The Johonnots in America are of French Huguenot origin. Daniel Johonnot, who was born in France about 1668, was one of the first parties of thirty families that arrived in Boston in 1686. He was in company with his uncle Andrae Sigournie, Distiller, from Rochelle, and went with him to Oxford in New England, remaining there until the settlement was broken up by the incursion of Indians August 25, 1696. Jean Jeanson (John Johnson) and his three children were killed during the massacre. Mrs. Johnson was Andrew Sigourney's daughter, and tradition in the Johonnot family relates that she was rescued at that time from the Indians by her cousin, Daniel Johonnot, to whom she was subsequently married.[242]
The first record we have of Daniel Johonnot in Boston was at the time of his marriage "on the 18th of April, by the Rev. Samuel Willard of the Old South Church, to Susan Johnson." This was in the year 1700. In 1714 it appears by the Suffolk Records he purchased for £300 "current money," of John Borland and Sarah his wife, an estate near the Mill Creek and bounded by Mill Pond, and the street leading to said pond (Union Street) etc. His last purchase of real estate was near the Old South Church and this land was afterwards occupied by one of the descendants of his daughter Mary, Mary Anne (Boyer), number 156 Washington street, opposite the Province House. At the time of Daniel Johonnot's death it was occupied by his grandson, and must have been Mr. Johonnot's last residence, as in an inventory it is described as being in the possession of Mr. Daniel Boyer. In Mr. Johonnot's French Bible, Amsterdam Edition of 1700, are recorded the births of his sixchildren in French, all children of Daniel and Serzane Johonnot. This Bible later came into the possession of one of his descendants. Daniel Johonnot died in Boston in June, 1748 at the age of eighty years. His wife died some time after 1731, and before the death of her husband. He was remembered as being a friend to the poor, always industrious and frugal.
Zacherie (Zachariah) Johonnot, the eldest son of the preceding was born in Boston January 20, 1700-1. His first wife was Elizabeth Quincy, who died during the revolution, and he married again, April 24, 1777, Margaret Le Mercier, daughter of Andrew Le Mercier, Minister of the French Protestant church in Boston.
Like his father he was a Distiller and engaged in mercantile pursuits. His dwelling house and store was on Orange street at the South part of the town, and his distillery was on Harvard street directly opposite his dwelling. At the end of the same street was his wharf, and wooden distil-house, storehouses, etc. His house and store were burnt at the time of the great fire, April 20, 1787. The spacious gardens filled with rare fruit trees, beautiful flowers and shrubs from his father's land were mostly destroyed.
Mr. Johonnot died in Boston in 1784 at the age of eighty-three. To his son Peter (then in England) he bequeathed "his mansion house, store adjoining, yard and garden, as the same is now fenced in, etc." He had ten children, all by his first wife.
Peter Johonnot, the fourth child of the preceding, was born in Boston September 23, 1729. He was married January 10, 1750 to Katherine Dudley by the Rev. Mather Byles. She was the daughter of the Honorable William Dudley (son of Governor Joseph Dudley). Peter Johonnot was a Distiller, and lived in Boston. In 1775 he was an Addresser of Gage. The next year he was one of the committee with Thomas and Jonathan Amory, chosen by the citizens of Boston March 8, 1776, to communicate with General Howe and take measures to avert the impending destruction, threatened by him, in case his army should be molested while evacuating the town.
In 1776 Peter Johonnot went to Halifax and thence to England. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished, and in 1779 he was a loyal Addresser to the King. Mrs. Johonnot's death occurred in Boston in 1769. Mr. Johonnot died in London August 8, 1809, at the age of eighty, and left no issue.[243]The following occurs in the Diary of Dr. P. Oliver:—"1809, Aug.—Peter Johonnot died this month in London, aged 79."
Francis Johonnot, son of Daniel, was born November 30, 1709. He married Mary Johnson of Boston, widow, 1752. He was a distiller and engaged in mercantile pursuits. His distillery was near Essex street on the margin of the South Cove. His "Mansion house" was on Newbury, now Washington street, the same was owned and occupiedfor many years by his son-in-law Eben Oliver, Esq. He was a loyalist, and at the beginning of the revolution went to England. He died March 8, 1775. Mary, his widow, who died in Boston March 17, 1797, in her seventy-third year, administered upon his estate in Massachusetts. They had seven children.
Mary Johonnot, daughter of Andrew Johonnot, and cousin to Peter the Loyalist, was born in 1730. She married Thomas Edwards of Boston, June 13, 1758, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. Henry Caner of King's Chapel. Mr. Edwards for a while was engaged in mercantile business in Middletown, Connecticut, but later returned to Boston, and was employed by the government. He was a loyalist and went to Halifax in 1776 and thence to England. He died in London at an advanced age. Mary Johonnot, his wife, died in Boston, February 14, 1792. They had five children.
LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO PETER JOHONNOT IN SUFFOLK COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.
To Ebenezer Seaver, Sept. 4, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 190; Land and buildings in Boston, Orange St. E.; Samuel Pope and Hopestill Foster S.; Joseph Lovell and heirs of William Ettridge W.; Zachariah Johonnot N.
To Ebenezer Seaver, Sept. 4, 1782; Lib. 135, fol. 190; Land and buildings in Boston, Orange St. E.; Samuel Pope and Hopestill Foster S.; Joseph Lovell and heirs of William Ettridge W.; Zachariah Johonnot N.
The name of Joy was probably derived from Jouy in Normandy and may have reached England in the form of "de Jouy." William Joy was a Vicar in England in 1395. The name was borne with distinction in England and Ireland for at least five centuries.
Thomas Joy, of Boston, Massachusetts, was born about 1610 in the county of Norfolk, England. The first time he appears in Boston records is "on the 20th of 12th Month, called February, 1636." By trade he was a builder and probably continued that occupation in Massachusetts. He married in 1637 Joan Gallop, the daughter of a well-known townsman, and she became mother of the American Joys. Her father's land included several of the harbor islands, one of which still bears his name.
Thomas Joy built in 1657-8, the house in the Market Place, which was at once the armory, court house, and town hall of Boston, and the first seat of government in Massachusetts. On account of political troubles, Thomas Joy exchanged part of his possessions in Boston for property in Hingham. In 1648 he removed to that town, but his Boston connections were still maintained. He had interests in mills at Hingham, and died in that town, October 21, 1678. His widow survived him more than twelve years, dying in Hingham, March 20, 1690-1.Both are buried in the hill, back of most ancient Protestant church in the United States, where they worshipped. They had ten children.
Joseph, the fourth child, was born in Boston, April 1, 1645. He lived on Bacheler (Main Street,) Hingham, nearly opposite the meeting house, of which he is thought to have been the builder. He married August 29, 1667, Mary, daughter of John and Margaret Prince, of Hingham, and by her had fifteen children. He died in that town, May 31, 1697.
Joseph Joy, his eldest son was born in Hingham July 30, 1688. He was constable in 1697-1711. He married May 22, 1690 Elizabeth, daughter of Captain Thomas Andrews. He died in Hingham, April 29, 1716. His gravestone with inscription still legible in the Hingham churchyard is the most ancient Joy grave mark in America.[244]He had nine children.
John, the fourth child, was born in Hingham February 7, 1695-6. He lived on Main street at Hingham Centre. December 7, 1724, he married Lydia, daughter of Samuel Lincoln, and by her had seven children. His death is not recorded.
John Joy, the second child of the preceding, was born in Hingham June 4, 1727. He lived in Boston, and by trade was merchant and housewright. He married Sarah, daughter of Michael and Sarah (Kneeland) Homer, of Boston. In 1767 and 1773 he was one of the "principal citizens" to visit the schools with the Governor. In 1774 Mr. Joy was an addresser of Hutchinson, and in 1775 of Gage. In 1776 he went to Halifax with his family and in 1778 he was proscribed and banished. In 1779 he was in England, where he remained, though several of his sons afterwards returned to America. Hutchinson in his diary, June 7, 1776, speaks of a number of Loyalists who had recently arrived at Dover. Mr. Joy's name was among those mentioned. The Loyalist died in London, December, 1804. His portrait by Copley, is an heirloom in the family of the late Charles Joy of Boston. Mrs. Joy died in England in 1805.
A letter of John Wendell (1806) mentions among his early friends in Boston, "Mr. John Joy, who served his time with our respected neighbor, Captain Benjamin Russell, and who afterwards married Mr. Homer's daughter." Mr. Joy had seven children.
Dr. John Joy, the eldest son, was an apothecary, and returned to America in 1783, and lived in Boston. His estate on Beacon Hill, once the "elm pasture" of Judge Samuel Sewell, the diarist, was bounded by Beacon, Walnut, Mt. Vernon and Joy street, and included about 100,000 sq. ft. of land. Bowditch says Dr. Joy was desirous of getting a housein the country, and selected this locality as "being country enough for him," "the barberry bushes were flourishing over this whole area." His land cost about $2000, and in 1833 his heirs sold this lot for $98,000. On the southeastern part of this estate he built a modest and graceful woodenbuilding, which was eventually moved to South Boston Point. He married Abigail Green of Boston, and died in 1813.
Michael Joy, another son, was born at Boston in 1754, went to England with his father and died at Hartham Park, England July 10, 1825. Graduated B. A., Harvard College, 1771, and admitted to the same degree at Princeton College, N. J., 1771. He married a lady named Hall in England. His son Henry Hall Joy, of Hartham Park, was a lawyer and Queen's Counsel, was buried in the Temple Church, London.
Benjamin Joy, the third son of the Loyalist, was born in Boston, Dec. 27th, 1757, and died at Boston, April 14, 1829. He returned to Boston, was a merchant and was the first Consul General of the United States at Calcutta, holding his commission from President Washington. In 1808 he bought of the trustees of the First Church their property on Cornhill Square, on which he erected Joy's Building, which for three-fourths of a century was a landmark of Boston, people came from miles around to view the stately edifice, and were greatly astonished at its magnificence. The Rogers Building, in front of Young's Hotel, now occupies its site. He was one of the Mt. Vernon proprietors that acquired the valuable lands of John Singleton Copley on Beacon Hill, and a spring in one of his houses on the east side of Charles street, is the famous spring of water which William Blackstone, the first white settler of Boston, mentioned as one of the chief attractions of the Shawmut peninsula.
Hon. Thomas Lechmere was for many years Surveyor General of His Majesty's Customs for the Northern District of America. His brother was Lord Lechmere of Evesham, who married the daughter of the Earl of Carlisle.
Thomas Lechmere married Ann Winthrop, a descendant of Governor Winthrop, the ceremony was performed by Rev. Eben Pemberton, Nov. 17, 1709. He died at an advanced age, June 4th, 1765, having been born in June, 1683. His wife died in 1746.
Richard Lechmere, son of the above, married Mary Phips, of Cambridge in 1753. She was the daughter of Spencer Phips, who was Lieut. Governor for many years; his farm was what is now known as East Cambridge, and the house stood near where the modern Court House, afterwards was built; General Gage landed his detachment here, which marched to Lexington. About one hundred yards from the West Boston Bridge, a fort was erected on December 11th, 1775, during its erection several soldiers of the revolutionary army were killed at this redoubt. It was considered the strongest battery erected during thesiege of Boston, and was known as "Lechmere Point Redoubt," having acquired this property from his wife. It was known for many years as Lechmere's Point. The farm was confiscated, and during the siege of Boston was occupied by Washington's army.
Richard Lechmere was an Addresser of Hutchinson in 1774; was appointed Mandamus Councillor, but did not accept. In 1776 he went to Halifax, with his family of eleven persons, and thence to England. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished, and his estate confiscated; the next year he was included in the Conspiracy Act. His home was at Bristol in 1780. He died in England in 1814, aged eighty-seven.
Richard Lechmere left no male representatives, his daughters, are represented by Coores of Scrunten Hall, Yorkshire. Sir Edward Russell of Ashford Hall, Ludlow and Worralls, whose representatives now are Sir H. Lechmere Stuart, Bart., and Eyre Coote of West Park Eyre. In Colonel Lechmere Russell's possession is Ann Winthrop's bible, with, in her son Richard Lechmere's writing, the statement it was his mother's bible. A piece of land at Hanley, in Worcestershire, the residence of the Lechmere's, is called New England, and is planted with oaks, the seed of which were sent from America by Thomas Lechmere, the settler here.
Nicholas Lechmere, son of Thomas Lechmere, and brother of Richard, was born at Boston, July 29, 1772. He was appointed an Officer of the Customs of Newport, Rhode Island. In 1765, fearing the loss of life in the tumult of that year, he fled to the Cygnet, sloop-of-war, and refused to return to his duties without assurance of protection. From 1767 to the commencement of the Revolution, the disagreements between him and the revolutionists were frequent. In December, 1775, he refused to take the oath tendered by General Lee, and was conveyed under guard to Providence. He went to England, and in 1770, was with his brother at Bristol in 1780. He was banished and his estate confiscated.
LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO RICHARD LECHMERE IN SUFFOLK COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.
To Mungo Mackey, June 11, 1783; Lib. 139, fol. 14; Land and dwelling-house in Boston, Cambridge St. S.; Staniford St. W.; passageway N.; Timothy Newell E. and N.; Jeremiah Allen E.——One undivided half of land, brick distill house and other buildings, Cambridge St. N.; George St. E.; heirs of John Guttridge deceased S.; Belknap St. W.
To Mungo Mackey, June 11, 1783; Lib. 139, fol. 14; Land and dwelling-house in Boston, Cambridge St. S.; Staniford St. W.; passageway N.; Timothy Newell E. and N.; Jeremiah Allen E.——One undivided half of land, brick distill house and other buildings, Cambridge St. N.; George St. E.; heirs of John Guttridge deceased S.; Belknap St. W.
William Lewis belonged to the Braintree Company, which in 1632 removed from Braintree to Cambridge, thence about 1636 to Hartford, about 1659 to Hadley, which town he represented in the General Court 1662, from thence to Farmington, where he died Aug., 1683. Captain William Lewis, son of the above, married May Cheever, daughter of thefamous schoolmaster. He died 18 Aug., 1690. Ezekiel Lewis, son of Captain William, was born at Farmington, Conn., Nov. 7, 1674. Graduated at Harvard College in 1695. In 1699 it was decided that the town of Boston required an assistant in the Latin School for Mr. Ezekiel Cheever. It being committed to the Selectmen, Mr. Ezekiel Lewis, his grandson, was selected to fill the position, and to have a salary of not exceeding forty pounds a year. He entered upon his duties the following August. He afterwards became a great merchant in Boston, was Representative 1723 to 1727.
A document dated March 8th, 1707-8 contains the signatures of the Overseers of the Poor for the town of Boston at that period. Ezekiel Lewis' name appears among the seven mentioned. The men who held the position of Overseers were of high standing in the community, and were usually distinguished for their business talents, wealth and charities.[245]
In 1742, when Faneuil Hall was opened, Ezekiel Lewis was among the Selectmen and representatives of the town of those who were "to wait upon Peter Faneuil, Esq., and in the name of the town to render him their most hearty thanks for so beautiful a gift," etc.
Ezekiel Lewis, the Loyalist, was born at Boston, 15 April, 1717, and graduated at Harvard College, 1735. Under the Act of 1777-8, by which the Judge of Probate was authorized to appoint agents for the estates of absentees in each county, the name of Ezekiel Lewis appears in Suffolk County Probate Records, 1779. Docket 16800.
Dr. John Clark was the first of a prominent Boston family of that name. He was a gentleman of college education, and a leading physician of that day. He died in 1680, aged 85. Their only son, Hon. Dr. John Clark, of Boston, died in 1690, leaving three sons, John, born 1667, William 1670, Samuel 1677.
Hon. William Clark, Esq.became a wealthy merchant and member of the Governor's Council. His residence was situated in North Square, on the corner of Garden Court and Prince street. This mansion was a monument of human pride, in all colonial Boston there was not its peer, and it was without doubt built to outvie that of Hutchinson's, Clark's wealthy next-door neighbor, whose home was demolished by the mob. The principal feature which distinguished this house, was the rich, elaborate and peculiar decoration of the north parlor, on the right of the entrance hall, which was a rich example of the prevalent style, found in the mansions of wealthy citizens of the colonial period, in and around Boston.
The peculiar decoration consisted of a series of raised panels filling these compartments, reaching from the surbase to the frieze, eleven in all, each embellished with a romantic landscape painted in oil colors, the four panels opposite the windows being further enriched by the emblazoned escutcheons of the Clarks, the Saltonstalls, and other allied families. Beneath the surbase, the panels, as also those of the door, were covered with arabesques. The twelfth painting was a view of the house upon a horizontal panel over the mantel, from which this engraving was made, and beneath this panel inscribed in an oval, was the monogram of the builder, W. C. At the base of the gilded and fluted vault of the buffet was a painted dove. The floor was inlaid with divers woods in multiform patterns. In the center, surrounded by a border, emblazoned in proper colors, was the escutcheon of the Clarks, with its three white swans.
The mere enumeration of the details fails to give an idea of the impression made by this painted and gilded parlor, not an inch of whose surface but had been elaborated by painter, gilder, carver or artist, to which the blazoner had added heraldic emblems; so that, as you looked round these walls, the romantic ruins and castles seemed placed there to suggest, if not to portray, the old homes of a long line of ancestors, and the escutcheons above to confirm the suggestion, thereby enhancing the splendor of the present by the feudal dignity of an august past.
The house is supposed to have been built about 1712-1715, for the land was purchased of Ann Hobby, widow, and several other heirs, December 10, 1711, for £725 current money. If so, Councillor Clark lived many years to enjoy the sumptuousness of his new house and the envy of his neighbors. His death, in 1742, was attributed by some to the loss of forty sail of vessels in the French war. After his death the estate was conveyed to his son-in-law, Deacon Thomas Greenough, for £1,400, old tenor, and was by him sold to Sir Charles Henry Frankland, Bart., for £1,200 sterling. The mansion, afterwards was known as the Frankland House.
There were numerous places in Boston named after Clark. There was Clark's Wharf, afterwards changed to Hancock's, and now known as Lewis; Clark street from Hanover to Commercial, still named, in 1788; Clark Square, now North Square, where the Clark mansion was built, was named in 1708, "The Square living on ye Southly side of the North Meeting House including ye wayes on each side of ye watch-house"; Clark's Corner, 1708, corner of Middle, now Hanover street and Bennet street, Dr. Clark's Corner, 1732; corner of Fish, now North street, and Gallops alley, now Board alley and Clark's Shipyard.
CLARK-FRANKLAND HOUSE.CLARK-FRANKLAND HOUSE.
Sir Harry Frankland, as he was familiarly called here, was heir to an ample fortune, and what added to his interest in this puritanical colony was that he was a descendant in the fourth generation from Oliver Cromwell, he came here in 1741 as Collector of the Port of Boston, preferring that office to the Governorship of Massachusetts, the alternative offered him by George II. The story of his marriage is romantic enough. Upon an official visit to Marblehead, he was struck by the radiant beauty of a young girl of sixteen, maid-of-all-work at the village inn, bare-legged, scrubbing the floor; inquired her name, and, upon a subsequent visit, with the consent of her parents, conveyed her to Boston and placed her at the best school. The attachment he conceived for her appears to have been returned, though Sir Charles did not offer her marriage. The connection between this high official and his fair protégé causing scandal, Frankland purchased some 500 acres of land in Hopkinton, which he laid out and cultivated with taste, built a stately country-house and extensive farm buildings, and there entertained all the gay companions he could collect with deer and fox hunts without, with music and feasting within doors, duly attending the church of his neighbor, the Rev. Roger Price, late of King's Chapel, Boston, of which Frankland had been, from his arrival, a member. Called to England by the death of his uncle, whose title he inherited as fourth baronet, he journeyed to Lisbon, and there, upon All Saints Day, 1755, on his way to high mass, he was engulfed by the earthquake, his horses killed, and he would have perished miserably but for his discovery and rescue by the devoted Agnes. Grateful and penitent, he led her to the altar, and poor Agnes Surriage, the barefooted maid-of-all-work of the inn at Marblehead, was translated into Agnes, Lady Frankland.
It was upon Sir Harry Frankland's return from Europe in 1756 that he became the owner of the Clark House, lived in it one short year, entertaining continually, with the assistance of his French cook, Thomas, as appears by frequent entries in his journal; was then transferred to Lisbon as Consul General, and so, with the exception of brief visits to this country in 1759 and 1763, disappearing from our horizon.
After his death at Bath, England, in 1768, his widow returned here with her son, but not until she had recorded her husband's virtues upon a monument "erected by his affectionate widow, Agnes, Lady Frankland,"—dividing her year between Boston and Hopkinton, exchanging civilities with those who had once rejected her, till the contest with England rendered all loyalists and officials unpopular.
At Hopkinton, May, 1775, she was alarmed at the movement of the revolutionists, her Ladyship asked leave to remove to Boston. The Committee of Safety gave her liberty to pass to the capital with her personal effects, and gave her a written permit, signed by Benjamin Church.Jr., chairman. Thus protected, she set out on her journey with her attendants; but was arrested by a party of armed men, who detained her person, and effects, until an order for the release of both was obtained. To prevent further annoyance, the Provincial Congress furnished her with an escort, and required all persons who had any of her property in their possession to place the same at her disposal. Defended by a guard of six soldiers, Lady Frankland entered Boston about the first of June, 1775; witnessed from her window in Garden Court street the battle of Bunker Hill, took her part in relieving the sufferings of the wounded officers, and then in her turn disappeared, leaving her estates in the hands of members of her family, thereby saving them from confiscation, which was the fate of her neighbor Hutchinson. Upon her death in England in 1782 the town mansion passed by her will to her family, and was sold by Isaac Surriage in 1811 for $8000 to Mr. Joshua Ellis, a retired North End merchant, who resided there till his death. Upon the widening of Bell Alley, in 1832, these two proud mansions, the Frankland and Hutchinson houses long since deserted by the families whose importance they were erected to illustrate and perpetuate, objects of interest to the poet, the artist, and the historian, alike for their associations with a seemingly remote past, their antique splendor, and for the series of strange romantic incidents in the lives of their successive occupants, were ruthlessly swept away.
The most picturesque and remarkable in character and personal fortune of all the royal governors, was the first of them, Sir William Phips. He was a characteristic product of the New England soil, times and ways. Hutchinson thus briefly and fitly designates him: "He was an honest man, but by a series of fortunate incidents, rather than by any uncommon talents, he rose from the lowest condition in life to be the first man in the country."
Cotton Mather informs us that William Phips was one of twenty-onesonsand oftwenty-sixchildren, of the same mother, born to James Phips of Bristol, England, a blacksmith, and gunsmith, who was an early settler in the woods of Maine, at the mouth of the Kennebec River. But records and history are dumb as to facts about the most of these scions of a fruitful parentage, other than that of their having been born. William was born Feb. 2, 1651; was left in early childhood without a father. What the mother's task was, in poverty, with hard wilderness surroundings, of bears, wolves, and savages, we may well imagine. Her famous son, untaught and ignorant, tended sheep, till he was eighteen years of age. Then he helped to build coasters, and sailed in them. This was at that time, and afterwards a most thriving business, the foundation of fortunes to rugged and enterprising men, born in indigence.
He went to Boston in 1673, at the age of twenty-two, worked at his trade, he had early visions of success and greatness, for the first time he learned to read, and also to do something that passed for writing. He married the widow of John Hull, the mint master, they suffered straits together, but he used to comfort her with the assurance that they would yet have "a fair brick house in the Green Lane of North Boston." And so they did. That "Greene Lane" became Charter street, when in 1692, he came back as Sir William Phips, from the Court of London, bringing the Province Charter as the first Governor under it. The "fair brick house" long served as an Asylum for boys, at the corner of Salem and Charles streets.
But a strange wild daring, and romantic interval of adventure preceded his honors, and wealth. He wrought at intervals in Maine, and here, as a ship carpenter, sailed coasters, and engaged in expeditions against the Indians. In 1684 he went in a search in the waters of the Spanish Main for a treasure ship known to be sunk there. Going to London, the Admiralty, and James II. gave him the command of an eighteen-gun ship and ninety-five men. A two years' cruise in the West Indies, in which he showed a most signal intrepidity, heroism and ingenuity of resource, in suppressing a mutinous crew, was unsuccessful, except in acquainting him, through an old Spaniard, of the precise spot where a treasure-laden galleon had foundered fifty years before. He returned to England for a new outfit. The king favored him, but not with another war ship. The Duke of Albemarle and others, as associates, provided him with a vessel on shares. The hero had heroic success. Cotton Mather informs us that "Captain Phips arrived atPort de la Plata, made a stoutcanooof a stately cotton-tree, employing his ownhandsandadsein constructing it, lying abroad in the woods many nights together. The piriaga, as they called it, discovered a reef of rising shoals called "The Boilers", here an Indian diver dove down and perceived a number ofgreat-guns, and upon further diving the Indian fetched up asow, or lump of silver, worth two or three hundred pounds. In all, thirty-two tons of silver, gold, pearls and jewels were recovered from the wreck. Besides which, one Adderly of Providence, one of the Bahama Islands, took up about six tons of silver, which he took to the Bermudas. Captain Phips returned to London in 1687 with more than a million and a half of dollars, in gold and silver, diamonds, precious stones, and other treasures. His own share in the proceeds was about a hundred thousand dollars. To this was added the honors of knighthood, and a gold cup for Lady Phips, of the value of five thousand dollars."
He returned home in the capacity of high-sheriff, under Andros, who did not want him, for he was utterly ignorant of law, and could not write legibly. He soon made another voyage to England, and returned to Boston, built the "fair brick house," of his vision, engaged in a successful military expedition against Acadia, in which he took and plundered Port Royal, and other French settlements. He then instigated andconducted as commander, a naval expedition against Quebec, which proved a failure. He again went to England, and returned as the first Governor under the new Charter, May 14, 1692. The appointment was made to conciliate the people of the province, and it was supposed would be gratifying to them, it was however a risky experiment, this attempt to initiate a new order of things, under the lead of an illiterate mechanic, utterly unskilled, in legal, and administrative affairs, a rough seaman, and a man of hot temper. Yet after he arose to these high offices, he showed no false pride, and often alluded to his lowly origin. He gave his fellow ship carpenters a dinner in Boston, and when borne down with public distraction, would wish himself back to his broad-axe again. He was pure in morals, upright in his dealings, and owed his success in life to his own energy and prowess. All incompetent as he was for the stern exigency, he had to meet the appalling outburst of the Witchcraft delusion with its spell of horrors. During the greater part of the proceedings of the courts, he was absent at the eastward, in an expedition against the Indians, and engaged in building a fort at Pemaquid. When he returned to Boston he found that even his own wife had been "cried out upon" as a witch, and he at once put a stay upon the fatuous proceedings. His weak and troubled administration lasted two and one-half years. He then went to England to answer to complaints made against his administration, when he died suddenly Feb. 18, 1695, aged forty-five years. He was buried in the church of St. Mary Woolnoth, London, where his widow caused a monument to be erected to his memory. He died childless.
Governor Phips' widow married the rich merchant, Peter Sergent, who built and occupied the stately mansion, afterwards purchased by the Province, as a residence for the Governor, and known as the Province House.
Spencer Phipswas a nephew of Governor Phips' wife. The governor having no children, adopted as his heir, Spencer Bennett, he was Lieu. Governor between 1733 and 1757, and married Elizabeth Hutchinson. He resided mainly at Cambridge. His farm consisted of that part of Cambridge afterwards known as Lechmere Point, now East Cambridge, his daughters married Andrew Boardman, John Vassall, Richard Lechmere and Joseph Lee. Lieu. Governor Phips died in March, 1757.
David Phips, only son of Lieutenant Governor Spencer Phips, graduated at Harvard College in 1741. He was Colonel of a troop of guards in Boston, and Sheriff of Middlesex County. He was an Addresser on three occasions, as his name is found among the one hundred and twenty-four merchants, and others, of Boston, who addressed Governor Hutchinson in 1774, among the ninety-seven gentlemen and principal inhabitants of that town, and among the eighteen country gentlemen who were driven from their homes, and who addressed General Gage in October, 1775. He went to Halifax at the evacuation of Bostonin 1776, and was proscribed and banished under the Act of 1778. His home at Cambridge was confiscated. He died at Bath, England in 1811, aged eighty-seven.
Robert Dunbar, a Scotchman, became a resident of Hingham shortly after 1650, and probably was the ancestor of all the families who have borne this surname in Plymouth county. The Christian name of his wife was Rose. She survived him and died 10 Nov. 1700. Robert died, 19 Sept., 1693. He had eight sons and three daughters, and died possessed of considerable property. His grandson Joseph removed to Halifax, Plymouth County, in 1736.[246]
Daniel Dunbar, son of the aforesaid Joseph was born in Hingham, March 8, 1733. He was an ensign of Militia at Halifax, Mass., and in 1774 had his colors demanded of him by the mob, some of the selectmen being the chief actors. He refused and they broke into his house, took him out, forced him upon a rail, where for three hours, he was held, and tossed, up and down, until he was exhausted. He was then dragged and beaten, and gave up the standard to save his life. In 1776 he went to Halifax, Nova Scotia, with the Royal Army. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished.
Jessie Dunbar, of the fourth generation, was born in Hingham, June 26, 1744. He removed to Bridgewater, Plymouth County.[247]
He bought some fat cattle of Nathaniel Ray Thomas, a Mandamus Councillor, in 1774, and drove them to Plymouth for sale; one of the oxen being skinned and hung up, the "Sons of Liberty" came to him and finding where he bought it, commenced punishing him for the offence. His tormentors put the ox in a cart, and fixing Dunbar in his belly, carted him four miles and required him to pay one dollar for the ride. They then delivered him to a Kingston mob, which carted him four miles further, and forced from him another dollar, then delivered him to a Duxbury mob, who abused him by beating him in the face with the creature's tripe, and endeavored to cover his person with it, to the endangering his life. They then threw dirt at him, and after other abuses, carried him to Councillor Thomas's house, and made him pay another sum of money, and he, not taking the beef, they flung it in the road and quitted him. Jesse Dunbar died at Nobleboro, Maine, in 1806, leaving many descendants.
The outrageous and brutal treatment he received from the "Sons of Despotism" are among the worst on record.
The Richardson family were the earliest settlers of Woburn, Massachusetts. Ezekiel, Samuel and Thomas Richardson, three brothers, with four other persons, laid the foundations of the town, in 1641. In 1642 it was incorporated under the name of Woburn, the name of a town in Herefordshire.
Samuel Richardson, the ancestor of Ebenezer Richardson, came to Charlestown, about 1636, as his name appears on the records of July 1 of that date as one of a committee to "lay out lots of land for hay." When the three brothers settled at Woburn, they lived near each other on the same street, which was laid out in 1647, as Richardson's Row, by which name it has ever since been known. It runs almost due north and south, in the N. E. part of the present town of Winchester.
Lieut. John Richardson, eldest son of Samuel, was born Nov. 12, 1639, was a yeoman, and soldier in King Philip's war, and passed his life in Woburn, and died there in 1696. John Richardson, son of Lieut. John was a carpenter, and lived in Woburn. He died March 18, 1715.
Timothy Richardson, son of John, was born in Woburn, 1687, was badly wounded in Lovewell's Indian fight at Pigwacket. The colony having offered one hundred pounds for Indian scalps, Captain Lovewell went with forty-six men on a scalp hunt into Maine. Captain Lovewell was the first one killed. The fight lasted ten hours, those who left the fatal battle ground, were twenty in number, of whom eleven were badly wounded, among whom was Timothy Richardson, who lived for ten years afterwards, but in great suffering he died in Woburn in 1735.
Ebenezer Richardson, eldest son of Timothy, and Abigail Johnson, was born in Woburn, March 31, 1718, and married Rebecca (Fowle) Richardson, daughter of Captain John and Elizabeth (Prescott) Fowle, of Woburn, and widow of Phineas Richardson. His father's farm was bounded easterly by the Woburn and Stoneham line, it was here probably that Ebenezer was born.[248]
Ebenezer Richardson was an officer of the Customs in Boston. On the 22 Feb., 1770, he was assailed by a mob who chased him to his home, bricks and stones were thrown at the windows. Richardson, provoked, fired at random into the mob, dangerously wounding one of them, Samuel Gore, and mortally wounding another, Christopher Snider, a poor German boy, who died the next morning.
The excitement was intense, the funeral of the boy was attended by the revolutionists, and the event taken advantage of to fire the passions of the people. On the 20th of April, Richardson was tried for his life and brought in guilty of murder. Chief Justice Hutchinson viewed the guilt of Richardson, as everybody would now, a clear case of justifiable homicide, and consequently refused to sign a warrant for his execution,and after lying in prison two years, was, on application to the King, pardoned and set at liberty.[249]To reward Richardson for what he had suffered, he was appointed in 1773 as an officer of the Customs of Philadelphia.
Historians have treated Richardson very unfairly, and caused his memory to be execrated. He was a Custom House officer, and the duties of his office caused him to seize smuggled goods, as any custom house officer would at the present time, previous to that he belonged to the secret service division for the detection of illicit traders, on this account he has always been contemptuously called an "informer". He was not any worse than hundreds of secret service agents employed at the present time by the United States Government, to detect law-breakers. They are of course detested by the criminal classes, and the mountaineer moonshiners of Kentucky consider it no crime to kill them, when the opportunity offers. After Richardson's release, he went to Philadelphia to reside, so as to escape mob violence; the malignity of the revolutionists, however, followed him, and a scurrilous effusion was published there entitled "The Life and Humble Confession of Richardson the Informer."
The broadside was embellished with a rude wood cut of Richardson firing into the mob, and the killing of the boy Snider. The same has been recently republished, and the author states "Whatever facts it may contain, are doubtless expanded beyond the limits of the actual truth."[250]
Thomas Loring came from Axminster in Devonshire, England, to Dorchester with his wife, Jane, whose maiden name was Newton, in the year 1634, they removed to Hingham, and finally settled and died at Hull in 1661, leaving many descendants, who still reside in Hull, and Hingham.
Commodore Joshua Loringwas descended from Thomas Loring. He was born at Boston, Aug. 3, 1716. He was apprenticed to Mr. Mears, a tanner of Roxbury. When he was of age he went to sea. About 1740 he married Mary, daughter of Samuel Curtice, of Roxbury. In 1744 he was master of a Brigantine Privateer of Boston, and while cruising near Louisburg, was taken by two French Men of War.
He purchased an estate in 1752, on Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, of Joshua Cheever, on which he erected what has since been known as the Greenough mansion. It is said to have been framed in England and was one of the finest residences in Roxbury. It was situated opposite the intersection of Center and South streets, opposite the soldiers' monument.
On December 19, 1757, He was commissioned captain in the British Navy, was Commodore of the naval forces on Lakes Champlain and Ontario, and participated in the capture of Quebec under Wolfe, and in the conquest of Canada in the succeeding campaign of Amherst. He was severely wounded in the leg while in command on Lake Ontario, and at the close of the war he retired on half pay, at which time he settled down at Jamaica Plain, Roxbury. He was one of the five Commissioners of the revenue, and General Gage by writ of mandamus appointed him a member of his Council, and he was sworn in Aug. 17, 1774. This immediately subjected him to the strictest surveillance by the revolutionists, and the greatest pressure was brought to bear upon him to throw up the obnoxious office. A diarist, under date of Aug. 29, speaking of a Roxbury town meeting recently held says, "Late in the evening a member visited Commodore Loring, and in a friendly way advised him to follow the example of his townman Isaac Winslow, (who had already resigned). He desired time to consider it. They granted it, but acquainted him if he did not comply he must expect to be waited on by a large number, actuated by a different spirit. (Tarred and feathered and rode on a rail). On the morning of the Lexington battle, after passing most of the previous night in consultation with Deacon Joseph Brewer, his neighbor and intimate friend, upon the step he was about to take, he mounted his horse, left his home and everything belonging to it, never to return again, and pistol in hand, rode at full speed to Boston, stopping on the way only to answer an old friend, who asked 'Are you going, Commodore?' 'Yes,' he replied. 'I have always eaten the king's bread, and always intend to.'" The sacrifice must have been especially painful to him, for he was held in high esteem by his friends and neighbors, but he could not spurn the hand that had fed him, and rather than do a dishonorable act, he would sacrifice all he possessed, even the land of his birth. At the evacuation he went to England. He received a pension from the crown until his decease at Highgate, in October, 1781, at the age of sixty-five. Joshua Loring was proscribed, banished and his large estate confiscated. His mansion house was in May, 1775, headquarters of General Nathaniel Greene, and afterwards for a brief period, a hospital for American soldiers, many of whom were buried on the adjacent grounds. Later Captain Isaac Sears bought the property of the State, and lived there for several years.
Mary, his widow, was through the influence of Lord North, pensioned for life; she settled at Englesfield, Berkshire County, England, where she died in 1789 at the age of eighty.
Joshua Loring, Jr.was a twin brother of Benjamin Loring, sons of Commodore Loring. He was born Nov., 1744. He was an Addresser of Governor Hutchinson in 1774, and of Gen. Gage in 1775. One of the last official acts of the latter in Boston was his proclamation of June 7, 1775, appointing Mr. Loring "sole vendue-master and auctioneer." He was High Sheriff and a member of the Ancient and HonorableArtillery Company in 1769. In 1776 he went to Halifax with the Royal Army, and, early the next year, he was appointed Commissary of Prisoners by Sir William Howe. He was severely criticized at the time by the Revolutionists, for cruelties to his unfortunate countrymen who were prisoners, but as Sabine truly says, "it is not easy to ascertain the truth or to determine his personal responsibility in the treatment of prisoners."[252]He was proscribed and banished, and died in England in 1789, aged forty-five. His wife was a Miss Lloyd, to whom he was married at the house of Colonel Hatch in Dorchester in 1769. His son,
Sir John Wentworth Loringwas born in Roxbury, Oct., 1773; was baptized in Trinity church by Rev. D. Walters, Nov. 29; was a midshipman in the British navy, and from 1819 to 1837 was Lieut. Governor of the Royal Naval College. In 1841 was advanced to the rank of Rear Admiral of the Red and in 1847 was promoted Vice Admiral of the White. His son, William, was Captain of the "Scout" in the Royal Navy.
Dr. Benjamin Loring, twin brother of Joshua Loring, Jr., born in 1744, graduated at Harvard College in 1772. He was a Surgeon in a Regiment in the King's service in South Carolina. At the peace, accompanied by his family of five persons, and by one servant, he went from New York to Shelburne, Nova Scotia. His losses in consequences of his loyalty were estimated at $15,000. He was an absentee but not proscribed. He returned to Boston and died there in 1798, aged sixty-five.
Commodore John Loring, son of Commodore Joshua, was a midshipman in the Royal Navy, at fourteen years of age. In 1776 he was one of four prisoners taken in the schooner Valent, and sent into Boston, as there was no place provided for prisoners he was sent to Concord Jail by the Council, who ordered "that Edward Marsh, and John Loring should not use pen or paper, nor any one allowed to speak to them, but in the presence of the jailor". His uncle Obediah Curtis being a very influential man, interceded for him so strenuously, he being but quite a youth, that he was released and sent to the care of Col. Buckminster of Framingham, his wife's father. His kind host was in danger of having his home demolished for harboring a "young Tory", on account of the young man calling his neighbors "rascally rebels." In 1776 he was exchanged and returned to England. He was early a Post Captain. In 1793 he had command of the British Squadron in the Camatic. In 1803 he had command of the Frigate Bellerophon (which in 1813 conveyed Napoleon to St. Helena) and captured the French Frigate Duquesne, 74 guns, and a national schooner. In the same year he was Commodore ofthe British Fleet off Cape Francoix, which blockaded and defeated the French squadron, and the troops under Rochambeau, Nov. 30, 1803. Commodore John Loring died at his seat in Farehan, Nov. 9, 1808, leaving a widow and children. The Naval service lost in him "one of its most brave, zealous and humane officers." He married Miss Macneal of Campleton Argyleshire, a lady of great beauty. His son Hector, became captain of the Howe, 120 guns, of the Royal Navy. He married Miss Charlotte Jessy, daughter of James Jamison of the Royal Bengal Medical Service. His eldest son John, a midshipman on board of the Eurylas, in 1820, died of the yellow fever at Bermuda.
Joseph Royal Loring, son of Commodore Joshua, probably never married. He was captain of the Brigantine "William," owned by Richard Clarke and Sons, of Boston, engaged in bringing tea from London to Boston. It was the fourth and last vessel on the East India Company's account to sail there. She was cast ashore at Provincetown on Cape Cod. The tea was saved and conveyed to the Castle in Boston Harbor. Very little is known afterwards of Captain Royal Loring.
LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO JOSHUA LORING IN SUFFOLK COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.
To John Keyes, Aug. 31, 1779; Lib. 130, fol. 191; Land 19 A., mansion house and barn in Roxbury, Joshua Loring N. and N.E.; Lemuel May E.; Ebenezer Weld S.; road leading to Dedham W.; then running S.; E. and N. on land of John Keyes.To Isaac Sears, Oct. 28, 1779; Lib. 130, fol. 237; Farm, 54 A. 3 qr. 9 r., and mansion house in Roxbury, road leading by Jamaica meeting-house to Boston W.; heirs of Mr. Burroughs deceased N. and N.W.; lane N.E.; lane and Capt. May E.; land of Joshua Loring, absentee, now of John Keyes S.——5 1-2 A. salt marsh, creek W.; Mr. Bowdoin S.; heirs of Joseph Weld deceased E.; heirs of John Williams deceased N.To James Swan, Feb. 1, 1782; Lib. 134, fol. 6; Wood or pasture land, 8 A. 31 r., in Brookline, road W.; Mr. Crafts N.W. and N.E.; Capt. Baker S.E.To John Tufts, Apr. 28. 1783; Lib. 138, fol. 101; Land and dwelling-house in Boston, common or training-field N.W.; West St. N E.; David Colson S.E.; heirs or assigns of Dr. George Stewart S.W.To Ellis Gray, Nov 23, 1795; Lib. 181, fol. 275; Wood and pasture land, 24 1-2 A. 7 r., in Roxbury, near Henry Williams; Caleb Williams and Mr. Morries S.E.; Ebenezer Chanies S.W.; Mr. Bourn N.W. and N.E.
To John Keyes, Aug. 31, 1779; Lib. 130, fol. 191; Land 19 A., mansion house and barn in Roxbury, Joshua Loring N. and N.E.; Lemuel May E.; Ebenezer Weld S.; road leading to Dedham W.; then running S.; E. and N. on land of John Keyes.
To Isaac Sears, Oct. 28, 1779; Lib. 130, fol. 237; Farm, 54 A. 3 qr. 9 r., and mansion house in Roxbury, road leading by Jamaica meeting-house to Boston W.; heirs of Mr. Burroughs deceased N. and N.W.; lane N.E.; lane and Capt. May E.; land of Joshua Loring, absentee, now of John Keyes S.——5 1-2 A. salt marsh, creek W.; Mr. Bowdoin S.; heirs of Joseph Weld deceased E.; heirs of John Williams deceased N.
To James Swan, Feb. 1, 1782; Lib. 134, fol. 6; Wood or pasture land, 8 A. 31 r., in Brookline, road W.; Mr. Crafts N.W. and N.E.; Capt. Baker S.E.
To John Tufts, Apr. 28. 1783; Lib. 138, fol. 101; Land and dwelling-house in Boston, common or training-field N.W.; West St. N E.; David Colson S.E.; heirs or assigns of Dr. George Stewart S.W.
To Ellis Gray, Nov 23, 1795; Lib. 181, fol. 275; Wood and pasture land, 24 1-2 A. 7 r., in Roxbury, near Henry Williams; Caleb Williams and Mr. Morries S.E.; Ebenezer Chanies S.W.; Mr. Bourn N.W. and N.E.
The most prominent name in Massachusetts History is that of Winthrop. Governor John Winthrop has been called the "Father of Boston." From the date of the first settlement of Massachusetts to the present time, the name of Winthrop has been prominent in each generation.
The family of Winthrops of Groton Manor, Suffolk County, England, took its name by tradition, from the village of Winthrope, near Newark, in Nottinghamshire. The earliest ancestor of whom anything is known with certainty is
I. Adam Winthrop, known to have been living at Lavenham, in Suffolk in 1498, who had, by his wife Jane Burton, a son—
II. Adam Winthrop second of that name, born in Lavenham, Oct. 9, 1498, died in Groton, Nov. 9, 1562, who became a wealthy London merchant, acquired the manor of Groton, near Lavenham, in 1544; was inscribed Armiger by Edward VI. in 1548, and in 1551 was Master of the influential Company of Clothworkers. He had thirteen children, several of whom became distinguished. His third son was—
III. Adam Winthrop, third of that name, who came into possession of Groton Manor. He was born in London, Aug. 10th, 1548, died at Groton March 28, 1623. He was a lawyer and county magistrate, and married Alice, sister of Dr. John Still, Bishop of Bath and Wells. His only son was—
IV. John Winthrop, born Jan. 12, and died in Boston, March 26, 1649. He was a lawyer and magistrate, and became a great Puritan leader, and led the greatest emigration that had ever gone forth from England up to this time. In February, 1630, preparations began to be made with vigor for the embarkation of a great colony, by the end of the month a fleet of fourteen vessels was ready with men, women and children, and all necessary men of handicrafts, and others of good condition, wealth, and quality, to make a firm plantation. In this fleet were congregated the forefathers of Massachusetts, with their wives and little ones, about to quit forever their native country, kindred, friends, and acquaintances. They were to leave the land of their fathers, perhaps forever, to break assunder those chords of affection, which so powerfully bind a good man to his native soil, and to dissolve those tender associations which constitute the bliss of civil society, and to seek in an unknown wilderness, a new home, which in time would become a great nation. On the 8th of June, 1630, the fleet sighted land, Mt. Desert, and regaled themselves with fish of their own catching. "So pleasant a scene here they had, as did much refresh them, and there came a smell off the shore, like the smell of a garden." On the 12th, they came to anchor in Salem harbor, and by 14th of July, thirteen out of the fourteen ships had arrived safely, the other vessel, the Mary & John, was the first to arrive, and had landed their passengers at Dorchester. Governor Winthrop, after his arrival at Salem, determined to remove to a point of land between two rivers flowing into Boston Harbor, and named the town Charlestown, in honor of Charles I. The next year the Governor caused the settlement to remove across the Charles river to another point of land called by the Indians "Shawmut," signifying the place of living waters, which caused the removal there. The Governor settled alongside of the "Great Spring" on the present site of the Old South church, next to Spring Lane, which runs into Water street, hence the name. The place was called Boston, named after Boston, Lincolnshire, England, from which place some of the settlers came, and the County was named Suffolk.Thus Boston was settled by the English Puritans under the leadership of Governor Winthrop.[253]
Governor Winthrop had five daughters and two sons, the elder resided chiefly in Connecticut and the younger in Massachusetts, generally known as, VI, Wait Still Winthrop or Wait Winthrop, born in Boston, Feb. 27, 1642, died Nov. 7, 1717. A soldier of the Indian wars, for more than thirty years Major General commanding the Provincial Forces of Mass., Judge of the Superior Court, Judge of Admiralty and some time Chief Justice of Mass. He married Mary, daughter of Hon. William Brown, of Salem, by whom he had one daughter, Ann, wife of Thomas Lechmere, brother of Lord Lechmere, and an only son, VII, John Winthrop, born in Boston, Aug. 26, 1681, died at Sydenham Aug. 1, 1742, graduated at Harvard College in 1700. Failing to receive the political preferment to which claim he conceived a sort of hereditary claim, he went to England to reside in 1727. He became an active member of Royal Society, of whose transactions one volume is dedicated to him, he resided there until his death. He had five daughters and two sons, the eldest, VIII, John Still Winthrop, born in Boston, Jan. 15, 1720, died June 6, 1776. Graduated at Yale College in 1737. In early life he resided with his father in England, and occasionally in Boston, but after his marriage, chiefly in New London, Conn., where he built a large house, still standing at the head of Winthrop's Cove, described in 1787 as the best house in the Province. He had fourteen children, five daughters and nine sons. Of his sons, two died in childhood. John and William died unmarried. Francis Bayard Winthrop went to New York, also Benjamin Winthrop. Joseph Winthrop went to Charleston, S. C.
Thomas Lindall Winthrop.Born March 6, 1760, died in Boston, Feb. 21, 1841. Graduated at Harvard College 1780, was Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts from 1826 to 1833. He married in 1786, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Temple, Bart., and granddaughter of James Bowdoin of Boston, Governor of Massachusetts. Their son, the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, was the most conspicuous member of the family in America for a long period. In his memoir of the Winthrop family he says "From the above five brothers descend the numerous branches of the Winthrop family, now widely scattered in different parts of the United States and Europe."[254]It does not appear that either of them joined the revolutionists or took any part in the war, except the youngest son, who was a staunch loyalist, and was of great service to his country.
The youngest son of John Still Winthrop, was, IX, Robert Winthrop, the subject of this sketch, born in New London, Dec. 7, 1764, died at Dover, England, May 10, 1832. During the Revolution he was appointed a Midshipman in the Royal Navy. In 1790 he was a Lieutenant; andsix years later a Post Captain. He attained the rank of Rear Admiral in 1809, and of Vice Admiral in 1830. He served on board of the flagship of Sir George B. Rodney in the memorable victory over the French April 12, 1782. The French Admiral, Count de Grasse, fresh from his victory at Yorktown, had refitted at Martinique's dock yards, and with the assistance of the Spaniards, who had fitted out a fleet at Havana, intended to capture Jamaica, and drive the English out of the West Indies. All the Lesser Antilles were his own, except St. Lucia. There alone the English flag still flew as Rodney lay in the harbor of Castries, and saw the French fleet becalmed under the high lands of Dominica. All day long the cannon roared, and one by one the French ships struck their flags or fought on till they sank. Rodney's flagship came alongside of the Ville de Paris, the pride of France and the largest ship in the world, on which De Grasse commanded in person. He fought after all hope had gone, with her masts shattered, her decks littered with mangled limbs and bodies. He gave up his sword to Rodney. The French fleet was destroyed, fourteen thousand were killed, besides the prisoners. On that memorable day the British Empire was saved and Yorktown was avenged. He was at the conquest of Martinique and St. Lucia in 1794, also captured a French corvette. He was wrecked in the frigate Undaunted. He was on duty in the North Sea. He superintended the landing of troops in the expedition against Ostend. Entrusted with a small squadron to cruise off Holland, his boats burned a store-ship, made prize of fifteen merchant vessels, a sloop-of-war, and an armed schooner. He assisted in the capture of the Helder. Stranded in the frigate Stag, he was compelled, after saving her stores, to burn her. Stationed on the coast of Spain, in the Ardent of sixty-four guns, he drove on shore a French frigate, which was set on fire and burned by her own crew. Such is the bare outline of the great services he rendered on the ocean.
In 1807 the Sea Fencibles of the Dover district was placed under his orders. He married Miss Farbrace. He died at Dover in 1832. Two sons and four daughters survived him.
Colonel Estes Hatch was one of the most prominent and wealthy men of Dorchester. He owned many negro slaves who worked on his extensive estate, comprising sixty acres of land on the southerly side of Dudley street, lying part in Roxbury and a part in Dorchester. It included Little Woods, afterward known as Swan's woods.
Col. Hatch commanded the Troop of Horse, in Boston, led a company at the capture of Louisberg and died in 1759. He was prominent in town affairs, and held the principal military offices, and at the time of his death was Brigadier General of Horse. His wife was Mary, daughterof Rev. Benjamin Rolfe, her father and mother and their youngest child were killed by the Indians in their home at Haverhill in 1708. Col. Hatch and Mary Rolfe were married Nov. 9th, 1716.
Nathaniel Hatch, son of Col. Hatch, graduated at Harvard College in 1742, and subsequently held the office of Clerk of the Courts. He was a firm loyalist, and at the evacuation of Boston in 1776, he went to Halifax with the British troops. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished, and in 1779 was included in the Conspiracy Act, by which his large and valuable estate was confiscated, it was bought afterwards by Captain James Swan, who paid £18,000 for it, and who soon afterwards offered it to Gov. Hancock for £45,000. Writing to Hancock, Swan say: "The mansion house can be refitted in as elegant a manner as it once was for about £4,000." During Swan's residence here he made the house a seat of hospitality, entertaining among others persons of distinction. The Marquis de Viomel, second in command of Rochambeau's army, Admiral d'Estaing, the Marquis de Lafayette and General Knox.[255]
Nathaniel Hatch married July 7, 1755, Elizabeth Lloyd. They had several children. Paxton, born Oct. 9, 1758; Mary, born Jan. 14, 1760; Addington, born Sept. 22, 1761; Jane, born March 10, 1767; Susannah Paxton, born March 13, 1770. Nathaniel Hatch died in 1780.
LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO NATHANIEL HATCH IN SUFFOLK COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.
To Samuel Dunn, Jr., July 11, 1781; Lib. 132, fol. 263; Land, 60 A.; and mansion house in Dorchester, road to Dorchester meeting house N.; Jonas Humphrey, Thomas Wiswall and James Bird E. and S.; John Holbrook S.; John Williams, Samuel Humphrey and brook between Dorchester and Roxbury W. and N.
To Samuel Dunn, Jr., July 11, 1781; Lib. 132, fol. 263; Land, 60 A.; and mansion house in Dorchester, road to Dorchester meeting house N.; Jonas Humphrey, Thomas Wiswall and James Bird E. and S.; John Holbrook S.; John Williams, Samuel Humphrey and brook between Dorchester and Roxbury W. and N.
Of Boston. When the Royal Army evacuated that town, March 17, 1776, cannon, shot, and shells were left on his wharf, and in the dock. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. He accepted a commission under the crown, and was a Captain in the Loyal American regiment. He was wounded and commended for his gallantry. At the peace he retired on half pay, about £80 per annum. He was a grantee of the city of St. John, N. B., soon after going there established himself as a merchant near the frontier, and finally at St. Andrews. He was a magistrate, and colonel, in the militia. He died at St. Andrews, 1819, aged seventy. Elizabeth, his widow, died at the same place, 1830, at the age of seventy-five.
Harris Hatch, son of Christopher, was a gentleman of consideration in New Brunswick, where he held the office of Member of her Majesty'sCouncil Commission of Bankruptcies, Surrogate, Registrar of Deeds, member of the Board of Education, Lieut. Colonel in the Militia, and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas.
Hawes Hatch, of Boston, brother of Christopher Hatch. He went to Halifax with the Royal Army in 1776. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. He entered the service, and in 1782 was a captain in De Lancey's Second Battalion. He retired on half pay at the close of the war, and was a grantee of the city of St. John. For some years after the Revolution, he lived at and near Eastport, Maine, on the frontier. He died at Lebanon, N. H., in 1807.[256]