ADINO PADDOCK, the younger, accompanied his father to Halifax in 1776

and in 1779 followed his father to England, where he entered upon the

study of medicine and surgery. Having attended the different hospitals

of London and fitted himself for practice, he returned to America before

the close of the Revolution, and was surgeon of the King's American

Dragoons. In 1784 he married Margaret Ross of Casco Bay, Maine, and

settling at St. John, New Brunswick, confined his attention to

professional pursuits. In addition to extensive and successful private

practice he enjoyed from Government the post of surgeon to the ordinance

of New Brunswick. He died at St. Mary's, York County in 1817, aged 58.

Margaret his wife died at St. John in 1815 at the age of 50. The fruit

of this union was ten children, of whom three sons, Adino, Thomas and

John were educated physicians. Adino commenced practice in 1808 at

Kingston, New Brunswick. Thomas married Mary, daughter of Arthur

McLellan, Esq., of Portland, Maine, and died at St. John, deeply

lamented in 1838, aged 47.

LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO ADINO PADDOCK IN SUFFOLK COUNTY

AND TO WHOM SOLD.

To Thomas Bumstead. Aug. 1, 1782, Lib. 135, fol. 139; Land and

buildings in Boston, Common St. W.; land of the commonwealth S.;

heirs of Gillum Taylor deceased E. and S.; Thomas Cushing E., N.

and E.; Rawson's Lane N.

THEOPHILUS LILLIE.

Edward Lillie by the recorded births of his children appears to have

been in Boston as early as 1663. As he was devoted to the Church of

England, it may be presumed that he came from that country, and the date

of his eldest child's birth makes it likely that he was born before

1640. This branch of the Lillie family probably lived for a while in

Newfoundland, and if so, they are likely to have been of the Devonshire

or West-of-England stock, which supplied the first settlers for that

Province. They became possessed of real estate at St. John's during the

latter half of the seventeenth century, described as "a plantation"--a

term signifying full proprietorship.

Edward Lillie married about 1661, Elizabeth, whose maiden name is

unknown. He was one of the well known citizens of the town of Boston

when its estimated population was from five to seven thousand

inhabitants. In 1687 he was one of the sixty citizens whose property was

rated at L50 or more,--taking rank with such contemporaries as Elisha

and Eliakim Hutchinson, Adam Winthrop, Samuel and Anthony Checkley, and

Simon Lynde.[202] Edward Lillie carried on a large business as "cooper,"

at that period one of the most important industries of New England in

its connection with commerce.

[202] Memorial Hist. of Boston, II. 8. Record Com. Report VII. 69.

Prior to 1670 Edward Lillie had land "in his tenure and occupation" at

the North End. He purchased July 8, 1670, an estate at what was then the

South End of the town,--a dwelling-house and land. This estate was

situated on the south-east corner of Washington and Bedford Streets, and

it is in part now (1907) the site of R. H. White's dry-goods

establishment. In January 1674 he purchased of Captain Thomas Savage

land on Conduit (now North) Street and erected thereon in 1684 a brick

dwelling-house. The estate was valued in inventory at L1300.

Edward Lillie's will was dated December 24, 1688, and proved January 7,

1688-9. His wife was probably the "Mrs. Lily" whose death, according to

town records, took place January 4, 1705. They had six children.

Samuel Lilly, born March 20, 1663, was the eldest child. June 4, 1683,

he married at the age of twenty Mehitable Frary, daughter of Captain

and Deacon Theophilus Frary, one of the founders of the Old South

Church. Her mother was the daughter of Jacob Eliot, and the niece of

John Eliot, the "Apostle to the Indians." Mehitable, was born February

4, 1665-6, and as her father had no sons, his estate was divided between

the daughters.

Samuel Lillie, like his father, was a "cooper," but early in life became

interested in commerce, sending as early as May 23, 1684, merchandise to

the island of Nevis. For the next twenty-three years he was widely

engaged in commercial transactions, and was uniformly styled "merchant"

in formal documents. After his father's death he bought and occupied the

latter's premises at the North End, enlarging them by other purchases.

Mrs. Royall, wife of Isaac Royall and mother of the Loyalist was a

cousin of Mrs. Samuel Lillie. During his latter years Samuel Lillie was

absent from America quite frequently. It is not likely that he was in

Boston from 1708 till shortly before his death.[203] Mrs. Lillie died

March 4, 1723. They had eleven children, born in Boston and baptised

(except one or two) in the Second church, each a few days after birth.

[203] "The Lillie Family of Boston" by Edward L. Pierce.

Theophilus Lillie, the fourth child of Samuel and Mehitable Lillie, was

baptized August 24, 1690. He married July 8, 1725, Hannah Ruck (Rev.

Cotton Mather officiating). Seems to have done much in settling his

father's affairs, but was not engaged in active business.

On the 28th of July, 1732, in Town Meeting, he with others, was

appointed a committee to receive proposals, touching the demolishing,

repairing, or leasing out the old buildings belonging to the town in

Dock Square. The committee to give their attendance at Mr. William

Coffin's the Bunch of Grapes tavern, on Thursdays weekly, from six to

eight o'clock in the evening. In 1736 he appears as one of the

subscribers to Prince's Chronological History of Boston, the list

containing, according to Drake, the names of persons most interested at

that period in literary concerns.

Hannah Ruck, his wife, was born December 4, 1703 and was the daughter of

John Ruck, a successful merchant, a citizen active in municipal affairs

and holding municipal offices. Her mother was Hannah Hutchinson,

daughter of Colonel Elisha Hutchinson, and aunt of Thomas Hutchinson,

the last Royal Governor. A close friendship existed between the two

families, and their homes were near together at the North End. This

friendship was continued in Halifax, after the Loyalist exodus in 1776.

Theophilus Lillie sold the family estate at the corner of Newbury and

Pond Streets March 9, 1754. Before this sale he had removed to the Ruck

homestead "near the old North Meeting House." Mr. Lillie died late in

March, 1760. He left but little property. His eldest son Samuel, died

young and John and Theophilus Lillie were his father's sole heirs.

THEOPHILUS LILLIE, the youngest son, was born August 18, 1730. He

married late in 1757 (intentions of marriage published October 27, 1757)

Ann Barker, who had been a shop-keeper, in company with Abiel Page,

"near Rev. Mr. Mather's meeting-house." He was educated as a merchant

and was in retail trade as early as 1758, as shown by the numerous

collection suits brought by him, and his advertisements in the Boston

"Gazette" May 22 of that year. His store was on "Middle (Hanover)

Street, near Mr. Pemberton's meeting-house." His stock was miscellaneous

English Dry Goods and Groceries.

When it was determined to resist the tax on imports, a non-importation

agreement was entered into in August, 1768, by the merchants of Boston,

many were forced to sign it through fear of offending the mob, the

agreement ended in 1769, and some of those who had been forced into it

were determined to proceed in their regular business, and would pay no

attention to a renewal of it, among these was Theophilus Lillie. They

were proscribed and persecuted for several weeks by the rabble

collecting to interrupt customers, passing to and from their shops, and

houses, by posts erected before their shops with a hand pointed towards

them, and by many marks of derision. At length on February 22nd, 1770, a

more powerful mob than common, collected before the house of Theophilus

Lillie and set up a post on which was a large Wooden Head, with a board

faced paper, on which was painted the figures of four of the principal

importers. One of the neighbors, Ebenezer Richardson, found fault with

the proceedings which provoked the mob to drive him into his home for

shelter. Having been a custom house officer, he was peculiarly obnoxious

to the mob. They surrounded his house, threw stones and brick-bats

through the windows, and, as it appeared upon trial were forcing their

way in, when he fired upon them, and killed a boy eleven or twelve years

of age. He was soon seized, and another person, George Wilmot with him,

who happened to be in the house. They were in danger of being sacrificed

to the rage of the mob, being dragged through the streets and a halter

having been prepared, but some more temperate than the rest, advised to

carry him before a justice of peace, who committed him to prison.

The boy that was killed was Christopher Snider, the son of a poor

German. The event was taken advantage of by Sam Adams, and other

revolutionary leaders to raise the passion of the people, and thereby

strengthen their cause. A grand funeral therefore was judged to be the

proper course to pursue. In the _Evening Post_ of 26 Feb. is a very

minute account of the affair, which had a very great deal to do with

subsequent events. The corpse was set down under 'Liberty Tree' whence

the procession began. About 50 school boys preceded, and there was "at

least 2000 in the procession, of all ranks, amid a crowd of spectators."

The pall was supported by six youths chosen by the parents of the

deceased. On the Liberty Tree and upon each side and foot of the coffin

were inscriptions well calculated to excite sympathy for the deceased,

and at the same time indignation against him, who occasioned his death.

On the 20th of April following the two culprits were tried for their

lives. Richardson was brought in guilty of murder, but Wilmot was

acquitted. Drake says "In this account of the case of Richardson and

Wilmot, it must be borne in mind that it is almost entirely made up from

the facts detailed by their enemies. Richardson was no doubt insulted

beyond endurance, which caused his rashness, in a moment of intense

excitement he fired on the mob. These facts doubtless had their weight

with the court, for the Chief Justice Thomas Hutchinson, viewed the

guilt of Richardson as everybody would now, a clear case of justifiable

homicide, and consequently refused to sign a warrant for his execution,

and, after lying in prison two years, was, on application to the King

pardoned and set at liberty."[204]

[204] Drake's History of Boston, p. 777.

After the affair of the Wooden Figure at Lillie's, there was constant

trouble in Boston between the soldiers and roughs of the town, until the

5th of March, when occurred the affray between the Mob and the Soldiers

known as the "Boston Massacre."[205]

[205] See pages 43 and 44 for account of the "Massacre."

Mr. Lillie had taken no part in the affair that happened near his store,

but popular feeling was influenced by that occurrence against him. Mr.

Lillie's full statement of the interference with his business by the

illegal committee of citizens, will be found in the "Massachusetts

Gazette," January 11, 1770. An extract will show his attitude towards

the affair.

"Upon the whole, I cannot help saying--although I have never entered far

into the mysteries of government, having applied myself to my shop and

my business--that it always seemed strange to me that people who contend

so much for civil and religious liberty should be so ready to deprive

others of their natural liberty: that men who are guarding against being

subject to laws [to] which they never gave their consent in person or by

their representative should at the same time make laws, and in the most

effectual manner execute them upon me and others, to which laws I am

sure I never gave my consent either in person or by my representative.

But what is still more hard, they are laws made to punish me after I

have committed the offence; for when I sent for my goods, I was told

nobody was to be compelled to subscribe; after they came, I was required

to store them. This in no degree answered the end of the subscription,

which was to distress the manufacturers in England. Now, my storing my

goods could never do this; the mischief was done when the goods were

bought in England; and it was too late to help it. My storing my goods

must be considered, therefore, as punishment for an offence before the

law for punishing it was made.

"If one set of private subjects may at any time take upon themselves to

punish another set of private subjects just when they please, it's such

a sort of government as I never heard of before; and according to my

poor notion of government, this is one of the principal things which

government is designed to prevent; and I own I had rather be a slave

under one master (for I know who he is, I may perhaps be able to please

him) than a slave to a hundred or more whom I don't know where to find,

nor what they will expect of me."

In 1770 Mr. Lillie removed to Oxford in Worcester County,--a removal

induced probably by his recent experiences in Boston. His domicile is

stated to be in that town in actions brought by him in Suffolk County.

On account of his political views his new residence did not prove to be

any more congenial than Boston had been.

In 1772 he attached for a debt the house of Dr. Alexander Campbell and

the people of Oxford took umbrage, and threatened him with violence. In

the same year he sold his place in Oxford, and returned to Boston. He

bought in 1774 an estate in Brookfield, but it does not appear that he

lived upon it at any time. Until the political troubles Mr. Lillie seems

to have been in good circumstances, and to have kept up in his manner of

dress the fashions of the period, according to family traditions. He

left Boston in March, 1776 with the British troops for Halifax. His

family thus embarking numbered four persons--himself and wife, and one

of the other two being, doubtless, a negro servant.

Mr. Lillie's death occurred in Halifax two months after leaving Boston,

on May 12. His property in Massachusetts was confiscated. Jacob Cooper,

of Boston, administered on his estate. Mrs. Lillie continued to live at

Halifax, and notwithstanding the confiscation proceedings, she undertook

to collect, by suits in Massachusetts in 1784-85, some of the debts due

to her husband. The Confiscation Act however, was a bar to any recovery.

Mrs. Lillie survived her husband eighteen years. Her funeral is

registered on the records of St. Paul's church, Halifax, as being on

September 16, 1794, at the age of seventy-nine. Her will dated December

10, 1791, and August 5, 1794 (appointing Foster Hutchinson, the younger,

Executor) was proved September 20, 1794, on the oath of John Masters and

Foster Hutchinson, the younger. Certain provisions of the will show a

particular interest in a colored servant. The will provides: "It is also

my will and intention that my black man Caesar be free, and that the sum

of ten pounds be retained and left in the hands of my hereinafter named

executor, to be applied to the use of said Caesar in case of sickness,

or other necessity, at the discretion of said executor." She also

bequeathed to him "a suit of mourning cloths suitable for a man in his

situation in life"; and in a later codicil, "the feather-bed and

bedstead whereupon he usually sleeps, and also the bedclothes and

bedding belonging thereto." Mr. Lillie's confiscated personal effects

indicate that he lived in a liberal style. At the time of his death.

Governor Hutchinson, then in England, wrote in his Diary, July 24, 1776:

When I came home I heard of Mr. Lillie's death at Halifax. What numbers

have been brought to poverty, sickness, and death by refusing to concur

with the present measures of America!

Theophilus Lillie died childless. Search was made in July, 1895, by

Edward Lillie Pierce and his son George, in the old graveyard at

Halifax, but no stone for him or his wife was discovered, although her

funeral had been duly recorded in the church register. The stones of

Foster Hutchinson and his family were well preserved; and the Lillie

stone if ever set up, would be likely to be found near them.

Mr. Lillie's personal property in Massachusetts was disposed of and his

three pieces of real estate were sold at public auction. His debts were

small and the whole amount turned into the treasury, L595, valued at

L446 in sterling money. The public gain was considerable.

JOHN LILLIE, the only surviving brother of Theophilus was born August 8,

1728. He is described as a "mariner" in public documents, but no details

of his career on the sea have been transmitted. He married in Trinity

church, August 16, 1754 Abigail Breck (born June 19, 1732.) She was the

daughter of John and Margaret Breck. John Lillie died April, 1765, and

his will was proved on the 19th. He left six children. John Lillie, his

son, became a Major in the Continental Army and served in many

engagements with great bravery during the war. General Washington

certified that Major Lillie "conducted himself on all occasions with

dignity, bravery, and intelligence." He was married to Elizabeth Vose,

January 20, 1785, and was survived by several children.

Mehitable and Ann Lillie, two of John Lillie's daughters (the mariner)

have always with their descendants been well known.

LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO THEOPHILUS LILLIE IN SUFFOLK

COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.

To John Greenough, May 26, 1781; Lib. 132, fol. 216. Land and

buildings in Boston. Middle St. E.; Samuel Ridgeway S.; Thomas

Greenough W. Thomas Greenough and Edward Foster, an absentee, N.

To Samuel Howard. Aug. 3, 1781: Lib. 133, fol. 5. One undivided

third of land and large brick dwelling-house in Boston, Sun Court

St. N.; Joseph Hemmingway and others E.; John Leach and others S.;

Market Square W.

DR. SYLVESTER GARDINER.

Sylvester Gardiner was born in South Kingston, Rhode Island, in 1707. He

was descended from the first emigrant of the name to the Narragansett

country. His father was William Gardiner, the son of Benoni, the son of

Joseph, an English emigrant. Sylvester was the fourth son of William

Gardiner and was educated by his brother-in-law, the Rev. Dr. McSparran,

for the medical profession. He studied eight years in England and

France, and returning to Boston, entered and pursued a successful

professional career. He established a store for the importation of drugs

and acquired a fortune. He accumulated much real estate in Maine and

became proprietor of one-twelfth part of the "Plymouth Purchase,"

so-called, on the Kennebec River. At one time he owned 100,000 acres and

was grantor of much of the land in ancient Pittston. "His efforts to

settle the large domain were unceasing from the year 1753 to the

Revolution. He was made perpetual moderator of the proprietors at all

their meetings; he executed their plans, built mills, houses, stores and

wharves, cleared lands, made generous offers to emigrants; established

an episcopal mission, and furnished the people of that region with their

first religious instruction. And most of all this was accomplished with

his own money."[206] He erected houses and mills at Swan Island,

Pownalborough and other places, and was the author of the beginnings of

many settlements. He was a public spirited man of great zeal and energy,

broad and liberal in his views.

[206] Sabine's Loyalists, Vol. I. p. 459.

Dr. Gardiner was married three times. His first wife was Anne, daughter

of Doctor John Gibbons of Boston; his second, Abigail Eppes of Virginia;

his third, Catharine Goldthwaite. In Boston he was respected by all

classes. Of the "Government Party," he entertained as guests, Sir

William Pepperell, Governor Hutchinson, Earl Percy, Admiral Graves,

Major Pitcairn, General Gage, Major Small and others. He was an

Addresser of the Royal Governors in 1774 and the year following he

became identified with the Royal cause. In 1776, at the evacuation, he

abandoned all and found temporary shelter at Halifax. When he left his

native country close to the age of three score and ten, he took only

about L400 with him. The vessel in which he embarked was destitute of

common comforts, poorly supplied with provisions, and the cabin, which

he and several members of his family occupied, was small and crowded

with passengers. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished and settled in

Poole, England. His property in Boston and Maine was confiscated and all

goods that could be found were sold at public auction. A library

containing five hundred volumes, was sold in 1778-79 at auction by

William Cooper. His books and other personal effects amounted to

L1658.18.

The estates on the Kennebec were confiscated but the Attorney-General

found that the action was illegally prosecuted and instituted new

proceedings. Before they were brought to a close peace was declared and

the proceedings stayed. The heirs of Dr. Gardiner learned these facts

and obtained the property. Had there not been a flaw in the first suit

this would not have been the case.

"In 1785 Doctor Gardiner returned to the United States. For a part of

his losses he petitioned Massachusetts for compensation. He had never

borne arms, he said, nor entered into any association, combination or

subscription against the Whigs. When he quitted Boston, he stated, too,

that he had in his possession a valuable stock of drugs, medicines,

paints, groceries and dye stuffs, which having a vessel fully equipped

and entirely under his control, he could easily have carried off, but

which he left, of choice, for the benefit of the country, which he knew

was in need. The claim was acknowledged to the extent of giving his

heirs tickets in the State Land Lottery, by which they obtained nearly

six thousand acres in the county of Washington, Maine."[207]

[207] Sabine's Loyalists, Vol. I, p 460.

Washington, on taking possession of Boston, ordered the medicines, etc.,

in Doctor Gardiner's store, to be transferred to the hospital department

for the use of the Continental Army; but the State authorities

interfered and required delivery to the Sheriff of Suffolk county. The

result, however, was a vote of the council complying with the

requisition of the commander-in-chief.

After the peace Doctor Gardiner resided in Newport, Rhode Island, where

he still practiced medicine and surgery. There he died suddenly of a

malignant fever on August 8, 1786, in his eightieth year. His body was

interred under Trinity church and his funeral was attended by most of

the citizens. The shipping displayed its colors at half-mast, and much

respect was shown by the people. Dr. Gardiner had always been

philanthropic and a benefit to mankind. He seems to have been identified

in church work wherever he lived and from the following extract appears

to have been a member of King's chapel, while residing in Boston: "April

3, 1740.--Rec'd of Mr. Sylvester Gardiner Sixteen Pounds Two Shills, in

full for wine for the Chapple for the year past. John Hancock."[208]

[208] "Dealings with the Dead," by a Sexton of the Old School.

Dr. Gardiner acted conscientiously in his course in remaining loyal and

his "Christian fortitude and piety were exemplary as his honesty was

inflexible and his friendship sincere."[209] In the Episcopal church in

Gardiner, Maine, near the pulpit, a beautiful cenotaph of black marble

about eight feet high enclosed in a fine oaken frame, is erected to the

memory of Dr. Gardiner, by Robert Hallowell Gardiner, his grandson and

heir.

[209] Newport Mercury. Aug. 14, 1786.

JOHN GARDINER, the eldest son of Dr. Sylvester Gardiner, was born in

Boston in 1731, and was sent to England, to complete his education. He

studied law at Inner Temple and practiced in the courts of Westminster

Hall. He received the appointment of Attorney-General in the West Indies

at St. Christopher's. He was denied promotion by the British Government

because of his sympathy for the Whigs, and in 1783 he returned to

Boston. On February 13, 1784, John Gardiner, his wife, Margaret, and

their children were naturalized. John Gardiner was an ardent reformer

and an active Unitarian. He was the principal agent in transforming the

King's Chapel into a Unitarian church. He wrote an able treatise in

defence of the theatre. Removing to Pownalborough, Maine, he represented

that town in the General Court from 1789 until his death in 1793-94. He

was drowned by the loss of a packet in which he was sailing to Boston to

attend the session of the Legislature.

JOHN SYLVESTER JOHN, son of John Gardiner, was born in Wales in 1765.

His father had left America in 1748 before he was of age and resided in

England and South Wales until 1768, when he went to St. Christopher's,

remaining in the West Indies until 1783. John Sylvester John, became an

able theological and political writer. He was rector of Trinity church,

Boston, from 1805 until his death, which occurred at Harrowgate Springs,

England, in 1830, while traveling for his health.

A tablet was erected in Trinity church to the memory of John Sylvester

John Gardiner, who had first been an assistant and later the rector of

the church. At the time of the great Boston fire, November 9, 1872, when

old Trinity church on Summer street was destroyed, this tablet was the

only relic saved from the interior of the church. It was rescued from

the flames by a great-grandson of John Sylvester John Gardiner, and is

now in Trinity church, Copley square. Boston.

WILLIAM GARDINER, son of the rector, was an eminent Boston lawyer. He

had two daughters, Louisa, who married John Cushing of Watertown, and

Elizabeth.

WILLIAM GARDINER, the second son of Sylvester Gardiner, removed to

Gardinerston, Maine, soon after the settlement commenced. He employed a

housekeeper and entertained his friends and was famous for his fun

making. He gave offence to the Whigs because he "would drink tea";

because he refused to swear allegiance to their cause; and because he

called them "Rebels." "Arrangements were made to take him from his bed

at night, and tar and feather him, but a Whig, friendly to him, carried

him to a place of safety. He was, however, made prisoner, tried and sent

to jail in Boston."[210] In March, 1778, he petitioned for release and

was soon after allowed to return home where "he was regarded as a

harmless man and was allowed for the most part to remain unmolested,

except by petty annoyances." William Gardiner died, unmarried at

Gardiner, Maine, and was buried "beneath the Episcopal vestry."

[210] Sabine's Loyalists, Vol. I, p. 462.

ANNE GARDINER, third child of Sylvester Gardiner, married the second son

of the Earl of Altamont. HANNAH, a fourth child, was the wife of Robert

Hallowell. REBECCA, the fifth child, married Philip Dumarisque. Last,

ABIGAIL, married Oliver Whipple, counsellor-at-law, Cumberland, Rhode

Island, and subsequently of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Nearly the whole of the estate in Maine passed under the provisions of

Doctor Gardiner's will, to Hannah's only son, Robert Hallowell, who, as

one of the conditions of that instrument, added the name of Gardiner.

John on account of his political and religious opinions failed to become

the principal heir, and William "was not an efficient man."

Sylvanus Gardiner's second wife was the widow of William Eppes of

Virginia, daughter of Col. Benj. Pickman of Salem. She died at Poole,

England, leaving a son, Wm. Eppes, who married Miss Randolph of Bristol,

whose son was a commissary general in the British Army. A daughter,

Love Eppes, married Sir John Lester of Poole, and Abigail Eppes married

Richard Routh, a loyalist.

LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO SYLVESTER GARDINER IN SUFFOLK

COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.

To William Coleman, Benjamin Coleman, Dec 12. 1782. Lib. 136, fol.

146; Land and buildings in Boston, Marlborough St. W.; John Sprague

and Samuel Partridge S.; alley between said land and land of John

Erving E.; Samuel Partridge N.

To Joseph Gardner, Nov. 21. 1783; Lib. 140, fol. 113; Land in

Boston, Marlborough St. E.; alley S. and E., Samuel Dashwood S. and

E., Martin Gay E.; Winter St. S.; heirs of William Fisher W.; S.;

W. and S.; heirs of Henderson Inches S.; John Williams and land of

the State W.; Jonathan Cole N.; John Lucas E. and N.

To John Boles, March 2, 1784; Lib. 141, fol. 195. Land in Boston.

Winter St. N.; John R. Sigourney W.; Dr. John Sprague S. and E.

To Joseph Henderson. Aug. 7, 1784. Lib. 144 fol. 111; Land and

buildings in Boston, Long Lane E.; Dr. John Sprague S. and E.;

Andrew Johonnot S., Charles Paxton and Dr. Sprague W.; said Sprague

N.

RICHARD KING.

Of Scarborough, he was a prosperous merchant, "with a leaning towards

the Government." Many persons had become indebted to him beyond their

ability to pay. In consequence, apparently of this circumstance, his

troubles soon began, after the attack and destruction of Mr.

Hutchinson's residence, of which the following outrage appears to have

been an imitation, and the story has been handed down by no less a

person than John Adams: "Taking advantage of the disorders occasioned by

the passage of the Stamp Act, a party disguised as Indians, on the night

of the 16th of March, 1760, broke into his store, and his dwelling-home

also, and destroyed his books and papers, containing evidences of debts.

Not content with this, they laid waste his property and threatened his

life if he should venture to seek legal mode of redress."

John Adams was counsel for King, and he, who had no pity for Hutchinson,

but rather rejoiced in the impunity of his assailants, writes, "The

terror and distress, the distraction and horror of his family cannot be

described by words or painted on canvas. It is enough to move a statue,

to melt a heart of stone to read the story."[211]

[211] John Adams' Letters to His Wife. Note to No. 9.

The popular bitterness then engendered did not, however, subside, and in

1774, a slight incident occurred which soon caused it once more to break

out. A vessel of Mr. King's was found to have delivered a load of lumber

in Boston, by special license, after the port had been closed, and the

material had been purchased for the use of the troops. On this occasion

forty men from the neighboring town of Gorham came over and compelled

Mr. King, in fear of his life, to make a disavowal of his opinion. These

repeated shocks seem to have been too much for Mr. King's constitution.

He became insane and died in the following March.

Such were the means adopted by the Sons of Despotism, to make patriots,

to convert their fellow countrymen to their ways of thinking.

Intimidation and oppression are the accompaniments of all successful

revolutions. The same holds true of the methods adopted at the present

time by the leaders of a strike. The leaders, like the revolutionary

leaders, are unwilling to acknowledge that they are disturbers of the

peace, or that acting under them their followers are brutally assailing

those who seek employment under other than union conditions.

CHARLES PAXTON.

COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS.

The subject of this sketch was born at Boston, February 28, 1707.

Wentworth Paxton and Faith, his wife, were his parents. Charles Paxton

was a Commissioner of Customs and as such early incurred the ill will of

the so-called patriotic party. In 1769 he and his associates were posted

in the "Boston Gazette," by James Otis. It was this card of Otis which

brought on the altercation with Robinson, another commissioner, in the

coffee-house in State street, and which resulted in injuries to the head

of the first champion of the revolution, from which he never recovered.

Otis subsequently became insane and while confined in an asylum met his

death, being struck by a bolt of lightning.

Charles Paxton was a warden of King's Chapel in 1762, and was remarkable

for finished politeness and courtesy of manners. His office was

unpopular and odious and the wags of the day made merry with qualities,

which at any other time would have commanded respect. On Pope-day, as

the gun-powder plot anniversary, or the 5th of November was called,

there was usually a grand pageant of various figures on a stage mounted

on wheels and drawn through the streets with horses. The Pretender

suspended on a gibbet between the Devil and the Pope, with appropriate

implements and dress, were among the objects devised to make up the

show. Sometimes political characters, who in popular estimation should

keep company with personages represented, were added; and of these,

Commissioner Paxton was one. On one occasion he was exhibited between

the figures of the Devil and the Pope in proper figure. As the disputes

which preceded the war increased, the visits of Paxton to London became

more frequent. He went there as the authorized agent to the crown

officers, to complain of the merchants for resisting the Acts of

Parliament, and for the interest of the supporters of the Crown. After

he entered upon his duties he was efficient and active beyond his

associates. John Adams says of him that he appeared at one time to have

been Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary and Chief Justice.

Paxton and his fellow-commissioners seized one of Hancock's vessels for

smuggling wine which caused a fearful mob and the flight of the officers

of the revenue to Castle William. Then came the hanging of Paxton in

effigy on the "Liberty Tree," then at the instance of the Commissioner

the first troops came to Boston; then the card of Otis, denouncing the

commissioners by name, the assault upon him in answer to it, and later

came the destruction of three cargoes of tea; then the shutting of the

port of Boston; then the first continental congress; then war,--a war

which cost England $500,000,000 and the Anglo-Saxon race 100,000 lives

in battle, storm and in prison.

In 1776, with his family of five persons, Mr. Paxton embarked at Boston

with the British Army for Halifax, and in July of that year sailed for

England in the ship Aston Hall. He came under the Confiscation Act and

was proscribed and banished. In 1780 he was a pallbearer at the funeral

of Governor Hutchinson. In 1781 he was seen walking with Harrison Gray,

the last Colonial treasurer of Massachusetts, near Brompton. This able

and determined supporter of the crown died in 1788 at the age of

eighty-four at the seat of William Burch (one of his fellow

commissioners) at Norfolk, England.

JOSEPH HARRISON.

COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS.

As previously stated, after the close of the last war with France which

ended in the conquest of Canada, the Government decided on enforcing the

revenue laws.[212] The frigate Romney of fifty guns had arrived from

Halifax and at the same time the sloop "Liberty," owned by John Hancock,

arrived loaded with wine from Madeira; there was a duty of L7 per tun on

such wines; several cargoes had been smuggled in without payment of the

duty, and it seemed probable that there would either be a connivance by

the custom house officer in this case, as in others, or there would be a

great disturbance by the mob. Harrison determined that there should be

no connivance by the officers and that the laws against smuggling should

be enforced, even if the vessel did belong to one of the principal

merchants and a representative of Boston and an officer of the corps of

cadets. Before the vessel arrived it had been frequently mentioned that

the duties would not be paid, and it was expected that an open refusal

would be made. When the vessel arrived and was lying at Hancock's wharf

on the tenth of June, 1768, the custom house officer, Thomas Kirk, went

on board, and was followed by Captain John Marshall,--who commanded Mr.

Hancock's ship, the London Packet,--with five or six others. These

persons confined Kirk below and kept him some three hours, and in the

meantime the wine was taken out and no entry made of it at the Custom

House or Naval Office. The cargo was landed in the night and carted

through the streets of Boston under a guard of thirty or forty stout

fellows armed with bludgeons, and though it was notorious to the

greatest part of the town, no officer of the customs thought fit to

attempt a seizure, nor is it probable that he could have succeeded if he

had attempted it. On the liberation of the custom house officer, an

entry was made the next morning by the master, Mr. Nathaniel Barnard,

who entered four or five pipes of wine, and made oath that that was all

he brought into port. This was as much a submission to the authority of

the act as if the whole cargo had been seized.

[212] Ibid. 33-4, Hutchinson, Vol. III, p. 189.

It was determined to seize the sloop upon a charge of false entry.

Accordingly Mr. Joseph Harrison, the collector and Benjamin Hallowell,

the comptroller, repaired to Hancock's wharf and made the seizure, and

fearing an attempt to rescue the vessel, made a signal to the Romney,

which lay at a small distance from the shore, and a boat with armed men

came to their aid. To prevent a rescue the vessel was taken from the

wharf into the harbor. This removal brought on a riot, a mob was soon

gathered together and the officer, insulted and beaten, several of whom

barely escaped with their lives. Among the numerous missiles thrown at

Mr. Harrison was a brick or stone which struck him on the breast, from

the effects of which he was confined to his bed. His son, Mr. Richard

Acklom Harrison, was thrown down, dragged by the hair of his head and

otherwise barbarously treated. Mr. Hallowell and Mr. Erving, inspectors,

did not fare much better. The former was confined to his home from the

wounds and bruises he received and the latter besides having his sword

broken was beaten with clubs and sticks, and considerably wounded. The

mob next proceeded to the home of Mr. John Williams, the

Inspector-General, broke his windows and also those of the Comptroller,

Mr. Hallowell. They then took Mr. Harrison's boat and dragged it to the

Common and there burned every fragment of it. Captain Marshall, the

captain of the "London Packet," died the same night as the riot, at

Hancock wharf, and it is said his death was caused by the over-exertion

which he made in removing the wine from the sloop Liberty. The most

conspicuous man on the part of the mob was Captain Daniel Malcolm, a

trader in Fleet street, who, it is said, was deeply interested in the

wines attempted to be smuggled. The revenue officer knew him well and

owed him no good will, for the reason that some time before they

undertook to search his premises for contraband goods, but were obliged

to retreat before deadly weapons, without effecting their object. On the

occasion of the seizure of the Liberty he headed a party of men who

exerted themselves to prevent her removal to the Romney, they said the

sloop should not be taken into custody, and declared they would go on

board and throw the people belonging to the Romney overboard.[213] When

the ministry became advised concerning the riots which followed the

seizure of the sloop Liberty, they gave orders for two regiments to sail

for Boston from Ireland.[214] They arrived September 30. The 29th

regiment camped on the Common and the 14th was quartered in Faneuil

Hall. The revenue officers retired after the assaults upon them to the

Castle until the arrival of the troops. Joseph Harrison and his wife and

family went to England. He was succeeded in the collectorship by Edward

Winslow, who held the office till the evacuation of Boston.

[213] Drake's History of Boston, pp. 735-6-7.

[214] See chapter on Boston Mobs, p. 40.

CAPTAIN MARTIN GAY.

John Gay emigrated to America about 1630. He settled first at Watertown

and was a grantee in the great Dividends and in Beaver Brook plowlands,

owning forty acres. He was Freeman May 6, 1635 and a Selectman in 1654.

He died March 4, 1688, and his wife Joanna died August 14, 1691. He had

eleven children.

Nathaniel, third child of John Gay was born January 11, 1643. Was

Freeman May 23, 1677, and Selectman in 1704 and other years. He married

Lydia Lusher. He died Feb. 20, 1712. His wife died August 6th, 1774,

aged ninety-two. He had ten children.

Rev. Ebenezer Gay, D. D., Minister of Hingham was born in 1696 graduated

at Harvard University in 1714, and was ordained in 1718. He was a

devoted loyalist, and died 1787, at the age of ninety, and in the

sixty-ninth year of his ministry. Rev. Doctor Chauncy "pronounces him to

have been one of the greatest and most valuable men in the country." His

son, MARTIN GAY, was Captain of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery

Company. He was born at Hingham on the 29 December, 1726. He married

first, 13 December, 1750, Mary Pinckney, by whom he had seven children.

After her death he married Ruth Atkins, by her he had two children. He

carried on the business of a brass founder, and copper smith, on Union

Street, Boston. He was also deacon in the West Church in Lynde Street.

On the thirtieth of April, 1775, shortly after the battle of Lexington,

Deacon Gay, with Deacon Jones was requested to "take care of the plate,

etc., belonging to this church, and Congregation." The church and

congregation were at this time dispersed and the meeting house occupied

as a barrack by the troops, and the pastor had gone to Nova Scotia. Mr.

Gay was true to his trust, at the evacuation he took "the plate and

linnen" to Nova Scotia and afterwards returned it, for long years after

in 1793 the church voted him their thanks for "having taken care of the

plate belonging to the church, while the town was in the hands of the

British troops, and when it was evacuated." When the new church was

built in 1805 he subscribed three hundred dollars towards it. From 1758

to 1774, he was yearly chosen one of the two Assay Masters, and for many

years he was chosen one of the sixteen Firewards of the Town, in which

office he had as associates John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Adino

Paddock, he was chosen one of the twelve Wardens of the Town in 1771,

and occupied many other offices of importance, which shows the esteem in

which he was held by his fellow townsmen. In June, 1774, he signed the

Address to Governor Hutchinson, and from that time, he was not elected

to any town office, owing to his public avowal of Loyalist sentiments.

Mr. W. Allan Gay of West Hingham, a grandson of Martin Gay, has three

letters written by the Captain, they have been published in the

Collection of the Colonial Society of Mass., Vol. 3. They are

interesting as they bring us almost into personal contact with people

who were living in Boston more than a hundred years ago, and one of whom

saw the Battle of Bunker Hill. The first was written by Captain Martin

Gay to his brother Jotham, seven years his elder. He had been an officer

in the French war of 1755 and had taken part in the expedition against

Nova Scotia under Gen. John Winslow. He afterwards settled in the

province he had helped to conquer from the French and at the date of the

letter had been for more than ten years a resident of Cumberland, Nova

Scotia. Within but three weeks after the battle, it gives one of the

first authentic accounts published. The writer's loyalty to his "King

and Country" is very apparent, as well as his detestation of all Rebels,

and especially the "famous Doctor Warren." The letter in part is as

follows: "The victory obtained by about two thousand regular troops

commanded by General Howe, over a large body of the County Rebels, ('tis

said about six thousand,) on the heights of Charlestown, on the 17ult,

was a remarkable Action. It proves that nothing the enemies to Great

Britain can do, will daunt the courage of British troops. The Rebels had

entrenched themselves on the top of a high hill, with two cannon mounted

in the Redoubt, besides several field pieces, on the hill, which is

about a quarter of a mile from Charles River in approaching which, the

troops had to break through stone walls, and other difficulties, which

gave the enemy every advantage they could wish for. However, after a

most violent hot fire, the brave soldiers forced the entrenchments to

the joy of all the spectators, (myself being one) and others on this

side of the river, who are friends to King and Country. Immediately on

the King's troops appearing on the top of the Redoubt, the Rebels ran

off in great confusion leaving their cannon, entrenching tools and a

large number of their dead and wounded. The loss was great on both

sides, the action lasted about an hour and a quarter. We have reason to

lament the loss of so many valuable brave officers and men, of the

King's Army who were killed on the field of battle, and since dead of

the wounds they received. I have not seen any account of the transaction

of that day made public by authority, therefore will not pretend to say

which suffered most in the loss of men. Will mention one on the Rebel

side, the famous Doctor Warren, who has for some years been a stirrer up

of Rebellion, was killed in the action. Had some others of his

disposition which I could name been there, and meet the same fate with

him, it would have made the victory of that day the more glorious,

though the Rebels meet with a shameful defeat, they still continue in

their opposition, in fortifying hills and others places near this town.

I am not apprehensive of their ever being able to take or destroy this

town, but 'tis a melancholy consideration to be in this situation, which

must in time prove fatal to this town and province, if not soon

prevented by that almighty being, whose providence preserves and governs

the world in all things."

On the evacuation of Boston in March, 1776, by the British troops, he

accompanied them to Halifax. There went with him his son Martin, and his

daughter Mary, who afterwards married Rev. William Black of Halifax, and

also "his man London." He remained in Nova Scotia during the whole

period of the war. Mrs. Ruth Gay, second wife of Martin Gay, whose

maiden name as already stated was Atkins, remained in Boston during the

war, probably with her father's family. Her father, Thomas Atkins, was a

bricklayer by trade, and a well-to-do citizen, his real estate having

been appraised at his death in 1785 at L1,696. He, with his eldest son,

joined the revolutionists, but his second son, Gibbs Atkins, was a

loyalist. So were families divided in those days.

The second letter was from his wife in Boston and was sent to him at

Halifax. It is interesting as showing some of the devices reported to by

the loyalists, their families and friends to save at least a portion of

their estates for the original owners. The letter is as follows:

Boston, 24 June, 1786.

My Dear Mr. Gay:

My last of the 8th instant containing the melancholy account of the

death of my father, I make no doubt you have received. In that I

also informed you that the house was to be sold the 15 of this

month which was done accordingly. Mr. Whalley chose to bid it of

and Brother Timothy bought it at L380. He paid 129 Dollars Earnest

money, the rest is to be paid in 6 weeks. I wish you could settle

your affairs so as to come home before the time is up. Mr. Whalley

has sent you the account of the sale properly authentic, and has

directed them to be left at Mr. Pike's at Halifax. Do come home as

soon as you can. Our friends unite with me in love to you and

children. Father Gay has got quite well. Fanny is with me and

desires her duty to you. Love to her Brothers and Sisters. Believe

me to be your tender, affectionate Wife,

R. GAY.

The sale mentioned by Mrs. Gay took place under the Confiscation Act of

1777-1780. These estates were treated by the Probate Court as those of

deceased persons. As Martin Gay's wife was not an absentee she was

entitled to her third or dower right in her husband's estate. The

Commissioners appointed by the Probate Court assigned to Mrs. Gay as

"her third" "the two middle tenements of the house on Union Street,

Boston, with the cellars chambers and upper rooms. Also the shop

fronting Union Street and the land under same with the liberty to go

through the great entry into the said shop, with the use and

improvements of the yard, Well, Pump, and Privy." This division was made

at her request as a shrewd means of retaining for herself and eventually

for her husband, the _whole_ of the property, for it would be difficult

to sell or to lease the two ends of the house so divided, with the

middle taken out. The result was that the remainder of the house was

unsaleable and as stated in the letter was bought in by her brother

Timothy Atkins. As Mrs. Gay by her right of dower had only a life estate

on the property, it was necessary that she should require what is known

as the "remainder" which was still vested in the Commonwealth. This was

conveyed to her by Act of the Legislature, Feb. 7th, 1807, for the

consideration $1,680. In 1809, the widow, Ruth Gay, and her son Ebenezer

Gay, sold this property for fifteen thousand dollars.

The third letter is dated at London, 7 July, 1788. In it he says "I

cannot pretend to say when my affairs will admit of my return to

America. By a late act of parliament a final settlement will (it is

sayed) be made with the Loyalists within a few months. I must wait with

patience this important event, then prepare to leave this both wonderful

and delightful kingdom, and return to my family and friends in my native

country, though an Alien when in it."

He remained two years in England and returned to Boston in 1792, when he

resumed his business as a coppersmith at his old stand in Union Street,

and soon after entered into business relations with Mr. James Davis, a

brass founder, then but twenty-two years of age, who had learned the

trade from a Hessian, who like many of his countrymen were obliged to

remain in the country when Congress violated the terms of the Saratoga

Convention.[215] Mr. Gay subsequently sold the business to Mr. Davis,

who incorporated it in 1828 under the name of the Revere Copper Company,

Mr. Joseph Warren Revere being one of the incorporators.

[215] See page 85 for further account of the Saratoga Convention.

Martin Gay died in 1809, and he was buried in the Granary Burial Ground.

SAMUEL GAY was the eldest son of Martin Gay who graduated at Harvard in

1775. Owing to the disturbed state of the times, and the quarterings of

the rebel troops in the College buildings, he did not take his degree at

the College Commencement, which was not held this year. He became a

permanent resident of New Brunswick, and was a member of the first House

of Assembly organized in the Colony, and represented the County of

Westmoreland several years. He was also a magistrate of that County, and

Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He died at Fort Cumberland

(where his father had a grant of land from the Crown) January 21, 1847

in the ninety-third year of his age.

EBENEZER GAY was the youngest son of Martin Gay, and can hardly be

classed as a loyalist. He was a child when his father went to Halifax,

and he remained in Boston with his mother during the war. He graduated

at Harvard College in 1789, practiced law, and was a member of the State

Senate, and resided at Hingham. Mr. Wickworth Allen Gay, the artist, is

his son. Martin Gay the younger, was fifteen years of age when he

accompanied his father to Halifax. Three years later he was accidentally

shot by a friend while hunting near Windsor, Nova Scotia.

LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO MARTIN GAY IN SUFFOLK COUNTY

AND TO WHOM SOLD.

To John Davis. Jan. 7, 1783; Lib. 136, fol. 228; Land in Boston,

Winter St. S.. Samuel Dashwood E. and N.; Dr. Sylvester Gardner, an

absentee, W.

To Timothy Atkins. Dec. 13. 1787; Lib. 161, fol. 240; Land and

buildings in Boston. Union St. E.; Philip Freeman S.; E.; E. and

S.; heirs of Benjamin Andrews W; N. and W.; Dorothy Carnes N. and

W.; Jeremiah Bumstead N.; reserving that part of the premises set

off to Ruth Gay, wife of said Martin Gay.

DANIEL LEONARD.

The Leonard family was established in this country in 1652, by three

sons of Thomas Leonard, who remained in England. The three sons were

James, Henry, and Philip, all of whom have left many descendants. The

Leonards were interested in the first iron works established in this

country at Lynn, Braintree, Rowley Village, and Taunton, and at a later

date at Canton, so that the observation "where you can find iron works

there you will find a Leonard" has been almost literally verified. They

were probably interested in most, if not all the iron works established

in this country within the first century after its settlement, and it is

a remarkable fact that the iron manufacture has continued successively,

and generally very successfully, in the hand of the Leonards or their

descendants, down to the present day.

James was the progenitor of the Leonards of Taunton, Raynham and Norton.

He and his sons often traded with the Indians, and were on such terms of

friendship with them, that when war broke out King Philip gave strict

orders to his men never to hurt the Leonards. Philip resided in winter

at Mount Hope, but his summer residence was at Raynham, about a mile

from the forge. The family was noted throughout Plymouth County in

Colonial times for its wealth, and the number of able men it produced in

successive generations, who were entrusted by the public with offices of

honor and importance. To this family belonged Daniel Leonard, the third

Taunton lawyer, a man who was no unconspicuous actor in the affairs of

his time. He was the only son of Ephraim Leonard, a judge of the Court

of Common Pleas, a colonel in the militia, and the possessor of a large

property, who resided on a homestead of five hundred acres connected

with which were extensive iron works, situated in that part of the town

of Norton now known as Mansfield. There, in a house on this estate the

subject of this sketch was born May 29, 1740. His boyhood was passed

tranquilly amid comforts which usually wait on an only child of wealthy

and influential parents. Entering Harvard College at an early age, he

graduated in 1760 in the class of John Lowell, the celebrated lawyer. He

took up law as a profession, and had not been long at the bar before he

was engaged in a fair practice, his generous disposition and affable

manners having established his popularity, while his acquirements won

for him reputation as an orator and a scholar. In 1770 he received from

Yale College the degree of M. A.; in 1769 he was appointed as King's

Attorney of Bristol County. Having become possessed of a fortune by a

Boston heiress, he adopted what for that age and vicinity was considered

great style, and display of dress, and mode of living. He set up a

chariot, and pair of horses with which he travelled to Boston several

times a week, something no lawyer in the Province had ever ventured to

do before. In 1769 he began his political career by entering the

Legislature where he represented Taunton during the year's of 1770-71-73

and 74. At first he made the most ardent speeches, which had been up to

that time delivered in the House against Great Britain in favor of the

colonists, but in the latter years of his service as a representative,

he, like many more of his countrymen, became alarmed at the mob

outrages, and the drifting of the country towards rebellion, he slowly

changed his opinions and became a Loyalist and a supporter of the

government that represented law, and authority. The revolutionists

attributed this change to the influence of Governor Hutchinson and

Attorney-General Sewall with whom he was on terms of intimacy, although

this friendship formed some cause of distrust; the change in his views

was not known publicly, or with certainty until the summer of 1774, as

is evidenced by his being a member of the Committee of Nine on the state

of the Province in the Legislature of that year, a committee made up of

those only who were believed to be against the government. In June of

that year he became an "addresser" to Governor Hutchinson. A few weeks

later he was appointed Mandamus Councellor by the King. When it became

known that he had taken the oath for qualifications for this office a

mob of upward of two thousand men gathered on the "green" near his home,

uttering oaths and angry threats and menacing him with personal

indignities, which they would undoubtedly have proceeded to put into

execution if they could have found him, but being informed by his father

that he had gone to Boston and that he would use his influence to induce

his son to resign his office, they were mollified for the time and

refrained from pulling the house down, and gradually dispersed. They,

however, assembled again the following evening, and seeing a light in

the south chamber where Mrs. Leonard lay sick in bed, and thinking that

Leonard was there, they fired through the window into the room; the

bullets passed through the upper sash and shutter, and lodged in the

partition of the next chamber.[216] Friends had acquainted Mr. Leonard

of the mob's intention to attack his home. He therefore went to Boston

where his family soon joined him, and was protected from further

violence by the presence of the troops. This outrage upon his home

greatly embittered him against the revolutionists and their cause, and

was undoubtedly the cause of his writing his celebrated letters, which

so ably championed those principles of civil liberty, for which the

loyalists so nobly contended.

[216] Mrs. Leonard was confined to bed with childbirth. Charles, their

only son, was born an idiot, due no doubt to this outrage. The mother of

Curtis Guild, the present governor of Massachusetts, was born in this

room, she being a descendant of the Leonard family.

Daniel Leonard was the author of the famous letters signed

Massachusettensis, mis-attributed by the first President Adams to

Jonathan Sewall. These letters that appeared in the Massachusetts

Gazette "reviewed with much ingenuity with the purpose of showing that

the course of the government was founded in law and reason; that the

colonies had no substantial grievance; that they were a part of the

British Empire and properly subject to its authority." From the great

skill in which they were written they were attributed to Jonathan

Sewall, a man of much talent. It was more than a generation before the

authorship was assigned to Daniel Leonard. John Adams answered these

papers as "Novanglus." "Massachusettensis" bears dates between December,

1774, and April, 1775, and was published three times in a single year:

first, in the "Massachusetts Gazette and Post Boy," next in a pamphlet

form; and last, by Rivington, in New York. Still another edition

appeared in Boston in 1776. The replies were numerous. "Novanglus" bears

dates between January and April, 1775. Both were printed in 1819, with a

preface, by Mr. Adams, who remarks of "Massachusettensis," that "these

papers were well written, abounded with wit, discovered good

information, and were conducted with a subtlety of art and address

wonderfully calculated to keep up the spirits of their party, to depress

ours," etc., etc.

The following are a few brief extracts from these letters.

"The press when opened to all parties and influenced by none, is a

salutary engine in a free state, to preserve the freedom of that state,

but when a party has gained the ascendancy, so far as to become the

licensers of the press, either by act of government, or by playing off

the resentment of the populace against printers, and authors, the press

itself becomes an engine of oppression or licentiousness, and is as

pernicious to society as otherwise it would be beneficial. It is too

true that ever since the origin of our controversy with Great Britain,

the press of this town have been indulged in publishing what they

pleased, while little has been published on the part of the government.

The effect this must have had upon the minds of the people in general is

obvious. In short, the changes have been so often rung upon oppression,

tyranny, and slavery, that, whether sleeping or waking, they are

continually vibrating in our ears, and it is now high time to ask

ourselves whether we have not been deluded by sound only. Should you be

told that acts of high treason are flagrant through the country, that a

great part of the province is in actual rebellion, would you believe it

true? Nay, you would spurn it with indignation. Be calm, my friends, it

is necessary to know the worst of a disease, to enable us to provide an

effectual remedy. Are not the bands of society cut asunder and the

sanctions that hold man to man trampled upon? Can any of us recover a

debt, or obtain compensation for an injury by law? Are not many persons,

whom once we respected, and revered, driven from their homes, and

families, and forced to fly to the army for protection, for no other

reason but their having accepted commissions under our king? Is not

civil government dissolved?

"Reader, apply to an honest lawyer (if such a one can be found) and

inquire what kind of an offence it is for a number of armed men to

assemble, and forcibly to obstruct the courts of justice, to pass

governmental acts, to take the militia out of the hands of the king's

representatives to form a new militia, to raise men and appoint officers

for public purposes, without order or permission of the king or his

representatives, or for a number of men to take to their arms, and march

with a professed design of opposing the king's troops. Ask, reader, of

such a lawyer, what is the crime, and what the punishment, and if,

perchance, thou art one that has been active in these things, and art

not insensibility itself, his answer will harrow up thy soul.

"The shaft is already sped, and the utmost exertion is necessary to

prevent the blow. We already feel the effects of anarchy, mutual

confidence, affection, and tranquility, those sweeteners of human life

are succeeded by distrust, hatred, and wild uproar; the useful arts of

agriculture and commerce are neglected for caballing, mobbing this or

the other man, because he acts, speaks or is suspected of thinking

different from the prevailing sentiment of the times, in purchasing

arms, and forming a militia. O height of madness! Can you indulge the

thought one moment that Great Britain will consent to this? For what has

she protected and defended the colonies against the maritime powers of

Europe, from their first British settlement to this day? For what did

she purchase New York of the Dutch? For what was she so lavish of her

best blood and treasure in the conquest of Canada, and other territories

in America? Was it to raise up a rival state, or to enlarge her own

empire? I mention these things, my friends, that you may know how people

reason upon this subject in England, and to convince you that you are

deceived, if you imagine, that Great Britain will accede to the claims

of the colonies. And now, in God's name, what is it that has brought us

to this brink of destruction? Has not the government of Great Britain

been as mild and equitable in the colonies, as in any part of her

extensive domains? Has she not been a nursing mother to us from the days

of our infancy to this time. Has she not been indulgent almost to a

fault?

"I have as yet said nothing of the difference in sentiment among

ourselves. Upon a superficial view we might imagine that this province

was nearly unanimous; but the case is far different. A very considerable

body of men of property in this province are at this day firmly attached

to the cause of government, bodies of men compelling persons to disavow

their sentiments, to resign commissions or to subscribe leagues, and

covenants, has wrought no change in their sentiments. It has only

attached them more closely to government and pray more devoutly for its

restoration.

"A new, and until lately unheard of mode of opposition, has been devised,

said to be the invention of the fertile brain of one of our party

agents, called a committee of correspondence. This is the foulest,

subtlest, and most venomous serpent that ever issued from the eggs of

sedition. These committees when once established, think themselves

amenable to none, they assume a dictatorial style, and have an

opportunity under the apparent sanction of their several towns, of

clandestinely wreaking private revenge on individuals by traducing their

characters, and holding them up as enemies of their country, wherever

they go, also of misrepresenting facts and propagating sedition through

the country. Thus a man of principle and property in travelling through

the country would be insulted by persons whose faces he had never seen

before. He would feel the smart without suspecting the hand that

administered the blow. These committees, as they are not known in law,

and can derive no authority from thence. They frequently erect

themselves into a tribunal where the same persons are at once

legislators, accusers, witnesses, judges, and jurors and the mob the

executioners. The accused has no day in court, and the execution of the

sentence is the first notice he receives. It is chiefly owning to these

committees, that so many respectable persons have been abused and forced

to sign recantations and resignation though so many persons, to avoid

such reiterated insults, as are more to be deprecated by a man of

sentiment than death itself, have been obliged to quit their houses,

families and business, and fly to the army for protection. That husband

has been separated from wife, father from son, brother from brother, and

the unfortunate refugee forced to abandon all the comforts of domestic

life. Have not these people that are thus insulted, as good a right to

think and act for themselves in matters of the last importance. Why

then, do you suffer them to be cruelly treated for differing in

sentiment from you? Perhaps by this time some of you may inquire who it

is, that suffers his pen to run so freely. I will tell you; it is a

native of this province that knew it before many that are now basking in

the rays of political sunshine, had a being. He was favored not by

whigs, or tories, but the people. He is now repaying your favors, if he

knows his own heart, from the purest gratitude. I saw the small seed of

sedition when it was implanted; it was as a grain of mustard. I have

watched the plant until it has become a great tree; the vilest reptiles

that crawl upon the earth are concealed at the root, the foulest birds

of the air rest upon its branches.

"At the conclusion of the late war Great Britain found that the national

debt amounted to almost one hundred and fifty million, and heavy taxes

and duties were laid. She knew that the colonies were as much benefited

as any part of the empire, and indeed more so, she thought it reasonable

that the colonies should bear a part of the national burden, as that

they should share in the national benefit. For this purpose the stamp

act was passed. At first we did not dream of denying the authority of

parliament to tax us, much less legislate for us. We had paid for

establishing a post office, duties imposed for regulating trade, and

even for raising a revenue to the crown without questioning the right.

Some resolves in Virginia denying the right of parliament made their

appearance. We read them with wonder, they savoured of independence. It

now became unpopular to suggest the contrary, his life would be in

danger that asserted it. The newspapers were open to but one side of the

question and the inflammatory pieces that issued weekly from the press,

worked up the populace to a fit temper to commit the outrages that

ensued. It has been said that several thousands were expended in

England, to ferment the disturbance there. However that may be,

opposition to the ministry was then gaining ground, from circumstances

foreign to this. The ministry was changed and the stamp act repealed.

When the statute was made imposing duties upon glass, paper, India teas,

etc. imported into the colonies, it was said this was another instance

of taxation. We obtained a partial repeal of this statute which took off

the duties from all articles except teas. We could not complain of the

three-penny duty on tea as burdensome, for a shilling which had been

laid upon it for the purpose of regulating trade, and therefore was

allowed to be constitutional, was taken off; so that we were, in fact,

gainers nine pence on the pound by the new regulation. The people were

told weekly that the ministry had formed a plan to enslave them that the

duty upon tea was only a prelude to a window tax, hearth tax, land tax

and poll tax, etc. What was it natural to expect from a people bred

under a free constitution, jealous of their liberty, credulous, even to

a proverb when told their privileges were in danger. I answer outrages,

disgraceful to humanity itself. What mischief was not an artful man, who

had obtained the confidence and guidance of such an enraged multitude,

capable of doing? He had only to point out this or that man, as an enemy

of his country, and no character or station, age or merit could protect

the proscribed from their fury. Happy was it for him, if he could

secrete his person, and subject his property only to their lawless rage.

By such means acts of public violence has been committed as will blacken

many a page in the history of our country. They have engrossed all the

power of the province into their own hands. A democracy or republic it

has been called, but it does not deserve the name of either. It was,

however, a despotism cruelly carried into execution by mobs, and riots,

and more incompatible with the rights of mankind than the enormous

monarchies of the East. The government under the British Constitution

consisting of kings, lords, and commons, is allowed both by Englishmen

and foreigners to be the most perfect system that the wisdom of ages has

produced. The distributions of power are so just, and the proportions so

exact, as at once to support and control each other. An Englishman

glories in being subject to and protected by such a government.

"Let us now suppose the colonies united and moulded into some form of

government, in order to render government operative and salutary,

subordination is necessary. This our patriots need not be told of, and

when once they had mounted the steed and found themselves so well seated

as to run no risk of being thrown from the saddle, the severity of their

discipline to restore subordination would be in proportion to their

former treachery in destroying it. We have already seen specimens of

their tyranny, in the inhuman treatment of persons guilty of no crime

except that of differing in sentiment. What then must we expect from

such scourges of mankind when supported by imperial powers?

"I do not address myself to whigs or tories, but to the whole people. I

know you well, you are loyal at heart, friends to good order, and do

violence to yourselves in harboring one moment, disrespectful sentiments

towards Great Britain, the land of our forefathers' nativity, and sacred

repository of their bones, but you have been most insidiously induced to

believe that Britain is rapacious, cruel and vindictive, and envies us

the inheritance purchased by the sweat and blood of our ancestors. Could

that thick mist be but once dispelled that you might see our Sovereign,

the provident father of all his people, and Great Britain a nursing

mother to the colonies, as they really are. Long live our gracious king,

and happiness to Britain would resound from one end of the province to

the other."[217]

[217] Extracts from Massachusettensis. Letter addressed to the

Inhabitants of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Dec. 12th, 1774.

In February, 1775, Daniel Leonard was appointed Solicitor General of the

Commission of Customs with a salary of L200 sterling, a body exercising

powers similar to those of a court of admiralty. Thirteen months after

this time, March, 1776, he accompanied the British Army to Halifax with

his family of eight persons and thence to London, where he practiced as

a barrister in the Courts of Westminster.

In 1780, William Knox, Under Secretary of State for the American

Department suggested the division of Maine, and a province of the

territory between the Penobscot and St. Croix rivers, with Thomas Oliver

for Governor, and Daniel Leonard for Chief Justice. The plan was

approved by the King and Ministry, but was abandoned because Wederburne,

the Attorney-General, gave the opinion that the whole of Maine was

included in the charter of Massachusetts.

Mr. Leonard was in Massachusetts in 1799 and again in 1808. He was

included in the Banishment Act of 1778 and the Conspiracy Act of 1779.

He received the appointment of Chief Justice to Bermuda. After filling

this office for many years, he again in his last days took up his

residence in London, where he died June 27, 1829, aged 89. His death was

the result of an accident while withdrawing the charge from a pistol, he

accidentally discharging it so as to cause almost instant death.

The generous temper and affable manners of Mr. Leonard seemed to have

fascinated those who were in his household. The nurse who was entrusted

with the care of the infant daughter of his first wife, would never

leave him. She went with his family in all their wanderings, first to

Boston, then to Halifax, London, and Bermuda, then to the United States,

back again to the West Indies, then to London, and died in their

service. His Deputy Sheriff, who had been a Captain in the Provincial

service, a person of great address, wit, and accomplishments, followed

his fortunes and was killed in the battle of Germantown, then a Major in

the British Army. A young gentleman educated at Harvard College, and in

his office, went with him to London where he died.

Daniel Leonard married twice. His first wife was Anna, daughter of Hon.

Samuel White of Taunton, his second Sarah Hammock of Boston, who died on

the passage from Bermuda to Providence, R. I., aged 78. He left a

daughter Anna, who married a Mr. Smith of Antigua, Harriet who died in

London in 1849, Sarah who married John Stewart, a captain in British

army and afterwards Collector of the Port of Bermuda. Sarah had four

children. The eldest Duncan Stewart, on the death of an uncle who died

childless, succeeded to an ancient Lairdship in Scotland. His brother,

Leonard Stewart, was an eminent physician in London. His sister Emily

married a Captain in the service of the East India Company, the other

sister, Sarah, married a Mr. Winslow, descended from the ancient

governor of Plymouth, and a relative of Lord Lyndhurst, (Copley) whose

private Secretary he was during his Chancellorship.[218] Mr. Leonard had

an only son Charles, who was born when the mob attacked his house, and

was feeble-minded. He entered Harvard College in 1791, but did not

graduate. He was subsequently under the guardianship of Judge Wheaton,

and was found dead in the road in Barrowsville, near Taunton in 1831.

Col. Ephraim Leonard, who lived till the close of the Revolution devised

his large estate to his grandson Charles. It was understood, however,

that the father and sisters of Charles were to participate in the

enjoyment of the property. Had Daniel Leonard returned from banishment

and taken the oath of naturalization and allegiance to the new

government, he would have inherited this large estate, but this he would

not do, nothing could swerve him from his loyalty to the old flag.

[218] Genealogical Memoir of the Leonard Family, by William R. Deane.

JUDGE GEORGE LEONARD.

Major George Leonard was the third in descent from James, the immigrant.

He removed in 1690 to Norton, then a part of Taunton, where he became

the proprietor of very large tracts of land, and was in fact the founder

of that town. Here this family, as possessors of great wealth and of the

largest landed estate probably of any in New England, have lived for

over two hundred years. Major George was Judge of the Court of Common

Pleas. His eldest son George, the subject of this sketch, was born March

4, 1698. He was in office from early manhood until old age. He served

his town in nearly every capacity and was appointed a judge of the Court

of Common Pleas, in 1725; a member of the Council in 1741; and Judge of

Probate in 1747; while in the Militia he rose to rank of Colonel. In

1740 he was dismissed from the bench, in consequence of his connection

with the famous Land Bank scheme, but was restored six years afterwards,

and became Chief Justice. He was called a "neutral" by Clark the

historian of Norton, and he remarks that though the most influential man

in town he took no active part in public affairs during the war. A

_neutral_ in the Revolution was a Loyalist, the Revolutionists did not

allow such a thing as a "neutral" to exist. The fact was that he was an

old man, whom all classes respected, and on that account they did not

molest him, and drive him out.

He died in 1778, in his eighty-first year. "Tradition," says Clark, "has

universally given him a character above reproach, and of sterling

worth." He married Rachel Clap, of Scituate, who bore him four children

and who died in 1783, in her eighty-second year.

George Leonard, son of the former, was born in 1729, and graduated at

Harvard University in 1748. He held several important offices under the

Colonial government, and after the adoption of the Federal Constitution,

was a member of Congress. It is said "he was a genuine specimen of an

American country gentleman," that "he was a kind and considerate

landlord, who never raised his rents, and who regarded his old tenants

as his friends," that "he was tenaciously attached to old customs, and

wore the short breeches and long stockings to the day of his death."

COLONEL GEORGE LEONARD.

Was the son of Rev. Nathaniel Leonard the brother of Judge Leonard and

fifth in descent from James the immigrant. He was driven forth from his

native land and settled in New Brunswick in 1783, and was much employed

in public affairs. The year after his arrival, he was appointed one of

the agents of government to locate lands granted to Loyalists, and was

soon after made a member of the Council, and commissioned as a Colonel

in the militia. He died at Sussex Vale in 1826, at an old age. His wife

Sarah, died a year before aged eighty-one. He had several children. His

daughter Caroline married R. M. Jarvis, Esq., in 1805, and his daughter

Maria married Lieutenant Gustavus Rochfort of the Royal Navy in 1814.

His son, Colonel Richard Leonard of the 104th Regiment of the British

army and Sheriff of the District of Niagara, died at Lundy's Lane in

1833.

GEORGE LEONARD, JR., son of George Leonard, accompanied his father to

New Brunswick in 1783. He was a grantee of the city of St. John. He was

bred to the law, and devoted himself to his profession. He died at

Sussex Vale in 1818.

HARRISON GRAY.

RECEIVER GENERAL OF MASSACHUSETTS.

Harrison Gray, was the son of Edward Gray and his wife Susanna. He was

born in Boston, 24 February, 1711.

Edward Gray was from Lancashire, England, was an apprentice in Boston in

1686, and married Susanna Harrison in 1699, by whom he had several

children.

Harrison Gray was bred a merchant. His patrimonial inheritance, aided by

industry, enabled him to acquire a handsome fortune. In June 1753, he

was chosen Treasurer of the province by the General Court and continued

in that office till October, 1774. He was an ardent loyalist, and

adhered to government from the beginning of the controversy, but the

modification of his conduct, his superior fitness for the office and the

confidence in his integrity secured him public favor through the stormy

period which commenced soon after his first election, and continued

until his appointment to, and acceptance of, the office of mandamus

counsellor in 1774. But this was an unpardonable offence in the eyes of

the "sons of despotism." It was however unsolicited, unexpected, and

accepted with great reluctance, being strongly pressed upon him by the

leaders of the loyalist party; and as most of those who had been

appointed his colleagues living in the country were compelled by the

mobs to decline the office, he was led to believe that residing in

Boston then garrisoned by the troops, he had no such apology for

shrinking from the service, and accordingly sacrificed inclination to a

conscientious sense of duty. This brought upon him the ill will and

malice of his political opponents, among these was John Adams, who said,

"I went in to take a pipe with brother Cranch and there I found Zab

Adams. He told me he heard that I had made two very powerful enemies in

this town, and lost two very valuable clients--Treasurer Gray, and

Ezekiel Goldthwaite; and that he had heard that Gray had been to me for

my account, and paid it off, and determined to have nothing more to do

with me. O the wretched, impotent malice! they show their teeth--they

are eager to bite--but they have not strength. I despise their anger,

their resentment, and their threats; but I can tell Mr. Treasurer that I

have it in my power to tell the world a tale which will infallibly

unhorse him, whether I am in the house or out. If this province knew

that the public money had never been counted these twenty years, and

that no bonds were given last year, nor for several years before, there

would be so much uneasiness about it that Mr. Treasurer would lose his

election another year." This was one of the meanest and most

contemptible statements John Adams ever made. It was a reckless

accusation, and insinuation, and was ably answered by his grandson,

Harrison Gray Otis, who prepared a clear refutation of the unjust

accusation in Russell's Centinel, June, 1830. It was also refuted by

subsequent events. In October, 1774, the royal government was

superseded by the revolutionary congress who resolved "_that no more

taxes be paid to him_," and made choice of Henry Gardner for his

successor. This authority he could not be expected to recognize. He

therefore retained the books and files at his office till the evacuation

of Boston, and then left them in exemplary order. They are still in the

public archives of Massachusetts and show the model of a faithful state

treasurer. He might have been justified in retaining a lien upon these

as a security against loss and damage to his very valuable real, and

personal estate, which he left, and which was soon confiscated, but his

high sense of official duty forbade his recourse to any such precaution,

and he withdrew from a country which he loved, not less than those who

stayed at home, taking nothing which belonged to the public, but

surrendered all his property into the keeping of the public that treated

him so basely. He was also a creditor to many of the "sons of

despotism," at the head of whom was John Hancock, who owed him a large

sum for borrowed money, no part of which would he pay in his lifetime,

and of which a small part was received from his executors.[219]

[219] This was the same as he did towards Harvard college, when

treasurer of same. History of Harvard College by Josiah Quincy.

In the House of Representatives, August 8, 1775, "Ordered, that Mr.

Hopkins be directed to inquire how the Committee of Supplies have

disposed of the horse and chaise formerly Harrison Gray's which was used

by the late Dr. Warren, and came to the hands of the said Committee

after Dr. Warren's death." The next day, "Ordered, that Dr. William

Eustis be, and hereby is directed, immediately to deliver to the

Committee of Supplies the horse and chaise which were in the possession

of the late Doctor Warren, and which formerly belonged to Harrison

Gray."

When Boston was evacuated, Mr. Gray, urged by a sense of duty, with the

male members of his family, tore himself away from his adored and only

daughter, Mrs. S. A. Otis, which so preyed upon her peace of mind that

it finally caused her death.

He went to Halifax with his family of four persons where he stayed a

short time. "He was passenger in one of the six vessels that arrived at

London from Halifax, prior to June 10, 1776, laden with Loyalists and

their families."

In Mr. Gray's house in London about the year 1789, Arthur Savage gave

the Rev. Mr. Montague a bullet taken from the body of General Warren the

day after his death. Mr. Montague after his return to Boston, became

rector of Christ Church. Harrison Gray, in a letter to him, dated

London, August 1st, 1791, remarks to him in a spirit of loyalty to the

crown of Britain as follows: "The melancholy state in which you

represent religion to be in Boston and New England is confirmed by all

who come from thence. Is this one of the blessings of your independence

to obtain which you sacrificed so many lives? I am glad your federal

constitution 'has had a very great and good effect', but very much

question whether you will ever be so happy as you were under the mild

and gentle government and protection of Great Britain; for,

notwithstanding the freedom my countrymen boast of, if in order to

obtain it they have sacrificed their religion, they have made a poor

bargain. They cannot, in a religious sense, be a free people till the

Son of God has made them free. It is very surprising, considering the

establishment of the Roman Catholic religion at Quebec was one of the

heavy grievances the American Congress complained of[220] that your

governor and other great men in your town should attend the worship of

God in a Roman Catholic church, to hear a Romish bishop on a Sunday; and

that he should be one of the chaplains who officiated at a public

dinner. I cannot at present account for their inconsistency any

otherwise than by supposing the part they took in the late unhappy

contests lays so heavy upon their consciences that they imagine no one

can absolve them but a Romish priest."

[220] See Chapter III. in relation to this matter.

Mr. Gray lived in England upon a pension granted by the British

government. In 1794 at the advanced age of eighty-four, this excellent

and virtuous man sunk to rest. Perhaps no man among the many excellent

persons who went into exile at this time was more beloved and regretted

by his political enemies, for a more genuine model of nature's nobleman

never lived.

JOHN GRAY, son of Harrison Gray and his wife Elizabeth, born in Boston,

18th of May, 1755. He went to Ireland soon after the battle of

Lexington. Hearing that the difficulties would probably be adjusted, he

embarked for Massachusetts, the vessel was taken off Newburyport. He was

in Newbury Jail, February, 1776, when at the solicitation of his sister,

the mother of Harrison Gray Otis, an order was passed to allow his

removal to the Otis homestead in Barnstable on condition of his giving a

bond with security in L1,000 not to pass without the limits of that

town, or deal or correspond with the enemy. Mr. Gray was in London,

January, 1781.

JOSEPH GRAY was descended from an old Boston family, his grandfather

Joseph Gray, was married by Rev. Samuel Williard to Rebecca Sears, June

27, 1706. Their son Joseph Gray was born April 9, 1707, and married

Rebecca, daughter of John West of Bradford, or Haverhill of

Massachusetts. The old people were displeased with the match and cut

Rebecca off with "one pine tree shilling." Their son Joseph, the subject

of this sketch, was born July 19, 1729. He was a loyalist and settled at

Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was a member of the firm of Proctor & Gray,

merchants. His wife was Mary, daughter of Hon. Joseph Gerrish. His son,

the Rev. Benjamin Gerrish Gray, D. D., was born in 1768, married Mary,

daughter of Nathaniel Roy Thomas a Loyalist, and was many years rector

of St. George's parish, Halifax, and afterwards of an Episcopal church

in St. John, N. B. Died at the latter city in 1854. Another son of

Joseph Gray was William, born in 1777. Was British Consul for Virginia

for a long time and died in England in 1845.

Joseph Gray died at Windsor, N. S., in 1803 at the age of seventy-four,

leaving a large number of descendants.

John Gray of Boston, another brother of Joseph Gray. He was bred to

business in that town by Caleb Blanchard. About the year 1768 he went to

England, but returned previous to hostilities, and was appointed Deputy

Collector of Customs, in which office he was popular. In 1776 he

embarked for Halifax with the Royal Army, and before the close of that

year was at Charleston, S. C., and in prison. He was still in that city

as late as 1780, when he was an Addresser of Sir Henry Clinton. Before

the last mentioned date, however, he had engaged in business as a

commission merchant, and had purchased a plantation on account of

himself and of John Simpson, a fellow Loyalist of Boston. But involved

politically beyond the hope of extrication he sold his interest in the

plantation, and invested the proceeds in indigo and in a ship with the

intention of sailing for London. The Revolutionists not only defeated

this plan, but seized his vessel and his cargo, and the result was that

of both he barely saved one hundred guineas. With this sum he fled to

his brother Joseph at Halifax, who provided him a passage to England in

a ship of war. Without any accession to his fortune yet, with letters to

the agents of the East India Company, he soon embarked for India, and,

on his arrival there, was well received. The family account is that he

wrote a treatise on the Cultivation of Indigo, which the Governor and

Council considered so valuable as to grant him L4,000 sterling, and

jointly with a Mr. Powell, an extensive tract of land. These two

grantees, assisted by the Company, established a factory, and began the

culture of indigo, which was said to be the first attempt to cultivate

this beautiful dye in India. Both died suddenly in 1782 on the same day.

Gray was at the plantation, and Powell was two hundred miles away at the

factory, and the supposition was that they had incurred the jealousy of

the natives, who had caused their death by poison. Powell's brother told

Joseph Gray, prior to 1799 that the estate of our Loyalist and his

associate had become "the greatest indigo plantation in the known

world."[221]

[221] Sabine, Vol. I., Pp. 490-1.

Samuel Gray was also a brother of Joseph Gray. He died at Boston in 1776

leaving issue, male and female. His wife was a daughter of Captain Henry

Atkins of Boston.

Thomas Gray of Boston was a merchant, a Protester against the

Revolutionists, and one of the Addressers of Hutchinson. He died at

Boston in 1783.

LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO HARRISON GRAY IN SUFFOLK COUNTY

AND TO WHOM SOLD.

To John Stanton, David Devens, Jonathan Harris, Feb. 11, 1780; Lib.

131, fol. 51; Land and two brick dwelling-houses in Boston,

Cornhill W.; land purchased by Samuel Allen Otis N.; E. and N.;

Wilson's Lane E.; Nathaniel Appleton S.

To Samuel Allen Otis, April 4, 1780; Lib. 131, fol. 93; Land and

brick dwelling-house in Boston, Cornhill W.; land purchased by John

Stanton and others S.; W. and S.; Wilson's Lane E.; Samuel

Vallentine N.

REV. WILLIAM WALTER.

RECTOR OF TRINITY CHURCH, BOSTON.

Thomas Walter, an Attorney at Law, came to America from Youghall,

Ireland, about 1679, bringing a recommendatory letter to the churches in

New England from a Congregational church in Youghall,--and by virtue

thereof was admitted a member of the Second church, Boston, November 2,

1680. His family were originally of Lancashire, England, and were of

gentle blood. He died before the year 1698.

REV. NEHEMIAH WALTER, son of the former, was born in Ireland, December,

1663, and came to America with his father. He early distinguished

himself by proficiency in his studies at school, and by the age of

thirteen was a master of the Latin tongue. It soon became evident that

his genius pointed to a professional life, and he was sent to Harvard

University where he graduated with honors in 1684. Shortly thereafter he

removed to Nova Scotia where he resided some months for the purpose of

acquiring the French language. He became a distinguished scholar and

became noted among the literati of the day. After a careful and

impartial examination and great deliberation, "he fell in the way of the

Churches of New England, as thinking their constitution practice in

general, with respect to worship, discipline and order, most comfortable

to gospel institution and primitive practice." He was ordained a

colleague of the Rev. John Eliot October 17, 1688 at the age of

twenty-five. The first church at Roxbury had, at the earnest request of

the venerable Apostle Eliot, been seeking a colleague to share the

duties which increasing infirmity rendered irksome to him; and Nehemiah

Walter was chosen. Mr. Eliot died soon after this after a life crowned

with glory, honors, and labor, and it was a great consolation to him in

his latter days to see his people so happily settled under Mr. Walter.

For more than sixty years his successor faithfully discharged the duties

of his office always to the acceptance of his people. He married Sarah,

the daughter of Rev. Increase Mather by Maria, daughter of the

distinguished Rev. John Cotton. Nehemiah Walter died September 17, 1750,

and he was buried in the ministerial vault in the old burial ground,

corner of Washington and Eustis Streets, Roxbury.

REV. THOMAS WALTER, second son of Nehemiah Walter, was born in Roxbury,

December 13, 1696, and early gave evidence of most extraordinary genius.

He graduated from Harvard University in 1713 and was ordained October

29th, 1718, and December 25th of the same year was married to Rebeckah,

daughter of Rev. Joseph Belcher. He was a man who combined great wit and

humor with infinite learning and excelled in the science of harmony. He

published works on music, and one of his sermons upon the 2nd Samuel

XXIII 1 "The Sweet psalmist of Israel" which was delivered at the Boston

Lecture, has been pronounced "the most beautiful composition among the

sermons which have been handed down to us by our fathers." Others of his

sermons were also published. Thomas Walter was one of the most

distinguished scholars and disputants of the day. "He had all his

father's vivacity and richness of imagination with more vigor of

intellect." For his genius and powers he was reckoned to be one of the

ablest clergymen that New England up to that time had produced. His

death occurred on Sunday, January 10, 1724-5, and he expressed his hope

that he might die on that day, when lying prostrate with consumption.

His tomb is in the old burying ground, Roxbury. His daughter Rebeckah,

who was born in 1722, died unmarried January 11, 1780.

Rev. William Walter, the subject of this sketch, was a nephew of Thomas

Walter. He was born in 1739, and graduated at Harvard College in 1756.

Up to the time of the Revolution the preachers in the Episcopal church

occupied the position of missionaries in the American colonies. They

were sent here and were in the pay of the "Society for the Propagation

of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." The following extracts are from letters

written to the Secretary of the Society, and they explain themselves.

"Copy of a letter written to the Reverend Mr. Hooper of Trinity church

in Boston, by Mr. Barnard, an eminent dissenting clergyman, in answer to

one from the former desiring the latter would be so good as to send him

a just and honest character of Mr. William Walter, who was talked of as

a fit person to be assistant Minister at said church."

"He came out of our College with the reputation of one of the best

classical scholars of his class. He lived first in this town in the

business of a Grammar Schoolmaster, which trust he executed for several

years to universal acceptance, faithful, and careful. I have reason to

believe, in forming the tender minds of his pupils to virtue and

religion, as well as forwarding them in their scholastic exercise. When

to the sorrow of the town, he quitted that employ, he became connected

with the Custom House. This business naturally raised complaints against

him among trading people. But all I have heard were of his not being so

flexible in some matters as they wished, none of oppression, much less

of mean fraudulent ways of filling his own pockets.

"His temper is innocently cheerful, open, and friendly. He has a tender

and delicate sense of honor, a just idea of the truest honor. He is kind

and compassionate, etc." This letter had the desired effect. It was

written Oct. 15, 1763. He was ordained by the Bishop of London the

following year and became an assistant to the Rev. Mr. Hooper, whom he

succeeded as rector of Trinity church, the third Episcopal church in

Boston, being opened in 1735. It stood on the corner of Summer and

Hawley Streets. It was a plain wooden structure without steeple or

tower.

In 1767 he joined with the Clergy of Massachusetts and Rhode Island in

sending a letter to England requesting that a Bishop be sent to

America. The letter says, "We are too remote and inconsiderable to

approach the Throne, yet could His Majesty hear the voice of so distant

a people the request for American Bishops would appear to be the crye of

many of his most faithful subjects."

"We do, however, think ourselves happy in this, that the Society will

omit no favorable opportunity of representing the advantage that may

accrue to these Colonies, to religion and to the British Interests, by

condescending to this one request."[222] The Episcopal form of worship

was always disagreeable to the Congregationalists, and when they

discovered that the ministry entertained the design of sending over a

bishop to the colonies, a controversy for years ran high on the subject.

So resolute was the opposition to this project that it was abandoned.

This controversy John Adams says contributed as much as any other cause

to arouse attention to the claims of Parliament. The spirit of the times

is well represented in a cartoon in the Political Register of 1769 which

is here reproduced.

[222] Papers relating to the church in Massachusetts, Pp. 506-7, 531-2.

The Rev. William Walter was a firm Loyalist. At the evacuation of Boston

he was obliged to leave his house and accompanied by his family he went

to Halifax. In 1776 he went to England, then returned and went to New

York, and acted for some time as Chaplain of a British regiment. While

in New York he sent a letter to the Secretary of the S. P. G. F. P.,

dated Dec. 8, 1781. It is interesting as it shows the trials and

difficulties of the ministers of the Church of England during the

Revolution. It is in part as follows: "I disbelieve that Mr. Bass ever

preached a sermon for cloathing a rebel battalion, or ever read the

Declarative Act for independence in his church, or has altered his

sentiments since his dismission, but that he opens his church on the

days appointed by Congress as Public days, is most certain, and if this

is to be criminal, then every clergyman within the rebel lines is

criminal, and among others, Dr. Inglis, of this city, who did the same

when Mr. Washington's army was here, yet no clergyman stands higher in

the esteem of the Society for his loyalty." The occasion of this letter

was the stopping of Mr. Bass's salary by the Society, as it had been

reported to it that Mr. Bass had gone over to the rebels.

At the peace, accompanied by his family of six persons and by three

servants, he went from New York to Shelburne, N. S., where the Crown

granted him one town and one water lot. His losses in consequence of his

loyalty were estimated at L7,000. In 1791 he returned to Boston and the

next year was chosen Rector of Christ church.

[Illustration: LANDING A BISHOP.]

William Walter was a zealous supporter of the church and crown, and

vindicated his sincerity by the sacrifices he made for them. His

discourses are described as rational and judicious, "recommended by an

eloquence, graceful and majestical." He was no knight errant, but while

adhering to his own convictions with quiet persistency, he exercised a

large charity towards all forms of faith and Christian worship. The

degree of D. D. was conferred on him by Kings College, Aberdeen, in

1784. In 1796 he was invited to deliver the Dudleian lecture at Harvard

College and in 1798 he pronounced the anniversary discourse before the

Massachusetts Humane Society, which was published. Dr. Walter was a

remarkably handsome man; tall and well proportioned. When in the street,

he wore a long blue coat over his cassock and gown, wig dressed and

powdered, a three-cornered hat, knee breeches of fine black cloth, and

with silk hose, and square quartered sleeves with silver buckles. His

countenance was always serene, his temper always cheerful; happy

himself, he communicated happiness to all around him. In the desk he

read the glorious service like one inspired; his voice was clear,

musical and well modulated. In his family he was loved, reverenced and

admired. His heart, his house, his purse, were ever open to the needy.

He married Lydia, daughter of Benjamin Lynde, the younger, of Salem, and

by her had seven children. Her death occurred in 1798.

Dr. Walter continued his rectorship at Christ church until his death in

1800, at the age of sixty-one. The Rev. Dr. Parker, who preached his

funeral sermon, delineated his character as ornamental to religion and

to the church, to literature and humanity. Dr. Walter's grandson, Lynde

Minshall Walter, born in 1799, graduated at Harvard University in 1817.

He established the Boston Evening Transcript in 1830, and was the first

editor of the paper. His death occurred in 1842. Another grandson,

William Bicker was born in Boston, April 19, 1796, and graduated at

Bowdoin College in 1818. He studied divinity at Cambridge but did not

preach. He became best known as an author, possessing an active fancy

and a great faculty of versification. He contributed odes and sonnets

and translations to the newspapers and in 1821 in Boston, he published

"Poems" and "Sukey" a poem. In 1822 he went to the southern states to

give lectures on poetry, but he died shortly after his arrival in

Charleston, South Carolina, April 23, 1822.

This family so distinguished in ecclesiastical history of New England is

believed now to be extinct. There were others of the name in Boston at

an early period, who have perhaps left descendants, but they are not

known to have any connection with this family.

LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO REV. WILLIAM WALTER IN SUFFOLK

COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.

To Leonard Jarvis, Sept. 27, 1784; Lib. 145, fol. 32; Land and

buildings in Boston, South St. W.; Samuel Quincy, an absentee, S.;

Robert Robbins and heirs of Benjamin Clark, deceased, E; Samuel

Connant N. and E.; Nathaniel Taylor, an absentee, N.

THOMAS AMORY.

Hugh Amory was living in the year 1605 at Wrington in Somersetshire,

under the northern side of Mendip Hills, this town and Shepton Mallett

was noted at this time for its broad cloth manufactures which, within

fifty years had transformed England's industry and commerce in Somerset

and Devon. Hugh and one of his sons was a merchant the other was a

woolen-draper, the latter, Thomas Amory, was the ancestor of the

American branch of the family, his career was the troubled one of a

Bristol merchant in the middle of the seventeenth century, when the city

was besieged and taken by both the Parliamentary and the King's army.

His son Jonathan was born in the county of Somerset in the year 1654,

his father owned the estate of St. Anne and other lands in the county

which in the next century went to his descendants in this country, but

too heavily encumbered to be of any value. Jonathan was brought up under

the care of his elder brother Thomas, who married Elizabeth Fitzmaurice

a daughter of the 19th Lord of Kerry, ancestor of the present Marquis of

Landsdowne. In consequence of this connection he removed to Ireland,

taking his younger brother Jonathan with him, who in time became a

merchant at Dublin, where he is recorded in 1675 as the purchaser from

the city of the north bank of the Liffy. Dublin, hitherto, had lain

wholly on the south side of the river. As late as 1816, L2, 10s. annual

rent for it from "Jonathan Armory" still formed an item of the city's

income. It is now as other crowded city districts, which have wharves at

one end and a railway station at the other, with streets of

age-blackened tenements and workshops between.

Jonathan Amory married Rebecca Houston in 1677, he went to the West

Indies with his brother Robert in 1682, and his wife died at Barbados in

1685. Jonathan Amory then went to South Carolina taking with him his

infant son Thomas. He married again, and invested largely in lands and

houses. He was elected speaker of the Colonial Legislature, and

subsequently treasurer of the Province. He died in the fall of 1699 of

yellow fever.

THOMAS AMORY, son of the former, was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1682

and accompanied his father to South Carolina. In the year 1696 he was

sent with his sister Anne to their relatives in England to be educated.

He was placed under the care of his cousin, Counsellor Amory, and was

sent to the Westminster school. After his father's death he entered the

counting-house of Mr. Ozell, a French merchant in London who in the year

1709 sent him to the Azores as supercargo. Here he established himself

as a merchant and was appointed Dutch and English consul, and making

only an occasional visit to Europe. Here he remained many years. About

1719 he embarked for Boston, and spent the following winter with his

sister in Carolina. Returning to Boston he met Rebecca Holmes, daughter

of Frances Holmes, and married her in May, 1721.

Thomas Amory bought lands at the South end of Boston, built a house and

wharves, hired a counting-house of his friend, Governor Belcher, on the

Long wharf and engaged in commerce with England, the Azores and

Carolinas. He died in 1728, but his widow long survived him, dying in

Boston in 1770 at the age of seventy. He left three sons and two

daughters.

THOMAS AMORY, son of the former, was born in Boston April 23, 1722, and

entered the Latin school in 1735, and graduated at Harvard College in

1741. He studied Divinity, but never took orders. As eldest son he

inherited a double share of his father's estate. He married Elizabeth,

the daughter of William Coffin and by her had Rebecca, afterwards the

wife of Dr. Aron Dexter. He purchased the house built by Governor

Belcher at the corner of Harvard and Washington streets, the gardens of

which extended to the water, and this was his principal residence for

the rest of his life. Thomas Amory was one of the Addressers of Gage but

he did not take an active part in controversies preceding the

revolution. He is described in a deed in 1769 as "Thomas Amory

gentleman" in 1772 as "Distiller" and at other times as merchant. It was

said that as the Revolution drew near he and his brother John planned to

withdraw to England, leaving in the care of their brother Jonathan, who

was childless, their combined families, to the number of twenty-three.

He was on terms of friendship with the British officers and when the

troops garrisoned the town, his house was attacked by the mob. He was

entertaining some of the officers at his home, when bricks were thrown

at his windows. One of these missiles waked his little daughter, by

smashing the pane and falling on her bed. He spoke to the mob from the

porch and it dispersed, but he had first hastily sent his guests by the

garden way, to his boat, by which they were enabled to get to their

quarters. His wife's family, the Coffins, were all Loyalists, and Thomas

Amory therefore was regarded with some suspicion, especially as he was

an "Addresser" of Gen. Gage.

When General Washington entrenched Dorchester Heights, March 1776, in

order to command Boston with his guns, the inhabitants saw danger from

both sides. Washington's assault would do great damage and the British

troops as they withdrew might fire the town. On March 8th Deacon

Newhall, chairman of the selectmen, requested Thomas and Jonathan Amory,

and their friend, Peter Johonnot, to carry to General Washington a paper

prepared by four Selectmen, proposing that the British troops should be

allowed to retire unmolested, on condition of doing no harm. The offer

was really authorized by General Robertson, acting for General Howe, but

this could not be put in writing, nor was the person named to whom the

paper was addressed. The messengers, however, delivered it to General

Washington, whereupon Colonel Learned on his behalf wrote them an answer

to the effect that no notice could be taken of a letter neither

addressed to himself, nor authenticated by General Howe. Nevertheless

the agreement was kept, as if it had been formally made. Ministers were

therefore able to deny to an angry opposition in Parliament that there

had been any compromise, or stipulation between General Howe and the

rebels, although the Duke of Manchester affirmed that he had private

information of it.[223]

[223] The descendants of Hugh Amory, London. 1901. The Amory Family,

Boston, 1856.

On the evacuation Thomas Amory withdrew to Watertown, where he lived

some years. He died shortly after the peace in 1784. His widow survived

until 1823. He left nine children, seven of whom were married and

resided in Boston. It is interesting to consider how the blood of the

loyal and the disloyal afterwards became mixed. At the battle of Bunker

Hill June 17, 1776, Captain Linzee of the Kings ship-of-war Falcon

cannonaded the works which Prescott the "rebel" defended, but the

granddaughter of Linzee was the wife of Prescott the historian who was a

grandson of the rebel, and this lady is a daughter of Thomas C. Amory,

the eldest son of this notice. Jonathan, the second son of our Loyalist,

married Hettie, daughter of James Sullivan, governor of Massachusetts,

while the wife of John Amory, another son, was near of kin to Henry

Gardner, the "rebel" who succeeded Harrison Gray, the last royal

treasurer of the same state. Again Nathaniel, another son, married a

niece of Commodore Preble, and her sister was the wife of Admiral

Wormley of the Royal Navy. Once more, William, a fifth son, born in

1774, was an officer in the British navy and after the war entered the

U. S. navy and distinguished himself in the war with Tripoli, being one

of the party that burnt the Philadelphia. He also distinguished himself

in an attack under Hull on a fort in South America during the French

war. But "loyalty" as understood in olden time, is still represented in

the family by the union of Mr. Amory's grandson Charles with Martha

Greene and of his grandson, James Sullivan, with Mary Greene, nieces of

the late Lord Lyndhurst. Mr. Amory's grandson, Thomas C., married Esther

Sargent, and William of the same degree of consanguinity married Anna,

daughter of David Sears of Boston. Of the sons here mentioned, Thomas C.

Amory, was a successful merchant and died in 1812. Thomas C., Jr., also

a descendant, is the author of the Life of Governor Sullivan, his

grandfather on his mother's side.[224]

[224] Sabin's Loyalists of the American Revolution.

Jonathan Amory, brother to Thomas, was born in Boston December 19, 1726.

He married Abigail Taylor, and resided on what is now the opening of

Temple Place into Washington street. His garden is said to have extended

two or three hundred feet in either direction, joining his brother

John's home which formerly had been Rufus Greene's in Newbury street, at

the corner of West street.

Jonathan Amory died in 1797, leaving a large estate to his brother John

and John's children.

JOHN AMORY, another brother of Thomas, was born in Boston in 1728. He

married Catherine, daughter of Rufus Greene. He was the father of nine

children who grew up and settled in his native town. He built a house

at the corner of Beacon and Tremont streets, opposite King's chapel, and

lived there, and in Washington street on the site where Amory hall

afterwards stood. He engaged in commerce with his younger brother. The

letters of this business house from 1760 during the Stamp Act excitement

and the Tea troubles give many interesting particulars of that period.

Parts of this correspondence were published in English papers and to one

letter a member of Parliament ascribed influence in the repeal of the

Stamp act. In 1757 the store of Jonathan and John Amory was "the sign of

the Horse at the head of Dock Square," they afterwards (before 1762)

removed into King street "just below the town house." Their store was

probably the last of the "old stores" in State street. The house,

distill-house stores and wharf were Thomas Amory's share of his father's

property. Amory's wharf was at the east end of Castle street, on which

in 1777 he had a still-house.

In 1774 John Amory left with his family for England. It was necessary

that one of the partners should go on business. At the beginning of

hostilities his house owed their English creditors L23,000 sterling

which they remitted without delay, while their countrymen who owed them,

from inability, or taking advantage of the times paid, if at all, in a

depreciated currency.

The illness of his wife, which terminated in her death in 1778,

prevented his return to Boston. Shortly before the peace he embarked for

America and landing at New York he took the oath of allegiance to the

Crown. He was not permitted to live in Boston in consequence of the

"Banishment Act." His name had been placed upon the list of the

proscribed, and preliminary measures were taken to confiscate his

property. His brother wrote him should this be done he would always

share what he had with him. He resided in Providence till 1783, some of

his family being with him then through the influence of his friends in

Boston, and upon his petition to the Legislature, declaring his

allegiance to the new government, he was allowed to return to Boston. He

died in 1805, leaving six sons and four daughters. One of his daughters

married John Lovell, widely known as a political writer, and another was

the wife of John McLean, who liberally endowed the Massachusetts General

hospital.

REV. HENRY CANER.

RECTOR OF KING'S CHAPEL.

Henry Caner, D. D., was graduated at Yale College in 1724, and was the

"son of Mr. Caner who built the first college and rector's house" at New

Haven, Connecticut. For three years after leaving college he lived under

the theological teaching of Mr. Johnson of Stratford, who had the

general supervision of the Episcopal students of divinity, and who had

been his college tutor. Though too young to be ordained, he assisted Mr.

Johnson as a catechist and schoolmaster at Fairfield. In 1727 he went to

England for ordination. For some years, subsequently, his ministry was

confined to Norwalk and Fairfield, Connecticut, and he became a great

worker among the missions. His health became impaired by his severe

labors and in 1736 he sought relief by a voyage to England, where on the

recommendation of Archbishop Potter he had been created M. A. by a

diploma at Oxford March 8, 1735. His father died in 1731 at the age of

sixty. The name was long preserved in New Haven by "Caner's Pond." The

name is also written sometimes Canner, or Conner.

In 1747 the successful missionary was inducted into office as rector of

the First Episcopal church (King's Chapel) Boston. On being invited to

King's Chapel he received a deserved promotion to the most conspicuous

Episcopal pulpit in America; after a laborious ministry of twenty-two

years in the mission at Fairfield, Connecticut. On his removal to Boston

he left behind him two hundred and three communicants, a large number of

those days, in a mission where he had found but twelve. Also a handsome

church and a large convenient parsonage nearby.

The old chapel in Boston was built between 1687-1689. In 1710 it was

rebuilt to twice its original size under Governor Shirley. After the

lapse of nearly half a century King's Chapel was found to be in a

ruinous condition and measures were taken to rebuild, which resulted in

the well known King's Chapel now standing upon the spot. The erection of

this building in 1749 is largely due to the efforts of Dr. Caner, who

was then rector.

There is no trace of his printed discourses later than 1765, but the

traditions of his preaching give him a high rank as a man of learning

and fine intellectual endowments. The first Episcopal church in New

England was, prior to the revolution, in a flourishing state. Later,

while the British ships were in the harbor and the British troops in the

town, many of their officers regularly worshipped at the chapel. When

becoming quite infirm in his seventy-seventh year, his age and position

placed Dr. Caner at the head of the Church of England clergy in this

part of the country. Records show abundantly the pastoral labor which

devolved upon him, especially in his military congregation. The last

burial records by his trembling hand are those of three soldiers of his

Majesty's 65th Regiment of Foot. The Register of burials also notes the

funeral, on March 18, 1752, of Ann, "the Pious and Virtuous Consort of

Rev. Henry Caner, aged forty-six."

He was a devoted Loyalist, and when it was evident he could no longer be

useful in Boston, he went with the British troops to Halifax. In one of

the record books of King's Chapel, Dr. Caner made the following entry:

"An unnatural rebellion of the colonies against his Majesty's government

obliged the loyal part of his subjects to evacuate their dwellings and

substance and take refuge in Halifax, London and elsewhere; by which

means the public worship at King's Chapel became suspended, and it is

likely to remain so until it shall please God, in the course of his

providence, to change the hearts of the rebels, or give success to his

Majesty's arms for suppressing the rebellion. Two boxes of church plate

and a silver christening basin were left in the hands of the Rev. Dr.

Breynton at Halifax, to be delivered to me or my order, agreeable to his

note receipt in my hands." After being a rector in Boston for

twenty-eight years this aged clergyman was driven from his home and

native land. Dr. Caner's escape from Boston is thus described by himself

in a letter dated Halifax, May 10, 1776: "As to the clergy of Boston,

indeed they have for eleven months past been exposed to difficulty and

distress in every shape; and as to myself, having determined to maintain

my post as long as possible, I continued to officiate to the small

remains of my parishioners, though without support, till the 10th of

March, when I suddenly and unexpectedly received notice that the King's

troops would immediately evacuate the town. It is not easy to paint the

distress and confusion of the inhabitants on the occasion. I had but six

or seven hours allowed to prepare for this measure, being obliged to

embark the same day for Halifax, where we arrived the first of April.

This sudden movement prevented me from saving my books, furniture, or

any part of my interest, except bedding, wearing apparel, and a little

provision for my small family during the passage.

"I am now at Halifax with my daughter and servant, but with no means of

support, except what I receive from the benevolence of the worthy Dr.

Breynton."

No less than eighteen Episcopal clergymen from Boston and its

neighborhood sailed away with the fleet that bore Dr. Caner, and the

town of Boston would have been left without any Episcopal clergymen at

all, only for Dr. Andrew Eliot, the pastor of the New North church, who

called upon Rev. Samuel Parker, assistant to Rev. William Walter of

Trinity church. Mr. Parker was packing up his library preparing to

depart when called upon by Dr. Eliot, who with true Christian candor,

represented to him the destitute situation in which the Episcopalians

would be left who should remain in the country, with all their ministers

gone, that although it might be prudent for the elder gentlemen to go,

who had made known their sentiments, that he, a young man, who had done

nothing to render himself obnoxious to the rebels, would be perfectly

safe, that it was a duty he owed to that part of the community to stand

by them, finally he prevailed upon him to stay, a circumstance that

Bishop Parker always acknowledged with gratitude.

[Illustration: REV. HENRY CANER.

Born in New Haven, Conn, 1700. Rector of King's Chapel, Boston, 1747-76.

Died in England Feb. 11, 1793.]

From Halifax Dr. Caner went to England. An extract from the diary of

Thomas Hutchinson in 1776 says, "I went with Dr. Caner to Lambeth, to

introduce him to the Archbishop who was very gracious to him, and gave

him an order for One Hundred Pounds on the Treasurer of the moneys

received for the clergy of America." He was proscribed and banished,

under the statute of Massachusetts, in 1778, and his estate

confiscated. A fellow Loyalist wrote in 1785: "By letters from London,

I am informed that Dr. Caner had retired with his young wife to Cardiff,

in Wales."

Dr. Caner died in England at the close of the year 1792 in his

ninety-third year. One of his daughters married a Mr. Gove of Boston.

The Boston Gazette (No. 2002) of February 11, 1793, contains the

following: "At Long-Ashton, Somersetshire, England, aged ninety-three,

the Rev. Dr. Henry Caner, a very respectable character, many years

minister of the Chapel church in this town." Foote in his "Annals of

King's Chapel" says, "I am informed by Mr. Henry O. B. O'Donoghue of

Long-Ashton, near Bristol, that there is no tombstone in the churchyard

with Dr. Caner's name, nor any trace to be found of such a person ever

having lived in the Parish." It has been said, also, that Dr. Caner died

in London in 1792.

Dr. Caner's house stood close to King's chapel on the north side of the

old burying-ground, and was a rough wooden structure. This spot was

afterwards occupied by the Boston Athenaeum, and later by a Savings

Bank. It next was occupied by the Massachusetts Historical Society, who

sold it to the city of Boston, and it is now used as an annex to City

Hall.

On the evacuation of Boston the church vestments, plate, registers and

records were taken from the church, a part of which last was recovered

from Dr. Caner's heirs in 1805. King's Chapel and Christ church are now

without doubt the only historical buildings remaining unchanged from

before the revolution of all those in which Boston was once so rich.

The vestry of the chapel in 1784 applied to Rev. Dr. Caner to have

restored to them the "Church Plate and Linnen which he carried away."

This he refused to do as his estate was taken from him by the public. He

however turned it over to the "Society for Propagation of the Gospel in

Foreign Parts," who afterwards disposed of it in the Provinces that

remained loyal. In 1787 a silver flagon and covered cup which was

presented to the chapel by Governor Hutchinson, having the name of King

William and Queen Mary engraved on it, was claimed by Dr. Thomas

Bulfinch, Warden, as the property of the King's Chapel, it then being in

the hands of Rev. Dr. Parker of Trinity church for safe-keeping. It is

now the property of the chapel.

LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO REV. HENRY CANER IN SUFFOLK

COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.

To Samuel Henly, Sept. 30, 1793; Lib. 177, fol. 82; Land and

dwelling-house in Boston. Tremont St. W.; Chapel Burying Ground and

heirs of Middlecott Cook deceased S.; John Rowe E.; William

Brattle, an absentee, N.

FREDERICK WILLIAM GEYER.

The Gayers or Geyers as it was variously spelled, first settled at

Nantucket. Some of the family came very early to Boston. The name is

first mentioned in Boston Town Records 1690, when William Gayer married

Maria Guard. In her will recorded with Suffolk Probate Records, Vol. 17,

p. 80, 1710, she described herself as the wife of William Gayer, Mariner

of Nantucket. In 1692 Damaris Gayer, the daughter of William Gayer,

married Nathaniel Coffin. Their son William Coffin removed to Boston and

was the ancestor of the Boston family of Coffins.

The Geyers were prominent merchants in Boston. They did not interest

themselves in political matters or held office. The records mention that

in 1765 Mr. Henry Christian Geyer was paid L173. 4. 1. for repairs done

on Faneuil Hall.

At the outbreak of the Revolution, Frederick William Geyer was one of

the principal merchants of Boston. He was proscribed and banished in

1778, but not being an Addresser, or having taken any active part in

politics, he was allowed to come back in 1789 and was restored to

citizenship by Act of the Legislature. He was in business with his son

at No. 13 Union street, Boston, in 1794. Died at Walpole, N. H., in

1803. A daughter who died near London in 1855 at the age of 81, married

Mr. Joseph Maryatt, a West Indian merchant. She was the mother of

Captain Maryatt of the British Navy, the well known author of sea tales.

Mr. Geyer's estate was on Summer street, formerly Seven Star Lane, and

was one of the finest in Boston. In the inventory of his estate made by

the commissioner after his departure, the mansion house is valued at

L6,000. It was confiscated and sold to Nathan Frazer, whose daughter

afterwards married Frederick W. Geyer, Jr., and the property was once

more restored to the family.

The estate once belonged to Leonard Vassall, and contained one of the

best gardens in Boston. It was planted as early or before 1642 by

Gamaliel Wayte, for we find by the _Book of Possessions_ that this land

is described as Wayte's Garden. Judge Sewall in his diary states that he

lived to the age of 87, and not long before his death was blessed with

several new teeth, which shows that he not only had the ability to

plant, but to eat his fruits. Mrs. Maryatt, whose gardens at Wimbleton

were at one time the finest in England, and we may reasonably conjecture

that the taste and skill that produced such marvels, were nurtured and

fostered in her younger days among the flower beds of Summer street.

This garden occupied the site of the store of C. F. Hovey & Co., and as

late as 1870 there was an old pear tree in the yard in a thrifty

condition.

[Illustration: LEONARD VASSALL AND FREDERICK W. GEYER MANSION, SUMMER

STREET.

Site now occupied by C. F. Hovey & Co. The mother of Captain Marryatt

was born in this house.]

Nancy Geyer married Rufus Amory, February 13th, 1794. He was the second

son of John Amory the Loyalist, and a very successful lawyer. The

wedding is described as "a very gay and brilliant affair." It gained an

unexpected distinction in consequence of a heavy snowstorm by which

Prince Edward, afterward Duke of Kent and father of Queen Victoria,

travelling from Canada to take command of the troops at Halifax, was

just then detained at Boston. He accepted Mr. Geyer's invitation to the

wedding, and came with his aides. "His Royal Highness" it is recorded,

was complaisant and affable in his deportment, and claimed the customary

privilege of kissing the bride, and bridesmaids. His host's son who was

married the year before to Rebecca Frazer, the daughter of Nathan

Frazer, who bought the Geyer mansion when it was confiscated, was an

ardent sympathizer with revolutionary France, who disapproved of titles.

He put their marriage notice in this form in the Boston Gazette of Jan.

21, 1793. "By Citizen Thatcher, Citizen Frederick W. Geyer, Jr., to

Citess Rebecca, daughter to Citizen Nathan Frazer."[225]

[225] The Descendants of Hugh Amory. Pp. 259, 260.

LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO FREDERICK WILLIAM GEYER IN

SUFFOLK COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.

To Nathan Frazier, May 12, 1780; Lib. 131, fol. 143; Land and house

in Boston, Summer St., formerly Seven Star Lane, in front; land of

First Church S.W.; John Rowe S.W.; Benjamin Church, Thomas

Thayerweather and heirs of Samuel Sewall N.W.----Green Lane S.W.;

John Welsh S.W. and S.W.; John Gooch and others S.E.; James Gooch

N.E. and N.W.; John Gooch S.W. and N.W.; James Gooch and others

S.W.----Green Lane S.; John Welsh W.; John Gerrish N.; lane from

Green Lane to the Mill Pond E.

THE APTHORP FAMILY OF BOSTON.

Charles Apthorp was born in England in 1698 and was educated at Eton. He

was the son of John Apthorp and Susan his wife, whose maiden name was

Ward, of the family of Lord Ward of Bexley.

After the death of his father Charles Apthorp came to New England, and

became one of the most distinguished merchants of Boston. He was

paymaster and commissary under the British Government of the land and

naval forces quartered in Boston. On the 13th January, 1726, he married

Grizzel, daughter of John Eastwicke. She was born August, 1708, at

Jamaica and came to Boston in 1716. Her mother was Griselda Lloyd,

daughter of Sir John Lloyd of Somersetshire, England, who assisted in

conveying King Charles II to France after the battle of Worcester.

Charles Apthorp was one of the first Wardens of Trinity church, and one

of the committee that waited on Peter Faneuil, and in the name of the

town to render him their "most hearty thanks for so beautiful a gift."

To King's Chapel he was a bountiful benefactor, having given L1,000

towards its rebuilding.

Charles Apthorp had eighteen children, of whom fifteen survived him and

eleven married. He died in Boston suddenly in 1758 at the age of sixty.

His funeral took place at King's Chapel twelve days later and his

remains were therein deposited. He was reputed as the "greatest and most

noble merchant on the continent." He was also characterized as "a truly

valuable member of society," and that "he left few equals behind him." A

marble monument with a Latin inscription was placed in King's Chapel to

his memory by his sons, "which monument covers the tomb of the

truly-noble-minded race of Apthorp."

He was very proficient in and a great admirer of the Fine Arts,

especially in painting and architecture; talents which have been

transmitted to his descendants as Charles Bulfinch, Esq., the architect

of the State House and other edifices. The original mansion in Brighton,

Massachusetts, formerly the Charles Apthorp place, still remains and is

of great antiquity.

On the death of Charles Apthorp he possessed the whole of Long Island,

the largest island in Boston Harbor. Calf island also was formerly known

as Apthorp's Island. The Apthorp heirs subsequently sold their interest

in Long Island to their sister Grizzell's husband, Barlow Trecothick,

Lord Mayor of London. After the death of Trecothick the island passed on

the 11th June, 1790, into the possession of his brother-in-law Charles

Ward Apthorp of New York.

CHARLES WARD APTHORP, the eldest son of Charles Apthorp, married in New

York Mary McEvers. He had three sons and three daughters. Of his

daughters, Charlotte Augusta was the only one who left descendants. Her

husband was John Cornelius Vanden Heuvel, a Dutch gentleman of fortune,

who had been Governor of Demerara and afterwards settled in New York.

Maria Eliza, their eldest daughter, married John C. Hamilton, a son of

the celebrated Alexander Hamilton.

Charles Ward Apthorp was a member of the Council of New York in 1763 and

served until 1783. He had lands in Maine and a large amount of property

in Boston, Brookline, and Roxbury, all of which was confiscated. He died

at his seat, Bloomingdale, in 1797.

[Illustration: "BISHOP'S PALACE," RESIDENCE OF REV. EAST APTHORP.

John Adams says, "It was thought to be a splendid palace and intended

for the residence of the first royal bishop."]

JOHN APTHORP, the second son, went to England, and became connected in

business with the house of Tomlinson & Trecothick. He married Alicia

Mann of Windsor, sister of Sir Horace Mann, many years resident British

minister at Florence. Mr. Apthorp embarked for Italy with his wife who

was in a very hazardous state of health, and who died at Gibraltar,

leaving two daughters under the care of their grandmother at Windsor. He

pursued his travels in Italy, and afterwards returned to Boston, where

he married Hannah Greenleaf, daughter of Stephen Greenleaf, the last

Royal high sheriff of Suffolk County. He lived about four years at

Brighton, when he embarked, with his wife, from New York for Charleston,

S. C, to enjoy a warmer winter climate, and they were lost at sea. The

children, one son and two daughters, were left under the care of their

grandfather who attended most faithfully to their interests and

education. One daughter married Charles Bulfinch his cousin, and the

other Charles Vaughn, son of Samuel Vaughn, Esq., of London. The son,

Col. John T. Apthorp, married Grace Foster, who lived only one year,

leaving an infant. In another year he married her twin sister Mary by

whom he had a numerous family.

REV. EAST APTHORP, D. D., was born in Boston in 1733 and was educated at

Cambridge, England. He took orders and returned, and became the founder

and rector of Christ church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Here he

published a pamphlet in defence of the conduct of the society for

"Propagating the gospel" which was attacked by Dr. Mayhew, who was

answered by the Archbishop of Canterbury. This controversy rendered his

situation irksome and after only six years ministry in this country, he

left for England. It was thought by many that the establishment of the

Episcopal church at Cambridge was for the purpose of converting the

students who were generally dissenters and with ulterior views, which

excited the most acrimonious jealousy.

While General Burgoyne's army was detained at Cambridge, Lieutenant

Brown, who was out on parole according to the terms of the Convention,

was riding with two ladies in a chaise when he was killed in cold blood

by a sentinel, a boy scarcely fourteen years old, who levelled his gun

at him and shot him through the head. "His remains were interred in

Christ's church. The people, during the time the service was being

performed, seized the opportunity of the church being open, which had

been shut since the commencement of hostilities, to plunder, ransack,

and deface everything they could lay their hands on, destroying the

pulpit, reading desk, and communion table, and ascending the organ loft

they destroyed the bellows and broke all the pipes of a very handsome

instrument."[226] Rev. East Apthorp was afterwards successively vicar of

Croydon where Governor Hutchinson resided, and rector of Bow church,

London, which he exchanged for the prebendary of Finsbury; he had many

friends among the dignitaries of the church and was greatly beloved and

respected. By his wife, the daughter of Foster Hutchinson, and niece of

Thomas Hutchinson, he had several children. His only son became a

clergyman, and his daughters married Dr. Cary and Dr. Butler, heads of

colleges, and a third daughter married a son of Dr. Paley.

[226] Travels through the interior parts of America by Thomas Aubury.

Vol. II, pp. 232, 234.

He published two volumes of Discoveries on the Prophecies, delivered at

Warburton lecture, Lincoln's Inn, and a volume in answer to Gibbon. The

last twenty-six years of his life were passed at Cambridge, England,

with almost total loss of sight, and he died in April, 1816, at the age

of eighty-three, closing a life of great usefulness.

THOMAS APTHORP, born 19 October, 1741, continued paymaster of the

British forces after his father's death from 1758 to 1776, when he was

proscribed, and banished. He went to England and lived several years at

Ludlow, Wales. He visited Lisbon for health, where he married. He

returned to Ludlow, where he died, leaving a widow and one son.

WILLIAM APTHORP, born Feb. 26, 1748, married Mary Thompson. He was a

merchant, and was proscribed and banished in 1778. The year after, he

came from New York to Boston. He was arrested, and occupied for awhile a

private room in the deputy jailer's house, but letters were received to

his disadvantage, and he was committed to a close prison by order of the

Council, his countrymen would show him no mercy.

SUSAN APTHORP the second daughter of Charles Apthorp, married Thomas the

son of Dr. Bulfinch. She had several children, three only that arrived

at a marriageable age. Charles Bulfinch, the only son was born in

August, 1763, and graduated at Harvard College in 1781, and after living

abroad for some time returned to Boston in 1786. He inherited talents

from his grandfather and became a great architect. He was chairman of

the board of Selectmen for twenty-one years during which official

service many of the great improvements in the town were executed,

including the State House, City Hall, the General Hospital and the

building of Franklin Street. After the capitol of the United States was

burnt, in 1814, Mr. Bulfinch was appointed by President Munroe to

superintend its re-erection. His wife died in 1841, and his death

followed three years later on April 15, 1844.

LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO CHARLES WARD APTHORP, IN

SUFFOLK COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.

To Joseph Hall, April 27, 1782; Lib. 134, fol. 187; Land and moiety

of dwelling-house in Boston, Cole Lane S.W.; Joseph Hall E.; Samuel

Barrett N.; Jonathan Williams W.

To Edward Smith, June 10, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 12; Land and

buildings in Boston. Wings Lane N., Brattle St. E.; land of

Elizabeth Clark deceased, [formerly] Lillie W.; John Roulstone S.

To Ephraim Murdock, June 22, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 47; Lands and

part of house in Roxbury; 11 A. opposite dwelling-house of the late

Rev. Mr. Walter, road S.; said Murdock W.; heirs of Gov. Dudley N.;

said Murdock E.----8 A. near where the old meeting-house stood,

road N.; John Davis E.; heirs of John Scott S.; Ezra Davis W.----2

A., said Murdock N.; John Morrey E., town way S.; William Dudley W.

To Daniel Dennison Rogers, July 4, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 68; Land

and buildings in Boston, Beacon St. in front, highway to Beacon

Hill N.W.; John Spooner N. and E.

To John Wheelwright, July 19, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 114; Land,

flats, warehouses and wharf near the South Battery in Boston,

Purchase St. N.W.; heirs of Alexander Hunt S., the sea E.; the

highway N.

To John Wheelwright, July 19, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 116; Land and

dwelling-house in Boston, Atkinson St. E.; Burry St. S.;

Proprietors of the Irish Meeting House W.; Onesephorus Tileston N.

To Grizzell Apthorp, widow, and Perez Morton, Sept. 24, 1782; Lib.

136, fol. 8; One moiety of land and two brick tenements in Boston,

Fleet St. N.; Edward Langdon E.; William and Mercy Stoddard S.; W.;

S; W.; S. and W.

To Andrew Symmes July 30, 1783; Lib. 139, fol. 117; Assignment of

mortgage Lib. 100, fol. 97.

To Francis Johonnot, agent for creditors of Nathaniel Wheelwright,

deceased, March 7, 1786; Lib. 155, fol. 225, Assignment of mortgage

Lib. 97, fol. 200.

To Samuel Pitts, June 10, 1786; Lib. 157, fol. 222; Assignment of

mortgage Lib. 103, fol. 89.

To Nathaniel Greene, April 5, 1787; Lib. 160, fol. 25; One half

part of four parcels of land in Roxbury. 21/2 A.; 17 A. near the

tide-mill; 131/2 A. woodland; and piece of salt marsh.

THE GOLDTHWAITE FAMILY OF BOSTON.

Thomas Goldthwaite, ancestor of all of this name in America, was born in

England about 1610. The original home is supposed to be what is now

Gowthwaite manor, three miles from Pateley Bridge, Yorkshire, West

Riding.

He probably came with Governor Winthrop's fleet to America. His first

appearance in the Boston records appeared June 14, 1631. Thomas

Goldthwaite settled in Roxbury where his name appears as "Thomas

Gouldthwaight" in Rev. John Eliot's list of his church members, Eliot

having begun his pastorate there in 1632. Thomas was made a freeman in

Massachusetts, May 14, 1634. In 1636 he appears in Salem where, as an

inhabitant he was granted ten acres of land. His first house lot has

been located by some of the best antiquarian authority, as on the

southwest corner of Essex and Flint Streets in Salem. In 1636 he married

his first wife. Her death occurred some time before 1671 and he then

married Rachel Leach, of Salem. He was called "Constable Gouldthwaight"

at a meeting of the selectmen, December 14, 1659. Thomas died in March,

1683, at about the age of seventy-three, his wife Rachel surviving him.

He left three children, Samuel, Mehitable, and Elizabeth.

SAMUEL GOLDTHWAITE, (of the second generation) like his father, was a

cooper, and lived in Salem. For many years during his lifetime and that

of his immediate descendants, four family homesteads lay side by side on

the original Goldthwaite farm, opposite the site where the Peabody

church afterwards was built. He died about the year 1718, leaving ten

children and perhaps more.