and Letters of John Adams. + +An extract from the "History of the County of Annapolis, Nova Scotia," +says, "The conduct of Mr. Ruggles as a military commander has been +highly praised by most competent judges. Few men in the province were +more distinguished and few more severely dealt with in the bitter +controversies preceding the Revolution. His appearance was commanding +and dignified, being much above the common size; his wit was ready and +brilliant; his mind clear, comprehensive and penetrating; his judgment +was profound and his knowledge extensive; his abilities as a public +speaker placed him among the first of the day; and had he embraced the +popular sentiments of the times, there is no doubt he would have ranked +among the leading characters of the Revolution." + +By pen and tongue, in the halls of the Legislature, and on the platform, +he declared against rebellion and bloodshed; General Ruggles was a good +scholar and possessed powers of mind of a very high order. Many +anecdotes continue to be related of him in the town of his nativity, +which show his shrewdness, his sagacity, his military hardihood and +bravery. As a lawyer he was an impressive pleader and in parliamentary +debate able and ingenious. He remained in the army until 1760, the last +three years being Brigadier General under Lord Amherst. + +As the Revolutionary quarrel progressed he became one of the most +violent supporters of the ministry and he and Otis as leaders of the two +opposing parties were in constant collision in the discussion of the +popular branch of government. In 1774 he was named a Mandamus +Councillor, which increased his unpopularity to so great a degree that +his house was attacked by night and his cattle were maimed and poisoned. +General Ruggles tried to form a plan of combining the Loyalists against +the Disunionists after the model of similar associations formed in other +colonies. On December 22, 1774, he sent a communication to the "Printers +of the Boston Newspaper" concerning the forming of an Association "and +if attended to and complied with by the good people of the province +might put it in the power of anyone very easily to distinguish such +loyal subjects to the king and are to assert their rights to freedom, in +all respects consistent with the laws of the land from such rebellious +ones as under the pretence of being friends of liberty, are frequently +committing the most enormous outrages upon the persons and the property +of such of his Majesty's peaceable subjects who for want of knowing whom +to call upon, in these distracted times for assistance, fall into the +hands of bandits, whose cruelties surpass those of savages." + +The "Association" consisted of a preamble and six articles. The +principal were the first and third, which provided "That we will upon +all occasions, with our lives and fortunes, stand by and assist each +other in the defence of life, liberty and property, whenever the same +shall be attacked or endangered by any bodies of men, riotously +assembled upon any pretence, or under any authority not warranted by the +laws of the land." And "That we will not acknowledge or submit to the +pretended authority of any Congress, Committees of Correspondence, or +any other unconstitutional assembly of men, but will at the risk of our +lives if need be, oppose the forcible exercise of all such authority." + +The Association did not succeed, the Loyalists were not inclined to such +organization, nor fitted for secret intrigue without which it could not +have succeeded in combatting the measures of the Disunionists. They were +slow to join, and inefficient in action. No good was accomplished by +this association and the Disunionists proceeded on their way triumphant. + +When the appeal to arms had been finally decided on by the Disunionists, +the popular excitement was at a fearful height, and all those who had +counselled moderation, either in demand or action, were declared to be +enemies to their country and traitors to the cause of liberty, and as +such worthy of death. No man in Massachusetts was regarded as so +inimical to the cause of rebellion as General Ruggles, whose known and +recognized ability, great energy, and unflinching courage made him an +object of fear as well as dislike. + +They denounced him as malignant and openly threatened his life. In +consequence of this violence he was forced, with his family and such of +his neighbors as remained loyal, to seek safety and refuge from his +dwelling house which he had built in Harwich by joining the British +forces in Boston. On the very day of the battle of Lexington, a body of +Loyalists formed in Boston, composed of tradesmen and merchants. They +are spoken of as "the gentlemen volunteers," or Loyal American +Association. They were placed under the command of Brigadier General +Ruggles. During the siege of Boston they were joined by other Loyalist +companies, Loyal Irish Volunteers, Captain James Forrest, Royal +Honorable Americans, Colonel Gorham. After the evacuation of Boston he +was in Long Island for a while and in 1783 he was an exile from his +native province in his old age, but still as vigorous as he was loyal. +His extensive estates in Harwich were confiscated, but were made up to +him subsequently by the crown. He was living at Digby or Annapolis in +the year of 1783, and made an application for a grant of land in that +portion of the province. "In the following year the grant was issued. +The undismayed grantee commenced a labor at the age of more than seventy +years, which few, if any of the young men of to-day would voluntarily +undertake. The work of chopping down the forests and clearing the lands +for crops and of preparation for building went on simultaneously and +rapidly under his direction. + +"Two young men, Stromach and Fales, were employed to work with him for a +limited number of years and receive their pay in land. They did their +work, and he paid them, and their descendants are now the occupiers of +many a fair home in the beautiful township of Wilmot." + +General Ruggles' four daughters were married before the Revolution +broke out and their husbands probably adhered to the Colonial side, for +they never came to Nova Scotia. Three of his sons followed him into +exile and settled in that country, Timothy, John, and Richard. It may +not be without use to remark that for much the greater part of his life, +General Ruggles ate no animal food, and drank no spirituous or fermented +liquors, small beer excepted, and that he enjoyed health to his advanced +age. This remarkable leader of men died in 1795. The "Royal Gazette" in +August, 1795, said of him that "the district of county in which he lived +will long feel the benefits resulting from the liberal exertions he made +to advance the agricultural interests of the Province." It was also said +of General Timothy Ruggles that he was one of the best soldiers in the +colonies. + +He was buried to the eastward of the chancel of the (then new) church, +lately known as the "Pine Grove Church," in Central Wilmot, near the +present village of Middleton,--a church toward the erection of which he +was a considerable contributor. + +Numerous descendants of General Ruggles are to be met with in Nova +Scotia. There is a street and church in Roxbury named after this +illustrious family. + +JOHN RUGGLES, son of General Ruggles of Harwich, Mass., was proscribed +and banished in 1778. He settled in Nova Scotia and died there in 1795. +His widow Hannah, only daughter of Dr. Thomas Sackett of New York, died +at Wilmot, N. S. in 1839, aged 76. His only son, CAPTAIN TIMOTHY AMHERST +RUGGLES of the Nova Scotia Fencibles died at the same place in 1838 at +the age of 56. + +TIMOTHY RUGGLES, another son of the General, was a member of the House +of Assembly of Nova Scotia for many years. He died at N. S. in 1831. +Sarah, his widow, died at that place in 1842, aged 92. + +RICHARD RUGGLES, son of the General, was born at Rochester, Mass., in +1774 and died at Annapolis in 1832. + + + + + THE FANEUIL FAMILY OF BOSTON. + + +The Faneuils were Huguenot refugees from La Rochelle, France. When they +came to America they brought with them considerable wealth in jewels and +money. From their coat of arms we should judge they dated back as far as +the crusades, as the crossed palm branches can have no other meaning. + +There is a paper extant in the French language and written by Benjamin +Faneuil the elder. It is a family record in which he states that in 1699 +he married Ann Bureau; then follows the birth of Peter Faneuil, +afterwards the birth of three daughters. This paper was left by Benjamin +Faneuil the younger, and is now in the possession of his great-grand-son +George A. Bethune, M. D., Boston (1884). They first settled near New +Rochelle, N. Y., and in 1699 Benjamin Faneuil was given the freedom of +the city of New York. In Valentine's "History of New York," P. 219, we +read in a list of the principal merchants of the city the name of +Benjamin Faneuil the third in the list. + +Andrew, the brother of Benjamin settled in Boston and made an immense +fortune as a merchant. His wife was born in Holland and was a very +beautiful woman. + +Andrew Faneuil had no children that lived to maturity. He adopted two +sons of his brother Benjamin of New York--Peter, born in 1701, and +Benjamin the younger, born in 1702. Benjamin Faneuil the younger, +married the daughter of Dr. John Cutler from a noted German family. +Andrew Faneuil was offended about this marriage and left most of his +fortune to his nephew Peter Faneuil. Peter Faneuil died five years after +his uncle and left no will, and his brother Benjamin was declared sole +heir to his fortune. + +Benjamin Faneuil the elder is buried on the north side of Trinity church +in New York City and the gravestone is in good preservation. His brother +Andrew lived in a splendid house at the corner of Somerset and Beacon +Streets, Boston; the house after his death was owned and occupied by +Gardner Greene. From that home in Boston Andrew Faneuil was buried, +having a most imposing funeral. (See Memorial Hist. of Boston). His tomb +is in the graveyard at the south side of the common. + +Benjamin Faneuil the younger, and Mary Cutler, had two sons neither of +whom left descendants, and a daughter. He lived at one time in Boston at +the corner of Washington and Summer Streets, and later in Brighton. He +was stone blind for twenty years and lived to be eighty-four years of +age. He was an admirable character and greatly beloved. His daughter +entertained General Washington at their home during the seige of Boston, +and General Lee was with him. Benjamin Faneuil admired Washington and he +told him so, emphatically, whether a Whig or not. But he also told +General Lee who was an Englishman that he had his "head in the noose" +for he was a very decided old man and had to state his opinions under +any circumstances. + +Peter Faneuil possessed his uncle's estate only about five years but +during that time he lived in sumptuous style at the corner of Somerset +and Beacon Streets in the house that Andrew built. He gave great sums to +charity and Faneuil Hall was but one of his gifts to the city. Every +charity of that day has his name down for a large sum. To Trinity church +he gave a L100 for an organ and a donation to support the families of +the deceased clergy of that church. It became so large that it was +divided between Trinity church and Kings Chapel, and has done much good. +There is a fine portrait of Peter Faneuil still extant; it was given to +the Antiquarian Society of Boston by his niece, Miss Jones, and is a +better picture than the one in Faneuil Hall. + +Peter Faneuil was a careful business man, but was always generous. At +the time of the erection of Faneuil Hall there was no market house then +in the town, and so he erected a building one hundred feet in length by +forty feet in width. Besides the market there were several rooms for +town officers, and a hall which would contain one thousand persons. On +the completion of the building the first public oration held there was a +funeral eulogy delivered in honor of its donor, Peter Faneuil, March 14, +1743 by Master Lovell of the Latin School, and was "Recorded by Order of +Town."[177] The Hall was dedicated to Liberty and Loyalty to the King in +the following words, "May Liberty always spread its Joyful Wings, over +this Place. And may Loyalty to a King under whom we enjoy this Liberty +ever remain our Character." That the building should ever be used by +conspirators against the King, and become synonymous for disloyalty to +the King, was the very last purpose that its founder intended it to be +used for, yet by the strange irony of fate Faneuil Hall became known to +the world as the "Cradle of Liberty" in which the Revolution was rocked. +The town also voted to purchase the "Arms of Peter Faneuil and Fix them +up in Faneuil Hall." Only a few years passed when the very people he had +so benefited by his bounty tore down his "Arms" and portraits, and +showed the most violent marks of disrespect to the memory of him who had +been their best friend, but it was unreasonable violence that moved the +mob who called themselves patriots. Faneuil Hall is a permanent memorial +of the Huguenots of Boston and with the exception of a few crumbling +gravestones it is the only visible monument of their residence here. + + [177] See Boston Town Records 1742 to 1757. pp. 14, 15, 16. Printed by + the City of Boston. + +Peter Faneuil died in 1742 and left his vast fortune to his two nephews, +Peter and Benjamin Faneuil the younger, the latter being an eminent +merchant and was one of the consignees of the tea that was destroyed by +the mob. The following letter sent to him by the "patriots" at that time +undoubtedly expresses the feelings and the sentiment of those who formed +the "Boston Tea Party." The letter he said was found in his entry. + + "Gentlemen, It is currently reported that you are in the extremest + anxiety respecting your standing with the good people of this Town + and Province, as commissioners of the sale of the monopolized and + dutied tea. We do not wonder in the least that your apprehensions + are terrible, when the most enlightened humans and conscientious + community on the earth view you in the light of tigers or mad dogs, + whom the public safety obliges them to destroy. Long have this + people been irreconcilable to the idea of spilling human blood, on + almost any occasion whatever, but they have lately seen a + penitential thief suffer death for pilfering a few pounds, from + scattering individuals you boldly avow a resolution to bear a + principal part in the robbing of every inhabitant of this country, + in the present and future ages of every thing dear and interesting + to them. Are there no laws in the Book of God and nature that + enjoin such miscreants to be cut off from among the people, as + troublers of the whole congregation. Yea, verily, there are laws + and officers to put them into execution, which you can neither + corrupt, intimidate, nor escape, and whose resolution to bring you + to condign punishment you can only avoid by a speedy imitation of + your brethren in Philadelphia. This people are still averse to + precipitate your fate, but in case of much longer delay in + complying with their indispensable demands, you will not fail to + meet the just rewards of your avarice and insolence. Remember, + gentlemen, this is the last warning you are ever to expect from the + insulted, abused and most indignant vindicators of violated liberty + in the Town of Boston. + + Thursday evening 9 o'clock, + Nov. 4. 1773. O. C. Secy, per order. + + To Messrs. the Tea Commissioners, + Directed to B---- F---- Esq."[178] + + [178] Tea Leaves pp. 292-3. + +The Faneuils did not lack patriotism. They counselled prudence until the +country was prepared for action in a constitutional way. They were +entirely opposed to mob violence, and their patriotism took a reasonable +practical form, looking to the best interests of all. Further they had +no angry feelings against the English; they had too recently been +received and protected by them when their own country turned them out. +They always spoke of the English as a great nation. They admired their +liberality as to religious opinions in which France was wanting. + +BENJAMIN FANEUIL the elder previously referred to, the father of Peter +and Benjamin, the younger, and Mary died at Cambridge in 1785 aged 84. + +PETER FANEUIL his son, who shared with his brother the vast fortune left +them by their uncle went to Canada at the outbreak of the Revolution and +then to the West Indies. + +BENJAMIN FANEUIL found that it was necessary for his safety to leave +Boston. He went to Halifax with the fleet when Boston was invaded on +March 17, 1776, he afterwards went to England where he had $300,000 in +English funds, with which he entertained his friends, the less fortunate +refugees. In writing to a friend he said, "When we shall be able to +return to Boston I cannot say, but hope and believe it will not exceed +one year, for sooner or later America will be conquered, that you may +depend on." He, however, was destined never to return but was proscribed +and banished. He resided at Bristol where he died in 1785. His wife Jane +was the daughter of Addington Davenport. The Faneuil name has become +extinct; there are, however, numerous descendants through the female. +Mary Faneuil, daughter of Benjamin Faneuil the elder became the wife of +George Bethune, Oct. 13, 1754, and died in 1797, leaving many +descendants. Mary Ann Faneuil, sister of Peter, who built the hall, +married John Jones, who died at Roxbury in 1767, and whose son Edward +died in Boston in 1835 at the age of 83. She was a loyalist, and resided +for some time in Windsor, Nova Scotia. A letter from her son dated at +Boston, June 23, 1783, advising her if desirous of returning, not to +come directly to Boston, as the law was still in force; but first to +some other State and thence to Boston.[179] + + [179] Dealings with the Dead, p. 510. + + + + + THE COFFIN FAMILY OF BOSTON. + + ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN, SIR THOMAS ASTON COFFIN, ADMIRAL + FROMAN H. COFFIN, GENERAL JOHN COFFIN. + + +The name of Coffin is widely spread over this continent; thousands take +pride in tracing their descent from Tristram Coffin of Alwington, which +extends along the Severn Sea, south of the boundary between Somerset and +Devon, fronting the broad Atlantic. + +The Coffins came over with William the Conqueror and settled there in +1066. It is said that the name Coffin was a corruption or translation of +Colvinus, signifying a basket or chest, and that from the charge of the +King's treasure, such employment, like royalty itself, being hereditary, +the name became attached to the family. In 1085, according to the +"Doomsday Book," Alwington was possessed by David De la Bere, and that +the heiress of that name brought it to the Coffins. On a subject less +grave this might be suspected for a jest but the authority is proof. +Tristram came over to New England in 1642 and settled at Salisbury, and +also at Haverhill and Newbury. He resided at these places for sixteen +years and then went to Nantucket, which at that time was a dependency of +New York. For 80 pounds he and his associates bought of the Indians a +large part of the island. Tristram's third son, James, was Judge of the +Court of Common Pleas and of Probate. James' son, Nathaniel, married the +daughter of William Gayer, and niece of Sir John Gayer. William, the +eldest son of Nathaniel, born 1699, removed to Boston and became +proprietor of the Lunch of Grapes Tavern in 1731. It was situated on +King street at the corner of Mackerel lane, the site now occupied by the +Exchange building, on the corner of State and Kilby streets. It was a +tavern from 1640 to 1760, when the Great Fire swept everything away. + +The Coffins were strong in numbers and near neighbors, along the +principal thoroughfare, now Washington street, dwelt twenty families, +descended from William Coffin, or their near kinfolk, who lived in +constant intercourse. The patriarch, at four score, his vigor hardly +abated, lived on this street near his son's house. His daughter, +Elizabeth, married her cousin, Thomas C. Amory, who had bought the house +opposite her father's, at the corner of Hollis street, built by Governor +Belcher for his own use. He was one of the organizers of Trinity church +in 1734 and was one of the first wardens of same. He lived in honor and +affluence till he died in 1774, just before the war broke out, which +saved him from witnessing the exile and widespread confiscation that +awaited his sons. His children and their children counted about sixty +when he died, but of his descendants bearing the name of Coffin, all +have died out in Massachusetts. He had four sons, all staunch Loyalists, +William, Nathaniel, John and Ebenezer. The daughters, Mrs. De Blois, +Mrs. Amory, and Mrs. Dexter, married into the best families of Boston, +and through love for their husbands took the other side. The sons were +proscribed and banished by an Act of the Massachusetts Legislature. + +WILLIAM COFFIN, JR., the eldest son of William, was born in Boston, +April 11th, 1723. He was an Addresser of General Gage, was proscribed +and banished. He accompanied the Royal Army to Halifax in 1776 on the +evacuation of Boston. + +SIR THOMAS ASTON COFFIN, Baronet, son of William, Jr., was born at +Boston, March 31, 1754. He graduated at Harvard College in 1772. He was +for a long time Secretary to Sir Guy Carleton, by whose side he sat in +the last boat which left Castle Garden on the evacuation of New York, +25th Nov., 1783. When Sir Guy Carleton became Lord Dorchester and +Governor of Quebec, 1784, Coffin accompanied him and by his influence +was appointed in 1804 Secretary and Comptroller of Accounts of Lower +Canada. At another part of his life he was Commissary General in the +British Army. He went to England and died in London in 1810, very +wealthy. He was grandfather to Mrs. Bolton, wife of Col. Bolton, R. A., +who took an active part in the Red River Expedition of 1870. + +WILLIAM COFFIN, the second son of William Coffin, Jr., was born in +Boston, 1758, and died at Kingston, Canada, in 1804. + +EBENEZER COFFIN, the third son of William Coffin, Jr., was born at +Boston, 1763, went to South Carolina where he acquired property as a +merchant and planter and was the father of Thomas Aston Coffin of +Charleston, South Carolina, whose descendants, with an hereditary +instinct, distinguished themselves by their chivalrous devotion to a +failing cause in the late Confederate war. + +NATHANIEL COFFIN, second eldest son of William, was born in Boston in +1725, graduated at Harvard College in 1744, received in 1750 an honorary +degree at Yale. Brought up a merchant, he was early appointed King's +Cashier of the Customs and acquired considerable property. He resided on +the corner of Essex and Rainsford Lane, now Harrison avenue. The tide +washed up to the garden wall. Near by in front, on what is now called +Washington street, was the "Liberty Tree," where Captain Mackintosh and +his "chickens," met to plan outrages upon loyal citizens. + +In August, 1767, a flagstaff was erected which went through and above it +highest branches. A flag hoisted on this was the notice for the +assembling of the "Sons of Liberty" for action. In 1775, his son +Nathaniel, and his friends cut it down, much to the disgust of +Mackintosh who was known as the "First Captain General of Liberty Tree." +On the building occupying its site is a stone bas-relief of the tree +with an inscription on it. Nathaniel Coffin held one of the most +lucrative positions under the crown, his acquaintances and friends were +naturally among the government officials and the better class of the +community. He had much to lose if he severed from his fealty to the +mother country and, banishment and confiscation would be the penalty, if +the disunionists succeeded. + +NATHANIEL COFFIN was the last Receiver General and Cashier of his +Majesty's Customs at the Port of Boston, he was an addressor of +Hutchinson in 1774 and of Gage in 1775. With his family of three persons +he accompanied the Royal Army to Halifax in 1776 and in July of that +year embarked for England in the ship Aston Hall. In May, 1780, while +returning, he died the day before the vessel arrived at New York. His +wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Barnes of Boston. + +NATHANIEL COFFIN, JR., son of the aforesaid, was born in Boston in 1749. +Was an Addresser of Hutchinson in 1774 and a Protester against the +disunionists the same year. He was brought up to the bar, and succeeded +well in his profession. As he took a prominent part on the side of the +Government; and caused the "Liberty Tree" to be cut down, he was obliged +to fly, or he would have been tarred and feathered. He employed a negro +to assist him in cutting it down. A thousand dollars reward was offered +by the Revolutionists for the offender, the darky informed against him, +and he had to leave.[180] He was at New York in 1783, and was one of the +petitioners for lands in Nova Scotia. At a subsequent period he was +appointed Collector of Customs at the island of St. Kitt's and filled +that position for thirty-four years. He died in London in 1831, aged 83. + + [180] "Memoir of General John Coffin." By Captain Henry Coffin. R. N., + 1880, p. 17. + +WILLIAM COFFIN, second son of Nathaniel, the Cashier. An Addresser of +Hutchinson in 1774; went to Halifax in 1776, proscribed and banished, +1778. Assisted his brother in destroying the "Liberty Tree." He had +three sons in the British service. After the peace, he was at St. John, +New Brunswick, a prosperous merchant. + +GENERAL JOHN COFFIN, the third son of Nathaniel, the Cashier, was born +in Boston, 1756, was sent to sea at a very early age, and at the age of +eighteen was in command of a ship. In 1775, while his ship was in +England, she was engaged by the government to take troops to America. He +had on board nearly a whole regiment with General Howe in command of the +troops, who was ordered out to supersede General Gage at Boston. The +vessel arrived at Boston June 15th. Mr. Coffin landed the regiment on +June 17th at Bunker Hill, and the action having already commenced, he +was requested by the Colonel, "to come up and see the fun," the only +weapon at hand being the tiller of his boat; he immediately, to use a +nautical phrase, "unshipped it," and with equal determination, commenced +"laying about" him, and "shipped" the musket, powder and belt of the +first man he knocked down. He bore an active part and distinguished +himself during the rest of the action. In consideration of his gallant +conduct he was presented to General Gage after the battle and made an +ensign on the field, shortly after he was promoted to a lieutenancy, +but still retained the command of his ship. He was promised by General +Howe on his arrival at Boston the command of 400 men, if he would go to +New York and raise them. He accordingly went to New York when Boston was +evacuated March 17, 1776, where he raised among the Loyalists a mounted +rifle corps, called the "Orange Rangers," of which he was made +Commandant, and from which he exchanged into the New York Volunteers in +1778. He took part in the defeat of Washington in the battle of Long +Island in 1777 and went with that corps to Georgia in 1778. Here he +raided a corps of partisan cavalry, composed chiefly of loyal planters. +At the battle of Savannah, at that of Hobkerk's Hill, and the action of +Cross Creek near Charleston, and on various other occasions, his conduct +won the admiration of his superior. + +At the battle of Eutaw Springs which he opened on the part of the King's +troops, his gallantry and good judgment attracted the notice and remark +of General Greene, the Revolutionary leader, one of General Washington's +ablest lieutenants. Major Coffin with 150 infantry and 50 cavalry +averted the advance on Eutaw. Colonel William Washington, a +distinguished partisan leader, with numerous cavalry rashly dashed +forward; he lost most of his officers and many of his men, and his horse +was shot under him, and he would have been slain had not Major Coffin +interposed, who took him prisoner. These two men, who had known each +other well in private life, rode back to camp to share the same meal and +the same tent. + +In the Southern colonies the Revolutionists and Loyalists, waged a war +of extermination, the partisans on both sides, seldom gave quarter or +took prisoners. At the close of the conflict in Virginia Lord Cornwallis +made him a gift of a handsome sword, accompanied by a letter conferring +on him the rank of Major Brevet. Whilst Coffin was attached to +Cornwallis, he was able to be of great service to him, but the bravery, +not to say the extraordinary sagacity mingled with audacity of one man, +could not save the army. Lord Cornwallis' army cooped up in Yorktown by +a superior army of French and Americans, and blockaded by a French +fleet, was in danger of starvation, and Coffin stood almost alone in +successful forays, in which he frequently eluded the whole American and +French army, and returned laden with the fruits of his success. In one +of these raids he accidentally came to the house of a wealthy planter +whose daughter was to be married that day. He quietly surrounded the +house with his troops and knocking at the door, sent in word that he +wished to speak with the proprietor. On presenting himself, the +gentleman was courteously made aware of his condition. He was told not +to make any noise, but to order sufficient turkeys, ham, wine and other +provisions to be put up, to satisfy his men; if this was done no harm +would happen, but on the contrary, if any resistance was attempted, +everything and everybody in the house would be destroyed. Coffin's +character and resolution were well known, so the planter thought it best +to graciously comply with the mandate. A large quantity of provisions +was thus secured. + +Captain Coffin supped with the wedding party, danced with the bride, and +left in safety, taking care that no alarm should be given, and reached +Cornwallis without accident by daylight. + +Even when the enemy held Charleston, during which time he ran very great +risks of being taken prisoner, he went to see Miss Ann Matthews, +daughter of William Matthews, Esq., of St. John's Island, to whom he was +eventually married in 1781. On the occasion of one visit, the house was +searched for him by authority, and the gallant soldier took refuge under +Miss Matthews' ample dress. At that time ladies wore hoops and they must +have been of considerable size, when Major Coffin, who stood six feet +two and was proportionately stout, could successfully conceal himself +under one. At the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, that portion of +his army consisting of native Americans, he failed to obtain special +terms for, in the articles of capitulation. He, however, availed himself +of the conceded privilege of sending an armed ship northerly, without +molestation, to convey away the most obnoxious of them. Major Coffin +determined not to be taken by the Revolutionists who had offered $10,000 +for his head, so he cut his way through the lines, and reached +Charleston, attracted by the charms of Miss Matthews. When Charleston +was evacuated Major Coffin made his way up to New York, crossed the +Hudson, having eluded all attempts at his capture and presented himself +at headquarters, to the great astonishment of his friends in the British +Army. Sir Guy Carleton, Commander-in-chief, appointed him Major of the +King's American Regiment, vacant by the death of Major Grant. + +Previous to the evacuation of New York, and probably in view of it, +Major Coffin and others who were feared and disliked by the victorious +Revolutionists, and were, therefore, thrust out beyond the pale of +redemption, were sent by the British Government, to New Brunswick. At +twenty-seven he laid down his sword and took up his axe, accompanied by +a wife delicately nurtured in a wealthy family and a warm climate, and +four negroes, one woman and three men, all brought from Charleston. They +arrived in October, 1783, when there were but two persons in or near the +harbor of St. John. Mr. Symonds and Mr. White, fur-traders, kindly +supplied the newcomers with provisions, and they immediately commenced +clearing and felling timber. During the first winter they suffered great +hardships, particularly Mrs. Coffin. His first mishap was the loss of +his boots in crossing a swamp, now the market place of the city of St. +John. Having selected some lots of ground fronting the harbor, he +proceeded to explore the interior of the country. An ascent of about +twelve miles up the beautiful St. John, opened out a rich and lovely +landscape-hill and dale, magnificent woods, rivers and lakes, swarming +with game and fish. + +In this fine and fertile locality Major Coffin purchased for a trifle a +tract of land from Colonel Grazier, to whom it had been granted by +Government. Four men were sent up there to build a house, and in the +following May, 1784, he and his wife and four black servants, took +possession of their new residence, and called it Alwington Manor, after +the family estate in Devonshire, which belonged to them in the time of +William the Conqueror. Two of the men, and the woman, proved to be good +and faithful servants, and when the slaves were emancipated, still +remained with the family. + +Settlers soon flocked into the province. Ten years' residence, with +Major Coffin's activity, aided by his willing men, made it a respectable +and desirable settlement. He was made a Magistrate of the county and in +due time a Member of the Provincial Parliament, and of the Legislative +Council, which offices he filled till within a few years of his death. + +In June, 1794, His Royal Highness, the Duke of Kent, the father of Queen +Victoria, who was then Governor of Nova Scotia, stopped at Alwington +Manor. + +Although retired from active employ, he still remained in the service on +half pay, and in 1804 he was advanced to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. +In 1805 he went to England, where he was received with much distinction, +and was presented to the King by the commander-in-chief. + +The war of 1812 aroused all the warlike instincts of the old partisan; +he snuffed the battle afar off, and at once offered to raise a regiment +for home service. He soon had 600 men ready for service, which enabled +the Government to send the 104th regiment to Canada, then hardly pressed +by invasion. At the peace of 1815 he was promoted to the rank of +Major-General, and the regiment disbanded and General Coffin returned to +half pay once more. + +He for many years alternated in his residence between England and New +Brunswick. He was the oldest General in the British Army when he died in +1838, aged 82, at the house of his son, Admiral T. Coffin, in King's +County, New Brunswick. + +Those who knew the General well in his later days, recall with +affectionate recollection the noble presence and generous character of +the chivalrous old soldier, a relic of the days in which giants were in +stature and in heart, true to his king and country, a humble Christian +and an honest and brave man, who united to the heroism of a Paladin the +endurance of the pioneer, and when he could no longer serve his Prince +in the field, served him still better by creating a new realm of +civilization and progress in the heart of primeval forest. His name will +ever be held in honor in New Brunswick. + +[Illustration: ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN. + +Born in Boston, 1759. Died in England, June 23, 1839. From a painting in +possession of the Boston Atheneum.] + +Eight of the children of General and Mrs. Coffin, all natives of New +Brunswick, lived to make their way in the world, thanks to a grateful +government and helpful country. The eldest son, General Guy Carleton +Coffin, died in 1856, a General of the Royal Artillery; John Townsend +Coffin, the second eldest, entered the British Navy as midshipman in +1799 and became admiral in 1841. Under the will of his uncle, Sir Isaac +Coffin, he became the owner of the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. +Lawrence. He died in 1882. Henry Edward Coffin, the third son, became a +lieutenant in the British Navy in 1814 and an Admiral in 1856. He +died in 1881. The eldest daughter, Caroline, married the Hon. Charles +Grant of Canada, afterwards Baron de Longueuil; their son, the present +Baron, married a daughter of Lewis Trapmane of Charleston, S. C. The +second daughter married General Sir Thomas Pearson, K. C. B., an officer +much distinguished in Canada during the war of 1812. + +A third married Colonel Kirkwood of the British Army and went to live in +Bath, England. + +A fourth married John Barnett, Esq., also an officer in the British +Army, who subsequently occupied a high official position in the Island +of Ceylon. + +The fifth, Mary, married Charles R. Ogden, Esq., Attorney-General, Lower +Canada. + +ADMIRAL SIR ISAAC COFFIN was the fourth son of Nathaniel, the Cashier. +He was born in Boston in 1759. At eight years of age he entered the +Boston Latin School. He was a diligent student in a class that embraced +numerous celebrities and when in Parliament he acknowledged himself +indebted to the methods and discipline of the Boston schools for his apt +classical quotations, then a mode much in vogue in that august +assemblage. His constitution was, however, too vigorous, his animal +spirits too buoyant for scholarship alone to mark his schoolboy days. He +led the sports of the playground and was the leader on the 5th of +November, the anniversary of the Gunpowder plot. Boston was a pleasant +place to dwell in, broad stretches of tree or turf, sloping pastures, +and blooming gardens, surrounded the abodes of the wealthy. Tide water +fresh from the ocean, spread nearly around the peninsular. Beyond these +basins, wooded heights of considerable elevation lifted themselves above +boundless tree tops. For fishing, or shooting, rowing, sailing, or +swimming, coasting or skating, Boston with its environs of lake, and +orchard, was then the paradise for boys. It was a capital school for his +play hours, and the old Latin,--the oldest school in the +country,--dating from 1635, for his studies of a graver sort. There +fifteen of his cousins were his school mates, a host of his own +celebrities and four--Scheaffe, Moreland, Mackay, and Ochterlony--who +became baronets, or generals by military service in England, he was well +placed for development nor were his opportunities neglected. At the +commencement of the Revolution Isaac was too young to enter into it, or +to realize what it meant, but long before he entered, at the age of +fourteen, the British navy, he no doubt had formed opinions of his +own.[181] It was doubtless of advantage to him, quickening his faculties +and maturing his character, that such events were transpiring about him +at this plastic period. His sense of justice and right and of what +freedom signified, proved in his subsequent career that these advantages +had not been without effect. + + [181] It is a singular fact that all persons of American birth that were + in the navy remained loyal. Washington came very near entering the navy + as midshipman and going with his brother Lawrence under Admiral Vernon + to the attack on Cartagena. His trunk was packed and he was all ready to + depart when his mother prevailed upon him to remain. Had he gone he + would have remained loyal, or his case would have been the exception. + +At the age of fourteen Isaac entered the Royal navy under the auspices +of Rear Admiral Montague. By him he was confided to the care of +Lieutenant William Hunter, at that time commanding the Brig Gaspee and +who then spoke of his pupil, "Of all the young men I ever had the care +of, none answered my expectations equal to Isaac Coffin. He pleased me +so much that I took all the pains in my power to make him a good seaman, +and I succeeded to the height of my wishes, for never did I know a young +man acquire so much nautical knowledge in so short a time." After +serving on the Gaspee he served as midshipman on the Kingfisher, +Captain, Diligent, Fowey, Le Pincon and the Sybl, frigate. In 1779 +Coffin, now Lieutenant, went to England and joined the Adamant. His next +appointment was to the London of 98 guns, the flagship of Rear Admiral +Graves on the coast of America, from her he removed into the Royal Oak +where he acted as signal lieutenant in the action off Cape Henry, March +16, 1781. By following such traces the naval histories of Great Britain +afford of these several ships, we can reasonably conjecture the part +Coffin took in the Revolutionary War. We learn what duties were +performed by him on each of them, and we have no reason to doubt, from +his rapid promotions, of his efficiency and zeal. We know that his +patron, Admiral Montague, protected the rear of Howe's retreat from +Boston in 1776, that the ships were often engaged with the enemy, and +that they captured several valuable prizes in which action he +participated. The events of the first four years of the war from 1775 to +1779 are sufficiently familiar. D'Estraing's repulse at Savannah and +Prescott's evacuation of Newport in 1779, its reoccupation by Tiernay in +July 1780. The reduction of Charleston, defeat of Gates at Camden. +Capture at sea of Henry Laurens, president of Congress. After the +surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown to the combined French and American +armies and French fleet, De Grasse hastened to the West Indies intending +to join the Spaniards, and capture Jamaica and drive the English out of +the West Indies. After the battle of March 16 at Cape Henry, on the +return to New York, the Royal Oak took several valuable prizes, and then +went to Halifax for repairs. In the middle of June a vessel arrived from +Bristol with the remains of his father, who died the day before. Having +held an important government position, his obsequies in New York on +Broadway showed due regard to his memory. Isaac was placed soon after in +command of Avenger, the advanced post of the British up the North River, +which he held during the autumn till he exchanged with Sir Alexander +Cochrane, for the Pocahontas and joined Admiral Hood at Barbados and +served on his flagship, the Barfleur. Soon after Coffin joined him he +learned that De Grasse was at St. Kitts, after an engagement there in +which the French lost one thousand men, Hood joined Lord Rodney's fleet. + +For two days the hostile fleets manoeuvered in sight of each other near +Dominica. In number the fleets were equal, in size and complement of +crew the French were immensely superior; they had twenty thousand +soldiers on board to be used in the conquest of Jamaica; a defeat at +this time would be England's ruin. The English Admiral was aware that +his country's fate was in his hands. It was one of those supreme moments +which great men dare to use and weak ones tremble at. At seven in the +morning, April 12, 1782, the signal to engage was flying at the masthead +of the Formidable Rodney's flagship. The Admiral lead in person and in +passing through the enemy's line engaged the Glorieux, a 74, at close +range. He shot away her masts and bowsprit and left her a bare hull. All +day long the cannons roared and one by one the French ships struck their +flags or fought till they sank. The carnage on them was terrible, +crowded as they were with troops. Fourteen thousand were reckoned as +killed besides the prisoners. The Barfleur, Hood's flagship, on which +was Coffin engaged the "Ville de Paris," the flagship of the French +Admiral, the pride of France, and the largest ship in the world. After +fighting valiantly all day, after all hope was gone, and a broadside +from the Barfleur had killed sixty men, she surrendered. Her decks above +and below were littered over with mangled limbs and bodies. It was said +when she struck there were but three men on the upper deck unhurt, the +Count was one. The French fleet was totally destroyed, and on that +memorable day Yorktown was avenged, and the British empire was saved. +Peace followed but it was peace with honor. The American Colonies were +lost but England kept her West Indies. The hostile strength of Europe +all combined had failed to wrest Britannia's ocean sceptre from her. She +sat down, maimed and bleeding, but the wreath had not been torn from her +brows. She was and is still the sovereign of the seas. After the battle +Captain Coffin went in his sloop to Jamaica, where through the influence +of Hood, he was appointed by Lord Rodney captain of the Shrewsbury, of +74 guns; he was then only 22 years of age. This indicated the estimate +of both Hood and Rodney of the value of his services in the late famous +battle. Peace soon came, but there was much to discourage him. His +family was broken up. The remains of his father lay in their last +resting place in New York. The Shrewsbury was paid off, and he was put +out of commission. He was his own master with abundance of prize money. +Many of his family and friends from Boston had taken up their abode in +London, and the refugee loyalists formed there a large circle. They all +liked Isaac, a handsome young fellow with pleasant ways, generous and +unpretending and loaded with laurels. He was held in high estimation by +the great naval celebrities and by the public, their attention might +have turned the head of one less sensible. + +Sir Guy Carleton, who had been created Lord Dorchester, could hardly +have saved Canada for the Crown in 1775 without the aid of the Coffins, +was now appointed Governor of Canada. It was probably at his request +that Isaac was appointed to the command of the Thisbe, to take him and +his family and suite to Quebec in 1786. While on his way up the river +to Quebec the Thisbe was becalmed off the Magdalen Islands, and struck +by their appearance, perhaps the more attractive from the autumnal +splendor, Coffin requested, probably not in very serious earnest, that +Lord Dorchester as representative of the Crown, would bestow them on +him. This request seemed reasonable to the governor, and eventually +letters patent were granted to him on the Islands. The records recite +the grant of the islands to him for his zeal and unremitting persevering +efforts in the public service. At Sir Isaac's death he left the island +by will to his nephew, Admiral John T. Coffin, who died in 1882. On his +return to Europe he was employed in many branches of the service. In +1794 he was in charge of the Melampus frigate, in 1796 he was resident +commissioner of Corsica. From Elba he removed to Lisbon, to take charge +of the naval establishment there for the next two years. He was then +dispatched to superintend the arsenal at Port Mahon when Minorca fell +into the hands of the British, and from there to Nova Scotia, in the +Venus frigate. At Halifax and afterwards at Sheerness, as resident +commissioner, he was employed till April 1804, when appointed rear +admiral he hoisted his flag on the Gladiator, and the following month +was created a baronet. + +March, 1811, he married Elizabeth Browne, but within a few years +satisfied of their utter incompatibility, they very amicably, on both +sides, arranged for independence of each other. She was said to be +addicted to writing sermons at night to the disturbance of the slumber +of her rollicking spouse. The fault was certainly not hers, for she was +a clever and exemplary woman. She lived nearly as long as he did, but +they rarely met, though he made repeated overtures to reconciliation, +some rather amusing. It is the reasonable ambition of all Englishmen, +whose conditions and circumstances justify such aspirations, to be +permitted to take part in the legislation and government of the country, +and when Sir Isaac's health and peace rendered active service in the +navy no longer desirable, his wish was gratified by his return to +Parliament in 1818 for the borough of Ilchester for which he sat till +1826. His reputation and experience, gave considerable weight to his +opinion when he took part as he frequently did in debates on naval +affairs. He was tall, robust, but of symmetrical proportions, his voice +powerful, and his countenance expressive and noble. Sir Isaac died at +Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, June 23, 1839, at the age of 80. Lady +Coffin preceded him to the tomb on the 27th of January that year. His +brother, General John Coffin, died the year previous, June 12, 1838, in +New Brunswick. Sir Isaac made frequent visits to his native town, having +made more than thirty voyages to and from America. The many brilliant +gentlemen of Boston in professional life, or among its merchant princes, +affluent and convivial, were pleased to have him as their guest. Loyalty +to the mother country died out slowly, and a Boston born boy, who had +attained great distinction, whose kinsfolk had ample means for +hospitality, had much attention paid him. His kinsman, Thomas C. Amory +writes, "Often when at my father's, who resided in Park street, where +now is the Union Club house, the festal entertainments extended into the +small hours, and those upon whom it devolved to sit up to receive the +roisters, would gladly welcome from far off his shout of 'Home ahoy!' +breaking the silent watches of the night." + +His prize money amounted to considerable. This he entrusted to his +cousin Amory in Boston, and the income finally equalled the original +deposit. + +He was very generous to his native land. Soon after the war ended he +established a schoolship in Massachusetts waters, for mates and skippers +to learn the art of navigation. The barge Clio which he purchased for +the purpose, was commanded by his kinsman, Captain Hector Coffin, who +was imprudent enough in 1826 to go up in her to Quebec with the American +flag flying and act in a very indiscreet manner, and when his brother, +General John Coffin, of New Brunswick, urged him to abandon what gave +umbrage at home, he acquiesced in giving up what had cost him several +thousand pounds. He also sent over to the land of his birth famous race +horses and cattle to improve the breed; also fish, rare fruit and +plants. + +He was warmly attached to Nantucket, where his ancestors and their +descendants had dwelt for many generations. He visited the place and +became acquainted with his kinsfolk and in 1826 appropriated $12,000 +afterwards increased till now it is upwards of $60,000, as a fund for a +school for the instruction of the posterity of Tristram. This includes +nearly every native born child of the island. The Duke of Clarence, +William the Fourth, who succeeded his brother George to the throne, +through his long connection with the navy, attached to him the officers +who had grown old with him. It is said the King had Sir Isaac upon his +list as Earl of Magdalen and intended to make him Governor of Canada, +and the only obstacle that prevented it was the attachment he had for +the land of his birth. + +This memoir of a Boston boy, who by dint of his own native energy +attained a title, and the highest rank in the British navy, and a +generous benefactor, whose works still bear witness to the noble impulse +that prompted them, will ever be kindly remembered and cherished by his +countrymen. + +Jonathan Perry Coffin, Sir Isaac's youngest brother, born in Boston in +1762, was a barrister of repute in London. + +JOHN COFFIN, the third son of William and Ann Coffin, was born in +Boston, August 19, 1729, and was brother of Nathaniel, the Cashier, and +uncle of General John, and Admiral, Sir Isaac Coffin. In the +confiscation Act he was described as distiller, and combined this +business, no doubt, with that of merchant and ship owner. Loyal to the +core, and knowing that he was a marked man, he resolved early in 1775, +to place his family in safety. Embarking, therefore, his household +goods, his wife and eleven children, on board his own schooner, the +Neptune, he brought them around safely to Quebec where on the 23d +August, 1775, he bought from "La Dame Veuve Lacroix" a piece of land at +the _pres de ville_, well known during the siege which followed as the +"Potash." He went to work with characteristic energy to establish a +distillery, when his work was interrupted by that celebrated event. In +the autumn the Revolutionary forces under Arnold and a former British +officer, Montgomery, invaded the Province, and Quebec was invested. Late +in the year John Coffin joined the Quebec enrolled British militia and +the building he had designed for a distillery, became a battery for the +defence of the approach from Wolfe's cove. The battery was armed with +the guns of a privateer frozen in for the winter. Her commander, +Barnsfare, and his seamen handled the pieces, and by his side John +Coffin, the Boston Loyalist, shared the merit of the defence. + +Before that battery, on the memorable morning of the 1st January, 1776, +fell, General Montgomery, and the chief officers of his staff, and with +them the last hopes of the Revolutionary cause in Canada. + +In a paper prepared by his nephew, Lieutenant-Colonel Coffin of Ottawa, +read before the Literary and Historical society of Quebec Dec. 18, 1872, +it is shown on the testimony of Sir Guy Carleton, then Governor of +Canada, and of Colonel Maclean, Commandant of Quebec, "that to the +resolution and watchfulness of John Coffin, in keeping the guard at the +_pres de ville_ under arms, awaiting the expected attack, the coolness +with which he allowed the rebels to approach, the spirits which his +example kept up among the men, and to the critical instant when he +directed Captain Barnsfare's fire against Montgomery and his troops, is +to be ascribed the repulse of the rebels from that important post where, +with their leader, they lost all heart." + +There can be no question but that the death of Montgomery and the +repulse of this attack, saved Quebec, and with Quebec, British North +America to the British Crown, and that of the brave men who did this +deed John Coffin was one of the foremost. + +John Coffin died September 28, 1808, aged 78, as the record of his +burial has it, "One of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace of the City +of Quebec and Inspector of Police for said City." + +He had thirteen children born to him, 11 survived him. Directly, or +indirectly, all throve under the fostering protection of the Crown and a +grateful government. The eldest daughter, Isabella, married Colonel +McMurdo. Her sons served in India, a grandson was captain in the Royal +Canadian Rifles, when that fine regiment disbanded at Kingston in 1870. + +The second daughter, Susannah, married the Hon. John Craigie of Quebec, +Provincial Treasurer, a brother of Lord Craigie, Lord of Sessions in +Scotland. One son, Admiral Craigie, died in 1872. A daughter married +Captain Martin, who led one of the storming parties at the capture of +Fort Niagara in 1814. + +MARGARET, the youngest daughter, married her cousin, Roger Hale +Sheaffe. At the time of the marriage he was major in Brock's regiment. +That gallant officer was slain at Queenstown Heights at 7 o'clock in the +morning. At noon Colonel Sheaffe moved up from Niagara, attacked the +American forces and hurled them from the rocks into the river. For this +great service he was made a Baronet. + +Of John Coffin's sons, the oldest, JOHN, born in Boston in 1760, died +Deputy Commissary-General at Quebec, March, 1837. + +WILLIAM, the second son, born in Boston, 1761, obtained a commission in +the 1st Battalion of the King's Royal Regiment. Subsequently through the +kind influence of His Royal Highness, the Duke of Kent, he obtained a +commission in the regular army and served half the world over. He +retired from the service in 1816 a captain in the 15th Regiment and +Brevet Major, and died in England in 1836. His son WILLIAM FOSTER +COFFIN, was Commissioner of Ordnance and Admiralty, Land Department of +the Interior, Canada. This gentleman married, in 1842, MARGARET, second +daughter of Isaac Winslow Clarke, of Montreal, who, in 1774, was the +youngest member of the firm of Richard Clarke and Sons of Boston, to +which was consigned the historical cargo of tea. He rose to the rank of +Deputy Commissary General, and after 50 years service died in 1822. + +The third son, THOMAS COFFIN, born in Boston, 1762, was a member of the +Legislative Council of Lower Canada, and Lieutenant-Colonel of Militia. +He married a Demoiselle de Tonancour and lived and died at Three Rivers, +1841. A son of his was for many years Prothonotary for the District of +Montreal. + +The fifth son, FRANCIS HOLMES COFFIN, born in Boston, 1768, entered the +Royal Navy and served during the long war with France, and died an +Admiral in 1835. His eldest son, General Sir Isaac Coffin, K. C. Star of +India, died at Black Heath, October, 1872. + +The fourth son, NATHANIEL COFFIN, born in Boston, 1766, lived and died +in Upper Canada. In the war of 1812 he joined the volunteer companies +and was aide-de-camp to Sir Roger Sheaffe at the battle of Queenstown +Heights, where General W. Scott was taken prisoner. He became Adjutant +General of Militia in Upper Canada. He died at Toronto in 1835. + +The sixth son, JAMES, born in Boston, 1771, died at Quebec in 1835, +Assistant Commissary-General. + +These Boston men and women, sons and daughters of brave John Coffin, are +all living instances of the loyal faith in which they were born, and of +its honorable and just reward of a grateful and kind government, and is +but one case of many which goes to show that the Americans who were +loyal, as a body fared infinitely better than the Revolutionists who +were successful. It is proverbial that republics are ungrateful. + +Today their descendants are organized as the United Empire Loyalists and +count it an honor that their ancestors suffered persecution and exile +rather than yield the principals and the ideal of union with Great +Britain. They have made of the land of their exile a mighty member of +the great British empire, they begin to glory in the days of trial +through which they passed. + + + LIST OF JOHN COFFIN'S CONFISCATED ESTATES IN SUFFOLK COUNTY AND + TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Christopher Clark, Aug. 9, 1783; Lib. 139, fol. 151; Land in + Boston, Essex St. S.; Short St. W.; Joseph Ford E.; Thomas Snow N. + + To Moses Wallack, Mar. 12, 1785; Lib. 146, fol. 260; Land in + Boston, Essex St. S.; said Wallack W.; S. and W.; Blind Lane N.; + Thomas Downes and Samuel Bradley E. + + To Edward Jones, Feb. 13, 1786; Lib. 155, fol. 111; Land in Boston, + Essex St. N.; the sea S.; sugar house and land of heirs of Thomas + Child deceased E.; Mary Pitman and heirs of Samuel Bradley W.; with + flats to low water mark. + + + + + JUDGE SAMUEL CURWEN. + + +The paternal ancestry of Samuel Curwen, the subject of this sketch were +for many centuries amongst the leading families in the county of +Cumberland, in the north of England, where the family seat Workington +Hall still remains, George Curwin his immediate ancestor was an early +emigrant to New England, having established his residence in Salem in +1638. He was highly esteemed for his active, and energetic character, +and for several years represented Salem in the "General Court" or +Legislature of the colony. He also commanded a squadron of horse in the +Indian wars and assisted in checking the inroads of the savage enemy. He +died at Salem in 1685 at the age of 74 years, leaving a large estate. +His son Jonathan was of the provincial council named in the second +charter granted by William and Mary in 1691, and a judge of the superior +court of the province. He married a daughter of Sir Henry Gibbs and +their son George was the father of the subject of this sketch. George +Curwin graduated at Harvard College in 1701 and was pastor of a church +at Salem. He died in 1717 at the early age of thirty-five years. The +subject of this memoir was born in 1715 and graduated at Harvard College +in 1735. In 1738 he traveled in England and the Continent. On his return +he engaged in commercial pursuits with success. His business was +subsequently interrupted by the depredation of French cruisers fitted +out from Louisburg. In 1744-5 Mr. Curwin as a captain and his brother as +a commissary joined an expedition for the reduction of that stronghold. +The result of the expedition was completely successful, and reflected +great credit on the participators in it. + +Annexed is a cut of the Curwin House, Salem, erected by Captain Curwin +in 1642, now known as the witch house. The unfortunate persons arrested +during the witchcraft delusion were examined in this house by Justices +Jonathan Curwin and Hawthorn before being committed. + +[Illustration: CURWIN HOUSE, SALEM. ERECTED IN 1642.] + +At the commencement of the Revolution Samuel Curwin was Judge of +Admiralty and had been in the commission of the peace for thirty years. +He was one of the signers of the address to Governor Hutchinson when he +went to England. This gave great offence to the disunionists, they +attempted to compel him to make public recantations in the newspapers. +This he refused to do, saying that the prescribed recantation contained +more than in conscience he could own, and that to live under the +character of reproach, which the fury of the mob might throw upon him, +was too painful a reflection to suffer for a moment. He therefore +resolved to withdraw from the impending storm. He accordingly embarked +for Philadelphia on the 23rd of April, 1775, and thence to London on the +13th of the following month. While in exile he kept a journal, which has +been published. No work extant contains so much information of the +unfortunate Loyalists while abroad. The journal commences at +Philadelphia, May 4th, 1775, and says: "Since the unhappy affairs at +Concord and Lexington, finding the spirit of the people to rise on every +fresh alarm, (which has been almost hourly) and their temper to get more +and more soured and malevolent against all moderate men, who they see +fit to reproach as enemies of their country by the name of tories, among +whom I am unhappily (although unjustly) ranked, and unable longer to +bear their undeserved reproaches and menace, hourly denounced against +myself, and others, I think it a duly I owe to myself to withdraw for a +while from the storm, which to my foreboding mind is approaching. Having +in vain endeavored to persuade my wife to accompany me, her +apprehensions of danger from an incensed soldiery, a people licentious, +and enthusiastically mad, and broke loose from all the restraints of law +or religion, being less terrible to her than a short passage on the +ocean, and being moreover encouraged by her, I left my late peaceful +home (in my sixtieth year) in search of personal security, and those +rights which by the laws of God I ought to have enjoyed undisturbed +there, and embarked at Beverly on board the schooner Lively, Captain +Johnson, bound hither, on Sunday the 23rd ultimo, and have just arrived. +Hoping to find an asylum among quakers and Dutchmen, who I presume from +former experience have too great a regard for ease and property to +sacrifice either at this time of doubtful disputation on the altar of an +unknown goddess or rather doubtful divinity." + +On landing he writes "I went in pursuit of lodgings, and on enquiring at +several houses, ascertained they were full or for particular reasons +would not take me in; and so many refused, as made it fearful whether +like Cain I had not a discouraging mark upon me, or a strong feature of +toryism. The whole city appears to be deep in congressional principles +and inveterate against _Hutchinson Addressers_." Under date of May 9th, +1775, he writes, "Dined with Stephen Collins. Passed the evening at +Joseph Reed's in company with Col. Washington (a fine figure and of most +easy and agreeable address) Richard Henry Lee, and Col. Harrison, three +of the Virginia delegates. Besides Mr. and Mrs. Reed, were Mrs. +Deberatt, Dr. Shippen and Thomas Smith. I staid till twelve o'clock, the +conversation being chiefly on the most feasible and prudent method of +stepping up the channel of the Deleware to prevent the coming up of any +large ships to the city. I could not perceive the least disposition to +accommodate matters." He wrote, "Having had several intimations that my +residence here would be unpleasant, if allowed at all, when it shall be +known that I am what is called '_an addresser_' I have therefore +consulted the few friends I think it worth while to advise with, and on +the result am determined to proceed to London in the vessel in which I +came here." + +Following is a brief description of the journal, which Curwin kept while +in England, the four hundred and more pages contain matters of the +deepest interest to those who are interested in the lives of those +Loyalists who returned to England, July 3, 1775. "On landing at Dover, +visited the Castle. Next day arrived at the New England Coffee House, +Threadneedle Street. Visited Westminster Hall with my friend Benjamin +Pickering. Went to old Jewery meeting-house where I met Gov. Hutchinson, +and his son and daughter, and received a cordial reception and +invitation to visit him. There is an army of New Englanders here. +Evening to Vauxhall Gardens. Spent the day at Hempstead in company with +Isaac Smith, Samuel Quincy, David Greene, and P. Webster. I am just +informed of the most melancholy event, the destruction of Charlestown by +the King's troops, of great carnage among the officers. My distress and +anxiety for my friends and countrymen embitter every hour. By invitation +dined at Grocers' Company feast, at their hall in the Poultry. Dined +with Governor Hutchinson in company with Mr. Joseph Green, Mr. Manduit +and Mr. Ward Nicholas Boylston. It is a capital mistake of our American +friends to expect insurrections here, there is not a shadow of hope for +such an event. It is said most vigorous measures will take place in the +spring, if no offer be made on the part of the colonies. Visited Hampton +Court, and Gardens. Thence to Windsor. From the terrace we saw almost +under our feet Eaton college. Saw Mr. Garrick in Hamlet at Drury Lane. +To the Herald's office where Parson Peters, with his friend Mr. +Punderson lodges, the latter has lately arrived from Boston. It seems he +was harshly dealt with by the _sons of liberty_, being obliged to make +two confessions to save his life notwithstanding which he was hunted, +pursued, and threatened, and narrowly escaped death (or the Simsbury +mines to which he was finally adjudged, and he thinks with the loss of +his eyes) which would have been his fate but for his seasonable and +providential retreat.[182] At Chapel Royal, St. James, saw the king and +queen, who joined in the service with becoming devotion. Bishop of +London preached. To the Adelphia, Strand, where by appointment met +twenty-one of my countrymen, who have agreed on a weekly dinner here, +viz., Messrs. Richard Clark, Joseph Green, Jonathan Bliss, Jonathan +Sewell, Joseph Waldo, S. S. Blowers, Elisha Hutchinson, Wm. Hutchinson, +Samuel Sewell, Samuel Quincy, Isaac Smith, Harrison Grey, David Green, +Jonathan Clark, Thomas Flucker, Joseph Taylor, Daniel Silsbee, Thomas +Brindley, William Cabot, John S. Copley and Nathaniel Coffin, Samuel +Porter, Edward Oxnard, Benj. Pickman, Jno. Amory, Judge Robert Auchmuty +and Major Urquhart, absent, are members of this New England club, as is +also Gov. Hutchinson. At Parson Peters saw Mr. Troutbeck, lately arrived +from Halifax, and Mr. Wiswall, mutually invited each other to visit and +gave cards. Drank tea at Mr. Green's in company with Gov. Hutchinson, +whom I had not seen for some weeks, and who expressed an uneasiness at +my neglect to call. I called at Mr. Copley's to see Mr. Clark and the +family who kindly pressed my staying to tea. Was presented to Mr. West, +a Philadelphian, a most masterly hand in historic painting. Mr. West is +the king's history painter. Called on my friend Browne. He acquainted +me with some facts relative to the unfortunate abandonment of Boston by +the king's troops, which has all the appearance of being forced. Would +to God this illjudged, unnatural quarrel was ended." + + [182] For description of Simsbury mines see pp. 56-57. + +Went to Shepton Mallet.[183] Walked to the market-cross, an open +structure supported by Gothic arches and pillars, and ornamented in +front by a few mutilated statues, but whether of saints or heroes of +antiquity, I know not. A few gentlemen of fortune live here, but many +worthy clothiers. Walked with Mr. Morgan over the hills to the remains +of Roman-way, the ditch continues, although in an imperfect state, and +carried over the Meridep hills, running from north to south and from +shore to shore. Rode to Bath. Met Col. Saltonstall who with Mr. +Boyleston has taken lodgings here for sometime past. Visited Glastonbury +Abbey ruins. In the Bristol Gazette is the following: 'Gov. Howe has +landed the British army and taken possession of New York on the 15th of +September, the provincials had fled from the city with great +precipitation, towards Kingsbridge.' There have been some discouraging +accounts from France, respecting the intention of that court to assist +the colonies, and advices from Spain say their ports are open to the +English colonists. Received a letter informing me of my wife's health, +and that she had been obliged to pay ten pounds sterling to find a man +for the American army in my stead. Dec. 14. This day, General Burgoyne's +mortifying capitulation arrived in town. We all know the General's +bravery, and skill. He did not surrender whilst there was a possibility +of defence. On confirmation of the American news, Manchester offered to +raise a thousand men at their own expense, to be ready for service in +America in two months, and was soon followed after by Liverpool. It is +said there are to be proposals for raising two thousand men out of each +parish through the kingdom. + + [183] The native town of the author, J. H. Stark. + +Lord North, has proposed terms of reconciliation, but nothing short of +independency will go down with the colonies. France will support them, +all thoughts of conquest, of unconditional submission, be assured are +given up. I am fully convinced the colonies will never find any good +purpose answered by independence. God only knows what is before us. I +cannot review the state of Great Britain four years since, and regard +the present crisis without horror, without trembling. France and Spain +are armed from head to foot at all points ready to sally forth. Heard +the dreaded sound, war declared against France. + +Exeter, Sept. 6. Am informed that I am suspected to be an American spy +disaffected to government. Have heard that Paul Jones in the French +king's service, has taken a forty-four gun frigate, and entered the +harbor of Hull and destroyed sixteen ships. + +Visited Col. Erving and family, afterwards dined and took tea with my +worthy friend Judge Sewall, his company Mr. and Mrs. Faneuil. From +thence I went to see Mrs. Gardner, her husband the doctor, and their +daughter Love Eppes. Meeting Colonel Oliver, late lieutenant-governor of +Massachusetts, he informed me of his residence. + +Visited Mr. Lechmere, drank tea with Judge Sewall, Captain Carpenter, +young Jonathan Gardner, both of Salem, and a Mr. Leavitt, having arrived +in a cartel ship from Boston, dined and passed the afternoon and +evening. From them I obtained much information relating to our country +and town. Those who five years, ago were the "_meaner people_" are now +by a strange revolution become the only men of power, riches and +influence. Those who, on the contrary, were leaders in the highest line +of life, are glad at this time to be unknown, and unnoticed, to escape +insult, and plunder, the wretched condition of all who are not violent, +and adopters of republican principles. The Cabots of Beverly, who you +know, had but five years ago a very moderate share of property, are now +said to be by far the most wealthy in New England. It is a melancholy +truth that whilst some are wallowing in undeserved wealth, that plunder +and rapine has thrown into their hands, the wisest, most peaceable and +most deserving such as you and I know are now suffering want, +accompanied by many indignities that a licentious, lawless people can +pour forth upon them. + +The number of Americans in Bristol are compiled in the following list: +Col. Oliver and six daughters. Mr. R. Lechmere, his brother Nicholas, +with wife and two daughters. Mr. John Vassal, wife and niece, Miss +Davis, Mr. Barnes, wife and niece, Miss Arbuthnot, Mr. Nathaniel Coffin, +wife and family. Mr. Robert Hallowell, wife and children. Judge Sewell, +wife, sister, and two sons. Samuel Sewall with his kinsman. Mr. Faneuil, +and wife. Mr. Francis Waldo and Mr. Simpson, together with Mrs. Borland, +a son and three daughters. + +April 24, 1780. This day, five years are completed since I abandoned my +house, estate, effects and friends. God only knows whether I shall ever +be restored to them, or they to me. Party rage, like jealousy and +superstition is cruel as the grave;--that moderation is a crime and in +times of civil confusions, many good, virtuous and peaceable persons +now suffering banishment from America are the wretched proofs and +instances. By letter from Salem from our friend Pynchon, all our friends +there are well and longing, but almost without hope, for the good old +times as is the common saying now except among those as he expresses it, +whose enormous heaps have made them easy and insolent, and to wish for +a continuance of those confusions by which they grow rich. + +London, Oct. 30th, 1781. To Samuel Sewell, Esq., You wish me to write +you favorable news from America. Would to God such was to be found +written in the book of fate. The French you know are in possession of +the Chesapeake, with a much superior fleet to that of Great Britain, for +they reckon thirty-six capital ships to our twenty-four, even after +Digby's junction. General Cornwallis's royal master is in the utmost +distress for him, who, all the world here fears to hear will have been +_Burgoyned_ and therefore an end to this cursed, ill-omened quarrel, +though not in a way they wish, for which the instigators and continuers +deserve execution. At New England Coffee House heard the glorious news +of Admiral Rodney's defeat and capture of the French Admiral de Grasse, +with five capital ships and one sunk. + +London, March 17, 1783. Before the preliminaries are ratified or +hostilities ceased in the channel an American ship laden with oil, with +thirteen stripes flying, came into the river from Nantucket. The ship, +Captain Holton Johnson of Lynn, with whom I came from America, was, by a +revolution common at such periods translated into a legislator in our +Massachusetts Assembly, being about two months in London, told me that +had not his interests and efforts prevailed, my name would have been +inserted in the banishment list, and my estate confiscated, the reason, +if any, must be private spite and malice, no public crime was ever +alleged, but merely leaving the country in her distress. If success is +justification, I confess my guilt. Read a Boston newspaper, where I saw +poor Coomb's estate in Marblehead advertised for sale. I really pity my +poor fellow refugee and think him cruelly treated by his savage +townsmen. At New England Coffee House to read the papers filled with +relations of the rising spirit of Americans against the refugees, in +their towns and assemblies. Intoxicated by success under no fear of +punishment, they give an unrestrained loose to their angry, malevolent +passions attribute to the worst of causes the opposition to their +licentious, mobbish violation of all laws human and divine; and even +some of the best of the republican party seem to think at least their +practice squints that way, that the supposed goodness of their cause +will justify murder, rapine, and the worst of crimes. But cool impartial +posterity will pass a better judgment, and account for the violence of +the times from party rage which knows no bounds. + +[Illustration: SAMUEL CURWEN. + +Born at Salem in 1715. Judge of Admiralty. Died at Salem in 1802.] + +London, Aug. 9, 1783. By the newspapers from America, particularly our +quarter, I find there but slender grounds of hope for success in +attempting the recovery of debts or estates; a general shipwreck is +seemingly intended of all absentees' property--the towns in their +instructions to the representatives making it a point to prevent the +return of them, and consequent confiscations of all their property, +notwithstanding the provision in the fifth preliminary article. These +lawless people regard not any obstacle when the gratification of their +angry passions or the object of gain are in view. For an explicit +answer, "Do you propose to spend the remainder of your days abroad?" The +wished for period of my return is not arrived, it is a subject I +consider with some indifference, age and infirmities having made such +inroads on my constitution as leave me but little to hope, or fear from +the result of public councils, or the imprudence of private conduct. I +am free to declare my apprehension that the lower, illiterate classes, +narrow-minded and illiberal all over the world, have too much influence. +Oct. 6. This day was proclaimed peace with France, Spain, and Holland. +At New England Coffee House in company with Mr. Nathaniel Gorham, +lately arrived from Boston, whom I had well known. He is a native of +Charlestown, late a member of Congress, and of the Massachusetts +Assembly, and who is now here on the score of obtaining a benevolence +for the sufferers at the destruction of that town June 17, 1775, by the +king's troops, which all things considered, carries with it such a face +of effrontery as is not to be matched. Invited him to tea; received a +letter from my wife's brother, James Russell. To him he replied, I thank +you for your favor of the 21st of August, the first from you since my +unhappy abandoning my former home in April, '75. In truth, were your +sister (Mrs. Curwin) no more, there would need no act of Massachusetts, +or any other assembly, or senate to prohibit my return. To his wife he +writes: If it was not for your sake, or that you would follow my fortune +or accompany my fate, I should not hesitate for a moment taking up my +future abode, which cannot possibly be but of short continuance, +somewhere out of the limits of the republican government. Wishes for the +welfare of my friends still warm my heart, as to the rest, I read with +cold indifference the insurrection in Pennsylvania, and the carryings-on +in the late English colonies, having lost local attachment. If your +fortitude has increased in the proportion that your health and spirits +have improved, perhaps you will not find it an insurmountable difficulty +to resolve on a land tour to Canada, or a voyage to some other English +settlement. Whatever shall be the result of your thoughts let me be made +acquainted therewith as soon as convenient. Should a final expulsion be +concluded on, you will no longer hesitate. Captain Nathaniel West brings +me a message from the principal merchants and citizens of Salem +proposing and encouraging my return which instance of moderation I view +as an honor to the town and respectful to myself. It affords me +pleasure, and I would cheerfully accept the offer, but should the +popular dislike rise against me, to what a plight should I be reduced, +being at present (out for how long is a painful uncertainty) on the +British government list for L100 a year (a competency for a single +person exercising strict economy) to surrender this precarious allowance +without public assurance of personal security. Imagine to yourself the +distress of an old man, without health under such adverse circumstances +and you will advise me to wait with resignation till the several +Assemblies shall have taken decisive measures. Went to the Treasury and +there received the agreeable information that the commissioners had +granted my petition to appoint an agent to receive my quarterly +allowance, after my departure from England, on making satisfactory proof +of my being alive at the successive periods of payment. From this date +an end to my doubts respecting my embarkation, its issue time must +reveal. I know not in what employment I am to pass the small remainder +of my days, should Providence permit my safe return home, but I shall +not think part of it ill-bestowed in directing and assisting the studies +and pursuits of my niece's children who are just of an age to receive +useful ideas--with regard to the English, Latin, and Greek tongues. +Sept. 25, 1784. Arrived at Boston at half past three o'clock. Landed at +the end of Long Wharf after an absence of nine years and five months, +occasioned by a lamented civil war. By plunder and rapine some have +accumulated wealth, but many more are greatly injured in their +circumstances. Some have to lament over the wreck of their departed +wealth and estates, of which pitiable number I am, my affairs sunk into +irretrievable ruin. On Sunday, being the day following, I left for +Salem, where I alighted at the house of my former residence, and not a +man, woman, or child, but expressed a satisfaction at seeing me, and +welcomed me back. The melancholy derangement of my affairs has so +entirely unsettled me, that I can scarcely attend to anything. I think +it very unlikely that my home can be saved.[184] Salem, Nov. 22, 1784. +Judge Curwin wrote to his friend Judge Sewall, Bristol, England, saying: +"I find myself completely ruined. I confess I cannot bear to stay and +perish under the ruins of my late ample property and shall therefore as +soon as I can recover my account-books, left in Philadelphia on my +departure from America and settle my deranged affairs, retreat to Nova +Scotia, unless my allowance be taken from me." He however remained at +Salem where he passed the remainder of his days dying in 1802 at the age +of eighty-six. The foregoing brief abstracts from Curwin's Journal give +some of the things which he saw and heard, and the hopes and fears which +agitated him and his fellow exiles. He left no children. Samuel Curwin +Ward, a grandson of his brother George, at the request of Judge Curwin, +took his name by an act of the Legislature, and his descendants are all +that now bear the name in New England. + + [184] It was saved from confiscation by his wife remaining in it during + the war, and her furnishing a substitute for her husband to serve in the + army. + + + + + JAMES MURRAY. + + +James Murray was a direct descendant of Sir John Murray of Philiphaugh, +Scotland, who sat in Parliament for the County of Selkirk in 1612. Sir +John's second son, was John Murray of Bowhill. This John Murray was the +father of John Murray of Unthank, born in 1677, who in turn was the +father of James Murray, the subject of this notice, who was born in 1713 +at Unthank. Here on this ancestral estate he passed the first fifteen +years of his life, after the wholesome manner of Scotch +lads--porridge-fed, bare legged--he protested in after life against his +grandson wearing stockings. The people amongst whom he lived had +married, thriven and multiplied until the population had become one vast +cousinship, bound together by that clannish loyalty which, quite apart +from pride of name, is ineradicable in the Scots to the present day. +Through the influence of Sir John Murray he was apprenticed to William +Dunbar of London, a merchant in the West India trade. On the death of +his father, he received a thousand pounds as his share of the estate. +With this small patrimony he decided to try his fortune in the New +World. His objective point in his new venture was the Cape Fear Region +in North Carolina. The Carolinas having shaken off their proprietary +rule were now entering, it was hoped, upon a more prosperous period as +dependencies of the Crown. Gabriel Johnson, a Scotchman who had been a +physician and professor at St. Andrews University, had been recently +appointed Governor. This made some stir in Scottish circles, a fact +which directed James Murray's desire to this particular Colony. With +letters of recommendation to Governor Johnson, he embarked at Gravesend, +September 20, 1735, for Charleston. He settled at Wilmington, on the +Cape Fear River, and purchased a house in town and a plantation of 500 +acres and Negro slaves. He was also appointed collector of the Port, and +in 1729 he was appointed a member of the Board of Councillors. In 1737 +Mr. Murray received news of the death of his mother. This necessitated a +journey to Scotland to settle her estate. On returning he brought with +him his younger brother and his sister Elizabeth, not quite fourteen +years of age. She was installed as his housekeeper, and then began that +affectionate intimacy between them which was perhaps the most vital and +enduring element in the life of each. James Murray prospered as a +planter and merchant. He imported from England such goods as the +colonists required and in exchange sent to England naval stores, tar, +pitch, and turpentine. + +In 1744 he returned to Scotland with his sister Elizabeth, married his +cousin, Barbara Bennet, and remained in England and Scotland for five +years. On his return in 1749, accompanied by his wife and daughter and +his sister Elizabeth, their ship put into Boston, and he returned alone +to Wilmington, leaving his family in Boston, because, as he wrote, "they +had an opportunity of spending three of the most disagreeable months of +this climate in that poor Healthy Place, New England--their health they +owe to God's goodness, their poverty to their own bad policy and to +their Popular Government." His sister Elizabeth remained in Boston and +married Thomas Campbell, a Scotchman, merchant and trader. Their married +life was short, for the husband died in a few years. + +A comfortable, prosperous figure in Boston at that time was Mr. James +Smith, a Scotchman, a sugar-baker, whose refinery had been in working +since 1729 or before and who had amassed wealth as well as years. His +home on Queen Street, now Court Street, was central in position, +surrounded by other residences of its kind, yet conveniently near his +sugar house, which stood in Brattle Street, between the old church and +what was known as Wing's Lane. At the same time it was not far from +King's Chapel. As one of the Church Wardens of King's Chapel and a +generous contributor to its needs Mr. Smith stood high in the esteem of +his fellow townsmen and the few allusions to him in the records and +traditions of his day indicate that he was no less genial a friend than +an open handed citizen. Mr. Smith married Mrs. Campbell in 1760. "I can +assure you," wrote James Murray in 1761, "they both enjoy a happiness +which is rarely met with in a match of such disparity." Her brother +rejoiced in this marriage, which he declared placed her "in the best +circumstances of any of her sex in the town." Prosperity for one member +of the family must help for all. Boston thus became a second home for +the Murrays in America. + +[Illustration: COUNTY RESIDENCE OF JAMES SMITH, BRUSH HILL, MILTON. + +BUILT IN 1734.] + +Shortly after his sister's marriage he lost his wife and all his +children but two, owing to the unhealthy climate. This caused him to +leave the South and his opinion of New England was changed, for he wrote +at this time, 1760, "you cannot well imagine what a land of health, +plenty and contentment this is among all ranks, vastly improved within +these ten years. The war on this continent has been a blessing to the +English subjects and a calamity to the French, especially in the +Northern Colonies, for we have got nothing by it in Carolina." + +In 1761 Mr. Murray married Miss Thompson, a daughter of Mrs. Mackay, who +lived on King Street. The marriage proved to be a fortunate one for Mr. +Murray's two daughters as well as for the two most concerned. Mr. Smith +was withdrawing from the sugar business and wished Mr. Murray to take it +up. He was, however, in no haste to be off from his plantation, which +he really loved, but at last the break was made and in 1765 he removed +to Boston to cast in his lot permanently. Mr. Murray had warm friends in +Boston and felt himself in congenial surroundings. He occupied Mr. +Smith's home on the corner of Queen Street, the Smiths reserving a +portion of it for themselves, though their permanent residence was now +at Brush Hill, Milton. Mr. Smith had purchased in 1734, and +subsequently, 300 acres at Brush Hill and erected the mansion house now +owned and occupied by Murray Howe. + +Mr. Smith's long life came to an end on the 4th of March, 1769. He died +at Brush Hill and was buried from his home on Queen Street. Mrs. Smith +returned to Scotland and before leaving she made over to her brother the +Brush Hill Farm, in trust for his daughters, Dorothy and Elizabeth. This +was very fortunate, as it afterwards turned out, for it saved it from +confiscation. Mr. Murray, with much content, established himself there, +hoping to "run off the dregs of his days" in peace. Of the farm he had +given his brother, some years before, a graphic description; it was in +many respects as pleasantly situated as Governor Hutchinson's. It had, +he said "a good house, well furnished, good garden and orchards, meadows +and pasturage, in 300 acres. A riverlet washed it and by several +windings lost itself between two bushy hills, before it ran into the +great bay. Of this bay, often covered with sails, and of the +light-house, there is a fair prospect from the house which stands on an +eminence and overlooks also a pleasant country round. It is in short one +of the pleasantest and most convenient seats I see in the country." + +Dorothy Murray, who, family traditions say, had grown to be a beautiful +and fascinating young lady, accepted the hand of Rev. John Forbes, a +clergyman then settled at St. Augustine, Florida. Their marriage +occurred in 1769. The Forbes of Milton are the descendants. + +The political turmoil in the midst of which Mr. Murray found himself +upon his removal to Boston, in 1765, filled him with surprise and +dismay. He had hoped, on leaving North Carolina, that he was turning his +back upon rebellion, but here he had alighted upon the very seat of +disorder. By force of circumstances, as well as by inclination, it was +inevitable that in North Carolina, and afterwards in Massachusetts, his +associates should have been those whose sympathies were on the side of +law and order. The Boston of the disunionists, of Otis, Hancock, and the +"brace of Adams" he never knew. "He shared so completely Hutchinson's +convictions that the best interests of America were being sacrificed" by +the very men who maintained they were asserting their rights and +although, like those who sided with the Government, he incurred +suspicion and hatred, he never to the end of his life could see himself +as an enemy to the land he helped to build.[185] + + [185] James Murray, Loyalist; pp. 152, 154, 155. + +To such men as him, men who were averse to partisanship and whose +interests centered wholly within the domestic circle, yet who could +take a large impersonal view of passing events, the inevitable ban +under which, as Tories, they afterward fell, bore all the sting of +injustice. He wrote in 1766, "the truth is we are all the children of a +most indulgent Parent, who has never asserted his authority over us, +until we are grown almost to manhood and act accordingly; but were I to +say so here before our Chief Ruler, the Mob, or any of their adherents, +I should presently have my house turned inside out." + +When the troops sent by General Gage from New York arrived in Boston and +were refused shelter in various places under control of the +disunionists, Mr. Murray came forward and the sugar house was opened to +them for barracks. Thenceforth "Murray's Barracks" or "Smith's +Barracks," as they were indiscriminately called, were a source of +irritation to the disloyal section of the town. Moreover, his +willingness to lodge British soldiers, and a free hospitality shown to +British officers (among others who frequented his house was General +Mackay, a relative, probably, of his wife) marked Mr. Murray as a King's +man. His appointment in 1768 as a Justice of the Peace drew him still +further into public notice. Popular displeasure in fact, so far +distinguished him as to make him, in the autumn of the next year, the +victim of a mob. The condition of affairs was rapidly growing worse. The +troops were called from Murray's barracks to protect the guard on King's +Street from the fury of the mob and this brought about the so-called +"State Street Massacre." Then followed the Lexington affair and Bunker +Hill and the siege of Boston by Washington's army. During this time Mr. +Murray remained in Boston. His daughter, Mrs. Forbes, had returned from +Florida and with her sister Elizabeth, lived on the farm at Brush Hill. +His sister, Elizabeth Smith, had married Ralph Inman of Cambridge and +while her husband remained in Boston, she stayed in the Cambridge +mansion to prevent its being confiscated. Communications between Milton +and Boston were carried on by vessels sailing up the Neponset. + +Mr. and Mrs. Murray visited Brush Hill in this manner and Mrs. Inman +even journeyed back and forth between Cambridge, Boston and Milton in +this way. Finally the evil day came when the evacuation of Boston became +a necessity. The consternation was indescribable. Men who had lived all +their lives in Boston and were a part and parcel of it found themselves +suddenly compelled to take leave of friends, old associations and +property and to flee with the army to Nova Scotia. The departure of +General Howe was hampered and delayed by the necessity of caring for the +removal of the Loyalists. All the transports which were at hand, +assisted by such other vessels as could be procured, were inadequate for +the purpose. The refugees, on their part, were in a state of distraction +between the impossibility of taking with them more than a small part of +their possessions. Mr. Murray, like the rest, had no recourse but to +sail with the troops for Halifax. The parting he must have believed to +be only temporary, but it was final. + +A lady writing from Brush Hill under date of May 17th, 1776, and signing +herself E. F., gives a graphic description of the condition in which the +Murray family were left. She writes, "This amiable family are going to +be involved in new troubles. Did I fear for myself alone, I should be +happy compared with what I now suffer, for I have nothing to fear from +the malevolence of man, but when I see the few but valuable friends I +have remaining upon the point of becoming destitute like myself my heart +sinks within me, and I can not avoid exclaiming "Great God!" Surely for +all these things people shall be brought to judgment. I am hunted from +one retreat to another, and since I left your Ark, like Noah's dove I +can find no resting place. The Committee at Cambridge have left Mrs. +Inman's farm, in spite of all assiduity to prevent it and the same tribe +of demons have been here to take this into possession during the life of +Mr. Murray. When this affair will end, God knows. Nature is all blooming +and benevolent around us. I wish to Heaven that she could inspire the +breasts of this deluded people with the same affectionate glow towards +each other. _May eternal curses fall on the heads of those who have been +instrumental to this country's ruin._" + +Again under the date of June 16th she writes, "Rejoice with me, my dear +Aunt, _this infernal crew cannot succeed in taking the farm from this +amiable family_. _The Almighty Father of infinite perfection will not +permit them to prosper in all their wickedness._"[186] + + [186] James Murray, Loyalist; pp. 248, 249, 251. + +James Murray now began the weary life of banishment, the pathos of which +was so many times repeated in the history of the Loyalist exiles. He +first went to Halifax; there he established himself with his wife and +his sister, Mrs. Gordon, but he could not be content to stay so far from +his sister and his children, who remained in Boston to prevent their +property from being confiscated, and soon, as he puts it, he came +"creeping towards" them, hoping at least to be able more easily to +communicate with them and to serve them by sending occasional supplies. +He visited Newport, New York and Philadelphia. He found himself, +however, no nearer the accomplishment of his wishes in New York than in +Halifax and to Halifax, in 1778, after some two years spent in +profitless wanderings, he returned. There he remained the rest of his +life. In his last letter to his daughter dated Halifax, February 17th, +1781, he said "A man near seventy, if in his senses, _can want but +little here below, nor want that little long_. Therefore the withdrawing +of my salary for some time past gives me but little concern." In this +letter he seems to have had a premonition of his death, for he died a +few months later. The salary that he refers to was that which he +received from England for several years after leaving Boston--about 150 +Pounds a year as inspector of imports and exports, many sufferers +received from 50 to 300 Pounds a year in addition to their salary for +their present subsistence. Mrs. Inman, his sister, survived her brother +but a few years and those were sad ones. Her friends were scattered, +her means reduced and her health undermined. She died May 25, 1785. + +ELIZABETH MURRAY, his daughter, married Edward Hutchinson Robbins, who +in 1780, when but twenty-two years of age, became a member of the +disloyal government and who occupied the position of Speaker of the +House of Representatives, Lieutenant Governor and Judge of Probate. +Brush Hill afterwards passed into the possession of her son, James +Murray Robbins, who lived here until his death in 1885. It then passed +into the possession of his nephew, James Murray Howe, its present +occupant. + +As previously stated, the only thing that prevented the confiscation of +this estate was that Elizabeth and Dorothy Murray, to whom their aunt +had given it had remained on the property during the war and would not +leave it, although every effort was made to drive them off it by their +disloyal neighbors. Their father was proscribed and banished under the +Act of 1778, he was forbidden to return to Massachusetts and for a time +did not even dare to write to his family. A daughter of Mary Robbins +married a son of Paul Revere. Two of their sons fell upon the +battlefield in the war for the Union, fighting on the loyal side in +support of their government, giving to their country on the one hand +lives derived from the disunionists and on the other from their loyal +ancestor. + +Rev. John Forbes wrote to his wife in 1783, just previous to his death, +as follows: "Upon hearing of the peace, having all my property in +Florida, I thought of going immediately to England. I might be of use to +myself either by giving a short representation of the importance of +retaining the province under the Crown of Great Britain or in finding +early what hopes I might entertain of being in a situation of remaining +in England with my united family, when the boys might be educated under +my eye." After Mr. Forbes' death his wife, Dorothy Forbes, hoping to +recover something from his estate as well as from her father's, made a +trip to Wilmington and St. Augustine. The land which Mr. Forbes owned in +Florida, which had been given over to the Spaniards, she received +compensation for from the British Government. In Wilmington, however, +she did not succeed, for when her father went to Boston he turned over +his Cape Fear estate, which he valued at that time at L3000, to his +nephew, Thomas Clark, who had recently come over from England. After the +war commenced, the whole of Mr. Murray's property was confiscated. It +was then claimed by Thomas Clark, who presented an account for more than +the assessed value of the property for his salary for caring for it. As +he had joined the disunionists it was ultimately made over to him by act +of the Legislature. Mrs. Forbes tried to recover some of her patrimony, +but without success. She did not even see her cousin, who wrote from his +plantation that floods prevented his leaving his estate to visit +Wilmington but that if she would come to him he would be happy to see +her and did not doubt of being able to convince her that he had acted +for the best in what he did. + + + + + SIR BENJAMIN THOMPSON. + + +Benjamin Thompson, otherwise known as Count Rumford was one of the most +distinguished men of his age. He came on both sides of his parentage +from the original stock of the first colonists of Massachusetts Bay. +JAMES THOMPSON, one of the original settlers of Woburn, was prominent +among those who fixed their residence in that part of the town now known +as North Woburn. Little is known of his English antecedents except that +he was born in 1593, his wife's name was Elizabeth and by her he had +three sons and one daughter all probably born in England. As early as +1630 when he was thirty-seven he joined the company of about fifteen +hundred persons who under lead of Governor Winthrop landed on New +England shores during the eventful year. He was one of the first +settlers of Charlestown and belonged to sturdy yeomanry of the country. +He was among the few adventurers who early pushed their way into an +unknown region and fixed their home in the wilderness, with Henry +Baldwin and a few others, in that part of Charlestown Village now known +as North Woburn. James Thompson was twice married. Elizabeth died +November 13, 1643, and he married February 15, 1644, Susannah Blodgett, +widow of Thomas Blodgett of Cambridge. The descendants of this early +settler are now very numerous in the country. + +[Illustration: BIRTHPLACE OF BENJAMIN THOMPSON, NORTH WOBURN.] + +Jonathan Thompson, son of the former had a son Jonathan who had a son +Ebenezer. Captain Ebenezer Thompson and Hannah Converse were the +grandparents, Benjamin Thompson, the son of the last, and Ruth Simonds +were the father and mother of the celebrated Count Rumford. His mother +was the daughter of an officer who performed distinguished service in +the French and Indian wars, which were in progress at the time of the +birth of his eminent grandson. The parents were married in 1752, and +went to live at the house of Captain Ebenezer Thompson. Here under his +grandfather's roof, the future Count Rumford was born, March 26, 1753, +in the west end of the strong substantial farm-house. The father of the +little boy died November 7, 1754, in his twenty-sixth year, leaving his +wife and her child to the care and support of the grandparents. In +March, 1756, when the child was three years old, his widowed mother was +married to Josiah Pierce, the younger, of Woburn. Mr. Pierce took his +wife and her child to a new home, which, now removed, stood but a short +distance from the old homestead. + +Ellis in his "Life of Count Rumford" says, that Benjamin Franklin and +Benjamin Thompson were the two men most distinguished for philosophical +genius of all that have been produced on the soil of this continent. +"They came into life in humble homes within twelve miles of each other, +under like straits and circumstances of frugality and substantial +thrift. They both sprang from English lineage, of an ancestry and +parentage yeoman of the soil on either continent, to be cast, as their +progenitors had been, upon their own exertions, without dependence upon +inherited means, or patronage, or even good fortune. Born as subjects of +the English monarch, they both, at different periods of their lives, +claimed their privileges as such, visiting their ancestral soil, though +under widely unlike circumstances, and their winning fame and +distinction for services to humanity. We almost forget the occasion +which parted them in the sphere of politics, because they come so close +together in the more engrossing and beneficent activity of their +genius." It is not known whether these two men ever met together, or +sought each other's acquaintance, or even recognized each other's +existence, though they were contemporaries for more than thirty years. + +Benjamin Thompson in his youth attended the village grammar school. +Later he was apprenticed to Mr. John Appleton, an importer of British +goods at Salem, and later still was for a short time a clerk in a dry +goods store in Boston where he was when the "Massacre" occurred. It was +while at Salem he first displayed his fondness for experimental +philosophy, when accidentally his face was somewhat marked by a +pyrotechnical explosion. He used to steal moments to play the fiddle as +he was passionately fond of music. Lacking taste for trade he engaged in +the study of medicine with Dr. Hay of Woburn, meanwhile in company with +his friend and neighbor, Loammie Baldwin, walking to and fro from +Cambridge, in order to attend scientific lectures at Harvard College. At +length he became a teacher, first in Wilmington, then in Bradford and +then in a more permanent and lucrative position in Concord, New +Hampshire, then a part of Essex County, Massachusetts; once known as +Penacook but at this time as Rumford. His more public and noticeable +life now began. Here he married at the early age of nineteen Sarah, the +widow of Colonel Rolfe and the daughter of the Rev. Timothy Walker. When +he went to Concord as a teacher he was in the glory of his youth, and +his friend Baldwin describes him as of a fine manly make and figure, +nearly six feet in height, of handsome features, bright blue eyes, and +dark auburn hair. He had the manners and polish of a gentleman, with +fascinating ways, and an ability to make himself agreeable. His diligent +study and love of learning also added to his attractions. He was married +about November, 1772, and his wife brought to him a fortune. It was at +about this time that Benjamin Thompson met Governor Wentworth,--an event +which led to that series of difficulties and troubles which resulted in +his leaving the country. The governor was struck by the young man's +commanding appearance, and a vacancy having occurred in a majorship in +the Second Provincial Regiment of New Hampshire, Governor Wentworth at +once commissioned Thompson to fill it. Thus the young man received an +appointment over the heads of other officers of age and experience. It +was a mistake on the part of the governor and a mistake for him to +accept the office. The veteran officers over whom he had been appointed +so suddenly and unexpectedly from the plain life of a civilian were very +angry as was to be expected. + +Young Thompson manifested in early manhood the tastes, aptitudes and +cravings which prompt their possessor, however humbly born, and under +whatever repression from surrounding influence, to push his way in the +world by seeking and winning the patronage of his social superiors, who +have favor and distinctions to bestow. He was regarded from his boyhood +as being above his position; he had also a noble and imposing figure, +with great personal beauty, and with those whose acquaintance he +cultivated he was most affable and winning in his manners. His marriage +enabling him to give over the necessity of school keeping, furnished him +the means for making excursions at his pleasure. Besides his +acquaintance with Governor Wentworth at Portsmouth, he had also on +visits with his wife to Boston, been introduced to Governor Gage and +several of the British officers, and had partaken of their +hospitalities. Two soldiers, who had deserted from the army in Boston, +finding their way to Rumford (Concord), had been employed by him upon +his farm. Wishing to return to their ranks and comrades, they had sought +for the intervention of their employer to secure them immunity from +punishment. Thompson addressed a few lines for this purpose to General +Gage asking at the same time that his own agency in their behalf should +not be disclosed. Besides his acquaintance with the royal governors, the +patronage he had received from one of them, the intimacy in which he was +supposed to stand with others, the return of the deserters, and his +independent spirit, as shown in speaking his mind with freedom, in a +way to check the rising spirit of rebellion, and in distrust of the +ability and success of the disunionists, caused him to be distrusted, +and unpopular by the inflammable materials around him. He therefore +became a suspected person in Rumford, where there were watching enemies, +and talebearers, as well as jealous committees, who soon brought their +functions to bear in a most searching and offensive way against all who +did not attend revolutionary assemblies. It was well known as it was +observable that Thompson took no part in these. He had occasion to fear +any indignity which an excited and reckless county mob, directed by +secret instigators might see fit to inflict upon him, whether it were by +arraying him in tar and feathers, or by riding him upon a rail to be +jeered at by his former school-pupils. If ill usage stopped short of +these extremes, the condition of escape and security was a public +recantation, unequivocally and strongly expressed, involving a +confession of some act, or word, in opposition to the will of the +disunionists, and solemn pledge of future uncompromising fidelity to +them. + +There was something exceedingly humiliating and degrading to a man of +independent and self-respecting spirit, in the conditions imposed upon +him by the "Sons of Despotism" in the process of clearing himself from +the taint of "Loyalism." The Committees of "Correspondence and of +Safety" whose services stand glorified to us through their most +efficient agency in a successful struggle, delegated their authority to +every witness or agent who might be a self-constituted guardian of the +disloyal cause or a spy, or an eaves-dropper, to catch reports of +suspected persons. It was this example, followed a few years later that +led to such terrible results in the French Revolution. + +Major Thompson insisted from the first, and steadfastly to the close of +his life, affirmed that he had never done anything hostile to the +revolutionary cause up to this time. He demanded first in private, and +then in public, that his enemies should confront him with any charges +they could bring against him, and he promised to meet them and defend +himself against all accusations. He resolved, however, that he would not +plead except against explicit charges, nor invite indignity by +self-humiliation. Major Thompson was summoned before a Committee of the +people of Rumford (Concord), in the summer of 1774 to answer to the +suspicion of "being unfriendly to the cause of Liberty." He positively +denied the charge and boldly challenged proof. The evidence, if any such +was offered, was not a sort to warrant any proceedings against him, and +he was discharged. This discharge, however, though nominally an +acquittal, was not effectual in relieving him from popular distrust and +in assuring for him confidence. Probably his own reluctance to avow +sympathy with the disloyal cause, and make professions in accordance +with the wishes of his enemies, left him still under a cloud. A measure +less formal and more threatening than the examination before a self +constituted tribunal, was secretly planned by the "Sons of Despotism." +This was a visit to his comfortable home, the most conspicuous +residence in the village. It was carried into effect in November, 1774. +A mob gathered at the time agreed on, around his dwelling, and after a +serenade of hisses, hootings and groans, demanded that Major Thompson +should come out before them. The feeling must have been intense and was +of a nature to feed its own flames. Had Thompson been within, he would +inevitably have met with foul handling. The suspicion that he was hiding +there would have led to the sacking of his dwelling, and the destruction +of his goods, though the daughter of their venerated minister was its +mistress, and she was the mother, not only of Thompson's infant, but of +the only child of their former distinguished townsman, Colonel Benjamin +Rolfe. Mrs. Thompson and her brother, Colonel Walker, came forth and +with their assurance that her husband was not in town, the mob +dispersed. + +Having received a friendly warning that this assault was to be made upon +him, his brother-in-law and other friends advised him to quit the place, +for although his family connections, beginning with the minister, and +the squire of the town, were, the most powerful set among the +inhabitants, yet they were unable to vindicate him and protect him from +outrage, and we may infer that his apprehensions were not in vain, +notwithstanding his own consciousness of rectitude. + +Mr. Thompson therefore had secretly left Rumford just before the mob +came to his home. He thought it was to be only a temporary separation +from the place, for all his friends were there, and his wife and infant +child; but he was never to see that pleasant home again, nor anyone of +those whom he left there, except that he had a brief and troubled visit +from his wife and infant, and met the latter again only after an +interval of twenty-two years. He made a hasty effort to collect some +dues which belonged strictly to himself, but he scrupulously avoided +taking with him anything that belonged to others, or even to his wife. +What of his own he left there was soon subjected to the process of +confiscation. + +Thompson sought refuge in his former home at Woburn with his mother. +Here for a short time, he sought to occupy himself in quiet retirement +with his favorite pursuits of philosophical study and experiment. But +popular suspicion found means to visit its odium upon him there, and +seeking a new refuge, he found temporary shelter in Charlestown, with a +friend, nine miles from Woburn and one from Boston. In compliance with +an earnest appeal, his wife with her infant joined him at his mother's +home in Woburn, though it required of them a ride of more than fifty +miles in winter. They remained with him till the end of May, 1775, after +which he never saw his wife again. Thompson offered his services to the +patriot army but his enemies interposed their veto. Ellis says, "There +is no record, or even tradition of unwise or unfriendly expressions +dropped by Mr. Thompson which could be used against him even when he +challenged proof of his alleged disaffection to the cause of his +country. However he was young and he had an independent spirit. His +military promotion by pure favoritism, and, what he insisted was simply +an act of humanity, his seeking immunity for two returning deserters, +were enough in themselves to assure him zealous enemies." + +Through all this trouble Thompson had a staunch and loyal friend. +Colonel L. Baldwin was an ardent patriot, but stood faithfully by his +old friend and fellow-student, believed in him and protected him from +violence. At last Thompson's pride was so wounded and he felt the +humiliation so keenly that in the hot impulse of youth and a naturally +proud spirit, he embraced an opportunity to leave a land which he +honestly thought to be ungrateful and cruel. It is not true as has often +been said that Benjamin Thompson lost his interest in his family and +country. Some of the most tender and most touching letters were written +by him to his mother and his family still in Concord who believed in his +integrity. Some of these letters have never been published, others after +the lapse of nearly a century appeared in the "life of Count Rumford" by +Dr. Ellis. These errors as to matters of fact may persuade us that the +early predilection of Thompson for the loyalist cause, and the opening +of opportunities, more than any settled purpose, decided the course of +this forlorn and ill-treated young husband and father, adrift on the +world, when he found himself loosed from all home ties and that there +was nothing secret or disguised in the plans he formed for seeking in a +foreign land and among strangers at the risk of homelessness and +poverty, the peace and protection which he could not find in his own +dwelling. He did not privately steal away; he remained in and about +Woburn two months after writing his last letter to his friend, Mr. +Walker, in which he so deliberately avowed his intentions. He settled +his affairs with his neighbors, collecting dues and paying debts, well +assured that his wife and child would lack none of the means of a +comfortable support. Having made all his preparations he started from +Woburn October 13, 1775, in a country vehicle, accompanied by his +step-brother, Josiah Pierce, who drove him to the shores of Narragansett +Bay where he was taken aboard of the British frigate Scarborough, in the +harbor of Newport. The vessel very soon came round to Boston and +remained till the evacuation, of which event he was undoubtedly the +bearer of the tidings to England in despatches from General Howe. From +henceforth we are to know Benjamin Thompson till the close of the war as +an ardent loyalist, and in council and in arms an opponent to the +revolutionary cause. He must have done appreciable service in the four +or five months he was in Boston, in order to have won so soon the place +of an official in the British government. Thenceforward the rustic youth +became the companion of gentlemen of wealth, and culture, of scientific +philosophers, of the nobility and of princes. The kind of influences +which he at once began to exert, and the promotion which he so soon +received in England, answers to a class of services rendered by him of a +nature not to be misconceived. They had not in England at that time much +exact information about the state of the country. Thompson thoroughly +understood the matter. He could give trustworthy information about the +topography, and about the events of the war in which he had played a +part. He was not slow in winning the confidence of Lord George Germaine, +Secretary of State for the Colonies, who was sadly deficient in his +knowledge of the American Colonies. Major Thompson was immediately +admitted to a desk in the Colonial office. He of course proffered and +showed he could impart "information." The young man became such a +favorite with Lord George that he was daily in the habit of +breakfasting, dining and supping with him at his lodgings and at his +country seat, Stoneland. Apart from the discharge of his duties as a +private secretary, he made the most and the best use of his +opportunities in acquainting himself with London and seeking +introductions alike to men in public station and to those engaged in +scientific pursuits; nothing of interest would escape his keen +observation, and no means of personal improvement or acquisition through +men or things, would fail to yield him advancement. + +[Illustration: SIR BENJAMIN THOMPSON. + +Born in North Woburn, March 26, 1753. In the uniform of a British +Officer. Known as Count Rumford. Died at Paris Aug. 21, 1814.] + +He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and became one of the most +active and honored members of the Society. In 1780 he was made "Under +Secretary of State for the Northern Department." The oversight of all +the practical details for recruiting, equipping, transporting, and +victualling the British forces, and of many other incidental +arrangements was then committed to him. Major Thompson, who had always +clung to that title, though its provisional commission gave him no rank +in the regular army, was now honored with the commission in the regular +army of a Lieutenant Colonel; though now at the age of only +twenty-eight, not yet a veteran, he wished for, and meant to do, full +military duty. He needed a command. Where should he find a regiment. He +provided for himself, and resolved to secure a following from those in +his native land, who had been loyal to the government. They were known +as the "Loyal American Regiments" and for the most part, they were the +most desperate, and hated of any of the combatants, they had suffered +the loss of their homes, and endured the most cruel treatment from their +neighbors, and countrymen, and when the opportunity occurred they often +retaliated. In this partisan warfare quarter was neither given or taken. +In the early part of January, 1782, Lieutenant Colonel Thompson arrived +at Charleston, South Carolina, General Green's army at that time +invested the city. Becoming desperate in their need of supplies, a +sortie was made under Thompson's command, an attack was made by him on +the partisan forces under the command of Marion, the famous partisan +leader, near the Santee. When the brigade was first attacked it was +under the command of Colonel Horrey, and though Marion came in season to +take part in the action, he had the mortification of witnessing the +discomfiture of his band with the loss of many men and munition.[187] + + [187] Memoir of the war in the Southern Department of the United States. + By Henry Lee, p. 397. + +Rivington's New York Gazette, under date of Feb. 18th, 1782, says "A +detachment of the Royal Americans went on service against Greene," March +27th. A person who left the Southern Army Feb. 13th, says Lieutenant +Colonel Thompson has taken command of the British cavalry under Colonel +Leslie. "A considerable force of cavalry and infantry commanded by +Colonel Thompson sallied out from Charleston on the side opposite the +American camp and surprised and dispersed a party of militia. The +British retreated before Greene could send reinforcements." + +Charleston, March 2. Lieutenant Colonel Thompson moved Sunday, Feb. 24 +from Daniel's Island, with the cavalry, Cunningham's and Young's troops +of mounted militia, Yagers, and Volunteers of Ireland, with one three +pounder, and a detachment of the Thirtieth Regiment. By the spirited +exertion of his troops, and by the Colonel's mounting the infantry +occasionally on the dragoon horses, he carried his corps thirty-six +miles without halting. Having secured the American scouts to prevent +information being given he drove in Horrey's regiment. They were pursued +by Major Doyle with mounted militia. On seeing the enemy, Colonel +Thompson sounded a charge and dashed forwards. Marion's marque and men +refreshed our soldiers. Colonel Thompson marched back driving the +cattle, etc. The admirable conduct of the officer who commanded can be +equalled by the spirit with which his orders were executed. (Rivington, +April 17). In the war of posts, of desultory skirmishes, and of raids +into the farming country, to which the struggle at the South was +reduced, there was indeed little opportunity for Thompson to win +laurels. He made use of his energetic and methodical skill in doing what +he could to organize and discipline such materials as he had before him. + +Towards the end of the war he was sent to New York to organize a +regiment out of the broken and scattered bands of Loyalists on Long +Island. "Recruits for the King's American Dragoons, likely and spirited +young lads who were desirous of serving their King and country, and who +prefer riding to going on foot, were offered ten guineas each, if +volunteers." Such was the advertisement. His ability in organizing this +regiment was a great achievement. He commanded at Huntington, Long +Island in 1782-3 where he caused a fort to be built. In August, 1782, +near Flushing, standards were presented to his corps, with imposing +ceremonies. Prince William came forward to the center of the regiment, +received the colors from Admiral Digby, and presented them with his own +hand to Lieutenant Colonel Thompson. On a given signal the whole +regiment gave three shouts, the music played "God save the King", the +artillery fired a royal salute and the ceremony ended. + +An ox was roasted whole, to grace this occasion. He was spitted on a +hickory sapling, twelve feet long, supported on crutches, and turned by +handspikes. An attendant dipped a swab in a tub of salt and water to +baste the ox, and moderate the fire. Each soldier then sliced off for +himself a piece of juicy beef.[188] + + [188] The barbecue is still in vogue in the Southern States at all large + social gatherings. + +The Prince who officiated on this occasion was the King's third son, +afterwards William IV. He had sailed on board the Prince George under +Admiral Digby, to qualify himself for rank in the Royal Navy. + +Returning to England Thompson, as a commissioned officer of high rank +now on half pay, obtained leave to travel on the Continent. He left +England in September, 1783, with no anticipation of the ultimate result +of what was to him in intent mainly a trial of fortune. On his arrival +at Strasburg, Prince Maximilian, who became Elector of Bavaria in 1799 +and King in 1805, was attracted by the young man's appearance. On +acquaintance he soon realized that the Englishman was a man of +remarkable intelligence and later Thompson received an earnest +invitation to enter into the service of the elector. Thompson therefore +returned to England to receive the necessary permission from the king. +The king not only granted the permission but also conferred on him the +honor of Knighthood on February 23, 1784. + +Returning to the continent Thompson became a fast friend of the Elector +of Bavaria. His great mind was put to useful service in a country that +needed his wisdom, philanthropy and personal help. Many honors were +conferred upon him and he was admitted to several academies. In 1788 the +Elector made him Major-General of Cavalry and Privy Councillor of State. +He was also put at the head of the War Department. His constant study in +science and philosophy, and the great problems of the day, made him an +invaluable help to the people, besides his ability as a statesman. In +Munich, where beggary had been reduced to a system and had become an +intolerable curse, he received from all classes multiplied tokens of +most grateful regard for his acts of disinterested benevolence. Both in +England and on the continent he was held in the highest esteem for the +broad and wise plans for the amelioration of the condition of the poor +which he devised and executed. He dealt with those who lived in the +filthiest order and it was his aim to show them that virtue came from +cleanliness, and he worked unceasingly that their surroundings might +first be clean. + +Honors of all kinds were heaped upon this worker for mankind, but +nothing so deeply moved him or was so tenderly cherished in his memory, +as that scene, when once he was dangerously ill, the poor of Munich went +publicly in a body, in processions, to the cathedral, and offered public +prayers for his recovery. And on another occasion four years later, when +he was again dangerously ill at Naples, these people of their own +accord, set apart an hour each evening, after they had finished their +work in the Military Work-house, to pray for him. On his return, after +an absence of fifteen months, the subjects of his benevolence gave him a +most affecting reception. He in response, provided for them a festival +in the English Gardens which his own skill and taste had laid out where +before was an unhealthy marsh. Here eighteen hundred poor people of all +ages enjoyed themselves, in presence of above eighty thousand visitors. +Thompson says, "Let him imagine, I say, my feelings, upon hearing the +confused noise of the prayers of a multitude of people who were passing +by in the streets, upon being told that it was the poor of Munich, many +hundreds in number, who were going in procession to the church to put up +public prayers for me;--public prayers for me!--for a private person!--a +stranger!--a Protestant!" + +"Such testimonies as these were more valuable than all his military +honors, all his scientific reputation, his diplomas of Knighthood in +England, and in Poland, and his decoration as a count of the Holy Roman +Empire and there is reason to believe that he so regarded them +himself."[189] + + [189] Memorial of James Thompson of Charlestown, Mass., and Woburn, + Mass., by Leander Thompson, A. M. + +He was accused of being selfish and devoid of all honor, coarse and +cruel. That he married another woman while his wife was alive and was +always a tyrant! The records of Concord give the date of his wife's +death as January 19, 1792, while the register of Paris gives the date of +his second marriage as October 24, 1805. + +Sarah, the only child of Count Rumford, who was born in the Rolfe +Mansion in Concord, Oct. 18, 1774, remained in the care of her mother +until the latter's death. Her father had taken great interest in her and +never forgot his family, and he made provision also for his mother. +After his wife's death, Sarah accepted her father's invitation to rejoin +him in Europe where she shared his honors both in London and on the +Continent. She received her title as countess and her pension both of +which she enjoyed to the close of her life. + +While the countess was on a return visit to her old home she gained the +first news of her father's coming marriage through his letters to her. +Father and daughter kept up a continual correspondence, and from these +letters which have since been published much of their private life is +revealed.[190] Count Rumford married the widow of General Anthony +Laurence Lavosier at Paris in 1805, but the marriage soon proved unhappy +and he retired to the Villa Auteuil, within the walls, but removed from +the noise of the great city. Count Rumford never returned to his old +home in Massachusetts though it was his wish to do so. The United States +government through its ambassador, Hon. Rufus King, then resident of +London, formally invited him to return, assured of his loyalty and great +ability, and offered him the responsible position of superintendent of +the proposed American Military Academy and of inspector-general of +artillery. Though to the mutual regret of both parties concerned, the +count was not able to accept the invitation of the American government, +he gave in order to assist in the equipment of the Military Academy, +some of his very valuable models and drawings and offered to give his +whole rich collection of military books, plans, drawings, and models, +provided they would be acceptable. + + [190] See "Life of Count Rumford," by George Ellis. + +The Count's last days were spent near Paris, as that climate was best +suited to him. He lived a very retired life spending most of his days in +philosophical pursuits and experiments, almost secluded from the world. +Constant friendship between Colonel Baldwin and Benjamin Thompson +remained until the end, and the latter was always grateful for the +interest and care his old friend had bestowed upon his daughter during +their separation. + +Thompson published essays and papers on his work and that he could have +been great in theoretical science is shown by his experiment at Munich +in 1798, and his clear reasoning upon it which was in advance of the +prevailing scientific opinion by half a century. When he was in London +in 1800 he projected the Royal Institute of Great Britain. + +Besides a great number of communications to scientific journals, he +published four volumes of essays, political, economical, experimental, +and philosophical. He was ever a great friend to Harvard College. When +the Colleges were converted into barracks, during the siege of Boston, +he was instrumental in preserving the library and philosophical +apparatus from destruction by the revolutionists who regarded the +College as a hotbed of toryism. By his will he laid the foundation of +that professorship to Harvard University, which has rendered his name +justly esteemed with his friends. He bequeathed an annuity of one +thousand dollars and the reversion of another of four hundred dollars, +also the reversion of his whole estate, which amounted to twenty-six +thousand dollars, "for the purpose of founding a new institution and +professorship, in order to teach by regular courses of academical and +public lectures accompanied with proper experiments, the utility of the +physical and mathematical science for the improvement of the useful +arts, and for the extension of the industry, prosperity, happiness and +well being of society." In 1796 he remitted five thousand dollars in +three per cent. stocks, to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, +the income to be appropriated as a premium to the author of the most +important discovery on light and heat. + +This great, useful and influential life came to a close on August 21, +1814. He was just about to depart for England to which country, as long +as he lived, he retained the most devoted attachment. His death resulted +from a nervous fever at Auteuil, about four miles from Paris and he is +buried within the limits of that city. In the Monthly Magazine or +British Register (London) for September, 1814, appeared the following: + +"At his seat near Paris, 60, died, August 21, that illustrious +philosopher, Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, F. R. S., Member of the +Institute, &c., an American by birth, but the friend of man, and an +honor to the whole human race." + +Many testimonies were given in remembrance of Benjamin Thompson +throughout the civilized world. In Munich the king erected at his own +cost a bronze statue of Count Rumford, and it stands in the Maximillian +Strasse, the finest street of Munich, perhaps of any city of Europe. The +new and beautiful library which was erected in Woburn, Massachusetts, +has paid tribute also to this man's memory. A bronze monument of heroic +size stands boldly out upon the library lawn, and the inscription was +written by President Eliot of Harvard College. The Rumford Historical +Association was organized in 1877 with the simple desire to do justice +to Count Rumford's transcendent abilities as a great scientist and to +his marked usefulness as one of the greatest philanthropists of his age. +A portrait of Count Rumford by Page after one Kellerhofer hangs in +Memorial Hall, Cambridge. + +Sarah, the Countess of Rumford, after living in Paris and London several +years, returned to her old home in Concord, where she spent her last +years. She possessed many memorials and pictures which she was fond of +exhibiting to visitors. She was eccentric but had a quick and vigorous +mind and idolized America. She was never married and her death occurred +December 2, 1852, at the age of seventy. In her will she left $15,000 +and her homestead, worth $5,000, for the endowment of an institution for +widows and orphans of Concord, the homestead to be the site of the +institution, to the New Hampshire Asylum for Insane in Concord she left +$15,000, to the Concord Female Charitable Society who have under their +care a school for poor children, called the Rumford School, she left +$2,000, and the rest of her property, estimated at from $75,000 to +$100,000, to distant relatives. + + + + + COLONEL RICHARD SALTONSTALL. + + +The ancestors of Sir Richard Saltonstall resided for centuries in the +parish of Halifax, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, and the +earliest date at which we find this name recorded is in 1276. Thomas de +Saltonstall of the West Riding of Yorkshire is the first name of whom +any record is preserved. Sir Richard Saltonstall, born in 1521 was +knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1598. After holding several prominent +offices under the crown he became Lord Mayor of London in 1597-8. He was +the uncle of Sir Richard Saltonstall who was born in 1586 at Halifax and +was one of the patentees of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay and was +appointed First Assistant. He came over with the Winthrop fleet, and +arrived in Salem aboard of the Arabella, June 12, 1630, "bringing out +the charter with them." He returned to England, and at his death, left a +legacy to Harvard College. He dissented from the action of the +tyrannical rulers who were his associates, who inflicted punishment on +such as differed from them, but slightly in their notion of policy, and +requested that his dissent should be entered upon the records, which +stand much to his honor and credit. After his return to England he wrote +to Mr. Cotton and Mr. Wilson, the ministers in Boston "that it did not a +little grieve his spirit to hear what sad things were reported daily of +the tyranny and persecution in New England, as that they fined, whipped +and imprisoned men for their consciences." His son Richard, born in +1610, settled at Ipswich, Massachusetts, returned to England, and died +there in 1694. His son Nathaniel, born about 1639 and died in 1707, +settled at Haverhill, Mass., of which he is called the father. He +married Elizabeth, the daughter of the first minister, Rev. John Ward, +who gave the young couple the land for their home, on which was erected +the Saltonstall mansion which remained in the possession of the +Saltonstall family for several generations. In the early part of the +last century it was purchased by Major James Duncan, who erected the +present mansion which is now owned and occupied by the Haverhill +Historical Society. Nathaniel had a son Richard, who also had a son +Richard born June 24, 1703. He graduated from Harvard College in 1722 +and became Colonel in 1726. In 1736 he became judge of the Superior +Court and died in 1756. His eldest son, Richard Saltonstall, the subject +of this notice, was the sixth generation from Sir Richard the First +Assistant, and the fourth of the family in succession who held the +office of Colonel. He graduated from Harvard College with high honors +and delivered the Latin Oration at Commencement. + +His acceptance from Governor Shirley of the commission of Colonel, so +soon after leaving college, evinced a spirit which was not long after to +be tried in arduous service for his country. During the French war he +was Major in the army and was one of the unfortunate prisoners at the +capitulation of Fort William Henry. He escaped being massacred by the +Indians by concealing himself in the woods where he lay for many hours, +and when at last he reached Fort Edward was nearly exhausted with +fatigue and hunger. He remained in active service until the close of the +war, and later was appointed Sheriff to the County of Essex. + +Colonel Saltonstall was always a steady loyalist in principle and never +for a moment wavered in his devotion to the flag which he had so bravely +fought under and which he had so often sworn to support. "The +proceedings (of the Government) were in his opinion extremely +inexpedient, but he never doubted their right to tax the Colonies." + +"He was much beloved by the people of Haverhill, and its vicinity. He +resided on the beautiful family estate in Haverhill known as 'the +Saltonstall Place,' where he lived in a liberal style of hospitality, +sustaining the character of a truly upright man, and an accomplished +gentleman. It was long before he lost his popularity, but in 1774 a mob +assembled from the West Parish of Haverhill and Salem, N. H., for the +purpose of proving themselves _Sons of Liberty_ by attacking him. By a +word he could have collected a great part of the inhabitants of the +village to his defence, but he would not, though urged by some of his +friends. The rioters marched to his home and paraded before it, armed +with clubs and other offensive instruments, when he came to the door and +addressed them with great firmness and dignity. He told them he was +under the oath of allegiance to the king, that he was bound to discharge +the duties of the office he held under him, that he did not think the +people were pursuing a wise or prudent course but that he was as great a +friend to the country as any of them, and had exposed his life in its +cause, etc. He then ordered some refreshment for the _gentlemen_, who +soon began to relent, when he requested them to go to the tavern and +call for entertainment at his expense. They then huzzard to the praise +of Colonel Saltonstall, and never attempted to mob him again." + +Colonel Saltonstall left Haverhill in the fall of 1774 and embarked for +England. He did not enter the British service, saying, if he could not +conscientiously engage on the side of his native country he never would +take up arms against her. If he had joined the continental army he +undoubtedly would have held an office of high command. The king granted +him a pension and he passed the remainder of his life in England, where +he died. In one of his last letters in which he expressed great +affection for the "_delightful place of his nativity_," he wrote, "I +have no remorse of conscience for my past conduct. I have had more +satisfaction in a private life here than I should have had in being next +in command to General Washington, where I must have acted in conformity +to the dictates of others, regardless of my own feelings." + +In Haverhill Colonel Saltonstall was much beloved and had a great +influence from his integrity, benevolence of disposition and his +superior understanding and knowledge of the world. In England he was +hospitably received by his remote family connections, who paid him every +kind and generous attention while living, and erected a monument to his +memory in Kensington church, on which is the following inscription: + +"Near this place are interred the remains of Richard Saltonstall, Esq., +who died October, 1785, aged fifty-two. He was an _American loyalist_, +from Haverhill in Massachusetts, where he was descended from a first +family, both for the principal share it had in the early erecting as +well as in rank and authority in governing that province, and wherein he +himself sustained, with unshaken loyalty and universal applause, various +important trusts and commands under the Crown both civil and military, +from his youth till its revolt; and throughout life maintained such an +amiable private character, as engaged him the esteem and regard of many +friends. As a memorial of his merits this stone is erected." + +Colonel Saltonstall was not married. He was Proscribed and Banished by +the law of 1778. His mansion home at Haverhill passed into the hands of +his brother, Dr. Nathaniel Saltonstall who joined the Disunionists, at a +time when his brothers remained true to those principals of loyalty in +which they had been educated. He however did not take up arms against +the government. At his death he left three sons and four daughters, the +only family of that name in Massachusetts. + +LEVERETT SALTONSTALL, youngest son of Judge Saltonstall was born in 1754 +and at the commencement of the war had nearly completed his term of +service with a merchant of Boston, when Col. Saltonstall came to that +place for protection from mob violence. Being in the habit of looking +up to him for advice and direction, he embraced the same political +opinion, and becoming acquainted with the British officers he was +fascinated with their profession. After the passing of the Act of +Disunion July 4, 1776 he unlike his brothers decided to enter the +British service and fight for his government. He was in many battles, +and commanded a company in the army of Lord Cornwallis. He died at the +close of the war at New York, 1782. His brother-in-law, the Rev. Moses +Badger, who was also a loyalist, in a letter to Dr. Nathaniel +Saltonstall concerning his sickness (consumption), says, "It may be some +consolation to you and his mother to hear, that his behaviour in the +regiment endeared him to every officer, and the soldiers who had so +frequent opportunities to see his intrepidity, coolness and gallantry in +action, absolutely revered him. He was agreeable to people of all ranks. +He was exceedingly cautious in speaking, seldom uttering a word without +reflection and was never heard to speak ill of any one and reprobated +the man or woman who indulged themselves in this infirmity. He never +fell into the scandalous and fashionable vice of profaneness. In short, +I looked upon him to be as innocent a young man as any I have known +since I have been capable of making observations on mankind."[191] + + [191] Mass. His. Coll. 2, series Vol. IV, pp. 167, 168. + + + + + REV. MATHER BYLES. + + +Josiah Byles, a saddler by trade, came from Winchester, Hants county. He +was in Boston in 1695 and joined the church October 11, 1696; seven +years later he married the pastor's daughter. + +He had four children by his wife Sarah. His second wife, Elizabeth, he +married October 6, 1703; she was the widow of William Greenough and the +daughter of Increase Mather. + +Mather Byles, D. D., son of Josiah and Elizabeth, was born in Boston in +1706. He graduated from Harvard University in 1725 and was ordained +first pastor of the Hollis street church in 1733. This church was built +on land given by Governor Belcher in 1733, the site is now occupied by +the Hollis street Theatre. He married, February 14, 1733, Mrs. Anna +Gale; the ceremony took place in the state room of the Province House, +Rev. Thomas Prince of the Old South officiating. By this marriage he had +six children born, all of whom died young except Elizabeth. His second +wife was Rebecca, daughter of Lieutenant Governor Hon. William Tailor; +the ceremony was performed by Rev. Joseph Sewell, D. D. By his second +wife he had four children. He was created Doctor of Divinity at Aberdeen +in 1765. He lived happily with his parish until 1776 when the connection +was dissolved and never renewed. Of the Congregational clergy he stood +alone against the revolution. + +Mather Byles is one of the most interesting men of this period. He was a +scholar and a great wit. Pope, Lansdowne and Watts were among his +correspondents. In his pulpit he avoided politics and on being asked the +reason, replied: "I have thrown up four breastworks, behind which I have +entrenched myself, neither of which can be enforced. In the first place +I do not understand politics; in the second place, you all do, every man +and mother's son of you; in the third place you have politics all the +week, pray let one day in seven be devoted to religion; in the fourth +place, I am engaged in work of infinitely greater importance; give me +any subject to preach on of more consequence than the truth I bring you, +and I will preach on it the next Sabbath." + +The preacher became known as the "celebrated Dr. Byles." He wrote in +poetry and prose very well, and some of his sermons are still extant. +Also several of his essays, in the New England Weekly Journal, a poem on +the death of George I; and the accession of George II, in 1727. A sort +of memorial address to Governor Belcher, on the death of his wife, and a +poem called the conflagration, and a volume of metrical matters +published in 1744. + +The serious writings of Dr. Byles are singularly free from everything +suggestive of frivolous association. In his pulpit there was none of it, +while out of it, unless on solemn occasions, there was very little else. +One of that day said his wit at times was quite as clever as Jonathan +Swift or Sydney Smith. + +Mather Byles and his family were staunch loyalists. News of the repeal +of the stamp act arrived in Boston May 16, 1766. The nineteenth of May +was appointed for merry-making. "At one in the morning the bell of the +Hollis street church began to ring," says a zealous writer of that day. +"The slumbers of the pastor, Dr. Byles, were disturbed of course, for he +was a tory, though a very pleasant tory, after all." In 1777 he was +denounced in town meeting, and having been by a subsequent trial +pronounced guilty of attachment to the Royal cause, was sentenced to +confinement, and to be sent to England with his family. This Byles +steadfastly refused to do and the doom of the banishment was never +enforced, and he was permitted to remain in Boston. The substances of +the charges against him were that he continued in Boston during the +siege; and that he prayed for the king and the safety of the town. + +For a time he was kept a prisoner in his own house. On one occasion +while under guard he persuaded the sentinel to go on an errand for him, +promising to perform sentinel's duty himself; and to the great amusement +of all gravely marched before his own door with a musket on his +shoulder, until his keeper returned. This was after his trial; and +alluding to the circumstances that he had been kept prisoner, that his +guard had been removed and replaced again, he said, that "he had been +guarded, re-guarded, and disregarded." + +[Illustration: REV. MATHER BYLES, D. D. + +Born in Boston in 1706. "A man of infinite wit." Died in Boston July 5, +1788.] + +Near his house, in wet weather, was a very bad slough. It happened that +two of the selectmen who had the care of the streets, passed that way +driving in a chaise, stuck fast in this hole, and were obliged to get +out in the mud to extricate their vehicle. Dr. Byles came out, and +making them a respectful bow, said: "Gentlemen, I have often +complained to you of this nuisance, without any attention being paid to +it, and I am very glad to see you 'stirring' in this matter now." + +Dr. Byles' wit created many a laugh and many an enemy. In person he was +tall and commanding. His voice was strong and harmonious and his +delivery graceful. He was intimate with General Knox, who was a +bookseller before the war. When the American troops took possession of +the town after the evacuation, Knox, who had become quite corpulent, +marched in at the head of his artillery. As he passed on Byles thought +himself privileged, on old scores, exclaimed, loud enough to be heard, +"I never saw an ox fatter in my life." When confined in his own house +and quite poor and had no money to waste on follies, he caused the +little room in which he read and wrote to be painted brown, that he +might say to every visitor, "You see, I am in a brown study." + +From the time of the stamp act in 1765 to the period of the revolution +the cry had been repeated in every form of phraseology, "that our +grievances should be redressed." One fine morning the multitude had +gathered on the common to see a regiment of redcoats parade there, who +had recently arrived. "Well," said the doctor, gazing at the spectacle, +"I think we can no longer complain that our grievances are not +red-dressed." "True," said one of his neighbors who were standing near, +"but you have two d's, Dr. Byles." "To be sure, sir, I have," the doctor +instantly replied, "I had them from Aberdeen in 1765." + +Some visitors called one morning, and Mrs. Byles unwilling to be found +at her ironing board, and desiring to hide herself, as she would not be +so caught by those ladies, the doctor put her in a closet, and buttoned +her in. After a few remarks the ladies expressed a wish to see the +doctor's curiosities, which he proceeded to exhibit; and after +entertaining them very agreeably for some time, he told them he had kept +the greatest curiosity to the last; and proceeding to the closet, +unbuttoned the door and exhibited Mrs. Byles. + +He had at one time a remarkably stupid and literal Irish girl as a +domestic. With a look and voice of terror he said to her in haste, "Go +and say to your mistress, Dr. Byles has put an end to himself." The girl +ran upstairs and with a face of horror, screamed, "Dr. Byles has put an +end to himself." The astonished wife and daughter ran into the +parlor--and there was the doctor, calmly waltzing about with a part of a +cow's tail, that he had picked up in the street, tied to his coat or +cassock behind. + +On the celebrated Dark-day in 1780 a lady who lived near the doctor, +sent her young son with her compliments, to know if he could account for +the uncommon appearance. His answer was, "My dear, you will give my +compliments to your mamma, and tell her that I am as much in the _dark_ +as she is." He paid his addresses unsuccessfully to a lady who +afterwards married a gentleman of the name of Quincy; the doctor on +meeting her said: "So madam, it appears that you prefer a Quincy to +Byles." "Yes, for if there had been anything worse than _biles_ God +would have afflicted Job with them." + +Mather Byles had two daughters by his second wife, Mary born in 1750 and +Katherine born in 1753. They were famous for their hospitality and their +stout, unflinching loyalty to the throne, to the last hours of their +existence. This thread of life was spun out more than half a century +after the Royal government had ceased in these States; yet they retained +their love of, and strict adherence to monarch and monarchies, and +refused to acknowledge that the Revolution had transferred their +allegiance to new rulers. One of these ladies of a by-gone age, wrote to +William the Fourth, on his accession to the throne. They had known the +"sailor-king" during the Revolution and now assured him that the family +of Doctor Byles always had been, and would continue to be, loyal to the +rightful sovereign of England. + +Dr. Byles continued to live in Boston after the Revolution, the last +twelve years of his life being spent in retirement. He died of paralysis +July 5th, 1788 at the age of 82. As Dr. Byles refused to be driven out +and made a refugee, or absentee, he therefore saved his property from +confiscation, and his two daughters, maiden ladies, lived and died in +the old family house at the corner of Tremont and Nassau street, now +Common street. They were repeatedly offered a great price for their +dwelling, but would not sell it, nor would they permit improvements or +alterations. In the course of improvements in Boston a part of the +building had to be removed in widening the street. This had a fatal +influence upon the elder sister; she mourned over the sacrilege, and, it +is thought, died its victim. "That," said the survivor, "is one of the +consequences of living in a Republic. Had we been living under a king, +he would have cared nothing about our little property, and we could have +enjoyed it in our own way as long as we lived. But," continued she, +"there is one comfort, that not a creature in the States will be any +better for what we shall leave behind us." She was true to her promise, +for the Byles estate passed to relatives in Halifax at their decease. +One of them died in 1835, the other in 1837. They worshipped in Trinity +church under which their bodies were buried, and on Sundays wore dresses +almost as old as themselves. Among their furniture, was a pair of +bellows two centuries old, a table on which Franklin drank tea on his +last visit to Boston, a chair which more than a hundred years before the +Government of England had sent as a present to their grandfather, +Lieutenant-Governor Tailer. They showed to visitors commissions to their +grandfather, signed by Queen Anne, and three of the Georges. They talked +of their walks arm-in-arm, on Boston Common, with General Howe, and Lord +Percy, while the British Army occupied Boston. They told of his +Lordship's ordering his band to play under their window for their +gratification. They took pleasure in exhibiting the many heirlooms which +were in the possession of the family and enjoyed hearing a recitation of +the bright stories of the day. The works of Watts were sent to Byles by +the author from time to time and among the treasures highly prized by +the family was a presentation copy, in quarto from Pope, of his +translation of the Odyssey. At the sale of the library of Dr. Byles a +large folio Bible in French, was purchased by a private individual. This +Bible had been presented to the French-Protestant church in Boston, by +Queen Anne, and at the time when it came into the hands of Dr. Byles was +the last relic of that church, whose visible temple had been erected in +School Street about 1716.[192] + + [192] For further information about these French Protestants see the + "Memoir" by Dr. Holmes, or to Vol. XXII. p. 62. of Massachusetts + Historical Collections. + +The bible is now preserved in the library of the Divinity School at +Cambridge and was presented in 1831 by the widow of the late Samuel Cobb +of Boston, who had bought it at the sale of Mather Byle's library. + +MATHER BYLES, JR., D. D., a son of Rev. Mather Byles by his second wife, +was born in 1734, and married Rebecca, daughter of Rev. N. Walter of +Roxbury in 1761. He graduated in 1751 at Harvard University. In 1757 at +the age of twenty-three he was ordained at New London; his father +preached the sermon. Eleven years after, his ministry came to an abrupt +termination. Without previous intimation, he called a meeting of his +church and requested dismission, that he might accept an invitation to +become Rector of the North Episcopal, or Christ Church, Salem street, +Boston. His change to Episcopacy was soon a matter of discussion all +over New England. Among the reasons he gave in the course of the +discussion that ensued, were, that "another minister would do much +better for them than he had done or could do, for his health was infirm, +and the position of the church very bleak, the hill wearisome, he was +not a country minister, and his home and friends were all in Boston." +The debate was long and warm, and produced total alienation. April 12, +1768, the record is "The Rev. Byles dismissed _himself_ from the church +and congregation." Before the close of 1768, he was inducted into the +desired rectorship; and of Christ Church, was the third in succession. +He continued to discharge his ministerial duties until 1775, when the +force of events compelled him to abandon his flock. He was a staunch +loyalist, and resigned the rectorship of Christ Church on Easter +Tuesday, 1775, meaning to go to Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, but +political tumults there, making that impossible, he remained in Boston, +and performed the duty of chaplain to some of the regiments, until the +evacuation in 1776, when he left Boston. Accompanied by his family of +four persons, he went to Halifax. In 1778 he was proscribed and +banished. He settled at St. John, New Brunswick, after the war, and was +Rector of the city, and Chaplain of the Province. He died at St. John in +1814. + +His daughter Rebecca, born in 1762, married W. J. Almon, M. D., Surgeon +to the Ordnance and Artillery, and died at Halifax in 1853. + +MATHER BYLES (3) born in 1764, went to the British West Indies, was +Commissary General at Grenada. He married June, 1799, Mary, eldest +daughter of Chief Justice Bridgewater of Grenada. The writer was at St. +George, Grenada, in 1907, and saw there in the Episcopal Church a +marble tablet erected to the memory of Mather Byles of Boston, by his +Brother Belcher. He died Dec. 17, 1802. + +ELIZABETH, born in 1767, married William Scoville, Esq., of St. John, +and died in 1808. + +ANNA, born at Boston, married General Thomas DesBrisay, Lieut. General +in the Army, Commandant at Halifax in 1799. + +BELCHER was born in 1780 at Halifax, and died in England in 1815. + +MATHER BROWN, was a grandson of Rev. Mather Byles (1). His mother was +Elizabeth, born in 1737, who married in 1760 Gawler Brown and died in +1763. + +Mather Brown went to Europe in 1780, with a letter of introduction from +his grandfather to Harrison Gray, Esq., London, a firm friend of the +family. Mr. Copley had likewise been intimate with Dr. Byles before he +left Boston. He also gave him a letter addressed by the old patriarch +"To Mr. Copley in the Solar system." In a letter dated Paris 23, 1781, +he writes: "Dr. Franklin has given me a pass, and recommendatory letter +to the famous Mr. West. He treats me with the utmost politeness; has +given me an invitation to his home. I delivered him my grandfather's +message, he expressed himself with the greatest esteem and affection for +him, and has since introduced me at Versailles, as being grandson to one +of his most particular friends in America." + +In his first letter from London, 1781, he writes: "In consequence of the +recommendation of Dr. Franklin, who gave me letters to his fellow +townsman, the famous Mr. West of Philadelphia, I practice gratis with +this gentleman, who affords me every encouragement, as well as Mr. +Copley, who is particularly kind to me, welcomed me to his home, and +lent me his pictures, etc. At my arrival Mr. Treasurer Gray carried me +and introduced me to Lord George Germaine." In a letter in 1783 he +wrote: "I have exhibited four pictures in the exhibition; the king and +queen were there yesterday." In 1784: "I have painted several Americans. +Yesterday I had two pictures shown his royal highness, the Prince of +Wales. They were carried to the palace by his page. He criticised them, +and thought them strong likenesses. I believe I never told you that the +king knew a picture of mine in the last exhibition, of the keeper of +Windsor Castle, and took particular notice of Mr. Gray's picture; asked +him who it was, and who did it, and what book he had in his hand. Mr. +West told him it was the treasurer of Boston painted by his pupil, a +young man, Mr. Brown of America. The king asked him what part. He told +him Massachusetts." In 1785 he writes: "Among other great people I have +painted, Sir William Pepperell and family, and Hon. John Adams, +ambassador to His Britannic Majesty. On the 20th of June, I had the +honor to be introduced to the Duke of Northumberland at his palace; his +Grace received me with the utmost politeness." + +Mather Brown became afterwards artist to the king, a worthy successor to +Copley. And thus two Boston-born boys filled this honorable position. + + + + + THE HALLOWELL FAMILY OF BOSTON. + + +Robert Hallowell arrived in Boston from London, in 1764 and entered upon +his duties as Comptroller of the Customs. He was Collector of the +Customs at Portsmouth, New Hampshire before the age of twenty-five. In +1765, Sabine says, "A mob surrounded his elegant house in Hanover +Street, tore down his fences, broke his windows, and forcing the doors +at last destroyed furniture, stole money, scattered books and papers, +and drank of the wines in the cellar to drunkenness." + +In 1768 Hallowell ordered Hancock's vessel, the _Liberty_, seized for +smuggling wine, to be removed from the wharf to a place covered by the +guns of the _Romney_ frigate; and in the affray which occurred, received +wounds and bruises that at the time seemed fatal. + +He removed his office to Plymouth, June 1, 1774, when the port of Boston +was closed. In 1775, he was an Addresser of Gage; and the year following +with his family of five persons, he accompanied the British Army to +Halifax. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. He went to England and +resided at Bristol. Hallowell came to the United States in 1788 and in +1790--as the executor of his own father and of his wife's father. In +1792 he removed to Boston with his family, and lived in the homestead on +Batterymarch Street, which because of his mother's life interest, had +not been confiscated. He was kindly received and became intimate with +some distinguished citizens. + +In 1816, when failing in health, he went to Gardiner, Maine to reside +with his son, and died there April, 1818, in his seventy-ninth year. His +wife was Hannah, daughter of Doctor Sylvester Gardiner. His two +daughters, Hannah and Anne, died unmarried. His son, the Hon. Robert +Hallowell, became a gentleman of great wealth and a highly respected +citizen. Two of Mr. Hallowell's sisters died in England; Sarah, wife of +Samuel Vaughan, in 1809; and Anne, widow of General Gould, in 1812. + +The towns of Hallowell and Gardiner on the Kennebec River are named +after their families. + +BENJAMIN HALLOWELL of Boston, brother of Robert Hallowell, was +Commissioner of the Customs. In early life he commanded a small armed +vessel, and during the war ending in the conquest of Canada, commanded +the province twenty-gun ship, "King George," rendering essential service +notably at the retaking of Newfoundland. + +Captain Hallowell's acceptance of the office of Mandamus Councillor made +him a special object of public detestation. + +On September 2, 1774, while the mob were assembled on Cambridge Common +to receive the resignations of Danforth, Lee, and Oliver as Mandamus +Councillors, Hallowell passed on his way to Roxbury. About one hundred +and sixty horsemen pursued him at full gallop. Some of the leaders +however, prudently dissuaded them from proceeding and they returned and +dismounted, except for one man who followed Hallowell to Roxbury and +caused him much annoyance. Through the action of the mob he was obliged +to seek protection in Boston and leave his mansion which was built in +1738. It was used afterwards by the disunion forces as a hospital for +the camp at Roxbury and his pleasure grounds were converted into a place +of burial for the soldiers who died there. + +In March, 1776, Captain Hallowell accompanied the British army to +Halifax with his family of six persons. In July, 1776, he sailed for +England in the ship Aston Hall. While at Halifax he wrote: "If I can be +of the least service to either army or navy I will stay in America until +the Rebellion is subdued." + +The British Government granted him lands in Manchester, and two other +towns in Nova Scotia, and a township in Upper Canada, which bears his +name. He was a large proprietor of lands on the Kennebec, Maine, prior +to the Revolution, but in 1778, he was proscribed and banished and +included in the Conspiracy Act a year later, and his entire estate +confiscated. His mansion house in Roxbury was seized and sold by the +State, but as the fee was in Mrs. Hallowell, her heirs sued to recover +of the person who held under the deed of the Commission of Confiscation +and obtained judgement in 1803 in the United States Circuit Court, by +which she recovered the property. + +In 1784, when Mrs. Adams, the wife of the first minister from the United +States was in England, she relates that both Mr. Hallowell and his wife +treated her with respect and kindness. They also urged her to take +lodgings with them, but this she declined. She records, too, that they +lived in handsome style but not as splendidly as when in Boston. She +accepted an invitation to "an unceremonious family dinner" as Mrs. +Hallowell called it and met the Rev. Dr. Walter, Rector of Trinity +Church, and two other gentlemen who belonged to Massachusetts. + +On visiting Boston in 1796, Captain Hallowell was accompanied by his +daughter, Mrs. Emsley, whose husband had just been appointed Chief +Justice of Upper Canada. During his stay the odium which attached to his +official relations to the Crown seemed to have been forgotten, since he +was received by his former associates with the greatest kindness and +hospitality. He died at York (Toronto) Upper Canada, in 1799, aged +seventy-five, and was the last survivor of the Board of Commissioners. + +Captain Hallowell had two sons, both of whom changed their names. WARD +NICHOLAS HALLOWELL'S name was changed to Boylston. He was born in Boston +in 1749. Sabine says: "I have before me the original license bearing the +signature of George III by which he was authorized to change his name;" +it recites--"That Nicholas Boylston, his uncle by his mother's side has +conceived a very great affection for him, the petitioner, and has +promised to leave him at his death, certain estates which are very +considerable, etc." In early life he made a tour of Europe, visiting +Italy, Turkey, Syria, Palestine, Egypt and along the coast of Barbary; +and arrived in England in 1775 through France, and Flanders. He dined +at Governor Hutchinson's, London, with some fellow Loyalists, July 29, +1775, and entertained the company with an account of his travels, and, +at subsequent periods, exhibited the curiosities which he brought from +the Holy Land, Egypt, and other countries to the unhappy exiles from his +native state. + +In the Autumn of the next year, he was in lodgings at Shepton Mallet. He +became a member of the Loyalist Association, formed in London in 1799. +In 1800 he returned to Boston and laid claim to his father's estate that +had been confiscated and sold, as being the property of his mother in +her own right. Having assumed her name of Boylston, he obtained the +estate by due process of law, as previously stated. In 1810 he presented +Harvard College with a valuable collection of medical and anatomical +works and engravings. He took his mother's name of Boylston, and thus +claimed the family estate. He died at his seat in Roxbury, January 7, +1828. + +He was a gentleman of education and took an active interest in the +Roxbury schools. His liberality is commemorated by a school, and a +street named after him, Boylston street being one of the principal +streets in Boston. + +SIR BENJAMIN HALLOWELL (Carew), another son of Captain Hallowell, who, +succeeding to the estates of the Carews of Beddington, assumed the name +and arms of that family. He was one of the eight Boston boys who +subsequently attained high rank in the British service. Admiral Sir +Isaac Coffin, Sir Benjamin Hallowell (Carew), John Singleton Copley, the +younger, who became Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Chancellor of England, General +Sir John Coffin, Hugh Mackay Gordon, Sir David Ochterlony, Sir Roger +Hale Sheaff, Sir Aston Coffin. + +Entering the royal navy during the American war he was at the time of +his death in 1834, an admiral of the Blue in the British Navy, G. C. B., +K. St. F. M. His commission as Lieutenant, bears date August, 1781; as +Captain, in 1793; as Rear-Admiral, in 1811; as Vice-Admiral, in 1819. He +was made a Knight Commander of the Bath in 1819, and was promoted to the +rank of Grand Cross in 1831. + +His employments at sea were various and arduous. He was with Rodney in +the memorable battle with De Grasse; also at the siege of Bastia; and in +command of a ship-of-the-line under Hotham, in the encounter with the +French off the Hieres Islands. He served as a volunteer on board the +_Victory_, in the battle of Cape St. Vincent. In the battle, Admiral +Jarvis took his official post on the quarter deck of the Victory. +Calder, the captain of the fleet kept bringing reports of the increasing +numbers, observed till he reached twenty-seven, and said something of +the disparity. Enough of that, said Jarvis, the die is cast and if there +are fifty sail, I will go through them. Hallowell could not contain +himself. He slapped the great admiral on the back, crying "That's right, +Sir John, and by God, we'll give them a damned good licking." He was in +command of the _Swiftsure_ of seventy-four guns, and contributed +essentially to Nelson's victory in the battle of the Nile. From a part +of the mainmast of L'Orient, which was picked up by the _Swiftsure_, +Hallowell directed his carpenter to make a coffin, which was sent to +Nelson with the following letter: + + "Sir, I have taken the liberty of presenting you a coffin made from + the mainmast of L'Orient, that when you have finished your military + career in this world, you may be buried in one of your trophies. But + that that period may be far distant is the earnest wish of your + sincere friend, + + BENJAMIN HALLOWELL." + +Southey, in his "Life of Nelson," remarks: "An offering so strange and +yet so suited to the occasion, was received in the spirit in which it +was sent. And, as if he felt it good for him, now that he was at the +summit of his wishes, to have death before his eyes, he ordered the +coffin to be placed upright in his cabin. An old favorite servant +entreated him so earnestly to let it be removed, that at length he +consented to have the coffin carried below; but he gave strict orders +that it should be safely stowed, and reserved for the purpose for which +its brave and worthy donor had designed it." + +In 1799, Sir Benjamin was engaged in the attacks on the castles of St. +Elmo and Capua, and was honored with the Neapolitan Order of St. +Ferdinand and Merit. Two years later he fell in with the French +squadron, and surrendered his ship--the Swiftsure--after a sharp +contest. During the peace of Amiens, he was stationed on the coast of +Africa. He was with Hood in the reduction of St. Lucia and Tobago; with +Nelson in the West Indies; in command of the convoy of the second +expedition to Egypt; with Martin, off the mouth of the Rhone, where he +assisted in driving on shore several French ships-of-war; and in the +Mediterranean. His last duty seems to have been performed on the Irish +station. He died at Beddington Park, in 1834, at the age of +seventy-three. His wife was a daughter of Commissioner Inglefield, of +Gibraltar Dock-yard. His son and heir, Charles Hallowell Carew who at +the time of his decease, had attained the rank of Captain in the Royal +Navy, and who married Mary, the daughter of Sir Murray Maxwell, C. B., +died at the Park, in 1848. In 1851 his fifth son, Robert Hallowell +Carew, late captain in the 36th Regiment, married Ann Roycroft, widow of +Walter Tyson Smythes. + + +LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO BENJAMIN HALLOWELL IN SUFFOLK + COUNTY, AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Samuel Gardner Jarvis, July 24, 1780: Lib. 131, fol. 230 Farm, 7 + 1-2 A., and dwelling-house in Roxbury, Jamaica Plain N.W.; road by + widow Parker's N.E.; Joseph Williams S.E.; heirs of Capt. Newell, + deceased, S.W. + + To John Coffin Jones, Mar. 15, 1782; Lib. 134, fol. 60; Land and + brick dwelling-house in Boston, Hanover St. N.; heirs of Alexander + Chamberlain, deceased, and heirs of Miles Whitworth, deceased, W.; + land in occupation of Samuel Sumner S. and W.; said Sumner and + Joseph Scott, an absentee, S.; said Scott and heirs of Benjamin + Andrews, deceased, E. + + To John Coffin Jones, Mar. 15, 1782; Lib. 134, fol. 62; Land and + dwelling-house in Boston, land purchased by said Jones N.; Joseph + Scott E.; S. and E.; said Scott and Sampson Mason S. and E.; Masons + Court S.; heirs of Miles Whitworth, deceased, W. + +[Illustration: THE OLD VASSALL HOUSE, CAMBRIDGE. + +Occupied during the siege of Boston by Dr. Benjamin Church, +Surgeon-General, who was arrested and confined here until his trial.] + + + + + THE VASSALLS. + + +John Vassall, the first member of this illustrious family of which +anything is definitely known, was an alderman of London, and in 1588 +fitted out and commanded two ships of war to oppose the Spanish Armada. +He was descended from an ancient French family traced back to about the +eleventh century of the house of Du Vassall, Barons de guerdon, in +Querci, Perigord. + +John Vassall had two sons, Samuel and William. Samuel was one of the +original patentees of lands in Massachusetts in 1628. His monument in +King's Chapel, Boston, erected by Florentinus Vassall, his great +grandson, in 1766, sets forth that he was "a steady and undaunted +asserter of the liberties of England in 1628, he was the first who +boldly refused to submit to the tax of tonnage and poundage, an +unconstitutional claim of the crown arbitrarily imposed for which to the +ruin of his family, his goods were seized and his person imprisoned by +the star chamber court, the Parliament in July, 1641, voted him +L10,445:12:2 for his damages, and resolved that he should be further +considered for his personal sufferings." + +His name headed the subscription list to raise money against the rebels +in Ireland, and his whole life was indicative of the energy and +liberality which characterized many of his descendants. + +His son, WILLIAM VASSALL, born about 1590, was the first of his name who +came to America. He was an assistant in the Massachusetts Bay Company +and one of the original patentees of New England. In June, 1635, he +embarked with his wife and six children on board the Blessing, for New +England. He undoubtedly settled at first in Roxbury, for in the church +record of that town is the following entry: "Mrs. Anna Vassaile, the +wife of Mr. William Vassaile. Her husband brought five children to this +land, Judith, Frances, John, Margaret, Mary." Also one other, Anne, who +afterwards married Nicolas Ware. + +William Vassall removed later to Scituate, where he proved himself to be +an ever staunch Episcopalian. The Puritans had strong suspicion of him +always as "inclining to the Bishops." While he lived in Scituate he was +regarded as a highly respectable citizen and of "a busy and factious +spirit." He was proprietor of a large estate, which bore the name of +Newland. In 1646 he sailed to England for the redress of wrongs in the +government and never returned, but in 1648 removed to Barbados and +resided in the parish of St. Michael, where he died in 1655, aged 65 +years. He bequeathed to his son John one-third of his real estate and +the remainder to his five daughters. His Scituate estate consisted of +about 120 acres, with house, barns, and the privilege of "making an +oyster bed in North River," before his house. The estate was conveyed by +Joshua Hubbard to John Cushen and Mathyas Briggs for L120. + +His daughter Judith married Resolved White, the eldest brother of +Peregrine White, at Scituate, 1640. Frances married James Adams at +Marshfield 1646. Ann married Nicholas Ware of Virginia. Margaret married +Joshua Hubbard of Scituate. Mary was unmarried and alive at Barbados in +1655. + +JOHN VASSALL, only son of William Vassall, born about 1625. In 1643 his +name is on the militia roll of Scituate, and later bore the rank of +captain. In 1652 he sold his house in Boston for L59. In 1661 he sold +his Scituate estates and removed, it is supposed, to Cape Fear, N. C, +and later to the West Indies. + +JOHN VASSALL, the only son of Samuel, whose monument is in King's +Chapel, married Ann, the daughter of John Lewis, an English resident of +Geno. He went to Jamaica shortly after it was taken in 1655, and laid +the foundation of the great estate which his posterity enjoyed until the +emancipation in 1834. He had two sons, William and Leonard, from whom +descended all of the name of which there is any subsequent record. + +LEONARD VASSALL, son of said William, was born in Jamaica, 1678, and was +twice married. His first wife was Ruth Gale, of Jamaica by whom he had +seventeen children. She died in Boston in 1733. His second wife was +widow Phebe Goss, by whom he had one daughter. He removed to Boston +previous to 1723. He was early connected with Christ Church. In 1730 he +was instrumental in founding Trinity church. The original building was +built on land which he had purchased of William Speakman, baker, 1728, +for L450. The lot covered by the church was bounded by Seven-starr Lane +(Summer street), 86 feet and 169 feet on Bishop's Lane (Hawley street), +and is nearly opposite the estate which he purchased in 1727 of Simeon +Stoddard, and where he resided until his death. He had large and +valuable estates in Braintree and Jamaica. + +John and William Vassall, two of Major Leonard's sons, were important +men in Boston, and added much to the prosperity of the town. + +JOHN VASSALL, the elder brother of William, was born in the West Indies +Sept. 7, 1713, and graduated from Harvard college in 1732. In 1734 he +married Elizabeth, the daughter of Lieut. Gov. Spencer Phips by whom he +had four children, and later he married Lucy, the daughter of Jonathan +Barren of Chelmsford by whom he had one child. He resided in Cambridge +most of his life and died there November 27, 1747. December 30, 1741, +John Vassall conveyed to his brother Henry (a planter who had married +Penelope the daughter of Isaac Royal of Antigua), in consideration of +L9050 over seven acres of land in Cambridge, with dwelling house, barn +and outhouses. During the Revolution, no doubt, this house was the +headquarters of the Surgeon-General and perhaps a hospital. Dr. Benjamin +Church, after he was detected in correspondence with the enemy, was +arrested here and confined to his quarters until trial, and left a +record of his occupation of the house by his name, cut with a penknife +on one of the doors of his chamber, which is still legible though since +covered with several coats of paint. + +After the death of John Vassall, his son, who was also known by the +name of John, erected the house in Cambridge, which has since become +famous through Washington's connection with it, as during the Revolution +it was used as his headquarters, and afterwards it was the home of Prof. +Henry W. Longfellow. + +MAJOR JOHN VASSALL, the grandson of Leonard Vassall, was born in +Cambridge, June 12, 1738, and graduated from Harvard College in 1757. He +erected a beautiful edifice on the estate inherited from his father and +occupied it until driven from it by the rage of the mob. The estate was +confiscated in 1774 and he removed to Boston for protection, and in that +city continued to dwell upon the estate adjoining that of his uncle, +William Vassall, on Pemberton Hill, until 1776. + +At the commencement of the Revolution he was obliged to flee with his +family to England. He had large possessions in Cambridge, Boston and +Dorchester,[193] all of which were confiscated and himself exiled, soon +after he departed from home. He joined the British army in Halifax, and +from there sailed to England. He died there suddenly, October 2, 1796. +An obituary published in the "Gentleman's Magazine" said of him, "he had +a very considerable property in America where he lived in princely +style." Sometime after the disturbances took place, having taken a very +active part and spared no expense to support the royal cause, he left +his possessions there to the ravagers, and having fortunately very large +estates in Jamaica, he came with his family to England. He carried his +loyalty so far as not to use the family motto, "Soepe pro rege, semper +pro republica." + + [193] See p. 184 concerning his mansion in Dorchester. + +In 1774 he had been addresser of Hutchinson and for this great offence +to the mobs, he was driven from his home, his property was confiscated +and he was exiled. During his residence in England, he seems to have +lived near Bristol and died at Clifton. A part of the Jamaica grant was +still in the family, and his several children inherited a competence. +His wife Elizabeth, sister of Lieut.-Gov. Thomas Oliver, died at +Clifton, in 1807. His children were John, who died at Lyndhurst, in the +year 1800; Thomas Oliver, who died in England in 1807; Elizabeth; Robert +Oliver, who became a member of the Council of Jamaica, and died at +Abington Hall, in that island in 1827; a second Elizabeth, who married a +Mr. Lemaistre and died at Cheltenham, in 1856; Leonard and Mary, who +alone was born in England, who married Mr. Archer, and who with her only +child, deceased, at Clifton, in 1806. + +SPENCER THOMAS VASSALL, son of the aforesaid John Vassall, born at +Cambridge, Mass., 1764. Entered the British Army as Ensign at the age of +twelve years. He rose to the command of the 38th regiment, and was +regarded as one of the bravest officers in the service. He was mortally +wounded at the storming of Monte Video, in 1807. His remains were taken +to England and buried in St. Paul's church, Bristol, where there is a +monument to his memory. His son, Spencer Lambert Hunter, who died in +1846, was a Knight and a captain in the Royal Navy. His other son, +Rawdon John Popham, was a colonel in the Royal Artillery. His youngest +daughter Catherine married Thomas L. Marchant Saumerez, son of the +admiral. + +WILLIAM VASSALL, brother of Major John Vassall, was born in Jamaica, +November 23, 1715, and graduated at Harvard College in 1733. In 1774 he +was appointed Mandamus Councillor, but was not sworn. He was also +sheriff of Middlesex County. He owned considerable property, and was the +possessor of a fine estate near Bristol, R. I. He was prominent among +the Loyalists of Boston, and was singled out early as an enemy to the +Revolutionary cause. He was proscribed and banished and obliged to flee +with his family to England. Mr. Vassall was for many years connected +with King's Chapel, Boston, and in 1785 protested by proxy against the +change in the Liturgy and the unauthorized ordination of James Freeman. + +The confiscation of his estate gave rise to a singular suit. As the +Federal Constitution was adopted, a State could be sued; and, at Mr. +Vassall's instance, proceedings against Massachusetts were commenced in +the court of the United States; and Hancock, who was governor, was +summoned as defendant in the case; he however declined to appear, and +soon after the eleventh amendment to the Constitution put an end to the +right of Loyalists to test the validity of the Confiscation Acts of the +Revolution. Mr. Vassall died at Battersea Rise, England, in 1800, aged +eighty-five. He was upright, generous, and loving. Church and society +lost in him an eager, zealous advocate, an upright Christian, of an +honorable and unblemished reputation. His first wife, Ann Davis, bore +him Sarah, four named William, two named Fanny, Francis, Lucretia, Henry +and Catherine. His second wife, Margaret Hubbard, was the mother of +Margaret, Ann, Charlotte, Leonard and Nathaniel. Each wife had twins. +Nathaniel, the youngest son, a captain in the Royal Navy, died in London +in 1832. + +WILLIAM VASSALL, son of the preceding William Vassall, was born in +Boston in 1753, and graduated at Harvard College in 1771. He was a +Loyalist and went to England. He inherited the bulk of his father's +property in the West Indies, which descended to his nephew, Rev. William +Vassall, rector of Hardington, England, "but so burdened and +deteriorated in consequence of emancipation of the slaves that it was +not worth anything," and that gentleman declined to administer upon it. +He died at the Weston House, near Totness, December 2, 1843. Ann, his +widow, died at the same place October 1846, aged seventy-five years. + +FLORENTINUS VASSALL was the son of William Vassall and a +great-grandson of Samuel, to whose memory he erected the beautiful +marble monument in King's Chapel, when he was in Boston in 1766. He was +here again in 1775 and in that year went to England. He was born in +Jamaica, and lived there the greater part of his life. He died in London +in 1778. + +[Illustration: COLONEL JOHN VASSELL'S MANSION, CAMBRIDGE. + +Washington's headquarters during the siege of Boston afterwards known as +the Craigle and Longfellow House.] + +Of the immense domain fifteen miles wide on both sides of the Kennebec +River, extending from the vicinity of Merry Meeting Bay to the +southerly line of the town of Norridgwock, he was the owner of one +twenty-fourth part. In his will, executed in 1776, he gave to his son +Richard and to Richard's daughter, Elizabeth, life estate in these +lands, and then devised them in entail to his male children. The bequest +proved of little value to either. After the lapse of years the rights of +Elizabeth and her son Henry were transferred separately to parties in +Boston, to test the title which was claimed by squatters. Three of them +were sued in the name of the son. The cases were carried up to the +United States Supreme Court, where it was decided that during his +mother's life, he could not maintain an action. After her decease, suit +against one settler was renewed, but on intimation by the court that +fifty years' possession was sufficient to presume a grant, or title +without consideration, another point, namely, whether the right of the +plaintiff to recover was barred by the statute of limitation. The +defendant paid a small sum for the land he occupied, and each party his +own costs. Thus in 1851 terminated litigation, which for a long time was +the subject of great interest on the Kennebec, and elsewhere in Maine. +This granddaughter Elizabeth was a remarkable woman. Those who knew her +speak of her as brilliant and witty, as possessed of queenly grace of +manner, as well informed, of wonderful tact, and of excellent sense. Her +first husband was Sir Godfrey Webster, Bart. By this marriage she was +the mother of Sir Godfrey Vassall Webster, Bart., who died in 1836, of +Lieut-Col. Sir Henry Vassall Webster, K. T. S., of the British Army, who +died in London in 1847, aged 54, and of Harriet, who married Admiral Sir +Fleetwood B. Reynolds C. B. K. C. H., who died at Florence in 1849, +leaving an only child, the wife of the son and heir of the Earl of +Oxford. Another son, Charles Richard Fox, whose father was Lord Holland, +married Mary Fitzclarence, second daughter of King William IV., and who, +in 1845 was a colonel in the army, and aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria. + +In 1797 Lady Webster married Lord Holland, who took by sign-manual the +surname of Vassal which, however, was not assumed by his children. As +Lady Holland, she was the mother of three children, who died young, of +Henry Holland, who became at the death of his father, Lord Holland, of +Mary Elizabeth, wife of Lord Lilford, and of Georgianna Anne who died in +1819. + +The friendly feelings of Bonaparte towards Lady Holland, especially +after the peace of Amiens, is well known, and that in return "for the +many acts of kindness, which she had bestowed upon him" he left her a +gold snuff box which had been presented to him by Pope Pius VI., +containing a card with these words: "L'Empereur to Lady Holland, +temoigne de satisfaction et d'estime." She died at London, in 1845, aged +75. Among her bequests were the income of an estate, about L1500 per +annum, to Lord John Russell, for his life, and a legacy of L100 to +Macaulay the historian. + +"The Vassall family has ever been distinguished for enterprise, +magnanimity, and noble bearing. If some of this name were not only +often, but always, for their king it must be admitted that they made as +great sacrifices to loyalty as did their forefathers to liberty." + +The Vassals were connected by marriage and business dealings with the +Olivers and Royalls. All three families had acquired great wealth in the +West Indies, and although they lost their great possessions in New +England, by the Confiscation Act, yet they were much better situated +than their fellow sufferers as they retained their West Indian estates +till they, too, became worthless, after the emancipation of the slaves. + + + LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO JOHN VASSAL IN SUFFOLK COUNTY + AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To John Williams, Sept. 25. 1781; Lib. 133, fol. 110; Land 3 1-2 + A., and buildings in Dorchester, the high road S. and W.; Ebenezer + and Lemuel Clap N.; Zebadiah Williams E.----1-2 A South of the + above, Mr. Jeffries E.; the high road on the other side. + + To Isaiah Doane, Jan. 8, 1784; Lib. 141, fol. 2; Land and buildings + in Boston. Tremont St. E; heirs of John Jefferies deceased S.; + heirs of Jeremiah Allen deceased, William Vassall and heirs of + Joseph Sherburne W.; William Vassall and land of the old brick + church N. + + + + + GENERAL ISAAC ROYALL. + + +William Royall, the first member of this family of which there is +anything definitely known, emigrated to Salem probably during the year +of 1629. He had a grant of land there known as "Royall's side" or +"Ryall's Neck." He married, at Boston or Malden, Phoebe Green. He was in +Casco Bay as early as 1635. His house was built on the south side of +what was afterwards known as Royall's River, near its mouth, in North +Yarmouth. Here he lived until the troubles with the neighboring Indians, +which induced him to remove to Dorchester in 1675, accompanied by his +son William, who was born probably at the Casco settlement in 1640. He +was a carpenter by occupation, and died in 1724, in the 85th year of his +age, and is buried in the tomb built by his son Isaac in the Dorchester +burying ground. + +Isaac Royall, son of the aforesaid William, born probably at the +settlement in Casco Bay about 1672. He early settled at Boston, and +engaged in trade, making frequent voyages to Antigua and other West +India islands. He married, according to Boston records, on July 1, 1697, +Elizabeth, daughter of Asaph Eliot and grandniece of the apostle to the +Indians of that name. His wife was the widow of one Oliver, probably of +Dorchester. + +For a period of forty years Isaac Royall was a resident of Antigua, +although his frequent presence in Boston during that time is evinced by +his signature to conveyances. His name first appears on the Suffolk +records in a mortgage deed given by himself and wife on the 24th August, +1697, he then being styled a "merchant of Boston." His trading +operations between 1704 and 1710 with the West Indies, proved the +foundation of his fortune. + +On December 26, 1732, he purchased of the heirs of Lieutenant Governor +Usher the estate in Charlestown (Medford) containing about five hundred +acres. The large Mansion house was built by Usher, but has since become +widely known as the Royall Mansion. It was one of the finest and most +pretentious residences of the time within the suburbs of Boston. It is +described by a visitor at that time as "A fine Country Seat belonging to +Mr. Isaac Royall, being one of the grandest in N. America." This mansion +was greatly added to, and almost rebuilt by the wealthy West Indian +planter. He petitioned the General Court in December, 1737, that he +might not be taxed on the twenty-seven slaves which he brought with him +from Antigua. "That he removed from Antigua with his family, and brought +with him among other things, and chattels, a parcel of negroes, designed +for his own use, and not any of them for merchandise." + +Isaac Royall, the builder of this mansion, did not live long to enjoy +his princely estate, dying in 1739, not long after its completion. His +widow, who survived him eight years, died in this house, and was +interred from Colonel Oliver's in Dorchester April 25, 1747. The pair +share the same tomb in the old Dorchester burying place. His daughter +Penelope married Colonel Henry Vassall of Cambridge in 1742. He died in +1769, and she died in Boston in 1800, aged 76. + +GENERAL ISAAC ROYALL, a son, who was born in Antigua, probably in 1719, +married Elizabeth McIntosh in 1738, but lived mostly in Boston. He +became an extensive purchaser of lands in various parts of the State, +and was one of the original proprietors of the township of Royalston in +Worcester County. He was a member of the Artillery Company of Boston in +1750, was made a brigadier general in 1761, the first of that title +among Americans. He was elected by the House a Councillor of the +Province, and served in that office until 1774, completing twenty-three +years of consecutive service. + +Much has been written of this man's position at the time of the colonial +disturbances in 1774. Possessed of large wealth, and the influence that +riches and education carried with them, his course was watched by the +people with intense anxiety. He was known to have much in common with +the faithful band of Loyalists, who were gathered about Cambridge and +Boston, yet he was still faithful to the people's church, and most of +his family ties held him to the popular cause. A long letter, written by +him to Lord Dartmouth, dated in January of 1774, exists in the archives +of the Massachusetts Historical Society's Proceedings, 1873-1875, page +179. Harris says, "there can be no good reason for doubting the +sincerity of his sympathy with the people, and although, when the time +came to make a choice, he was prevailed upon to adhere to the side of +the government, there is abundant evidence of his continued love towards +New England and his desire to return and end his days here." How much +harder was it then for a man in his position to make the great +sacrifices he did, to give up his loved home and his property, all for +the cause of his King. + +He wrote to Lord Dartmouth, "I am conscious that in all public affairs I +have made the honor of my king and the real Interests and Peace of my +country the ultimate end of all my transactions. I am so to live in this +world as that I may be happy in another, and no man more ardently wishes +and earnestly prays to the God of Peace for the Restoration of those +happy days, which formerly subsisted between us and our mother country +than I do." + +Three days before the battle of Lexington, Colonel Royall took his +departure from Medford. He drove in his chariot, which was one of the +few in this vicinity, to Boston, and never again returned. + +The mansion itself was indeed one of the finest of colonial residences, +standing, as it did, in the midst of elegant surroundings. In the front, +or what is now the west side, was the paved court. Reaching farther west +were the extensive gardens, opening from the courtyard, a broad path +leading to the summer house. The slave quarters were at the south. The +brick slave quarters have remained unchanged, and are the last visible +relics of slavery in New England. The deep fireplace where the slaves +prepared their food is still in place, and the roll of slaves has +certainly been called in sight of Bunker Hill, though never upon its +summit. + +The interior woodwork of the house is beautifully carved, especially the +drawing room, guest chamber, and staircase. The walls are panelled, and +the carving on either side of the windows is very fine, that in the +guest chamber being the most elaborate. + +One interested in colonial architecture may wander for hours through +this noble house, and yet feel that there is more to learn. The dark +cellar, full of passages, the garret with its corners, and the secret +staircase so often searched for, yet undiscovered, all furnish good +material for imaginary pictures of the Revolutionary days of our +ancestors. + +The Royall mansion is now owned and occupied by "The Royall House +Association" and is open for the public. + +When Colonel Royall left his mansion he had prepared to take passage +from Salem to Antigua, but, having gone into Boston, the Sunday previous +to the battle of Lexington, and remained there until that affair +occurred, he was, by the course of events, shut up in the town. He +sailed for Halifax very soon, still intending, as he says, for Antigua, +but on the arrival of his son-in-law. George Erving, and his daughter, +with the troops from Boston, he was by them persuaded to sail for +England, whither his other son-in-law, Sir William Pepperell, had +preceded. + +[Illustration: GENERAL ISAAC ROYALL'S MANSION, MEDFORD. + +He was kind to his slaves, charitable to the poor and friendly to +everybody.] + +Upon his arrival in England, he exchanged visits with Governors Pownall, +Bernard, and Hutchinson. Colonel Royall after the loss of some of his +nearest relatives and of his own health, requested that he be allowed to +return "home" to Medford and to be buried by the side of his wife, his +father and mother, and the rest of his friends. He would fain have +lived in amity with all men and with his king too, but the Revolution +engulfed him. But he is not forgotten. He died in England 1781, his +large hearted benevolence showed itself in many bequests to that country +that had driven him forth and to which he was an alien. He bequeathed +upwards of two thousand acres of land in Worcester County to found the +first Law Professorship of Harvard University and his other bequests +were numerous and liberal. He has a town (Royalston) in Massachusetts +named for him, and is remembered with affection in the place of his +former abode. His virtues and popularity at first saved his estate, as +his name was not included with those of his sons-in-law, Sir William +Pepperell and George Erving, in the "conspirators act," but on the +representation of the selectmen of Medford "_that he went voluntarily to +our enemies_" his property was taken under the confiscation act and +forfeited. It was held by the State until 1805, when it was released by +the Commonwealth, owing to the large bequests that Colonel Royall made +to the public. It was then purchased by Robert Fletcher, who divided the +estate up into house lots and sold them to various persons. + +General Royall's mansion was the centre of great festivities, and the +most noted families of Boston and vicinity were entertained there. He +was noted for his hospitality and was always generous and charitable to +the poor, and an excellent citizen. Brooks in his "History of Medford" +says hospitality was almost a passion with him. No home in the Colony +was more open to friends, no gentleman gave better dinners, or drank +costlier wines. As a master he was kind to his slaves, charitable to the +poor, and friendly to everybody. + +He was a most accurate man and in his daily journal minutely described +every visitor, topic, and incident and even descended to recording what +slippers he wore and when he went to bed. Some one said in speaking of +Colonel Isaac Royall, "it is not that he loved the colonies less but +England more." Among his bequests was a legacy of plate to the first +church of Medford, and legacies to the clergymen, and while a member of +the House of Representatives, he presented the chandelier which adorned +its hall. + +After the departure of General Royall from his beautiful home, it was +taken possession of by the rebels who came pouring into the environs of +Boston and laid siege to same. Colonel, afterwards General, John +Stark,[194] made the mansion his headquarters, and his New Hampshire +troops pitched their camp in the adjacent grounds. It was afterwards +occupied by General Lee, who took up his quarters in the mansion, whose +echoing corridors suggested to his fancy the name of Hobgoblin Hall. + + [194] General John Stark's brother Colonel William Stark, was a man of + great bravery and hardihood. Before the Revolution he was a much greater + man than his brother John. He commanded New England troops in the + capture of Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Louisburg and Quebec. In West's + picture, "The Death of Gen. Wolf," he is shown as holding Wolf in his + arms. William Stark remained loyal and became a colonel in the Royal + Army. He was killed from a fall from his horse at the battle of Long + Island. + +Elizabeth, the wife of Isaac Royall, died at Medford, July, 1770, and +was buried in the marble tomb in Dorchester. Their daughter Elizabeth, +the wife of Sir William Pepperell, died at sea upon the voyage to +England in 1775.[195] + + [195] For an account of the Pepperell family see New Eng. Gen. Reg., xx. + 4. Those descended from him comprise probably a hundred families holding + the highest social positions including dignitaries in church and state, + baronets, presidents of colleges, D. D's., and bishops, and others of + exalted rank, perhaps more numerous than can be found in any one family + in the British realms. + +It is said that the male line of the Royalls has ceased to exist in +Maine and Massachusetts. The writer knows not of a single living +individual bearing the surname who has descended from the stock that in +the beginning of the settlement was so vigorous, and promised to be so +prolific. This statement will also apply to many other Loyalists' +families that were driven from their homes at the commencement of the +Revolution. + + + + + GENERAL WILLIAM BRATTLE. + + +Thomas Brattle, the forefather of the Brattle family that settled in +Boston, was at his death accounted the wealthiest man in the Colony. +Though we have no information concerning the family prior to the coming +of Thomas Brattle to New England, it is only reasonable to believe that +he was descended from an educated and intelligent line. Only four +generations bearing the name existed here, and it is a notable +circumstance that all the male representatives of those four generations +were men of remarkable powers and distinguished abilities. + +THOMAS BRATTLE was born about 1624, and was a merchant of Boston. He was +a member of the Artillery Company and captain in the militia, and the +commander of several expeditions against hostile Indians. He was one of +the founders of the Old South Church. He married Elizabeth, the daughter +of Captain William Tyng, by whom he had seven children. His death +occurred in 1683. + +THOMAS BRATTLE, the son of the former, was born in 1658, and was a +graduate of Harvard College. He was a very intelligent man, and was +treasurer of Harvard College for twenty-five years. He was one of the +founders of the Brattle Street church, and gave an organ to the King's +Chapel when it was rebuilt in 1710, the first organ used in Boston in a +church. He was a steadfast opposer of the proceedings of the courts +during the witchcraft delusion in 1692. He was a Fellow of the Royal +Society, and died in 1713. President Ouincy says of him: "He was +distinguished for his private benevolences and public usefulness." + +WILLIAM BRATTLE graduated from Harvard college, and for over twenty +years was pastor of the Cambridge church. He was also a member of the +Royal Society of London. + +WILLIAM BRATTLE, son of the former, was baptized by his father in 1706. +He graduated from Harvard College in 1722, and was a member of the +Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. He was a theologian, and as a +physician he was widely known, and no higher tribute to his eminence as +a barrister need be sought than in the years 1736-7, when, only thirty +years of age, he was elected by the House and Council to the office of +Attorney General. + +He possessed strong peculiarities, and Sabine says of him that "A man of +most eminent talents and of greater eccentricities has seldom lived." He +inherited a large and well invested property, and had ample means to +cultivate those tastes to which, by his nature and education, he was +inclined. He was for many years Major General of the Province, and +afterwards Brigadier General. His large and beautifully situated house, +which now exists in Cambridge, though greatly transformed, known as the +"Old Brattle House" was the resort of the fashion and style of this +section of the country. At the age of twenty-one he married Katherine, +the daughter of Governor Gurdon Saltonstall. She died at Cambridge in +1752, and he married again in 1755, Mrs. Martha, widow of James Allen, +and daughter of Thomas Fitch. General Brattle seems to have inherited +from his father the same love for and interest in the welfare of his +Alma Mater, which so characterized the beloved minister of the church in +Cambridge. He was long one of her overseers, and in 1762 was appointed +by the Council one of a committee for the erection of Hollis Hall, a +task which was satisfactorily completed. + +When the Revolution broke out in 1775, he was holding a very honorable +office under the crown. Harris says he was "on terms of friendship with +many of the regular army officers quartered in Boston and vicinity. His +cultivated and refined tastes tending always to draw him to court, +rather than plebeian society, were, no doubt, inducements for him to +remain loyal. Certain it was, while studiously endeavoring to preserve +friendly and peaceful relations with his townsmen and neighbors, he was +openly opposed to their principles. He was an Addresser of Gen. Gage and +approved of his plans, but at last public excitement reached such a +height that he deemed it wise to withdraw from Cambridge, and leaving +his house and property in the hands of his only daughter, Madame +Wendell, at that time a widow, he quietly joined the Royal army in +Boston, and at the evacuation in 1776, sailed with the forces to +Halifax, where he died in October of the same year. It is said that his +gravestone is still to be seen in the churchyard in that city." There is +a portrait of William Brattle in the possession of his descendants, +which was painted by Copley, being one of the first productions of that +eminent artist. Of his nine children, only two lived to maturity, +Katherine in whom the line but not the name was perpetuated, and Thomas. + +Katherine was married to John Mico Wendell, a merchant of Boston, in +1752, who was of Dutch origin. After the death of her husband, Katherine +removed to Cambridge and resided there until her death in 1821, at the +age of nearly ninety-one years. The house was situated near the corner +of what afterwards became Wendell street, and North ave. The Centinel +of February 10, 1821, contained a memoir from which we gain some +knowledge of her character. + +"Descended from honorable families, she possessed the virtues and and +maintained the honors of her ancestors.... During the war of the +Revolution, both her talents and virtues were put to severe tests, and +by her wisdom and discretion, her energy, and integrity, her +benevolence, and charity, she conciliated the favor of men in power, +civil and military; secured to herself personal respect, and rescued the +paternal inheritance from the hazard of confiscation. It was by her +means that the portion of the estate that fell to her brother Thomas, +then in England, was in a like manner preserved.... Her contributions +aided in the translation of the Bible into the languages of the East, +and in the diffusion of Christian knowledge among the poor and destitute +of our own country." + +She had five children, but three of them died before reaching maturity. +Governor James Sullivan, who knew Thomas Brattle well, wrote of him: +"Major Brattle exercised a deep reverence for the principles of +government, and was a cheerful subject of the laws. He respected men of +science, as the richest ornament of their country. If he had ambition, +it was to excel in acts of hospitality, benevolence, and charity. The +dazzling splendor of heroes, and the achievements of political +intrigues, passed unnoticed before him, but the character of the man of +benevolence filled his heart with emotions of sympathy."... "In his +death, the sick, the poor and the distressed have lost a liberal +benefactor, politeness an ornament, and philanthropy one of its most +discreet and generous supporters." + +THOMAS BRATTLE, the youngest and only surviving son of General William +and Katherine Saltonstall Brattle, was born at Cambridge in 1742. He +graduated from Harvard College in 1760, and not long afterwards visited +England and the Continent, for the double purpose of study and travel. + +When the war broke out, he was still abroad, and being informed of the +position taken by his father, he conceived to be the most prudent course +to remain in England. While abroad he traveled over various parts of +Great Britain, and made a tour through Holland and France, and was +noticed by persons of distinction. Returning to London, he zealously and +successfully labored to ameliorate the condition of his countrymen, who +had been captured and were in prison. This restored to him his estates, +for he was included in the Confiscation, Proscription and Banishment Act +of 1778. He returned to America in 1779, and 1784 the enactments against +him in Massachusetts were repealed, and he took possession of his +patrimony. He found his mansion home at Cambridge had been thoroughly +ransacked and damaged by the Continental troops, who had occupied it +during the war. The neglected estate was restored to its former beauty, +and improved by the erection of a green-house, probably one of the +earliest known in this part of the country. He lived here for many +years, and became well known for his charities. He died, universally +lamented and beloved, on the seventh of February, 1801, and was laid to +rest in the family tomb, the last of his name. He was never married. + +The only descendants of General William and Katharine Saltonstall +Brattle, are through their daughter Katherine, who married John Mico +Wendell. + + + CONFISCATED ESTATE OF WILLIAM BRATTLE IN BOSTON, AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To James Allen, May 12, 1781; Lib. 132, fol. 202: Land and + buildings in Boston. Tremont St W.; John Rowe and Henry Caner, an + absentee, S.; Nathaniel Holmes E.; George Bethune N. and E.; John + Andrew and heirs of Samuel Pemberton deceased N.; Robert McElroy W. + and N.; passageway W. and W. [N.] + + + + + JOSEPH THOMPSON. + + +Joseph Thompson was the son of Joseph and Sarah (Bradshaw) Thompson, who +were located in Medford as early as 1772, coming from Woburn, and +descended from the same family as Sir Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford). +They lie buried side by side in the little burial ground on Salem +street, Medford. Joseph, the subject of this sketch, was born May 16, +1734. He was married in Boston, 1759, to Rebecca Gallup, whom Isaac +Royall refers to in his will as a kinswoman of his wife. + +In addition to the double portion assigned to him out of his father's +estate, he added to it from time to time by the purchase of several +estates. His occupation is mentioned in the deeds as that of merchant. +In June, 1775, news reached the Provincial Congress that the Ervings of +Boston, had fitted out, under color of chartering to Thompson, a +schooner of their own, to make a voyage to New Providence (Nassau, +Bahama Islands), to procure "fruit, turtle and provisions of other kinds +for the sustenance and feasting of those troops who are, as pirates and +robbers, committing daily hostilities and depredations on the good +people of this colony and all America." Congress therefore resolved that +Captain Samuel McCobb, a member, "be immediately dispatched to Salem and +Marblehead, to secure said Thompson, and prevent said vessel from going +said voyage, and cause the said Thompson to be brought before this +Congress." Thompson, however, escaped, and afterwards went to England. +On June 3, 1780, on the petition of Rebecca Thompson, asking leave be +granted her to rejoin her husband in England on the first convenient +opportunity, and to also return again to this state, the General Court, +and the committee of Inspection for Medford, were directed to see that +she carried no letters nor papers that might be detrimental to this, or +any of the United States of America.[196] + + [196] Medford Historical Register, Vol. viii, p. 59. + +James Prescott, Joseph Hosmer and Samuel Thatcher, Esq., were ordered +to make sales of certain estates situated in the county of Middlesex, +confiscated to the use of the government, belonging to Joseph Thompson, +merchant. Six acres of salt marsh on Medford river were sold to Ebenezer +Hall, Jr., for L70; a dwelling house and yard bounded south on the great +road, to Thomas Patten for L295; 11/2 rods of land (part of the dower +estate of his mother), with 3-16 of the dwelling house, 1-4 of an acre +of mowing land, 20 rods of plow land, to Samuel Kidder for L24.15; a pew +in the meeting house to Susanna Brooks, widow, for L10; 8 acres of land +bounded south on the great road and west on Proprietor's Way, and +situated near the Hay Market, to Jonathan Foster for L252. 10, and about +10 poles of land with a joiner's shop thereon, bounded north on the road +to Malden, to Ebenezer Hall for L40.5, making a total of L692.5. + +A Mr. Thompson died in England during the war, probably the same. + + + + + COLONEL JOHN ERVING. + + +The Erving family was one of the oldest and most respected families in +Boston. Hon. John Erving, the father of the colonel, was one of the most +eminent merchants in America, and was a member of the Council of +Massachusetts for twenty years. The Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, his +great-grandson, in a public address in 1845, thus refers to him: "A few +dollars earned on a commencement day, by ferrying passengers over +Charles River, when there was no bridge--shipped to Lisbon in the shape +of fish, and from thence to London in the shape of fruit, and from +thence brought home to be reinvested in fish, and to be re-entered upon +the same triangular circuit of trade--laid the foundations of the +largest fortunes of the day, a hundred years ago." Mr. Erving, by his +wife Abigail, had a large family. He died in Boston in 1786, aged +ninety-three. + +COLONEL JOHN ERVING, eldest son of the preceding, was born in Boston, +June 26, 1727, was a colonel of the Boston regiment of militia, a warden +of Trinity church. He graduated at Harvard University in 1747. In 1760 +he signed the Boston Memorial, and was thus one of the fifty-eight who +were the first men in America to array themselves against the officers +of the Crown, but like many others that did not favor many acts of the +government, he could not tolerate mob rule, and therefore threw his lot +in on the side that represented law and authority. + +When Hancock's sloop Liberty was seized for smuggling in 1768, by the +commissioners, the fury of the mob became great. They fell upon the +officers, several of whom barely escaped with their lives. Mr. Erving, +besides having his sword broken, was beaten with clubs and sticks, and +considerably wounded. He was not concerned with the seizure of the +sloop. + +[Illustration: MAJOR GENERAL SIR DAVID OCHTERLONY. + +Born in Boston Feb. 12, 1758. There is erected in Calcutta a monument to +him, which is one of the notable sights of that city. Died at Meerut, +India in 1825.] + +In 1774 he was an addresser of Hutchinson, and the same year appointed +mandamus councillor. On the evacuation of Boston, he and his family +of nine persons accompanied the army to Halifax, and from there he went +to England. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. He died at Bath, +England, June 17, 1816, aged eighty-nine. His wife, Maria Catherina +(youngest daughter of Governor Shirley), with whom he lived sixty years, +died a few months before him. A daughter of Mr. Erving married Governor +Scott of the island of Dominica and died at that island February 13, +1768. His son, Dr. Shirley Erving, entered Harvard College in 1773, but +his education was cut short by the Revolution. He became a prominent +physician at Portland, Maine, and died at Boston in 1813, aged +fifty-five. His widow survived him for many years. They left two sons +and one daughter. The Erving mansion house was on Milk street, and was +confiscated. + +GEORGE ERVING was a prominent merchant of Boston. He was one of the +fifty-eight memorialists who were the first men in America to array +themselves against the officers of the Crown, but he could not take part +with the mobs in their lawless and brutal actions. He was an Addresser +of Hutchinson in 1774, was proscribed under the Act of 1778, and his +estate was confiscated under the Conspiracy Act of 1779. He went to +Halifax with his family of five persons, and thence to England. He died +in London in 1806 at the age of seventy. His wife was a daughter of +General Isaac Royall of Medford. + + + CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO COLONEL JOHN ERVING AND TO + WHOM SOLD. + + To James Lloyd, May 4. 1787; Lib. 160, fol. 105; Land and buildings + in Boston. Kilby St., formerly Mackerel Lane, E; heirs of John + Erving deceased N; heirs of Samuel Hughes W.; Joseph Winthrop S. + + To John Codman, Jr., July 2. 1787. Lib. 160, fol. 201; Land and + messuage in Boston. Newbury St., W.; John Crosby N.; E. and N., + John Soley E. and S., passage or alley S.----Land 14 A., in + Walpole, road from Walpole to the sign of the Black Lamb in + Stoughton N.; Nathaniel Preble S.E.; Philip Bardin S.W. and N.W. + + To Nathaniel Appleton. Feb. 13, 1789; Lib. 164, fol. 149; Land, 14 + A, in Walpole, road from Walpole to the sign of the Black Lamb in + Stoughton N.; Nathaniel Preble S.E.; Philip Bardin S.W. and N.W. + + To John Deming. May 6, 1789; Lib. 166, fol. 11; Land and messuage + in Boston. Newbury St. W.; John Crosby N.; E. and N.; John Soley E. + and S.; passage or alley S. + + + + + MAJOR GENERAL SIR DAVID OCHTERLONY. + + +Captain David Ochterlony, the father of the subject of this memoir, was +born in Forfarshire, Scotland, and was descended from one of the most +ancient families in that country. In 1226 the land of "Othirlony" was +exchanged by his ancestors for those of Kenney in Forfarshire possessed +by the Abbey of Aberbrothock. Kenney had been bestowed on the Abbey by +its founder, King William, the Lion King of Scotland. + +David, was a captain in the merchant service, and resided for a while +at Montrose. Boston was one of the many ports visited by him in his +voyages. Five years after his first appearance in Boston, June 4, 1757, +intention of marriage was published, to Katherine, daughter of Andrew +Tyler of Boston, by his wife Miriam, a sister of Sir William Pepperell. +On 27th of June, 1762, he purchased a brick house with about 1500 square +feet of land on Back street, which at that time was that part of Salem +street from Hanover to Prince street. Meanwhile three sons and daughter +were born. The eldest of these, MAJOR GENERAL SIR DAVID OCHTERLONY born +12 Feb. 1758, who was to revive the name in a new locality. Captain +Ochterlony, the father, continued his career as a mariner but a few +years after locating in Boston, he died in 1765, at St. Vincent W. I. +His widow went to England, where she married Sir Isaac Heard of London, +Norroy and Garter King of Arms, and gentleman of the Red Rod, to the +order of the Bath. + +The son David was a scholar at the Latin School in Boston, when his +father died. At the age of eighteen he entered the army and went to +India, as a cadet, and in 1778 received an appointment as Ensign. In +1781 he was Quartermaster to the 71st Regiment of Foot. During the +twenty years that succeeded, he was exposed to all the danger and +fatigue of incessant service in the East. He attained the rank of Major +in 1800 and of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1803, and Colonel in 1812. His +commission of Major General bears date June 1, 1814. In 1817 he received +the thanks of both Houses of Parliament. His health, after nearly fifty +years of uninterrupted military duty in a tropical climate, became +impaired and he resigned a political office in India with the intention +of proceeding to Calcutta, and thence to England. This plan he did not +live to execute. He died at Meerut in 1825, while there for a change of +air. He was Deputy-Adjutant-General at the Battle of Delhi, after which +he was sent as envoy to the Court of Sha Alum. For his conduct in the +Nepaulese war, he was created a Knight Commander of the Bath and May 7, +1816, was made a baronet. After his death there was erected in Calcutta +a monument to him, which is one of the notable signs of the city. Sir +David never married. His title descended to Charles Metcalf Ochterlony, +and was succeeded in it by his son, the present baronet, Sir David +Ferguson Ochterlony. Gilbert Ochterlony, the second son of Captain +David, died Jan. 16, 1780, aged 16, at the home of his step-father Isaac +Heard, Esq., at the college of arms.[197] Alexander, the third son died +in 1803, and Catherine in 1792. + + [197] It was Sir Isaac Heard that took such pains in searching out the + pedigree of the Washington family. + +Captain David's will, made at the time of his marriage, was probate +March 7, 1766, and left everything to his wife Katrin, but his estate +was not settled till after the peace. 1791, and then it was insolvent, +the sum then obtained to close up the estate paid a dividend of only six +and a half pence on the pound. The name of Ochterlony in New England +became extinct. + + + + + JUDGE AUCHMUTY'S FAMILY. + + +Robert Auchmuty first of the American family of that name was descended +from an ancient Scottish family, holding a barony in the north of that +country. His father settled in England early in the eighteenth century, +and Robert studied law at the Temple, London, and came to America and +settled in Boston about the year 1700. He was a profound lawyer and +possessed remarkable talents and wit, but when he was admitted to +practice does not appear. He was in practice soon after 1719 and the +profession owed much to his character and system and order which now +began to distinguish its forms of practice. His talents were +extraordinary, "Old Mr. Auchmuty says a contemporary would sit up all +night at his bottle, yet argue to admiration next day, and was an +admirable speaker." He was sent to England to settle a boundary dispute +between Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. His services +were so valuable, that on December 1738, he received from the former a +grant of two hundred acres of land. He was judge of the Court of +Admiralty for New England from 1733 until 1747. While he was in England +he advocated the expedition to Cape Breton in an ably written pamphlet +published in 1744. This tract probably gave to the historian Smollett +the erroneous impression that Auchmuty was the originator of that +brilliant enterprise, the credit of which belongs to Governor Shirley. + +Judge Auchmuty held his office until 1747 when he was superseded by +Chambers Russell. His home was in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and many +anecdotes of him have been handed down from generation to generation. He +was "greatly respected and beloved in public and private life." His +memory is held in high veneration by the bar in Massachusetts and his +opinions are still respected. + +Judge Auchmuty died in April, 1750, leaving several children. His +daughter married Judge Pratt of New York and his son, Judge Robert +Auchmuty, followed in his father's footstep, and became a noted lawyer +in Massachusetts. Although he had not the advantage of a collegiate +education he became an able lawyer. As an advocate he was eloquent and +successful. "Among his contemporaries were Otis, Quincy, Hawley, and +judges Paine, Sargent, Bradbury, R. Sewall, W. Cushing and Sullivan and +though less learned than some of these he was employed in most of the +important jury trials." + +"It was when together with that class of lawyers above named that the +profession owed the respectability which since his day has characterized +the bar of Massachusetts."[198] He held the office of Advocate of the +Court of Admiralty from August 2, 1762, until his appointment as judge, +having been originally appointed in the place of Mr. Bollan, to hold +the office during his absence. Chambers Russell was appointed in the +place of the elder Auchmuty as judge of the Admiralty for Massachusetts, +New Hampshire and Rhode Island in 1747. He held the office until his +death in 1767, and Robert Auchmuty, the younger, was appointed by the +governor to fill his place. This was in April, but on the sixth of July +he was duly commissioned as Judge of the Admiralty for all New England +with a salary of L300 a year. His commission was received in March, +1760, when his salary was increased to L600 per annum. Judge Auchmuty +continued to hold this office as long as the authority of the British +was recognized, as he was a zealous Loyalist. + + [198] Updike History of Narrangansett church. + +Robert Auchmuty was one of the commissioners with Governor Wanton of +Rhode Island, Samuel Horsemanden, Chief Justice of New York, Frederic +Smythe, Chief Justice of New Jersey, and Peter Oliver, Chief Justice of +Massachusetts, to inquire into the destruction of the Gaspee, in +1772.[199] He was a colleague of Adams and Quincy in defence of the +British soldiers tried for participation in the "Boston Massacre."[200] +He appeared once after his appointment in defence of Captain Preston and +his soldiers, and his argument was described as so memorable and +persuasive, "as almost to bear down the tide of prejudice against him, +though it never swelled to a higher flood." + + [199] See page 52 for description of same. + + [200] Ibid. 45. + +The Auchmuty house in Roxbury stands at the corner of Cliff and +Washington Streets. It was build about 1761 by the younger Judge +Auchmuty, who resided there until the outbreak of the revolution. Here +as a convenient halting place between the Province House and the +Governor's country seat at Jamaica Plain, and the Lieutenant Governor +residence at Milton, met the crown officers to make plans to stem the +rising tide of disloyalty and lawlessness of the mobs, and their secret +leaders. Here Bernard Hutchinson Auchmuty, Hallowell, and Paxton +discussed the proposed alterations in the charter, and the bringing over +of British troops to preserve the peace. Letters of Judge Auchmuty to +persons in England were sent to America with those of Governor +Hutchinson by Franklin in 1773 and created much commotion.[201] + + [201] See page 162. + +At the Declaration of Independence in 1776 he left his native country +and settled in England. At one period he was in very distressed +circumstances. He never returned to the United States and his estate was +confiscated. His mansion in Roxbury became the property of Governor +Increase Sunmer and was occupied by him at the time of his decease. +Auchmuty Lane was that part of Essex Street between Short and South +Street in Boston. Robert Auchmuty died in London an exile from his +native land in November, 1778. + +[Illustration: BRITISH TROOPS PREVENTING THE DESTRUCTION OF NEW YORK. + +On its evacuation by Washington; it was set on fire, it was saved by the +summary execution of all incendaries by the British.] + +HONORABLE JAMES AUCHMUTY, son of the elder Robert, was a storekeeper in +the Engineer Department. At the peace he removed to Nova Scotia where he +became an eminent lawyer, and was appointed judge. He had a son, a +very gallant officer in the British Army, who was killed in the West +Indies. + +REVEREND SAMUEL AUCHMUTY, another son of the elder Judge Auchmuty who +settled in New York, was born in Boston in 1725. He graduated from +Harvard college in 1742 and was taken by his father to England, where he +was ordained a minister in the Episcopal church. The degree of D. D. was +conferred on him by Oxford. He was appointed by the Society for the +Propagation of the gospel, an assistant minister of Trinity church in +New York. He married in 1749 a daughter of Richard Nichols, governor of +that province. In 1764 at the death of the Rector of Trinity church he +was appointed to succeed him and took charge of all the churches in the +city, performing his arduous duties with faithfulness until the +revolution. In 1766 he received the degree of S. T. D. at Oxford. Dr. +Auchmuty opposed the revolution and when the Americans took possession +of New York City in 1777, it is said a message was sent him from Lord +Sterling by one of his sons, "that if he read a prayer for the King the +following Sunday, he would send a band of soldiers and take him out of +the desk." His son, knowing his father's indomitable spirit did not +deliver the message, but with some of his classmates from Columbia +college attended the church with arms concealed under their gowns and +sat near the pulpit for his protection. His conscience would not allow +him to omit these prayers without violating his ordination vows. As soon +as he commenced reading, Lord Sterling marched into the church with a +band of soldiers and music playing Yankee Doodle. The Doctor's voice +never faltered and he finished his prayer and the soldiers marched up +one aisle and down another, and went out again without violence. After +the service Dr. Auchmuty sent for the keys of Trinity and its chapels, +and ordered that they should not be opened again until the liturgy could +be performed without interruption, and took them to New Jersey. When the +British took possession of New York he resolved at once to return to his +loved flock and applied for leave to pass the American lines. This was +denied him. With the unfailing energy which marked his character he +determined to return on foot through circuitous paths to avoid the +American lines. After undergoing great hardships, sleeping in the woods +and great exposure, he reached the city. On its evacuation by +Washington's Army it had been set on fire, and it was only by using the +most drastic means,--the summary execution of all incendaries by the +British--that the city was saved from total destruction. Nearly one +thousand buildings were burned in the western part of the city and among +them Trinity church, the Rector's home, and the Charity School. Through +the exertions of the British troops, St. Paul's and King's College +barely escaped. The Vestry of Trinity reported their loss at L22,000, +besides the annual rent of 246 lots of ground on which the buildings had +been destroyed. After the fire, Dr. Auchmuty searched the ruins of his +church and of his large and elegant mansion; all of his papers and +records had been destroyed; he found no articles of value except the +church plate and his own. His personal loss he estimated at upwards of +$12,000. + +The Sunday following Dr. Auchmuty preached in St. Paul's church for the +last time. The hardships which he had undergone terminated in an illness +which resulted in his death after a few days. This venerable and +constant worker for mankind died March 4, 1777 in his fifty-second year, +and was buried under the altar of St Paul's. Interesting notices of his +labors and sufferings and death may be found in Hawkins' "Historical +Notices of the Missions of the Church of England, in the North American +Colonies," London, 1845. By the old inhabitants of the city Dr. Auchmuty +was much respected and beloved and was spoken of as Bishop Auchmuty. He +had seven children. Jane, one of his daughters, married Richard Tylden +of Milstead, of county Kent in England. One of her sons was Sir John +Maxwell Tylden, who was in the army for twenty years in which he greatly +distinguished himself. Another, William Burton Tylden was a major in the +Royal Engineers. Dr. Auchmuty had two other daughters of which there is +no account, save that they were married. + +SIR SAMUEL AUCHMUTY, the eldest son of the Rev. Dr. Auchmuty, was a +Lieutenant General in the British Army. At the beginning of the +Revolution he was a student at Kings College and was intended by his +father for the ministry. His own inclinations were military from his +boyhood and soon after he graduated he joined the Royal army under Sir +William Howe as an ensign in the 45th regiment and was present at most +of the actions in that and the following year. In 1783 he commanded a +company in the 75th Regiment, in the East Indies, and was with Lord +Cornwallis in the first siege of Seringaptarn. In 1801 he joined the +expedition to Egypt, and held the post of adjutant-general. He returned +to England in 1803 and three years after was ordered to South America, +where as brigadier-general, he assumed the command of the troops; and in +1807 assaulted and reduced--after a most determined resistance--the city +and fortress of Montevideo. In 1809 he was transferred to India. +Subsequently he succeeded Sir D. Baird as chief of staff in Ireland. He +was knighted in 1812, his nephew, Sir John Maxwell Tylden, +lieutenant-colonel of the 52 regiment being his proxy. He twice received +the thanks of Parliament, and was presented with a service of plate by +that body and by the East India Company. His seat was Syndale House, in +Kent, near Feversham. He died in Ireland suddenly in 1822 at the age of +64. + +ROBERT NICHOLAS AUCHMUTY, another son of the Rev. Dr. Auchmuty, +graduated at Kings College, New York and in the revolution served as a +volunteer in the British army. His wife was Henrietta, daughter of Henry +John Overing and he died at Newport, Rhode Island in 1813. His daughter +Maria M., widow of Colonel E. D. Wainwright of the United States +Marines, died at Washington, D. C., Jan. 1861, aged 71. + +RICHARD HARRISON AUCHMUTY, brother of the above, was a surgeon in the +British Army. Taken prisoner in the storming of Stony Point. With +Cornwallis at Yorktown, and died soon after the surrender, while on +parole. + +"It is regretted that men as distinguished in their day as were the +Auchmuty's, father and sons, so few memorials new remain." They were men +who adorned their profession and "left a distinct and honorable +impression upon their age." + + + LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO ROBERT AUCHMUTY ET AL. IN + SUFFOLK COUNTY, AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Samuel Clark, Feb. 26, 1780; Lib. 131, fol. 58; Land and + dwelling-house in Boston, School St. S.; the town's land W.; John + Rowe N; Joseph Green E----Garden land near the above. Cook's Alley + W.; Leverett Saltonstall N.; William Powell E. S. and E.; Leverett + Saltonstall S. [Description corrected in margin of record.] + + To Josiah Waters, Jr., April 13, 1782; Lib. 134, fol. 164. + Discharge of mortgage Fillebrown et al to Auchmuty dated Feb. 10. + 1766. + + To Increase Sumner, July 31, 1783; Lib. 139, fol. 122; 6 A. 3 qr. + 10 r. land and dwelling-house near the meeting-house in Roxbury, + the road N.; Jonathan Davis E., S. E; and S.; the lane and Increase + Sumner W. + + + + + COLONEL ADINO PADDOCK. + + +Robert Paddock was one of the Pilgrim Fathers, he was one of the early +settlers of Plymouth, and was a smith by trade. He had a son, Zachariah, +born in 1636, who was the ancestor of the subject of this sketch. Robert +Paddock was probably a relative of Captain Leonard Peddock who was +master of one of the ships that came to Plymouth in 1622, it being +frequently the case in those times that names were mis-spelled. This is +the origin of the name of Peddock's Island at the entrance of Boston +Harbor. Branches of this family at the Revolutionary period were to be +found in various parts of New England, New Jersey, and South Carolina. +Adino Paddock was the son of John and Rebecca (Thatcher) Paddock; was +born March 14, 1727, and was baptized in the First Church, Harwich, +March 31, 1728. + +His father died in 1732 and his mother removed soon after to Boston, +where her name appears as a communicant in Brattle Square church "from +Church East Yarmouth" December 5, 1736. Adino Paddock was married in +Boston, June 22, 1749, to Lydia Snelling, daughter of Robert and Lydia +(Dexter). He settled in Boston, where he manufactured chaises and +transacted his business near the head of Bumstead Place. He lived +opposite the burying ground, on the east side of Long-Acre Street. Adino +Paddock was the first coach-maker of the town, and was a man of +substance and character. His name is best known in connection with the +famous Paddock elms. Mr. James Smith, a prosperous sugar baker, whose +house was on Queen Street,--now Court Street,--when in London, was +struck by the beauty of the elms in Brompton Park. The story goes that +Mr. Smith procured young trees of the same kind, and had them planted in +his nursery, on his beautiful farm, Brush Hill, in Milton. The fame of +these trees spreading, one of his friends, Mr. Gilbert Deblois, asked +for some, saying that he would in return name his newborn son for Mr. +Smith. The bargain was struck, and James Smith Deblois, baptized May 16, +1769, bore witness to its fulfilment. Other elms of this stock were also +planted, but those received by Mr. Gilbert Deblois became the most +celebrated. These were set out in front of the granary, just opposite +Mr. Deblois' house in Tremont Street. As Adino Paddock's shop window +looked out upon them, Mr. Deblois enjoined Mr. Paddock to have an eye to +their safety. + +It is related that on one occasion, Paddock offered the reward of a +guinea, for the detection of the person who "hacked" one or more of the +trees. He guarded the infant elms very carefully and the "Gleaner" tells +of his darting across the street upon one occasion and vigorously +shaking an idle boy who was making free with one of the sacred saplings. +The elms were thought to have been planted in 1762. They grew to +magnificent proportions, and withstood the axe for more than a century. +They escaped in 1860, but were cut down a few years later. The largest +was one that stood near the Tremont House. Its circumference near the +sidewalk was nearly seventeen feet. This was the largest of all the +trees belonging to the public walks of the city, excepting the great +American elm on Boston Common that was destroyed by the tornado of 1869. + +Adino Paddock was in 1774 captain of the train of artillery belonging in +Boston of which John Erving was colonel. This company was particularly +distinguished for its superior discipline and the excellence of its +material. The gun house stood at the corner of West and Tremont Streets, +separated by a yard from the school house. In this gun house was kept +two brass three-pounders, which had been recast from two old guns sent +by the town to London for that purpose, and had the arms of the province +engraved upon them. They arrived in Boston in 1768, and were first used +at the celebration of the King's birthday, June 4th, when a salute was +fired in King Street. + +When the mobs began to be in evidence Captain Paddock expressed an +intention to turn them over to General Gage, for safe keeping, some of +the men that composed the company, resolved, that it should not be so, +they met in the school-room, and watching their opportunity they crossed +the yard, entered the building and, removing the guns from their +carriages, carried them to the school room where they were concealed in +a box in which fuel was kept. They were finally taken to the American +lines, in a boat, and were in actual service during the whole war. The +two guns were called the "Hancock" and "Adams," and were in charge of +the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, until presented in 1825 by +the State to the Bunker Hill Monument Association. They are now +suspended in the chamber at the top of Bunker Hill Monument, with a +suitable inscription on each. + +Before Mr. Paddock's departure from Boston he was entitled to the higher +military appellation of Colonel. As an active officer, and for a time +commander of the Boston train of artillery, he felt himself particularly +honored, as he was then in a position of great usefulness, for, in fact +his lessons in military matters while in the Train, were productive of +much good, as laying the foundation of good soldiership, in the +Province, by giving thorough instruction to many who afterwards became +distinguished officers in the revolutionary war. + +Ardently attached to the interests of the government he was one of the +foremost of the loyalist party. He left Boston at the evacuation, March +17, 1776. There were nine in his family. They went to Halifax and in the +following June he embarked with his wife and children for England. + +In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. From 1781 until his death he +resided on the Isle of Jersey and for several years held the office of +Inspector of Artillery Stores with rank of Captain. Colonel Paddock +received a partial compensation for his losses as a Loyalist, and died +March 25, 1804, aged seventy-six years. Lydia, his wife died at the Isle +of Jersey, in 1781, aged fifty-one. + +Colonel Paddock's house was situated on the south corner of Bromfield +and Tremont Streets, formerly Common Street and Ransom Lane. Thomas +Bumstead, a coach-maker, purchased the estate when it was confiscated +and carried on the coach-making business there. Bumstead Place was laid +out in 1807 on the site of the home, and was closed in 1868. Gilbert +Deblois occupied the opposite corner, on which was built Horticultural +Hall, the trustees of the new office building recently erected there, at +the suggestion of Alex S. Porter, named the new building the "Paddock +Building" who said "I think that we ought to do all we can to preserve +the memory of those good old citizens who by their influence and hard +labor did so much in laying the foundation of our beloved city." + +Adino Paddock and Lydia Snelling had thirteen children, nine of them +died in infancy, and John a student at Harvard College was drowned while +bathing in Charles River in 1773. + +ADINO PADDOCK, the younger, accompanied his father to Halifax in 1776 +and in 1779 followed his father to England, where he entered upon the +study of medicine and surgery. Having attended the different hospitals +of London and fitted himself for practice, he returned to America before +the close of the Revolution, and was surgeon of the King's American +Dragoons. In 1784 he married Margaret Ross of Casco Bay, Maine, and +settling at St. John, New Brunswick, confined his attention to +professional pursuits. In addition to extensive and successful private +practice he enjoyed from Government the post of surgeon to the ordinance +of New Brunswick. He died at St. Mary's, York County in 1817, aged 58. +Margaret his wife died at St. John in 1815 at the age of 50. The fruit +of this union was ten children, of whom three sons, Adino, Thomas and +John were educated physicians. Adino commenced practice in 1808 at +Kingston, New Brunswick. Thomas married Mary, daughter of Arthur +McLellan, Esq., of Portland, Maine, and died at St. John, deeply +lamented in 1838, aged 47. + + + LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO ADINO PADDOCK IN SUFFOLK COUNTY + AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Thomas Bumstead. Aug. 1, 1782, Lib. 135, fol. 139; Land and + buildings in Boston, Common St. W.; land of the commonwealth S.; + heirs of Gillum Taylor deceased E. and S.; Thomas Cushing E., N. + and E.; Rawson's Lane N. + + + + + THEOPHILUS LILLIE. + + +Edward Lillie by the recorded births of his children appears to have +been in Boston as early as 1663. As he was devoted to the Church of +England, it may be presumed that he came from that country, and the date +of his eldest child's birth makes it likely that he was born before +1640. This branch of the Lillie family probably lived for a while in +Newfoundland, and if so, they are likely to have been of the Devonshire +or West-of-England stock, which supplied the first settlers for that +Province. They became possessed of real estate at St. John's during the +latter half of the seventeenth century, described as "a plantation"--a +term signifying full proprietorship. + +Edward Lillie married about 1661, Elizabeth, whose maiden name is +unknown. He was one of the well known citizens of the town of Boston +when its estimated population was from five to seven thousand +inhabitants. In 1687 he was one of the sixty citizens whose property was +rated at L50 or more,--taking rank with such contemporaries as Elisha +and Eliakim Hutchinson, Adam Winthrop, Samuel and Anthony Checkley, and +Simon Lynde.[202] Edward Lillie carried on a large business as "cooper," +at that period one of the most important industries of New England in +its connection with commerce. + + [202] Memorial Hist. of Boston, II. 8. Record Com. Report VII. 69. + +Prior to 1670 Edward Lillie had land "in his tenure and occupation" at +the North End. He purchased July 8, 1670, an estate at what was then the +South End of the town,--a dwelling-house and land. This estate was +situated on the south-east corner of Washington and Bedford Streets, and +it is in part now (1907) the site of R. H. White's dry-goods +establishment. In January 1674 he purchased of Captain Thomas Savage +land on Conduit (now North) Street and erected thereon in 1684 a brick +dwelling-house. The estate was valued in inventory at L1300. + +Edward Lillie's will was dated December 24, 1688, and proved January 7, +1688-9. His wife was probably the "Mrs. Lily" whose death, according to +town records, took place January 4, 1705. They had six children. + +Samuel Lilly, born March 20, 1663, was the eldest child. June 4, 1683, +he married at the age of twenty Mehitable Frary, daughter of Captain +and Deacon Theophilus Frary, one of the founders of the Old South +Church. Her mother was the daughter of Jacob Eliot, and the niece of +John Eliot, the "Apostle to the Indians." Mehitable, was born February +4, 1665-6, and as her father had no sons, his estate was divided between +the daughters. + +Samuel Lillie, like his father, was a "cooper," but early in life became +interested in commerce, sending as early as May 23, 1684, merchandise to +the island of Nevis. For the next twenty-three years he was widely +engaged in commercial transactions, and was uniformly styled "merchant" +in formal documents. After his father's death he bought and occupied the +latter's premises at the North End, enlarging them by other purchases. + +Mrs. Royall, wife of Isaac Royall and mother of the Loyalist was a +cousin of Mrs. Samuel Lillie. During his latter years Samuel Lillie was +absent from America quite frequently. It is not likely that he was in +Boston from 1708 till shortly before his death.[203] Mrs. Lillie died +March 4, 1723. They had eleven children, born in Boston and baptised +(except one or two) in the Second church, each a few days after birth. + + [203] "The Lillie Family of Boston" by Edward L. Pierce. + +Theophilus Lillie, the fourth child of Samuel and Mehitable Lillie, was +baptized August 24, 1690. He married July 8, 1725, Hannah Ruck (Rev. +Cotton Mather officiating). Seems to have done much in settling his +father's affairs, but was not engaged in active business. + +On the 28th of July, 1732, in Town Meeting, he with others, was +appointed a committee to receive proposals, touching the demolishing, +repairing, or leasing out the old buildings belonging to the town in +Dock Square. The committee to give their attendance at Mr. William +Coffin's the Bunch of Grapes tavern, on Thursdays weekly, from six to +eight o'clock in the evening. In 1736 he appears as one of the +subscribers to Prince's Chronological History of Boston, the list +containing, according to Drake, the names of persons most interested at +that period in literary concerns. + +Hannah Ruck, his wife, was born December 4, 1703 and was the daughter of +John Ruck, a successful merchant, a citizen active in municipal affairs +and holding municipal offices. Her mother was Hannah Hutchinson, +daughter of Colonel Elisha Hutchinson, and aunt of Thomas Hutchinson, +the last Royal Governor. A close friendship existed between the two +families, and their homes were near together at the North End. This +friendship was continued in Halifax, after the Loyalist exodus in 1776. + +Theophilus Lillie sold the family estate at the corner of Newbury and +Pond Streets March 9, 1754. Before this sale he had removed to the Ruck +homestead "near the old North Meeting House." Mr. Lillie died late in +March, 1760. He left but little property. His eldest son Samuel, died +young and John and Theophilus Lillie were his father's sole heirs. + +THEOPHILUS LILLIE, the youngest son, was born August 18, 1730. He +married late in 1757 (intentions of marriage published October 27, 1757) +Ann Barker, who had been a shop-keeper, in company with Abiel Page, +"near Rev. Mr. Mather's meeting-house." He was educated as a merchant +and was in retail trade as early as 1758, as shown by the numerous +collection suits brought by him, and his advertisements in the Boston +"Gazette" May 22 of that year. His store was on "Middle (Hanover) +Street, near Mr. Pemberton's meeting-house." His stock was miscellaneous +English Dry Goods and Groceries. + +When it was determined to resist the tax on imports, a non-importation +agreement was entered into in August, 1768, by the merchants of Boston, +many were forced to sign it through fear of offending the mob, the +agreement ended in 1769, and some of those who had been forced into it +were determined to proceed in their regular business, and would pay no +attention to a renewal of it, among these was Theophilus Lillie. They +were proscribed and persecuted for several weeks by the rabble +collecting to interrupt customers, passing to and from their shops, and +houses, by posts erected before their shops with a hand pointed towards +them, and by many marks of derision. At length on February 22nd, 1770, a +more powerful mob than common, collected before the house of Theophilus +Lillie and set up a post on which was a large Wooden Head, with a board +faced paper, on which was painted the figures of four of the principal +importers. One of the neighbors, Ebenezer Richardson, found fault with +the proceedings which provoked the mob to drive him into his home for +shelter. Having been a custom house officer, he was peculiarly obnoxious +to the mob. They surrounded his house, threw stones and brick-bats +through the windows, and, as it appeared upon trial were forcing their +way in, when he fired upon them, and killed a boy eleven or twelve years +of age. He was soon seized, and another person, George Wilmot with him, +who happened to be in the house. They were in danger of being sacrificed +to the rage of the mob, being dragged through the streets and a halter +having been prepared, but some more temperate than the rest, advised to +carry him before a justice of peace, who committed him to prison. + +The boy that was killed was Christopher Snider, the son of a poor +German. The event was taken advantage of by Sam Adams, and other +revolutionary leaders to raise the passion of the people, and thereby +strengthen their cause. A grand funeral therefore was judged to be the +proper course to pursue. In the _Evening Post_ of 26 Feb. is a very +minute account of the affair, which had a very great deal to do with +subsequent events. The corpse was set down under 'Liberty Tree' whence +the procession began. About 50 school boys preceded, and there was "at +least 2000 in the procession, of all ranks, amid a crowd of spectators." +The pall was supported by six youths chosen by the parents of the +deceased. On the Liberty Tree and upon each side and foot of the coffin +were inscriptions well calculated to excite sympathy for the deceased, +and at the same time indignation against him, who occasioned his death. + +On the 20th of April following the two culprits were tried for their +lives. Richardson was brought in guilty of murder, but Wilmot was +acquitted. Drake says "In this account of the case of Richardson and +Wilmot, it must be borne in mind that it is almost entirely made up from +the facts detailed by their enemies. Richardson was no doubt insulted +beyond endurance, which caused his rashness, in a moment of intense +excitement he fired on the mob. These facts doubtless had their weight +with the court, for the Chief Justice Thomas Hutchinson, viewed the +guilt of Richardson as everybody would now, a clear case of justifiable +homicide, and consequently refused to sign a warrant for his execution, +and, after lying in prison two years, was, on application to the King +pardoned and set at liberty."[204] + + [204] Drake's History of Boston, p. 777. + +After the affair of the Wooden Figure at Lillie's, there was constant +trouble in Boston between the soldiers and roughs of the town, until the +5th of March, when occurred the affray between the Mob and the Soldiers +known as the "Boston Massacre."[205] + + [205] See pages 43 and 44 for account of the "Massacre." + +Mr. Lillie had taken no part in the affair that happened near his store, +but popular feeling was influenced by that occurrence against him. Mr. +Lillie's full statement of the interference with his business by the +illegal committee of citizens, will be found in the "Massachusetts +Gazette," January 11, 1770. An extract will show his attitude towards +the affair. + +"Upon the whole, I cannot help saying--although I have never entered far +into the mysteries of government, having applied myself to my shop and +my business--that it always seemed strange to me that people who contend +so much for civil and religious liberty should be so ready to deprive +others of their natural liberty: that men who are guarding against being +subject to laws [to] which they never gave their consent in person or by +their representative should at the same time make laws, and in the most +effectual manner execute them upon me and others, to which laws I am +sure I never gave my consent either in person or by my representative. +But what is still more hard, they are laws made to punish me after I +have committed the offence; for when I sent for my goods, I was told +nobody was to be compelled to subscribe; after they came, I was required +to store them. This in no degree answered the end of the subscription, +which was to distress the manufacturers in England. Now, my storing my +goods could never do this; the mischief was done when the goods were +bought in England; and it was too late to help it. My storing my goods +must be considered, therefore, as punishment for an offence before the +law for punishing it was made. + +"If one set of private subjects may at any time take upon themselves to +punish another set of private subjects just when they please, it's such +a sort of government as I never heard of before; and according to my +poor notion of government, this is one of the principal things which +government is designed to prevent; and I own I had rather be a slave +under one master (for I know who he is, I may perhaps be able to please +him) than a slave to a hundred or more whom I don't know where to find, +nor what they will expect of me." + +In 1770 Mr. Lillie removed to Oxford in Worcester County,--a removal +induced probably by his recent experiences in Boston. His domicile is +stated to be in that town in actions brought by him in Suffolk County. +On account of his political views his new residence did not prove to be +any more congenial than Boston had been. + +In 1772 he attached for a debt the house of Dr. Alexander Campbell and +the people of Oxford took umbrage, and threatened him with violence. In +the same year he sold his place in Oxford, and returned to Boston. He +bought in 1774 an estate in Brookfield, but it does not appear that he +lived upon it at any time. Until the political troubles Mr. Lillie seems +to have been in good circumstances, and to have kept up in his manner of +dress the fashions of the period, according to family traditions. He +left Boston in March, 1776 with the British troops for Halifax. His +family thus embarking numbered four persons--himself and wife, and one +of the other two being, doubtless, a negro servant. + +Mr. Lillie's death occurred in Halifax two months after leaving Boston, +on May 12. His property in Massachusetts was confiscated. Jacob Cooper, +of Boston, administered on his estate. Mrs. Lillie continued to live at +Halifax, and notwithstanding the confiscation proceedings, she undertook +to collect, by suits in Massachusetts in 1784-85, some of the debts due +to her husband. The Confiscation Act however, was a bar to any recovery. + +Mrs. Lillie survived her husband eighteen years. Her funeral is +registered on the records of St. Paul's church, Halifax, as being on +September 16, 1794, at the age of seventy-nine. Her will dated December +10, 1791, and August 5, 1794 (appointing Foster Hutchinson, the younger, +Executor) was proved September 20, 1794, on the oath of John Masters and +Foster Hutchinson, the younger. Certain provisions of the will show a +particular interest in a colored servant. The will provides: "It is also +my will and intention that my black man Caesar be free, and that the sum +of ten pounds be retained and left in the hands of my hereinafter named +executor, to be applied to the use of said Caesar in case of sickness, +or other necessity, at the discretion of said executor." She also +bequeathed to him "a suit of mourning cloths suitable for a man in his +situation in life"; and in a later codicil, "the feather-bed and +bedstead whereupon he usually sleeps, and also the bedclothes and +bedding belonging thereto." Mr. Lillie's confiscated personal effects +indicate that he lived in a liberal style. At the time of his death. +Governor Hutchinson, then in England, wrote in his Diary, July 24, 1776: + +When I came home I heard of Mr. Lillie's death at Halifax. What numbers +have been brought to poverty, sickness, and death by refusing to concur +with the present measures of America! + +Theophilus Lillie died childless. Search was made in July, 1895, by +Edward Lillie Pierce and his son George, in the old graveyard at +Halifax, but no stone for him or his wife was discovered, although her +funeral had been duly recorded in the church register. The stones of +Foster Hutchinson and his family were well preserved; and the Lillie +stone if ever set up, would be likely to be found near them. + +Mr. Lillie's personal property in Massachusetts was disposed of and his +three pieces of real estate were sold at public auction. His debts were +small and the whole amount turned into the treasury, L595, valued at +L446 in sterling money. The public gain was considerable. + +JOHN LILLIE, the only surviving brother of Theophilus was born August 8, +1728. He is described as a "mariner" in public documents, but no details +of his career on the sea have been transmitted. He married in Trinity +church, August 16, 1754 Abigail Breck (born June 19, 1732.) She was the +daughter of John and Margaret Breck. John Lillie died April, 1765, and +his will was proved on the 19th. He left six children. John Lillie, his +son, became a Major in the Continental Army and served in many +engagements with great bravery during the war. General Washington +certified that Major Lillie "conducted himself on all occasions with +dignity, bravery, and intelligence." He was married to Elizabeth Vose, +January 20, 1785, and was survived by several children. + +Mehitable and Ann Lillie, two of John Lillie's daughters (the mariner) +have always with their descendants been well known. + + + LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO THEOPHILUS LILLIE IN SUFFOLK + COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To John Greenough, May 26, 1781; Lib. 132, fol. 216. Land and + buildings in Boston. Middle St. E.; Samuel Ridgeway S.; Thomas + Greenough W. Thomas Greenough and Edward Foster, an absentee, N. + + To Samuel Howard. Aug. 3, 1781: Lib. 133, fol. 5. One undivided + third of land and large brick dwelling-house in Boston, Sun Court + St. N.; Joseph Hemmingway and others E.; John Leach and others S.; + Market Square W. + + + + + DR. SYLVESTER GARDINER. + + +Sylvester Gardiner was born in South Kingston, Rhode Island, in 1707. He +was descended from the first emigrant of the name to the Narragansett +country. His father was William Gardiner, the son of Benoni, the son of +Joseph, an English emigrant. Sylvester was the fourth son of William +Gardiner and was educated by his brother-in-law, the Rev. Dr. McSparran, +for the medical profession. He studied eight years in England and +France, and returning to Boston, entered and pursued a successful +professional career. He established a store for the importation of drugs +and acquired a fortune. He accumulated much real estate in Maine and +became proprietor of one-twelfth part of the "Plymouth Purchase," +so-called, on the Kennebec River. At one time he owned 100,000 acres and +was grantor of much of the land in ancient Pittston. "His efforts to +settle the large domain were unceasing from the year 1753 to the +Revolution. He was made perpetual moderator of the proprietors at all +their meetings; he executed their plans, built mills, houses, stores and +wharves, cleared lands, made generous offers to emigrants; established +an episcopal mission, and furnished the people of that region with their +first religious instruction. And most of all this was accomplished with +his own money."[206] He erected houses and mills at Swan Island, +Pownalborough and other places, and was the author of the beginnings of +many settlements. He was a public spirited man of great zeal and energy, +broad and liberal in his views. + + [206] Sabine's Loyalists, Vol. I. p. 459. + +Dr. Gardiner was married three times. His first wife was Anne, daughter +of Doctor John Gibbons of Boston; his second, Abigail Eppes of Virginia; +his third, Catharine Goldthwaite. In Boston he was respected by all +classes. Of the "Government Party," he entertained as guests, Sir +William Pepperell, Governor Hutchinson, Earl Percy, Admiral Graves, +Major Pitcairn, General Gage, Major Small and others. He was an +Addresser of the Royal Governors in 1774 and the year following he +became identified with the Royal cause. In 1776, at the evacuation, he +abandoned all and found temporary shelter at Halifax. When he left his +native country close to the age of three score and ten, he took only +about L400 with him. The vessel in which he embarked was destitute of +common comforts, poorly supplied with provisions, and the cabin, which +he and several members of his family occupied, was small and crowded +with passengers. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished and settled in +Poole, England. His property in Boston and Maine was confiscated and all +goods that could be found were sold at public auction. A library +containing five hundred volumes, was sold in 1778-79 at auction by +William Cooper. His books and other personal effects amounted to +L1658.18. + +The estates on the Kennebec were confiscated but the Attorney-General +found that the action was illegally prosecuted and instituted new +proceedings. Before they were brought to a close peace was declared and +the proceedings stayed. The heirs of Dr. Gardiner learned these facts +and obtained the property. Had there not been a flaw in the first suit +this would not have been the case. + +"In 1785 Doctor Gardiner returned to the United States. For a part of +his losses he petitioned Massachusetts for compensation. He had never +borne arms, he said, nor entered into any association, combination or +subscription against the Whigs. When he quitted Boston, he stated, too, +that he had in his possession a valuable stock of drugs, medicines, +paints, groceries and dye stuffs, which having a vessel fully equipped +and entirely under his control, he could easily have carried off, but +which he left, of choice, for the benefit of the country, which he knew +was in need. The claim was acknowledged to the extent of giving his +heirs tickets in the State Land Lottery, by which they obtained nearly +six thousand acres in the county of Washington, Maine."[207] + + [207] Sabine's Loyalists, Vol. I, p 460. + +Washington, on taking possession of Boston, ordered the medicines, etc., +in Doctor Gardiner's store, to be transferred to the hospital department +for the use of the Continental Army; but the State authorities +interfered and required delivery to the Sheriff of Suffolk county. The +result, however, was a vote of the council complying with the +requisition of the commander-in-chief. + +After the peace Doctor Gardiner resided in Newport, Rhode Island, where +he still practiced medicine and surgery. There he died suddenly of a +malignant fever on August 8, 1786, in his eightieth year. His body was +interred under Trinity church and his funeral was attended by most of +the citizens. The shipping displayed its colors at half-mast, and much +respect was shown by the people. Dr. Gardiner had always been +philanthropic and a benefit to mankind. He seems to have been identified +in church work wherever he lived and from the following extract appears +to have been a member of King's chapel, while residing in Boston: "April +3, 1740.--Rec'd of Mr. Sylvester Gardiner Sixteen Pounds Two Shills, in +full for wine for the Chapple for the year past. John Hancock."[208] + + [208] "Dealings with the Dead," by a Sexton of the Old School. + +Dr. Gardiner acted conscientiously in his course in remaining loyal and +his "Christian fortitude and piety were exemplary as his honesty was +inflexible and his friendship sincere."[209] In the Episcopal church in +Gardiner, Maine, near the pulpit, a beautiful cenotaph of black marble +about eight feet high enclosed in a fine oaken frame, is erected to the +memory of Dr. Gardiner, by Robert Hallowell Gardiner, his grandson and +heir. + + [209] Newport Mercury. Aug. 14, 1786. + +JOHN GARDINER, the eldest son of Dr. Sylvester Gardiner, was born in +Boston in 1731, and was sent to England, to complete his education. He +studied law at Inner Temple and practiced in the courts of Westminster +Hall. He received the appointment of Attorney-General in the West Indies +at St. Christopher's. He was denied promotion by the British Government +because of his sympathy for the Whigs, and in 1783 he returned to +Boston. On February 13, 1784, John Gardiner, his wife, Margaret, and +their children were naturalized. John Gardiner was an ardent reformer +and an active Unitarian. He was the principal agent in transforming the +King's Chapel into a Unitarian church. He wrote an able treatise in +defence of the theatre. Removing to Pownalborough, Maine, he represented +that town in the General Court from 1789 until his death in 1793-94. He +was drowned by the loss of a packet in which he was sailing to Boston to +attend the session of the Legislature. + +JOHN SYLVESTER JOHN, son of John Gardiner, was born in Wales in 1765. +His father had left America in 1748 before he was of age and resided in +England and South Wales until 1768, when he went to St. Christopher's, +remaining in the West Indies until 1783. John Sylvester John, became an +able theological and political writer. He was rector of Trinity church, +Boston, from 1805 until his death, which occurred at Harrowgate Springs, +England, in 1830, while traveling for his health. + +A tablet was erected in Trinity church to the memory of John Sylvester +John Gardiner, who had first been an assistant and later the rector of +the church. At the time of the great Boston fire, November 9, 1872, when +old Trinity church on Summer street was destroyed, this tablet was the +only relic saved from the interior of the church. It was rescued from +the flames by a great-grandson of John Sylvester John Gardiner, and is +now in Trinity church, Copley square. Boston. + +WILLIAM GARDINER, son of the rector, was an eminent Boston lawyer. He +had two daughters, Louisa, who married John Cushing of Watertown, and +Elizabeth. + +WILLIAM GARDINER, the second son of Sylvester Gardiner, removed to +Gardinerston, Maine, soon after the settlement commenced. He employed a +housekeeper and entertained his friends and was famous for his fun +making. He gave offence to the Whigs because he "would drink tea"; +because he refused to swear allegiance to their cause; and because he +called them "Rebels." "Arrangements were made to take him from his bed +at night, and tar and feather him, but a Whig, friendly to him, carried +him to a place of safety. He was, however, made prisoner, tried and sent +to jail in Boston."[210] In March, 1778, he petitioned for release and +was soon after allowed to return home where "he was regarded as a +harmless man and was allowed for the most part to remain unmolested, +except by petty annoyances." William Gardiner died, unmarried at +Gardiner, Maine, and was buried "beneath the Episcopal vestry." + + [210] Sabine's Loyalists, Vol. I, p. 462. + +ANNE GARDINER, third child of Sylvester Gardiner, married the second son +of the Earl of Altamont. HANNAH, a fourth child, was the wife of Robert +Hallowell. REBECCA, the fifth child, married Philip Dumarisque. Last, +ABIGAIL, married Oliver Whipple, counsellor-at-law, Cumberland, Rhode +Island, and subsequently of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. + +Nearly the whole of the estate in Maine passed under the provisions of +Doctor Gardiner's will, to Hannah's only son, Robert Hallowell, who, as +one of the conditions of that instrument, added the name of Gardiner. +John on account of his political and religious opinions failed to become +the principal heir, and William "was not an efficient man." + +Sylvanus Gardiner's second wife was the widow of William Eppes of +Virginia, daughter of Col. Benj. Pickman of Salem. She died at Poole, +England, leaving a son, Wm. Eppes, who married Miss Randolph of Bristol, +whose son was a commissary general in the British Army. A daughter, +Love Eppes, married Sir John Lester of Poole, and Abigail Eppes married +Richard Routh, a loyalist. + + + LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO SYLVESTER GARDINER IN SUFFOLK + COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To William Coleman, Benjamin Coleman, Dec 12. 1782. Lib. 136, fol. + 146; Land and buildings in Boston, Marlborough St. W.; John Sprague + and Samuel Partridge S.; alley between said land and land of John + Erving E.; Samuel Partridge N. + + To Joseph Gardner, Nov. 21. 1783; Lib. 140, fol. 113; Land in + Boston, Marlborough St. E.; alley S. and E., Samuel Dashwood S. and + E., Martin Gay E.; Winter St. S.; heirs of William Fisher W.; S.; + W. and S.; heirs of Henderson Inches S.; John Williams and land of + the State W.; Jonathan Cole N.; John Lucas E. and N. + + To John Boles, March 2, 1784; Lib. 141, fol. 195. Land in Boston. + Winter St. N.; John R. Sigourney W.; Dr. John Sprague S. and E. + + To Joseph Henderson. Aug. 7, 1784. Lib. 144 fol. 111; Land and + buildings in Boston, Long Lane E.; Dr. John Sprague S. and E.; + Andrew Johonnot S., Charles Paxton and Dr. Sprague W.; said Sprague + N. + + + + + RICHARD KING. + + +Of Scarborough, he was a prosperous merchant, "with a leaning towards +the Government." Many persons had become indebted to him beyond their +ability to pay. In consequence, apparently of this circumstance, his +troubles soon began, after the attack and destruction of Mr. +Hutchinson's residence, of which the following outrage appears to have +been an imitation, and the story has been handed down by no less a +person than John Adams: "Taking advantage of the disorders occasioned by +the passage of the Stamp Act, a party disguised as Indians, on the night +of the 16th of March, 1760, broke into his store, and his dwelling-home +also, and destroyed his books and papers, containing evidences of debts. +Not content with this, they laid waste his property and threatened his +life if he should venture to seek legal mode of redress." + +John Adams was counsel for King, and he, who had no pity for Hutchinson, +but rather rejoiced in the impunity of his assailants, writes, "The +terror and distress, the distraction and horror of his family cannot be +described by words or painted on canvas. It is enough to move a statue, +to melt a heart of stone to read the story."[211] + + [211] John Adams' Letters to His Wife. Note to No. 9. + +The popular bitterness then engendered did not, however, subside, and in +1774, a slight incident occurred which soon caused it once more to break +out. A vessel of Mr. King's was found to have delivered a load of lumber +in Boston, by special license, after the port had been closed, and the +material had been purchased for the use of the troops. On this occasion +forty men from the neighboring town of Gorham came over and compelled +Mr. King, in fear of his life, to make a disavowal of his opinion. These +repeated shocks seem to have been too much for Mr. King's constitution. +He became insane and died in the following March. + +Such were the means adopted by the Sons of Despotism, to make patriots, +to convert their fellow countrymen to their ways of thinking. +Intimidation and oppression are the accompaniments of all successful +revolutions. The same holds true of the methods adopted at the present +time by the leaders of a strike. The leaders, like the revolutionary +leaders, are unwilling to acknowledge that they are disturbers of the +peace, or that acting under them their followers are brutally assailing +those who seek employment under other than union conditions. + + + + + CHARLES PAXTON. + + COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS. + + +The subject of this sketch was born at Boston, February 28, 1707. +Wentworth Paxton and Faith, his wife, were his parents. Charles Paxton +was a Commissioner of Customs and as such early incurred the ill will of +the so-called patriotic party. In 1769 he and his associates were posted +in the "Boston Gazette," by James Otis. It was this card of Otis which +brought on the altercation with Robinson, another commissioner, in the +coffee-house in State street, and which resulted in injuries to the head +of the first champion of the revolution, from which he never recovered. +Otis subsequently became insane and while confined in an asylum met his +death, being struck by a bolt of lightning. + +Charles Paxton was a warden of King's Chapel in 1762, and was remarkable +for finished politeness and courtesy of manners. His office was +unpopular and odious and the wags of the day made merry with qualities, +which at any other time would have commanded respect. On Pope-day, as +the gun-powder plot anniversary, or the 5th of November was called, +there was usually a grand pageant of various figures on a stage mounted +on wheels and drawn through the streets with horses. The Pretender +suspended on a gibbet between the Devil and the Pope, with appropriate +implements and dress, were among the objects devised to make up the +show. Sometimes political characters, who in popular estimation should +keep company with personages represented, were added; and of these, +Commissioner Paxton was one. On one occasion he was exhibited between +the figures of the Devil and the Pope in proper figure. As the disputes +which preceded the war increased, the visits of Paxton to London became +more frequent. He went there as the authorized agent to the crown +officers, to complain of the merchants for resisting the Acts of +Parliament, and for the interest of the supporters of the Crown. After +he entered upon his duties he was efficient and active beyond his +associates. John Adams says of him that he appeared at one time to have +been Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary and Chief Justice. + +Paxton and his fellow-commissioners seized one of Hancock's vessels for +smuggling wine which caused a fearful mob and the flight of the officers +of the revenue to Castle William. Then came the hanging of Paxton in +effigy on the "Liberty Tree," then at the instance of the Commissioner +the first troops came to Boston; then the card of Otis, denouncing the +commissioners by name, the assault upon him in answer to it, and later +came the destruction of three cargoes of tea; then the shutting of the +port of Boston; then the first continental congress; then war,--a war +which cost England $500,000,000 and the Anglo-Saxon race 100,000 lives +in battle, storm and in prison. + +In 1776, with his family of five persons, Mr. Paxton embarked at Boston +with the British Army for Halifax, and in July of that year sailed for +England in the ship Aston Hall. He came under the Confiscation Act and +was proscribed and banished. In 1780 he was a pallbearer at the funeral +of Governor Hutchinson. In 1781 he was seen walking with Harrison Gray, +the last Colonial treasurer of Massachusetts, near Brompton. This able +and determined supporter of the crown died in 1788 at the age of +eighty-four at the seat of William Burch (one of his fellow +commissioners) at Norfolk, England. + + + + + JOSEPH HARRISON. + + COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS. + + +As previously stated, after the close of the last war with France which +ended in the conquest of Canada, the Government decided on enforcing the +revenue laws.[212] The frigate Romney of fifty guns had arrived from +Halifax and at the same time the sloop "Liberty," owned by John Hancock, +arrived loaded with wine from Madeira; there was a duty of L7 per tun on +such wines; several cargoes had been smuggled in without payment of the +duty, and it seemed probable that there would either be a connivance by +the custom house officer in this case, as in others, or there would be a +great disturbance by the mob. Harrison determined that there should be +no connivance by the officers and that the laws against smuggling should +be enforced, even if the vessel did belong to one of the principal +merchants and a representative of Boston and an officer of the corps of +cadets. Before the vessel arrived it had been frequently mentioned that +the duties would not be paid, and it was expected that an open refusal +would be made. When the vessel arrived and was lying at Hancock's wharf +on the tenth of June, 1768, the custom house officer, Thomas Kirk, went +on board, and was followed by Captain John Marshall,--who commanded Mr. +Hancock's ship, the London Packet,--with five or six others. These +persons confined Kirk below and kept him some three hours, and in the +meantime the wine was taken out and no entry made of it at the Custom +House or Naval Office. The cargo was landed in the night and carted +through the streets of Boston under a guard of thirty or forty stout +fellows armed with bludgeons, and though it was notorious to the +greatest part of the town, no officer of the customs thought fit to +attempt a seizure, nor is it probable that he could have succeeded if he +had attempted it. On the liberation of the custom house officer, an +entry was made the next morning by the master, Mr. Nathaniel Barnard, +who entered four or five pipes of wine, and made oath that that was all +he brought into port. This was as much a submission to the authority of +the act as if the whole cargo had been seized. + + [212] Ibid. 33-4, Hutchinson, Vol. III, p. 189. + +It was determined to seize the sloop upon a charge of false entry. +Accordingly Mr. Joseph Harrison, the collector and Benjamin Hallowell, +the comptroller, repaired to Hancock's wharf and made the seizure, and +fearing an attempt to rescue the vessel, made a signal to the Romney, +which lay at a small distance from the shore, and a boat with armed men +came to their aid. To prevent a rescue the vessel was taken from the +wharf into the harbor. This removal brought on a riot, a mob was soon +gathered together and the officer, insulted and beaten, several of whom +barely escaped with their lives. Among the numerous missiles thrown at +Mr. Harrison was a brick or stone which struck him on the breast, from +the effects of which he was confined to his bed. His son, Mr. Richard +Acklom Harrison, was thrown down, dragged by the hair of his head and +otherwise barbarously treated. Mr. Hallowell and Mr. Erving, inspectors, +did not fare much better. The former was confined to his home from the +wounds and bruises he received and the latter besides having his sword +broken was beaten with clubs and sticks, and considerably wounded. The +mob next proceeded to the home of Mr. John Williams, the +Inspector-General, broke his windows and also those of the Comptroller, +Mr. Hallowell. They then took Mr. Harrison's boat and dragged it to the +Common and there burned every fragment of it. Captain Marshall, the +captain of the "London Packet," died the same night as the riot, at +Hancock wharf, and it is said his death was caused by the over-exertion +which he made in removing the wine from the sloop Liberty. The most +conspicuous man on the part of the mob was Captain Daniel Malcolm, a +trader in Fleet street, who, it is said, was deeply interested in the +wines attempted to be smuggled. The revenue officer knew him well and +owed him no good will, for the reason that some time before they +undertook to search his premises for contraband goods, but were obliged +to retreat before deadly weapons, without effecting their object. On the +occasion of the seizure of the Liberty he headed a party of men who +exerted themselves to prevent her removal to the Romney, they said the +sloop should not be taken into custody, and declared they would go on +board and throw the people belonging to the Romney overboard.[213] When +the ministry became advised concerning the riots which followed the +seizure of the sloop Liberty, they gave orders for two regiments to sail +for Boston from Ireland.[214] They arrived September 30. The 29th +regiment camped on the Common and the 14th was quartered in Faneuil +Hall. The revenue officers retired after the assaults upon them to the +Castle until the arrival of the troops. Joseph Harrison and his wife and +family went to England. He was succeeded in the collectorship by Edward +Winslow, who held the office till the evacuation of Boston. + + [213] Drake's History of Boston, pp. 735-6-7. + + [214] See chapter on Boston Mobs, p. 40. + + + + + CAPTAIN MARTIN GAY. + + +John Gay emigrated to America about 1630. He settled first at Watertown +and was a grantee in the great Dividends and in Beaver Brook plowlands, +owning forty acres. He was Freeman May 6, 1635 and a Selectman in 1654. +He died March 4, 1688, and his wife Joanna died August 14, 1691. He had +eleven children. + +Nathaniel, third child of John Gay was born January 11, 1643. Was +Freeman May 23, 1677, and Selectman in 1704 and other years. He married +Lydia Lusher. He died Feb. 20, 1712. His wife died August 6th, 1774, +aged ninety-two. He had ten children. + +Rev. Ebenezer Gay, D. D., Minister of Hingham was born in 1696 graduated +at Harvard University in 1714, and was ordained in 1718. He was a +devoted loyalist, and died 1787, at the age of ninety, and in the +sixty-ninth year of his ministry. Rev. Doctor Chauncy "pronounces him to +have been one of the greatest and most valuable men in the country." His +son, MARTIN GAY, was Captain of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery +Company. He was born at Hingham on the 29 December, 1726. He married +first, 13 December, 1750, Mary Pinckney, by whom he had seven children. +After her death he married Ruth Atkins, by her he had two children. He +carried on the business of a brass founder, and copper smith, on Union +Street, Boston. He was also deacon in the West Church in Lynde Street. +On the thirtieth of April, 1775, shortly after the battle of Lexington, +Deacon Gay, with Deacon Jones was requested to "take care of the plate, +etc., belonging to this church, and Congregation." The church and +congregation were at this time dispersed and the meeting house occupied +as a barrack by the troops, and the pastor had gone to Nova Scotia. Mr. +Gay was true to his trust, at the evacuation he took "the plate and +linnen" to Nova Scotia and afterwards returned it, for long years after +in 1793 the church voted him their thanks for "having taken care of the +plate belonging to the church, while the town was in the hands of the +British troops, and when it was evacuated." When the new church was +built in 1805 he subscribed three hundred dollars towards it. From 1758 +to 1774, he was yearly chosen one of the two Assay Masters, and for many +years he was chosen one of the sixteen Firewards of the Town, in which +office he had as associates John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Adino +Paddock, he was chosen one of the twelve Wardens of the Town in 1771, +and occupied many other offices of importance, which shows the esteem in +which he was held by his fellow townsmen. In June, 1774, he signed the +Address to Governor Hutchinson, and from that time, he was not elected +to any town office, owing to his public avowal of Loyalist sentiments. + +Mr. W. Allan Gay of West Hingham, a grandson of Martin Gay, has three +letters written by the Captain, they have been published in the +Collection of the Colonial Society of Mass., Vol. 3. They are +interesting as they bring us almost into personal contact with people +who were living in Boston more than a hundred years ago, and one of whom +saw the Battle of Bunker Hill. The first was written by Captain Martin +Gay to his brother Jotham, seven years his elder. He had been an officer +in the French war of 1755 and had taken part in the expedition against +Nova Scotia under Gen. John Winslow. He afterwards settled in the +province he had helped to conquer from the French and at the date of the +letter had been for more than ten years a resident of Cumberland, Nova +Scotia. Within but three weeks after the battle, it gives one of the +first authentic accounts published. The writer's loyalty to his "King +and Country" is very apparent, as well as his detestation of all Rebels, +and especially the "famous Doctor Warren." The letter in part is as +follows: "The victory obtained by about two thousand regular troops +commanded by General Howe, over a large body of the County Rebels, ('tis +said about six thousand,) on the heights of Charlestown, on the 17ult, +was a remarkable Action. It proves that nothing the enemies to Great +Britain can do, will daunt the courage of British troops. The Rebels had +entrenched themselves on the top of a high hill, with two cannon mounted +in the Redoubt, besides several field pieces, on the hill, which is +about a quarter of a mile from Charles River in approaching which, the +troops had to break through stone walls, and other difficulties, which +gave the enemy every advantage they could wish for. However, after a +most violent hot fire, the brave soldiers forced the entrenchments to +the joy of all the spectators, (myself being one) and others on this +side of the river, who are friends to King and Country. Immediately on +the King's troops appearing on the top of the Redoubt, the Rebels ran +off in great confusion leaving their cannon, entrenching tools and a +large number of their dead and wounded. The loss was great on both +sides, the action lasted about an hour and a quarter. We have reason to +lament the loss of so many valuable brave officers and men, of the +King's Army who were killed on the field of battle, and since dead of +the wounds they received. I have not seen any account of the transaction +of that day made public by authority, therefore will not pretend to say +which suffered most in the loss of men. Will mention one on the Rebel +side, the famous Doctor Warren, who has for some years been a stirrer up +of Rebellion, was killed in the action. Had some others of his +disposition which I could name been there, and meet the same fate with +him, it would have made the victory of that day the more glorious, +though the Rebels meet with a shameful defeat, they still continue in +their opposition, in fortifying hills and others places near this town. +I am not apprehensive of their ever being able to take or destroy this +town, but 'tis a melancholy consideration to be in this situation, which +must in time prove fatal to this town and province, if not soon +prevented by that almighty being, whose providence preserves and governs +the world in all things." + +On the evacuation of Boston in March, 1776, by the British troops, he +accompanied them to Halifax. There went with him his son Martin, and his +daughter Mary, who afterwards married Rev. William Black of Halifax, and +also "his man London." He remained in Nova Scotia during the whole +period of the war. Mrs. Ruth Gay, second wife of Martin Gay, whose +maiden name as already stated was Atkins, remained in Boston during the +war, probably with her father's family. Her father, Thomas Atkins, was a +bricklayer by trade, and a well-to-do citizen, his real estate having +been appraised at his death in 1785 at L1,696. He, with his eldest son, +joined the revolutionists, but his second son, Gibbs Atkins, was a +loyalist. So were families divided in those days. + +The second letter was from his wife in Boston and was sent to him at +Halifax. It is interesting as showing some of the devices reported to by +the loyalists, their families and friends to save at least a portion of +their estates for the original owners. The letter is as follows: + + Boston, 24 June, 1786. + + My Dear Mr. Gay: + + My last of the 8th instant containing the melancholy account of the + death of my father, I make no doubt you have received. In that I + also informed you that the house was to be sold the 15 of this + month which was done accordingly. Mr. Whalley chose to bid it of + and Brother Timothy bought it at L380. He paid 129 Dollars Earnest + money, the rest is to be paid in 6 weeks. I wish you could settle + your affairs so as to come home before the time is up. Mr. Whalley + has sent you the account of the sale properly authentic, and has + directed them to be left at Mr. Pike's at Halifax. Do come home as + soon as you can. Our friends unite with me in love to you and + children. Father Gay has got quite well. Fanny is with me and + desires her duty to you. Love to her Brothers and Sisters. Believe + me to be your tender, affectionate Wife, + + R. GAY. + +The sale mentioned by Mrs. Gay took place under the Confiscation Act of +1777-1780. These estates were treated by the Probate Court as those of +deceased persons. As Martin Gay's wife was not an absentee she was +entitled to her third or dower right in her husband's estate. The +Commissioners appointed by the Probate Court assigned to Mrs. Gay as +"her third" "the two middle tenements of the house on Union Street, +Boston, with the cellars chambers and upper rooms. Also the shop +fronting Union Street and the land under same with the liberty to go +through the great entry into the said shop, with the use and +improvements of the yard, Well, Pump, and Privy." This division was made +at her request as a shrewd means of retaining for herself and eventually +for her husband, the _whole_ of the property, for it would be difficult +to sell or to lease the two ends of the house so divided, with the +middle taken out. The result was that the remainder of the house was +unsaleable and as stated in the letter was bought in by her brother +Timothy Atkins. As Mrs. Gay by her right of dower had only a life estate +on the property, it was necessary that she should require what is known +as the "remainder" which was still vested in the Commonwealth. This was +conveyed to her by Act of the Legislature, Feb. 7th, 1807, for the +consideration $1,680. In 1809, the widow, Ruth Gay, and her son Ebenezer +Gay, sold this property for fifteen thousand dollars. + +The third letter is dated at London, 7 July, 1788. In it he says "I +cannot pretend to say when my affairs will admit of my return to +America. By a late act of parliament a final settlement will (it is +sayed) be made with the Loyalists within a few months. I must wait with +patience this important event, then prepare to leave this both wonderful +and delightful kingdom, and return to my family and friends in my native +country, though an Alien when in it." + +He remained two years in England and returned to Boston in 1792, when he +resumed his business as a coppersmith at his old stand in Union Street, +and soon after entered into business relations with Mr. James Davis, a +brass founder, then but twenty-two years of age, who had learned the +trade from a Hessian, who like many of his countrymen were obliged to +remain in the country when Congress violated the terms of the Saratoga +Convention.[215] Mr. Gay subsequently sold the business to Mr. Davis, +who incorporated it in 1828 under the name of the Revere Copper Company, +Mr. Joseph Warren Revere being one of the incorporators. + + [215] See page 85 for further account of the Saratoga Convention. + +Martin Gay died in 1809, and he was buried in the Granary Burial Ground. +SAMUEL GAY was the eldest son of Martin Gay who graduated at Harvard in +1775. Owing to the disturbed state of the times, and the quarterings of +the rebel troops in the College buildings, he did not take his degree at +the College Commencement, which was not held this year. He became a +permanent resident of New Brunswick, and was a member of the first House +of Assembly organized in the Colony, and represented the County of +Westmoreland several years. He was also a magistrate of that County, and +Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He died at Fort Cumberland +(where his father had a grant of land from the Crown) January 21, 1847 +in the ninety-third year of his age. + +EBENEZER GAY was the youngest son of Martin Gay, and can hardly be +classed as a loyalist. He was a child when his father went to Halifax, +and he remained in Boston with his mother during the war. He graduated +at Harvard College in 1789, practiced law, and was a member of the State +Senate, and resided at Hingham. Mr. Wickworth Allen Gay, the artist, is +his son. Martin Gay the younger, was fifteen years of age when he +accompanied his father to Halifax. Three years later he was accidentally +shot by a friend while hunting near Windsor, Nova Scotia. + + + LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO MARTIN GAY IN SUFFOLK COUNTY + AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To John Davis. Jan. 7, 1783; Lib. 136, fol. 228; Land in Boston, + Winter St. S.. Samuel Dashwood E. and N.; Dr. Sylvester Gardner, an + absentee, W. + + To Timothy Atkins. Dec. 13. 1787; Lib. 161, fol. 240; Land and + buildings in Boston. Union St. E.; Philip Freeman S.; E.; E. and + S.; heirs of Benjamin Andrews W; N. and W.; Dorothy Carnes N. and + W.; Jeremiah Bumstead N.; reserving that part of the premises set + off to Ruth Gay, wife of said Martin Gay. + + + + + DANIEL LEONARD. + + +The Leonard family was established in this country in 1652, by three +sons of Thomas Leonard, who remained in England. The three sons were +James, Henry, and Philip, all of whom have left many descendants. The +Leonards were interested in the first iron works established in this +country at Lynn, Braintree, Rowley Village, and Taunton, and at a later +date at Canton, so that the observation "where you can find iron works +there you will find a Leonard" has been almost literally verified. They +were probably interested in most, if not all the iron works established +in this country within the first century after its settlement, and it is +a remarkable fact that the iron manufacture has continued successively, +and generally very successfully, in the hand of the Leonards or their +descendants, down to the present day. + +James was the progenitor of the Leonards of Taunton, Raynham and Norton. +He and his sons often traded with the Indians, and were on such terms of +friendship with them, that when war broke out King Philip gave strict +orders to his men never to hurt the Leonards. Philip resided in winter +at Mount Hope, but his summer residence was at Raynham, about a mile +from the forge. The family was noted throughout Plymouth County in +Colonial times for its wealth, and the number of able men it produced in +successive generations, who were entrusted by the public with offices of +honor and importance. To this family belonged Daniel Leonard, the third +Taunton lawyer, a man who was no unconspicuous actor in the affairs of +his time. He was the only son of Ephraim Leonard, a judge of the Court +of Common Pleas, a colonel in the militia, and the possessor of a large +property, who resided on a homestead of five hundred acres connected +with which were extensive iron works, situated in that part of the town +of Norton now known as Mansfield. There, in a house on this estate the +subject of this sketch was born May 29, 1740. His boyhood was passed +tranquilly amid comforts which usually wait on an only child of wealthy +and influential parents. Entering Harvard College at an early age, he +graduated in 1760 in the class of John Lowell, the celebrated lawyer. He +took up law as a profession, and had not been long at the bar before he +was engaged in a fair practice, his generous disposition and affable +manners having established his popularity, while his acquirements won +for him reputation as an orator and a scholar. In 1770 he received from +Yale College the degree of M. A.; in 1769 he was appointed as King's +Attorney of Bristol County. Having become possessed of a fortune by a +Boston heiress, he adopted what for that age and vicinity was considered +great style, and display of dress, and mode of living. He set up a +chariot, and pair of horses with which he travelled to Boston several +times a week, something no lawyer in the Province had ever ventured to +do before. In 1769 he began his political career by entering the +Legislature where he represented Taunton during the year's of 1770-71-73 +and 74. At first he made the most ardent speeches, which had been up to +that time delivered in the House against Great Britain in favor of the +colonists, but in the latter years of his service as a representative, +he, like many more of his countrymen, became alarmed at the mob +outrages, and the drifting of the country towards rebellion, he slowly +changed his opinions and became a Loyalist and a supporter of the +government that represented law, and authority. The revolutionists +attributed this change to the influence of Governor Hutchinson and +Attorney-General Sewall with whom he was on terms of intimacy, although +this friendship formed some cause of distrust; the change in his views +was not known publicly, or with certainty until the summer of 1774, as +is evidenced by his being a member of the Committee of Nine on the state +of the Province in the Legislature of that year, a committee made up of +those only who were believed to be against the government. In June of +that year he became an "addresser" to Governor Hutchinson. A few weeks +later he was appointed Mandamus Councellor by the King. When it became +known that he had taken the oath for qualifications for this office a +mob of upward of two thousand men gathered on the "green" near his home, +uttering oaths and angry threats and menacing him with personal +indignities, which they would undoubtedly have proceeded to put into +execution if they could have found him, but being informed by his father +that he had gone to Boston and that he would use his influence to induce +his son to resign his office, they were mollified for the time and +refrained from pulling the house down, and gradually dispersed. They, +however, assembled again the following evening, and seeing a light in +the south chamber where Mrs. Leonard lay sick in bed, and thinking that +Leonard was there, they fired through the window into the room; the +bullets passed through the upper sash and shutter, and lodged in the +partition of the next chamber.[216] Friends had acquainted Mr. Leonard +of the mob's intention to attack his home. He therefore went to Boston +where his family soon joined him, and was protected from further +violence by the presence of the troops. This outrage upon his home +greatly embittered him against the revolutionists and their cause, and +was undoubtedly the cause of his writing his celebrated letters, which +so ably championed those principles of civil liberty, for which the +loyalists so nobly contended. + + [216] Mrs. Leonard was confined to bed with childbirth. Charles, their + only son, was born an idiot, due no doubt to this outrage. The mother of + Curtis Guild, the present governor of Massachusetts, was born in this + room, she being a descendant of the Leonard family. + +Daniel Leonard was the author of the famous letters signed +Massachusettensis, mis-attributed by the first President Adams to +Jonathan Sewall. These letters that appeared in the Massachusetts +Gazette "reviewed with much ingenuity with the purpose of showing that +the course of the government was founded in law and reason; that the +colonies had no substantial grievance; that they were a part of the +British Empire and properly subject to its authority." From the great +skill in which they were written they were attributed to Jonathan +Sewall, a man of much talent. It was more than a generation before the +authorship was assigned to Daniel Leonard. John Adams answered these +papers as "Novanglus." "Massachusettensis" bears dates between December, +1774, and April, 1775, and was published three times in a single year: +first, in the "Massachusetts Gazette and Post Boy," next in a pamphlet +form; and last, by Rivington, in New York. Still another edition +appeared in Boston in 1776. The replies were numerous. "Novanglus" bears +dates between January and April, 1775. Both were printed in 1819, with a +preface, by Mr. Adams, who remarks of "Massachusettensis," that "these +papers were well written, abounded with wit, discovered good +information, and were conducted with a subtlety of art and address +wonderfully calculated to keep up the spirits of their party, to depress +ours," etc., etc. + +The following are a few brief extracts from these letters. + +"The press when opened to all parties and influenced by none, is a +salutary engine in a free state, to preserve the freedom of that state, +but when a party has gained the ascendancy, so far as to become the +licensers of the press, either by act of government, or by playing off +the resentment of the populace against printers, and authors, the press +itself becomes an engine of oppression or licentiousness, and is as +pernicious to society as otherwise it would be beneficial. It is too +true that ever since the origin of our controversy with Great Britain, +the press of this town have been indulged in publishing what they +pleased, while little has been published on the part of the government. +The effect this must have had upon the minds of the people in general is +obvious. In short, the changes have been so often rung upon oppression, +tyranny, and slavery, that, whether sleeping or waking, they are +continually vibrating in our ears, and it is now high time to ask +ourselves whether we have not been deluded by sound only. Should you be +told that acts of high treason are flagrant through the country, that a +great part of the province is in actual rebellion, would you believe it +true? Nay, you would spurn it with indignation. Be calm, my friends, it +is necessary to know the worst of a disease, to enable us to provide an +effectual remedy. Are not the bands of society cut asunder and the +sanctions that hold man to man trampled upon? Can any of us recover a +debt, or obtain compensation for an injury by law? Are not many persons, +whom once we respected, and revered, driven from their homes, and +families, and forced to fly to the army for protection, for no other +reason but their having accepted commissions under our king? Is not +civil government dissolved? + +"Reader, apply to an honest lawyer (if such a one can be found) and +inquire what kind of an offence it is for a number of armed men to +assemble, and forcibly to obstruct the courts of justice, to pass +governmental acts, to take the militia out of the hands of the king's +representatives to form a new militia, to raise men and appoint officers +for public purposes, without order or permission of the king or his +representatives, or for a number of men to take to their arms, and march +with a professed design of opposing the king's troops. Ask, reader, of +such a lawyer, what is the crime, and what the punishment, and if, +perchance, thou art one that has been active in these things, and art +not insensibility itself, his answer will harrow up thy soul. + +"The shaft is already sped, and the utmost exertion is necessary to +prevent the blow. We already feel the effects of anarchy, mutual +confidence, affection, and tranquility, those sweeteners of human life +are succeeded by distrust, hatred, and wild uproar; the useful arts of +agriculture and commerce are neglected for caballing, mobbing this or +the other man, because he acts, speaks or is suspected of thinking +different from the prevailing sentiment of the times, in purchasing +arms, and forming a militia. O height of madness! Can you indulge the +thought one moment that Great Britain will consent to this? For what has +she protected and defended the colonies against the maritime powers of +Europe, from their first British settlement to this day? For what did +she purchase New York of the Dutch? For what was she so lavish of her +best blood and treasure in the conquest of Canada, and other territories +in America? Was it to raise up a rival state, or to enlarge her own +empire? I mention these things, my friends, that you may know how people +reason upon this subject in England, and to convince you that you are +deceived, if you imagine, that Great Britain will accede to the claims +of the colonies. And now, in God's name, what is it that has brought us +to this brink of destruction? Has not the government of Great Britain +been as mild and equitable in the colonies, as in any part of her +extensive domains? Has she not been a nursing mother to us from the days +of our infancy to this time. Has she not been indulgent almost to a +fault? + +"I have as yet said nothing of the difference in sentiment among +ourselves. Upon a superficial view we might imagine that this province +was nearly unanimous; but the case is far different. A very considerable +body of men of property in this province are at this day firmly attached +to the cause of government, bodies of men compelling persons to disavow +their sentiments, to resign commissions or to subscribe leagues, and +covenants, has wrought no change in their sentiments. It has only +attached them more closely to government and pray more devoutly for its +restoration. + +"A new, and until lately unheard of mode of opposition, has been devised, +said to be the invention of the fertile brain of one of our party +agents, called a committee of correspondence. This is the foulest, +subtlest, and most venomous serpent that ever issued from the eggs of +sedition. These committees when once established, think themselves +amenable to none, they assume a dictatorial style, and have an +opportunity under the apparent sanction of their several towns, of +clandestinely wreaking private revenge on individuals by traducing their +characters, and holding them up as enemies of their country, wherever +they go, also of misrepresenting facts and propagating sedition through +the country. Thus a man of principle and property in travelling through +the country would be insulted by persons whose faces he had never seen +before. He would feel the smart without suspecting the hand that +administered the blow. These committees, as they are not known in law, +and can derive no authority from thence. They frequently erect +themselves into a tribunal where the same persons are at once +legislators, accusers, witnesses, judges, and jurors and the mob the +executioners. The accused has no day in court, and the execution of the +sentence is the first notice he receives. It is chiefly owning to these +committees, that so many respectable persons have been abused and forced +to sign recantations and resignation though so many persons, to avoid +such reiterated insults, as are more to be deprecated by a man of +sentiment than death itself, have been obliged to quit their houses, +families and business, and fly to the army for protection. That husband +has been separated from wife, father from son, brother from brother, and +the unfortunate refugee forced to abandon all the comforts of domestic +life. Have not these people that are thus insulted, as good a right to +think and act for themselves in matters of the last importance. Why +then, do you suffer them to be cruelly treated for differing in +sentiment from you? Perhaps by this time some of you may inquire who it +is, that suffers his pen to run so freely. I will tell you; it is a +native of this province that knew it before many that are now basking in +the rays of political sunshine, had a being. He was favored not by +whigs, or tories, but the people. He is now repaying your favors, if he +knows his own heart, from the purest gratitude. I saw the small seed of +sedition when it was implanted; it was as a grain of mustard. I have +watched the plant until it has become a great tree; the vilest reptiles +that crawl upon the earth are concealed at the root, the foulest birds +of the air rest upon its branches. + +"At the conclusion of the late war Great Britain found that the national +debt amounted to almost one hundred and fifty million, and heavy taxes +and duties were laid. She knew that the colonies were as much benefited +as any part of the empire, and indeed more so, she thought it reasonable +that the colonies should bear a part of the national burden, as that +they should share in the national benefit. For this purpose the stamp +act was passed. At first we did not dream of denying the authority of +parliament to tax us, much less legislate for us. We had paid for +establishing a post office, duties imposed for regulating trade, and +even for raising a revenue to the crown without questioning the right. +Some resolves in Virginia denying the right of parliament made their +appearance. We read them with wonder, they savoured of independence. It +now became unpopular to suggest the contrary, his life would be in +danger that asserted it. The newspapers were open to but one side of the +question and the inflammatory pieces that issued weekly from the press, +worked up the populace to a fit temper to commit the outrages that +ensued. It has been said that several thousands were expended in +England, to ferment the disturbance there. However that may be, +opposition to the ministry was then gaining ground, from circumstances +foreign to this. The ministry was changed and the stamp act repealed. +When the statute was made imposing duties upon glass, paper, India teas, +etc. imported into the colonies, it was said this was another instance +of taxation. We obtained a partial repeal of this statute which took off +the duties from all articles except teas. We could not complain of the +three-penny duty on tea as burdensome, for a shilling which had been +laid upon it for the purpose of regulating trade, and therefore was +allowed to be constitutional, was taken off; so that we were, in fact, +gainers nine pence on the pound by the new regulation. The people were +told weekly that the ministry had formed a plan to enslave them that the +duty upon tea was only a prelude to a window tax, hearth tax, land tax +and poll tax, etc. What was it natural to expect from a people bred +under a free constitution, jealous of their liberty, credulous, even to +a proverb when told their privileges were in danger. I answer outrages, +disgraceful to humanity itself. What mischief was not an artful man, who +had obtained the confidence and guidance of such an enraged multitude, +capable of doing? He had only to point out this or that man, as an enemy +of his country, and no character or station, age or merit could protect +the proscribed from their fury. Happy was it for him, if he could +secrete his person, and subject his property only to their lawless rage. +By such means acts of public violence has been committed as will blacken +many a page in the history of our country. They have engrossed all the +power of the province into their own hands. A democracy or republic it +has been called, but it does not deserve the name of either. It was, +however, a despotism cruelly carried into execution by mobs, and riots, +and more incompatible with the rights of mankind than the enormous +monarchies of the East. The government under the British Constitution +consisting of kings, lords, and commons, is allowed both by Englishmen +and foreigners to be the most perfect system that the wisdom of ages has +produced. The distributions of power are so just, and the proportions so +exact, as at once to support and control each other. An Englishman +glories in being subject to and protected by such a government. + +"Let us now suppose the colonies united and moulded into some form of +government, in order to render government operative and salutary, +subordination is necessary. This our patriots need not be told of, and +when once they had mounted the steed and found themselves so well seated +as to run no risk of being thrown from the saddle, the severity of their +discipline to restore subordination would be in proportion to their +former treachery in destroying it. We have already seen specimens of +their tyranny, in the inhuman treatment of persons guilty of no crime +except that of differing in sentiment. What then must we expect from +such scourges of mankind when supported by imperial powers? + +"I do not address myself to whigs or tories, but to the whole people. I +know you well, you are loyal at heart, friends to good order, and do +violence to yourselves in harboring one moment, disrespectful sentiments +towards Great Britain, the land of our forefathers' nativity, and sacred +repository of their bones, but you have been most insidiously induced to +believe that Britain is rapacious, cruel and vindictive, and envies us +the inheritance purchased by the sweat and blood of our ancestors. Could +that thick mist be but once dispelled that you might see our Sovereign, +the provident father of all his people, and Great Britain a nursing +mother to the colonies, as they really are. Long live our gracious king, +and happiness to Britain would resound from one end of the province to +the other."[217] + + [217] Extracts from Massachusettensis. Letter addressed to the + Inhabitants of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Dec. 12th, 1774. + +In February, 1775, Daniel Leonard was appointed Solicitor General of the +Commission of Customs with a salary of L200 sterling, a body exercising +powers similar to those of a court of admiralty. Thirteen months after +this time, March, 1776, he accompanied the British Army to Halifax with +his family of eight persons and thence to London, where he practiced as +a barrister in the Courts of Westminster. + +In 1780, William Knox, Under Secretary of State for the American +Department suggested the division of Maine, and a province of the +territory between the Penobscot and St. Croix rivers, with Thomas Oliver +for Governor, and Daniel Leonard for Chief Justice. The plan was +approved by the King and Ministry, but was abandoned because Wederburne, +the Attorney-General, gave the opinion that the whole of Maine was +included in the charter of Massachusetts. + +Mr. Leonard was in Massachusetts in 1799 and again in 1808. He was +included in the Banishment Act of 1778 and the Conspiracy Act of 1779. +He received the appointment of Chief Justice to Bermuda. After filling +this office for many years, he again in his last days took up his +residence in London, where he died June 27, 1829, aged 89. His death was +the result of an accident while withdrawing the charge from a pistol, he +accidentally discharging it so as to cause almost instant death. + +The generous temper and affable manners of Mr. Leonard seemed to have +fascinated those who were in his household. The nurse who was entrusted +with the care of the infant daughter of his first wife, would never +leave him. She went with his family in all their wanderings, first to +Boston, then to Halifax, London, and Bermuda, then to the United States, +back again to the West Indies, then to London, and died in their +service. His Deputy Sheriff, who had been a Captain in the Provincial +service, a person of great address, wit, and accomplishments, followed +his fortunes and was killed in the battle of Germantown, then a Major in +the British Army. A young gentleman educated at Harvard College, and in +his office, went with him to London where he died. + +Daniel Leonard married twice. His first wife was Anna, daughter of Hon. +Samuel White of Taunton, his second Sarah Hammock of Boston, who died on +the passage from Bermuda to Providence, R. I., aged 78. He left a +daughter Anna, who married a Mr. Smith of Antigua, Harriet who died in +London in 1849, Sarah who married John Stewart, a captain in British +army and afterwards Collector of the Port of Bermuda. Sarah had four +children. The eldest Duncan Stewart, on the death of an uncle who died +childless, succeeded to an ancient Lairdship in Scotland. His brother, +Leonard Stewart, was an eminent physician in London. His sister Emily +married a Captain in the service of the East India Company, the other +sister, Sarah, married a Mr. Winslow, descended from the ancient +governor of Plymouth, and a relative of Lord Lyndhurst, (Copley) whose +private Secretary he was during his Chancellorship.[218] Mr. Leonard had +an only son Charles, who was born when the mob attacked his house, and +was feeble-minded. He entered Harvard College in 1791, but did not +graduate. He was subsequently under the guardianship of Judge Wheaton, +and was found dead in the road in Barrowsville, near Taunton in 1831. +Col. Ephraim Leonard, who lived till the close of the Revolution devised +his large estate to his grandson Charles. It was understood, however, +that the father and sisters of Charles were to participate in the +enjoyment of the property. Had Daniel Leonard returned from banishment +and taken the oath of naturalization and allegiance to the new +government, he would have inherited this large estate, but this he would +not do, nothing could swerve him from his loyalty to the old flag. + + [218] Genealogical Memoir of the Leonard Family, by William R. Deane. + + + + + JUDGE GEORGE LEONARD. + + +Major George Leonard was the third in descent from James, the immigrant. +He removed in 1690 to Norton, then a part of Taunton, where he became +the proprietor of very large tracts of land, and was in fact the founder +of that town. Here this family, as possessors of great wealth and of the +largest landed estate probably of any in New England, have lived for +over two hundred years. Major George was Judge of the Court of Common +Pleas. His eldest son George, the subject of this sketch, was born March +4, 1698. He was in office from early manhood until old age. He served +his town in nearly every capacity and was appointed a judge of the Court +of Common Pleas, in 1725; a member of the Council in 1741; and Judge of +Probate in 1747; while in the Militia he rose to rank of Colonel. In +1740 he was dismissed from the bench, in consequence of his connection +with the famous Land Bank scheme, but was restored six years afterwards, +and became Chief Justice. He was called a "neutral" by Clark the +historian of Norton, and he remarks that though the most influential man +in town he took no active part in public affairs during the war. A +_neutral_ in the Revolution was a Loyalist, the Revolutionists did not +allow such a thing as a "neutral" to exist. The fact was that he was an +old man, whom all classes respected, and on that account they did not +molest him, and drive him out. + +He died in 1778, in his eighty-first year. "Tradition," says Clark, "has +universally given him a character above reproach, and of sterling +worth." He married Rachel Clap, of Scituate, who bore him four children +and who died in 1783, in her eighty-second year. + +George Leonard, son of the former, was born in 1729, and graduated at +Harvard University in 1748. He held several important offices under the +Colonial government, and after the adoption of the Federal Constitution, +was a member of Congress. It is said "he was a genuine specimen of an +American country gentleman," that "he was a kind and considerate +landlord, who never raised his rents, and who regarded his old tenants +as his friends," that "he was tenaciously attached to old customs, and +wore the short breeches and long stockings to the day of his death." + + + + + COLONEL GEORGE LEONARD. + + +Was the son of Rev. Nathaniel Leonard the brother of Judge Leonard and +fifth in descent from James the immigrant. He was driven forth from his +native land and settled in New Brunswick in 1783, and was much employed +in public affairs. The year after his arrival, he was appointed one of +the agents of government to locate lands granted to Loyalists, and was +soon after made a member of the Council, and commissioned as a Colonel +in the militia. He died at Sussex Vale in 1826, at an old age. His wife +Sarah, died a year before aged eighty-one. He had several children. His +daughter Caroline married R. M. Jarvis, Esq., in 1805, and his daughter +Maria married Lieutenant Gustavus Rochfort of the Royal Navy in 1814. +His son, Colonel Richard Leonard of the 104th Regiment of the British +army and Sheriff of the District of Niagara, died at Lundy's Lane in +1833. + +GEORGE LEONARD, JR., son of George Leonard, accompanied his father to +New Brunswick in 1783. He was a grantee of the city of St. John. He was +bred to the law, and devoted himself to his profession. He died at +Sussex Vale in 1818. + + + + + HARRISON GRAY. + + RECEIVER GENERAL OF MASSACHUSETTS. + + +Harrison Gray, was the son of Edward Gray and his wife Susanna. He was +born in Boston, 24 February, 1711. + +Edward Gray was from Lancashire, England, was an apprentice in Boston in +1686, and married Susanna Harrison in 1699, by whom he had several +children. + +Harrison Gray was bred a merchant. His patrimonial inheritance, aided by +industry, enabled him to acquire a handsome fortune. In June 1753, he +was chosen Treasurer of the province by the General Court and continued +in that office till October, 1774. He was an ardent loyalist, and +adhered to government from the beginning of the controversy, but the +modification of his conduct, his superior fitness for the office and the +confidence in his integrity secured him public favor through the stormy +period which commenced soon after his first election, and continued +until his appointment to, and acceptance of, the office of mandamus +counsellor in 1774. But this was an unpardonable offence in the eyes of +the "sons of despotism." It was however unsolicited, unexpected, and +accepted with great reluctance, being strongly pressed upon him by the +leaders of the loyalist party; and as most of those who had been +appointed his colleagues living in the country were compelled by the +mobs to decline the office, he was led to believe that residing in +Boston then garrisoned by the troops, he had no such apology for +shrinking from the service, and accordingly sacrificed inclination to a +conscientious sense of duty. This brought upon him the ill will and +malice of his political opponents, among these was John Adams, who said, +"I went in to take a pipe with brother Cranch and there I found Zab +Adams. He told me he heard that I had made two very powerful enemies in +this town, and lost two very valuable clients--Treasurer Gray, and +Ezekiel Goldthwaite; and that he had heard that Gray had been to me for +my account, and paid it off, and determined to have nothing more to do +with me. O the wretched, impotent malice! they show their teeth--they +are eager to bite--but they have not strength. I despise their anger, +their resentment, and their threats; but I can tell Mr. Treasurer that I +have it in my power to tell the world a tale which will infallibly +unhorse him, whether I am in the house or out. If this province knew +that the public money had never been counted these twenty years, and +that no bonds were given last year, nor for several years before, there +would be so much uneasiness about it that Mr. Treasurer would lose his +election another year." This was one of the meanest and most +contemptible statements John Adams ever made. It was a reckless +accusation, and insinuation, and was ably answered by his grandson, +Harrison Gray Otis, who prepared a clear refutation of the unjust +accusation in Russell's Centinel, June, 1830. It was also refuted by +subsequent events. In October, 1774, the royal government was +superseded by the revolutionary congress who resolved "_that no more +taxes be paid to him_," and made choice of Henry Gardner for his +successor. This authority he could not be expected to recognize. He +therefore retained the books and files at his office till the evacuation +of Boston, and then left them in exemplary order. They are still in the +public archives of Massachusetts and show the model of a faithful state +treasurer. He might have been justified in retaining a lien upon these +as a security against loss and damage to his very valuable real, and +personal estate, which he left, and which was soon confiscated, but his +high sense of official duty forbade his recourse to any such precaution, +and he withdrew from a country which he loved, not less than those who +stayed at home, taking nothing which belonged to the public, but +surrendered all his property into the keeping of the public that treated +him so basely. He was also a creditor to many of the "sons of +despotism," at the head of whom was John Hancock, who owed him a large +sum for borrowed money, no part of which would he pay in his lifetime, +and of which a small part was received from his executors.[219] + + [219] This was the same as he did towards Harvard college, when + treasurer of same. History of Harvard College by Josiah Quincy. + +In the House of Representatives, August 8, 1775, "Ordered, that Mr. +Hopkins be directed to inquire how the Committee of Supplies have +disposed of the horse and chaise formerly Harrison Gray's which was used +by the late Dr. Warren, and came to the hands of the said Committee +after Dr. Warren's death." The next day, "Ordered, that Dr. William +Eustis be, and hereby is directed, immediately to deliver to the +Committee of Supplies the horse and chaise which were in the possession +of the late Doctor Warren, and which formerly belonged to Harrison +Gray." + +When Boston was evacuated, Mr. Gray, urged by a sense of duty, with the +male members of his family, tore himself away from his adored and only +daughter, Mrs. S. A. Otis, which so preyed upon her peace of mind that +it finally caused her death. + +He went to Halifax with his family of four persons where he stayed a +short time. "He was passenger in one of the six vessels that arrived at +London from Halifax, prior to June 10, 1776, laden with Loyalists and +their families." + +In Mr. Gray's house in London about the year 1789, Arthur Savage gave +the Rev. Mr. Montague a bullet taken from the body of General Warren the +day after his death. Mr. Montague after his return to Boston, became +rector of Christ Church. Harrison Gray, in a letter to him, dated +London, August 1st, 1791, remarks to him in a spirit of loyalty to the +crown of Britain as follows: "The melancholy state in which you +represent religion to be in Boston and New England is confirmed by all +who come from thence. Is this one of the blessings of your independence +to obtain which you sacrificed so many lives? I am glad your federal +constitution 'has had a very great and good effect', but very much +question whether you will ever be so happy as you were under the mild +and gentle government and protection of Great Britain; for, +notwithstanding the freedom my countrymen boast of, if in order to +obtain it they have sacrificed their religion, they have made a poor +bargain. They cannot, in a religious sense, be a free people till the +Son of God has made them free. It is very surprising, considering the +establishment of the Roman Catholic religion at Quebec was one of the +heavy grievances the American Congress complained of[220] that your +governor and other great men in your town should attend the worship of +God in a Roman Catholic church, to hear a Romish bishop on a Sunday; and +that he should be one of the chaplains who officiated at a public +dinner. I cannot at present account for their inconsistency any +otherwise than by supposing the part they took in the late unhappy +contests lays so heavy upon their consciences that they imagine no one +can absolve them but a Romish priest." + + [220] See Chapter III. in relation to this matter. + +Mr. Gray lived in England upon a pension granted by the British +government. In 1794 at the advanced age of eighty-four, this excellent +and virtuous man sunk to rest. Perhaps no man among the many excellent +persons who went into exile at this time was more beloved and regretted +by his political enemies, for a more genuine model of nature's nobleman +never lived. + +JOHN GRAY, son of Harrison Gray and his wife Elizabeth, born in Boston, +18th of May, 1755. He went to Ireland soon after the battle of +Lexington. Hearing that the difficulties would probably be adjusted, he +embarked for Massachusetts, the vessel was taken off Newburyport. He was +in Newbury Jail, February, 1776, when at the solicitation of his sister, +the mother of Harrison Gray Otis, an order was passed to allow his +removal to the Otis homestead in Barnstable on condition of his giving a +bond with security in L1,000 not to pass without the limits of that +town, or deal or correspond with the enemy. Mr. Gray was in London, +January, 1781. + +JOSEPH GRAY was descended from an old Boston family, his grandfather +Joseph Gray, was married by Rev. Samuel Williard to Rebecca Sears, June +27, 1706. Their son Joseph Gray was born April 9, 1707, and married +Rebecca, daughter of John West of Bradford, or Haverhill of +Massachusetts. The old people were displeased with the match and cut +Rebecca off with "one pine tree shilling." Their son Joseph, the subject +of this sketch, was born July 19, 1729. He was a loyalist and settled at +Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was a member of the firm of Proctor & Gray, +merchants. His wife was Mary, daughter of Hon. Joseph Gerrish. His son, +the Rev. Benjamin Gerrish Gray, D. D., was born in 1768, married Mary, +daughter of Nathaniel Roy Thomas a Loyalist, and was many years rector +of St. George's parish, Halifax, and afterwards of an Episcopal church +in St. John, N. B. Died at the latter city in 1854. Another son of +Joseph Gray was William, born in 1777. Was British Consul for Virginia +for a long time and died in England in 1845. + +Joseph Gray died at Windsor, N. S., in 1803 at the age of seventy-four, +leaving a large number of descendants. + +John Gray of Boston, another brother of Joseph Gray. He was bred to +business in that town by Caleb Blanchard. About the year 1768 he went to +England, but returned previous to hostilities, and was appointed Deputy +Collector of Customs, in which office he was popular. In 1776 he +embarked for Halifax with the Royal Army, and before the close of that +year was at Charleston, S. C., and in prison. He was still in that city +as late as 1780, when he was an Addresser of Sir Henry Clinton. Before +the last mentioned date, however, he had engaged in business as a +commission merchant, and had purchased a plantation on account of +himself and of John Simpson, a fellow Loyalist of Boston. But involved +politically beyond the hope of extrication he sold his interest in the +plantation, and invested the proceeds in indigo and in a ship with the +intention of sailing for London. The Revolutionists not only defeated +this plan, but seized his vessel and his cargo, and the result was that +of both he barely saved one hundred guineas. With this sum he fled to +his brother Joseph at Halifax, who provided him a passage to England in +a ship of war. Without any accession to his fortune yet, with letters to +the agents of the East India Company, he soon embarked for India, and, +on his arrival there, was well received. The family account is that he +wrote a treatise on the Cultivation of Indigo, which the Governor and +Council considered so valuable as to grant him L4,000 sterling, and +jointly with a Mr. Powell, an extensive tract of land. These two +grantees, assisted by the Company, established a factory, and began the +culture of indigo, which was said to be the first attempt to cultivate +this beautiful dye in India. Both died suddenly in 1782 on the same day. +Gray was at the plantation, and Powell was two hundred miles away at the +factory, and the supposition was that they had incurred the jealousy of +the natives, who had caused their death by poison. Powell's brother told +Joseph Gray, prior to 1799 that the estate of our Loyalist and his +associate had become "the greatest indigo plantation in the known +world."[221] + + [221] Sabine, Vol. I., Pp. 490-1. + +Samuel Gray was also a brother of Joseph Gray. He died at Boston in 1776 +leaving issue, male and female. His wife was a daughter of Captain Henry +Atkins of Boston. + +Thomas Gray of Boston was a merchant, a Protester against the +Revolutionists, and one of the Addressers of Hutchinson. He died at +Boston in 1783. + + +LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO HARRISON GRAY IN SUFFOLK COUNTY + AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To John Stanton, David Devens, Jonathan Harris, Feb. 11, 1780; Lib. + 131, fol. 51; Land and two brick dwelling-houses in Boston, + Cornhill W.; land purchased by Samuel Allen Otis N.; E. and N.; + Wilson's Lane E.; Nathaniel Appleton S. + + To Samuel Allen Otis, April 4, 1780; Lib. 131, fol. 93; Land and + brick dwelling-house in Boston, Cornhill W.; land purchased by John + Stanton and others S.; W. and S.; Wilson's Lane E.; Samuel + Vallentine N. + + + + + REV. WILLIAM WALTER. + + RECTOR OF TRINITY CHURCH, BOSTON. + + +Thomas Walter, an Attorney at Law, came to America from Youghall, +Ireland, about 1679, bringing a recommendatory letter to the churches in +New England from a Congregational church in Youghall,--and by virtue +thereof was admitted a member of the Second church, Boston, November 2, +1680. His family were originally of Lancashire, England, and were of +gentle blood. He died before the year 1698. + +REV. NEHEMIAH WALTER, son of the former, was born in Ireland, December, +1663, and came to America with his father. He early distinguished +himself by proficiency in his studies at school, and by the age of +thirteen was a master of the Latin tongue. It soon became evident that +his genius pointed to a professional life, and he was sent to Harvard +University where he graduated with honors in 1684. Shortly thereafter he +removed to Nova Scotia where he resided some months for the purpose of +acquiring the French language. He became a distinguished scholar and +became noted among the literati of the day. After a careful and +impartial examination and great deliberation, "he fell in the way of the +Churches of New England, as thinking their constitution practice in +general, with respect to worship, discipline and order, most comfortable +to gospel institution and primitive practice." He was ordained a +colleague of the Rev. John Eliot October 17, 1688 at the age of +twenty-five. The first church at Roxbury had, at the earnest request of +the venerable Apostle Eliot, been seeking a colleague to share the +duties which increasing infirmity rendered irksome to him; and Nehemiah +Walter was chosen. Mr. Eliot died soon after this after a life crowned +with glory, honors, and labor, and it was a great consolation to him in +his latter days to see his people so happily settled under Mr. Walter. +For more than sixty years his successor faithfully discharged the duties +of his office always to the acceptance of his people. He married Sarah, +the daughter of Rev. Increase Mather by Maria, daughter of the +distinguished Rev. John Cotton. Nehemiah Walter died September 17, 1750, +and he was buried in the ministerial vault in the old burial ground, +corner of Washington and Eustis Streets, Roxbury. + +REV. THOMAS WALTER, second son of Nehemiah Walter, was born in Roxbury, +December 13, 1696, and early gave evidence of most extraordinary genius. +He graduated from Harvard University in 1713 and was ordained October +29th, 1718, and December 25th of the same year was married to Rebeckah, +daughter of Rev. Joseph Belcher. He was a man who combined great wit and +humor with infinite learning and excelled in the science of harmony. He +published works on music, and one of his sermons upon the 2nd Samuel +XXIII 1 "The Sweet psalmist of Israel" which was delivered at the Boston +Lecture, has been pronounced "the most beautiful composition among the +sermons which have been handed down to us by our fathers." Others of his +sermons were also published. Thomas Walter was one of the most +distinguished scholars and disputants of the day. "He had all his +father's vivacity and richness of imagination with more vigor of +intellect." For his genius and powers he was reckoned to be one of the +ablest clergymen that New England up to that time had produced. His +death occurred on Sunday, January 10, 1724-5, and he expressed his hope +that he might die on that day, when lying prostrate with consumption. +His tomb is in the old burying ground, Roxbury. His daughter Rebeckah, +who was born in 1722, died unmarried January 11, 1780. + +Rev. William Walter, the subject of this sketch, was a nephew of Thomas +Walter. He was born in 1739, and graduated at Harvard College in 1756. +Up to the time of the Revolution the preachers in the Episcopal church +occupied the position of missionaries in the American colonies. They +were sent here and were in the pay of the "Society for the Propagation +of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." The following extracts are from letters +written to the Secretary of the Society, and they explain themselves. + +"Copy of a letter written to the Reverend Mr. Hooper of Trinity church +in Boston, by Mr. Barnard, an eminent dissenting clergyman, in answer to +one from the former desiring the latter would be so good as to send him +a just and honest character of Mr. William Walter, who was talked of as +a fit person to be assistant Minister at said church." + +"He came out of our College with the reputation of one of the best +classical scholars of his class. He lived first in this town in the +business of a Grammar Schoolmaster, which trust he executed for several +years to universal acceptance, faithful, and careful. I have reason to +believe, in forming the tender minds of his pupils to virtue and +religion, as well as forwarding them in their scholastic exercise. When +to the sorrow of the town, he quitted that employ, he became connected +with the Custom House. This business naturally raised complaints against +him among trading people. But all I have heard were of his not being so +flexible in some matters as they wished, none of oppression, much less +of mean fraudulent ways of filling his own pockets. + +"His temper is innocently cheerful, open, and friendly. He has a tender +and delicate sense of honor, a just idea of the truest honor. He is kind +and compassionate, etc." This letter had the desired effect. It was +written Oct. 15, 1763. He was ordained by the Bishop of London the +following year and became an assistant to the Rev. Mr. Hooper, whom he +succeeded as rector of Trinity church, the third Episcopal church in +Boston, being opened in 1735. It stood on the corner of Summer and +Hawley Streets. It was a plain wooden structure without steeple or +tower. + +In 1767 he joined with the Clergy of Massachusetts and Rhode Island in +sending a letter to England requesting that a Bishop be sent to +America. The letter says, "We are too remote and inconsiderable to +approach the Throne, yet could His Majesty hear the voice of so distant +a people the request for American Bishops would appear to be the crye of +many of his most faithful subjects." + +"We do, however, think ourselves happy in this, that the Society will +omit no favorable opportunity of representing the advantage that may +accrue to these Colonies, to religion and to the British Interests, by +condescending to this one request."[222] The Episcopal form of worship +was always disagreeable to the Congregationalists, and when they +discovered that the ministry entertained the design of sending over a +bishop to the colonies, a controversy for years ran high on the subject. +So resolute was the opposition to this project that it was abandoned. +This controversy John Adams says contributed as much as any other cause +to arouse attention to the claims of Parliament. The spirit of the times +is well represented in a cartoon in the Political Register of 1769 which +is here reproduced. + + [222] Papers relating to the church in Massachusetts, Pp. 506-7, 531-2. + +The Rev. William Walter was a firm Loyalist. At the evacuation of Boston +he was obliged to leave his house and accompanied by his family he went +to Halifax. In 1776 he went to England, then returned and went to New +York, and acted for some time as Chaplain of a British regiment. While +in New York he sent a letter to the Secretary of the S. P. G. F. P., +dated Dec. 8, 1781. It is interesting as it shows the trials and +difficulties of the ministers of the Church of England during the +Revolution. It is in part as follows: "I disbelieve that Mr. Bass ever +preached a sermon for cloathing a rebel battalion, or ever read the +Declarative Act for independence in his church, or has altered his +sentiments since his dismission, but that he opens his church on the +days appointed by Congress as Public days, is most certain, and if this +is to be criminal, then every clergyman within the rebel lines is +criminal, and among others, Dr. Inglis, of this city, who did the same +when Mr. Washington's army was here, yet no clergyman stands higher in +the esteem of the Society for his loyalty." The occasion of this letter +was the stopping of Mr. Bass's salary by the Society, as it had been +reported to it that Mr. Bass had gone over to the rebels. + +At the peace, accompanied by his family of six persons and by three +servants, he went from New York to Shelburne, N. S., where the Crown +granted him one town and one water lot. His losses in consequence of his +loyalty were estimated at L7,000. In 1791 he returned to Boston and the +next year was chosen Rector of Christ church. + +[Illustration: LANDING A BISHOP.] + +William Walter was a zealous supporter of the church and crown, and +vindicated his sincerity by the sacrifices he made for them. His +discourses are described as rational and judicious, "recommended by an +eloquence, graceful and majestical." He was no knight errant, but while +adhering to his own convictions with quiet persistency, he exercised a +large charity towards all forms of faith and Christian worship. The +degree of D. D. was conferred on him by Kings College, Aberdeen, in +1784. In 1796 he was invited to deliver the Dudleian lecture at Harvard +College and in 1798 he pronounced the anniversary discourse before the +Massachusetts Humane Society, which was published. Dr. Walter was a +remarkably handsome man; tall and well proportioned. When in the street, +he wore a long blue coat over his cassock and gown, wig dressed and +powdered, a three-cornered hat, knee breeches of fine black cloth, and +with silk hose, and square quartered sleeves with silver buckles. His +countenance was always serene, his temper always cheerful; happy +himself, he communicated happiness to all around him. In the desk he +read the glorious service like one inspired; his voice was clear, +musical and well modulated. In his family he was loved, reverenced and +admired. His heart, his house, his purse, were ever open to the needy. +He married Lydia, daughter of Benjamin Lynde, the younger, of Salem, and +by her had seven children. Her death occurred in 1798. + +Dr. Walter continued his rectorship at Christ church until his death in +1800, at the age of sixty-one. The Rev. Dr. Parker, who preached his +funeral sermon, delineated his character as ornamental to religion and +to the church, to literature and humanity. Dr. Walter's grandson, Lynde +Minshall Walter, born in 1799, graduated at Harvard University in 1817. +He established the Boston Evening Transcript in 1830, and was the first +editor of the paper. His death occurred in 1842. Another grandson, +William Bicker was born in Boston, April 19, 1796, and graduated at +Bowdoin College in 1818. He studied divinity at Cambridge but did not +preach. He became best known as an author, possessing an active fancy +and a great faculty of versification. He contributed odes and sonnets +and translations to the newspapers and in 1821 in Boston, he published +"Poems" and "Sukey" a poem. In 1822 he went to the southern states to +give lectures on poetry, but he died shortly after his arrival in +Charleston, South Carolina, April 23, 1822. + +This family so distinguished in ecclesiastical history of New England is +believed now to be extinct. There were others of the name in Boston at +an early period, who have perhaps left descendants, but they are not +known to have any connection with this family. + + +LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO REV. WILLIAM WALTER IN SUFFOLK + COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Leonard Jarvis, Sept. 27, 1784; Lib. 145, fol. 32; Land and + buildings in Boston, South St. W.; Samuel Quincy, an absentee, S.; + Robert Robbins and heirs of Benjamin Clark, deceased, E; Samuel + Connant N. and E.; Nathaniel Taylor, an absentee, N. + + + + + THOMAS AMORY. + + +Hugh Amory was living in the year 1605 at Wrington in Somersetshire, +under the northern side of Mendip Hills, this town and Shepton Mallett +was noted at this time for its broad cloth manufactures which, within +fifty years had transformed England's industry and commerce in Somerset +and Devon. Hugh and one of his sons was a merchant the other was a +woolen-draper, the latter, Thomas Amory, was the ancestor of the +American branch of the family, his career was the troubled one of a +Bristol merchant in the middle of the seventeenth century, when the city +was besieged and taken by both the Parliamentary and the King's army. +His son Jonathan was born in the county of Somerset in the year 1654, +his father owned the estate of St. Anne and other lands in the county +which in the next century went to his descendants in this country, but +too heavily encumbered to be of any value. Jonathan was brought up under +the care of his elder brother Thomas, who married Elizabeth Fitzmaurice +a daughter of the 19th Lord of Kerry, ancestor of the present Marquis of +Landsdowne. In consequence of this connection he removed to Ireland, +taking his younger brother Jonathan with him, who in time became a +merchant at Dublin, where he is recorded in 1675 as the purchaser from +the city of the north bank of the Liffy. Dublin, hitherto, had lain +wholly on the south side of the river. As late as 1816, L2, 10s. annual +rent for it from "Jonathan Armory" still formed an item of the city's +income. It is now as other crowded city districts, which have wharves at +one end and a railway station at the other, with streets of +age-blackened tenements and workshops between. + +Jonathan Amory married Rebecca Houston in 1677, he went to the West +Indies with his brother Robert in 1682, and his wife died at Barbados in +1685. Jonathan Amory then went to South Carolina taking with him his +infant son Thomas. He married again, and invested largely in lands and +houses. He was elected speaker of the Colonial Legislature, and +subsequently treasurer of the Province. He died in the fall of 1699 of +yellow fever. + +THOMAS AMORY, son of the former, was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1682 +and accompanied his father to South Carolina. In the year 1696 he was +sent with his sister Anne to their relatives in England to be educated. +He was placed under the care of his cousin, Counsellor Amory, and was +sent to the Westminster school. After his father's death he entered the +counting-house of Mr. Ozell, a French merchant in London who in the year +1709 sent him to the Azores as supercargo. Here he established himself +as a merchant and was appointed Dutch and English consul, and making +only an occasional visit to Europe. Here he remained many years. About +1719 he embarked for Boston, and spent the following winter with his +sister in Carolina. Returning to Boston he met Rebecca Holmes, daughter +of Frances Holmes, and married her in May, 1721. + +Thomas Amory bought lands at the South end of Boston, built a house and +wharves, hired a counting-house of his friend, Governor Belcher, on the +Long wharf and engaged in commerce with England, the Azores and +Carolinas. He died in 1728, but his widow long survived him, dying in +Boston in 1770 at the age of seventy. He left three sons and two +daughters. + +THOMAS AMORY, son of the former, was born in Boston April 23, 1722, and +entered the Latin school in 1735, and graduated at Harvard College in +1741. He studied Divinity, but never took orders. As eldest son he +inherited a double share of his father's estate. He married Elizabeth, +the daughter of William Coffin and by her had Rebecca, afterwards the +wife of Dr. Aron Dexter. He purchased the house built by Governor +Belcher at the corner of Harvard and Washington streets, the gardens of +which extended to the water, and this was his principal residence for +the rest of his life. Thomas Amory was one of the Addressers of Gage but +he did not take an active part in controversies preceding the +revolution. He is described in a deed in 1769 as "Thomas Amory +gentleman" in 1772 as "Distiller" and at other times as merchant. It was +said that as the Revolution drew near he and his brother John planned to +withdraw to England, leaving in the care of their brother Jonathan, who +was childless, their combined families, to the number of twenty-three. +He was on terms of friendship with the British officers and when the +troops garrisoned the town, his house was attacked by the mob. He was +entertaining some of the officers at his home, when bricks were thrown +at his windows. One of these missiles waked his little daughter, by +smashing the pane and falling on her bed. He spoke to the mob from the +porch and it dispersed, but he had first hastily sent his guests by the +garden way, to his boat, by which they were enabled to get to their +quarters. His wife's family, the Coffins, were all Loyalists, and Thomas +Amory therefore was regarded with some suspicion, especially as he was +an "Addresser" of Gen. Gage. + +When General Washington entrenched Dorchester Heights, March 1776, in +order to command Boston with his guns, the inhabitants saw danger from +both sides. Washington's assault would do great damage and the British +troops as they withdrew might fire the town. On March 8th Deacon +Newhall, chairman of the selectmen, requested Thomas and Jonathan Amory, +and their friend, Peter Johonnot, to carry to General Washington a paper +prepared by four Selectmen, proposing that the British troops should be +allowed to retire unmolested, on condition of doing no harm. The offer +was really authorized by General Robertson, acting for General Howe, but +this could not be put in writing, nor was the person named to whom the +paper was addressed. The messengers, however, delivered it to General +Washington, whereupon Colonel Learned on his behalf wrote them an answer +to the effect that no notice could be taken of a letter neither +addressed to himself, nor authenticated by General Howe. Nevertheless +the agreement was kept, as if it had been formally made. Ministers were +therefore able to deny to an angry opposition in Parliament that there +had been any compromise, or stipulation between General Howe and the +rebels, although the Duke of Manchester affirmed that he had private +information of it.[223] + + [223] The descendants of Hugh Amory, London. 1901. The Amory Family, + Boston, 1856. + +On the evacuation Thomas Amory withdrew to Watertown, where he lived +some years. He died shortly after the peace in 1784. His widow survived +until 1823. He left nine children, seven of whom were married and +resided in Boston. It is interesting to consider how the blood of the +loyal and the disloyal afterwards became mixed. At the battle of Bunker +Hill June 17, 1776, Captain Linzee of the Kings ship-of-war Falcon +cannonaded the works which Prescott the "rebel" defended, but the +granddaughter of Linzee was the wife of Prescott the historian who was a +grandson of the rebel, and this lady is a daughter of Thomas C. Amory, +the eldest son of this notice. Jonathan, the second son of our Loyalist, +married Hettie, daughter of James Sullivan, governor of Massachusetts, +while the wife of John Amory, another son, was near of kin to Henry +Gardner, the "rebel" who succeeded Harrison Gray, the last royal +treasurer of the same state. Again Nathaniel, another son, married a +niece of Commodore Preble, and her sister was the wife of Admiral +Wormley of the Royal Navy. Once more, William, a fifth son, born in +1774, was an officer in the British navy and after the war entered the +U. S. navy and distinguished himself in the war with Tripoli, being one +of the party that burnt the Philadelphia. He also distinguished himself +in an attack under Hull on a fort in South America during the French +war. But "loyalty" as understood in olden time, is still represented in +the family by the union of Mr. Amory's grandson Charles with Martha +Greene and of his grandson, James Sullivan, with Mary Greene, nieces of +the late Lord Lyndhurst. Mr. Amory's grandson, Thomas C., married Esther +Sargent, and William of the same degree of consanguinity married Anna, +daughter of David Sears of Boston. Of the sons here mentioned, Thomas C. +Amory, was a successful merchant and died in 1812. Thomas C., Jr., also +a descendant, is the author of the Life of Governor Sullivan, his +grandfather on his mother's side.[224] + + [224] Sabin's Loyalists of the American Revolution. + +Jonathan Amory, brother to Thomas, was born in Boston December 19, 1726. +He married Abigail Taylor, and resided on what is now the opening of +Temple Place into Washington street. His garden is said to have extended +two or three hundred feet in either direction, joining his brother +John's home which formerly had been Rufus Greene's in Newbury street, at +the corner of West street. + +Jonathan Amory died in 1797, leaving a large estate to his brother John +and John's children. + +JOHN AMORY, another brother of Thomas, was born in Boston in 1728. He +married Catherine, daughter of Rufus Greene. He was the father of nine +children who grew up and settled in his native town. He built a house +at the corner of Beacon and Tremont streets, opposite King's chapel, and +lived there, and in Washington street on the site where Amory hall +afterwards stood. He engaged in commerce with his younger brother. The +letters of this business house from 1760 during the Stamp Act excitement +and the Tea troubles give many interesting particulars of that period. +Parts of this correspondence were published in English papers and to one +letter a member of Parliament ascribed influence in the repeal of the +Stamp act. In 1757 the store of Jonathan and John Amory was "the sign of +the Horse at the head of Dock Square," they afterwards (before 1762) +removed into King street "just below the town house." Their store was +probably the last of the "old stores" in State street. The house, +distill-house stores and wharf were Thomas Amory's share of his father's +property. Amory's wharf was at the east end of Castle street, on which +in 1777 he had a still-house. + +In 1774 John Amory left with his family for England. It was necessary +that one of the partners should go on business. At the beginning of +hostilities his house owed their English creditors L23,000 sterling +which they remitted without delay, while their countrymen who owed them, +from inability, or taking advantage of the times paid, if at all, in a +depreciated currency. + +The illness of his wife, which terminated in her death in 1778, +prevented his return to Boston. Shortly before the peace he embarked for +America and landing at New York he took the oath of allegiance to the +Crown. He was not permitted to live in Boston in consequence of the +"Banishment Act." His name had been placed upon the list of the +proscribed, and preliminary measures were taken to confiscate his +property. His brother wrote him should this be done he would always +share what he had with him. He resided in Providence till 1783, some of +his family being with him then through the influence of his friends in +Boston, and upon his petition to the Legislature, declaring his +allegiance to the new government, he was allowed to return to Boston. He +died in 1805, leaving six sons and four daughters. One of his daughters +married John Lovell, widely known as a political writer, and another was +the wife of John McLean, who liberally endowed the Massachusetts General +hospital. + + + + + REV. HENRY CANER. + + RECTOR OF KING'S CHAPEL. + + +Henry Caner, D. D., was graduated at Yale College in 1724, and was the +"son of Mr. Caner who built the first college and rector's house" at New +Haven, Connecticut. For three years after leaving college he lived under +the theological teaching of Mr. Johnson of Stratford, who had the +general supervision of the Episcopal students of divinity, and who had +been his college tutor. Though too young to be ordained, he assisted Mr. +Johnson as a catechist and schoolmaster at Fairfield. In 1727 he went to +England for ordination. For some years, subsequently, his ministry was +confined to Norwalk and Fairfield, Connecticut, and he became a great +worker among the missions. His health became impaired by his severe +labors and in 1736 he sought relief by a voyage to England, where on the +recommendation of Archbishop Potter he had been created M. A. by a +diploma at Oxford March 8, 1735. His father died in 1731 at the age of +sixty. The name was long preserved in New Haven by "Caner's Pond." The +name is also written sometimes Canner, or Conner. + +In 1747 the successful missionary was inducted into office as rector of +the First Episcopal church (King's Chapel) Boston. On being invited to +King's Chapel he received a deserved promotion to the most conspicuous +Episcopal pulpit in America; after a laborious ministry of twenty-two +years in the mission at Fairfield, Connecticut. On his removal to Boston +he left behind him two hundred and three communicants, a large number of +those days, in a mission where he had found but twelve. Also a handsome +church and a large convenient parsonage nearby. + +The old chapel in Boston was built between 1687-1689. In 1710 it was +rebuilt to twice its original size under Governor Shirley. After the +lapse of nearly half a century King's Chapel was found to be in a +ruinous condition and measures were taken to rebuild, which resulted in +the well known King's Chapel now standing upon the spot. The erection of +this building in 1749 is largely due to the efforts of Dr. Caner, who +was then rector. + +There is no trace of his printed discourses later than 1765, but the +traditions of his preaching give him a high rank as a man of learning +and fine intellectual endowments. The first Episcopal church in New +England was, prior to the revolution, in a flourishing state. Later, +while the British ships were in the harbor and the British troops in the +town, many of their officers regularly worshipped at the chapel. When +becoming quite infirm in his seventy-seventh year, his age and position +placed Dr. Caner at the head of the Church of England clergy in this +part of the country. Records show abundantly the pastoral labor which +devolved upon him, especially in his military congregation. The last +burial records by his trembling hand are those of three soldiers of his +Majesty's 65th Regiment of Foot. The Register of burials also notes the +funeral, on March 18, 1752, of Ann, "the Pious and Virtuous Consort of +Rev. Henry Caner, aged forty-six." + +He was a devoted Loyalist, and when it was evident he could no longer be +useful in Boston, he went with the British troops to Halifax. In one of +the record books of King's Chapel, Dr. Caner made the following entry: +"An unnatural rebellion of the colonies against his Majesty's government +obliged the loyal part of his subjects to evacuate their dwellings and +substance and take refuge in Halifax, London and elsewhere; by which +means the public worship at King's Chapel became suspended, and it is +likely to remain so until it shall please God, in the course of his +providence, to change the hearts of the rebels, or give success to his +Majesty's arms for suppressing the rebellion. Two boxes of church plate +and a silver christening basin were left in the hands of the Rev. Dr. +Breynton at Halifax, to be delivered to me or my order, agreeable to his +note receipt in my hands." After being a rector in Boston for +twenty-eight years this aged clergyman was driven from his home and +native land. Dr. Caner's escape from Boston is thus described by himself +in a letter dated Halifax, May 10, 1776: "As to the clergy of Boston, +indeed they have for eleven months past been exposed to difficulty and +distress in every shape; and as to myself, having determined to maintain +my post as long as possible, I continued to officiate to the small +remains of my parishioners, though without support, till the 10th of +March, when I suddenly and unexpectedly received notice that the King's +troops would immediately evacuate the town. It is not easy to paint the +distress and confusion of the inhabitants on the occasion. I had but six +or seven hours allowed to prepare for this measure, being obliged to +embark the same day for Halifax, where we arrived the first of April. +This sudden movement prevented me from saving my books, furniture, or +any part of my interest, except bedding, wearing apparel, and a little +provision for my small family during the passage. + +"I am now at Halifax with my daughter and servant, but with no means of +support, except what I receive from the benevolence of the worthy Dr. +Breynton." + +No less than eighteen Episcopal clergymen from Boston and its +neighborhood sailed away with the fleet that bore Dr. Caner, and the +town of Boston would have been left without any Episcopal clergymen at +all, only for Dr. Andrew Eliot, the pastor of the New North church, who +called upon Rev. Samuel Parker, assistant to Rev. William Walter of +Trinity church. Mr. Parker was packing up his library preparing to +depart when called upon by Dr. Eliot, who with true Christian candor, +represented to him the destitute situation in which the Episcopalians +would be left who should remain in the country, with all their ministers +gone, that although it might be prudent for the elder gentlemen to go, +who had made known their sentiments, that he, a young man, who had done +nothing to render himself obnoxious to the rebels, would be perfectly +safe, that it was a duty he owed to that part of the community to stand +by them, finally he prevailed upon him to stay, a circumstance that +Bishop Parker always acknowledged with gratitude. + +[Illustration: REV. HENRY CANER. + +Born in New Haven, Conn, 1700. Rector of King's Chapel, Boston, 1747-76. +Died in England Feb. 11, 1793.] + +From Halifax Dr. Caner went to England. An extract from the diary of +Thomas Hutchinson in 1776 says, "I went with Dr. Caner to Lambeth, to +introduce him to the Archbishop who was very gracious to him, and gave +him an order for One Hundred Pounds on the Treasurer of the moneys +received for the clergy of America." He was proscribed and banished, +under the statute of Massachusetts, in 1778, and his estate +confiscated. A fellow Loyalist wrote in 1785: "By letters from London, +I am informed that Dr. Caner had retired with his young wife to Cardiff, +in Wales." + +Dr. Caner died in England at the close of the year 1792 in his +ninety-third year. One of his daughters married a Mr. Gove of Boston. +The Boston Gazette (No. 2002) of February 11, 1793, contains the +following: "At Long-Ashton, Somersetshire, England, aged ninety-three, +the Rev. Dr. Henry Caner, a very respectable character, many years +minister of the Chapel church in this town." Foote in his "Annals of +King's Chapel" says, "I am informed by Mr. Henry O. B. O'Donoghue of +Long-Ashton, near Bristol, that there is no tombstone in the churchyard +with Dr. Caner's name, nor any trace to be found of such a person ever +having lived in the Parish." It has been said, also, that Dr. Caner died +in London in 1792. + +Dr. Caner's house stood close to King's chapel on the north side of the +old burying-ground, and was a rough wooden structure. This spot was +afterwards occupied by the Boston Athenaeum, and later by a Savings +Bank. It next was occupied by the Massachusetts Historical Society, who +sold it to the city of Boston, and it is now used as an annex to City +Hall. + +On the evacuation of Boston the church vestments, plate, registers and +records were taken from the church, a part of which last was recovered +from Dr. Caner's heirs in 1805. King's Chapel and Christ church are now +without doubt the only historical buildings remaining unchanged from +before the revolution of all those in which Boston was once so rich. + +The vestry of the chapel in 1784 applied to Rev. Dr. Caner to have +restored to them the "Church Plate and Linnen which he carried away." +This he refused to do as his estate was taken from him by the public. He +however turned it over to the "Society for Propagation of the Gospel in +Foreign Parts," who afterwards disposed of it in the Provinces that +remained loyal. In 1787 a silver flagon and covered cup which was +presented to the chapel by Governor Hutchinson, having the name of King +William and Queen Mary engraved on it, was claimed by Dr. Thomas +Bulfinch, Warden, as the property of the King's Chapel, it then being in +the hands of Rev. Dr. Parker of Trinity church for safe-keeping. It is +now the property of the chapel. + + +LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO REV. HENRY CANER IN SUFFOLK + COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Samuel Henly, Sept. 30, 1793; Lib. 177, fol. 82; Land and + dwelling-house in Boston. Tremont St. W.; Chapel Burying Ground and + heirs of Middlecott Cook deceased S.; John Rowe E.; William + Brattle, an absentee, N. + + + + + FREDERICK WILLIAM GEYER. + + +The Gayers or Geyers as it was variously spelled, first settled at +Nantucket. Some of the family came very early to Boston. The name is +first mentioned in Boston Town Records 1690, when William Gayer married +Maria Guard. In her will recorded with Suffolk Probate Records, Vol. 17, +p. 80, 1710, she described herself as the wife of William Gayer, Mariner +of Nantucket. In 1692 Damaris Gayer, the daughter of William Gayer, +married Nathaniel Coffin. Their son William Coffin removed to Boston and +was the ancestor of the Boston family of Coffins. + +The Geyers were prominent merchants in Boston. They did not interest +themselves in political matters or held office. The records mention that +in 1765 Mr. Henry Christian Geyer was paid L173. 4. 1. for repairs done +on Faneuil Hall. + +At the outbreak of the Revolution, Frederick William Geyer was one of +the principal merchants of Boston. He was proscribed and banished in +1778, but not being an Addresser, or having taken any active part in +politics, he was allowed to come back in 1789 and was restored to +citizenship by Act of the Legislature. He was in business with his son +at No. 13 Union street, Boston, in 1794. Died at Walpole, N. H., in +1803. A daughter who died near London in 1855 at the age of 81, married +Mr. Joseph Maryatt, a West Indian merchant. She was the mother of +Captain Maryatt of the British Navy, the well known author of sea tales. + +Mr. Geyer's estate was on Summer street, formerly Seven Star Lane, and +was one of the finest in Boston. In the inventory of his estate made by +the commissioner after his departure, the mansion house is valued at +L6,000. It was confiscated and sold to Nathan Frazer, whose daughter +afterwards married Frederick W. Geyer, Jr., and the property was once +more restored to the family. + +The estate once belonged to Leonard Vassall, and contained one of the +best gardens in Boston. It was planted as early or before 1642 by +Gamaliel Wayte, for we find by the _Book of Possessions_ that this land +is described as Wayte's Garden. Judge Sewall in his diary states that he +lived to the age of 87, and not long before his death was blessed with +several new teeth, which shows that he not only had the ability to +plant, but to eat his fruits. Mrs. Maryatt, whose gardens at Wimbleton +were at one time the finest in England, and we may reasonably conjecture +that the taste and skill that produced such marvels, were nurtured and +fostered in her younger days among the flower beds of Summer street. +This garden occupied the site of the store of C. F. Hovey & Co., and as +late as 1870 there was an old pear tree in the yard in a thrifty +condition. + +[Illustration: LEONARD VASSALL AND FREDERICK W. GEYER MANSION, SUMMER +STREET. + +Site now occupied by C. F. Hovey & Co. The mother of Captain Marryatt +was born in this house.] + +Nancy Geyer married Rufus Amory, February 13th, 1794. He was the second +son of John Amory the Loyalist, and a very successful lawyer. The +wedding is described as "a very gay and brilliant affair." It gained an +unexpected distinction in consequence of a heavy snowstorm by which +Prince Edward, afterward Duke of Kent and father of Queen Victoria, +travelling from Canada to take command of the troops at Halifax, was +just then detained at Boston. He accepted Mr. Geyer's invitation to the +wedding, and came with his aides. "His Royal Highness" it is recorded, +was complaisant and affable in his deportment, and claimed the customary +privilege of kissing the bride, and bridesmaids. His host's son who was +married the year before to Rebecca Frazer, the daughter of Nathan +Frazer, who bought the Geyer mansion when it was confiscated, was an +ardent sympathizer with revolutionary France, who disapproved of titles. +He put their marriage notice in this form in the Boston Gazette of Jan. +21, 1793. "By Citizen Thatcher, Citizen Frederick W. Geyer, Jr., to +Citess Rebecca, daughter to Citizen Nathan Frazer."[225] + + [225] The Descendants of Hugh Amory. Pp. 259, 260. + + + LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO FREDERICK WILLIAM GEYER IN + SUFFOLK COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Nathan Frazier, May 12, 1780; Lib. 131, fol. 143; Land and house + in Boston, Summer St., formerly Seven Star Lane, in front; land of + First Church S.W.; John Rowe S.W.; Benjamin Church, Thomas + Thayerweather and heirs of Samuel Sewall N.W.----Green Lane S.W.; + John Welsh S.W. and S.W.; John Gooch and others S.E.; James Gooch + N.E. and N.W.; John Gooch S.W. and N.W.; James Gooch and others + S.W.----Green Lane S.; John Welsh W.; John Gerrish N.; lane from + Green Lane to the Mill Pond E. + + + + + THE APTHORP FAMILY OF BOSTON. + + +Charles Apthorp was born in England in 1698 and was educated at Eton. He +was the son of John Apthorp and Susan his wife, whose maiden name was +Ward, of the family of Lord Ward of Bexley. + +After the death of his father Charles Apthorp came to New England, and +became one of the most distinguished merchants of Boston. He was +paymaster and commissary under the British Government of the land and +naval forces quartered in Boston. On the 13th January, 1726, he married +Grizzel, daughter of John Eastwicke. She was born August, 1708, at +Jamaica and came to Boston in 1716. Her mother was Griselda Lloyd, +daughter of Sir John Lloyd of Somersetshire, England, who assisted in +conveying King Charles II to France after the battle of Worcester. + +Charles Apthorp was one of the first Wardens of Trinity church, and one +of the committee that waited on Peter Faneuil, and in the name of the +town to render him their "most hearty thanks for so beautiful a gift." +To King's Chapel he was a bountiful benefactor, having given L1,000 +towards its rebuilding. + +Charles Apthorp had eighteen children, of whom fifteen survived him and +eleven married. He died in Boston suddenly in 1758 at the age of sixty. +His funeral took place at King's Chapel twelve days later and his +remains were therein deposited. He was reputed as the "greatest and most +noble merchant on the continent." He was also characterized as "a truly +valuable member of society," and that "he left few equals behind him." A +marble monument with a Latin inscription was placed in King's Chapel to +his memory by his sons, "which monument covers the tomb of the +truly-noble-minded race of Apthorp." + +He was very proficient in and a great admirer of the Fine Arts, +especially in painting and architecture; talents which have been +transmitted to his descendants as Charles Bulfinch, Esq., the architect +of the State House and other edifices. The original mansion in Brighton, +Massachusetts, formerly the Charles Apthorp place, still remains and is +of great antiquity. + +On the death of Charles Apthorp he possessed the whole of Long Island, +the largest island in Boston Harbor. Calf island also was formerly known +as Apthorp's Island. The Apthorp heirs subsequently sold their interest +in Long Island to their sister Grizzell's husband, Barlow Trecothick, +Lord Mayor of London. After the death of Trecothick the island passed on +the 11th June, 1790, into the possession of his brother-in-law Charles +Ward Apthorp of New York. + +CHARLES WARD APTHORP, the eldest son of Charles Apthorp, married in New +York Mary McEvers. He had three sons and three daughters. Of his +daughters, Charlotte Augusta was the only one who left descendants. Her +husband was John Cornelius Vanden Heuvel, a Dutch gentleman of fortune, +who had been Governor of Demerara and afterwards settled in New York. +Maria Eliza, their eldest daughter, married John C. Hamilton, a son of +the celebrated Alexander Hamilton. + +Charles Ward Apthorp was a member of the Council of New York in 1763 and +served until 1783. He had lands in Maine and a large amount of property +in Boston, Brookline, and Roxbury, all of which was confiscated. He died +at his seat, Bloomingdale, in 1797. + +[Illustration: "BISHOP'S PALACE," RESIDENCE OF REV. EAST APTHORP. + +John Adams says, "It was thought to be a splendid palace and intended +for the residence of the first royal bishop."] + +JOHN APTHORP, the second son, went to England, and became connected in +business with the house of Tomlinson & Trecothick. He married Alicia +Mann of Windsor, sister of Sir Horace Mann, many years resident British +minister at Florence. Mr. Apthorp embarked for Italy with his wife who +was in a very hazardous state of health, and who died at Gibraltar, +leaving two daughters under the care of their grandmother at Windsor. He +pursued his travels in Italy, and afterwards returned to Boston, where +he married Hannah Greenleaf, daughter of Stephen Greenleaf, the last +Royal high sheriff of Suffolk County. He lived about four years at +Brighton, when he embarked, with his wife, from New York for Charleston, +S. C, to enjoy a warmer winter climate, and they were lost at sea. The +children, one son and two daughters, were left under the care of their +grandfather who attended most faithfully to their interests and +education. One daughter married Charles Bulfinch his cousin, and the +other Charles Vaughn, son of Samuel Vaughn, Esq., of London. The son, +Col. John T. Apthorp, married Grace Foster, who lived only one year, +leaving an infant. In another year he married her twin sister Mary by +whom he had a numerous family. + +REV. EAST APTHORP, D. D., was born in Boston in 1733 and was educated at +Cambridge, England. He took orders and returned, and became the founder +and rector of Christ church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Here he +published a pamphlet in defence of the conduct of the society for +"Propagating the gospel" which was attacked by Dr. Mayhew, who was +answered by the Archbishop of Canterbury. This controversy rendered his +situation irksome and after only six years ministry in this country, he +left for England. It was thought by many that the establishment of the +Episcopal church at Cambridge was for the purpose of converting the +students who were generally dissenters and with ulterior views, which +excited the most acrimonious jealousy. + +While General Burgoyne's army was detained at Cambridge, Lieutenant +Brown, who was out on parole according to the terms of the Convention, +was riding with two ladies in a chaise when he was killed in cold blood +by a sentinel, a boy scarcely fourteen years old, who levelled his gun +at him and shot him through the head. "His remains were interred in +Christ's church. The people, during the time the service was being +performed, seized the opportunity of the church being open, which had +been shut since the commencement of hostilities, to plunder, ransack, +and deface everything they could lay their hands on, destroying the +pulpit, reading desk, and communion table, and ascending the organ loft +they destroyed the bellows and broke all the pipes of a very handsome +instrument."[226] Rev. East Apthorp was afterwards successively vicar of +Croydon where Governor Hutchinson resided, and rector of Bow church, +London, which he exchanged for the prebendary of Finsbury; he had many +friends among the dignitaries of the church and was greatly beloved and +respected. By his wife, the daughter of Foster Hutchinson, and niece of +Thomas Hutchinson, he had several children. His only son became a +clergyman, and his daughters married Dr. Cary and Dr. Butler, heads of +colleges, and a third daughter married a son of Dr. Paley. + + [226] Travels through the interior parts of America by Thomas Aubury. + Vol. II, pp. 232, 234. + +He published two volumes of Discoveries on the Prophecies, delivered at +Warburton lecture, Lincoln's Inn, and a volume in answer to Gibbon. The +last twenty-six years of his life were passed at Cambridge, England, +with almost total loss of sight, and he died in April, 1816, at the age +of eighty-three, closing a life of great usefulness. + +THOMAS APTHORP, born 19 October, 1741, continued paymaster of the +British forces after his father's death from 1758 to 1776, when he was +proscribed, and banished. He went to England and lived several years at +Ludlow, Wales. He visited Lisbon for health, where he married. He +returned to Ludlow, where he died, leaving a widow and one son. + +WILLIAM APTHORP, born Feb. 26, 1748, married Mary Thompson. He was a +merchant, and was proscribed and banished in 1778. The year after, he +came from New York to Boston. He was arrested, and occupied for awhile a +private room in the deputy jailer's house, but letters were received to +his disadvantage, and he was committed to a close prison by order of the +Council, his countrymen would show him no mercy. + +SUSAN APTHORP the second daughter of Charles Apthorp, married Thomas the +son of Dr. Bulfinch. She had several children, three only that arrived +at a marriageable age. Charles Bulfinch, the only son was born in +August, 1763, and graduated at Harvard College in 1781, and after living +abroad for some time returned to Boston in 1786. He inherited talents +from his grandfather and became a great architect. He was chairman of +the board of Selectmen for twenty-one years during which official +service many of the great improvements in the town were executed, +including the State House, City Hall, the General Hospital and the +building of Franklin Street. After the capitol of the United States was +burnt, in 1814, Mr. Bulfinch was appointed by President Munroe to +superintend its re-erection. His wife died in 1841, and his death +followed three years later on April 15, 1844. + + + LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO CHARLES WARD APTHORP, IN + SUFFOLK COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Joseph Hall, April 27, 1782; Lib. 134, fol. 187; Land and moiety + of dwelling-house in Boston, Cole Lane S.W.; Joseph Hall E.; Samuel + Barrett N.; Jonathan Williams W. + + To Edward Smith, June 10, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 12; Land and + buildings in Boston. Wings Lane N., Brattle St. E.; land of + Elizabeth Clark deceased, [formerly] Lillie W.; John Roulstone S. + + To Ephraim Murdock, June 22, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 47; Lands and + part of house in Roxbury; 11 A. opposite dwelling-house of the late + Rev. Mr. Walter, road S.; said Murdock W.; heirs of Gov. Dudley N.; + said Murdock E.----8 A. near where the old meeting-house stood, + road N.; John Davis E.; heirs of John Scott S.; Ezra Davis W.----2 + A., said Murdock N.; John Morrey E., town way S.; William Dudley W. + + To Daniel Dennison Rogers, July 4, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 68; Land + and buildings in Boston, Beacon St. in front, highway to Beacon + Hill N.W.; John Spooner N. and E. + + To John Wheelwright, July 19, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 114; Land, + flats, warehouses and wharf near the South Battery in Boston, + Purchase St. N.W.; heirs of Alexander Hunt S., the sea E.; the + highway N. + + To John Wheelwright, July 19, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 116; Land and + dwelling-house in Boston, Atkinson St. E.; Burry St. S.; + Proprietors of the Irish Meeting House W.; Onesephorus Tileston N. + + To Grizzell Apthorp, widow, and Perez Morton, Sept. 24, 1782; Lib. + 136, fol. 8; One moiety of land and two brick tenements in Boston, + Fleet St. N.; Edward Langdon E.; William and Mercy Stoddard S.; W.; + S; W.; S. and W. + + To Andrew Symmes July 30, 1783; Lib. 139, fol. 117; Assignment of + mortgage Lib. 100, fol. 97. + + To Francis Johonnot, agent for creditors of Nathaniel Wheelwright, + deceased, March 7, 1786; Lib. 155, fol. 225, Assignment of mortgage + Lib. 97, fol. 200. + + To Samuel Pitts, June 10, 1786; Lib. 157, fol. 222; Assignment of + mortgage Lib. 103, fol. 89. + + To Nathaniel Greene, April 5, 1787; Lib. 160, fol. 25; One half + part of four parcels of land in Roxbury. 21/2 A.; 17 A. near the + tide-mill; 131/2 A. woodland; and piece of salt marsh. + + + + + THE GOLDTHWAITE FAMILY OF BOSTON. + + +Thomas Goldthwaite, ancestor of all of this name in America, was born in +England about 1610. The original home is supposed to be what is now +Gowthwaite manor, three miles from Pateley Bridge, Yorkshire, West +Riding. + +He probably came with Governor Winthrop's fleet to America. His first +appearance in the Boston records appeared June 14, 1631. Thomas +Goldthwaite settled in Roxbury where his name appears as "Thomas +Gouldthwaight" in Rev. John Eliot's list of his church members, Eliot +having begun his pastorate there in 1632. Thomas was made a freeman in +Massachusetts, May 14, 1634. In 1636 he appears in Salem where, as an +inhabitant he was granted ten acres of land. His first house lot has +been located by some of the best antiquarian authority, as on the +southwest corner of Essex and Flint Streets in Salem. In 1636 he married +his first wife. Her death occurred some time before 1671 and he then +married Rachel Leach, of Salem. He was called "Constable Gouldthwaight" +at a meeting of the selectmen, December 14, 1659. Thomas died in March, +1683, at about the age of seventy-three, his wife Rachel surviving him. +He left three children, Samuel, Mehitable, and Elizabeth. + +SAMUEL GOLDTHWAITE, (of the second generation) like his father, was a +cooper, and lived in Salem. For many years during his lifetime and that +of his immediate descendants, four family homesteads lay side by side on +the original Goldthwaite farm, opposite the site where the Peabody +church afterwards was built. He died about the year 1718, leaving ten +children and perhaps more. + +CAPTAIN JOHN GOLDTHWAITE (of the third generation), son of the former, +was born in Salem in 1677. By trade he was a mason and early settled in +Boston where he married, March 13, 1701, Sarah Hopkins. They were +married by the Rev. Cotton Mather of whose church John Goldthwaite was a +member. After the death of Cotton Mather he was one of three who took +inventory July 22, 1728. His home was in Boston until 1725, and the +birthplace of all his children was on the north side of Charter Street, +near Copp's Hill burying-ground, on the property given to his wife and +her sisters by their uncle, Major Thomas Henchman. He sold this place +May 17, 1725, and removed to another estate he had purchased on the +southeast side of Mill pond. Here he passed the remainder of his life. +His son Ezekiel inherited the estate after his father's death, and sold +it to Thomas Sherburn, his brother-in-law. + +Sarah Goldthwaite died Oct. 31, 1715, at the age of thirty-five and is +buried in Copp's Hill. John Goldthwaite married Mrs. Jane Halsey of +Boston as his second wife. From 1708 to 1758 his name is often mentioned +in Boston records. He is one of seventeen named as the founders of the +New North church in 1714. His name appears in records of the Ancient and +Honorable Artillery Company, and in the town records with the title of +captain, in 1741. In his old age he had a barbecue for descendants on +North Square. It was held under a tent because they were too numerous to +assemble in a house. He died June 25, 1766, and is probably buried in +the tomb of his son Ezekiel on Copp's Hill. He had nine children by his +first wife and five by his second. + +CAPTAIN JOSEPH GOLDTHWAITE (fourth generation) fourth child of John, was +born November 11, 1706, in Boston. He married February 8, 1727, Martha +Lewis, who was born in Boston and baptized in the second church, Feb. +29, 1707, the daughter of Martha (Burrell) and Philip Lewis. Joseph +joined the Artillery Company in 1730 and in 1738 was First Sergeant. In +1745 he joined the Colonial army for the siege of Louisburg and +according to records in the British war office, being commissioned +adjutant in the first Massachusetts regiment, Honorable William +Pepperell, colonel, March 12, 1744-(5) and captain (brevet) March 20, +1744-(5). After his return from the war he became a private citizen, and +is seldom spoken of in records by his military title, being rather +called esquire, or gentleman. In 1728 he appears as a goldsmith, and +later as a merchant, licensed as a retailer at his store on Marlboro +Street (part of Washington) in 1737 and again in 1742. He held several +appointments and later became constable. His home in 1744 was on Fish, +afterwards North Street. In 1773 he and his family retired to a farm +purchased by him in western Massachusetts, July 10, 1773, ten acres and +mansion house. Here Joseph Goldthwaite died March 1, 1780, aged +seventy-two. His widow died October 26, 1783, aged seventy-five, and a +double stone marks their graves in Weston. He had ten children. + +EZEKIEL GOLDTHWAITE (fourth generation) son of John, born at Boston, +July 9, 1710. Married Nov. 2, 1732, Elizabeth Lewis of Boston. For the +greater part of his life he was Registrar of Deeds for the County of +Suffolk. His first signature as registrar was Nov. 6, 1740. He was an +Addresser of Hutchinson in 1774, and a protester against the +Revolutionist the same year, although like many other loyalists he was +one of the 58 Boston memorialists in 1760 who arrayed themselves against +the Crown officials, and having sowed the seeds of sedition, afterwards +became alarmed at its results, mob rule. + +His last signature as registrar is said to have been written Jan. 17, +1776, two months before the evacuation of Boston. He died seven years +later, Dec. 4th, 1782, in his 73rd year. His widow died Feb. 6, 1794, +aged 80. + +COLONEL THOMAS GOLDTHWAITE (fourth generation) son of John, born in +Boston Jan. 15, 1717, married August 26, 1742, Esther Sargent. He became +an influential citizen of Chelsea, acting as selectman, moderator of +town meetings, and from May, 1757, till his removal from the town, seven +years in succession, was its deputy to the House of Representatives, +where he was active in introducing important legislation. + +He was given many important positions under the Colonial government. In +1763 he was appointed to the command of Fort Pownal, removing his +family there from Chelsea. This was an important frontier post, +commanding the entrance to the Penobscot River, and offered the +advantage, also of a rich trade with Indians, then numerous in those +parts. Not long after succeeding to this command in company with Francis +Bernard, son of the Governor he purchased a large tract of land, 2,700 +acres in the neighborhood of the fort, on condition of their settling +thereon thirty families, of building an Episcopal church, and employing +a minister. The enterprise was interrupted by the Revolution, in which +each side endeavored to get control of all the arms and ammunition +possible, and to take into its possession, or render defenceless, such +posts as could be held by the enemy. With such an object in view, in +April, 1775, Capt. Mowatt, who afterwards burned Falmouth, now Portland, +anchored before Fort Pownal, and a letter containing Governor Gage's +orders having been delivered to Col. Goldthwaite he carried away the +cannon belonging to the fort. The attitude taken by its commander in +allowing the fort to be thus disarmed, was never forgiven by the +Revolutionists, and he ever after was regarded as a Loyalist. His +explanation of his conduct on that occasion is as follows: + +"On the 27th of last month about 20 armed men arrived here from St. +George's who came in the name, and as a committee from the people of St. +George's, and others, who they say had assembled there to the amount of +250; and this party in their name demanded of me the reason of my +delivering the cannon belonging to this fort to the King's forces. I +went into the fort and got the Governor's letter to me, and it was read +to them. I then informed them that this was the King's fort, and built +at his expense, that the Governor was commander in-chief of it; that I +could not refuse to obey his orders." + +Little is known of Col. Goldthwaite between the surrender of Fort Pownal +in the spring of 1775 and his arrival in England early in 1780. Gov. +Hutchinson mentions in his diary that, "T. Goldthwaite arrived at +Portsmouth Feb. 15, 1780." In an entry of the previous Dec. 4, the +Governor mentions a call from "young Goldthwaite, son of J. Goldthwaite +now at New York." It must have been quite soon after his arrival that +Colonel Goldthwaite settled at Walthamstow, Essex, a few miles north of +London. Samuel Curwen in his journal speaks of dining with him there +July 29, 1782. His son Thomas married Mrs. Primatt, a lady of fortune, +in the summer of 1780, and also lived in the town. The houses of both +father and son are still there and easily identified, and are in +excellent preservation. The Colonel's residence is of brick or stone +covered with stucco, the main portion three stories high, and an +entrance with Ionic pillars. The grounds are ample and handsomely laid +out with well kept walks and planted with trees and shrubbery. + +After a life of nearly twenty years spent in retirement in England, Col. +Goldthwaite died Aug. 31, 1799, in his 82 year. Mrs. Catharine, his +wife, died Dec. 16, 1796, aged 81. They lie buried in Walthamstow church +yard. + +MAJOR JOSEPH GOLDTHWAITE, (fifth generation), the eldest of Joseph's +children, was born in Boston, October 5, 1730. He entered the Boston +Latin school in 1738, and probably commenced his military career, which +he afterwards followed near the commencement of the French and Indian +war, when about twenty-five years old. He married October 5, 1730, +Hannah Bridgham, said to have been of Barre, Massachusetts. + +In 1759 he appears as Major in the regiment from Boston under the +command of Col. John Phillips, January 1, 1760 to January 10, 1761, on +the roll of field and staff officers in Colonel Bagley's regiment in +service at Louisburg, in which he acted also as paymaster. He served +during the campaign of 1762 as Lieut. Colonel of the regiment commanded +by Colonel Richard Saltonstall, roll dated Boston, Feb. 19, 1763, in +which he is called "of Roxbury." He was addressed at that time as +colonel. + +October 5, 1768, Joseph Goldthwaite was appointed as Commissary to the +British troops who had been quartered in Boston on account of the +resistance the inhabitants had shown to the custom officials. In +Massachusetts Historical Society's collections, Vol. X, p. 121, is +printed a list of the different nations of Indians that met Sir William +Johnson at Niagara, July, 1764, to make peace in behalf of their tribes +which was "inclosed in a letter from Colonel Joseph Goldthwaite of +Boston, to Dr. Stiles, A. D. 1766."[227] + + [227] Dr. Ezra Stiles, afterwards President of Yale College, and at this + time a settled minister at Newport. + +Among the Goldthwaites who remained loyal to the crown, Major Joseph was +one of the strongest. He was an Addresser of Hutchinson in 1775, and +during the siege he passed the winter in Boston. At the evacuation he +accompanied the British army to Halifax, and thence to Quebec. Nine days +before his departure from Boston he wrote a letter to his uncle Ezekiel +Goldthwaite, Esq., of Boston, acquainting him with his property and the +household goods he had left behind. "In short, I leave behind me at +least three thousand pounds sterling. You give the enclosed to my wife, +if you can meet her. When I shall see her God only knows. Don't let her +want for anything."[228] + + [228] Goldthwaite Genealogy compiled and published by Charlotte + Goldthwaite. + +Some experiences of Major Joseph's wife, Mrs. Hannah, while her husband +was shut up in Boston with the British army, appear in the Journal of +the Massachusetts House of Representatives.[229] + + [229] See Forces American Archives. Vol. III, pp. 312, 314, 355. + +August 4, 1775, Mrs. Goldthwaite with her sister-in-law and a Mrs. +Chamberlain, left Boston with a horse and chaise and crossed the +Winnisimmet Ferry. She was arrested and taken under guard to the general +court at Watertown. It appeared on her examination that her health was +impaired, and an order was passed to allow her to visit Stafford for the +benefit of the waters there, but under the care of the Selectmen, and +afterwards to retire to the house of her brother Joseph Bridgham at +Rehoboth, and to be under the committee of correspondence. It was +Colonel Loammi Baldwin who had them arrested and taken to Watertown and +according to his account, it was an act on their part which must have +required considerable courage "no such instance having happened before," +the city being then closely besieged. + +Mrs. Goldthwaite petitioned the court to allow her to use the waters in +Newton instead of at Stafford, her health being very delicate, and the +petition was accompanied by her physician's certificate. This was +granted to her and she probably remained through the siege at Newton +where the family of Mr. Benjamin Goldthwaite had also taken refuge. +After the siege she returned to Boston where she died, probably never +seeing her husband again. + +Major Goldthwaite from Quebec, went to New York, and his death occurred +there October 3, 1779. He had been proscribed and banished in 1778. It +was at this time he drew up his will, which is at Somerset House, +London, dated Feb. 11, 1778. As he died childless, he bequeathed his +property to his brother's and sister's children "provided that none of +them are Rebels, and have borne arms against their King, otherwise to go +to the next eldest son of the same family who is loyal, and true to his +King, and country." Of the several Goldthwaite Loyalists, Major Joseph +was one of the most uncompromising in his devotion to his King and +country. + +CAPTAIN PHILIP GOLDTHWAITE, (fifth generation), brother to Major Joseph +Goldthwaite, was born in Boston, March 27th, 1733. He was a member of +the Boston Latin School in 1741. He married June 7, 1756, Mary Jordan of +Biddeford. His title of captain seems to have come from his command of +vessels, and it is interesting to note that in every generation of his +descendants to the present day there have been more or less who have +chosen the same occupation. + +Captain Philip was an officer of the Customs at Winter Harbor, and +remained loyal when the war broke out. Sabin says he was one of the two +persons of Saco and Biddeford dealt with by the Revolutionists of that +section for their loyal principles and that as soon as the war commenced +he placed himself under British protection at Boston. An earlier record +in regard to him says: "Captain Philip Goldthwaite was brought before +the New Hampshire Committee of Safety at Portsmouth, Nov. 23, 1775, on +suspicion of being unfriendly to the liberties of America. Upon +examination nothing appearing against him, ordered that he be +dismissed." + +There can be no doubt however, as to Captain Philip's real sentiments. +The atmosphere in which he was living must soon have become unendurable +to one holding his opinions, and therefore we soon find him in England, +where he appears as early as 1780, at that date taking out his brother's +administration papers. He bought an annuity in the king's household and +became one of the Gentlemen of the bed chamber. In October, 1786, it +appears from the probate records at Boston, that he had died probably at +sea, for Edward Daws of Boston, trader, is administrator of the estate +of Philip Goldthwait, late of Boston, mariner. His inventory contained +clothes, a quadrant, books and chest, and amounted to L7, 10 s. He left +several sons and daughters, whose descendants are now quite numerous. + +SAMUEL GOLDTHWAITE, (fifth generation), brother of the aforesaid Philip, +was born in Boston, March 20th, 1735, and married Amy Borden of Newport, +R. I., where he became a prominent merchant. He very early came under +suspicion as having loyalist sentiments. After the death of his brother, +Major Joseph, in New York, October, 1779, he petitioned the Rhode Island +General Assembly representing that his brother had lately died in New +York, leaving a large estate there in the hands of persons who were +wasting it, also that he had been authorized to settle it if he could +obtain permission to go to New York, asking to be allowed to do so, and +to return with the effects when obtained, which petition the Council, +after consideration, granted. + +He did not, however, return, and in July 1780, an act was passed by the +Rhode Island Assembly, proscribing persons that had left the state and +joined the enemy, ordered if they returned they should be apprehended, +and imprisoned or transported. "Samuel Goldthwaite, merchant, late of +Newport," was included in the list. Orders were also given under the +same date that such property as he left in Newport should be inventoried +and taken into possession of the Sheriff. About this time Samuel had +gone to England on business connected with the settlement of his +father's and brother's estates, for in the same year he was +administrator on them in London. One year later he had returned to his +wife Amy, at that time preferring a petition to the Rhode Island +Assembly, stating that her husband was then in New York, and had +requested her, with her family, to come to him, and praying the Assembly +to permit her with her family, furniture, and effects, to go to him +there by the first opportunity. The petition was granted and she went in +a cartel vessel under the direction of William Taggart. The family +settled in Baltimore after the Revolution, and have left many +descendants there. + +DR. MICHAEL B. GOLDTHWAITE, (fifth generation), son of Joseph, of +Boston, born there Jan. 5th, 1740, married Sarah Formon, March 8th, +1759. He was an eminent surgeon and attended the army at the taking of +Louisburg. Like most physicians of that day, he kept an apothecary shop, +which was in 1774 on Hanover Street. He was an Addresser of both +Hutchinson and Gage. He died in 1776. He was an ardent sympathizer with +the loyalists. + +LIEUTENANT HENRY GOLDTHWAITE, (fifth generation) son of Colonel Thomas, +of Walthamstow, England, born at Chelsea, March 29, 1759, married in +England, Sarah Winch of Brampton, Oxon. Henry's name is found as one of +the garrison of Fort Pownal Oct. 23, 1775. He afterwards entered the +British Army remaining in America, in that service, for some years after +most of his family had taken up their abode in England. The records of +the British War Office show that he was ensign, Independent Co. +Invalids, Nov. 13, 1793. Lieutenant Royal Garrison Battalion, Sept. 9, +1795, and lieutenant half pay Oct. 31, 1796. He died at sea, in the +Mediterranean early in 1800. He left two sons, Charles, born 1796, and +Henry Barnes, born 1797, whose descendants are living in England. + + +LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO JOSEPH GOLDTHWAIT IN SUFFOLK + COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Perez Morton, Sept. 24, 1782: Lib. 136, fol. 9: One undivided + half of land, distill house and other buildings in Boston. Pecks + Lane W.; John Osbourn N., N.W.; N.E. and N.; Francis Johonnot E.; + the sea S. + + + + + JOHN HOWE. + + +Abraham Howe came to Dorchester in 1636; was admitted Freeman May 2, +1637, he came from Broad Oak, Essex County, England, and died at +Dorchester, Nov. 20th, 1683. His son Isaac Howe, was baptized in Roxbury +in 1655. Isaac had a son Isaac, born in Dorchester, July 7, 1675. He had +a son Joseph, born in Dorchester, March 27, 1716, who was the father of +John Howe, born in Boston, October 14, 1754. Joseph Howe was a reputable +tradesman in Marshall's Lane. He apprenticed his son to learn the +printing business. + +Richard Draper, the publisher of the _Massachusetts Gazette_, and +_Boston News Letter_ died June 5, 1774. He left no children. His wife +conducted the business for several months, and then formed a business +connection with John Howe. + +Howe had recently become of age, and was a sober, discreet young man. +Mrs. Draper, therefore, was induced, a short time before the +commencement of the war, to take him into partnership, but his name did +not appear in the imprint of the Massachusetts Gazette till Boston was +besieged by the Continental Army. + +Howe remained with his partner until they were obliged to leave Boston +in consequence of the evacuation of the town by the British troops, +March 17, 1776, when they went to Halifax, from there he went to +Newport, R. I., when the British took possession of the town December +8th. + +John Howe was married at Newport by Rev. George Bisset, Rector of +Trinity Church, to Miss Martha Minns. Mr. William Minns accompanied his +daughter from Boston, and was present at the ceremony. William Minns was +born at Great Yarmouth, England, December 16, 1728. In 1737 he +accompanied his uncle, Robert Ball, and his widowed mother, and came to +Boston. Miss Martha Minns was sixteen years of age when she married John +Howe. She was noted for her beauty and her portrait is still in +possession of her family. The issue of this marriage was three sons and +three daughters. + +Mr. Howe commenced the publication of a newspaper for the British at +Newport; it was called The Newport Gazette, and the first paper was +issued January 16, 1777. + +The last number of a bound volume of this paper in possession of the +Redwood Library at Newport, is dated January 15, 1778, but the +publication of the paper probably continued till the evacuation of +Newport by the British, October 25, 1779. + +The paper was published in a house on the opposite side of the Parade, +the Vaughn estate, now a market. A recent writer says: + +"During the time the British were in possession of Newport, it was the +office of the Newport 'Gazette,' the paper printed by the British on the +press and type of the Newport 'Mercury.' Before that the 'Mercury' was +printed by Solomon Southwick, in Queen Street, but when the island fell +into the hands of the enemy, Southwick, as is well-known, buried his +type in the rear of what was the old Kilburn House on Broad Street (now +Broadway) and left the town. The loyalists recovered the type, and a +printer named Howe began the printing of the 'Gazette.'" + +A bound file of the newspaper published by Mr. Howe is in the possession +of the Redwood Library. It runs, with a few numbers missing, from No. 1, +to No. 52, January 15, 1778. + +The first number was issued Jan. 16, 1777, with the following +introduction. + + "The Favours which the Subscriber has received from the Gentlemen + of the _Army and Navy_, in Boston and elsewhere, joined with the + Importunities of many of the Inhabitants of this Town, has induced + him, as speedily as possible, to gratify them with a _Newspaper_. + He can only say, that his best endeavors shall not be wanting to + render it as entertaining as possible: And he has nothing to wish + for, but the Exercise of that Candour he hath so often before been + indebted to. Its _size_ is at present contracted, owing to the + Impossibility of procuring larger printing Paper; but if more + Intelligence should at any Time arrive, than this can contain, the + Deficiency will be supplied with a _Supplement_. No Subscriptions + are received; but if any Gentlemen choose to have the Paper weekly + the Boy shall leave it at their houses. Articles of intelligence + will be thankfully received and every favor gratefully + acknowledged, by their + + Obedient humble servant, + JOHN HOWE." + +The British evacuated Newport, October 25, 1779, and Mr. and Mrs. Howe +accompanied them to New York, and thence removed to Halifax and took up +their permanent abode there, on the corner of Sackville and Barrington +Streets. Here on Friday, January 5th, 1781, he published the first issue +of the Halifax Journal, a paper that continued to be published regularly +until 1870. It is said that Mr. Howe brought with him the printing press +that had once belonged to Benjamin Franklin, and the first that the +philosopher had ever possessed. It did the printing for the Howe family +for years. Mr. Howe was for many years King's printer for the Province, +which secured to him all the government printing, including the +publishing of the official gazette. For some years previous to his +death, he held the office of postmaster-general and justice of the +peace, and was living at the time of his death, December 29, 1835, at +his beautiful residence on the Northwestarm, in good circumstances, and +had the respect of the whole community. + +Mr. Howe was a Sandemanian, that is, a follower of Robert Sandeman, who +came to Boston from Glasgow in 1764; they held their first meetings at +the Green Dragon Tavern, and afterwards had a meeting-house in the rear +of Middle or Hanover street. This society rejected the belief in the +necessity of spiritual conversion, representing faith as an operation of +the intellect, and speculative belief as quite sufficient to insure +final justification. This sect continued till 1823, when the last light +was extinguished in Boston. Many of the Sandemanians were Loyalists, and +went to Halifax. They may have built on a sandy foundation, but judging +from their fruits, we may charitably conclude that in the main they were +correct. Probably they did not like a church and state religion; and +that may have been all. The few who were in Halifax met every Lord's day +in an upper room, in the building lately used by Baxter as a furniture +warehouse on Prince Street. The members, male and female, sat together +around a table and took the Lord's Supper. This was weekly. There was +singing and prayers, and Mr. Howe would afterward stand up, read a +chapter of the Bible, and give an address. No doubt it was very good and +simple and delivered with a calm, quiet sort of eloquence. When the +meeting was over the brothers and sisters in fellowship, (only the more +elderly members) rose and kissed one another, and seemed to be +remarkably happy. It is said that in the afternoon of every Sunday the +old gentlemen members went down to the room below and dined together, +and probably edified one another with religious conversation. Those now +living who have ever been with these Sandemanians in that upper room +will never forget the calm godly faces of such men as old Mr. Howe, Mr. +Greenwood and Mr. Mansfield. Strange to say, none of the Howes, and very +few, if any, of the other families have followed in the track of these +good men and women as to creed. It is to be hoped that many have been +influenced for good by what they may have recalled of such worthy +ancestors. Old Mr. Greenwood fell dead in the room while reading, and +Mr. Mansfield died the same day from some accidental cause. + +In a speech delivered by his son JOSEPH HOWE, in Boston July 4, 1858, he +spoke of his father as follows: "The loyalists who left these States +were not, it must be confessed, as good republicans as you are, but they +loved liberty under their old forms, and their descendants love it too. +My father, though a true Briton to the day of his death, loved New +England, and old Boston especially, with filial regard. He never lost an +opportunity of serving a Boston man, if in his power. At the close of +your railway banquet, one gentleman told me that my father had, during +the last war, taken his father from the military prison at Melville +Island, and sent him back to Boston. Another, on the same evening, +showed me a gold watch, sent by an uncle, who died in the West Indies, +to his family. It was pawned by a sailor in Halifax, but redeemed by my +father, and sent to the dead man's relatives. And so it was all his +life. He loved his sovereign, but he loved Boston too, and whenever he +got sick in his latter days, we used to send him up here to recruit. A +sight of the old scenes and a walk on Boston Common were sure to do him +good, and he generally came back uncommonly well." Elsewhere the same +son remarked: "For thirty years he was my instructor, my playfellow, +almost my daily companion. To him I owe my fondness for reading, my +familiarity with the Bible, my knowledge of old colonial and American +incidents and characteristics. He left me nothing but his example, and +the memory of his many virtues, for all that he ever earned was given to +the poor. He was too good for this world. But the remembrance of his +high principle, his cheerfulness, his childlike simplicity, and truly +Christian character, is never absent from my mind." + +Mrs. Martha Howe died Nov. 25, 1790, aged 30 years, and was buried in +St. Paul's churchyard, Halifax. + +A few years after the death of his first wife, Mr. Howe married Mrs. +Austin, a widow with several children, wife of Captain Austin. By her he +had two children, Sarah and Joseph. Mrs. Howe died in 1837. He had eight +children, and at the present time there are eighty-five of his +descendants, out of all these the survivors who bear the name of Howe +only number sixteen. Many of his descendants were men of great +prominence. His son William Howe, Assistant Commissary-General, who died +at Halifax, January, 1843, aged fifty-seven. John Howe, Queen's Printer, +and Deputy Postmaster-General, who died at the same place the same year, +and David Howe, who published a paper at St. Andrew, N. B., Joseph, born +December 13, 1804, became Hon. Joseph Howe, Governor of Nova Scotia in +May, 1873. + + + + + SAMUEL QUINCY. + + SOLICITOR-GENERAL. + + +Edmund Quincy, the first of the name in New England, landed at Boston on +the 4th of September, 1633. He came from Achurch in Northamptonshire, +where he owned some landed estate. That he was a man of substance may be +inferred from his bringing six servants with him, and that he was a man +of weight among the founders of the new commonwealth appears from his +election as a representative of the town of Boston in the first General +Court ever held in Massachusetts Bay. He was also the first named on the +committee appointed by the town to assess and raise the sum necessary to +extinguish the title of Mr. Blackstone to the peninsula on which the +city stands. He bought of Chickatabut, Sachem of the Massachusetts tribe +of Indians, a tract of land at Mount Wollaston, confirmed to him by the +Town of Boston, 1636, a portion of which is yet in the family. + +Edmund Quincy died the year after making this purchase, in 1637, at the +age of 33. He left a son Edmund and a daughter Judith. The son lived, in +the main, a private life on the estate in Braintree. He was a magistrate +and a representative of his town in the General Court, and +Lieutenant-Colonel of the Suffolk Regiment. + +Point Judith was named after his daughter. She married John Hull, who, +when Massachusetts Bay assumed the prerogative of coining money, was her +mint-master, and made a large fortune in the office, before Charles II. +put a stop to that infringement of the charter. There is a tradition +that, when he married his daughter to Samuel Sewall, afterwards Chief +Justice, he gave her for her dowry, her weight in pine-tree shillings. +From this marriage has sprung the eminent family of the Sewalls, which +has given three Chief Justices to Massachusetts and one to Canada, and +has been distinguished in every generation by the talents and virtues of +its members. + +Lieutenant-Colonel Quincy, who was a child when brought to New England, +died in 1698, aged seventy years, having had two sons, Daniel and +Edmund. + +Daniel died during his father's lifetime, leaving an only son John, who +graduated at Cambridge in 1708, and was a prominent public man in the +Colony for nearly half a century. He was a Councillor, and for many +years Speaker of the Lower House. + +He died in 1767, at the time of the birth of his great-grandson, John +Quincy Adams, who therefore received the name which he has made +illustrious. Edmund, the second son, graduated in 1690, and was also in +the public service almost all his life, as a magistrate, a Councillor, +and one of the Justices of the Supreme Court. He was also colonel of the +Suffolk Regiment, at that time a very important command, since the +county of Suffolk then, and long after, included what is now County of +Norfolk, as well as the town of Boston. In 1737, the General Court +selected him as their agent to lay the claims of the Colony before the +home government, in the matter of the disputed boundary between +Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire. + +He died, however, very soon after his arrival in London, February 23, +1737, of the smallpox, which he had taken by inoculation. He was buried +in Bunhill Fields, where a monument was erected to him by the General +Court, which also made a grant of land of a thousand acres in the town +of Lennox to his family, in further recognition of his public services. + +Judge Edmund Quincy had two sons, Edmund and Josiah. + +The first named, who graduated at Cambridge in 1722, lived a private +life at Braintree and in Boston. + +One of his daughters married John Hancock, the first signer of the +Declaration of Independence, and afterwards Governor of Massachusetts. +Josiah was born in 1709, and took his first degree in 1728. He +accompanied his father to London in 1737, and afterwards visited England +and the Continent more than once. + +For some years he was engaged in commerce and ship-building in Boston, +and when about forty years of age he retired from business and removed +to Braintree, where he lived for thirty years the life of a country +gentleman, occupying himself with the duties of a county magistrate, and +amusing himself with field sports. Game of all sorts abounded in those +days in the woods and along the shore, and marvellous stories have come +down, by tradition, of his feats with gun and rod. He was Colonel of the +Suffolk Regiment, as his father had been before him; he was also +Commissioner to Pennsylvania during the old French war to ask the help +of that Colony in an attack which Massachusetts Bay had planned upon +Crown Point. He succeeded in his mission by the help of Doctor Franklin. + +Colonel Josiah Quincy, by his first marriage, had three sons, Edmund, +Samuel, Josiah, and one daughter, Hannah. His first wife was Hannah +Sturgis, daughter of John Sturgis, one of his Majesty's Council, of +Yarmouth. His eldest son, Edmund, graduated in 1752, after which he +became a merchant in Boston. He was in England in 1760 for the purpose +of establishing mercantile correspondences. He died at sea in 1768, on +his return from a voyage for his health to the West Indies. + +The youngest son of Colonel Josiah Quincy bore his name, and was +therefore known to his contemporaries, and takes his place in history, +as Josiah Quincy, Junior, he having died before his father, he was born +February 23, 1744, and graduated at Harvard College, 1763. He studied +law with Oxenbridge Thacher, one of the principal lawyers of that day, +and succeeded to his practice at his death, which took place about the +time he himself was called to the bar. He took a high rank at once in +his profession, although his attention to its demands was continually +interrupted by the stormy agitation in men's minds and passions, which +preceded and announced the Revolution, and which he actively promoted by +his writings and public speeches. On the 5th of March, the day of the so +called "Boston Massacre" he was selected, together with John Adams, by +Captain Preston, who was accused of having given the word of command to +the soldiers that fired on the mob, to conduct his defence and that of +his men, they having been committed for trial for murder. At that moment +of fierce excitement, it demanded personal and moral courage to perform +this duty. His own father wrote him a letter of stern and strong +remonstrance against his undertaking the defence of "those criminals +charged with the murder of their fellow citizens," exclaiming, with +passionate emphasis, "Good God! Is it possible? I will not believe it!" + +Mr. Quincy in his reply, reminded his father of the obligations his +professional oath laid him under, to give legal counsel and assistance +to those accused of a crime, but not proved to be guilty of it; adding: +"I dare affirm that you and this whole people will one day rejoice that +I became an advocate for the aforesaid criminals, _charged_ with the +murder of our fellow citizens. _To inquire my duty and to do it, is my +aim._" He did his duty and his prophecy soon came to pass. + +There is no more honorable passage in the history of New England than +the one which records the trial and acquittal of Captain Preston and his +men, in the midst of the passionate excitements of that time, by a jury +of the town maddened to a rage but a few months before by the blood of +her citizens shed in her streets. + +In 1774 he went to England, partly for his health, which had suffered +much from his intense professional and political activities, and also as +a confidential agent of the Revolutionary party to consult and advise +with the friends of America there. His presence in London coming as he +did at a most critical moment excited the notice of the ministerial +party, as well as of the opposition. The Earl of Hillsborough denounced +him, together with Dr. Franklin, in the House of Lords, "as men walking +the streets of London who ought to be in Newgate or Tyburn." The precise +results of his communications with the English Whigs can never be known. +They were important enough, however, to make his English friends urgent +for his immediate return to America, because he could give information +which could not safely be committed to writing. His health had failed +seriously during the latter months of his residence in England, and his +physicians strongly advised against his taking a winter voyage. + +His sense of public duty, however, overbore all personal considerations, +and he set sail on the 16th of March, 1775, and died off Gloucester, +Massachusetts, on the 26th of April. + +The citizens of Gloucester buried him with all honor in their graveyard; +after the siege of Boston, he was removed and placed in a vault in the +burying ground in Braintree. Josiah Quincy was barely thirty-one years +of age when he thus died. + +His father, Colonel Quincy lived on at Braintree during the whole of the +war. He died on March 3rd, 1784. + +His passion for field sports remained in full force till the end, for +his death was occasioned by exposure to the winter's cold, sitting upon +a cake of ice, watching for wild ducks, when he was in his seventy-fifth +year. + +SAMUEL QUINCY, the subject of this memoir, was the second son of Colonel +Josiah Quincy, and the brother of Josiah, Junior, and Edmund. He was +born in that part of Braintree now Quincy, April 23, 1735. He graduated +at Harvard College in 1754, and studied law with Benjamin Pratt. + +Endowed with fine talents, Mr. Quincy became eminent in the profession +of the law, and succeeded Jonathan Sewall as Solicitor-General of +Massachusetts. He was the intimate friend of many of the most +distinguished men of that period, among whom was John Adams. They were +admitted to the bar on the same day, Nov. 6, 1758. + +As Solicitor for the Crown, he was engaged with Robert Treat Paine in +the memorable trial of Capt. Preston, and the soldiers in 1770; his +brother was opposed to him on that occasion, and both reversed their +party sympathies in their professional position. It was plain to all +sagacious observers of the signs of the times, that the storm of civil +war was gathering fast; and it was sure first to burst over Boston. It +was a time of stern agitation, and profound anxieties. In their emotion +Mr. Quincy and his wife shared deeply, and passionately. The shadows of +public and private calamity were already beginning to steal over that +once happy home. The evils of the present and the uncertainties of the +future bore heavily on their prosperity. The fierce passions which were +soon to break out into revolutionary violence and mob rule, had already +begun to separate families, to divide friends, and to break up society. +Samuel Quincy was a Loyalist and remained true to his oath of office, +wherein he swore to support the government. His father and brother were +revolutionists; as previously stated his brother died on shipboard off +Gloucester, seven days after the hostilities had commenced at Lexington, +and when his father saw from his house on Quincy Bay, the fleet drop +down the harbor, after the evacuation of Boston on March 17, 1776, it +must have been with feelings of sorrow that the stout-hearted old man +saw the vessels bear away his only surviving son, never to return again. +Such partings were common griefs then, as ever in civil wars, the +bitterest perhaps that wait upon that cruelest of calamities. + +Samuel Quincy was an addressor of Governor Hutchinson, and a staunch +Loyalist. His wife, the sister of Henry Hill, Esq., of Boston, was not +pleased with her husband's course in the politics of the times, and he +became a Loyalist against her advice, and when he left Boston, a +refugee, she preferred to remain with her brother, and never met her +husband again. The following letter written to his brother by Mr. +Quincy, during the siege of Boston, will explain his position at that +time.[230] + + [230] This letter and the following ones are extracts from original + papers, copies of which were communicated by Miss Eliza S. Quincy, and + published In Curwen's Journal and Letters. + + To Henry Hill, Esq., Cambridge. Boston, May 13, 1775. + + Dear Brother: + + There never was a time when sincerity and affectionate unity of + heart could be more necessary than at present. But in the midst of + the confusions that darken our native land, we may still, by a + rectitude of conduct, entertain a rational hope that the Almighty + Governor of the universe will in his own time remember mercy. + + I am going, my dear friend, to quit the habitation where I have + been so long encircled with the dearest connections. + + I am going to hazard the unstable element, and for a while to + change the scene--whether it will be prosperous or adverse, is not + for me to determine. I pray God to sustain my integrity and + preserve me from temptation. + + My political character with you may be suspicious; but be assured, + if I cannot _serve_ my country, which I shall endeavor to the + utmost of my power, I will never _betray it_. + + The kind care of my family you have so generously offered + penetrates me with the deepest gratitude. If it should not be + within my power to reward you, you will have the recompense greater + than I can give you, the approbation of your own heart. Would to + God we may again enjoy the harmonious intercourse I have been + favored with since my union with your family. I will not despair of + this great blessing in some future and not very distant period. God + preserve you in health and every earthly enjoyment, until you again + receive the salutation of + + Your friend and brother, + SAMUEL QUINCY. + +[Illustration: SAMUEL QUINCY. + +Born at Braintree, now Quincy, April 23, 1735. Solicitor-General of +Massachusetts. Died at sea in 1789. His remains were interred on Bristol +Hill, England. From a painting by Copley.] + +Again on August 18th he writes to Mr. Hill and said, "You conjure me by +the love of my country to use my best endeavors to bring about a +reconciliation, suggesting that the Americans are still as determined as +ever to die free, rather than live slaves; I have no reason to doubt the +zeal of my fellow-countrymen in the cause of freedom, and their firmness +in its defence, and were it in my power, my faithful endeavors should +not be wanting (nay, I have a right to say they are not) to effect an +accommodation. But, my good friend, I am unhappy to find that the +opinion I formed in America, and which in a great measure governed my +conduct, was but too justly founded. Every proposal of those who are +friendly to the colonies, to alter the measures of government and +redress the grievances of which they complain, is spurned at, unless +attended with previous concessions on their part. This there is less +reason every day to expect, and thus the prospect of an accommodation is +thrown at a distance; nor is there yet the least reason to suppose that +a formidable, if any opposition will be framed against administration in +favor of America. + +"These are facts, not of conjecture only, but visible and operative. Your +reflection will perhaps be, we must then work out our own salvation by +the strength of our own arm, trusting in the Lord. Really, my friend, if +the colonies, according to their late declaration, have made a +resistance by force their choice, the contest is in short reduced to +that narrow compass. I view the dangerous and doubtful struggle with +fear and trembling; I lament it with the most cordial affection for my +native country, and feel sensibly for my friends. But I am aware it is +my duty patiently to submit the event as it may be governed by the +all-wise counsels of that Being 'who ruleth in the heavens, and is the +God of armies.'" + +In a letter to his wife, London, Jan. 1, 1777, he said: The continuance +of our unhappy separation has something in it so unexpected, so +unprecedented, so complicated with evil, and misfortune, it has become +almost too burdensome for my spirits, nor have I words that can reach +its description. I long much to see my father. It is now more than +eighteen months since I parted with him in a manner I regret. Neither of +you say anything of the family at Braintree. They ought not to think me +regardless of them though I am silent; for, however lightly they may +look upon me, I yet remember them with pleasure. + +Again, on March 12, 1777, he said: You inquire whether I cannot bear +contempt and reproach, rather than remain any longer separated from my +family? As I always wished, and I think always endeavored, not to +deserve the one, so will I ever be careful to avoid the other. You urge +as an inducement to my return, that my countrymen will not deprive me of +life. I have never once harbored such an idea. Sure I am I have never +merited from them such a punishment. Difference of opinion I have never +known to be a capital offence, and were the truth and motives of my +conduct justly scrutinized, I am persuaded they would not regard me as +an enemy plotting their ruin. That I might yet be able to recover in +some respect the esteem of my friends, I will not doubt while I am +conscious of the purity of my intentions. When I determined on a voyage +to England, I resolved upon deliberation, and I still think, with +judgment. I did not, indeed, expect so hurried a succession of events, +though you must remember, I long had them in contemplation. + +I am sorry you say nothing of my father, or the family at Braintree; I +have not received a line nor heard from them since I left America. * * +God bless you all; live happy, and think I am as much so as my long +absence from you will permit. + + March 20, 1777. + + I am not surprised much that, to the less of property, I have + already sustained, I am to suffer further depredations, and that + those to whom I am under contract should avail themselves of this + opportunity and endeavor to make what is left their own. All I ask + is that my brother and my other friends (if I have any) would think + of me as they ought, and to be assured, that as far as they + interpose their assistance to save me from suffering, they will not + hereafter find me deficient in return. + + October 15, 1777. + + If things should not wear a more promising aspect at the opening of + the next year, by all means summon resolution to cross the ocean. + But if there is an appearance of accommodating this truly unnatural + contest, it would be advisable for you to bear farther promise; as + I mean to return to my native country whenever I may be permitted, + and there is a chance for my procuring a livelihood. But I do not + say that I will not accept of an opening here, if any one should + offer that I may think eligible. + + London, April 18, 1778. + + If there is an accommodation, I shall certainly turn my views to + some part of the continent, unless something very promising should + offer elsewhere. It would grieve me very much to think of never + again seeing my father; God bless him, and many other worthy + friends and relations in New England; but a return to my native + country I cannot be reconciled to until I am convinced that I am as + well thought of as I know I deserve to be. I shall ever rejoice in + its prosperity, but am too proud to live despised where I was once + respected--an object of insult instead of the child of favor. + + You suggest, that had I remained, I might still have been with you + in honor and employment. It may be so, but when I left America I + had no expectation of being absent more than a few months, little + thinking operations of such magnitude would have followed in so + quick a succession; I left it from principle, and with a view of + emolument. If I have been mistaken, it is my misfortune, not my + fault. My first letters from my friends congratulated me on being + out of the way; and I was pleased to find my undertaking met with + their approbation as well as my own. The hearts of men were not + within my reach, nor the fortuitous event of things within my + control. "I am indeed a poor man;" but even a poor man has + resources of comfort that cannot be torn from him, nor are any so + miserable as to be always under the influence of inauspicious + stars. I will therefore still endeavor to bear my calamities with + firmness, and to feel for others. + + Those who have befriended my family are entitled to my warmest + gratitude, and I hope you will never fail to express it for me. + Whether it ever will be in my power to recompense them I know not, + but no endeavor of mine shall be wanting to effect it. * * * I + conjecture, though you do not mention from what quarter, you have + received unkindness. There are in this world many things we are + obliged and enabled to encounter, which at a distance appear + insupportable. You must have experienced this as well as I; and it + ought to teach us that best doctrine of philosophy and + religion--resignation. Bear up, therefore, with fortitude, and wait + patiently in expectation of a calmer and brighter day. + + London, May 31, 1778. + + By the public prints we are made acquainted with an act of the + state of Massachusetts Bay, that precludes those among others from + returning, who left it since the 19th of April, 1775, and "joined + the enemy." You do not mention this act, nor have I any information + by which I am to construe what is meant by "joining the enemy." The + love of one's country, and solicitude for its welfare, are natural + and laudable affections; to lose its good opinion is at once + unhappy, and attended with many ill consequences; how much more + unfortunate to be forever excluded from it without offence! It is + said also that there is a resolve of congress, "that no absentee + shall be permitted to take up his residence in any other colony + without having been first received and admitted as a citizen of his + own." This may have some effect on a movement I had in + contemplation of going southward, where I have a very advantageous + offer of countenance and favor. + + London, March 15, 1779. + + You may remember in some of my former letters I hinted my wish to + establish a residence in some other part of the continent, or in + the West Indies, and particularly mentioned to you Antigua--where + my kinsman, Mr. Wendell, my friend, Mr. David Greene, Dr. Russell + and his family, Mr. Lavicourt, Mr. Vassall, and others of my + acquaintance, will give the island less of the appearance of a + strange place. By the passing of the act of proscription the door + was shut against me in my own country, where I own it would have + been my wish to have ended my days. This confirmed my resolution. I + have since unremittedly pursued various objects, endeavoring to + drive the nail that would go. + + My first intention was that of transplanting myself somewhere to + the southward. On this subject I thought long, and consulted + others. I considered climate, friends, business, prospects in every + view, and at last formed my opinion. The provinces in the south + part of America in point of health were not more favorable than the + island--in point of friends they might be preferable, but with + respect to business or the means of acquiring it, uncertain; public + commotion yet continued, violent prejudices are not easily removed. + I had neither property nor natural connections in either of them. I + could have no official influence to sustain me. What kind of + government or laws would finally prevail it was difficult to tell. + These and other reasons determined me against the attempt. But to + stay longer in England, absent from my friends and family, with a + bare subsistence, inactive, without prospects, and useless to + myself and the world, was death to me! What was the alternative? As + I saw no chance of procuring either appointment or employ here, the + old object of the West Indies recurred, where in my younger days I + wished to have remained; and by the influence of some particular + gentlemen I have at last obtained the place of "Comptroller of the + Customs at the Port of Parham in Antigua;" for which island I mean + to embark with the next convoy. My view is to join the profits of + business in the line of my profession to the emoluments of office. + This I flatter myself will afford me a handsome maintenance. I grow + old too fast to think of waiting longer for the moving of the + waters, and have therefore cast my bread upon them, thus in hopes + that at last, after many days, I may find it. + + Transmit to my father every expression of duty and affection. If he + retains the same friendship and parental fondness for me I have + always experienced from him, he will patronize my children, and in + doing this will do it unto me. It was my intention to have written + to him, but the subjects on which I want to treat are too + personally interesting for the casualties of the present day. He + may rest assured it is my greatest unhappiness to be thus denied + the pleasing task of lightening his misfortunes and soothing the + evening of his days. Whatever may be the future events of his life, + I shall always retain for him the warmest filial respect, and if it + is my lot to survive him, shall ever think it a pleasure as well as + my duty to promote to my utmost the welfare of his posterity. My + mother will also accept of my duty and good wishes; the prosperity + of the whole household lies near my heart, and they will do me an + injustice if they think me otherwise than their affectionate + friend. * * * + + With respect to my property in America, my wish and desire is, if I + have any control over it, that my friends there collectively, or + some one singly under your direction, would take it into their + hands, and consolidating the debts I owe into one sum, apply it to + their discharge. I can think of no better way than this. If + eventually I am deprived of it, I will endeavor to bear it with + that fortitude which becomes a Christian and philosopher. + + P. S. I could wish above all things to preserve my law books. + + TO HENRY HILL, ESQ. + + London, May 25, 1779. + + I have obtained an appointment at Parham, in Antigua, as + comptroller of the customs, and am to embark soon for St. Kitts. * + * It is this day four years since I left Boston, and though I have + been racked by my own misfortunes and my feelings for the + distresses of my family and friends, I have still by a good + Providence been blessed with health and comforted by the kindness + of many friends. If I have not been in affluence, I have been above + want, and happy in the esteem of numbers in this kingdom to whom I + was altogether a stranger. * * The education of my children is + uppermost in my heart. The giving my son the benefit of classical + learning by a course of college studies, is a step I much approve. + The sequestration of my books is more mortifying to me than any + other stroke. If they are not yet out of your power save them for + me at all events. + +In a copy of a letter to a friend, apparently in the West Indies, but +whose name does not appear, Mr. Quincy thus expresses himself: + + Antigua, Feb. 1, 1782. + + You ask of me an account of my coming to the West Indies, the + manner of my existence and destination, &c. The story is long, and + would require many anecdotes to give the true history, but you will + excuse me if at present I say only, that in the year 1775, just + after the battle of Lexington, I quitted America for London on + motives of business, intending to return in a few months; but my + absence was construed by our good patriots as the effect of my + political principles, and improved first to my proscription, + afterwards to the very flattering title of traitorous conspirator, + and the confiscation of my estate. I remained in England several + years, but, tired of waiting for the moving of the waters, and + unwilling to waste the flower of my age in a state of indolence, + neither profitable to myself nor my family, I resolved to seek my + fortune in this part of the world, where I had been in my younger + days,--obtained a berth in the customs, which, together with the + emoluments of my profession, afford me a comfortable subsistence, + and the prospect of something beyond. + + Your friend, &c., + SAMUEL QUINCEY. + +Mr. Quincy's wife died November, 1782 in Massachusetts. He married again +while at Antigua, Mrs. M. A. Chadwell, widow of Hon. Abraham Chadwell. + + TO HIS SON, SAMUEL QUINCY, JR., CAMBRIDGE. + + June 10, 1785. + + How anxious soever I may feel to see my friends and relations once + more, I cannot think of doing it at the expense of my liberty; nor + will I ever visit that country where I first drew my breath, but + upon such terms as I have always lived in it; and such as I have + still a right to claim from those who possess it,--the character of + a gentleman. * * * The proposal Judge Sumner has hinted to me of + keeping his old berth for you at Roxbury, is a good one, at least + better than Boston. Cultivate his good opinion, and deserve his + patronage; he will bestow the latter for my sake, I trust, as well + as his personal esteem for you. It will also stand you in stead at + court, where I hope you will one day figure as a legislator as well + as an advocate. All depends upon setting out right. You are at the + edge of a precipice, or ought to consider yourself so; from whence, + if you fall, the "_revocare gradum_," is a task indeed. Resolve, + then, to think right, and act well; keeping up to that resolution + will procure you daily the attention of all ranks, and command for + you their respect. Keep alive the cause of truth, of reason, of + virtue, and of liberty, if I may be permitted to use that name, who + have by some injuriously been thought in a conspiracy against it. + This is the path of duty, and will be the source of blessing. + + July 24, 1789. + + I am exceedingly sorry to hear of the distracted political + situation of Massachusetts. * * * A constitution founded on mere + republican principles has always appeared to me a many-headed + monster, and, however applauded by a Franklin, a Price, and a + Priestley, that in the end it must become a suicide. Mankind do not + in experience appear formed for that finer system, which, in + theory, by the nice adjustment of its parts promises permanency and + repose. The passions, prejudice, and interests of some will always + be in opposition to others, especially if they are in place. This, + it may be said, is the case in all governments, but I think less so + in a monarchy than under a republican code. The people at large + feel an overbalance of power in their own favor; they will + naturally endeavor to ease themselves of all expenses which are not + lucrative to them, and retrench the gains of others, whether the + reward of merit or genius, or the wages of a hireling. + + Tortola, June 1, 1789. + MY DEAR SON: + + Your short letter of the 14th February gave me pleasure, as it + informed me of your health and that of your family, and other + friends in the neighborhood of Roxbury. + + It would be my wish to make you a visit once more in my life, could + it be ascertained I might walk free of insult, and unmolested in + person. Two things must concur to satisfy me of this,--the repeal + of the act passed 1779, against certain crown officers, as + traitors, conspirators, &c.; and accommodation with those who have + against me pecuniary demands. The first I have never yet learned to + be repealed, either in whole or in part, and therefore I consider + it as a stumbling-block at the threshold; the second, no steps I + suppose have been taken to effect, although I think it might be + done by inquiry and proposition--with some by a total release from + demand, and with others by a reasonable compromise. If you ever + wish your father to repose under your roof, you will take some + pains to examine the list, and make the trial. I shall shortly, I + hope, be in a situation to leave this country, if I choose it; but + whether Europe, of the two objects I have in view, will take the + preference, may depend on the answer I may receive from you, upon + the hints I have now thrown out for your consideration and filial + exertions. * * * + + I have been, as I informed you in my last, a good deal indisposed + for some time past. I find myself, however, better on the whole at + present, though I feel the want of a bracing air. Adieu. + + Your affectionate parent, + SAMUEL QUINCY. + +Soon after the date of this last letter, Mr. Quincy embarked for +England, accompanied by his wife. The restoration of his health was the +object of the voyage, but the effort was unsuccessful; he died at sea, +within sight of the English coast. His remains were carried to England, +and interred on Bristol hill. His widow immediately re-embarked for the +West Indies, but her voyage was tempestuous. Grief for the loss of her +husband, to whom she was strongly attached, and suffering from the storm +her vessel encountered, terminated her life on her homeward passage. + +It was a singular coincidence that two of Mr. Quincy's brothers died at +sea, as he did on shipboard, Edmund, the eldest and Josiah, the youngest +brother. + +Samuel Quincy had two sons: Samuel, a graduate of Harvard College in +1782, who was an attorney-at-law in Lenox, Mass., where he died in +January, 1816, leaving a son Samuel. His second son, Josiah, became an +eminent counselor-at-law of Romney, N. H., and President of the Senate +of that State. + +Mr. Samuel Quincy was proscribed and banished and his property +confiscated. + + + + + COLONEL JOHN MURRAY. + + +About 1750 there appeared in Boston society a very handsome man by the +name of Murray, whose antecendents people seemed to be ignorant, when he +came to this country he settled at Rutland, and was very poor, and at +first "peddled about the country" and then became a merchant. He was a +man of great influence in his vicinity, and in the town of Rutland, +which he represented many years in the General Court. On election days +his home was open to his friends and good cheer dispensed free to all +from his store. His wealth, social position, and political influence, +made him one of the Colonial noblemen who lived in a style that has +passed away in New England. He was a Colonel in the militia, for many +years a member of the General Court, and in 1774 was appointed a +Mandamus Councillor, but was not sworn into office, because a mob of +about five hundred, with the "Worcester Committee of Correspondence," +repaired to Rutland, to compel Colonel Murray to resign his seat in the +Council. On the way, they were joined by nearly one thousand persons, +among whom were a portion of the company who had compelled Judge Timothy +Paine to take the same course, marching directly to Rutland the same +day. + +A delegation went to his house, and reported that he was absent. A +letter was accordingly sent to him, to the effect that; unless his +resignation appeared in the Boston papers, he would be waited upon +again. He abandoned his home on the night of the 25th of August of that +year, and fled to Boston. + +As previously stated, there was always a mystery surrounding John +Murray, regarding who he was and where he came from, but his descendants +had some reason for supposing that he was one of the "Athol Family" of +Scotland, the surname of the Duke being Murray. Some years since one of +Col. Murray's descendants went to "Blair Athol," the family seat of the +Dukes of Athol, hoping to hear something about him, and there found an +old retainer of the family who recalled the fact that many years ago a +younger member of the family had disappeared, nothing being heard of him +again, though it was supposed he had run away to America. + +Miss Murray, after her father's death, went from St. John to Lancaster, +Mass., to be with her relatives, the Chandler Family. She had with her +some amount of silver plate, and on each piece was the arms of the +"Ducal House of Athol." She had small means, and when in need of money +used to sell this silver, one piece at a time. In the grant of the town +of Athol by the General Court the first name is that of John Murray, who +probably gave the name of his ancestral home to the new town. + +In 1776, with a family of six persons, he accompanied the Royal Army to +Halifax. Col. Murray left a very large estate when he fled from Boston, +and in 1778 he was prosecuted and banished, and in 1779 lost his +extensive property under the Confiscation Act. + +After the Revolution, Colonel Murray became a resident of St. John, N. +B. He built a house in Prince William street, with a large lot of land +attached to it, which became very valuable. + +A portrait by Copley is owned by his grandson, the Hon. R. L. Hazen of +St. John, a member of the Executive Council of New Brunswick. He is +represented as sitting in the full dress of a gentleman of the day, and +his person is shown to the knees. There is a hole in the wig, which is +said to have been done by one of the mob who sought the Colonel at his +house after his flight, vexed because he had eluded them, vowed they +would leave their mark behind them, accordingly pierced the canvas with +a bayonet. + +Colonel Murray married several times, his first wife was Elizabeth +McLanathan, who was the mother of ten children. His second wife was +Lucretia Chandler, the daughter of John and Hannah Gardner, of +Worcester. His third wife was Deborah Brinley, the daughter of Francis +Brinley, of Roxbury. + +Colonel Murray was allowed a pension of L200 per annum by the British +Government. His estate valued at L23,367, was confiscated except one +farm for his son Alexander, who joined the Revolutionists. He died at +St. John, 1794. + +DANIEL MURRAY, of Brookfield, Mass., Son of Colonel John. He graduated +at Harvard College in 1771. Mr. Murray entered the military service of +the Crown, and was Major of the King's American Dragoons. In 1778 he was +proscribed and banished. At the peace he retired, on half pay. In 1792 +he was a member of the House of Assembly of N. B. In 1803 he left the +Colony. In 1832 he died at Portland, Maine. + +SAMUEL MURRAY, Son of Colonel John, graduated at Harvard College in +1772. He was with the British troops at Lexington in 1775, and was taken +prisoner. In a General Order, dated at Cambridge, June 15, 1775, it was +directed "That Samuel Murray be removed from the jail in Worcester to +his father's homestead in Rutland, the limits of which he is not to pass +until further orders." In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. He died +previous to 1785. + +Robert Murray, Son of Colonel John. In 1782 he was a Lieutenant of the +King's American Dragoons. He settled in N. B., and died there of +consumption in 1786. + +John Murray, Son of Colonel John. In 1782 he was a Captain in the King's +American Dragoons. After the Revolution he was an officer of the +Fifty-fourth Regiment, British Army. + + + + + JUDGE JAMES PUTNAM. + + ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. + + +John Putnam, the founder of the Salem family, was born in 1579, at +Wingrave, Buckinghamshire, England. He is described in the records an +husbandman. His farm was at Burstone in Wingrave. He emigrated to Salem +with his three sons in 1640, where grants of land were made by the town +of Salem to him and to his sons on their own account, in what was then +known as Salem Village, now the town of Danvers. + +His sons were Thomas, born 1614, died at Salem Village 1686; Nathaniel, +born 1619, died at Salem Village 1700; John, born 1627, died at Salem +Village, 1710. + +In deeds, John Putnam is described as both husbandman and yeoman. He was +a man of substance and of as much education as his contemporaries, but +neither seeking or desiring public office. In 1653 he divided his lands +between Thomas and Nathaniel, having evidently already granted his +homestead to his younger son John. He died in 1662. + +The subject of this memoir was a descendent of John Putnam, in the fifth +generation, through his youngest son John, known as Captain John. It was +in the military affairs and in the witchcraft delusion that his +character is best shown. In 1672 he is styled Corporal, in 1678 he was +commissioned Lieutenant of the troope of horse at the Village, and after +1687 he is styled "Captain." He served in the Naragansett fight, and +retained his military manners throughout his life. In 1679 and later he +was frequently chosen to present Salem at the General Court, to settle +the various disputed town bounds. He was selectman in 1681. He was +deputy to the General Court for many years previous to the new charter. + +His residence was on the farm originally occupied by his father, now +better known as Oak Knoll, the home of the poet Whittier. + +The will of John Putnam is not on record. He seems to have disposed of +his property by deed to his children. Rev. Joseph Green makes the +following note in his diary: "April 7, 1710, Captain Putnam buried by ye +soldiers." + +LIEUTENANT JAMES, son of CAPTAIN JOHN, was born in Salem Village, 1661, +and died there in 1727. He was a farmer, inheriting from his father the +homestead at Oak Knoll. In 1720 he is styled on the records Lieut., +which title was always scrupulously given him. Although never caring to +hold office, he was evidently esteemed by the townspeople. He had been +taught a trade, and he in his turn taught his son the same trade, that +of bricklayer. This was a custom among many of the early Puritan +families. It is to the credit of all concerned, that far-sighted and +wealthy men of that day brought up their sons to know a useful trade, in +case adversity should overtake them. + +JAMES PUTNAM, of the fourth generation, son of the aforesaid Lieut. +James, was born in Salem Village in 1689, and died there in 1763. He +lived in the house just to the south-east of Oak Knoll on the same road; +the house is still standing, in a fine state of preservation. + +During his long life, James Putnam took considerable interest in town +affairs. He was one of those who succeeded in obtaining the +establishment of the district of Danvers. In 1730 he paid the largest +tax in the village. + +HONORABLE JAMES PUTNAM, of the fifth generation, son of the aforesaid +James Putnam, was born in Salem Village, 1726, and died at St. John, N. +B., 1789. He graduated from Harvard College in 1746. In his class was +Dr. Edward H. Holyoke, whose father, Edward Holyoke, was then president +of the College. He studied law, under Judge Trowbridge, who according to +John Adams, controlled the whole practice of Worcester and Middlesex +Counties, and settled in Worcester in 1749, taking up the practice of +the law. + +In 1750 he married Eleanor Sprague, by whom he had one daughter, +Eleanor, who married Rufus Chandler, of Worcester. + +James Putnam, in 1757, held the commission of Major, under Gen. Louden, +and saw service. Between the years of 1755 and 1758, John Adams, +afterwards President of the United States, taught school in Worcester, +and studied law with Mr. Putnam. He also boarded in his family. Mr. +Adams remarks that Mr. Putnam possessed great acuteness of mind, had a +very extensive and successful practice, and was eminent in his +profession. James Putnam was one of the twenty signers to the address +from the barristers and attorneys of Massachusetts to Gov. Hutchinson, +May 30, 1774. His brothers, Dr. Ebenezer and Archelaus, both addressed +Gov. Gage on his arrival, June 11, 1774. In February, 1775, he, with +others, was forced by the threatening attitude of the mob to leave +Worcester and seek refuge in Boston, he having had his cattle stolen and +a valuable grist mill burned, and threatened with bodily harm. + +On Oct. 14, 1775, eighteen of those gentlemen who were driven from their +habitations in the country to the town of Boston, addressed Gov. Gage on +his departure. Among the signers were James Putnam and James Putnam, Jr. + +In 1778 the Massachusetts Legislature passed an act confiscating the +estate of 308 Loyalists and banishing them; if they returned a second +time, to suffer death without the benefit of clergy. Among these was the +Hon. James Putnam, who had in 1777 succeeded Jonathan Sewell as attorney +general of Massachusetts, the last under the Crown. + +During the siege of Boston on the 17th Nov. 1775, the following order +was issued by the British Commander: "Many of his Majesty's Loyal +American subjects having offered their services for the defence of the +place" are to be formed into three companies under command of Hon. +Brigadier General Ruggles, to be called the Loyal American Associates, +to be designated by a white sash around the left arm. James Putnam was +commissioned captain of the second company, and James Putnam, Jr. was +commissioned second lieutenant of the second company. At the evacuation +of Boston, both James Putnam and his sons, James and Ebenezer, +accompanied the army to Halifax, and New York, where his sons engaged in +business. He sailed for Plymouth, England, December, 1779, with Mrs. +Putnam and his daughter Elizabeth. + +While in England he wrote numerous letters to his brothers, from which +we make the following quotations. Under date of Nov. 13th, 1783, he +writes from London: "My countrymen have got their independence (as they +call it) and with it in my opinion, have lost the true Substantial Civil +liberty. They doubtless exult as much at the acquisition they have +gained as they do at the loss the Tories, as they call them, have +sustained." + +"America, the thirteen states, at last separated from this country, +never more to be connected. For you may believe me when I say I firmly +believe, and on good grounds, that even the present administration would +not now accept of the connection, if America would offer it on the old +footing." + +"You may be assured there is nothing I wish for more than to see my dear +brother and other dear friends in America again." + +"At the same time, I can tell you with truth, unpleasing as you may +think the situation of the Loyalists to be, I would not change with my +independent countrymen with all imaginary liberty, but real heavy taxes +and burdens, destitute in a great measure, as I know they are, of order +and good government." + +"Having this view of things, you can't expect to see me in Massachusetts +soon, even if I was permitted or invited to return with perhaps the +offer of the restoration of my estate. For what would it be worth but to +pay all away in taxes in a short time." + +"I'm not yet determined whether to remain in this country or go abroad +to Nova Scotia or elsewhere." + +Again, under date of July 20, 1784, he writes: "Your country is so +changed since I left it, and in my opinion for the worst, that the great +pleasure I should have in seeing my dear friends would be lost in a +great measure in the unhappy change of government." + +His next letter was from Parr, on the river St. John, N. B., Nov. 18, +1784. He says: "Dear Brother. I have been at this place about ten days, +am surprised to find a large flourishing town, regularly laid out, well +built, consisting of about two thousand houses, many of them handsome +and well finished--And at the opposite side of the river at Carlton, +about five hundred more houses on a pleasant situation. A good harbor +lies between the two towns, which never freezes, and where there are +large ships and many vessels of all sizes. The country appears to me to +be very good, and am satisfied will make a most flourishing Province." + +He writes again the next year: "You may wonder perhaps at my saying I +hope I'm settled in this Province for life, and that I can be contented +or happy in the place formerly called Nova Scotia." + +"I want to see you and my friends, if I have any, but I don't wish to +live in your country or under your government. I think I have found a +better. No thanks to the Devils who have robbed me of my property. I do +not wish to live with or see such infernals." + +"God bless you, your wife, your son, your daughter, my brother, etc., +who I shall be glad to see again, but not in the American States." + +In another letter, dated St. John, N. B., May 13, 1785, to his brother, +he says: "As to seeing you any more, you have no reason to expect it in +your State. + +"You may be assured, I should be exceeding happy in seeing you both +here. I can give you a comfortable lodging, and wholesome good fresh +provisions, excellent fish and good spruce beer, the growth and +manufacture of our own Province. + +"Tho' we should be glad to see the few friends we have remaining there +among you, we don't wish to give them the pain of seeing us in your +State, which is evidently overflowing with _freedom and liberty_[231] +without restraint. + + [231] During 1785 Shay's rebellion occurred in Massachusetts and was put + down by General Lincoln. + +"The people of the States must needs now be very happy, when they can +all and every one do just what they like best. No taxes to pay, no +_stamp act_, _more money_ than they know what to do with, _trade and +navigation as free as air_." + +Under date of Nov. 4, 1786, he writes: "The people of your State seem to +be stirring up another revolution. What do they want now? Do they find +at last, to be freed from the British Government, and becoming an +independent State does not free them from the debts they owe one +another, or exempt them from the charge of taxation. I wish they would +pay me what they justly owe, they may then have what government they +please, or none, if they like that best." + +He was appointed in 1784 Judge of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick, +and a member of the Council. It was said that he was the ablest lawyer +in all America. Judge Putnam was the first of the council and bench of +New Brunswick, who died from failing health; he had not attended council +meetings for over a year. He died 23 Oct., 1789, in his 65th year. In +character he was upright and generous; his health was never robust; and +loss of country, friends and wealth must have been a severe blow. Sabine +says: "I have often stood at his grave and mused upon the strange +vicissitudes of human condition, by which the Master, one of the giants +of the American Colonial Bar, became an outlaw, and an exile, broken in +fortune and spirit, while his struggling and almost friendless pupil, +elevated step by step by the very same course of events, was finally +known the world over as the Chief Magistrate of a Nation." It is thus in +all successful Revolutions, those that were at the head of affairs are +hurled from power, and their fortunes wrecked, whilst young men like +John Adams, of great abilities but poor, and little prospects for +advancement, are elevated to the highest offices. Who would have ever +heard of the "Little Corporal" had it not been for the French +Revolution, then there would not have been any "Napoleon the maker of +Kings." + +Judge Putnam had two relatives who became famous in the Colonial wars, +and the Revolution. Major-General Israel Putnam was of the fourth +generation from John. He was born in Salem Village, 1717. He +distinguished himself at Crown Point, Montreal and Cuba, and later at +Bunker Hill. General Rufus Putnam was of the fifth generation. After +serving in the Colonial wars under his cousin Israel Putnam, he took +part in the siege of Boston, and constructed the works on Dorchester +Heights, on the 4th of March, 1776, that forced the evacuation of +Boston. + +At no time during the youth of these two men would one have predicted +that they would be two great soldiers. Their early education was very +defective, partly because school advantages were then very meagre in the +rural districts, in which they passed their youth, and partly no doubt, +because their strong inclinations were for farming and active outdoor +life, rather than for books and sedentary occupation. Robust and full of +energy, they were as boys, given to feats of strength and daring. + +In 1780 General Rufus Putnam "bought on easy terms" the confiscated +property of Colonel Murray, who married Lucretia Chandler. This property +was situated in Rutland, and consisted of a large farm and spacious +mansion. + +JAMES PUTNAM, JR., son Judge Putnam, graduated at Harvard College in +1774. He was one of the eighteen country gentlemen who addressed Gen. +Gage, and were driven into Boston. He went to England and died there in +1838, having been a barrack master, a member of the household, and an +executor of the Duke of Kent, the father of Queen Victoria. + + + + + JUDGE TIMOTHY PAINE. + + +Stephen Paine, from whom so many of the family in America are descended, +came from Great Ellingham, near Hingham, Norfolk County, England. He was +a miller, and came with a large party of immigrants from Hingham and +vicinity, in the ship Diligent, of Ipswich, John Martin master, in the +year 1638, bringing with him his wife Rose, two sons and four servants. + +Mr. Paine first settled at Hingham, Mass., where he had land granted to +him, was made a freeman in 1639 and elected Deputy in 1641. In 1642 he, +with four others, settled at Seekonk, and became prominent in the +affairs of the new settlement at Rehoboth. + +Mr. Paine survived the eventful period of King Philip's war and died in +1679, outliving his two sons, Stephen having died at Rehoboth in 1677, +and Nathaniel in 1678. + +NATHANIEL PAINE, son of the aforesaid Nathaniel, of the third +generation, was born at Rehoboth 1661, married Dorothy, daughter of +Jonathan Rainsford, of Boston. He removed in early life to Bristol, +Mass., now R. I., and was one of the original proprietors of that place. +In 1710 he was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and Judge +of Probate. He was one of the Council of Mass. Bay from 1703 till his +death in 1723, with the exception of the year 1708. Nathaniel Paine died +at Bristol, R. I., in 1723, and his wife Dorothy Rainsford, in 1755. + +NATHANIEL PAINE, of the fourth generation and fourth son of the +preceding Nathaniel, was born at Bristol 1688. He was an active and +influential citizen of Bristol, was for five years elected +Representative. In 1723 he was a member of a Court of Admiralty for the +trial of pirates. In 1724 was a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. + +Mr. Paine married Sarah, daughter of Timothy Clark of Boston. After his +death in 1729, his widow married John Chandler and removed to Worcester. + +TIMOTHY PAINE, son of the aforesaid Nathaniel and Sarah Clark, his wife. +He was born in Boston in 1730 and married Sarah Chandler in 1749, the +daughter of John Chandler, so these young people had probably been +brought up under the same roof from early childhood. He graduated at +Harvard College in 1748, and was a stout government man in the +controversies which preceded the Revolution. + +Soon after leaving college, Mr. Paine was engaged in public affairs, and +the number and variety of offices which he held exhibit the estimation +in which he stood. He was at different times Clerk of the Courts, +Register of Deeds, Register of Probate, member of the executive council +of the Province, in 1774 he was appointed one of his Majesty's Mandamus +Councillors, Selectman and Town Clerk, and Representative many years in +the General Court. In 1771 he was also Special Justice of the Supreme +Court. Solid talents, practical sense, candor, sincerity, ability, and +mildness, were the characteristics of his life. + +When the appeal to arms approached, many of the inhabitants of +Worcester, most distinguished for talents, influence, and honors, +adhered with constancy to the Government. Educated with veneration for +the sovereign to whom they had sworn fealty; indebted to the government +for the bounty, honor and wealth which they possessed--loyalty and +gratitude alike influenced them to resent acts that were treasonable, +and rebellious. The sincerity of their motives were attested by the +sacrifice of life, property, loss of power, and all the miseries of +banishment, confiscation and exile. + +The struggle between the revolutionist, and the loyalty of a minority of +the people, powerful in numbers, as well as talents, wealth, and +influence, arrived at its crisis in Worcester early in 1774, and +terminated in the total defeat of the loyalists. + +Among the many grievances of the revolutionists, was the vesting of the +government in the dependents of the King, it aggravated the irritation, +and urged the mobs to acts of violence. + +Timothy Paine, Esq., had received a commission as one of the Mandamus +Councillors. High as was the personal regard, and respect for the purity +of private character of this gentleman, it was controlled by the +political feelings of a period of excitement; and measures were taken to +compel his resignation of a post which was unwelcome to himself, but +which he dared not refuse, when declining would have been construed as +contempt for the authority of the King, by whom it was conferred. + +August 22, 1774, a mob of nearly 3000 persons collected from the +surrounding towns, visited Worcester and entered the town before 7 +o'clock in the morning. They chose a committee to wait upon Mr. Paine +and demand his resignation as Councillor. They went to his house, and he +agreed to resign from that office, and drew up an acknowledgement, +mentioning his obligations to the country for favors done him, his +sorrow for having taken the oath, and a promise that he never would act +in that office contrary to the charter, and after that he came with the +committee to the common, where the mob made a lane between them, through +which he and the committee passed and read divers times as they passed +along, the said acknowledgment. At first one of the committee read the +resignation of Mr. Paine in his behalf. It was then insisted that he +should read it with his hat off. He hesitated and demanded protection +from the committee, which they were incapable of giving him. Finally, +with threats of tar and feathers, and personal violence, in which his +wig was knocked off, he complied, and was allowed to retire to his +dwelling unharmed. + +At the commencement of the Revolution some American soldiers quartered +at his house repaid his perhaps too unwilling hospitality, and signified +the intensity of their feelings towards him by cutting the throat of his +full length portrait. + +Madam Paine, in passing the guard house, which stood nearly where the +old Nashua Hotel stood in Lincoln square, heard the soldiers say "Let us +shoot the old Tory." She turned around facing them and said: "Shoot if +you dare," and then she reported to General Knox the insult she had +received, which was not repeated. + +Mrs. Timothy Paine or Madam Paine, as she was styled from respect to her +dignity and position, was a woman of uncommon energy and acuteness. She +was noted in her day for her zeal in aiding as far as was in her power +the followers of the crown, and in defeating the plans of the +rebellious colonists. In her the King possessed a faithful ally. In her +hands his dignity was safe, and no insult offered to it, in her +presence, could go unavenged. + +Her wit and loyalty never shone more conspicuously than on the following +occasion: when President Adams was a young man, he was invited to dine +with the court, and bar, at the home of Judge Paine, an eminent loyalist +of Worcester. When the wine was circulating around the table, Judge +Paine gave as a toast "The King." Some of the Whigs were about to refuse +to drink it, but Mr. Adams whispered to them to comply, saying "we shall +have an opportunity to return the compliment." At length, when he was +desired to give a toast, he gave "The Devil." As the host was about to +resent the indignity, his wife calmed him, and turned the laugh upon Mr. +Adams, by immediately exclaiming "My dear! As the gentleman has been so +kind as to drink to our King, let us by no means refuse in our turn to +drink to his." + +Timothy Paine and Sarah Chandler, his wife, not only feared God, but +honored the King, so the old record goes. They belonged to families, +often associated together in the remembrance of the present generation, +as having adhered through the wavering fortunes and final success of the +Revolution, devoted and consistent to the British Crown. Solid talents, +practical sense, candor, sincerity, affability, and mildness, were the +characteristics of his life. He died July 17, 1793, at the age of +sixty-three. His widow died at Worcester, in 1811. + + + + + DR. WILLIAM PAINE. + + +William Paine, son of the aforesaid Timothy Paine, was born in +Worcester, Mass., June 5, 1750. He graduated at Harvard College in 1768, +his name standing second in a class of more than forty, when they were +arranged in the catalogue according to the dignity of families. + +He then began the study of medicine with a very distinguished physician, +Dr. Edward A. Holyoke, of Salem, while here he made the acquaintance of +the lady whom he married a few years later. + +One of his earliest instructors was John Adams, who was then reading law +in the office of Hon. James Putnam, at Worcester. He began the practice +of medicine in Worcester in 1771. That year Mr. Adams revisited +Worcester, after an absence of sixteen years, and notes the impression +of his former pupils as follows: "Here I saw many young gentlemen who +were my scholars and pupils. John Chandler, Esq., of Petersham, Rufus +Chandler, the lawyer, and Dr. William Paine, who now studies physics +with Dr. Holyoke of Salem, and others, most of whom began to learn Latin +with me." + +In 1771, after about three years of study, he returned to Worcester, +with every prospect of becoming a leader in the medical profession. In +1773 he entered into partnership with two other physicians or "Traders +in the Art, Mystery and Business of an Apothecary and the practice of +Physick." This interest was confiscated in 1779. + +In 1773 Dr. Paine was married to Miss Lois Orne of Salem, with a fortune +of 3,000 pounds sterling. Six children were born from this union. + +For the purpose of facilitating his business abroad and of perfecting +his medical education, Dr. Paine in Sept. 1774, sailed for England, and +the following winter was passed in the study of medicine. During his +visit there he was presented to the King, and Queen Charlotte, wearing +the court dress prescribed for medical men, which was a gray cloth coat +with silver buttons, a white satin waistcoat, satin small clothes, silk +hose and wearing a sword, and a fall of lace from cravat or collar, and +lace in the sleeves. It is interesting to read some of his letters +written as he was about leaving England. In one of them he writes "The +Colonists had better lay down their arms at once, for we are coming over +with an overwhelming force to destroy them." His wife and children +seemed to have remained with his father and mother while he was in +England, but finding their position in Worcester unpleasant on account +of their unpopular political opinions, she left and went to Rhode +Island. + +Dr. Paine returned to America in 1775, shortly after hostilities +commenced, and while there was apparently no legal impediment to his +return to Worcester, it was doubtless a very prudent decision of Dr. +Paine not to make the attempt. His feeling of personal loyalty to the +government was too strong to allow him even to appear to yield to the +Revolutionists, then dominating his native town, and he wisely returned +to England. His study of medicine there must have been pursued with +unusual zeal and success, for Nov. 1775, he received from Marischal +College, Aberdeen, the degree of M. D. + +Soon after obtaining this distinction, he received an appointment as +Apothecary to the British forces in America, and served in Rhode Island +and New York till 1781, when he returned to England, in company with his +patient, Lord Winchelsea. While in England, in 1782, he is said to have +been made Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of London. + +October 23, 1782, he was commissioned Physician to His Majesty's +Hospitals within the district of North America, commanded by Sir Guy +Carleton, and he reported for duty at Halifax, N. S. Letters which have +been preserved show that during this year at Halifax he had won the +respect, friendship and confidence, not only of his immediate medical +superior, Dr. Nooth, but also of Lord Wentworth, Governor of the +Province. + +In the summer of 1784, Dr. Paine took possession of La Tete, an island +in Passamaquoddy Bay, granted him by the British Government, for his +services in the war. He remained there less than one year, and then made +his residence in St. John, N. B., where he took up the practice of his +profession. The cause of the removal from the island was the protest of +his wife that the children could not receive a proper education in that +isolated spot. + +He was elected member of the Assembly of New Brunswick from the county +of Charlotte, and was appointed Clerk of the House. He was commissioned +as a justice for the county of Sunbury. There is abundant evidence of +the high estimate placed on his character and ability in the numerous +offices which he held during his residence here. + +July 29, 1786, he wrote to a friend: "I do a great deal of Business in +my Profession, but I get very little for it. The truth is we are all +very poor, and the most industrious and economical gets only a bare +subsistence. However, it will soon be better as the Province is daily +filling with stock of all kinds." + +In 1787 Dr. Paine made application for leave to visit and reside in New +England while remaining on half pay, and a permit to that effect was +issued by the War Office. + +In Salem he devoted himself to the practice of medicine in the town +where he had been known as a student of the famous Dr. Holyoke, and +where his wife had spent her early life. + +In 1793 his father died, and he removed to Worcester, and for the +remaining forty years of his life he resided in the paternal mansion. +His father's property was large, and as he was not an absentee, it was +not confiscated. By his will it was equally divided between his +children, the farm and homestead covered 1230 acres. Dr. Paine bought +the shares of his brothers, and sisters in same for 2,000 pounds +sterling, but the deeds were given to Nathaniel Paine in trust for +William, for the doctor was as yet, but an alien in his native state. +The year 1812 was a critical one, bringing a most important question for +him to decide, for war arose between Great Britain and the United +States, and he was still a half-pay officer in His Majesty's service. He +therefore resigned from the British service, and in 1812 petitioned the +Legislature for its consent to his being a naturalized citizen of the +United States. + +William Paine was one of the founders of the American Antiquarian +Society of Worcester. His name was omitted from the act of incorporation +because he was an alien. The next year, 1813, he was elected Vice +President of same. + +He occupied the old paternal mansion on Lincoln street in a quiet, very +dignified and almost luxurious manner as befitted a country gentleman. +Here he died at the ripe age of 83, March 19, 1833. + +SAMUEL PAINE, son of Timothy, was born at Worcester, Mass. Graduated at +Harvard College in 1771. The Worcester County Convention, Sept. 7, 1774, +voted to take notice of Mr. Samuel Paine, assistant clerk, for sending +out _venires_. Voted, that Mr. Samuel Dennison go to Mr. Samuel Paine +forewith, and desire his immediate attendance before this body, to +answer for sending _venires_ to constables commanding their compliance +with the late Act of Parliament. + +Mr. Paine appeared and stated that he felt bound by the duty of his +office to comply with the Act, "Voted that Mr. Paine has not given +satisfaction, and that he be allowed to consider till the adjournment of +this meeting." + +On September 21, he transmitted a paper to the Convention explanatory of +his conduct; but that body voted that it "was not satisfactory, and that +'his letter be dismissed' and Mr. Paine himself 'be treated with all +neglect.'" + +In 1775 he was sent to the Committee of Worcester under guard, "to +Watertown or Cambridge, to be dealt with as the honorable Congress or +Commander-in-Chief shall, upon examination, think proper." His direct +offenses consisted, apparently, in saying that the Hampshire troops had +robbed the home of Mr. Bradish; that he had heard the Whig soldiers were +deserting in great numbers, and that he was told "the men were so close +stowed in the Colleges that they were lousy." This is the substance of +the testimony of a neighbor, the only witness who appeared against him. + +In 1776 Mr. Paine accompanied the British Army to Halifax when they +evacuated Boston. During the war he wandered from place to place without +regular employment. He returned to Worcester where he died in 1807. The +British government allowed him an annual pension of L84. + + + + + JOHN CHANDLER. + + +The founder of this family, so large and so influential before the +Revolution, came to these shores from England in 1637, when William +Chandler and Annice, his wife, settled in Roxbury. Mr. Chandler died in +1641, "having lived a very religious and godly life," and "leaving a +sweet memory and savor behind him." Annice Chandler must have been an +attractive woman, for she was not only soon married to a second husband, +but to a third, and her last one evidently expected her to enter into +matrimony a fourth time, for in his will he provided that she shall have +the use of his warming pan only so long as she remained his widow. +Goodwife Parmenter, however, died in 1683, in full possession of the +warming pan, the widow of the third husband. + +JOHN CHANDLER, a son of William, emigrated to Woodstock, Conn., and +became a farmer. He was selectman and deacon of the church, and died +there in 1703, leaving a family and property valued at L512. + +The second John Chandler, son of the first of that name, had before his +father's death, moved to New London, Conn., where he married, and in +1698 had opened a "house of entertainment" there. He at a later date +moved back to South Woodstock, and in 1711 was chosen representative to +the General Court at Boston for several years. After the erection of +Worcester County by Act of the Legislature of Massachusetts, April 2, +1731, the first Probate Court in Worcester was held by Col. Chandler as +Judge in the meeting house, 13th of July, 1731, and the first Court of +Common Pleas and General Sessions on August 10 following, by the Hon. +John Chandler, commissioned June 30, 1731, Chief Justice. These offices +he held until his death, as well as Colonel of Militia to which stations +of civil, judicial and military honors, he rose by force of his strong +mental powers, with but slight advantages of education. Judge John +Chandler died August 10, 1743, in his 79th year, leaving in his will +L8,699. + +JOHN CHANDLER, the third of that name, son of the Hon. John Chandler, +held nearly all the offices in the town of Worcester, Selectman, +Sheriff, Probate Judge, Town Treasurer, Register of Probate, Register of +Deeds, Chief Judge of County Courts, Judge of Common Pleas, +Representative to the General Court, Colonel of Militia and a member of +the Governor's Council. He died in 1762, wealthy and full of honors. + +JUDGE CHANDLER, was married to Hannah Gardner, daughter of John Gardner +of the Isle of Wight (known afterwards as Gardner's Island), in 1716. +She died in Worcester in 1738, aged 39 years, leaving nine children, the +first members of the Chandler family who were born and bred in +Worcester. + +JOHN CHANDLER, son of the aforesaid, the fourth to bear that name was +born in New London, Connecticut, in 1720, was married twice and had +sixteen children. His father removed to Worcester when he was eleven +years of age. At his father's death he succeeded him to the principal +county offices. He was Colonel in the militia, and was in service in the +French war, and he was Sheriff, Judge of Probate and County Treasurer. +Up to 1774 John Chandler's life had been one of almost unbroken +prosperity, but when the rebellion broke out, his loyalist sentiments +brought upon him the wrath of the mob, and he was compelled to leave +home, and family and retire to Boston. When Boston was evacuated, he +went to Halifax, and thence to London, and two years after he was +proscribed and banished. He sacrificed his large possessions, L36,190 as +appraised in this country by commissioners here, to a chivalrous sense +of loyalty. In the schedule exhibited to the British Commissioners, +appointed to adjust the compensation to the Americans who adhered to the +government; the amount of real and personal property which was +confiscated, is estimated at L11,067, and the losses from office, from +destruction of business, and other causes, at nearly L6,000 more. So +just and moderate was this compensation ascertained to be, at a time +when extravagant claims were presented by others, that his claim was +allowed in full; he was denominated in England "The Honest Refugee." +Sabine says "I am assured that, while he was in Boston he was supported +for a considerable time by the sale of silver plate sent him by his +family; and that when he left home he had no idea of quitting the +country. I am assured also, that when the Revolutionary Commissioners +took an inventory of his household furniture, the females were plundered +of their very clothing." His adherence to the government, and his +departure for England, seems to have been his only offences, yet he was +treated as harshly as though he had borne arms in the field. + +He is spoken of as having a cheerful temperament, engaging in manner, +hospitable as a citizen, friendly and kind as a neighbor, industrious +and enterprising as a merchant, and successful as a man of business. He +died in London in 1800, and was buried in Islington churchyard. In 1741 +he married Dorothy, daughter of Colonel Nathaniel Paine. She died in +1745. His second wife was Mary, daughter of Colonel Church, of Bristol, +R. I., a descendant of the warrior who fought King Philip. She died at +Worcester in 1783. His portrait in oil is preserved in the rooms of the +American Antiquarian Society, Worcester. George Bancroft, the +distinguished historian, and the widow of Governor Davis of +Massachusetts, are Colonel Chandler's grandchildren. + +CLARK CHANDLER, son of Colonel John, was born at Worcester in 1743. At +first a clerk in the office of the Register of Probate, he became joint +Register with Hon. Timothy Paine, and held the appointment from 1766 to +1774. He was also Town Clerk of Worcester from 1768 to 1774. In 1774 he +entered upon the town Records a remonstrance of the Loyalists to the +great anger of the Revolutionists, who voted in town meeting that he +should then and there "obliterate, erase, or otherwise deface, the said +recorded protest, and the names thereto subscribed, so that it may +become illegible and unintelligible." This he was obliged to do, in +presence of the revolutionists, to blot out the obnoxious record by +dipping his fingers in ink, and drawing them over the protest. + +He left home in June, 1775, and went to Halifax, and thence to Canada. +He returned in September of the same year, and was imprisoned in the +common jail. Confinement impaired his health, and he was removed to his +mother's home. Finally he was allowed to go to Lancaster, on giving +security that he would not depart from that town. He returned to +Worcester and kept store at the corner of Main and Front streets. His +person was small, and he wore bright red small clothes; was odd and +singular in appearance, which often provoked jeers and jokes of those +around him, but apt at reply "he paid the jokers in their own coin." He +was never married, and died in Worcester in 1804. + +RUFUS CHANDLER, fifth child of Colonel John by Mary Church, his second +wife. He was born in 1747, and graduated at Harvard College in 1776 in a +class of forty, with the rank of the fourth in "dignity of family." He +read law in the office of his uncle, Hon. James Putnam, in Worcester, +where he afterwards practised his profession until the courts were +closed by the mobs in 1774. He was one of the barristers and attornies +who addressed Hutchinson in the last mentioned year. He inherited the +loyalty of his family and left the country at the commencement of +hostilities. He went to Halifax in 1776 and in 1778 was proscribed and +banished. His mother used a part of his estate for the support of his +daughter; but the remainder appraised at L820, was confiscated. He +resided in England as a private gentleman, and died in London in 1823, +at the age of 76, and his remains were laid with those of his fathers in +Islington churchyard. His wife was Elizabeth Putnam, his only child, who +bore her mother's name, married Solomon Vose, of Augusta, Maine. + +GARDNER CHANDLER, son of Colonel John, of Hardwick, Mass., was born in +1749, and was a merchant in that town. His property was confiscated, and +the proceeds paid into the treasury of the state. He left the colony and +returned some time after to Hardwick. He made acknowledgments +satisfactory to his townsmen, it was voted by the town "that as Gardner +Chandler has now made acknowledgment, and says he is sorry for his past +conduct, that they will treat him as a friend and neighbor, so long as +he shall behave himself well." He removed to Brattleboro, Vermont, and +again to Hinsdale, N. H. He died in the last named town. His wife was +Elizabeth, daughter of Brigadier Timothy Ruggles. + +NATHANIEL CHANDLER, son of Colonel John, was born in Worcester, 1750, +graduated at Harvard College in 1768. He was a pupil of John Adams, and +commenced the practice of law in Petersham. His brother-in-law, the Rev. +Dr. Bancroft, wrote "that he possessed personal manliness and beauty," +that "he was endowed with a good mind and a lively imagination" that "in +disposition he was cheerful." He was one of the eighteen county +gentlemen who addressed General Gage on his departure in 1775. In 1776 +he went to Halifax. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished, and his +estate confiscated. Entering the British service he commanded a corps of +Volunteers and did good service. He returned to Petersham in 1784, and +engaged in trade, but relinquished business on account of ill health, +and returned to Worcester. Citizenship was restored in 1789, by Act of +the Legislature of Mass. He was a very pleasant companion, and a +favorite singer of songs in social parties. He never married. He died at +Worcester in 1801. + +WILLIAM CHANDLER, eighth child of Colonel John, was born at Worcester in +1752, and graduated at Harvard College in 1772. At that time students in +that institution were ranked according to "dignity of family" and +William was placed in the highest class. He was one of the eighteen +county gentlemen who were driven from their homes to Boston, and who +addressed General Gage on his departure in 1775. In 1776 he went to +Halifax. He was proscribed and banished under the Act of 1778, but +returned to Mass., after the close of the Revolution. Among the articles +in the inventory of his estate when it was confiscated was seven pairs +of silk hose, at fourteen shillings; plated shoe buckles, six shillings; +and pair of velvet breeches. + +Gardiner Chandler, brother of Colonel John. He was born in Woodstock in +1723. In the French war he was a major and was in service at the +surrender of Fort William Henry. He was Treasurer of Worcester County +eight years and succeeded his brother John, as sheriff, in 1762. He +presented General Gage an Address in behalf of the Judges of the Court +of Common Pleas in 1774; and was compelled by a Convention of the +Committee of Correspondence to sign a "Recantation." In time, he +regained the confidence of the community, and was suffered to live +undisturbed. He died in Worcester, in 1782. His first wife was Hannah +Greene, of Providence, R. I., his second, Ann Leonard, of Norton, Mass. + +The Chandlers were in every respect the most eminent family in Worcester +County, and furnished many men of distinction in its ante-revolutionary +history. They were closely allied by blood, marriage or friendship with +the aristocracy of the county and province, in which they had unbounded +sway. They had large possessions, and shared with the Paine family (with +whom they were allied), the entire local influence at Worcester, but did +not, like that family, survive the shock of the Revolution, and retain a +local habitation and a name. Their property was confiscated and they +were declared traitors. + +The family was broken up; some members of it went abroad and died there, +others were scattered in this country, yet not a few of their +descendants eminent in the most honorable pursuits, and in the highest +positions in life under different names and in various localities, +represent that ancient, honorable and once numerous race, wrecked by the +Revolution. + +John Adams says in his diary, "The Chandlers exercised great influence +in the County of Worcester until they took the side of the government in +the Revolution, and lost their position. They were well bred, agreeable +people, and I visited them as often as my school, and my studies in the +lawyer's office would admit." + + + + + JOHN GORE. + + +John Gore, of Roxbury, and his wife Rhoda, were both church members in +1635. He died June 2, 1657, and his widow married Lieut. John Remington. +He had ten children, of whom John, Samuel, Abigail, Mary, Mylam, and +Hannah, were mentioned in his will. + +Samuel Gore, son of the former, lived in Roxbury, and was a carpenter. +He married August 28, 1672, Elizabeth, daughter of John Weld. He died +July, 1692. They had seven children. + +Obadiah Gore, son of Samuel, was also a carpenter, and lived in Boston. +He married, October 26, 1710, Sarah Kilby. He died October 8, 1721, and +was survived by five children, all of whom were baptized at the Brattle +Street church. + +JOHN GORE, son of the former, lived in Boston, and was a painter and +merchant. He married, May 5, 1743, Frances, daughter of John Pinkney. +She was born September 20, 1726. They had fourteen or fifteen children, +nine of whom lived to be married. The baptisms of nine of his children +are given in the records of the Brattle Street Church. John Gore was an +Addresser of Gage, and in 1776 went to Halifax and thence to England. He +was proscribed and banished in 1778, and pardoned by the Legislature in +1787. He died in Boston in 1796, aged seventy-seven. His will is in the +Suffolk Register, Lib. 94, F. 182. His son, CHRISTOPHER GORE, was born +in Boston, Sept. 21st, 1758. He was educated in the public schools of +Boston, and was prepared at the South Latin school under the tuition of +Mr. Lovell, the most noted educator of his day. At the age of 13, +Christopher entered Harvard College, and was among the youngest of his +class. But he commenced his collegeate course in troubleous times, for +in his junior year the Revolution broke out, which created confusion and +disorder through society, and deranged the plans, and changed the +pursuits of many in every grade and profession. The College at Cambridge +was considered by the Revolutionists as "nest of tories" and during the +siege of Boston the college buildings were taken possession of by the +continental army stationed at Cambridge, and the students were dispersed +for several months. Young Gore was determined to follow out his course +of college training, however, and to this end went to Bradford, in Essex +County, and studied under the direction and in the family of Rev. Mr. +Williams, afterwards professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in +Harvard College. When the college removed to Concord he, with most of +the students, repaired thither, and resumed his studies. He graduated in +1776, the year that his father was driven from the land of his birth. + +Christopher Gore soon commenced the study of law in the office and under +the direction of Judge John Lowell, in whose family he resided while a +student. He commenced the practice of law in Boston with every prospect +of success. He had to depend on himself alone, for not only had he his +own fortune to make, but after he left college, he had to contribute to +the support of his mother and three unmarried sisters, who were left in +Boston without means when his father went to Halifax. + +By his own exertion and industry, he paid his college bills after he +entered on his profession, in addition to his other responsible duties, +devolving upon him with honor to himself. During 1809-10 Mr. Gore was +Governor of Massachusetts. While Governor, he occupied the home corner +of Park and Beacon streets, and it is said he drove through the streets +of Boston in a carriage drawn by four horses. This was more than the +plain republican people of Boston could stand, and they did not want him +for Governor again, besides it is undeniable that Mr. Gore was a good +deal of an aristocrat at heart, and consequently more or less a +loyalist. But he made a fine administrator, and at the end of the term +retired to private life, and did not resume the practice of his +profession. + +In 1791 Christopher Gore purchased in Waltham about 1000 acres of land +which formerly belonged to an ancestor of President Garfield. Here +Governor Gore erected a stately mansion upon a knoll or rise of the land +not far distant from Gore street, where one of the drives, leading to +it, runs under rows of stately trees, and through a finely kept lawn. In +the rear of the house are the flower gardens, and conservatory, and +behind that the kitchen garden; to the west of this is the deer park. + +After the death of Governor Gore this stately structure was sold to +General Theodore Lyman, who after living there seven years sold it to +Singleton Copley Greene, the son of Gardner Green, who married a +daughter of Copley the artist, the sister of Lord Lyndhurst: (see p. +216.) Christopher Gore married Rebecca Payne, 11 Nov. 1783. They had no +children. Gov. Gore died 1 March 1827, his widow 22 Jan. 1833. + + + + + JOHN JEFFRIES. + + +David Jeffries was born at Rhoad, in Wiltshire, England, 1658, and +arrived at Boston, May 9, 1677. He married Sept. 15, 1686, Elizabeth, +daughter of John and Elizabeth Usher, by whom he had several children. +Of his two sons, John, born Feb. 5, 1688, and David, born June 15, 1690, +John became Town Treasurer, was a very prominent citizen. He married +Sept. 24, 1713, Anne Clarke, and had issue, an only child Anne, who died +young. He went to London in 1710, and returned in 1713. He resided in +Tremont Street opposite the King's Chapel. + +David Jeffries Jr., who continued the name, married in 1713, Katherine, +daughter of John and Katherine Eyre, by whom he had an only child David, +born 23 Oct. 1714. He was a merchant, and in 1715 he sailed for England, +and was lost in the Amity, Sept. 13, 1716, on the sands near Dungeness. +His son, + +DAVID JEFFRIES, married his cousin, Sarah Jaffrey, 1741, by whom he had +eight children, all of whom died young except John, born Feb. 4, 1744, +alone preserved the name. + +JOHN JEFFRIES, the only son of the former, graduated from Harvard +College in 1763, having pursued his medical studies with Doctor Lloyd. +He continued his study of medicine in London, and was honored with the +degree of M. D. at Aberdeen in 1769. In 1771 he was appointed surgeon to +the "Captain" a British Ship-of-the-line in Boston Harbor, by his +friend, Admiral Montague. He held that position until 1774. + +Dr. Jeffries practised in Boston until the Revolution. He landed with +the forces at the battle of Bunker Hill, and assisted in dressing the +wounded of the Royal Army, and, it is said, identified the body of +Warren, in the presence of Sir William Howe. He accompanied the British +troops at the evacuation in 1776 to Halifax, and was appointed Chief of +the Surgical Staff of Nova Scotia. In 1779 he went to England; and on +his return to America, held a high professional employment to the +British forces at Charleston and New York. He resigned in 1780, and +going to England again, commenced practice in London. + +[Illustration: DR. JOHN JEFFRIES. + +Born in Boston, Feb. 4, 1774. In his balloon costume. Dr. Jeffries and +Blanchard were the first to cross from England to France in a balloon. +Died in Boston Sept. 16, 1819.] + +On the 17th of January, 1785, Dr. Jeffries crossed the English channel +with Blanchard in a balloon, landing in the forest of Guines in France. +This feat procured for him the attention of the most distinguished +personages of the day and an introduction to all the learned and +scientific societies of Paris.[232] + + [232] A narrative of his two aerial voyages was published In London in + 1786, exact and entertaining, with a portrait of the adventurer and a + view of the monument erected by the French government, on the spot where + he landed. + +Dr. Jeffries' first wife was Sarah Rhoads, whom he married in 1770. By +her he had three children, who died unmarried. He married again, Sept. +8, 1787, Hannah, the daughter of William and Hannah Hunt. In 1790 Dr. +Jeffries returned to Boston in the ship Lucretia. + +He resumed his practice, and delivered the first public lecture on +anatomy, a branch of his profession of which he was very fond.[233] He +was eminent as a surgeon, midwife and physician. He attended the poor as +faithfully and cheerfully as the rich, and was never known to refuse a +professional call. His death occurred in Boston, September 16th, 1819, +aged 76 years, after a successful practice of fifty-three years. + + [233] Curwen's Journal, P. 537. + +Dr. Jeffries had by his second wife eleven children, all of whom died +unmarried excepting John, Katherine who married G. C. Haven, Julia Ann, +who married Thomas E. Eckley, and George J., who took the name of +Jaffrey.[234] + + [234] New Eng. Hist. & General Reg., Vol. 15, P. 16. + +John Jeffries, son of the doctor, was born March 23, 1796, and became +the only representative of the name in the city. He was a distinguished +physician in Boston. He married, November 8, 1820, Anne Geyer, daughter +of Rufus Greene and Ann (McLean) Amory. His children were Catherine, +Anne, Sarah, Augustus, Edward P. and Henry N. Jeffries. + +George Jaffrey, an elder son of Dr. John Jeffries the loyalist, was born +December 21, 1789. George Jaffrey, his grand-uncle, who graduated from +Harvard College in 1736, became a Counsellor and held various important +positions in Portsmouth, N. H. He married Lucy, the daughter of Adam +Winthrop, but had no issue. His loyalty to the crown involved him in +trouble several times, but he died in 1802 leaving property, then a +large amount to George Jaffrey Jeffries, on condition that "he should +drop the name of Jeffries; become a permanent resident of Portsmouth, +and never follow any profession except that of being a gentleman." + +George Jaffrey made his home in Portsmouth and for many years was +librarian of the Portsmouth Athenaeum. He died May 4, 1856, and a +merited tribute was paid to his character and his labors by Mr. Brewster +in the Portsmouth Journal of the 10th.[235] + + [235] New Eng. Hist. & General Reg., Vol. 15, P. 17. + +The Jeffries family have always ranked among the gentry of Boston, and +have maintained that position from the date of the earliest settlement, +to the present time. + + + + + THOMAS BRINLEY. + + +Thomas Brinley, Auditor general to Charles First and Second, had a son +Francis who settled at Barbados, but the climate not being suited to his +habits and constitution, came to New England and settled at Newport, R. +I., in 1652. This was about fourteen years after the settlement of that +place, and Francis Brinley held various offices; among them that of +Judge. He occasionally resided in Boston, owning a large estate at the +corner of Hanover and Elm streets. He died there in 1719, aged +eighty-seven, and was buried in a grave in the King's Chapel +burial-ground in Boston, on the spot where the family tomb now stands. + +Thomas, son of the latter, was one of the founders of King's Chapel and +resided in Boston. He married Mary Apthorp, and in 1684 went to England, +where he died in 1693. His daughter Elizabeth married William +Hutchinson, Esq., a graduate of Harvard College, in 1702. Mrs. Brinley, +Francis and Elizabeth, returned to Newport, R. I. + +Francis Brinley, the son of Thomas, was born in London in 1690, and was +educated at Eton. He became a colonel and resided in Roxbury. His +mansion was named Datchet from the house of that place in England. +Colonel Brinley returned to London, where he died November 27, 1765. +Francis Brinley's wife was Deborah, daughter of Edward and Catherine +Lyde, and his marriage took place April 18, 1718. They had five sons and +two daughters; one of whom married Colonel John Murray, and the other +Godfrey Malbone. + +Of the sons, THOMAS BRINLEY was a Mandamus Councillor, and lived on +Harvard Street. He married his cousin Elizabeth, the daughter of George +Cradock, but they left no children. He was a graduate of Harvard College +in 1744, and became a Merchant in Boston. + +His name appears among the one hundred and twenty-four merchants and +others, who addressed Hutchinson in Boston in 1774; and among the +ninety-seven gentlemen and principal inhabitants of that town, who +addressed Gage in October of the following year. In 1776 he went to +Halifax, and thence to England in the same year. In 1778 he was +proscribed and banished. His death occurred in 1784, and Elizabeth, his +widow, died in England in 1793. + +EDWARD BRINLEY, brother of Thomas, married Sarah, daughter of Thomas +Tyler and left many descendants. + +NATHANIEL BRINLEY, another brother, also married his cousin, Catharine +Cradock, was a resident in South Street and at one time lived in +Framingham. About 1760 he leased the "Brinley Farm" of Oliver DeLancey, +agent of the owner, Admiral Sir Peter Warren, of the Royal Navy, and as +is said, employed fifteen or twenty negroes, in its cultivation. It is +related that Daniel Shays, the leader of the insurrection in 1786, was +in the service of Mr. Brinley on this farm. In 1775 he was an Addresser +of Gage, and was ordered, in consequence, to confine himself to his own +leasehold. He fled to the Royal Army in Boston, and after the evacuation +of that town, he was sent to Framingham by sentence of a Court of +Inquiry, ordered to give bond in L600, with two sureties, to remain +there four months and to be of good behavior. + +"In September 1776, Ebenezer Marshall, in behalf of the Committee of +Correspondence, Inspection and Safety, represented that the 'people take +him for a very villain,' as he had declared that 'Parliament had an +undoubted right to make void the charter in part or in whole'; 'that ten +thousand troops, with an artillery, would go through the continent, and +subdue it at pleasure'; that he had conveyed 'his best furniture to +Roxbury, and moved his family and goods into Boston,' and had himself +remained there, 'as long as he could have the protection of the British +troops;' that he approved of General Gage's conduct in the highest +terms;' that 'his most intimate connections were some of our worst +enemies and traitors;' and that, while he had been under their +inspection, they had seen nothing 'either in his conduct or disposition, +that discovers the least contrition, but otherwise.'"[236] + + [236] Sabine's Loyalists, Vol. 1, P. 256. + +To some of these allegations, Mrs. Brinley replied in two memorials to +the General Court. She averred that, by the conditions of the +recognizance, her husband was entitled to the freedom of the whole of +the town of Framingham; that he was in custody on the sole charge of +addressing Gage; and that instead of being a refuge in Boston, he was +shut up in that town while accidentally there, etc. She stated that he +at one time had been compelled to work on John Fisk's farm, without +liberty to go more than twenty rods from the house unless in Fisk's +presence; and that he was denied the free use of pen, ink and paper. She +said that after Mr. Brinley had been transferred to the care of Benjamin +Eaton, he was not allowed to go from the house, and was fearful that his +departure from it would occasion the loss of his life; also that she or +any other person was not allowed to converse with him, unless in the +hearing of some member of Eaton's family. She urged that he might be +removed to some other inland town, and be treated in accordance with his +sentence. Mr. Brinley's defence of himself seems to have been the simple +remark: "I am a gentleman and have done nothing to forfeit that +character." He merely had a rational opinion, but that was enough. + +On the 17th September, 1776, the General Court, by resolve, committed +him to the care of his father, on security in L600 for his appearance; +and, in October of the same year, the committee of Framingham reported +to the council that they had disposed of his farm, stock, farm-utensils +and household furniture. Nathaniel Brinley removed to Tyngsborough, +where his son Robert, married Elizabeth, daughter of John Pitts. This +staunch loyalist died at that place in 1814, at the age of eighty-one. + + +LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO THOMAS BRINLEY IN SUFFOLK + COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Gustavus Fellows, Sept. 28, 1782; Lib. 136, fol. 11; Land, + dwelling-house, distill house and wharf in Boston, Hollis St. S.; + heirs of Joshua Henshaw deceased W.; low water mark. + + + + + REV. JOHN WISWELL. + + +John and Thomas Wiswell were early residents of Dorchester. John's name +is found in the records as early as 1634. His brother Thomas came to +Dorchester about 1635. Noah, son of Thomas, born in 1640, was a military +man, and was in command in the desperate battle with the Indians near +Wheelwright's Pond, N. H., where he and his son John were killed, July +6th, 1690. Another son of Thomas, Inchabod, born in 1637, was minister +of Duxbury. He had a son Peleg, born in 1683, who was schoolmaster at +Charlestown in 1704. John Wiswell, son of Peleg, married Elizabeth, +daughter of Dr. Samuel Rogers, graduated from Harvard College in 1705, +was a master of a Boston Grammar School in 1719. He died in 1767, aged +84 and is buried in Copps Hill burying ground. + +JOHN WISWELL, son of the aforesaid, was born in 1731, and graduated from +Harvard College in 1749. In 1753 he was teaching school in Maine, but he +pursued the study of divinity as a Congregationalist. Occasionally he +preached, and in 1756 he was invited to become the pastor of the New +Casco parish in Falmouth, now Portland, and was ordained November third +of that year. In 1761 he married Mercy, the daughter of Judge John +Minot, of Brunswick. + +In 1764 John Wiswell suddenly changed his religious views and left his +people. He embraced the Episcopal form of worship, and preached for +several Sundays in the town-house. On September 4, 1764, the Parish of +St. Paul's Church, Falmouth, was organized and Mr. Wiswell was invited +to become their rector. For want of a bishop in the colonies, he was +obliged to go to England to receive ordination. A writer at this time +says, "There was a sad uproar about Wiswell, who has declared for the +church and accepted of the call our churchmen have given him to be their +minister." They voted him L100 a year and later he received L20 as a +Missionary from the Missionary Society. After a year's elapse, he was +able to report to the Society in London for the propagation of the +Gospel in Foreign Parts, that his Congregation had increased to seventy +families, and the admittance of twenty-one persons to the communion. In +1765 the parish addressed a letter to the Rev. Mr. Hooper of Boston, +asking his good offices in enlisting the sympathy of the churchmen +there, in behalf of their oppressed fellow-worshippers in Falmouth. John +Wiswell was an ardent Loyalist, as were about twenty of the leading men +of his church. He continued to preach until the revolution broke out. +After the trouble came in the colonies, he was seized while out walking +one day with Captain Mowatt, by Colonel Samuel Thompson of Brunswick, +who had arrived with about fifty men unknown to the inhabitants. Colonel +Thompson refused to release Mr. Wiswell, and Captain Mowatt, but finally +seeing that the town was against him, he consented to release them if +they would give their parole to deliver themselves up next day. After +his capture, the clergyman was obliged to declare his abhorrence of the +doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance, and was then released. +Mr. Wiswell now joined the British Forces, and after going on board a +man-of-war addressed a letter to the wardens of his church, resigning +his charge. After Captain Mowatt burned Falmouth, he sailed to Boston, +and then to England. After leaving his parish he was for three years a +chaplain on the British Naval Ship Boyne, and later for a short time was +a curate in Suffolk. He and fifteen others from Falmouth had their +estates confiscated, and were banished. + +At the close of the war, Mr. Wiswell accepted the call of some of his +former parishioners, and settled in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, over a +parish they had formed there, and in 1782 he was appointed a missionary +of that place. Having lost his first wife, he married a widow Hutchinson +from the Jerseys, as the Rev. Jacob Bailey, the frontier missionary +writes, who married them. John Wiswell was afterwards a missionary at +Aylesford, and after a very full and worthy life, died at Nova Scotia in +1812, at the age of eighty-one. He left two sons, born in Falmouth, who +were Lieutenants in the Navy. Peleg, one of his sons, was appointed +Judge of the Supreme Court, of Nova Scotia, in 1816 and died at +Annapolis in 1836, at the age of seventy-three. When the Rev. John +Wiswell lived in Falmouth, Maine, he occupied a house painted red, which +stood on the corner of Middle and Exchange Streets, afterwards owned and +occupied by James Deering, and which gave place to the brick block built +by that gentleman. + + + + + HENRY BARNES. + + +John Barnes, and his wife Elizabeth (Perrie) came to Boston about 1710. +He was a prominent merchant, and was in partnership with John Arbuthnot, +who married Abigail Little, of Pembroke, in 1719, and whose daughter +Christian married Henry, the son of John Barnes, Sept. 26, 1746. John +Barnes was a prominent Episcopalian, was vestryman of King's Chapel from +1715 to 1724, warden from 1724 to 1728, was the first mentioned of the +trustees concerned in the purchase of land for Christ Church, and +afterwards of those who bought of Leonard Vassal, Esq., his estate on +Summer street (see p. 286) for the building of Trinity Church. His home +in Boston was on the north side of Beacon street, extending from Freeman +Place to Bowdoin Street, a portion of which is now occupied by the Hotel +Bellevue, he purchased this property in 1721, and died, seized of it. In +1756 it was conveyed by John Erving (see p. 298) to James Bowdoin. + +John Barnes died early in 1739 at Clemente Bar, St. Mary Co., Maryland. +His wife died in 1742 in Boston. + +Among their children was Elizabeth, who married Nathaniel Coffin the +Cashire (see p. 234). Among their distinguished children were General +John Coffin and Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, of the British Navy. + +Catherine, another daughter, born in 1715, married Colonel Thomas +Goldthwaite (see p. 356). She was his second wife, and died at +Walthamstow, England, 1796, aged 81. + +HENRY BARNES. The subject of this memoir was baptized Nov. 20, 1723. He +was brought up in his father's business, and established himself as a +merchant in Marlborough, Mass., in 1753, and was appointed magistrate. +He was possessed of considerable property, and was one of the largest +tax payers in the town, and was the owner of several slaves, one of whom +"Daphne," he left in Marlborough, and she was supported out of his +estate. + +Henry Barnes was thoroughly loyal, and for that reason he was probably +the best hated man in Marlborough. A late town history says Marlborough +was cursed by a Loyalist named Henry Barnes. + +Towards the close of February, 1775, General Gage ordered Captain Brown +and Ensign D'Bernicre to go through the Counties of Suffolk and +Worcester, and to sketch the roads as they went, for his information, as +he expected to march troops through that country the ensuing spring. +Their adventures after their departure for Marlborough, are related by +one of them as follows: + +"At two o'clock it ceased snowing a little, and we resolved to set off +for Marlborough, which was about sixteen miles off. We found the roads +very bad, every step up to our ancles; we passed through Sudbury, a +large village near a mile long; the causeway lies over a great swamp, or +overflowing of Sudbury river, and is commanded by a high ground on the +opposite side. Nobody took the least notice of us, till we arrived +within three miles of Marlborough, (it was snowing very hard all the +while,) when a horseman overtook us, and asked us from whence we +came--we said from Weston; he asked us if we lived there--we said no; he +then asked where we resided, and, as we found there was no evading his +questions, we told him we lived in Boston. He then asked us where we +were going: we told him to Marlborough, to see a friend; (as we intended +to go to Mr. Barnes's, a gentleman to whom we were recommended, and a +friend to the Government;) he then asked us, if we were of the army; we +said no, but were a good deal alarmed at his asking us that question; he +asked several rather impertinent questions, and then rode on for +Marlborough, as we suppose, to give them intelligence of our coming--for +on our arrival the people came out of their houses (though it snowed and +blew very hard) to look at us; in particular, a baker asked Capt. Brown, +'Where are you going, Master?' He answered, 'To see Mr. Barnes.'[237] + + [237] The horseman that met them was Col. Timothy Bigelow, of the + Committee of Safety. + +"We proceeded to Barnes's, and on our beginning to make an apology for +taking the liberty to make use of his house, and discovering to him that +we were officers in disguise, he told us that we need not be at the +pains of telling him, that he knew our situation, that we were very well +known, he was afraid, by the town's people. We begged he would recommend +some tavern where we should be safe; he told us we would be safe no +where but in his house; that the town was very violent, and that we had +been expected at Col. Williams's tavern, the night before, where there +had gone a party of liberty people to meet us. While we were talking, +the people were gathering in little groups in every part of the town +(village). + +"Mr. Barnes asked us who had spoken to us on our coming into town; we +told him a baker; he seemed a little startled at that, told us that he +was a very mischievous fellow, and that there was a deserter at his +house. Capt. Brown asked the man's name; he said it was Sawin, and that +he had been a drummer. Brown knew him too well, as he was a man of his +own Company, and had not been gone above a month; so we found we were +discovered. We asked Mr. Barnes, if they did get us into their hands +what they would do with us; he did not seem to like to answer; we asked +him again; he then said, he knew the people very well, that we might +expect the worst treatment from them. + +"Immediately after this, Mr. Barnes was called out; he returned a little +after, and told us the Doctor of the town had come to tell him, he was +come to sup with him, (now this fellow had not been within Mr. Barnes's +doors for two years before, and came now for no other business than to +see and betray us). Barnes told him he had company, and could not have +the pleasure of attending him that night; at this the fellow staid about +the house, and asked one of Mr. Barnes's children, who her father had +got with him; the child innocently answered, that she had asked her +papa, but he told her it was not her business; he then went, I suppose, +to tell the rest of his crew. + +"When we found we were in that situation, we resolved to lie down for +two or three hours, and set off at twelve o'clock at night; so we got +some supper on the table, and were just beginning to eat, when Mr. +Barnes, who had been making inquiries of his servant, found the people +intended to attack us; he then told us plainly, that he was very uneasy +for us, that we could be no longer in safety in the town; upon which we +resolved to set off immediately, and asked Mr. Barnes if there was no +road round the town, so that we might not be seen. He took us out of his +house by the stable, and directed us by a by-road which was to lead us a +quarter of a mile from the town; it snowed and blew as much as I ever +saw in my life. However, we walked pretty fast, fearing we should be +pursued; at first we felt much fatigued, having not been more than +twenty minutes at Barnes's to refresh ourselves, and the roads were +worse, if possible, than when we came; but in a little time it wore off, +and we got on without being pursued, as far as the hills which command +the causeway at Sudbury, and went into a little wood, where we eat a bit +of bread that we took from Barnes's, and eat a little snow to wash it +down. + +"A few days after our return, Mr. Barnes came to town from Marlborough, +and told us that immediately after our quitting town, the Committee of +Correspondence came to his house, and demanded us; he told them we were +gone; they then searched his house from top to bottom, looking under the +beds and in the cellar, and when they found we were gone, they told him, +if they had caught us in his house, they would have pulled it down about +his ears. They sent horsemen after us on every road, but we had the +start of them, and the weather being so very bad, they did not overtake +us, or missed us. Barnes told them we were not officers, but relatives +of his wife's from Penobscot, and were going to Lancaster; that perhaps +deceived them." + +In the House of Representatives, November, 1775, the "Petition of Henry +Knox[238] humbly showeth. That your petitioner having been obliged to +leave all his goods and home furniture in Boston, which he has no +prospect of ever getting possession of again, nor any equivalent for the +same, therefore begs the Honorable Court, if in their wisdom see fit, to +permit him to exchange house furniture, with Henry Barnes, late of +Marlborough, which he now has in his power to do." The prayer was +refused, but he was allowed to _use_ the Loyalist's goods, on giving +receipt to account for them to the proper authorities. + + [238] Subsequently Chief of Artillery in the Revolutionary Army, and + Secretary at War under Washington. + +In December, 1775, Catherine Goldthwaite prayed the interposition of the +General Court, stating in a petition that she was the niece and adopted +heir of Barnes; that she had resided with him about seventeen years, +that at his departure from town, she was left with a part of his family +in possession, and that the committee of Marlborough had entered upon +his estate, sold a part, and proposed to dispossess her entirely. No +redress could be obtained. + +Through the violence of the mob Henry Barnes was forced to seek shelter +in Boston early in 1775. From there he went to England. In 1777 he was +at Bristol with his wife and niece, and in September thirteen of his +fellow Loyalists were his guests, and later still in the same year he +dined with several of the Massachusetts exiles at Mr. Lechmere's, when +the conversation was much about the political condition of their native +land. + +Mr. Barnes was proscribed and banished, and his estate confiscated. He +died at London in 1808, at the age of eighty-four. + + + + + THOMAS FLUCKER. + + Secretary of Massachusetts Bay. + + +The Fluckers were descended from a French Huguenot family who settled in +England. Captain James Flucker, mariner, came to America and married +Elizabeth Luist at Charlestown, Mass., May 30, 1717. He was taxed there +from 1727 to 1756 and died 3 Nov. 1756. She died Sept. 1770. They had +eight children.[239] + + [239] See Life of Henry Knox by F. G. Drake, P. 125. + +THOMAS FLUCKER, son of the aforesaid, was born at Charlestown, 9 Oct. +1719. He was a merchant in Boston and owned an estate on Summer street. +He was commissioned a Justice of the Peace 14 Sept. 1756, was a member +of the Council in 1761-68. A Selectman of Boston in 1766, succeeded +Andrew Oliver as Secretary, 12 Nov. 1770, was made a Mandamus Councillor +9 Aug. 1774. He married 1st, 12 June 1744, Judith, daughter of Hon. +James Bowdoin, a Boston Huguenot family, and as a testimony to the +public spirit of this famous family, Bowdoin College remains. 2nd, 14 +Jan. 1751, he married Hannah, daughter of General Samuel Waldo, +proprietor of the Waldo Patent Main, to whose heirs the great domain +descended. The portion belonging to Mrs. Flucker and her brother, were +confiscated. + +Thomas Flucker was a staunch Loyalist. He was banished and his estates +confiscated. He left Boston at the evacuation, March 17, 1776, for +Halifax. He afterwards went to London, where he was a member of the +Brompton Row Association of Loyalists, who met weekly for conversation +and a dinner. An extract from Hutchinson's Diary, July 13, 1776, says: + +"Flucker dined with us; depends on the truth of the report of his +family's being arrived in Ireland; has 300L allowed by treasury; last +(?) of the Council 200L." Thomas Flucker died in England suddenly on +Feb. 16, 1783. His wife remained in England, but survived him only three +years. + +THOMAS FLUCKER, of Massachusetts, son of the former, graduated at +Harvard University in 1773. During the Revolution he was a Lieutenant in +the 60th British regiment at St. Augustine, Fla., in 1777. By the +University catalogue, it appears that he and his father died the same +year, 1783. + +LUCY FLUCKER, another child, born 2 August 1756, married General Henry +Knox of the revolutionary army, and afterwards Secretary at War. The +young rebel had at the time a flourishing bookstore opposite Williams +Court in Cornhill, a fashionable morning resort at that time for the +British officers and their ladies. Harrison Gray Otis says that Miss +Lucy "was distinguished as a young lady of high intellectual endowments, +very fond of books, especially of the books sold by Knox, at whose +premises was kindled as the story went, 'the guiltless flame' which was +destined to burn on the hymeneal altar." Henry Knox became Chief of +Artillery in the Revolution, and in Washington's Administration, +Secretary of War. He acquired on easy terms, a very large share of Mrs. +Flucker's property, which had been confiscated, and settled on it at +Thomaston, Maine, building a fine mansion in which he himself died in +1806, and his wife in 1824. + +Sally Flucker, another daughter of Thomas Flucker, Jr., who performed +in Burgoyne's "Maid of the Oaks" in private theatricals given by British +officers in Boston, accompanied the family to England and married Mr. +Jephson, a member of the Irish Parliament. Copley painted her portrait. + +Hannah Flucker, daughter of Thomas, married 2 Nov. 1774, James Urquhart, +captain in the 14th regiment, which was engaged in the battle of Bunker +Hill. + + + + + MARGARET DRAPER. + + +Richard Draper and his brother William emigrated to the Colonies and +settled at Boston about 1680. He was a merchant in that city. The Boston +Records state that Richard Draper and John Wentworth furnished the +lumber from which Faneuil Hall was built. In his will he says that he is +the son of Edward and Ann Draper, of Branbury, in the County of Oxford, +Great Britain, deceased, and only brother to William Draper Senr. of +Boston. This will was probated Jan. 25th, 1728. + +About the year 1700 the Postmaster of Boston was one John Campbell, a +Scotchman, and son of Duncan Campbell, the organizer of the postal +system of America. He was also a bookseller. In those early days the +dissemination of news was in the hands of the postmasters of each town, +and John Campbell on Monday, April 24, 1704, improved the present system +by _printing the news_. He issued the first number of the Boston "News +Letter," the first newspaper issued in America. The first sheet of the +first number was taken damp from the press by Chief Justice Sewell, to +show to President Willard, of Harvard College, as a wonderful curiosity. +Bartholomew Green, eldest son of Thomas Green, printer to Cambridge +University, was the printer. He obtained possession of the newspaper in +1721, shortly after Campbell was removed from the post-office in Boston. +On his death in 1733, it passed into the hands of his son-in-law, John +Draper, son of Richard Draper, who continued to publish it until his +death in 1762, when he was succeeded by his son Richard Draper, who +changed the title to the "Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News Letter." +He was brought up a printer by his father, and continued with him after +he became of age, and was for some years before his father's death a +silent partner with him. He was early appointed printer to the Council +and Government, which he retained during life. Under his successful +editorship, the paper was devoted to the Government, and in the +controversy with Great Britain, he strongly supported the Loyalists +cause, and illustrated the head of his paper with the King's Arms. Many +able advocates of the Government filled the columns of the "News-Letter" +but the opposition papers were supported by writers at least equally +powerful and numerous. + +The Drapers were considered the most eminent and successful printers in +America. A list of works containing their imprints would fill pages. + +Richard Draper was a man of feeble health, and was remarkable for the +delicacy of his mind and gentleness of his manner. No stain rests on his +character. He was attentive to his affairs, and was esteemed as the best +compiler of news of his day. Having been successful in his business and +acquired a competency, he erected a handsome brick home on a convenient +spot in front of the old printing home in Newbury, now Washington +street, where he resided, and which was afterwards confiscated. He died +June 6th, 1774, aged 47, without children, and was succeeded by his +widow, Margaret, who was a granddaughter of Bartholomew Green. + +A month before his death, he had taken John Boyle into partnership, but +at the outbreak of hostilities, his sympathies being strong for the +Revolutionary cause, he was not agreeable to Widow Margaret, and was +succeeded in the partnership by John Howe, who was a devoted loyalist, +and continued with her until the final suspension of the paper, which +occurred on the evacuation of Boston, by the British troops, when +Margaret departed with the soldiers, going first to Halifax and thence +to England, where she enjoyed a pension from the British Government for +the remainder of her life, in return for her loyalty and devotion to the +Government. + +Margaret Draper's paper was the only one published in Boston during the +siege. It had been published without intermission for 72 years. She died +in London in 1807, and was included in the confiscation and banishment +Act. + + +LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO MARGARET DRAPER IN SUFFOLK + COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Richard Devens, Feb. 7, 1783; Lib. 137, fol. 48; Land and + buildings in Boston, Newbury St. W.; heirs of Benjamin Church S. + and E., Josiah Waters, Jr. N. + + + + + RICHARD CLARKE. + + +Richard Clarke was the son of Francis Clarke, merchant, a descendant of +an old Boston family. Richard graduated at Harvard College in 1729. He +and his sons were the consignees of a part of the tea destroyed in +Boston by the celebrated "Tea Party" December 1773. In a letter from +Messrs. Clarke & Sons to Mr. Abram Dupuis they say: "On the morning of +the 2nd inst. about one o'clock, we were roused out of our sleep by a +violent knocking at the door of our house, and on looking out of the +window we saw (for the moon shone very bright) two men in the courtyard. +One of them said he brought us a letter from the country. A servant took +the letter from him at the door, the contents of which was as follows: + + Boston, 1st Nov., 1773. + Richard Clarke & Son: + + The Freemen of this Province understand from good authority, that + there is a quantity of tea consigned to your house by the East + India Company, which is destructive to the happiness of every well + wisher to the country. It is therefore expected that you personally + appear at Liberty Tree, on Wednesday next, at twelve o'clock at + noon day, to make a public resignation of your commission, + agreeable to a notification of this day for that purpose. + + Fail not upon your peril. + O. C. + + +"In this you may observe a design to create a public belief that the +factors had consented to resign their trust on Wednesday, the 3d inst., +on which day we were summoned by the above-mentioned letter, to appear +at Liberty Tree at 12 o'clock noon. All the bells of the meeting houses +for public worship were set a-ringing at 11 o'clock, and continued +ringing till twelve; the town cryer went thro' the town summoning the +people to assemble at 'Liberty Tree.' By these methods, and some more +secret ones, made use of by the authors of this design, a number of +people supposed by some to be about 500, and by others more, were +collected by the time and place mentioned in the printed notification. + +"They consisted mostly of people of the lowest rank, very few reputable +tradesmen, as we are informed, appeared amongst them. The gentlemen who +are supposed the designed factors for the East India Company, viz: Mr. +Thos. Hutchinson, Mr. Faneuil, Mr. Winslow and Messrs. Clarke, met in +the forenoon of the 3rd inst., at the latter's warehouse, the lower end +of King street. You may well judge that none of us entertained the least +thought of obeying the summons sent us to attend at Liberty Tree. After +a consultation amongst ourselves and friends, we judged it best to +continue together, and to endeavour, with the assistance of a few +friends, to oppose the designs of the mob, if they should come to offer +us any insult or injury. And on this occasion we were so happy as to be +supported by a number of gentlemen of the first rank. About one o'clock, +a large body of people appeared at the head of King Street, and came +down to the end, and halted opposite to our warehouse. Nine persons came +from them up into our counting room, viz., Mr. Molineux, Mr. Wm. Dennie, +Doctor Warren, Dr. Church, Major Barber, Mr. Henderson, Mr. Gabriel +Johonnot, Mr. Proctor and Mr. Ezekiel Cheever. Mr. Molineux as speaker +of the above Committee, addressed himself to us, and the other gentlemen +present, and told us that we had committed an high insult on the people, +in refusing to give them that most reasonable satisfaction which had +been demanded in the summons which had been sent us, then read a paper +proposed by him, to be subscribed by the factors importing, that they +solemnly promise that they would not land or pay duty on any tea that +should be sent by the East India Company, but they would send back the +tea to England in the same bottom, which extravagent demand being firmly +refused, and treated with proper contempt by all of us. Mr. Molineux +then said that since we had refused their most reasonable demands, we +must expect to feel, on our first appearance, the utmost weight of the +people's resentment, upon which he and the rest of the committee left +our counting room and warehouse, and went to, and mixed, with the +multitude that continued before our warehouse. Soon after this the mob +having made one or two reverse motions to some distance, we perceived +them hastening their pace towards the store, on which we ordered our +servant to shut the outward door; but this he could not effect, although +assisted by some other persons amongst whom were Nathaniel Hatch, Esq., +one of the Justices of the inferior Court for this country, and a +Justice of the Peace for the county. This gentleman made all possible +exertions to stem the current of the mob, not only by declaring +repeatedly, and with a loud voice, that he was a magistrate, and +commanded the people, by virtue of his office, and in his Majesty's +name, to desist from all riotous proceedings, and to disperse, but also +by assisting in person; but the people not only made him a return, of +insulting and reproachful words, but prevented his endeavors by force +and blows, to get our doors shut, upon which Mr. Hatch, with some other +of our friends, retreated to our counting room. Soon after this, the +outward doors of the store were taken off their hinges by the mob, and +carried to some distance; immediately a number of the mob rushed into +the warehouse, and endeavoured to force into the counting room, but as +this was in another story, and the staircase leading to it narrow, we, +with our friends,--about twenty in number--by some vigorous efforts, +prevented their accomplishing their design. The mob appeared in a short +time to be dispersed, and after a few more faint attacks, they contented +themselves with blocking us up in the store for the space of about an +hour and a half, at which time, perceiving that much the greatest part +of them were drawn off, and those that remained not formidable, we, with +our friends, left the warehouse, walked up the length of King Street +together, and then went to our respective homes without any molestation, +saving some insulting behavior from a few dispicable persons. + +"The night following, a menacing letter was thrust under Mr. Faneuil's +door, to be communicated to the other consignees, with a design to +intimidate them from executing their trust, and other methods have since +been made use of in the public papers and otherwise, for the same +purpose."[240] + + [240] "Tea Leaves," pp. 282, 3, 4, 5, 6. + +On the morning of November 17, 1773, a little party of family friends +had assembled at the home of Richard Clarke, Esq., near the King's +Chapel on School Street, to welcome young Jonathan Clarke, who had just +arrived from London. All at once the inmates of the dwelling were +startled by a violent beating at the door, accompanied with shouts and +the blowing of horns, creating considerable alarm. The ladies were +hastily bestowed in places of safety, while the gentlemen secured the +avenues of the lower story, as well as they were able. The yard and +vicinity were soon filled with people. One of the inmates warned them +from an upper window, to disperse, but getting no other reply, than a +shower of stones, he discharged a pistol. Then came a shower of +misseles, which broke in the lower windows and damaged some of the +furniture. Some influential Revolutionists had by this time arrived, and +put a stop to the proceedings of the mob, which then dispersed. The +consignees then called upon the governor and council for protection. + +The eventful Thursday, December 16, 1773, a day ever memorable in the +annals of Boston, witnessed the largest mob yet assembled in Boston. +Nearly seven thousand persons collected at the Old South Meeting House. +The tea ships had not taken out clearance papers, the twenty days +allowed by law terminated that night. Then the revenue officers could +take possession, and under cover of the naval force, land the tea, and +opposition to this would have caused bloody work. The Revolutionists +desired to avoid this issue, so it was decided to destroy the tea. +Rotch, the owner of the "Dartmouth," applied to Governor Hutchinson, at +his residence in Milton, for a pass to proceed with his vessel to +London, for the governor had ordered Colonel Leslie, commander of the +castle, and Admiral Montagu, to guard the passages to the sea, and +permit no unauthorized vessels to pass. The governor offered Rotch a +letter to Admiral Montagu, commending ship and goods to his protection, +if Rotch would agree to have his ship haul out into the stream, but he +replied that none were willing to assist him in doing this, and the +attempt would subject him to the ill will of the people. The governor +then sternly refused a pass, as it would have been "a direct +countenancing and encouraging the violation of the acts of trade." + +Between six and seven o'clock in the evening three different mobs +disguised as Indians proceeded from different parts of the town, arrived +with axes and hatchets, and hurried to Griffin's (now Liverpool wharf), +boarded the three tea ships, and, warning their crews and the custom +house officers, to keep out of the way, in less than three hours time +had broken and emptied into the dock three hundred and forty-two chests +of tea, valued at L18,000. A Loyalist writer of the time says: "Now this +crime of the Bostonians, was a compound of the grossest injury and +insult. It was an act of the highest insolence towards government, such +a mildness itself cannot overlook or forgive. The injustice of the deed +was also most atrocious, as it was the destruction of property to a vast +amount, when it was known that the nation was obliged in honor to +protect it." This memorable occurrence was undoubtedly in the immediate +sequence of the events which it produced, the proximate cause of the +American Revolution.[241] + + [241] See Page 48 for further particulars concerning the Tea Party Mob. + +Richard Clarke was treated with much severity by the Revolutionists. His +name is found with the Addressers of General Gage. He arrived in London +December 24, 1775, after a passage of "only" twenty-one days from +Boston. He was one of the original members of the Loyalist Club, for a +weekly dinner, and discourses. He lived with his son-in-law, Copley the +painter, Leicester Square. Lord Lyndhurst was his grandson. He died in +England in 1795. + +JONATHAN CLARKE, son of Richard Clarke, accompanied his father to +England. He was his father's partner in business. He was a member in +1776 of the Loyalists Club, in London, and had lodgings in Brompton Row +the next year. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. After the +Revolution he went to Canada. + +ISAAC WINSLOW CLARKE, son of Richard Clarke, was born in Boston, 27 +October, 1746. He was sent by his father to Plymouth to collect debts, +but in the night was assaulted by a mob and obliged to flee from the +town, to escape from personal injuries. He became Commissary-General of +Lower Canada, and died in that Colony in 1822, after he had embarked for +England. His daughter Susan married Charles Richard Ogden, Esq., +Solicitor-General of Lower Canada, in 1829. + + + + + PETER JOHONNOT. + + +The Johonnots in America are of French Huguenot origin. Daniel Johonnot, +who was born in France about 1668, was one of the first parties of +thirty families that arrived in Boston in 1686. He was in company with +his uncle Andrae Sigournie, Distiller, from Rochelle, and went with him +to Oxford in New England, remaining there until the settlement was +broken up by the incursion of Indians August 25, 1696. Jean Jeanson +(John Johnson) and his three children were killed during the massacre. +Mrs. Johnson was Andrew Sigourney's daughter, and tradition in the +Johonnot family relates that she was rescued at that time from the +Indians by her cousin, Daniel Johonnot, to whom she was subsequently +married.[242] + + [242] New England Hist. and Genealogical Register. Vol. 6. P. 357. + +The first record we have of Daniel Johonnot in Boston was at the time of +his marriage "on the 18th of April, by the Rev. Samuel Willard of the +Old South Church, to Susan Johnson." This was in the year 1700. In 1714 +it appears by the Suffolk Records he purchased for L300 "current money," +of John Borland and Sarah his wife, an estate near the Mill Creek and +bounded by Mill Pond, and the street leading to said pond (Union Street) +etc. His last purchase of real estate was near the Old South Church and +this land was afterwards occupied by one of the descendants of his +daughter Mary, Mary Anne (Boyer), number 156 Washington street, opposite +the Province House. At the time of Daniel Johonnot's death it was +occupied by his grandson, and must have been Mr. Johonnot's last +residence, as in an inventory it is described as being in the possession +of Mr. Daniel Boyer. In Mr. Johonnot's French Bible, Amsterdam Edition +of 1700, are recorded the births of his six children in French, all +children of Daniel and Serzane Johonnot. This Bible later came into the +possession of one of his descendants. Daniel Johonnot died in Boston in +June, 1748 at the age of eighty years. His wife died some time after +1731, and before the death of her husband. He was remembered as being a +friend to the poor, always industrious and frugal. + +Zacherie (Zachariah) Johonnot, the eldest son of the preceding was born +in Boston January 20, 1700-1. His first wife was Elizabeth Quincy, who +died during the revolution, and he married again, April 24, 1777, +Margaret Le Mercier, daughter of Andrew Le Mercier, Minister of the +French Protestant church in Boston. + +Like his father he was a Distiller and engaged in mercantile pursuits. +His dwelling house and store was on Orange street at the South part of +the town, and his distillery was on Harvard street directly opposite his +dwelling. At the end of the same street was his wharf, and wooden +distil-house, storehouses, etc. His house and store were burnt at the +time of the great fire, April 20, 1787. The spacious gardens filled with +rare fruit trees, beautiful flowers and shrubs from his father's land +were mostly destroyed. + +Mr. Johonnot died in Boston in 1784 at the age of eighty-three. To his +son Peter (then in England) he bequeathed "his mansion house, store +adjoining, yard and garden, as the same is now fenced in, etc." He had +ten children, all by his first wife. + +PETER JOHONNOT, the fourth child of the preceding, was born in Boston +September 23, 1729. He was married January 10, 1750 to Katherine Dudley +by the Rev. Mather Byles. She was the daughter of the Honorable William +Dudley (son of Governor Joseph Dudley). Peter Johonnot was a Distiller, +and lived in Boston. In 1775 he was an Addresser of Gage. The next year +he was one of the committee with Thomas and Jonathan Amory, chosen by +the citizens of Boston March 8, 1776, to communicate with General Howe +and take measures to avert the impending destruction, threatened by him, +in case his army should be molested while evacuating the town. + +In 1776 Peter Johonnot went to Halifax and thence to England. In 1778 he +was proscribed and banished, and in 1779 he was a loyal Addresser to the +King. Mrs. Johonnot's death occurred in Boston in 1769. Mr. Johonnot +died in London August 8, 1809, at the age of eighty, and left no +issue.[243] The following occurs in the Diary of Dr. P. Oliver:--"1809, +Aug.--Peter Johonnot died this month in London, aged 79." + + [243] New England Hist. and Gen. Reg. Vol. 7. P. 142. + +FRANCIS JOHONNOT, son of Daniel, was born November 30, 1709. He married +Mary Johnson of Boston, widow, 1752. He was a distiller and engaged in +mercantile pursuits. His distillery was near Essex street on the margin +of the South Cove. His "Mansion house" was on Newbury, now Washington +street, the same was owned and occupied for many years by his +son-in-law Eben Oliver, Esq. He was a loyalist, and at the beginning of +the revolution went to England. He died March 8, 1775. Mary, his widow, +who died in Boston March 17, 1797, in her seventy-third year, +administered upon his estate in Massachusetts. They had seven children. + +MARY JOHONNOT, daughter of Andrew Johonnot, and cousin to Peter the +Loyalist, was born in 1730. She married Thomas Edwards of Boston, June +13, 1758, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. Henry Caner of King's +Chapel. Mr. Edwards for a while was engaged in mercantile business in +Middletown, Connecticut, but later returned to Boston, and was employed +by the government. He was a loyalist and went to Halifax in 1776 and +thence to England. He died in London at an advanced age. Mary Johonnot, +his wife, died in Boston, February 14, 1792. They had five children. + + +LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO PETER JOHONNOT IN SUFFOLK + COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Ebenezer Seaver, Sept. 4, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 190; Land and + buildings in Boston, Orange St. E.; Samuel Pope and Hopestill + Foster S.; Joseph Lovell and heirs of William Ettridge W.; + Zachariah Johonnot N. + + + + + JOHN JOY. + + +The name of Joy was probably derived from Jouy in Normandy and may have +reached England in the form of "de Jouy." William Joy was a Vicar in +England in 1395. The name was borne with distinction in England and +Ireland for at least five centuries. + +Thomas Joy, of Boston, Massachusetts, was born about 1610 in the county +of Norfolk, England. The first time he appears in Boston records is "on +the 20th of 12th Month, called February, 1636." By trade he was a +builder and probably continued that occupation in Massachusetts. He +married in 1637 Joan Gallop, the daughter of a well-known townsman, and +she became mother of the American Joys. Her father's land included +several of the harbor islands, one of which still bears his name. + +Thomas Joy built in 1657-8, the house in the Market Place, which was at +once the armory, court house, and town hall of Boston, and the first +seat of government in Massachusetts. On account of political troubles, +Thomas Joy exchanged part of his possessions in Boston for property in +Hingham. In 1648 he removed to that town, but his Boston connections +were still maintained. He had interests in mills at Hingham, and died in +that town, October 21, 1678. His widow survived him more than twelve +years, dying in Hingham, March 20, 1690-1. Both are buried in the hill, +back of most ancient Protestant church in the United States, where they +worshipped. They had ten children. + +Joseph, the fourth child, was born in Boston, April 1, 1645. He lived on +Bacheler (Main Street,) Hingham, nearly opposite the meeting house, of +which he is thought to have been the builder. He married August 29, +1667, Mary, daughter of John and Margaret Prince, of Hingham, and by her +had fifteen children. He died in that town, May 31, 1697. + +Joseph Joy, his eldest son was born in Hingham July 30, 1688. He was +constable in 1697-1711. He married May 22, 1690 Elizabeth, daughter of +Captain Thomas Andrews. He died in Hingham, April 29, 1716. His +gravestone with inscription still legible in the Hingham churchyard is +the most ancient Joy grave mark in America.[244] He had nine children. + + [244] Thomas Joy and His Descendants by James R. Joy. + +John, the fourth child, was born in Hingham February 7, 1695-6. He lived +on Main street at Hingham Centre. December 7, 1724, he married Lydia, +daughter of Samuel Lincoln, and by her had seven children. His death is +not recorded. + +JOHN JOY, the second child of the preceding, was born in Hingham June 4, +1727. He lived in Boston, and by trade was merchant and housewright. He +married Sarah, daughter of Michael and Sarah (Kneeland) Homer, of +Boston. In 1767 and 1773 he was one of the "principal citizens" to visit +the schools with the Governor. In 1774 Mr. Joy was an addresser of +Hutchinson, and in 1775 of Gage. In 1776 he went to Halifax with his +family and in 1778 he was proscribed and banished. In 1779 he was in +England, where he remained, though several of his sons afterwards +returned to America. Hutchinson in his diary, June 7, 1776, speaks of a +number of Loyalists who had recently arrived at Dover. Mr. Joy's name +was among those mentioned. The Loyalist died in London, December, 1804. +His portrait by Copley, is an heirloom in the family of the late Charles +Joy of Boston. Mrs. Joy died in England in 1805. + +A letter of John Wendell (1806) mentions among his early friends in +Boston, "Mr. John Joy, who served his time with our respected neighbor, +Captain Benjamin Russell, and who afterwards married Mr. Homer's +daughter." Mr. Joy had seven children. + +DR. JOHN JOY, the eldest son, was an apothecary, and returned to America +in 1783, and lived in Boston. His estate on Beacon Hill, once the "elm +pasture" of Judge Samuel Sewell, the diarist, was bounded by Beacon, +Walnut, Mt. Vernon and Joy street, and included about 100,000 sq. ft. of +land. Bowditch says Dr. Joy was desirous of getting a house _in the +country_, and selected this locality as "being country enough for him," +"the barberry bushes were flourishing over this whole area." His land +cost about $2000, and in 1833 his heirs sold this lot for $98,000. On +the southeastern part of this estate he built a modest and graceful +wooden building, which was eventually moved to South Boston Point. He +married Abigail Green of Boston, and died in 1813. + +MICHAEL JOY, another son, was born at Boston in 1754, went to England +with his father and died at Hartham Park, England July 10, 1825. +Graduated B. A., Harvard College, 1771, and admitted to the same degree +at Princeton College, N. J., 1771. He married a lady named Hall in +England. His son Henry Hall Joy, of Hartham Park, was a lawyer and +Queen's Counsel, was buried in the Temple Church, London. + +BENJAMIN JOY, the third son of the Loyalist, was born in Boston, Dec. +27th, 1757, and died at Boston, April 14, 1829. He returned to Boston, +was a merchant and was the first Consul General of the United States at +Calcutta, holding his commission from President Washington. In 1808 he +bought of the trustees of the First Church their property on Cornhill +Square, on which he erected Joy's Building, which for three-fourths of a +century was a landmark of Boston, people came from miles around to view +the stately edifice, and were greatly astonished at its magnificence. +The Rogers Building, in front of Young's Hotel, now occupies its site. +He was one of the Mt. Vernon proprietors that acquired the valuable +lands of John Singleton Copley on Beacon Hill, and a spring in one of +his houses on the east side of Charles street, is the famous spring of +water which William Blackstone, the first white settler of Boston, +mentioned as one of the chief attractions of the Shawmut peninsula. + + + + + RICHARD LECHMERE. + + +Hon. Thomas Lechmere was for many years Surveyor General of His +Majesty's Customs for the Northern District of America. His brother was +Lord Lechmere of Evesham, who married the daughter of the Earl of +Carlisle. + +Thomas Lechmere married Ann Winthrop, a descendant of Governor Winthrop, +the ceremony was performed by Rev. Eben Pemberton, Nov. 17, 1709. He +died at an advanced age, June 4th, 1765, having been born in June, 1683. +His wife died in 1746. + +RICHARD LECHMERE, son of the above, married Mary Phips, of Cambridge in +1753. She was the daughter of Spencer Phips, who was Lieut. Governor for +many years; his farm was what is now known as East Cambridge, and the +house stood near where the modern Court House, afterwards was built; +General Gage landed his detachment here, which marched to Lexington. +About one hundred yards from the West Boston Bridge, a fort was erected +on December 11th, 1775, during its erection several soldiers of the +revolutionary army were killed at this redoubt. It was considered the +strongest battery erected during the siege of Boston, and was known as +"Lechmere Point Redoubt," having acquired this property from his wife. +It was known for many years as Lechmere's Point. The farm was +confiscated, and during the siege of Boston was occupied by Washington's +army. + +Richard Lechmere was an Addresser of Hutchinson in 1774; was appointed +Mandamus Councillor, but did not accept. In 1776 he went to Halifax, +with his family of eleven persons, and thence to England. In 1778 he was +proscribed and banished, and his estate confiscated; the next year he +was included in the Conspiracy Act. His home was at Bristol in 1780. He +died in England in 1814, aged eighty-seven. + +Richard Lechmere left no male representatives, his daughters, are +represented by Coores of Scrunten Hall, Yorkshire. Sir Edward Russell of +Ashford Hall, Ludlow and Worralls, whose representatives now are Sir H. +Lechmere Stuart, Bart., and Eyre Coote of West Park Eyre. In Colonel +Lechmere Russell's possession is Ann Winthrop's bible, with, in her son +Richard Lechmere's writing, the statement it was his mother's bible. A +piece of land at Hanley, in Worcestershire, the residence of the +Lechmere's, is called New England, and is planted with oaks, the seed of +which were sent from America by Thomas Lechmere, the settler here. + +Nicholas Lechmere, son of Thomas Lechmere, and brother of Richard, was +born at Boston, July 29, 1772. He was appointed an Officer of the +Customs of Newport, Rhode Island. In 1765, fearing the loss of life in +the tumult of that year, he fled to the Cygnet, sloop-of-war, and +refused to return to his duties without assurance of protection. From +1767 to the commencement of the Revolution, the disagreements between +him and the revolutionists were frequent. In December, 1775, he refused +to take the oath tendered by General Lee, and was conveyed under guard +to Providence. He went to England, and in 1770, was with his brother at +Bristol in 1780. He was banished and his estate confiscated. + + +LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO RICHARD LECHMERE IN SUFFOLK + COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Mungo Mackey, June 11, 1783; Lib. 139, fol. 14; Land and + dwelling-house in Boston, Cambridge St. S.; Staniford St. W.; + passageway N.; Timothy Newell E. and N.; Jeremiah Allen E.----One + undivided half of land, brick distill house and other buildings, + Cambridge St. N.; George St. E.; heirs of John Guttridge deceased + S.; Belknap St. W. + + + + + EZEKIEL LEWIS. + + +William Lewis belonged to the Braintree Company, which in 1632 removed +from Braintree to Cambridge, thence about 1636 to Hartford, about 1659 +to Hadley, which town he represented in the General Court 1662, from +thence to Farmington, where he died Aug., 1683. Captain William Lewis, +son of the above, married May Cheever, daughter of the famous +schoolmaster. He died 18 Aug., 1690. Ezekiel Lewis, son of Captain +William, was born at Farmington, Conn., Nov. 7, 1674. Graduated at +Harvard College in 1695. In 1699 it was decided that the town of Boston +required an assistant in the Latin School for Mr. Ezekiel Cheever. It +being committed to the Selectmen, Mr. Ezekiel Lewis, his grandson, was +selected to fill the position, and to have a salary of not exceeding +forty pounds a year. He entered upon his duties the following August. He +afterwards became a great merchant in Boston, was Representative 1723 to +1727. + +A document dated March 8th, 1707-8 contains the signatures of the +Overseers of the Poor for the town of Boston at that period. Ezekiel +Lewis' name appears among the seven mentioned. The men who held the +position of Overseers were of high standing in the community, and were +usually distinguished for their business talents, wealth and +charities.[245] + +[245] Memorial Hist. of Boston. Vol. IV. P. 646-647. + +In 1742, when Faneuil Hall was opened, Ezekiel Lewis was among the +Selectmen and representatives of the town of those who were "to wait +upon Peter Faneuil, Esq., and in the name of the town to render him +their most hearty thanks for so beautiful a gift," etc. + +EZEKIEL LEWIS, the Loyalist, was born at Boston, 15 April, 1717, and +graduated at Harvard College, 1735. Under the Act of 1777-8, by which +the Judge of Probate was authorized to appoint agents for the estates of +absentees in each county, the name of Ezekiel Lewis appears in Suffolk +County Probate Records, 1779. Docket 16800. + + + + + BENJAMIN CLARK. + + +Dr. John Clark was the first of a prominent Boston family of that name. +He was a gentleman of college education, and a leading physician of that +day. He died in 1680, aged 85. Their only son, Hon. Dr. John Clark, of +Boston, died in 1690, leaving three sons, John, born 1667, William 1670, +Samuel 1677. + +HON. WILLIAM CLARK, ESQ. became a wealthy merchant and member of the +Governor's Council. His residence was situated in North Square, on the +corner of Garden Court and Prince street. This mansion was a monument of +human pride, in all colonial Boston there was not its peer, and it was +without doubt built to outvie that of Hutchinson's, Clark's wealthy +next-door neighbor, whose home was demolished by the mob. The principal +feature which distinguished this house, was the rich, elaborate and +peculiar decoration of the north parlor, on the right of the entrance +hall, which was a rich example of the prevalent style, found in the +mansions of wealthy citizens of the colonial period, in and around +Boston. + +The peculiar decoration consisted of a series of raised panels filling +these compartments, reaching from the surbase to the frieze, eleven in +all, each embellished with a romantic landscape painted in oil colors, +the four panels opposite the windows being further enriched by the +emblazoned escutcheons of the Clarks, the Saltonstalls, and other allied +families. Beneath the surbase, the panels, as also those of the door, +were covered with arabesques. The twelfth painting was a view of the +house upon a horizontal panel over the mantel, from which this engraving +was made, and beneath this panel inscribed in an oval, was the monogram +of the builder, W. C. At the base of the gilded and fluted vault of the +buffet was a painted dove. The floor was inlaid with divers woods in +multiform patterns. In the center, surrounded by a border, emblazoned in +proper colors, was the escutcheon of the Clarks, with its three white +swans. + +The mere enumeration of the details fails to give an idea of the +impression made by this painted and gilded parlor, not an inch of whose +surface but had been elaborated by painter, gilder, carver or artist, to +which the blazoner had added heraldic emblems; so that, as you looked +round these walls, the romantic ruins and castles seemed placed there to +suggest, if not to portray, the old homes of a long line of ancestors, +and the escutcheons above to confirm the suggestion, thereby enhancing +the splendor of the present by the feudal dignity of an august past. + +The house is supposed to have been built about 1712-1715, for the land +was purchased of Ann Hobby, widow, and several other heirs, December 10, +1711, for L725 current money. If so, Councillor Clark lived many years +to enjoy the sumptuousness of his new house and the envy of his +neighbors. His death, in 1742, was attributed by some to the loss of +forty sail of vessels in the French war. After his death the estate was +conveyed to his son-in-law, Deacon Thomas Greenough, for L1,400, old +tenor, and was by him sold to Sir Charles Henry Frankland, Bart., for +L1,200 sterling. The mansion, afterwards was known as the Frankland +House. + +There were numerous places in Boston named after Clark. There was +Clark's Wharf, afterwards changed to Hancock's, and now known as Lewis; +Clark street from Hanover to Commercial, still named, in 1788; Clark +Square, now North Square, where the Clark mansion was built, was named +in 1708, "The Square living on ye Southly side of the North Meeting +House including ye wayes on each side of ye watch-house"; Clark's +Corner, 1708, corner of Middle, now Hanover street and Bennet street, +Dr. Clark's Corner, 1732; corner of Fish, now North street, and Gallops +alley, now Board alley and Clark's Shipyard. + +[Illustration: CLARK-FRANKLAND HOUSE.] + + + + + AGNES, LADY FRANKLAND. + + +Sir Harry Frankland, as he was familiarly called here, was heir to an +ample fortune, and what added to his interest in this puritanical colony +was that he was a descendant in the fourth generation from Oliver +Cromwell, he came here in 1741 as Collector of the Port of Boston, +preferring that office to the Governorship of Massachusetts, the +alternative offered him by George II. The story of his marriage is +romantic enough. Upon an official visit to Marblehead, he was struck by +the radiant beauty of a young girl of sixteen, maid-of-all-work at the +village inn, bare-legged, scrubbing the floor; inquired her name, and, +upon a subsequent visit, with the consent of her parents, conveyed her +to Boston and placed her at the best school. The attachment he conceived +for her appears to have been returned, though Sir Charles did not offer +her marriage. The connection between this high official and his fair +protege causing scandal, Frankland purchased some 500 acres of land in +Hopkinton, which he laid out and cultivated with taste, built a stately +country-house and extensive farm buildings, and there entertained all +the gay companions he could collect with deer and fox hunts without, +with music and feasting within doors, duly attending the church of his +neighbor, the Rev. Roger Price, late of King's Chapel, Boston, of which +Frankland had been, from his arrival, a member. Called to England by the +death of his uncle, whose title he inherited as fourth baronet, he +journeyed to Lisbon, and there, upon All Saints Day, 1755, on his way to +high mass, he was engulfed by the earthquake, his horses killed, and he +would have perished miserably but for his discovery and rescue by the +devoted Agnes. Grateful and penitent, he led her to the altar, and poor +Agnes Surriage, the barefooted maid-of-all-work of the inn at +Marblehead, was translated into Agnes, Lady Frankland. + +It was upon Sir Harry Frankland's return from Europe in 1756 that he +became the owner of the Clark House, lived in it one short year, +entertaining continually, with the assistance of his French cook, +Thomas, as appears by frequent entries in his journal; was then +transferred to Lisbon as Consul General, and so, with the exception of +brief visits to this country in 1759 and 1763, disappearing from our +horizon. + +After his death at Bath, England, in 1768, his widow returned here with +her son, but not until she had recorded her husband's virtues upon a +monument "erected by his affectionate widow, Agnes, Lady +Frankland,"--dividing her year between Boston and Hopkinton, exchanging +civilities with those who had once rejected her, till the contest with +England rendered all loyalists and officials unpopular. + +At Hopkinton, May, 1775, she was alarmed at the movement of the +revolutionists, her Ladyship asked leave to remove to Boston. The +Committee of Safety gave her liberty to pass to the capital with her +personal effects, and gave her a written permit, signed by Benjamin +Church. Jr., chairman. Thus protected, she set out on her journey with +her attendants; but was arrested by a party of armed men, who detained +her person, and effects, until an order for the release of both was +obtained. To prevent further annoyance, the Provincial Congress +furnished her with an escort, and required all persons who had any of +her property in their possession to place the same at her disposal. +Defended by a guard of six soldiers, Lady Frankland entered Boston about +the first of June, 1775; witnessed from her window in Garden Court +street the battle of Bunker Hill, took her part in relieving the +sufferings of the wounded officers, and then in her turn disappeared, +leaving her estates in the hands of members of her family, thereby +saving them from confiscation, which was the fate of her neighbor +Hutchinson. Upon her death in England in 1782 the town mansion passed by +her will to her family, and was sold by Isaac Surriage in 1811 for $8000 +to Mr. Joshua Ellis, a retired North End merchant, who resided there +till his death. Upon the widening of Bell Alley, in 1832, these two +proud mansions, the Frankland and Hutchinson houses long since deserted +by the families whose importance they were erected to illustrate and +perpetuate, objects of interest to the poet, the artist, and the +historian, alike for their associations with a seemingly remote past, +their antique splendor, and for the series of strange romantic incidents +in the lives of their successive occupants, were ruthlessly swept away. + + + + + COLONEL DAVID PHIPS. + + +The most picturesque and remarkable in character and personal fortune of +all the royal governors, was the first of them, Sir William Phips. He +was a characteristic product of the New England soil, times and ways. +Hutchinson thus briefly and fitly designates him: "He was an honest man, +but by a series of fortunate incidents, rather than by any uncommon +talents, he rose from the lowest condition in life to be the first man +in the country." + +Cotton Mather informs us that William Phips was one of twenty-one _sons_ +and of _twenty-six_ children, of the same mother, born to James Phips of +Bristol, England, a blacksmith, and gunsmith, who was an early settler +in the woods of Maine, at the mouth of the Kennebec River. But records +and history are dumb as to facts about the most of these scions of a +fruitful parentage, other than that of their having been born. William +was born Feb. 2, 1651; was left in early childhood without a father. +What the mother's task was, in poverty, with hard wilderness +surroundings, of bears, wolves, and savages, we may well imagine. Her +famous son, untaught and ignorant, tended sheep, till he was eighteen +years of age. Then he helped to build coasters, and sailed in them. This +was at that time, and afterwards a most thriving business, the +foundation of fortunes to rugged and enterprising men, born in +indigence. + +He went to Boston in 1673, at the age of twenty-two, worked at his +trade, he had early visions of success and greatness, for the first time +he learned to read, and also to do something that passed for writing. He +married the widow of John Hull, the mint master, they suffered straits +together, but he used to comfort her with the assurance that they would +yet have "a fair brick house in the Green Lane of North Boston." And so +they did. That "Greene Lane" became Charter street, when in 1692, he +came back as Sir William Phips, from the Court of London, bringing the +Province Charter as the first Governor under it. The "fair brick house" +long served as an Asylum for boys, at the corner of Salem and Charles +streets. + +But a strange wild daring, and romantic interval of adventure preceded +his honors, and wealth. He wrought at intervals in Maine, and here, as a +ship carpenter, sailed coasters, and engaged in expeditions against the +Indians. In 1684 he went in a search in the waters of the Spanish Main +for a treasure ship known to be sunk there. Going to London, the +Admiralty, and James II. gave him the command of an eighteen-gun ship +and ninety-five men. A two years' cruise in the West Indies, in which he +showed a most signal intrepidity, heroism and ingenuity of resource, in +suppressing a mutinous crew, was unsuccessful, except in acquainting +him, through an old Spaniard, of the precise spot where a treasure-laden +galleon had foundered fifty years before. He returned to England for a +new outfit. The king favored him, but not with another war ship. The +Duke of Albemarle and others, as associates, provided him with a vessel +on shares. The hero had heroic success. Cotton Mather informs us that +"Captain Phips arrived at _Port de la Plata_, made a stout _canoo_ of a +stately cotton-tree, employing his own _hands_ and _adse_ in +constructing it, lying abroad in the woods many nights together. The +piriaga, as they called it, discovered a reef of rising shoals called +"_The Boilers_", here an Indian diver dove down and perceived a number +of _great-guns_, and upon further diving the Indian fetched up a _sow_, +or lump of silver, worth two or three hundred pounds. In all, thirty-two +tons of silver, gold, pearls and jewels were recovered from the wreck. +Besides which, one Adderly of Providence, one of the Bahama Islands, +took up about six tons of silver, which he took to the Bermudas. Captain +Phips returned to London in 1687 with more than a million and a half of +dollars, in gold and silver, diamonds, precious stones, and other +treasures. His own share in the proceeds was about a hundred thousand +dollars. To this was added the honors of knighthood, and a gold cup for +Lady Phips, of the value of five thousand dollars." + +He returned home in the capacity of high-sheriff, under Andros, who did +not want him, for he was utterly ignorant of law, and could not write +legibly. He soon made another voyage to England, and returned to Boston, +built the "fair brick house," of his vision, engaged in a successful +military expedition against Acadia, in which he took and plundered Port +Royal, and other French settlements. He then instigated and conducted +as commander, a naval expedition against Quebec, which proved a failure. +He again went to England, and returned as the first Governor under the +new Charter, May 14, 1692. The appointment was made to conciliate the +people of the province, and it was supposed would be gratifying to them, +it was however a risky experiment, this attempt to initiate a new order +of things, under the lead of an illiterate mechanic, utterly unskilled, +in legal, and administrative affairs, a rough seaman, and a man of hot +temper. Yet after he arose to these high offices, he showed no false +pride, and often alluded to his lowly origin. He gave his fellow ship +carpenters a dinner in Boston, and when borne down with public +distraction, would wish himself back to his broad-axe again. He was pure +in morals, upright in his dealings, and owed his success in life to his +own energy and prowess. All incompetent as he was for the stern +exigency, he had to meet the appalling outburst of the Witchcraft +delusion with its spell of horrors. During the greater part of the +proceedings of the courts, he was absent at the eastward, in an +expedition against the Indians, and engaged in building a fort at +Pemaquid. When he returned to Boston he found that even his own wife had +been "cried out upon" as a witch, and he at once put a stay upon the +fatuous proceedings. His weak and troubled administration lasted two and +one-half years. He then went to England to answer to complaints made +against his administration, when he died suddenly Feb. 18, 1695, aged +forty-five years. He was buried in the church of St. Mary Woolnoth, +London, where his widow caused a monument to be erected to his memory. +He died childless. + +Governor Phips' widow married the rich merchant, Peter Sergent, who +built and occupied the stately mansion, afterwards purchased by the +Province, as a residence for the Governor, and known as the Province +House. + +SPENCER PHIPS was a nephew of Governor Phips' wife. The governor having +no children, adopted as his heir, Spencer Bennett, he was Lieu. Governor +between 1733 and 1757, and married Elizabeth Hutchinson. He resided +mainly at Cambridge. His farm consisted of that part of Cambridge +afterwards known as Lechmere Point, now East Cambridge, his daughters +married Andrew Boardman, John Vassall, Richard Lechmere and Joseph Lee. +Lieu. Governor Phips died in March, 1757. + +DAVID PHIPS, only son of Lieutenant Governor Spencer Phips, graduated at +Harvard College in 1741. He was Colonel of a troop of guards in Boston, +and Sheriff of Middlesex County. He was an Addresser on three occasions, +as his name is found among the one hundred and twenty-four merchants, +and others, of Boston, who addressed Governor Hutchinson in 1774, among +the ninety-seven gentlemen and principal inhabitants of that town, and +among the eighteen country gentlemen who were driven from their homes, +and who addressed General Gage in October, 1775. He went to Halifax at +the evacuation of Boston in 1776, and was proscribed and banished under +the Act of 1778. His home at Cambridge was confiscated. He died at Bath, +England in 1811, aged eighty-seven. + + + + + THE DUNBAR FAMILY OF HINGHAM. + + +Robert Dunbar, a Scotchman, became a resident of Hingham shortly after +1650, and probably was the ancestor of all the families who have borne +this surname in Plymouth county. The Christian name of his wife was +Rose. She survived him and died 10 Nov. 1700. Robert died, 19 Sept., +1693. He had eight sons and three daughters, and died possessed of +considerable property. His grandson Joseph removed to Halifax, Plymouth +County, in 1736.[246] + + [246] Hist. of Hingham. Vol. 11. P. 195-7-9. + +DANIEL DUNBAR, son of the aforesaid Joseph was born in Hingham, March 8, +1733. He was an ensign of Militia at Halifax, Mass., and in 1774 had his +colors demanded of him by the mob, some of the selectmen being the chief +actors. He refused and they broke into his house, took him out, forced +him upon a rail, where for three hours, he was held, and tossed, up and +down, until he was exhausted. He was then dragged and beaten, and gave +up the standard to save his life. In 1776 he went to Halifax, Nova +Scotia, with the Royal Army. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. + +JESSIE DUNBAR, of the fourth generation, was born in Hingham, June 26, +1744. He removed to Bridgewater, Plymouth County.[247] + + [247] Dunbar Genealogy. P. 19. + +He bought some fat cattle of Nathaniel Ray Thomas, a Mandamus +Councillor, in 1774, and drove them to Plymouth for sale; one of the +oxen being skinned and hung up, the "Sons of Liberty" came to him and +finding where he bought it, commenced punishing him for the offence. His +tormentors put the ox in a cart, and fixing Dunbar in his belly, carted +him four miles and required him to pay one dollar for the ride. They +then delivered him to a Kingston mob, which carted him four miles +further, and forced from him another dollar, then delivered him to a +Duxbury mob, who abused him by beating him in the face with the +creature's tripe, and endeavored to cover his person with it, to the +endangering his life. They then threw dirt at him, and after other +abuses, carried him to Councillor Thomas's house, and made him pay +another sum of money, and he, not taking the beef, they flung it in the +road and quitted him. Jesse Dunbar died at Nobleboro, Maine, in 1806, +leaving many descendants. + +The outrageous and brutal treatment he received from the "Sons of +Despotism" are among the worst on record. + + + + + EBENEZER RICHARDSON. + + +The Richardson family were the earliest settlers of Woburn, +Massachusetts. Ezekiel, Samuel and Thomas Richardson, three brothers, +with four other persons, laid the foundations of the town, in 1641. In +1642 it was incorporated under the name of Woburn, the name of a town in +Herefordshire. + +Samuel Richardson, the ancestor of Ebenezer Richardson, came to +Charlestown, about 1636, as his name appears on the records of July 1 of +that date as one of a committee to "lay out lots of land for hay." When +the three brothers settled at Woburn, they lived near each other on the +same street, which was laid out in 1647, as Richardson's Row, by which +name it has ever since been known. It runs almost due north and south, +in the N. E. part of the present town of Winchester. + +Lieut. John Richardson, eldest son of Samuel, was born Nov. 12, 1639, +was a yeoman, and soldier in King Philip's war, and passed his life in +Woburn, and died there in 1696. John Richardson, son of Lieut. John was +a carpenter, and lived in Woburn. He died March 18, 1715. + +Timothy Richardson, son of John, was born in Woburn, 1687, was badly +wounded in Lovewell's Indian fight at Pigwacket. The colony having +offered one hundred pounds for Indian scalps, Captain Lovewell went with +forty-six men on a scalp hunt into Maine. Captain Lovewell was the first +one killed. The fight lasted ten hours, those who left the fatal battle +ground, were twenty in number, of whom eleven were badly wounded, among +whom was Timothy Richardson, who lived for ten years afterwards, but in +great suffering he died in Woburn in 1735. + +EBENEZER RICHARDSON, eldest son of Timothy, and Abigail Johnson, was +born in Woburn, March 31, 1718, and married Rebecca (Fowle) Richardson, +daughter of Captain John and Elizabeth (Prescott) Fowle, of Woburn, and +widow of Phineas Richardson. His father's farm was bounded easterly by +the Woburn and Stoneham line, it was here probably that Ebenezer was +born.[248] + + [248] Richardson Memorial by Vinton. P. 34, 199, 242. + +Ebenezer Richardson was an officer of the Customs in Boston. On the 22 +Feb., 1770, he was assailed by a mob who chased him to his home, bricks +and stones were thrown at the windows. Richardson, provoked, fired at +random into the mob, dangerously wounding one of them, Samuel Gore, and +mortally wounding another, Christopher Snider, a poor German boy, who +died the next morning. + +The excitement was intense, the funeral of the boy was attended by the +revolutionists, and the event taken advantage of to fire the passions of +the people. On the 20th of April, Richardson was tried for his life and +brought in guilty of murder. Chief Justice Hutchinson viewed the guilt +of Richardson, as everybody would now, a clear case of justifiable +homicide, and consequently refused to sign a warrant for his execution, +and after lying in prison two years, was, on application to the King, +pardoned and set at liberty.[249] To reward Richardson for what he had +suffered, he was appointed in 1773 as an officer of the Customs of +Philadelphia. + + [249] For further particulars see pages 310, 311. + +Historians have treated Richardson very unfairly, and caused his memory +to be execrated. He was a Custom House officer, and the duties of his +office caused him to seize smuggled goods, as any custom house officer +would at the present time, previous to that he belonged to the secret +service division for the detection of illicit traders, on this account +he has always been contemptuously called an "informer". He was not any +worse than hundreds of secret service agents employed at the present +time by the United States Government, to detect law-breakers. They are +of course detested by the criminal classes, and the mountaineer +moonshiners of Kentucky consider it no crime to kill them, when the +opportunity offers. After Richardson's release, he went to Philadelphia +to reside, so as to escape mob violence; the malignity of the +revolutionists, however, followed him, and a scurrilous effusion was +published there entitled "The Life and Humble Confession of Richardson +the Informer." + +The broadside was embellished with a rude wood cut of Richardson firing +into the mob, and the killing of the boy Snider. The same has been +recently republished, and the author states "Whatever facts it may +contain, are doubtless expanded beyond the limits of the actual +truth."[250] + + [250] William R. Cutter, Librarian of the Woburn Public Library. + + + + + COMMODORE JOSHUA LORING.[251] + + +Thomas Loring came from Axminster in Devonshire, England, to Dorchester +with his wife, Jane, whose maiden name was Newton, in the year 1634, +they removed to Hingham, and finally settled and died at Hull in 1661, +leaving many descendants, who still reside in Hull, and Hingham. + + [251] Ancestral Records of the Loring family. Type Written Copy in the + New England Historic Genealogical Society. Pp. 129 to 182. + +COMMODORE JOSHUA LORING was descended from Thomas Loring. He was born at +Boston, Aug. 3, 1716. He was apprenticed to Mr. Mears, a tanner of +Roxbury. When he was of age he went to sea. About 1740 he married Mary, +daughter of Samuel Curtice, of Roxbury. In 1744 he was master of a +Brigantine Privateer of Boston, and while cruising near Louisburg, was +taken by two French Men of War. + +He purchased an estate in 1752, on Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, of Joshua +Cheever, on which he erected what has since been known as the Greenough +mansion. It is said to have been framed in England and was one of the +finest residences in Roxbury. It was situated opposite the intersection +of Center and South streets, opposite the soldiers' monument. + +On December 19, 1757, He was commissioned captain in the British Navy, +was Commodore of the naval forces on Lakes Champlain and Ontario, and +participated in the capture of Quebec under Wolfe, and in the conquest +of Canada in the succeeding campaign of Amherst. He was severely wounded +in the leg while in command on Lake Ontario, and at the close of the war +he retired on half pay, at which time he settled down at Jamaica Plain, +Roxbury. He was one of the five Commissioners of the revenue, and +General Gage by writ of mandamus appointed him a member of his Council, +and he was sworn in Aug. 17, 1774. This immediately subjected him to the +strictest surveillance by the revolutionists, and the greatest pressure +was brought to bear upon him to throw up the obnoxious office. A +diarist, under date of Aug. 29, speaking of a Roxbury town meeting +recently held says, "Late in the evening a member visited Commodore +Loring, and in a friendly way advised him to follow the example of his +townman Isaac Winslow, (who had already resigned). He desired time to +consider it. They granted it, but acquainted him if he did not comply he +must expect to be waited on by a large number, actuated by a different +spirit. (Tarred and feathered and rode on a rail). On the morning of the +Lexington battle, after passing most of the previous night in +consultation with Deacon Joseph Brewer, his neighbor and intimate +friend, upon the step he was about to take, he mounted his horse, left +his home and everything belonging to it, never to return again, and +pistol in hand, rode at full speed to Boston, stopping on the way only +to answer an old friend, who asked 'Are you going, Commodore?' 'Yes,' he +replied. 'I have always eaten the king's bread, and always intend to.'" +The sacrifice must have been especially painful to him, for he was held +in high esteem by his friends and neighbors, but he could not spurn the +hand that had fed him, and rather than do a dishonorable act, he would +sacrifice all he possessed, even the land of his birth. At the +evacuation he went to England. He received a pension from the crown +until his decease at Highgate, in October, 1781, at the age of +sixty-five. Joshua Loring was proscribed, banished and his large estate +confiscated. His mansion house was in May, 1775, headquarters of General +Nathaniel Greene, and afterwards for a brief period, a hospital for +American soldiers, many of whom were buried on the adjacent grounds. +Later Captain Isaac Sears bought the property of the State, and lived +there for several years. + +Mary, his widow, was through the influence of Lord North, pensioned for +life; she settled at Englesfield, Berkshire County, England, where she +died in 1789 at the age of eighty. + +JOSHUA LORING, JR. was a twin brother of Benjamin Loring, sons of +Commodore Loring. He was born Nov., 1744. He was an Addresser of +Governor Hutchinson in 1774, and of Gen. Gage in 1775. One of the last +official acts of the latter in Boston was his proclamation of June 7, +1775, appointing Mr. Loring "sole vendue-master and auctioneer." He was +High Sheriff and a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery +Company in 1769. In 1776 he went to Halifax with the Royal Army, and, +early the next year, he was appointed Commissary of Prisoners by Sir +William Howe. He was severely criticized at the time by the +Revolutionists, for cruelties to his unfortunate countrymen who were +prisoners, but as Sabine truly says, "it is not easy to ascertain the +truth or to determine his personal responsibility in the treatment of +prisoners."[252] He was proscribed and banished, and died in England in +1789, aged forty-five. His wife was a Miss Lloyd, to whom he was married +at the house of Colonel Hatch in Dorchester in 1769. His son, + +SIR JOHN WENTWORTH LORING was born in Roxbury, Oct., 1773; was baptized +in Trinity church by Rev. D. Walters, Nov. 29; was a midshipman in the +British navy, and from 1819 to 1837 was Lieut. Governor of the Royal +Naval College. In 1841 was advanced to the rank of Rear Admiral of the +Red and in 1847 was promoted Vice Admiral of the White. His son, +William, was Captain of the "Scout" in the Royal Navy. + + [252] A similar case occurred during the Civil War, there was probably + no man whose memory was more execrated, and who was regarded as a + monster than Wirz, the Commander at Andersonville, who was hanged by the + U. S. Government, and yet forty-five years afterwards the Daughters of + the Confederacy have erected a beautiful monument to his memory at + Andersonville. + +DR. BENJAMIN LORING, twin brother of Joshua Loring, Jr., born in 1744, +graduated at Harvard College in 1772. He was a Surgeon in a Regiment in +the King's service in South Carolina. At the peace, accompanied by his +family of five persons, and by one servant, he went from New York to +Shelburne, Nova Scotia. His losses in consequences of his loyalty were +estimated at $15,000. He was an absentee but not proscribed. He returned +to Boston and died there in 1798, aged sixty-five. + +COMMODORE JOHN LORING, son of Commodore Joshua, was a midshipman in the +Royal Navy, at fourteen years of age. In 1776 he was one of four +prisoners taken in the schooner Valent, and sent into Boston, as there +was no place provided for prisoners he was sent to Concord Jail by the +Council, who ordered "that Edward Marsh, and John Loring should not use +pen or paper, nor any one allowed to speak to them, but in the presence +of the jailor". His uncle Obediah Curtis being a very influential man, +interceded for him so strenuously, he being but quite a youth, that he +was released and sent to the care of Col. Buckminster of Framingham, his +wife's father. His kind host was in danger of having his home demolished +for harboring a "young Tory", on account of the young man calling his +neighbors "rascally rebels." In 1776 he was exchanged and returned to +England. He was early a Post Captain. In 1793 he had command of the +British Squadron in the Camatic. In 1803 he had command of the Frigate +Bellerophon (which in 1813 conveyed Napoleon to St. Helena) and captured +the French Frigate Duquesne, 74 guns, and a national schooner. In the +same year he was Commodore of the British Fleet off Cape Francoix, +which blockaded and defeated the French squadron, and the troops under +Rochambeau, Nov. 30, 1803. Commodore John Loring died at his seat in +Farehan, Nov. 9, 1808, leaving a widow and children. The Naval service +lost in him "one of its most brave, zealous and humane officers." He +married Miss Macneal of Campleton Argyleshire, a lady of great beauty. +His son Hector, became captain of the Howe, 120 guns, of the Royal Navy. +He married Miss Charlotte Jessy, daughter of James Jamison of the Royal +Bengal Medical Service. His eldest son John, a midshipman on board of +the Eurylas, in 1820, died of the yellow fever at Bermuda. + +JOSEPH ROYAL LORING, son of Commodore Joshua, probably never married. He +was captain of the Brigantine "William," owned by Richard Clarke and +Sons, of Boston, engaged in bringing tea from London to Boston. It was +the fourth and last vessel on the East India Company's account to sail +there. She was cast ashore at Provincetown on Cape Cod. The tea was +saved and conveyed to the Castle in Boston Harbor. Very little is known +afterwards of Captain Royal Loring. + + + LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO JOSHUA LORING IN SUFFOLK COUNTY + AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To John Keyes, Aug. 31, 1779; Lib. 130, fol. 191; Land 19 A., + mansion house and barn in Roxbury, Joshua Loring N. and N.E.; + Lemuel May E.; Ebenezer Weld S.; road leading to Dedham W.; then + running S.; E. and N. on land of John Keyes. + + To Isaac Sears, Oct. 28, 1779; Lib. 130, fol. 237; Farm, 54 A. 3 + qr. 9 r., and mansion house in Roxbury, road leading by Jamaica + meeting-house to Boston W.; heirs of Mr. Burroughs deceased N. and + N.W.; lane N.E.; lane and Capt. May E.; land of Joshua Loring, + absentee, now of John Keyes S.----5 1-2 A. salt marsh, creek W.; + Mr. Bowdoin S.; heirs of Joseph Weld deceased E.; heirs of John + Williams deceased N. + + To James Swan, Feb. 1, 1782; Lib. 134, fol. 6; Wood or pasture + land, 8 A. 31 r., in Brookline, road W.; Mr. Crafts N.W. and N.E.; + Capt. Baker S.E. + + To John Tufts, Apr. 28. 1783; Lib. 138, fol. 101; Land and + dwelling-house in Boston, common or training-field N.W.; West St. N + E.; David Colson S.E.; heirs or assigns of Dr. George Stewart S.W. + + To Ellis Gray, Nov 23, 1795; Lib. 181, fol. 275; Wood and pasture + land, 24 1-2 A. 7 r., in Roxbury, near Henry Williams; Caleb + Williams and Mr. Morries S.E.; Ebenezer Chanies S.W.; Mr. Bourn + N.W. and N.E. + + + + + ROBERT WINTHROP. + + +The most prominent name in Massachusetts History is that of Winthrop. +Governor John Winthrop has been called the "Father of Boston." From the +date of the first settlement of Massachusetts to the present time, the +name of Winthrop has been prominent in each generation. + +The family of Winthrops of Groton Manor, Suffolk County, England, took +its name by tradition, from the village of Winthrope, near Newark, in +Nottinghamshire. The earliest ancestor of whom anything is known with +certainty is + +I. Adam Winthrop, known to have been living at Lavenham, in Suffolk in +1498, who had, by his wife Jane Burton, a son-- + +II. Adam Winthrop second of that name, born in Lavenham, Oct. 9, 1498, +died in Groton, Nov. 9, 1562, who became a wealthy London merchant, +acquired the manor of Groton, near Lavenham, in 1544; was inscribed +Armiger by Edward VI. in 1548, and in 1551 was Master of the influential +Company of Clothworkers. He had thirteen children, several of whom +became distinguished. His third son was-- + +III. Adam Winthrop, third of that name, who came into possession of +Groton Manor. He was born in London, Aug. 10th, 1548, died at Groton +March 28, 1623. He was a lawyer and county magistrate, and married +Alice, sister of Dr. John Still, Bishop of Bath and Wells. His only son +was-- + +IV. John Winthrop, born Jan. 12, and died in Boston, March 26, 1649. He +was a lawyer and magistrate, and became a great Puritan leader, and led +the greatest emigration that had ever gone forth from England up to this +time. In February, 1630, preparations began to be made with vigor for +the embarkation of a great colony, by the end of the month a fleet of +fourteen vessels was ready with men, women and children, and all +necessary men of handicrafts, and others of good condition, wealth, and +quality, to make a firm plantation. In this fleet were congregated the +forefathers of Massachusetts, with their wives and little ones, about to +quit forever their native country, kindred, friends, and acquaintances. +They were to leave the land of their fathers, perhaps forever, to break +assunder those chords of affection, which so powerfully bind a good man +to his native soil, and to dissolve those tender associations which +constitute the bliss of civil society, and to seek in an unknown +wilderness, a new home, which in time would become a great nation. On +the 8th of June, 1630, the fleet sighted land, Mt. Desert, and regaled +themselves with fish of their own catching. "So pleasant a scene here +they had, as did much refresh them, and there came a smell off the +shore, like the smell of a garden." On the 12th, they came to anchor in +Salem harbor, and by 14th of July, thirteen out of the fourteen ships +had arrived safely, the other vessel, the Mary & John, was the first to +arrive, and had landed their passengers at Dorchester. Governor +Winthrop, after his arrival at Salem, determined to remove to a point of +land between two rivers flowing into Boston Harbor, and named the town +Charlestown, in honor of Charles I. The next year the Governor caused +the settlement to remove across the Charles river to another point of +land called by the Indians "Shawmut," signifying the place of living +waters, which caused the removal there. The Governor settled alongside +of the "Great Spring" on the present site of the Old South church, next +to Spring Lane, which runs into Water street, hence the name. The place +was called Boston, named after Boston, Lincolnshire, England, from which +place some of the settlers came, and the County was named Suffolk. Thus +Boston was settled by the English Puritans under the leadership of +Governor Winthrop.[253] + + [253] For a detailed account of the career and writings of this + illustrious man, see two volumes of his "Life And Letters," by his + descendant, Hon. Robert C. Winthrop. + +Governor Winthrop had five daughters and two sons, the elder resided +chiefly in Connecticut and the younger in Massachusetts, generally known +as, VI, Wait Still Winthrop or Wait Winthrop, born in Boston, Feb. 27, +1642, died Nov. 7, 1717. A soldier of the Indian wars, for more than +thirty years Major General commanding the Provincial Forces of Mass., +Judge of the Superior Court, Judge of Admiralty and some time Chief +Justice of Mass. He married Mary, daughter of Hon. William Brown, of +Salem, by whom he had one daughter, Ann, wife of Thomas Lechmere, +brother of Lord Lechmere, and an only son, VII, John Winthrop, born in +Boston, Aug. 26, 1681, died at Sydenham Aug. 1, 1742, graduated at +Harvard College in 1700. Failing to receive the political preferment to +which claim he conceived a sort of hereditary claim, he went to England +to reside in 1727. He became an active member of Royal Society, of whose +transactions one volume is dedicated to him, he resided there until his +death. He had five daughters and two sons, the eldest, VIII, John Still +Winthrop, born in Boston, Jan. 15, 1720, died June 6, 1776. Graduated at +Yale College in 1737. In early life he resided with his father in +England, and occasionally in Boston, but after his marriage, chiefly in +New London, Conn., where he built a large house, still standing at the +head of Winthrop's Cove, described in 1787 as the best house in the +Province. He had fourteen children, five daughters and nine sons. Of his +sons, two died in childhood. John and William died unmarried. Francis +Bayard Winthrop went to New York, also Benjamin Winthrop. Joseph +Winthrop went to Charleston, S. C. + +THOMAS LINDALL WINTHROP. Born March 6, 1760, died in Boston, Feb. 21, +1841. Graduated at Harvard College 1780, was Lieutenant Governor of +Massachusetts from 1826 to 1833. He married in 1786, Elizabeth, daughter +of Sir John Temple, Bart., and granddaughter of James Bowdoin of Boston, +Governor of Massachusetts. Their son, the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, was +the most conspicuous member of the family in America for a long period. +In his memoir of the Winthrop family he says "From the above five +brothers descend the numerous branches of the Winthrop family, now +widely scattered in different parts of the United States and +Europe."[254] It does not appear that either of them joined the +revolutionists or took any part in the war, except the youngest son, who +was a staunch loyalist, and was of great service to his country. + + [254] A Short Account of the Winthrop family by Robert C. Winthrop. + +The youngest son of John Still Winthrop, was, IX, Robert Winthrop, the +subject of this sketch, born in New London, Dec. 7, 1764, died at Dover, +England, May 10, 1832. During the Revolution he was appointed a +Midshipman in the Royal Navy. In 1790 he was a Lieutenant; and six +years later a Post Captain. He attained the rank of Rear Admiral in +1809, and of Vice Admiral in 1830. He served on board of the flagship of +Sir George B. Rodney in the memorable victory over the French April 12, +1782. The French Admiral, Count de Grasse, fresh from his victory at +Yorktown, had refitted at Martinique's dock yards, and with the +assistance of the Spaniards, who had fitted out a fleet at Havana, +intended to capture Jamaica, and drive the English out of the West +Indies. All the Lesser Antilles were his own, except St. Lucia. There +alone the English flag still flew as Rodney lay in the harbor of +Castries, and saw the French fleet becalmed under the high lands of +Dominica. All day long the cannon roared, and one by one the French +ships struck their flags or fought on till they sank. Rodney's flagship +came alongside of the Ville de Paris, the pride of France and the +largest ship in the world, on which De Grasse commanded in person. He +fought after all hope had gone, with her masts shattered, her decks +littered with mangled limbs and bodies. He gave up his sword to Rodney. +The French fleet was destroyed, fourteen thousand were killed, besides +the prisoners. On that memorable day the British Empire was saved and +Yorktown was avenged. He was at the conquest of Martinique and St. Lucia +in 1794, also captured a French corvette. He was wrecked in the frigate +Undaunted. He was on duty in the North Sea. He superintended the landing +of troops in the expedition against Ostend. Entrusted with a small +squadron to cruise off Holland, his boats burned a store-ship, made +prize of fifteen merchant vessels, a sloop-of-war, and an armed +schooner. He assisted in the capture of the Helder. Stranded in the +frigate Stag, he was compelled, after saving her stores, to burn her. +Stationed on the coast of Spain, in the Ardent of sixty-four guns, he +drove on shore a French frigate, which was set on fire and burned by her +own crew. Such is the bare outline of the great services he rendered on +the ocean. + +In 1807 the Sea Fencibles of the Dover district was placed under his +orders. He married Miss Farbrace. He died at Dover in 1832. Two sons and +four daughters survived him. + + + + + NATHANIEL HATCH. + + +Colonel Estes Hatch was one of the most prominent and wealthy men of +Dorchester. He owned many negro slaves who worked on his extensive +estate, comprising sixty acres of land on the southerly side of Dudley +street, lying part in Roxbury and a part in Dorchester. It included +Little Woods, afterward known as Swan's woods. + +Col. Hatch commanded the Troop of Horse, in Boston, led a company at the +capture of Louisberg and died in 1759. He was prominent in town affairs, +and held the principal military offices, and at the time of his death +was Brigadier General of Horse. His wife was Mary, daughter of Rev. +Benjamin Rolfe, her father and mother and their youngest child were +killed by the Indians in their home at Haverhill in 1708. Col. Hatch and +Mary Rolfe were married Nov. 9th, 1716. + +NATHANIEL HATCH, son of Col. Hatch, graduated at Harvard College in +1742, and subsequently held the office of Clerk of the Courts. He was a +firm loyalist, and at the evacuation of Boston in 1776, he went to +Halifax with the British troops. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished, +and in 1779 was included in the Conspiracy Act, by which his large and +valuable estate was confiscated, it was bought afterwards by Captain +James Swan, who paid L18,000 for it, and who soon afterwards offered it +to Gov. Hancock for L45,000. Writing to Hancock, Swan say: "The mansion +house can be refitted in as elegant a manner as it once was for about +L4,000." During Swan's residence here he made the house a seat of +hospitality, entertaining among others persons of distinction. The +Marquis de Viomel, second in command of Rochambeau's army, Admiral +d'Estaing, the Marquis de Lafayette and General Knox.[255] + + [255] Town of Roxbury by F. S. Drake. P. 134, 135. + +Nathaniel Hatch married July 7, 1755, Elizabeth Lloyd. They had several +children. Paxton, born Oct. 9, 1758; Mary, born Jan. 14, 1760; +Addington, born Sept. 22, 1761; Jane, born March 10, 1767; Susannah +Paxton, born March 13, 1770. Nathaniel Hatch died in 1780. + + + LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO NATHANIEL HATCH IN SUFFOLK + COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Samuel Dunn, Jr., July 11, 1781; Lib. 132, fol. 263; Land, 60 + A.; and mansion house in Dorchester, road to Dorchester meeting + house N.; Jonas Humphrey, Thomas Wiswall and James Bird E. and S.; + John Holbrook S.; John Williams, Samuel Humphrey and brook between + Dorchester and Roxbury W. and N. + + + + + CHRISTOPHER HATCH. + + +Of Boston. When the Royal Army evacuated that town, March 17, 1776, +cannon, shot, and shells were left on his wharf, and in the dock. In +1778 he was proscribed and banished. He accepted a commission under the +crown, and was a Captain in the Loyal American regiment. He was wounded +and commended for his gallantry. At the peace he retired on half pay, +about L80 per annum. He was a grantee of the city of St. John, N. B., +soon after going there established himself as a merchant near the +frontier, and finally at St. Andrews. He was a magistrate, and colonel, +in the militia. He died at St. Andrews, 1819, aged seventy. Elizabeth, +his widow, died at the same place, 1830, at the age of seventy-five. + +HARRIS HATCH, son of Christopher, was a gentleman of consideration in +New Brunswick, where he held the office of Member of her Majesty's +Council Commission of Bankruptcies, Surrogate, Registrar of Deeds, +member of the Board of Education, Lieut. Colonel in the Militia, and +Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. + +HAWES HATCH, of Boston, brother of Christopher Hatch. He went to Halifax +with the Royal Army in 1776. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. He +entered the service, and in 1782 was a captain in De Lancey's Second +Battalion. He retired on half pay at the close of the war, and was a +grantee of the city of St. John. For some years after the Revolution, he +lived at and near Eastport, Maine, on the frontier. He died at Lebanon, +N. H., in 1807.[256] + + [256] Sabine's Loyalists. + + + + + WARD CHIPMAN. + + +John Chipman was born in Whitechurch, near Dorchester, England, about +1614, and died April 7, 1708. He sailed from Barnstable, Devon County in +May, 1631, in the ship Friendship, arriving in Boston July 14th, 1631. +John Chipman was the first and only one of the name to seek a home in +America, and up to 1850 there was no Chipman in this country who was not +descended from him. He was for many years a selectman, then in Plymouth +County invested with the authority of a magistrate, and was often a +"Deputy to Court" and he, with three assistants, was designated to +frequent the early Quaker meetings and "endeavor to reduce them from the +errors of their wayes". In 1646 he married Hope, second daughter of John +and Elizabeth Howland, born in Plymouth, Mass., 1629, died 1683. + +John Chipman had eleven children, and except a son and daughter who died +in infancy, all survived him. His eldest son Samuel Chipman, was born in +Barnstable, Mass., 1661, and died in 1723. He built on the paternal +homestead near the Custom House the "Chipman Tavern," which continued in +the line of his posterity until 1830. He was by record a yeoman, and an +inn-holder. He too had eleven children. + +Rev. John Chipman, of the third generation, was the third son of Samuel +aforesaid, was born in Barnstable 1691, died March 23, 1775. He +graduated from Harvard College in 1711, and was ordained 1715 as pastor +of the first church in the precinct of Salem and Beverly, now North +Beverly. He married, first, Rebecca Hale, and, second, Hannah, daughter +of Joseph Warren, of Roxbury. He had fifteen children, all by the first +marriage. + +John Chipman of the fourth generation, eldest son of Rev. John Chipman, +was born in Beverly 1722, died 1768. Graduated from Harvard College in +1738, admitted to the practice of law, which at the time of his death +embraced only twenty-five barristers in Massachusetts, which also +included then the district of Maine. He had abilities of a rare order, +his services were appreciated and sought in distant localities. While +arguing a case before the Superior Court at Falmouth (Portland), Maine, +he was suddenly seized with apoplexy, from which he died. He had twelve +children. + +WARD CHIPMAN, the subject of this biography, was of the fifth +generation, and the fourth son of the aforesaid John Chipman. He was +born in Marblehead, Mass., July 30, 1754, and died at Fredericton, N. +B., Feb. 9, 1824. He graduated from Harvard College in 1770. His +graduation oration being the first delivered there in the vernacular +language. He studied law in Boston under the direction of Hon. Daniel +Leonard, and Hon. Jonathan Sewell, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of +Massachusetts. Ward Chipman and Daniel Leonard, with fifteen other +names, appear upon "The Loyal Address" to Gov. Gage on his departure +from Boston in 1775 as "of those gentlemen who were driven from their +Habitations in the country to Boston."[257] He left Boston at the +evacuation and went with the army to Halifax, "being obliged to abandon +his native land." He then went to England, where he was allowed a +pension in common with a long list of his suffering fellow-countrymen, +but a state of inaction being ill-suited to his ardent mind, in less +than a year he relinquished his pension and rejoined the King's troops +at New York, where he was employed in the Military Department and in the +practice of the Court of Admiralty. In 1782 he held the office of Deputy +Mustermaster-General, of the Loyalist forces. + + [257] Chipmans of America. + +In 1783 he was one of the fifty-five who petitioned for extensive grants +of lands in Nova Scotia, out of which was erected the province of New +Brunswick, of which province he was appointed Solicitor-General and +continually afterwards bore a conspicuous part, and attained the highest +honors. He was a member of the House of Assembly and Advocate at the +Bar, a Member of his Majesty's Council, a Judge of the Supreme Court, +Agent for the settling of disputed points of boundary with the United +States until he closed his mortal career while administering the +Government of the Colony as President, and Commander in Chief, during a +vacancy in the office of Lieut. Governor. His remains were conveyed from +Fredericton to St. John where a tablet, adds to above quoted statement, +the following: "Distinguished during the whole of his varied and active +life, for his superior abilities and unweariable zeal, for genuine +integrity and singular humanity and benevolence, his loss was +universally deplored; and this frail tribute from his nearest connection +affords but a feeble expression of the affectionate respect with which +they cherished the memory of his virtues." + +Hon. Ward Chipman married Elizabeth, daughter of Hon. William Hazen of +Haverhill, Mass., and his wife, the only daughter of Dr. Joseph LeBaron +of Plymouth, Mass. She died at St. John in 1852 in her eighty-sixth +year. The wife of Hon. William Gray of Boston was his sister. Ward, his +only child, was born July 21, 1787, graduated at Harvard College in +1805, where so many of his ancestors had before him. He held many places +of honor and trust; was finally chief justice of New Brunswick, and died +at St. John in 1851 in his sixty-fifth year. While the Prince of Wales, +now King Edward VII., was in that city in August, 1860, he occupied the +Chipman mansion. + + + + + GOVERNOR EDWARD WINSLOW. + + +Edward Winslow was born at Droitwich, Worcestershire, England, 19 +October, 1595. He appears to have been a well educated and accomplished +man. In the course of his travels on the continent of Europe he went to +Leyden and there became acquainted with Mr. John Robinson, and the +church under his pastoral charge, which he joined in 1617. He married +the 16th of May, 1618, and settled in that city till the church removed +to America in 1620. In his "Brief Narration" he says: And when the ship +was ready to carry us away the bretheren that stayed feasted us that +were to go at our pastor's home. After tears and singing of psalms they +accompanied us to Delph's Haven, where we were to embark, and there +feasted us again. But we, going aboard ship lying at the quay ready to +sail, the wind fair, we gave them a volley of small shot and three +pieces of ordnance, and so lifting up our hands to each other and our +hearts to the Lord we departed, etc. + +Winslow's name is third on the list of those who subscribed to the +Covenant, or compact, before the disembarkation at Cape Cod. He was one +of the first who came on shore to seek out the most eligible place for +founding a settlement in this wild and unknown land. He was a gentleman +of the best family of any of the Pilgrims, his father, Edward Winslow, +Esq., being a person of importance in Droitwich. In all the initiatory +labor for establishing this little colony, the nucleus of a great +nation, he was ever active and influential in promoting the welfare of +the Pilgrims, who on account of the respectability of his family, and +the excellent qualities of his mind and heart appear to have regarded +him with more than ordinary respect and confidence, which was never +misplaced. + +At the annual election in 1624 Mr. Winslow was elected Assistant and in +1644 Governor of Plymouth Colony. + +In 1655 Oliver Cromwell appointed three commissioners, of which number +Winslow was the chief, to go with an expedition against the Spaniards in +the West Indies under Admiral Penn and General Venables. The three +commissioners to direct their operations. After an unsuccessful attack +on St. Domingo, the fleet sailed for Jamaica, which surrendered without +any resistance. But Mr. Winslow, who partook of the chagrin of defeat, +did not live to enjoy the pleasure of victory. In the passage between +Hispaniola and Jamaica the heat of the climate threw him into a fever, +which put an end to his life on May 8, 1655, in the sixty-first year of +his age. His body was committed to the deep, with the honors of war, +forty-two guns being fired by the fleet on that occasion. + +After Bradford, Plymouth Colony owed to no man so much as to Edward +Winslow. Always intelligent, generous, confident, and indefatigable, he +was undoubtingly trusted for any service at home or abroad which the +infant settlement required. + +JOSIAH WINSLOW, the only surviving son of Governor Edward Winslow, was +born at Plymouth in 1629 and died on the family estate, Careswell, +Marshfield, Dec. 18, 1680, in the 52nd year of his age. He was buried at +the expense of the colony "in testimony of the colony's endeared love +and affection for him." He married Penelope, daughter of Herbert Pelham, +Esq., who came to Boston in 1645. + +He stood upon the uppermost heights of society, he reached every +elevation that could be obtained, and there was nothing left for +ambition to covet, because all had been gained. He was the first +native-born general and the first native-born governor. The governor +acquired the highest military rank and had engaged in active and +successful warfare with the highest command in New England. He presided +over the legislative, executive and judicial departments of the +government. In addition to his military and civil distinction he +acquired that of being the most delightful companion in the colony. He +lived on his ample paternal domain and his hospitality was magnificent +and the attractions of the festive board at Careswell were heightened by +the charm of his beautiful wife. He was elected governor in 1673, which +office he held until his death. He was succeeded by his only surviving +son. + +ISAAC WINSLOW, born in 1670 and died Dec. 6, 1738. This eminently +distinguished man sustained the chief places of power and honor in the +colony, and was a worthy successor to his father in being its chief +military commander, a member of the Council for more than 20 years and +for some time its president, and for several years Chief Justice of the +Court of Common Pleas, and Judge of Probate; the last office he held at +his death. His eldest son, Josiah, graduated at Harvard College in 1721, +was killed in battle with the French and Indians at Georges Island, May +1st, 1724. His second son, great grandson of the first governor of +Plymouth, was the celebrated + +JOHN WINSLOW, born in Marshfield, May 27, 1702, and died in Hingham, +1774, in his 73rd year. No native of New England, probably, except Sir +William Pepperell, was more distinguished as a military leader. In +1740-1 he was a captain in the unfortunate expedition to Cartagena under +the command of Admiral Vernon, and subsequently endured much hard +service in the several enterprises against Crown Point and Nova Scotia. +He will be remembered in our annals principally in removing the +Arcadians from Nova Scotia. The forces employed by the Colony at this +period was composed almost entirely of Massachusetts troops, specially +enlisted for the service to act as a distinct body. They formed into a +regiment of two battalions, of which Governor Shirley was the Colonel, +and of which Winslow, then a half-pay Captain in the British army and a +Major-General in the Militia, was Lieutenant-Colonel. As Shirley could +not leave his government to take command in person, Monckton, a +Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army, was appointed to conduct the first +battalion and Winslow the second. The plan for abducting the Arcadians +was kept a profound secret, both by those who formed it and by those who +were sent to execute, the home government knew nothing about it and it +appears to have been done solely by the Colonial government; Colonel +Winslow was but the instrument and acted under the Governor's written +and positive instructions. + +In 1756 Major-General Winslow took the field with eight thousand men +raised in New England and New York to repel the French invasion and +marched against Montcalm, who to save Crown Point and Ticonderoga made a +movement from Oswego by the St. Lawrence River. As soon as the French +General returned to Canada, Winslow and his army returned to +Massachusetts. + +In 1762 he was appointed with William Brattle and James Otis to act as +Commissioner "to repair to the river St. Croix, determine where the +easterly line of Maine is to begin and extend the said line as far as +should be thought necessary." In compliment to General Winslow, "the +fourth of a family more eminent for their talents, learning and honors +than any other in New England," one of the towns on the Kennebec River +in 1771 was called by his name. Of this town he was one of the original +grantees. He died at Hingham in 1774, aged seventy-one, leaving two sons +and a widow, who embarked with the Royal Army from Boston in 1776. She +was in England in 1783, and enjoyed a pension from the government. + +Pelham Winslow, eldest son of General John, was born June 8th, 1737, +graduated at Harvard College in 1753, and entered the office of James +Otis to fit himself for the bar, was a staunch loyalist. In 1774 he +abandoned his home to escape mob violence and took refuge in Boston. At +the evacuation in 1776 he accompanied the Royal Army to Halifax, and +thence went to New York, where he entered the military service of the +Crown, and was Major. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. He died at +Brooklyn, New York, in 1783, leaving a wife and an infant daughter. + +Dr. Isaac Winslow, second son of General John, born April 7, 1739, +graduated at Harvard College in 1762, died in 1819. He commenced the +practice of physic, and though of the same principles as other members +of his family, remained upon his estate during the war, and his life, +thereby saving it from confiscation, for although he was a strong +loyalist his medical services were of such great value to the +revolutionists that they did not drive him forth and deprive him of his +property. Sabine says: I find it said, and the authority good, that in +1778 he treated about three hundred patients inoculated with smallpox, +and such was his remarkable success not one of them died. His son John, +an eminent lawyer, deceased at Natchez in 1820. His widow, Frances, died +at Hingham in 1846, aged eighty-four. The family tomb of the Winslows is +at Marshfield, on the Careswell estate, of which Governor Winslow was +the first owner. It was afterwards purchased by Daniel Webster, on which +he resided until his death. + +EDWARD WINSLOW, only brother of General John, born June 7, 1714, died at +Halifax in 1784, aged seventy-two years. He graduated at Harvard College +in 1765, resided at Plymouth, was Clerk of the Courts, Register of +Probate, Collector of the Port. He was obliged to seek shelter in Boston +from mob violence, at the evacuation in 1776 went with the Army to +Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he died. The ceremonies at his funeral were +of a style to confer the highest honors to himself, and his illustrious +family. His estates in Massachusetts were confiscated, but every branch +of his family was amply provided for by the generosity of the British +Government. + +EDWARD WINSLOW, JR., only son of the aforesaid Edward. He was born in +1745, died at Fredericton, N. B., 1815, aged seventy years, graduated at +Harvard College in 1765. In 1774, the Plymouth County Convention +"Resolved, That Edward Winslow, Jr., one of the two clerks of the Court +of General Sessions of the Peace and Court of Common Pleas for this +County, has, by refusing this body a copy of an Address made at the last +term in this County, to Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., betrayed the trust +reposed in him, by refusing his attendance when requested, treated the +body of this county with insult and contempt, and by that means rendered +himself unworthy to serve the county in said office." + +In 1775 he joined the Royal Army at Boston, and entering the service +became a Colonel. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. In 1782 he was +Muster-Master-General of the Loyalist forces employed under the Crown. +After the war he settled in New Brunswick, and was a member of the first +Council formed in that Colony, Surrogate-General, Judge of the Supreme +Court, and finally Administrator of the Government. The Royal Arms which +for many years were displayed in the Council Chamber in the Old State +House in Boston, still exist, and are carefully preserved in Trinity +church, St. John, N. B. The story of their exit from Boston, and by what +means they came to find a permanent home at St. John, were not known +till recently, when documents were found, which leave no question or +room for doubt. + +In the winter of 1785 Edward Winslow was at Halifax and Ward Chipman, a +fellow refugee from Boston, had taken up his residence at St. John. In a +letter of Mr. Winslow to Mr. Chipman on the 16th January, 1785, he says, +"Give my old Custom House seal to Mr. Leonard, and tell him I'll forward +_the famous carv'd Coat of Arms_ by the first conveyance from Halifax." +A subsequent letter to Mr. Chipman, refers more fully to the subject +which is in part as follows: + + Halifax, 25 March, 1785. + + My Dear Fellow: + + By the schooner Halifax I send a small assortment of stationery as + per invoice.... In the box with your stationery is a venerable Coat + of Arms, which I authorize you to present to the Council Chamber, + or any other respectable public Room, which you shall think best + entitled to it. They (Lyon & Unicorn) were constant members of the + Council at Boston (by mandamus) ran away when the others did--have + suffered--are of course Refugees and have a claim for residence at + New Brunswick. + + Cordially yours + ED. WINSLOW.[258] + Ward Chipman, Esq. + + [258] See Royal Memorials by Rev. Edmund F. Shafter. Also cut of Coat of + Arms on outside cover of this work. + +Judge Winslow was one of the founders of the Old Colony Club, at +Plymouth, and was one of its most active members. He delivered the first +anniversary address of that association on the 22 of December or +Forefathers' Day, in 1770. + +ISAAC WINSLOW was a Boston merchant, son of Col. Edward Winslow, born +May 2, 1709. He was the third in descent from John Winslow who came from +Droitwich to Boston in 1655, and died in 1674. He was a brother of +Governor Edward of the Plymouth Colony. He was a gentleman highly +esteemed for his benevolence and other virtues. He graduated at Harvard +College in 1727, then entered the counting room of James Bowdoin, and +subsequently with his brother Joshua carried on an extensive and +profitable business in Boston. They also became considerable ship +owners, and had one ship constantly in the London trade. Joshua was one +of the consignees of the tea destroyed by the mob. Isaac retired from +business in 1753, and became a resident of Roxbury. He was the last +occupant of the Dudley mansion, which was razed to the ground a few days +after the battle of Bunker Hill, to make way for the works erected here +by the Americans. The Universalist church was built upon its site. In +making the necessary excavation for the church, the wine cellar of the +mansion was unearthed and strange to say, as it may seem, the liquors +were, after a lapse of forty-five years, found intact.[259] + + [259] The Town of Roxbury. Francis S. Drake, pp. 355-6. + +In June 1760 he received the thanks of the town for a gift of land near +Meeting House Hill. His first wife, Lucy, daughter of Gen. Samuel Waldo, +died in Roxbury in 1763, at the age of forty-three. + +In 1774 he was an Addresser of Gov. Hutchinson, and 1775 of Gen. Gage. +He was appointed Mandamus Councillor, and was qualified. This was an +offence that could not be forgiven by the disunionists. + +Though a loyalist, his moderation and his character made him less +obnoxious to the revolutionists than his neighbors, Auchmuty, Hallowell, +and Loring. His virtues, however, could not save him from the fury of +the mob. Immediately after the Lexington affair, he took refuge in +Boston. + +In 1776, with his family of ten persons, he accompanied the Royal Army +to Halifax, and in 1778 was proscribed and banished, and his estates +confiscated. In his religious belief he was a Sandemanian. Jemima, his +widow, died at London in 1790. + +REV. EDWARD WINSLOW was an Episcopal minister of Braintree, now Quincy, +Mass. He was born in Boston in 1722. Graduated at Harvard College in +1741. His father Joshua was a brother of the aforesaid Isaac Winslow, +and son of Colonel Edward Winslow. + +The North Precinct of Braintree, now Quincy, had the reputation of being +a "nest of Tories," owing to the presence of the Church of England +people, connected with Christ Church. The mother English society was +most liberal in dealing with its offshoot and until the Revolution, it +annually sent over sixty pounds sterling for the support of the +minister. In all, it is said to have spent over thirteen thousand +dollars in building up this church. Naturally the society was inclined +to a friendly feeling toward the hand which fed it. To it the +Apthorpe's, the Vassall's, the Borland's, the Cleverly's and the +Millers, indeed all the gentry of the neighborhood with the exception of +the Quincy's, belonged, the Adam's not being in this class at that time. +It was here the same as elsewhere throughout the colonies, the ministers +of the Established Church of England stood condemned in the eyes of +revolutionists, neither seclusion, insignificance nor high character was +able to save the clergy from the fury of the mobs. + +In June, 1777, a town meeting was called for the purpose of agreeing +upon a list of those persons who were "esteemed inimical" to the popular +cause. This was in the nature of a formal indictment of the whole +society, for among the names of those recorded as "inimical" were its +rector, its wardens, and all its leading members. + +The Rev. Edward Winslow, the rector of Christ Church, found his +situation uncomfortable in the extreme, nor was it any longer safe for +him to read the prayer for the King. Yet he seems to have struggled on +vainly hoping for better days, until his salary was stopped, and many of +his people had moved away. Then in 1777, taking very properly the ground +that his ordination oath compelled him to conform literally to the +Prayer Book he "with sad and silent musings" resigned his charge. Going +to New York, which was then in British occupation, Mr. Winslow died +there in 1780 before the close of the war. He lies buried under the +altar of St. George's Church in that city. Jane Isabella, his widow, +died at Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1793, aged sixty-six. + +Joseph Winslow of Boston was a merchant, he was born in 1724, and died +in 1777, was the son of Kenelm, the great grandson of Kenelm of +Droitwich, the brother of Governor Winslow, who died at Salem in 1672. + +[Illustration: SIR ROGER HALE SHEAFFE, BARONET. + +Born in Boston in 1763. Though reluctant to serve against his +countrymen, yet at Queenstown's Heights he drove the American army over +the heights into the Niagra river, for which he received the title of +Baronet. Died at Edinburgh in 1851.] + +He was possibly the Joseph Winslow who took part at the Siege of +Louisberg, and was amongst the number to volunteer under the command of +Bacon to attack the island Battery, and was the Joseph Winslow referred +to by the Committee of Newport, R. I., of which Jonathan Otis was +chairman, who wrote to the Committee of Easthampton, New York, in June, +1775, that he was "an inveterate enemy of our country" and that "it was +generally thought he had gone to a hospital to take the small pox for +the purpose of spreading the disease in the Whig Camp at Cambridge." +Sabine says the truth of this averment may be doubted. + + +LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO ISAAC WINSLOW IN SUFFOLK COUNTY + AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Ebenezer Crosbey, June 15, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 20; Assignment + of mortgage Joseph Crosby to Isaac Winslow, dated Aug. 5, 1768. + + + + + SIR ROGER HALE SHEAFFE, BARONET. + + +WILLIAM S. SHEAFFE, of Charlestown, was born in 1649, and married in +1672 Ruth Woods. He was a mariner, and they had three sons and three +daughters. His son William, born 1683, married Mary Longfellow, a widow, +in 1704. He died in 1718, and his widow in 1720. They had five sons and +two daughters. His eldest son William Sheaffe, Jr., was born 13 Jan., +1705. He graduated at Harvard College in 1723, and married Susanna +Child, Oct. 1st, 1752.[260] + + [260] There was a family of Sheaffe's in Boston much earlier than 1672, + when William Sheaffe's name first appears on the records, but I do not + find any connection between the two families, except that James Sheaffe + of Portsmouth, N. H., of the Boston family, was a loyalist. He was + allowed to remain, although much persecuted. (See Heraldic Journal, Vol. + IX. p. 85, also Wyman's Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown, and + History of Portsmouth, N. H.) + +WILLIAM SHEAFFE was Deputy Collector of Customs of Boston. He frequently +acted as Collector in the absence of Sir Henry Frankland, who held that +office in 1759, and when the Baronet was removed for inattention to his +duties, he was appointed to fill the vacant place, and issued the +celebrated "Writs of Assistance," giving the Revenue officers the right +to search for smuggled goods. Roger Hale succeeded as Collector in 1672, +when Sheaffe was again Deputy. He continued in that office under Joseph +Harrison, who was the last Royal Collector of the port. Mr. Sheaffe died +in 1771, leaving a large family in poverty. There is ample evidence that +Mrs. Sheaffe was an intelligent, excellent woman, and bore many trials +with pious resignation, and that the Sheaffe's were a loving and happy +family. Mrs. Sheaffe died in 1811. + +SUSANNA, Mr. Sheaffe's eldest daughter, who died in 1834, married +Captain Ponsonby Molesworth, a nephew of Lord Ponsonby. The family +account is that on the day of the landing of the British troops in +Boston, a regiment halted in Queen (Court) street, opposite Mr. +Sheaffe's house, that, Susanna attracted by the music, accompanied by +her younger sisters, went upon the balcony, that Captain Molesworth saw +her, was struck with her great beauty, gazed upon her intently, and at +last, said to a brother officer, who like himself was leaning against a +fence, "That girl seals my fate." An introduction, and a visit followed, +and the maiden's heart rapidly won, but then came sorrow, for Susanna +was barely fifteen, and parental consent to her marriage was refused. +Her governess, to whom she entrusted her grief, espoused her cause, and +favored immediate union, and the result accordingly was, the flight of +the three to Rhode Island, where the loving pair were married. +Molesworth sold his commission in 1776, and in December of that year was +in England with his wife. Their married life proved uncommonly happy; +and they lived to see their children's children. + +Another daughter, Helen, of remarkable beauty, married a revolutionist, +James Lovell, who became Naval Officer of Boston. Their grandson, +Mansfield Lovell, was a General in the Confederate service, and was in +command at New Orleans, when it was captured by the Union forces. The +General was true to the disunion instincts of his grandfather. + +SIR ROGER HALE SHEAFFE, BARONET, the subject of this sketch, was son of +William Sheaffe. Born in Boston in 1763. His mother, after the death of +his father, removed to a wooden house which was standing till recently +on the corner of Essex and Columbia (formerly Auchmuty street) which was +owned by her father. Lord Percy, afterward, Duke of Northumberland hired +quarters there, soon became attached to Roger, and assumed the care of +him. It would seem that the original intention of his Lordship was to +provide for the boy in the Navy, for Mrs. Sheaffe wrote, in December +1776, she was told "Earl Percy had taken my son Roger from the Admiral's +ship, given him a commission in the Army (which I must not say that I am +sorry for), and sent him to England to an academy for education under +his patronage." In 1778 Roger was dangerously ill, and on becoming +convalescent, passed two months in Devonshire, with his sister, Mrs. +Molesworth. In a letter dated at the Academy, Little Chelsea, early in +1779, he said, Lord Percy is as good as ever. He has given me a +commission in his own regiment, the Fifth, now in the West Indies. I +shall not join it for a year. + +My love to my dear sister and brother. Remember me kindly to all my +friends in Boston. You may be sure that I shall follow your advice +strictly, that I may be all that you wish, shall be the endeavor of your +most dutiful and affectionate son. + +In 1786 Captain Molesworth said in a letter to his mother-in-law, Mrs. +Sheaffe, The Duke of Northumberland has lodged money to buy Roger a +Company, which, when he is in possession of, he will have it in his +power more fully to manifest his affection for so good a mother. Roger's +sister, Mrs. Molesworth, at the same period wrote her mother, "He is as +good a young man as ever lived. Lord Percy continues his kindness to +him. He improves very much, and is a great favorite with all his +masters." Again, "Roger behaves remarkably well, is much liked in the +Regiment; he is tall, well made, and reckoned handsome, very lively, yet +prudent and steady in matters of consequence. He wishes, as much as we +do, to go to Boston." + +In 1791 Lieutenant Sheaffe was at Detroit, which post was still held by +England, on account of the non-fulfillment of some of the terms of the +treaty of peace. In 1794, before the surrender of the "Western Posts" as +they were called, Lieutenant Sheaffe delivered a letter to Capt. +Williamson, which was unequivocally of a military and hostile nature. + +"I am commanded to declare that during the inexecution of the treaty of +peace between Great Britain and the United States, and until the +existing differences respecting it, shall be mutually and finally +adjusted, the taking possession of any part of the Indian territory, +either for purposes of war or sovereignty, is held to be a direct +violation of his Britannic Majesty's rights, as they unquestionably +existed before the treaty, and has an immediate tendency to interrupt, +and in its progress destroy, that good understanding which has hitherto +subsisted between his Britannic Majesty and the United States of +America. I, therefore require you to desist from any such aggression. R. +H. Sheaffe, Lieut. 5th Reg't. and Qr. M'r. Gen. Dept. of his Britannic +Majesty's service." + +In 1801 he was in service in the attack on Copenhagen under Lord Nelson; +and though poor, just one-half of his prize money was sent to his mother +in Boston. + +At the battle of Queenstown Heights, he was a Colonel in General Brocks +army; that gallant officer was slain at 7 o'clock in the morning. At +noon, Colonel Sheaffe moved up from Niagara, took command of the forces +and drove the Americans over the rocky heights into the river. For this +victory he was made a Major General, and created a Baronet. At this +period General Scott (who was the conqueror of Mexico, and Commander in +Chief of the United States forces at the outbreak of the Civil War,) was +a Colonel, and was taken prisoner by General Sheaffe, who related to him +some of the circumstances of his military career, in substance, that in +1775, he was living in Boston with his widowed mother with whom Earl +Percy had his quarters, that his Lordship was very fond of him, and took +him away with him in view of providing for him, which he did, by giving +him a military education, and by purchasing a commission and promotion +to as high rank as is allowed by the rules of the service, and that the +war then existing found him stationed in Canada. He stated moreover, +that, reluctant to serve gainst his own countrymen, he solicited to be +employed elsewhere, but at that time his request had not been granted. + +Major General Sheaffe, commanded the British Army in person, and after +the battle of Queenstown Heights, he moved upon Little York, now +Toronto, and captured it. During these operations he lost his baggage +and papers, which General Dearborn informed the Secretary of War "were a +valuable acquisition." + +In April, 1813, within a week of the fall of Little York, in a letter +from his wife's mother to her niece, Miss Child, dated at Quebec, she +says, "It is possible that you may not have heard that your cousin, Sir +Roger Sheaffe has had the title of Baronet of Great Britain conferred on +him, by our Prince Regent, a handsome compliment, which I trust will be +followed by something substantial to support it. Sir Roger is so pressed +with public business as to allow him scarcely time to attend to his +private concerns. My dear Margaret is still in Quebec, with her lovely +little Julia, as Upper Canada is still the seat of war. Her elevation to +rank, has not in the least deprived her of her native humility and +meekness. The manner it was announced to her was rather singular. She +was met by a gentleman in the street, as she was going to church, who +accosted her by the title of 'Lady Sheaffe', and put a letter in her +hand from the Duke of Northumberland, addressed to 'Lady Sheaffe' which +she received with her usual equanimity." + +In 1841 he writes to his cousin, Miss Susan Child of Boston, "The year +1834 was indeed a sad one, in it we lost the last of our children, and +in the same year died my sister Molesworth, a brother of Lady Sheaffe, +my late brother William's eldest son, named after me, a Captain in the +Army, and also Lord Cragie, the brother of your cousin, Mrs. Cragie's +husband. I retain a good share of activity, as well as of erect military +carriage, my sight is good, my teeth in a state to create envy in a +majority of American misses, my appetite never fails and I sleep well." +In January, 1842, he spoke of William, eldest surviving son of his +brother William thus: "He is my natural heir, and having adopted him when +he was ten years of age; and it having pleased God to take all my +children from me. I regard him as a son." + +Sir Roger H. Sheaffe died at Edinburgh in 1851, aged eighty-eight. He +visited Boston, his native town, four times, namely, in 1788, in 1792-3, +in 1803 and in 1806. He was respected and loved by his kinsmen to a +remarkable degree. He was of medium stature, his person was well formed, +his face was fine, his eyes of the deepest blue, full and prominent; and +his teeth were of the purest white, regular and even, and were retained +to the close of his life. Lady Sheaffe was Margrate, daughter of John +Coffin and a cousin of Lieutenant-General John and of Admiral Sir Isaac +Coffin. She was the mother of four children, who, as we have seen, died +before her husband. The remains of Sir Roger's father and mother, of his +brother Thomas Child, of his sisters Helen, Salley, Nancy, and Margaret, +and of others of his lineage, were deposited in the Child Tomb, Trinity +Church, Summer street, Boston.[261] + + [261] Most of the information contained in this article was obtained by + L. Sabine, from Miss Isabella Child, Thomas Hale Child and Miss Mary P. + Hale, relatives of Sir Roger H. Sheaffe. + +Nathaniel Sheaffe, oldest brother of Sir Roger, was a clerk in the +Custom House, but at the death of his father in 1771, he left, in order +to better provide for his mother and sisters, of whom he had the care. +At the outbreak of the Revolution, he went to Jamaica, "where he +intended to stay till the times will permit him to come home." He died +January 29, 1777, and was buried in the churchyard at Morant Bay, +Jamaica. + +THOMAS CHILD SHEAFFE, brother of Sir Roger, went to New York after the +evacuation of Boston. He was engaged in trade with the West Indies and +Souther Ports. He died in Boston previous to 1793. + + + + + JONATHAN SAYWARD. + + +The name Saward or Sayward is an ancient Teutonic personal name, sae, +the sea and weard, a keeper--the Guardian of the Sea, and was applied to +the high admiral in Saxon times. + +Henry Sayward came over to this country from England in 1637. He resided +a few years at Hampton and Portsmouth, and then came to York. He was by +occupation a millwright and carpenter, a man much needed, as mills were +the principal sources of income to the new settlers. The town of York +granted him three hundred acres of upland on the west side of the York +river, and the selectmen laid the same out to him June 20th, 1667. Here +he settled, and built a saw mill, and carried on a large business. He +also at this time built the meeting house at York. He was constable of +York in 1664, Selectman in 1667, Grand Juryman in 1668-9. His wife's +name was Mary, and it has been claimed she was the daughter of John +Cousins, of Casco Bay. He died in 1679. There is no record of the birth +of their children, as the records of the Town of York were destroyed by +the Indians on Feb. 5, 1692, but there is a deposition and deeds, which +prove they had three sons and three daughters. + +JONATHAN SAYWARD, the second son of Henry and Mary Sayward, resided in +York. Very little is known concerning him. In 1687 there was a grant of +land made to him by the town, on Little River, near Wells. He died +previous to 1699. + +JOSEPH SAYWARD, son of the aforesaid, was born at York, March 17, 1702. +He was constable in 1716. Moderator and Selectman in 1721. At this date +the meeting voted "that Mr. Joseph Sayward shall have the full +management to build a sufficient fortification about our Parsonage home, +of ten foot high, and fifty foot square, with two good buskins, or +flancers, of ten foot square, all to be built of square hard timber, of +ten inches thick, to be built forthwith, and said Sayward to keep a just +and full account of ye cost and charge thereof." In 1723 the Indians +were troublesome. A company under Captain Bragdon was sent in pursuit of +them, a journal of their proceedings was kept by Joseph Sayward, which +is in the Mass. Archives. + +He married Mary, daughter of Samuel and Deborah Webber, of York, and had +five sons and four daughters. + +JONATHAN SAYWARD, eldest son of the aforesaid Joseph, and of the fourth +generation in this country, and the subject of this sketch, was born at +York, November 9, 1713. He began to take an interest in public affairs +early in life. He was chosen town clerk in 1736, and constable in 1741. +He was commissioned by Governor Shirley to command the sloop "Sea +Flower" in the expedition against Louisburg in 1744, in which he took an +important part. + +He was chosen Representative to the General Court of Massachusetts for +the years 1766, 7, 8. + +In 1772 he was appointed by Governor Hutchinson as Special Justice of +the Court of Common Pleas, and Judge of Probate for York County. + +He was for many years extensively engaged in shipping, and at one time +owned about twenty vessels, which were employed in the Southern and West +India trade. He was one of the most extensive land owners in York, and +was one of the proprietors of the town of Shapleigh. + +When the Revolution broke out he was living in affluence in the +beautiful mansion which he had built on the York river, near the mill +site granted to his ancestors. At this time he had several vessels with +valuable cargoes in the West Indies, and large sums of money invested in +personal securities, on the income of which he enjoyed a satisfactory +and honorable independence, but all was swept away in the Revolution. + +Judge Sayward was one of the seventeen "Rescinders." He was not only +decided in his attachment to the Crown, but was of the opinion that the +Revolution would cause the decline of national virtue and prosperity in +America. He fared hard at the hands of the "Sons of Liberty," and by +remaining was obliged to bear contempt and insult, and by his own +account never went out without L100 in his pocket, so as to be ever +ready to escape from his persecutors. But, however bad he was treated in +the early days of the great struggle, he seems to have regained the +confidence of his townsmen, for in 1780 he was elected Moderator of the +town meeting, and auditor of selectmen accounts in 1782. + +His mansion home previously referred to is among the most interesting of +the many historic homes in the ancient town of York, and what makes it +doubly so is the fact that it contains all the original furniture, +books, painting, silver plate, and the "loote" he obtained at the +capture of Louisburg and brought home with him, consisting of rare +chinaware, two very large candlesticks, a pair of andirons, a warming +pan and brass tongs, all of which are now in a good state of +preservation. There is also a full length portrait of Judge Sayward and +another of his wife, with costumes of their times, and one of his +daughter Sarah, at the age of twenty-three, painted by Blackburn at +Charleston in 1761, a pupil of Copley. As works of art these paintings +are pronounced by connoisseurs as exceedingly fine. The family coat of +arms of the Saywards, in color, occupies a conspicuous place over the +mantel piece, on the back of which is the following memorandum, which +proves conclusively that it was legally granted: + + London, July 1st, 1762. + + The arms of Jonathan Sayward, Esqr., of Old York, in the Province + of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, Merchant, Rec'd this 1st + of July, 1762, from the College of Arms, Herald's Office. The + painting, Vellum, Frame and Glass as it now stands cost 32-6 + Sterling Rec'd by his most dutifull Humble Servt. + + Nath. Barrell. + +There is also a commission from Governor Shirley to Jonathan Sayward, to +command the sloop "Sea Flower" in the Louisburg expedition. The mansion +is full of articles worth the attention of those of historical, +antiquarian taste. Judge Sayward died May 8, 1797, and is buried in the +old burying ground in York Village. + +He married in 1736 Sarah Mitchell, who died in 1775. They had only one +child, Sarah, born 1738, who married Nathaniel Barrell of Portsmouth, +merchant. They were married at the judge's mansion in 1758. She was a +great belle in her time, and was the general favorite of the village. +She died in 1808, and her husband in 1831, aged 99 years. They had +eleven children. + +The mansion was for many years owned and occupied by Elizabeth and Mary +Barrell, daughters of Jonathan Sayward Barrell, granddaughters of the +Judge. They took great pleasure in exhibiting the house and the many +interesting relics and heirlooms of their grandfather, and it is largely +due to them that the same was kept intact, and not distributed at their +death, as many members of the family desired. Elizabeth died in the old +mansion November 12, 1883, aged 84 years, and her sister Mary died at +the same place, June 6, 1889, aged 85 years.[262] + + [262] The Sayward Family, 1890. + + + + + DEBLOIS FAMILY. + + +ETIENNE DEBLOIS was born in France, and for a time lived in Belgium. He +was a French Huguenot, and the family name was DeChatillon. He was +descended from the last counts of Blois and was banished from France at +the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. After living in the Low +Countries, he removed to England and was present at the battle of the +Boyne. His sister was burnt at the stake in Ireland by the Papists, and +he died in England. + +Stephen Deblois, son of Etienne, was born in Oxford, England, in 1699. +He came to New York in the Frigate Sea Horse, commanded by Captain +Dumaresq. In 1720 he removed to Boston. He married February 6, 1721, Ann +Farley, of English parentage. His death occurred in Boston in 1785, and +his large estate was settled in 1790. In his will he says: "My two sons +has been obliged to leave and I do not expect to see them again." + +GILBERT DEBLOIS, son of the latter was born in New York city, March 17, +1725. He became a prosperous Merchant in Boston. In 1749 he married Ann, +daughter of William and Ann Holmes Coffin, and granddaughter of +Nathaniel Coffin. In 1774 Gilbert Deblois was an Addresser of +Hutchinson, and in 1775 an Addresser of Gage. In 1776 he went to Halifax +with his younger brother Lewis, and then must have returned to New York +before his departure for England, according to an account in +Hutchinson's Diary. + +Dec. 23, 1776--Gilbert Deblois arrived in one of the transports from New +York. + +While residing in Boston, Mr. Deblois planted some elms in front of the +Granary, just opposite his house on Tremont Street. These famous trees +afterwards became known as the Paddock elms. Mr. Deblois had asked +Paddock to keep an eye to their safety, and Adino Paddock performed this +duty faithfully. + +In a letter written by James Murray to a friend in New York, dated +September 30, 1769, he speaks of Mr. Deblois' assistance to him when he +was attacked by a mob. "Mr. Deblois threw himself in my rear, and +suffered not a little in my defence." + +In 1778 Gilbert Deblois was proscribed and banished, and his estate +confiscated. The year following he was in London and addressed the king. +His death occurred in that city in 1792, aged sixty-seven. + +LEWIS DEBLOIS, brother to Gilbert, married Elizabeth Jenkins of Boston, +in 1748. He was a prominent merchant in Boston, was an Addresser of +General Gage in 1775. He went to Halifax on the evacuation of Boston in +1776. + +He was proscribed and banished. He died very suddenly in England, (after +being out all day) in 1779, aged seventy-one. + +George Deblois, son of the aforesaid was born in Boston in 1753. He was +a merchant in Salem. He was an Addresser of General Gage in 1774. He +went to England. In 1784, there was a George Deblois, a merchant at +Halifax, N. S., probably his son. The widow of a George Deblois died in +the same city in 1827, aged seventy-four. + +LEWIS DEBLOIS, brother of the aforesaid, was born in Boston in 1762. He +went to New Brunswick and was a prominent merchant in St. John, and in +1795 a member of the company of Loyal Artillery. He died in that city in +1802. His daughter Elizabeth Cranston married James White, Esq., Sheriff +of the County of St. John. + + +LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO GILBERT DEBLOIS IN SUFFOLK + COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Gilbert Deblois, Jr., Feb. 3, 1783; Lib. 137 fol. 28; Two thirds + of land and brick warehouse in Boston, Cornhlll W., Spring Lane N.; + Stephen Minot E.; land of Old South Church S. + + To Ann Deblois, wife of Gilbert Deblois, Oct. 17, 1783; Lib. 151 + fol. 217; Two thirds of land and house in Boston, Common St. W.; + Martha Symmes N.; E.; N. and E.; Moses Gill N.; William Dana E.; + Rawsons Lane S. + + + + + LYDE FAMILY. + + +Edward Lyde married in 1660 Mary, daughter of Rev. John Wheelwright, and +died before 1663. He had an only son Edward, who married Susanna Curwin, +daughter of Captain George Curwin. His second wife was Deborah, daughter +of Hon. Nathaniel Byfield, 1696. In 1685 Edward Lyde and William +Williams witnessed a deed that the Indian Chief Wamatuck and his +Counsellors signed by making their marks. It was concerning land in +Boston Harbor. In 1702-3 he was a warden of Kings Chapel. + +Byfield Lyde, eldest son of the preceding, was born in Boston in 1704. +Graduated at Harvard College in 1723. He was an Addresser of Governor +Hutchinson in 1774, and a Protester against the disunionists the same +year, and in 1775 he was an Addresser of General Gage. His wife, Sarah, +the only daughter of Governor Belcher, died in Boston, October 10, 1768, +aged sixty-one. In 1776 he accompanied the Royal Army to Halifax and +died there the same year. + +EDWARD LYDE, second son of Edward Lyde, was born in Boston in 1725. He +was a merchant, and was proscribed, banished, and his property +confiscated. It was bought in by his brother Nathaniel (born in 1735) +who was allowed to remain. + +Hutchinson, in his diary May 3rd, 1770, says: "Landed at Halifax. Edward +Lyde, Esq., invited me to his house, where I tarried till I embarqued +for England. I was very happy in being at Mr. Lyde's as there was so +great an addition to the inhabitants from the navy and army and Refugees +from Boston which made the lodgings for them very scarce to be had, and +many of them when procured, quite intolerable." Again in his diary June +7, 1776, Hutchinson says: "Ned Lyde had arrived with others at Dover." + +Edward Lyde died in New York in 1812, aged eighty-seven. + +GEORGE LYDE, of Boston, in 1770, was appointed Collector of the Port of +Falmouth, (Portland) Maine, and continued there until the beginning of +the Revolution. He was an Addresser of Governor Hutchinson in 1774, and +in 1778 was proscribed and banished. He was in England in 1780. + + +LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO EDWARD LYDE IN SUFFOLK COUNTY + AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Nathaniel Byfield Lyde, Feb. 21, 1785; Land and buildings in + Boston, Summer St. S., Bishop's Alley W.; heirs of Andrew + Cunningham deceased N.; land formerly of John Simpson deceased E. + + + + + JAMES BOUTINEAU. + + +STEPHEN BOUTINEAU was one of the French Protestants, or Huguenots who +came to Falmouth (Portland), Maine, in 1687, in company with Peter +Bowdoin, Philip LeBretton, Philip Barger and others. He married Mary, +daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Bowdoin in 1708. He was in 1748 the only +surviving elder of the French Church on School street, Boston, of which +Andrew Le Mercier was minister.[263] His son James Boutineau was born 27 +January, 1710, he was an Attorney-at-law. In 1774 he was appointed +Mandamus-Counsellor, and was one of the ten who took the oath of office. +His daughter Nancy was married on Oct. 5, 1769, to John Robinson, a +commissioner of the customs, but previous to this marriage Robinson was +accused of assault upon James Otis, the latter, one of the most +formidable of the "Patriots" met Commissioner Robinson at the +Coffee-house and trouble ensued. As usual in all such cases, the friends +of each party made out a good case for their respective sides, the +matter was carried into court, where it was kept for about four years +and the jury finally brought in damages in favor of Otis. In the +meantime Robinson and his wife had gone to England, and as Mr. Boutineau +was a lawyer, he managed the case for his son-in-law, who apologized for +injuring Otis. Mr. Otis refused the fine of 2,000 pounds sterling, and +nothing was demanded of Robinson but the costs of court and the amount +of Mr. Otis' surgeon's bill, altogether amounting to about 112 pounds, +lawful money. The affair ended in the Courts about 1772. + + [263] New Eng. His. Gen. Vol. 8, p. 247. + +James Boutineau was included in the Conspiracy Act of 1779, and his +estate was confiscated under its provisions. He went to England, and his +death occurred in that country. Mrs. Boutineau was a sister of Peter +Faneuil, and another sister married Edward Jones, a merchant in Boston. +Mrs. Jones went to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and while there received a +letter from the Boutineaus in England, in which she was informed that, +"Mr. and Mrs. Faneuil, who lodge in the same house with us, make it +agreeable;" and that "there are one or two other genteel gentlemen and +ladies, so that during the winter we drank tea with each other four days +in the week." Of other fellow Loyalists, Mrs. Boutineau writes, that +"Lodgings have been taken for Mr. Sewell, of Cambridge, and +family,--they are expected here this day. Colonel Murray's family are +gone to Wales, as well as Judge Browne and Apthorp's. All the New +England people here, are Barnes and family, Captain Fenton and daughter, +besides those in the house." In a postscript, she adds: "I desire you to +inform me (if you can) who lives in my house in Boston." In a letter to +her sister, dated April 1, 1785, Mrs. Boutineau tells Mrs. Mary Ann +Jones who was residing in Boston at that time that her health is "very +indifferent," and that "Mr. Faneuil had a letter lately from Mr. Jones, +who is going soon to be very well married," etc. + + +LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO JAMES BOUTINEAU, ET AL., IN + SUFFOLK COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Samuel Clark, Feb. 26, 1780; Lib. 131 fol. 58; Land and + dwelling-house in Boston, School St. S.; the town's land W.; John + Rowe N., Joseph Green E.--Garden land near the above, Cook's Alley + W.; Leverett Saltonstall N., William Powell E,; S. and E.; Leverett + Saltonstall S. [Description corrected in margin of record.] + + To Samuel Broome, July 24, 1780; Lib. 131 fol. 327; Land and + dwelling-house in Boston, Milk St. S.; land of old South Church W.; + Stephen Minot N.; widow Jones E.; N. and E.--Pasture land, 1 A. 10 + r. opposite said dwelling-house, Milk St. N.; Cole, Decoster et al. + E.; heirs of Barnabas Binney et al. S.; heirs of John Greenleaf + deceased W. + + + + + COLONEL WILLIAM BROWNE. + + +The Brownes of Salem, Mass., are descended from an old respected family +of "Browne Hall," Lancashire, England. Simon Browne, Barrister, resided +there in 1540, and removed to Brundish, Suffolk. His son Thomas died +there in 1608, and his son Francis died there in 1626. His son Hon. +William, born 1608, came to Salem in 1635, became a merchant in Salem, +and was eminent for his exemplary life, and public charities. He died in +1687. Major William Browne, son of the preceding, was born in 1639. He +was a Councillor and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Essex +County. He was a successful merchant, and a man of great influence in +the Colony. He married Hannah, daughter of Captain George Curwin. He +died in 1716, at the age of seventy-eight. + +COLONEL SAMUEL BROWNE, son of the aforesaid, was born in 1669. He was +the first town Treasurer of Salem, was many years a Representative, +Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Essex County, was also Chief +Justice of said Court, also Colonel and Councillor. He was said to be by +far the greatest merchant in his day, in the County of Essex. He +emulated the beneficence of his father, uncle, and grandfather, in +bequeathing large sums to Harvard College, and to schools in Salem. He +died in 1731, aged 62. His son Samuel graduated at Harvard College, +1727. He married a daughter of John Winthrop, F. R. S., of New London, +Conn., and died in 1742, aged 34. He was concerned in mercantile +affairs. + +COLONEL WILLIAM BROWNE, son of the aforesaid Samuel, was born at Salem +in 1737, was a grandson of Governor Burnet. He graduated at Harvard +College in 1755, the third in his class. He married his cousin, a +daughter of Governor Wanton of Rhode Island, and was doubly connected +with the Winthrop family, the wives of the elder Browne and Governor +Wanton being daughters of John Winthrop, F. R. S., great-grandson of +the first governor of Massachusetts. William Browne was Colonel of the +Essex regiment, a member of the General Court in 1768, was one of the +seventeen Rescinders, Judge of the Supreme Court, one of the ten +Mandamus Counsellors who was sworn in. Colonel Browne was esteemed among +the most opulent and benevolent individuals of the province before the +Revolution, and so great was his popularity that the gubernatorial chair +was offered him by the "Committee of Safety" as an inducement for him to +remain and join the "Sons of Liberty." But he felt it his duty to remain +on the side of the government, which represented law and authority, even +at the expense of his great landed estates, both in Massachusetts and +Connecticut, in the latter there were fourteen valuable farms, all of +which were afterwards confiscated. After the passage of the Boston Port +Bill, he was waited upon by a committee of the Essex delegates, which +consisted of Jeremiah Lee, Samuel Holton, and Elbridge Gerry. They +informed him that "It was with grief that the country had viewed his +exertions for carrying into execution certain acts of parliament, +calculated to enslave, and ruin his native land, that while the country +would continue the respect for several years paid him, it resolved to +detach every future connection all such, as shall persist in supporting +or in any countenancing the late arbitrary acts of Parliament; that the +delegates in the name of the country, request him to excuse them from +the painful necessity of considering, and treating him as an enemy to +his country, unless he resigned his office as counsellor and judge." +Colonel Browne replied as follows: "As a Judge, and in every other +capacity, I intend to act with honor, and integrity, and to exert my +best abilities, and be assured, that neither persuasion can allure me, +nor menaces compel me, to do anything derogatory to the character of a +Counsellor of his majesty's province of Massachusetts. I cannot consent +to defeat his Majesty's intentions, and disappoint his expectations by +abandoning a post to which he has been graciously pleased to appoint +me." + +He was an Addresser of General Gage, was included in the Banishment Act +of 1778, and in the Conspiracy Act of the year following. He was in +London as early as May 4, 1776, and gave his fellow exiles some +particulars relative to the evacuation of Boston. His wife, who +complained of her treatment at Salem, and Boston, after his departure, +does not appear to have joined him in England until the spring of 1778. +In 1781 he was appointed Governor of the Bermudas, and administered the +affairs of these islands in a manner to secure the confidence of the +people. Under his judicious management the colony flourished. He found +the financial affairs of the islands in a confused and ruinous state, +and left them flourishing. In 1788 he left for England, deeply and +sincerely regretted by the people. He died in England, February, 1802, +aged sixty-five. + +William Browne, son of the aforesaid, born at Salem, was an officer in +the British Army, and was at the siege of Gibraltar. He was in England +in 1784. + +Colonel Benjamin Pickman, writing in 1793, said of the Brownes: "I would +observe that the family of the Brownes has been the most remarkable +family that has ever lived in the Town of Salem, holding places of the +highest trust in the Town, County, and State, and possessing great +riches. Their donations to the schools have been considerable, and their +mercantile engagements have very much contributed to the growth of the +Town." + +The Browne mansion, erected by William Browne in 1740, upon the summit +of Browne's Hill. He named "Browne Hall" after a place in Lancashire, +England, that belonged to his ancestors. + +The building consisted of two wings, two stories high, connected by a +spacious hall, the whole presenting 80 feet front. The dwelling was one +of the most magnificent in the Colony, it was finished in a most +thorough and costly manner, corresponding with the wealth of the owner. +The house was confiscated and later came into the possession of Hon. +William Gray, who resided there till 1800. Subsequently it was known as +"Sun Tavern," and then taken down.[264] + + [264] Essex Inst. His. Coll. Vol. xxxii., pp. 201-238. Curwen's Journal, + pp. 500-1, Sabine's Loyalists, pp. 265-6. + + + + + ARCHIBALD CUNNINGHAM. + + +ARCHIBALD CUNNINGHAM, of Boston, Massachusetts, was a prosperous +merchant and a member of the North church in that city. He was high in +office among the Free Masons. In 1776 he went to New York and on account +of his loyalty was proscribed and banished in 1778. + +At the peace he went from New York to Shelburne, Nova Scotia, +accompanied by his family of six persons and one servant. In Nova Scotia +he was Clerk of the Peace, and Register of Probate. On account of +adhering to the royal cause his losses were estimated at L1100. As he +was a man of learning, a reader, and of an observant nature, he left +many valuable papers. His death occurred in 1820. + + + + + CAPTAIN JOHN MALCOMB. + + +There is not much known of this person. I find that he lived at +Brunswick, Maine, and that in 1760 he married Abigail Trundy, of +Falmouth (Portland). He was commissioned Ensign by Governor Shirley, and +served under Colonel Waldo, in the 2nd Massachusetts Regiment against +Louisburg in 1745. He was also Captain of a vessel that took despatches +from there to Boston in the same year. + +It was not often that the same man was tarred and feathered mere than +once, but this unhappy experience twice befell John Malcom. His offence +appears to have been in the exercise of his duty as custom house +officer, of seizing a vessel at Falmouth, now Portland, for want of a +register, and freely speaking of the actions of the "Sons of Liberty." +We are informed by the papers of that period[265] "That John Malcom was +genteely Tarr'd and Feathered at Pownalborough" (now Dresden, Maine) "on +November first, 1773, and on January 25th, 1774, a mob in Boston tore +his cloaths off, and tarr'd his Head and Body, and feathered him, then +they set him on a chair in a cart, and carried him through the main +Street into King Street, from thence they proceeded to 'Liberty Tree,' +and then to the Neck, as far as the Gallows, where they whipped, beat +him with Sticks, and threatened to hang him." + + [265] Boston Gazette, Nov. 15, 1773. Boston News Letter, Jan. 27, 1774. + Feb 3, 1774. Massachusetts Spy, Jan. 27, 1774. + +The "Sons of Despotism" detained him under the gallows for an hour. He +was then conveyed to the north end of the town, and thence back to his +house. He was kept stripped four hours, and was so bruised and benumbed +by the cold that his life was despaired of. It was by such means that +the disunionists made converts to their cause. His offence for this +Boston outrage, was that he struck one of his tormentors, a tradesman +who had frequently insulted him, when a warrant was issued against him, +but as the constable had not been able to find him, a mob gathered about +his house and broke his windows. Malcomb was in the house, and pushing +his sword through a broken window, wounded one of his assailants. The +mob then made a rush, broke in, and finding him in a chamber, lowered +him by a rope into the cart, and treated him as before mentioned in the +newspapers. + + + + + THE RUSSELL FAMILY OF CHARLESTOWN. + + +The Russell family was eminent in social station and distinguished in +the many public offices held by them in Boston and Charlestown for +nearly two centuries. The first of this family to come to this country +was the Hon. Richard Russell, son of Paul, of Hereford, England, born +1611, was an apprentice at Bristol, 1628, arrived here in 1640 with his +wife, both admitted to the church in 1641, was a prominent merchant, +Representative, Councillor, Speaker, Treasurer, Assistant. He died in +1676, aged 63. His son James, born 1640, died 1709. He also was judge, +Councillor and Treasurer, etc. He had an only son Daniel, born 1683, +died 1763. He married Rebecca Chambers, and was also Councillor, +Commissioner, Treasurer, etc. + +CHAMBERS RUSSELL, son of the preceding, was born 1713. He was Judge, +Councillor and a prominent lawyer, in whose office John Adams and Judge +Sewall studied law. He graduated at Harvard College 1731, married Mary +Wainwright, resided at Lincoln, which was incorporated in 1754, and +named by him, after Lincoln in England, where some of his ancestors +resided. His wife died in 1762, and he went to England, and died Nov. +24, 1767, at Guilford County, Surrey. + +JAMES RUSSELL, brother of Chambers, married Catherine Greaves, 1738. He +was Judge, Representative, and in 1774 was appointed Mandamus +Councillor, but did not take the official oath. This saved him from the +wrath of the revolutionists. He was not solicitous to shine, but was +anxious to do good, and to be on friendly terms with his neighbors. He +was incessant in his endeavors to promote the happiness and advance the +prosperity of the community in which he lived. A bridge from Charlestown +to Boston was among the enterprises which he projected. By his +persevering efforts, the work was accomplished, and the Charlestown +Bridge was the first structure of the kind ever build across a broad +river in the United States. Through his great benevolence, and public +spirit, he was not driven from his home as his sons were, the +revolutionists allowed him to remain, and he died at Charlestown, Sept. +17th, 1798, aged 83 years. + +JAMES RUSSELL, JR., son of the preceding, was obliged to leave and go to +England. Was in London, February 1776, and at Exeter in 1779. A year +later the fortunate captures made by a privateer gave him a fortune, and +he was "bound in the matrimonial chain" to Mary, second daughter of +Richard Lechmere, a Boston Loyalist. They were married in 1780 at St. +Peter's Church, Bristol, where he resided as a merchant. Among their +children was Lechmere-Coor-Graves, Charles James, who died in service of +Royal Navy, Katherine-Sarah, who married Major Miller of Bombay +Artillery, Lucy Margaret, married Rev. Robert Cope Wolf. + +DR. CHARLES RUSSELL, brother of James, was also a staunch loyalist. +Graduated at Harvard College 1757. Married Feb. 15, 1768, Elizabeth, +only daughter of Colonel Henry Vassell of Cambridge. He succeeded to his +uncle, Judge Chambers Russell's estate at Lincoln, was proscribed and +banished, and his estate confiscated. He was a physician at Antigua, +where his wife owned considerable property. He died there in 1780, and +his wife died at Plymouth in 1802.[266] + + [266] Wyman Genealogies and Estates in Charlestown. + + + + + EZEKIEL RUSSELL + + +Was a Printer and born in Boston, he served an apprenticeship with his +brother Joseph. This family had no connection with the Charlestown +Russells. In November, 1771, he commenced a political publication called +"The Censor." It was printed in Marlboro Street, was a weekly +publication, designed to defend the action of the government, and was +supported by the loyalists. The articles were written with great +ability by Lieut. Gov. Oliver, Dr. Benjamin Church, and other +loyalists. The first number reprinted from the Massachusetts Spy, the +then famous letter of Joseph Greenleaf attacking Governor Hutchinson, +and answered it with vehemence and spirit. In succeeding numbers the +controversy was prolonged with increasing bitterness, and at last became +intensely personal. The issue of Feb. 8, 1772, contained a recipe to +make a modern patriot for the Colonies, especially for Massachusetts, as +follows: + + "Take of impudence, virulence and groundless abuse =quantum + sufficit=, atheism, deism and libitinism =ad libitum=; false + reports, well adapted and plausable lies, with groundless alarms, + =one hundred wt. avoirdupois=; a malignant abuse of magistracy, a + pusilanimous and diabolical contempt of divine revelation and all + its abbettors, =an equal quantity=; honor and integrity not quite + =an atom=; fraud, imposition, and hypocrisy, any proportion that + may seem expedient; infuse therein the credulity of the people =one + thousand gallons=, as a =menstrum= stir in the =phrenzy= of the + =times=, and at the end of a year or two this judicious composition + will probably bring forth a A =***= and Y =***= an O =***= and a M + =*****=." + + "Probatum est I. N." + +The Censor not proving a success, Mr. Russell attempted to establish a +newspaper at Salem, but that also failed. He returned to Boston, where +he obtained support principally by printing and selling ballads, and +small pamphlets. His wife was an active and industrious woman, who not +only assisted him in printing, but sometimes wrote ballads on recent +tragical events, which were published, and had frequently a considerable +run. Ezekiel Russell died September 1796, aged fifty-two years. Joseph +Russell, brother of Ezekiel, son of Benjamin and Elizabeth Russell, was +born at Boston, 8 September, 1734, and died at St. John, New Brunswick, +in 1808, aged 74 years. + + + + + JONATHAN SEWALL. + + ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MASSACHUSETTS. + + +The family of Sewall is traced to two brothers, Henry, and William +Sewall, both Mayors of Coventry, England, Henry Sewall born about 1544, +was a Linen Draper, Alderman of Coventry, Mayor in 1589 and 1606. Died +1628, aged 84. Buried in St. Michael's Church, Coventry. Married +Margaret, eldest daughter of Avery Grazebrook. + +Their son Henry Sewall, emigrated to New England in 1634. He came over +"out of dislike to the English Hierarchy" and settled at Newbury. He +died at Rowley in 1657, aged 81 years. Married Anne Hunt. They brought +with them their son, Henry Sewall, born in Coventry, in 1614, died in +1700, aged 86. Married Jane Dummer in Newbury, 1646. He went back to +England and resided for some years at Warwick. In 1659 he returned to +New England, "his rents at Newbury coming to very little when remitted +to England." His son Stephen was born at Badesly, England in 1657. He +came to New England in 1661, settled at Salem and was a Major in the +Indian wars. He died in 1725. Married Margaret, daughter of Rev. +Jonathan Mitchell of Cambridge in 1682. They had an only son Jonathan, +who was a merchant at Boston. He married Mary, sister of Edward Payne, +of Boston. They had a son, + +JUDGE JONATHAN SEWALL, the subject of this notice. He was born at Boston +in 1728. Graduated at Harvard College in 1748, and was a teacher at +Salem till 1756. He married Esther, daughter of Edmund Quincy, Esq., of +Braintree, afterwards of Boston, and sister of Dorothy Quincy, wife of +Governor Hancock, and of Elizabeth Quincy, wife of Samuel Sewall, of +Boston, the father of Samuel Sewall, Chief Justice of Massachusetts. +Jonathan Sewall studied law with Judge Chambers Russell, of Lincoln, +commenced practice in his profession at Charlestown. He was an able and +successful lawyer. He was Solicitor General, and his eloquence is +represented as having been soft, smooth and insinuating, which gave him +as much power over a jury as a lawyer ought ever to possess. At the +death of Jeremy Gridley, he was appointed Attorney-General of +Massachusetts, September, 1767. In 1768 he was appointed Judge of +Admiralty for Nova Scotia. He went there twice in that capacity, and +remained but a short period. + +He was a gentleman and a scholar. He possessed a lively wit, a brilliant +imagination, great subtlety of reasoning and an insinuating eloquence. + +He was an intimate friend of John Adams, they studied together in Judge +Russell's office, and afterwards, while attending court, they lived +together, frequently slept in the same chamber, and often in the same +bed, and besides the two young men were in constant correspondence. + +He attempted to dissuade John Adams from attending the first Continental +Congress, and it was in reply to his arguments, and as they walked on +the Great Hill at Portland, that Adams used the memorable words, used so +often afterwards in 1861 when the ordinance of secession was passed: +"The die is now cast, I have now passed the Rubicon; sink or swim, live +or die, survive or perish with my country, is my unalterable +determination." They parted, and met no more until 1788. Adams, the +Minister of the new republic at the Court of St. James, and the eloquent +and gifted Sewall, true to the Empire, met in London. Adams laying aside +all etiquette made a visit to his old friend and countryman, he said, "I +ordered my servant to announce John Adams, I was instantly admitted, and +both of us forgetting that we had ever been enemies, embraced each other +as cordially as ever. I had two hours conversation with him in a most +delightful freedom, upon a multitude of subjects." In the course of the +interview, Mr. Sewall remarked that he had existed for the sake of his +two children, that he had spared no pains or expense in their education +and that he was going to Nova Scotia in hope of making some provision +for them. + +In 1774, he was an Addresser of Governor Hutchinson, and in September of +that year his elegant home in Cambridge (which he rented from John +Vassal, afterwards Washington's head-quarters, since occupied by the +poet Longfellow) was attacked by the mob and much injured. He fled to +Boston to escape from the fury of the disunionists. He had ably +vindicated the characters of Governors Bernard, Hutchinson and Oliver, +he was esteemed an able writer, and a staunch loyalist. He was +proscribed in the Conspirators Act of 1779. He resided chiefly in +Bristol till 1788, for the education of his children, then he removed to +St. John's, N. B., having been appointed Judge of Admiralty for Nova +Scotia and New Brunswick. He immediately entered upon the duties of his +office, which he held till his death, which occurred September 26, 1796, +at the age of sixty-eight. His widow survived him, and removed to +Montreal, where she died January 21, 1810. + +JONATHAN SEWALL, son of the aforesaid, was born at Cambridge, 1766, was +educated at Bristol, England, and afterwards resided at Quebec, where he +occupied the offices of Solicitor and Attorney General and Judge of the +Vice Admiralty Court, until 1808, when he was appointed Chief Justice of +Lower Canada, which he resigned in 1838. For many years he was President +of the Executive Council, and Speaker of the Legislative Council. + +In 1832 he received the degree of Doctor of Law from Harvard College. He +died at Quebec in 1840, aged seventy-three. His brother Stephen was +Solicitor General of the same Province in 1810 and resided in Montreal. +He died there of Asiatic cholera in the summer of 1832. + +SAMUEL SEWALL son of Henry Sewall and brother of Major Stephen Sewall, +was the first chief justice of Massachusetts. This was the famous Sewall +that sat in judgment upon the witches and afterwards repented it, who +refused to sell an inch of his broad acres to the hated Episcopalians to +build a church upon, who was one of the richest, most astute, sagacious, +scholarly, bigoted and influential men of his day, who has left us in +his Diary a transcript almost vivid in its conscientious faithfulness of +that old time life, where he tells us of the courts he held, the drams +he drank, the sermons he heard, the petty affairs of his own household +and neighborhood, and where he advised with the governor touching +matters of life and death. He married Hannah, the only child of John +Hull, the mintmaster, who it is said gave her, on her marriage, a +settlement in pine tree shillings equal to her weight. Hull owned a +large farm of 350 acres in Longwood, Brookline, which descended to his +son-in-law, and was known afterwards as Sewall's Farm.[267] + + [267] Curwen Journal, pp. 463-5. 506. Sabine's Loyalists, pp, 265-8. + +Samuel Sewall, son of the aforesaid, married Rebecca Dudley, a daughter +of the governor. His son, Henry Sewall, born in 1719, died in 1771, was +a gentleman much respected, and a lawyer of prominence. His son, + +SAMUEL SEWALL, the subject of this article, was born at Brookline, +December 31, 1745. Graduated at Harvard College in 1761. He studied law +and settled in Boston. His name occurs among the barristers and +attorneys who addressed Governor Hutchinson in 1774, and in the +Banishment and Proscription Act in 1778, when his large estate which he +had inherited from his ancestors, was confiscated. He went to England, +and in 1776 was a member of the Loyalist Club, London. Two years later +he was at Sidmouth, a "bathing town of mud walls and thatched roofs." In +1780 he was living in Bristol, and on the 19th of June amused himself +loyally celebrating Clinton's success at Charleston in the discharge of +a two-pounder in a private garden, and three days later was shot at by a +highwayman and narrowly escaped with his life. Early in 1782 he was at +Taunton, and at Sidmouth. He died at London, after one day's confinement +to his room, May 6th, 1811, aged fifty-six years. He was unmarried. + + + LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO SAMUEL SEWALL IN SUFFOLK COUNTY + AND TO WHOM SOLD. + + To Edward Kitchen, Wolcott, July 19, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 113; Land + 263 A. 1 qr., in Brookline, Thomas Aspinwall E.; marsh road to + Charles River N E.; Charles River N.; Thomas Gardner and Moses + Griggs S. and S.W.; Solomon Hill S. and S.E.----Land, 16 A. 3 qr., + and half of house in Brookline on Sherburn Road and the marsh lane, + bounded by Capt. Cook, Samuel Craft and Elisha Gardner. + + To John Heath. Nov. 12. 1782; Lib. 136, fol. 102; Land and + buildings in Brookline. 9 A. 33 r., Sherburn Road S.E.; a town way + N.E.; Mr. Aker N.W.; a town way S.W.----32 A. 3 r., Daniel White + and the pound S.W.; road and Joseph Williams S.E.; Joshua Boylston + and William Hyslop N.E.; Sherburn Road N.W.----18 A. 2 qr. 5 r., + Samuel White N.W.; John Dean S.W. and S.; a town way S.E., said + Dean N.E.; S.E. and S.; said town way E.; road N.E.----59 A. 3 qr. + 4 r., Benjamin White and Dr. Winchester N.E.; Sarah Sharp S.W.; + Samuel White and heirs of Justice White S.E.; Benjamin White N.E.; + S.E. and N.E.; Sherburn Road N.E.----23 A. 3 qr. 33 r., Ebenezer + Crafts and Caleb Gardner N.W.; said Gardner and Benjamin White + S.W.; Moses White S.E.; Benjamin White and Moses White N.E.; Moses + White S.E.: a town way N.E.--- 3 A. 28 r, Ebenezer Craft S.W.; S.E. + and N.E.; the County line N.W.----8 A. 1 qr., 31 r., Daniel White + N.W.; the County line S.W.; David Cook S.E.; heirs of Ebenezer + Davis N.E.----5 A. 2 qr. 38 r., said Craft N.W.; saw mill meadow + W.; William Heath S. and S.E.; Benjamin White and William Hammon + N.E.----7 A. 2 qr., 32 r., Edward K. Walcott S. and W.; Benjamin + White S.; William Acker S.E.; John Child E.; Charles River N.; + Joseph Adams and Daniel White W.----4 A. 26 r., Moses White W., + Esquire White, Ebenezer Craft and a creek S.; Nehemiah Davis and + heirs of Caleb Denny S.E.; the marsh road N. + + To John Molineux, William Molineux, Aug. 11, 1783; Lib 139, fol. + 153; Land and buildings in Boston, Newbury St. W.; Daniel Crosby, + John Solely and heirs of Benjamin Church deceased S.; land late of + Frederick William Geyer E.; Thomas Fairweather, Sampson Reed, John + Homands and Edward Hollowday N.; said Sewall W.; N.; W. and N. + + To John McLane, Dec. 18, 1783; Lib. 140. fol. 207; Land and + buildings in Boston, Newbury St. W.; said Sewall S.; E.; S. and E.; + Edward Hollowday N. + + + + + THOMAS ROBIE. + + +William and Elizabeth Robie were inhabitants of Boston as early as 1689, +when their son Thomas was born on March 20th of that year. He graduated +at Harvard College in 1708, and died in 1729. He was tutor, librarian, +and Fellow of the college. He published an account of a remarkable +eclipse of the sun on Nov. 27, 1772, also in the _Philosophical +Transactions_ of the Royal Society, papers on the Alkaline Salts, and +the Venom of Spiders (1720-24). The following extract from the diary of +President Leverett shows the estimation in which he was held. "It ought +to be remembered that Mr. Robie was no small honor to Harvard College by +his mathematical performances, and by his correspondence thereupon with +Mr. Durham and other learned persons in those studies abroad." In +mathematics and natural philosophy he was said to have no equal in New +England. + +His mother was Elizabeth Taylor, daughter of James Taylor, long +treasurer of the Province.[268] He went to Salem and established himself +in the practice of physic, and married a daughter of Major Stephen +Sewall. + + [268] Memorial His., of Boston. Vol. iv. p. 492. Vol. ii. p. 549. + +Thomas Robie, of Marblehead, was a son of the preceding Dr. Robie. He +was a merchant, and married a daughter of the Rev. Simon Bradstreet, who +was the great grandson of Gov. Bradstreet, called the Nestor of New +England. Mr. Robie was a staunch loyalist, was an Addresser of Gov. +Hutchinson, and thus brought upon himself and family the ire of the +Revolutionists. They were obliged to leave the town and take refuge in +Nova Scotia. Crowds of people collected on the wharf to witness their +departure, and many irritating and insulting remarks were addressed to +them concerning their Tory principles, and their conduct towards the +Whigs. Provoked beyond endurance by these insulting taunts, Mrs. Robie +retorted, as she seated herself in the boat that was to convey her to +the ship: "I hope that I shall live to return, find this wicked +rebellion crushed and see the streets of Marblehead run with rebel +blood." The effect of this remark was electrical among the +Revolutionists and only her sex prevented them from doing her person +injury. But there were other loyalists in Marblehead who, if not so +demonstrative, were not less sincere in this opinion. With fortitude and +silence they bore the taunts and insults to which they were subjected, +honestly believing that their friends and neighbors were engaged in a +treasonable rebellion against their lawful sovereign. + +Mr. Robie first went to Halifax, but afterwards to London, Feb. 5, 1776. +He passed his time of exile mostly in Halifax, where one of his +daughters married Jonathan Stearns, Esq., another refugee; another was +married to Joseph Sewall, Esq., late treasurer of Massachusetts. + +After the war was over some of the refugees attempted to return to their +former homes. During the month of April, 1783, the town was thrown into +a state of the greatest excitement by the return of Stephen Blaney, one +of the loyalists. Rumors were prevalent that other refugees were also +about to return, and on April 24 a town meeting was held, when it was +voted that "All refugees who made their appearance in town were to be +given six hours notice to leave, and any who remained beyond that time +were to be taken into custody and shipped to the nearest port of Great +Britain." Late one afternoon after this action of the town a vessel from +the provinces arrived in the harbor. It was soon ascertained that the +detested Robie family were on board, and, as the news spread through the +town, the wharves were crowded with angry people, threatening vengeance +upon them if they attempted to land. The dreadful wish uttered by Mrs. +Robie at her departure still rankled in the minds of the people and they +determined to give the Robies a significant reception. So great was the +excitement that it was feared by many of the influential citizens that +the unfortunate exiles might be injured and perhaps lose their lives at +the hands of the infuriated populace. During the night, however, a party +of gentlemen went on board of the schooner and removed them to a place +of safety. They were landed in a distant part of the town and secreted +for several days in a house belonging to one of the gentlemen. In the +meantime urgent appeals were made to the magnanimity of the turbulent +populace, and the excitement subsided. + +Mr. Robie went into business again in a limited extent, and died at +Salem about 1812, well esteemed and respected. The large brick mansion +house of Thomas Robie is situated on Washington street, near the head of +Darling street, Marblehead. + +SAMUEL BRADSTREET ROBIE, son of the above, of Halifax, was appointed +solicitor-general of Nova Scotia in 1815, speaker of the house of of +assembly in 1817, 1819-20, member of the council in 1824, and master of +the rolls in 1825, and died at that city January, 1858, in his +eighty-eighth year. + + + + + BENJAMIN MARSTON. + + +The origin of the name Marston, is the English of Marsius (Lat.) Marson +(Ger.) and signifies warrior, being derived from Mars, the god of war. + +John Marston, the first of this name to come to America came from +Ormsby, Norfolk, England, to Salem, in 1637, when he was 22 years of +age. He married Alice, surname unknown, on Aug. 4, 1640, and on June 2, +1641 was admitted freeman. He had ten children between 1641 and 1661. +His occupation was that of carpenter. He was diligent and prosperous in +his business, and at his death bequeathed to his children "his house and +land, and some money." His sons were influential in town matters, and +three were chosen representatives to the general court. + +He died Dec. 19, 1681, and was buried in the Old Salem Burying Ground. + +BENJAMIN MARSTON, the first of this name and lineage, was the fourth son +of the preceding John Marston, and was born in Salem, Jan. 9, 1651. He +was an active and enterprising merchant and carried on for many years an +extensive and profitable business with the West Indies, Spain, Nova +Scotia, and Southern Colonies. He owned two warehouses, and the wharves +on which they stood, several vessels, Brigantines, Ketches, Shallops and +Sloops. In the year 1700 he built a large and handsome brick dwelling +house, the first brick house in Salem. It was built by George Cabot, a +mason from Boston. Its location was afterwards occupied by the Lee +house on the corner of Essex and Crombie streets. Towards the close of +his life, his estate suffered great losses, some of his vessels were +lost at sea, some taken by the French and pirates, and others having +lost all their crew by disease, or otherwise, "ye voiages were spiled." +In June, 1719, he sailed with his son Benjamin, Jr., in "The good +Briganteen Essex" from Salem to Ireland. His son wrote from Dublin, Nov. +6, 1719, to his mother announcing "the death of his father there, from +the Small Pox, and that he was taken ill of the same distemper, the +night he died, and that he had recovered and was not much marked." + +BENJAMIN MARSTON, the second of this name, son of the preceding Benjamin +Marston, was born in Salem, Feb. 24, 1697. He graduated from Harvard +College in 1715. It appears after the death of his father he remained in +Ireland, conducting all the business matters connected with the Essex, +with a degree of energy and capacity not often found in a young man of +22 years of age. The voyage turned out to be much more profitable than +was expected, and much of the property that had been sold or mortgaged +by his father was redeemed. + +He engaged in business at Salem as a merchant and gained a reputation +among his fellow townsmen as a "man of honorable motives and strict +integrity of character." He was chosen representative to the general +court in 1727-28-29. Was High Sheriff of Essex till 1737, was Justice of +General Session and Common Pleas Courts. In 1729 he married Elizabeth +Winslow, daughter of Hon. Isaac Winslow of Marshfield. In 1740 he +retired from business, and bought a large and valuable property at +Manchester, known for many years as the Marston farm. Here he passed the +remainder of his days, and died May 22, 1754, aged 57 years, leaving a +large estate including the Great and Little Misery Islands, for which he +had paid L516. 13.9. A part of the income of the island he left for the +purpose of "Propagating the Gospel among the Indians." + +BENJAMIN MARSTON, the third of this name, and family, and son of the +preceding, was born in Salem, Sept. 30, 1730. He graduated at Harvard +College in 1749. After leaving college he travelled in Europe and +visited some other of the British colonies. He married Sarah Sweet, +whose sister, Martha, married Col. Jeremiah Lee of Marblehead. After his +marriage he "settled down" in Marblehead, where for many years he +carried on a large and successful business as a merchant. He owned a +store in King street, and other stores, and warehouses, and jointly with +his partners, Jeremiah Lee and Robert Hooper, several large ships. He +also owned a pleasant and commodious dwelling house, and much real +estate, and other property in Marblehead and elsewhere. He was +considered by his friends and neighbors as a man of pure life, and great +integrity of character, active in business, energetic in public matters, +hospitable and benevolent in private, a great reader and scholar, and +fond of literary pursuits, always occupying one of the most respectable +positions in society, and greatly esteemed by all who knew him. Here he +continued to live for twenty years, actively engaged in business, and +doing his duty towards his town. He was chosen selectman, and overseer +of the poor, thirteen times in fifteen years, fireward twelve times in +fourteen years, assessor in 1760, moderator of town meetings, fourteen +times in eight years, and occupied many other important offices of +trust. After 1768, however, when the troubles which preceded the +Revolution began to increase the confidence of the people, that were +influenced by the Revolutionists, appear to have been withheld. They +still chose him moderator of all town meetings, but he was not again +appointed on any important committees. He was known to be "an +uncompromising adherent to the lawful government of the British +Colonies," but as he had violated no agreements, and never attempted to +counteract the plans of the conspirators, though frequently and openly +expressing his disapprobation of their violent proceedings, he was for +some time unmolested. At an early period, however, he discovered the +storm brewing, and as if apprehensive of future difficulties he began +"to sell off some of his property." + +Benjamin Marston was one of the Addressers of Governor Hutchinson, and +thus incurred the displeasure of the Revolutionists. After this he was +harshly and brutally treated by the "Sons of Liberty." In the year 1775, +his home was mobbed by a Marblehead _Committee_, who without any legal +authority, entered his doors, broke open his desk, embezzled his money, +and notes, and carried off his books and accounts. He made his escape +from the town with difficulty, the turbulent "Sons of Despotism" would +have probably tarred and feathered him if he had come within their +reach. He remained concealed among his friends for some time, till he +could reach Boston and place himself under the protection of the +British. A letter from Hon. Wm. Brown, who also had sought shelter in +Boston, to his friend Judge Curwen, a fellow Loyalist, said "About 2 +months ago, Mr. Marston came here by night from Col. Fowle's farm. He +knows nothing about Salem. His wife died last summer." + +After the evacuation of Boston he went to St. John, N. B., and then to +Windsor, N. S., finally settling down at Halifax, and there engaging in +trade and venturing to sea, he was taken prisoner and carried into +Plymouth, and remained in duress in Boston until he was exchanged, and +then went to Halifax. He returned to Boston after the peace in 1787, in +the spring of which year he visited his friends in Plymouth, for the +last time, and soon after embarked for London. His after life is best +described in a letter to his sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Watson, of Plymouth, +wife of William Watson, Esq., under date of London, March 19, 1792. He +says: "I now sit down and write to you with satisfaction, for I have at +length fairly waded thro the _Slough of Despond_. I am now landed on the +opposite side and shall go on my way rejoicing, having once more emerged +into active life. In fact, I am engaged to go with a large Company, who +are going to make a Settlement on the Island Bulama, on the coast of +Africa, as their Land Surveyor General on a pretty good lay. No +expedition could have hit my taste and humor more exactly than this one +promises to do. It is so of the _Robinson Crusoe_ kind, that I prefer +it, vastly to any employment of equal emolument and of a more regular +kind, that might have been offered to me in this country. + +"You say you have mourned me as _dead and buried_. In truth, my dear +Sister, I have been much worse off. I have for more than four years been +_buryed alive_. As to gratifying your wish in making my native country +the residence of the remainder of my days, it is not at present in my +power to do, for want of means. There is not remaining in my mind the +least resentment to the Country because the party whose side I took in +the late great Revolution, did not succeed, for I am now fully +convinced. It is better for the world that they have not. I don't mean +by this to pay any complements to the first instigators of our American +Revolution, although it has been of such advantage to mankind, I should +as soon think of erecting monuments to Judas Iscariot, Pontius Pilate +and the Jewish Sanhedrim for betraying and crucifying the Lord of Life, +because that event was so importantly and universally beneficial." + +The expedition to Africa resulted disastrously, and Benjamin Marston +died on the Island of Bulama of the African fever, on the 10th of +August, 1792. + +From the scanty materials which have been here brought together, will be +sufficient to convince the reader that it was no personal consideration, +no expectation of honors and rewards, or desire of rank and distinction, +but simply from a deep conviction of duty, a clear sense of loyalty to +the British crown, that he gave up everything that was dear to him, his +"pleasant and spacious dwelling" house, with its "fine old garden for +morning exercise," his cherished library, his "much property," his +well-earned reputation as a merchant, a magistrate and a citizen, his +relatives, friends, and native country, and become a refugee and a +wanderer on the face of the earth, "without a place that he could +command to lay his head," and those that bore his name, were more proud +of it than if he left rank and honor and large possessions to his +representatives. There were very few of those who embraced the cause of +the Mother Country, in those trying times, that were led by more +honorable, or disinterested motives, or are more deserving of +remembrance than Benjamin Marston of Marblehead. + + + + + HON. BENJAMIN LYNDE CHIEF JUSTICE OF MASSACHUSETTS. + + +It appears from the registry in the Church of St. John, the parish +church of Hackney, near London, that Enoch Lynde was married on the 25th +of October, 1614, to Elizabeth Digbie, a descendant of Sir John Digby. +Enoch Lynde resided in London, was a merchant engaged in foreign trade, +and was for some years connected with the postal service between England +and Holland. He died the 23rd of April, 1636, aged fifty years. + +SIMON LYNDE, the third son of Enoch Lynde, was born in London in 1624. +He engaged in mercantile pursuits, and went to Holland. In 1650 he came +to New England, and in the following year married Hannah, a daughter of +Mr. John Newgate. During the thirty years of his life in the colony, he +was a person of prominence, and acquired large landed possessions, in +Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. In 1687 he was appointed +one of the Justices of the Superior Court. He died 22nd Nov. 1687, +possessed of a large estate, and many children, who survived him. + +BENJAMIN LYNDE, the sixth son of Simon, was born 22nd September, 1666. +He records of himself that he was admitted to Harvard College on the 6th +of September, 1682, by the Rev. Increase Mather, after having received +his preparatory education under the famous grammar Master, Ezekiel +Cheever, and received his first Degree in 1686. His father desired that +he should complete his education in England. On 27th June, 1692, he +sailed for England, and was admitted he says "for the study of Law, into +the honorable Society of the Middle Temple, Oct. 18, 1692." "I was +called to the Bar as Counsellor at Law in 1697, and received a +commission under the great Seal, for King's Advocate, in the New Court +of Admiralty, in New England, in the same year." He returned to America +Dec. 24, 1697. On the 27 of April, 1699, he married Mary, daughter of +Hon. William Browne of Salem. In 1712 he was appointed a Judge of the +Superior Court, and in the following year a Councillor. On the +resignation of Judge Sewall in 1728, he was made Chief Justice of the +Province, which office he held at the time of his death, Jan. 28, 1745, +in the 79th year of his age. The Boston Evening Post said of him, +"Inflexible justice, unspotted integrity, affability, and humanity were +ever conspicuous in him. He was a sincere friend, most affectionate in +his relations, and the delight of all that were honored with his +friendship and acquaintance." He left two sons, the younger, William, +died unmarried, in 1752. His eldest son, + +BENJAMIN LYNDE, JR. was born on the 5th of October, 1700. He graduated +from Harvard College in 1718, and in 1721 he took his master's degree at +Cambridge. He soon after received the appointment of Naval Officer for +Salem. In 1734 he was appointed a special judge of the Court of Common +Pleas, for Suffolk. In 1737 he was one of the agents in the settlement +of the boundary line between New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Two years +later he was made one of the Standing Judges of Common Pleas for Essex, +and in 1745, the year of his father's death, he was raised to the +Superior Bench of the Province. He was a member of the Council for many +years, but declined a re-election in 1760, in consequence of the +controversy that arose in that year between the House and Government as +to the right of Judges to sit as Councillors. On the promotion of Chief +Justice Hutchinson to the executive chair, in 1771, Judge Lynde was +appointed to the place now vacant, and became Chief Justice of the +Province. He resigned not many months after, pending the controversy +respecting the payment of judges' salaries by the town. He had now +reached the age of 72, and "not being inclined to ride the Circuit +longer" he accepted the more humble and less laborious position of Judge +of Probate for Essex, which office he held until the breaking out of the +Revolution, not many years before his death, which was occasioned by the +kick from a horse, from the effects of which he did not recover, and he +died Oct. 5th, 1781, aged 81 years. It was a remarkable coincidence that +both father and son should have been Chief Justices of the Supreme +Court, and occupied a seat on that bench, between them for nearly sixty +years. The most important trial that took place during his judicial term +was that of the so-called "Boston Massacre," where the soldiers fired on +the mob in King street. At this trial Judge Lynde presided. It was a +time of great political excitement, and the occasion was one that +required the utmost firmness, and skill on the part of the judge, to +ensure a just and impartial decision. These trials lasted several days, +and, as has been said, "proceeded with care and patience, on the part of +the Bench, and counsel, and both judges and jury seemed to have acted +with all the impartiality that is exhibited in the most enlightened +tribunals." "The result," says Judge Washburn, "is a proud memorial of +the purity of the administration of justice in Massachusetts." Judge +Lynde was noted for his learning, his liberality, and his public spirit. +He was a diligent student of our Colonial history, and his diary, +published by one of his descendants, Dr. F. E. Oliver, recalls names and +events, that belong to the earlier years of the province, and records +the daily life of persons holding official positions during a period +with which many are not now familiar. He left three daughters, of whom +Mary, the eldest, married Hon. Andrew Oliver, Jr., one of the Judges of +the Court of Common Pleas for Essex; Hannah, who died unmarried and +Lydia who married Rev. William Walter, the rector of Trinity Church of +Boston.[269] Both of his sons-in-law being staunch loyalists. + + [269] Diaries of Benjamin Lynde and of Benjamin Lynde, Jr. + + + + + PAGAN FAMILY. + + +ROBERT PAGAN was a native of Glasgow, Scotland, was born in 1750 and +came to Falmouth in 1769. From that time to the commencement of the war +he carried on a large lumber business and ship building. The ships which +were built were not generally employed in our trade, but with their +cargoes sent to Europe and sold. Robert Pagan & Co. kept on the corner +of King and Fore Streets, the largest stock of goods which was employed +here before the war. He was a man of popular manners, and much beloved +by the people. He early became involved in the controversies of the +times, and abandoned his business and country soon after the burning of +Falmouth by Mowatt. In his testimony before the Claim Commission he +testified[270] "That he uniformly declared his sentiments in favor of +Great Britain. Never submitted to join the rebels or to take no part +with them." He early applied for leave to quit Casco Bay with the +property belonging to himself and copartnery. This was refused him. In +the month of February, 1776, he privately embarked his family on board a +Brig he had in the harbor of Falmouth and sailed for Barbados. From that +he went home. He afterwards carried on trade at New York and Penobscot, +at the latter place he remained until the end of the war, when he +removed to St. Andrews. Mr. Pagan was proscribed and banished. He +settled at St. Andrews, N. B., in 1784, and became one of the principal +men of Charlotte County. After serving the Crown as agent for lands in +New Brunswick, and in superintending affairs connected with grants to +Loyalists, he was in commission as a magistrate, as a Judge of a Court, +and as Colonel in the militia, and, being a favorite among the +freeholders of the county, was elected to the House of Assembly, and for +several years was a leading member of that body. Judge Pagan died at St. +Andrews, November 23, 1821 and Miriam, his widow, (a daughter of +Jeremiah Pote), deceased at the same place January, 1828, aged 81. They +were childless. + + [270] Bureau of Archives, Ontario, 2nd Report, Vol. I. p. 340. + +THOMAS PAGAN, brother to Robert Pagan. He was with his brother during +the war, and at the peace went to St. John, New Brunswick; was one of +the grantees of that city, and established himself there as a merchant. +He removed to Halifax, and while absent in Scotland for the benefit of +his health, died in 1804. + +WILLIAM PAGAN, brother of Robert and Thomas, was with his brothers +during the war, and at the peace settled in New Brunswick, and was a +member of the House of Assembly and of the Council. His death occurred +at Fredericton, March 12, 1819. + + + + + THE WYER FAMILY OF CHARLESTOWN. + + +Edward Wyer came from Scotland. He was a tailor, and in 1658 married +Elizabeth Johnson. He died May 3rd, 1693, aged 71 years. His son William +was a sea captain, and married Eleanor Jennes, Oct. 26, 1701. He died +Feb., 1749, aged 69 years. + +DAVID WYER, son of William, was born at Charlestown, Feb. 24th, 1711. He +also was a sea captain. Married Rebecca Russell, Feb. 2, 1738. He +removed to Falmouth (Portland) and was an officer of the Customs there. +All the officers of the revenue of that port were loyal except one, +Thomas Child, who joined the Revolutionists. They all became refugees, +and abandoned their country. During the military possession of the town +by Thompson (before the burning of it by Captain Mowatt) he was required +to give his presence before the Board of War as being a Tory. + +DAVID WYER, JR., son of the aforesaid David was born at Charlestown in +1741, and graduated at Harvard College in 1758. In 1762 he was admitted +to the bar, and commenced the practice of law at Falmouth. On the +testimony of other lawyers who practiced in Maine prior to the +Revolution, it was said of Wyer, that "he was a high-minded stirling +fellow of strong talents, an able and eloquent advocate, and extremely +independent in his opinions and character." Without the regular +appointment and commission of Attorney of the Crown, Mr. Wyer acted in +that capacity when occasion required the services of such an officer in +the Courts of Maine. He died in 1776 at Stroudwater, to which place he +removed after the burning of Falmouth, at the age of thirty-five, of an +epidemic which prevailed at that time, and which carried off many +persons old and young. Mrs. Wyer, a niece of Hon. Thomas Russell and two +children survived him. One of the latter married Captain Samuel Waite of +Portland. + +THOMAS WYER, brother of David Wyer, Jr., was born at Charlestown, June +15, 1744. Married Sarah Francis, March 8th, 1766 in Medford. He removed +to Falmouth with his father, was also employed as an officer of the +Customs. He lost L325 in real and personal estate by the burning of the +town in 1775. He did all he could to support the government; he refused +to serve in the rebel army, on which he was taken up and abused by the +mob, and obliged to pay a fine. Was taken before the Provincial Congress +at Watertown, and obliged to quit Falmouth in 1777 in an open boat with +his father-in-law, Jeremiah Pote, in which they went to Nova Scotia. In +1778 he was proscribed and banished. In 1779 he was in New York and was +commissioned as captain of an armed vessel, the brigantine "British +Tar," 65 men. He was in command of this vessel for nine months, during +which time he had two engagements with two rebel privateers at different +times. He had a house and lot in Falmouth, which was confiscated, and a +half interest in a cargo burned at Falmouth. In 1784, he went to St. +Andrew, N. B., with other Loyalists, and continued there until his +decease. He was an Agent of the British Government for settling and +allotting lands to adherents of the Crown in the Revolution. The first +Sheriff of Charlotte County, was a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas +and Deputy Colonial Treasurer. In 1790 he went on a year's tour to +Europe, and on his return became a merchant, and had extensive lumber +interests. He died February 24th, 1824. He had a numerous family, was +married three times, his first wife Sarah Francis of Medford, second +Joanna Pote of Falmouth, third Mary Hunt, who died 25 October, 1801, +aged 37. An only son survived him. + +THOMAS WYER, JR., a member of her Majesty's Council, Justice of the +Common Pleas, member of the Board of Education, Commissioner of Wrecks, +and Lieutenant-Colonel in the militia. He married Sarah, daughter of +Thomas Tompkins, of St. Andrews, 24 March, 1808, and died at St. +Andrews, December, 1848, aged sixty-nine. + + + + + JEREMIAH POTE. + + +WILLIAM POTE was in Marblehead as early as 1688. He married Hannah +Greenfield. His second wife was Ann Hooper, whom he married in 1689. His +son William was born at Marblehead, 1690, who married, June 2, 1718, +Dorothy Getchell. + +JEREMIAH POTE, son of the aforesaid, was born at Marblehead, Jan. 18, +1724. His father removed to Falmouth, now Portland, and died there. +Jeremiah Pote became one of the principal merchants of the town, he +owned and occupied one of the two principal wharves in that town +previous to the Revolution. He transacted a large business and filled +offices of trust and honor. In his testimony before the Claim +Commission[271] "Claimt says He is a native of America. Lived at +Falmouth, Casco Bay, when trouble broke out. He did everything in his +power against the measure of the Rebels. He happened to be one of the +selectmen at Falmouth, whose business it was to give notice of Town +Meetings. Claimt refused to notify the meetings desired by the Rebels. +In consequence of this he was persecuted. Was imprisoned several times. +Had his things taken from him by force, so that he was forced to quit +home, got to Nova Scotia, went in open boat. Went from Halifax to New +York in 1778. Was employed by Admiral Gambin to pilot a vessel to New +Hampshire, which was going with Sir Henry Clinton, Manisfestoes. The +vessel was seized and the whole crew made prisoners and kept in prison +during the winter. Went to Penobscot in 1780 to St. Andrews in the +beginning of 1784." + + [271] Bureau of Archives, Ontario, 2nd Report, Vol. II, p. 904. + +In 1774 a public meeting was called to consider the state of public +affairs, which he attended, but he desired that his dissent might be +entered against a resolution relative to the Ministry and East India +Company, which was introduced and passed. + +In 1775, during the trouble with Captain Mowatt, which resulted in the +burning of the town, in which he lost L1,000, he brought upon himself +the vengeance of the Revolutionists, who under Thompson, assumed the +government, and organized themselves into a board of war, and required +him to contribute money and provisions, and to give a bond of L2,000 to +appear at the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, and give an account +of his conduct. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. After the peace +he settled at St. Andrews at the mouth of the St. Croix river, the +boundary line between Maine and New Brunswick, where he died November +23, 1796, aged seventy-one years. His son Robert, deceased at the same +place November 8, 1794, at the age of twenty-five, and his daughter, +Joanna, married Thomas Wyer, Jr., his widow Elizabeth Berry of Kittery, +died December 24, 1809, aged seventy-nine. + + + + + EBENEZER CUTLER. + + +JOHN 1 CUTLER came from Spranston, two miles from north of Norwich, and +about eight miles south of Hingham, in the County of Norfolk, England. +His name first appears among the persecuted adherents of Rev. Robert +Peck, A. M., of Hingham, who "sold their possessions for half their +value, and named the place of their settlement after their natal town." +He embarked, it is believed, in the Rose of Yarmouth, William Andrews, +Jr., Master, which sailed on or about April 18, 1637. He was at Hingham +by or a little after June 10th following, when land was assigned him. He +came attended by his wife Mary, seven children, and one servant. He died +the following year, which must have subjected his widow and children to +great hardships. His third son, + +SAMUEL 2 CUTLER, was born in England in 1629, was of Marblehead in 1654, +of Salem in 1655, of Topsfield and Hingham in 1671, and of Gloucester, +March 17, 1693. In 1671 he as heir and attorney for his brothers and +sisters, united with his mother in the sale of their patrimonial estate +in Hingham. He was often called to settle and appraise estates. He died +in 1700, 71 years of age. He had two sons and three daughters. His +second eldest son, + +EBENEZER 3 CUTLER, was born at Salem in 1664, where he married Mary, +daughter of Zacheray and Mary March. Mr. Cutler died about 1729 at Salem +and the widow in 1734, the sale of the homestead being effected soon +after, and the family removed from Salem. He had six children, four sons +and two daughters. The eldest son, + +EBENEZER 4 CUTLER, was born in Salem, October 1, 1695. He was a farmer +and brickmaker. He married May, daughter of William Stockwell, Oct. 16, +1732. He inherited the farm in Sutton, Mass., purchased of William +Stockwell by his father, and on which he settled previous to 1728. It is +said that three of his sons resided on this farm at one time, each +occupying separate houses. He died in 1779, and had two daughters and +five sons. + +EBENEZER 5 CUTLER, son of the aforesaid,[272] settled in the town of +Oxford, Mass., as an inn keeper and trader. He married Miriam Eager, +sister of his brother Zackeus' wife, and daughter of James Eager of +Westboro, Mass., Nov. 24, 1764. Mrs. Cutler was a sister of Colonel +Eager, who was a Loyalist and settled in Victory, Nova Scotia. + + [272] See Cutler Genealogy for descent of Ebenezer 4. + +Before the commencement of hostilities he tried to be neutral, but when +the tea troubles arose, he went quietly at night, and purchased a +quantity of it, on the return with his supply a masked band interrupted +him, took the tea from him and burnt it. That decided him, which side to +take, and he became a staunch loyalist. + +Ebenezer Cutler was a trader which caused him to travel considerably +about the country, and being very independant and outspoken he soon had +many enemies among the Revolutionists, and a price was set on his +capture. He had many narrow escapes before they got him. Once he was +hidden in a farmhouse between the chimney and outer wall, most +suffocated by smoke. + +The Committee on Correspondence made charges against him, and sent him +with the evidence of his misconduct to General Ward at Cambridge, the +charges were as follows: + + Northboro, May 17th, 1775. + + Sir: + + We the Committee of Correspondence of the Town of Northboro having + taken into our custody Mr. Ebenezer Cutler, late of Groton, but now + of this town, which from his conduct appears to us to be an avowed + enemy of his Country, he has set at naught and despises all the + Resolutions of the Continental and Provincial Congress, and also + utterly refuses to act in any defence of his now perishing country + whatever, and as he has from his past conduct, ever since we have + been struggling for the Liberties of our Country appeared in the + eyes of the Public to be aiding and abetting, in defeating the + plans of the good people of this Province, and has been riding from + one part of this province to the other, and in our opinion for no + good design, we think it highly necessary to send him to the + Council of war, to know whether he may (as he desires) have a pass + to go into Boston: we also inclose the substance of two evidences + concerning said Cutler. + + By order of the Committee of Correspondence, + GILMAN BASS, Clerk. + + N. B. General Ward, we apprehend is well acquainted with the + character and conduct of said Cutler.[273] + + [273] "Royalists" in Mass. Archives, Vol. 1, p. 6. + +His case was submitted to Congress, when it appeared that he had spoken +"many things disrespectful of the Continental and Provincial Congress" +that he had "acted against their resolves," had said that "he would +assist Gage," had called such as signed the town-covenant or +non-consumption agreement "dammed fools" etc., etc. A resolve to commit +him to prison was refused a passage, and a resolve that he be allowed to +join the British troops at Boston was also lost. But subsequently he was +allowed to go into that town "without his effects." On the evacuation of +Boston he accompanied the British Army to Halifax. He settled at +Annapolis Royal, and with the money which the British government paid +him in compensation for his losses, he established himself in business +there. After his home in Oxford was broken up, his wife Miriam, and +children, went to her mother, Mrs. Eager, in Worcester. His wife died +there. Mrs. Eager was a strong Loyalist, one day a party of Rebels +visited her, and she sent them off by some ready quotations of +scripture. She and her sons brought the family to Annapolis and then +settled on a farm in Nisteaux. + +After a few years Ebenezer Cutler went to England on a visit and there +married Mary, daughter of Colonel Hicks, of the 70th Regiment. Two +children were born in England and four in N. S. He was protonotary of +the County of Annapolis, and was a zealous Episcopalian. He died there +in 1831, quite aged. Mary, his widow, died at the same place in 1839. He +was proscribed and banished in 1778, and his property was confiscated +and inventoried April 5th, 1779. Aug. 3rd the judge appointed a +commission to settle his estate. His first wife, Miriam, died at +Northboro, Mass., and her estate was inventoried Sept. 10, 1784, +amounting to L100. He had by her eight children. + +EBENEZER 6 CUTLER, son of the aforesaid, was born at Oxford, Mass. Aug. +27th, 1765. He was a student at Harvard at the commencement of +hostilities, when he was obliged to leave. Opposite his name in the +College archives, is the name "Traitor," which means just the opposite, +that he was a Loyalist. He went to Nova Scotia with his father. He was +an expert accountant, and crown land surveyor. Here he resided several +years, but settled finally at Moncton. One day in going up the street, +passing Mr. Wilmot's, he saw a very beautiful girl leaning over the +gate, a visitor of Mrs. Wilmot, Olivia Dickson. It was a case of love at +first sight. He met a friend a few minutes after and told him that he +had just seen his wife that was to be. In due time they were married. On +one of his voyages as supercargo, the vessel was taken by a Spanish +privateer, off Jamaica. The captain recognized him as a Free Mason, gave +him liberty, set him ashore at Port Antonio, where he obtained a mule, +and crossed the mountains to Kingston where he took a vessel for Nova +Scotia. He died in 1839. He had ten children, six daughters and four +sons, the tenth child born was + +REBECCA 7 CUTLER, who married John Whitman of Annapolis whose ancestor +came from Plymouth County, Mass., and settled in Nova Scotia previous to +the Revolution. William Whitman of Boston and Clarence Whitman of New +York are children of John Whitman and Rebecca Cutler. + +Robert J. Dysart and Hugh Dysart, accountants of Boston, are descendants +in the third generation from Ebenezer Cutler and Olivia Dickson. + +[Illustration: The Engagement at the North Bridge in Concord. + +1 The Detachment of the Regulars who fired first on the Provincials at +the Bridge. + +2 The Provincials headed by Colonel Robinson & Major Buttrick + +3 The Bridge] + + + + + APPENDIX. + +THE TRUE STORY CONCERNING THE KILLING OF THE TWO SOLDIERS AT CONCORD +BRIDGE, APRIL 19TH, 1775. THE FIRST BRITISH SOLDIER KILLED IN THE +REVOLUTIONARY WAR. + +See page 53. + + +After the skirmish at Lexington, the king's troops marched into Concord +in two columns, the infantry coming over the hill from which the +Americans had retreated, and the grenadiers and marines followed the +high road. On reaching the Court house Colonel Smith ordered six +companies (about two hundred men) under Captain Parsons, to hold the +bridge and destroy certain stores on the other side. With the balance of +his command he remained in the center of the town destroying such +warlike stores as could be found, this being the object of the +expedition. + +Captain Parsons in the meantime, posted three companies under Captain +Laurie at the bridge, while he proceeded to Colonel Barrett's home in +search of stores. The Americans had gathered on the high ground, west of +the bridge, and now numbered about four hundred and fifty men, +representing many of the neighboring towns. The Acton company in front, +led by Capt. Isaac Davis, marched in double file and with trailed arms +for the bridge. The British guard, numbering about one hundred men, drew +up in line of battle on the opposite side of the bridge, and opened fire +upon them. Capt. Davis, and Abner Hosmer, of the same company, both fell +dead. Seeing this, Major Buttrick shouted "Fire, fellow soldiers! for +God's sake fire!" The order was instantly obeyed. One of the British was +killed, and several wounded, one severely, who was left on the ground, +when the British retreated to the center of the village. The Americans +turned aside to occupy favorable positions on the adjacent hills.[274] A +young man named Ammi White was chopping wood for Rev. William Emerson at +the "Old Manse" at the east end of the bridge, while the firing was +going on he hid under cover of the wood-pile, when it was over he went +to the bridge, saw one British soldier dead, another badly wounded, +grasping his axe he struck the wounded soldier on the head crushing in +his skull, then taking the soldier's gun, he went off home. The gun is +now in the rooms of the Antiquarian Society of Concord. In the meantime, +the detachment under Capt. Parsons returned from the Barrett house, +crossed the bridge, passed the dead bodies of the soldiers and joined +the main body unmolested. They reported when they arrived at Boston, +that the wounded soldier at the bridge had been scalped and his ears cut +off. + + [274] This description of the affair at Concord Bridge, was written by + Rev. E. G. Porter, President of the New England Historic Genealogical + Society for a work entitled "Antique Views of Boston." Pp. 234-8 + compiled by me in 1882. J. H. Stark. + +Very little was said during the past hundred years concerning the +inhuman act of Ammi White, in fact this is the first time the name of +the perpetrator of the outrage has been published. It was not a popular +subject to be discussed in the Council of the "Sons and Daughters of the +American Revolution" when assembled to recount the "brave deeds of their +patriotic forefathers." Hawthorne mentions it in the "Old Manse" pp. 12, +13. + +The writer's attention was first drawn to it by an article in the Boston +papers concerning the observances of "Patriots Day," April 19th, 1903. +It was as follows: + + "A story of the Concord fight not told by guides who take tourists + to the graves of the soldiers by the Concord bridge was told by the + Rev. Franklin Hamilton, preaching on "Patriots' Day and Its + Lessons" last evening at the First Methodist Episcopal Church. + + "It shows," said he, "that the British soldiers were men like you + and me. It shows that the story of that fateful battle hour found + many weeping hearts across the sea. Your histories tell you how two + British soldiers, a sergeant and a private, were killed, and are + buried under the pines by the wall. One was killed and the other + wounded. As the wounded soldier was crawling away he was met by a + boy who had been chopping wood, and who, inflamed with the spirit + of the hour, struck him dead with his axe. Mr. Bartlett of Concord + tells me that not so long ago a young woman came to Concord and + asked to be shown where the British soldiers lay. She came from + Nottinghamshire, and was a relative of one of them. She went to the + graves and placed upon them a wreath, singing as she did so 'God + Save the King.'" + +This led me to examine into the case. I found that there was +considerable rivalry of feeling between the towns of Concord and Acton +as to the part each took in the fight. There was a saying that "Acton +furnished the men, and Concord the ground." And that there was not a +Concord man killed, wounded or missing in the "Concord Fight." In the +Centennial observances at Acton in 1835, the Address was delivered by +Josiah Adams. He said: + + "That two were killed at the bridge is certainly true, and it is + true too that historians have published to the world that they were + killed in the engagement. + + "It is true also, that a monument is about to be placed over them on + the spot to perpetuate American valor. The manner in which one of + them met his death as disclosed in the depositions of Mr. Thorp, + Mr. Smith and Mr. Handley, namely by a hatchet after he was wounded + and left behind, was well known at the time. It was the action of + an excited and thoughtless youth who was afterwards sufficiently + penitent and miserable and whose name therefore will not be given. + But the attempt to conceal the act from the world which was made at + the time, and has since continued, cannot be approved. It would + surely have been better to have given it to the world accompanied + by the detestation and horror which it merited and received. Thorp + in his deposition said: 'Two of the enemy were killed--one with a + hatchet after bring wounded and helpless. This act was a matter of + horror to all of us. I saw him sitting up and wounded as we passed + the bridge.'" + + Smith said: "One of them was left on the ground wounded and in that + situation was killed by an American with a hatchet." Handley said: + "The young man who killed him told me in 1807 that it worried him + very much." + + This inhuman act was of course reported by the British and a Boston + paper represented that one killed at the bridge at Concord was + scalped and the ears cut off from his head. This led to a + deposition from Brown and Davis that the truth may be known. They + testified that they buried the bodies at the bridge, that neither + of those persons were scalped, nor their ears cut off. + + If there be any one left to advocate such a proceeding, he will say + that the deposition was true to the letter. But alas! it was in the + letter only. It had the most essential characteristic of + falsehood--the intention to make a false impression in regard to + what was known to be the subject of inquiry to have it believed + that both men were killed in the engagement." + + "If a monument is to be erected by the authority of a town, one of + the most respectable in the County of Middlesex, let it be seen + that its inscription contains the truth, the whole truth, and + nothing but the truth, relative to the subject matters + thereof."[275] + + [275] Centennial Address delivered at Acton, July 21, 1835, by Josiah + Adams, pp. 44-5-6. + +My attention was next attracted to the soldiers' graves at Concord +Bridge by the following letters that appeared in the Boston Transcript: + + BRITISH GRAVES AT CONCORD. + + To the Editor of the Transcript: + + I want to say in your columns something which has been on my mind + frequently since I went to Concord Bridge on my recent visit to + America. It has mingled some sadness with an otherwise most + delightful visit. + + By the side of the road there are the graves of the British + soldiers who fell there, unnamed and unhonored by us, yet they died + doing what they conceived to be their duty just as your men did. + The loneliness and unrecognized character of these graves struck me + sadly, and I have often since wished that they, too, might have + some tribute to their stanch, if misplaced bravery. Now in looking + (as I constantly do) through the writings of my most dear friend + and counsellor, James Russell Lowell, I find he has exactly struck + the note I want in his poem, "Lines suggested by the graves of the + two English soldiers on Concord Battleground." The third verse + would make a fitting tribute to the character of these men. It runs + as follows: + + "These men were brave enough and true + To the hired soldiers' bull-dog creed; + What brought them here they never knew, + They fought as suits the English breed; + They came three thousand miles and died + To keep the past upon its throne-- + Unheard, beyond the ocean tide, + Their English mother made her moan." + + Do you think there might be found, among the splendidly patriotic + Daughters of the Revolution, some sufficiently generous-minded to + put this American poet's recognition of the worth of these poor + fellows on a small tablet near the graves? I would at least ask + whether the last two lines of this verse do not move the heart of + any woman. + + I do not know how public sentiment toward the sacred ground of + Concord battlefield might regard such an intrusion, and if the + words were those of any but such a man as Lowell, so associated + with the locality and imbued with all that that fight meant to your + nation, I would not be so bold as to suggest it. I know that this + is really a national, not an individual, matter and that a + stranger ought not to intermeddle with it. I am only making my + little moan in sympathy with the English mother whose heart Lowell + so beautifully understands. + + ALBERT WEBB. + Elderslie, London Road, Worcester, Eng., March 31, 1909. + + +The editor's comments on the letters was in part as follows: + + "The letter in another column pleading for a memorial tablet, + bearing suggested and suggestive lines from Lowell, at the grave of + the two British soldiers slain at the North Bridge, Concord, should + challenge attention and it is difficult to see why it should + challenge antagonism. The grave is now marked by two stones half + sunken in the mold with which kindly nature everywhere seeks to + efface the evidences of human strife. It is protected by chains + which were provided some thirty years ago by a British resident of + Boston. On a stone of the wall sheltering the grave is an + inscription setting forth who sleep below. Neither the inscription + nor the defence was strictly necessary, for all Concord knows where + the grave is, and tradition has preserved the names of the two men + who buried the slain, giving them hasty but not irreverent + interment. Nor has there ever been danger of vandalism. The old New + England reverence for the last resting place of the dead protected + the sleepers for one hundred years, and the chain fence is more the + tribute of a countryman to these friendless and nameless victims of + George III.'s policy than a precaution. The same spirit which + protected those two soldiers' resting place would doubtless not see + anything objectionable in a bronze tablet carrying Lowell's lines. + Certainly the people of Concord, the descendants of the Minutemen, + would be the last to feel incensed at this tribute, if tribute it + be, or this reminder of permanent material, of the historic dust + that must in these one hundred and thirty-four years have turned + into earth. + + "These two soldiers are none the less historical characters because + their identity is unknown. What their names or grades neither + history nor research tells. They were just common men in the ranks, + in the era when the private soldier was simply so much food for + powder. + + "But apart from the influence of local sentiment, there is a broad + public opinion that guards a soldier's sepulchre, even if he was an + enemy in life. This opinion is expressed in the general custom in + this country to allow both sides memorials on the great + battlefields of our Civil War. + + "If the suggested tablet should be erected at Concord, if + 'patriotism' should at first think too much honor were done these + 'hireling soldiers,' would not reflection remind that when the + 'embattled farmers'--who, by the way, were led by a veteran and + accomplished officer--and the regulars faced one another across the + narrow stream both were proud of the name of Englishmen? Concord + was then a microcosm of English America, which up to the very verge + of hostilities had drunk the King's health and had clung + desperately to the foolish fond belief that he was a good sovereign + misled by designing ministers." + +This led me to further investigate this matter, for I had been informed +that the graves had been desecrated some years ago under authority of +the town officials. I therefore caused to be published in the Boston +Transcript under the heading of "Notes and Queries" the following query: + + (7891.) 1. Can anyone give the names of the two British soldiers + killed at Concord Bridge, or inform me if there were any papers + taken from their bodies that would identity them? I have been + informed that there were. + + 2. One of the soldiers was left wounded on the bridge; what was the + name of the "young American that killed him with a hatchet"? + + 3. When did the selectmen of Concord give Professor Fowler + permission to dig up the two bodies of the British soldiers and + remove the skulls to be used for exhibition purposes? + + J. H. S. + April 6, 1906. + + +[Illustration: MONUMENT TO COMMEMORATE THE SKIRMISH AT CONCORD BRIDGE. + +The letter A on the left of the engraving, marks the site of the graves +of the two British Soldiers. The first killed in the Revolution.] + +The only answer received was the following: + + "7891. 3. The indirect intimations of J. H. S. are shrewd, but + before the alleged action of the selectmen excites the Concord + people, they should insist upon his producing adequate evidence. + ROCKINGHAM." + +The adequate evidence was produced and is as follows: + + "The Worcester Society of Antiquity, + Worcester, Massachusetts, April 12, 1909. + + Mr. James H. Stark, + + Dear Sir: + + Mr. Barton has handed your letter to me and I write to say that the + skulls of those two British Soldiers killed at the bridge in + Concord were once the property of this Society, we having purchased + them of the Widow of Prof. Fowler, the phrenologist, who some years + ago went about the country giving lectures and illustrating his + subjects. Prof. Fowler got permission to dig up those skulls from + the Selectmen of Concord, and he carried them about with him and + used them in his lecturing. After his death one of the members + learned of them and we purchased the skulls and they were in our + museum some time. The late Senator Hoar learning that we had them, + came to know if we would be willing to return them to Concord that + they might be put back in the ground from whence they were taken. + As he seemed quite anxious about it, consent was given, and they + were sent to Concord to be placed in their original resting place. + Presume they are there at the present time. + + Yours, + ELLERY B. CRANE. + Librarian." + +The only excuse offered for the inhuman act of Ammi White was found over +one hundred years after the crime was committed. It is now said that he +was only a boy, and that the wounded soldier cried out for water, and +that while giving it to him he tried to kill him with his bayonet. This +is all false, there is no evidence whatever to prove it, in fact Thorp, +one of the deponents said "he was killed with a hatchet after being +wounded and helpless, and the act was a matter of horror to all of us." +Handley said "The young man who killed him told me in 1807 that it +worried him very much." Here is not the slightest evidence that White +killed him in self defence, neither was he the boy as represented, for I +find that he enlisted five days after killing the soldier, in Capt. +Abishai Brown's Co. Col. John Nixon's (5) Regiment. He enlisted April +24, 1775, June 10, 1775 signed advance pay order at Cambridge, Aug. 1, +1775, Private on muster roll at that date. Service 3 months 15 days. +Company return dated Sept. 30, 1775.[276] + + [276] Rev. Soldiers and Sailors. Vol. 17, p. 42. + +I am pleased to state that a few weeks after the aforesaid letters +appeared in the Transcript, that the town authorities at Concord gave +permission to the "British Army and Navy Veterans" of Boston, to march +on Memorial Day, May 30, 1909, to the graves of the two soldiers and to +decorate same, which was accordingly done. The graves of the soldiers +are referred to in the Transcript article as being "protected by chains, +which were provided some thirty years ago by a British resident of +Boston." The party referred to was Mr. Herbert Radcliffe, a member of +the British Charitable Society. The facts which I have stated here, +concerning what occurred, "Where once the embattled farmers stood and +fired the shot heard round the world" is not done with a view of +reviving old grievances, or re-opening old sores, but that the historic +truth may be known concerning "the shot heard round the world," for +history should know no concealment, and as Josiah Adams truly said, "the +truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, should be told +relative to this matter." + +If it be said that these are old stories of the past, we reply that +these misrepresentations are being quoted as having actually occurred +and are made living issues for to-day by numerous societies formed for +that; and kindred purposes. Even those societies designed to keep in +remembrance their honored ancestors' part in the Revolution, make it a +point to perpetuate their historic fables and falsehoods in the belief +that anything is good enough to be said of their historic opponent. + + + THE ENGAGEMENT AT THE NORTH BRIDGE IN CONCORD, WHERE THE TWO SOLDIERS + WERE KILLED. + +In the American army which was formed at Cambridge immediately after the +affair at Lexington and Concord, there were two young artists from +Connecticut, Amos Doolittle, afterwards a well known engraver, and a +portrait painter by the name of Earl, both members of the New Haven +company. During their stay at Cambridge, these young men improved the +opportunity by visiting Lexington and Concord, for the purpose of +studying the battle field and making drawings of the several localities, +the buildings, and the forces in action. The drawings were mostly made +by Earl, and afterwards engraved by Doolittle, on his return to New +Haven the same year. The four plates were each twelve by eighteen inches +in size, and have been claimed to be the first series of historical +prints ever published in this country. "Plate III., the battle of the +North Bridge in Concord" shown here in reduced size from the +reproduction of the original in "Stark's Antique Views of Boston." In +this engraving, one soldier is seen falling, near the spot where the two +soldiers are buried. + + + THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. + +Boss or ring rule is not a modern invention, for at the time of the +Revolution, Sam Adams was the political boss of Boston, Gordon in his +"History of the American Revolution" under date of 1775, traces this +practice to a much earlier date. "More than 50 years ago Mr. Samuel +Adams' father and 20 others, one or two, from the north end of the town, +where all the ship business is carried on used to meet, make a caucus, +and lay their plans for introducing certain persons into places of trust +and power. By acting in concert, together with a careful and extensive +distribution of ballots, they generally carried the elections to their +own mind." In this manner Sam Adams first became a representative for +Boston, and then its Boss. At this period ship building was one of the +leading industries of Boston. Originally the "Caucus Club" was a +mechanics club called from the leading trade in it the "Calkers' Club," +which name, with a variation it still retained after it had passed in +the hands of politicians. + +It is impossible to exaggerate the influence such secret societies as +the Caucuses, and Sons of Liberty, had upon the events which helped to +bring on the conflict with the mother country. The "Sons of Liberty" met +in a distillery, and also the Green Dragon Tavern, and arose out of the +excitement attending the passage of the Stamp Act. John Adams in his +diary gives some interesting glimpses of their clubs, where the +Revolution was born, he says "Feb. 1, 1763. This day learned that the +Caucus Club meets at certain times in the garret of Tom Dawes, the +adjutant of the Boston regiment. He has a large house, and he has a +movable partition in his garret, which he takes down and the whole club +meets in one room. There they smoke tobacco till you cannot see from one +end of the garret to the other. Then they drink flip I suppose, and +there they choose a moderator, who puts questions to the vote regularly, +and selectmen, assessors, collectors, wardens, and representatives, are +regularly chosen before they are chosen in the town. Fairfield, Story, +Ruddock, Adams, Cooper, and a rudis indigestaque moles of others are +members." + +"January 15, 1766. Spent the evening with the Sons of Liberty at their +own apartments in Hanover Square near the Tree of Liberty. It is a +counting-room in Chase & Speakman's distillery; a very small room it is. +There were present John Avery, a distiller of liberal education; John +Smith, the brazier; Thomas Chase, distiller; Joseph Fields, master of a +vessel; Henry Bass, George Trott, jeweler; and Henry Wells. I was very +cordially and respectfully treated by all present. We had punch, wine, +pipes and tobacco, biscuit and cheese, etc." + +Chas. J. Gettemy in commenting on same, says:[277] + + [277] The True Story of Paul Revere, p. 45, by Charles J. Gettemy, Chief + of the Bureau of Statistics and Labor of the Commonwealth of + Massachusetts. + +"From which it appears that politicians are much the same in all times. +Public officials were chosen by a ring in Boston in the year of our Lord +1763 before they were "chosen by the town" =and the Revolution was +hatched in a rum-shop=, while those upon whom history has placed the +seal of greatness and statesmanship filled themselves with "flip" in an +atmosphere dense with tobacco smoke as they plotted and planned the +momentous events of the time!" + + + PAUL REVERE THE SCOUT. + +Paul Revere was born in Boston, Dec. 21, 1734, his father was a Huguenot +named Rivoire, which in time became Revere. When Revere left school he +went into his father's shop to learn the art of gold and silver smith. + +His first military experience was when he was twenty-one years old, in +the expedition against Crown Point, in which he held the king's +commission from Gov. Wm. Shirley as second lieutenant of artillery. The +service proved uneventful, it continued for six months and then the +enterprise was abandoned. + +On his return he took an increasing and prominent part in the political +life of the time, and on one occasion his pugnacious disposition got him +into the police court, in 1761, where he had to pay a fine and be bound +over to keep the peace. + +Revere became quite skilled in drawing and engraving on copper, and the +exciting political events of the time readily lent themselves to +pictorial treatment. Probably the best known of Revere's copper-plate +engraving, was that of the so-called "State Street Massacre." It has +since, however, been discovered that in this instance he appropriated +the work of Henry Pelham, the half brother of Copley the artist[278] as +the following letter will show: + + Boston, March 29th, 1770. + + Sir: + + When I heard that you was cutting a plate of the late Murder, I + thought it impossible as I knew you was not capable of doing it + unless you copied it from mine and as I thought I had intrusted it + in the hands of a person who had more regard to the dictates of + Honor and Justice than to take the undue advantage you have done of + the confidence and trust I reposed in you. But I find that I was + mistaken and after being at great Trouble and Expense of making a + design, paying for paper, printing, etc., find myself in the most + ungenerous Manner deprived not only of any proposed Advantage, but + even of the expense I have been at as truly as if you had plundered + me on the highway. If you are insensible of the Dishonour you have + brought on yourself by this Act, the World will not be so. However, + I leave you to reflect and consider of one of the most dishonorable + Actions you could well be guilty of. + + H. PELHAM. + + [278] See Atlantic Monthly. April 1893, "Some Pelham Copley Letters." + +This is a serious charge against Revere's honor and integrity, for it +seems that Pelham loaned Revere a drawing of the "Massacre" from which +Revere made an engraving and sold copies without giving the real artist +credit for his sketch, since the Revere plate bears the inscription +Engraved, Printed and Sold by Paul Revere. + +Revere was one of the chief actors in the tea mobs that destroyed the +tea which precipitated the Revolution. The North End Caucus had, on Oct. +23, 1773, declared that its members would "oppose at peril of life and +fortune the vending of any tea that might be imported by the East Indian +Company." A song was composed which became very popular. One of them +commenced with + + "Our Warren's there and bold Revere + With hands to do and words to cheer." + +[Illustration: PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF PAUL REVERE. + +He and another scout, named Dawes, was captured on the road to +Lexington, April 19, 1775.] + +Revere took a prominent part in this tumultuous affair, and the next day +he was selected as the man to take the news to New York and +Philadelphia. From this time on he was the chief scout of the Boston +Revolutionists. He was one of a band of thirty formed to watch the +movements of the British that had been sent to Boston after the +destruction of the tea. Finally the vigilance of these scouts was +rewarded. It became apparent that something unusual was occurring in the +British camp on the evening of April 18th, 1775, for Revere says "On +Tuesday evening, the 18th, it was observed that a number of soldiers +were marching towards the bottom of the Common," which meant that they +were going in boats across the river to Charlestown or Cambridge, +instead of making a long march around by land. About ten o'clock Dr. +Warren sent in great haste for me and begged that I would immediately +set off for Lexington. I found he had sent an express by land, a Mr. +William Dawes." I then went home, took my boots and surtout, went to the +north part of the town, where I kept a boat; two friends rowed me across +Charles River. When I got into town, I met Colonel Conant and several +others. They said they had seen our signals. I told them what was +acting, and went to get a horse." Mounted on Deacon Larkin's horse, he +said "I alarmed nearly every home till I got to Lexington. After I had +been there about half an Hour, Mr. Dawes arrived, who came from Boston +over the Neck. We set off for Concord." They had gone but a short +distance when they were taken prisoners. Revere said "I saw four of +them, who rode up to me with their pistols in their hands, said G--d +d--n you, stop, if you go an inch further you are a dead Man." The +result was that neither Revere nor Dawes reached Concord. + +On the day following these events Revere was permanently engaged by Dr. +Warren, as a scout to do outside business for the Committee of Safety. +This patriotic service had a commercial value, and the Committee in +auditing the bill thought he was disposed to value his labors too +highly, for they reduced his charges from five shillings to four +shillings a day.[279] In his financial dealings with the government he +hardly ever failed to send in bills for work done which the authorities +deemed extravagant charges and pruned down accordingly. + + [279] Paul Revere's Bills can be seen in the Archives at the State + House, Boston. + +Most men like Revere, somewhat above the masses, but not possessing the +elements of enduring fame, are remembered by a circle of admiring and +respecting friends until they pass away, and are ultimately forgotten, +finding no place upon the pages of written history. Paul Revere was +rescued from this fate by an accident, a poet's imagination of things +that never occurred. His famous ride remained unsung, if not unhonored +for eighty-eight years, or until Longfellow, in 1863 made it the text +for his Landlord's Tale in the Wayside Inn. It is to the "poetic +license" of Longfellow, that most persons owe their knowledge of the +fact that such a person as Revere ever existed. The poet did not mention +the name of Dawes, yet he was entitled to as much credit, for what he +did on the eve of the historic skirmish at Lexington, as Revere. + +Poetry and history sometimes become sadly mixed, the poet and romancist, +in so far as they deal with matters of verifiable records should keep +closer to the truth, and make use of poetic license as little as +possible. To be sure the poet's statement concerning the lantern, and +that Revere reached Concord was long ago shown to have been incorrect, +but its persistent virility only goes to prove that truth is not the +only thing which crushed to earth, will rise again. Very little is said +by historians, concerning the Penobscot Expedition despatched in the +summer of 1779 by the Massachusetts Council against the British on the +coast of Maine. It was an episode of the Revolution that resulted in +disaster so complete, so utterly without excuse, and so thoroughly +discreditable to American arms as to make its contemplation without +feelings of shame and humiliation impossible. An overwhelming force of +Colonial troops, through the clear cowardice of an admiral bearing the +proud name of Saltonstall, allowed itself to be frightened into an +ignominious and panic-stricken desertion of its post of duty by a +ridiculously ill equipped enemy. The ensuing scandal besmirched +reputations hitherto untarnished, and the State of Massachusetts was +plunged, on account of the expedition, into a debt of eight million +dollars sterling. "To attempt to give a description of this terrible +Day," wrote General Lovell, "is out of my Power. It would be a fit +subject for some masterly hand to describe it in its true colors, to see +four ships pursuing seventeen Sail of Armed Vessels, nine of which were +stout Ships, Transports on fire. Men of War blowing up every kind of +Stores on Shore, throwing about, and as much confusion as can possibly +be conceived."[280] + + [280] Lovell's Journal, p. 105. + +Thus did this little Garrison with three Sloops of War, by the unwearied +exertions of soldiers and seamen, writes John Calef in his Journal under +date of August 14, 1779, whose bravery cannot be too much extolled, +succeed in an enterprise of great importance, against difficulties +apparently unsurmountable, and in a manner strongly expressive of their +faithful and spirited attachment to the interests of their King and +Country. Calef gives the total number of American ships of war, brigs +and transports as 37, of which 26 were burnt and 11 captured.[281] "The +soldiers and crew took to the woods, and singly or in squads, made their +way to the Kennebec, where most of them arrived after a week's suffering +from hunger and exposure."[282] + + [281] The Siege of the Penobscot, etc., pp. 23, 25. + + [282] Mass. Archives, Vol. 145, pp. 230-237. (Todds report). + +Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Revere was in command of the artillery train, +and this episode was a serious event in his life, and came near +stripping him of the laurels he had won by his earlier exploits, he was +arrested on charges of cowardice, censured after an investigation, court +martialled, and was grudgingly acquitted, after three years persistent +effort. + +Paul Revere's Masonic Record also has its blemishes. He received his +degrees in St. Andrews Lodge in 1760-1. He afterwards became Grand +Master. There being too many Loyalists or "Gentry" in St. Andrews Lodge +to suit the taste of Revere, the leader of the mechanics, he and his +friends therefore withdrew from same, and started "Rising States Lodge," +but it did not succeed. The members soon fell to quarrelling among +themselves. Some twenty members came together and voted the lodge out of +existence, and divided the funds of the lodge, amounting to $1,577.50 +among twenty-five members of the lodge, among whom was Paul Revere and +his son. This was contrary to all Masonic precedents. The funds and +paraphernalia of the Lodge should have been returned to the Grand Lodge. +A committee was appointed to investigate the matter. They made a very +scathing report in which it said "To divide it among members of a Lodge +whenever they think proper to dissolve this union, is making the funds +an object of speculation, it is treating the noble example of departed +donors with contempt and devoting their sacred deposit to individual +emoluments, it is taking bread from the hungry, It is multiplying the +tears of the widow and fatherless." + +The Grand Lodge ordered that the funds of the lodge should be devoted to +charity and a report of same printed and sent to each member of Rising +States Lodge.[283] + + [283] See copy of report in "Rising States Lodge," in Library of Mass. + Grand Lodge. + + + WILLIAM FRANKLIN, SON OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. + +William Franklin, Last Royal Governor of New Jersey, was a natural son +of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. He was born about 1731. His father said of +him: "He imagined his father had got enough for him; but I have assured +him that I intend to spend what little I have myself, if it pleases God +that I live long enough; and, as he by no means wants acuteness, he can +see by my going on that I mean to be as good as my word." He served as +Postmaster of Philadelphia, and as clerk of the House of Assembly of +Pennsylvania. In the French war he was a captain and gained praise for +his conduct at Ticonderoga. Before the peace, he went to England with +his father. While there, Mr. Strahan wrote Mrs. Franklin, "Your son I +really think one of the prettiest young gentlemen I ever knew from +America. He seems to me to have a solidity of judgment, not very often +to be met with in one of his years." While abroad young Franklin visited +Scotland and became acquainted with the celebrated Earl of Bute, who +recommended him to Lord Fairfax, who secured for him, as is said, the +appointment of Governor of New Jersey, in 1763, without the solicitation +of himself or his father. All intercourse between him and his father was +suspended for more than a year before the actual commencement of +hostilities. He was involved in a helpless quarrel with the delegates, +and the people of New Jersey. In May, 1775, in a message he sent to the +Assembly he said, "No office of honor in the power of the Crown to +bestow would ever influence him to forget or neglect the duty he owed +his country, nor the most furious rage of the most intemperate zealots +induce him to swerve from the duty he owed his Majesty." On the 20th of +May, the day this message was transmitted, the Assembly was prorogued, +and Governor Franklin never communicated with that body again. Three +days after the first Provincial Congress commenced their session at +Trenton, and the Royal Government ceased, and William Livingston became +Franklin's successor. + +Congress ordered the arrest of Governor Franklin as an enemy to his +country. He was accordingly placed in the custody of a guard commanded +by a captain who had orders to deliver him to Governor Trumball in +Connecticut. He was conveyed to East Windsor, and quartered in the house +of Captain Ebenezer Grant. In 1777 he requested liberty to visit his +wife who was a few miles distant, and sick. This Washington refused, +saying, "It is by no means in my power to supersede a positive +Resolution of Congress under which your present confinement took place." +His wife was born in the West Indies and it is said that she was much +affected by the severity of Doctor Franklin to her husband while he was +a prisoner. She died in 1778 in her 49th year, and is buried in St. +Paul's Church, New York. It is inscribed upon the monumental tablet +erected to her memory that "Compelled to part from the husband she +loved, and at length despairing of the soothing hope of his speedy +return, she sunk under accumulated distresses, etc." + +In 1778, after the arrival in America of Sir Henry Clinton, an exchange +was effected and Governor Franklin was released, and went to England. In +West's picture of the Reception of the American Loyalists, by Great +Britain in 1783, Governor Franklin and Sir William Pepperell are the +prominent personages represented. (See page 214.) + +In 1784, the father and son, after an estrangement of ten years, became +reconciled to one another, for Doctor Franklin writes, "It will be very +agreeable to me, indeed nothing has ever hurt me so much, and affected +me with such keen sensation, as to find myself deserted in my old age by +my only son, and not only deserted, but to find him taking up arms +against me in a cause wherein my good fame, fortune and life were all at +stake. You conceived, you say, that your duty to your king and regard +for your country required this. I ought not to blame you for differing +in sentiment with me in public affairs. We are all men, subject to +errors, etc." In his will, dated June 23, 1789, a few months before his +decease, he showed his shrewdness and craftiness for which he was always +noted, in leaving his Nova Scotia lands to his son, the title to which +was doubtful on account of the part he took in the Revolution. He says +"I give and devise all the lands I hold or have a right to in the +Province of Nova Scotia, to hold to him, his heirs and assigns forever. +I also give to him all my books and papers which he has in his +possession, and all debts standing against him on my account-books, +willing that no payment for, nor restitution of the same be required of +him by my executors. The part he acted against me in the late war, which +is of public notoriety, will account for my leaving him no more of an +estate he endeavored to deprive me of." + +Governor Franklin continued in England during the remainder of his life. +He received a pension from the British Government of L800 per annum. His +personal estate valued at L1800, which was confiscated, the government +allowed him full compensation for. He had several shares in back lands +and grants and real estate in New York and New Jersey, all of which he +conveyed to his father, as he was indebted to him. He died in Nov., +1813. His son, William Temple Franklin, was Secretary to Dr. Franklin, +and edited his works. He died at Paris in May, 1823. + + + ROYAL COAT OF ARMS. + +The Royal Coat of Arms embossed on the outside cover of this work is an +exact reproduction of the Coat of Arms that was formerly above the +Governor's seat in the Council Chamber in the Old State House in Boston. +It was made from a photograph taken from the original in Trinity Church, +St. John, N. B., for a fuller description of same, see p. 436. The seal +embossed on the outside back cover, is a reproduction of the seal of +"The Colony of the Massachusetts Bay in New England" from which the +present seal of the State of Massachusetts is derived. It was the seal +that was used on all official documents down to the time of the +Revolution. + + + PELHAM'S MAP OF BOSTON. + +This plan was made by Henry Pelham, the half brother of Copley the +painter. It was made under permission of J. Urquhart, Town Major, August +28, 1775. It shows the lines about the Town and the Harbor, and is the +most important of the early maps of Boston and the one upon which all +subsequent revolutionary maps are based. It was printed in two sheets +published in London, June 2, 1777, done in aquatinta by Francis Jukes. +This copy is reproduced from the original in the Massachusetts +Historical Society's Library and is drawn on a photographic print from +which this engraving is made. + + + JUDGE CHAMBERLAIN'S OPINION OF COL. THOS. GOLDTHWAITE. + +Col. Goldthwaite was a man of ability, unbounded enterprise, and +considerable influence. Chamberlain in his History of Chelsea says of +him: "Some very unfavorable accounts of Col. Goldthwaite have been +published, which I do not feel at liberty to withhold, but in referring +to them suggest, first, that they were mainly written after he had +become obnoxious as a loyalist; secondly: that his position on the +Penobscot was one in which it would have been impossible to protect the +just rights of the Indians against turbulent frontiersmen outside any +efficient government without incurring their hostility, since their only +sense of justice was their desire for exclusive possessions of lands +which rightfully belonged to the original occupants." + + +GOV. JOHN WINTHROP--See Page 426. + +John Winthrop, born Jan. 12, 1587, died at Boston March 26, 1649, by his +first wife Mary Forth, had + + John, born Sept. 12, 1606 + Henry, born Jan. 19, 1608 + Forth, born Dec. 30, 1609 + Mary, born probably 1612 + Ann, baptised Aug. 8, 1614 and died soon after + Ann (again) baptised June 26, 1615 + +By his second wife, Thomasine Clopton, had a child who died at the + same time as its mother. + +By his third wife, Margaret Tyndal, he had + + Stephen, Mar. 31, 1619 + Adam, April 7, 1620 + Deane, March 23, 1623 + Nathaniel, Feb. 20, 1625, died young + Samuel, August 26, 1627 + Ann, April 29, 1630, who died on the voyage over + William, Aug. 14, 1632, probably died early + Sarah, baptized Jan. 29, 1634, probably died early + +By his fourth wife, Martha, a widow of Thomas Coytmore, sister of + Increase Nowell of Charlestown, he had Joshua, baptised December + 17, 1648 + +His eldest son, John Winthrop, born Sept. 12, 1606, at Groton, who +afterwards became Governor of Connecticut, died and was buried in +Boston; it is his line of descendants that is given on page 426; the +other branches of the family became extinct in the male line. + + + + +INDEX. + + + Abercrombie, 226. + + Achmuty (see Auchmuty). Robert, 126. + + Adams, Charles Francis, 37. + Frances, 286. + James, 286. + John, 5, 24, 25, 29, 32, 35, 37, 45, 46, 48, 54, 68, 69, 77, + 83, 89, 93, 95, 105, 153, 163, 181, 226, 317, 318, 327, + 334, 340, 366, 368, 379, 385, 391, 392, 452, 455, 477. + John, Mrs., 282. + John Quincy, 180, 365. + Joseph, 138. + Josiah, 472, 473, 476. + Samuel, 37, 38, 39, 44, 46, 48, 51, 59, 83, 152, 153, 157, 160, + 161, 162, 163, 165, 166, 189, 219, 310, 322, 476. + Zab, 334. + + Albemarle, Duke of, 419. + + Allen, Ebenezer, 134. + James, 295. + Martha, 295. + William, 204. + + Almon, W. J., 279. + + Altamont, Earl of, 316. + + Ambrose, Robert, 128. + + Ames, Fisher, 98. + Gov., 47. + + Amherst, 20, 198, 227. + + Amory, Abigail Taylor, 345. + Ann Geyer, 395. + Ann McLean, 395. + Anne, 343. + Catherine Green, 345. + Charles, 221, 345. + Elizabeth Fitzmaurice, 343. + Esther Sargent, 345. + Hattie Sullivan, 345. + Hugh, 343. + John, 137, 249, 344, 345, 346, 350. + Jonathan, 343, 344, 345, 346, 410. + Martha Greene, 345. + Mrs., 234. + Nancy Geyer, 350. + Nathaniel, 345. + Rebecca, 343, 344. + Robert, 128, 343. + Rufus, 350. + Rufus Greene, 395. + Thomas, 132, 343, 344, 345, 410. + Thomas C., 233, 242, 243, 345. + Thomas Coffin, 51. + William, 345. + + Ancient and Honorable Artillery Co., 118, 181, 356, 424. + + Anderson, James, 125, 132, 137. + + Andrews, Elizabeth, 412. + Thomas, 412. + William, Jr., 468. + + Andros, 419. + Barrett, 133. + Edmond, Sir, 16. + + Appleton, John, 262. + + Apthorp, 60, 438, 448. + Alicia Mann, 352. + Charles, 351, 352, 354. + Charles Ward, 352. + Charlotte Augusta, 352. + East (Rev.), 353. + Grace Foster, 353. + Grizzell, 352, 354. + Grizzell Eastwicke, 351. + Hannah, Greenleaf, 352. + John, 351, 352. + John T. (Col.), 353. + Mary, 352, 353, 396. + Mary McEvers, 352. + Mary Thompson, 354. + Susan, 353. + Susan, Ward, 351. + Thomas, 125, 137, 354. + William, 137, 354. + + Arbuthnot, Abigail Little, 399. + Christian, 399. + John, 399. + Miss, 251. + + Archer, Mary, 287. + + Argenson, 23. + + Arnold, 90. + Benedict, 180. + + Asby, James, 125. + + Ashburton, Lord, 114, 115. + + Ashley, Joseph, 133, 138. + + Ashton, Jacob, 131. + + Astor, John Jacob, 209. + + Atkins, David, 139. + Gibbs, 134, 137, 323. + Ruth, 321. + Thomas, 323. + + Atkinson, John, 125, 132, 133, 137. + + Attucks, Crispus, 44, 83. + + Auchmuty, 163, 437. + James, 302. + Maria M., 304. + Richard, Harrison, 304. + Robert, 138, 142, 249, 300, 302. + Robert Nicholis, 304. + Samuel, Sir, 304. + Samuel, Rev., 303, 304. + + Austin, Capt., 364. + Mrs., 364. + + Avery, John, 477. + + Alywin, Thomas, 125. + + Ayres, Eleanor, 134. + + + Bache, Benjamin F., 75, 76. + + Bacon, 439. + + Badger, Moses, Rev., 134, 138, 275. + + Bagley, Col., 358. + + Bailey, Jacob, Rev., 399. + + Baird, D., Sir. 304. + + Baker, John, 134, 139. + Walter, 183. + + Baldwin, Henry, 361. + Loammi, Col., 262, 266, 271, 358. + + Ball, Robert, 361. + + Bancroft, George, 390. + Rev. Dr., 391. + + Bangs, Seth, 139. + + Barber, Major, 406. + + Barger, Philip, 448. + + Barker, Ann, 310. + + Barnard, John, 134. + Thomas, 127. + + Barnes, Catherine, 400. + Christian Arbuthnot, 399. + Elizabeth, 255, 399. + Henry, 132, 138, 235, 399, 400, 401, 402. + Mr., 251. + Surgeon-General, 112. + + Barnett, John, 239. + + Barnsfare, 244. + + Barre, 28, 31. + + Barrell, Elizabeth, 445. + Jonathan Sayward, 445. + Mary, 445. + Nathaniel, 445. + Samuel B., 136. + Sarah Sayward, 445. + Theodore, 136. + Walter, 133. + + Barrett, Col., 471. + + Barrick, James, 133, 137. + + Barron, Jonathan, 286. + Lucy, 286. + + Barry, 218. + + Barton, David, 132. + M., 475. + + Bass, Gilman, 469. + Henry, 477. + Mr., 340. + + Bath, Lord, 23. + + Beaman, Thomas, 139. + + Beath, Mary, 134. + + Beaumarchais, 84, 85. + + Beecher, Henry Ward, 111. + + Belcher, Andrew, 181. + Eliza, 181. + Governor, see Jonathan. + Jonathan (Gov.), 181, 233, 275, 276, 344, 447. + Joseph (Rev.), 338. + Rebeccah, 338. + Sarah, 447. + + Bennett, Barbara, 255. + Spencer (see Phips, Spencer), 420. + + Bentham, Jeremy, 164. + + Benton, Senator, (Thos. H.), 115. + + Bernard, 292, 301. + Amelia, 201. + Francis, Rev., 191. + Francis, Sir, 35, 41, 42, 50, 137, 142, 149, 157, 176, 191, + 192, 193, 194, 196, 197, 199, 200, 203, 204, 207. + Godfrey, 191. + Governor, see Sir Francis. + John, 201. + John, Sir, 203. + Julia, 193, 201, 202. + Scrope, 201, 202. + Thomas, 191, 196, 197, 200, 202, 203, 204. + + Berry, Edward, 137. + Elizabeth, 467. + John, 125. + + Bethel, Robert, 133. + + Bethune, George, 125, 239. + George A., 229. + + Bicker, William, 342. + + Bigelow, Timothy, Col., 400. + + Bissett, George, 361. + + Black, David, 137. + John, 134. + + Blackburn, 444. + Mr. Justice, 151. + + Blackstone, Mr., 364. + William, 217, 413. + + Blackwell, John, Jr., 139. + + Blair, John, 134. + Robert, 137. + William, 124. + + Blanchard, 394. + + Bland, 80. + + Blaney, Joseph, 131. + + Bligh, Thomas, 13. + + Bliss, Daniel, 126, 138. + Jonathan, 249. + Samuel, 138. + + Blodgett, Susannah, 261. + Thomas, 261. + + Blowers, Sampson S., 126, 137, 249. + Sampson Salter, 137. + + Bloye, Henry, 125. + + Boardman, Andrew, 420. + + Bollan, Mr., 301. + + Bolton, Col., 234. + Mrs., 234. + + Borland, 438. + John, 125, 409. + Mrs., 251. + Sarah, 409. + + Boucher, 202. + + Bourn, Edward, 139. + Elisha, 139. + Lemuel, 139. + William, 139. + + Boutineau, James, 125, 136, 142, 448. + Mary Bowdoin, 448. + Mrs., 448. + Nancy, 448. + + Bowen, John, 134, 139. + Nathan, 128. + + Bowes, Ann Whitney, 224. + Arthur, 224. + Dorcas Champney, 224. + Edmund Elford, 224. + Emily, 224. + Harriet Troutbeck, 224. + Lucy Hancock, 224. + Martha Remington, 224. + Martin (Sir), 224. + Mary Stoddard, 224. + Nicholas, 224. + Sarah, 224. + Sarah Hubbard, 224. + William, 125, 132, 134, 137, 224, 225. + + Bowditch, 412. + Joseph, 131. + + Bowdoin, 163, 165. + Elizabeth, 448. + James, 29, 399, 402, 428, 437. + Judith, 403. + Mary, 448. + Peter, 448. + + Bowman, Archibald, 132, 134. + + Boyd, Gen., 104. + + Boydell, Alderman, 218. + + Boyer, Daniel, 409. + + Boyle, John, 405. + + Boyleston, Mr., 250. + + Boylston, Ward Nicholas, 249. + + Braddock, Gen., 19, 51, 179. + + Bradford, Gov., 434. + + Bradish, Ebenezer, 126. + Mr., 388. + + Bradshaw, Sarah Thompson, 297. + + Bradstreet, 11, 17. + Simon, 458. + + Bragdon, Capt., 443. + + Brandon, 134. + + Brattle, Katherine, 295. + Katherine Saltonstall, 296, 297. + Thomas, 137, 294, 296. + William, 132, 134, 161, 294, 295, 296, 435. + + Braxton, 80. + + Bray, John, 205, 208. + Margery, 205. + + Breck, Abigail, 313. + John, 313. + Margaret, 313. + + Brewer, Daniel, 140. + Joseph, 424. + + Breynton, Rev. Dr., 348. + + Bridgewater, Chief Justice, 279. + Mary, 279. + + Bridgham, Ebenezer, 125, 133, 137. + Hannah, 358. + Joseph, 358. + + Briggs, Mathyas, 285. + + Brigham, Ebenezer, 132. + + Bright, John, 110. + + Brimmer, Martin, 196. + + Brindley, see Brinley. + + Brinley, also Brindley. + Catherine Craddock, 396. + Deborah, 377, 396. + Edward, 396. + Elizabeth, 396. + Elizabeth Pitts, 397. + Francis, 377, 396. + George, 125, 132, 137. + Mary Apthorp, 396. + Mrs. (Nathaniel), 397. + Nathaniel, 132, 396. + Robert, 397. + Sylvester Oliver, 190. + Thomas, 125, 132, 134, 137, 249, 395, 396, 397. + + Britton, David, 131. + + Brock, Gen., 103, 441. + + Broderick, John, 134. + + Brooks, Susanna, 298. + + Broomer, Joshua, 139. + + Brown, Abishai (Capt.), 475. + Capt., 400, 401. + Gawler, 280. + Gen., 104. + Lieut., 353. + Mary, 428. + Mather, 280. + Shearjashub, 126. + Thomas, 134. + William, 138, 428. + + Browne, 250. + Elizabeth, 242. + Hannah Curwin, 449. + Judge, 448. + Mary, 463. + Samuel, 449. + Simon, 449. + William, 131, 136, 142, 189, 449, 450, 451, 461, 463. + + Bruce, James, 137. + + Brunsden, Charles, 220. + + Bryant, Seth, 139. + + Brymer, Alexander, 137. + + Bubler, Joseph, 128. + + Buckminster, Col., 425. + + Bulfinch, Charles, 352, 354. + Susan Apthorp, 353. + Thomas, 349, 354. + + Bumpus, Thomas, 139. + + Bumstead, Thomas, 307. + + Burch, William, 137, 142, 319. + + Burden, William, 139. + + Bureau, Ann, 229. + + Burgoyne, Gen., 84, 85, 250. + + Burke, 28, 31, 164. + + Burnett, Gov., 449. + + Burr, Aaron, 180. + + Burrell, Colbourn, 125. + Martha, 356. + + Burton, Jane, 427. + Mary, 134. + William, 125, 137. + + Bush, David, 139. + + Bute, Lord, 40, 153, 481. + + Butler, Benjamin F., 109. + Dr., 353. + Gen., 111. + Gilliam, 134. + + Buttrick, Maj., 471. + + Byfield, Deborah, 447. + Nathaniel, 447. + + Byles, Anna, 280. + Belcher, 280. + Elizabeth, 275, 280. + Josiah, 275. + Mather, Rev., 134, 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 410. + Mather, Jr., 137, 279. + Mather (3), 279, 280. + Rebecca, 279. + Sarah, 275. + + Bymer, Alexander, 132. + + + Cabot, 251. + Francis, 127, 131. + George, 459. + William, 131, 249. + + Calef, John, 480. + + Calhoun, John C., 102, 116, 180. + + Callahan, Charles, 140. + + Callendar, Edward B., 5. + + Callender, James Thompson, 76. + + Camden, 28. + + Campbell, Alexander, 312. + Duncan, 404. + Elizabeth, 256. + John, 404. + Thomas, 255. + William, 134. + + Caner, Ann, 347. + Henry (Rev. Dr.), 134, 202, 346, 347, 348, 349, 411. + + Canner, Henry, 137. + + Canning, 77. + + Capen, Hopestil, 125. + + Carew, Charles Hallowell, 284. + Robert Hallowell, 284. + + Carleton, Guy (Sir), 234, 237, 241, 242, 244, 396. + + Carlisle, Earl of, 413. + Mr., 55. + + Carpenter, 251. + + Carr, Mr., 134. + Patrick, 46. + Robert (Sir), 13, 14. + + Carroll, Charles, 31, 80. + John (Rev.), 31, 32. + + Carter (Lieut.), 89. + + Cartwright, Geo. (Col.), 13, 14. + + Carver, Caleb, 139. + Melzor, 134, 139. + + Cary (Dr.), 353. + Nathaniel, 125, 132. + + Cazneau, Andrew, 126, 132, 134, 137. + William, 125, 132. + + Cednor, William, 134. + + Chambers, Rebecca, 452. + + Chace (see also Chase). + Ami, 139. + Levi, 139. + Shadrach, 139. + + Chadwell, Abraham, 374. + M. A., 374. + Samuel, 133. + + Chalmers, (Richard-?-), 212. + + Chamberlain, Joseph, 8. + Mrs., 358. + + Champney, Dorcas, 224. + + Chandler, Ann, Leonard, 392. + Annice, 388. + Clark, 390. + Dorothy, Paine, 390. + Dr., 212. + Eleanor Putnam, 391. + Elizabeth Ruggles, 379. + Gardner, 139, 391. + Hannah Gardner, 389. + John, 35, 132, 134, 139, 383, 385, 388, 389, 390, 391. + John (Col.), 389. + Lucretia, 382. + Nathaniel, 133, 134, 139, 391. + Rufus, 126, 139, 379, 385, 390. + Sarah, 383. + William, 133, 134, 139, 388, 399. + + Channing, Dr., 114. + + Charles I., 10, 427. + + Charles II., 11, 12, 16. + + Chase (see also Chace and Speakman, 477). + Samuel, 31. + Thomas, 477. + + Chatham, 25, 28, 31. + + Chauncy (Rev. Dr.), 321. + + Checkley, Anthony, 308. + + Cheever, Ezekiel, 406, 463. + Joshua, 423. + Mary, 414. + + Chickatabut, 365. + + Child, Isabella, 442. + Susan, 442. + Susannah, 439. + Thomas, 442, 465. + Thomas Hale, 442. + + Chipman, Hannah Warren, 431. + Hope Howland, 431. + John, 431, 432. + John (Rev.), 431. + Rebecca Hale, 431. + Samuel, 431. + Ward, 133, 431, 432, 436. + + Church, Benjamin, 137, 166, 286, 406, 454. + Benjamin, Jr., 417. + Colonel, 390. + Mary, 390. + + Ciely, John, 133. + + Clap, Rachel, 333. + + Clarence, Duke of, 243. + + Clark (see also Clarke). + Benjamin, 124, 415. + Isaac, 137. + John, 137, 415. + Jonathan, 137, 249. + + Clark, Mary, 188. + Richard, 132, 137, 249. + Samuel, 415. + Sarah, 383. + Thomas, 260. + Timothy, 383. + William, 188, 415. + + Clarke (see also Clark), 60. + Anne, 394. + Francis, 405. + Isaac Winslow, 245, 409. + Jonathan, 407, 409. + Margaret Winslow, 245. + Richard, 165, 216, 217, 245, 405, 406, 407, 408, 409. + Susan, 409. + and Sons, 405. + + Clay, Henry, 102, 180. + + Cleveland, President, 117. + + Cleverly, 438. + + Clinton, Henry (Sir), 467, 482. + + Cobb, Nicholas, 139. + + Cochrane, Alexander (Sir), 240. + Capt. 51. + + Codner, William, 124, 132, 137. + + Coffin, Ann, 243, 446. + Ann Holmes, 446. + Aston (Sir), 283. + Caroline, 239. + Ebenezer, 234. + Elizabeth, 233. + Elizabeth Amory, 344. + Elizabeth Barnes, 399. + Francis Holmes, 245. + Froman H. (Admiral), 233. + Guy Carleton (Gen.), 238. + Hector (Capt.), 243. + Henry Edward, 238. + Isaac, Sir (Admiral), 233, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 283, + 400, 442. + Isaac Sir (Gen.), 245. + Isabella, 244. + James, 233, 245. + John, 125, 137, 234, 243, 244, 245, 442. + John (Gen.), 233, 235, 236, 237, 238, 242, 243, 283, 400. + John T. (Admiral), 242. + John Townsend, 238. + Jonathan Perry, 243. + Lieut. Col., 244. + Margaret, 244. + Margrate, 442. + Mary, 239. + Nathaniel, 125, 132, 133, 137, 233, 234, 235, 239, 243, 245, + 249, 251, 350, 399, 446. + Nathaniel, Jr., 125. + T. (Admiral), 238. + Thomas, 245. + Thomas Aston, 234. + Thomas Aston (Sir), 233, 243. + Tristram, 233, 243. + William, 125, 134, 137, 233, 234, 235, 243, 245, 309, 344, 350, + 446. + William, Jr., 132, 134, 234. + William Foster, 245. + + Collins, Stephen, 248. + + Colonial Club, 183. + + Conant, Col., 479. + + Congreve, Mary, 215. + William (Sir), 215. + + Conkey, Israel, 139. + + Connors, Mrs., 134. + + Converse, Hannah, 261. + + Cook, Robert, 134. + + Cookson, 133. + + Cooley, John, 134. + + Coombs, Mr., 252. + + Cooper, Jacob, 312. + Samuel, 163. + William, 314. + + Coote, Eyre, 414. + + Coores, 414. + + Copley, Elizabeth Clark, 221. + Georgiana, Susan, 221. + + Copley, John Singleton, 125, 165, 216, 217, 218, 219, 249, 280, + 394, 404, 409, 412, 413, 444. + John Singleton (2) (See also Lyndhurst, Lord), 219, 220, + 221, 283. + + Copley, Richard, 216. + Sarah Elizabeth, 221. + Sophia, Clarence, 221. + Susan Penelope, 221. + + Cornwallis, 236, 251. + + Corwell, Anna, 223. + Jemima, 223. + Richard, 223. + + Cotton, John, 145, 338. + Maria, 338. + Mr., 272. + + Courtney, Thomas, 132, 134, 137. + + Cousins, John, 443. + + Cox, Edward, 125, 137. + + Cradock, Catherine, 396. + Elizabeth, 396. + George, 396. + + Crage, James, 139. + + Cragie, Lord, 442. + Mrs., 442. + + Craigie, Admiral, 244. + John, 244. + Lord, 244. + + Cranch, 334. + + Crane, Ellery B., 475. + Major, 194. + + Crehore, Zeedah, 129. + + Cromwell, Oliver, 11, 71, 122, 417, 433, 439. + + Crowne, William (Col.), 12. + + Cummins, A., 134. + E., 134. + + Cunningham, Archibald, 132, 137, 451. + + Curtice (See also Curtis). + Mary, 423. + Samuel, 423. + + Curtis (See also Curtice). + Charles, 132, 138. + Obediah, 425. + + Curwen, George, 246, 254, 447, 449, 461. + Hannah, 449. + Jonathan, 246. + Samuel, 64, 131, 246, 247, 254. + Susannah, 447. + + Cushen, John, 285. + + Cushing, William, 189. + + Cushman, Elkanah, 133. + + Cutler, Ebenezer, 134, 139, 468, 469, 470. + John, 230, 468. + Mary, 230, 468. + Mary Hicks, 470. + Mary Marsh, 468. + May Stockwell, 468. + Miriam, 469, 470. + Miriam Eager, 468. + Olivia Dickson, 470. + Rebecca, 470. + Samuel, 468. + Zackeus, 468. + + Cutts, Joseph (Capt.), 209. + Sally, 209. + Thomas, 208. + + + Dabney, Nathaniel, 127. + + Dalglish, Andrew, 127, 131. + + Danforth, Judge, 187. + Samuel, 136. + Thomas, 126, 134, 138. + + Daphne (a slave), 400. + + Dartmouth, Lord, 162, 291, 292. + + Daubney (See also Dabney). + Nathaniel, 131. + + Davenport, Addington, 232. + Jane, 232. + Samuel, 129, 130. + + Davie, 86. + + Davis, Ann, 288. + Benjamin, 125, 132, 137. + Governor, 390. + Isaac (Capt.), 471. + James, 324. + Jefferson, 110, 111, 112. + Miss, 251. + + Dawes, William, 479. + + Daws, Edward, 359. + + D'Bernicre (Ensign), 400. + + D'Estaing (Admiral), 240, 430. + + De Brisay (see Des' Brisay). + + De Chatillon, 445. + + De Grasse, 240, 252, 283, 428. + + De la Bere, David, 235. + + De Lancey, 431. + Oliver, 396. + + De Viomel, 430. + + Deane, Silas, 84, 102. + + Dearborn (Gen.), 104, 441. + + Debarrett, Mrs., 248. + + Deblois (including De Blois). + Ann, 446. + Ann Coffin, 446. + Ann Farley, 445. + Elizabeth Cranton, 446. + Elizabeth Jenkins, 446. + Etienne, 445. + George, 131, 446. + Gilbert, 125, 132, 134, 137, 306, 307, 446. + James Smith, 306. + Lewis, 125, 132, 134, 137, 223, 446. + Mrs., 234. + Ruth, 223. + Stephen, 445. + + Dechezzar, Adam, 134. + + Decrow, Thomas, 139. + + Deering, James, 399. + + Dennie, William, 406. + + Dennison, Samuel, 387. + + Derby, Richard, Jr., 127. + + Des' Brisay, Thomas (Gen.), 280. + + Devens, Richard, 405. + + Devereaux, Anna, 222. + Hannah, 222. + John, 222. + + Dewey, George (Admiral), 118. + + Dexter, Aaron, 344. + + Dexter, Mrs., 234. + Rebecca Amory, 344. + + Dickenson, Nathaniel, 134, 138. + + Dickerson, William, 132. + + Dickson, Olivia, 470. + William, 124. + + Dieskau, Baron, 19, 226. + + Digby, Admiral, 268, 269. + John (Sir), 462. + + Dillon, 110. + + Doolittle, Amos, 476. + + Dorchester Historical Society, 184. + + Dorchester, Lord (see also Sir Guy Carleton), 234. + + Dougherty, Edward, 134. + + Dowse, Joseph, 131. + + Doyle, Major, 268. + + Doyley, Francis, 134. + John, 134. + + Drake, Samuel G., 43. + + Draper, Ann, 404. + Edward, 404. + John, 404. + Margaret, 134, 404, 405. + Richard, 361, 404, 405. + William, 404. + + Driver, Richard, 225. + + Duane, 102. + William, 76. + + Duche, Jacob (Rev.), 78, 83. + + Duddington (Lieut.), 52. + + Dudley, Charles, 133. + Joseph (Gov.), 410. + Katherine, 410. + Rebecca, 456. + William, 410. + + Duelly, William, 134. + + Dulaney (Daniel ?), 212. + + Dumaresq, Capt., 445. + Philip, 125, 132, 133, 137, 316. + Rebecca, Gardiner, 316. + + Dummer, Jane, 454. + + Dunbar, Daniel, 138, 421. + Jessie, 421. + Joseph, 421. + Robert, 421. + Rose, 421. + William, 254. + + Duncan, Alexander, 134. + James (Major), 273. + + Dunlap, Daniel, 134. + + Dunn, Samuel, 430. + + Dunning, Mr., 164. + + Du Portail, 25. + + Dupuis, Abram, 405. + + Durham, 458. + + Du Vassall (see also Vassall), 285. + + Duyer, Edward, 133. + + Dysart, Hugh, 470. + Robert J., 470. + + + Eager, James, 468. + John, 139. + Miriam, 468. + Mrs., 469, 470. + + Earl, James, 468. + + East India Company, 124. + + Eastwicke, Guzzel, 351. + John, 351. + + Eaton, Benjamin, 397. + + Eckley, Thomas E., 395. + Julia Ann Jeffries, 395. + + Edgar, James, 139. + + Edward IV., 427. + VII., 433. + + Edwards, Thomas, 411. + Mary Johonnot, 411. + + Edson, Josiah, 133, 136, 138, 142. + + Eldridge, Joshua, 139. + + Eliot, Andrew, 160. + Andrew (Rev.), 348. + Asaph, 290. + Elizabeth, 290. + Jacob, 309. + John, 309. + John (Rev.), 338, 355. + William, 272. + + Ellis, Ephraim, Jr., 139. + Joshua, 418. + + Ellsworth, 86, 108. + + Emerson, John, 134. + William (Rev.), 471. + + Emsley, Chief Justice, 282. + Mrs., 282. + + Endicott, John (Gov.), 10. + + Eppes, Abigail, 314, 317. + Love, 215, 317. + William, 316. + + Erving, Abigail, 298. + Col., 250. + George, 125, 133, 137, 142, 292, 293, 299. + John, 132, 133, 298, 306, 399. + John, Jr., 125, 136, 137, 142. + Maria Catherine, 299. + Mr., 320. + Shirley (Dr.), 299. + + Etter, Peter, 134. + + Eustis (Gov.), 179. + William (Dr.), 335. + + Evans, 133. + + Everett, Edward, 184. + Oliver, 184. + + Eyre, John, 394. + Katherine, 394. + + + Fairfax, Lord, 179, 481. + + Fales, 228. + + Faneuil, 60, 250, 251, 406. + Andrew, 230. + Benjamin, 134, 137, 165, 229. + Benjamin, Jr., 132. + Jane, 232. + Mary, 232. + Mary Ann, 232. + Peter, 165, 229, 230, 231, 232, 351, 415, 448. + + Farbrace, Miss, 428. + + Farley, Ann, 445. + + Farnum, Susannah, 216. + + Fellows, Gustavus, 397. + + Fenton, Capt., 448. + + Ferguson, Major, 90. + + Fields, Joseph, 477. + + Finney, Francis, 139. + John, 131. + Wilfret, 134, 137. + + Fisk, John, 397. + + Fitch, 212. + Martha, 295. + Samuel, 126, 132, 134, 137, 142. + + Fitzclarence, Mary, 289. + + Fitzmaurice, Elizabeth. + + Flagg, Samuel, 131. + + Fleming, John, 138. + + Fletcher, Robert, 293. + + Flucker, Elizabeth Luist, 402. + + Flucker, Hannah, 404. + Hannah Waldo, 403. + James, 402. + Judith Bowdoin, 403. + Lucy, 403. + Mrs., 134. + Sally, 404. + Thomas, 136, 137, 142, 159, 249, 402, 403, 404. + Thomas, Jr., 403. + + Foote, 349. + + Forbes, John (Rev.), 257, 260. + Dorothy, 258. + + Forest, James, 134. + + Formon, Sarah, 360. + + Forrest, James, 125, 137. + James (Capt.), 228. + + Foster, Comfort, 183. + Edward, 125, 134. + Edward, Jr., 134, 137. + Grace, 353. + Jonathan, 298. + Mary, 353. + Thomas, 133, 134. + + Fowle, Col., 461. + Elizabeth Prescott, 422. + Jacob, 128. + John, 128, 422. + Rebecca, 422. + + Fowler, Professor, 474, 475. + + Fox (Charles James), 28, 31, 165, 289. + + Francis, Sarah, 466. + + Frankland, Agnes (Lady), 417, 418. + + Frankland, Charles Henry Sir, (alias Sir Henry and Sir Harry), + 416, 417, 418, 439. + + Franklin, Benjamin, 5, 22, 24, 25, 26, 31, 37, 38, 75, 91, 102, + 115, 152, 163, 164, 181, 214, 280, 362, 367, 481, 482. + William (Sir), 214, 481, 482. + William Temple, 482. + + Frary, Mehitable, 308, 309. + Theophilus, 309. + + Frazer, Nathan, 350, 351. + Rebecca, 351. + + Freeman 76. + James, 288. + + Freneau, Philip, 75. + + Frye, P., 131. + + Full, Thomas, 134. + + + Gage, Thomas (General and Governor), 50, 52, 58, 127, 131, 132, + 144, 168, 187, 189, 200, 295, 306, 344, 397, 400, 408, 413, + 446. + + Gale, Anna, 275. Ruth 286. + + Gallison, John, 128. + + Gallop, Antill, 411. + + Gallop, Joan, 411. + + Galloway (Richard), 212. + + Golway, William, 138. + + Gambin, Admiral, 467. + + G. A. R., 120. + + Gardiner, Abigail, 316. + Ann, 316. + Ann Gibbons, 314. + Benoni, 313. + Catherine Goldthwait, 314. + Hannah, 281, 316, 377, 389. + Henry, 131, 335, 345. + John, 102, 315, 316, 377, 389. + John Sylvester John, 316. + Jonathan 251. + Joseph, 313. + Lucretia Chandler, 377. + Mrs., 250. + Rebecca, 316. + Robert Hallowell, 315, 316. + Svlvanus, 316. + Sylvester (also Silvester) 125, 132, 137. + (Dr.), 134, 281, 313, 314, 315, 316. + Weld, 131. + William, 313, 316. + + Garrick, Mr. (David), 249. + + Garrison, 48. + Gates, General, 85. + + Gay, Ebenezer (Rev.), 321. + Ebenezer, 324. + Joanna, 321. + John, 321. + Jotham, 322. + Lydia Lusher, 321. + Martin, 125, 132, 134, 137. + Martin, Capt., 321, 322, 323, 324, 325. + + Gay, Mary, 323. + Mary Pinckney, 321. + Nathaniel, 321. + Ruth, 323, 324. + Ruth Atkins, 321. + Samuel, 324. + W. Allen, 322. + Wickworth Allen, 324. + + Gayer (see also Geyer). + John (Sir), 233. + William, 233, 350. + + George (Capt.), 17. + + George III., 83, 97. + + Geray, Sarah, 220. + Thomas (Lt. Col.), 221. + + Germain, Lord George, 213, 267, 280. + + Gerrish, Cabot, 131. + Joseph, 336. + Mary, 336. + William, 131. + + Gerry, Elbridge (Gov.), 188, 450. + + Getchell, Dorothy, 467. + + Gettemy, Charles J., 477. + + Geyer, Damaris, 350. + Frederick William, 137, 350, 351. + Henry Christian, 350. + Maria Guard, 350. + Nancy, 350. + William, 350. + + Gibbons, Ann, 314. + John, 314. + + Gibbs, Henry (Sir), 246. + + Gilbert, Bradford, 139. + Perez, 139. + Samuel, 134, 139. + + Gilbert, Thomas, 134, 139. + Thomas, Jr., 139. + + Glover, Jonathan, 128. + + Gladstone (William E.), 110. + + Goffe, 12. + + Goldsbury, Samuel, 134, 138. + + Goldsmith, Georgiana, 221. + Lewis, 221. + + Goldthwait, Benjamin, 339. + Catherine, 314, 357, 402. + Catherine Barnes, 400. + Charles, 361. + Elizabeth, 355. + Ezekiel, 125, 334, 356, 358. + Hannah, 358, 359. + Hannah Bridgham, 358. + Henry (Lieut.), 360. + Henry Barnes, 361. + Jane Halsey, 355. + John, 355, 356. + Joseph, 125, 137, 356, 358, 359, 360. + Martha Lewis, 356. + Mary Jordan, 359. + Mehitable, 355. + Michael B., 125, 132, 360. + Philip (Capt.), 359. + Rachel, 355. + Samuel, 355, 360. + Sarah, 355. + Sarah Formen, 360. + Sarah Hopkins, 355. + Sarah Winch, 360. + Thomas, 355, 356, 357, 360, 400. + + Goodale, Nathan, 127, 131. + + Goodhue, Jonathan, 131. + + Gordon, Hugh Mackay, 283. + + Gore, Abigail, 392. + Christopher (Gov.), 394. + Elizabeth Weld, 392. + Frances Pinckney, 392. + Hannah, 392. + John, 125, 132, 134, 137, 392. + Mary, 392. + Mylain, 392. + Obadiah, 392. + Rebecca Payne, 394. + Rhoda, 392. + Samuel, 392, 422. + Sarah Kilby, 392. + + Gorham, David, 126. + Nathaniel, 253. + + Goss, Phebe, 286. + + Gould, Anne, 281. + General, 281. + + Gouldthwaight, Thos. (see Goldthwaite), 355. + + Grant, Charles, 239. + Ebenezer (Capt.), 481. + Gen., 111, 120. + James, 131, 134. + Major, 237. + + Grattan, Thomas Colley, 114. + + Graves (Admiral), 240, 314. + John, 140. + + Gray, 60. + Andrew, 134. + Benjamin Gerrish, 336. + Edward, 334. + Elizabeth, 336. + Ellis, 426. + Harrison, 125, 133, 136, 137, 142, 249, 280, 319, 334, 336, 345. + Harrison, Jr., 125, 137. + Gray, Horace, 29n, 151. + John, 134, 336. + Joseph, 336. + Lewis, 132, 137. + Mary, 134. + Mary Gerrish, 336. + Rebecca, 336. + Susannah, 334. + Thomas, 125. + William, 336, 432, 451. + + Grazebrook, Avery, 454. + Margaret, 454. + + Grazier, Col., 237. + + Greathouse, 90. + + Greecart, John, 132. + + Green (see also Greene). + Abigail, 413. + Bartholomew, 404, 405. + Benjamin, 125. + Benjamin. Jr., 125. + David, 125, 137, 249. + Francis, 125, 132, 134, 137. + Gen., 267. + Jeremiah, 124. + Joseph, 125, 136, 137, 249. + Joseph, Rev., 378. + Mr., 249. + Phoebe, 290. + Richard, 132. + Rufus, 125. + Thomas, 404. + + Greene, Catherine, 345. + David, 249, 372. + Gardiner, 218, 221, 230, 394. + Hannah, 392. + Martha, 345. + Martha B., 221. + Mary, 345. + Nathaniel, 354, 424. + Rufus, 345. + Singleton Copley, 394. + + Greenfield, Ann, 222. + Hannah, 222, 467. + Peter, 222. + + Greenlaw, John, 124, 137. + + Greenleaf, Hannah, 352. + Joseph, 454. + Stephen, 132, 352. + + Greenough, Thomas, 416. + William, 275. + + Greenwood, Mr., 363. + Nathaniel, 125. + Samuel, 134. + + Grenville, George (Lord Chancellor of Exchequer), 22, 24 37, + 38, 151, 198. + + Gridley, Benjamin, 125, 126, 132, 134, 137. + Jeremy, 193, 455. + + Griffin, Edmund, 134. + + Griffith, Mrs., 134. + + Grison, Edward, 134. + + Grozart, John, 134. + + Guard, Maria, 350. + + Guild, Curtis, Jr., 326. + + + Hale, Mary P., 442. + Rebecca, 431. + Roger, 439. + Samuel, 135. + + Hall, Adam, (3rd), 139. + Ebenezer (Jr.), 298. + James, 124, 137, 354. + Luke, 134, 139. + + Hallowell, 35, 154, 302, 437. + Ann, 281. + Benjamin, 133, 320. + Benjamin (Capt.), 281, 282. + Benjamin (Admiral), 284. + Benjamin (Sir), 283 (see Carew). + Hannah, 281. + Hannah Gardiner, 316. + Henry, 142. + Robert, 132, 133, 137, 251, 281, 316. + Rebecca, 134. + Sarah, 281. + Ward, Nicholas (see Boylston), 282. + + Halsey, Jane, 355. + + Halson, Henry, 137. + + Hamilton, Alexander, 66, 75, 77, 352. + Franklin (Rev.), 472. + John C., 352. + Mary Eliza Heuvel, 352. + + Hammock, Sarah, 332. + + Hammond, Green, 133. + + Hancock, John, 5, 35, 42, 48, 49, 50, 59, 79, 153, 160, 161, 165, + 166, 224, 281, 288, 298, 315, 319, 320, 322, 335, 366, 430, + 455. + + Hancock, Lucy, 224. + Thomas, 224. + + Handley, 472, 473, 475. + + Harcourt, Vernon (Sir), 29. + + Hardwicke, Lord, 24. + + Harris, Benjamin, 223. + Lucy Devereaux, 223. + Mary, 223. + + Harrison, Joseph, 319, 320, 321, 439. + Richard Acklom, 320. + Susannah, 334. + + Hassam, John T., 174. + + Hatch, Addington, 430. + Christopher, 137, 430. + Col., 425. + Elizabeth Lloyd, 430. + Estes (Col.), 429. + Harris, 430. + Hawes, 134, 137, 431. + Jane, 430. + Mary, 430. + + Nathaniel, 125, 133, 138, 142, 407, 429, 430. + Paxton, 430. + Susannah, 430. + + Hathaway, Calvin, 139. + Ebenezer, Jr., 139. + Luther, 139. + Shadrach, 139. + + Haven, G. C., 395. + Katherine Jeffries, 395. + + Haward, John, 197. + + Hawley, Joseph, 161. + + Hawthorn (Justice), 246. + + Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 194. + + Hay, Dr., 262. + + Hazen, Elizabeth, 432. + R. L., 377. + William, 432. + + Heard, Isaac (Sir), 300. + + Heath, William, 135. + + Hefferson, Jane, 135. + + Henly, Samuel, 349. + + Henchman, Thomas (Major), 355. + + Henderson, James, 134, 137. + Mr., 406. + + Henry, Patrick, 36, 37, 40, 83. + + Hester, John, 135. + + Heuvel, Charlotte Augusta Apthorp, 352. + John Cornelius Vanden, 352. + Mary Eliza, 352. + + Hichborn, Benjamin (Col.), 183. + Samuel, 183. + + Hicks, Colonel, 470. + John, 134, 138. + Mary, 470. + + Higginson, Henry, 131. + Stephen, 131. + + Hill, Henry, 368, 373. + William, 134. + + Hillsborough (Earl of), 159, 200, 367. + + Hinkly, Richard, 128. + + Hinston, John, 137. + + Hirons, Richard, 125. + + Hirst, Grove, 207. + Mary, 207. + + Hitchcock, E. A., 112. + Gen., 111. + + Hoar, George F. (Senator), 5, 475. + + Hobby, Ann, 416. + + Hodges, Samuel, 137. + + Holland, Georgianna Anne, 289. + Henry, 289. + Lady (see Webster, Elizabeth), 289. + Lord, 289. + Mary Elizabeth (see Lilford), 289. + Richard, 139. + + Holmes, Benjamin M(ulberry), 125, 132, 134, 137. + Francis, 343. + Rebecca, 343. + + Holton, Samuel, 450. + + Holyoke, E. A., 127, 131. + Edward, 379. + Edward A. (Dr.), 385. + Edward H., 379. + + Hombersley, Ruth, 177. + + Homer, Michael, 412. + Sarah, 412. + Sarah Kneeland, 412. + + Honourable Artillery Company, 118. + + Hood, Admiral, 240, 284. + + Hooper, Ann, 467. + Anna Corwell, 223. + Alice Tucker, 222. + Elizabeth Whittaker, 224. + Greenfield, 222. + Henry, 222. + Jacob, 134. + John, 222. + Joseph, 128, 223. + "King," 221, 222, 223. + Mary Harris, 223. + Mary McNeil, 223. + Rev. M., 339, 342, 398. + Robert, 128, 136, 222, 223, 224, 460. + Robert, Jr., 128. + Robert, 3d, 128. + Sweet, 128, 223. + + Hopkins, Mr., 335. + Sarah, 355. + + Horn, Henry, 135. + + Horrey, Col., 267. + + Horsemauden, Samuel, 302. + + Horton, Benjamin, 129. + + Hosmer, Abner, 471. + Joseph, 271. + + Hotham, 283. + + House, Joseph, 134, 139. + + Houston, Rebecca, 343. + + Hovey, C. F. & Co., 350. + + How, Josiah, 129, 130. + + Howe, Abraham, 361. + Gen., 250, 266, 344, 345, 410. + Isaac, 361. + James Murray, 260. + John, 138, 361, 362, 363, 364, 405. + Joseph, 361, 363, 364. + Lord, 20, 79, 81, 192. + Martha (Mrs.), 364. + Murray, 257. + Sarah, 364. + William, 364. + William (Sir), 304, 394, 425. + + Howland, Elizabeth, 431. + Hope, 431. + John, 431. + + Hubbard, Daniel, 125. + Joshua, 285, 286. + Margaret, 286, 288. + Sarah, 224. + + Hubbel, Lewis, 140. + + Hughes, Peter, 125. + Samuel, 125, 132, 134. + + Hull, 103, 345. + Hannah, 456. + John, 365, 419, 456. + Judith Quincy, 365. + + Hulton, Henry, 133, 142. + + Hunt, Anne, 454. + John (3rd), 132. + Hannah, 395. + Mary, 466. + William, 395. + + Hunter, William, 132. + William (Lieut.), 240. + + Hurlston, Richard, 134. + + Hutchinson, Abigail, 177. + Anne, 178. + Edward, 132. + Edward H., 145. + Eliakim, 178, 179, 180, 308. + Elisha, 137, 165, 177, 249, 308, 309. + Elizabeth Brinley, 396. + Foster, 133, 136, 137, 142, 177, 189, 312, 313, 353. + Hannah, 309. + John Rogers, 117. + Mary, 177. + Mary Oliver, 176, 177, 190. + Mrs., 135. + Peter Orlando, 175. + Richard, 178. + Sarah, 172, 188. + Thomas (Governor), 29, 34, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 44, 48, 50, 60, + 84, 123, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 137, 142, 145, 147, + 148, 149, 150, 151, 153 to 173, 177, 178, 188, 189, 192, + 193, 199, 200, 247, 249, 283, 292, 298, 299, 302, 309, 311, + 317, 322, 326, 348, 349, 353, 406, 408, 422, 436, 444, 447, + 454, 463. + Thomas, Jr., 132, 136, 137, 165, 175, 176, 177, 191. + Widow, 399. + William, 177, 178, 180, 249, 396. + + Hutton, Elizabeth, 215. + Henry, 215. + + + Ingersoll, David, 126, 140. + + Inglefield (Commissioner), 284. + + Inglis, 59. + Dr., 340. + + Ingraham, 212. + + Inman, John, 125, 132, 135. + Mrs., 259. + Ralph, 132, 258. + + Ireland, John, 135. + + + Jackson, Richard, 154. + William, 125, 132, 137. + + Jaffrey, George, 395. + George J., 395 (see also Jeffries, George J.). + Lucy Winthrop, 395. + Sarah, 394. + + James, II., 16, 419. + + Jamison, Charlotte Jessy, 426. + James, 426. + + Jarvis, Caroline Leonard, 333. + Charles (Dr.), 215. + John (Admiral, Sir), 283. + Leonard, 342. + R. M., 333. + Robert, 124, 132, 135, 137. + + Jay, John, 25, 64, 75, 105. + + Jeanson, Jean, 409 (see also Johnson, John). + + Jefferson, Thomas, 25, 36, 75, 77, 87, 102, 103, 104, 183. + + Jeffries, Ann, 394, 395. + Ann Geyer Amory, 395. + Anne Clarke, 394. + Augustus, 395. + Catherine, 395. + David, 394. + Edward P., 395. + Elizabeth Usher, 394. + George J., 395 (see Jaffrey, George J.). + Hannah Hunt, 395. + Henry W., 395. + John, 46, 137, 394, 395. + John (Dr.), 135, 395. + John, Jr., 132. + Julia, Ann, 395. + Katherine, 395. + Katherine Eyre, 394. + Sarah, 395. + Sarah Jaffrey, 394. + Sarah Rhoads, 395. + + Jenkins, Elizabeth, 446. + Robert, 225. + + Jennes, Eleanor, 465. + + Jephson, Mr., 404. + Sally Flucker, 404. + + Johnson, Capt., 248. + Elizabeth, 465. + Gabriel, 255. + Gov., 255. + Holton (Capt.), 252. + John, 409. + Mary, 410. + Mr., 346, 347. + Susan, 409. + William (Sir), 226, 358. + + Johonnot, Andrew, 411. + Daniel, 409, 410. + Elizabeth Quincy, 410. + Francis, 354, 410. + Gabriel, 406. + Katherine Dudley, 410. + Mary, 411. + Margaret Le Mercier, 410. + Peter, 125, 132, 135, 137, 344, 409, 410, 411. + Serzane, 410. + Susan Johnson, 409. + Zachariah (also Zasherie), 410. + + Joice, Isaac, 139. + + Jones, Deacon, 321. + Edward, 232, 448. + Elisha, 140. + Ephraim, 140. + John, 232. + Jonas, 140. + Mary, 135. + Mary Ann, 232, 448. + Miss, 230. + Paul, 250. + + Jordan, Mary, 359. + + Jouy, 411 (see Joy). + + Joy, Abigail Green, 413. + Benjamin, 413. + Charles, 412. + Elizabeth Andrews, 412. + Henry Hall, 413. + James R., 412. + Joan Gallop, 411. + John, 125, 132, 135, 137, 411, 412. + Joseph, 412. + Lydia Lincoln, 412. + Michael, 413. + Mary Prince, 412. + Sarah Homer, 412. + Thomas, 411. + + Junius Americanus (see Arthur Lee), 182. + + + Kalm, 23. + + Kast, P. G., 131. + + Kent (Duke of), 238, 245, 351, 382. + + Keyes, John, 426. + + Kerry (Lord), 343. + + Kidd, Capt., 145. + + Kidder, Samuel, 298. + + Kilby, Sarah, 392. + + King, Edward, 125, 135, 317, 318. + Rufus, 270. + Samuel, 135. + + Kirk, Thomas, 319. + + Kirkwood, Col., 239. + + Knight, John (Sir), 190. + Thomas, 125, 137. + + Knox, Henry (Gen.), 277, 384, 402, 403, 430. + William, 331. + + Knutton, John, 137. + + Knutter, Margaret, 135. + + + Lafayette, 89, 183, 430. + + Lansdowne (Marquis of), 343. + + Laughton, Henry, 125, 135, 137. + + Laurens, Henry, 240. + + Laurie, Capt., 471. + + Lavicourt, Mr., 372. + + Lavosier, Anthony Lawrence (General), 270. + + Lawton, Henry, 132. + + Lazarus, Samuel, 135. + + Leach, Rachel, 355. + + Learned (Col.), 344. + + Leavitt, Mr., 251. + + Le Baron, Joseph (Dr.), 432. + + Le Bretton, Philip, 448. + + Lechmere, Ann Winthrop, 413, 428. + Lord, 413, 428. + Mary, 453. + Mary Phips, 413. + Mrs., 402. + Nicholas, 251, 414. + Richard, 125, 133, 136, 137, 142, 184, 251, 413, 414, 420, 453. + Thomas, 413, 414, 428. + + Lecky (W. E. H.), 35, 70. + + Leddel, Henry, 135, 137. + + Lee, Arthur (Junius Americanus), 182. + Charles (Gen.), 230, 293, 414. + Jeremiah, 450, 460. + John, 128. + Joseph, 128, 136, 420. + Judge, 187. + Martha Sweet, 460. + Richard Henry, 248. + + Leffingwell, E. H., 39. + + Leigh, Egerton (Sir), 212. + + Lemaistre, Elizabeth, 287. + + Le Mercier, Andrew, 410, 448. + Margaret, 410. + + Leonard, 60, 212. + Ann, 392. + Anna, 332. + Anna White, 332. + Caroline, 333. + Charles, 326, 332. + Daniel, 126, 133, 136, 139, 142, 325, 327, 331, 332, 432. + Ephraim, 332. + George, 125, 132, 135, 137, 332, 333. + George, Col., 333. + George, Judge, 333. + Henry, 325. + James, 325, 332. + Maria, 333. + Nathaniel, 333. + Philip, 325. + Rachel Clap, 333. + Richard, Col., 333. + Sarah, 332, 333. + Sarah Hammock, 332. + Thomas, 325. + + Leslie, Col., 408. + + Lester, John (Sir), 317. + Love Eppes, 317. + + Leverett, President, 458. + + Lewis, Ann, 286. + Ezekiel, 414, 415. + John, 133, 286. + Martha, 356. + Martha Burrell, 356. + Mary Cheever, 414. + Philip, 356. + Thomas, 128. + William, 414, 415. + + Lilford, Lord, 289. + + Lillie, Ann, 313. + Edward, 308. + Elizabeth, 308. + John, 309, 313. + Mehitable, 309, 313. + Samuel, 308, 309. + Samuel (Mrs.), 309. + Theophilus, 124, 132, 135, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313. + + Lilly, William, 131. + + Lincoln, Abraham, 112. + Lydia, 412. + Samuel, 412. + + Lindall, Henry, 132. + + Linkieter, Alexander, 135. + + Linzee (Capt.), 345. + + Liste, Mrs., 135. + + Little, Abigail, 399. + + Livingston, R. R., 161. + William, 481. + + Lloyd, 212. + Dr., 394. + Elizabeth, 430. + Griselda, 351. + Henry, 132, 135, 137. + James, 132. + John (Sir), 351. + Miss, 425. + Samuel, 133. + + Logan (Cayuga, chief), 90. + + Longfellow, Henry W., 287, 479. + Mary, 439. + Samuel, 139. + + Longueuil, Baron de (see Grant, Charles), 239. + + Loring, 437. + Benjamin, 424, 425. + Charlotte Jessy Jamison, 426. + Hector, 426. + Jane, Newton, 423. + John, 425, 426. + John, Commodore, 425. + John Wentworth (Sir), 425. + Joseph, Royal, 426. + Joshua, 138, 142, 423. + Joshua (Commodore), 136, 423. + Joshua, Jr., 125, 132, 135, 138, 424. + Mary, 424. + Thomas, 423. + William (Capt.), 425. + + Loudon (Gen.), 379. + + Louis XVI., 115. + + Love, John, 132. + + Lovel, John, Sir, 135. + + Lovell, General, 480. + James, 440. + John, 346. + Mansfield (Gen.), 440. + Master, 231. + + Lovewell (Capt.), 422. + + Lowe, Charles, 135. + + Lowell, James Russell, 184, 188, 473. + John 126, 326, 414. + + Luist, Elizabeth, 402. + + Lusher, Lydia, 321. + + Lutwiche, Edward Goldston, 135. + + Lyddell, Henry, 125. + + Lyde, Byfield, 132, 135, 447. + Catherine, 396. + Deborah, 396, 447. + Edward, 137, 396, 447. + George, 139, 447. + Mary Wheelwright, 447. + Nathaniel, 447. + Sarah Belcher, 447. + Susanna, Curwin, 447. + + Lyman, Theodore (Gen.), 394. + + Lynch, 80. + + Lynde, Benjamin, 131, 342, 462, 463, 464. + Byfield, 125. + Chief Justice, 46, 190, 193. + Elizabeth Dizbie, 462. + Enoch, 462, 463. + George, 125. + Hannah, 464. + Hannah Newgate, 463. + Lydia, 342, 464. + Mary, 190, 464. + Mary Browne, 463. + Simon, 308, 463. + William, 463. + + Lyndhurst, Lord (see also John Singleton Copley, 2nd.), 216, 332, + 345, 394, 409. + + + Macauley, Thomas Babington, 289. + + Macdonald, Dennis, 135. + + Mackay, 239, 256. + Mrs., 135. + + Mackey, Mungo, 225, 414. + + MacKinstrey, Mrs., 135. + + Mackintosh, 157. + ("Capt."), 166, 167, 234. + + Macknight, 212. + + Maclean (Col.), 244. + + Macneal, Miss, 426. + + Madison, James (President), 25, 102. + + Magdalen, Earl of (see Sir Isaac Coffin), 243. + + Malbone, Godfrey, 396. + + Malcolm, Daniel, 320. + + Malcomb, Abigail Trundy, 451. + John (Capt.), 451, 452. + + Manchester, Duke of, 345. + + Mann, Alicia, 352. + Horace (Sir), 352. + + Mansfield, Isaac, 128. + Lord, 29, 83, 151, 173. + + Mansfield, Mr., 363. + + March, Mary, 468. + Zacheray, 468. + + Marion, 90. + + Marsh, Edward, 425. + + Marshall, Ebenezer, 397. + John, 77. + John (Capt.), 319. + + Marston, Alice, 459. + Benjamin, 128, 135, 138, 459, 460, 461, 462. + Benjamin, Jr., 460. + Elizabeth Winslow, 460. + John, 459. + Sarah Sweet, 460. + + Martin, Capt., 244. + John, 382. + Michael, 139. + William, 137. + + Maryatt, Captain, 350. + Joseph, 350. + Mrs., 350. + + Mascarene, John, 131. + + Mason, Jonathan, 218. + Mr., 187. + and Slidell, 110. + + Masters, John, 312. + + Mather, Cotton, 309, 355. + Elizabeth, 275. + Increase, 275, 338. + Samuel, 133. + Sarah, 338. + + Matthews, Ann, 237. + William, 237. + + Manduit, Mr., 249. + + Maverick, Moses, 222. + Samuel, 13, 14. + + Maxwell, Mary, 284. + Murray (Sir), 284. + + May, Dr., 353. + + McAlpine, William, 124, 132, 135, 137. + + McArthur (Gen.), 104. + + McCall, George, 128. + + McClintock, 135. + + McCobb, Samuel, 297. + + McClure (Gen), 104. + + McEwen, James, 124. + + McEvers, Mary, 352. + + McIntosh, Elizabeth, 291. + + McKeron, John, 135. + + McLanathan, Elizabeth, 377. + + McLean, John, 346. + + McLellan, Arthur, 308. + + McMasters, Daniel, 132, 135. + James, 125. + Patrick, 125, 135. + + McMullen, Alexander, 135. + + McMurdo (Col.), 244. + Isabella, 244. + Susannah, 244. + + McNiel, Archibald, 125, 132, 135, 137. + Hector, 223. + Mary, 223. + + McSparran, James (Rev.), 313. + + Mears, Mr., 423. + + Meserve, George, 133. + + Messengham, Isaac, 133. + + Middleton, 80. + + Mifflin (Col.), 89. + + Miller, 438. + Katherine Sarah Russell, 453. + Col., 194. + Major, 453. + Stephen, 128, 129, 130. + + Mills, Nathaniel, 135, 138. + + Minns, Martha, 361. + William, 361. + + Minot, Christopher, 133, 137. + John, 398. + Mercy, 398. + Samuel, 125. + + Mitchell, Jonathan, 455. + Margaret, 455. + Sarah, 445. + Thomas, 135, 137. + + Mitchelson, David, 125, 135. + + Molesworth, Ponsonby (Capt.), 439, 440, 442. + + Molineaux, Mr., 406, 407. + + Montague (Admiral), 240, 394, 408. + Rev. Mr., 335. + + Montgomery, 89. + (General), 244. + + Moody, John, 135. + John J., 135. + + Moore, John, 135. + + Moreland, 239. + + Morgan, 250. + + Morris, Gouverneur, 75. + Henry Gage, 209. + Roger, 209. + + Morrison, John, 135. + + Morton, Perez, 354, 361. + + Mowatt (Capt.), 357, 398, 399, 465, 467. + + Mulcainy, Patrick, 135. + + Mulhall, Edward, 133. + + Mullins, Thomas, 139. + + Munroe, 77, 183, 354. + + Murdock, Ephraim, 354. + + Murray, Alexander, 377. + Col., 382, 448. + Daniel, 139, 377. + Dorothy, 257, 260. + Elizabeth, 255, 257, 260. + Elizabeth McLanathan, 377. + James, 128, 129, 130, 132, 133, 137, 254, 255, 256, 257, + 258, 259, 446. + John, 133, 139, 142. + John (Col.), 136, 376, 377, 378, 396. + John (Sir), 254. + Lucretia Chandler Gardner, 377. + Miss, 377. + Robert, 377. + Samuel, 139, 377. + William, 135. + + + Nagers, John, 225. + + Nassawano, Lawrence, 225. + + Nelson, Lord, 283, 284. + + Nevin, Lazarus, 135. + + Newcastle (Duke of), 26. + + Newgate, Hannah, 463. + John, 463. + + Newhall (Deacon), 344. + + Newton, Jane, 423. + + Nicholls, Richard, 131, 303. + Richard (Col.), 13, 14. + William, 161. + + Nixon, John (Col.), 475. + + Noble, Benjamin, 140. + Francis, 140. + + Nooth (Dr.), 386. + + North, Lord, 250, 424. + + Northumberland (Duke of), 440. + + Norton, 12. + + Nutting, John, 127, 131, 138. + + + O'Brien, 110. + + O. C., 406. + + Ochterlony, 239. + Alexander, 300. + Catherine, 300. + Charles Metcalf, 300. + David (Sir, Maj. Gen.), 283, 299, 300. + David Ferguson (Sir), 300. + Gilbert, 300. + Katherine Tyler, 300. + + O'Donoghue, Henry O. B., 349. + + Offley, Amelia, 191. + Stephen, 191. + + Ogden, Charles R., 239. + Charles Richard, 409. + Mary, 239. + Susan Clarke, 409. + + Oliver, Andrew (Lt. Gov. etc.), 40, 136, 153, 159, 175, 181, + 183, 184, 190, 454, 464. + Andrew (of Salem), 190. + Ann, 183. + Daniel, 126, 133, 139, 181, 188, 189. + Eben, 411. + Elizabeth, 183, 287. + F. E. (Dr.), 464. + Isaac, 183. + James, 138. + Lt. Gov., 113, 164, 251. + Mary Lynde, 464. + Peter, 132, 133, 136, 138, 142, 150, 181, 188, 189, 190, + 302, 410. + Peter (Dr.), 135, 175, 189. + Richard, 183. + Robert, 183, 184. + Thomas (Lt. Gov., etc.), 125, 136, 137, 142, 181, 183, 184, + 187, 188, 287, 331. + W. S. (Cap. R. N.), 176. + William Sanford, 135, 190. + William Sanford (Jr.), 190. + + O'Neil, Joseph, 135. + + Orange, Prince of (William III.), 16. + + O'Reilly, John Boyle, 47. + + Orne, Lois, 386. + Timothy, 131. + + Otis, Harrison Gray, 218, 219, 334, 336, 403. + James, 5, 21, 35, 37, 149, 150, 153, 157, 160, 318, 319, 435, 448. + James (Col.), 192, 193. + Jonathan, 439. + S. A. (Mrs.), 335. + + Overing, Henrietta, 304. + Henry John, 304. + + Oxford, Earl of, 289. + + Oxnard, Edward, 139, 249. + Thomas, 139. + + Ozell, Mr., 343. + + + Paddock, Adnio, 125, 132, 135, 137, 305, 306, 307, 322, 446. + Adino (the younger), 307. + John, 305, 307. + Lydia Snelling, 307. + Mary McLellan, 307. + Rebecca Thacher, 305. + Robert, 305. + Thomas, 307. + Zachariah, 305. + + Pagan, Miriam Pote, 465. + Robert, 139, 464, 465. + Thomas, 465. + William, 465. + + Page, Abiel, 310. + George, 135. + + Paine, Dorothy, 390. + Dorothy Rainsford, 383. + Lois Orne, 386. + Nathaniel, 383, 387, 390. + Samuel, 135, 387, 388. + Sarah Chandler, 383. + Sarah Clark, 383. + Stephen, 382, 383. + Robert Treat, 368. + Rose, 382. + Thomas, 76. + Timothy, 136, 382, 383, 384, 385, 387, 390. + William, 139, 385, 386. + William (Dr.), 385, 386, 387. + + Paley (Dr.), 353. + + Palmer, Charles Thomas (Sir), 215. + Harriet, 215. + Thomas, 136. + + Parker, Rev. Dr., 342. + Samuel (Rev.), 348, 349. + William, 48. + + Parmenter (Goodwife), 388. + + Parnell, 110, 111. + + Parr, 380. + + Parsons, Capt., 471, 472. + + Patten, George, 135. + Thomas, 298. + + Patterson, 133, 212. + William, 135. + + Paxton, 154, 200, 302. + Charles, 133, 138, 142, 318, 319. + + Paxton, Faith, 318. + Wentworth, 318. + + Payne, Edward, 455. + Mary, 455. + Rebecca, 394. + + Pearson, Thomas (Sir), 239. + + Peck, Robert (Rev.), 468. + + Peddock, Leonard (Capt.), 305. + + Pedrick, John, 128. + + Pelham, Henry, 135, 216, 478. + Herbert, 434. + Penelope, 434. + Peter, 216. + + Pemberton, Eben (Rev.), 413. + Rev. Mr., 310. + + Penn, Admiral, 433. + + Pepperell, Andrew, 206. + Elizabeth, 207, 208, 214. + Harriet, 214, 215. + Margery Bray, 205. + Mary, 215. + Mary Hirst (Lady), 207, 208. + William, 205. + William, Sir (1st), 206, 209. + William, Sir (2nd), 136, 138, 142, 176, 194, 201, 205, 207, 208, + 209, 212, 213, 214, 215, 292, 293, 294, 356, 434, 482. + + Percy, Earl, 314, 440, 441. + + Perkins, James, 124, 132. + + Perkins, Nathaniel, 132, 135, 138. + William, Lee, 132, 135, 138. + + Perrie, Elizabeth, 399. + + Perry, Samuel, 139. + Seth, 139. + Silas, 139. + Stephen, 139. + Thomas, 139. + William, 125, 132. + + Peters, Parson, 249. + + Petit, John Samuel, 133. + + Phillips, Ebenezer, 135, 139. + Frederick, 209. + John (Col.), 358. + Joseph, 139. + Martha, 135. + Mary, 209. + Richard, 128. + + Phips (also Phipps). + A. F., 125. + David, 125, 132, 135, 138, 418, 420. + Elizabeth, 184, 286. + James, 418. + Lady, 419. + Mary, 413. + May, 184. + Sheriff, 187. + Spencer, Lt. Gov., 184. + Spencer 286, 413, 420. + William Sir, 17, 418, 419. + + Pickering, Benjamin, 249. + Timothy (Col.), 108. + + Pickman, Benjamin, 131, 138, 249. + Benjamin (Col.), 316, 451. + C. Gayton, 127, 131. + William, 126, 131. + + Pierce, Edward Lillie, 313. + George, 313. + Josiah, 262. + President, 87. + + Pine, Samuel, 132. + + Pinckney, Mary, 321. + + Pinkney, Frances, 392. + John, 392. + + Pitcairn, 314. + + Pitt, 19, 33, 98, 193. + + Pitts, Elizabeth, 397. + John, 397. + Samuel, 354. + + Pollard, Benjamin, 135. + + Pond, Eliphalet, 125. + + Ponsonby, Lord, 439. + + Porter, Alexander S., 307. + E. G. (Rev.), 471. + James, 133. + Samuel, 126, 131, 138, 249. + + Pote, Ann Hooper, 467. + Dorothy Getchell, 467. + Elizabeth Berry, 467. + Hannah Greenfield, 467. + Jeremiah, 465, 466, 467. + Joanna, 466, 467. + Miriam, 465. + Robert, 467. + William, 467. + + Powell, Jeremiah, 136. + John, 125, 132, 135, 138. + + Pownall, Thomas (Gov.), 191, 292. + + Poynton, Thomas, 131. + + Pratt, Benjamin, 367. + Judge, 301. + + Preble (Commodore), 345. + + Prentice, John, 128. + + Prescott, 240. + James, 297. + William H., 343. + + Preston, Captain, 43, 44, 45, 46, 158, 366, 368. + + Price, Benjamin, 135. + + Priestly, 164. + + Primatt, Mrs., 357. + + Prince, John, 128, 131, 412. + John, Capt., 196. + Margaret, 412. + Mary, 412. + Samuel, 125, 137. + Thomas, Rev., 275. + + Prindall, Jonathan, 140. + + Proctor, Mr., 406. + Thomas, 128. + + Proctor & Gray, 336. + + Punderson. Mr., 249. + + Purchis, Oliver. 13. + + Putnam, Archelaus, 131, 379. + Ebenezer, 127, 131, 379, 380. + Eleanor Sprague, 379. + Elizabeth, 380, 391. + General, 94. + Israel, 382. + James, 126, 132, 135, 139, 378, 379, 380, 387, 382, 385, 390. + James, Jr. 133. + John 378, 382. + Nathaniel, 378. + Rufus, 382. + Thomas, 378. + + Pynchon, 251. + William, 126, 127, 131. + + + Quincy, 59, 277, 438. + + Quincy, Daniel, 365. + Dorothy, 455. + Edmund, 105, 365, 366, 376, 455. + Elizabeth, 410, 455. + Esther, 455. + Hannah, 366. + John, 365. + Josiah, 45, 50, 98, 100, 102, 108, 155, 166, 365, 366, 367, 376. + Judith, 365. + Samuel, 126, 138, 142, 249, 364, 366, 367, 368, 369, 374, 375. + + + Radcliffe, Herbert 475. + + Rainsford, Dorothy, 383. + Jonathan, 383. + + Ramage, John, 135. + + Randolph, 80, 212. + Edward, 15. + Miss, 316. + + Read, Charles, 135. + John, 179. + + Reed, Joseph, 72, 248. + Richard, 128. + Samuel, 128. + + Remington, John, 392. + Martha A., 224. + Rhoda Gore, 392. + + Revere Copper Co., 324. + Joseph Warren, 324. + Paul, 5, 260, 477, 478, 479, 480. + + Reynolds, Fleetwood B. (Sir), 289. + Joshua, Sir, 218. + + Rhoads, Sarah, 395. + Henry, 135. + + Richards, Owen, 133, 138. + + Richardson, Ebenezer, 310, 311, 421, 422. + Ezekiel, 421. + John, 422. + Miss, 135. + Mrs., 135. + Phineas, 422. + Samuel, 422. + Timothy, 422. + Thomas, 422. + + Rives, Mr., 115. + + Roath, Richard, 135. + + Robbins, Edward Hutchinson, 260. + Mary, 260. + + Roberts & Co., 124. + Mr., 55. + + Robertson, William (Gen.), 212, 213, 344. + + Robie, Elizabeth, 457. + Elizabeth Taylor, 458. + Samuel Bradstreet, 459. + Thomas, 128, 138, 457, 458, 459. + William, 459. + + Robinson, John, 433, 448. + + Rochambeau, 426, 430. + + Rochfort, Gustavus, 333. + Maria Leonard, 333. + + Rodney, Lord, 240, 241, 252, 283, 428. + + Rogers, 163. + Daniel Dennison, 354. + Elizabeth, 398. + Jeremiah Dummer, 126, 135, 138. + Samuel, 135, 138, 398. + + Ruck, Hannah, 309. + John, 309. + + Ruggles, Elizabeth, 391. + Hannah, 229. + John, 135, 139, 229. + Joseph, 139. + Nathaniel, 139. + Richard 135, 139, 229. + Samuel, 225. + Sarah, 229. + Timothy, 133, 136, 137, 142, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 380, 391. + Timothy (2nd), 229. + Timothy, Rev., 225. + + Ruggles, Timothy, Amherst, 229. + + Rolfe, Col., 263. + Benj., 265. + Benj. (Rev.), 430. + Mary, 429, 430. + Sarah, 263. + + Rome, 212. + + Root, Elihu, 116. + + Rose, Peter, 135. + + Ross, Margaret, 307. + Thomas, 139. + + Rotch, 408. + + Routh, Richard, 131, 317. + + Royall, 60. + Elizabeth, 208, 294. + Isaac, 136, 138, 291, 292, 293, 299, 309. + Isaac (of Antigua), 286. + Isaac (Gen.), 192, 290. + Mrs., 309. + Penelope, 286, 291. + William, 290. + + Roycroft, Ann, 284. + + Rumford, Count (see also Sir Benjamin Thompson), 261, 262, 263, + 264, 266, 270, 271, 272. + Countess (Sarah), 272. + + Rummer, Richard, 135. + + Rush, Mr., 77. + + Russell, Benjamin, 412, 454. + Catherine Greaves, 453. + Chambers, 301, 302, 452, 453, 455. + Charles, 138. + Charles James, 453. + Daniel, 452. + Dr., 372, 453. + Edward (Sir), 414. + Elizabeth, 454. + Elizabeth Vassall, 453. + Ezekiel, 453, 454. + James, 136, 253, 452, 453. + James, Jr., 453. + John (Lord), 289. + Joseph, 453, 454. + Katherine, 453. + Lechmere (Col.), 414. + Lechmere-Coor-Graves, 453. + Lucy Margaret, 453. + Mary Lechmere, 453. + Mary Wainwright, 453. + Nathaniel, 135. + Paul, 452. + Rebecca, 465. + Rebecca Chambers, 452. + Richard, 452. + Thomas, 466. + + + Sabine, 71. + + Sackett, Hannah, 229. + Thomas (Dr.), 229. + + Salisbury, Lord, 117. + + Saltonstall, 59. + Gurdon, 295. + Katherine, 295, 296. + Leverett, 136, 274. + Mr., 250. + Nathaniel, 273, 274, 275. + Richard, 132, 138, 273, 274. + Richard, Col., 358. + Richard (Sir), 272. + Thomas, 272. + + Sampson, John, 132. + + Sanford, Margaret, 146. + + Sargent, Esther, 345, 356. + John, 131, 138. + + Saumerez, Thomas L. Marchant, 288. + + Saunders, Henry, 128. + + Savage, Abraham, 125, 136, 138. + Arthur, 133, 139, 335. + Rowland, 131. + Thomas, 308. + + Saward, see Sayward. + + Sayward, Henry, 443. + Jonathan, 443, 444, 445. + Joseph, 443. + Mary, 443. + Mary Webber, 439. + Sarah, 444, 445. + Sarah Mitchell, 445. + + Scammel, Thomas, 136. + + Scheaffe (see also Sheaffe), 239. + + Schuyler, Gen., 89. + + Scoit, Joseph, 135. + + Scollay, John, 166. + + Scott, Duncan C., 61. + Governor, 299. + Joseph, 125, 132, 138. + Winfield (Gen.), 245, 441. + + Scoville, William, 280. + + Sears, Anna, 345. + David, 345. + Ebenezer, 411. + Isaac, 424, 426. + Rebecca, 336. + + Selby, John, 133. + + Selkrig, James, 124, 132, 136, 138. + Thomas, 138. + + Semple, John, 125, 132, 138. + Robert, 132, 135, 138. + + Sergeant, Peter, 420. + + Serjeant, John, 135. + + Service, Robert, 136, 138. + + Sewall, 59, 60. + + Sewall, Ann Hunt, 454. + Chief Justice, 149, 192, 404, 452, 463. + Esther Quincy, 455. + Hannah Hull, 456. + Henry, 454, 456. + Jane Drummond, 454. + Jonathan, 125, 138, 142, 207, 249, 327, 367, 379, 432, 454, + 455, 456. + Joseph, 458. + Joseph (Rev.), 275. + Judge, 250, 251, 254, 327, 350. + Margaret Grazebrook, 454. + Margaret Mitchell, 455. + Mary Payne, 455. + Mr., 448. + Rebecca Dudley, 456. + Samuel, 126, 138, 249, 251, 412, 455, 456, 458. + Stephen, 454, 456. + William, 454. + + Shattock, Samuel, 12. + + Shays, Daniel, 396. + + Sheaffe, Col., 245. + Helen, 440, 442. + Lady, 442. + Margaret, 442. + Margaret Coffin, 442. + Mary Longfellow, 439. + Mrs., 439, 440. + Nancy, 442. + Nathaniel, 442. + Roger Hale (Sir), 244, 245, 283, 439, 440, 441, 442, 443. + Ruth Woods, 439. + Sally, 442. + Susannah, 439, 440. + Susannah Child, 439. + Thomas Child, 443. + William, 439, 440, 442. + William, Jr., 439. + William S., 439. + + Shepard, Joseph, 136. + + Sherburn, Thomas, 355. + + Sherman, Gen., 111. + + Sherwin, Richard, 138. + + Shippen, Dr., 248. + + Shirley, Elizabeth, 178. + Maria Catherina, 299. + William, Gov., 178, 179, 180, 273, 301, 347, 435, 444, 445, + 451, 477. + + Sigourney, Andrew, 409. + + Sigournie, Andrae, 409. + + Silsby, Daniel, 125, 249. + David, 138. + + Simcoe, Gov., 59, 90. + + Singleton, Mary, 216. + + Simonds, Ruth, 262. + William, 135. + + Simpson, John, 135. + Jonathan, 125, 132, 136, 138. + Jonathan, Jr., 135. + Mr., 251. + William, 138. + + Skinner, 133. + Francis, 138. + + Slidell, 110. + + Small, Major, 314. + + Smith, Abigail, 37. + + Smith, 472, 473. + Adam, 33, 34, 38. + Anna Leonard, 332. + Col., 471, 472. + Edward, 136, 354. + Elizabeth, 258. + Goldwin, 58. + Henry, 135, 138. + Isaac, 249. + James, 255, 256, 257, 305, 306. + John, 477. + Joseph (Rev.), 202. + Joshua, 138. + Richard, 125, 138. + Solomon, 139. + Sydney, 276. + Thomas, 248. + William, 161. + + Symthe, Frederic, 302. + + Smythers, Walter Tyson, 284. + + Snelling, Jonathan, 124, 132, 136, 138. + Lydia, 305. + Lydia Dexter, 305. + Robert, 305. + + Snider, Christopher, 310, 422. + + Southwick, Solomon, 362. + + Sparhawk, Andrew, 215. + Andrew Pepperell, 207. + Harriet Hirst, 215. + Mary Pepperrell, 207, 215. + Nathaniel, 127, 131, 207, 215. + Samuel, 133. + Samuel Hirst, 124, 132, 207, 215. + William Pepperrell, 207. + + Speakman, William, 286. + + Spooner, Ebenezer, 136. + George, 125, 138. + John J., 183. + + Sprague, Eleanor, 379. + John, 126. + + Spry, Commodore, 209. + + Square, Richard, 140. + + Stacy, Richard, 128. + + Stanton, E. M., 112. + + Stark, Caleb (Major), 84. + James H., 250, 471, 474, 475, 476. + John, 71, 293. + John (Gen.), 84. + William, 293. + + Stayner, Abigail, 136. + + Stearns, Jonathan, 133, 136, 458. + + Sterling, Benjamin Ferdinand, 135. + Elizabeth, 135. + Lord, 303. + + Stevens, 212. + + Stewart (Col.), 72. + Duncan, 332. + Emily, 332. + John (Capt.), 332. + Leonard, 332. + Sarah, 332. + Sarah Leonard, 332. + + Stiles, Ezra (Dr.), 358. + + Still, Alice, 427. + John (Dr.), 427. + + Stimson, John, 128. + + Stockwell, May, 468. + William, 468. + + Stoddard, Mary, 224. + Simeon, 125, 286. + + Story, Josep, 114. + + Stow, Edward, 135, 138. + + Strachan, John (Dr.), 103, 104. + + Strahan, Mr., 481. + + Strange, Lot (3rd), 139. + + Stromach, 228. + + Stuart, H. Lechmere (Sir), 414. + + Sturgis, Hannah, 366. + John, 366. + + Sullivan, Bartholemew, 136. + Gen., 51, 90. + George, 135. + Hettie, 345. + James (Gov.), 296, 345. + + Sumner, Increase, 302, 374. + Prof. (W. G.), 77, 78. + + Sumpter, 90. + + Surriage, Agnes (see also Lady Frankland), 417. + Isaac, 418. + + Swain, 401. + + Swan, James, 426. + James (Capt.), 430. + + Swasey, Joseph, 128. + + Sweet, Martha, 460. + Sarah, 460. + + Swift, Jonathan, 276. + + Sylvester, John (Rev.), 102. + + Symmes, Francis, 354. + + Symonds. Mr., 237. + + + Tailor, Rebecca, 275. + William, 125. + William (Lt. Gov.), 275. + + Tarbett, Hugh, 132. + + Taylor, Abigail, 345. + Elizabeth, 458. + James, 458. + John, 125, 132. + Joseph, 138, 249. + Mrs., 136. + Nathaniel, 132, 133, 138. + William, 132, 136, 138. + + Temple, 163. + Elizabeth, 428. + John, Sir, 428. + + Terree, Zebedee, 139. + + Terry, William, 136. + Zebedee, 136. + + Thatcher, "Citizen," 351. + Oxenbridge, 366. + Samuel, 297. + + Thayer, Arodi, 138. + Ziphion, 125. + + Thomas, Mary, 336. + Nathaniel, Ray, 133, 136, 139, 142, 336, 421. + + Thompson, 465, 467. + + Thompson, Benj. (Sir), Count Rumford, 261, 262, 263, 264, 266, + 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 297. + Ebenezer, 261, 262. + Elizabeth, 261. + James, 136, 261. + Joseph, 297, 298. + Mary, 354. + Miss, 256. + Rebecca, 297. + Samuel (Col.), 398. + Sarah, 270. + Sarah Bradshaw, 297. + + Thorp, 472, 475. + + Tiernay, 240. + + Tilden, Israel, 139. + + Tilghman, 80. + + Timmins, John, 125, 132. + + Tisdel, 139. + + Tomlinson & Trecothick, 352. + + Tompkins, Sarah, 466. + Thomas, 466. + + Tonancour, 245. + + Townsend, Gregory, 125, 138. + + Tropmane, Lewis, 239. + + Trecothick, Barlow, 352. + + Trott, George, 477. + + Troutbeck John, 132, 138, 224. + Harriet, 224. + Mr., 249. + + Trowbridge, Edmund, 189, 379. + + Trumbull, Gov., 481. + + Trundy, Abigail, 451. + + Tucker, Alice, 222. + Andrew, 222. + + Tufts, John, 426. + Simon, 138. + + Tupper, Eldad, 139. + + Turbett, Hugh, 125. + + Turner, John, 131. + Miss, 215. + + Turill, Joseph, 124, 132. + + Tylden, John Maxwell (Sir), 304. + Richard, 304. + William Burton, 304. + + Tyler, Andrew, 300. + Thomas, 396. + Katherine, 300. + Miriam Pepperell, 300. + Sarah Brinley, 396. + + Tyng, Elizabeth, 294. + William, 139, 294. + + Tyron, Gov., 90, 161. + + + Upham, Joshua, 138. + + Upshall, Nicholas, 11. + + Urquhart, Hannah Flucker, 404. + James (Capt.), 404. + Major, 249. + + Usher, Elizabeth, 394. + John, 394. + Lt. Gov., 291. + + + Van, Murray, 86. + + Vane, Harry (Sir), 145. + + Vans, William, 131. + + Vassaile (see also Vassall). + Anna, 285. + Anne, 285, 286. + Frances, 285, 286. + John, 285. + Judith, 285. + Margaret, 285, 286. + Mary, 286. + William, 285. + + Vassall, 60, 372, 438. + Ann, 288. + Anne Davis, 288. + Catherine, 288. + Charlotte, 288. + Elizabeth, 184, 289, 453. + Elizabeth, Lemaestre, 287. + Fanny, 288. + Florentinus, 288. + Francis, 288. + Henry, 286, 288. + Henry (Col.), 291, 453. + John, 125, 138, 251, 285, 286, 287, 420, 455. + John, Col., 184. + John (Jr.), 183. + John (Maj.), 287, 288. + Leonard, 286, 287, 288, 350. + Lucretia, 288. + Margaret, 288. + Margaret Hubbard, 288. + Mary, 287. + Mary Archer, 287. + Nathaniel, 288. + Rawdon, John Popham (Col.), 288. + Richard, 289. + Robert Oliver, 287. + Ruth Gale, 286. + Samuel, 285, 286. + Sarah, 288. + Spencer Lambert Hunter, 287. + Spencer Thomas, 287. + Thomas Oliver, 287, 288. + William, 136, 138, 285, 286, 287, 288. + + Vaughn, Charles, 352. + Samuel, 281, 352. + Sarah, 281. + + Venables, Gen., 433. + + Vergennes, 23, 115. + + Vernon, Admiral, 434. + + Victoria, Queen, 118, 238. + + Vose, Elizabeth, 313. + Elizabeth Putnam, 391. + Solomon, 391. + + + Wainwright, E. D. (Col.), 304. + Maria M., 304. + Mary, 453. + + Wait, Richard, 13. + + Waite, Samuel, 466. + + Waldo, Col., 451. + Frances, 139, 251. + Hannah, 403. + Joseph, 249. + Lucy, 437. + Samuel, 437. + Samuel (Gen.), 403. + + Walker, Adam, 139. + Benjamin, 139. + Col., 265. + Gideon, 139. + John, 139. + Timothy (Rev.), 263. + Zera, 139. + + Walpole, 26. + + Walter, Lydia Lynde, 342, 464. + Lynde, Minshall, 342. + N. (Rev.), 279. + Nehemiah (Rev.), 338. + Rebecca, 279, 339. + Rebeckah Belcher, 338. + Rev. Dr., 282, 425. + Sarah Mather, 338. + Thomas, 338. + Thomas (Rev.), 338, 339. + William, 132, 138. + William, Rev., 338, 339, 340, 464. + + Wamatuck (Indian Chief), 447. + + Wanton, Gov., 302, 449. + + Ward, Elizabeth, 273. + Gen., 469. + John, Rev., 273. + Lord, 351. + Samuel Curwen, 254. + Susan, 351. + + Warden, James, 125. + Joseph, 136. + William, 136, 138. + + Ware, Nicholas, 285, 286. + + Warren, Abraham, 136. + Hannah, 431. + Joseph (Dr.), 165, 322, 335, 394, 406, 431, 479. + Peter (Sir), 209, 396. + + Washington, George, 5, 24, 25, 36, 37, 45, 51, 70, 71, 72, 73, + 75, 76, 77, 78, 83, 87, 89, 103, 108, 153, 179, 216, 230, + 248, 315, 344, 481. + John Augustine, 74. + + Waterhouse, Samuel, 133, 138. + + Watson, Elizabeth, 461. + George, 136. + George, Col., 177. + William, 461. + + Watts, 278. + John, 161. + + Wayte, Gamaliel, 350. + + Webb, Albert, 474. + John, 128. + Nehemiah, 139. + + Webber, Deborah, 443. + Mary, 443. + Samuel, 443. + + Webster, Daniel, 114, 115, 180, 436. + Elizabeth (Lady Holland), 289. + Godfrey (Sir), 289. + Godfrey Vassall (Sir), 289. + Harriet, 289. + P----, 249. + + Wedderburn (Solicitor Gen.), 164, 165. + + Weld, Elizabeth, 392. + John, 392. + + Wells, Henry, 477. + William V., 39. + + Welsh, James, 136. + Peter, 136. + + Wendell, John, 412. + John Mico, 295, 297. + Madame, 295. + Mr., 372. + + Wentworth, Gov., 263. + John, 404. + John (Sir), 51. + Lord, 386. + + West, Benjamin, 213, 214, 216, 249, 280, 336, 482. + Nathaniel (Capt.), 253. + Rebecca, 336. + + Wetmore, William, 131. + + Whalley, 12, 323. + + Whatley, Thomas, 162. + Thomas William, 162. + + Wheaton, Caleb, 131. + Judge, 332. + + Wheelwright, John, 354. + John, Rev., 447. + Joseph, 136. + Mary, 447. + + Whipple, Abigail Gardiner, 316. + Ebenezer, 139. + Oliver, 316. + + Whiston, Obadiah, 136, 138. + + White, Ammi, 471, 472, 475. + Anna, 332. + Benjamin, 225. + Charles, 202. + Cornelius, 138, 139. + Daniel, Jr., 139. + Elizabeth Cranston Deblois, 446. + Gideon, 136. + Gideon (Jr.), 139. + James, 446. + John, 124. + John, 138. + Mary, 225. + Mr., 237. + Peregrine, 286. + R. H. & Co., 308. + Resolved, 285. + Samuel, 128, 332. + Susannah, 225. + + Whitman, Clarence, 470. + John, 470. + William, 470. + + Whitney, Ann, 224. + + Whittaker, Elizabeth, 224. + Nathaniel (Rev.), 224. + + Whitworth, Miles, 124, 132. + + Wilbore, Joshua, 139. + + Wildridge, James, 139. + + Wilkes, 28, 83, 84. + + Wilkinson, Gen., 104. + + Willard, Abel, 126, 136, 139. + Abijah, 133, 136, 139, 142. + President, 404. + Samuel (Rev.), 336, 409. + + William III., 45. + + Williams (Indian Sachem), 89. + Col., 159, 401. + Elijah, 138. + Henry H., 125. + Israel, 136. + Job, 136. + John, 184, 320. + Seth, 136. + Seth, Jr., 132, 139. + William, 447. + + Williamson, Capt., 441. + + Willis, David, 136, 138. + + Wilmot, George, 310, 311, 470. + + Wilson, Archibald, 124, 136, 138. + Mr., 272. + + Winch, Sarah, 360. + + Winchelsea, Lord, 386. + + Winnet, John, Jr., 136. + + Winslow, 59, 406. + Edward, 132, 133, 136, 321, 433, 434, 436, 437, 438. + Edward, Jr., 133, 138. + Edward, Rev., 438. + Elizabeth, 460. + Frances, 436. + Hannah, 136. + Isaac, 125, 132, 136, 138, 424, 434, 437, 438, 439, 460. + Isaac (Dr.), 435. + Isaac, Jr., 125, 132. + Jane Isabella, 438. + John, 124, 125, 136, 434, 435, 436, 437. + John, Gen., 322. + John, Jr., 138. + Joseph, 438, 439. + Joshua, 125, 165, 434, 437, 438. + Kenelm, 438. + Lucy Waldo, 437. + Pelham, 133, 136, 138, 435. + + Winthrop, 59. + Adam, 308, 395, 427. + Alice Still, 427. + Ann, 413, 414, 428. + Benjamin, 428. + Elizabeth Temple, 428. + Francis Bayard, 428. + Jane Burton, 427. + John, 9, 69, 261, 426, 427, 428, 449. + John Still, 428. + Joseph, 428. + Lucy, 395. + Mary Brown, 428. + Robert, 426. + Robert, Admiral, 428. + Robert C., 298, 428. + Thomas L., 428. + Wait Still, 427. + William, 428. + + Wiswell, 11, 249. + Elizabeth Rogers, 398. + Inchabod, 398. + John, 139, 398. + John (Rev.), 39. + Mercy Minot, 398. + Noah, 398. + Peleg, 398, 399. + Thomas, 398. + + Wittington, William, 136. + + Wolf, General, 19, 293. + Lucy Margaret Russell, 453. + Robert Cope (Rev.), 453. + + Woods, Ruth, 439. + + Woodbridge, Timothy, 136. + + Woolen, 133. + + Wormley, Admiral, 345. + + Worrall, 414. + Thomas Grooby, 136. + + Worthington, John, 136. + + Wright, Daniel, 136. + James (Sir), 213. + John, 139. + + Wyer, David, 465. + David (Jr.), 466. + Edward, 465. + Eleanor James, 465. + Elizabeth Johnson, 465. + Joanna Pote, 466, 467. + Mary Hunt, 466. + Rebecca Russell, 465. + Sarah Francis, 466. + Sarah Tompkins, 466. + Thomas, 139, 466. + Thomas (Jr.), 466, 467. + William, 465. + + + Young, Thomas (Dr.), 165. + + + + +Space in this volume would not permit of the giving of the biographies +of all of the Loyalists of Massachusetts, while the names of all the +Loyalists obtainable are given, yet there is material enough to fill +another volume with their biographies which it is the intention of the +author to publish if he receives sufficient encouragement in the sale of +this volume. + + + =List of Loyalists of Massachusetts whose names or Biographies + are not found in this work.= + + + Acre, Thomas Haskins, John + Allen, Jeremiah Hewes, Shubal + Allen, Jolley Hodgson, John + Auchard, Benjamin Hodson, Thomas + Barclay, Andrew Homans, John + Barrell, Colburn Jeffrey, Patrick + Beath, Mary Jennex, Thomas + Black, William Kerland, Patrick + Borland, John Lindall Knutton, William + Bowman, Archibald Laughton, Joseph + Bowles, William Lawler, Ellis + Boylston, John Lear, Christopher + Boylston, Thomas Leslie, James + Bradstreet, Samuel Linning, Andrew + Brown, David Lovell, Benjamin + Bryant, John Lush, George + Bulfinch, Samuel Lynch, Peter + Burroughs, John McKean, Andrew + Butler, James McNeil, William + Butter, James Madden, Richard + Calef, Robert Magner, John + Capen, Hopestill Massingham, Isaac + Carr, Mrs. Mein, John + Case, James Mewse, Thomas + Caste, Dennis Moore, Augustus + Thomas (Dr.) Morrow, Col. + Cazneau, Edward Mossman, William + Ceely, John Norwood, Ebenezer + Cheever, William Down Orcutt, Joseph + Clark, Joseph Pashley, George + Clemmens, Thomas Pecker, Dr. James + Clement, Joseph, Capt. Phillips, Benjamin + Clementson, Samuel Pitcher, Moses + Colepepper, James Powell, William D. + Courtney, James Prout, Timothy + Richard Ramage, John + Cox, Lemuel Rand, Dr. Isaac + Crane, Timothy Randall, Robert + Crowe, Charles Reeve, Richard + Davies, William Rice, John + Davis, Edward Roberts, Frederic + Demsey, Roger Rogers, Nathan + Dickinson, Francis Simpson, Jeremiah + Elton, Peter Spillard, Timothy + Emerson, John Stevens, John + Fall, Thomas Stewart, Adam + Fillis, John Story, William + Fisher, Turner Taylor, Charles + Wilfred Thomas, Jonathan + Fullerton, Stephen Thompson, George + Gamage, James Townsend, Shippy + Gemmill, Matthews Tull, Thomas + Goddard, Lemuel Turill, Thomas + Goldthwait, M. B. Vincent, Ambrose + Gookin, Edmund Wendell, Jacob + Gorman, Edward Wentworth, Edward + Gray, Samuel Wheaton, Obediah + Green, Hammond Wheelwright, Job + Greenwood, Isaac Whitworth, Nathaniel + Harper, Isaac Wilson, Joseph + + + + +INDEX OF SUBJECTS. + + + Absentees Act, 143. + + Acadia, operations against, 18, 19. + + Acadians, removal of, 434, 435. + + Acton, centennial of, 472. + + Adams, John, on restoration, 24; + on mobs, 49; + on the loyalists, 49; + quotes tory opinion of disunionists, 68; + on jealousies in Congress, 68; + on his conduct during the revolution, 69. + Josiah, Centennial address at Acton, 472. + Samuel, defaulting tax collector of Boston, 5, 38; + his character and career, 38. + + Aeronaut, Dr. John Jeffries, an early, 394. + + American Military Academy, proposed, 270. + + Amnesty for Loyalists, 94, 95. + + Amory, Thomas, biog., 343; + mobbed, 344. + + Andros, Edmund, Sir, administration of, 16. + + Annapolis, N. S., 229. + + Apthorp, East, biog., 353. + + Antigua, 183. + Family, 351. + + Aroostook War, 113. + + Ashburton Treaty, 113, 114; + American duplicity in, 114, 115. + + Ashted, Warwickshire, 190. + + Association of Loyalists in London, 211; + proposed American, 227, 228. + + Attuks monument, 47. + + "Aurora," The, 76 (see also Bache, Benj. F.). + + Aylesbury, 203. + Bache, Benjamin F., attacks Washington in the "Aurora," 76. + + + Bahamas, 180. + + Banishment Act of Massachusetts, 137. + + Barbadoes, 204. + + Barnes, Henry, biography, 399. + Barristers and Attorneys address to Gov. Hutchinson, 125. + + Barre, 172. + + Bastra, Siege of, 283. + + Bath, 203. + + Bavaria, Benjamin Thompson, in the service of, 269. + + Beaumarchais, furnishes arms and powder, 85. + + Berkley, 139. + + Bernard, Francis (Sir), biog., 191. + + Berwick, 208. + + Blackstone's title to early Boston, 364. + + Black List of Pennsylvania, 55. + + Blanchard, with Dr. Jeffries, crosses the English channel in + a balloon, 394. + + Blurton, 177. + + Boston, Founding of, 427. + + Boston Massacre, 43, 366; + Captain Preston and his men tried for, 45; + Revere's engraving of, stolen from Pelham, 478. + Mobs: + Attack on Hutchinson, 40; + Hutchinson's account of, 151, 154, 155, 156; + destruction of guard house at the Neck, 43; + attack on Andrew Oliver and destruction of his house, 40; + attack on Amory, 344; + on Col. Erving, 298; + on Hallowell, 281; + on Theophilus Lillie, 310; + Stamp Act Mob, 181; + Sloop "Liberty" affair, 321; + the "Tea Party" Mob, 48, 231, 405, 406, 407, 408, 478. + + Boston Latin School, 300. + + Boston News Letter, 361. + + Boston, Pelham's Map of, 483. + + Boston People who went to Halifax at the Evacuation, 133. + + Boston Port Bill, 168. + + Boston, Streets and places in: + Auchmuty Lane, 302. + Beacon Hill, 217. + Bunch of Grapes Tavern, 233. + Copp's Hill, 172. + Elm Street, 396. + Essex Street, 234. + Fleet Street, 174. + Fort Hill, 182. + Freeman Place, 399. + Griffin's Wharf, 182. + Hancock's Wharf, 320. + Hanover Street, 174, 396. + Harrison Avenue, 234. + Hollis Street, 233. + Hutchinson Street, 172. + Kilby Street, 233. + King Street, 233. + Long Wharf, 182, 254. + Mackeral Lane, 233. + Marlboro Street, 453. + Middle Street, 310. + Murray's Barracks, 258. + North Square, 151. + Old Corner Book Store, 178. + Olivers Dock, 182. + Pearl Street, 172. + Pemberton Hill, 287. + Queen Street, 255. + Rainsford Lane, 234. + Short Street, 302. + Smith's Barracks, 258. + State Street, 233. + Summer Street, 207. + Swing Bridge, 117. + Union Street, 182, 350. + + Bounties paid to Continental Soldiers, 72. + + Bowes. William, biog., 224. + + Boylston, Nicholas Ward, biog., 282. + + Braddock's Defeat. 179. + + Brattle House, 295, 296. + William, Gen., biog., 295. + + Breynton, Rev. Dr., possession of King's Chapel Plate, 348. + + Bridgewater, 138. + + Bright, John, opposed to Southern Confederacy, 110; + Congress refuses to pass resolutions on his death, 110. + + Brightwell, 110. + + Brinley, Thomas, biog., 396. + + Bristol, England, 181, 188. + + British graves at Concord, 473; + skulls taken from, 474; + Prof. Fowler exhibits them, 474, 475. + Soldier, murdered at Concord, 53, 472. + + British troops, removed to the Castle, 44; + arrival of in Boston, 199; + quartered by James Murray, 258. + + Brookfield, 139. + + Brown, Capt. and Ensign D'Berniere make a reconnaissance of + Suffolk, Middlesex and Worcester County, 400. + Lieut. murdered at Cambridge, 353. + Mather, Artist, biog., and account of his work, 280. + + Browne, William. Col., biog., 449. + + Brush Hill, Milton, 257. + + Bulfinch, Charles, Architect, his work, 354. + + Bungay, England, 223. + + Bunker Hill, battle of, 235; + Gay's description of, 322; + John Coffin at, 235. + + Burgoyne Convention at Saratoga, violation of, 67. + + Byles, Mather, Rev., biog., 275; + Anecdotes of, 276, 277, 278. + + + Calker's Club, (see Caucus Club), 476. + + Callender, James Thompson, professional lampooner, 76. + + Cambridge, Gage captures powder at, 52; + Mob threaten Danforth, Lee and Oliver, 281. + + Canada, Rev. John Carroll sent to by Congress, 31; + failure of his mission, 32; + Loyalist settlement of, 93 to 97; + attempted invasion of in 1812, 98; + Jefferson on the acquisition of, 102; + Gen. McArthur invades, 104; + boundary line, 113; + Ashburton treaty. 113. + + Canadian Confederation regarded as a menace to the United States, 116. + + Caner, Henry, Rev., biog., 346. + + Caner's Pond, 347. + + Cape Breton (see Louisbourg). Auchmuty advocates expedition against, 301. + + Cape Fear. N. C., 255. + + Cape St. Vincent, Battle of, 283. + + Carlisle, execution of, 55. + + Carlton, N. B., 380. + + Carr, Patrick, Account of Boston Massacre, 46. + + Carroll, Rev. John, sent to Canada by Congress to induce Canadians + to join the Americans, 31. + + Cartagena, 239. + + Castle William, 44, 198. + + Caucus Club, origin of, 476. + + Caughnawaga Indians confer with Col. Mifflin about joining + revolutionists, 89. + + "Censor," The Newspaper, 453. + + Chamberlain, Mellen, Estimate of Col. Thos. Goldthwaite, 483. + + Chandler, John, biog., 308. + + Charles II. Accession of observed with sorrow in Boston, 12. + + Charlestown, Destruction of Convent at, 48. + + Charleston, S. C., Investment of, 267, 268. + + Charter, + The first, 7; + limitations of, 11; + arrival of Royal Commissioners under, 12, 13; + annulment of, 15. + The second, 16. + + Chippewa, devastated, 104. + + Christ Church, 342. + + Church of England, 18; + Puritan belief in, 8. (See Established church) + + Citizenship, restored to Loyalists, 391. + + Civil War, Great Britain's attitude during, 107. + + Clark, Richard (biog.), 405. + + Confiscation Act, 94, 141; + of doubtful legality, 208, 209; + legal aspect of, 288; + Congress to recommend repeal of, 66. + + Confiscation, Commissioners of, Judge Curwen on, 64. + + Coffin Family, The, 233. + Isaac, Admiral Sir (biog.), 239. + John, General, biog., 235. + Thomas Aston, Sir, biog., 234. + + Coinage in Massachusetts Bay, Illegal, 13. + + Colonization of New England, Character of, 8. + + Committees of Correspondence organized, 54. + + Concord, skirmish at, 53, 471; + no Concord men killed or wounded. 472; + Ammi White kills wounded British soldier at, 472; + town of gives permission to Prof. Fowler to open graves of + soldiers and remove skulls, 474; + skulls returned, 475; + correspondence concerning same, 475. + + Constitutional Aspect of the relations between Colonies and Great + Britain, 27. + + Continental Army, Desertions, mutiny in, 73; + complaints against officers, violations of parole, rascally + surgeons, 73; + Adams on quarrels of officers, 74; + stealing of stores. 74; + Washington on the character and inefficiency of officers, 74; + plundering and incendiarism, 74. + + Continental Congress, second, Adams on jealousies in, 68; + Jay and Morris on rascality in, 75; + Rev. Jacob Duche, chaplain, of letter to Washington on the + personnel of, 80, 90. + + Conway, 138. + + Copley, John Singleton, biog., 216; + litigation over estate of, 218, 220; + paintings by at Harvard and Public Boston Library, 218, 221. + + Crime of adhering to Great Britain made capital, 55. + + Crown Point Expedition, 226, 477. + + Croydon, England, 172. + + Culloden, 50. + + Cumberland, N. S., 322. + + Currency, Continental, Resolve relating to, 75. + New England, 146; + Mass., 148; + Adams on Hutchinson's knowledge of, 148. + + Curwin, Samuel, biog., 246. + + Custom House, Mob, 42. + + + Danvers, 227, 378, 379. + + Dartmouth, 139. + + Davis, Jefferson, Complains of English Government favoring northern + cause, 111. + + D'Berniere, Ensign, reconnaissance of Suffolk, Middlesex and Worcester + Counties, 400. + + Deblois Family, Account of, 445. + + D'Estaing, Admiral, 240, 430. + + Demerara, 352. + + Democracy, John Winthrop, on, 69. + + Democratic Party, fosters feeling against England, 99. + + Derbyshire, 191. + + Detroit, Fort, 197. + + Dominica, Engagement at, 241. + + Dorchester, 182. + + Draper, Richard, Founds Massachusetts Gazette, 361. + + Draper, Margaret, biog., publishes Massachusetts Gazette, 404. + + Duane, William, assists Bache in the "Aurora" attacks on + Washington, 76. + + Duche, Jacob, Rev. Chaplain of Congress, letters to Washington + on Second Continental Congress, 78 to 83. + + Dudleian lecture, 342. + + + East Granby, Conn., Loyalists confined in prison at, 56. See + "Newgate." + + East Hoosuck, 146. + + Eastport, 203. + + East Tergnmouth, Eng., 176. + + Elective franchise, 8, 12. + + Episcopal Church, Puritan alleged belief in, 8, 9; + Endicott's view of, 8; + reference to, 8, 18, 339, 340, 438; + clergy of Support the Government, 54; + Eighteen of the clergy leave Boston at the Evacuation and go to + Halifax, 348; + Services conducted in Boston after evacuation by Rev. Samuel + Parker, 348. + + + Fairfax County Resolves, 25. + + Fairfield, Conn., 347. + + Falmouth (Now Portland), 140, 357; burned by Capt. Mowatt, 390. + + Faneuil Family, 229. + Hall, gift of, 230; + dedication of, 231. + + Federalists, on the results of the war of 1812, 105. + + Fenian Raid of 1866, 113. + + Fisheries, Loss of, 105. + + Flucker, Thomas, Sec'y of Mass. Bay, biog., 402. + + Fontenoy, 50. + + Forbes of Milton, 257. + + Fort Pownal, 356, 357. + + Fort William Henry, Surrender of, 273. + + Fort William and Mary (Newcastle, N. H.), attack on, 51. + + France, Maj. Caleb Stark on Aid from, 84. + + Frankland, Lady Agnes, biog., 417. + + Franklin Treaty, 86. + + Franklin, Benj., his false scalp story, 91; + denounced for his part in the theft of the Hutchinson letters, 163. + + Franklin, William, Gov., biog., 481. + + Frenau, Philip, in the National Gazette attacks Washington and his + cabinet, 75. + + French Spoliation Claims, 85, 86, 87. + + Freetown, 139. + + + Gage, Addresses and Addressors, 131, 132. + + Gardiner, Sylvester, Dr., biog., 313; + his medicines seized for use of revolutionists, 315. + Maine, 281. + + Gaspee, Destruction of, 52; + inquiry into the destruction of, 302. + + Gay, Martin, biog., 321; + letters of, 322, 324. + + Geyer, Frederick, William, biog., 350. + + Gladstone, William E., favors Southern Confederacy, 110. + + Goldthwaite Family, Account of, 355. + Thomas, Col., biog., 356. (See also Chamberlain, Mellen.) + + Gore, John, biog., 393. + + Granby, Conn., Escape of Loyalist prisoners at, 57. + + Grand Manan, 105. + + Grattan, Thomas Colley, on the Ashburton Treaty, 114. + + Gray, Harrison, Treas. of Mass. Bay, biog. of, 334; + John Hancock heavily indebted to, 335. + + Great Barrington, 140. + + Green Dragon Tavern, 363. + + Green Field, 138. + + Grenada, 279. + + Grenville's Scheme of American taxation, 22. + + Guadaloupe, 23. + + Gunpowder Plot, anniversary of observed in Boston, 239. + + + Halifax, 138, 177, 190, 362. + + Halifax Journal, original publication of, 362. + + Hallowell, Maine, named, 281. + + Hallowell, Benjamin, mobbed at Cambridge, 281. + Family, account of, 281. + Robert, mobbed, 281. + + Hamilton, Alexander, biog. of, 77. + + Hampstead, 201. + + Hampton, 208. + + Hancock, John, Suits against, 5; + engaged in smuggling, owner of the sloop "Liberty," 42; + leader in Tea Party mob, 48; + his sloop Liberty seized, 49; + as treasurer of Harvard college, defaulter, 50; + inclined to Toryism, papers suppressed, 160; + heavily indebted to Harrison Gray, 335. + + Hardwick, 139, 225. + + Harper's Ferry Raid, 107, 139. + + Harvard College, John Hancock as treasurer of defaults in his + accounts, 50; + Many graduates of among those who departed with Gage, 58; + reference to, 146, 177; + Harvard Hall burned, Gov. Bernard assists in rebuilding, 197; + buildings of converted into barracks, 271; + a nest of Tories, 393. + + Harwich, 139. + + Hatfield, 138. + + Haverhill, 138, 274; + Mob at, Attacks Saltonstall, 273. + + Henry, Patrick, character and training, 36; + Jefferson on, 36. + + Hiers Islands, Naval Engagement off, 283. + + Hooper, King, biog., 221. + + Howe, John, biog., 361. + Joseph, speech at Boston, July 4, 1858, 363. + + Howe, Lord, Mass. erects a monument to at Westminster Abbey, 20. + + Hubbard, History of Mass., reason for its want of completeness, 208. + + Hubbardston, 208. + + Hull, John, Colonial Mint Master, 365. + + Huntington, Long Island, 268. + + Hutchinson, Eliakim, biog., 178. + Elisha, biog., 177. + Foster, biog., 177. + + Hutchinson Letters, Franklin complicity in theft of, 162, 163. + Thomas, biog., 146; + his home destroyed by mob, 40; + addresses to, 123, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129. + + + Indians, in the Revolution, 88, 89; + troubles with in 1763, 197, 198; + Lovewell's fight at Pigwacket, 422. + + Inhabitants of Boston who removed Halifax at the evacuation, 133. + + Intolerance of Puritans, 13, 14. + + Ipswich, 273. + + Irish volunteers (Loyal) formed at Boston, 228. + + Isle of Shoals, 205. + + + Jamaica, 240. + Pond, 207. + + Jay, John, opinion of second Continental Congress, 75; + burned in effigy, 105. + + Jefferson, Thomas, suggests burning of London, 102. + + Jeffries, John, biog., 394; + crosses English Channel in balloon, 394. + + Journalism, Scurrilous American, 75. + + Judith, Point, named in honor of Judith Quincy, 365. + + + Kalm, on the dependency of the Colonists, 23. + + King's American Dragoons, 268, 378. + American Regiment, 237. + + King, Richard, biog., 317. + + King's Chapel, 179, 209, 230, 255, 346, 347; + change in liturgy of, 288; + erection and rebuilding of, 347; + worship suspended in, 347, 348; + church plate taken to Halifax, 348; + final disposition of plate and records, 349; + Charles Apthorp contributor to, 351. + + King's College, N. Y., saved by British troops, 303. + + Kirk, Ireton, Derbyshire, 177. + + Kittery, 205, 208, 215. + + + Lafayette, raises troop of Indians, 89. + + Lancaster, 139. + + Land Bank, The, 38, 147, 333. + + Lanesborough, 140. + + Lecky, W. E. H., on the Revolutionary movement, 70. + + Leominster, 139. + + Leonard, Daniel, biog., 325; + home fired on by mob, 326; + author of "Massachusettenses Letters," 327, 328, 329, 330, 331. + + Leonard, Geo., Col., biog., 333. + + Lexington, engagement at, 53, (see Concord). + + "Liberty" Sloop, a smuggler, (see also John Hancock), 42, 48, 49; + account of seizure, 319. + + "Liberty Tree," Site of, 234, 235. + + Lillie, Theophilus, biog., 308. + + Limerick Academy, 224. + + Lincoln, 138. + + Litchfield, Eng., 177. + + Littleton, 138. + + Liverpool, N. S., 105. + + Logan, Indian Chief, family murdered by Greathouse, 90. + + London (Eng.), Jefferson suggests burning of, 102. + + Loring, Joshua, Commodore, biog., 423. + + Louisbourg, Cape Breton, 246, 451, 429; + Cost of expedition to reimbursed, 18; + surrender of, 19; + description of, 206. + + Lovewell's Fight at Pigwacket, 422. + + Loyal American Regiment, 430. + + Loyal American Association formed in Boston, 228. + + Loyalists of Massachusetts, 54; + denied legal rights, 55; + character of, 58, 65; + expulsion of, 93; + Associations formed in London, 211; + Club, 218. + + Lyndeborough, N. H., 222. + + Lyndhurst, Lord, biog., 216. + + + Machias, 203. + + Magdalen Islands, 238. + + Mandamus Councillors, 137, 167, 184. + + Marblehead, 222; + address of inhabitants of to Hutchinson, 127. + + Marshfield, 139. + + Martinique, 23. + + Maryatt, Captain, Sea writer, mother of a native of Boston, 350. + + Massachusetts Gazette, founded by Richard Draper, 361; + continued publication by Margaret Draper, 404. + + Massachusetts General Hospital, endowment of, 346. + + Medford, 138, 291. + + Medicines of Dr. Sylvester Gardiner seized for the use of Continental + Army, 315. + + Merry Meeting Bay, Vassal holdings near, 289. + + Middleborough, 138, 189. + + Middleton, N. S., 229. + + Mifflin, Col., confers with Caughnawaga Indians, 89. + + Militia, John Adams on the cowardice of, 75. + + Milton, Inhabitants of Address to Hutchinson, 128, 171. + + Minorca, 242. + + Mobs, see Boston, Cambridge, Haverhill, Salem, N. H., Scarborough. + + Molasses Act, Gov. Bernard request reduction of duties under, 197. + + Monroe Doctrine, 77, 110, 118. + + Moose Island, 105, 203. + + Moravian Indians, Massacre of, 92. + + Mount Desert, 192, 196, 203. + + Mowatt, Capt., at Fort Pownall, 357; + burns Falmouth, 399. + + Mowhawk Indians, Congress addresses, 88. + + Murray, James, biog., 254. + John, Col., 376. + + + Nantucket Settlement, 233. + + "National Gazette," The, see Frenan Philip. + + Naval Officers, British of American birth usually remained + loyal, 239. + + Nazing, Eng., 225. + + Nepaulese War, Gen. Ochterlony's services in, 300. + + Neutrality of England in Civil War, 109. + + New Castle, New Hampshire, Attack on and powder from, used at + Bunker Hill, 51. + + New England Coffee House, London, 249. + + New Englanders in London and Bristol, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254. + + "Newgate Prison," at East Granby, Conn., desc. of, 56. + + New Hampshire, boundary line dispute settled by Hutchinson, 146. + + New Plymouth Company, 156. + + Newport, Evacuation of, 240, 362. + "Gazette," 362. + "Mercury," 362. + + New York, burning of attributed to New England troops, 74; + saved from destruction by British troops, 303. + + Nile, Battle of, 190. + + Non-importation agreement, 310. + + Norridgewock, 289. + + Norton, 325. + + Norwalk, Conn., 347. + + Nottinghamshire, 472. + + "Novanglus," letters by John Adams, 327. + + + Oakham, 139. + + Octherlony, David, Maj. Gen., Sir, biog., 299. + + Old Colony Club at Plymouth, 437. + + Oliver, mob, 153. + + Oliver, Andrew, biog., 180; + mob destroys his house, 40. + + Oliver, Thomas, biog., 183; + mobbed at Cambridge, 185. + + Orange, Rangers, 236. + + Oregon Boundary, 116. + + Ossawatomie Engagement, 107. + + Otis, James, on taxation of the Colonies, 35; + Hutchinson's opinion of, 35; + assault on, by Robinson, 448. + + Oxford, Mass, 312. + + + Paddock, Adino, Col., biog., 305; + Paddock building named for, 307; + Paddock Elms, 306, 307. + + Paine, Thomas, attacks Washington, 76. + Timothy, Judge, biog., 382. + + Parker, Rev. Samuel, conducts services for Episcopalians in Boston + after Evacuation, 348. + + Parr, Town, 190, 380. + + Patriot, recipe for making one, 454. + + Paxton, Charles, biog., 318. + + Pennsylvania Line, Mutiny in, 69. + + Penobscot Expedition, 479. + + Pepperrell, William Sir, biog., 205. + + Petersham, 139. + + Phips, Sir William, career of, 418. + + Pickering, Timothy, of Salem, an early secessionist, 108. + + Pigwacket, Lovewell's Indian fight at, 422. + + Pine Tree Shillings, The tradition of, 365. + + Pittsfield, 140. + + Pleasant Point, 203. + + Plymouth, 138. + Purchase, 314. + + Point Judith, named for Judith Quincy, 365. + + Pontiac Conspiracy, 90. + + Poole, Eng., 314. + + Port Mahon, 242. + + Port Talbot, devastated, 104. + + Portsmouth, Eng., 13. + + Portsmouth, N. H., 208, 215. + Athenaeum, 395. + + Pownalborough, 140, 315. + + Preston, Capt., Trial of, in connection with Boston Massacre, 45; + defence of, 366. + + Princeton, 139. + + Prisoners of War, Northern and Southern, comparative losses, 111, 112. + + Providence, 52. + + Provincial Congress, address Mowhawk Indians, 88. + + Province House, description of, 194. + + Puritans, Intolerance of, 8, 9, 13, 14. + + Putnam, James, Judge, biog., 378; + letters of, 380, 381. + + + Quakers, Puritan maltreatment of, 11, 13. + + Quebec Act., 29, 336; + effect of, 29, 30; + denounced by Colonists as a "Popish Measure," 31. + Address to the Inhabitants of, by Congress, 31; + see Carroll, Rev. John. + Capture of, 20; + Montgomery's Attack on, and the Defence of, 244. + + Queenstown Heights, battle of, 245, 441. + + Quincy, 438. + Josiah, defends Capt. Preston et al, "Boston Massacre," 366, + 367, 368. + Josiah, on the War of 1812, 98. + Josiah, on John Hancock as defaulting Treasurer of Harvard + College, 50. + Judith, her name given to Point Judith, 365. + Samuel, biog., Solicitor General of Mass., biog., 364, 368, 369, + 370, 371, 372, 373; + letters of, 374, 375, 376. + + + Ramillies, 45. + + Randolph, Edward, arrival at Boston, 14; + reception and treatment of, by Colonial authorities, 15. + + Recanters, 126. + + Repudiation, Congress makes, of financial obligations, 75. + + Restoration, Desires for, by Adams Jefferson, Jay, Washington, + Madison, 25. + + Revere, Paul, Scout of the Revolution; his ride, financial dealings + with state authorities, Penobscot Expedition, 479; + Masonic record, 480. + + Revolution, Causes of, 27 to 29. + + Revolutionists, A Tory opinion of, 68. + + Richardson, Ebenezer, biog., 422; + mobbed, 422; + treatment of, by historians, 423; + trial of with Wilmot, 311. + + Riots, see Boston Mobs. + + Rivingston's Gazette, 267. + + Roberts, Execution of, at Philadelphia, 55. + + Rochester, Mass., 225, 229. + + Roman Catholicism, 336; + see Quebec Act, and Carroll. + + Roxbury, 138, 178. + First church at, 338. + + Royal Arms of the Old State House, 436, 437, 482. + + Royal Society, Benjamin Thompson, a member of, 267. + + Royall, Isaac, Gen., biog., 290. + Mansion, description of, 291, 292. + Professorship of Law at Harvard, 293. + + Ruggles, Timothy, biog., 225. + + Rumford, Count, see Thompson, Benj., 263. + + Rutland, 139. + + Russian friendship for United States, 118. + + + Sabine, on the rascality of the Whigs, 72. + + Saco, 208. + + Salaries to Supreme Court Judges, Royal Grant of, 188, 189. + + Salem, 138, 168, 246. + + Salem Village, 378, 379. See also Danvers. + + Saltonstall, Col Richard, biog., 272. + + Sandemanianism, founder of in Boston, 363; + description of their services at Halifax, 363. + + Sandwich, 139. + + Saratoga Convention, Violation of, 85. + + Savannah, D'Estaing repulsed at, 240. + + Scarborough, 208; + mob at destroys property of Richard King, 317. + + Scituate, 138, 285. + + Scott, General, captured by Gen. Sheaffe, 411. + + Search Warrants, 149; + see also "Writs of Assistance." + + Secession in early period, 108. + + Sewall, Jonathan, Atty. Gen., biog., 454. + + Shay's Rebellion, 69, 381. + + Sheaffe, Sir Roger Hale, biog., 439. + + Shelburne, N. S., 340. + + Shepton, Mallet, (Eng.), 250, 283. + + Ships, + Arbella, 9, 272. + Aston Hall, 235, 282. + Barfleur, 240. + Bellerophon, 425. + Culloden, 190. + Diligent, 240, 382. + Duquesne, 425. + Fowey, 240. + Gaspee, 240. + Glorieux, 241. + Kingfisher, 240. + King George, 281. + Liberty, 298. + Le Pincon, 240. + London Packet, 319. + Mary and John, 427. + Melampus, 242. + Minerva, 170. + Neptune, 244. + Philadelphia, 345. + Pocahontas, 240. + Prince George, 269. + Rose, 17. + Royal Oak, 240. + Scarborough, 266. + Shrewsbury, 241. + Swiftsure, 283. + Sybil, 240. + Thisbe, 241, 242. + Undaunted, 429. + Ville de Paris, 241, 429. + William, 426. + + Shirley Hall, Roxbury, 178. + + Shrewsbury, Eng., 139. + Mass., 189. + + Sidmouth, Eng., 175. + + Simcoe's Queen's Rangers, 90. + + Simsbury, Conn., 57. + + Smith, Adam, On taxation of the Colonies, 34. + James, biog., 255. + + Smuggling, Extent of, 33, 35, 193; + Gov. Bernard orders seizure of vessels for, 197; + Hancock's sloop "Liberty" seized, 319; + see Hancock. + + Snider, Christopher, killing and burial of, 310. + + Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 339. + + Sons of Despotism, 54, 179, 264, 318, 335, 453. + Liberty, 54, 158, 273, 477. + + South Kingston, R. I., 313. + + Spanish War, 117, 118. + + Springfield, 138. + + Spring, Garden Coffee House, London, meeting place of Loyalists, + 249, 250. + + St. Croix, 203. + David, village of, burned, 104. + Eustacia, 49. + John's Island, 237. + John. N. B., 190. + Kitts, 240. + Lucia, 23; reduction of, 284. + Paul's Parish, Portland, 398. + Vincent, 204. + + Stamp Act, Passed, its enforcement, 37; + repeal of, 47; + incidents of, 152, 156, 157, 181, 198. + Bernard advocated its repeal, 199; + congress, 226, 346. + + Stockbridge, Indians, Company of enlisted in Revolutionary army, 88. + + Strachan, Dr. John, on the burning of York, Can., 103; + to Jefferson on American atrocities in Canada, 104. + + Sumner, Prof. (W. G.) on Colonial distinctions in taxation, 78. + + Sunderland, 138. + + Supreme Court Judges, Royal Grant of Salaries to, 188, 189. + + Surriage, Agnes, see Lady Frankland. + + + Taunton, 139. + + Tavistock, 205. + + Taxation, colonial notions of, 34, 35, 78; + see Stamp Act, Tea Tax, Molasses Act, Grenville. + + Tea Mob alias Tea Party, 47, 165, 166, 167; + account of, 407. + + Tea Tax, 47. + + Thompson, Benj. Sir, Count Rumford, biog., 261. + Joseph, biog., 297. + Sarah, Countess Rumford, biog., 272. + + Townsend, Mass., 138. + + Transcript, Boston Evening, founded, 342. + + Trinity Church, Boston, 338. + N. Y., Invaded by Lord Stirling; closed by Dr. Auchnuty, + destroyed by fire, 303. + + Troops, British, Arrival and treatment of at Boston, 42, 157, 158. + + + United Empire Loyalists, 245. + + Unthank (Scot), 254. + + + Vassal Family, 285. + + Venezuelian, Episode, 117. + + + Walter, Lynde Minshall, founds Boston Evening Transcript, 342. + Nehemiah, Rev., biog., 338. + William, Rev., biog., 338. + + War of 1812, Sketch of, 98. + + Warren, Joseph, Dr., death of, 335. + + Washington, Burning of, 103. + + Washington, Geo. Gen., on the inefficiency and want of patriotism + in the Continental Army, 72; + on people supplying British in Philadelphia with provisions, 72; + places guard over grave of foreign officer to preventing robbing + of body, 73. + + Waterloo, 45, 221. + + Wedderburn, Sol., Gen., denounces Franklin for theft of Hutchinson + letters, 164, 165. + + West, Benj., Picture, reception of the Loyalists, desc. of, 213. + + West, Church, plate of preserved by Martin Gay, 321. + + White, Ammi, kills wounded British Soldier at Concord. See Concord. + + Whiskey Insurrection, 69. + + Wilkes Riots, 83, 84. + + Wilmington, N. C., 255. + + Wilmot, N. S., 229. + + Winslow, John, biog., 434. + + Winthrop, John, on Puritan loyalty to Church of England, 9, + his children, 483; + on democracy, 69. + Robert, biog., 426. + + Wiswell, John, Rev., biog., 398. + + Witchcraft delusion, 17. + + Woburn, 261, 263, 264, 265, 272. + + Wolfe, Gen., captures Quebec, 19, 20. + + Wollaston, Mount, 365. + + Wooden Figure, affair at Lillie's Mob, 311. + + Worcester, 139, 474. + + Worcester Resolutions against Absentees and Refugees, 141. + + Wrentham, 138. + + Writs of Assistance, 29, 149, 150, 151, 193. + + + York, Canada, burning of, 104. + + Yorktown, Surrender of, 237. + + + * * * * * + + + STARK'S ANTIQUE VIEWS + OF THE + TOWN OF BOSTON + +Every Bostonian should own this book, it contains the largest and rarest +collection of ancient views of Boston ever published. + + "I am familiar with many of the old prints copied in your book. + Some of them are now exceedingly rare, and all have historical + value."--_Samuel A. Green, Librarian of the Massachusetts + Historical Society and Ex-Mayor of Boston._ + +Upward of 150 reproductions, with descriptive text. Arranged in +chronological order, they form a history of the town and city. + +Quarto, cloth, $5.00 net. If by mail, $5.32. + + =JAMES H. STARK= + =17 MILK ST., BOSTON, MASS.= + + + W. B. CLARKE CO. REVOLUTIONARY SERIES + + =Myths and Facts of the American Revolution= + + A Commentary on United States History as it is Written. + + =By ARTHUR JOHNSTON= + +WALDO H. DUNN, in Wooster Quarterly + + "The object of the volume is 'to refute the American Revolutionary + Myth.' This Mr. Johnston proceeds to do by declaring and, no doubt, + from his point of view, proving that all histories of the American + Revolution, those written by Americans as well as many written by + Englishmen, are for the most part unreliable, misleading, + unfaithful to the facts, in many cases, even mythical." + +Cloth, 8vo. 303 pages. Price, $1.50 net. Postage 12c extra. + +=Rowe. Letters and Diary of John Rowe, Boston Merchant, 1764-1779.= + +"Brief jottings by a busy man. A welcome addition to our knowledge of +the Revolutionary era."--_The Nation._ + + The book is of interest to all old Massachusetts families, over one + hundred of which are mentioned. + +8vo. cloth, with illustrations, $3.00 net. If by mail, $3.25. + +=Murray. Letters of James Murray, Loyalist, 1713-1781.= + + Books containing the raw material of the early history of our + country are of much interest at the present time, and those on the + Tory or Loyalist side are perhaps the more interesting because more + rare.--_The Dial._ + + The Appendix gives genealogical information regarding the families + of Murray, Forbes, Inman, Innes, Hutchinson, Robbins, Revere and + Howe. + +8vo. cloth, with illustrations. $2.50 net. If by mail, $2.67. + + =W. B. CLARKE CO.= + =26-28 TREMONT ST., BOSTON, MASS.= + + * * * * * + + STARK'S GUIDES TO THE WEST INDIES. + + =Stark's History and Guide to Trinidad= + + =Two hundred pages and profusely illustrated.= + + =From the London "Spectator."= + +Mr. James H. Stark in his series of histories of, and guides to, the +West Indies has assumed the role of a modern Hakluyt to intending +voyagers to the islands. He gives a clear account of their present +state, their climate, season, and "natural commodities," and useful +information as to steamers and hotels. But to this is added a well +edited and illustrated history of each island, or group of islands, +which brings the present into vivid relation with the past. Each of the +books is interesting and suggestive and complete in itself, the present +political and commercial prospects of the different colonies, being +especially well set out. After following Mr. Stark, who writes both with +knowledge and enthusiasm, from island to island our personal choice +would fall on Trinidad as the centre and headquarters of a visit to the +West Indies. It is accessible, not expensive, and makes an admirable +centre for further voyages.--_London Spectator._ + + + =Stark's History and Guide to Jamaica= + + =Two hundred pages, and over fifty full-page illustrations.= + + =From the Jamaica "News."= + +Jamaica has not been without literature descriptive of her charms, but +there is no book which pays her so eloquent a tribute as Stark's +"History and Guide to Jamaica." It is a handsome volume and one which +cannot be absent from any well equipped West Indian bookshelf. Mr. Stark +hails from Boston, but the works which he will leave behind will +associate him more closely with the jewels of the Caribbean Sea. Few +better than he have appreciated to the full the dazzling beauties of the +West Indies, and few have pictured them with such graphic force. Mr. +Stark has not been content with skilled word-pictures in his portrayal +of Jamaica. The volume is made beautiful by fifty-six exquisite +full-page photographic reproductions. These must have added very +materially to the expense of production, but they serve to render the +book by far the best-illustrated work the island has ever possessed. +There are also a map of the West Indies, a detailed map of Jamaica and a +street plan of Kingston, all specially engraved for the "Guide." + +The work which Mr. Stark has completed is one that the government of +Jamaica might have undertaken in an earnest effort to benefit the +island, but it could not have done it so well, nor would its labors have +been free from the suspicion of prejudice. Mr. Stark is a stranger, an +American, whose unqualified praise is not biased by consideration of +patriotism; and his work is likely to prove so potent a factor in the +working out of the island's salvation that the government could do no +more beneficent act than to make a present of a copy of the work to +every public library throughout the English-speaking world. + +The book is full of interest from cover to cover. From the opening +chapter to the last there is much to instruct, and the writing is of +such excellence that we never wearied. There are in all nineteen +chapters to the work, and the book has been handsomely printed, bound, +and illustrated.--_News, Jamaica._ + + + =Stark's Guide and History of British Guiana= + + (PALL MALL GAZETTE). + +"Stark's Guide and History of British Guiana, is a continuation of a +series of works of the Guide book type, dealing with our West Indian +possessions. It is both instructive and pleasantly written while the +illustrations and maps afford additional information. The history and +physical characteristics of the colony are sketched out, the show sights +duly detailed, and the inhabitants and products receive adequate +treatment. There are some useful hints on the gold industry and the +resources of the colony generally and should accordingly find a place as +a work of reference." + + (THE LONDON GRAPHIC) + +"Stark's Guide and History of British Guiana, is a complete and +compendious handbook for tourists and immigrants. At the present time +the history of the gold industry and hints to gold prospectors may be +commended as opportune and up-to-date." + + (BOOKSELLER LONDON). + +"Sampson Low, Marston & Co., now place upon the English market a cheap +and useful guide to British Guiana, which has been issued by an American +publisher. The bulk of the material, we are told, was prepared by Mr. +James Rodway, the well known authority on British Guiana, and may +therefore be accepted as trustworthy. The volume is profusely +illustrated and altogether furnishes a very satisfactory and sufficient +guide to the country with which it deals." + + =For Sale by + James H. Stark, Publisher, 17 Milk St., Boston.= + + * * * * * + + Stark's Illustrated Histories + and + Guides to the West Indies + + =Six volumes, $1.50 per volume net= + +It is now more than a century since a series of works of this +description was published on the West Indies--McKinnen's in 1804 and +Bryan Edwards' in 1797. The large number of tourists visiting the West +Indies every winter, and the acquiring of tropical possessions by this +country, have caused the public to take a greater interest in and to +seek for information concerning these beautiful islands lying so near +our shores. The author has spent the past twenty winters among these +islands, and has incorporated in each book from twenty-five to fifty +Photo-Prints from negatives taken by him, printed on plate paper, +besides many rare and valuable maps. Each book contains a description of +everything on or about the islands, concerning which the public may +desire information, including History Inhabitants, Climate, Agriculture, +Geology, Government and Resources. The set consists of six volumes, each +complete within itself. Jamaica, Trinidad, British Guiana, Bahamas, +Bermuda, Barbados and Caribbee Islands. Every library should contain +these volumes as works of reference and text-books. + + + _STARK'S ILLUSTRATED BERMUDA GUIDE_ + +=Two hundred pages, profusely illustrated with Maps and Photo-Prints, 12 + mo. $1.60 post-paid.= + +"A most exhaustive book on Bermuda. Mr. J. H. Stark spent several +seasons in Bermuda for the express purpose of collecting material for a +history and guide-book, and nothing is omitted or overlooked which the +invalid or traveller for pleasure will wish to know."--_Boston +Transcript._ + +"The 'Illustrated Bermuda Guide,' written by Mr. James H. Stark, of this +city, is the latest book on the Bermuda Islands. It contains twenty-four +artistic photo-prints, besides several handy maps of the islands, which +will be of much convenience to the tourist who seeks rest and pleasure +in the miniature continent, 700 miles from New York. + +"The text of the volume treats of the history, inhabitants, climate, +agriculture, geology, government and military and naval establishments +of Bermuda describing in an entertaining fashion the most noticeable +features of the Island, and furnishing a brief sketch of life in Bermuda +from the original settlement until to-day."--_Boston Herald._ + + + _STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE TO THE BAHAMA ISLANDS_ + +=Fully illustrated with Maps, Photo-Prints and Wood-Cuts, 12 mo. $1.60, + post-paid.= + +"I have read your book on the Bahamas with great care and interest, and +can confidently speak of it as the most trustworthy account of the +Colony that has yet been published." SIR AMBROSE SHEA, _Governor of the +Bahamas_. + +"Your book has exceeded my expectations; you have filled up a gap in the +history of the English Empire, especially in the history of our +colonies, that deserve the encomiums of every Englishman, aye, and of +every American who reads your book. The colonists of the Bahamas owe you +a debt that they can never fully repay." G. C. CAMPLEJOHN, _Judge of the +Court of Common Pleas, Bahamas_. + + + _STARK'S HISTORY AND GUIDE TO BARBADOES_ + _AND THE CARIBBEE ISLANDS_ + + =Two hundred and twenty pages profusely illustrated with Maps and + Photo-Prints, 12 mo, $1.60, post-paid.= + +"MR. JAMES H. STARK visited these islands and derived his information at +first hand. He has given a brief history of their discovery and +settlement, and also an account of the manners and customs of the +inhabitants, which is superior to that of any other work on the subject. +The book is richly supplied with half-tone illustration, which give a +capital idea of the buildings, the localities, and the people throughout +these tropical islands. + +"The information is practical, and the volume will be highly prized by +those who have interests in these islands or have occasion to visit +them. Mr. Stark has done much to lift them into notoriety by his +careful, accurate and instructive work."--_Boston Herald._ + + =For Sale by= + =James H. Stark, Publisher, 17 Milk St., Boston.= + + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's note: + +Minor typographical errors and inconsistencies have been silently +normalized. Archaic and variable spellings, and inconsistent hyphenation +have been retained. Example: both "Curwin" and "Curwen" appear. + +Page vii: The Appendix contents list shows "LIST OF LOYALISTS WHOSE +NAMES OR BIOGRAPHIES ARE NOT FOUND IN THIS WORK" as on page 484, whereas +it is actually on page 503. + +Page 69: The footnote anchor is missing. The transcriber has placed it +where it seems likely to have been required. + +Page 103: (*) denotes missing footnote. + +Page 111: There are two footnote markers but no foot note (*). + +Page 126: "Whereare we the subscribers did ..." Replaced "whereare" with +"whereas". + +Page 151: A currency "dispute took place in 1762 as regarde the parity +between gold and silver." "regarde" changed to "regards". + +Page 157: 'the objects of the contempt even of woman, and children.' +"woman" changed to "women". + +Page 180: "John Williams and Swan S.;" There is a blank area on the +original page; the transcriber has replaced it with ---- + +Page 211: "May 29th, 1779, and the next at the Crown and Anchor, in the +Strand on the 26th" are conflicting dates as found in the original. + +Page 253: "the limits of the republican government. Wishes for the +welfare of my" "which cannot possibly be but of short continuance, +somewhere out of" + +The above two lines seem to be out of order and have been put in reverse +order. + +Page 332: "that the father and sisters of Charles were to partici- in +the enjoyment of the property." Changed "partici-" to "participate". + +Page 425: There was no footnote anchor for the "Loring" footnote. The +transcriber has inserted it at the beginning of the COMMODORE JOSHUA +LORING section. + +Page 477: 'Public officials were chosen by a ring in Boston in the year +of our Lord 1768 before they were "chosen by the town"'. + +The date 1768 appears to be an error according to the previous +paragraphs. The transcriber has replaced 1768 with 1763. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Loyalists of Massachusetts, by James H. 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