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.