Chapter XXVIII: Part II: Biographical Sketches (14)

He probably came with Governor Winthrop's fleet to America. His first appearance in the Boston records appeared June 14, 1631. Thomas Goldthwaite settled in Roxbury where his name appears as "Thomas Gouldthwaight" in Rev. John Eliot's list of his church members, Eliot having begun his pastorate there in 1632. Thomas was made a freeman in Massachusetts, May 14, 1634. In 1636 he appears in Salem where, as an inhabitant he was granted ten acres of land. His first house lot has been located by some of the best antiquarian authority, as on the southwest corner of Essex and Flint Streets in Salem. In 1636 he married his first wife. Her death occurred some time before 1671 and he then married Rachel Leach, of Salem. He was called "Constable Gouldthwaight" at a meeting of the selectmen, December 14, 1659. Thomas died in March, 1683, at about the age of seventy-three, his wife Rachel surviving him. He left three children, Samuel, Mehitable, and Elizabeth.

SAMUEL GOLDTHWAITE, (of the second generation) like his father, was a cooper, and lived in Salem. For many years during his lifetime and that of his immediate descendants, four family homesteads lay side by side on the original Goldthwaite farm, opposite the site where the Peabody church afterwards was built. He died about the year 1718, leaving ten children and perhaps more.

CAPTAIN JOHN GOLDTHWAITE (of the third generation), son of the former, was born in Salem in 1677. By trade he was a mason and early settled in Boston where he married, March 13, 1701, Sarah Hopkins. They were married by the Rev. Cotton Mather of whose church John Goldthwaite was a member. After the death of Cotton Mather he was one of three who took inventory July 22, 1728. His home was in Boston until 1725, and the birthplace of all his children was on the north side of Charter Street, near Copp's Hill burying-ground, on the property given to his wife and her sisters by their uncle, Major Thomas Henchman. He sold this place May 17, 1725, and removed to another estate he had purchased on the southeast side of Mill pond. Here he passed the remainder of his life. His son Ezekiel inherited the estate after his father's death, and sold it to Thomas Sherburn, his brother-in-law.

Sarah Goldthwaite died Oct. 31, 1715, at the age of thirty-five and is buried in Copp's Hill. John Goldthwaite married Mrs. Jane Halsey of Boston as his second wife. From 1708 to 1758 his name is often mentioned in Boston records. He is one of seventeen named as the founders of the New North church in 1714. His name appears in records of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, and in the town records with the title of captain, in 1741. In his old age he had a barbecue for descendants on North Square. It was held under a tent because they were too numerous to assemble in a house. He died June 25, 1766, and is probably buried in the tomb of his son Ezekiel on Copp's Hill. He had nine children by his first wife and five by his second.

CAPTAIN JOSEPH GOLDTHWAITE (fourth generation) fourth child of John, was born November 11, 1706, in Boston. He married February 8, 1727, Martha Lewis, who was born in Boston and baptized in the second church, Feb. 29, 1707, the daughter of Martha (Burrell) and Philip Lewis. Joseph joined the Artillery Company in 1730 and in 1738 was First Sergeant. In 1745 he joined the Colonial army for the siege of Louisburg and according to records in the British war office, being commissioned adjutant in the first Massachusetts regiment, Honorable William Pepperell, colonel, March 12, 1744-(5) and captain (brevet) March 20, 1744-(5). After his return from the war he became a private citizen, and is seldom spoken of in records by his military title, being rather called esquire, or gentleman. In 1728 he appears as a goldsmith, and later as a merchant, licensed as a retailer at his store on Marlboro Street (part of Washington) in 1737 and again in 1742. He held several appointments and later became constable. His home in 1744 was on Fish, afterwards North Street. In 1773 he and his family retired to a farm purchased by him in western Massachusetts, July 10, 1773, ten acres and mansion house. Here Joseph Goldthwaite died March 1, 1780, aged seventy-two. His widow died October 26, 1783, aged seventy-five, and a double stone marks their graves in Weston. He had ten children.

EZEKIEL GOLDTHWAITE (fourth generation) son of John, born at Boston, July 9, 1710. Married Nov. 2, 1732, Elizabeth Lewis of Boston. For the greater part of his life he was Registrar of Deeds for the County of Suffolk. His first signature as registrar was Nov. 6, 1740. He was an Addresser of Hutchinson in 1774, and a protester against the Revolutionist the same year, although like many other loyalists he was one of the 58 Boston memorialists in 1760 who arrayed themselves against the Crown officials, and having sowed the seeds of sedition, afterwards became alarmed at its results, mob rule.

His last signature as registrar is said to have been written Jan. 17, 1776, two months before the evacuation of Boston. He died seven years later, Dec. 4th, 1782, in his 73rd year. His widow died Feb. 6, 1794, aged 80.

COLONEL THOMAS GOLDTHWAITE (fourth generation) son of John, born in Boston Jan. 15, 1717, married August 26, 1742, Esther Sargent. He became an influential citizen of Chelsea, acting as selectman, moderator of town meetings, and from May, 1757, till his removal from the town, seven years in succession, was its deputy to the House of Representatives, where he was active in introducing important legislation.

He was given many important positions under the Colonial government. In 1763 he was appointed to the command of Fort Pownal, removing his family there from Chelsea. This was an important frontier post, commanding the entrance to the Penobscot River, and offered the advantage, also of a rich trade with Indians, then numerous in those parts. Not long after succeeding to this command in company with Francis Bernard, son of the Governor he purchased a large tract of land, 2,700 acres in the neighborhood of the fort, on condition of their settling thereon thirty families, of building an Episcopal church, and employing a minister. The enterprise was interrupted by the Revolution, in which each side endeavored to get control of all the arms and ammunition possible, and to take into its possession, or render defenceless, such posts as could be held by the enemy. With such an object in view, in April, 1775, Capt. Mowatt, who afterwards burned Falmouth, now Portland, anchored before Fort Pownal, and a letter containing Governor Gage's orders having been delivered to Col. Goldthwaite he carried away the cannon belonging to the fort. The attitude taken by its commander in allowing the fort to be thus disarmed, was never forgiven by the Revolutionists, and he ever after was regarded as a Loyalist. His explanation of his conduct on that occasion is as follows:

"On the 27th of last month about 20 armed men arrived here from St. George's who came in the name, and as a committee from the people of St. George's, and others, who they say had assembled there to the amount of 250; and this party in their name demanded of me the reason of my delivering the cannon belonging to this fort to the King's forces. I went into the fort and got the Governor's letter to me, and it was read to them. I then informed them that this was the King's fort, and built at his expense, that the Governor was commander in-chief of it; that I could not refuse to obey his orders."

Little is known of Col. Goldthwaite between the surrender of Fort Pownal in the spring of 1775 and his arrival in England early in 1780. Gov. Hutchinson mentions in his diary that, "T. Goldthwaite arrived at Portsmouth Feb. 15, 1780." In an entry of the previous Dec. 4, the Governor mentions a call from "young Goldthwaite, son of J. Goldthwaite now at New York." It must have been quite soon after his arrival that Colonel Goldthwaite settled at Walthamstow, Essex, a few miles north of London. Samuel Curwen in his journal speaks of dining with him there July 29, 1782. His son Thomas married Mrs. Primatt, a lady of fortune, in the summer of 1780, and also lived in the town. The houses of both father and son are still there and easily identified, and are in excellent preservation. The Colonel's residence is of brick or stone covered with stucco, the main portion three stories high, and an entrance with Ionic pillars. The grounds are ample and handsomely laid out with well kept walks and planted with trees and shrubbery.

After a life of nearly twenty years spent in retirement in England, Col. Goldthwaite died Aug. 31, 1799, in his 82 year. Mrs. Catharine, his wife, died Dec. 16, 1796, aged 81. They lie buried in Walthamstow church yard.

MAJOR JOSEPH GOLDTHWAITE, (fifth generation), the eldest of Joseph's children, was born in Boston, October 5, 1730. He entered the Boston Latin school in 1738, and probably commenced his military career, which he afterwards followed near the commencement of the French and Indian war, when about twenty-five years old. He married October 5, 1730, Hannah Bridgham, said to have been of Barre, Massachusetts.

In 1759 he appears as Major in the regiment from Boston under the command of Col. John Phillips, January 1, 1760 to January 10, 1761, on the roll of field and staff officers in Colonel Bagley's regiment in service at Louisburg, in which he acted also as paymaster. He served during the campaign of 1762 as Lieut. Colonel of the regiment commanded by Colonel Richard Saltonstall, roll dated Boston, Feb. 19, 1763, in which he is called "of Roxbury." He was addressed at that time as colonel.

October 5, 1768, Joseph Goldthwaite was appointed as Commissary to the British troops who had been quartered in Boston on account of the resistance the inhabitants had shown to the custom officials. In Massachusetts Historical Society's collections, Vol. X, p. 121, is printed a list of the different nations of Indians that met Sir William Johnson at Niagara, July, 1764, to make peace in behalf of their tribes which was "inclosed in a letter from Colonel Joseph Goldthwaite of Boston, to Dr. Stiles, A. D. 1766."[227]

[227] Dr. Ezra Stiles, afterwards President of Yale College, and at this
time a settled minister at Newport.

Among the Goldthwaites who remained loyal to the crown, Major Joseph was one of the strongest. He was an Addresser of Hutchinson in 1775, and during the siege he passed the winter in Boston. At the evacuation he accompanied the British army to Halifax, and thence to Quebec. Nine days before his departure from Boston he wrote a letter to his uncle Ezekiel Goldthwaite, Esq., of Boston, acquainting him with his property and the household goods he had left behind. "In short, I leave behind me at least three thousand pounds sterling. You give the enclosed to my wife, if you can meet her. When I shall see her God only knows. Don't let her want for anything."[228]

[228] Goldthwaite Genealogy compiled and published by Charlotte
Goldthwaite.

Some experiences of Major Joseph's wife, Mrs. Hannah, while her husband was shut up in Boston with the British army, appear in the Journal of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.[229]

[229] See Forces American Archives. Vol. III, pp. 312, 314, 355.

August 4, 1775, Mrs. Goldthwaite with her sister-in-law and a Mrs. Chamberlain, left Boston with a horse and chaise and crossed the Winnisimmet Ferry. She was arrested and taken under guard to the general court at Watertown. It appeared on her examination that her health was impaired, and an order was passed to allow her to visit Stafford for the benefit of the waters there, but under the care of the Selectmen, and afterwards to retire to the house of her brother Joseph Bridgham at Rehoboth, and to be under the committee of correspondence. It was Colonel Loammi Baldwin who had them arrested and taken to Watertown and according to his account, it was an act on their part which must have required considerable courage "no such instance having happened before," the city being then closely besieged.

Mrs. Goldthwaite petitioned the court to allow her to use the waters in Newton instead of at Stafford, her health being very delicate, and the petition was accompanied by her physician's certificate. This was granted to her and she probably remained through the siege at Newton where the family of Mr. Benjamin Goldthwaite had also taken refuge. After the siege she returned to Boston where she died, probably never seeing her husband again.

Major Goldthwaite from Quebec, went to New York, and his death occurred there October 3, 1779. He had been proscribed and banished in 1778. It was at this time he drew up his will, which is at Somerset House, London, dated Feb. 11, 1778. As he died childless, he bequeathed his property to his brother's and sister's children "provided that none of them are Rebels, and have borne arms against their King, otherwise to go to the next eldest son of the same family who is loyal, and true to his King, and country." Of the several Goldthwaite Loyalists, Major Joseph was one of the most uncompromising in his devotion to his King and country.

CAPTAIN PHILIP GOLDTHWAITE, (fifth generation), brother to Major Joseph Goldthwaite, was born in Boston, March 27th, 1733. He was a member of the Boston Latin School in 1741. He married June 7, 1756, Mary Jordan of Biddeford. His title of captain seems to have come from his command of vessels, and it is interesting to note that in every generation of his descendants to the present day there have been more or less who have chosen the same occupation.

Captain Philip was an officer of the Customs at Winter Harbor, and remained loyal when the war broke out. Sabin says he was one of the two persons of Saco and Biddeford dealt with by the Revolutionists of that section for their loyal principles and that as soon as the war commenced he placed himself under British protection at Boston. An earlier record in regard to him says: "Captain Philip Goldthwaite was brought before the New Hampshire Committee of Safety at Portsmouth, Nov. 23, 1775, on suspicion of being unfriendly to the liberties of America. Upon examination nothing appearing against him, ordered that he be dismissed."

There can be no doubt however, as to Captain Philip's real sentiments. The atmosphere in which he was living must soon have become unendurable to one holding his opinions, and therefore we soon find him in England, where he appears as early as 1780, at that date taking out his brother's administration papers. He bought an annuity in the king's household and became one of the Gentlemen of the bed chamber. In October, 1786, it appears from the probate records at Boston, that he had died probably at sea, for Edward Daws of Boston, trader, is administrator of the estate of Philip Goldthwait, late of Boston, mariner. His inventory contained clothes, a quadrant, books and chest, and amounted to L7, 10 s. He left several sons and daughters, whose descendants are now quite numerous.

SAMUEL GOLDTHWAITE, (fifth generation), brother of the aforesaid Philip, was born in Boston, March 20th, 1735, and married Amy Borden of Newport, R. I., where he became a prominent merchant. He very early came under suspicion as having loyalist sentiments. After the death of his brother, Major Joseph, in New York, October, 1779, he petitioned the Rhode Island General Assembly representing that his brother had lately died in New York, leaving a large estate there in the hands of persons who were wasting it, also that he had been authorized to settle it if he could obtain permission to go to New York, asking to be allowed to do so, and to return with the effects when obtained, which petition the Council, after consideration, granted.

He did not, however, return, and in July 1780, an act was passed by the Rhode Island Assembly, proscribing persons that had left the state and joined the enemy, ordered if they returned they should be apprehended, and imprisoned or transported. "Samuel Goldthwaite, merchant, late of Newport," was included in the list. Orders were also given under the same date that such property as he left in Newport should be inventoried and taken into possession of the Sheriff. About this time Samuel had gone to England on business connected with the settlement of his father's and brother's estates, for in the same year he was administrator on them in London. One year later he had returned to his wife Amy, at that time preferring a petition to the Rhode Island Assembly, stating that her husband was then in New York, and had requested her, with her family, to come to him, and praying the Assembly to permit her with her family, furniture, and effects, to go to him there by the first opportunity. The petition was granted and she went in a cartel vessel under the direction of William Taggart. The family settled in Baltimore after the Revolution, and have left many descendants there.

DR. MICHAEL B. GOLDTHWAITE, (fifth generation), son of Joseph, of Boston, born there Jan. 5th, 1740, married Sarah Formon, March 8th, 1759. He was an eminent surgeon and attended the army at the taking of Louisburg. Like most physicians of that day, he kept an apothecary shop, which was in 1774 on Hanover Street. He was an Addresser of both Hutchinson and Gage. He died in 1776. He was an ardent sympathizer with the loyalists.

LIEUTENANT HENRY GOLDTHWAITE, (fifth generation) son of Colonel Thomas, of Walthamstow, England, born at Chelsea, March 29, 1759, married in England, Sarah Winch of Brampton, Oxon. Henry's name is found as one of the garrison of Fort Pownal Oct. 23, 1775. He afterwards entered the British Army remaining in America, in that service, for some years after most of his family had taken up their abode in England. The records of the British War Office show that he was ensign, Independent Co. Invalids, Nov. 13, 1793. Lieutenant Royal Garrison Battalion, Sept. 9, 1795, and lieutenant half pay Oct. 31, 1796. He died at sea, in the Mediterranean early in 1800. He left two sons, Charles, born 1796, and Henry Barnes, born 1797, whose descendants are living in England.

LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO JOSEPH GOLDTHWAIT IN SUFFOLK
COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.

To Perez Morton, Sept. 24, 1782: Lib. 136, fol. 9: One undivided
half of land, distill house and other buildings in Boston. Pecks
Lane W.; John Osbourn N., N.W.; N.E. and N.; Francis Johonnot E.;
the sea S.

JOHN HOWE.

Abraham Howe came to Dorchester in 1636; was admitted Freeman May 2, 1637, he came from Broad Oak, Essex County, England, and died at Dorchester, Nov. 20th, 1683. His son Isaac Howe, was baptized in Roxbury in 1655. Isaac had a son Isaac, born in Dorchester, July 7, 1675. He had a son Joseph, born in Dorchester, March 27, 1716, who was the father of John Howe, born in Boston, October 14, 1754. Joseph Howe was a reputable tradesman in Marshall's Lane. He apprenticed his son to learn the printing business.

Richard Draper, the publisher of the _Massachusetts Gazette_, and _Boston News Letter_ died June 5, 1774. He left no children. His wife conducted the business for several months, and then formed a business connection with John Howe.

Howe had recently become of age, and was a sober, discreet young man. Mrs. Draper, therefore, was induced, a short time before the commencement of the war, to take him into partnership, but his name did not appear in the imprint of the Massachusetts Gazette till Boston was besieged by the Continental Army.

Howe remained with his partner until they were obliged to leave Boston in consequence of the evacuation of the town by the British troops, March 17, 1776, when they went to Halifax, from there he went to Newport, R. I., when the British took possession of the town December 8th.

John Howe was married at Newport by Rev. George Bisset, Rector of Trinity Church, to Miss Martha Minns. Mr. William Minns accompanied his daughter from Boston, and was present at the ceremony. William Minns was born at Great Yarmouth, England, December 16, 1728. In 1737 he accompanied his uncle, Robert Ball, and his widowed mother, and came to Boston. Miss Martha Minns was sixteen years of age when she married John Howe. She was noted for her beauty and her portrait is still in possession of her family. The issue of this marriage was three sons and three daughters.

Mr. Howe commenced the publication of a newspaper for the British at Newport; it was called The Newport Gazette, and the first paper was issued January 16, 1777.

The last number of a bound volume of this paper in possession of the Redwood Library at Newport, is dated January 15, 1778, but the publication of the paper probably continued till the evacuation of Newport by the British, October 25, 1779.

The paper was published in a house on the opposite side of the Parade, the Vaughn estate, now a market. A recent writer says:

"During the time the British were in possession of Newport, it was the office of the Newport 'Gazette,' the paper printed by the British on the press and type of the Newport 'Mercury.' Before that the 'Mercury' was printed by Solomon Southwick, in Queen Street, but when the island fell into the hands of the enemy, Southwick, as is well-known, buried his type in the rear of what was the old Kilburn House on Broad Street (now Broadway) and left the town. The loyalists recovered the type, and a printer named Howe began the printing of the 'Gazette.'"

A bound file of the newspaper published by Mr. Howe is in the possession of the Redwood Library. It runs, with a few numbers missing, from No. 1, to No. 52, January 15, 1778.

The first number was issued Jan. 16, 1777, with the following introduction.

"The Favours which the Subscriber has received from the Gentlemen
of the _Army and Navy_, in Boston and elsewhere, joined with the
Importunities of many of the Inhabitants of this Town, has induced
him, as speedily as possible, to gratify them with a _Newspaper_.
He can only say, that his best endeavors shall not be wanting to
render it as entertaining as possible: And he has nothing to wish
for, but the Exercise of that Candour he hath so often before been
indebted to. Its _size_ is at present contracted, owing to the
Impossibility of procuring larger printing Paper; but if more
Intelligence should at any Time arrive, than this can contain, the
Deficiency will be supplied with a _Supplement_. No Subscriptions
are received; but if any Gentlemen choose to have the Paper weekly
the Boy shall leave it at their houses. Articles of intelligence
will be thankfully received and every favor gratefully
acknowledged, by their

Obedient humble servant,
JOHN HOWE."

The British evacuated Newport, October 25, 1779, and Mr. and Mrs. Howe accompanied them to New York, and thence removed to Halifax and took up their permanent abode there, on the corner of Sackville and Barrington Streets. Here on Friday, January 5th, 1781, he published the first issue of the Halifax Journal, a paper that continued to be published regularly until 1870. It is said that Mr. Howe brought with him the printing press that had once belonged to Benjamin Franklin, and the first that the philosopher had ever possessed. It did the printing for the Howe family for years. Mr. Howe was for many years King's printer for the Province, which secured to him all the government printing, including the publishing of the official gazette. For some years previous to his death, he held the office of postmaster-general and justice of the peace, and was living at the time of his death, December 29, 1835, at his beautiful residence on the Northwestarm, in good circumstances, and had the respect of the whole community.

Mr. Howe was a Sandemanian, that is, a follower of Robert Sandeman, who came to Boston from Glasgow in 1764; they held their first meetings at the Green Dragon Tavern, and afterwards had a meeting-house in the rear of Middle or Hanover street. This society rejected the belief in the necessity of spiritual conversion, representing faith as an operation of the intellect, and speculative belief as quite sufficient to insure final justification. This sect continued till 1823, when the last light was extinguished in Boston. Many of the Sandemanians were Loyalists, and went to Halifax. They may have built on a sandy foundation, but judging from their fruits, we may charitably conclude that in the main they were correct. Probably they did not like a church and state religion; and that may have been all. The few who were in Halifax met every Lord's day in an upper room, in the building lately used by Baxter as a furniture warehouse on Prince Street. The members, male and female, sat together around a table and took the Lord's Supper. This was weekly. There was singing and prayers, and Mr. Howe would afterward stand up, read a chapter of the Bible, and give an address. No doubt it was very good and simple and delivered with a calm, quiet sort of eloquence. When the meeting was over the brothers and sisters in fellowship, (only the more elderly members) rose and kissed one another, and seemed to be remarkably happy. It is said that in the afternoon of every Sunday the old gentlemen members went down to the room below and dined together, and probably edified one another with religious conversation. Those now living who have ever been with these Sandemanians in that upper room will never forget the calm godly faces of such men as old Mr. Howe, Mr. Greenwood and Mr. Mansfield. Strange to say, none of the Howes, and very few, if any, of the other families have followed in the track of these good men and women as to creed. It is to be hoped that many have been influenced for good by what they may have recalled of such worthy ancestors. Old Mr. Greenwood fell dead in the room while reading, and Mr. Mansfield died the same day from some accidental cause.

In a speech delivered by his son JOSEPH HOWE, in Boston July 4, 1858, he spoke of his father as follows: "The loyalists who left these States were not, it must be confessed, as good republicans as you are, but they loved liberty under their old forms, and their descendants love it too. My father, though a true Briton to the day of his death, loved New England, and old Boston especially, with filial regard. He never lost an opportunity of serving a Boston man, if in his power. At the close of your railway banquet, one gentleman told me that my father had, during the last war, taken his father from the military prison at Melville Island, and sent him back to Boston. Another, on the same evening, showed me a gold watch, sent by an uncle, who died in the West Indies, to his family. It was pawned by a sailor in Halifax, but redeemed by my father, and sent to the dead man's relatives. And so it was all his life. He loved his sovereign, but he loved Boston too, and whenever he got sick in his latter days, we used to send him up here to recruit. A sight of the old scenes and a walk on Boston Common were sure to do him good, and he generally came back uncommonly well." Elsewhere the same son remarked: "For thirty years he was my instructor, my playfellow, almost my daily companion. To him I owe my fondness for reading, my familiarity with the Bible, my knowledge of old colonial and American incidents and characteristics. He left me nothing but his example, and the memory of his many virtues, for all that he ever earned was given to the poor. He was too good for this world. But the remembrance of his high principle, his cheerfulness, his childlike simplicity, and truly Christian character, is never absent from my mind."

Mrs. Martha Howe died Nov. 25, 1790, aged 30 years, and was buried in St. Paul's churchyard, Halifax.

A few years after the death of his first wife, Mr. Howe married Mrs. Austin, a widow with several children, wife of Captain Austin. By her he had two children, Sarah and Joseph. Mrs. Howe died in 1837. He had eight children, and at the present time there are eighty-five of his descendants, out of all these the survivors who bear the name of Howe only number sixteen. Many of his descendants were men of great prominence. His son William Howe, Assistant Commissary-General, who died at Halifax, January, 1843, aged fifty-seven. John Howe, Queen's Printer, and Deputy Postmaster-General, who died at the same place the same year, and David Howe, who published a paper at St. Andrew, N. B., Joseph, born December 13, 1804, became Hon. Joseph Howe, Governor of Nova Scotia in May, 1873.

SAMUEL QUINCY.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL.

Edmund Quincy, the first of the name in New England, landed at Boston on the 4th of September, 1633. He came from Achurch in Northamptonshire, where he owned some landed estate. That he was a man of substance may be inferred from his bringing six servants with him, and that he was a man of weight among the founders of the new commonwealth appears from his election as a representative of the town of Boston in the first General Court ever held in Massachusetts Bay. He was also the first named on the committee appointed by the town to assess and raise the sum necessary to extinguish the title of Mr. Blackstone to the peninsula on which the city stands. He bought of Chickatabut, Sachem of the Massachusetts tribe of Indians, a tract of land at Mount Wollaston, confirmed to him by the Town of Boston, 1636, a portion of which is yet in the family.

Edmund Quincy died the year after making this purchase, in 1637, at the age of 33. He left a son Edmund and a daughter Judith. The son lived, in the main, a private life on the estate in Braintree. He was a magistrate and a representative of his town in the General Court, and Lieutenant-Colonel of the Suffolk Regiment.

Point Judith was named after his daughter. She married John Hull, who, when Massachusetts Bay assumed the prerogative of coining money, was her mint-master, and made a large fortune in the office, before Charles II. put a stop to that infringement of the charter. There is a tradition that, when he married his daughter to Samuel Sewall, afterwards Chief Justice, he gave her for her dowry, her weight in pine-tree shillings. From this marriage has sprung the eminent family of the Sewalls, which has given three Chief Justices to Massachusetts and one to Canada, and has been distinguished in every generation by the talents and virtues of its members.

Lieutenant-Colonel Quincy, who was a child when brought to New England, died in 1698, aged seventy years, having had two sons, Daniel and Edmund.

Daniel died during his father's lifetime, leaving an only son John, who graduated at Cambridge in 1708, and was a prominent public man in the Colony for nearly half a century. He was a Councillor, and for many years Speaker of the Lower House.

He died in 1767, at the time of the birth of his great-grandson, John Quincy Adams, who therefore received the name which he has made illustrious. Edmund, the second son, graduated in 1690, and was also in the public service almost all his life, as a magistrate, a Councillor, and one of the Justices of the Supreme Court. He was also colonel of the Suffolk Regiment, at that time a very important command, since the county of Suffolk then, and long after, included what is now County of Norfolk, as well as the town of Boston. In 1737, the General Court selected him as their agent to lay the claims of the Colony before the home government, in the matter of the disputed boundary between Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire.

He died, however, very soon after his arrival in London, February 23, 1737, of the smallpox, which he had taken by inoculation. He was buried in Bunhill Fields, where a monument was erected to him by the General Court, which also made a grant of land of a thousand acres in the town of Lennox to his family, in further recognition of his public services.

Judge Edmund Quincy had two sons, Edmund and Josiah.

The first named, who graduated at Cambridge in 1722, lived a private life at Braintree and in Boston.

One of his daughters married John Hancock, the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, and afterwards Governor of Massachusetts. Josiah was born in 1709, and took his first degree in 1728. He accompanied his father to London in 1737, and afterwards visited England and the Continent more than once.

For some years he was engaged in commerce and ship-building in Boston, and when about forty years of age he retired from business and removed to Braintree, where he lived for thirty years the life of a country gentleman, occupying himself with the duties of a county magistrate, and amusing himself with field sports. Game of all sorts abounded in those days in the woods and along the shore, and marvellous stories have come down, by tradition, of his feats with gun and rod. He was Colonel of the Suffolk Regiment, as his father had been before him; he was also Commissioner to Pennsylvania during the old French war to ask the help of that Colony in an attack which Massachusetts Bay had planned upon Crown Point. He succeeded in his mission by the help of Doctor Franklin.

Colonel Josiah Quincy, by his first marriage, had three sons, Edmund, Samuel, Josiah, and one daughter, Hannah. His first wife was Hannah Sturgis, daughter of John Sturgis, one of his Majesty's Council, of Yarmouth. His eldest son, Edmund, graduated in 1752, after which he became a merchant in Boston. He was in England in 1760 for the purpose of establishing mercantile correspondences. He died at sea in 1768, on his return from a voyage for his health to the West Indies.

The youngest son of Colonel Josiah Quincy bore his name, and was therefore known to his contemporaries, and takes his place in history, as Josiah Quincy, Junior, he having died before his father, he was born February 23, 1744, and graduated at Harvard College, 1763. He studied law with Oxenbridge Thacher, one of the principal lawyers of that day, and succeeded to his practice at his death, which took place about the time he himself was called to the bar. He took a high rank at once in his profession, although his attention to its demands was continually interrupted by the stormy agitation in men's minds and passions, which preceded and announced the Revolution, and which he actively promoted by his writings and public speeches. On the 5th of March, the day of the so called "Boston Massacre" he was selected, together with John Adams, by Captain Preston, who was accused of having given the word of command to the soldiers that fired on the mob, to conduct his defence and that of his men, they having been committed for trial for murder. At that moment of fierce excitement, it demanded personal and moral courage to perform this duty. His own father wrote him a letter of stern and strong remonstrance against his undertaking the defence of "those criminals charged with the murder of their fellow citizens," exclaiming, with passionate emphasis, "Good God! Is it possible? I will not believe it!"

Mr. Quincy in his reply, reminded his father of the obligations his professional oath laid him under, to give legal counsel and assistance to those accused of a crime, but not proved to be guilty of it; adding: "I dare affirm that you and this whole people will one day rejoice that I became an advocate for the aforesaid criminals, _charged_ with the murder of our fellow citizens. _To inquire my duty and to do it, is my aim._" He did his duty and his prophecy soon came to pass.

There is no more honorable passage in the history of New England than the one which records the trial and acquittal of Captain Preston and his men, in the midst of the passionate excitements of that time, by a jury of the town maddened to a rage but a few months before by the blood of her citizens shed in her streets.

In 1774 he went to England, partly for his health, which had suffered much from his intense professional and political activities, and also as a confidential agent of the Revolutionary party to consult and advise with the friends of America there. His presence in London coming as he did at a most critical moment excited the notice of the ministerial party, as well as of the opposition. The Earl of Hillsborough denounced him, together with Dr. Franklin, in the House of Lords, "as men walking the streets of London who ought to be in Newgate or Tyburn." The precise results of his communications with the English Whigs can never be known. They were important enough, however, to make his English friends urgent for his immediate return to America, because he could give information which could not safely be committed to writing. His health had failed seriously during the latter months of his residence in England, and his physicians strongly advised against his taking a winter voyage.

His sense of public duty, however, overbore all personal considerations, and he set sail on the 16th of March, 1775, and died off Gloucester, Massachusetts, on the 26th of April.

The citizens of Gloucester buried him with all honor in their graveyard; after the siege of Boston, he was removed and placed in a vault in the burying ground in Braintree. Josiah Quincy was barely thirty-one years of age when he thus died.

His father, Colonel Quincy lived on at Braintree during the whole of the war. He died on March 3rd, 1784.

His passion for field sports remained in full force till the end, for his death was occasioned by exposure to the winter's cold, sitting upon a cake of ice, watching for wild ducks, when he was in his seventy-fifth year.

SAMUEL QUINCY, the subject of this memoir, was the second son of Colonel Josiah Quincy, and the brother of Josiah, Junior, and Edmund. He was born in that part of Braintree now Quincy, April 23, 1735. He graduated at Harvard College in 1754, and studied law with Benjamin Pratt.

Endowed with fine talents, Mr. Quincy became eminent in the profession of the law, and succeeded Jonathan Sewall as Solicitor-General of Massachusetts. He was the intimate friend of many of the most distinguished men of that period, among whom was John Adams. They were admitted to the bar on the same day, Nov. 6, 1758.

As Solicitor for the Crown, he was engaged with Robert Treat Paine in the memorable trial of Capt. Preston, and the soldiers in 1770; his brother was opposed to him on that occasion, and both reversed their party sympathies in their professional position. It was plain to all sagacious observers of the signs of the times, that the storm of civil war was gathering fast; and it was sure first to burst over Boston. It was a time of stern agitation, and profound anxieties. In their emotion Mr. Quincy and his wife shared deeply, and passionately. The shadows of public and private calamity were already beginning to steal over that once happy home. The evils of the present and the uncertainties of the future bore heavily on their prosperity. The fierce passions which were soon to break out into revolutionary violence and mob rule, had already begun to separate families, to divide friends, and to break up society. Samuel Quincy was a Loyalist and remained true to his oath of office, wherein he swore to support the government. His father and brother were revolutionists; as previously stated his brother died on shipboard off Gloucester, seven days after the hostilities had commenced at Lexington, and when his father saw from his house on Quincy Bay, the fleet drop down the harbor, after the evacuation of Boston on March 17, 1776, it must have been with feelings of sorrow that the stout-hearted old man saw the vessels bear away his only surviving son, never to return again. Such partings were common griefs then, as ever in civil wars, the bitterest perhaps that wait upon that cruelest of calamities.

Samuel Quincy was an addressor of Governor Hutchinson, and a staunch Loyalist. His wife, the sister of Henry Hill, Esq., of Boston, was not pleased with her husband's course in the politics of the times, and he became a Loyalist against her advice, and when he left Boston, a refugee, she preferred to remain with her brother, and never met her husband again. The following letter written to his brother by Mr. Quincy, during the siege of Boston, will explain his position at that time.[230]

[230] This letter and the following ones are extracts from original
papers, copies of which were communicated by Miss Eliza S. Quincy, and
published In Curwen's Journal and Letters.

To Henry Hill, Esq., Cambridge. Boston, May 13, 1775.

Dear Brother:

There never was a time when sincerity and affectionate unity of
heart could be more necessary than at present. But in the midst of
the confusions that darken our native land, we may still, by a
rectitude of conduct, entertain a rational hope that the Almighty
Governor of the universe will in his own time remember mercy.

I am going, my dear friend, to quit the habitation where I have
been so long encircled with the dearest connections.

I am going to hazard the unstable element, and for a while to
change the scene--whether it will be prosperous or adverse, is not
for me to determine. I pray God to sustain my integrity and
preserve me from temptation.

My political character with you may be suspicious; but be assured,
if I cannot _serve_ my country, which I shall endeavor to the
utmost of my power, I will never _betray it_.

The kind care of my family you have so generously offered
penetrates me with the deepest gratitude. If it should not be
within my power to reward you, you will have the recompense greater
than I can give you, the approbation of your own heart. Would to
God we may again enjoy the harmonious intercourse I have been
favored with since my union with your family. I will not despair of
this great blessing in some future and not very distant period. God
preserve you in health and every earthly enjoyment, until you again
receive the salutation of

Your friend and brother,
SAMUEL QUINCY.

Born at Braintree, now Quincy, April 23, 1735. Solicitor-General of Massachusetts. Died at sea in 1789. His remains were interred on Bristol Hill, England. From a painting by Copley.]

Again on August 18th he writes to Mr. Hill and said, "You conjure me by the love of my country to use my best endeavors to bring about a reconciliation, suggesting that the Americans are still as determined as ever to die free, rather than live slaves; I have no reason to doubt the zeal of my fellow-countrymen in the cause of freedom, and their firmness in its defence, and were it in my power, my faithful endeavors should not be wanting (nay, I have a right to say they are not) to effect an accommodation. But, my good friend, I am unhappy to find that the opinion I formed in America, and which in a great measure governed my conduct, was but too justly founded. Every proposal of those who are friendly to the colonies, to alter the measures of government and redress the grievances of which they complain, is spurned at, unless attended with previous concessions on their part. This there is less reason every day to expect, and thus the prospect of an accommodation is thrown at a distance; nor is there yet the least reason to suppose that a formidable, if any opposition will be framed against administration in favor of America.

"These are facts, not of conjecture only, but visible and operative. Your reflection will perhaps be, we must then work out our own salvation by the strength of our own arm, trusting in the Lord. Really, my friend, if the colonies, according to their late declaration, have made a resistance by force their choice, the contest is in short reduced to that narrow compass. I view the dangerous and doubtful struggle with fear and trembling; I lament it with the most cordial affection for my native country, and feel sensibly for my friends. But I am aware it is my duty patiently to submit the event as it may be governed by the all-wise counsels of that Being 'who ruleth in the heavens, and is the God of armies.'"

In a letter to his wife, London, Jan. 1, 1777, he said: The continuance of our unhappy separation has something in it so unexpected, so unprecedented, so complicated with evil, and misfortune, it has become almost too burdensome for my spirits, nor have I words that can reach its description. I long much to see my father. It is now more than eighteen months since I parted with him in a manner I regret. Neither of you say anything of the family at Braintree. They ought not to think me regardless of them though I am silent; for, however lightly they may look upon me, I yet remember them with pleasure.

Again, on March 12, 1777, he said: You inquire whether I cannot bear contempt and reproach, rather than remain any longer separated from my family? As I always wished, and I think always endeavored, not to deserve the one, so will I ever be careful to avoid the other. You urge as an inducement to my return, that my countrymen will not deprive me of life. I have never once harbored such an idea. Sure I am I have never merited from them such a punishment. Difference of opinion I have never known to be a capital offence, and were the truth and motives of my conduct justly scrutinized, I am persuaded they would not regard me as an enemy plotting their ruin. That I might yet be able to recover in some respect the esteem of my friends, I will not doubt while I am conscious of the purity of my intentions. When I determined on a voyage to England, I resolved upon deliberation, and I still think, with judgment. I did not, indeed, expect so hurried a succession of events, though you must remember, I long had them in contemplation.

I am sorry you say nothing of my father, or the family at Braintree; I have not received a line nor heard from them since I left America. * * God bless you all; live happy, and think I am as much so as my long absence from you will permit.

March 20, 1777.

I am not surprised much that, to the less of property, I have
already sustained, I am to suffer further depredations, and that
those to whom I am under contract should avail themselves of this
opportunity and endeavor to make what is left their own. All I ask
is that my brother and my other friends (if I have any) would think
of me as they ought, and to be assured, that as far as they
interpose their assistance to save me from suffering, they will not
hereafter find me deficient in return.

October 15, 1777.

If things should not wear a more promising aspect at the opening of
the next year, by all means summon resolution to cross the ocean.
But if there is an appearance of accommodating this truly unnatural
contest, it would be advisable for you to bear farther promise; as
I mean to return to my native country whenever I may be permitted,
and there is a chance for my procuring a livelihood. But I do not
say that I will not accept of an opening here, if any one should
offer that I may think eligible.

London, April 18, 1778.

If there is an accommodation, I shall certainly turn my views to
some part of the continent, unless something very promising should
offer elsewhere. It would grieve me very much to think of never
again seeing my father; God bless him, and many other worthy
friends and relations in New England; but a return to my native
country I cannot be reconciled to until I am convinced that I am as
well thought of as I know I deserve to be. I shall ever rejoice in
its prosperity, but am too proud to live despised where I was once
respected--an object of insult instead of the child of favor.

You suggest, that had I remained, I might still have been with you
in honor and employment. It may be so, but when I left America I
had no expectation of being absent more than a few months, little
thinking operations of such magnitude would have followed in so
quick a succession; I left it from principle, and with a view of
emolument. If I have been mistaken, it is my misfortune, not my
fault. My first letters from my friends congratulated me on being
out of the way; and I was pleased to find my undertaking met with
their approbation as well as my own. The hearts of men were not
within my reach, nor the fortuitous event of things within my
control. "I am indeed a poor man;" but even a poor man has
resources of comfort that cannot be torn from him, nor are any so
miserable as to be always under the influence of inauspicious
stars. I will therefore still endeavor to bear my calamities with
firmness, and to feel for others.

Those who have befriended my family are entitled to my warmest
gratitude, and I hope you will never fail to express it for me.
Whether it ever will be in my power to recompense them I know not,
but no endeavor of mine shall be wanting to effect it. * * * I
conjecture, though you do not mention from what quarter, you have
received unkindness. There are in this world many things we are
obliged and enabled to encounter, which at a distance appear
insupportable. You must have experienced this as well as I; and it
ought to teach us that best doctrine of philosophy and
religion--resignation. Bear up, therefore, with fortitude, and wait
patiently in expectation of a calmer and brighter day.

London, May 31, 1778.

By the public prints we are made acquainted with an act of the
state of Massachusetts Bay, that precludes those among others from
returning, who left it since the 19th of April, 1775, and "joined
the enemy." You do not mention this act, nor have I any information
by which I am to construe what is meant by "joining the enemy." The
love of one's country, and solicitude for its welfare, are natural
and laudable affections; to lose its good opinion is at once
unhappy, and attended with many ill consequences; how much more
unfortunate to be forever excluded from it without offence! It is
said also that there is a resolve of congress, "that no absentee
shall be permitted to take up his residence in any other colony
without having been first received and admitted as a citizen of his
own." This may have some effect on a movement I had in
contemplation of going southward, where I have a very advantageous
offer of countenance and favor.

London, March 15, 1779.

You may remember in some of my former letters I hinted my wish to
establish a residence in some other part of the continent, or in
the West Indies, and particularly mentioned to you Antigua--where
my kinsman, Mr. Wendell, my friend, Mr. David Greene, Dr. Russell
and his family, Mr. Lavicourt, Mr. Vassall, and others of my
acquaintance, will give the island less of the appearance of a
strange place. By the passing of the act of proscription the door
was shut against me in my own country, where I own it would have
been my wish to have ended my days. This confirmed my resolution. I
have since unremittedly pursued various objects, endeavoring to
drive the nail that would go.