Chapter XXIX: Part II: Biographical Sketches (15)

My first intention was that of transplanting myself somewhere to
the southward. On this subject I thought long, and consulted
others. I considered climate, friends, business, prospects in every
view, and at last formed my opinion. The provinces in the south
part of America in point of health were not more favorable than the
island--in point of friends they might be preferable, but with
respect to business or the means of acquiring it, uncertain; public
commotion yet continued, violent prejudices are not easily removed.
I had neither property nor natural connections in either of them. I
could have no official influence to sustain me. What kind of
government or laws would finally prevail it was difficult to tell.
These and other reasons determined me against the attempt. But to
stay longer in England, absent from my friends and family, with a
bare subsistence, inactive, without prospects, and useless to
myself and the world, was death to me! What was the alternative? As
I saw no chance of procuring either appointment or employ here, the
old object of the West Indies recurred, where in my younger days I
wished to have remained; and by the influence of some particular
gentlemen I have at last obtained the place of "Comptroller of the
Customs at the Port of Parham in Antigua;" for which island I mean
to embark with the next convoy. My view is to join the profits of
business in the line of my profession to the emoluments of office.
This I flatter myself will afford me a handsome maintenance. I grow
old too fast to think of waiting longer for the moving of the
waters, and have therefore cast my bread upon them, thus in hopes
that at last, after many days, I may find it.

Transmit to my father every expression of duty and affection. If he
retains the same friendship and parental fondness for me I have
always experienced from him, he will patronize my children, and in
doing this will do it unto me. It was my intention to have written
to him, but the subjects on which I want to treat are too
personally interesting for the casualties of the present day. He
may rest assured it is my greatest unhappiness to be thus denied
the pleasing task of lightening his misfortunes and soothing the
evening of his days. Whatever may be the future events of his life,
I shall always retain for him the warmest filial respect, and if it
is my lot to survive him, shall ever think it a pleasure as well as
my duty to promote to my utmost the welfare of his posterity. My
mother will also accept of my duty and good wishes; the prosperity
of the whole household lies near my heart, and they will do me an
injustice if they think me otherwise than their affectionate
friend. * * *

With respect to my property in America, my wish and desire is, if I
have any control over it, that my friends there collectively, or
some one singly under your direction, would take it into their
hands, and consolidating the debts I owe into one sum, apply it to
their discharge. I can think of no better way than this. If
eventually I am deprived of it, I will endeavor to bear it with
that fortitude which becomes a Christian and philosopher.

P. S. I could wish above all things to preserve my law books.

TO HENRY HILL, ESQ.

London, May 25, 1779.

I have obtained an appointment at Parham, in Antigua, as
comptroller of the customs, and am to embark soon for St. Kitts. *
* It is this day four years since I left Boston, and though I have
been racked by my own misfortunes and my feelings for the
distresses of my family and friends, I have still by a good
Providence been blessed with health and comforted by the kindness
of many friends. If I have not been in affluence, I have been above
want, and happy in the esteem of numbers in this kingdom to whom I
was altogether a stranger. * * The education of my children is
uppermost in my heart. The giving my son the benefit of classical
learning by a course of college studies, is a step I much approve.
The sequestration of my books is more mortifying to me than any
other stroke. If they are not yet out of your power save them for
me at all events.

In a copy of a letter to a friend, apparently in the West Indies, but whose name does not appear, Mr. Quincy thus expresses himself:

Antigua, Feb. 1, 1782.

You ask of me an account of my coming to the West Indies, the
manner of my existence and destination, &c. The story is long, and
would require many anecdotes to give the true history, but you will
excuse me if at present I say only, that in the year 1775, just
after the battle of Lexington, I quitted America for London on
motives of business, intending to return in a few months; but my
absence was construed by our good patriots as the effect of my
political principles, and improved first to my proscription,
afterwards to the very flattering title of traitorous conspirator,
and the confiscation of my estate. I remained in England several
years, but, tired of waiting for the moving of the waters, and
unwilling to waste the flower of my age in a state of indolence,
neither profitable to myself nor my family, I resolved to seek my
fortune in this part of the world, where I had been in my younger
days,--obtained a berth in the customs, which, together with the
emoluments of my profession, afford me a comfortable subsistence,
and the prospect of something beyond.

Your friend, &c.,
SAMUEL QUINCEY.

Mr. Quincy's wife died November, 1782 in Massachusetts. He married again while at Antigua, Mrs. M. A. Chadwell, widow of Hon. Abraham Chadwell.

TO HIS SON, SAMUEL QUINCY, JR., CAMBRIDGE.

June 10, 1785.

How anxious soever I may feel to see my friends and relations once
more, I cannot think of doing it at the expense of my liberty; nor
will I ever visit that country where I first drew my breath, but
upon such terms as I have always lived in it; and such as I have
still a right to claim from those who possess it,--the character of
a gentleman. * * * The proposal Judge Sumner has hinted to me of
keeping his old berth for you at Roxbury, is a good one, at least
better than Boston. Cultivate his good opinion, and deserve his
patronage; he will bestow the latter for my sake, I trust, as well
as his personal esteem for you. It will also stand you in stead at
court, where I hope you will one day figure as a legislator as well
as an advocate. All depends upon setting out right. You are at the
edge of a precipice, or ought to consider yourself so; from whence,
if you fall, the "_revocare gradum_," is a task indeed. Resolve,
then, to think right, and act well; keeping up to that resolution
will procure you daily the attention of all ranks, and command for
you their respect. Keep alive the cause of truth, of reason, of
virtue, and of liberty, if I may be permitted to use that name, who
have by some injuriously been thought in a conspiracy against it.
This is the path of duty, and will be the source of blessing.

July 24, 1789.

I am exceedingly sorry to hear of the distracted political
situation of Massachusetts. * * * A constitution founded on mere
republican principles has always appeared to me a many-headed
monster, and, however applauded by a Franklin, a Price, and a
Priestley, that in the end it must become a suicide. Mankind do not
in experience appear formed for that finer system, which, in
theory, by the nice adjustment of its parts promises permanency and
repose. The passions, prejudice, and interests of some will always
be in opposition to others, especially if they are in place. This,
it may be said, is the case in all governments, but I think less so
in a monarchy than under a republican code. The people at large
feel an overbalance of power in their own favor; they will
naturally endeavor to ease themselves of all expenses which are not
lucrative to them, and retrench the gains of others, whether the
reward of merit or genius, or the wages of a hireling.

Tortola, June 1, 1789.
MY DEAR SON:

Your short letter of the 14th February gave me pleasure, as it
informed me of your health and that of your family, and other
friends in the neighborhood of Roxbury.

It would be my wish to make you a visit once more in my life, could
it be ascertained I might walk free of insult, and unmolested in
person. Two things must concur to satisfy me of this,--the repeal
of the act passed 1779, against certain crown officers, as
traitors, conspirators, &c.; and accommodation with those who have
against me pecuniary demands. The first I have never yet learned to
be repealed, either in whole or in part, and therefore I consider
it as a stumbling-block at the threshold; the second, no steps I
suppose have been taken to effect, although I think it might be
done by inquiry and proposition--with some by a total release from
demand, and with others by a reasonable compromise. If you ever
wish your father to repose under your roof, you will take some
pains to examine the list, and make the trial. I shall shortly, I
hope, be in a situation to leave this country, if I choose it; but
whether Europe, of the two objects I have in view, will take the
preference, may depend on the answer I may receive from you, upon
the hints I have now thrown out for your consideration and filial
exertions. * * *

I have been, as I informed you in my last, a good deal indisposed
for some time past. I find myself, however, better on the whole at
present, though I feel the want of a bracing air. Adieu.

Your affectionate parent,
SAMUEL QUINCY.

Soon after the date of this last letter, Mr. Quincy embarked for England, accompanied by his wife. The restoration of his health was the object of the voyage, but the effort was unsuccessful; he died at sea, within sight of the English coast. His remains were carried to England, and interred on Bristol hill. His widow immediately re-embarked for the West Indies, but her voyage was tempestuous. Grief for the loss of her husband, to whom she was strongly attached, and suffering from the storm her vessel encountered, terminated her life on her homeward passage.

It was a singular coincidence that two of Mr. Quincy's brothers died at sea, as he did on shipboard, Edmund, the eldest and Josiah, the youngest brother.

Samuel Quincy had two sons: Samuel, a graduate of Harvard College in 1782, who was an attorney-at-law in Lenox, Mass., where he died in January, 1816, leaving a son Samuel. His second son, Josiah, became an eminent counselor-at-law of Romney, N. H., and President of the Senate of that State.

Mr. Samuel Quincy was proscribed and banished and his property confiscated.

COLONEL JOHN MURRAY.

About 1750 there appeared in Boston society a very handsome man by the name of Murray, whose antecendents people seemed to be ignorant, when he came to this country he settled at Rutland, and was very poor, and at first "peddled about the country" and then became a merchant. He was a man of great influence in his vicinity, and in the town of Rutland, which he represented many years in the General Court. On election days his home was open to his friends and good cheer dispensed free to all from his store. His wealth, social position, and political influence, made him one of the Colonial noblemen who lived in a style that has passed away in New England. He was a Colonel in the militia, for many years a member of the General Court, and in 1774 was appointed a Mandamus Councillor, but was not sworn into office, because a mob of about five hundred, with the "Worcester Committee of Correspondence," repaired to Rutland, to compel Colonel Murray to resign his seat in the Council. On the way, they were joined by nearly one thousand persons, among whom were a portion of the company who had compelled Judge Timothy Paine to take the same course, marching directly to Rutland the same day.

A delegation went to his house, and reported that he was absent. A letter was accordingly sent to him, to the effect that; unless his resignation appeared in the Boston papers, he would be waited upon again. He abandoned his home on the night of the 25th of August of that year, and fled to Boston.

As previously stated, there was always a mystery surrounding John Murray, regarding who he was and where he came from, but his descendants had some reason for supposing that he was one of the "Athol Family" of Scotland, the surname of the Duke being Murray. Some years since one of Col. Murray's descendants went to "Blair Athol," the family seat of the Dukes of Athol, hoping to hear something about him, and there found an old retainer of the family who recalled the fact that many years ago a younger member of the family had disappeared, nothing being heard of him again, though it was supposed he had run away to America.

Miss Murray, after her father's death, went from St. John to Lancaster, Mass., to be with her relatives, the Chandler Family. She had with her some amount of silver plate, and on each piece was the arms of the "Ducal House of Athol." She had small means, and when in need of money used to sell this silver, one piece at a time. In the grant of the town of Athol by the General Court the first name is that of John Murray, who probably gave the name of his ancestral home to the new town.

In 1776, with a family of six persons, he accompanied the Royal Army to Halifax. Col. Murray left a very large estate when he fled from Boston, and in 1778 he was prosecuted and banished, and in 1779 lost his extensive property under the Confiscation Act.

After the Revolution, Colonel Murray became a resident of St. John, N. B. He built a house in Prince William street, with a large lot of land attached to it, which became very valuable.

A portrait by Copley is owned by his grandson, the Hon. R. L. Hazen of St. John, a member of the Executive Council of New Brunswick. He is represented as sitting in the full dress of a gentleman of the day, and his person is shown to the knees. There is a hole in the wig, which is said to have been done by one of the mob who sought the Colonel at his house after his flight, vexed because he had eluded them, vowed they would leave their mark behind them, accordingly pierced the canvas with a bayonet.

Colonel Murray married several times, his first wife was Elizabeth McLanathan, who was the mother of ten children. His second wife was Lucretia Chandler, the daughter of John and Hannah Gardner, of Worcester. His third wife was Deborah Brinley, the daughter of Francis Brinley, of Roxbury.

Colonel Murray was allowed a pension of L200 per annum by the British Government. His estate valued at L23,367, was confiscated except one farm for his son Alexander, who joined the Revolutionists. He died at St. John, 1794.

DANIEL MURRAY, of Brookfield, Mass., Son of Colonel John. He graduated at Harvard College in 1771. Mr. Murray entered the military service of the Crown, and was Major of the King's American Dragoons. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. At the peace he retired, on half pay. In 1792 he was a member of the House of Assembly of N. B. In 1803 he left the Colony. In 1832 he died at Portland, Maine.

SAMUEL MURRAY, Son of Colonel John, graduated at Harvard College in 1772. He was with the British troops at Lexington in 1775, and was taken prisoner. In a General Order, dated at Cambridge, June 15, 1775, it was directed "That Samuel Murray be removed from the jail in Worcester to his father's homestead in Rutland, the limits of which he is not to pass until further orders." In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. He died previous to 1785.

Robert Murray, Son of Colonel John. In 1782 he was a Lieutenant of the King's American Dragoons. He settled in N. B., and died there of consumption in 1786.

John Murray, Son of Colonel John. In 1782 he was a Captain in the King's American Dragoons. After the Revolution he was an officer of the Fifty-fourth Regiment, British Army.

JUDGE JAMES PUTNAM.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY.

John Putnam, the founder of the Salem family, was born in 1579, at Wingrave, Buckinghamshire, England. He is described in the records an husbandman. His farm was at Burstone in Wingrave. He emigrated to Salem with his three sons in 1640, where grants of land were made by the town of Salem to him and to his sons on their own account, in what was then known as Salem Village, now the town of Danvers.

His sons were Thomas, born 1614, died at Salem Village 1686; Nathaniel, born 1619, died at Salem Village 1700; John, born 1627, died at Salem Village, 1710.

In deeds, John Putnam is described as both husbandman and yeoman. He was a man of substance and of as much education as his contemporaries, but neither seeking or desiring public office. In 1653 he divided his lands between Thomas and Nathaniel, having evidently already granted his homestead to his younger son John. He died in 1662.

The subject of this memoir was a descendent of John Putnam, in the fifth generation, through his youngest son John, known as Captain John. It was in the military affairs and in the witchcraft delusion that his character is best shown. In 1672 he is styled Corporal, in 1678 he was commissioned Lieutenant of the troope of horse at the Village, and after 1687 he is styled "Captain." He served in the Naragansett fight, and retained his military manners throughout his life. In 1679 and later he was frequently chosen to present Salem at the General Court, to settle the various disputed town bounds. He was selectman in 1681. He was deputy to the General Court for many years previous to the new charter.

His residence was on the farm originally occupied by his father, now better known as Oak Knoll, the home of the poet Whittier.

The will of John Putnam is not on record. He seems to have disposed of his property by deed to his children. Rev. Joseph Green makes the following note in his diary: "April 7, 1710, Captain Putnam buried by ye soldiers."

LIEUTENANT JAMES, son of CAPTAIN JOHN, was born in Salem Village, 1661, and died there in 1727. He was a farmer, inheriting from his father the homestead at Oak Knoll. In 1720 he is styled on the records Lieut., which title was always scrupulously given him. Although never caring to hold office, he was evidently esteemed by the townspeople. He had been taught a trade, and he in his turn taught his son the same trade, that of bricklayer. This was a custom among many of the early Puritan families. It is to the credit of all concerned, that far-sighted and wealthy men of that day brought up their sons to know a useful trade, in case adversity should overtake them.

JAMES PUTNAM, of the fourth generation, son of the aforesaid Lieut. James, was born in Salem Village in 1689, and died there in 1763. He lived in the house just to the south-east of Oak Knoll on the same road; the house is still standing, in a fine state of preservation.

During his long life, James Putnam took considerable interest in town affairs. He was one of those who succeeded in obtaining the establishment of the district of Danvers. In 1730 he paid the largest tax in the village.

HONORABLE JAMES PUTNAM, of the fifth generation, son of the aforesaid James Putnam, was born in Salem Village, 1726, and died at St. John, N. B., 1789. He graduated from Harvard College in 1746. In his class was Dr. Edward H. Holyoke, whose father, Edward Holyoke, was then president of the College. He studied law, under Judge Trowbridge, who according to John Adams, controlled the whole practice of Worcester and Middlesex Counties, and settled in Worcester in 1749, taking up the practice of the law.

In 1750 he married Eleanor Sprague, by whom he had one daughter, Eleanor, who married Rufus Chandler, of Worcester.

James Putnam, in 1757, held the commission of Major, under Gen. Louden, and saw service. Between the years of 1755 and 1758, John Adams, afterwards President of the United States, taught school in Worcester, and studied law with Mr. Putnam. He also boarded in his family. Mr. Adams remarks that Mr. Putnam possessed great acuteness of mind, had a very extensive and successful practice, and was eminent in his profession. James Putnam was one of the twenty signers to the address from the barristers and attorneys of Massachusetts to Gov. Hutchinson, May 30, 1774. His brothers, Dr. Ebenezer and Archelaus, both addressed Gov. Gage on his arrival, June 11, 1774. In February, 1775, he, with others, was forced by the threatening attitude of the mob to leave Worcester and seek refuge in Boston, he having had his cattle stolen and a valuable grist mill burned, and threatened with bodily harm.

On Oct. 14, 1775, eighteen of those gentlemen who were driven from their habitations in the country to the town of Boston, addressed Gov. Gage on his departure. Among the signers were James Putnam and James Putnam, Jr.

In 1778 the Massachusetts Legislature passed an act confiscating the estate of 308 Loyalists and banishing them; if they returned a second time, to suffer death without the benefit of clergy. Among these was the Hon. James Putnam, who had in 1777 succeeded Jonathan Sewell as attorney general of Massachusetts, the last under the Crown.

During the siege of Boston on the 17th Nov. 1775, the following order was issued by the British Commander: "Many of his Majesty's Loyal American subjects having offered their services for the defence of the place" are to be formed into three companies under command of Hon. Brigadier General Ruggles, to be called the Loyal American Associates, to be designated by a white sash around the left arm. James Putnam was commissioned captain of the second company, and James Putnam, Jr. was commissioned second lieutenant of the second company. At the evacuation of Boston, both James Putnam and his sons, James and Ebenezer, accompanied the army to Halifax, and New York, where his sons engaged in business. He sailed for Plymouth, England, December, 1779, with Mrs. Putnam and his daughter Elizabeth.

While in England he wrote numerous letters to his brothers, from which we make the following quotations. Under date of Nov. 13th, 1783, he writes from London: "My countrymen have got their independence (as they call it) and with it in my opinion, have lost the true Substantial Civil liberty. They doubtless exult as much at the acquisition they have gained as they do at the loss the Tories, as they call them, have sustained."

"America, the thirteen states, at last separated from this country, never more to be connected. For you may believe me when I say I firmly believe, and on good grounds, that even the present administration would not now accept of the connection, if America would offer it on the old footing."

"You may be assured there is nothing I wish for more than to see my dear brother and other dear friends in America again."

"At the same time, I can tell you with truth, unpleasing as you may think the situation of the Loyalists to be, I would not change with my independent countrymen with all imaginary liberty, but real heavy taxes and burdens, destitute in a great measure, as I know they are, of order and good government."

"Having this view of things, you can't expect to see me in Massachusetts soon, even if I was permitted or invited to return with perhaps the offer of the restoration of my estate. For what would it be worth but to pay all away in taxes in a short time."

"I'm not yet determined whether to remain in this country or go abroad to Nova Scotia or elsewhere."

Again, under date of July 20, 1784, he writes: "Your country is so changed since I left it, and in my opinion for the worst, that the great pleasure I should have in seeing my dear friends would be lost in a great measure in the unhappy change of government."

His next letter was from Parr, on the river St. John, N. B., Nov. 18, 1784. He says: "Dear Brother. I have been at this place about ten days, am surprised to find a large flourishing town, regularly laid out, well built, consisting of about two thousand houses, many of them handsome and well finished--And at the opposite side of the river at Carlton, about five hundred more houses on a pleasant situation. A good harbor lies between the two towns, which never freezes, and where there are large ships and many vessels of all sizes. The country appears to me to be very good, and am satisfied will make a most flourishing Province."

He writes again the next year: "You may wonder perhaps at my saying I hope I'm settled in this Province for life, and that I can be contented or happy in the place formerly called Nova Scotia."

"I want to see you and my friends, if I have any, but I don't wish to live in your country or under your government. I think I have found a better. No thanks to the Devils who have robbed me of my property. I do not wish to live with or see such infernals."

"God bless you, your wife, your son, your daughter, my brother, etc., who I shall be glad to see again, but not in the American States."

In another letter, dated St. John, N. B., May 13, 1785, to his brother, he says: "As to seeing you any more, you have no reason to expect it in your State.

"You may be assured, I should be exceeding happy in seeing you both here. I can give you a comfortable lodging, and wholesome good fresh provisions, excellent fish and good spruce beer, the growth and manufacture of our own Province.

"Tho' we should be glad to see the few friends we have remaining there among you, we don't wish to give them the pain of seeing us in your State, which is evidently overflowing with _freedom and liberty_[231] without restraint.

[231] During 1785 Shay's rebellion occurred in Massachusetts and was put
down by General Lincoln.

"The people of the States must needs now be very happy, when they can all and every one do just what they like best. No taxes to pay, no _stamp act_, _more money_ than they know what to do with, _trade and navigation as free as air_."

Under date of Nov. 4, 1786, he writes: "The people of your State seem to be stirring up another revolution. What do they want now? Do they find at last, to be freed from the British Government, and becoming an independent State does not free them from the debts they owe one another, or exempt them from the charge of taxation. I wish they would pay me what they justly owe, they may then have what government they please, or none, if they like that best."

He was appointed in 1784 Judge of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick, and a member of the Council. It was said that he was the ablest lawyer in all America. Judge Putnam was the first of the council and bench of New Brunswick, who died from failing health; he had not attended council meetings for over a year. He died 23 Oct., 1789, in his 65th year. In character he was upright and generous; his health was never robust; and loss of country, friends and wealth must have been a severe blow. Sabine says: "I have often stood at his grave and mused upon the strange vicissitudes of human condition, by which the Master, one of the giants of the American Colonial Bar, became an outlaw, and an exile, broken in fortune and spirit, while his struggling and almost friendless pupil, elevated step by step by the very same course of events, was finally known the world over as the Chief Magistrate of a Nation." It is thus in all successful Revolutions, those that were at the head of affairs are hurled from power, and their fortunes wrecked, whilst young men like John Adams, of great abilities but poor, and little prospects for advancement, are elevated to the highest offices. Who would have ever heard of the "Little Corporal" had it not been for the French Revolution, then there would not have been any "Napoleon the maker of Kings."

Judge Putnam had two relatives who became famous in the Colonial wars, and the Revolution. Major-General Israel Putnam was of the fourth generation from John. He was born in Salem Village, 1717. He distinguished himself at Crown Point, Montreal and Cuba, and later at Bunker Hill. General Rufus Putnam was of the fifth generation. After serving in the Colonial wars under his cousin Israel Putnam, he took part in the siege of Boston, and constructed the works on Dorchester Heights, on the 4th of March, 1776, that forced the evacuation of Boston.

At no time during the youth of these two men would one have predicted that they would be two great soldiers. Their early education was very defective, partly because school advantages were then very meagre in the rural districts, in which they passed their youth, and partly no doubt, because their strong inclinations were for farming and active outdoor life, rather than for books and sedentary occupation. Robust and full of energy, they were as boys, given to feats of strength and daring.

In 1780 General Rufus Putnam "bought on easy terms" the confiscated property of Colonel Murray, who married Lucretia Chandler. This property was situated in Rutland, and consisted of a large farm and spacious mansion.

JAMES PUTNAM, JR., son Judge Putnam, graduated at Harvard College in 1774. He was one of the eighteen country gentlemen who addressed Gen. Gage, and were driven into Boston. He went to England and died there in 1838, having been a barrack master, a member of the household, and an executor of the Duke of Kent, the father of Queen Victoria.

JUDGE TIMOTHY PAINE.

Stephen Paine, from whom so many of the family in America are descended, came from Great Ellingham, near Hingham, Norfolk County, England. He was a miller, and came with a large party of immigrants from Hingham and vicinity, in the ship Diligent, of Ipswich, John Martin master, in the year 1638, bringing with him his wife Rose, two sons and four servants.

Mr. Paine first settled at Hingham, Mass., where he had land granted to him, was made a freeman in 1639 and elected Deputy in 1641. In 1642 he, with four others, settled at Seekonk, and became prominent in the affairs of the new settlement at Rehoboth.

Mr. Paine survived the eventful period of King Philip's war and died in 1679, outliving his two sons, Stephen having died at Rehoboth in 1677, and Nathaniel in 1678.

NATHANIEL PAINE, son of the aforesaid Nathaniel, of the third generation, was born at Rehoboth 1661, married Dorothy, daughter of Jonathan Rainsford, of Boston. He removed in early life to Bristol, Mass., now R. I., and was one of the original proprietors of that place. In 1710 he was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and Judge of Probate. He was one of the Council of Mass. Bay from 1703 till his death in 1723, with the exception of the year 1708. Nathaniel Paine died at Bristol, R. I., in 1723, and his wife Dorothy Rainsford, in 1755.

NATHANIEL PAINE, of the fourth generation and fourth son of the preceding Nathaniel, was born at Bristol 1688. He was an active and influential citizen of Bristol, was for five years elected Representative. In 1723 he was a member of a Court of Admiralty for the trial of pirates. In 1724 was a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas.

Mr. Paine married Sarah, daughter of Timothy Clark of Boston. After his death in 1729, his widow married John Chandler and removed to Worcester.

TIMOTHY PAINE, son of the aforesaid Nathaniel and Sarah Clark, his wife. He was born in Boston in 1730 and married Sarah Chandler in 1749, the daughter of John Chandler, so these young people had probably been brought up under the same roof from early childhood. He graduated at Harvard College in 1748, and was a stout government man in the controversies which preceded the Revolution.

Soon after leaving college, Mr. Paine was engaged in public affairs, and the number and variety of offices which he held exhibit the estimation in which he stood. He was at different times Clerk of the Courts, Register of Deeds, Register of Probate, member of the executive council of the Province, in 1774 he was appointed one of his Majesty's Mandamus Councillors, Selectman and Town Clerk, and Representative many years in the General Court. In 1771 he was also Special Justice of the Supreme Court. Solid talents, practical sense, candor, sincerity, ability, and mildness, were the characteristics of his life.

When the appeal to arms approached, many of the inhabitants of Worcester, most distinguished for talents, influence, and honors, adhered with constancy to the Government. Educated with veneration for the sovereign to whom they had sworn fealty; indebted to the government for the bounty, honor and wealth which they possessed--loyalty and gratitude alike influenced them to resent acts that were treasonable, and rebellious. The sincerity of their motives were attested by the sacrifice of life, property, loss of power, and all the miseries of banishment, confiscation and exile.

The struggle between the revolutionist, and the loyalty of a minority of the people, powerful in numbers, as well as talents, wealth, and influence, arrived at its crisis in Worcester early in 1774, and terminated in the total defeat of the loyalists.

Among the many grievances of the revolutionists, was the vesting of the government in the dependents of the King, it aggravated the irritation, and urged the mobs to acts of violence.

Timothy Paine, Esq., had received a commission as one of the Mandamus Councillors. High as was the personal regard, and respect for the purity of private character of this gentleman, it was controlled by the political feelings of a period of excitement; and measures were taken to compel his resignation of a post which was unwelcome to himself, but which he dared not refuse, when declining would have been construed as contempt for the authority of the King, by whom it was conferred.

August 22, 1774, a mob of nearly 3000 persons collected from the surrounding towns, visited Worcester and entered the town before 7 o'clock in the morning. They chose a committee to wait upon Mr. Paine and demand his resignation as Councillor. They went to his house, and he agreed to resign from that office, and drew up an acknowledgement, mentioning his obligations to the country for favors done him, his sorrow for having taken the oath, and a promise that he never would act in that office contrary to the charter, and after that he came with the committee to the common, where the mob made a lane between them, through which he and the committee passed and read divers times as they passed along, the said acknowledgment. At first one of the committee read the resignation of Mr. Paine in his behalf. It was then insisted that he should read it with his hat off. He hesitated and demanded protection from the committee, which they were incapable of giving him. Finally, with threats of tar and feathers, and personal violence, in which his wig was knocked off, he complied, and was allowed to retire to his dwelling unharmed.

At the commencement of the Revolution some American soldiers quartered at his house repaid his perhaps too unwilling hospitality, and signified the intensity of their feelings towards him by cutting the throat of his full length portrait.

Madam Paine, in passing the guard house, which stood nearly where the old Nashua Hotel stood in Lincoln square, heard the soldiers say "Let us shoot the old Tory." She turned around facing them and said: "Shoot if you dare," and then she reported to General Knox the insult she had received, which was not repeated.

Mrs. Timothy Paine or Madam Paine, as she was styled from respect to her dignity and position, was a woman of uncommon energy and acuteness. She was noted in her day for her zeal in aiding as far as was in her power the followers of the crown, and in defeating the plans of the rebellious colonists. In her the King possessed a faithful ally. In her hands his dignity was safe, and no insult offered to it, in her presence, could go unavenged.

Her wit and loyalty never shone more conspicuously than on the following occasion: when President Adams was a young man, he was invited to dine with the court, and bar, at the home of Judge Paine, an eminent loyalist of Worcester. When the wine was circulating around the table, Judge Paine gave as a toast "The King." Some of the Whigs were about to refuse to drink it, but Mr. Adams whispered to them to comply, saying "we shall have an opportunity to return the compliment." At length, when he was desired to give a toast, he gave "The Devil." As the host was about to resent the indignity, his wife calmed him, and turned the laugh upon Mr. Adams, by immediately exclaiming "My dear! As the gentleman has been so kind as to drink to our King, let us by no means refuse in our turn to drink to his."

Timothy Paine and Sarah Chandler, his wife, not only feared God, but honored the King, so the old record goes. They belonged to families, often associated together in the remembrance of the present generation, as having adhered through the wavering fortunes and final success of the Revolution, devoted and consistent to the British Crown. Solid talents, practical sense, candor, sincerity, affability, and mildness, were the characteristics of his life. He died July 17, 1793, at the age of sixty-three. His widow died at Worcester, in 1811.

DR. WILLIAM PAINE.

William Paine, son of the aforesaid Timothy Paine, was born in Worcester, Mass., June 5, 1750. He graduated at Harvard College in 1768, his name standing second in a class of more than forty, when they were arranged in the catalogue according to the dignity of families.

He then began the study of medicine with a very distinguished physician, Dr. Edward A. Holyoke, of Salem, while here he made the acquaintance of the lady whom he married a few years later.

One of his earliest instructors was John Adams, who was then reading law in the office of Hon. James Putnam, at Worcester. He began the practice of medicine in Worcester in 1771. That year Mr. Adams revisited Worcester, after an absence of sixteen years, and notes the impression of his former pupils as follows: "Here I saw many young gentlemen who were my scholars and pupils. John Chandler, Esq., of Petersham, Rufus Chandler, the lawyer, and Dr. William Paine, who now studies physics with Dr. Holyoke of Salem, and others, most of whom began to learn Latin with me."

In 1771, after about three years of study, he returned to Worcester, with every prospect of becoming a leader in the medical profession. In 1773 he entered into partnership with two other physicians or "Traders in the Art, Mystery and Business of an Apothecary and the practice of Physick." This interest was confiscated in 1779.

In 1773 Dr. Paine was married to Miss Lois Orne of Salem, with a fortune of 3,000 pounds sterling. Six children were born from this union.

For the purpose of facilitating his business abroad and of perfecting his medical education, Dr. Paine in Sept. 1774, sailed for England, and the following winter was passed in the study of medicine. During his visit there he was presented to the King, and Queen Charlotte, wearing the court dress prescribed for medical men, which was a gray cloth coat with silver buttons, a white satin waistcoat, satin small clothes, silk hose and wearing a sword, and a fall of lace from cravat or collar, and lace in the sleeves. It is interesting to read some of his letters written as he was about leaving England. In one of them he writes "The Colonists had better lay down their arms at once, for we are coming over with an overwhelming force to destroy them." His wife and children seemed to have remained with his father and mother while he was in England, but finding their position in Worcester unpleasant on account of their unpopular political opinions, she left and went to Rhode Island.

Dr. Paine returned to America in 1775, shortly after hostilities commenced, and while there was apparently no legal impediment to his return to Worcester, it was doubtless a very prudent decision of Dr. Paine not to make the attempt. His feeling of personal loyalty to the government was too strong to allow him even to appear to yield to the Revolutionists, then dominating his native town, and he wisely returned to England. His study of medicine there must have been pursued with unusual zeal and success, for Nov. 1775, he received from Marischal College, Aberdeen, the degree of M. D.

Soon after obtaining this distinction, he received an appointment as Apothecary to the British forces in America, and served in Rhode Island and New York till 1781, when he returned to England, in company with his patient, Lord Winchelsea. While in England, in 1782, he is said to have been made Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians of London.

October 23, 1782, he was commissioned Physician to His Majesty's Hospitals within the district of North America, commanded by Sir Guy Carleton, and he reported for duty at Halifax, N. S. Letters which have been preserved show that during this year at Halifax he had won the respect, friendship and confidence, not only of his immediate medical superior, Dr. Nooth, but also of Lord Wentworth, Governor of the Province.

In the summer of 1784, Dr. Paine took possession of La Tete, an island in Passamaquoddy Bay, granted him by the British Government, for his services in the war. He remained there less than one year, and then made his residence in St. John, N. B., where he took up the practice of his profession. The cause of the removal from the island was the protest of his wife that the children could not receive a proper education in that isolated spot.

He was elected member of the Assembly of New Brunswick from the county of Charlotte, and was appointed Clerk of the House. He was commissioned as a justice for the county of Sunbury. There is abundant evidence of the high estimate placed on his character and ability in the numerous offices which he held during his residence here.

July 29, 1786, he wrote to a friend: "I do a great deal of Business in my Profession, but I get very little for it. The truth is we are all very poor, and the most industrious and economical gets only a bare subsistence. However, it will soon be better as the Province is daily filling with stock of all kinds."

In 1787 Dr. Paine made application for leave to visit and reside in New England while remaining on half pay, and a permit to that effect was issued by the War Office.

In Salem he devoted himself to the practice of medicine in the town where he had been known as a student of the famous Dr. Holyoke, and where his wife had spent her early life.

In 1793 his father died, and he removed to Worcester, and for the remaining forty years of his life he resided in the paternal mansion. His father's property was large, and as he was not an absentee, it was not confiscated. By his will it was equally divided between his children, the farm and homestead covered 1230 acres. Dr. Paine bought the shares of his brothers, and sisters in same for 2,000 pounds sterling, but the deeds were given to Nathaniel Paine in trust for William, for the doctor was as yet, but an alien in his native state. The year 1812 was a critical one, bringing a most important question for him to decide, for war arose between Great Britain and the United States, and he was still a half-pay officer in His Majesty's service. He therefore resigned from the British service, and in 1812 petitioned the Legislature for its consent to his being a naturalized citizen of the United States.

William Paine was one of the founders of the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester. His name was omitted from the act of incorporation because he was an alien. The next year, 1813, he was elected Vice President of same.

He occupied the old paternal mansion on Lincoln street in a quiet, very dignified and almost luxurious manner as befitted a country gentleman. Here he died at the ripe age of 83, March 19, 1833.

SAMUEL PAINE, son of Timothy, was born at Worcester, Mass. Graduated at Harvard College in 1771. The Worcester County Convention, Sept. 7, 1774, voted to take notice of Mr. Samuel Paine, assistant clerk, for sending out _venires_. Voted, that Mr. Samuel Dennison go to Mr. Samuel Paine forewith, and desire his immediate attendance before this body, to answer for sending _venires_ to constables commanding their compliance with the late Act of Parliament.

Mr. Paine appeared and stated that he felt bound by the duty of his office to comply with the Act, "Voted that Mr. Paine has not given satisfaction, and that he be allowed to consider till the adjournment of this meeting."

On September 21, he transmitted a paper to the Convention explanatory of his conduct; but that body voted that it "was not satisfactory, and that 'his letter be dismissed' and Mr. Paine himself 'be treated with all neglect.'"

In 1775 he was sent to the Committee of Worcester under guard, "to Watertown or Cambridge, to be dealt with as the honorable Congress or Commander-in-Chief shall, upon examination, think proper." His direct offenses consisted, apparently, in saying that the Hampshire troops had robbed the home of Mr. Bradish; that he had heard the Whig soldiers were deserting in great numbers, and that he was told "the men were so close stowed in the Colleges that they were lousy." This is the substance of the testimony of a neighbor, the only witness who appeared against him.

In 1776 Mr. Paine accompanied the British Army to Halifax when they evacuated Boston. During the war he wandered from place to place without regular employment. He returned to Worcester where he died in 1807. The British government allowed him an annual pension of L84.

JOHN CHANDLER.

The founder of this family, so large and so influential before the Revolution, came to these shores from England in 1637, when William Chandler and Annice, his wife, settled in Roxbury. Mr. Chandler died in 1641, "having lived a very religious and godly life," and "leaving a sweet memory and savor behind him." Annice Chandler must have been an attractive woman, for she was not only soon married to a second husband, but to a third, and her last one evidently expected her to enter into matrimony a fourth time, for in his will he provided that she shall have the use of his warming pan only so long as she remained his widow. Goodwife Parmenter, however, died in 1683, in full possession of the warming pan, the widow of the third husband.

JOHN CHANDLER, a son of William, emigrated to Woodstock, Conn., and became a farmer. He was selectman and deacon of the church, and died there in 1703, leaving a family and property valued at L512.

The second John Chandler, son of the first of that name, had before his father's death, moved to New London, Conn., where he married, and in 1698 had opened a "house of entertainment" there. He at a later date moved back to South Woodstock, and in 1711 was chosen representative to the General Court at Boston for several years. After the erection of Worcester County by Act of the Legislature of Massachusetts, April 2, 1731, the first Probate Court in Worcester was held by Col. Chandler as Judge in the meeting house, 13th of July, 1731, and the first Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions on August 10 following, by the Hon. John Chandler, commissioned June 30, 1731, Chief Justice. These offices he held until his death, as well as Colonel of Militia to which stations of civil, judicial and military honors, he rose by force of his strong mental powers, with but slight advantages of education. Judge John Chandler died August 10, 1743, in his 79th year, leaving in his will L8,699.

JOHN CHANDLER, the third of that name, son of the Hon. John Chandler, held nearly all the offices in the town of Worcester, Selectman, Sheriff, Probate Judge, Town Treasurer, Register of Probate, Register of Deeds, Chief Judge of County Courts, Judge of Common Pleas, Representative to the General Court, Colonel of Militia and a member of the Governor's Council. He died in 1762, wealthy and full of honors.

JUDGE CHANDLER, was married to Hannah Gardner, daughter of John Gardner of the Isle of Wight (known afterwards as Gardner's Island), in 1716. She died in Worcester in 1738, aged 39 years, leaving nine children, the first members of the Chandler family who were born and bred in Worcester.

JOHN CHANDLER, son of the aforesaid, the fourth to bear that name was born in New London, Connecticut, in 1720, was married twice and had sixteen children. His father removed to Worcester when he was eleven years of age. At his father's death he succeeded him to the principal county offices. He was Colonel in the militia, and was in service in the French war, and he was Sheriff, Judge of Probate and County Treasurer. Up to 1774 John Chandler's life had been one of almost unbroken prosperity, but when the rebellion broke out, his loyalist sentiments brought upon him the wrath of the mob, and he was compelled to leave home, and family and retire to Boston. When Boston was evacuated, he went to Halifax, and thence to London, and two years after he was proscribed and banished. He sacrificed his large possessions, L36,190 as appraised in this country by commissioners here, to a chivalrous sense of loyalty. In the schedule exhibited to the British Commissioners, appointed to adjust the compensation to the Americans who adhered to the government; the amount of real and personal property which was confiscated, is estimated at L11,067, and the losses from office, from destruction of business, and other causes, at nearly L6,000 more. So just and moderate was this compensation ascertained to be, at a time when extravagant claims were presented by others, that his claim was allowed in full; he was denominated in England "The Honest Refugee." Sabine says "I am assured that, while he was in Boston he was supported for a considerable time by the sale of silver plate sent him by his family; and that when he left home he had no idea of quitting the country. I am assured also, that when the Revolutionary Commissioners took an inventory of his household furniture, the females were plundered of their very clothing." His adherence to the government, and his departure for England, seems to have been his only offences, yet he was treated as harshly as though he had borne arms in the field.

He is spoken of as having a cheerful temperament, engaging in manner, hospitable as a citizen, friendly and kind as a neighbor, industrious and enterprising as a merchant, and successful as a man of business. He died in London in 1800, and was buried in Islington churchyard. In 1741 he married Dorothy, daughter of Colonel Nathaniel Paine. She died in 1745. His second wife was Mary, daughter of Colonel Church, of Bristol, R. I., a descendant of the warrior who fought King Philip. She died at Worcester in 1783. His portrait in oil is preserved in the rooms of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester. George Bancroft, the distinguished historian, and the widow of Governor Davis of Massachusetts, are Colonel Chandler's grandchildren.