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 realestate 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.
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 £400 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 £1658.18.
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]
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]
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.
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."
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 BritishArmy. 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.
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.
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]
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.
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.
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 £7 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 threehours, 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.
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 followedthe 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.
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 hehad 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 moreglorious, 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 £1,696. 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 £380. 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.
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 £380. 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 greatentry 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, thewholeof 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.
Martin Gay died in 1809, and he was buried in the Granary Burial Ground.Samuel Gaywas 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 Gaywas 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, theartist, 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.
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.
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 onan 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 ofthe 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.
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, toenable 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, asthat 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]
In February, 1775, Daniel Leonard was appointed Solicitor General of the Commission of Customs with a salary of £200 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, wouldnever 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.
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 earlymanhood 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. Aneutralin 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."
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, 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 governmentwas 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]
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 questionwhether 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."
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 £1,000 not to pass without the limits of that town, or deal or correspond with the enemy. Mr. Gray was in London, January, 1781.
Joseph Graywas 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 £4,000 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]
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.
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.