Chapter XXX: Part II: Biographical Sketches (16)

CLARK CHANDLER, son of Colonel John, was born at Worcester in 1743. At first a clerk in the office of the Register of Probate, he became joint Register with Hon. Timothy Paine, and held the appointment from 1766 to 1774. He was also Town Clerk of Worcester from 1768 to 1774. In 1774 he entered upon the town Records a remonstrance of the Loyalists to the great anger of the Revolutionists, who voted in town meeting that he should then and there "obliterate, erase, or otherwise deface, the said recorded protest, and the names thereto subscribed, so that it may become illegible and unintelligible." This he was obliged to do, in presence of the revolutionists, to blot out the obnoxious record by dipping his fingers in ink, and drawing them over the protest.

He left home in June, 1775, and went to Halifax, and thence to Canada. He returned in September of the same year, and was imprisoned in the common jail. Confinement impaired his health, and he was removed to his mother's home. Finally he was allowed to go to Lancaster, on giving security that he would not depart from that town. He returned to Worcester and kept store at the corner of Main and Front streets. His person was small, and he wore bright red small clothes; was odd and singular in appearance, which often provoked jeers and jokes of those around him, but apt at reply "he paid the jokers in their own coin." He was never married, and died in Worcester in 1804.

RUFUS CHANDLER, fifth child of Colonel John by Mary Church, his second wife. He was born in 1747, and graduated at Harvard College in 1776 in a class of forty, with the rank of the fourth in "dignity of family." He read law in the office of his uncle, Hon. James Putnam, in Worcester, where he afterwards practised his profession until the courts were closed by the mobs in 1774. He was one of the barristers and attornies who addressed Hutchinson in the last mentioned year. He inherited the loyalty of his family and left the country at the commencement of hostilities. He went to Halifax in 1776 and in 1778 was proscribed and banished. His mother used a part of his estate for the support of his daughter; but the remainder appraised at L820, was confiscated. He resided in England as a private gentleman, and died in London in 1823, at the age of 76, and his remains were laid with those of his fathers in Islington churchyard. His wife was Elizabeth Putnam, his only child, who bore her mother's name, married Solomon Vose, of Augusta, Maine.

GARDNER CHANDLER, son of Colonel John, of Hardwick, Mass., was born in 1749, and was a merchant in that town. His property was confiscated, and the proceeds paid into the treasury of the state. He left the colony and returned some time after to Hardwick. He made acknowledgments satisfactory to his townsmen, it was voted by the town "that as Gardner Chandler has now made acknowledgment, and says he is sorry for his past conduct, that they will treat him as a friend and neighbor, so long as he shall behave himself well." He removed to Brattleboro, Vermont, and again to Hinsdale, N. H. He died in the last named town. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Brigadier Timothy Ruggles.

NATHANIEL CHANDLER, son of Colonel John, was born in Worcester, 1750, graduated at Harvard College in 1768. He was a pupil of John Adams, and commenced the practice of law in Petersham. His brother-in-law, the Rev. Dr. Bancroft, wrote "that he possessed personal manliness and beauty," that "he was endowed with a good mind and a lively imagination" that "in disposition he was cheerful." He was one of the eighteen county gentlemen who addressed General Gage on his departure in 1775. In 1776 he went to Halifax. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished, and his estate confiscated. Entering the British service he commanded a corps of Volunteers and did good service. He returned to Petersham in 1784, and engaged in trade, but relinquished business on account of ill health, and returned to Worcester. Citizenship was restored in 1789, by Act of the Legislature of Mass. He was a very pleasant companion, and a favorite singer of songs in social parties. He never married. He died at Worcester in 1801.

WILLIAM CHANDLER, eighth child of Colonel John, was born at Worcester in 1752, and graduated at Harvard College in 1772. At that time students in that institution were ranked according to "dignity of family" and William was placed in the highest class. He was one of the eighteen county gentlemen who were driven from their homes to Boston, and who addressed General Gage on his departure in 1775. In 1776 he went to Halifax. He was proscribed and banished under the Act of 1778, but returned to Mass., after the close of the Revolution. Among the articles in the inventory of his estate when it was confiscated was seven pairs of silk hose, at fourteen shillings; plated shoe buckles, six shillings; and pair of velvet breeches.

Gardiner Chandler, brother of Colonel John. He was born in Woodstock in 1723. In the French war he was a major and was in service at the surrender of Fort William Henry. He was Treasurer of Worcester County eight years and succeeded his brother John, as sheriff, in 1762. He presented General Gage an Address in behalf of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in 1774; and was compelled by a Convention of the Committee of Correspondence to sign a "Recantation." In time, he regained the confidence of the community, and was suffered to live undisturbed. He died in Worcester, in 1782. His first wife was Hannah Greene, of Providence, R. I., his second, Ann Leonard, of Norton, Mass.

The Chandlers were in every respect the most eminent family in Worcester County, and furnished many men of distinction in its ante-revolutionary history. They were closely allied by blood, marriage or friendship with the aristocracy of the county and province, in which they had unbounded sway. They had large possessions, and shared with the Paine family (with whom they were allied), the entire local influence at Worcester, but did not, like that family, survive the shock of the Revolution, and retain a local habitation and a name. Their property was confiscated and they were declared traitors.

The family was broken up; some members of it went abroad and died there, others were scattered in this country, yet not a few of their descendants eminent in the most honorable pursuits, and in the highest positions in life under different names and in various localities, represent that ancient, honorable and once numerous race, wrecked by the Revolution.

John Adams says in his diary, "The Chandlers exercised great influence in the County of Worcester until they took the side of the government in the Revolution, and lost their position. They were well bred, agreeable people, and I visited them as often as my school, and my studies in the lawyer's office would admit."

JOHN GORE.

John Gore, of Roxbury, and his wife Rhoda, were both church members in 1635. He died June 2, 1657, and his widow married Lieut. John Remington. He had ten children, of whom John, Samuel, Abigail, Mary, Mylam, and Hannah, were mentioned in his will.

Samuel Gore, son of the former, lived in Roxbury, and was a carpenter. He married August 28, 1672, Elizabeth, daughter of John Weld. He died July, 1692. They had seven children.

Obadiah Gore, son of Samuel, was also a carpenter, and lived in Boston. He married, October 26, 1710, Sarah Kilby. He died October 8, 1721, and was survived by five children, all of whom were baptized at the Brattle Street church.

JOHN GORE, son of the former, lived in Boston, and was a painter and merchant. He married, May 5, 1743, Frances, daughter of John Pinkney. She was born September 20, 1726. They had fourteen or fifteen children, nine of whom lived to be married. The baptisms of nine of his children are given in the records of the Brattle Street Church. John Gore was an Addresser of Gage, and in 1776 went to Halifax and thence to England. He was proscribed and banished in 1778, and pardoned by the Legislature in 1787. He died in Boston in 1796, aged seventy-seven. His will is in the Suffolk Register, Lib. 94, F. 182. His son, CHRISTOPHER GORE, was born in Boston, Sept. 21st, 1758. He was educated in the public schools of Boston, and was prepared at the South Latin school under the tuition of Mr. Lovell, the most noted educator of his day. At the age of 13, Christopher entered Harvard College, and was among the youngest of his class. But he commenced his collegeate course in troubleous times, for in his junior year the Revolution broke out, which created confusion and disorder through society, and deranged the plans, and changed the pursuits of many in every grade and profession. The College at Cambridge was considered by the Revolutionists as "nest of tories" and during the siege of Boston the college buildings were taken possession of by the continental army stationed at Cambridge, and the students were dispersed for several months. Young Gore was determined to follow out his course of college training, however, and to this end went to Bradford, in Essex County, and studied under the direction and in the family of Rev. Mr. Williams, afterwards professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in Harvard College. When the college removed to Concord he, with most of the students, repaired thither, and resumed his studies. He graduated in 1776, the year that his father was driven from the land of his birth.

Christopher Gore soon commenced the study of law in the office and under the direction of Judge John Lowell, in whose family he resided while a student. He commenced the practice of law in Boston with every prospect of success. He had to depend on himself alone, for not only had he his own fortune to make, but after he left college, he had to contribute to the support of his mother and three unmarried sisters, who were left in Boston without means when his father went to Halifax.

By his own exertion and industry, he paid his college bills after he entered on his profession, in addition to his other responsible duties, devolving upon him with honor to himself. During 1809-10 Mr. Gore was Governor of Massachusetts. While Governor, he occupied the home corner of Park and Beacon streets, and it is said he drove through the streets of Boston in a carriage drawn by four horses. This was more than the plain republican people of Boston could stand, and they did not want him for Governor again, besides it is undeniable that Mr. Gore was a good deal of an aristocrat at heart, and consequently more or less a loyalist. But he made a fine administrator, and at the end of the term retired to private life, and did not resume the practice of his profession.

In 1791 Christopher Gore purchased in Waltham about 1000 acres of land which formerly belonged to an ancestor of President Garfield. Here Governor Gore erected a stately mansion upon a knoll or rise of the land not far distant from Gore street, where one of the drives, leading to it, runs under rows of stately trees, and through a finely kept lawn. In the rear of the house are the flower gardens, and conservatory, and behind that the kitchen garden; to the west of this is the deer park.

After the death of Governor Gore this stately structure was sold to General Theodore Lyman, who after living there seven years sold it to Singleton Copley Greene, the son of Gardner Green, who married a daughter of Copley the artist, the sister of Lord Lyndhurst: (see p. 216.) Christopher Gore married Rebecca Payne, 11 Nov. 1783. They had no children. Gov. Gore died 1 March 1827, his widow 22 Jan. 1833.

JOHN JEFFRIES.

David Jeffries was born at Rhoad, in Wiltshire, England, 1658, and arrived at Boston, May 9, 1677. He married Sept. 15, 1686, Elizabeth, daughter of John and Elizabeth Usher, by whom he had several children. Of his two sons, John, born Feb. 5, 1688, and David, born June 15, 1690, John became Town Treasurer, was a very prominent citizen. He married Sept. 24, 1713, Anne Clarke, and had issue, an only child Anne, who died young. He went to London in 1710, and returned in 1713. He resided in Tremont Street opposite the King's Chapel.

David Jeffries Jr., who continued the name, married in 1713, Katherine, daughter of John and Katherine Eyre, by whom he had an only child David, born 23 Oct. 1714. He was a merchant, and in 1715 he sailed for England, and was lost in the Amity, Sept. 13, 1716, on the sands near Dungeness. His son,

DAVID JEFFRIES, married his cousin, Sarah Jaffrey, 1741, by whom he had eight children, all of whom died young except John, born Feb. 4, 1744, alone preserved the name.

JOHN JEFFRIES, the only son of the former, graduated from Harvard College in 1763, having pursued his medical studies with Doctor Lloyd. He continued his study of medicine in London, and was honored with the degree of M. D. at Aberdeen in 1769. In 1771 he was appointed surgeon to the "Captain" a British Ship-of-the-line in Boston Harbor, by his friend, Admiral Montague. He held that position until 1774.

Dr. Jeffries practised in Boston until the Revolution. He landed with the forces at the battle of Bunker Hill, and assisted in dressing the wounded of the Royal Army, and, it is said, identified the body of Warren, in the presence of Sir William Howe. He accompanied the British troops at the evacuation in 1776 to Halifax, and was appointed Chief of the Surgical Staff of Nova Scotia. In 1779 he went to England; and on his return to America, held a high professional employment to the British forces at Charleston and New York. He resigned in 1780, and going to England again, commenced practice in London.

Born in Boston, Feb. 4, 1774. In his balloon costume. Dr. Jeffries and Blanchard were the first to cross from England to France in a balloon. Died in Boston Sept. 16, 1819.]

On the 17th of January, 1785, Dr. Jeffries crossed the English channel with Blanchard in a balloon, landing in the forest of Guines in France. This feat procured for him the attention of the most distinguished personages of the day and an introduction to all the learned and scientific societies of Paris.[232]

[232] A narrative of his two aerial voyages was published In London in
1786, exact and entertaining, with a portrait of the adventurer and a
view of the monument erected by the French government, on the spot where
he landed.

Dr. Jeffries' first wife was Sarah Rhoads, whom he married in 1770. By her he had three children, who died unmarried. He married again, Sept. 8, 1787, Hannah, the daughter of William and Hannah Hunt. In 1790 Dr. Jeffries returned to Boston in the ship Lucretia.

He resumed his practice, and delivered the first public lecture on anatomy, a branch of his profession of which he was very fond.[233] He was eminent as a surgeon, midwife and physician. He attended the poor as faithfully and cheerfully as the rich, and was never known to refuse a professional call. His death occurred in Boston, September 16th, 1819, aged 76 years, after a successful practice of fifty-three years.

[233] Curwen's Journal, P. 537.

Dr. Jeffries had by his second wife eleven children, all of whom died unmarried excepting John, Katherine who married G. C. Haven, Julia Ann, who married Thomas E. Eckley, and George J., who took the name of Jaffrey.[234]

[234] New Eng. Hist. & General Reg., Vol. 15, P. 16.

John Jeffries, son of the doctor, was born March 23, 1796, and became the only representative of the name in the city. He was a distinguished physician in Boston. He married, November 8, 1820, Anne Geyer, daughter of Rufus Greene and Ann (McLean) Amory. His children were Catherine, Anne, Sarah, Augustus, Edward P. and Henry N. Jeffries.

George Jaffrey, an elder son of Dr. John Jeffries the loyalist, was born December 21, 1789. George Jaffrey, his grand-uncle, who graduated from Harvard College in 1736, became a Counsellor and held various important positions in Portsmouth, N. H. He married Lucy, the daughter of Adam Winthrop, but had no issue. His loyalty to the crown involved him in trouble several times, but he died in 1802 leaving property, then a large amount to George Jaffrey Jeffries, on condition that "he should drop the name of Jeffries; become a permanent resident of Portsmouth, and never follow any profession except that of being a gentleman."

George Jaffrey made his home in Portsmouth and for many years was librarian of the Portsmouth Athenaeum. He died May 4, 1856, and a merited tribute was paid to his character and his labors by Mr. Brewster in the Portsmouth Journal of the 10th.[235]

[235] New Eng. Hist. & General Reg., Vol. 15, P. 17.

The Jeffries family have always ranked among the gentry of Boston, and have maintained that position from the date of the earliest settlement, to the present time.

THOMAS BRINLEY.

Thomas Brinley, Auditor general to Charles First and Second, had a son Francis who settled at Barbados, but the climate not being suited to his habits and constitution, came to New England and settled at Newport, R. I., in 1652. This was about fourteen years after the settlement of that place, and Francis Brinley held various offices; among them that of Judge. He occasionally resided in Boston, owning a large estate at the corner of Hanover and Elm streets. He died there in 1719, aged eighty-seven, and was buried in a grave in the King's Chapel burial-ground in Boston, on the spot where the family tomb now stands.

Thomas, son of the latter, was one of the founders of King's Chapel and resided in Boston. He married Mary Apthorp, and in 1684 went to England, where he died in 1693. His daughter Elizabeth married William Hutchinson, Esq., a graduate of Harvard College, in 1702. Mrs. Brinley, Francis and Elizabeth, returned to Newport, R. I.

Francis Brinley, the son of Thomas, was born in London in 1690, and was educated at Eton. He became a colonel and resided in Roxbury. His mansion was named Datchet from the house of that place in England. Colonel Brinley returned to London, where he died November 27, 1765. Francis Brinley's wife was Deborah, daughter of Edward and Catherine Lyde, and his marriage took place April 18, 1718. They had five sons and two daughters; one of whom married Colonel John Murray, and the other Godfrey Malbone.

Of the sons, THOMAS BRINLEY was a Mandamus Councillor, and lived on Harvard Street. He married his cousin Elizabeth, the daughter of George Cradock, but they left no children. He was a graduate of Harvard College in 1744, and became a Merchant in Boston.

His name appears among the one hundred and twenty-four merchants and others, who addressed Hutchinson in Boston in 1774; and among the ninety-seven gentlemen and principal inhabitants of that town, who addressed Gage in October of the following year. In 1776 he went to Halifax, and thence to England in the same year. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. His death occurred in 1784, and Elizabeth, his widow, died in England in 1793.

EDWARD BRINLEY, brother of Thomas, married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Tyler and left many descendants.

NATHANIEL BRINLEY, another brother, also married his cousin, Catharine Cradock, was a resident in South Street and at one time lived in Framingham. About 1760 he leased the "Brinley Farm" of Oliver DeLancey, agent of the owner, Admiral Sir Peter Warren, of the Royal Navy, and as is said, employed fifteen or twenty negroes, in its cultivation. It is related that Daniel Shays, the leader of the insurrection in 1786, was in the service of Mr. Brinley on this farm. In 1775 he was an Addresser of Gage, and was ordered, in consequence, to confine himself to his own leasehold. He fled to the Royal Army in Boston, and after the evacuation of that town, he was sent to Framingham by sentence of a Court of Inquiry, ordered to give bond in L600, with two sureties, to remain there four months and to be of good behavior.

"In September 1776, Ebenezer Marshall, in behalf of the Committee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety, represented that the 'people take him for a very villain,' as he had declared that 'Parliament had an undoubted right to make void the charter in part or in whole'; 'that ten thousand troops, with an artillery, would go through the continent, and subdue it at pleasure'; that he had conveyed 'his best furniture to Roxbury, and moved his family and goods into Boston,' and had himself remained there, 'as long as he could have the protection of the British troops;' that he approved of General Gage's conduct in the highest terms;' that 'his most intimate connections were some of our worst enemies and traitors;' and that, while he had been under their inspection, they had seen nothing 'either in his conduct or disposition, that discovers the least contrition, but otherwise.'"[236]

[236] Sabine's Loyalists, Vol. 1, P. 256.

To some of these allegations, Mrs. Brinley replied in two memorials to the General Court. She averred that, by the conditions of the recognizance, her husband was entitled to the freedom of the whole of the town of Framingham; that he was in custody on the sole charge of addressing Gage; and that instead of being a refuge in Boston, he was shut up in that town while accidentally there, etc. She stated that he at one time had been compelled to work on John Fisk's farm, without liberty to go more than twenty rods from the house unless in Fisk's presence; and that he was denied the free use of pen, ink and paper. She said that after Mr. Brinley had been transferred to the care of Benjamin Eaton, he was not allowed to go from the house, and was fearful that his departure from it would occasion the loss of his life; also that she or any other person was not allowed to converse with him, unless in the hearing of some member of Eaton's family. She urged that he might be removed to some other inland town, and be treated in accordance with his sentence. Mr. Brinley's defence of himself seems to have been the simple remark: "I am a gentleman and have done nothing to forfeit that character." He merely had a rational opinion, but that was enough.

On the 17th September, 1776, the General Court, by resolve, committed him to the care of his father, on security in L600 for his appearance; and, in October of the same year, the committee of Framingham reported to the council that they had disposed of his farm, stock, farm-utensils and household furniture. Nathaniel Brinley removed to Tyngsborough, where his son Robert, married Elizabeth, daughter of John Pitts. This staunch loyalist died at that place in 1814, at the age of eighty-one.

LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO THOMAS BRINLEY IN SUFFOLK
COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.

To Gustavus Fellows, Sept. 28, 1782; Lib. 136, fol. 11; Land,
dwelling-house, distill house and wharf in Boston, Hollis St. S.;
heirs of Joshua Henshaw deceased W.; low water mark.

REV. JOHN WISWELL.

John and Thomas Wiswell were early residents of Dorchester. John's name is found in the records as early as 1634. His brother Thomas came to Dorchester about 1635. Noah, son of Thomas, born in 1640, was a military man, and was in command in the desperate battle with the Indians near Wheelwright's Pond, N. H., where he and his son John were killed, July 6th, 1690. Another son of Thomas, Inchabod, born in 1637, was minister of Duxbury. He had a son Peleg, born in 1683, who was schoolmaster at Charlestown in 1704. John Wiswell, son of Peleg, married Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Samuel Rogers, graduated from Harvard College in 1705, was a master of a Boston Grammar School in 1719. He died in 1767, aged 84 and is buried in Copps Hill burying ground.

JOHN WISWELL, son of the aforesaid, was born in 1731, and graduated from Harvard College in 1749. In 1753 he was teaching school in Maine, but he pursued the study of divinity as a Congregationalist. Occasionally he preached, and in 1756 he was invited to become the pastor of the New Casco parish in Falmouth, now Portland, and was ordained November third of that year. In 1761 he married Mercy, the daughter of Judge John Minot, of Brunswick.

In 1764 John Wiswell suddenly changed his religious views and left his people. He embraced the Episcopal form of worship, and preached for several Sundays in the town-house. On September 4, 1764, the Parish of St. Paul's Church, Falmouth, was organized and Mr. Wiswell was invited to become their rector. For want of a bishop in the colonies, he was obliged to go to England to receive ordination. A writer at this time says, "There was a sad uproar about Wiswell, who has declared for the church and accepted of the call our churchmen have given him to be their minister." They voted him L100 a year and later he received L20 as a Missionary from the Missionary Society. After a year's elapse, he was able to report to the Society in London for the propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, that his Congregation had increased to seventy families, and the admittance of twenty-one persons to the communion. In 1765 the parish addressed a letter to the Rev. Mr. Hooper of Boston, asking his good offices in enlisting the sympathy of the churchmen there, in behalf of their oppressed fellow-worshippers in Falmouth. John Wiswell was an ardent Loyalist, as were about twenty of the leading men of his church. He continued to preach until the revolution broke out. After the trouble came in the colonies, he was seized while out walking one day with Captain Mowatt, by Colonel Samuel Thompson of Brunswick, who had arrived with about fifty men unknown to the inhabitants. Colonel Thompson refused to release Mr. Wiswell, and Captain Mowatt, but finally seeing that the town was against him, he consented to release them if they would give their parole to deliver themselves up next day. After his capture, the clergyman was obliged to declare his abhorrence of the doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance, and was then released. Mr. Wiswell now joined the British Forces, and after going on board a man-of-war addressed a letter to the wardens of his church, resigning his charge. After Captain Mowatt burned Falmouth, he sailed to Boston, and then to England. After leaving his parish he was for three years a chaplain on the British Naval Ship Boyne, and later for a short time was a curate in Suffolk. He and fifteen others from Falmouth had their estates confiscated, and were banished.

At the close of the war, Mr. Wiswell accepted the call of some of his former parishioners, and settled in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, over a parish they had formed there, and in 1782 he was appointed a missionary of that place. Having lost his first wife, he married a widow Hutchinson from the Jerseys, as the Rev. Jacob Bailey, the frontier missionary writes, who married them. John Wiswell was afterwards a missionary at Aylesford, and after a very full and worthy life, died at Nova Scotia in 1812, at the age of eighty-one. He left two sons, born in Falmouth, who were Lieutenants in the Navy. Peleg, one of his sons, was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court, of Nova Scotia, in 1816 and died at Annapolis in 1836, at the age of seventy-three. When the Rev. John Wiswell lived in Falmouth, Maine, he occupied a house painted red, which stood on the corner of Middle and Exchange Streets, afterwards owned and occupied by James Deering, and which gave place to the brick block built by that gentleman.

HENRY BARNES.

John Barnes, and his wife Elizabeth (Perrie) came to Boston about 1710. He was a prominent merchant, and was in partnership with John Arbuthnot, who married Abigail Little, of Pembroke, in 1719, and whose daughter Christian married Henry, the son of John Barnes, Sept. 26, 1746. John Barnes was a prominent Episcopalian, was vestryman of King's Chapel from 1715 to 1724, warden from 1724 to 1728, was the first mentioned of the trustees concerned in the purchase of land for Christ Church, and afterwards of those who bought of Leonard Vassal, Esq., his estate on Summer street (see p. 286) for the building of Trinity Church. His home in Boston was on the north side of Beacon street, extending from Freeman Place to Bowdoin Street, a portion of which is now occupied by the Hotel Bellevue, he purchased this property in 1721, and died, seized of it. In 1756 it was conveyed by John Erving (see p. 298) to James Bowdoin.

John Barnes died early in 1739 at Clemente Bar, St. Mary Co., Maryland. His wife died in 1742 in Boston.

Among their children was Elizabeth, who married Nathaniel Coffin the Cashire (see p. 234). Among their distinguished children were General John Coffin and Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, of the British Navy.

Catherine, another daughter, born in 1715, married Colonel Thomas Goldthwaite (see p. 356). She was his second wife, and died at Walthamstow, England, 1796, aged 81.

HENRY BARNES. The subject of this memoir was baptized Nov. 20, 1723. He was brought up in his father's business, and established himself as a merchant in Marlborough, Mass., in 1753, and was appointed magistrate. He was possessed of considerable property, and was one of the largest tax payers in the town, and was the owner of several slaves, one of whom "Daphne," he left in Marlborough, and she was supported out of his estate.

Henry Barnes was thoroughly loyal, and for that reason he was probably the best hated man in Marlborough. A late town history says Marlborough was cursed by a Loyalist named Henry Barnes.

Towards the close of February, 1775, General Gage ordered Captain Brown and Ensign D'Bernicre to go through the Counties of Suffolk and Worcester, and to sketch the roads as they went, for his information, as he expected to march troops through that country the ensuing spring. Their adventures after their departure for Marlborough, are related by one of them as follows:

"At two o'clock it ceased snowing a little, and we resolved to set off for Marlborough, which was about sixteen miles off. We found the roads very bad, every step up to our ancles; we passed through Sudbury, a large village near a mile long; the causeway lies over a great swamp, or overflowing of Sudbury river, and is commanded by a high ground on the opposite side. Nobody took the least notice of us, till we arrived within three miles of Marlborough, (it was snowing very hard all the while,) when a horseman overtook us, and asked us from whence we came--we said from Weston; he asked us if we lived there--we said no; he then asked where we resided, and, as we found there was no evading his questions, we told him we lived in Boston. He then asked us where we were going: we told him to Marlborough, to see a friend; (as we intended to go to Mr. Barnes's, a gentleman to whom we were recommended, and a friend to the Government;) he then asked us, if we were of the army; we said no, but were a good deal alarmed at his asking us that question; he asked several rather impertinent questions, and then rode on for Marlborough, as we suppose, to give them intelligence of our coming--for on our arrival the people came out of their houses (though it snowed and blew very hard) to look at us; in particular, a baker asked Capt. Brown, 'Where are you going, Master?' He answered, 'To see Mr. Barnes.'[237]

[237] The horseman that met them was Col. Timothy Bigelow, of the
Committee of Safety.

"We proceeded to Barnes's, and on our beginning to make an apology for taking the liberty to make use of his house, and discovering to him that we were officers in disguise, he told us that we need not be at the pains of telling him, that he knew our situation, that we were very well known, he was afraid, by the town's people. We begged he would recommend some tavern where we should be safe; he told us we would be safe no where but in his house; that the town was very violent, and that we had been expected at Col. Williams's tavern, the night before, where there had gone a party of liberty people to meet us. While we were talking, the people were gathering in little groups in every part of the town (village).

"Mr. Barnes asked us who had spoken to us on our coming into town; we told him a baker; he seemed a little startled at that, told us that he was a very mischievous fellow, and that there was a deserter at his house. Capt. Brown asked the man's name; he said it was Sawin, and that he had been a drummer. Brown knew him too well, as he was a man of his own Company, and had not been gone above a month; so we found we were discovered. We asked Mr. Barnes, if they did get us into their hands what they would do with us; he did not seem to like to answer; we asked him again; he then said, he knew the people very well, that we might expect the worst treatment from them.

"Immediately after this, Mr. Barnes was called out; he returned a little after, and told us the Doctor of the town had come to tell him, he was come to sup with him, (now this fellow had not been within Mr. Barnes's doors for two years before, and came now for no other business than to see and betray us). Barnes told him he had company, and could not have the pleasure of attending him that night; at this the fellow staid about the house, and asked one of Mr. Barnes's children, who her father had got with him; the child innocently answered, that she had asked her papa, but he told her it was not her business; he then went, I suppose, to tell the rest of his crew.

"When we found we were in that situation, we resolved to lie down for two or three hours, and set off at twelve o'clock at night; so we got some supper on the table, and were just beginning to eat, when Mr. Barnes, who had been making inquiries of his servant, found the people intended to attack us; he then told us plainly, that he was very uneasy for us, that we could be no longer in safety in the town; upon which we resolved to set off immediately, and asked Mr. Barnes if there was no road round the town, so that we might not be seen. He took us out of his house by the stable, and directed us by a by-road which was to lead us a quarter of a mile from the town; it snowed and blew as much as I ever saw in my life. However, we walked pretty fast, fearing we should be pursued; at first we felt much fatigued, having not been more than twenty minutes at Barnes's to refresh ourselves, and the roads were worse, if possible, than when we came; but in a little time it wore off, and we got on without being pursued, as far as the hills which command the causeway at Sudbury, and went into a little wood, where we eat a bit of bread that we took from Barnes's, and eat a little snow to wash it down.

"A few days after our return, Mr. Barnes came to town from Marlborough, and told us that immediately after our quitting town, the Committee of Correspondence came to his house, and demanded us; he told them we were gone; they then searched his house from top to bottom, looking under the beds and in the cellar, and when they found we were gone, they told him, if they had caught us in his house, they would have pulled it down about his ears. They sent horsemen after us on every road, but we had the start of them, and the weather being so very bad, they did not overtake us, or missed us. Barnes told them we were not officers, but relatives of his wife's from Penobscot, and were going to Lancaster; that perhaps deceived them."

In the House of Representatives, November, 1775, the "Petition of Henry Knox[238] humbly showeth. That your petitioner having been obliged to leave all his goods and home furniture in Boston, which he has no prospect of ever getting possession of again, nor any equivalent for the same, therefore begs the Honorable Court, if in their wisdom see fit, to permit him to exchange house furniture, with Henry Barnes, late of Marlborough, which he now has in his power to do." The prayer was refused, but he was allowed to _use_ the Loyalist's goods, on giving receipt to account for them to the proper authorities.

[238] Subsequently Chief of Artillery in the Revolutionary Army, and
Secretary at War under Washington.

In December, 1775, Catherine Goldthwaite prayed the interposition of the General Court, stating in a petition that she was the niece and adopted heir of Barnes; that she had resided with him about seventeen years, that at his departure from town, she was left with a part of his family in possession, and that the committee of Marlborough had entered upon his estate, sold a part, and proposed to dispossess her entirely. No redress could be obtained.

Through the violence of the mob Henry Barnes was forced to seek shelter in Boston early in 1775. From there he went to England. In 1777 he was at Bristol with his wife and niece, and in September thirteen of his fellow Loyalists were his guests, and later still in the same year he dined with several of the Massachusetts exiles at Mr. Lechmere's, when the conversation was much about the political condition of their native land.

Mr. Barnes was proscribed and banished, and his estate confiscated. He died at London in 1808, at the age of eighty-four.

THOMAS FLUCKER.

Secretary of Massachusetts Bay.

The Fluckers were descended from a French Huguenot family who settled in England. Captain James Flucker, mariner, came to America and married Elizabeth Luist at Charlestown, Mass., May 30, 1717. He was taxed there from 1727 to 1756 and died 3 Nov. 1756. She died Sept. 1770. They had eight children.[239]

[239] See Life of Henry Knox by F. G. Drake, P. 125.

THOMAS FLUCKER, son of the aforesaid, was born at Charlestown, 9 Oct. 1719. He was a merchant in Boston and owned an estate on Summer street. He was commissioned a Justice of the Peace 14 Sept. 1756, was a member of the Council in 1761-68. A Selectman of Boston in 1766, succeeded Andrew Oliver as Secretary, 12 Nov. 1770, was made a Mandamus Councillor 9 Aug. 1774. He married 1st, 12 June 1744, Judith, daughter of Hon. James Bowdoin, a Boston Huguenot family, and as a testimony to the public spirit of this famous family, Bowdoin College remains. 2nd, 14 Jan. 1751, he married Hannah, daughter of General Samuel Waldo, proprietor of the Waldo Patent Main, to whose heirs the great domain descended. The portion belonging to Mrs. Flucker and her brother, were confiscated.

Thomas Flucker was a staunch Loyalist. He was banished and his estates confiscated. He left Boston at the evacuation, March 17, 1776, for Halifax. He afterwards went to London, where he was a member of the Brompton Row Association of Loyalists, who met weekly for conversation and a dinner. An extract from Hutchinson's Diary, July 13, 1776, says:

"Flucker dined with us; depends on the truth of the report of his family's being arrived in Ireland; has 300L allowed by treasury; last (?) of the Council 200L." Thomas Flucker died in England suddenly on Feb. 16, 1783. His wife remained in England, but survived him only three years.

THOMAS FLUCKER, of Massachusetts, son of the former, graduated at Harvard University in 1773. During the Revolution he was a Lieutenant in the 60th British regiment at St. Augustine, Fla., in 1777. By the University catalogue, it appears that he and his father died the same year, 1783.

LUCY FLUCKER, another child, born 2 August 1756, married General Henry Knox of the revolutionary army, and afterwards Secretary at War. The young rebel had at the time a flourishing bookstore opposite Williams Court in Cornhill, a fashionable morning resort at that time for the British officers and their ladies. Harrison Gray Otis says that Miss Lucy "was distinguished as a young lady of high intellectual endowments, very fond of books, especially of the books sold by Knox, at whose premises was kindled as the story went, 'the guiltless flame' which was destined to burn on the hymeneal altar." Henry Knox became Chief of Artillery in the Revolution, and in Washington's Administration, Secretary of War. He acquired on easy terms, a very large share of Mrs. Flucker's property, which had been confiscated, and settled on it at Thomaston, Maine, building a fine mansion in which he himself died in 1806, and his wife in 1824.

Sally Flucker, another daughter of Thomas Flucker, Jr., who performed in Burgoyne's "Maid of the Oaks" in private theatricals given by British officers in Boston, accompanied the family to England and married Mr. Jephson, a member of the Irish Parliament. Copley painted her portrait.

Hannah Flucker, daughter of Thomas, married 2 Nov. 1774, James Urquhart, captain in the 14th regiment, which was engaged in the battle of Bunker Hill.

MARGARET DRAPER.

Richard Draper and his brother William emigrated to the Colonies and settled at Boston about 1680. He was a merchant in that city. The Boston Records state that Richard Draper and John Wentworth furnished the lumber from which Faneuil Hall was built. In his will he says that he is the son of Edward and Ann Draper, of Branbury, in the County of Oxford, Great Britain, deceased, and only brother to William Draper Senr. of Boston. This will was probated Jan. 25th, 1728.

About the year 1700 the Postmaster of Boston was one John Campbell, a Scotchman, and son of Duncan Campbell, the organizer of the postal system of America. He was also a bookseller. In those early days the dissemination of news was in the hands of the postmasters of each town, and John Campbell on Monday, April 24, 1704, improved the present system by _printing the news_. He issued the first number of the Boston "News Letter," the first newspaper issued in America. The first sheet of the first number was taken damp from the press by Chief Justice Sewell, to show to President Willard, of Harvard College, as a wonderful curiosity. Bartholomew Green, eldest son of Thomas Green, printer to Cambridge University, was the printer. He obtained possession of the newspaper in 1721, shortly after Campbell was removed from the post-office in Boston. On his death in 1733, it passed into the hands of his son-in-law, John Draper, son of Richard Draper, who continued to publish it until his death in 1762, when he was succeeded by his son Richard Draper, who changed the title to the "Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News Letter." He was brought up a printer by his father, and continued with him after he became of age, and was for some years before his father's death a silent partner with him. He was early appointed printer to the Council and Government, which he retained during life. Under his successful editorship, the paper was devoted to the Government, and in the controversy with Great Britain, he strongly supported the Loyalists cause, and illustrated the head of his paper with the King's Arms. Many able advocates of the Government filled the columns of the "News-Letter" but the opposition papers were supported by writers at least equally powerful and numerous.

The Drapers were considered the most eminent and successful printers in America. A list of works containing their imprints would fill pages.

Richard Draper was a man of feeble health, and was remarkable for the delicacy of his mind and gentleness of his manner. No stain rests on his character. He was attentive to his affairs, and was esteemed as the best compiler of news of his day. Having been successful in his business and acquired a competency, he erected a handsome brick home on a convenient spot in front of the old printing home in Newbury, now Washington street, where he resided, and which was afterwards confiscated. He died June 6th, 1774, aged 47, without children, and was succeeded by his widow, Margaret, who was a granddaughter of Bartholomew Green.

A month before his death, he had taken John Boyle into partnership, but at the outbreak of hostilities, his sympathies being strong for the Revolutionary cause, he was not agreeable to Widow Margaret, and was succeeded in the partnership by John Howe, who was a devoted loyalist, and continued with her until the final suspension of the paper, which occurred on the evacuation of Boston, by the British troops, when Margaret departed with the soldiers, going first to Halifax and thence to England, where she enjoyed a pension from the British Government for the remainder of her life, in return for her loyalty and devotion to the Government.

Margaret Draper's paper was the only one published in Boston during the siege. It had been published without intermission for 72 years. She died in London in 1807, and was included in the confiscation and banishment Act.

LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO MARGARET DRAPER IN SUFFOLK
COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.

To Richard Devens, Feb. 7, 1783; Lib. 137, fol. 48; Land and
buildings in Boston, Newbury St. W.; heirs of Benjamin Church S.
and E., Josiah Waters, Jr. N.

RICHARD CLARKE.

Richard Clarke was the son of Francis Clarke, merchant, a descendant of an old Boston family. Richard graduated at Harvard College in 1729. He and his sons were the consignees of a part of the tea destroyed in Boston by the celebrated "Tea Party" December 1773. In a letter from Messrs. Clarke & Sons to Mr. Abram Dupuis they say: "On the morning of the 2nd inst. about one o'clock, we were roused out of our sleep by a violent knocking at the door of our house, and on looking out of the window we saw (for the moon shone very bright) two men in the courtyard. One of them said he brought us a letter from the country. A servant took the letter from him at the door, the contents of which was as follows:

Boston, 1st Nov., 1773.
Richard Clarke & Son:

The Freemen of this Province understand from good authority, that
there is a quantity of tea consigned to your house by the East
India Company, which is destructive to the happiness of every well
wisher to the country. It is therefore expected that you personally
appear at Liberty Tree, on Wednesday next, at twelve o'clock at
noon day, to make a public resignation of your commission,
agreeable to a notification of this day for that purpose.

Fail not upon your peril.
O. C.

"In this you may observe a design to create a public belief that the factors had consented to resign their trust on Wednesday, the 3d inst., on which day we were summoned by the above-mentioned letter, to appear at Liberty Tree at 12 o'clock noon. All the bells of the meeting houses for public worship were set a-ringing at 11 o'clock, and continued ringing till twelve; the town cryer went thro' the town summoning the people to assemble at 'Liberty Tree.' By these methods, and some more secret ones, made use of by the authors of this design, a number of people supposed by some to be about 500, and by others more, were collected by the time and place mentioned in the printed notification.

"They consisted mostly of people of the lowest rank, very few reputable tradesmen, as we are informed, appeared amongst them. The gentlemen who are supposed the designed factors for the East India Company, viz: Mr. Thos. Hutchinson, Mr. Faneuil, Mr. Winslow and Messrs. Clarke, met in the forenoon of the 3rd inst., at the latter's warehouse, the lower end of King street. You may well judge that none of us entertained the least thought of obeying the summons sent us to attend at Liberty Tree. After a consultation amongst ourselves and friends, we judged it best to continue together, and to endeavour, with the assistance of a few friends, to oppose the designs of the mob, if they should come to offer us any insult or injury. And on this occasion we were so happy as to be supported by a number of gentlemen of the first rank. About one o'clock, a large body of people appeared at the head of King Street, and came down to the end, and halted opposite to our warehouse. Nine persons came from them up into our counting room, viz., Mr. Molineux, Mr. Wm. Dennie, Doctor Warren, Dr. Church, Major Barber, Mr. Henderson, Mr. Gabriel Johonnot, Mr. Proctor and Mr. Ezekiel Cheever. Mr. Molineux as speaker of the above Committee, addressed himself to us, and the other gentlemen present, and told us that we had committed an high insult on the people, in refusing to give them that most reasonable satisfaction which had been demanded in the summons which had been sent us, then read a paper proposed by him, to be subscribed by the factors importing, that they solemnly promise that they would not land or pay duty on any tea that should be sent by the East India Company, but they would send back the tea to England in the same bottom, which extravagent demand being firmly refused, and treated with proper contempt by all of us. Mr. Molineux then said that since we had refused their most reasonable demands, we must expect to feel, on our first appearance, the utmost weight of the people's resentment, upon which he and the rest of the committee left our counting room and warehouse, and went to, and mixed, with the multitude that continued before our warehouse. Soon after this the mob having made one or two reverse motions to some distance, we perceived them hastening their pace towards the store, on which we ordered our servant to shut the outward door; but this he could not effect, although assisted by some other persons amongst whom were Nathaniel Hatch, Esq., one of the Justices of the inferior Court for this country, and a Justice of the Peace for the county. This gentleman made all possible exertions to stem the current of the mob, not only by declaring repeatedly, and with a loud voice, that he was a magistrate, and commanded the people, by virtue of his office, and in his Majesty's name, to desist from all riotous proceedings, and to disperse, but also by assisting in person; but the people not only made him a return, of insulting and reproachful words, but prevented his endeavors by force and blows, to get our doors shut, upon which Mr. Hatch, with some other of our friends, retreated to our counting room. Soon after this, the outward doors of the store were taken off their hinges by the mob, and carried to some distance; immediately a number of the mob rushed into the warehouse, and endeavoured to force into the counting room, but as this was in another story, and the staircase leading to it narrow, we, with our friends,--about twenty in number--by some vigorous efforts, prevented their accomplishing their design. The mob appeared in a short time to be dispersed, and after a few more faint attacks, they contented themselves with blocking us up in the store for the space of about an hour and a half, at which time, perceiving that much the greatest part of them were drawn off, and those that remained not formidable, we, with our friends, left the warehouse, walked up the length of King Street together, and then went to our respective homes without any molestation, saving some insulting behavior from a few dispicable persons.

"The night following, a menacing letter was thrust under Mr. Faneuil's door, to be communicated to the other consignees, with a design to intimidate them from executing their trust, and other methods have since been made use of in the public papers and otherwise, for the same purpose."[240]

[240] "Tea Leaves," pp. 282, 3, 4, 5, 6.