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Al  I  I  M  r.uuN  I  t   I'Ulil  If,  I  IIU'AI'  i 


3  1833  01753  6878 


GENEALOGY 
973.006 
AM3529A 
1918 


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AMERICANA 


(AMERICAN  HISTORICAL   MAGAZINE) 


♦ 


Vol.  XII. 


January,   1918— December.  1918 


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THE   AMERICAN    HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 

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AMERICANA 

JANUARY,    1918 

<£ 

Heraldry  in  America 

By  Henry  Yellowley. 

T  IS  only  within  a  comparatively  few  years  that  Heraldry 
has  commanded  attention  in  the  United  States.  Our 
forbears,  who  laid  the  foundations  of  our  American 
civilization  at  Plymouth  and  Jamestown,  brought  with 
them  something  more  than  an  intense  love  for  that  liberty  under 
whose  benign  influences  State  and  Church  came  to  be  in  course  of 
time,  two  separate  and  entirely  independent  institutions.  They 
brought  with  them  as  intense  an  abhorrence  for  whatever  was 
remindful  to  them  of  the  controlling  institutions  in  their  home  land 
which  had  become  irksome  to  them,  and  impelled  them  to  find  new 
homes  across  the  seas.  Hence,  for  the  far  greater  number,,  these 
immigrants  practically  sundered  all  ties  that  had  bound  them  to  the 
past,  and  regarded  with  contempt  ail  that  savored  of  pride  of  ances- 
try. 

A  little  more  than  half  a  century  ago,  a  new  spirit  came  to  the 
descendants  of  these  founders  of  a  new  nation.  There  came  to 
them  a  pride  in  and  reverence  for  their  colonist  forefathers  who 
laid  the  foundations  of  our  new  nation,  and  for  those  who  fol- 
lowed after  them  and  gave  a  new  birth  to  freedom  at  Bunker 
Hill  and  Yorktown.  This  spiritual  resurrection  was  practically 
synchronal  with  the  beginning  of  ocean  voyaging  by  steam.  Writers 
and  artists  visited  the  old  countries — men  of  observation  and  dis- 
cernment, such  as  Bayard  Taylor,  James  Russell  Lowell,  Henry 
Wadsworth  Longfellow,  and  others ;  while  to  America  came  such 
as  Thomas  Moore,  Mrs.  Martineau,  Charles  Dickens,  William  Make- 
peace Thackaray;    and  the  distinguished  French  statesman  and 

i 


HERALDRY  IN  AMERICA 

political  economist,  De  Tocqueville,  whose  famous  "  Democracy  in 
America, "  published  in  1834,  bespeaks  him  as  prophet  in  view  of  the 
conditions  growing  out  of  the  Civil  War  in  the  United  States,  and 
its  participation  in  the  tremendous  struggle  now  going  on  in 
Europe.  All  these,  and  others,  with  voice,  and  pen  and  pencil,  gave 
to  our  people  portraiture  of  the  ancient  homeland  of  their  day,  and 
soon  followed  the  beginning  of  a  great  tide  of  travel  between  the 
two  lands,  visits  to  the  homes  and  churches  of  ancestors  of  many 
generations  before,  and  discoveries  of  kinships  which  had  not  been 
recognized  for  centuries.  Out  of  all  this  came  reverence  for  the 
past,  and  the  work  of  the  genealogist  began  in  earnest,  a  study  which 
inevitably  led  to  heraldic  researches,  these,  in  many  instances, 
revealing  family  origins  and  relationships  where  written  evidence 
was  wanting.  The  value  of  this  latter  observation  is  worthy  of 
regard. 

From  the  earliest  historic  times,  families  w^ere  identified  by 
some  insignia,  and  among  many  peoples  such  was  the  only  identifi- 
cation. It  was  prescribed  in  Holy  Writ  that  "  every  man  of  the 
children  of  Israel  shall  pitch  by  his  own  standard,  with  the  ensign 
of  their  father's  house/ '  and  we  read  of  "The  Lion  of  the  Tribe  of 
Judah."  It  is  a  far  cry  from  the  Israelitish  camp  to  the  lodges  of 
the  American  Indian.  But  there  we  find  the  totem,  as  described 
by  our  own  American  poet,  Longfellow: — 

And  they   painted   on   the   grave-posts 
Of  the  graves,  yet  unforgotten, 
Each  his  own  ancestral  totem, 
Each  the  symbol  of  his  household ; 
Figures  of  the  bear  and  reindeer, 
Of  the  turtle,  crane,  and  beaver. 

American  heraldry  is  for  the  greater  part  based  upon  that  of  the 
British  Isles,  whence  came  the  forbears  of  the  larger  part  of  our 
people;  yet  many  of  our  families  derive  their  arms  from  France 
and  Germany.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  heraldry,  as  we  know  it  today, 
had  its  origin  on  the  continent.  Arms  were  well  established  as  far 
back  as  the  eleventh  century,  though  their  real  moment  of  birth  is 
not  to  be  accurately  distinguished.  Nor  was  their  first  use  due  to 
desire  for  pageantry  and  show,  but  to  serve  for  identification  of 
their    bearers;    later,    they    bore    devices    commemorating    their 


HERALDRY  IN  AMERICA 

achievements  or  the  achievements  of  ancestors  whose  glories  they 
deemed  worthy  of  some  signal  recognition. 

Just  when  Arms  came  into  England  is  uncertain.  A  popular  im- 
pression is  that  they  came  with  William  the  Conqueror,  but  this  is 
questioned;  none  appear  upon  his  shield,  so  far  as  known,  nor  upon 
his  banner;  neither  are  any  shown  on  the  Bayeux  tapestry.  King 
Stephen,  son-in-law  of  William  the  Conqueror,  (1105-1135),  shows 
a  centaur  on  his  seal,  but  no  device  upon  his  shield.  Authentic  ac- 
counts of  Arms  really  begin  with  the  erection  of  the  Heralds '  Col- 
lege, or  College  of  Arms,  by  Richard  III,  in  1483,  a  primary  purpose 
of  which  was  to  examine  into  then  existing  claims  to  the  use  of 
arms;  and  from  which  it  is  entirely  proper  to  concede  that  they 
had  been  previously  known  for  a  long  time.  The  Heralds '  College 
was  assigned  a  habitation  in  the  parish  of  All-Hallows-the-Less,  in 
London.  Its  privileges  were  confirmed  by  various  charters,  and 
it  was  incorporated  by  Philip  and  Mary,  who  bestowed  upon  it  Der- 
by House,  upon  whose  site  in  Doctors'  Commons  the  present  col- 
lege was  erected  under  the  distinguished  Sir  Christopher  Wren. 

According  to  Guillim,  a  first  authority  on  heraldry,  who  wrote 
about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  "Arms,  according  to  their 
original  and  first  use,  may  be  thus  described:  Arms  are  tokens  or 
resemblances  signifying  some  act  or  quality  of  the  bearer.  They 
are  generally  and  according  to  their  present  use,  hereditable  marks 
or  signs  of  honor  taken  as  granted  by  Sovereign  Princes  to  reward 
and  distinguish  persons,  families  and  communities,  in  war  and  in 
peace.  These  are  sometimes  composed  of  natural  things,  as  of 
some  kinds  of  celestial  bodies,  viz. :  the  sun,  moon,  stars,  etc. ;  some- 
times of  f oor-f  ooted  beasts ;  or  of  birds,  or  of  serpents,  or  of  fishes, 
or  reptiles;  or  some  kind  of  vegetables,  trees,  shrubs,  flowers, 
fruits,  leaves ;  or  of  some  solid  things,  as  castles,  towers,  mountains, 
etc.;  or  of  things  pertaining  to  arts  liberal  or  trades  mechanical. 
Sometimes,  again,  they  are  compact  of  none  of  these,  but  do  consist 
only  of  the  variations  of  simple  colors,  counterchanged  by  occasion 
of  transverse,  perpendicular,  or  whatever  other  line  used  in  Coat- 
Armour,  whether  the  same  be  straight,  crooked,  bunched,  etc." 

3 


HERALDRY  IN  AMERICA 

The  principal  personal  or  family  identification  belongs  to  the 
Shield,  or  Escutcheon,  rather  than  the  Coat  of  Arms  proper.  The 
latter,  in  the  military  trappings  of  the  Middle  Ages,  held  the  place 
of  the  paludamentum  of  the  ancient  Roman  warrior — a  short- 
sleeved  coat  or  tunic,  descending  to  about  the  knee.  That  worn  by 
princes  and  great  barons  was  of  cloth  of  gold  or  silver,  or  of  velvet; 
that  by  the  generality  of  wearers,  was  of  a  sort  of  light  taffety. 
Upon  this  was  painted  or  embroidered  marks  by  which  the  wearer 
could  be  distinguished,  and  this  was  its  only  merit,  for  it  was  worn 
over  the  armor,  which  alone  afforded  protection  against  arrow, 
lance,  or  sword.  There  was  a  real  necessity  for  the  Shield,  which, 
borne  upon  the  arm,  could  be  shifted  immediately  in  front  of  the 
body,  or  to  right  or  left,  or  overhead,  according  to  the  direction 
whence  came  the  missile  or  blow  of  the  opponent. 

The  Shield  is  known  in  history  from  the  most  ancient  times, 
through  the  Middle  Ages,  and  until  the  invention  of  firearms  rend- 
ered it  useless.  That  worn  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans  was  circular, 
or  square,  but  bent  to  encircle  the  body.  With  those  peoples,  those 
warriors  who  returned  from  battle  without  it,  were  "in  great  dis- 
grace, and  interdicted  from  holy  things."  The  early  Shield  or 
Escutcheon  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  circular  and  convex,  with  a  boss 
in  the  center,  the  body  generally  of  wood,  and  the  rim  of  metal.  This 
form  was  that  generally  borne  by  the  foot  soldier ;  with  the  mounted 
knight  of  the  Middle  Ages  the  triangular  or  lozenge  form  became 
the  favorite,  for  obvious  reasons  of  convenience.  Thus,  as  the 
Shield  was  necessary,  and  its  use  honorable,  it  came  to  be  recognized 
by  all  nations  as  "the  most  convenient  tabula  whereon  to  inscribe 
marks  of  valour  and  honour. ' '  An  illustration  is  given  by  Guillim, 
before  quoted,  in  the  following : 

After  battles  were  ended,  the  shields  of  soldiers  were  considered, 
and  he  was  accounted  most  deserving  whose  shield  was  most  or 
deepest  cut,  and  to  recompense  the  dangers  wherein  they  were 
known  to  have  been  for  the  service  of  their  King  and  Country  by 
these  cuts,  the  heralds  did  represent  them  upon  their  shields. 

The  common  cuts  gave  name  to  the  common  partitions,  of  which 
the  others  are  made  by  various  conjunctions.  If  the  shield  was  cut 
from  the  chief  (upper  part)  to  the  base  (bottom  part),  they  gave  a 
line  of  partition  in  that  form  which  the  French  call  parti;  if  trans- 

4 


ASHTON    ARMS 


HALL  ARMS 


BRINGHURST  ARMS 


[CT/SQN^ 
GILPIN   ARMS 


HERALDRY  IN  AMERICA 

verse  or  athwart,  coupe;  if  diagonal  from  the  right  hie:h  angle  to  the 
lower  left  angle,  tranche;  if  from  the  left  high  angle,  faile.  What 
they  termed  parti,  we  term  per  pale. 

The  above  quotation  has  reference  to  the  very  beginning  of  her- 
aldry in  any  given  family,  when  the  warrior  had  no  inherited  device, 
but  came  to  the  field  of  conflict  with  coat  and  shield  unadorned,  and 
trusting  to  his  valor  and  good  fortune  to  win  an  emblazonry  by  some 
conspicuous  act  of  courage.  Many  novelists  of  the  Victorian  age  of 
English  literature,  among  them  Sir  Walter  Scott,  have  made  much 
of  some  unknown  knight,  bearing  no  device  upon  his  shield,  accom- 
plishing some  notable  feat  upon  the  field  of  battle,  or  in  a  tourna- 
ment where  the  reward  was  a  woman's  smile,  or  glove,  or  (and  in 
this  a  certain  class  of  fiction  writers  delighted),  her  hand  in  mar- 
riage. 

The  armorial  colors  upon  the  Shield  are  termed  tinctures.  They 
are  separated  by  divisional  lines,  and  the  devices  inscribed  upon 
them  are  known  as  charges.  The  principal  tinctures  are  metals  and 
colors,  and  they  are  thus  described  by  Guillim : 

Or — This  color  is  blazoned  by  the  name  of  gold.  And  as  this  metal 
exceedeth  all  others  in  value  and  purity  and  fineness,  so  ought  the 
bearer,  as  much  as  in  him  lieth,  endeavor  to  surpass  all  others  in 
prowess  and  valor.  This  also  denotes  generosity,  or  elevation  of 
mind. 

Argent — This  color  is  most  commonly  taken  in  blazon  for  the 
metal  silver,  and  is  termed  Argent  wherever  the  same  is  found 
either  in  field  or  charges.  It  represents  water,  which  next  to  air  is 
the  noblest  of  all  the  elements.    It  signifies  peace  and  sincerity. 

Azure — This  is  a  color  which  consisteth  of  much  red  and  little 
white,  and  doth  represent  the  color  of  the  sky  in  a  clear  summer 
day.    This  blue  is  termed  Azure.    It  signifies  loyalty  and  truth. 

Gules — This  color  representeth  fire,  which  is  the  chiefest,  light- 
somest  and  elegant  of  the  elements,  and  in  blazoning  is  termed 
Gules.  In  its  military  application  it  signifies  fortitude  and  magnan- 
imity. 

Ver — The  Latins  called  this  Veridis  a  vigore,  in  regard  to  the 
strength,  freshness  and  vigor  thereof,  and  best  resembleth  youth,  in 
that  most  vegetables  as  long  as  they  flourish  are  beautiful  with  ver- 
dure (green). 

Purpure — Purple  is  a  color  that  consisteth  of  much  red  and  of  a 

5 


HERALDRY  IN  AMERICA 

small  quantity   of  black.     This   color   in   most   time   was   of  that 
precious  esteem  as  that  none  but  kings  and  princes  and  their  fa- 
vourites  might   wear   the   same.     It   denotes   royal   majesty,   sov- 
ereignty and  justice. 
Sable — Black,  indicative  of  sorrow,  or  grief — of  calamity. 

After  the  colors  (tinctures),  the  charges  are  of  principal  impor- 
tance. Under  this  designation  appear  the  devices  inscribed  upon 
the  Shield,  as,  for  example,  the  fleur-de-lis,  the  chevron,  the  battle- 
axe,  a  shamrock,  a  bird,  a  fish,  and  so  on,  as  pertains  to  the  partic- 
ular family  or  individual  bearing  the  arms.  Examples  may  be  seen 
in  the  arms  of  the  Logans,  Knights,  and  Levicks,  in  accompanying 
illustrations. 

Of  the  latter  there  are  countless  instances,  some  resting  upon 
assured  historical  events,  some  upon  tradition,  more  or  less  depend- 
able. A  curious  illustration  is  found  in  the  crest  of  one  of  the  Arm- 
strong families  of  Scotland,  founded  upon  a  tradition  concerning 
one  of  its  ancient  chiefs  noted  for  being  especially  strong  in  the 
arm,  and  hence  the  name  Armstrong.  It  relates  to  the  feat  per- 
formed in  the  rescue  of  his  king.  The  latter,  being  unhorsed  in  bat- 
tle, his  follower  grasped  him  by  the  thigh,  heavily  armed  as  he  was, 
and  replaced  him  in  the  saddle.  In  support  of  this  tradition  is 
produced  the  Armstrong  crest — an  armed  hand  and  arm,  in  the 
hand  a  leg  and  foot  in  armor,  couped  at  the  thigh,  all  proper. 

To  this  point,  the  Shield  in  Heraldry  is  practically  what  it  was  in 
days  when  it  was  an  all-important  part  of  the  knight's  equipment; 
but  here  the  subject  expands  into  the  domain  of  both  science  and  art, 
having  for  its  foundation  the  blazonry  of  arms  as  instituted  by  the 
Herald's  College,  or  College  of  Arms,  founded  by  Richard  III  in 
1485,  and  elaborated  in  the  days  that  followed. 

Passing  by  the  intricate  system  of  inscribing  upon  the  Shield  the 
lines  of  partition  and  repartition,  and  the  well  nigh  infinity  of 
charges,  we  may  consider  the  appendages  which  have  come  to  be  dis- 
played with  it — now  ornaments,  which  had  no  connection  with  the 
Shield  when  it  was  actually  worn,  but,  nevertheless,  most  suitable, 
for  the  reason  that  they  memorialize  other  portions  of  the  knight's 
ancient  equipment.    Principal  among  these  is  the  helmet,  variously 

6 


4fefr  &%& 

*§*     '  ^^^6*  life 

Wmm 


tf  ARMS 


"\ 


♦      ♦      4> 


4*  4*  4* 


LEVICK  ARMS 


ma^^^aam1 


V^ 


;§fe  -  ^l, ...  A.'/j?^ 


7^. 


KNIGHT    ARMS 


..^as 


HERALDRY  IN  AMERICA 

termed  also  as  the  kelme,  morion,  and  casque.  This  is  placed  on 
the  summit  of  the  Shield,  and  appears  variously — full  faced,  with 
the  visor  thrown  back,  or  inclining  to  a  profile,  sometimes  with  the 
visor  closed — according  to  the  rank  of  the  knight  commemorated. 
Upon  the  helmet  is  the  lambrequin,  a  mantle  or  hood,  its  extremi- 
ties flotant,  and  upon  this  a  wreath  comprising  two  silken  cords 
interwoven  or  twisted  together,  the  one  tinctured  of  the  principal 
metal  in  the  Arms,  and  the  other  of  the  principal  color.  Tins  wreath 
signifies  its  ancient  use — to  fasten  the  crest  to  the  helmet. 

The  principal  ornament  of  the  Shield  is  the  Crest  or  Cognizance, 
superimposed  upon  the  wreath.  Occupying  the  summit  of  the  hel- 
met, it  was  more  clearly  and  distantly  distinguished  than  any  device 
upon  coat  or  shield,  and  hence  its  heraldric  name  of  cognizance,  from 
the  Latin  cognosco,  "to  know."  This  came  into  vogue  in  the  thir- 
teenth century,  long  after  the  introduction  of  devices  upon  coat  or 
shield.  Sometimes  it  was  indicative  of  the  office  held  by  the  wearer ; 
sometimes  it  was  commemorative  of  some  particular  feat  of  the 
wearer,  or  that  of  an  ancestor.  Encyclopedias  of  Heraldry  reveal 
an  almost  endless  array  of  devices — a  sun,  a  crescent ;  animals  and 
birds,  in  all  attitudes,  at  rest  or  in  motion ;  and  so  on.  A  few  illus- 
trations are  given  in  the  accompanying  reduced  plates  of  the  arms 
of  the  Ashton,  Bringhurst,  Gilpin  and  Hall  families. 

Supporters  are  figures  placed  on  each  side  of  the  shield,  and, 
as  the  name  implies,  seeming  to  hold  up  and  support  it.  Their 
use  as  an  heraldric  device  is  told  of  by  Menestrier,  a  first  authority, 
who  states  that  at  tournaments  it  was  customary  for  the  knights  who 
were  to  enter  the  lists,  to  have  their  shields  hung  in  front  of  their 
pavilions,  guarded  by  their  pages,  armor  bearers  and  servants, 
fantastically  clad  according  to  the  fancy  of  their  master — some- 
times as  Saracens,  savages,  sirens,  and  sometimes  as  lions,  bears, 
dragons,  and  the  like. 

The  swans  in  the  Wemyss  arms  are  a  beautiful  adornment,  and 
their  representation  is  not  unnatural;  in  many  instances  mythical 
creatures  are  introduced,  as  in  the  Du  Pont  and  De  Pelleport  arms 
as  reproduced  in  miniature  in  connection  with  this  article. 

The  Motto  completes  the  adornments  of  the  Shield.     This  con- 

7 


HERALDRY  IN  AMERICA 

sists  of  a  word  or  sentence  carried  upon  a  scroll  at  the  bottom  of  the 
Shield,  and  used  in  allusion  to  the  name  or  office  of  its  bearer,  the 
deeds  of  an  ancestor,  or  as  expressing  some  guiding  principle  or 
ideal.  In  various  instances,  the  significance  of  the  motto  is  undis- 
cernible  without  recourse  to  the  records  (and  frequently  traditions) 
of  the  family,  as  in  the  case  of  Gilpin  (see  plate).  The  Quo  fata 
vocant  of  the  Halls,  especially  when  taken  in  connection  with  the 
charges  on  the  escutcheon,  would  seem  to  point  to  some  important 
mission  or  achievement.  Many  family  mottoes  contain  a  punning 
allusion  to  their  names,  as  Ver  non  semper  viret,  the  motto  of  the 
Vernons;   and  Cavendo  tutus,  of  the  Cavendishes. 

To  proceed  further  with  this  exposition  is  inexpedient.  The  sub- 
ject is  a  complicated  one,  with  an  elaborate  vocabulary  of  its  own. 
The  study  is  one  of  entrancing  delight  to  many  an  antiquarian  and 
genealogist;  and  their  descriptions,  interpreted  by  the  pencil  and 
colors  of  the  skilled  heraldric  artist,  are  a  source  of  delight  in  many 
a  home,  not  alone  for  their  beauty,  but  for  their  historic  worth  in 
connecting  the  active  progressive  man  and  woman  of  today  with 
an  honored  ancestry.  In  the  words  of  Xabb,  "It  is  indeed  a  bless- 
ing when  the  virtues  of  noble  races  are  hereditary,  and  do  derive 
themselves  from  the  imitation  of  virtuous  ancestors." 


8 


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J 


I 


-£s' 


/La //ion  <  Jarre /ax.  c  r£ 


Dr.  Ramon  Guiteras 

1858— RAMON  GUITERAS,  M.  D.,  F.  A.  C.  £.—1917. 

GUITERAS  ARMS,  Spain— Vert,  five  greyhounds'  heads,  erased 
proper,  vulned,  and  distilling  drops  of  blood  gules,  posed  two, 
one  and  two. 

NE  OF  the  most  dominant  and  authoritative  of  the  great 

leaders  of  the  medical  profession  in  America,  a  man 

whose  influence  in  the  fields  to  which  he  devoted  his 

genius  and  indefatigable  labors,  was  world  wide,  died  in 

New  York  City,  on  December  13,  1917 — Dr.  Ramon  Guiteras. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find  in  the  history  of  medicine  in  America 
in  the  past  four  decades,  a  man  who  has  left  a  deeper  impression 
on  its  pages,  whose  work  has  been  a  greater  instrument  in  the 
advancement  of  medical  science,  whose  research  more  daring,  orig- 
inal and  valuable  than  that  of  Dr.  Guiteras.  To  find  the  measure 
of  such  a  man  it  would  be  necessary  to  trace  a  history  which  extends 
far  beyond  the  bounds  of  biography.  In  the  field  of  surgery  his 
reputation  was  worldwide,  and  his  work  had  brought  him  recogni- 
tion and  acclaim  in  the  great  medical  centres  of  Europe.  Latin 
America  hailed  him  as  one  of  her  own,  and  the  United  States  had 
conferred  on  him  from  time  to  time  recognition  of  the  highest 
type  in  missions  of  great  importance.  In  addition,  he  was  known 
internationally  as  a  sportsman  and  a  hunter  of  big  game,  a  linguist 
of  wide  abilities,  and  an  author  whose  work  carried  weight  in  fields 
hitherto  unexplored  in  the  history  of  medicine.  No  florid  eulogy, 
however,  could  do  the  justice  to  the  memory  of  such  a  man,  which 
a  plain,  unvarnished  statement  of  the  facts  of  the  case  can  do. 

First  of  the  direct  line  of  whom  we  have  authentic  information, 
Mateo  Guiteras,  was  a  native  of  the  town  of  Canet  Le  Mar,  and  a 
member  of  a  family  long  established  and  prominent  in  the  Province 
of  Catalonia,  in  Spain.  Canet  Le  Mar  is  to-day  a  town  of  note  in 
Catalonia,  which  borders  on  the  historic  and  famous  province  of 

9 


DR.  RAMON  GUITERAS 

Toledo,  and  in  the  time  of  Mateo  Guiteras  was  a  flourishing  center 
of  trade.  Of  the  character  of  Mateo  Guiteras  and  of  his  immediate 
family,  we  can  only  form  a  vague  yet  satisfying  opinion,  from  the 
career  and  subsequent  achievements  of  his  son,  Ramon  Guiteras. 
From  the  position  which  the  latter  occupied  in  Cuba,  it  is  entirely 
lawful  to  assume  that  he  came  of  a  strong,  progressive,  and  intel- 
lectually as  well  as  practically  able  stock.  Mateo  Guiteras  passed 
his  entire  life  in  Spain,  where  he  died. 

He  married  Maria  de  Molines,  also  a  member  of  an  honorable 
and  historically  noted  family,  and  a  native  of  Canet  Le  Mar.  They 
were  the  parents  of  Ramon  Guiteras. 

Ramon  Guiteras,  son  of  Mateo  and  Maria  (de  Molines)  Guiteras, 
was  born  in  the  town  of  Canet  Le  Mar,  Province  of  Catalonia,  Spain, 
where  he  spent  the  early  portion  of  his  life.  In  young  manhood  he 
left  Spain,  however,  and  went  to  Cuba,  where  he  later  became  a 
noted  merchant.  He  was  representative  of  a  type  of  dynamic,  force- 
ful, tirelessly  energetic  business  men,  characteristic  more  of  the 
twentieth  century  than  indigenous  to  Spain  and  the  Spanish  prov- 
inces of  his  day.  Ramon  Guiteras  was  the  founder  of  many  notable 
enterprises,  among  them  a  flour  mill,  a  bakery,  and  an  extensive 
coffee  estate.  In  the  course  of  a  long  and  successful  business  career 
he  amassed  a  considerable  fortune,  and  died  possessed  of  much  val- 
uable property.  He  married  Gertrudis  Font,  a  native  of  Canet  Le 
Mar,  who  accompanied  him  .to  Cuba.  They  resided  at  Matanzas, 
Cuba,  where  their  son  Ramon  was  born. 

Ramon  Guiteras,  son  of  Ramon  and  Gertrudis  (Font)  Guiteras, 
was  born  at  Matanzas,  Cuba,  August  4,  1811.  At  the  age  of  four 
years  he  was  taken  by  his  father  to  Spain,  on  account  of  political 
uprisings  in  Cuba.  On  his  return  to  Cuba  he  received  an  excellent 
and  comprehensive  educational  training,  and  became  especially  pro- 
ficient in  languages,  developing  great  linguistic  ability.  Ramon 
Guiteras  subsequently  traveled  extensively  in  Europe,  spending 
four  years  at  Barcelona,  Spain,  and  in  America. 

He  married,  in  Bristol,  Rhode  Island,  September  27,  1853,  Eliz- 
abeth Manchester  Wardwell,  daughter  of  Benjamin  (3)  and  Eliz- 
abeth (Manchester)  Wardwell.  After  his  marriage,  Ramon  Guit- 
eras made  his  home  in  Bristol,  retaining,  however,  a  few  of  his 

io 


DR.  RAMON  GUITERAS 

interests  in  Cuba,  a  small  portion  of  the  original  estate  of  his 
father.  He  died  February  13,  1S73.  The  children  of  Ramon  and 
Elizabeth  Manchester  (Wardwell)  Guiteras:  1.  Gertrude  Eliza- 
beth Guiteras,  born  March  2,  1855,  who  resides  in  Bristol,  Rhode 
Island.    2.  Ramon  Guiteras,  M.  D.,  of  whom  further. 

Dr.  Ramon  Guiteras  was  born  in  the  town  of  Bristol,  Rhode  Island, 
August  17, 1858,  the  son  of  the  late  Ramon  and  Elizabeth  Manchester 
(Wardwell)  Guiteras,  descending  paternally  from  a  noted  stock  of 
pure  Catalonian  blood,  maternally  from  a  Puritan  family  as  old  and 
proud  as  the  foremost  in  the  land.  The  union  of  the  two  lines  dates 
to  the  period  when  Bristol  was  a  port  of  consequence  in  the  West 
Indian  trade,  and  in  constant  touch  with  Cuba. 

Dr.  Ramon  Guiteras,  a  cousin  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Juan  Guiteras, 
of  Havana,  was  educated  in  the  schools  of  Bristol,  and  later 
prepared  for  college  at  Mowry  and  GofFs  English  and  Classical 
School  in  Providence,  and  matriculated  at  Harvard  University. 
Completing  the  classical  course,  he  entered  Harvard  Medical  School, 
where  even  at  this  early  date  he  was  looked  upon  as  a  student  of 
unusual  promise.  He  secured  the  degree  of  M.  D.  in  1883.  Shortly 
after  his  graduation  he  went  to  Vienna,  after  remaining  there  a  year 
and  half,  then  going  to  Berlin  to  study  under  the  most  eminent 
surgeons  of  the  time.  He  remained  in  Berlin  six  months,  at  the  end 
of  this  time  returning  to  New  York,  where  he  took  the  naval  medical 
examination  for  the  post  of  assistant  surgeon.  He  passed  the  severe 
test  with  the  highest  honors  of  his  class,  and  immediately  after 
receiving  his  appointment,  resigned,  having  taken  it  merely  to  test 
his  ability.  He  then  entered  the  Charity  Hospital  on  Blackwell's 
Island,  and  after  a  period  spent  there,  established  himself  in  prac- 
tice. 

He  began  almost  at  once  to  attract  attention  in  medical  circles  for 
the  profundity  of  his  knowledge,  specializing  from  the  first  on  sur- 
gery. He  was  offered  a  professorship  in  the  Post-Graduate  Medical 
School,  where  he  taught  for  a  number  of  years,  some  of  the  foremost 
men  in  the  profession  in  the  country  sitting  under  him  during  this 
period.  His  rise  to  the  highest  rank  in  the  medical  world  was  rapid. 
His  genius  was  of  the  type  which  automatically  breaks  down  the 
barriers  of  professional  jealousy.    Leaders  willingly  accorded  him 

ii 


DR.  RAMON  GUITERAS 

the  place  to  which  his  master  hand  entitled  him,  and  he  stepped  into 
a  place  from  which  only  death  dislodged  him. 

Dr.  Guiteras  was  well  known  in  all  the  organizations  of  the 
medical  professions.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Rhode  Island  Medi- 
cal Society,  the  Society  of  Genito-Urinary  Surgeons;  president  of 
the  Pharmaceutical  Society;  president  of  the  Spanish  American 
and  Latin  American  Medical  Association ;  member  of  the  American 
Urological  Association.  He  was  secretary  for  many  years  of  the 
Pan-American  Medical  Congress ;  a  member  of  the  American  Med- 
ical Association ;  Fellow  of  the  American  College  of  Surgery ;  mem- 
ber of  the  State  and  County  Medical  Associations  of  New  York,  of 
the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine,  and  the  New  York  Urological 
Society.  He  was  visiting  surgeon  of  the  Post-Graduate  and  Colum- 
bus Hospitals,  and  consulting  surgeon  of  the  French  and  City  Hos- 
pitals; he  was  director  of  the  former,  and  at  one  time  one  of  its 
operating  surgeons.  His  invaluable  work  among  the  poor  patients 
in  the  Italian  Hospital  in  New  York  brought  him  recognition  from 
the  Italian  government  in  the  form  of  a  gold  medal.  He  was  Pro- 
fessor of  Venereal  and  Genito-Urinary  Surgery  in  the  New  York 
Post-Graduate  Medical  School. 

His  work  as  an  author,  curtailed  greatly  by  the  demands  of  the 
medical  profession,  is  limited  to  two  volumes,  of  great  importance 
and  value,  which  are  regarded  as  authoritative  in  the  fields  which 
they  cover.  One  has  been  translated  into  several  languages.  A 
third,  on  which  he  was  engaged  at  the  time  of  his  death,  remains 
unfinished.  Always  a  close  student  of  conditions  and  life  in  Cuba, 
he  was  known  widely  as  an  authority  on  the  Island,  and  had  been 
entrusted  with  many  secret  missions  by  the  United  States  govern- 
ment. A  year  ago  he  was  sent  by  President  Wilson  to  Cuba  to 
ascertain  the  sentiment  of  the  people  in  regard  to  the  European 
War.  On  his  return  he  made  a  widely  published  statement  of  his 
findings  there.  For  several  years  prior  to  his  death  he  had  been  a 
member  of  numerous  government  advisory  boards.  After  the  out- 
break of  the  European  War  he  made  several  trips  to  France,  in  the 
capacity  of  advisory  surgeon,  and  for  research  and  study  in  the 

12 


DR.  RAMON  GUITERAS 

unexplored  fields  which  France,  torn  and  bleeding,  opened  for  the 
healing  ministry  of  modern  surgery. 

The  recreation  of  Dr.  Guiteras  was  on  as  great  a  scale  as  his 
work.  He  was  a  world  renowned  hunter  of  big  game,  known  as  a 
man  devoid  of  fear,  brave  in  the  face  of  danger,  and  one  who  loved 
the  zest  of  a  combat.  He  had  hunted  in  Africa  and  in  many  foreign 
countries,  and  was  a  skilled  sportsman  and  a  fine  shot, 

Of  Dr.  Guiteras  as  a  man,  of  his  personality,  a  friend  who  knew 
him  long  and  well,  writes :  .  .  .  "  A  tall  and  commanding  man, 
towering  above  all  his  companions,  with  that  magnificent  head,  that 
majestic  face,  grave  and  serious,  but  with  those  great  blue  eyes 
lighting  it,  beaming  with  brotherly  love  and  tenderness.  And  then, 
what  genial  manners  he  had.  .  .  .  Yes,  a  mind  of  such  power  as 
few  men  possess,  magnetism,  that  wonderful  gift  of  persuading  and 
influencing  other  men.  Ajid  yet  the  thought  never  entered  his  mind 
of  using  any  of  these  rich  gifts  for  other  than  to  heal  the  sick.  He 
spent  them  freely  as  he  received  them,  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow 
men.  .  .  .  While  we  may  be  proud  of  him  as  an  eminent 
surgeon  and  physician,  we  revere  and  respect  him  most  for  the 
hours  and  days  of  free  medical  care  he  bestowed  on  the  sick." 

A  gentleman  and  a  scholar,  yet  an  untiring  worker,  a  master 
surgeon,  in  many  ways  an  able  diplomat,  an  author  and  teacher,  a 
linguist  of  fine  powers,  a  quiet,  lovable,  retiring  man,  into  whose 
short  measure  of  a  life  time  was  crowded  the  work  of  many  men,  has 
gone  at  the  height  of  a  useful  career,  leaving  a  work  the  greatness 
of  which  will  be  measured  by  the  number  of  the  men  to  whom  will 
fall  the  task  of  carrying  it  forward. 

Note. — An  account  of  the  Manchester-Wardwell  families  will  appear  in  the  next 
issue  of  Americana. 


13 


" 


The  Decline  of  English  Influence  in  Turkey* 

By  Wilma  Orem, 

INSTRUCTOR,  HISTORY  DEPARTMENT   OF  KANSAS   STATE  AGRICULTURAL 
COLLEGE,    MANHATTAN,    KANSAS. 


HE  entrance  of  Turkey  into  the  war  in  the  autumn  of 


@y1  1914  on  the  side  of  the  Teutonic  allies,  seemed  unnatural 
^J4|  to  many  Americans.  We  had  grown  accustomed  to 
thinking  of  Turkey  as  a  protege  of  England,  while  in 


reality  English  influence  in  Turkey  had  been  steadily  declining  and 
that  of  Germany  quietly  taking  its  place.  Turkey  has  long  been  a 
decadent  nation.  European  nations  for  the  last  half  century  or 
more  have  thought  there  was  no  hope  of  recovery  for  "the  Sick 
.Man  of  Europe, ' '  but  have  been  careful  to  prevent  his  demise.  They 
have  been  equally  careful  to  prevent  his  gaining  strength.  Mutual 
apprehension  and  jealousy  among  the  six  Great  Powers  has  kept 
the  Turk  in  tenancy  at  the  straits,  for  this  directorate  would  not 
allow  any  one  Power  to  appropriate  the  most  desired  of  cities. 
With  the  opening  of  the  twentieth  century,  Turkey  showed  signs  of 
regeneration,  but  received  no  encouragement  from  the  European 
Concert.  She  was  even  punished  for  trying  to  reform  herself  in 
1908  by  the  loss  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina.  That  Turkey  in 
Europe  has  survived  the  nineteenth  century,  is  due  to  England's 
thwarting  the  schemes  of  Russia  in  1856  and  again  in  1878  to  acquire 
a  front  door  on  the  Mediteiranean  at  the  expense  of  the  Turk.  Eng- 
land had  for  a  long  time  played  the  role  of  friend  to  the  weak,  be- 
cause of  her  interest,  and  her  desire  to  maintain  the  balance  of 
power  in  Europe.  Napoleon  had  dreaded  to  see  Russia  at  Con- 
stantinople, and  sought  to  prevent  it  by  inspiring  England  and 
Russia  against  each  other.    England  was  easily  frightened  by  the 


♦Written  for  a  History  Seminary  in  1916  conducted  by  Prof.  E.  R.  Turner,  Uni- 
versity of   Michigan. 

14 


THE  DECLINE  OF  ENGLISH  INFLUENCE  IN  TURKEY 

idea  of  a  Russian  advance,  while  to  Russia  tie  suggested  that  Eng- 
land was  the  obstacle  to  the  realization  of  her  dream  of  an  outlet 
to  warm  waters.1 

Hardships  suffered  as  a  result  of  corrupt  and  inefficient  adminis- 
trations in  their  respective  countries,  linked  the  British  and  Turk- 
ish soldiers  together  in  the  Crimea.  The  burial  ground  of  the  Brit- 
ish soldiers  at  Scutari,  opposite  Constantinople,  has  been  a  constant 
reminder  to  the  Turks  of  the  friendship  of  Great  Britain.  Another 
bond  between  England  and  Turkey  was  the  82,000,000  Mussulman 
subjects  of  Great  Britain  who  look  to  the  Sultan  as  their  spiritual 
leader.  Turkey  put  her  faith  in  England  as  a  Mussulman  power  to 
protect  her  from  the  machinations  of  other  European  powers.2  There 
was  always  a  fear  on  the  part  of  Englishmen  that  a  breach  with 
Turkey  would  mean  a  revolt  of  the  Mohammedan  portion  of  their 
empire. 

Nevertheless,  since  the  Crimean  war,  the  attitude  of  the  British 
government  has  changed  from  friendliness  to  hatred,  the  change 
coming  abruptly  with  the  fall  of  the  Beaconsfield  government  in 
1880.3  Gladstone  was  then  the  dominant  figure  in  England.  He 
was  prone  to  let  sentiment  run  away  with  his  reason,  especially  when 
excited  by  the  massacres  of  the  Christians.  As  a  result  of  his  fiery 
eloquence  there  was  a  revulsion  of  feeling  in  England.  Abdul 
Hamid,  the  absolute  ruler  of  Turkey  from  1876  to  1908,  was  brought 
up  with  the  warmest  sympathy  for  England.  His  father  considered 
England  to  be  Turkey's  best  friend.4  He  became  aware  of  the  feel- 
ing against  him  by  the  titles  given  him  in  English  newspapers  as, 
"Great  Assassin,' '  "Abdul  the  Damned,"  and  "Sultan  Rouge."5 
Paragraphs  regarding  Turkey,  usually  abusive,  were  translated  for 
the  benefit  of  high  Turkish  dignitaries,  and  were  sometimes  shown 
to  the  Sultan  as  a  mirror  of  public  opinion  in  England.6  While  the 
Sultan  was  being  disillusioned,   one   Turkish   statesman,   Kiamil 


1.  J.  Ellis  Barker— "The  Future  of  Constantinople,"  Nineteenth  Century,  March, 
1915- 

2.  London  Weekly  Times,  October  25,  1912. 

3.  Valentine  Chirol,  The  Middle  Eastern  Question,  p.  186. 

4.  Alfred  Stead,  "Great  Britain  and  Turkey,"  Fortnightly  Review,  LXXXIX,  p.  422. 
5-  Ibid. 

6.  Sidney  Whitman,  "England  and  Germany  at  Constantinople,"  Fortnightly  Re- 
view, LXXXVII,  p.  773- 

15 


THE  DECLINE  OF  ENGLISH  INFLUENCE  IN  TURKEY 

Pasha,  always  maintained  that  England  alone  had  the  higher  inter- 
ests of  Turkey  and  Islam  at  heart.7 

But  England  has  not  lacked  opportunities  to  redeem  herself.. 
With  every  upheaval,  Turkey  has  turned  expectantly  to  England  for 
sympathy  and  support.  In  1908  the  populace  proudly  bought  but- 
tons that  were  "made  in  England,"  and  cheered  her  name.  The 
new  school  of  Turkish  statesmen  swept  away  the  satellites  of 
Germany,  and  put  their  confidence  in  Great  Britain.8  The  revolu- 
tion was  welcomed  by  the  latter  country  but  she  soon  assumed  an 
attitude  of  indifference.9  A  conference  to  settle  Austria's  annex- 
ation of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  and  Bulgaria's  declaration  of  in- 
dependence was  advocated  by  Sir  Edward  Grey,  but  he  lacked  the 
means  to  enforce  it.10  Consequently,  Bulgaria  thought  in  1912  that 
the  demand  upon  her  to  abandon  her  conquests  would  not  be  backed 
by  material  pressure.11  The  English  position  regarding  the  second 
revolution  of  April,  1909,  was  characterized  by  Sir  Edward  Grey's 
remark.  "We  did  not  take  sides."12  During  the  Italian  war  of 
1911,  Turkey  showed  her  appreciation  of  the  cordial  attitude  of  the 
British  Foreign  Office,  which  led  Mr.  Noel  Buxton  to  say  in  Parlia- 
ment, "During  the  last  year  or  two  the  attitude  of  the  Government 
has  been  rather  too  cold  toward  the  Turkish  government.  .  .  . 
Let  us  give  credit  where  credit  is  due,  and  not  be  loth  to  praise 
as  well  as  to  blame. '  '13  In  spite  of  her  realization  that  a  policy  of 
coldness  and  rebuffs  had  not  been  successful,  England  did  not  assist 
the  new  regime  or  make  an  effort  to  further  the  cordial  relations. 
The  feeling  against  England  since  has  probably  been  due  to  what 
was  omitted,  owing  to  her  critical,  unsympathetic  attitude,  rather 
than  to  what  was  committed. 

The  Powers  had  protested  their  amity,  and  made  treaties  to  pre- 
serve the  integrity  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  yet  Austria  took  Bosnia 


7.  London  Weekly  Times,  November  21,  1913. 

8.  Angus   Hamilton,  "Turkey:   The  Old  Regime  and  the  New,"  Fortnightly  Re- 
view,  XC,  p.  382. 

9.  H.  Herbert,  5  Parliamentary  Debates,  XXXII,  p.  2565,  7. 

10.  Sidney  Brooks,  "British  Policy  in  the  Near  East,"  Fortnightly  Review,  XCIX, 
p.  112. 

11.  London   Weekly   Times,  October  11,   1912. 

12.  Sir  E.  Grey,  5  P.  D.  XXXII,  p.  159. 

13.  Noel  Buxton,  5  P.  D.,  XXII,  p.  1328. 

16 


THE  DECLINE  OF  ENGLISH  INFLUENCE  IN  TURKEY 

and  Herzegovina,  Italy  took  Tripoli;  and  Greece,  Servia  and  Bul- 
garia were  allowed  to  divide  Macedonia  among  them.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  the  Tanin,  a  Turkish  newspaper,  remarked  bitterly  that 
the  word  "justice"  was  a  lie  in  Europe?14  In  1912  the  Balkan 
Committee  said,  "Historically  the  responsibility  for  this  war  falls 
on  the  Powers,  and  in  the  fullest  measure  on  Great  Britain;"15  while 
Premier  Asquith  said,  when  requested  by  Turkey  to  mediate,  "The 
victors  are  not  to  be  robbed  of  the  fruits  which  cost  them  so  dear.16 

Meanwhile  what  was  being  lost  gradually  to  England  was  being 
gained  by  Germany.  Bismarck  was  quick  to  seize  the  opportunity 
offered  by  the  Turkish  resentment  to  the  change  of  policy  by  Glad- 
stone's cabinet,  and  immediately  began  to  play  the  part  of  "the 
friend  of  Turkey;"17  German  interest  in  Asia  Minor  dated  from 
1838,  when  Moltke  conceived  the  idea  of  a  gigantic  railway  in  Asi- 
atic Turkey,  to  be  used  for  strategic  purposes.18  But  it  was  not 
■until  the  unification  of  the  empire  that  attention  was  again  called 
to  the  undeveloped  resources  of  the  Levant.  It  is  supposed  that 
Cecil  Rhodes  directed  the  attention  of  the  Kaiser  in  that  direction, 
in  compensation  for  Africa.19  Germany  had  an  ever  increasing  pop- 
ulation and  was  in  need  of  a  field  for  expansion.  The  path  of  least 
resistance  lay  to  the  southeast.  Germany  dreamed  of  an  empire 
which  should  stretch  from  the  Baltic  Sea  to  the  Persian  Gulf — 
large  and  small  states  bound  together  by  a  common  emperor,  a  cus- 
toms union,  an  army  and  a  navy.20  A  further  connecting  link  was 
to  be  an  all  German  railway  from  Hamburg,  through  Constanti- 
nople, to  Basra.21  German  enterprise  set  to  w^ork  to  bring  about 
this  scheme  of  economic  ascendancy. 

In  1889,  William  II.  visited  Constantinople  with  a  view  to  creat- 


14.  London  Weekly  Times,  September  29,   191 1. 

15.  London  Weekly  Times,  October  18,  1912. 

16.  London   Weekly   Times,  November   15,    1912. 

17.  Valentine  Chirol,  The  Middle  Eastern  Question,  p.  196. 

18.  Synd    Hossain,    "Turkey    and    German    Capitalists,"    Contemporary    Review, 
CVll,  p.  488. 

19.  Ibid. 

20.  Sir  H.   H.   Johnston,   'The  Legitimate   Expansion  of   Germany,"  Fortnightly 
Review,  LXXXIV,  p.  427. 

21.  J.  A.  Spender,  "Great  Britain  and  Germany,"  Fortnightly  Review,  LXXXIV, 
p.  816. 

17 


THE  DECLINE  OF  ENGLISH  INFLUENCE  IN  TURKEY 

ing  a  German  interest  in  the  Near  East.22  He  and  Abdul  Hamid 
seemed  very  much  pleased  with  each  other,  but  no  benefit  ever  came 
to  the  latter  from  this  Platonic  friendship.  Germany  has  been 
careful  not  to  commit  herself  or  risk  her  own  interests  for  Turkey's 
welfare  in  connection  with  the  various  Balkan  troubles. 

But  Germany  had  a  more  important  reason  than  the  economic 
for  her  interest  in  the  Sultan's  domain.  Her  farsighted  statesmen 
realized  that  England  would  be  more  and  more  a  barrier  to  Ger- 
man expansion.  The  vulnerable  part  of  the  British  Empire — the 
only  place  where  she  could  be  attacked  by  land — was  Egypt  and  the 
Suez  canal.  Turkey  was  the  only  country  in  a  position  to  strike 
there.23  It  has  been  asserted  that  Lord  Kitchener  was  sent  to  Egypt 
because  England  realized  this  potentiality.24  Turkey  would  be 
willing  to  combine  with  Germany  for  this  purpose  because,  accord- 
ing to  the  Minister  of  Marine,  Egypt  was  on  their  frontier  and  they 
felt  about  it  as  the  French  did  about  Alsace-Lorraine.25  By  way 
of  Turkey  would  be  the  only  route  over  which  Germany  could  im- 
port foreign  food  and  raw  material  in  case  of  war  with  the  West- 
ern powers.  Turkey  would  also  serve  as  a  weapon  against  Russia, 
with  whose  interests  German  schemes  were  sure  to  collide.  Aus- 
tria demanded  German  watchfulness  in  the  Balkans,  where  her  vital 
interests  lay,  in  return  for  her  support  in  case  Germany  got  into 
difficulties  with  France  or  England.26  Bernhardi  said  in  1911, 
"Turkey — the  predominant  Power  of  the  Near  East — is  of  para- 
mount importance  to  us.  She  is  our  natural  ally ;  it  is  emphatically 
our  interest  to  keep  in  close  touch  with  her.  .  .  .  Turkey  is 
the  only  Power  which  can  threaten  England's  position  in  Egypt, 
and  thus  menace  the  short  sea-route  and  the  land  communications  to 
India.  We  ought  to  spare  no  sacrifices  to  secure  this  country  as 
an  ally  for  the  eventuality  of  a  war  with  England  or  Russia.  Turk- 
ey's interests  are  ours."27 


22.  Robert  Crozier  Long,  "Great  Britain  and  Germany,"  Fortnightly  Review,  XCVI, 
p.  876. 

23.  Ibid. 

24.  Politicus,    "The    Eastern   Question   and    European   War,   Fortnightly   Review, 
XCVIII,  p.  094. 

25.  J.  Ellis  Barker,  "Germany  and  Turkey,"  Fortnightly  Review,  CII,  p.  ion. 

26.  Cecil  Battine,  "Turkey  and  the  Triple  Alliance,"  Fortnightly  Review,  XCV, 

P-  5i. 

27.  Bernhardi,  Germany  and  the  Next  War,  p.  101. 

18 


THE  DECLINE  OF  ENGLISH  INFLUENCE  IN  TURKEY 

The  military  and  official  castes  are  similar  in  Germany  and  Tur- 
key, for  in  both  countries  authority  rests  in  superiors  unaccountable 
to  those  they  command.  The  origin  of  this  authority  is  force  up- 
holding tradition.  The  sparing  of  life  and  suffering  is  not  to  be 
thought  of  when  advancing  a  military  or  political  end.  Both  Ger- 
mans and  Turks  possess  a  passive  obedience  to  superiors  and  an 
imperturbability  in  the  face  of  excitement  or  danger.23  To  both 
can  be  applied  the  lines  from  Tennyson: 

"Theirs  not  to  reason  why, 
Theirs  but  to  do  and  die." 

The  German  could  understand  the  Turk  far  better  than  could 
the  Englishman.  He  came  to  Turkey  with  an  open-mind — a  readi- 
ness to  understand  the  Turk's  nature  and  customs  and  to  respect 
his  religion — thereby  obtaining  a  social  sympathy.29  The  Sultan 
was  unable  to  understand  the  higher  motives  behind  English  pro- 
tests against  concrete  benefits,  while  German  motives  of  self-interest 
were  comprehensible  and  above  suspicion. 

The  German  Emperor  won  his  way  into  the  graces  of  Abdul 
Hamid  by  presents,  congratulatory  telegrams,  and  marks  of  espe- 
cial courtesy.30  In  1896,  when  the  world  was  horrified  by  the  Ar- 
menian massacres,  Emperor  William  sent  the  Sultan  a  family  pho- 
tograph as  a  birthday  gift.31  In  1898  he  paid  a  visit  to  the  Sultan, 
and  praised  him  when  other  rulers  had  nothing  but  adverse  crit- 
icism.32 Sixteen  years  after  this  visit,  Turkey  went  into  the  war  as 
an  ally  of  Germany.  Emperor  William  was  subtle  enough  to  love 
Abdul  Hamid,  and  then  to  bless  his  betrayers :  also  to  keep  the  good 
will  of  Turkey  when  war  was  declared  against  her  by  a  member  of 
the  Triple  Alliance.  Outside  of  the  palace,  however,  the  Germans 
had  few  friends.  They  inspired  more  jealousy  than  love  among  the 
people,  by  reason  of  their  being  friends  of  the  Sultan,  and  by  their 
selfishness  and  businesslike  capacity.33 


28.  H.  A.  Gibbons,  The  New  Map  of  Europe,  p.  61. 

29.  Sidney  Whitman,  "England  and  Germany  at  Constantinople,"  Fortnightly  Re- 
view, LXXXVII,  p.  773- 

30.  Valentine  Chirol,  The  Middle  Eastern  Question,  p.  196. 

31.  H.  A.  Gibbons,  The  New  Map  of  Europe,  p.  63. 

32.  J.  Ellis  Barker,  "The  Change  in  the  Balance  of  Power,"  Nineteenth  Century, 
LXXIII,  p.  1 196. 

33.  Valentine  Chirol,  The  Middle  Eastern  Question,  p.  198. 

19 


THE  DECLINE  OF  ENGLISH  INFLUENCE  IN  TURKEY 

The  German  press  published  appreciative  articles  which,  like  the 
opposite  kind  from  England,  were  translated  for  the  perusal  of 
Turkish  officials.  German  professors  wrote  of  their  travels  in  Tur- 
key, while  such  articles  from  the  pen  of  Englishmen  were  chiefly 
records  of  hardships.34  English  newspapers  barely  mentioned 
events  in  Turkey;  the  German  accounts  were  fairly  complete  and 
accurate,  and  the  Austrian  reports  were  long,  minute  and  correct.35 

The  English  colony  at  Constantinople  had  no  club  of  its  own,  but 
formed  a  minority  of  the  Polyglot  club.  The  German  colony  had 
two — the  Teutonia  and  the  Artisans'  Clubs.  They  celebrated  the 
birthday  of  their  Emperor  by  services  at  church  in  the  morning,  an 
official  reception  at  the  embassy  at  noon,  and  an  ambassadorial  visit 
to  the  clubs,  dining  at  the  Teutonia.36  This  solidarity  of  the  Ger- 
mans was  made  to  further  their  national  interests,  by  a  competent 
ambassador,  Baron  Marshall  von  Bieberstein.  He  was  Germany's 
ablest  diplomat,37  and  the  fact  that  he  was  kept  at  Constantinople  fif- 
teen years  shows  the  importance  of  that  post  to  Germany.  After 
the  downfall  of  Abdul  Hamid,  he  succeeded  in  being  useful  to  the 
Young  Turks  until  his  inability  to  prevent  the  Italian  annexation  of 
Tripoli  made  him  ask  to  be  transferred  to  London.  He  entered 
upon  his  duties  there  in  1912,  but  died  before  he  could  make  his 
influence  felt.  Baron  Marshall  had  a  commanding  presence,  an  air 
of  engaging  frankness,  and  a  combination  of  force,  good  humor  and 
sagacity.  He  realized  the  power  of  the  press  and  kept  a  watchful 
eye  upon  it,  dispensing  only  such  news  and  views  as  he  wished 
disseminated.38 

Another  way  in  which  Germany  ingratiated  herself  with  the  Turk- 
ish authorities  was  her  policy  of  never  worrying  the  Sultan  about 
reforms  or  the  wrongs  of  his  Christian  subjects.  Abdul  Hamid 
laid  the  loss  of  Greece  and  Bulgaria  to  the  reforms  of  the  other 


34.  Sidney    Whitman,    "England    and    Germany    at    Constantinople,"    Fortnightly 
Review,  LXXXVII,  p.  773- 

35.  Capt.  von  Herbert,  "Kaimil  Pasha  and  the  Succession  in  Turkey,"  Fortnightly 
Review,  XC,  p.  419. 

36.  Sidney  Whitman,  "England  and  Germany  at  Constantinople,  Fortnightly  Re- 
view, LXXXVII,  p.  77Z- 

37.  J.  Ellis  Barker,  "The  Change  in  the  Balance  of  Power,"  The  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury, LXXIII,  p.  1 196. 

38.  London  Weekly  Times,  September  27,  1912 

20 


THE  DECLINE  OF  ENGLISH  INFLUENCE  IN  TURKEY 

European  Powers.39  Great  Britain  consistently  endeavored  to  bring 
justice  and  good  rule,  but  her  democratic  enthusiasm  and  vacillat- 
ing policy  excited  suspicion.40  Sir  Edward  Grey  proposed  to 
establish  civilized  order  in  Macedonia,  but  Berlin  and  Vienna  sup- 
ported the  Sultan  in  his  opposition  to  the  growth  of  local  patriotism 
and  self  government.41  The  constitution  of  1908  was  granted  to 
baffle  intervention  by  Great  Britain  and  Russia,  who  had  projected 
a  series  of  reforms  foreshadowing  the  introduction  of  autonomous 
institutions.42  During  the  first  Armenian  massacre,  the  Germans 
were  the  only  ones  among  the  foreign  residents  in  Turkey  who 
maintained  silence.43  If  they  did  not  approve,  they  at  least  did  not 
remonstrate.  It  was  to  Germany's  advantage  to  do  nothing  to  lose 
the  favor  of  Abdul  Hamid.  The  German  press  was  the  only  one  to 
recognize  a  Turkish  side  to  the  Armenian  question.  When  the  con- 
spiracy of  1896  came  to  a  head,  twenty  per  cent  of  the  fattest  civil 
appointments  were  held  by  Armenians — a  fact  overlooked  by  other 
European  papers.44 

Germany  realized  that  Abdul  Hamid 's  power  was  greater  as 
Khalif  than  Sultan.  Mohammedans  all  over  the  world  looked  to 
the  ruler  of  Turkey  as  the  Commander  of  the  Faithful.  The  Bom- 
bay Gazette  once  said,  "I  think  it  is  the  duty  of  every  true  Moham- 
medan to  take  a  deep  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  Ottoman  Em- 
pire."45 And  it  was  the  Mohammedan  element  upon  which  Great 
Britain  depended  in  the  ruling  of  India.  An  instance  showing  that 
Englishmen  regarded  the  situation  as  serious,  was  Alfred  Stead's 
advocating  an  ambassador  being  sent  to  the  spiritual  head  of  Islam 
as  well  as  to  the  Vatican.46  Germany  had  but  slightly  more  than 
two  million  Mohammedan  subjects  and  Turkey  sixteen  or  eighteen 
million,  to  England's  eighty-two  million,  but  on  that  memorable  visit 


39.  Valentine    Chirol,    "Turkey    in    the    Grip    of    Germany,"    Quarterly    Review, 
CCXXII,  p.  240. 

40.  Cecil  Borttine,   "Turkey  and  the  Triple  Alliance,"  Fortnightly  Review,  XCV, 

P-  55-  ^ 

41.  "Foreign  Affairs:     A  Chronigne,"  Fortnightly  Review,  XC,  p.  335. 

42.  London   Weekly   Tbnes,  August  Q,   1912. 

43.  Lord  Cromer,  "The  Suicide  of  the  Turk,"  Spectator,  CXV.  p.  541. 

44.  Sidney  Whitman,  "England  and  Germany  at  Constantinople,"  Fortnighth  Re- 
view, LXXXVII,  p.  87. 

45.  Alfred    Stead,    "Great   Britain   and    Turkey,"   Fortnightly   Review,   LXXXIX, 
p.  417. 

46.  Ibid. 

21 


THE  DECLINE  OF  ENGLISH  INFLUENCE  IN  TURKEY 

of  William  II.  to  Turkey  in  1899,47  at  a  banquet  in  Damascus,  he 
declared  himself  in  the  following  words  to  be  the  Protector  of 
Mohammedanism:  "May  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  and  may  the  300,- 
000,000  Mohammedans  throughout  the  world  who  venerate  in  him 
their  Khalif,  be  assured  that  the  German  Emperor  will  be  their 
friend  at  all  times."48  The  emissaries  sent  to  India  and  Egypt  in 
August,  1914,  to  stir  up  feeling  against  Great  Britain,  did  not  suc- 
ceed, for  the  Mohammedans  were  sensible  to  the  benefits  conferred 
by  English  rule.  In  the  words  of  a  Mussulman  Indian,  "Why 
should  anyone  question  the  loyalty  of  India?  Is  it  not  our  Empire, 
too?"49  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  Khalif  ate  had  lost  prestige 
in  the  years  just  preceding  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  The  Amir  of 
Afghanistan  came  to  regard  himself  as  the  head  of  Islam,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  all  other  Mohammedan  potentates  were  under  the  con- 
trol of  foreigners.  To  further  his  position,  he  maintained  close 
relations  with  Constantinople  and  representatives  at  the  holy 
cities.50 

In  1897,  Herr  von  Kuhlemann,  general  manager  of  the  Turkish 
Oriental  Eailway,  summarized  the  difference  between  the  Germans 
and  English  in  Turkey  as  follows :  Of  course  we  all  want  to  make 
money  here,  but  the  differences  between  us  Germans  and  others  is, 
that  they  want  to  reap  before  they  have  sown,  whereas  we  are 
prepared  to  give  something  in  return  for  what  we  ask  in  the  way 
of  payment."51  To  do  this  they  have  promoted  commerce  and  col- 
onization. Her  geographical  position  placed  Germany  in  close  con- 
nection with  the  Turkish  Empire  down  the  Danube  and  through 
the  Black  Sea,  as  well  as  by  rail  through  Servia  and  Bulgaria. 
Over  these  routes  each  year,  more  and  more  young  Germans  from 
the  crowded  Fatherland  have  pushed  into  Turkey,  particularly  into 
the  vulnerable  portion  of  Asia  Minor.  This  army  of  invasion 
quietly  took  possession  of  banks,  mines,  counting  houses  and  rail- 


47.  Ibid. 

48.  J.  Ellis  Barker,  "The  Change  in  the  Balance  of  Power,"  The  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury, LXXIII,  p.  1 196. 

49.  C  Roberts,  5  Parliamentary  Debates,  LXVIII,  p.  1356. 

50.  London  Weekly  Times,  September  6,  1912;  also  M.  Sykes,  5  Parliamentary  De- 
bates, LIX,  p.  2166. 

51.  Sidney  Whitman,  "England  and  Germany  at  Constantinople,"  Fortnightly  Re- 
view, LXXXVII,  p.  773- 

22 


THE  DECLINE  OF  ENGLISH  INFLUENCE  IN  TURKEY 

ways.52  At  Beyrouth,  for  instance,  a  German  colony  had  estab- 
lished a  bank,  two  hotels,  an  orphanage,  hospital  and  postoffice,  and 
German  steamers  called  regularly.53  German  banks  and  hospitals 
were  much  in  evidence  in  all  cities  of  any  consequence.  Germany 
spent  much  more  money  on  their  schools  in  Turkey  than  did  Eng- 
land; consequently  the  English  schools  had  a  mere  handful  of  pu- 
pils compared  with  the  German  and  French,54  even  though  the  Turks 
were  very  anxious  to  give  their  sons  an  English  education.  Tur- 
key appealed  with  irresistible  force  not  only  to  the  soldier  heart  of 
a  military  state,  but  to  the  clear  sight  of  the  German  statesman  and 
to  the  pocket  of  the  German  merchant. 

All  commercial  activities  were  encouraged  and  subsidized  by  the 
German  government.  It  is  to  this  encouragement  that  German 
commercial  superiority  is  principally  due,  for  the  English  colonists 
appealed  to  their  government  in  vain.55  Then,  too,  all  candidates 
for  German  consulships  must  have  had  a  practical  knowledge  of 
commerce  industry,  and  shipping.  The  London  Times  remarked 
that  not  only  would  the  same  test  be  a  good  thing  for  England,  but 
that  she  also  needed  a  minister  of  commerce  who  knew  practical 
German  trade.56  The  North-German-Lloyd  and  Hamburg-American 
lines  were  urged  to  extend  operations  to  the  Mediterranean,  Per- 
sian Gulf  and  Red  Sea.  The  finest  steamers  that  came  to  Con- 
stantinople were  German,  Austrian,  Italian  and  Russian.  Since 
1877,  foreign  bankers  and  powerful  French  and  German  syndicates 
have  taken  the  place  of  English  financial  influence.  Nearly  all  the 
railways  and  most  of  the  shipping  have  gone  into  other  than  Eng- 
lish hands.57  In  the  twenty  years  from  1882  to  1902,  the  shipping 
from  Germany  to  Turkey  increased  in  value  from  5,900,000  to  43,- 
300,000  marks;    and  from  Turkey  to  Germany  from  1,200,000  to 


52.  Cecil  Battine,   "Turkey  and  the  Triple  Alliance,"  Fortnightly   Review,  XCV, 
P.  54- 

53.  Herbert    Vivian,    "Turkey's    Asiatic    Problems,"    Fortnightly    Review,    XCIX, 
p.  674. 

54.  Noel  Buxton,  5  Parliamentary  Debates,  XXII,  p.  1330. 

55.  Sidney    Whitman,    "England    and    Germany    at    Constantinople,"    Fortnightly 
Review,  LXXXVII,  p.  773- 

56.  London  Weekly  Times,  May  12,  191 1. 

57.  Sidney  Whitman,  "England  and  Germany  at  Constantinople,"  Fortnightly  Re- 

•*«**.     T  YYYVTT     ™     wi 


view,  LXXXVII,  p.  773 

23 


THE  DECLINE  OF  ENGLISH  INFLUENCE  IN  TURKEY 

36,600,000  marks.58    Naturally,  material  needed  in  Turkey  would  be 
ordered  from  the  country  that  provided  the  financial  backing. 

Commerce  and  home  industries  could  not  be  developed  to  a  great 
extent  until  the  resources  of  Asia  Minor  were  opened  up,  and  this 
could  not  be  done  without  railways.  All  Turkey  in  Asia  became  a 
field  for  railway  expansion.  The  Anatolian  was  the  first  railway 
in  Asiatic  Turkey,  being  transferred  to  a  German  company  in  1888, 
after  having  been  started  by  German  engineers  at  the  order  of  the 
Turkish  government.09  A  French  company  was  compelled  to  pass 
under  the  control  of  the  Anatolian  by  being  refused  railway  con- 
nection with  the  German  road,  and  thereby  being  deprived  of  its 
share  of  trade.  Upon  the  surrender  of  the  French  company,  the 
Porte  immediately  reversed  its  former  decision  and  allowed  the 
junction  of  the  two  lines.00  The  Anatolian  Company  retired  in  1903 
to  make  room  for  the  Imperial  Ottoman  Baghdad  Railway  Com- 
pany. The  Germans  invited  Russia,  England  and  France  to  take 
shares  in  the  company,  but  they  would  have  had  little  share  in  the 
control  of  the  road,  as,  out  of  eleven  directors,  three  were  to  be 
Ottoman  subjects  and  three  from  the  old  Anatolian  Company.  Ger- 
many was  well  paid  for  her  esteem  for  the  Sultan  by  the  Baghdad 
concession,  which  was  granted  for  a  term  of  ninety-nine  years.  The 
railway  was  divided  into  three  sections  for  purposes  of  construc- 
tion. The  first,  two  hundred  kilometers  or  125  miles,  reaching  to 
the  Taurus  mountains,  was  to  be  completed  in  two  years,  and  the 
whole  line  in  eight  years  subject  to  the  fulfillment  of  its  financial 
obligations  by  the  Turkish  government,  and  subject  also  to  unavoid- 
able delays  . 

In  reality  this  gave  the  company  any  length  of  time  in  which  to 
complete  the  railway.61  The  agreement  for  the  second  section  was 
not  signed  until  1908,  and  then  tunnelling  through  the  mountains 
proceeded  very  slowly  as  Russia,  France  and  England  boycotted  the 
bonds.62  The  third  section,  from  El  Helif  in  Mesopotamia  to  Bagh- 
dad, a  distance  of  six  hundred  miles,  was  begun  in  1912.  The  Otto- 
man government  guaranteed  eleven  thousand  francs  per  kilometer, 

58.  Valentine   Chirol,  "The  Middle  Eastern   Question!'  p.   188. 

59.  T.  A.  O'Connor,  "The  Baghdad  Railway,"  Fortnightly  Review,  CI,  p.  201. 

60.  Valentine  Chirol,  The  Middle  Eastern  Question,  p.  190. 

61.  Ibid. 

62.  T.  A.  O'Connor,  "The  Baghdad  Railway,"  Fortnightly  Review,  CI,  p.  202. 

24 


THE  DECLINE  OF  ENGLISH  INFLUENCE  IN  TURKEY 

built  and  open  to  traffic,  and  4,500  francs  per  kilometer  toward 
working  expenses.  Two  annuities  of  35,000  francs  each  were  also 
granted  for  betterment  of  works  and  express  train  services  respec- 
tively.63 

The  English  had  one  railway  in  Asia  Minor — from  Smyrna  to 
Aidin — but  were  doomed  to  exclusion  from  a  wider  field.  Oddly 
enough,  it  was  the  only  railway  in  Turkey  which  paid  its  own  way 
without  receiving  a  kilometric  guarantee  from  the  Turkish  govern- 
ment.64 The  English  never  have  asked  a  kilometric  guarantee, 
while  the  Germans  always  have  and  obtained  it.  In  1911,  Ismail 
Kemal  Bey,  leader  of  the  Liberal  party,  reiterated  that  the  Baghdad 
railway  could  have  been  constructed  without  a  guarantee,  and 
stated  his  position  in  these  words:  "I  consider  that  in  attempting 
to  save  the  country  £4,000,000,  I  acted  more  patriotically  than  those 
wTho  allowed  a  foreign  railway  company  to  prey  upon  its  re- 
sources."65 Following  this  speech  there  was  a  scene  in  the  Turk- 
ish Chamber  in  which  Kemal  Bey  w7as  assaulted  by  the  Grand  Vizier. 

Railway  connection  betwTeen  Constantinople  and  the  holy  cities  of 
Medina  and  Mecca  was  all  important  to  Abdul  Hamid.  It  would 
mean  to  the  Mohammedan  world  what  the  Suez  Canal  does  to  the 
economic  world.  Through  connection  was  to  be  established  by  build- 
ing the  Hejaz  line  under  Turkish  auspices  from  some  point  on  the 
Baghdad  railway  before  it  crosses  the  Euphrates,  southward  to 
Mecca.66  The  Baghdad  railway  with  the  Hejaz  line  would  make 
possible  a  rapid  mobilization  of  troops  in  Turkey,  and  put  Ger- 
many within  striking  distance  of  Egypt. 

Furthermore,  the  Persian  Gulf  was  surely  not  the  ultimate  ter- 
minus of  the  German  line.  The  Baghdad  railway  was  evidently 
meant  to  be  the  central  section  of  a  line  connecting  Europe  with 
India  and  China,  laying  between  the  Trans-Siberian  railway  on  the 
north  and  the  British  all-sea  connection  on  the  south.67  This  would 
offer  a  route  for  German  "peaceful  penetration''  farther  into  Asia. 


63.  Valentine  Chirol.   The  Middle  Eastern  Question,  p.  207,  9. 

64.  H.  F.  B.  Lynch,  "The  Baghdad  Railway,  Fortnightly  Review,  XCV,  p.  377. 

65.  London  Weekly  Times,  March  10,   1913. 

66.  Alfred    Stead,    "Great    Britain   and   Turkey,"   Fortnightly   Review,   LXXXIX, 
p.  426. 

67.  George  H.  Allen,  The  Great  War,  p.  167. 

25 


THE  DECLINE  OF  ENGLISH  INFLUENCE  IN  TURKEY 

If  the  road  from  Baghdad  to  the  Persian  Gulf  were  built  under 
German  auspices,  it  would  seriously  menace  the  British  Empire  in 
the  East.  Koweit,  a  principality  on  the  western  side  of  the  Gulf, 
seemed  to  be  the  best  terminal  on  account  of  its  harbor.  Great 
Britain  succeeded  in  establishing  a  protectorate  over  Koweit  by 
means  of  a  treaty  with  the  Sheikh.03  Negotiations  ensued  until  in 
January,  1914,  a  settlement  was  reached  providing  for  the  recogni- 
tion by  Turkey  of  the  British  Protectorate  over  Koweit,  and  for 
continuation  of  the  Baghdad  railway  to  Basra,  Great  Britain  hav- 
ing the  right  to  construct  the  line  from  Basra  to  Koweit,  and  two 
British  delegates  were  to  be  appointed  to  the  directorate  of  the 
Baghdad  Company.09  Anxiety  concerning  Germany  in  Asia  led 
Great  Britain  into  an  agreement  with  her  old  enemy,  Russia,  and 
together  they  planned  a  railway  through  Persia  connecting  Russian 
and  Indian  lines.70  Work  on  the  Baghdad  railway  has  continued 
despite  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  and  now  comes  the  announcement 
that  the  Taurus  Mountains  have  been  pierced,  and  railway  connec- 
tion is  open  from  Berlin  to  Baghdad. 

The  concessions  granted  by  Turkey  were  not  granted  to  the  Ger- 
man government.  Baron  Marshall  von  Bieberstein  was  instru- 
mental in  securing  them,  but  acted  on  behalf  of  German  financial 
groups,  principally  the  Deutsche  Bank.71  In  January,  1913,  a  syn- 
dicate led  by  the  Deutsche  Bank  got  a  concession  for  a  Constanti- 
nople Metropolitan  Railway,  combined  with  such  an  advance  as  to 
satisfy  the  urgent  requirements  of  the  Turkish  treasury.  In  July, 
1913,  Turkey  obtained  a  loan  of  £1,500,000  which  made  possible  the 
advance  on  Adrianople,  in  return  for  an  extension  of  the  Ottoman 
Regie  Concession.  In  December  of  the  same  year  they  got  a  loan 
of  £4,500,000,  and  gave  a  concession  for  a  Dardanelles-Smyrna  rail- 
way, with  a  guarantee,  and  the  Jerusalem  tramways  and  electric 
light  without  a  guarantee.  This  money  went  to  buy  a  Brazilian 
dreadnaught.72    In  the  spring  of  1914,  a  Turkish  loan  of  £32,000,- 

68.  Valentine  Chirol,  The  Middle  Eastern  Question,  p.  232. 

69.  T.  A.  O'Connor,  "The  Baghdad  Railway,"  Fortnightly  Review,  CI,  p.  211. 

70.  London  Weekly  Times,  August  25,  191 1. 

Cecil  Battine,  "Turkey  and  the  Triple  Alliance,"  Fortnightly  Review,  XCV,  p.  55. 

71.  Synd    Hossain,    "Turkey    and    German    Capitalists,"    Contemporary    Review, 
CVll,  p.  488. 

72.  M.  Sykes,  5  P.  D.,  LIX,  p.  2169. 

26 


THE  DECLINE  OF  ENGLISH  INFLUENCE  IN  TURKEY 

000  was  negotiated  in  Paris,  £20,000,000  of  which  was  issued  before 
Turkey  entered  the  war.73  With  every  loan,  Turkey  got  further 
into  the  toils  of  European  financiers,  which  would  lead  inevitably 
to  annexation.  The  financiers  secured  spheres  of  influence  as  their 
security,  which  would  sooner  or  later  become  territory.  An  empire 
can  survive  defeat  and  disaster,  but  not  such  exploitation  as  that 
of  the  Concessionaires. 

Turkey  was  hampered  in  the  control  of  her  judicial  and  financial 
affairs  by  treaty  agreements  with  the  leading  European  nations, 
guaranteeing  exemption  from  taxation,  and  the  jurisdiction  of  con- 
sular, instead  of  Turkish  courts,  to  their  subjects  residing  in  the 
Turkish  Empire.74  Further  conventions  limited  Turkish  control  of 
her  tariff  schedule  without  European  consent.  In  1907  her  import 
duties  were  raised  from  8%  to  11%  ad  valorem  for  a  period  of  seven 
years.  By  1911,  Turkey  was  anxious  to  have  them  raised  to  15 %,75 
but  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  Powers,  who  had  their  own  commercial 
interests  to  consider.  Turkey  was  thus  deprived  of  much  revenue. 
Besides  being  a  blow  to  pride,  these  various  agreements  or  capitu- 
lations restricted  Turkey's  sovereignty,  and  implied  that  she  could 
not  be  trusted  in  the  management  of  affairs  touching  foreign  sub- 
jects. It  was  the  ideal  of  the  Young  Turk  party  to  abrogate  the 
capitulations  which  had  existed  in  some  form  since  1535,  being  an 
outgrowth  of  the  quarters  and  trading  privileges  secured  by  west- 
ern traders  in  cities  of  the  Levant  in  the  Middle  Ages.76  On  Sep- 
tember 9, 1914,  the  Powers  were  notified  by  the  Porte  that  the  capit- 
ulations would  be  abolished  after  October  1.  It  is  believed  that  if 
the  German  ambassador  did  not  instigate  the  move,  the  Porte  at 
least  received  the  encouragement  of  Germany,  although  all  six  pow- 
ers addressed  nearly  identical  notes  to  the  Turkish  government 
protesting  against  one  party  to  a  treaty  declaring  it  to  be  void.77 

The  army  furnished  another  means  for  furthering  the  designs  of 
Germany.  In  fact,  her  first  appearance  in  Turkey  was  in  a  mili- 
tary capacity.     Field  Marshall  von  der  Goltz  was  employed  in  Tur 

73-  Statesman's  Year  Book,  1915,  p.  1398. 

74-  George  H.  Allen,  The  Great  War,  p.  313. 

75-  Earl  of  Ronaldshay,  5  P.  D.,  XXXIII,  p.  631-2. 
76.  George  H.  Allen,  The  Great  War,  p.  313. 

77-     The  Times  History  of  the  War,  Part  28,  III,  p.  47- 

27 


THE  DECLINE  OF  ENGLISH  INFLUENCE  IN  TURKEY 

key  from  1882  to  1895,  and  for  years  after  was  vice-president  of  the 
military  council.78  Until  1908,  however,  efforts  to  improve  the  mil- 
itary organization  were  looked  npon  as  little  short  of  crime.  Abdul 
Hamid  distrusted  his  soldiers,  and  therefore  deprived  them  of  rifle 
practice  and  training  under  actual  service  conditions.  They  were 
even  forbidden  to  drill  in  large  companies,  and  were  kept  in  bar- 
racks under  strict  supervision.79  In  the  reorganization  of  1909, 
from  twenty  to  thirty  German  officers  arrived  in  Turkey  to  assist  the 
Turkish  staff,80  many  of  whom  had  spent  years  in  Germany  perfect- 
ing themselves  in  things  appertaining  to  war.  Regardless  of  three 
years  of  vigorous  reorganizing,  the  Turkish  troops  were  over- 
whelmingly defeated  in  the  Balkan  wars  of  1912  and  1913,  being 
opposed  by  superior  artillery,  and  troops  with  twenty-seven  years 
of  training.  The  Turks  had  plenty  of  men  and  good  fighting  qual- 
ities, but  lacked  capable  leaders.  The  army  was  split  into  parties 
and  factions,  the  medical  service  and  commissariat  were  inadequate, 
and  they  had  not  had  enough  practice  shooting.81  The  elements  of 
the  system  had  been  established,  but  the  machine  had  not  yet  begun 
to  run  well. 

In  January,  1914,  General  Liman  von  Sanders  assumed  a  prom- 
inent position  in  Turkish  affairs,  becoming  marshal  of  the  Ottoman 
forces,  as  the  two  governments  had  an  agreement  that  German  of- 
ficers in  the  Turkish  service  must  hold  a  higher  grade  therein  than 
that  which  they  possessed  in  their  country's  army.  German  supe- 
riority was  due  not  only  to  the  greater  number  of  officials  in  the 
Turkish  army,  but  that  they  were  men  of  diplomatic  as  well  as  mili- 
tary ability,  and  had  an  immense  influence.  In  1909  there  were 
five  British  officers  serving  under  the  Turkish  government  as  offi- 
cers of  the  gendarmerie  or  heavy  cavalry.83  During  1912  and  1913, 
Turkey  twice  asked  England  for  a  loan  of  officers  for  the  gen- 
darmerie, for  administrators  to  assist  in  maintaining  order,  and  for 
three  British  subjects  to  serve  with  a  commission  of  inspection  for 


78.  H.   Charles  Woods,   "The  Reorganized   Turkish   Army,"  Fortnightly  Review, 
XCVIII,  p.   827. 

79.  Lancelot  Lawton,  "A  German  View  of  the  Turkish  Defeat,"  Fortnightly  Re- 
view, XCIX,  p.  996. 

80.  Statesman's  Year  Book,  1914,  p.  1381. 

81.  Lancelot  Lawton,  "A  German  View  of  the  Turkish  Defeat,"  Fortnightly  Re- 
view, XCIX,  p.  096. 

83.     Sir  E.  Grey,  5  P.  D.,  I,  p.  1260. 

28 


THE  DECLINE  OF  ENGLISH  INFLUENCE  IN  TURKEY 

the  ministry  of  the  Interior.84  The  English  government  said  they 
would  consider  the  requests,  and  that  was  all.  England  had  the 
same  opportunity  that  Germany  had,  but  passed  it  by  as  she  had 
done  in  other  matters.  What  English  officers  were  in  Turkish  em- 
ploy made  no  effort  to  use  their  influence  to  further  interests  out- 
side of  their  particular  missions.  They  were  merely  officers — cool 
and  reserved. 

The  reorganization  of  the  Turkish  army  meant  much  to  Germany 
industrially,  as  all  the  necessary  ammunition,  stores,  armaments 
and  equipment,  were  bought  in  Germany.85  In  spite  of  this,  the  Ger- 
man ambassador  advised  the  giving  of  naval  leadership  and  con- 
struction orders  to  England  so  the  navy  would  not  seem  to  be  Ger- 
man.86 This  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  British  Naval  Mission  in 
1908.  At  the  outbreak  of  war  with  Italy,  British  officers  were  with- 
drawn from  the  Turkish  navy,  but  Germany  took  no  such  steps  with 
regard  to  her  officers  in  the  army.87 

During  the  months  of  September  and  October,  1914,  Turkish 
newspapers  were  full  of  England's  highhanded  proceedings  in 
Egypt,  it  being  announced  on  October  23,  that  El  Azhar  Mosque  had 
been  closed.  Glorious  German  and  Austrian  victories  in  both  the 
east  and  west  were  reported  after  the  German  advance  had  been 
checked.88  The  managing  director  of  the  Ottoman  Telegraph 
Agency  was  arrested  for  having  published  authentic  news  given  to 
London  and  Paris  by  Reuters '  Agency.89  Baron  Kuhlmann  opened 
a  free  news  bureau  of  Austrian  and  German  bulletins  in  Constanti- 
nople, where  the  populace  might  admire  pictures  of  the  Krupp  guns 
and  their  work.  Pictures  of  Mahomet  V.  and  William  II.  were  dis- 
played, as  well  as  a  cartoon  showing  a  British  soldier  pointing  a  re- 
volver at  a  Turk,  but  declaring  it  to  be  empty.90  Such  devices  were 
taken  to  keep  the  Turkish  people  in  ignorance,  but  the  government 
must  have  known  the  true  state  of  affairs  through  their  diplomatic 
representatives  abroad. 


84.  Mr.  Acland,  5  P.  D.,  XLI.  p.  367. 

85.  Valentine  Chirol,  The  Middle  Eastern  Question,  p.  187. 

86.  Robert    Crozier    Long,    "Germany's    Mediterranean    League,"    Fortnightly   Re' 
view,  XCVI,  p.  876. 

87.  London  Weekly  Times,  October  20,  191 1. 

88.  J.  Ellis  Barker,  "Germany  and  Turkey,"  Fortnightly  Review,  CII,  p.  1009,  II. 

89.  London  Weekly  Times,  September  25,  1914. 

90.  Ibid,  October  30,  1914. 

29 


THE  DECLINE  OF  ENGLISH  INFLUENCE  IN  TURKEY 

Throughout  the  month  of  October,  German  gold,  arms  and  officers, 
were  arriving  in  Turkey.  Four  big  guns  with  over  one  thousand 
tons  of  war  material  were  sent  through  the  Dardanelles  in  German 
merchantmen,91  and  it  was  rumored  that  a  submarine  was  sent  in 
parts  to  be  reassembled  in  Turkey.  A  munition  train  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  trucks  was  stopped  in  Roumania,92  but  more  heavy 
guns  later  reached  their  destination.  Turkish  troops  were  replaced 
by  Arabs  in  Thrace,  as  the  Turks  were  better  able  to  stand  the  cli- 
mate of  the  high  plateaus  where  troops  were  being  stationed.93 
More  troops  were  being  massed  along  the  Egyptian  borders.  Spies 
in  German  pay  swarmed  through  Egypt,  and  there  was  an  attempt 
to  smuggle  a  large  quantity  of  explosives  into  that  country.  Mean- 
while the  Grand  Vizier  unceasingly  assured  the  British  ambassador 
that  only  precautionary  measures  were  being  taken  and  no  aggres- 
sion was  contemplated.94 

When  the  war  began,  England  laid  an  embargo  on  the  two  dread- 
naughts  being  built  for  Turkey  in  English  dockyards.  She  wished 
to  make  absolutely  sure  of  her  position  at  sea,  but  assured  Turkey 
that  they  would  be  returned  to  her  at  the  end  of  the  war  if  she  re- 
mained neutral.95  Within  a  few  days  the  German  warships,  "Goe- 
ben"  and  "Breslau,"  entered  the  Dardanelles  to  escape  the  French 
and  English  squadron.  Instead  of  demanding  departure  or  intern- 
ment, Turkey  announced  their  purchase  to  replace  the  two  battle- 
ships requisitioned  by  England,  but  asserted  that  they  would  go 
neither  into  the  Mediterranean  nor  the  Black  Sea.  They  retained 
their  German  crews,  however,  in  spite  of  protests  from  Great  Bri- 
tain, and  clever  excuses  coupled  with  solemn  promises  from  the 
Porte.  The  Naval  Mission  was  to  be  allowed  to  remain  in  accord- 
ance with  Turkey's  request,  if  the  German  crews  were  sent  home  as 
proof  of  the  genuineness  of  the  sale  of  the  warships.  This  was  ac- 
ceded, but  the  next  day  the  Mission  was  replaced  in  command  by 
Turkish  officers;  but  England  still  exercised  forbearance,  and  did 
not  recall  them  until  September  8.  On  October  29,  the  renamed  Ger- 


91.  Ibid,  October  9,   1914. 

92.  Ibid,  October  23,  1914. 

93.  Ibid,  October  9,  1914. 

94.  J.  Ellis  Barker,  "Germany  and  Turkey,"  Fortnightly  Review,  CII,  p.  1010. 

95.  London  Weekly  Times,  August  7,  1914. 
George  H.  Allen,  The  Great  War. 

30 


THE  DECLINE  OF  ENGLISH  INFLUENCE  IN  TURKEY 

man  cruisers  entered  the  Black  Sea  and  bombarded  two  Russian 
ports  at  the  instigation  of  the  German  admiral,  but  doubtless  with 
the  knowledge  of  Enver  Bey,  the  Turkish  Minister  of  War."98 

Turkey  was  ruled  by  the  army,  which  for  years  has  seen  things 
through  German  military  spectacles.  It  was  controlled  by  the  Ger- 
man Marshall  Liman  von  Sanders,  and  Enver  Bey,  who  was  edu- 
cated in  Germany  and  was  known  to  be  a  pronounced  German  sym- 
pathizer. He  was  a  powerful  member  of  the  Committee  of  Union 
and  Progress,  the  chief  organization  of  the  Young  Turk  movement, 
which  also  included  the  Ministers  of  Marine,  Interior  and  Finance. 
In  point  of  numbers  these  four  were  the  minority  party  of  the  gov- 
ernment, but  the  majority,  including  the  Sultan  and  Grand  Vizier, 
was  powerless  to  assert  itself,  due  to  the  minority  having  control  of 
the  army.97  These  ministers,  as  a  result  of  German  bribes,  were  re- 
sponsible for  Turkey's  entrance  into  the  war.98 

If  Germany  hoped  to  provoke  England  and  Russia  into  an  attack 
so  as  to  be  able  to  appeal  to  Mohammedans,  the  opposite  result  was 
obtained,  for  British  Musselmen  realized  that  the  rupture  had  not 
been  brought  about  by  England.  Perhaps  Germany  induced  Tur- 
key to  enter  the  war  for  diplomatic  as  well  as  strategical  reasons, 
hoping  that  the  question  of  Constantinople  would  lead  to  dissension 
among  her  enemies.  The  surprising  efficiency  of  the  Turkish  army 
has  been  an  immediate  help  to  the  Teutons  in  that  it  has  diverted 
British  soldiers  from  the  western  front  for  the  campaigns  at  the 
Dardanelles  and  in  Mesopotamia,  as  well  as  holding  a  Russian  army 
in  the  Caucasus  Mountains. 

In  spite  of  her  regeneration,  Turkey  will  probably  have  com- 
mitted suicide  by  her  entrance  into  the  great  war.  If  the  Teutonic 
powers  are  vanquished,  Turkey  will  be  swept  back  into  Asia ;  if  they 
are  victorious,  Turkey  will  become  the  vassal  and  tool  of  Germany. 
The  end  of  the  war  will  see  the  gates  to  the  Black  Sea  pass  into  the 
hands  of  a  strong  power,99  and  the  end  of  the  Ottoman  Empire  in 
Europe,  which  statesmen  have  expected  for  generations,  will  be  at 
hand. 


96.  The  Times  History  of  the  War,  Part  28,  III,  p.  44  to  49. 

97.  Ibid,  pp.  49,  53. 

98.  J.  Ellis  Barker,  "Germany  and  Turkey,"  Fortnightly  Review,  CII,  p.  IOIO. 

99.  Lord  Cromer,  "The  Suicide  of  the  Turk,"  Spectator,  CXV,  p.  541. 

31 


Chapters  in  the  History  of  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia 

By  Aethub  Wentworth  Hamilton  Eaton,  M.  A.,  D.  C.  L. 

NO.  IX 
Eoyal  Governors  and  Government  House 

"History  should  invest  with  the  reality  of  flesh  and  blood,  beings  whom  we  are  too 
much  inclined  to  consider  as  personified  qualities  in  an  allegory;  call  up  our  ancestors 
before  us  with  all  their  peculiarities  of  language,  manners,  and  garb  ;  show  us  their  houses, 
seat  us  at  their  tables,  rummage  their  old-fashioned  wardrobes,  explain  to  us  the  uses 
of  their  ponderous   furniture." 

— Lord  Macaulay. 

"Macaulay  held  that  history,  no  less  than  fiction,  should  be  a  lively  and  vivid  picture 
of  the  actual,  warm,  human  life  of  the  past.  He  aimed  to  give  to  the  narrative  of  real 
occurrences,  to  the  portrayal  of  genuine  personages,  the  same  life  that  fiction  bestows  on 
the  events  and  characters  of  fancy." 

N  the  third  chapter  of  our  history  we  have  spoken  of  the 
two  most  historical  buildings  in  Halifax  apart  from  St. 
Paul's  Church,  the  Province  Building  and  Government 
House.  The  frames  of  three  or  four,  perhaps  more,  of 
the  earliest  buildings  of  the  newly  founded  town  were  ordered  and 
brought  from  Massachusetts,  one  of  the  chief  of  these  being  the 
frame  of  a  governor's  house.  For  the  first  few  months  after  his 
arrival  at  Chebucto,  Colonel  Cornwallis,  the  governor,  kept  to  his 
quarters  on  the  ship  in  which  he  had  sailed  from  England,  but  at 
last,  in  the  early  part  of  October,  1749,  the  frame  having  come  from 
Boston,  his  house  was  made  habitable  and  the  governor  set  up  his 
simple  establishment  on  shore.  This  primitive  house  of  the  King's 
representative  in  the  first  British  province  in  what  is  now  Canada, 
in  which  civil  government  was  established,  was  a  small,  low,  one- 
story  house,  probably  like  St.  Paul's  Church  constructed  of  oak 
and  pine. 

For  eight  or  nine  years  only  this  house  was  suffered  to  stand, 
then  in  1758  Colonel  Charles  Lawrence,  the  second  governor  after 

32 


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GEN.  SIR  WILLIAM  FENWICK  WILLIAMS,  BART.,  K.  C  B. 
Hero  of  Kars;  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Nova  Scotia,  1867-1873 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Cornwallis,  had  the  building  taken  down  and  a  new  and  much  room- 
ier one  built.  When  Lord  William  Campbell  became  governor,  in 
1766,  he  urged  that  this  house  needed  a  ball-room,  and  the  govern- 
ment added  it.  Later,  at  different  times,  further  enlargements  or 
improvements  were  made  in  the  official  dwelling,  and  the  house  was 
used  or  at  least  stood  until  1800,  when  the  corner  stone  of  the  pres- 
ent Government  House  was. laid. 

By  1797  this  second  governor's  residence,  which  like  its  rude 
predecessor  had  been  built  of  wood,  and  green  wood  at  that,  was  in 
such  a  state  of  decay  that  Sir  John  Wentworth,  who  had  lived  in  it 
since  his  appointment  as  governor  five  years  before,  complained  to 
the  Colonial  Secretary  in  England  that  it  was  utterly  unfit  for 
occupancy,  and  that  his  health  was  suffering  so  greatly  from  its 
bad  condition  that  he  had  been  obliged  to  remove  his  household  to 
the  lodge  he  owned  on  Bedford  Basin,  six  miles  out  of  town.  In  the 
course  of  this  year,  1797,  an  act  was  passed  by  the  legislature  au- 
thorizing the  erection  of  a  building  in  which  to  house  properly  the 
legislature  in  both  its  branches  and  the  courts  of  law,  and  to  serve 
as  well  for  the  crown  offices,  for  since  1790  these  had  all  been  ac- 
commodated in  a  business  building  which  had  been  erected  and  was 
owned  by  the  Hon.  Thomas  Cochran,  a  member  of  the  council,  and 
his  brothers  James  and  William,1  enterprising  North  of  Ireland 
men  who  had  come  to  Halifax  in  the  first  company  of  emigrants 
brought  from  Ireland,  in  1761,  by  the  enterprising  Alexander  Mc- 
Nutt.  This  "Cochran  Building"  stood  on  Hollis  Street,  almost 
immediately  opposite  the  present  Province  Building,  and  so  on  the 
site  of  the  Post  Office.  Before  the  act  could  be  brought  into  effect, 
however,  Sir  John  managed  to  have  it  repealed,  and  another  act 
passed  carrying  out  his  policy  of  having  a  governor's  house  erected 
before  a  Province  Building  should  be  undertaken.  For  the  legisla- 
ture and  the  courts,  therefore,  a  new  lease  for  ten  years  was  taken 
of  the  Cochran  building  in  1799,  and  the  erection  of  a  Province 


i.  The  Court  House  having  been  destroyed  by  fire,  early  in  May,  1790,  the  Legisla- 
ture passed  an  act  empowering  a  body  of  commissioners  to  treat  with  Messrs.  Thomas, 
James,  and  William  Cochran  for  the  rental  of  their  building  on  Hollis  Street,  opposite 
the  present  Province  Building  for  the  use  of  the  Legislature,  the  Courts  of  Law,  and 
the  Crown  Offices.  This  building  was  so  occupied,  at  a  rental,  we  believe,  of  two  hun- 
dred dollars  a  year,  from  1790  until  1820,  when  the  new  Province  Building  was  com- 
pleted.   See  Akins's  Chronicles  of  Halifax,  pp.  99,  100. 

33 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Building  remained  in  abeyance  for  a  little  over  a  decade  more.2 
The  site  of  the  first  and  second  Government  Houses  was  the  lot 
between  Hollis  and  Granville  streets  on  which  the  Province  Build- 
ing stands,  when  it  was  determined  to  erect  a  new  governor's  house 
there  was  prolonged  discussion  as  to  where  this  building  should  be 
located.  A  board  of  commissioners  had  been  appointed  to  carry  the 
project  of  a  new  government  house  out,  and  at  least  three  sites  were 
presented  for  the  consideration  of  these  men.  In  an  interesting  ac- 
count of  the  discussion  concerning  the  proper  site  and  of  the  final 
decision  to  build  on  the  well  known  spot  on  Pleasant  Street  where 
the  now  venerable  third  Government  House  stands,  the  Hon.  Sir 
Adams  Archibald,  one  of  the  most  estimable  and  able  of  later  gover- 
nors of  the  province,  tells  us  that  Sir  John  Wentworth  urged  the 
site  that  was  chosen  and  was  exceedingly  well  pleased  when  a  ma- 
jority of  the  commissioners  came  to  his  view.3 

The  corner  stone  of  the  new  building  was  laid  on  the  eleventh  of 
September,  1800,  and  a  few  days  afterwards  the  Royal  Gazette 
newspaper  described  the  event.     "On  Thursday  last,"  says  the 


2.  Dr.  Akins  (Halifax,  pp.  213,  214)  says  of  the  first  Government  House :  "It  was 
a  small,  low  building  of  one  story,  surrounded  by  hogsheads  of  gravel  and  sand,  on 
which  small  pieces  of  ordnance  were  mounted  for  its  defence.  It  stood  in  the  centre  of 
the  square  now  occupied  by  the  Province  Building.  About  the  year  1757  or  1758  this  little 
cottage  was  removed  to  give  place  to  a  more  spacious  and  convenient  residence.  It  was 
sold  and  drawn  down  to  the  corner  of  George  Street  and  Bedford  Row,  opposite  the 
south-west  angle  of  the  City  Court  House,  and  again,  about  1775,  removed  to  the  beach 
and  placed  at  the  corner  leading  to  the  steam-boat  landing,  where  it  remained  until  1832, 
when  the  present  building,  lately  occupied  by  Thomas  Laidlaw,  was  erected  on  the  site." 
"The  new  Government  House,"  he  continues,  "was  built  during  the  time  of  Governor 
Lawrence.  Lord  William  Campbell  built  a  ball  room  at  one  end,  and  several  other  im- 
provements were  made  to  the  building  by  subsequent  governors.  It  was  surrounded  by 
a  terrace  neatly  sodded  and  ornamented.  The  building  was  of  wood,  two  stories  high. 
The  office  of  Capt.  Bulkeley,  the  Secretary,  stood  at  the  north-east  angle  of  the  square 
inside  the  rails.  Prince  Edward  resided  in  this  house  with  Governor  Wentworth  in 
1798.  This  old  house  was  pulled  down  about  the  commencement  of  the  present  cen- 
tury [the  19th]  and  the  materials  sold  to  Mr.  John  Trider,  Sr.,  who  used  them  in  the 
construction  of  the  building  on  the  road  leading  to  the  tower  at  the  head  of  Inglis  Street, 
formerly  owned  by  Colonel  Bazalgette,  and  afterwards  the  residence  of  the  late  Mr. 
George  Whidden."  The  price  paid  by  Mr.  Trider  for  the  materials  of  the  old  house, 
Sir  Adams  Archibald  says,  was  a  little  over  two  hundred  and  sixty-two  pounds. 

3.  Sir  Adams  Archibald's  account  of  the  building  of  the  present  Government  House 
will  be  found  in  the  third  volume  of  Collections  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society, 
pp.  197-208,  Sir  Adams  published  also  in  the  same  Collections  (Vol.  4,  pp.  247-258)  an 
account  of  the  Province  Building.  In  both  cases  this  writer  has  given  much  information 
concerning  the  legislation  referring  to  the  erection  of  the  buildings.  The  Province 
Building,  says  Dr.  Akins,  "was  fully  completed  and  finished,  ready  for  the  sittings 
of  the  Courts  and  Legislature,  in  1820,  at  the  cost  of  $52,000."  See  Akins's  account  of 
Halifax  in  the  8th  volume  of  the  Collections  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society. 

34 


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CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Gazette f  "this  long  projected  and  necessary  building  was  begun 
under  the  auspices  of  His  Excellency,  Sir  John  Wentworth,  Bart. 
On  this  pleasing  occasion  a  procession  was  formed  at  the  present 
Mansion  House  [the  old  Government  House],  which  preceded  by  a 
band  of  musicians  playing  'God  Save  the  King,'  'Rule  Britannia,' 
and  other  appropriate  airs,  went  to  the  site  prepared  for  the  erec- 
tion of  the  edifice,  where  the  corner  stone  was  laid  with  the  custom- 
ary forms  and  solemnities,  and  a  parchment  containing  the  fol- 
lowing inscription  wTas  placed  in  a  cavity  cut  for  that  purpose  in  the 
centre  of  the  stone:   "Deo  Favente." 

"The  corner  stone  of  the  Government  House,  erected  at  the  ex- 
pense of  His  Majesty's  loyal  and  faithful  subjects  of  Nova  Scotia, 
pursuant  to  a  grant  of  the  Legislature  of  the  Province,  under  the 
direction  of  Michael  Wallace,  William  Cochran,  Andrew  Belcher, 
John  Beckwith,  and  Foster  Hutchinson,  Esquires,  for  the  residence 
of  His  Majesty's  Governor,  Lieutenant-Governor,  or  person  ex- 
ercising the  chief  civil  authority,  was  laid  September  11th.  Anno 
Domini,  1800,  in  the  40th  year  of  the  reign  of  His  Most  Sacred 
Majesty,  George  the  III." 

On  this  document  then  follows  a  list  of  the  great  personages  who 
took  part  in  the  ceremony, — "Sir  John  Wentworth,  Bart,  Lieuten- 
ant-Governor and  Commander-in-Chief;  Vice-Admiral  Sir  William 
Parker,  Bart.,  Commander-in-Chief  of  all  His  Majesty's  fleet  in 
North  America;  Lieutenant-General  Henry  Bowyer,  Commander 
of  His  Majesty's  forces  in  Nova  Scotia  and  its  dependencies;  Col. 
the  Rt.  Hon.  John  Lord  Elphinstone,  Commanding  His  Majesty's 
26th  Eegiment  of  Foot;  Col.  George  Augustus  Pollen,  Member  of 
the  British  Parliament,  Commanding  His  Majesty's  Fencible  Regi- 
ment of  Loyal  Surrey  Rangers;  the  Hon.  Sampson  Salter  Blow- 
ers, Chief -Justice  of  Nova  Scotia ;  the  Honourables  Alexander  Bry- 
mer,  Thomas  Cochran,  Charles  Morris,  John  Halliburton,  Henry 
Duncan,  Benning  Wentworth,  and  James  Brent  on,  members  of  the 
Nova  Scotia  Council;  Mr.  Richard  John  Uniacke,  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Assembly,  and  the  Members  of  the  Assembly  then  in  town; 
six  Captains  in  the  Royal  Navy,  Officers  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Militia, 
the  Commissary  General,  Deputy  Judge  Advocate  General,  Solicitor 
General,  Deputy  Commissary  General,  Military  Secretary,  the  Rev. 

35 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Robert  Stanser,  Rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  and  other  clergymen; 
the  magistrates,  and  many  of  the  principal  inhabitants  of  the  town. 
Closing  this  imposing  list  came  the  names  of  Isaac  Hildreth,  archi- 
tect, and  John  Henderson,  chief  mason  of  the  building. 

Immediately  after  the  corner  stone  was  laid  the  Rector  of  St. 
Paul's  offered  a  prayer  he  had  evidently  written  for  the  occasion, 
and  then  the  procession,  in  which  the  rules  of  precedence  accepted 
in  the  province  were  duly  observed,  moved  solemnly  back  to  the  old 
Government  House,  where  "a  cold  collation"  was  prepared  for 
the  august  assembly.  "From  this  period,"  says  Sir  Adams  Archi- 
bald, "the  building  went  steadily  on.  It  was  made  habitable  in  or 
about  the  year  1805,  when  Sir  John  moved  into  it.  But  it  was  still 
unfinished  as  late  as  1807. ' '  Of  the  character  of  the  building,  which, 
outwardly  at  least,  is  an  exact  reproduction  of  the  famous  Lans- 
downe  House,  London,  Sir  Adams  says:  "No  better  Government 
House  exists  in  the  Dominion,  either  as  to  solidity  of  structure  or 
convenience  of  arrangement.  The  architect,  Mr.  Isaac  Hildreth, 
seems  to  have  been  fully  entitled  to  the  certificate  given  him  by  the 
Committee  of  Assembly  in  January,  1807,  when  his  services  in  con- 
nection with  the  building  were  no  longer  required.  They  say  in 
their  report  that  they  have  'a  full  conviction  of  the  ability  and  pro- 
fessional skill  of  Mr.  Hildreth  and  satisfactory  proof  of  his  zeal, 
integrity,  and  diligence  in  the  conduct  of  the  work  he  has  been  en- 
gaged in.'  They  recommend  a  grant  of  money  to  be  given  him  as  a 
testimonial  of  the  public  opinion  of  his  merit  and  services.  On  the 
same  day  the  House  ratified  the  Committee's  Report  by  a  Resolu- 
tion giving  the  grant  recommended,  the  same  to  be  considered  'as 
a  testimonial  of  the  favourable  opinion  entertained  by  the  Legisla- 
ture of  his  ability,  integrity,  diligence,  and  zeal. '  ' '  The  whole  cost 
of  the  third  Government  House  was  about  eighteen  thousand  dol- 
lars. 

The  architect  of  Government  House,  Isaac  Hildreth,  was  almost 
certainly  a  Massachusetts  man,  of  the  Hildreths  of  Chelmsford,  but 
apart  from  his  connection  with  this  building  we  have  no  knowledge 
of  him.  Nor  do  we  know  certainly  how  Lansdowne  House,  London, 
came  to  be  chosen  as  the  model  for  Government  House.  The  famous 
London  mansion  of  Berkelev  Square  was  built  about  the  middle  of 

36 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

the  18th  century  by  Robert  Adam,  and  was  begun  for  the  first  Earl 
of  Bute,  at  that  time  Prime  Minister.  Before  it  was  finished,  how- 
ever, it  became  the  property  of  John  Petty,  first  Earl  of  Shelburne, 
from  whom  in  time  it  passed  to  the  second  Earl,  who  in  1784  was 
created  Viscount  Came  and  Calston,  Earl  of  Wycombe,  and  Marquis 
of  Lansdowne  in  the  peerage  of  Great  Britain.  The  Marquis  of 
Lansdowne  had  a  stormy  political  career,  which  began  in  1760  and 
ended  about  1783.  Although  the  most  unpopular  statesman  of  his 
time,  for  he  seems  to  have  treated  all  political  parties  with  un- 
measured contempt,  he  exercised  a  strong  influence  in  parliament, 
and  it  was  probably  his  persistent  refusal  until  he  was  forced  to 
do  so  in  1782  to  give  his  voice  for  the  independence  of  the  American 
Colonies  that  gave  him  such  prestige  with  the  Tories  in  New  York 
that  in  1783  they  gave  their  projected  town  on  the  southern  shore 
of  Nova  Scotia  the  name  * i  Shelburne. ' '  This  first  Marquis  of  Lans- 
downe died  in  1805. 

From  the  first  occupation  of  this  third  Government  House,  in 
1805,  to  the  date  of  Confederation  in  1867,  says  Sir  Adams  Archi- 
bald, "thirteen  governors  have  occupied  the  house,  and  of  all  these 
men  there  is  scarce  one  who  does  not  in  one  way  or  another  tower 
more  or  less  above  the  average  of  the  class  to  which  he  belongs. 
Some  of  them  have  been  statesmen  of  mark,  others  successful 
soldiers,  many  have  performed  important  duties  in  other  parts  of 
the  empire.  Four  in  succession  left  the  governorship  of  Nova  Scotia 
to  become  governors  general  of  Canada.  As  a  body  they  may  be 
classed  as  able  and  eminent  men. ' '  The  thirteen  of  whom  Sir  Adams 
speaks  as  having  come  between  1800  and  1867  were :  Sir  John  Went- 
worth,  Sir  George  Prevost,  Sir  John  Coape  Sherbrooke,  the  Earl 
of  Dalhousie,  Sir  James  Kempt,  Sir  Peregrine  Maitland,  Sir  Colin 
Campbell,  Lord  Falkland,  Sir  John  Harvey,  Sir  Gaspard  Le  Mar- 
chant,  the  Earl  of  Mulgrave,  Sir  Richard  MacDonnell,  and  Sir  Wil- 
liam Fenwick  Williams. 

Including  Colonel  Cornwallis,  to  the  present  day  Nova  Scotia  has 
had  thirty-two  governors  (or  " lieutenant-go vernors,"  as  since  1786 
these  chief  officials  have  correctly  been  styled).  Before  17S6  the  rep- 
resentative of  royal  authority  in  the  province  was  "governor-in- 
chief,,,  but  in  that  year  a  governor-in-chief  of  all  the  British  Prov- 

37 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

inces  remaining  to  the  crown  in  America  was  appointed,  with  a  resi- 
dence at  Quebec,  and  under  this  "Governor-General  of  Canada,"  as 
he  was  commonly  called,  the  governors  of  the  general  province  be- 
came nominally  "lieutenant-governors."  Before  1786,  however,  the 
governors  in  chief  of  the  single  provinces  frequently  had  their  lieu- 
tenants, and  of  such  we  have  in  Nova  Scotia  after  the  founding  of 
Halifax  a  list  comprising  nine.4 

The  list  of  civil  governors  of  Nova  Scotia,  of  which  as  we  have 
said  there  have  been  to  the  present  (the  year  1918)  thirty-two, 
comprises  many  men  who  have  done  the  British  Empire  conspicu- 
ous service  in  various  parts  of  the  world  and  have  earned  for  them- 
selves high  reputation.  In  the  following  pages  we  shall  give  some 
account  of  these  men  and  speak  of  the  influence  some  of  them  had 
on  Nova  Scotia  at  large,  and  particularly  on  the  city  of  Halifax, 
where  they  made  their  temporary  homes. 

Colonel  the  Hon.  Edwakd  Cornwallis,  appointed  Governor-in- 
Chief  of  Nova  Scotia  on  the  9th  of  May,  1749,  was  the  sixth  son  of 
Charles,  Baron  Cornwallis,  and  his  wife  Lady  Charlotte  Butler, 
whose  father  was  Eichard  Earl  of  Arran.5  Colonel  Cornwallis  was 
born  February  22, 1713,  and  early  placed  in  the  army.  He  served  as 
major  of  the  20th  regiment  in  Flanders  in  1744  and  1745,  and  in  the 
latter  year  was  appointed  lieutenant-colonel  of  his  regiment.  On 
the  death  of  his  brother  Stephen  he  was  chosen  member  of  parlia- 
ment for  Eye,  and  during  the  session  following  was  made  a  Groom 
of  H.  M.  Bedchamber.  On  the  9th  of  May,  1749,  he  became  colonel 
of  the  24th  regiment,  and  was  gazetted  "Governor  of  Placentia,  in 
Newfoundland,  and  Captain-General  and  Governor-in-Chief  in  and 
over  his  Majesty's  province  of  Nova  Scotia  or  Acadia."  He  sailed 
from  England  May  14,  1749,  and  took  the  oath  as  governor,  at  Hali- 
fax, July  14,  1749.  His  salary  as  governor  was  a  thousand  pounds 
(the  customary  salary  of  the  early  civil  governors  of  Nova  Scotia). 


4.  These  lieutenant-governors,  as  we  shall  see  later,  were:  Charles  Lawrence,  Rob- 
ert Monckton,  Jonathan  Belcher,  Montague  Wilmot,  Michael  Francklin,  Mariot  Arbuth- 
not,  Richard  Hughes,  Sir  Andrew  Snape  Hamond,  Edmund  Fanning. 

5.  Colonel  Cornwallis  was  an  uncle  of  Charles  Cornwallis,  ist  marquis  and  2d  earl, 
who  from  1776  until  the  close  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution  was  in  command  of  British 
troops  in  America,  and  who  afterward  served  as  governor-general  of  India.  Col.  Ed- 
ward Cornwallis  was  twin  brother  of  Frederick  Cornwallis,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

38 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

On  the  12th  of  July,  1749,  almost  immediately  after  the  arrival  of 
Cornwallis  at  Chebucto,  Paul  Mascarene,  then  lieutenant-colonel  of 
the  40th  regiment,  arrived  at  Chebucto  from  Annapolis  Royal  with 
five  members  of  his  council  (a  quorum).  On  the  14th  of  July,  Corn- 
wallis formally  dismissed  Mascarene  and  his  councillors  from  the 
offices  they  had  held  and  appointed  a  new  council.  The  members  of 
this  new  council  were:  Paul  Mascarene,  Edward  How,  John  Gor- 
ham,  Benjamin  Green,  John  Salusbury,  and  Hugh  Davidson,  the  last 
of  whom  became  the  first  secretary  of  the  province  under  civil  rule. 
Of  the  councillors,  Edward  How,  John  Gorham,  and  Benjamin 
Green  were  Boston  men.6 

"In  the  settlement  of  the  emigrants  [he  had  brought  with  him 
for  the  founding  of  Halifax],"  says  a  biographer  of  the  first  civil 
governor  of  Nova  Scotia,7  "Cornwallis  displayed  great  energy  and 
tact.  He  had  from  the  start  much  to  contend  with.  The  settlers 
were  soldiers  who  had  fought  all  over  Europe  and  were  accustomed 
to  rough  camp  and  barrack  life,  and  sailors  ready  for  a  sea  fight 
but  like  their  brethren  in  arms  utterly  unfit  for  any  other  line  of 
life.  There  were  also  disappointed  men  of  all  grades  of  society, 
forced  by  circumstances  to  face  the  privations  and  hardships  of  a 
new  life,  in  which  few  of  them  were  destined  to  have  success.  There 
were  good  men  among  them  .  .  .  but  judging  by  the  record  left 
by  Cornwallis,  three-fourths  of  them  were  as  hard  a  lot  as  could 
have  been  collected  and  sent  away  from  the  old  land  to  starve,  drink, 
and  freeze  in  the  cold,  inhospitable  climate  of  Nova  Scotia.  During 
the  founding  of  the  colony,  Cornwallis  exhibited  many  sterling 
qualities  necessary  to  a  leader  of  men.  His  executive  ability,  pa- 
tience, and  kindness  to  all  under  him,  deserved  commendation  and 
warranted  recognition,  but  the  reverse  was  the  case.  No  allowance 
was  made  by  the  authorities  for  the  unforeseen  expenses  of  a  new 
settlement.  Although  given  unlimited  powers  of  administration, 
he  was  treated  with  distrust  in  the  matter  of  expenditures.     The 


6.  See  "Governor  Cornwallis  and  the  First  Council,"  by  Dr.  Thomas  B.  Akins,  in 
the  Collections  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society,  Vol.  2;  and  "Hon.  Edward  Corn- 
wallis," by  James  S.  Macdonald  in  the  same  Collections,  vol.  12. 

7.  This  summary  of  Cornwallis's  work  in  founding  Halifax  is  taken  from  Mr. 
James  S.  Macdonald's  sketch  of  the  first  civil  governor  of  Nova  Scotia  in  the  12th  vol- 
ume of  the  Collections  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society  (pp.  9,  10).  In  some  few 
instances  in  the  quotation  we  have  been  obliged  to  change  slightly  the  writer's  English. 

39 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

board  of  trade,  frightened  at  facing  parliament  with  an  ever  in- 
creasing deficit,  curtailed  his  powers,  and  at  several  critical  times 
his  bills  of  exchange  were  returned  dishonored,  and  his  credit  was 
ruined  in  the  neighboring  colonies  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York. 
But  though  discouraged,  he  stuck  manfully  to  his  post  until  throe 
years  had  passed  and  the  introductory  work  of  founding  the  colony 
had  been  accomplished." 

Colonel  Peregrine  Thomas  Hopson  was  commissioned  captain 
general  and  commander-in-chief  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  also  vice- 
admiral,  March  31,  1752.  He  took  the  oath  as  governor  on  Mon- 
day, August  3,  1752,  but  on  the  1st  of  November,  1753,  he  sailed  for 
England  in  the  Torrington,  war-ship,  and  the  command  of  the  prov- 
ince devolved  on  the  lieutenant-governor,  Major  Charles  Lawrence. 
Col.  Hopson  was  commander-in-chief  at  Louisburg  when  that  place 
was  restored  to  the  French  by  the  treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  In 
July,  1749,  he  came  with  the  forces  from  Louisburg  to  Halifax,  and 
at  the  latter  place  was  sworn  in  senior  councillor,  his  superior  rank 
in  the  army  entitling  him  to  take  precedence  of  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Paul  Mascarene,  who  had  been  the  first  named  of  the  new  council. 
He  left  Halifax  for  England  on  the  first  of  November,  1753,  and 
we  suppose  very  soon  after  resigned.  After  he  left  Nova  Scotia  he 
was  in  active  military  service  until  his  death,  which  took  place  Janu- 
ary 27,  1759. 

Colonel  Charles  Lawrence  was  appointed  governor  probably  on 
August  12,  1754.  The  history  of  this  governor  will  be  found  very 
carefully  given  by  Mr.  James  S.  Macdonald  in  the  12th  volume  of 
the  Collections  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society  and  in  the 
" Dictionary  of  National  Biography."  He  was  commissioned  lieuten- 
ant-governor, probably  July  17,  1750,  and  so  acted  until  his  appoint- 
ment as  governor.  His  administration  as  governor  covered  the  im- 
portant period  of  the  fall  of  Fort  Beausejour  and  the  removal  of  the 
Acadians  in  1755,  and  the  settlement  of  New  England  planters 
throughout  the  province,  which  important  movement  he  did  much 
to  stimulate  and  carry  through,  in  1760  and  1761.  We  find  a  com- 
mission as  " lieutenant-go vernor"  given  him  August  12,  1754,  and 
find  him  taking  oath  as  " lieutenant-go vernor"  October  14,  1754, 

40 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

but  these  dates  we  suppose  are  the  proper  dates  of  his  entrance  on 
the  full  governorship  of  the  province. 

Lawrence  was  born  at  Portsmouth,  England,  December  14,  1709, 
and  began  his  military  career  in  England  as  an  ensign  in  Col.  Ed- 
ward Montague's  (afterwards  the  11th  Devon)  Regiment  of  Foot 
in  1727.  His  captaincy  in  1742,  and  his  majority  in  1747,  were  ob- 
tained, however,  in  the  54th  (Warburt  oil's)  Regiment,  with  which 
he  served  under  Hopson  at  Louisburg,  until  the  troops  were  re- 
moved from  that  fortress  to  Halifax  in  1749.  In  1750  and  '51  he 
was  engaged  at  Beaubassin  and  Chignecto,  and  in  1752  he  went 
with  the  German  settlers,  in  command  of  a  small  force,  to  Lunen- 
burg, to  assist  in  founding  that  town.  In  1753,  when  Hopson  went 
to  England,  he  was  given  the  administration  of  the  government,  and 
the  next  year,  as  we  have  seen,  he  was  appointed  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor. In  1756,  on  the  resignation  of  Hopson  he  was  commissioned 
governor-in-chief.  In  1757  he  commanded  the  reserve  in  Lord  Lou- 
don's expedition,  and  December  3rd  of  that  year  he  was  promoted 
to  brigadier-general.  In  1758  he  commanded  a  brigade  at  the  sec- 
ond siege  of  Louisburg. 

•The  character  of  none  of  the  governors  or  lieutenant-governors 
of  Nova  Scotia  has  been  the  subject  of  so  much  discussion  as  that 
of  Governor  Lawrence.  This  is  due  chiefly  to  the  part  he  played  in 
the  tragedy  of  the  expulsion  of  the  Acadians  in  1755,  his  connec- 
tion with  this  event  earning  him  from  many  writers  on  the  ex- 
pulsion the  reputation  of  a  bad-tempered,  pitiless  man.  The  Nova 
Scotia  historian,  Beamish  Murdoch,  however,  only  says  of  him:  "He 
was  a  man  inflexible  in  his  purposes,  and  held  control  in  no  feeble 
hands.  Earnest  and  resolute,  he  pursued  the  object  of  establishing 
and  confirming  British  authority  here  with  marked  success."  To 
this  tribute  Mr.  James  S.  Macdonald  adds,  that  among  all  the 
governors  of  Nova  Scotia  in  the  18th  century,  from  the  first,  Colonel 
Cornwallis,  to  the  last,  Sir  John  Wentworth,  the  one  wTho  stands 
"proudly  preeminent"  "in  intellect,  courage,  and  executive  abil- 
ity," is  Charles  Lawrence.  As  an  administrator  of  government, 
says  this  biographer,  he  combined  all  the  strong  qualities  of  the 
others  "without  a  shadow  of  their  weaknesses."8 


8.     Collections  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society,  Vol.  12,  p.  58. 

41 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

As  we  have  shown,  Lawrence  began  to  build  a  new  Government 
House  in  1758.  On  the  eleventh  of  October,  1760,  he  gave  a  great 
ball,  probably  to  celebrate  the  completion  of  the  house,  at  which 
there  were  over  three  hundred  guests.  His  Excellency  was  in  high 
spirits  and  danced  frequently.  "During  the  evening,"  says  Mr. 
Macdonald,  "he  drank  while  heated,  a  tumbler  of  iced  water. "  From 
this  "he  was  seized  with  cramps  in  the  chest,  which  developed  into 
inflammation  of  the  lungs  and  terminated  fatally  at  nine  o'clock  on 
Sunday  morning,  October  nineteenth."  On  the  twenty-fifth  his 
funeral  took  place,  ' '  fully  four  thousand  of  the  army  and  navy,  with 
four  hundred  officers,  and  many  citizens"  in  attendance.  From 
Government  House  the  procession  moved  in  solemn  order  to  St. 
Paul's  Church.  First  came  the  troops  in  garrison,  the  military 
officers,  two  six-pound  field  pieces,  the  physicians  of  Halifax,  the 
clergy  of  the  town,  and  then  the  body  in  a  coffin  covered  with  black 
velvet  and  draped  with  a  pall  to  which  were  affixed  escutcheons  of 
his  Excellency's  arms,  the  pall-bearers  being  the  whole  body  of  his 
Majesty's  Council.  After  the  body  came  the  mourners,  the  provost 
marshal,  the  House  of  Assembly,  the  magistrates,  the  civil  officers, 
Free-Masons,  and  many  leading  citizens.  The  pall-bearers,  clergy, 
physicians,  and  all  civil  and  military  officers  wore  black  linen  or 
cambric  hat  bands. 

As  the  corpse  neared  the  church  the  children  from  the  orphan 
house  sang  an  anthem.  Within,  the  pulpit,  reading-desk,  and  gov- 
ernor's pew  were  draped  with  black,  bearing  escutcheons.  The 
burial  service  was  conducted  by  Dr.  Breynton,  who  preached  a 
touching  sermon,  at  the  conclusion  of  which,  with  the  committal  ser- 
vice of  the  Prayer  Book  the  body  was  lowered  into  a  vault  at  the 
right  side  of  the  Communion  Table.  From  the  time  the  procession 
began  until  the  burial  was  completed  minute  guns  were  fired  from 
one  of  the  batteries,  the  firing  ending  with  three  volleys  from  the 
troops  under  arms.9     The  next  Tuesday  morning,  when  the  Su- 


9.  What  position  the  officers  and  men  of  the  navy  occupied  in  the  procession  we 
have  not  discovered.  Governor  Lawrence's  body  was  the  first  interred  beneath  St. 
Paul's  Church.  A  monument  to  him  with  an  elaborate  inscription,  costing  eighty  pounds 
was  soon  ordered  by  the  legislature  from  London  to  be  placed  in  the  church.  It  came 
out  and  was  affixed  to  the  south-east  corner  of  the  church  (the  first  monument  placed 
in  the  church),  but  in  a  violent  storm  which  occurred  in  1768,  the  south-east  end  of 
the  church  was  badly  damaged,  and  the  monument  or  tablet  had  to  be  taken  down. 

42 


• 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

preme  Court  assembled,  the  court-room  was  draped  in  black ;  and  ik 
an  early  issue  of  the  Royal  Gazette  the  grief  of  the  community  was 
still  further  expressed  in  a  fulsome  eulogium  which  read  as  follows : 
<4  Governor  Lawrence  was  possessed  of  every  natural  endowment 
and  acquired  accomplishment  necessary  to  adorn  the  most  exalted 
station,  and  every  amiable  quality  that  could  promote  the  sweets 
of  friendship  and  social  intercourse  of  human  life.  As  Governor 
he  exerted  his  uncommon  abilities  with  unwearied  application,  and 
the  most  disinterested  zeal  in  projecting  and  executing  every  useful 
design  that  might  render  this  Province  and  its  rising  settlements 
flourishing  and  happy.  He  encouraged  the  industrious,  rewarded 
the  deserving,  excited  the  indolent,  protected  the  oppressed,  and  re- 
lieved the  needy.  His  affability  and  masterly  address  endeared  him 
to  all  ranks  of  people,  and  a  peculiar  greatness  of  soul  made  him 
superior  to  vanity,  envy,  avarice,  or  revenge.  In  him  we  have  lost 
the  guide  and  guardian  of  our  interests ;  the  reflection  on  the  good 
he  has  done,  the  anticipation  of  great  things  still  expected  from  such 
merits,  are  circumstances  which,  while  they  redound  to  his  honour, 
aggravate  the  sense  of  our  irreparable  misfortune. ' ' 

Henry  Ellis,  Esq.,  born  in  England  in  1721,  who  had  previously, 
from  1756  to  1760,  been  governor  of  Georgia,  was  commissioned 
governor  of  Nova  Scotia  in  April  or  May,  1761.  When  he  received 
his  commission  he  was  in  England  and  arrangements  were  made  by 
the  Nova  Scotia  council  to  receive  him  fittingly  when  he  should  ap- 
pear. For  some  reason,  however,  he  never  came  to  his  post,  and 
in  his  absence,  first  Chief  Justice  Belcher,  who  was  commissioned 
lieutenant-governor  April  14,  1761,  and  then  Hon.  Colonel  Mon- 
tague Wilmot,  who  took  the  oath  of  office  September  26,  1762,  ad- 
ministered the  government.  Ellis  continued  to  hold  office,  however, 
until  some  time  in  1763.  He  died  on  the  shore  of  the  Bay  of  Naples, 
January  21,  1806.10 

The  Honourable  Colonel  Montague  Wilmot  was  commissioned 


From  a  shed  near  by,  where  it  was  placed  until  the  church  could  be  repaired,  it  disap- 
peared and  its  fate  has  never  been  discovered  to  this  day.  See  "Governor  Lawrence," 
by  James  S.  Macdonald,  in  Collections  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society,  Vol.  12; 
and  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 

10.     See  the  National  Cyclopaedia  of  American  Biography,  Vol.  1,  p.  491. 

43 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

governor  March  11,  1763,  although  he  probably  did  not  take  oath 
until  October  8,  1763.  As  lieutenant-governor  of  Nova  Scotia  he 
had  been  commissioned  January  13,  1762.  In  the  latter  office  he  was 
succeeded  in  1766  by  the  Hon.  Michael  Francklin.  By  a  proclama- 
tion dated  at  St.  James,  October  7,  1763,  the  islands  of  St.  John  and 
Cape  Breton,  "with  the  lesser  islands  adjacent  thereto/ '  were  an- 
nexed to  the  government  of  Nova  Scotia. 

One  matter,  at  least,  of  interest  to  the  reader  of  history,  which 
received  much  of  Governor  Wilmot 's  attention  during  his  governor- 
ship, was  the  question  of  what  to  do  with  the  Acadian  French  that 
still  remained  in  the  Province.  In  1764  there  were  in  Nova  Scotia, 
in  the  counties  of  Halifax,  Hants  (then  King's),  Annapolis,  and 
Cumberland,  four  hundred  and  five  families  of  these  people,  com- 
prising seventeen  hundred  and  sixty-two  persons.  On  the  22d  of 
October  of  this  year  a  project  was  reported  in  the  council  to  settle 
part  of  these  French  in  fourteen  different  places  throughout  the 
Province.  Writing  concerning  the  matter  to  the  Earl  of  Halifax, 
Governor  Wilmot  says:  " These  people  have  been  too  long  misled 
and  devoted  to  the  French  King  and  their  religion  to  be  soon  wean- 
ed from  such  attachments ;  and  whenever  those  objects  are  hung  out 
to  them  their  infatuation  runs  very  high.  Some  prisoners  taken  in 
the  course  of  the  war  and  residing  here  have  much  fomented  this 
spirit."  The  Acadians  living  in  and  near  Halifax  have,  he  says, 
"peremptorily  refused  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance. "  The  in- 
tention of  the  Acadians,  he  continues,  was  eventually  to  settle  in 
"the  country  of  the  Illinois."  The  province  will  be  much  relieved  by 
their  departure,  he  thinks,  for  they  have  always  been  hostile  to  Brit- 
ish rule. 

Governor  Wilmot  died  in  office  May  23,  1766,  and  the  Hon.  Ben- 
jamin Green,  as  president  of  the  council,  temporarily  administered 
the  government.  The  governor's  remains  also  were  permanently 
placed  in  a  vault  under  St.  Paul's  Church. 

The  Right  Honourable  Lord  William  Campbell  was  commis- 
sioned governor  of  Nova  Scotia  on  the  11th  of  August,  1766.  Lord 
William,  who  was  the  youngest  son  of  the  fourth  Duke  of  Argyle, 
was  born  probably  about  1730,  and  was  early  put  into  the  navy, 

44 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

where  in  1762  he  attained  the  rank  of  captain.  Two  years  later  he 
entered  parliament.  He  married,  in  1763,  Sarah  Izard,  daughter 
of  Ralph  Izard,  Esq.,  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina.  On  the  8th 
of  August,  1766,  he  was  commissioned  vice-admiral,  and  on  the  11th, 
as  we  have  said,  governor  of  Nova  Scotia.  Governor  Campbell  suf- 
fered from  ill  health  and  on  the  17th  of  October,  1771,  sailed  for 
Boston,  probably  on  his  way  to  South  Carolina.11  On  the  10th  of 
July,  1772,  he  returned,  much  improved  in  health  as  he  announced  to 
the  council,  but  in  February,  1773,  he  wrote  the  Secretary  of  State 
in  England  that  he  wanted  another  leave  of  absence  from  his  post, 
this  time  for  six  months,  presumably  again  to  recuperate  from  ill 
health.  He  had,  he  urged  in  his  request,  served  the  then  reigning 
king  and  his  grandfather  for  twenty-four  years.  He  declares  his 
love  for  the  people  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  believes  he  has  been  of  some 
service  to  them.  He  praises  the  Nova  Seotians'  constant  obedience 
to  his  Majesty's  commands.  In  the  London  Magazine  for  June, 
1773,  his  appointment  is  gazetted  as  captain-general  and  governor- 
in-chief  of  the  province  of  South  Carolina,  in  place  of  Lord  Charles 
Greville  Montagu.12  In  the  same  periodical  occurs  a  notice  of  the 
appointment  of  Francis  Legge,  Esq.,  to  the  governorship  of  Nova 
Scotia. 

In  his  documentary  history  of  Nova  Scotia,  briefly  narrating 
events  in  the  province  in  the  year  1769,  Mr.  Beamish  Murdoch  says : 
"In  January,  Governor  Campbell  had  daily  visits  from  the  Indians, 
demanding  provisions.  He  attributed  their  urgent  tone  to  the  ab- 
sence of  troops,  but  as  this  was  an  unusually  severe  winter  the 
weather  may  have  caused  their  importunity.  Major  Gorham,  who 
was  deputy  to  Sir  William  Johnson,  the  agent  for  Indian  affairs, 
was  absent,  and  the  governor  asks  Lord  Hillsborough  for  funds  to 
make  presents  to  the  Indians,  and  assist  them,  in  order  to  keep  them 
quiet/ '  Lord  William  Campbell  died  September  5,  1778,  from  a 
wound  received  in  a  naval  engagement.13 


ii.  Lady  Campbell  sailed  from  England  for  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  on  the 
23d  of  January,  1769,  but  whether  she  soon  came  from  Charleston  to  Halifax  or  not  we 
do  not  know. 

12.  Lord  Charles  Greville  Montagu  died  in  Nova  Scotia  and  was  buried  under  St 
Paul's  Church,  Halifax,  in  1784. 

13.  See  the  National  Cyclopaedia  of  American  Biography. 

45 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Major  Francis  Legge,  who  was  a  relative  of  the  Earl  of  Dart- 
mouth, was  commissioned  captain-general  and  governor-in-chief 
of  Nova  Scotia,  July  22,  1773,  and  vice-admiral,  July  26,  1773.  He 
was  sworn  into  office  as  governor  October  8,  1773.  He  has  the  dis- 
tinction of  having  been  by  far  the  most  unpopular  governor  Nova 
Scotia  has  ever  had.  He  left  the  province  May  12,  1776,  but  con- 
tinued to  hold  office  until  1782,  during  which  period  the  government 
was  administered  successively  by  Lieutenant-Governors  Mariot 
Arbuthnot,  Mr.  Richard  Hughes,  and  Sir  Andrew  Snape  Hamond. 

From  October  8,  1773,  until  May  12,  1776,  Major  Legge,  who  as 
a  Nova  Scotia  writer  has  said,  probably  with  entire  truthfulness, 
"had  been  for  many  years  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  his  noble  kinsman 
the  Earl  of  Dartmouth  and  leading  members  of  the  ministry  of 
the  day,"  who  "had  quarrelled  and  fought  with  friends  and  foes 
in  England,  and  as  a  last  resort  was  shipped  off  to  Nova  Scotia  to 
take  charge  of  this  new  colony,  to  get  rid  of  his  hated  presence  at 
home,"  was  in  residence  at  Halifax.  Whatever  social  events  took 
place  at  Government  House  during  these  three  years  we  may  be 
sure  were  not  gay  ones,  for  Legge  was  uniformly  ill-tempered  and 
jealous,  and  in  his  capacity  as  governor  did  all  he  could  to  cast  dis- 
credit on  men  in  public  life  in  the  province.  His  official  career  as 
governor  was  stormy  in  the  extreme.  He  hated  Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor Francklin,  who  was  highly  popular  and  who  in  public  as  in 
private  was  an  excellent  man,  he  insinuated  that  Kichard  Bulkeley, 
the  Provincial  Secretary,  an  official  of  unblemished  character  and 
the  highest  reputation,  was  dishonest,  he  accused  Hon.  Jonathan 
Binney  and  Hon.  John  Newton,  members  of  the  council,  "of  re- 
taining moneys  which  had  been  voted  them  for  fees  for  public  duties 
and  services,"  actually  imprisoning  Mr.  Binney  for  three  months, 
and  in  his  letters  to  England  he  (with  much  more  reason)  persist- 
ently charged  disloyalty  to  the  Crown  on  a  large  part  of  the  people 
generally  in  the  province.  So  unbearable  was  his  rule  that  the 
legislature  as  a  body  had  finally  to  appeal  to  the  English  govern- 
ment for  redress,  and  the  consequence  was  that  Legge  was  promptly 
recalled. 

On  the  12th  of  May,  as  we  have  said,  he  sailed  for  England.  As 
he  left  the  beach,  near  the  present  Market  Wharf,  in  the  launch 

46 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

which  was  to  take  him  to  the  war-ship,  in  which  he  was  to  sail,  hun- 
dreds of  the'  citizens  of  Halifax,  were  watching  there  to  see  him  go. 
"As  the  boat  left  the  beach,  storms  of  hisses  and  yells  burst  from 
the  assemblage.  This  so  infuriated  Legge  that  he  stood  up  in  the 
boat  and  cursed  them  most  heartily,  and  the  last  seen  of  him  he  was 
standing  on  the  deck  of  the  frigate  shaking  his  fists  at  the  amused 
and  delighted  Haligonians. ' n4 

Lieutenant-Colonel  John  Parr,  who  was  the  last  governor  in 
chief  of  Nova  Scotia,  was  commissioned  captain-general  and  com- 
mander-in-chief July  29,  1782,  and  vice-admiral  July  30,  1782.  He 
took  the  oath  of  office  October  9,  1782.  In  October,  1786,  Lord 
Dorchester  was  appointed  Governor-General  of  all  the  British  prov- 
inces in  America,  and  on  the  5th  of  April,  1787,  the  King's  commis- 
sion was  read  in  the  Nova  Scotia  council  appointing  Parr  lieuten- 
ant-governor of  the  province.  No  period  in  the  history  of  Nova 
Scotia  is  perhaps  so  important  as  that  which  was  covered  by  the  ad- 
ministration of  Governor  Parr.  Parr  was  sworn  in  governor  in 
October,  1782,  and  peace  with  the  new  American  republic  was  pro- 
claimed on  the  30th  of  November,  1782,  and  beginning  with  De- 
cember of  the  latter  year  the  Loyalists  of  New  York  and  other  prov- 
inces now  states  of  the  union  came  by  thousands  to  Nova  Scotia. 
To  give  these  people  grants  of  land,  and  while  they  were  making 
themselves  new  homes  in  the  province  to  relieve  their  immediate 
necessities,  was  a  laborious  task  and  one  needing  the  greatest  sym- 
pathy and  tact.  To  his  arduous  duties  at  this  critical  time  Parr 
gave  himself  with  unremitting  faithfulness.  Throughout  the  whole 
of  the  year  1783,  every  day  found  the  governor  and  his  council  busy 
arranging  for  the  welfare  of  the  unhappy  exiles.  Parr's  deep  solici- 
tude for  the  Loyalists,  says  Mr.  Macdonald,  should  never  be  forgot- 
ten by  any  who  have  the  blood  of  these  people  in  their  veins.  He 
was  not  a  brilliant  man,  says  his  biographer,  but  he  was  the  very 
man  for  the  time  he  lived  in  and  the  duties  he  had  to  perform,  "a 
plain,  upright  soldier,  who  prided  himself  on  his  attention  to  duty, 
and  who  endeavoured  to  discharge  the  obligations  of  a  distinguished 


14.  This  graphic  account  of  Legge's  departure  is  quoted  from  Mr.  James  S.  Mac- 
donald's  memoir  of  Lieut-Governor  Michael  Francklin  in  the  16th  vol.  of  the  Collections 
of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society,  pp.  32,  33. 

47 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

position  with  integrity  and  honour."  During  his  administration 
several  important  settlements  were  made  in  the  province,  notably 
Shelburne  and  Parrsborough. 

In  the  summer  of  1786  and  twice  in  1787,  Prince  William  Henry, 
the  "sailor  prince' '  as  he  was  commonly  called,  who  afterward  came 
to  the  throne  as  King  William  the  Fourth,  visited  Halifax  and  was 
the  recipient  of  magnificent  hospitality  and  fulsome  praise.  His 
first  arrival  in  the  town  is  described  by  the  biographer  of  Governor 
Parr  as  follows:  "The  Prince  landed  from  the  frigate  Pegasus  at 
the  King's  Wharf,  which  was  crowded  with  the  numerous  officials. 
Governor  Parr  was  there,  with  General  Campbell  and  Admiral 
Byron  and  the  usual  number  of  loyal  and  devoted  admirers,  and  these 
gentlemen  conducted  him  up  the  wharf  to  Government  House,  then 
situated  on  the  spot  where  the  Province  Building  is  at  present." 

A  week  later  than  the  Prince's  arrival,  the  new  governor  general 
of  the  British  provinces,  who  previously  had  been  known  as  Sir 
Guy  Carleton,  but  lately  had  been  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Lord 
Dorchester,  with  his  suite  arrived  at  Halifax  from  Quebec,  and  he 
too  was  received  with  delight.  Addresses  were  presented  to  him, 
dinners,  receptions,  and  balls  were  given  for  him,  and  a  "gay  and 
tireless  round  of  frivolities"  was  indulged  in  by  the  loyal  Hali- 
gonians  while  his  lordship  remained. 

It  was  during  Governor  Parr's  administration,  in  the  year  1787, 
that  Nova  Scotia  was  created  by  the  King  by  letters  patent  an 
Anglican  Colonial  See,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  Inglis,  previously  Rec- 
tor of  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  being  consecrated  as  its  first 
diocesan.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  in  his  diocese  the  Bishop  was  so 
impressed  with  the  general  immorality  of  Halifax  that  in  taking  his 
seat  in  council  he  urged  that  steps  be  taken  by  the  government  "to 
erect  barriers  against  the  impetuous  torrent  of  vice  and  irreligion" 
which  threatened  to  overwhelm  the  morals  of  the  community,  if  not 
the  whole  province. 

Governor  Parr  was  born  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  December  20,  1725. 
He  died  at  Halifax  of  apoplexy,  on  Friday,  November  25,  1791,  and 
was  buried  under  St.  Paul's  Church.15 


15.  For  Governor  Parr  and  the  Loyalists,  see  a  highly  interesting  paper  by  Mr. 
James  S.  Macdonald  in  the  Collections  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society,  Vol  14. 
For  Hon.  Richard  Bulkeley  see  a  paper  by  the  same  writer  in  the  Collections,  Vol.  12. 

48 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

The  Honourable  Sir  John  Wextworth,  Baronet,  (who  did  not, 
however,  receive  his  title  until  1795)  was  commissioned  governor  of 
Nova  Scotia,  January  13,  1792.  He  arrived  first  in  Halifax  from 
England,  after  the  Revolution,  on  the  20th  of  September,  1783,  in 
the  capacity  in  which  he  had  long  acted  while  governor  of  New 
Hampshire,  as  surveyor  general  of  the  King's  woods.  In  the  same 
ship,  with  him  came  also  Mr.  Edmund  Fanning,  who  immediately 
afterward  entered  on  the  duties  of  lieutenant-governor  to  Governor 
Parr.  The  exact  date  of  the  arrival  of  these  officials  we  have  learn- 
ed from  a  private  letter  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Mather  Byles,  Jr.,  a  fel- 
low Loyalist  refugee  of  Mr.  Wentworth,  who  had  come  to  Halifax 
in  1776.  Commissioned  governor,  Mr.  "Wentworth  arrived  again 
from  England  in  H.  M.  frigate  Hussar,  commanded  by  Captain 
Rupert  George,  after  a  rive  weeks'  voyage  from  Falmouth,  England, 
on  the  12th  of  May,  1792.  On  the  14th,  at  one  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon he  took  the  oath  of  office.  Sir  John  resigned  the  governorship 
early  in  1808,  and  from  June  1, 1808,  until  his  death  on  April  8, 1820, 
he  enjoyed  an  annual  pension  from  the  government  of  rive  hundred 
pounds.  For  about  half  the  period  of  his  governorship,  Sir  John 
lived  at  the  second  built  Government  House,  but  some  time  in  1797, 
it  would  seem,  he  felt  the  house  to  be  unfit  to  live  in  and  removed 
his  household  temporarily  to  his  lodge  on  Bedford  Basin,  probably 
staying  there  for  a  time  with  the  Duke  of  Kent.16  Later  the  official 
residence  in  town  must  have  been  somewhat  repaired,  for  the  gov- 
ernor continued  for  some  time  longer  to  entertain  there.  In  this 
house  also,  on  the  16th  of  August,  1797,  occurred  the  death  of  Lady 
Wentworth's  first  cousin,  Charles  Thomas,  a  young  lieutenant  in 
the  Duke  of  Kent's  regiment,  who  was  accidentally  shot  by  a  broth- 
er officer  in  a  road-house  a  few  miles  from  the  town. 

On  the  18th  of  November,  1799,  Sir  John  wrote  Rcbert  Liston, 
Esq.,  the  British  ambassador  to  the  United  States  that  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  and  his  two  brothers,  the  Duke  de  Montpensier  and  Count 
Beaujolais,  had  arrived  at  Halifax,  in  H.  M.  Ship  Porcupine,  from 


16.  Dr.  Akins  says  that  Prince  Edward  resided  at  Government  House  with  Sir 
John  Wentworth  in  1798,  but  since  Sir  John  considered  the  house  not  fit  to  live  in  in 
1797,  and  since  the  Prince  had  earlier  become  fully  installed  at  the  lodge,  this  seems  very 
unlikely.  That  the  two  did  live  together  about  this  time  at  the  lodge  seems  almost  a 
certainty.     In  1798,  however,  Lady  Wentworth  was  in  England. 

49 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

New  Providence,  where  they  had  been  waiting  in  vain  for  some  time 
to  get  passage  to  England.  No  chance  for  such  passage  having 
presented  itself  they  had  come  to  Nova  Scotia,  where  they  hoped  to 
find  a  ship.  Being  unsuccessful  here  also  they  had  gone  on  to  New 
York  in  the  Lord  Duncan,  a  merchant  ship,  hoping  to  be  able  to  sail 
from  there.  "They  do  not  ostensibly,"  says  Sir  John,  ''assume  their 
rank;  visited  H.  R.  H.  the  Duke  of  Kent  and  myself  and  Admiral 
Vandeput.  The  visits  were  returned,  and  they  have  dined  with  H. 
R.  H.  at  Government  House  on  the  public  dinner  days.  The  surplus 
of  cash  brought  with  them  they  invested  in  bills  of  exchange  from 
the  paymaster  general  of  the  army,  upon  the  treasury,  to  be  remit- 
ted to  London.  I  learn  they  brought  about  10,000  dollars.  It  seems 
to  be  their  intention  to  proceed  to  Spain,  to  meet  their  mother,  as 
soon  as  possible.  In  all  their  deportment  here  they  have  been  en- 
tirely discreet.  This  is  the  general  statement,  except  that  they  were 
also  at  a  public  ball  at  the  Government  House,  and  yesterday  dined 
with  me.  Friday  they  are  to  dine  with  the  Duke  of  Kent.  As  these 
prisoners  [sic]  are  of  such  high  connection  I  thought  it  would  not  be 
unacceptable  to  you  to  be  informed  of  their  progress  through  this 
place." 

"P.  S.  8  o'clock,  P.  M.  Since  the  preceding,  H.  R.  H.  the  Duke 
of  Kent  has  given  the  Duke  of  Orleans  a  letter  of  instruction  to  the 
Duke  of  Portland,  of  which  it  may  be  acceptable  to  you  to  be  as 
above  confidentially  informed." 

The  Duke  of  Orleans,  Mr.  Murdoch,  who  prints  this  letter  in  his 
"History  of  Nova  Scotia,"  explains  ''was  the  prince  who  afterwards 
governed  in  France  as  King  Louis  Philippe.  It  is  said  that  he 
lodged  while  in  Halifax  with  a  Mrs.  Meagher,  a  Frenchwoman,  [sic] 
and  attended  service  in  the  small  chapel  (R.  C.)  in  Pleasant  Street, 
and  sat  in  the  pew  of  L.  Doyle,  Esq." 

In  September,  1804,  Halifax  had  a  visitor  in  the  person  of  Tom 
Moore,  the  Irish  poet.  Moore  had  lately  been  in  Bermuda,  where  he 
had  for  a  short  time,  it  is  said,  occupied  the  post  of  registrar  of  the 
court  of  vice-admiralty.  This  position  he  found  did  not  pay  him 
a  sufficient  salary  and  he  left  it,  but  before  returning  to  England  he 
determined  to  see  something  more  of  the  world.  Accordingly  he 
made  a  tour  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  and  from  Quebec 

5o 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

came  to  Halifax,  the  voyage  occupying  thirteen  days.  He  sailed 
from  Halifax  for  England  in  the  frigate  Boston,  commanded  by 
Captain  Douglas. 

"On  the  evening  of  Saturday,  April  8,"  [1820]  says  Mr.  Mur- 
doch, "Sir  John  Wentworth  died  at  Halifax,  at  his  apartments  in 
Hollis  Street.  He  was  in  his  84th  year.  His  latter  days  were  spent 
in  solitude  and  retirement.  On  the  day  before  his  departure  the 
city  was  excited  with  the  joyful  ceremonial  attendant  on  the  ele- 
vation of  the  Prince  of  Wales  to  the  sovereignty  of  this  great  em- 
pire in  his  own  right,  mingled  with  the  respect  due  a  monarch  who 
had  for  near  sixty  years  presided  with  moral  dignity  and  conscienti- 
ous earnestness  over  the  government  and  interests  of  our  nation. 
To  an  eminent  loyalist  like  Wentworth,  who  through  chequered 
scenes  of  prosperity  and  adversity  had  been  the  trusted  and  hon- 
ored servant  of  the  crown  from  an  early  period  of  this  long  reign,  if 
he  were  then  conscious  of  what  was  passing  around  him,  the  re- 
flections he  would  make  on  the  dropping  of  the  curtain  on  royalty, 
on  the  unlooked  for  loss  of  Prince  Edward,  so  long  his  intimate 
friend,  and  on  the  exit  of  his  venerated  master  from  all  sublunary 
suffering,  must  have  been  exceedingly  affecting.  Sir  John  proved 
the  sincerity  of  his  professions  of  strong  attachment  to  Nova  Scotia 
by  voluntarily  spending  his  last  days  here.  His  baronetcy  devolved 
upon  his  son,  Sir  Charles  Mary  Wentworth,  who  resided  in  Eng- 
land, but  on  the  latter 's  death  without  issue  the  title  became  ex- 
tinct.17 

Lieutenant-General  Sir  George  Prevost,  Baronet,  succeeded 
Governor  Wentworth  as  the  chief  executive  of  the  Nova  Scotia  gov- 
ernment. His  commission  bears  date  January  15,  1808.  On  the  7th 
of  April  he  reached  Halifax,  and  on  the  13th  was  sworn  into  office. 
He  continued  governor  until  1811,  when  he  was  commissioned  Gov- 
ernor-in- Chief  of  all  the  British  provinces  in  America.  He  left 
Halifax  for  Quebec  on  the  25th  of  August,  1811,  Alexander  Croke, 


17.  See  Dictionary  of  National  Biography ;  "Early  Life  of  Sir  John  Wentworth," 
and  "A  Chapter  in  the  Life  of  Sir  John  Wentworth"  (both  yet  in  manuscript  in  the 
archives  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society)  by  Hon.  Sir  Adams  Archibald, 
K.  C.  M.  G. ;   The  Wentworth  Genealogy ;   and  Chapter  IV  of  this  history. 

5* 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

LL.D.,  judge  of  Wee-admiralty,  being  appointed  to  administer  the 
government  for  a  short  time. 

An  event  of  much  importance  in  the  time  of  Sir  George  Prevost 
was  the  laying  of  the  corner  stone  of  the  Province  Building  in  1811. 
On  Monday,  the  twelfth  of  August  of  that  year,  which  happened  to 
be  the  birthday  of  George  the  Fourth,  then  regent  of  the  empire  of 
Britain,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  Lieutenant-Governor, 
attended  by  Rear- Admiral  Sawyer,  Major-General  Balfour,  Com- 
missioner Inglefield,  and  the  different  officers  of  the  Staff,  with  sev- 
eral Captains  of  the  Navy,  and  others,  was  received  at  the  eastern 
gate  of  the  inclosure  by  the  Grenadiers  and  Light  Infantry  compan- 
ies of  the  2d  battalion  of  militia,  under  command  of  Captain  Lid- 
dell,  and  the  Rifle  company  of  the  8th  battalion,  commanded  by 
Captain  Albro,  with  arms  presented,  the  band  playing  "God  Save 
the  King."  Here  the  Governor  and  his  party  were  met  by  the  com- 
missioners for  superintending  the  erection  of  the  building,  who  con- 
ducted them  to  a  marquee,  where  they  were  received  by  Quarter- 
master General  Pyke,  Grand  Master  of  the  Free  and  Accepted  Or- 
der of  Masons,  and  other  officers  and  members  of  the  Grand  Lodge, 
and  given  refreshments.  Then  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Gerrish  Gray, 
Grand  Chaplain  of  the  Lodge,  offered  a  prayer,  and  the  Lieutenant- 
Governor  performed  the  great  ceremony  of  the  day.  The  architect 
of  the  building  was  Mr.  Richard  Scott.  '  '  The  ceremony  was  honour- 
ed,' '  says  the  Royal  Gazette  newspaper,  describing  the  function, 
"by  the  presence  of  a  considerable  number  of  ladies,  who  were  pro- 
vided with  seats  erected  for  their  accommodation.  The  windows 
of  the  different  houses  round  the  square  were  also  occupied  by  the 
fair  daughters  of  Acadia — the  whole  forming  a  coup  d'oeil  of  taste, 
beauty,  and  accomplishment  that  would  do  honour  to  any  part  of  His 
Majesty's  Dominions;  and  notwithstanding  there  was  a  larger  con- 
course of  people  assembled  than  we  have  almost  ever  before  wit- 
nessed in  this  town,  and  the  different  sheds,  etc.,  were  crowded  with 
spectators,  we  are  happy  to  announce  that  not  any  accident  took 
place,  nor  any  one  sustained  the  least  injury." 

A  notable  day,  indeed,  was  this,  in  the  governorship  of  Sir  George 
Prevost.  In  honour  of  the  birthday  of  the  heir  to  the  throne  and 
regent  of  the  Kingdom,  from  early  morning  flags  floated  from  the 

5* 


. 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

ships  in  the  harbour  and  the  ports  and  chief  buildings  in  and  about 
the  town.  At  noon  the  troops  were  reviewed  by  his  Excellency  on 
the  Common,  and  three  salutes  of  seven  guns  each,  "intercalated 
by  a  like  series  of  feux  de  joie,  echoed  to  the  sky."  "Then  came  the 
usual  speech  approving  of  the  excellent  performance  by  the  troops 
and  militia,  after  this  a  royal  salute  from  the  ships  of  war;  then 
Sir  George  went  back  to  Government  House  to  receive  and  shake 
hands  with  all  Halifax  at  a  levee  held  in  honour  of  the  day."  It 
was  "a  heavy  day"  for  the  representative  of  his  Majesty,  says  Sir 
Adams  Archibald,  "the  address,  the  dinner,  the  answer  to  the  ad- 
dress and  the  speech  to  the  toast,  the  roar  of  artillery  in  the  morn- 
ing, feux  de  joie,  the  salutes  from  the  ships,  the  Volunteer  Artil- 
lery's salute — to  say  nothing  of  the  refreshments,  which  seem  to 
have  been  rather  profuse — must  have  sent  him  to  bed  tired  enough 
to  make  him  almost  forget  that  he  was  emerging  from  the  chrysalis 
of  Nova  Scotia  to  take  wings  for  a  higher  sphere"  as  governor  gen- 
eral of  all  the  British  provinces. 

Sir  George  Prevost  was  born  May  19,  1767,  and  died  in  London 
January  5,  1816.    His  popularity  in  Nova  Scotia  was  very  great.18 

General  Sir  John  Coape  Sherbrooke,  G.  C.  B.,  was  commissioned 
lieutenant-governor  of  Nova  Scotia,  August  19,  1811,  and  sworn  in 
October  16,  1811.  On  the  29th  of  January,  1816,  he  like  his  prede- 
cessor was  commissioned  governor  in  chief  of  all  the  British  prov- 
inces, but  it  seems  to  have  been  several  months  before  he  took  his 
departure  for  Quebec.  On  the  28th  of  June,  1816,  Major-General 
George  Stracey  Smyth  was  sworn  in  administrator  of  the  Nova 
Scotia  government  until  a  new  executive  head  could  be  appointed. 
Sir  John  Coape  Sherbrooke  died  in  England  February  14,  1830.18* 

Lieutenant-General  George  Kamsay,  ninth  Earl  of  Dalhousie, 
was  commissioned  for  the  government  of  Nova  Scotia,  July  20,  1816. 
He  reached  Halifax  in  H.  M.  ship  Forth,  from  England,  on  the  24th 
of  October,  1816,  and  the  same  day  took  the  oath  of  office.     In  1819, 


18.  See  Dictionary  of  National  Biography;  and  "Sir  George  Prevost"  (an  unpub- 
lished paper  in  the  archives  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society)*  by  James  S.  Mac- 
donald. 

i8j^.     See  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 

53 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

he  too  was  commissioned  governor  in  chief  of  the  Canadas  and  the 
other  provinces,  in  succession  to  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  and  prob- 
ably in  October  of  that  year  he  went  from  Halifax  to  Quebec.  The 
Earl  was  born  in  1770,  and  succeeded  his  father  in  the  peerage  of 
Scotland  in  1787.  He  was  created  Baron  Dalhousie  in  the  peerage 
of  the  United  Kingdom,  August  11,  1815.  Lord  Dalhousie  was  gov- 
ernor in  chief  of  Canada  from  1819  to  1828,  and  commander  in  chief 
in  the  East  Indies  from  1829  to  1832.     He  died  March  21,  1838. 

The  Earl  of  Dalhousie 's  governorship  of  Nova  Scotia  lasted  but 
three  years,  but  these  years  were  full  of  intelligent  activity  on  the 
part  of  this  accomplished,  energetic,  high-minded  man.  Of  Lord 
Dalhousie  the  Honourable  Joseph  Howe,  himself  a  later  governor, 
has  written :  '  '  The  Earl  was  a  square-built,  good-looking  man,  with 
hair  rather  gray  when  I  last  saw  him.  He  took  great  interest  in 
agriculture  and  was  the  patron  of  'Agricola,'  whose  letters  appear- 
ed in  the  Recorder  when  I  was  in  the  printing  office.  His  Lordship 's 
example  set  all  the  Councillors  and  officials  and  fashionables  mad 
about  farming  and  political  economy.  They  went  to  ploughing- 
matches,  got  up  fairs,  made  composts,  and  bought  cattle  and  pigs. 
Every  fellow  who  wanted  an  office,  or  wished  to  get  an  invitation  to 
Government  House,  read  Sir  John  Sinclair,  talked  of  Adam  Smith, 
bought  a  south-down,  or  hired  an  acre  of  land  and  planted  mangel 
wurtzels. 

"The  secret  about  'AgricolaV  letters  had  been  well  kept  and  the 
mystery  became  very  mysterious.  At  last  the  authorship  was  an- 
nounced, and  it  was  then  discovered  that  a  stout  Scotchman,  who 
kept  a  small  grocer's  shop  in  Water  street  and  whom  nobody  knew 
or  had  met  in  'good  society '  was  the  great  unknown.  Ovations  were 
got  up  under  the  patronage  of  the  Earl,  and  the  Judges  and  leading 
merchants  and  lawyers  came  forward  and  fraternized  with  the  stout 
Scotchman,  who  being  a  man  of  good  education  and  fine  powers  of 
mind  was  soon  discovered  to  speak  with  as  much  ease  and  fluency 
as  he  wrote.  All  this  was  marvellous  in  the  eyes  of  that  generation. 
But  no  two  governors  think  alike  or  patronize  the  same  things,  when 
Sir  James  Kempt  came  he  had  a  passion  for  road-making  and  pretty 
women,  and  the  agricultural  mania  died  away.  Agricola  was  voted 
a  bore — a  fat  Scotchman — and  his  family  decidedly  vulgar,  and  the 

54 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

heifers  about  Government  House  attracted  more  attention  than  the 
Durham  cows.  The  agricultural  societies  tumbled  to  pieces,  and 
although  spasmodic  efforts  were  made  from  time  to  time  by  some 
members  of  Mr.  Young's  family,  agriculture  did  not  become  fash- 
ionable in  my  day  till  Sir  Gaspard  Le  Marchant  in  1854  began  to 
talk  to  everybody  about  Shanghai  chickens  and  Alderney  cows. 
Then  a  good  deal  of  money  was  spent.  The  old  breeds  of  cows, 
which  wanted  nothing  but  care  and  judicious  crossing  to  make  them 
as  good  as  any  in  the  world,  were  reduced  in  size  that  the  cream 
might  be  made  richer,  which  it  never  was,  and  the  chickens  were 
made  twice  the  size,  with  the  additional  recommendation  that  they 
were  twice  as  tough.  Sir  Gaspard  brought  his  crochets  direct  from 
Court,  for  Prince  Albert  was  a  great  breeder,  and  the  Queen  and 
everybody  else  went  mad  about  poultry  for  a  summer  or  two."19 

Not  only  agriculture  but  higher  education  in  the  province  deeply 
interested  the  Earl  of  Dalhousie.  When  he  came  as  governor,  Nova 
Scotia  had  but  one  college,  which  was  all  the  province  then  needed, 
or  indeed  ought  ever  since  to  have  had,  the  college  known  as  King's, 
situated  at  Windsor  in  the  county  of  Hants.  Unfortunately,  how- 
ever, this  college,  established  and  always  conducted  under  Anglican 
Church  control,  had  at  the  start  burdened  itself  with  bigoted 
denominational  statutes  which  made  it  impossible  for  young  men 
of  other  churches  than  the  Anglican  to  receive  an  education  within 
its  doors.  Lord  Dalhousie  was  soon  properly  roused  to  indignation 
at  this  state  of  things  and  determined  to  do  something  to  remedy  it. 
Through  his  efforts  and  influence  Dalhousie  College  was  founded, 
a  college  "for  the  instruction  of  youth  in  the  higher  classics  and  in 


19.  This  sketch,  by  Hon.  Joseph  Howe,  is  printed  in  the  17th  volume  of  Collec- 
tions of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society  (pp.  197.  198).  The  general  title  of  the 
article  from  which  it  is  taken  is  entitled  "Notes  on  Several  Governors  and  their  In- 
fluence." Mr.  John  Young's  "Letters  of  Agricola,"  printed  first  in  the  Acadian  Recorder 
between  July  25  and  December  26,  1818,  were  designed  to  stimulate  and  did  stimulate  in- 
telligent activity  in  agriculture  throughout  the  province.  They  appeared  anonymously 
■and  their  anonymity  much  increased  the  public  interest  in  them.  In  consequence  of  sug- 
gestions they  contained,  agricultural  societies  were  quickly  organized  in  various  places, 
ploughing  matches  were  held,  and  there  was  a  general  awakening  of  interest  in  improved 
methods  of  farming.  By  March,  1819,  Mr.  Young  had  avowed  the  authorship  of  the 
letters  and  had  become  secretary  of  a  Provincial  Agricultural  Society,  in  support  of 
which  the  legislature  gave  a  subsidy  of  fifteen  hundred  pounds.  Mr.  John  Young,  as  is 
-well  known,  was  father  of  Hon.  Sir  William  Young,  Kt.,  the  eighth  chief  justice  of  Nova 
Scotia.  See  a  paper  in  the  archives  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society,  by  John  Er- 
vin,  entitled  "John  Young  (Agricola)  the  Junius  of  Nova  Scotia." 

55 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

all  philosophical  studies,"  whose  doors  should  be  open  to  all  who 
professed  the  Christian  religion,  especially  those  who  were  narrow- 
ly "excluded  from  Windsor."  With  great  formality  the  Earl  laid 
the  corner  stone  of  the  building  of  this  non-sectarian  college  on 
Monday,  the  22d  of  May,  1S20,  the  Countess  giving  a  ball  and  supper 
to  a  large  company  on  the  same  evening.  Nine  days  later  his  lord- 
ship received  a  farewell  address  from  the  people  of  Halifax  and  took 
his  departure  also  for  the  chief  governorship  of  the  provinces  at 
large.20 

Nothing,  writes  the  Hon.  Joseph  Howe,  could  be  more  "correct 
and  refining"  than  the  tone  given  to  Halifax  society  by  Lady  Dal- 
housie.  Without  being  handsome,  and  dressing  with  marked  plain- 
ness, she  charmed  people  w^ith  the  elegant  simplicity  of  her  man- 
ners and  with  her  gracious  desire  to  please. 

Lieutenant-General  Sir  James  Kempt,  G.  C.  B.,  was  appointed 
by  the  regent,  afterwards  George  the  Fourth,  to  the  lieutenant- 
governorship  of  Nova  Scotia,  October  20,  1819.  He  reached  Halifax, 
with  his  suite,  however,  not  until  June  1,  1820,  his  inauguration  tak- 
ing place  the  next  day  after  his  arrival.  From  July  10,  1828,  to 
November  24,  1830,  he  also  served  in  the  higher  position  of  gov- 
ernor general  of  the  British  provinces,  his  successor  in  Nova  Scotia 
being  Sir  Peregrine  Maitland.  Of  Halifax  social  life  during  Kempt 's 
administration  of  the  Nova  Scotia  government,  from  1820  to  1828, 
and  the  governor's  part  in  it,  Mr.  Peter  Lynch  has  given  us  some 
graphic  pictures.  "Winter,  notwithstanding  its  severity,"  says 
Mr.  Lynch,  "was  a  merry  time.  And  although  the  wands  were  laden 
with  frost  they  did  not  prevent  the  sun  shining  brilliantly  by  day 
and  the  stars  sparkling  brilliantly  by  night.  A  heavy  fall  of  snow 
was  soon  beaten  down  by  the  innumerable  sleighs  which  traversed 
it,  and  a  number  of  good  hostels  at  a  convenient  driving  distance 
from  the  town  afforded  the  certainty  of  a  good  dinner.  If  at  times 
the  days  were  dark  and  dreary  they  could  always  be  made  bright 
and  cheerful  by  the  merry  music  of  the  sleigh  bells,  and  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  saying  that  while  then  the  population  was  not  more 


20.  See  Dictionary  of  National  Biography;  and  a  paper,  still  unpublished  in  the 
archives  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society,  by  Professor  Archibald  MacMechan, 
entitled  "Lord  Dalhousie." 

56 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

than  half  as  numerous  as  it  is  at  present,  yet  there  were  twice  the 
number  of  horses  and  vehicles. 

"The  Tandem  Club,  one  of  the  institutions  of  Halifax,  was  a 
splendid  sight.  It  numbered  in  its  ranks  the  elite  of  the  community, 
the  Governor  and  all  the  officials,  the  General,  his  staff,  and  a  large 
proportion  of  the  officers  in  the  garrison,  and  many  of  our  wealthy 
citizens,  who  all  made  a  grand  display  during  their  field  days. 
.  .  .  At  the  head  of  the  Club  rode  the  captain  of  the  day,  always 
with  a  six-in-hand.  After  him  came  the  Governor,  with  a  fine  team 
of  four  horses,  and  asp  res  lui  le  deluge,  four-in-hands  and  tandems 
without  number,  all  forming  a  continuous  line  of  splendid  horses, 
handsome  sleighs,  and  gaily  dressed  people,  from  South  Street  to 
the  Provincial  Building,  all  entranced  by  the  many  notes  of  the  mel- 
low horn  and  the  continued  shouting  of  the  crowds  which  lined  the 
street  on  either  side. 

"Immediately  opposite  the  east  side  of  the  Provincial  Building 
was  a  very  large  house  then  occupied  by  Miller  (a  famous  host), 
who  kept  the  best  hotel  in  the  town.  There  the  party  all  brought 
up  in  several  ranks,  although  wedged  in  as  close  as  possible  filling 
the  whole  space  between  Prince  and  Sackville  streets.  At  once  the 
hotel  doors  were  thrown  open  and  the  servants  of  the  house,  to- 
gether with  those  of  the  several  messes,  and  others,  streamed  forth 
in  their  gay  liveries,  bearing  trays  laden  with  cakes,  confections, 
and  steaming  hot  negus,  then  the  favorite  beverage.  After  these 
refreshments  were  partaken  of,  the  whole  party  in  order  swept 
along  the  streets  on  their  way  to  Fultz  's  Twelve  Mile  House,  where 
about  three  o  'clock,  then  the  fashionable  dinner  hour,  the  party  sat 
down  to  as  good  a  dinner  as  could  be  had  anywhere,  in  the  Province 
or  perhaps  out  of  it." 

The  Sundays  in  Halifax  in  Sir  James  Kempt 's  time,  Mr.  Lynch 
says,  '  *  could  scarcely  be  called  holy  days, ' '  for  except  in  two  small 
churches,  one  a  Methodist,  the  other  a  Baptist,  few  people  were 
found  worshipping  after  the  service  of  the  forenoon.  "The  bells 
rang  out  their  invitations,  and  the  doors  of  the  churches  stood  open 
in  the  afternoons,  but  few  entered  their  precincts.  It  was  the  al- 
most universal  custom  for  gentlemen  to  visit  from  house  to  house 
after  the  morning  service.     Wine  and  cake  were  set  out  on  the 

57 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  XOVA  SCOTIA 

« 
tables  as  now  on  New  Year's  Day  (though  not  with  the  same  pro- 
fusion), and  the  time  was  spent  until  the  hour  for  dinner  in  dis- 
cussing the  gossip  of  the  day,  and  possibly  sometimes  in  the  ex- 
change of  bits  of  scandal. 

' '  After  dinner,  when  the  weather  permitted  it,  the  community 
streamed  out  to  the  Common,  to  see  a  review  of  the  troops.  There 
the  great  and  the  little  were  found  in  their  holiday  attire,  the 
wealthy  in  their  carriages,  the  poorer  on  foot.  At  the  west  side  of 
the  Common,  somewhere  near  where  the  old  race-course  ran,  the 
Royal  Standard  flaunted  its  gay  folds,  and  here  gathered  the  fash- 
ionable and  rich  of  the  town,  for  at  this  point  the  Governor,  who 
was  then  a  general,  and  his  staff,  were  to  take  their  places  when  they 
should  come.  At  about  half  past  four  his  Excellency  and  suite, 
their  gay  plumes  waving  in  the  air,  and  their  bright  uniforms  flash- 
ing, made  their  appearance  and  galloping  down  to  the  stand  took 
their  position.  The  several  bands  played  the  National  Anthem, 
and  the  business  of  the  review  proceeded.  A  march  round  at  slow 
step  with  a  salute,  and  another  at  quick  step  without  it,  and  the 
review  was  over  and  the  Common  in  a  brief  space  of  time  restored 
to  the  quiet  which  had  pervaded  it  some  two  hours  before. 

"But  the  business  or  rather  the  pleasure  of  the  day  was  not  yet 
over.  In  Hollis  street,  in  one  of  the  stone  houses  to  the  south  of 
Government  House,  lived  a  colonel  of  one  of  the  regiments  in  gar- 
rison, I  think  Colonel  Creigh,  and  opposite  him  another  military 
man,  I  think  a  Cochran,  and  thither,  at  about  dusk,  came  one  of  the 
regimental  bands.  From  that  time  until  perhaps  ten  o'clock  the 
band  played  dance  and  other  secular  music,  to  an  admiring  audi- 
ence, comprising  some  of  the  better  element  of  the  town,  but  con- 
sisting chiefly  of  the  great  unwashed,  who  made  the  Sabbath  night 
hideous  with  their  coarse  jests  and  noisy  conduct.  It  was  a  sad 
termination  to  the  sacred  day  which  the  Great  Lawgiver  had  com- 
manded us  to  remember  to  keep  holy." 

In  the  course  of  Sir  James  Kempt 's  administration,  the  governor 
of  Nova  Scotia  whom  Sir  James  had  immediately  followed,  the  Earl 
of  Dalhousie,  now  governor-general  of  Canada  and  the  other  prov- 
inces, came  to  Halifax  on  a  visit.  He  reached  Halifax  from  Quebec 
in  the  government  brig  Chebucto,  Captain  Cunard,  on  Thursday, 

58 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

the  3rd  of  July,  1823,  after  a  voyage  lasting  eleven  days.  That 
night,  late,  he  landed  at  the  town  with  his  aides,  Captain  W.  Hay 
and  Lieutenant  Maule,  accompanied  also  by  Lieut-Col.  Durnford,  R. 
E.,  and  Captain  Parker,  A.  D.,  quartermaster-general.  On  Saturday 
he  held  a  levee  at  Government  House,  at  one  o'clock,  and  the  next 
Tuesday  he  received  an  address  from  the  magistrates  and  other 
inhabitants,  which  was  presented  by  Sheriff  Jared  Ingersoll  Chip- 
man. 

Shortly  after  this  he  went  with  Sir  James  Kempt  to  visit  Wind- 
sor, Horton,  and  Cornwallis.  On  Wednesday  the  23rd  he  was  en- 
tertained at  a  "public  banquet' '  at  Mason's  Hall,  in  the  town,  the 
Hon.  Richard  John  LTniacke  presiding,  and  the  Governor  and  his 
suite,  Rear  Admiral  Fahie,  the  captains  of  the  navy,  field  officers 
of  the  army,  the  staff  of  the  garrison,  the  members  of  council,  the 
magistrates,  and  many  others  being  guests.  At  least  forty  toasts 
were  given  at  the  banquet  by  the  chair,  the  band  of  the  81st,  Sir 
James  Kempt 's  regiment,  playing  appropriate  airs  after  each. 
The  Earl  left  at  half  past  twelve,  "but,"  says  Mr.  Murdoch  sig- 
nificantly, "the  president  and  company  continued  till  a  later  or  more 
exactly  speaking  an  earlier  hour." 

The  next  evening  the  Earl  was  given  a  public  ball  at  the  Province 
Building,  the  council  chamber  being  used  for  dancing,  and  the  as- 
sembly room  for  the  supper.  "All  the  taste  and  fashion  of  the  town 
were  displayed  on  this  occasion,  and  no  expense  was  spared  in 
rendering  it  a  treat  well  worthy  the  acceptance  of  a  peer  of  the 
realm."  "It  was  asserted,"  says  Mr.  Murdoch,  "that  of  all  the 
fetes  ever  got  up  in  Halifax  this  ball  to  the  Earl  was  the  most  bril- 
liant, in  the  beauty  of  decoration,  the  sumptuousness  of  entertain- 
ment, and  the  taste  that  reigned  over  all.  The  council  room  was 
illuminated  with  a  profusion  of  lamps  and  chandeliers.  Sofas  were 
placed  all  round  the  sides  of  the  apartment,  the  elegant  proportions 
and  loftiness  of  the  chamber  being  in  reality  its  greatest  ornament. 
A  military  band  was  stationed  in  an  elevated  orchestra,  placed  over 
the  central  doors.  The  Earl  opened  the  ball  with  Admiral  Fahie 's 
lady,  a  young  bride,  who  had  just  come  on  with  her  husband  in 
H.  M.  S.  Salisbury  from  Bermuda.  At  midnight  the  supper  began, 
Mr.  Wallace  presiding  and  giving  toasts,  and  the  dances  were  re- 

59 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

newed  afterwards/ '    On  the  28th  of  July  the  Earl  left  town,  on  his 
way  once  more  to  Quebec. 

Sir  James  Kempt  was  born  at  Edinburgh,  in  1764,  became  cap- 
tain of  the  113th  Foot  and  as  such  served  in  Ireland  and  in  Holland, 
and  was  commissioned  a  lieutenant-colonel  in  1799.  He  was  at 
one  time  in  service  in  the  Spanish  Peninsula.  In  1813  he  was  col- 
onel-commandant of  the  60th  Foot,  and  at  "Waterloo  was  severely 
wounded.  He  was  made  a  Knight  Grand  Cross  of  the  Bath,  and  was 
also  invested  with  several  foreign  orders.  The  27th  of  May,  1825, 
he  was  commissioned  lieutenant-general,  and  in  1841  was  promoted 
general.  At  one  time  he  was  master  general  of  the  ordnance.  He 
died  in  London,  December  20,  1854.21 

Genekal  Sir  Peregrine  Maitland,  G.  C.  B.,  was  commissioned 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  Nova  Scotia  some  time  in  1828.  He  was 
born  in  Hampshire,  England,  in  1777,  and  died  in  London,  May 
30,  1854.  He  entered  the  army  in  1792,  served  in  Flanders  and  in 
Spain,  and  was  at  Waterloo,  in  command  of  the  First  British  Bri- 
gade. On  June  22,  1815,  for  his  services  at  Waterloo  he  was  made 
a  K.  C.  B.  His  wife,  Lady  Sarah,  was  a  daughter  of  the  Duke  of 
Richmond,  her  mother  being  the  Duchess  of  Richmond  who  gave 
the  famous  ball  at  Brussels  on  the  eve  of  the  battle  of  Waterloo. 
In  1818  the  Duke  of  Richmond  was  governor-general  of  all  the 
British  provinces  in  America,  and  in  that  year  Sir  Peregrine  Mait- 
land was  made  lieutenant-governor  of  Quebec.  The  exact  date  of 
his  commission  as  governor  of  Nova  Scotia  we  do  not  know,  but  he 
served  in  this  capacity  from  1828  until  probably  some  time  in  1833. 
While  he  was  in  Halifax,  on  Sunday,  April  8, 1832,  Lady  Sarah  gave 
birth  to  a  daughter. 

From  December,  1843,  until  September,  1846,  Sir  Peregrine  was 
governor  and  commander-in-chief  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  In 
1846  he  was  promoted  general,  and  in  1852  was  made  a  Knight 
Grand  Cross  of  the  Bath.22 

Writing  of  the  change  in  the  tone  of  social  life  in  Halifax  when 
Sir  James  Kempt  left  and  Sir  Peregrine  Maitland  came,  Mr.  Peter 


21.  See  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 

22.  See  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 

6o 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Lynch  writes:  "The  advent  to  the  province  of  the  new  governor 
and  his  wife,  Sir  Peregrine  and  Lady  Sarah  Maitland,  the  latter 
a  Lennox  and  daughter  of  the  then  Duke  of  Richmond,  I  am  happy 
to  say  put  an  end  to  these  unseemly  orgies  [secular  entertainments 
on  Sunday,  etc.].  These  two  excellent  people,  from  their  consistent 
walk  together,  with  their  high  rank,  at  once  produced  a  change  in 
the  tone  of  society,  and  the  perfume  of  their  sweet  lives  permeated 
all  classes  of  the  people.  They  professed  much,  and  rigidly  prac- 
tised it.  Their  garments  smelt  of  myrrh,  aloes,  and  cassia,  and  while 
those  immediately  about  them  were  constrained  by  their  holy  lives 
to  follow  their  example,  their  influence  went  through  all  ranks  of 
the  town.  As  Caligula  '  found  Rome  of  brick  and  left  it  of  marble/ 
so  these  good  people,  who  found  here  much  of  riot,  dissipation,  and 
disorder,  after  their  period  of  abode  amongst  us  left  the  community 
in  a  very  much  improved  condition.  The  good  seed  they  sowed 
yielded  much  healthy  fruit,  and  I  have  no  doubt  its  influence  has 
lasted  to  the  present  day." 

Major-Gexeral  Sir  Colix  Campbell,  K.  C.  B.,  who  has  often  been 
confused  with  Sir  Colin  Campbell,  Lord  Clyde  (born  at  Glasgow, 
Scotland,  October  16,  1792),  was  commissioned  lieutenant-governor 
of  Nova  Scotia  some  time  in  1833,  and  left  the  province  probably 
in  1840.  He  was  the  fifth  son  of  John  Campbell  of  Melf ort,  and  his 
wife  Colina,  daughter  of  John  Campbell  of  Auchalader,  and  was 
born  in  1776.  He  had  a  brother,  Admiral  Sir  Patrick  Campbell. 
In  1792,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  he  became  a  midshipman  on  board 
an  East  Indiaman,  but  in  February,  1795,  he  entered  the  army  as 
lieutenant  in  the  3rd  battalion  of  the  Breadalbane  Fencibles,  then 
commanded  by  his  uncle.  He  served  with  great  ability  in  India, 
and  later  under  the  Duke  of  Wellington  on  the  continent.  With 
the  great  duke  he  had  a  warm  friendship  and  to  this  famous  gen- 
eral owed  much  of  his  distinction.  He  became  lieutenant-colonel  of 
the  65th  regiment  in  1818,  and  major-general  in  1825.  From  1839 
to  1847  he  was  governor  of  Ceylon.  He  died  in  England,  June  13, 
1847,  and  was  buried  in  the  church  of  St.  James,  Piccadilly.23 

"On  Tuesday,  the  first  of  July,  1834/ '  says  Occasional  in  the 


23.    See  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 

6l 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Acadian  Recorder,  "Major-General  Sir  Colin  Campbell,  K.  C.  B., 
arrived  in  Halifax  as  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  Province.  For 
eighteen  months  Thomas  Jeffery,  President  of  the  Council,  had 
been  Administrator  of  the  Government  during  the  absence  of  Gov- 
ernor Maitland  in  England.  Previous  to  the  arrival  of  Governor 
Campbell,  the  President  sent  a  message  to  the  House  of  Assembly, 
which  had  just  met,  with  an  extract  of  a  dispatch  from  the  Secretary 
of  State  for  the  Colonies,  expressing  His  Majesty's  readiness  to 
place  the  casual  and  territorial  revenue  at  the  disposal  of  the  Prov- 
incial Legislature,  on  their  agreeing  to  make  a  permanent  pro- 
vision for  the  public  servants,  whose  salaries  had  been  hitherto  paid 
from  the  funds,  which  it  was  proposed  to  surrender.  A  series  of 
resolutions,  embodying  a  scale  of  salaries,  were  introducted  by  the 
Solicitor  General,  which  excited  general  indignation  as  being  utterly 
disproportionate  to  the  extent  and  financial  circumstances  of  the 
Province. 

"Amd  now  was  the  first  shot  fired  in  the  direction  of  decided  re- 
sponsible government.  Mr.  Alex.  Stewart,  who  afterwards  was  to  be 
the  champion  of  the  autocratic  council,  made  a  vigorous  attack  on  its 
constitution,  moving  three  resolutions,  having  for  their  object  to 
open  the  doors  of  the  council."24 

Sir  Lucius  Bentinck  Caey,  Viscount  Falkland,  P.  C,  G.  C.  H., 

was  commissioned  for  Nova  Scotia  some  time  in  1840,  and  remained 
governor  until  1846.  Lord  Falkland  was  returned  heir  to  his  father, 
the  ninth  Viscount  Falkland  (in  the  peerage  of  Scotland)  March  2, 
1809.  He  married,  first,  Lady  Amelia  Fitz-Clarence,  sister  of  the 
Earl  of  Munster,  one  of  the  natural  children  of  King  William  the 
Fourth,  and  this  lady  was  with  him  in  Halifax.  His  second  wife 
was  Elizabeth  Catherine,  dowager  duchess  of  St.  Alban's.  He  was 
created  an  English  peer  May  15,  1832.  From  1848  to  1853,  Viscount 
Falkland  was  governor  of  Bombay. 

In  the  second  year  of  Lord  Falkland's  governorship,  the  year 
1841,  his  royal  highness,  the  Prince  de  Joinville,  son  of  King  Louis 
Philippe  of  France,  made  Halifax  a  short  visit,  and  on  Tuesday, 
September  14th,  was  honoured  by  General  Sir  Jeremiah  Dickson  and 


24.     Acadian  Recorder  for  January  29,  1916. 

62 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

the  officers  of  the  staff  and  garrison  with  a  brilliant  ball  in  the 
Province  Building.  "Having  obtained  permission  from  the  proper 
authorities  for  the  use  of  the  legislative  halls/'  says  Occasional  in 
the  Acadian  Recorder,25  "a  party  of  engineers  and  workmen  were 
turned  in,  and,  in  an  incomparably  short  space  of  time,  the  ob- 
structive fixtures  were  removed,  the  whole  interior  was  purified, 
staircases  and  passages  were  lined  with  banners,  and  bayonets  were 
formed  into  candelabra  and  other  ornaments. 

"About  half -past  nine  the  company  began  to  assemble,  and  were 
received  by  the  General.  Besides  His  Royal  Highness,  and  suite, 
and  the  officers  of  the  French  warships  Belle  Poide  and  Casaud, 
His  Excellency,  the  Lieutenant-Governor  and  Lady  Falkland,  Mr. 
Stuart,  charge  d'  affaires  to  Colombia,  and  lady;  Commodore  Doug- 
las, Captain  Leith,  and  the  officers  of  the  Winchester  and  Sering- 
apatam,  with  the  chief  officers  of  the  Provincial  government,  the 
Mayor,  etc.,  were  among  the  guests.  Dancing  was  kept  up  with 
much  spirit  in  the  Council  Chamber  until  after  midnight,  when  the 
doors  of  the  Assembly  were  thrown  open,  and  the  whole  company, 
to  the  number  of  four  hundred,  sat  down  to  a  substantial  and  elegant 
supper,  prepared  by  Coblentz. 

"From  a  cross  table,  or  dais,  slightly  raised,  at  the  head  of  the 
room,  other  tables  extended  the  whole  length,  covered  with  every 
delicacy.  The  gallery  was  occupied  by  the  band,  and  non-commis- 
sioned officers  and  their  families.  The  company  having  done  jus- 
tice to  the  good  fare,  the  health  of  Her  Majesty,  of  King  Louis 
Philippe,  and  of  His  Royal  Highness,  the  guest  of  the  night,  were 
given;  after  which  the  Prince  gave  'Lady  Falkland  and  Ladies  of 
Halifax.'  Dancing  was  then  resumed  and  kept  up  till  a  late  hour — 
the  Prince  retiring  about  two  o'clock.' ' 

Sir  John  Harvey,  K.  C.  B.,  was  commissioned  lieutenant-governor 
in  1846.  He  was  born  in  1778,  and  entered  the  army  in  the  SOth  regi- 
ment. He  was  in  service  in  Holland,  in  France,  at  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  in  Ceylon,  and  in  Egypt.  In  1812  he  was  appointed  deputy 
adjutant-general  to  the  army  in  Canada,  with  the  rank  of  lieuten- 
ant-colonel.   He  was  aide-de-camp  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington  in  his 


25.    Acadian  Recorder  for  April  15,  1916. 

63 


, 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Waterloo  campaign;  from  1837  to  1841  was  lieutenant-governor  of 
New  Brunswick;  from  1841  to  1846  governor  and  commander-in- 
chief  of  Newfoundland;  and  some  time  in  1846  was  commissioned 
lieutenant-governor  of  Nova  Scotia.  He  was  made  K.  C.  B.  in 
1838.  He  died  in  office  at  Halifax,  and  was  buried  there  March  22, 
1852.  A  mural  tablet  to  his  memory  rests  on  one  of  the  walls  of  St. 
Paul's  Church. 

Lieutexaxt-Gexeral  Sir  John  Gaspard  Le  Marchaxt  was  com- 
missioned lieutenant-governor  probably  in  June,  1852.  He  was 
born  in  1803  and  married  in  1839.  His  father  was  John  Gaspard 
Le  Marchant,  Esq.,  a  major-general  in  the  army,  and  the  first  lieu- 
tenant-governor of  the  Royal  Military  College.  Sir  John  was  a 
knight  of  the  first  and  third  classes  of  St.  Ferdinand  and  knight- 
commander  of  St.  Carlos  of  Spain.  From  February,  1847,  to  June, 
1852,  he  was  lieutenant-governor  of  Newfoundland.  He  held  the 
office  of  lieutenant-governor  of  Nova  Scotia  until  December,  1857. 
From  1859  to  1864  he  was  governor  of  Malta.  He  died  in  London 
February  6,  1874.26 

The  Right  Honourable  George  Augustus  Coxstaxtixe  Phipps, 
Secoxd  Marquis  of  Normaxdy  axd  Earl  Mulgrave,  was  commis- 
sioned lieutenant-governor  in  January,  1858.  Earl  Mulgrave  was 
born,  July  23,  1819,  entered  the  Scots  Fusilier  Guards  in  1838,  and 
in  1851  was  appointed  comptroller  and  in  1853  treasurer  of  the 
Queen's  household.  He  succeeded  his  father  as  marquis  July  28, 
1863,  when  he  resigned  the  governorship  of  Nova  Scotia  and  re- 
turned to  England.  He  was  appointed  governor  of  Queensland  in 
1871,  of  New  Zealand  in  1874,  and  of  Victoria  in  1878.27 

The  Hoxourable  Sir  Richard  Graves  Macdoxxell,  K.  C.  M.  G., 
LL.D.,  distinguished  as  a  jurist,  and  also  as  an  explorer,  was  com- 
missioned for  the  Nova  Scotia  government  probably  on  the  28th  of 
May,  1864,  but  remained  governor  of  the  province  only  until  Octo- 
ber of  the  following  year.    Sir  Richard  was  the  eldest  son  of  Rev. 


26.  See  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 

27.  See  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 

64 


• 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Richard  Macdonnell,  D.  D.,  Provost  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  and 
was  born  in  Dublin  in  1814.  Graduating  at  Trinity,  he  was  called  to 
the  Irish  bar  in  1838  and  to  the  English  bar  in  1840.  In  1843  he  was 
appointed  chief  justice  of  the  Gambia,  and  in  1847  governor  of  the 
British  settlements  on  the  Gambia.  After  this,  for  a  long  time  he 
was  engaged  in  exploring  the  interior  of  Africa.  In  1852  he  was  gov- 
ernor of  St.  Vincent  and  captain-general,  and  in  1855  governor-in- 
chief  of  South  Australia,  where  also  he  made  valuable  explorations. 
From  October  19,  1865,  until  1872,  he  was  governor  of  Hong  Kong. 
Sir  Richard  was  made  K.  C.  M.  G.  in  1871.28 

General  Sir  William  Fen  wick  Williams,  Bart.,  K.  C.  B.,  com- 
missioned lieutenant-governor  October  20,  1865,  was  the  first  native 
born  governor  the  province  had.  He  was  born  at  Annapolis  Royal, 
Nova  Scotia,  December  4,  1800,  and  should  probably  be  regarded 
as  the  most  illustrious  of  Nova  Scotia's  sons.  At  an  early  age, 
through  the  interest  of  the  Duke  of  Kent,  he  was  placed  in  the  Royal 
Academy  at  Woolwich.  Entering  the  army  he  attained  the  rank 
of  captain  in  1840,  and  at  the  Crimea  earned  for  himself  undying 
fame  in  British  annals  as  "the  hero  of  Kars."  One  of  the  gallant 
defenders  of  that  town  during  its  four  months  siege  by  Mouravieff , 
General  Williams  on  the  29th  of  September,  1855,  gave  the  besiegers 
battle,  and  after  a  fierce  conflict  of  eight  hours  duration  defeated 
a  force  much  larger  than  his  own  on  the  heights  above  Kars.  The 
town,  however,  fell,  and  General  Williams  was  taken  a  prisoner, 
first  to  Moscow,  then  to  St.  Petersburg.  Almost  immediately  af- 
terward he  was  created  a  baronet.  In  1858  he  was  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  forces  in  British  North  America.  He  administered  the 
government  of  the  British  provinces  in  America  from  October  12, 
1860,  until  January  22,  1861.  He  administered  the  Nova  Scotia 
government  until  October,  1867.  He  died,  unmarried,  in  London, 
July  26,  1883,  and  was  buried  at  Brompton  cemetery  four  days 
later.29 

Major-General  Sir  Charles  Hastings  Doyle,  K.  C.  M.  G.,  was 


28.  See  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 

29.  See  Dictionary  of  National  Biography;  and  "Ancestry  of  the  late  Sir  Fen- 
wick  Williams  of  Kars,"  a  pamphlet  by  Hon.  Judge  A.  W.  Savary,  D.  C.  L.,  of  Annap- 
olis Royal,  Nova  Scotia. 

65 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

commissioned  lieutenant-governor  October  18,  1867.  He  was  the 
eldest  son  of  Sir  Charles  William  Doyle,  C.  B.,  G.  C.  H.,  and  his 
wife  Sophia,  daughter  of  Sir  John  Coghill,  and  was  born  in  1805. 
He  was  educated  at  Sandhurst,  and  entered  the  army  as  an  ensign 
in  the  87th,  his  great-uncle  Sir  John  Doyle's  regiment.  He  saw 
service  in  the  Orient,  the  West  Indies,  Canada,  and  Ireland.  Dur- 
ing the  American  Civil  War  he  commanded  the  troops  in  British 
North  America,  and  in  the  famous  Chesapeake  affair  showed  great 
tact.  In  May,  1868,  he  was  appointed  colonel  of  the  70th  regiment, 
and  in  1869  was  made  a  K.  C.  M.  G.  He  continued  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor of  Nova  Scotia  until  1873,  Sir  Edward  Kenny,  however,  as 
president  of  the  council,  administering  the  government  in  his  ab- 
sence from  May  13,  1870,  until  the  end  of  Ms  term  of  office.  After 
other  service  to  the  Empire  he  died  in  London,  March  19,  1883. 

The  confederation  of  the  British  provinces  into  the  Dominion  of 
Canada  was  effected  while  General  Doyle  was  governor  of  Nova 
Scotia,  this  event  occurring  in  1867.30 

The  Honoubable  Joseph  Howe  was  the  first  lieutenant-governor 
appointed  for  Nova  Scotia  after  Confederation.  He  received  his 
commission  May  1,  1873.  Hon.  Joseph  Howe,  one  of  the  most  emi- 
nent statesmen  of  the  provinces  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  was 
born  at  Halifax,  December  13, 1804.  His  father  was  Mr.  John  Howe 
of  Boston,  who  was  born  in  that  town  in  1753,  and  was  editor  with 
Mrs.  Margaret  Draper  of  the  Neivs-Letter,  the  only  newspaper  that 
continued  to  be  published  in  Boston  during  the  siege  in  1775  and 
1776.  Coming  to  Halifax  as  a  Loyalist  refugee,  John  Howe 
soon  became  there  King's  printer.  He  died  in  1835.  Hon.  Joseph 
Howe's  life  has  been  ably  written  and  his  letters  and  speeches  have 
been  published.  He  has  perhaps  received  more  honour  from  his 
countrymn  since  his  death  than  any  other  Nova  Scotian.  He  was  a 
liberal  in  politics  and  a  consistent  champion  of  the  rights  of  the  peo- 
ple. He  took  the  oath  as  lieutenant-governor  May  10,  1873,  but  his 
death  occurred  on  the  22d  day  after.  He  died  at  Halifax,  June  1, 
1873. 

The   next    appointee   to   the   lieutenant-governorship   was    Mr. 


30.     See  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 

66 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Howe's  long  time  opponent  in  politics,  the  Honourable  James  Wil- 
liam Jonhstone,  judge  in  equity,  member  of  the  legislative  council, 
attorney-general,  solicitor-general,  and  representative  to  the  legis- 
lature, in  politics  a  distinguished  conservative.  Judge  Johnstone 
when  he  was  appointed  lieutenant-governor  was  in  the  south  of 
France.  He  accepted  the  appointment,  but  died  in  England  on  his 
way  home.  He  was  born  in  the  island  of  Jamaica,  but  came  to 
Nova  Scotia  in  early  manhood  and  founded  an  important  family  in 
Halifax.31 

The  Honourable  Sir  Adams  George  Archibald,  K.  C.  M.  G.,  was 
commissioned  lieutenant-governor  July  4,  1873.  Sir  Adams  also  was 
a  native  Nova  Scotian,  he  was  a  son  of  Mr.  Samuel  Archibald  of 
Truro,  Colchester  county,  and  grandson  of  Mr.  James  Archibald, 
also  of  Colchester  county,  a  justice  there  of  the  court  of  common 
pleas.  Sir  Adams  was  called  to  the  bar  of  Nova  Scotia  as  a  barrister 
in  1839,  was  a  member  of  the  executive  council,  first  as  solicitor-gen- 
eral, from  August  14,  1856,  to  February  14,  1857,  then  as  attorney- 
general,  from  February  10,  1860,  to  June  11,  1863.  He  was  a  dele- 
gate to  England  to  arrange  the  terms  of  settlement  with  the  British 
Government  and  the  general  mining  association  in  respect  to  Nova 
Scotia  mines,  and  also  to  obtain  the  views  of  the  government  rel- 
ative to  the  projected  union  of  the  provinces.  He  was  sworn  to  the 
privy  council  of  Canada,  July  1,  1867,  but  this  position  he  resigned 
in  1868.  From  May  20,  1870,  to  May,  1873,  he  was  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor of  Manitoba  and  the  Northwestern  Territories,  from  June 
24,  1873,  to  July  4,  1873,  he  was  judge  in  equity  in  Nova  Scotia,  and 
at  the  latter  date,  as  we  have  said,  he  was  appointed  lieutenant- 
governor  of  Nova  Scotia.  In  1873  he  was  also  one  of  the  directors 
of  the  Canadian  Pacific  railway  under  Sir  Hugh  Allan.  He  ceased 
to  be  lieutenant-governor  in  1883,  but  w^as  knighted  in  1885.  He 
died  at  Truro,  December  14,  1892. 

The  lieutenant-governors  since  Sir  Adams  Archibald  have  been : 


31.  For  Hon.  Joseph  Howe,  see  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography;  and  an 
able  biography  of  him  by  Hon.  Judge  J.  W.  Longley  of  the  Supreme  bench  of  Nova 
Scotia.  See  "Howe's  Letters  and  Speeches,"  edited  by  Hon.  William  Annand.  For 
Hon.  Judge  Johnstone,  see  "Three  Premiers,"  by  Rev.  Edward  Manning  Saunders,  D. 
D.,  and  a  sketch  by  Hon.  Judge  A.  W.  Savary,  D.  C  L.,  of  Annapolis  Royal,  in  the 
Camek-Savary  History  of  Annapolis. 

67 


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CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Matthew  Henry  Bichey,  Esq.,  Barrister,  Q.  C,  1883-1888;  Hon. 
Archibald  Woodbury  McLelan,  1888-1890 ;  Hon.  Sir  Malachy  Bowes 
Daly,  K.  C.  M.  G.,  1890-1900;  Hon.  Alfred  Gilpin  Jones,  1900-1906; 
Hon.  Duncan  Cameron  Fraser,  1906-1910;  Hon.  James  Drummond 
McGregor,  1910-1915;  Hon.  David  McKeen,  1915-1916;  Hon.  Mac- 
Callum  Grant,  1916 — .  All  these  except  Sir  Malachy  Daly  have  been 
native  Nova  Scotians  and  men  previously  active  in  the  political  life 
of  the  province. 

The  Lieutenant-Governors  of  Nova  Scotia  from  1749  to  1786, 
while  the  governors  were  ' '  Governors-in-Chief , ' '  were  as  follows : 

Colonel  Charles  Lawrence,  appointed  July  17,  1750,  (commis- 
sioned Governor  in  1756). 

Eobert  Monckton,  Esq.,  afterwards  General  Monckton,  com- 
missioned probably  December  31,  1755.  His  commission  seems  to 
have  been  repeated  August  17,  1757,  and  October  27,  1760.  On  the 
20th  of  March,  1761,  he  was  commissioned  governor  of  New  York,  in 
place  of  Sir  Charles  Hardy,  who  had  resigned.  Of  Monckton 's 
military  rank  when  he  was  lieutenant-governor  of  Nova  Scotia  we 
are  not  sure. 

The  Honourable  Chief  Justice  Jonathan  Belcher  was  com- 
missioned April  14,  1761,  but  was  relieved  of  the  duties  of  the  office 
in  September,  1762.  He  took  the  formal  oath  of  the  office  November 
21,  1761.32 

The  Honourable  Colonel  Montague  Wilmot  was  commissioned 
January  13, 1762.  Chief  Justice  and  Lieutenant-Governor  Jonathan 
Belcher  apprised  the  council  of  Colonel  Wilmot 's  appointment,  Au- 
gust 26,  1762.  Colonel  Wilmot  took  the  oath  of  office  September 
26,  1762.  On  the  11th  of  March,  1763,  he  was  commissioned  gov- 
ernor-in-chief. 

The  Honoukable  Michael  Fbancklin  was  commissioned  lieuten- 
ant-governor March  28,  1766,  and  filled  the  office  until  some  time  in 
1776.    He  died  November  8,  1782.33 


32.  "Jonathan  Belcher,  First  Chief  Justice  of  Nova  Scotia,"  a  sketch  by  Hon. 
Sir  Charles  Townshend,  D.  C.  L.,  in  the  Collections  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  So- 
ciety, Vol.  18. 

33.  See  "Lieutenant  Governor  Francklin,"  by  James  S.  Macdonald,  in  the  Col- 
lections of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society,  Vol.  16. 

68 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Admiral  Maeiot  Arbuthxot  was  commissioned  February  16, 
1776,  and  took  the  oath  of  office  April  22,  1776.  He  continued  in 
office  until  January,  1778,  when  he  was  advanced  to  flag  rank  and 
left  Nova  Scotia.  He  was  probably  a  captain  when  he  took  office 
as  lieutenant-governor.3* 

Richard  Hughes,  Esq.,  R.  N.,  afterward  Sir  Richard  Hughes, 
Baronet,  was  commissioned  March  12,  1778,  and  took  the  oath  of 
office  August  17,  1778.  On  the  26th  of  September,  1780,  he  was  pro- 
moted rear  admiral  of  the  blue.  In  April,  1780,  he  succeeded  his 
father,  Sir  Richard  Hughes,  Sr.,  in  the  baronetcy.35 

Sir  Andrew  Snape  Hamond,  Baronet,  Captain  R.  N.,  was  com- 
missioned lieutenant-governor  December  15,  1780,  although  as  ap- 
pears he  did  not  take  the  oath  of  office  until  July  31,  1781.  He  held 
the  office  until  December,  1783,  on  the  10th  of  which  month  he  was 
created  a  baronet.    About  this  time  he  left  Halifax  for  England.36 

Edmund  Fanning,  Esq.,  was  commissioned  lieutenant-governor 
some  time  in  1783.  He  was  born  in  Long  Island,  New  York,  in  1737, 
and  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1757.  He  practised  law  at  Hills- 
borough, North  Carolina,  received  the  degrees  of  M.  A.  from  Har- 
vard in  1764  and  King's  (Columbia)  in  1772,  D.  C.  L.  from  Oxford 
in  1774,  and  LL.D.  from  both  Yale  and  Dartmouth  in  1803.  In 
1777  he  raised  a  corps  of  four  hundred  and  sixty  Loyalists,  which 
bore  the  name  of  the  Associate  Refugees  or  King's  American  Regi- 
ment, and  of  this  he  became  general.  Probably  in  the  summer  or 
early  autumn  of  1783  he  went  to  Nova  Scotia,  and  September  23, 
1783,  the  King's  Commission  appointing  him  lieutenant-governor 
of  the  province  was  read  in  council.  He  at  once  took  the  oath  of 
office  and  was  likewise  admitted  to  the  council.  In  October,  1786, 
he  was  appointed  lieutenant-governor  of  Prince  Edward  Island 
under  the  governor  general  of  all  the  provinces.  This  last  office  he 
held  for  nineteen  years.    He  died  in  London  February  28,  1818.37 


34- 

See  Dictionary  of  National  Biography 

35- 

See  Dictionary  of  National  Biography 

36. 

See  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 

37- 

See  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 

69 

De  Soto's  Route  West  of  the  Mississippi  River 

By  Ada  Mixon,  Washington,  D.  C. 

TRANSCRIPT  of  an  unpublished  document  hitherto 
unknown  to  the  New  World,  recently  received  in  this 
country  from  the  National  Library  of  Madrid,  sheds  a 
ray  of  light  upon  the  puzzling  question  of  the  route  of 
De  Soto  after  he  crossed  the  Mississippi  River  on  June  18,  1541. 
It  is  the  diary  of  Don  Luis  Moscoso  de  Alvarado,  who  upon  the 
death  of  De  Soto  succeeded  him  in  command  of  the  expedition. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Guachoya,  the  Indian  village  where 
De  Soto's  death  occurred,  was  situated  near  the  junction  of  the 
Mississippi  with  one  of  its  tributaries,  a  lengthy  river  whose  course 
through  mountains  and  forests  the  party  had  followed  for  many 
weary  miles.  Early  historians  presumed  this  river  to  be  the  Arkan- 
sas River ;  later  ones  have  located  Guachoya  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Red  River  in  Louisiana,  which  is  a  continuation  of  the  Ouachita 
River  and  follows  a  winding  course  through  the  mountains  and  for- 
ests of  Arkansas  and  Oklahoma.  The  manuscript  of  Moscoso's 
diary  begins  with  the  arrival  of  the  party  at  Guachoya  and  subse- 
quent events  including  the  death  and  burial  of  Hernando  de  Soto. 
On  the  face  of  it  the  manuscript  bears  evidence  of  having  been  an 
actual  diary;  it  is  composed  largely  of  short  sentences  often  unre- 
lated yet  connected  by  the  conjunction  and,  as  though  written  be- 
tween hurried  marches  or  hastily  put  down  during  short  intervals  of 
rest. 

The  statement  which  seems  to  set  at  rest  any  doubt  as  to  the 
location  of  the  town  of  Guachoya  reads  as  follows : 

"So  that  they  agreed  to  place  the  body  in  a  more  secure  place 
and  with  much  dissimulation  they  sounded  the  river  and  found  that 
the  stream  was  17  fathoms  deep  and  1-4  of  a  league  in  width  and 
having  hollowed  out  a  very  large  live  oak  they  placed  the  body  in 
it,  nailing  strong  boards  on  top.    They  carried  it  to  the  stream  and 

70 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  WEST  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY 

with  many  tears  placed  it  in  the  river  and  they  saw  that  it  reached 
the  bottom." 

There  are  no  live  oaks  anywhere  near  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas 
/  River  while  they  are  plentiful  further  southward  in  Louisiana  and 


/ 


\ 


at  the  mouth  of  the  Red  River  in  Concord  Parish.     As  trees  are 
known  to  be  several  centuries  old,  no  doubt  could  they  speak,  the    , 
oaks  along  these  shores  might  verify  this  interesting  account  of  the  / 
first  burial  of  a  white  man  in  the  Great  River. 

With  this  fact  established,  we  are  one  step  nearer  to  the  solution 
of  the  question  of  the  point  where  the  party  of  De  Soto  crossed  the 
Great  River  or  the  ' '  Rio  Grande " .  as  the  Spaniards  named  the 
Mississippi  River.  William  Gaylord  Bourne,  late  a  professor  of 
English  at  Yale  University,  made  the  accepted  translations  of  the 
only  published  narratives  which  are  considered  authentic,  that  of 
Rodrigo  Ranjel,  De  Soto's  private  secretary,  that  of  De  Biedma, 
the  factor  of  the  expedition,  and  the  narrative  of  the  Portuguese 
gentleman.  Mr.  Bourne  located  the  point  of  crossing  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  34th  parallel  above  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas  River 
and  below  Helena,  Arkansas. 

If  this  be  true  the  village  of  Pacaha  which  was  situated  near  the 
junction  of  the  Great  River  with  one  of  its  tributaries,  must  have 
been  at  the  mouth  of  St.  Francis  River  in  Lee  County,  Arkansas. 
This  province  of  Pacaha  extended  for  some  distance  on  both  sides 
of  the  Mississippi  River  and  before  they  crossed  to  the  western 
shore,  the  Spaniards  had  heard  much  of  the  great  and  powerful 
chief  of  the  Pacahas.  While  the  Spaniards  sojourned  near  the  vil- 
lage of  Quiz  Quiz  in  what  is  now  Mississippi,  where  they  made  the 
boats  in  which  to  cross  the  river,  they  were  visited  by  the  Indians 
from  the  opposite  shore  whose  chief  and  province  was  named 
Aquixo.  If  the  province  of  Casqui  was  between  those  of  Aquixo 
and  Pacaha,  why  did  not  De  Soto  hear  of  him  also  before  crossing 
the  river? 

When  they  reached  the  western  shore  of  the  Mississippi  River 
the  Spaniards  were  in  the  province  of  Aquixo  and  with  some  diffi- 
culty they  made  their  way  up  the  river  until  they  heard  of  Casqui, 
when  they  turned  aside  and  visited  that  province  before  going  to 

7i 


' 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  WEST  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY 

Pacaha  as  they  had  first  meant  to  do.  Where  was  this  province  of 
Casqui  ?  According  to  the  Portuguese  narrative,  they  first  heard  of 
Casqui  after  reaching  the  village  of  Aquixo. 

The  chief  of  Oasqui  was  a  hereditary  enemy  of  the  chief  of  Pacaha 
whose  territory  was  separated  from  his  own  by  a  large  lake.  Also, 
there  were  large  tall  pines  in  the  Casqui  country,  which  proves  that 
that  province  could  not  have  been  very  near  the  Mississippi  or  the 
St.  Francis  rivers.  To  find  such  a  land  one  must  turn  to  the  west  of 
Helena  or  Aquixo,  where  in  the  vicinity  of  Pine  City  in  Monroe 
County  are  still  many  large  pines.  From  here  the  Spaniards  were 
aided  by  the  Indians  in  journeying  to  invade  Pacaha.  The  Indians 
built  a  bridge  over  the  lake  between  the  two  provinces  so  that  the 
party  could  cross.  Northeast  of  Pine  City  partly  in  Monroe  and 
partly  in  Lee  counties  there  is  today  a  large  swampy  region,  largely 
reclaimed  by  cultivation,  but  still  a  formidable  body  of  wTater  in 
"high  water  time."  This  was  probably  the  "lake"  bordering  the 
twTo  provinces  of  Casqui  and  Pacaha. 

The  province  of  Pacaha  included  the  region  of  the  St.  Francis 
Eiver  valley  where  the  soil  is  very  rich  and  the  waters  abound  in 
many  varieties  of  fish.  These  were  evidently  coveted  by  Casquin, 
whose  lands  bordered  the  White  River  but  had  no  outlet  upon  the 
Mississippi  River  and  contained  no  region  where  fish  were  so  plen- 
tiful as  at  Pacaha.  He  alone  of  the  three  chiefs  on  the  western  side 
of  the  Mississippi  River  welcomed  the  advent  of  the  Spaniards 
because  he  had  heard  that  they  intended  to  conquer  Pacaha.  He 
came  to  meet  De  Soto  and  offered  him  the  use  of  his  own  house, 
while  the  chiefs  of  Aquixo  and  Pacaha  did  all  they  could  to  prevent 
the  Spaniards  from  crossing  the  Great  River. 

The  place  where  De  Soto  first  beheld  the  Mississippi  seems  to 
have  been  near  Quiz  Quiz.  Six  leagues  from  this  place,  to  quote 
RanjePs  account  "there  they  saw  the  great  river."  It  was  near 
here  that  the  Spaniards  placed  their  camp  and  made  the  boats  they 
used  in  crossing.  Quiz  Quiz  wras  nine  days'  journey  northwest  of 
Chickasa,  wmich  Mr.  Bourne  has  located  at  the  headwaters  of  the 
Tombigbee  river  in  Mississippi.  While  at  the  camp  near  Quiz  Quiz 
"a  cross  bow  shot  from  the  river"  they  were  visited  by  the  chief 
of  Aquixo  from  the  opposite  shore,  who  brought  with  him  a  large 

72 


' 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  WEST  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY 

retinue.  Says  the  Gentleman  of  Elvas:  "These  were  fine  looking 
men,  very  large  and  well  formed ;  and  what  with  the  awnings  (which 
covered  the  boats),  the  plumes  and  the  shields,  the  pennons,  and  the 
number  of  people  in  the  fleet,  it  appeared  like  a  famous  armada  of 
galleys."  These  warriors  carried  shields  of  closely  woven  splits  of 
cane  made  in  workmanlike  manner.  They  came  out  of  curiosity  and 
not  in  friendship. 

Woodbury  Lowery  says  in  his  "Spanish  Settlements  in  Amer- 
ica " : 

"There  are  four  different  elements  which  may  enter  into  the 
determination  of  the  route  followed  by  De  Soto ;  these  are  direction, 
distance,  names  of  localities,  and  identification  of  localities.  The 
first  three  are  found  in  the  narratives  themselves  and  there  is 
unquestionably  a  general  agreement  between  the  authors  as  to  the 
names  of  the  localities  visited  and  the  order  in  which  they  were 
met  with. ' ' 

In  regard  to  the  directions  given  in  the  narratives  it  would  be 
practically  impossible  for  an  explorer  through  the  densest  forests 
over  mountains  and  through  morasses,  to  keep  in  mind  the  direc- 
tions he  has  traveled  except  in  a  general  way.  And  as  for  distances, 
so  many  detours  have  to  be  made  in  such  a  journey,  that  an  estimate 
of  the  distance  cannot  be  given  very  definitely.    Says  Lowery  again : 

"An  evidence  of  the  very  great  difference  in  the  estimate  of  a 
distance  based  on  one  day's  march  is  afforded  by  the  Tristan  de 
Luna  expedition,  made  about  twenty  years  later,  in  which  a  small 
company  of  soldiers  returned  in  twelve  days  over  a  route  it  had 
taken  seventy  days  for  an  army  of  two  hundred  to  traverse  for  the 
first  time." 

It  is  probable  then  that  De  Soto's  wTanderings  of  a  year  through 
the  mountains,  valleys  and  swamps  of  Florida  after  he  crossed  the 
Mississippi,  took  him  no  further  than  the  Ozark  Mountains  in 
Arkansas  where  he  went  into  winter  quarters  at  Autianque  which, 
according  to  the  published  sketch  of  the  route,  seems  to  have  been 
on  the  Ouachita  River  below  Malvern. 

This  sketch  has  been  carefully  worked  out  from  the  three  narra- 
tives of  Ranjel,  De  Biedma  and  the  Gentleman  of  Elvas,  every  effort 
being  made  to  make  the  data  of  each  story  conform  as  far  as  possible 

73 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  WEST  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY 

to  the  natural  features  of  the  country  through  which  they  are  known 
to  have  passed.  As  these  Indians  west  of  the  Mississippi  were  for 
the  most  part  roving  tribes,  the  names  of  the  localities  as  given  in 
the  narratives  do  not  help  in  any  way  to  locate  the  villages  and 
provinces  mentioned.  One  must  depend  solely  upon  the  natural  fea- 
tures, the  swamps,  rivers,  mountains,  the  character  of  the  vegeta- 
tion and  the  kind  of  trees  mentioned.  The  route  given  in  this  sketch 
however  is  a  tentative  one  claiming  only  an  approximate  accuracy. 

The  uncertainty  of  the  exact  places  visited;  the  great  difference 
shown  by  the  accounts  of  this  expedition  in  the  nature  of  the  natives 
of  the  region  in  1541  from  the  Indians  of  a  later  date  inhabiting  the 
same  territory;  the  magnitude  of  the  undertaking  which  made 
quite  a  stir  at  the  time  among  the  intrepid  adventurers  of  the  Old 
World;  all  these  have  served  to  invest  De  Soto  and  his  band  with 
a  romantic  halo  shared  by  no  other  explorer  of  the  Western  World. 
Added  to  this,  his  discovery  of  the  Great  River  and  his  death  upon 
its  shore;  his  picturesque  burial  beneath  its  dark  waters  and  the 
miraculous  escape  of  the  remnant  of  his  band  from  extermination  at 
Aminoya,  all  is  material  for  the  poets  and  artists  of  the  future. 

Tradition  at  least  has  been  busy  with  his  name.  The  honor  of 
being  the  spot  where  De  Soto  first  beheld  the  Father  of  Waters  is 
claimed  by  various  places  as  far  south  as  Natchez  and  as  far  north 
as  Memphis.  One  Louisiana  gentleman  offers  to  point  out  De  Soto's 
burial  place.  According  to  him  De  Soto's  body  was  placed  in  the 
water  and  "floated  down  the  Mississippi  River  to  a  point  just  north 
of  the  mouth  of  Red  River  and  there  buried." 

The  story  of  the  expedition  holds  abundant  material  for  an  epic. 
Crowded  into  a  few  terse  sentences  is  condensed  many  a  thrilling 
drama.  For  instance  the  Greeks  would  have  made  an  immortal 
tragedy  from  the  barbaric  tale  of  the  young  savage  whose  name  is 
not  revealed  who  was  burned  alive  in  the  wilds  of  Georgia  in  an 
effort  to  compel  him  to  reveal  the  hiding  place  of  the  chief  of  his 
tribe. 

The  beautiful  story  of  the  youthful  cacique  of  Chiaha  is  more 
iiobly  inspiring  than  the  Roman  tale  of  the  Sabine  Women.  It  was 
in  the  wilderness  somewhere  in  what  is  now  Georgia  or  Alabama. 
De  Soto,  according  to  his  custom,  had  taken  Chiaha  prisoner  and 

74 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  WEST  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY 

exacted  a  tribute  of  "tamemes"  or  burden  bearers,  but  in  this 
instance  asked  that  the  slaves  be  thirty  women  of  the  tribe.  That 
night  all  the  Indians  withdrew  quietly  from  the  vicinity  taking  the 
chief  and  all  the  women  and  children  with  them.  But  Chiaha's 
sense  of  honor  compelled  him  to  return  to  De  Soto  and  inform  him 
that  he  had  tried  to  persuade  his  men  to  obey  De  Soto's  command 
but  without  success.  Valuing  his  honor  more  than  his  own  liberty 
he  voluntarily  put  his  life  into  the  hands  of  the  ruthless  Spaniards. 
It  is  pleasing  to  note,  however,  that  De  Soto  changed  his  demand 
and  asked  for  thirty  men  instead  of  women,  and  the  request  was 
granted  and  Chiaha  was  given  his  freedom.  This  happy  ending 
stands  out  in  strong  contrast  to  many  others  far  more  gruesome 
which  adorn  these  sombre  narratives. 

What  tale  of  adventure  was  ever  stranger  than  that  of  Juan  Ortiz, 
a  Spanish  sailor  whom  De  Soto  found  soon  after  he  landed  in  Flor- 
ida? He  had  been  a  captive  of  the  Indians  for  twelve  years  and 
became  De  Soto's  most  valued  interpreter. 

And  for  comedy  material,  take  the  story  of  the  roast  pig  of 
Chickasa.  When  De  Soto  had  held  the  chief  of  that  tribe  and  exact- 
ed tribute  of  everything  he  required,  he  dismissed  the  chief  with 
gifts  as  was  his  wont,  in  order  to  restore  good  feeling.  The  present 
the  most  prized  in  this  case  was  a  " square  meal"  of  roast  pig.  The 
Spaniards  had  brought  some  pigs  from  Cuba  which  multiplied  until 
at  one  time  they  had  three  hundred  porkers.  The  Chickasa  Indians 
relished  the  roast  pig  so  much  that  they  wanted  more  and  wanted 
it  so  much  that  they  began  to  visit  the  camp  of  the  Spaniards  at 
night  to  help  themselves  from  the  pig  pen.  This  led  to  trouble  and 
deadly  enmity  and  finally  the  Indians  set  fire  to  the  camp  with  dis- 
astrous results. 

No  modern  thriller  excels  the  few  lines  that  tell  of  the  only  woman 
in  the  expedition  who  had  accompanied  her  husband  as  far  as  Chick- 
asa in  what  is  now  Mississippi,  and  lost  her  life  in  the  fire  there 
because  she  insisted  on  going  into  her  burning  house  to  recover 
some  pearls  she  had  brought  from  Cotafachiqui. 

And  for  romance  the  story  of  Francisco  de  Guzman  has  no  equal. 
It  was  after  the  death  of  De  Soto  in  the  wilds  of  Chaguate  which 
was  probably  in  Arkansas  but  may  have  been  Louisiana  or  Texas. 

75 


. 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  WEST  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY 

This  young  Spaniard,  said  to  have  been  of  noble  birth,  lost  all  he 
had  by  gaming  and  gaming  was  against  the  military  regulations  and 
Captain  Moscoso  was  very  strict.  The  last  thing  he  wagered  was 
the  one  he  held  most  precious — his  Indian  girl  slave,  and  to  avoid 
giving  her  up  he  went  away  with  her  to  her  own  people  and  never 
came  back. 

In  like  manner  the  Princess  of  Cotafachiqui  in  Georgia,  who  was 
held  as  a  hostage  by  De  Soto,  managed  to  escape  taking  with  her  a 
young  Spaniard  whom  she  loved  and  who  loved  her. 

The  ways  of  Periso,  the  Indian  boy  guide  through  the  moun- 
tains of  Georgia,  make  a  far  better  plot  than  that  of  the  average 
musical  comedy.  He  had  told  his  captors  of  the  gold  mines  far  off  in 
the  mountains  from  whence  he  had  come — in  Yupaha.  But  as  he 
approached  the  place  with  them  his  heart  failed  him  either  from 
fear  of  punishment  by  his  own  people  or  from  a  certain  faithfulness 
to  his  own  country,  and  he  was  suddenly  taken  with  a  fit  and  had  to 
be  exorcised  by  the  good  Friar  John,  the  Evangelist,  he  being  of 
the  opinion  that  the  lad  was  possessed  by  a  devil.  By  this  ruse 
Periso  succeeded  in  covering  his  failure  to  keep  his  promise  to  show 
the  Spaniards  the  way  to  the  gold  mines  of  Y^upaha  and  moreover, 
he  escaped  punishment  because  many  believed  him  insane  and  also 
because  he  was  a  guide,  though  a  poor  one,  and  of  some  help  to  his 
captors  in  finding  their  way  through  the  jargon  of  savage  tongues. 

Few  moving  pictures  tell  as  thrilling  a  tale  as  that  of  the  four 
young  Spaniards  at  Chickasa  who  had  taken  some  skins  and  shawls 
from  the  Indians  and  by  this  act  stirred  them  up  to  threaten  an 
attack  on  the  invaders.  De  Soto  was  furious  at  their  behavior  and 
condemned  all  four  to  be  beheaded  although  one  of  the  number, 
Don  Francisco  Osorio,  was  a  nobleman,  a  brother  of  the  "Lord 
Marquis  of  Astorga. ' '  In  vain  did  the  friars,  priests  and  principal 
men  of  the  party  plead  with  the  Governor  to  rescind  the  order  for 
their  execution.  The  time  was  near  for  the  men  to  pay  the  extreme 
penalty  for  their  misdeeds  when  some  of  the  Indians  arrived  led  by 
a  chief  to  complain  of  the  outrage  committed  by  the  four  Spaniards. 
While  they  were  trembling  with  fear,  Baltasar  de  Gallegos,  the 
Chief  Quartermaster,  and  other  older  heads,  persuaded  Juan  Ortiz, 
the  interpreter,  to  change  the  words  of  the  conference.    De  Soto  was 

76 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  WEST  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY 

told  that  the  Chief  assured  him  that  the  condemned  Christians  were 
in  no  fault  and  had  done  nothing  wrong  and  asked  that  they  be 
allowed  to  go  free ;  then  Ortiz  told  the  Indians  that  the  guilty  men 
would  be  punished  severely.  In  consequence,  the  prisoners  were  ord- 
ered to  be  released,  the  Indians  went  away  satisfied  and  everybody 
breathed  easier  and  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  four  rash  young 
spoilsmen  exclaimed  "Never  again !"  in  the  most  approved  screen 
leader  language. 

One  can  find  even  the  comedy  of  manners  in  the  account  of  the 
feast  which  De  Soto  invited  the  two  chiefs  of  Pacaha  and  Casqui  to 
share  with  him  after  Pacaha  was  conquered.  This  was  in  Arkansas 
near  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Francis  River,  in  the  village  of  Pacaha. 
De  Soto  was  trying  to  restore  good  feeling  between  the  two  enemies, 
but  found  that  each  one  of  the  two  chiefs  claimed  the  place  of  honor 
at  his  right  hand.  With  some  difficulty  an  altercation  between  the 
caciques  was  prevented  and  they  were  persuaded  to  let  De  Soto 
decide  this  perplexing  question  of  precedence  which  is  still  a  source 
of  disturbance  in  the  official  circles  of  civilization.  De  Soto  very 
graciously  gave  the  place  of  honor  to  the  conquered  guest,  Pacaha. 
It  is  a  singular  fact  that  the  Indians  of  1541  were  not  the  same  as 
those  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  later — the  descriptions  of  their 
manners  and  customs  as  given  by  these  later  explorers  is  that  of  a 
very  different  race.  It  is  presumed  that  the  earlier  tribes  were 
exterminated  or  that  they  migrated  further  west  and  were  lost  to 
history. 


77 


The  Brave  Industry  of  Whaling 

By  Zephaniah  W.  Pease,  of  New  Bedford,  Mass.* 

HE  story  of  New  Bedford's  fascinating  industry — 
the  whale  fishing — is  so  interwoven  with  the  history  of 
New  Bedford  that  it  cannot  be  separated  from  it,  yet 
the  story  is  so  full  of  romance  and  adventure,  as  well  as 
of  commercial  importance,  that  it  deserves  special  volumes  where 
we  can  give  chapters  only. 

The  water  front  of  New  Bedford  was  once  conspicuous  by  a  forest 
of  whaleship  masts.  Now  the  tall  chimneys  of  the  cotton  mills  have 
assumed  the  place  they  occupied  in  the  picture,  telling  of  the  decline 
of  the  whaling  business  and  the  progress  of  the  cotton  industry 
which  is  now  on  the  top  wave  of  success. 

Along  the  water  front  one  still  encounters  a  few  old  buildings  of 
stone  wThich  were  occupied  by  whaling  agents  in  the  palmy  days  of 
whaling,  when  a  great  race  of  merchants  and  captains  frequented 
them.  The  merchants  were  a  type  of  men  such  as  this  generation 
produces  not, — portly  nabobs  who  wore  broadcloth  and  beaver  hats 
and  jeweled  watch  fobs,  looking  the  part  of  men  of  large  affairs, 
others  in  the  garb  of  the  Quaker,  while  the  captain  of  those  old 
days  was  the  embodiment  of  affluence.  The  boys  of  that  early  day  all 
aspired  to  command  whaleships,  and  the  captain  of  a  whaler  was 
looked  upon  by  youth  with  the  awe  with  which  Mark  Twain  used  to 
look  upon  the  captains  of  the  Mississippi  steamboats. 

In  these  buildings  w^ere  the  counting  rooms  of  the  whaling  mer- 
chants. The  first  floors  were  often  the  ship  chandlery  shops  and 
rooms  where  wThaling  outfits  were  stored  between  voyages.  The 
counting  rooms  were  on  the  second  floors,  and  there  were  sail  lofts 
and  rigging  lofts  in  the  upper  stories.  These  counting  rooms  had 
a  character  all  their  own.    There  were  counters  and  iron  railings 


♦From  "History  of  New  Bedford,"  now  in  press,  (Lewis  Hist.  Pub.  Co.,  N.  Y.)  by 
permission. 

78: 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

behind  which  were  desks  of  mahogany.  The  bookkeepers  stood  up, 
or  sat  on  high  stools.  There  were  few  desks  in  the  old  counting 
rooms  at  which  the  office  help  might  sit  in  a  chair.  About  the  office 
walls  were  models  of  whaleships  and  whaling  prints  reproduced 
from  the  paintings  of  Benjamin  Iiussell.  There  were  boxes  on  the 
shelves,  lettered  with  the  names  of  the  whale  ships,  in  which  the 
vessel's  bills  and  papers  were  kept.  One  of  these  great  buildings 
of  stone  and  brick,  unadorned  by  architectural  ornament  and  reflect- 
ing the  tendencies  of  the  business  men  of  the  period,  is  still  standing 
at  the  foot  of  Union  street,  and  is  now  occupied  in  part  by  the  offices 
of  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  railroad. 

The  late  Jonathan  Bourne,  the  most  successful  of  all  the  whaling 
merchants  in  New  Bedford's  rich  history,  who  owned  at  one  time 
more  ships  than  any  man  in  New  England,  carried  on  business  in 
the  old  stone  block  at  the  head  of  Merrill's  wharf  throughout  his 
career,  and  his  counting  rooms  are  now  exactly  as  he  left  them,  the 
sole  survivor  of  all  the  counting  rooms  which  are  visualized  in  the 
minds  of  those  who  remember  the  fascinating  industry,  no  less  than 
the  quaint  old  ships  strongly  characterized  by  their  clumsy  wooden 
davits  and  masthead  perches  from  which  the  lookouts  watched  for 
whales. 

There  is  to-day  an  odor  of  whale  oil  about  Merrill's  wharf,  con- 
tributed by  a  few  hundred  casks  of  oil  that  happen  to  be  stored  there 
at  this  time,  which  brings  back  memories  of  departed  days  to  the 
old  citizen  who  gets  a  whiff  of  oil  and  seaweed  once  so  familiar.  The 
power  of  smells  to  evoke  pictures  wTas  recently  emphasized  by  Mr. 
Kipling.  "Have  you  noticed,"  he  wrote  the  other  day,  "wherever  a 
few  travelers  gather  together,  one  or  the  other  is  sure  to  say,  'Do 
you  remember  the  smell  of  such  and  such  a  place  ? '  Then  he  may  go 
to  speak  of  camel — pure  camel — one  whiff  of  which  is  all  Arabia; 
or  of  the  smell  of  rotten  eggs  at  Hitt,  on  the  Euphrates,  where  Noah 
got  the  pitch  for  the  ark;  or  the  flavor  of  drying  fish  in  Burma." 
Mr.  Kipling's  allusion  brought  out  a  swarm  of  letters  from  people 
who  tried  to  assign  the  characteristic  smell  of  great  cities.  One  man 
tells  that  the  odor  of  Paris  is  a  mingling  of  the  fragrance  of  burnt 
coffee,  of  caporal  and  of  burning  peat.  Berlin,  we  are  told,  has  the 
clean,  asphalty,  disinfectant  smell  of  all  new  towns;   while  Vienna 

79 


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OLD  TYPE  BRITISH  SHIP 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

the  windy  reeks  of  dust.  The  London  "Times,"  coming  in  here, 
is  stirred  to  a  pitch  of  poetical  enlargement  by  the  topic:  "The 
subject  of  smells  in  their  relation  to  the  traveler  is  an  old  and  favor- 
ite topic  with  Mr.  Kipling.  Has  he  not  said  somewhere  that  the 
smell  of  the  Himalayas  always  calls  a  man  back ?  And  does  not  his 
time-expired  soldier  sing  of  the  'spicy  garlic  smells'  of  Burma? 
The  smells  of  travel  are  indeed  innumerable.  The  voyager  gets  his 
first  real  whiff  of  the  east  when  he  lands  at  Aden,  and  drives  along 
a  dusty  road  to  the  bazaar  within  the  crater.  It  lingers  in  his  nos- 
trils for  evermore.  On  the  coast  of  Burma  and  down  the  straits  the 
air  is  redolent  of  rotten  fish  and  overripe  fruit.  Tropical  jungles 
have  been  olfactory  memories  of  decaying  vegetation.  The  smell 
of  Chinese  villages  is  like  nothing  else  in  the  world,  but  the  odd  thing 
is  that  to  the  true  traveler  it  ceases  to  be  disagreeable." 

So  much  for  smells,  apropos  of  those  which  linger  on  Merrill's 
wharf.  In  the  old  days  casks  of  oil  coated  with  seaweed  covered 
every  wharf  along  the  water  front  of  New  Bedford.  The  leakage 
saturated  the  soil,  and  the  air  was  redolent  with  the  heavy  odor. 
After  a  century  in  which  it  was  the  distinctive  New  Bedford  smell 
it  has  vanished  excepting  from  this  little  spot  where,  in  the  only 
place  on  earth,  is  exhaled  the  odor  of  the  industry  which  produced 
great  fortunes  and  made  the  New  Bedford  of  old  the  richest  city 
in  the  country  in  proportion  to  its  population. 

The  records  of  Plymouth  and  Nantucket  as  far  back  as  1676  and 
1690,  respectively,  tell  of  the  business  of  killing  whales,  which  was 
carried  on  in  boats  from  the  shore.  In  1751  there  were  two  or  three 
vessels  from  Apponagansett  river  engaged  in  this  fishery.  These 
vessels  were  owned  by  John  AVady  and  Daniel  Wood.  There  were 
at  this  date  one  or  two  vessels  in  this  business  from  the  Acushnet 
river  owned  by  Joseph  and  Caleb  Eussell.  Up  to  this  time  whales 
were  principally  taken  between  George's  Bank  and  the  Capes  of 
Virginia;  and  the  voyages  continued  from  four  to  six  weeks.  Soon 
after,  the  whalemen  extended  their  cruising  grounds  to  the  eastward 
of  the  Newfoundland  coast,  and  the  voyages  were  lengthened  to 
three  months.  At  first  more  vessels  were  fitted  from  Apponagansett 
river  than  from  the  Acushnet ;  but  soon  the  superior  advantages  of 

8o 


5B3£*~ 


~>ll   )IIJI|IM 


MODEL  OF  WHALING  SHIP 
In  Bourne  Whaling  Museum,  New  Bedford 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

our  harbor  became  apparent,  and  the  Apponagansett  vessels  were 
fitted  here. 

"Consider  for  a  moment  the  aspect  of  our  town  when  these  two  or 
three  little  sloops  were  fitting  for  their  whaling  voyages, "  wrote 
William  W.  Crapo :  "The  present  site  of  the  city  was  a  forest.  There 
was  a  ' try-house '  near  the  shore  (at  the  foot  of  Centre  street),  and 
a  rough  cartway  led  through  the  woods  to  the  few  farm  houses  on 
the  County  road."  The  Rev.  Paul  Coffin,  who  ten  years  later  (July 
21,  1761)  visited  the  place,  thus  describes  it  in  his  journal:  "This 
day  rode  to  Dartmouth,  a  spacious  town;  twenty  miles  will  carry 
you  through  it.  Rocks  and  oaks  are  over  the  whole  town.  Whortle 
bushes  and  rocks  in  this  and  the  two  former  towns  are  the  sad  com- 
fort of  the  weary  traveler.    At  sunset  arrived  at  Rev.  West's." 

New  Bedford  is  very  rich  in  old  manuscripts,  which  are  continu- 
ally coming  to  light.  A  few  sheets  of  great  interest  are  preserved, 
giving  an  account  of  the  Russell  family.  Joseph  Russell  was  the 
founder  of  the  whale  fishery,  and  the  record  from  which  quotation 
is  made  was  prepared  by  William  T.  Russell,  sixty  or  seventy  years 
ago.  Joseph  Russell  was  a  son  of  John  Russell,  one  of  the  original 
proprietors  of  the  town  of  Dartmouth.  He  was  born  in  1719,  and 
died  in  1804.  His  house  stood  on  the  country  road  between  the 
court  house  and  the  Charles  W.  Morgan  estate.  The  old  manuscript 
recites  as  follows : 

In  the  earliest  stages  of  the  whaling  business  sloops  of  only  forty 
or  fifty  tons  were  employed.  These  vessels  ventured  out  to  sea  in 
the  summer  months  only,  and  no  further  than  the  Capes  of  Virginia 
and  Cape  Hatteras,  and  took  especial  care  to  return  to  port  before 
the  equinoctial  gales  in  September.  They  were  generally  success- 
ful in  taking  sperm  whales,  and  brought  home  the  blubber  and  tried 
it  out  on  shore.  As  their  experience  increased  larger  vessels  were 
employed,  and  they  \  entured  as  far  as  the  bay  of  Mexico.  And  fin- 
ally, during  his  life,  ships  ventured  around  Cape  Horn  to  the  Pacific 
ocean  for  sperm  whales. 

Joseph  Russell  first  established  a  sperm  oil  factory  in  New  Bed- 
ford. The  building  stood  on  the  north  side  of  the  square  at  the 
foot  of  Center  street.  The  art  of  refining  spermaceti  in  those  days 
was  known  to  but  a  few  men,  and  kept  by  them  a  profound  secret. 
Joseph  Russell  employed  a  Mr.  Chaffee  for  a  number  of  years  to  do 
his  refining  at  a  salary  of  $500  per  year — an  enormous  sum  for  those 

8i 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

days.  While  at  work  lie  was  shut  up  by  himself,  and  no  one  was 
allowed  to  be  present,  that  no  one  should  steal  his  wonderful  art. 

Joseph  Russell  was  a  shrewd,  enterprising  man.  At  one  time  he 
carried  on  an  extensive  mercantile  business.  In  1770,  in  company 
with  his  son  Barnabas,  he  owned  in  addition  to  his  whaling  vessels 
several  trading  with  southern  ports  and  the  West  Indies.  They  kept 
a  store  at  the  foot  of  Center  street,  and  imported  their  goods  from 
London.  The  Revolutionary  War  put  an  end  to  their  prosperity. 
Their  vessels  were  taken  and  their  losses  by  the  depreciation  of  the 
Continental  money  left  them  at  the  close  of  the  war  with  but  little 
beside  their  real  estate. 

The  ship  " Rebecca' '  wTas  the  first  ship  built  in  New  Bedford.  She 
was  launched  in  the  spring  of  1785.  George  Claghorn,  who  after- 
ward built  the  frigate  "Constitution,"  the  pride  of  our  navy,  was 
the  master  carpenter.  The  "Rebecca"  was  owned  by  Joseph  Rus- 
sell and  his  sons,  Barnabas  and  Gilbert.  The  timber  of  which  she 
was  built  was  largely  cut  in  the  southwesterly  part  of  the  town.  She 
measured  about  175  tons,  which  was  considered  so  immensely  large 
that  she  was  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  the  surrounding  country. 
People  from  Taunton,  Bridgewater  and  all  of  the  neighboring  towns 
came  to  New  Bedford  to  see  the  big  ship.  There  was  a  woman 
figurehead  carved  for  her  and  when  it  was  about  being  put  upon  her 
a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends  remonstrated  against  so  vain 
and  useless  an  ornament,  and  she  went  to  sea  without  it.  A  mock 
funeral  service  was  held  and  the  figurehead  of  "Rebecca"  was 
buried  in  the  sand.  Joseph  Russell's  sons  were  the  prime  movers  in 
the  ceremony. 

The  owners  of  the  "Rebecca"  had  some  difficulty  in  finding  a  man 
of  sufficient  experience  to  trust  with  the  command  of  so  big  a  ship. 
James  Haydon  was  finally  selected  for  her  captain,  and  Cornelius 
Grinnell  her  first  mate.  She  sailed  on  her  first  voyage  to  Phila- 
delphia, from  there  to  Liverpool.  Mr.  Grinnell  was  her  captain  on 
the  second  voyage,  and  he  commanded  her  for  six  years. 

The  "Rebecca"  was  the  first  American  whaleship  to  double  Cape 
Horn.  She  was  commanded  by  Captain  Kearsley  and  made  a  suc- 
cessful voyage,  obtaining  a  cargo  of  sperm  oil  on  the  coast  of  Chile, 
returning  in  about  twelve  months.  The  "Rebecca"  finally  made  a 
disastrous  end.  She  sailed  from  Liverpool  for  New  York  in  the 
autumn  of  1798,  commanded  by  Captain  Andrew  Gardner,  and  was 
never  heard  from. 

Joseph  Rotch  came  here  from  Nantucket  in  1765,  realizing  the 
greater  opportunities  for  the  whaling  industry  here,  and  purchased 

82 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

a  large  tract  of  land.  William  Rotch  came  later,  bringing  with  him 
his  son,  William  Rotch,  Jr.  They  were  men  of  great  wealth  and 
built  stately  mansions  with  beautiful  surroundings,  "fair  as  gar- 
dens of  the  Lord."  They  brought  their  ships  likewise.  Several  of 
the  vessels  of  the  Rotch  fleet  achieved  great  fame.  It  was  the  ship 
"Dartmouth,"  named  by  Dartmouth  men,  that  carried  the  tea  into 
Boston  harbor  that  was  thrown  over  by  Revolutionary  patriots.  It 
was  the  ship  "Bedford"  that  was  the  first  to  display  our  flag  in 
British  waters.  The  credit  has  sometimes  been  given  to  the  ship 
"Maria."  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  credit  belongs  to  the  old  ship 
"Bedford"  of  this  port.  It  was  passing  strange  that  not  only  the 
newspapers  but  Mrs.  Farrar,  a  granddaughter  of  the  elder  William 
Rotch,  in  her  "Recollections  of  Seventy  Years,"  and  Mrs.  P.  A. 
Hanaford  published  the  erroneous  statement.  "I  have  often  heard 
the  old  gentleman  tell  with  pride  and  pleasure,"  wrote  Mrs.  Farrar, 
"that  the  'Maria'  was  the  first  ship  that  ever  unfurled  the  flag  of  the 
United  States  in  the  Thames."  Yret  the  records  show  that  on  the 
date  the  flag  wTas  displayed  in  the  Thames  the  "Maria"  was  lying  at 
the  wharf  at  Nantucket.  "Barnard's  History,"  a  rare  book,  pub- 
lished at  the  time,  contained  the  following : 

The  ship  "Bedford,"  Captain  Mooers,  belonging  in  Massachu- 
setts, arrived  in  the  Downs  on  the  3d  of  February,  passed  Gravesend 
on  the  3d,  and  was  reported  at  the  custom  house  on  the  6th  inst.  She 
was  not  allowed  regular  entry  until  some  consultation  had  taken 
place  between  the  commissioners  of  the  customs  and  the  lords  of 
council,  on  account  of  the  many  acts  of  Parliament  in  force  against 
the  rebels  of  America.  She  was  loaded  with  487  butts  of  whale  oil, 
is  American  built,  manned  wholly  by  American  seamen,  and  wears 
the  rebel  colors.  This  is  the  first  vessel  that  has  displayed  the  thir- 
teen rebellious  stripes  of  America  in  any  British  port.  The  vessel 
is  at  Horseledour,  a  little  below  the  Tower,  and  is  intended  to  return 
immediately  to  New  England. 

In  a  letter  to  Hezekiah  Barnard,  dated  at  New  Bedford,  8th  mo., 
3d,  1842,  William  Rotch,  Jr.,  thus  speaks  of  the  "Bedford"  and  her 
voyage : 

In  1781  Admiral  Digby  granted  thirty  licenses  for  our  vessels  to 
go  after  whales.    I  was  then  connected  with  my  father  and  Samuel 

83 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

Eodman  in  business.  Considerable  oil  was  obtained  in  1782.  In 
the  fall  of  that  year  I  went  to  New  York  and  procured  licenses  from 
Admiral  Digby  for  the  " Bedford, "  William  Mooers,  master,  and  I 
think  the  "Industry,"  John  Chadwick,  master.  They  loaded.  The 
"Bedford"  sailed  first,  arriving  in  the  Downs,  February  23,  the  day 
of  the  signing  of  the  preliminary  treaty  of  peace  between  the  United 
States,  France  and  England,  and  went  up  to  London,  and  there  dis- 
played for  the  first  time  the  United  States  flag.  The  "Industry" 
arrived  afterwards,  and  was,  I  suppose,  the  second  to  display  it. 
The  w^idow  of  George  Hayley,  who  did  much  business  with  New 
England,  would  visit  the  old  " Bedford"  and  see  the  flag  displayed. 
She  was  the  sister  of  the  celebrated  John  Wilkes. 

William  Rotch,  Jr.,  might  have  added  to  his  notice  of  Mine.  Hay- 
ley  that  a  more  intimate  connection  with  the  Rotches  than  a  visit  to 
the  ship  was  contemplated,  for  Mme.  Hayley  was  at  one  time 
betrothed  to  Francis  Rotch. 

Even  if  the  "Maria"  is  deprived  of  the  erroneous  fame  attributed 
to  her,  she  yet  remains  the  most  interesting  vessel,  perhaps,  that 
ever  sailed  from  this  port.  She  was  built  for  a  privateer  at  Pem- 
broke, Massachusetts,  in  1782.  She  was  purchased  by  William 
Rotch,  and  taken  to  Nantucket,  from  whence  she  made  a  voyage  to 
London  with  a  cargo  of  oil.  After  the  voyage  she  was  employed  in 
whaling,  and  was  owned  by  Samuel  Rodman.  It  is  a  tradition  that 
she  was  a  bridal  present  from  Mr.  Rodman's  father-in-law,  Mr. 
Rotch,  on  the  occasion  of  the  marriage  of  his  daughter.  In  all  she 
made  twenty-seven  voyages,  and  is  credited  with  having  taken  about 
25,000  barrels  of  sperm  oil,  whale  oil,  and  many  thousand  pounds  of 
whalebone.  It  is  said  that  in  1859  $250,000  stood  to  her  credit.  She 
had  been  of  but  little  expense  to  her  underwriters. 

On  July  4,  1785,  when  the  "Maria"  sailed  for  London  with  a 
cargo  of  oil,  Mr.  Rotch  and  his  son  Benjamin  went  in  her  as  passen- 
gers to  induce  the  English  government  to  permit  the  establishment 
of  the  whale  fishery  in  England.  Mr.  Rotch  had  several  interviews 
with  the  leaders  of  the  government,  and,  getting  no  satisfaction,  he 
went  to  France  and  had  an  interview  with  the  King,  which  resulted 
in  establishing  the  industry  at  Dunkirk.  Returning  to  England  in 
the  "Maria"  Mr.  Rotch  had  the  satisfaction  of  telling  the  English 

84 


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3  w 

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pq 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

they  were  too  late.  France  having  accepted  the  offer  of  which  Eng- 
land was  slow  to  take  advantage. 

When  the  "Maria' '  was  fifty  years  old,  she  had  made  four  voy- 
ages to  London,  thirteen  to  Brazil  banks,  then  a  famous  whaling 
ground ;  one  to  the  Indian  ocean,  one  to  the  Falkland  islands,  and 
eighteen  to  the  Pacific  ocean.  In  1836  the  " Maria' '  sailed,  but 
returned,  having  been  struck  by  lightning.  In  1838  she  was  changed 
from  a  ship  to  a  bark,  and  in  1849  sailed  for  the  Indian  ocean.  While 
on  this  cruise  the  bark's  career  was  nearly  ended.  She  was  seized 
by  the  natives  of  the  Johanna  islands.  Captain  Morris,  then  in 
command,  was  imprisoned.  The  bark  was  afterwards  released  and 
spared  the  fate  of  burning,  which  was  frequently  dealt  by  the 
natives  in  those  times. 

The  "Maria"  sailed  for  this  port  September  29,  1859,  on  what 
was  destined  to  be  her  last  voyage  under  the  American  flag.  She 
was  then  seventy-seven  years  old,  and  had  been  owned  by  Mr.  Rotch 
and  his  descendants  all  the  time.  To  avoid  the  risk  of  capture  by 
rebel  cruisers  she  was  sold  February  24,  1863,  at  Talcahuano,  Chile, 
to  Burton  &  Trumbull,  and  her  name  was  changed  to  "Maria  Pach- 
aco."  She  was  used  as  a  coaler  until  1866,  when  she  was  fitted  for 
whaling  under  command  of  David  Briggs,  of  Dartmouth,  Massachu- 
setts. She  continued  under  the  Chilean  flag  in  the  whaling  and  coal 
carrying  business  until  1870.  Then  she  was  used  as  an  oil  receiving 
ship  until  1872,  when  she  took  fire  and  was  condemned.  With  her 
breaking  up  at  Vancouver  Island,  her  strange  eventful  history  was 
brought  to  a  close. 

The  War  of  the  Revolution  nearly  destroyed  the  whaling  busi- 
ness, and  when  peace  was  restored  there  was  great  rejoicing,  and 
then  came  a  stunning  blow.  Great  Britain,  as  William  W.  Crapo 
tells  us,  had  enacted  a  law  which  in  effect  prohibited  the  importation 
of  American  caught  oil  into  the  kingdom.  The  purpose  of  the  law 
was  apparent.  The  New  England  catch  was  in  excess  of  the  demand 
for  home  consumption,  and  unless  there  was  an  outlet  for  the  sur- 
plus, which  had  been  largely  through  London,  there  could  be  no 
extension  of  the  industry ;  and,  with  the  surplus  thrown  upon  a  mar- 
ket which  did  not  require  it,  the  return  would  be  unremunerative, 
which  would  lead  to  reduction  of  the  fleet  and  the  possible  abandon- 

85 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

ment  of  the  enterprise.  Great  Britain  did  not  pass  the  law  for  the 
purpose  of  protecting  an  existing  British  industry,  nor  to  encour- 
age or  promote  a  new  British  industry.  Far  from  it.  The  words  of 
Edmund  Burke  in  his  famous  speech  in  Parliament  a  few  years 
before,  when  remonstrating  against  the  war  with  the  colonies,  were 
still  ringing  in  the  ears  of  the  Britons.  He  told  them  of  a  people 
living  on  the  New  England  coast,  few  in  number,  who  surpassed  in 
maritime  adventure  and  daring  the  people  of  every  nation  in 
Europe.  With  rare  and  impressive  eloquence  he  had  portrayed 
their  marvelous  triumphs  on  the  ocean.  He  said  they  were  a  people 
whom  equinoctial  heats  did  not  disturb,  nor  the  accumulated  winters 
of  the  poles.  That  there  was  no  ocean  that  was  not  vexed  with  their 
vessels,  and  no  climate  that  did  not  witness  their  toil.  He  spoke  of 
them  as  people  still  "in  the  gristle,"  as  it  were,  and  not  yet  hard- 
ened in  the  bone  of  manhood.  England  was  ambitious  to  be  the  mis- 
tress of  the  seas,  and  she  feared  that  the  new  nation,  should  it  become 
strong  and  powerful,  might  some  day  challenge  her  sovereignty  of 
the  ocean.  Hence  she  would  throttle  and  destroy  at  the  outset  an 
industry  that  bred  such  a  race  of  seamen. 

William  Botch  went  to  London.  He  interviewed  the  leading  pub- 
lic men  of  that  time.  He  met  members  of  Parliament  and  urged  the 
repeal  of  the  obnoxious  law.  He  was  received  with  coldness.  After 
long  and  vexatious  delay  the  matter  was  referred  to  the  First  Lord 
of  the  Admiralty,  Lord  Hawksbury.  Realizing  that  he  could  not 
obtain  the  annulment  of  the  law  Mr.  Rotch  still  hoped  that  some 
agreement  would  be  reached  whereby  to  secure  the  continuance  of 
the  New  England  whale  fishery.  He  suggested  that  an  English  port 
be  designated  where  American  whaleships  could  enter  to  make 
repairs  and  to  purchase  the  equipment  and  supplies  for  their  voy- 
age, thereby  furnishing  employment  to  English  workmen  and  profit 
to  English  tradesmen,  and  on  the  completion  of  the  voyages  such 
vessels  might  reenter  that  port  and  discharge  their  cargoes,  which 
would  be  sold  and  distributed  by  English  merchants  who  would 
receive  a  liberal  compensation  for  their  service.  Mr.  Rotch  had  in 
mind,  if  this  concession  was  granted,  that  the  ships  owned  in  Dart- 
mouth and  Nantucket  would  still  fly  the  Ajnerican  flag  and  be 
manned  with  American  sailors. 

86 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

The  concession  was  not  granted, — Lord  Hawksbury  scornfully 
saying — "Mr.  Rotch,  we  do  not  want  your  ships.  England  builds 
ships.  What  we  do  want  are  your  men. ' '  And  so  he  went  to  France. 
He  met  there  members  of  the  Ministry  and  explained  to  them  what 
he  wanted  to  accomplish,  and  asked  for  certain  privileges  and  pro- 
tection. These  were  granted  to  him  by  the  government.  At  Dun- 
kirk he  established  a  business  for  the  marketing  of  American  oil, 
which  he  placed  in  charge  of  his  son  Benjamin.  Returning  to  this 
country  he  ever  afterwards  lived  in  New  Bedford,  which  had  separ- 
ated from  the  mother  town,  and  never  ceased  his  efforts  for  the  suc- 
cess of  the  whaling  industry  for  the  community  to  which  he  had 
attached  himself. 

In  the  succeeding  generation  the  prominent  whaling  merchants 
were  John  Avery  Parker  and  George  Howland,  Sr.  They  were  able 
men,  with  full  knowledge  of  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  fishery. 
They  were  enterprising,  venturesome,  efficient  and  successful.  They 
added  many  ships  to  our  fleet,  and  they  greatly  increased  the  wealth 
of  the  town. 

Among  the  men  of  that  period  who  had  an  important  part  in  our 
special  industry  was  Isaac  Howland,  Jr.,  the  founder  and  active 
manager  of  the  firm  which  bore  his  name.  His  firm  is  remembered 
by  the  magnitude  of  its  operations  and  the  gainful  results.  The 
remarkable  house  founded  by  Isaac  Howland,  Jr.,  is  represented  and 
crystallized  in  the  famous  Hetty  Green.  Isaac  Howland,  Jr.,  was  a 
little  man,  weighing  only  ninety-five  pounds.  He  found  it  the  great- 
est hardship  and  toil  to  accumulate  the  first  thousand  dollars.  When 
there  were  small  schooners  trading  from  the  West  Indies,  before 
the  seizures  which  led  to  the  French  spoliation  claims,  the  sailors 
wore  silk  stockings  into  port  on  the  Howlands '  ships.  Isaac  How- 
land, Jr.,  bought  these  stockings  from  the  men,  washed  and  ironed 
them,  and  resold  them  at  a  good  profit.  This  is  a  feeble  structure  on 
which  to  build  a  fortune  of  forty  or  fifty  millions.  He  could  neither 
read  nor  write.  His  one  object  was  money,  money,  money.  He  had 
one  daughter  who  married  the  famous  Uncle  Gideon  Howland.  Uncle 
Gideon  lived  on  the  corner  of  School  and  South  Water  streets.  He 
died  in  1847,  leaving  about  $800,000. 

Edward  Mott  Robinson,  the  father  of  Hetty  Green,  came  here 

87 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

penniless,  and  married  Abby  Howland,  one  of  Gideon's  daughters. 
The  other  daughter  was  Sylvia  Ann  Howland,  who  never  married. 
Eobinson  was  a  strange  man.  He  lived  a  sad  and  miserable  life,  and 
he  had  few  redeeming  qualities.  Many  stories  are  told  of  him. 
One  day  a  young  man  offered  him  a  cigar.  He  examined  it  and 
asked  what  it  cost.  Upon  being- told  that  it  cost  ten  cents  he  handed 
it  back  with  the  remark:  "I  buy  mine  two  for  a  cent.  If  I  smoke 
that  one  I  will  have  my  taste  cultivated  for  good  ones,  and  I  don't 
want  that."  Of  George  Howland,  Sr.,  Mary  Jane  Howland  Taber 
wrote : 

He  was  particular  about  the  names  of  his  ships.  There  was  the 
"George  and  Susan,"  and  the  "George  Howland,"  and  the  "Ann 
Alexander,"  the  name  of  an  Irish  friend  who  was  traveling  in  this 
country,  and  the  "Corinthian,"  supposed  to  refer  to  Paul's  epistles, 
and  the  "Golconda,"  a  pleasant  association  of  ideas  with  the  dia- 
mond mines  of  Hindustan,  and  when  he  bought  of  Stephen  Girard 
a  merchant  vessel  named  "Rousseau,"  it  was  with  the  intention  of 
fitting  her  for  a  whaler  and  changing  her  name.  As  soon  as  she 
arrived  in  this  port  he  had  figurehead  of  the  "infidel"  chopped  off 
and  thrown  into  the  mud  of  the  dock,  where  perchance  it  still 
reposes.  While  casting  about  in  his  mind  for  an  unexceptionable 
name  he  was  told  the  name  could  not  be  changed.  Once  "Rous- 
seau," always  "Rousseau."  He  declared  he  was  very  much  tried, 
which  in  worldly  parlance  might  mean  very  angry,  or  pretty  mad, 
and  talked  of  sending  the  ship  back  to  Philadelphia,  though  of 
course  he  was  aware  that  could  not  be  done.  This  devil's  bark 
proved  very  lucky,  and  always  made  what  the  sailors  call  greasy 
voyages,  but  when  her  great  catches  were  reported  her  owner  puffed 
out  his  cheeks  and  emitted  a  contemptuous  "pooh."  When  he  was 
obliged  to  speak  the  name  he  purposely  mispronounced  it  "Rus-o," 
and  to  this  day  you  will  hear  people  speak  of  "the  old  Rus-o."  She 
had  the  longest  life  of  any  known  ship,  lasting  from  1801  to  1893. 
The  bracket  which  supports  the  bust  of  George  Howland,  Jr.,  in  the 
Free  Public  Library  is  a  part  of  the  carved  scroll  which  usurped  the 
place  under  the  bowsprit  of  the  great  Frenchman's  figurehead,  and 
has  ploughed  most  of  the  oceans  of  the  globe. 

The  Golden  Age. 

In  what  might  be  called  "The  Golden  Age"  of  New  Bedford,  its 
whaling  vessels  in  number  and  tonnage  exceeded  the  combined  fleets 

88 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

of  all  other  whaling  ports,  and  New  Bedford  became  known  as  the 
foremost  whaling  port  of  the  world. 

In  1845  New  Bedford  was  the  fourth  tonnage  district  in  the 
United  States,  the  others  being  New  York,  Boston  and  New  Orleans. 
The  registered  tonnage  of  New  Bedford  at  that  time  was  nearly 
double  that  of  Philadelphia.  Seven  hundred  and  thirty-six  vessels 
of  all  kinds  were  employed  in  the  business,  with  a  tonnage  of 
233,262.  The  greatest  import  ever  received  in  one  year  was  in  1845, 
being  158,000  barrels  of  sperm  oil,  272,000  barrels  of  whale  oil,  and 
3,000,000  pounds  of  whalebone.  The  prices  then  ruled  at  eighty- 
eight  to  ninety  and  one-half  cents  for  sperm  oil;  thirty-two  and 
seven-eighths  to  thirty-six  and  one-half  cents  for  whale  oil;  and 
thirty-three  and  five-eighths  to  forty  cents  for  whalebone.  The 
whaleships  owned  in  New  Bedford  would  have  made  a  line  ten  miles 
in  length.  The  whaleboats  which  they  carried  would  have  extended 
six  miles  if  strung  out  in  a  line,  and  there  were  10,000  strong  sailors 
to  man  them. 

The  present  generation  knows  from  tradition  that  New  Bedford 
once  ranked  first  among  the  whaling  cities,  but  there  are  few,  if  any, 
who  know  what  this  industry  meant  in  dollars  and  cents.  The  liter- 
ature of  the  subject  has  been  devoted  to  the  romance,  and  to  certain 
statistics  dealing  with  vessels  employed,  dates  of  sailings  and 
catches ;  but  in  this  practical  day  there  is  no  doubt  a  desire  to  know 
what  there  was  in  it  from  the  dividend  point  of  view. 

An  old  report  on  the  whale  fishery,  compiled  by  James  Arnold 
and  made  to  the  National  Convention  for  the  Protection  of  Ameri- 
can Interests  about  the  year  1843,  recently  came  to  light.  It  is  the 
property  of  Frank  E.  Brown,  and  gives  statistics  which  have  never 
been  compiled  elsewhere,  and  which  furnish  information  on  one 
phase  of  our  historic  industry  which  is  of  exceeding  interest.  James 
Arnold,  it  may  be  said,  was  a  son-in-law  and  partner  of  William 
Eotch,  Jr.,  and  a  famous  merchant  prince,  a  " captain  of  industry,' ' 
to  employ  the  vernacular  of  the  day.  Boston  people  remember  him 
as  the  giver  of  the  "Arnold  arboretum/ '  and  his  benefactions  to 
his  home  city  were  numerous.  There  is  hardly  an  institution  or 
charitable  society  but  has  its  "James  Arnold  fund."  Mr.  Arnold 
made  his  report  from  tabular  schedules  kept  at  New  Bedford.    The 

89 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

whole  number  of  vessels  employed  in  the  national  whale  fishery  was 
estimated  at  650,  tonnaging  193,000  tons,  manned  by  16,000  officers 
and  men.  Of  these  vessels  it  was  estimated  that  360  were  employed 
in  the  spermaceti  and  290  in  the  common  whale  fishery. 

The  total  cost  of  fitting  the  fleets  was  $10,610,060.  This  labor  and 
material  was  for  ordinary  outfit,  and  not  for  ships  requiring  repairs, 
often  involving  the  cost  of  a  new  ship.  On  the  basis  of  these  esti- 
mates Air.  Arnold  estimated  the  whole  value  of  the  ships  and  oufit  as 
they  sail  at  $20,120,000. 

The  length  of  voyages  in  the  sperm  fishery  at  that  time  was  three 
years,  and  on  the  right  whale  ships  twenty  months.  The  proceeds  or 
imports  from  the  fishery  in  1841  were  $7,359,022,  on  which  the  offi- 
cers and  crews  would  draw  for  their  services  on  the  voyage  about 
thirty  per  cent.,  or  $2,207,706.  These  figures  show  the  volume  of 
business  and  its  profits  in  a  form  which  has  not  been  presented  else- 
where. Roughly  figured,  and  based  on  three-year  voyages,  they 
show  annual  proceeds  to  the  owner  on  an  investment  of  $20,120,000 
of  $5,151,316,  exclusive  of  interest  and  insurance  charges  and  depre- 
ciation. 

Just  a  word  about  the  men  who  were  masters  and  officers  of  the 
New  Bedford  ships  in  those  days.  A  race  of  men  had  been  nurtured 
and  trained  in  these  ships  who  were  daring  and  skillful,  with  keen 
perceptive  faculties  in  pursuit  of  the  big  game.  They  were  also  able 
navigators  and  seamen,  upright  and  careful  managers  of  the  prop- 
erty entrusted  to  them.  They  were  gathered  from  the  town  or  from 
the  surrounding  country.  Naturally  there  was  a  fascination  to  the 
youthful  mind.  They  were  the  heroes  of  the  port,  and  they  looked 
to  pass  the  grades  of  promotion  speedily,  and  in  due  time  to  walk  the 
deck  as  master.  And  this,  those  of  them  who  were  of  the  right  stuff, 
really  did. 

The  position  of  competent  master  of  a  good  ship  was  one  to  be 
envied.  Even  if  it  did  cause  for  a  time  separation  from  home  ties 
and  family  surroundings,  it  was  a  position  of  honor  and  trust  and 
great  responsibility.  The  master  was  in  charge  of  life  and  property, 
and  his  word  was  law,  and  where  he  willed  he  could  go.  On  his 
discretion  and  good  judgment  turned  success  or  failure  to  many  be- 
sides himself,  on  sea  and  shore.    His  draft  in  foreign  ports  for  sup- 

90 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

plies  or  requirements  bound  every  individual  owner  in  the  ship  for 
the  full  amount  of  his  disbursements.  In  this  respect  the  power 
entrusted  to  him  illustrates  the  inconsistencies  of  our  human  nature ; 
close,  careful  men,  who  on  shore  would  not  trust  their  neighbor  with 
a  small  portion  of  their  property,  who  distrusted  everyone's  judg- 
ment and  integrity,  would  placidly  repose  in  the  power  of  a  master 
who  was  to  sail  the  world  around,  and  had  the  right  to  make  drafts 
in  any  quarter  that  might  easily  absorb  their  all.  To  the  honor  of 
the  men  who  commanded  ships  and  accepted  such  trusts  be  it  said 
that  instances  wherein  they  were  unfaithful  to  the  confidences 
reposed  in  them  were  rare  indeed. 

The  business  was  an  almost  perfect  instance  of  cooperative  work. 
The  owners  furnished  ship  and  all  the  necessary  outfits  and 
advances.  Captain,  officers  and  crew  took  these  from  their  hands, 
and  furnished  their  capacity  and  energy  to  procure  the  cargo,  each 
man  on  board  to  receive  a  certain  pro  rata  or  share,  called  "lay," 
of  the  net  result,  the  distribution  being  in  the  proportion  of  two- 
thirds  to  the  capital  invested,  and  one-third  to  labor;  in  the  latter 
ability,  readily  recognized,  commanded  the  highest  reward. 

No  member  of  a  whaleship's  crew,  from  the  captain  down, 
received  fixed  wages.  If  the  ship  takes  no  oil,  or  disaster  overtakes 
her,  the  crew  have  nothing  but  their  existence  and  labor  and  pains. 
Officers  and  crew  are  shipped  with  the  promise  of  a  certain  percent- 
age of  the  catch.  A  captain  receives  a  lay  ranging  from  a  tenth  or 
twelfth  to  a  fifteenth,  according  to  his  success  in  previous  voyages, 
which  means  that  one  barrel  of  oil  in  every  ten  to  fifteen  taken  is  his 
share.  In  the  case  of  a  foremast  hand  his  lay  ranges  from  one  one- 
hundred-and-fiftieth  to  one  two-hundredth.  The  ordinary  whaler 
carries  a  crew  of  thirty-five  men.  The  mate  receives  a  lay  from  an 
eighteenth  to  a  twenty-fifth,  according  to  agreement.  The  second 
mate  receives  a  thirty-fourth,  the  third  mate  a  forty-fifth,  boat- 
header  a  fifty-fifth,  four  boatsteers  from  a  hundred  and  eighteenth 
to  a  hundred  and  seventy-fifth,  cooper  a  sixty-third,  steward  a  nine- 
tieth, cook  a  hundred  and  twentieth  and  half  the  slush,  green  hands 
from  a  hundred  and  seventy-fifth  to  a  hundred  and  eighty-fifth,  boy 
a  two  hundredth,  one  seaman  and  one  seaman  carpenter  each  a  hun- 

9i 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

dred  and  sixty-fifth,  three  ordinary  seaman  each  a  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-fifth. 

As  illustrating  the  aspect  of  life  along  the  water  front  of  New 
Bedford  during  the  days  when  the  whaling  industry  was  in  its  prime 
the  following  from  "The  Mercury"  of  March  30,  1838,  is  quoted: 
"We  have  the  satisfaction  to-day  of  announcing  the  safe  arrival  at 
this  port  during  the  last  two  days  of  no  less  than  nine  vessels 
employed  in  the  whale  fishery,  richly  freighted  with  cargoes  amount- 
ing in  the  aggregate  nearly  to  20,000  barrels  of  sperm  and  whale  oil, 
and  valued  at  the  present  prices  at  more  than  $260,000.  A  consider- 
able portion  of  these  cargoes  have  been  already  disposed  of,  and  for 
the  quantity  remaining  to  be  put  on  the  market,  even  higher  rates 
will  probably  be  obtained,  in  consequence  of  the  recent  advance  in 
the  price  of  oils  in  the  European  markets. ' '  And  again  November 
2,  1838,  it  is  announced:  "Four  arrivals  at  this  port  Friday  from 
the  Pacific  ocean  have  brought  upwards  of  9,500  barrels  of  sperm 
oil,  valued  at  about  $290,000. 

Some  of  the  bowhead  whales  yield  an  enormous  product.  Author- 
ities differ  as  to  the  number  of  slabs  of  whalebone  to  be  found  in  the 
jaw  of  the  bowhead  and  right  whales.  Captain  Wicks  says  615  slabs 
in  a  bowhead  and  420  in  a  right  whale.  Captain  Earle  says  514  in  a 
bowhead,  and  Captain  George  Baker  says  630  in  a  bowhead  and  430 
in  a  right  whale.  Captain  Simeon  Hawes  once  took  a  bowhead  whale 
which  made  375  barrels  of  oil,  which  is  the  record.  The  steamer 
"  Jeanette"  took  a  whale  one  cruise  the  bone  of  which  weighed  3,000 
pounds.  Captain  Willis,  on  one  Artie  voyage,  took  two  whales  the 
bone  of  which  aggregated  5,600  pounds.  Captain  Henry  Taber,  in 
the  bark  "  America/ '  took  a  bowhead  whale  the  bone  of  which 
weighed  3,000  pounds,  the  oil  made  260  barrels  and  some  of  the 
whalebone  measured  seventeen  feet  in  length.  Two  of  the  slabs  of 
this  bone  were  in  a  Honolulu  shipping  office  for  many  years,  and 
lately  have  been  in  a  saloon  there.  A  North  Dartmouth  man  remem- 
bers the  circumstances  of  the  taking  of  this  whale,  and  saw  the  bone 
in  Tom  Spencer's  office  in  Honolulu.  This  was  almost  the  longest 
bone  ever  taken  from  a  bowhead  whale.  The  ship  "Ocean"  once 
took  a  freak  whale  with  an  abnormally  small  body,  the  bone  of  which 
was  eighteen  feet  in  length. 

92 


"JOHNNY  CAKE  HILL" 
House  at  Corner  is  Oldest  in  New  Bedford 


. 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

Captain  Charles  B rower,  who  spent  more  than  twenty-five  years 
in  the  Arctic,  made  the  statement  that  a  bowhead  whale  will  break 
ice  two  feet  thick.  Upon  the  receipt  of  whalebone  in  port  it  is 
cleaned  with  scrapers  and  brushes,  and  then  submitted  to  a  soften- 
ing process  in  water  until  it  becomes  pliable,  when  it  is  steamed 
and  cut  into  strips  and  lengths  of  marketable  size.  Arctic  whalemen 
figure  that  for  every  barrel  of  oil  taken  from  a  bowhead  there  will 
be  seventeen  pounds  of  whalebone,  while  in  the  Okhotsk  sea  but 
fourteen  pounds  of  bone  to  the  barrel. 

New  Bedford  in  Melville  's  Time. 

Fifty  years  ago  boys  carried  "Moby  Dick"  to  bed  and  scared 
themselves  so  wide  awake  with  Captain  Ahab  and  his  terrible  foe 
that  they  couldn't  get  to  sleep.  And  this  classic  of  whaling  romance, 
with  its  graphic  pictures  of  New  Bedford  fifty  years  ago,  is  now  so 
far  forgotten  that  a  lover  of  Herman  Melville  has  asked  fifty  New 
Bedford  boys  if  they  have  read  "Moby  Dick,"  and  not  one,  he 
declares,  had  ever  heard  of  this  book. 

The  fascinating  picture  of  New  Bedford  which  Melville  presented 
has  caused  many  a  boy  and  man  to  make  a  pilgrimage  here.  Robert 
J.  Burdette  confesses  that  he  came  about  thirty  years  ago  with  Mel- 
ville's picture  in  his  mind,  and  "The  Spouter  Inn"  was  not,  albeit 
a  man  showed  him  the  long  lance,  "now  widely  elbowed,"  with 
which  Nathan  Swain  did  kill  fifteen  whales  between  a  sunrise  and  a 
sunset.  The  fact  that  Melville  has  presented  to  us  a  picture  of  New 
Bedford  fifty  years  ago,  at  a  time  when  it  was  one  of  the  unique 
cities  of  the  world,  makes  it  possible  for  this  generation  to  appre- 
ciate how  great  a  change  the  years  have  accomplished  in  the  suc- 
cessful effort  to  keep  up  with  a  changing  world. 

It  was  a  Saturday  night  in  December,  sixty  or  seventy  years  ago, 
when  Melville  stuffed  a  few  shirts  into  his  carpet  bag  and  left  New 
York  for  Cape  Horn  and  the  Pacific  by  way  of  New  Bedford  and 
Nantucket.  He  was  determined  to  sail  on  a  Nantucket  whaler, 
because  in  the  matter  of  whaling  Nantucket  was  the  great  original — 
the  Tyre  of  this  Carthage — the  place  where  the  first  American  whale 
was  stranded,  and  from  whence  the  first  adventurous  sloop  put 

93 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

forth,  partly  laden  with  imported  cobble  stones,  the  story  goes,  to 
throw  at  the  whale  in  order  to  discover  when  they  were  nigh  enough 
to  risk  a  harpoon  from  the  bowsprit.  As  a  matter  of  fact  he  sailed 
from  New  Bedford  in  the  "Acushnet."  His  name  may  yet  be  seen 
on  the  crew  list  which  reposes  at  the  custom  house.  He  missed  the 
packet,  and  to  this  we  are  indebted  to  the  only  picture  of  New  Bed- 
ford in  those  whaling  times,  which  is  preserved  to  us.  It  was  a  very 
dark  and  dismal  night,  bitingly  cold  and  cheerless.  "Such  dreary 
streets,' '  writes  Melville,  "blocks  of  blackness,  not  houses,  on  either 
hand,  and  here  and  there  a  candle,  like  a  candle  moving  about  in  a 
tomb."  With  halting  steps  Melville  paced  the  streets.  He  passed 
the  sign  of  "The  Crossed  Harpoons,"  which  looked  too  expensive 
and  jolly.  So  did  the  "Sword  Fish  Inn."  At  last  he  came  to  a  dim 
sort  of  light,  not  far  from  the  docks,  and  heard  a  forlorn  creaking 
in  the  air,  and  looking  up  saw  a  swinging  sign  over  the  door,  with  a 
painting  upon  it  representing  a  tall  straight  jet  of  misty  spray,  and 
underneath  these  words,  "The  Spouter  Inn,  Peter  Coffin." 

Then  follows  the  description  of  "The  Spouter  Inn,"  typical  of 
the  sailor  boarding  house  which  disappeared  but  a  few  years  ago. 
There  was  a  wide,  low  straggling  entry,  with  old-fashioned  wains- 
cots, reminding  one  of  the  bulwarks  of  some  old  condemned  craft. 
On  one  side  hung  a  painting  representing  a  Cape  Horner  in  a  hur- 
ricane, the  half  foundered  ship  weltering  with  three  dismantled 
masts  alone  visible,  and  an  exasperated  whale  purposing  to  spring 
clean  over  the  craft  in  the  seemingly  enormous  act  of  impaling 
himself  upon  the  three  mastheads.  On  the  opposite  wall  was  hung 
a  heathenish  array  of  clubs  and  spears,  some  set  with  glittering 
teeth  resembling  ivory  saws.  Mixed  with  these  were  rusty  old 
whaling  lances  and  harpoons,  broken  and  deformed.  Then  there 
were  divers  specimens  of  skirmishander. 

This  was  all  typical  only  a  few  years  ago,  and  the  description 
would  have  applied  to  scores  of  sailor  boarding  houses  on  Water 
street  and  "The  Marsh,"  but  now  they  are  not.  Nor  is  the  proto- 
type of  Queequeg,  that  awful  harpooner,  "He  never  eats  dumplings ; 
he  don't.     He  eats  nothing  but  steaks,  and  likes  'em  rare." 

Of  all  the  institutions  connected  with  whaling  mentioned  by  Mel- 
ville, there  is  but  one  which  can  be  pointed  out  to  the  seeker  of  lit- 

94 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

erary  landmarks.  That  is  the  Seaman's  Bethel.  The  New  Bed- 
ford Port  Society  was  established  over  seventy  years  ago,  and  in 
1831  a  chapel  was  built.  It  was  dedicated  May  2,  1832,  " Father" 
Taylor,  of  Boston,  officiating.  Then  the  Bethel  flag  was  unfurled, 
and  from  that  time  to  the  present  has  never  failed  on  every  Sab- 
bath morning  to  signal  to  the  sailor  that  there  is  a  temple  peculiarly 
his  own,  where  he  is  welcomed  on  his  return  from  his  voyage,  and 
where  he  can  listen  to  the  words  of  Gospel.  The  chapel  that  Mel- 
ville attended  and  described  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1866,  but  a 
feature  that  attracted  the  writer's  attention  is  still  the  wonder  of 
the  visitor.  The  walls  are  covered  with  marble  cenotaphs,  masoned 
into  the  walls,  reading  to  the  sailor  about  to  go  down  to  the  sea  the 
fate  of  the  whalemen  who  have  gone  before  him.  Delightful  induce- 
ments to  embark,  fine  chance  for  promotion,  it  seems,  for  a  stove 
boat  will  make  him  more  immortal  by  brevet.  Yes,  there  is  death 
in  this  business  of  whaling — a  speechlessly  quick  chaotic  bundling 
of  a  man  into  eternity.  The  tablets  were  often  placed  in  the  walls 
by  the  shipmates  of  the  sailors  lost  at  sea.  Occasionally  they  were 
provided  by  a  mother,  wife  or  sister.  Some  of  them  bear  weeping 
willows ;  others,  more  appropriately,  ships ;  and  nearly  all  are  bor- 
dered by  heavy  black  frames.     Here  is  a  sample  cenotaph: 

In  the  Memory  of 
CAPT.  WM.  SWAIN, 

Associate  Master  of  the 

Christopher  Mitchell  of  Nantucket. 

This  worthy  man,  after  fastening  to  a  whale,  was  carried  overboard 

by  the  line  and  drowned 

May  19th,  1844,  in  the  49th  year  of  his  age. 

"Be  ye  also  ready,  for  in  such  an  hour  as  ye  think  not  the  son  of  man 

cometh. ' ' 

There  is  one  which  tells  of  the  tragic  death  of  Charles  Petty,  who 
was  bitten  by  a  shark  while  bathing  near  the  ship,  and  died  in  nine 
hours.  He  was  buried  by  his  shipmates  on  the  Island  of  De  Loss, 
near  the  coast  of  Africa.  Some  of  the  tablets  are  inscribed  with  a 
verse,  like  this  one — of  one  who  fell  from  aloft  and  was  drowned : 

The  sea  curls  over  him  and  the  foaming-  billow- 
As  his  head  now  rests  upon  a  watery  pillow, 
But  the  spirit  divine  has  ascended  to  rest, 
To  mingle  with  those  who  are  ransomed  and  blest. 

95 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

The  officers  and  crew  of  the  " Emily  Morgan' '  have  erected  a 
stone  to  the  memory  of  Lewis  Ayshire,  and  this  verse  is  engraved  on 
the  tablet: 

The  ship's   bell — deep-toned   moaning   sound — 

Boomed  o'er  the  quiet  air, 
To  call  the  crew  in  the  sadness  round 

To   attend    the    funeral    prayer. 
In  his  coral  grave  he's  left  to  rest, 

With  no  urn  or  willow  tree ; 
His  tablet  is  in  the  sailor's  breast, 

This  token  of  which  you  see. 

The  following  inscription  on  a  tablet  shows  how  generally  the 
men  in  a  family  followed  the  sea  in  the  old  days,  and  how  often 
they  were  bereaved : 

To  the  Memory  of 

WILLIAM  S.  JAY, 

Chief  mate  of  bark  Gov.  Carver,  who  died  on  board  at  sea,  Feb.  7, 

1863. 

Aged  29  years. 

Also  his  Uncles, 

GILBERT  JAY, 

Of  the  ship  Peru  of  Nantucket,  was  lost  from  a  boat  while  in  pursuit 

of  a  whale,  1822,  aged  27  years ; 

FRANKLIN  JAY/ 

Mate  of  ship  Pioneer,  was  lost  from  his  boat  while  in  pursuit  of  a 

whale,  Nov.  22,  1832,  aged  19  years ; 

WILLIAM  H.  SWASEY, 

Of  schooner  T.  Cash  of  Fairhaven,  Conn.,  was  lost  at  sea  with  all 

her  crew,  April,  1850,  aged  39  years. 

Melville's  reflections  upon  these  tablets  will  serve  to-day.  "Oh! 
ye  whose  dead  lie  buried  beneath  the  green  grass;  who  standing 
among  the  flowers  can  say,  'Here,  here  lies  my  beloved;  ye  know  not 
the  desolation  that  broods  in  bosoms  like  these.  What  bitter  blanks 
in  those  black-bordered  marbles  which  cover  no  ashes!  What 
despair  in  those  immovable  inscriptions!  What  deadly  voids  and 
unbidden  infidelities  in  the  lines  which  seem  to  gnaw  upon  all  faith 
and  refuse  resurrection  to  the  beings  who  have  placelessly  per- 
ished without  a  grave.  As  well  might  these  tablets  stand  in  the 
grave  of  elephants  as  here.    But  Faith,  like  a  jackal,  feeds  among 

96 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

the  tombs,  and  even  from  these  dead  doubts  she  gathers  her  most 
vital  hope/  " 

The  chaplain  whom  Melville  heard  undoubtedly  was  Father 
Mudge.  The  author  calls  him  Father  Mapple  in  the  book.  The  old 
pulpit  was  furnished  with  a  side  ladder  and  man  ropes,  which  Mel- 
ville affirms  the  chaplain  mounted  hand  over  hand,  with  reverential 
dexterity,  as  if  ascending  to  the  main  top  of  his  vessel.  After  gain- 
ing the  height  he  stooped  over  and  drew  the  ladder,  leaving  him 
impregnable.  The  paneled  front  of  that  old  pulpit  was  in  the  like- 
ness of  a  ship's  bluff*  bows,  and  the  Bible  rested  on  a  projecting 
piece  of  scroll-work  fashioned  after  a  ship's  fiddle-headed  beak. 
The  service  had  a  nautical  flavor  which  has  now  departed.  The 
present  chaplain  is  a  faithful  worker  among  the  sailors,  but  he 
would  not  be  expected  to  instruct  his  congregation  to  gather  about 
him  in  the  vernacular  which  Melville  attributes  to  Father  Mapple : 
" Starboard  gangway  there!  Side  away  to  starboard — larboard 
gangway  to  starboard!  Midships.' '  The  sermon  on  Jonah  re- 
ported in  the  book  is  declared  by  those  who  remember  Father 
Mudge  not  to  bear  much  resemblence  to  his  style.  It  is  probably 
the  sermon  which  Melville  considered  should  have  been  preached 
to  sailor  folk. 

There  is  a  final  description  of  the  New  Bedford  which  Melville 
saw  when  he  left  the  harpooners,  cannibals,  sailors  with  beaver 
hats,  swallow-tailed  coats  girdled  with  sailor  belt  and  sheath 
knives,  or  wearing  sou '-westers  and  bombazine  cloaks,  who  infested 
Water  street  in  the  whaling  days,  which  will  serve  for  a  description 
of  New  Bedford  to-day : 

The  town  itself  is  perhaps  the  dearest  place  in  all  New  England. 
It  is  a  land  of  oil,  true  enough ;  but  not  like  Canaan,  a  land  also  of 
corn  and  wine.  The  streets  do  not  run  milk,  nor  in  the  springtime 
do  they  pave  them  with  fresh  eggs ;  yet,  in  spite  this,  nowhere  in  all 
America  will  you  find  more  patrician-like  nouses,  parks  and  gar- 
dens, more  opulent  than  in  New  Bedford.  Whence  came  they? 
How  planted  upon  this  once  scraggy  scoria  of  a  country.  Go  and 
gaze  upon  the  iron  emblematical  harpoons  round  yonder  lofty  man- 
sion, and  your  question  will  be  answered.  Yes,  all  these  brave 
houses  and  flowery  gardens  came  from  the  Atlantic,  Pacific  and 
Indian  oceans.     One  and  all  they  were  harpooned  and  dragged  up 

97 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

hither  from  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  In  summer  time  the  town  is 
sweet  to  see,  full  of  fine  maples,  long  avenues  of  green  and  gold. 
And  in  August,  high  in  air,  the  beautiful  and  bountiful  horsechest- 
nuts,  candelabrawise,  proffer  the  passerby  their  upright  cones  of 
congregated  blossoms.  So  omnipotent  is  art,  which  in  many  a 
district  of  New  Bedford  has  superinduced  bright  terraces  of  flowers 
upon  the  barren  refuse  rocks  thrown  aside  at  creation's  final  day. 
And  the  women  of  New  Bedford,  they  bloom  like  their  own  red 
roses.  But  roses  only  bloom  in  summer,  whereas  the  fine  carnation 
of  their  cheeks  is  perennial  as  sunlight  in  the  seventh  heavens.  Else- 
where match  that  bloom  of  theirs  ye  cannot,  save  in  Salem,  where 
they  tell  me  the  young  girls  breathe  such  musk  their  sailor  sweet- 
hearts smell  them  miles  off  shore,  as  though  they  were  drawing 
nigh  the  odorous  Moluccas  instead  of  the  Puritanic  sands. 

Whaling  Disasteks. — An  Old  Ship. 

When  the  Civil  War  broke  out  much  of  the  wealth  tied  up  in 
whalers  was  afloat  on  various  seas.  Twenty-five  New  Bedford 
whalers,  with  2,742  barrels  sperm  and  4,150  barrels  whale  oil,  were 
burned  by  Confederate  cruisers.  The  value  of  the  ' 'Alabama' '  and 
" Shenandoah"  vessels  destroyed  is  given  at  $1,150,000,  of  the  oil 
at  $500,000,  making  a  total  of  $1,650,000.  This  was  a  crushing  blow 
to  the  citizens,  because  it  was  a  climax  to  a  series  of  events  which 
made  the  people  of  New  Bedford  apprehensive  of  the  future. 

The  whaling  industry  was  doomed  by  the  discovery  of  petroleum, 
and  the  citizens  knew  it.  The  business  men  had  made  an  attempt  to 
stem  the  tide  by  forming  an  association  to  extend  the  uses  of  sperm 
oil  and  persist  in  its  superiority,  but  they  realized  the  hopelessness 
of  the  undertaking. 

On  Thanksgiving  Day,  less  than  a  year  before,  the  citizens  had 
seen  "The  Stone  Fleet,"  two  proud  squadrons,  the  pick  of  the  whal- 
ers, sail  forth  to  be  sunk  at  the  mouth  of  southern  harbors.  It  was 
as  if  the  cotton  mills  which  line  the  shore  to-day  were  one  day  loaded 
aboard  scows  and  carried  to  sea  to  be  sunk.  It  was  visible  evidence 
of  the  destruction  of  the  most  unique  industry  which  ever  created 
the  wealth  of  a  city.  And,  following  upon  such  a  catastrophe,  came 
the  news  that  the  few  surviving  whaleships  on  the  seas  were  being 
picked  off  one  by  one,  burned  with  their  cargoes,  and  the  officers  and 

98 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

crews  made  prisoners.  And  the  war  was  upon  the  land  to  add  to  the 
encircling  gloom. 

The  news  which  created  such  a  sensation  fifty  years  ago  came 
from  a  group  of  officers  and  men  who  had  been  paroled  aboard  the 
"Alabama,"  put  aboard  a  passing  ship  and  landed  in  New  York. 
One  or  two  of  the  owners  were  wise  in  their  generation  and  had 
secured  insurance  a  few  days  before.  The  owners  of  the  bark  "  Vir- 
ginia," for  instance,  Captain  Frederick  Tilton,  which  was  valued 
at  $24,000,  took  out  insurance  for  $11,500  at  noon  of  the  very  day 
on  which  the  news  was  received.  The  owners  of  the  bark  "Elisha 
Dunbar,"  Captain  David  R.  Gilford,  took  out  insurance  upon  her 
for  $4,250  only  two  days  before ;  her  value  was  $21,250. 

Captain  Tilton  told  a  story  which  shows  that  the  sending  of  the 
stone  fleet  from  New  Bedford  was  a  matter  of  resentment  to  the 
privateers  and  blockade  runners,  whom  the  closing  of  the  southern 
harbor  channels  was  designed  to  annoy.  When  taken  aboard 
the  "Alabama,"  Captain  Tilton  asked  to  be  released,  as  he  was 
doing  no  one  harm.  "You  Northerners  are  destroying  our  prop- 
erty," retorted  Captain  Semmes,  "and  New  Bedford  people  are 
holding  w^ar  meetings  offering  $200  bounty  for  volunteers,  and  send- 
ing out  stone  fleet  to  blockade  our  harbors,  and  I  am  going  to  retal- 
iate." Captain  Tilton  described  the  personal  appearance  of  Cap- 
tain Semmes  in  an  interesting  wTay.  "He  does  everything  in  white 
kid  gloves,"  he  said,  "and  wears  a  heavy  mustache,  which  he  has 
waxed  by  his  servant  every  morning."  Captain  Tilton  told  his  fel- 
low-citizens that  Captain  Semmes  said  he  had  burned  the  "Osceola" 
and  nine  other  whalers  before  taking  the  "Virginia."  Semmes, 
according  to  Captain  Tilton,  was  very  short  in  his  remarks,  and 
quick  tempered,  treating  the  prisoners  brutally  and  unfeelingly. 
The  under  officers  were  of  different  dispositions,  and  some  of  them 
confessed  to  Captain  Tilton  they  wished  they  were  out  of  the  busi- 
ness.    Captain  Tilton  related  the  story  of  his  capture  as  follows: 

The  pirate  ship  overtook  us  in  lat.  39-100,  long.  34-20.  She  first 
showed  British  colors,  but  when  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  "Vir- 
ginia" she  set  Confederate  colors  and  sent  an  armed  boat's  crew 
aboard.  I  was  informed  the  vessel  was  a  prize  to  the  "Alabama," 
and  ordered  to  take  my  papers  and  go  aboard  the  steamer.     The 

99 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

pirates  then  stripped  the  ship  of  all  valuable  articles,  and  at  4  p.  m. 
set  fire  to  her.  I  went  on  the  quarterdeck  of  the  "Alabama"  with 
my  son,  when  they  sent  us  into  the  lee  waist  with  the  crew.  All 
were  ironed  except  two  boys,  the  cook  and  the  steward.  I  asked 
if  I  was  to  be  ironed,  and  the  reply  was  that  the  vessel's  purser 
had  been  in  irons  aboard  the  United  States  vessel  and  his  head 
shaved.  He  proposed  to  retaliate.  We  were  put  in  the  lee  waist 
with  an  old  mattress  and  a  few  blankets  upon  which  to  lie.  The 
steamer's  guns  were  run  out  the  side  and  the  ports  could  not  be 
shut.  So  when  the  sea  was  rough  and  the  vessel  rolled  the  water 
washed  the  decks  and  we  were  wet  all  of  the  time.  Often  we  would 
wake  at  night  with  a  sea  pouring  over  us.  Our  food  consisted  of 
beef,  pork,  rice,  ham,  tea,  coffee  and  bread.  Only  one  of  our  irons 
was  taken  off  at  a  time.  We  were  always  under  guard.  On  Octo- 
ber 3d  we  fell  in  with  the  schooner  ' '  Emily  Farnham, ' '  to  which  we 
were  transferred  after  signing  a  parole. 

Many  years  after,  another  generation,  in  many  instances,  received 
a  windfall  from  the  payment  of  the  "Alabama"  claims.  There  were 
many  survivors  also  living  who  profited  at  a  time  when  they  were  in 
need  of  money,  and,  as  it  turned  out,  the  men  were  amply  compen- 
sated for  all  they  lost  and  suffered.  The  testimony  before  the  Court 
of  Claims  is  a  marvel  in  the  revelations  of  the  outfits  which  the  sail- 
ors carried  in  their  chests.  Captain  Semmes  may  have  been  a 
dandy,  but  the  humblest  sailor  could  have  put  him  in  the  shade, 
as  far  as  clothes  were  concerned,  if  the  schedule  of  the  outfits  as 
sworn  to  at  court  were  honest. 

Another  terrible  disaster  followed  in  September,  1871,  when  one 
day  thirty-three  New  Bedford  ships,  crushed  or  frozen,  were  aban- 
doned in  the  Arctic  ocean.  Twelve  hundred  men  were  there  ship- 
wrecked, but  all  of  them  were  ultimately  rescued.  With  the  oil  and 
bone  which  the  ships  had  on  board  they  were  valued  at  $1,090,000. 
In  1876  twelve  whalers  were  abandoned  in  the  Arctic,  and  in  1888 
five  more  were  lost. 

Steam  whaling  prospered  for  a  time,  whalebone  selling  at  fancy 
prices,  but  there  is  no  longer  a  market  for  whalebone.  A  group  of 
men  cornered  all  the  whalebone  in  the  country  and  shipped  it  to 
New  Bedford,  which  is  the  world's,  market  place  for  Arctic  bone, 
and  held  it  at  five  dollars  a  pound.  They  held  it.  The  use  of  whale- 
bone had  finally  become  restricted  to  corset  manufacture  and  to 

ioo 


LAUNCH    OF    SCHOONER 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

some  extent  in  dresses.  In  the  old  days  when  whalebone  was  cheap 
and  hoopskirts  were  in  vogue  it  was  commonly  used  in  the  latter, 
as  well  as  in  dresses  and  stays  and  corsets.  Whips  were  made  of 
it,  and  it  was  used  for  umbrella  frames.  Steel  was  employed  later 
as  a  substitute  for  most  of  these  uses,  but  for  a  long  time  after  the 
wider  utility  had  disappeared  it  was  employed  by  the  best  corset 
and  dressmakers,  and  there  was  a  large  market  abroad,  particu- 
larly in  France.  But  when  the  price  was  put  up  to  five  dollars  a 
pound  the  corsetmakers  declared  it  prohibitive  and  turned  to  sub- 
stitutes. Now  "bones"  for  corsets  and  dresses  are  made  of  a  cel- 
luloid substance  which  is  said  to  be  quite  as  good,  if  not  superior. 
The  whalemen  blame  "the  Trust"  for  the  ruin  of  the  industry,  but 
while  the  high  price  may  have  hastened  the  day  of  substitutes  the 
substitutes  would  have  been  produced  in  any  event.  Moreover,  the 
owners  of  the  whalebone  supply  declare  that  in  order  to  make  any 
profit  bone  must  command  &ve  dollars  a  pound.  This  does  not  rep- 
resent cost,  they  say,  if  the  risks  of  the  business  and  the  loss  of  ves- 
sels engaged  in  the  Arctic  industry  are  considered.  Arctic  whal- 
ing scarcely  gave  the  owner  of  the  ship  a  gambler's  chance.  A  ship 
might  encounter  one  closed  season  after  another  when  the  ships 
could  not  get  to  the  eastward,  and  vessels  were  so  frequently  caught 
and  crushed  in  the  ice  floes  that  the  industry  as  a  whole  was  seldom 
profitable.  Still  there  was  always  the  chance  that  a  vessel  might 
make  a  catch  worth  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  a  summer's  work, 
and  this  was  sufficient  incentive  for  the  daring  whalemen. 

Whalebone  requires  constant  attention.  It  must  be  scraped  every 
few  months  or  it  loses  its  virtue.  So  the  value  of  it  constantly 
deteriorates,  and  that  is  one  reason,  maybe,  why  "the  Trust"  finds 
it  difficult  to  dispose  of  its  bone.  "The  Trust"  does  not  send  ships 
into  the  Arctic  now.  The  few  vessels  that  go  are  largely  old  ves- 
sels, bought  cheap  by  old  whaling  captains,  who  finance  their  own 
voyages.  The  opportunities  for  trading  kept  the  industry  alive 
longer  than  otherwise,  but  the  natives  prefer  to  trade  for  rum,  and 
the  revenue  cutters  prevent  the  whalers  from  engaging  in  trade  on 
that  basis.  So  most  of  the  Eskimo  trade  now  goes  to  the  shore 
traders,  who  are  under  less  close  surveillance. 

Since  the  great  war,  prices  of  sperm  oil  have  gone  up  and  a  fleet 

IOI 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

of  schooners  is  making  handsome  profits  on  Atlantic  voyages. 
These  are  short  voyages  of  a  duration  of  a  year  or  two.  In  the  old 
days  voyages  usually  lasted  four  or  five  years,  which  gives  point 
to  an  old  whaleman's  story:  A  New  Bedford  captain  had  spent  a 
jolly  night  with  his  companions,  and  at  daylight  started  to  go 
aboard  his  ship.  One  of  his  companions  grabbed  him  by  the  arm 
as  he  was  about  to  leave  the  dock  in  a  small  boat.  "I  say,  captain, 
you've  forgotten  to  kiss  your  wife  good-bye."  "Hell!"  said  the 
captain,  "I'm  only  going  to  be  gone  two  years!" 

A  few  of  the  old  ships  are  still  engaged.  The  whaling  bark 
"Charles  W.  Morgan"  is  receiving  especial  consideration  in  these 
days,  since  she  is  the  only  typical  old  whaling  square-rigger  in  port, 
and  there  will  never  be  any  more  of  them.  One  or  two  remnants 
of  the  fleet  are  at  sea,  and  put  in  an  occasional  appearance  here,  but 
none  are  so  picturesque  and  typical  of  old  whaling  models  as  the 
"Morgan."  The  "Morgan"  is  seventy-seven  years  old,  and  is  still 
in  commission.  She  was  built  in  1841  by  the  man  for  whom  she  was 
named.  Her  first  captain  was  named  Norton,  and  she  sailed  Sep- 
tember 4,  1841,  and  arrived  back  April  1,  1845,  with  1,600  barrels 
of  sperm  oil,  800  barrels  of  whale  oil,  and  10,000  pounds  of  whale- 
bone. She  sailed  again  on  January  10,  1846,  under  command  of 
Captain  J.  D.  Sampson,  and  returned  December  9,  1848,  with  2,100 
barrels  of  sperm  oil  and  100  barrels  of  whale  oil,  having  sent  home 
seventy  barrels  of  sperm  oil.  Her  ownership  was  then  transferred 
to  Edward  Mott  Kobinson,  the  father  of  Hetty  Green.  Captain 
Sampson  still  commanded  her  on  a  voyage  to  the  Pacific,  which 
started  on  June  5,  1849.  In  May,  1853,  she  returned  with  1,121 
barrels  of  oil.  The  firm  of  I.  Howland,  Jr.,  &  Company  owned  her 
when  she  sailed  the  following  September  for  the  North  Pacific  in 
command  of  Captain  Tristam  P.  Ripley.  She  returned  in  1856  with 
12,000  pounds  of  whalebone,  having  sent  home  10,000  pounds  of 
bone,  1,958  barrels  of  whale  oil  and  268  barrels  of  sperm.  Captain 
Thomas  J.  Fisher  commanded  her  in  1856,  when  she  again  sailed 
for  the  North  Pacific,  returning  three  years  later  with  28,700  pounds 
of  whalebone,  18,000  barrels  of  whale  oil,  and  135  barrels  of  sperm. 
Next  she  sailed  on  a  four  years'  voyage  in  command  of  James  A. 
Hamilton,  returning  from  the  North  Pacific  in  1863  with  28,834 

102 


, 


THE  BRAVE  INDUSTRY  OF  WHALING 

pounds  of  whalebone,  4,080  barrels  of  whale  oil,  and  135  barrels  of 
sperm.  In  December,  1863,  the  " Morgan' '  came  into  the  ownership 
of  J.  &  W.  R.  Wing.  Captain  Thomas  C.  Landers  took  her  to  the 
North  Paciiic  and  she  returned  four  years  later  with  13,200  pounds 
of  bone  and  1,094  barrels  of  whale  oil.  Her  seventh  voyage  was  to 
the  North  Pacific,  once  more  in  command  of  Captain  George 
Athearn,  when  she  took  3,000  pounds  of  bone ;  and  in  1871  she  went 
to  the  Indian  ocean  in  command  of  Captain  John  M.  Tinkham,  and 
took  1,600  pounds  of  bone.  Last  year  she  went  to  Desolation 
islands  on  a  sea  elephant  expedition.  The  "Morgan"  repeatedly 
rounded  Cape  Horn,  but  these  experiences  never  weakened  her, 
and  she  has  continued  making  long  voyages  to  the  stormiest  seas 
in  her  career. 


103 


The  Northwest  Territory  and  the  Ordinance 

of  1787 

Charles  A.  Ingkaham,  Cambridge,  N.  Y. 


r^rr»^y HE  Northwest  Territory!    What  visions  of  a  fertile  wild- 
l|"f  '!jft2     ^rness  lying  unreclaimed  at  our  doors  did  this  term  sug- 
Tm  $§|f     gest  to  the  American  colonists !    A  vast  equilateral  tri- 
iwLk^ij     angle  with  one  point  at  the  junction  of  the  Ohio  with  the 
Mississippi  and  broadening  out  in  the  embrace  of  those  noble  rivers, 
having  for  its  northern  boundary  four  of  the  great  lakes  and  com- 
prising within  its  borders  the  coming  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illi- 
nois, Michigan  and  Wisconsin.    This  group  of  commonwealths  enjoy 
the  distinction  of  having  been  born  as  the  first  fruits  of  the  Kevo- 
lution ;  five  radiant  sisters  to  stand  as  monuments  and  shining  testi- 
monies to  the  faith  and  valor  of  George  Rogers  Clark  and  the  pio- 
neers associated  with  him. 

Never  before  had  there  been  so  tempting  a  territorial  prize; — 
vast  and  fertile  prairies,  beautiful  and  fragrant  with  wild  flowers; 
limitless  forests,  grandly  silent  through  their  shadowy  aisles ;  riches 
untold  of  copper  and  iron  and  coal;  magnificent  rivers  abounding 
with  fish,  and  leading  into  the  interior  of  these  elysian  lands  given 
over  to  the  Indian,  the  buffalo  and  beasts  of  prey ;  while  along  the 
northern  border  were  the  mighty  lakes,  connecting  with  navigable 
waters  the  northwest  and  northeast  angles,  and  these  within  easy 
reach  of  the  southern  extremity  by  means  of  the  Ohio  and  Miss- 
issippi and  their  tributaries.    An  ideal  habitation  for  man,  abound- 


ing in  all  that  makes  life  opulent  and  successful. 


And  those  majestic  waters  of  the  north  had,  besides  their  wealth 
of  fish  and  transportation  facilities,  grand  and  inspiring  elements  of 
themselves: — Superior,  with  her  fifteen  hundred  miles  of  rock-rib- 
bed shores,  noble,  towering  headlands  and  lofty,  frowning  cliffs; 
Huron,  with  her  blue-tinted  crystal  waters  and  her  thousands  upon 

104 


HW.-MW-«»»Mimff  *»»»-■■».'  i      '    .IIWIU..  ■,.■».  ^  ■»!,!■  ».i»  I,.  .,l||    |    HHHHIIJUIJa.il..  g,,         IJUJm.W.I^ 


Oarke's  expedition  to  the  Illinois  Country,  (1778),  under  the  authority  of 
Virginia,  now  the  Northwestern  Territory. 


THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY  AND  THE  ORDINANCE  OF  1787 

thousands  of  islands;  Michigan,  reaching  her  friendly  arm  and 
genial  tempering  breath  far  into  the  interior;  Erie,  with  her  shal- 
low, turbid  waters,  storm-smitten  and  tempest-tossed,  sublime  but 
dangerous ;  all  this,  together  with  the  illusive  mirage  dwelling  like 
enchanting  dreams  above  the  wide  expanse  of  waters,  associated 
the  northern  limits  with  reverential  awe,  mystery  and  beauty. 

It  had  been  a  fond  dream  of  the  French  dwelling  in  Canada  to 
possess  themselves  of  this  desirable  region,  as  well  as  of  all  the 
lands  west  of  the  Alleghenies,  extending  to  the  Mississippi  and 
reaching  on  the  north  to  the  great  lakes.  The  domain  had  early 
become  known  to  them  through  the  exploration  of  John  Nicolet,  a 
Frenchman  in  the  employ  of  Champlain.  He  made  his  journey  in 
1635,  his  purpose  being  primarily  to  conciliate  and  secure  to  the 
French  the  Indian  tribes  inhabiting  the  land,  and  to  gain  their  trade. 
He  returned  with  an  encouraging  report,  and  accompanied  with 
seven  of  the  natives  as  specimens  of  the  tribes.  But  Champlain  saw 
no  further  fruition  of  his  ardent  hope,  for  he  died  on  Christmas 
Day  of  the  same  year  in  which  Nicolet  visited  the  coveted  territory. 

The  French  from  the  first  were  industrious  in  planting  a  cordon 
of  settlements  and  forts  through  their  alleged  possessions,  follow- 
ing the  line  of  the  great  lakes  and  the  Mississippi  river,  and  at  later 
periods  establishing  posts  in  the  interior,  notably  Fort  Duquesne, 
now  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Allegheny 
and  Monogahela  rivers,  which  they  had  captured  from  the  English. 
A  source  of  weakness,  however,  in  their  work  of  colonization  was, 
that  their  efforts  were  confined  principally  to  fostering  trade  and 
religion;  while  agriculture  and  the  mechanical  employments  were 
for  the  most  part  neglected.  But  the  Catholic  religious  worship 
with  its  emblematic  ritual  was  attractive  to  the  Indians,  and  with 
the  cordiality  of  the  French,  their  presents,  and  the  conveniences  of 
trade  which  they  supplied,  they  easily  made  friends  of  the  tribes. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  English  dwelling  along  the  comparatively 
sterile  coast  of  the  Atlantic  were  deficient  in  the  qualities  with  which 
to  ingratiate  themselves  into  the  good  favor  of  the  Indians,  their 
manners  being  less  cordial  and  their  religious  worship  simple  and 
unadorned.  Yet,  Sir  William  Johnson  as  Superintendent  of  Indian 
Affairs,  by  the  employment  of  the  gracious  methods  of  the  French, 

105 


THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY  AND  THE  ORDINANCE  OF  1787 

made  himself  master  of  the  great  Iroquois  confederacy,  controlling 
them  many  years  in  fealty  to  the  English. 

From  the  year  1748,  when,  with  the  organization  of  the  first  Ohio 
Land  Company,  the  great  struggle  for  the  Northwest  Territory  be- 
gan, until  1759,  when  with  the  fall  of  Quebec  the  French  claims  were 
rendered  void  and  French  authority  throughout  America  interdict- 
ed, there  was  battle  upon  battle,  massacre  upon  massacre,  fearful 
chapters  portraying  the  French  with  their  Indian  allies  fighting  for 
supremacy  and  the  control  of  the  vast  and  virgin  wilderness.  For 
the  English  had  become  the  aggressors;  plain,  vigorous,  fearless, 
determined  people,  with  domestic  and  agricultural  ambitions.  Many 
were  immigrants  from  the  north  of  Europe,  and,  with  the  growth 
of  population,  the  enticing  lands  to  the  west  were  inviting  the 
people,  and  they  responded.  They  felt,  too,  that  they  were  the  right- 
ful owners  of  the  Territory,  for  royal  grants  to  the  colonies  had 
given  them  titles  extending  to  the  Pacific. 

During  the  Revolution,  acting  largely  on  the  prudent  policy  of 
gaining  possession  of  the  Northwest  Territory  in  order  to  be  able  to 
enter  a  valid  claim  for  it  when  peace  should  be  declared,  the  colony 
of  Virginia  in  1778  sent  George  Rogers  Clark  at  his  own  request  on 
an  expedition  against  the  settlements  located  in  the  disputed  lands. 
He  took  Kaskaskia  on  the  Mississippi  and  other  places  in  the  vicin- 
ity, following  up  the  advantage  by  compelling  the  surrender  of  the 
French  troops  at  Vincennes  on  the  Wabash.  He  also  erected  a  fort 
on  the  Ohio,  from  which  as  a  nucleus  grew  the  city  of  Louisville. 
The  colony  of  Virginia,  as  the  result  of  Clark's  success,  claimed  all 
this  territory  and  constituted  it  the  county  of  Illinois.  In  the  delib- 
erations of  the  peace  commissioners  at  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  at  the 
close  of  the  Revolution,  the  British  representatives  contended  that 
the  Northwest  Territory  should  remain  the  dependency  of  their 
nation,  but  when  it  had  been  conclusively  shown  that  Kaskaskia, 
Vincennes,  and  other  posts  had  been  taken  by  Clark  and  were  held 
by  Virginia,  giving  the  possession  of  the  territory  to  that  colony, 
the  objections  were  withdrawn  and  the  treaty  was  signed. 

To  General  Clark,  therefore,  belongs  the  honor  of  securing  to  the 
Union  the  Northwest  Territory.  It  was  he  that  first  proposed  the 
expedition,  appealing  for  aid  to  the  Virginia  Legislature,  and,  hav- 

106 


THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY  AND  THE  ORDINANCE  OF  1787 

ing  been  refused,  laid  the  proposition  before  the  Governor,  Henry 
Clay,  who  granted  him  all  the  help  that  was  at  his  disposal.  He  was 
in  all  respects  an  exceptional  man; — physically  robust,  with  a  noble 
carriage,  dignified  manner  and  fearless,  indefatigable  determina- 
tion. Unlike  many  who  have  possessed  military  abilities  and  great 
hardihood  and  resourcefulness  in  the  presence  of  difficulty  and 
danger,  Clark  had  a  wide  political  grasp  and  was  at  home  in  the  bus- 
iness of  colonization  schemes  and  territorial  acquisitions.  His  con- 
temporaries accorded  him,  while  in  the  full  tide  of  his  success  and 
honors,  ample  distinction,  bestowing  upon  him  the  sobriquet  "The 
Hannibal  of  the  West";  but  his  invaluable  services  to  the  country 
were  in  his  later  years  forgotten,  and  he  was  left  to  pine  and  die 
in  poverty.  The  account  given  in  his  memoirs  of  the  expedition 
against  Vincennes,  in  which  he  dramatically  recounts  the  extra- 
ordinary hardships  and  perils  which  he  and  his  men  endured,  is  a 
classic  in  that  field  of  literature.  Clark  died  at  his  home,  "Mulberry 
Hill,"  three  miles  south  of  Louisville,  on  the  Kentucky  shore,  Feb- 
ruary 18,  1818,  in  the  sixty-sixth  year  of  his  age. 

James  A.  Garfield,  in  his  address  on  "The  Western  Reserve," 
eulogizes  Clark  and  animadverts  on  his  neglect  by  the  people : 

"It  is  a  stain  upon  the  honor  of  our  country  that  such  a  man — the  leader  of  pioneers 
who  made  the  first  lodgement  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  Louisville,  who  was  in  fact 
the  founder  of  the  state  of  Kentucky,  and  who  by  his  personal  foresight  and  energy 
gave  nine  great  states  to  the  republic — was  allowed  to  sink  under  a  load  of  debt  incurred 
for  the  honor  and  glory  of  his  country." 

The  allotment  of  the  lands  of  the  Northwest  Territory"  proved  to 
the  national  government,  on  account  of  the  indefinite  and  conflicting 
claims  of  different  states,  a  difficult  task.  Several  states,  as  has  been 
pointed  out,  held  charters  entitling  them  to  lands  extending  across 
the  continent,  while  Virginia  laid  claim  to  what  is  now  embraced  in 
the  states  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois.  Thus,  there  were  overlapping 
titles  and  the  situation  hopelessly  baffled  solution.  Earnest  appeals 
were  made  by  the  government,  as  the  only  means  of  settling  the 
difficulty  and  of  opening  the  wilderness  to  purchasers,  that  the  dif- 
ferent states  relinquish  their  claims  to  the  national  authorities. 
This  request  having  been  complied  with,  the  Continental  Congress 
sitting  in  New  York,  erected  the  domain  as  the  Northwest  Territory 
and  passed  an  Ordinance  for  its  government  on  July  13,  1787. 

107 


THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY  AND  THE  ORDINANCE  OF  1787 

The  Ordinance  had  its  advent  during  the  time  that  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  was  deliberating  in  Philadelphia,  which  juxta- 
position has  doubtless  served  to  eclipse  the  merits  and  importance  of 
this  notable  instrument.  It  deserves  to  stand  as  one  of  the  three 
immortal  legacies  from  the  Revolution:  The  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, the  Ordinance  for  the  Government  of  the  Northwest  Ter- 
ritory, and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Well  has  the 
Ordinance  been  called,  "The  Magna  Charta  of  the  West." 

Its  distinguishing  features  are  its  briefness  and  certain  sociolog- 
ical requirements  expressed  in  unequivocal  language,  in  marked  con- 
trast to  the  voluminous  national  constitution  whose  framers  stu- 
diously avoided  religious  and  ethical  references.  But  the  Ordinance 
in  its  second  paragraph,  as  if  in  haste  to  eliminate  an  aggravated 
and  chief  grievance,  prohibited  the  operation  of  the  English  law  of 
primogeniture  in  these  words : 

"Be  it  ordained,  That  the  estates  both  of  resident  and  nonresident 
proprietors  in  the  said  territory,  dying  intestate,  shall  descend  to 
and  be  distributed  among  their  children,  and  the  descendants  of  a 
deceased  child,  in  equal  parts  .  .  .  and  where  there  shall  be  no  chil- 
dren, or  descendants,  then  in  equal  parts  to  the  next  of  kin,  in  equal 
degree. ' ' 

Six  "Articles  of  Compact,"  were  incorporated  to  remain  forever 
binding  between  the  original  states  and  the  Territory,  for  the  pur- 
pose, among  others,  of  "extending  the  fundamental  principles  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty,  which  form  the  basis  upon  which  these 
republics,  their  laws  and  constitutions  are  erected ;  to  fix  and  estab- 
lish those  principles  as  the  basis  of  all  laws,  constitutions  and  gov- 
ernments, which  forever  hereafter  shall  be  formed  in  the  said  ter- 
ritory."    .     .     . 

The  essentials  in  the  compacts  are  as  follows : 

Art  1.  No  person,  demeaning  himself  in  a  peaceable  and  orderly  manner,  shall  ever 
be  molested  on  account  of  his  mode  of  worship  or  religious  sentiments,  in  the  said 
territory.     .     .     . 

Art.  2.  The  inhabitants  of  the  said  territory  shall  always  be  entitled  to  the  benefits  of 
the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  and  of  the  trial  by  jury;  of  a  proportionate  representation 
of  the  people  in  the  legislature,  and  of  judicial  proceedings  according  to  the  course  of 
the  common  law.     ... 

Art.  3.  Religion,  morality  and  knowledge,  being  necessary  to  good  government  and 
the  happiness  of  mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever  be  encour- 

108 


THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY  AND  THE  ORDINANCE  OF  1787 

aged.  The  utmost  good  faith  shall  always  be  observed  towards  the  Indians ;  their 
lands  and  property  shall  never  be  taken  from  them  without  their  consent. 

Art.  4.  The  said  territory,  and  the  states  which  may  be  formed  therein,  shall  forever 
remain  a  part  of  this  confederacy  of  the  United  States  of  America.     .     .     . 

Art.  5.  There  shall  be  formed  in  the  said  territory,  not  less  than  three  nor  more  than 
five  states.     .     .     . 

Art.  6.  There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in  the  said  territory, 
otherwise  than  in  the  punishment  of  crimes,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly 
convicted.     .    .     . 

The  article  prohibiting  slavery  was,  perhaps,  the  most  far-reach- 
ing, important  and  beneficial  of  the  compacts;  after  having  been 
incorporated  into  many  State  papers  it  was  finally  placed  as  an 
amendment  in  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 

Though  Congress  deliberated  but  the  space  of  four  days  upon  the 
Ordinance,  it  is  considered  by  jurists  and  publicists  of  the  highest 
distinction  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  constitutional  declarations.  The 
appreciations  of  a  few  are  quoted: 

Justice  Story:  "The  laws  of  Massachusetts,  as  to  the  rights  of 
persons,  property,  etc.,  were  made  the  root  or  germ  of  all  our  terri- 
torial laws  east  of  the  Mississippi,  by  being  made  the  material  parts 
of  the  Ordinance  of  Congress  for  the  government  of  the  United 
States  territories  northwest  of  the  Ohio,  and  from  time  to  time 
extended  to  their  other  territories,  as  will  appear  from  examining 
the  Ordinance  itself.' '  .  .  .  "To  him  (Mr.  Dane)  belongs  the 
glory  of  the  formation  of  the  celebrated  Ordinance  of  1787,  which 
constitutes  the  fundamental  law  of  the  states  northwest  of  the  Ohio. 
It  is  a  monument  of  political  wisdom  and  sententious  skillfulness  of 
expression.  It  was  adopted  unanimously  by  Congress,  according 
to  his  original  draft,  with  scarcely  the  alteration  of  a  single  word. ' ' 

Senator  Hoar :  ' '  One  of  the  three  title  deeds  of  American  consti- 
tutional liberty." 

"Judge  Thomas  M.  Cooley,  after  a  life  spent  under  its  beneficent 
influences,  stamped  it  as  immortal  for  the  grand  results  which  have 
followed  from  its  adoption,  not  less  than  for  the  wisdom  and  far- 
seeing  statesmanship  that  conceived  and  gave  form  to  its  provisions. 
'No  charter  of  government  in  the  history  of  any  people,'  says  he, 
'has  so  completely  withstood  the  tests  of  time  and  experience.  .  .  . 
Its  principles  were  for  all  time.  ...  It  has  been  the  fitting 
model  for  all  subsequent  territorial  government  in  America.'  " 
.     .     .     "Who  shall  trace  the  origin  of  the  Ordinance!    Like  a  tree 

109 


THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY  AND  THE  ORDINANCE  OF  1787 

its  roots  were  deep  down  in  free  soil,  and  its  leaves  drank  nourish- 
ment from  an  air  filled  with  the  makings  of  constitutions.  Jefferson 
had  planted  and  Monroe  and  Rufus  King  had  watered  the  tender 
plant.' '  ("The  Northwest  Under  Three  Flags, "  by  Charles  Moore.) 

The  authorship  of  the  Ordinance  was  claimed  by  Daniel  Webster 
and  Justice  Story  for  Nathan  Dane,  of  Massachusetts,  while  Hayne 
and  Benton,  desiring  the  honor  for  the  South,  held  that  Thomas 
Jefferson  wrote  it,  and  certain  leading  works  state  that  he  drafted 
the  instrument.  Dane,  however,  has  practically  a  clear  title  to  the 
distinction,  he  having  been  chairman  of  the  special  committee  that 
reported  the  Ordinance  to  Congress,  while  Jefferson  was  absent 
from  the  country,  serving  as  Minister  to  France  (1784-1789).  Dane 
was  a  Harvard  graduate,  an  able  lawyer,  and  in  later  years  made 
himself  further  distinguished  by  publishing  a  learned  legal  work 
in  nine  volumes  entitled  "Abridgement  and  Digest  of  American 
Law." 

But  the  honor  of  securing  the  passage  of  the  Ordinance  must  be 
divided  with  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler,  of  Ipswich,  Massachusetts,  a 
graduate  of  Yale,  a  man  of  extraordinary  and  diversified  gifts,  and 
active  and  enterprising  in  practical  and  political  affairs.  Besides 
his  theological  education,  he  acquired  a  good  knowledge  of  medicine, 
and  filled  for  a  considerable  time  the  place  of  a  physician  as  well  as 
minister  in  his  parish;  he  had  a  store  of  legal  information,  and 
excelled  as  a  botanist ;  added  to  all  this  erudition  was  his  acquaint- 
ance with  general  science,  of  which  he  was  a  diligent  student  and 
writer. 

Dr.  Cutler  having  in  1786  become  associated  with  a  group  of  men 
proposing  to  purchase  lands  northwest  of  the  Ohio  river  and  to 
settle  there,  was  very  active  in  Congress  in  securing  the  passage  of 
the  Ordinance,  knowing  that  it  would  give  a  basis  of  law  and  an 
element  of  security  to  the  colony.  While  Mr.  Dane  as  a  member 
of  Congress  was  active  in  popularizing  the  Ordinance  in  that  body, 
Dr.  Cutler  in  the  lobby  was  exerting  all  his  power  as  a  shrewd  poli- 
tician to  carry  it  through.  The  credit  has  been  given  him  of  being 
the  author  of  the  social  features  of  the  instrument,  though  Mr.  Dane 
is  said  to  have  been  the  sole  originator  of  the  section  prohibiting 
slavery. 

no 


THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY  AND  THE  ORDINANCE  OF  1787 

Dr.  Cutler  as  agent  of  the  Ohio  Company  having  purchased  1,500,- 
000  acres  of  land  in  the  Territory  and  on  the  Ohio  at  the  junction 
with  it  of  the  Muskingum  river,  led  a  party  there  and  made  a  settle- 
ment at  Marietta  on  April  7,  1788.  The  event  of  the  setting-out  of 
the  expedition  from  Dr.  Cutler 's  house  with  forty-five  men  in  De- 
cember, 1787,  has  been  compared  in  importance  with  the  sailing  of 
the  "Mayflower."  A  prominent  feature  of  the  cavalcade  was  a 
canvas-covered  wagon  upon  which  were  inscribed  the  words,  "Ohio, 
for  Marietta  on  the  Muskingum, ' '  indicating  that  the  settlement  had 
a  name  before  it  had  an  existence,  and  even  prior  to  the  expedition. 
The  name  it  was  to  bear,  however,  was  natural  and  appropriate, 
standing  for  Marie  Antoinette,  the  French  queen,  who  was  admired 
throughout  the  States  for  her  influence  in  inducing  the  king  Louis 
XVI  to  make  an  alliance  with  the  colonists  during  the  Revolution. 
At  a  later  time  Dr.  Cutler  rode  to  Marietta  in  a  sulky,  making  the 
trip  of  750  miles  in  twenty-nine  days.  But  he  did  not  prove  so  good 
a  pioneer  on  the  field  as  he  had  been  in  making  the  preparations 
and  in  leading  the  way  thither,  for,  true  to  his  scientific  predilection, 
he  devoted  himself  more  to  the  study  of  the  prehistoric  mounds  of 
the  vicinity  than  to  the  affairs  of  the  infant  settlement.  After  a 
stay  of  a  few  weeks  he  returned  to  his  home  in  the  East,  and  the 
work  of  carrying  on  the  building  up  of  the  settlement  fell  to  General 
Rufus  Putnam. 

As  superintendent  of  the  Ohio  Company,  Putnam  applied  himself 
to  the  work  of  establishing  the  colony  at  Marietta,  and  having  been 
a  man  of  wide  experience  in  the  handling  of  practical  affairs  of  an 
important  public  character,  he  made  a  success  of  the  undertaking. 
He  was  a  cousin  of  Israel  Putnam,  and  a  self-made  man  who  had 
become  distinguished  from  his  military  and  engineering  connections 
with  the  Revolution.  He  had  been  a  leading  spirit  in  the  movement 
to  settle  the  Northwest  Territory,  and  had  presided  at  the  meeting 
held  in  Boston  on  March  1st,  1786,  at  which  the  Ohio  Company  was 
formed.  Putnam  accomplished  more,  at  least  in  the  way  of  contin- 
uous service  in  the  preliminary  agitation,  and  for  the  settlement  and 
development  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  of 
which  Marietta  was  the  first  permanent  town,  than  any  other,  not 
excepting  Dane  and  Cutler.    In  after  years  he  occupied  a  judicial 

in 


THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY  AND  THE  ORDINANCE  OF  1787 

place  in  the  Territory,  and  under  the  national  government  held 
important  military  and  civil  offices,  and  finally  sealed  his  devotion 
to  the  home  of  his  adoption  by  closing  his  career  at  Marietta  on  May 
1st,  1824. 

This  sketch  would  be  lacking  without  a  few  remarks  concerning 
the  Western  Eeserve.  As  has  been  stated,  several  of  the  colonies 
had  been  granted  in  thir  royal  charters  unlimited  bounds  to  the  west, 
even  to  the  Pacific.  In  1786  Connecticut  ceded  to  the  United  States 
all  her  western  claims  except  those  lands  lying  in  the  present  state 
of  Ohio  north  of  paralell  41°  and  extending  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  beyond  the  western  border  of  Pennsylvania.  The  reservation 
was  called  in  the  early  days,  "New  Connecticut."  From  its  wes- 
tern part  were  set  off  by  the  Legislature  five  hundred  thousand 
acres  for  the  reimbursement  of  those  who  had  suffered  losses 
through  fire  and  depredations  of  the  enemy  in  the  Revolution,  and 
were  hence  called  "The  Fire  Lands."  Practically  all  the  remainder 
of  the  Reserve,  consisting  of  about  three  million  acres  were  disposed 
of  in  1795  to  the  Connecticut  Land  Company  for  forty  cents  per 
acre,  General  Moses  Cleaveland  becoming  the  general  agent  of  the 
association.  In  the  spring  of  the  following  year  the  Company  sent 
a  corps  of  surveyors  and  a  company  of  about  forty  persons  to 
occupy  the  newly-purchased  lands,  the  route  having  been  from 
Schenectady,  the  starting  place  of  the  expedition,  up  the  Mohawk  to 
Oneida  lake,  to  Lake  Ontario,  to  Lake  Erie,  and  thence  to  their  des- 
tination. The  journey  was  made  with  privations  and  hardships.  At 
this  time  there  was  but  a  single  family  living  at  Buffalo,  while  what 
is  now  the  State  of  Ohio  was,  except  for  Marietta  and  settlements 
on  its  eastern  border,  a  wilderness  country.  Five  years  later  the 
number  of  settlements  in  the  Reserve  had  increased  to  thirty-two, 
though  no  government  worthy  of  the  name  had  been  inaugurated. 
It  was  deemed  expedient,  therefore,  to  remit  the  jurisdiction  of  civil 
affairs  to  the  national  government,  the  State  of  Connecticut  main- 
taining its  land  claims,  from  the  subsequent  sale  of  which  it  derived 
its  school  fund.  A  territorial  government  was  established  at  Mari- 
etta in  1788  by  General  St.  Clair,  the  governor,  and  in  1800  Connec- 
ticut relinquished  all  her  rights  to  the  United  States. 

The  greatest  municipal  monument  of  the  "Western  Reserve  is  the 

112 


jPPHEPHWgjiP  |H , '■iP.^iypijym.i^n^uiL'iiwwTnii'iij.ji  liawhiwh  n  .,      ,    i    n— i  m  jiii.h 


y^ 


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■^r— . 


1 


■r^vA^wfa^Mai^.-,  w^wr«  rtfry^-^^Hii--^  -i  V.>»-i  ..a-f  aA«r^tawvrtaa^i  ■  r  ^fv^Ti^to-r^iafehiiiifii 


First  Governor  of  the  Northwest  Territory 


THE  NORTHWEST  TERRITORY  AND  THE  ORDINANCE  OF  1787 

city  of  Cleveland,  laid  out  and  founded  by  Moses  Cleaveland  in  1796 
as  agent  of  the  Connecticut  Land  Company.  There  is  a  tradition 
that  in  1830,  when  the  first  newspaper  of  the  city,  "The  Cleveland 
Advertiser, ' '  was  making  up  its  first  issue,  that  the  printer,  finding 
that  the  heading  of  the  sheet  was  too  long  for  the  form,  eliminated 
a  letter  "a"  from  the  name,  leaving  it  " Cleveland, ' '  which  there- 
after became  the  established  spelling.  Western  Reserve  University, 
of  that  city,  perpetuates  the  remembrance  of  the  New  England  influ- 
ences still  potent  in  Ohio  and  which  lend  a  distinct  Connecticut 
atmosphere  to  her  social,  educational  and  religious  institutions. 

In  this  fragmentary  review  of  the  history  connected  with  the 
acquirement  of  the  Northwest  Territory,  of  the  birth  and  character 
of  the  Ordinance  for  its  government,  and  of  the  beginnings  of  its 
settlement,  it  has  been  possible  to  indicate  but  a  few  of  the  leading 
events.  Associated  with  the  subject  are  conditions  and  experiences 
of  human  life  which  have  disappeared  never  to  return : — the  deep, 
primeval  forest;  the  elusive,  treacherous  savage;  the  politic, 
shrewd  and  covetous  French;  the  American  pioneers  pressing  on, 
pressing  on,  undaunted,  facing  danger  and  hardship  cheerfully; — 
days  of  romance,  ardent  hope  and  lust  of  land;  primitive  days  of  the 
coonskin  cap,  the  steel,  tinder  and  flint,  the  hunting  knife  and  the 
long,  unerring  rifle ;  when  meditation  was  without  opportunity,  and 
action  first  in  demand  and  valiantly  responded  to  everywhere; — 
days  of  heroism  and  the  steady  nerve  and  the  invincible  heart.  Such 
were  the  men  who  entered  and  subdued  the  Northwest  Territory ; — 
a  Titan  race,  not  only  physically,  but  intellectually  and  ethically  and 
spiritually;  at  the  very  thresholds  of  the  wilderness  they  erected 
the  schoolhouse  and  the  church.  There  lives  for  the  greater  part  are 
forgotten,  but  they  live  in  the  noble  manhood  and  womanhood  of 
tens  of  thousands  who  inhabit,  and  in  the  great  institutions  which 
adorn,  five  shining  commonwealths  of  the  United  States,  the  founda- 
tions of  which  they  worthily  laid. 


113 


Editorial 


PUBLICATION  RESUMED 

With  the  first  number  of  the  volume  for  1917,  Americana  lapsed 
on  account  of  a  fire  in  the  printing  house,  involving  the  destruc- 
tion of  certain  material.  The  Magazine  was  then  taken  over  by  the 
American  Historical  Society,  Inc.,  which  produces  the  present 
number  and  will  conduct  the  publication  in  the  future.  The  illum- 
inated cover  and  new  typographical  features  add  greatly  to  its 
beauty  in  a  mechanical  way ;  while  the  various  papers  presented,  by 
writers  of  ability  and  discernment,  will  prove  assurance  of  a  high 
standard  for  the  future. 

The  change  of  proprietorship  came  so  recently,  that,  taken  in  con- 
nection with  printing  house  embarrassments  incident  to  fuel  con- 
servation, publication  of  the  Magazine  has  been  delayed.  The  next 
number  will  be  out  of  press  at  proper  time — April  1st,  and  there- 
after on  the  first  day  of  each  calendar  quarter. 


THE  GREAT  WAR 

As  this  magazine  goes  to  press,  the  country  is  just  beginning  to 
feel  something  of  the  realities  of  war,  and  is  meeting  the  emergency 
with  a  quiet  courage  devoid  of  that  noisy  enthusiasm  which  does 
not  always  certify  real  determination. 

We  are  of  those  who  find  no  fault  with  President  or  the  Congress 
for  not  bringing  the  country  into  war  nmch  sooner.  Provocation 
there  certainly  was,  long  ago,  in  the  awful  Lusitania  crime,  in  the 
similar  outrages  perpetrated  upon  American  persons  and  property, 
and  in  the  perfidy  of  German  diplomats  of  high  rank  who,  while 
enjoying  governmental  and  personal  hospitalities  and  confidences, 
abused  their  privileges  by  spy  work  and  incendiarism  which  made 
a  common  cutthroat  and  burglar  a  high-type  gentleman  in  compar- 
ison with  them.     President  Wilson  recognized  the  importance  of 

114 


EDITORIAL 

one  of  the  first  of  legal  maxims — of  coming  into  court  with  clean 
hands;  of  holding  his  country  in  such  moral  attitude  that  at  the 
final  assize  of  nations,  its  character  would  stand  immaculate ;  he,  too, 
alone  knew  what  pitfalls  of  diplomacy  and  intrigue  were  to  be 
avoided;  and  he  measured  with  wise  balance  what  the  country's 
needs  and  resources  were.  Procrastination  was  morally  right,  and 
practically  judicious. 

When  the  President  moved,  he  moved  with  firm  tread,  and  patri- 
otic determination.  On  his  initiative,  Congress  adopted  a  joint  dec- 
laration setting  forth  that  * i  a  state  of  war  exists  between  the  United 
States  and  the  Imperial  German  Government,"  and  which  he  signed 
on  April  6th,  1917.  On  December  7th  following,  similar  action  was 
taken  with  reference  to  the  Austro-Hungarian  Government.  The 
President  wisely  wrought  upon  Congress  and  upon  the  national 
sentiment  and  effected  the  selective  service  method  for  recruiting 
an  immense  army,  instead  of  the  volunteer  system  of  former  war 
times.  Under  its  operations,  the  close  of  the  year  saw  more  than 
a  million  and  a  half  men  in  the  army,  and  half  a  million  more  in 
naval  and  aviation  service.  That  these  men  are  admirable  in 
physique  and  spirit,  is  known  to  every  one  who  has  visited  a  camp  or 
barracks. 

The  recruiting  of  an  army  is  the  least  labor  of  war  times.  The 
present  wTriter  served  through  the  entire  War  for  the  Union,  and 
knows  whereof  he  speaks.  The  worst  enemy  the  soldier  in  the  field 
is  to  encounter,  is  not  the  foe,  but  privations  and  disease  which  sap 
animal  strength  and  dull  the  spirit.  Our  boys  of  today  will  over- 
come these,  as  did  their  ancestors  of  Revolutionary  and  Civil  War 
times.  There  will  be  tremendous  expenditures  of  money,  and  the 
people  will  be  called  upon  to  make  large  tax  payments,  and  practice 
unfamiliar  economies.  From  1861  to  1865  comparatively  few  fam- 
ilies could  indulge  in  coffee  or  tea,  and  calico  was  a  costly  article,  to 
say  nothing  of  better  quality  goods.  These  were  the  conditions  in 
the  North;  the  Southerners,  whose  sons  are  now  bravely  battling 
side  by  side  with  the  sons  of  the  Northerners  who  fought  them  fifty 
and  more  years  ago,  suffered  much  keener  hardships. 

The  vast  causes  at  stake  and  the  results  to  be  accomplished,  are 
worth  all  they  will  cost.    For  every  good  that  comes  to  man,  a  price 

115 


EDITORIAL 

must  be  paid — in  means,  in  self-denials,  and  sacrifice.  In  this  crisis, 
as  was  said  by  the  Great  Lincoln  at  a  crucial  time  in  our  nation's 
history,  "Having  chosen  our  course,  without  guile  and  with  pure 
purpose,  let  us  renew  our  trust  in  God,  and  go  forward  without  fear 
md  with  manly  hearts/ ' 


IN  MEMORIAM 


At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Historical  Society,  held 
January  8,  1918,  report  was  made  of  the  death,  on  January  6,  (two 
days  preceding)  of  Mr.  William  S.  Pelletreau,  and  Messrs.  J.  A. 
Ellis,  Edward  0.  Lewis  and  Metcalf  B.  Hatch  were  appointed  a 
committee  to  draft  an  appropriate  tribute  to  his  memory.  The  fol- 
lowing was  reported  and  adopted  by  unanimous  vote : 

In  Mr.  William  S.  Pelletreau  we  recognize  not  only  an  accom- 
plished historian,  genealogist  and  antiquarian,  but  an  old-school 
gentleman  of  the  finest  type.  Well  past  the  scriptural  years  of  use- 
fulness, three  score  and  ten,  his  mental  faculties  were  undimmed; 
and  he  was  pursuing  his  lifelong  labors  with  his  usual  industry  and 
enthusiasm  when  he  was  suddenly  stricken  down. 

The  products  of  his  pen  during  his  many  years'  association  with 
us,  are  of  enduring  value.  His  published  volumes  have  been  numer- 
ous, and  his  narratives  for  our  many  historical  and  genealogical 
works  are  numbered  by  hundreds ;  while  there  is  still  remaining  to 
us  many  of  his  manuscripts  which  will  yet  pass  into  permanent 
form. 

To  all  his  labors  he  brought  ripe  experience,  discriminating  judg- 
ment, and  unflagging  industry. 

His  personal  qualities  endeared  him  to  each  one  of  us.  He  im- 
pressed his  personality  and  idealism  upon  all  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact.  In  his  passing  away,  we  have  lost  a  highly  valued  friend, 
and  the  community  a  figure  of  unique  worth,  and,  as  an  annalist,  one 
of  the  chiefest  ornaments  of  his  day. 


MILITARY  STRENGTH  IN  WAR  FOR  THE  UNION 

A  note  from  a  reader  in  a  distant  State  asks  information  as  to 
the  number  of  troops  serving  under  the  government  during  the  War 
for  the  Union.    It  is  a  topic  which,  since  the  beginning  of  the  pres- 

116 


EDITORIAL 

ent  war,  has  been  variously  treated  from  time  to  time  through  the 
press  and  by  public  speakers.  The  editor  of  this  Magazine  will,  in 
order  that  his  judgment  may  be  properly  measured,  be  pardoned  for 
saying  that  he  served  throughout  the  entire  struggle,  as  enlisted 
man  and  staff  officer,  and  that  he  has  for  many  years  past  made  a 
careful  study  of  the  subject,  impelled  thereto  in  large  measure 
because  of  false  impressions  left  by  large  figures  not  properly 
analyzed. 

The  War  Department  figures  most  generally  brought  into  evi- 
dence, show  the  total  number  of  officers  and  men  called  into  army 
service  by  President  Lincoln,  between  April  15,  1861,  when  he 
issued  his  first  call  for  75,000  men  for  three  months,  and  his  last 
call  of  December  19,  1864,  was  2,774,208,  this  great  number  includ- 
ing several  thousands  of  militia  called  for  home  defense  in  various 
States,  and  for  other  service  not  in  the  field.  This  aggregate  the 
War  Department,  by  reduction  to  a  three  years  standard,  puts  at 
2,320,372 ;  the  various  calls  were  not  for  a  uniform  period,  but  for 
nine  months,  two  years,  and  three  years,  as  the  immediate  emer- 
gency dictated.  These  figures,  however,  convey  no  accurate  idea 
of  the  number  of  men  actually  under  arms  and  on  the  battle  line. 
For  instance,  the  largest  number  of  officers  and  men  borne  on  the 
army  rolls,  was  on  January  1st,  1863 — 1,068,199,  of  whom  269,389 
were  absent  sick  or  on  special  service,  reducing  the  effective  force 
on  the  battle  line,  on  garrison  duty  and  protecting  river  and  rail- 
road communications,  to  798,810,  and  these  distributed  among  all 
the  States  in  insurrection,  on  the  Atlantic,  Pacific  and  Gulf  coasts, 
and  on  the  western  plains. 

To  gain  a  more  accurate  idea  of  the  real  numerical  strength  of 
the  army,  it  would  be  necessary  to  take  into  consideration  facts 
upon  which  statistics  shed  no  light.  The  War  Department  "reduc- 
tion to  a  three  years'  service  standard"  is  based  upon  the  grand 
total  of  enlistments  during  the  war.  But  in  many  thousands  of 
cases,  a  single  individual  appears  on  the  rolls  as  two,  three,  or  even 
four  men.  The  majority  of  the  seventy-five  thousand  three  months 
men  of  April,  1861,  re-enlisted  under  the  three  years'  call  which 
followed,  and  each  of  these  is  borne  upon  two  rolls  as  though  he 
were  two  different  men.     Similarly,  in  1863-64,  thousands  of  men 

117 


EDITORIAL 

whose  periods  of  service  were  expiring,  re-enlisted  as  "Veteran  Vol- 
unteers, ' '  and  were  credited  upon  a  new  roll.  During  the  two  years 
cited,  more  particularly,  a  great  number  of  commissioned  officers 
left  the  service,  their  term  having  expired,  and  non-commissioned 
officers  were  promoted  to  fill  these  vacancies ;  in  each  case  the  new 
officer  was  discharged  from  service  "to  accept  commission, "  and 
being  mustered  thereunder,  again  appears  upon  a  new  roll.  There 
is  no  possible  way  of  ascertaining,  under  these  conditions,  what  de- 
duction should  be  made  from  the  grand  aggregate  of  enlistments, 
to  ascertain  the  actual  number  of  men. 

The  inquiry  of  our  correspondent,  which  prompts  this  disquisi- 
tion, touches  the  question  of  casualties  during  the  four  years  of  war, 
1861-1865.  The  War  Department  statistics  are  as  follows:  Of- 
ficers and  men,  killed  in  action,  67,058 ;  died  from  wounds  received 
in  action  43,012 — making  the  total  battle  losses  110,080.  In  addi- 
tion, 224,586  officers  and  men  died  from  disease.  There  were  391 
cases  of  suicide,  and  267  military  executions  for  desertion  and  other 
crimes ;  9,058  accidental  deaths,  including  4,114  by  drowning ;  mur- 
dered, 520 ;  deaths  from  various  causes,  2,515,  and  from  causes  not 
stated,  12,121,  making  the  aggregate  of  deaths  in  service,  359,538. 
The  number  of  officers  and  men  wounded  in  action  is  not  given, 
except  as  to  deaths  resulting  therefrom;  at  the  usual  ratio  of 
wounded  to  dead,  the  number  would  be  about  200,000  in  all,  includ- 
ing the  43,012  who  died  from  wounds  as  stated  above. 


Note — The  following  is  heraldic  description  of  Arms  of  De  Mo- 
lines  and  Font  families,  mentioned  on  page  10 : 

De  Molines  Arms — Azure  a  cross  moline  or,  pierced  of  the  field. 

Crest — A  Sacracen's  head  afrontee  couped  below  the  shoulders 
proper,  wreathed  about  the  temples. 

Supporters — Two  lions  collared  and  ducally  crowned. 

Motto — Vivere  sat  vincere. 

Font  Arms,  Catalonia,  Spain — Azure  a  fountain  composed  of  a 
basin  standing  in  another  basin,  spouting  four  jets  of  water,  a  :1  ar- 
gent. 


118 


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WILLIAM  L.  SLADE 

Man  of  Large  Affairs;  born  September  6,  1817;  died 
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The  Slade  Family  in  England  and  America 


The  following  is  the  heraldic  description  of  the  Slade  arms : 

Arms — Per  fesse  argent  and  sable  a  pale  counterchanged,  and 
three  horses'  heads  erased,  two  and  one,  of  the  second,  a  chief 
ermine.    Thereon  two  bombs  fired  proper. 

Crest — On  a  mount  vert  a  horse's  head  erased  sable,  encircled  with 
a  chain  in  form  of  an  arch,  gold. 

Motto — Fidus  et  audax — (Faithful  and  bold.) 

The  Slade  coat-of-arms,  as  it  was  originally  registered  during  the 
time  of  Queen  Elizabeth  was : 

Arms — Argent,  three  horses'  heads  sable,  a  chief  gules. 

Crest— A  horse's  head,  erased  sable.  After  the  struggle  and  the 
corruption  of  the  time  of  Cromwell,  and  probably  due  to  honor 
gained  on  the  battle-field,  two  bombs  have  been  charged,  and  the 
chief  changed  from  red  to  ermine.  A  pale,  counterchanged,  has  also 
been  added  upon  the  field,  parted  per  fesse  argent  and  sable. 

The  signification  of  these  arms  is  easily  understood;  sable  (black) 
indicates  a  family  of  remote  antiquity  or  of  old  lineage.  Silver- 
puviti,  the  pale,  typifies  the  pales  of  wood  used  by  the  Crusaders, 
and  is  of  infrequent  occurrence  in  heraldry.  The  chief,  occupying 
one-third  of  the  field  at  top,  is  considered  the  most  honorable  ordi- 
nary ;  it  is  a  charge  in  heraldry,  granted  a  chieftain  or  a  commander 
of  troops ;  red  denotes  courage. 

Descendants  of  the  family  are  found  in  Bedfordshire,  Hunting- 
donshire, Northamptonshire,  Buckinghamshire,  Herefordshire,  and 
in  the  county  of  Somerset,  England. 

In  the  old  English  annals  and  records  the  name  of  Slade  appears 

119 


THE  SLADE  FAMILY  IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

in  the  year  1300  in  the  Writs  of  Parliament,  where  Nicholas  de  la 
Slade  is  mentioned.  In  1327  occurs  the  entry:  " Henry  atte  Slade, 
County  Somerset,  also  John  atte  Slade,  Chronicle  Record,  1460; 
Richard  atte  Slade,  Chronicle  Record,  1505 ;  Mary,  daughter  of  John 
Slade,  baptized  in  Kensington  Church,  in  1596 ;  Ammiel  Slade,  Coun- 
ty Devon,  registered  in  the  University  of  Oxford,  England,  1615; 
Francis  Slade,  County  Berks,  Chronicle  Record,  1615 ;  Grace,  daugh- 
ter of  George  Slayd,  baptized  in  Kensington  Church,  1645.' '  James 
Slade  was  a  dean  of  Chester  Cathedral,  England,  and  has  a  me- 
morial window  there. 

Among  prominent  members  of  the  Slade  family  are  the  following 
named:  Sir  Adolphus  Slade,  writer  on  travels,  1838;  William 
Adams  Slade,  editor  and  author  on  history ;  William  Slade,  Vermont 
State  Papers,  1786-1859;  Mary  B.  C.  Slade,  writer  of  Sunday  School 
Sermons ;  John  Slade,  M.  D.,  Memoirs,  1836 ;  Holmes  Slade,  Univer- 
salist  Catechism,  1886;  Frederick  Slade,  authority  on  Locomotive 
Engineering ;  Felix  Slade,  famous  for  Collection  of  Glass  formed  by 
him;  Architect  Slade,  who  planned  the  laying  of  Back  Bay;  Edmond 
John  Wane  Slade,  author  of  a  short  history  of  Ironclad  Trains, 
Washington,  1883;  Dennison  Rogers  Slade,  writer;  Daniel  Dennison 
Slade,  author  of  " Genealogy  of  Major-General  Daniel  Dennison,' ' 
and  * '  Twelve  Days  in  the  Saddle ' ' ;  Charles  Slade, i '  Speeches ' ' ;  Ann 
Maria  Slade,  a  pious  woman,  her  biography  published  in  Fall  River, 
1837. 

The  foregoing  is  taken  from  a  statement  given  by  Ragnar  Mell- 
bin,  H.  A.,  Boston,  Massachusetts,  in  March,  1909. 

The  Slade  family  is  extremely  ancient,  and  wTas  originally  known 
as  de  la  Slade.  The  origin  of  the  name  is  an  interesting  one,  and  is 
found  in  the  old  term,  ' '  a  slade, ' '  which  meant  much  the  same  as  our 
modern  term,  glade — a  small  strip  of  green  sward  in  a  woodland. 
We  have  the  old  rhyme,  from  the  "  Robin  Hood  Ballads :" 

"It  had  been  better  of  William  a  Trent 

To  have  been  abed  with  sorrowe, 
Than  to  be  that  day  in  greenwood  slade 

To  meet  with  Little  John's  arrow." 

The  derivation  of  the  name  from  the  common  noun  is  obvious  in 
such  names  as  Robert  de  Greneslade  (of  the  Greenslade) ;  William 

i\  120 


, 


THE  SLADE  FAMILY  IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

de  la  Morslade  (of  the  Moorland  Slade) ;  Richard  de  Wytslade,  and 
many  others.  The  name  is  of  purely  local  origin,  and  its  original 
bearers  took  the  surname  from  localities  bearing  the  name  of  Slade, 
when  the  adoption  of  surnames  became  general. 

The  surname  Slade  was  notable  in  many  of  its  various  forms  in 
England  during  the  Middle  Ages,  and  in  still  later  periods. 

The  Slade  family  has  been  continuous  in  America  for  more  than 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  during  which  time  it  has  played  a  prom- 
inent part  in  the  life  and  affairs  of  New  England.  The  name  has 
been  very  prominently  identified  with  industrial  and  civic  affairs  in 
Southeastern  Massachusetts,  and  in  the  city  of  Fall  River,  and  it  is 
with  the  branch  of  the  family,  known  as  the  Fall  River  Slades,  that 
this  article  will  deal. 

I.  William  Slade,  the  founder  of  the  Slade  family  in  this  country, 
is  thought  to  have  been  born  in  Wales.  He  was  a  son  of  Edward 
Slade,  of  Wales,  whose  residence  there  is  thought  to  have  been  but 
temporary,  since  the  family  for  many  generations  previous  had  been 
of  Somersetshire,  England.  William  Slade  was  a  resident  of  New- 
port, Rhode  Island,  as  early  as  the  year  1659, when  there  appears  the 
record  of  his  admission  as  freeman  of  the  colony.  He  was  one  of  the 
early  settlers  of  the  Shawomet  purchase,  which  included  that  part  of 
Swansea,  Massachusetts,  which  afterward  became  the  town  of  Som- 
erset. As  early  as  the  year  1680,  when  the  first  record  book  of  the 
town  begins,  Mr.  Slade  is  recorded  as  having  long  been  a  resident 
there.  The  meetings  of  the  proprietors  were  held  at  his  house  after 
their  discontinuance  at  Plymouth  in  1677.  William  Slade  was  a 
large  land  owner,  and  included  in  his  holdings  the  ferry  across  the 
Taunton  river,  which  has  ever  since  been  known  as  Slade 's  Ferry. 
This  ferry  remained  in  possession  of  the  Slade  family  until  the 
bridging  of  the  river  in  1876,  and  was  operated  up  to  that  time  by 
William  L.  and  Jonathan  Slade. 

William  Slade,  the  founder,  married  Sarah  Holmes,  daughter  of 
Rev.  Obadiah  Holmes,  noted  divine  of  Rehoboth.  (See  Holmes  II.) 
Children :  1.  Mary,  born  May,  1689.  2.  William,  born  in  1692.  3. 
Edward,  mentioned  below.  4.  Elizabeth,  born  December  2,  1695. 
6.  Hannah,  born  July  15,  1697.    7.  Martha,  born  February  27, 1699. 

121 


THE  SLADE  FAMILY  IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

8.  Sarah.    9.  Phebe,  born  September  25,  1701.    10.  Jonathan,  born 
August  3, 1703.    11.  Lydia,  born  October  8,  1706. 

II.  Edward  Slade,  son  of  "William  and  Sarah  (Holmes)  Slade,  was 
born  June  14, 1694,  at  Swansea,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Society  of 
Friends.  He  married  (first)  in  1717,  Elizabeth  Anthony,  by  whom 
he  had  one  son,  William,  born  September  25,  1718.  He  married  (sec- 
ond) December  6, 1720,  Phebe,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Sarah  (Sher- 
man) Chase;  and  (third)  Deborah  Buffum.  Children  of  the  second 
marriage :  1.  Samuel,  mentioned  below.  2.  Elizabeth,  born  April  29, 
1723.  3.  Joseph,  born  November  16, 1724.  4.  Sarah,  born  in  Febru- 
ary, 1726.  Children  of  the  third  marriage:  5.  Edward,  born  No- 
vember 11,  1728.  6.  Philip,  born  April  19,  1730.  7.  Phebe,  born 
July  4, 1737.    8.  Mercy,  born  in  1744. 

III.  Samuel  Slade,  son  of  Edward  and  Phebe  (Chase)  Slade,  was 
born  in  Swansea,  Massachusetts,  November  26,  1721.  He  lived  on 
the  old  Slade  place  all  his  life,  and  inherited  from  his  uncle,  Captain 
Jonathan  Slade  (who  died  without  issue)  the  old  Slade 's  Ferry  al- 
ready referred  to.  Samuel  Slade  was  a  man  of  much  enterprise,  and 
engaged  in  several  occupations.  Beside  the  farming  which  he  car- 
ried on  upon  the  homestead,  he  operated  the  ferry  and  conducted  a 
blacksmith's  shop.  He  married  Mercy  Buffum,  daughter  of  Jona- 
than and  Mercy  Buffum,  who  was  born  July  23,  1723,  at  Salem, 
Massachusetts,  and  died  November  18, 1797,  at  Swansea.  Their  chil- 
dren, all  born  in  Swansea,  were :  1.  Jonathan,  mentioned  below.  2. 
Robert,  born  October  7,  1746.  3.  Henry,  born  August  20,  1748.  4. 
Edward,  born  September  27,  1749.  5.  Samuel,  born  January  20, 
1753.  6.  Caleb,  born  June  24,  1755.  7.  Buffum,  born  May  31,  1757. 
8.  William,  born  October  18,  1758.  9.  Benjamin,  born  March  14, 
1762. 

IV.  Jonathan  Slade,  son  of  Samuel  and  Mercy  (Buffum)  Slade, 
born  at  Swansea,  Massachusetts,  August  13,  1744,  where  he  passed 
his  entire  life,  and  where  he  died  November  16,  1811.  He  married 
Mary,  daughter  of  Daniel  and  Mary  Chase,  who  was  born  December 
15,  1746,  at  Swansea,  and  died  there  September  7,  1814.    Children : 

1.  Jonathan,  born  February  10,  1768 ;  died  there  December  8,  1797. 

2.  Mercy,  born  June  30,  1770.     3.  Mary,  born  April  15,  1772.    4. 
Anna,  born  January  20,  1775 ;  died  May  19,  1805.    5.  Patience,  born 

122 


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THE  SLADE  FAMILY  IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

May  5, 1777,  died  October  26, 1798.  6.  William,  mentioned  below.  7. 
Nathan,  born  February  10,  1783.  8.  Phebe,  born  May  15,  1785.  9. 
Hannah,  born  January  18, 1788 ;  died  May  23,  1805.  10.  Lydia,  born 
April  3,  1791 ;  died  October  26,  1804. 

V.  William  (2)  Blade,  son  of  Jonathan  and  Mary  (Chase)  Slade, 
was  born  in  the  town  of  Swansea,  Massachusetts,  June  4,  1780,  and 
died  there,  September  7,  1852.  He  resided  in  that  part  of  Swansea 
which  later  became  Somerset,  and  was  a  prominent  figure  in  com- 
munity affairs,  filling  many  offices  of  trust  and  responsibility.  It 
was  he  who  instituted  the  improvement  of  the  ferry  in  the  year  1826, 
wrhen  he  substituted  a  horse-boat  for  the  old  row-boat,  but  this  was 
only  the  beginning.  In  1846  he  was  .one  of  the  pioneers  in  adopting 
steam  as  the  motive  power  of  ferry  boats.  In  1812,  together  with  a 
number  of  associates,  he  purchased  the  land  upon  which  was  built 
the  Pocasset  Company's  mill,  one  of  the  first  two  mills  in  what  was 
then  the  town  of  Troy,  now  the  city  of  Fall  River.  These  mills  be- 
came the  pioneers  in  the  cloth-making  industry,  established  in  1813. 
Jonathan  Slade  was  one  of  the  original  stockholders  in  these  enter- 
prises, and  one  of  the  eight  incorporators  who  in  1822  founded  the 
Pocasset  Manufacturing  Company  of  Fall  River,  a  concern  which 
may  be  said  to  have  given  the  greatest  impetus  of  the  time  to  the  cot- 
ton manufacturing  industry  in  the  region.  He  wTas  also  one  of  the 
original  owmers  of  the  Watuppa  Manufacturing  Company  of  the 
same  place.  He  married  Phebe,  daughter  of  William  and  Abigail 
Lawton,  who  was  born  August  21,  1781,  at  Newport,  Rhode  Island, 
and  died  at  Somerset,  Massachusetts,  March  18,  1874,  in  her  ninety- 
third  year.  Children,  all  born  in  Somerset,  Massachusetts,  were: 
1.  Abigail  L.,  born  January  22, 1809.  2.  Lydia  Ann,  born  Septem- 
ber 17,  1811.  3.  Amanda,  born  December  2,  1813.  4.  Jonathan, 
born  September  23, 1815.  5.  William  L.,  mentioned  below.  6.  David, 
born  September  4, 1819.    7.  Mary,  born  September  30, 1821. 

VI.  Hon.  William  Laivton  Slade,  son  of  William  (2)  and  Phebe 
(Lawton)  Slade,  w7as  born  September  6,  1817,  at  Somerset,  Massa- 
chusetts, where  he  was  reared  on  the  old  Slade  homestead.  He  at- 
tended the  common  schools  of  that  region  for  a  time,  and  was  later 
sent  by  his  parents  to  the  Friends'  School  at  Providence.  He  con- 
tinued to  operate  the  Slade  Ferry,  and  engaged  in  farming  on  a 

123 


THE  SLADE  FAMILY  IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

large  scale.  He  added  extensively  during  his  lifetime  to  the  family- 
estate,  purchasing  several  fine  farms.  In  1871  he  inherited  the  ferry 
property,  lying  on  the  east  side  of  Taunton  river.  This  he  received 
in  association  with  his  brother,  Jonathan  Slade,  and  these  two  were 
the  last  to  operate  the  ferry,  as  the  river  was  bridged  in  1876,  thus 
terminating  an  occupation  which  had  continued  in  the  family  for 
about  two  hundred  years. 

Early  in  life,  William  Lawton  Slade,  like  his  father,  became  inter- 
ested in  the  manufacturing  concerns  of  Fall  Eiver,  and  became  a 
member  of  the  first  board  of  directors,  and  later  president  of  the 
Montaup  Mills  Company.  This  was  organized  in  the  year  1871  for 
the  manufacture  of  duck  and  common  bags,  and  launched  a  new  in- 
dustry in  Fall  River.  Mr.  Slade  was  also  one  of  the  promoters  of 
the  Slade  Mill,  which,  founded  in  1871,  was  one  of  the  first  group  of 
factories  erected  in  the  southern  district  of  the  city.  He  became  di- 
rector and  the  president  of  this  concern  later,  and  was  also  a  direc- 
tor of  the  Stafford  Mill,  besides  holding  stock  in  several  other  im- 
portant industrial  concerns  of  Fall  River.  He  was  connected  with 
the  financial  institutions  of  the  city,  and  in  1860  was  made  a  director 
of  what  subsequently  became  the  Fall  River  National  Bank.  He  was 
equally  prominent  in  public  affairs,  serving  for  many  years  as  a 
selectman  of  the  town  of  Somerset,  and  in  1859  and  1864  represented 
that  town  in  the  General  Assembly  of  Massachusetts.  While  a  mem- 
ber of  this  body  he  was  appointed  to  the  committee  on  agriculture 
during  his  first  term,  and  to  the  committees  on  public  charitable  in- 
stitutions and  on  the  arrangements  for  the  burial  of  Senator  Charles 
Sumner  during  his  second.  In  1863  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Massachusetts  State  Senate,  and  served  in  that  body  as  a  member 
of  the  committee  on  agriculture.  He  was  a  Republican  in  politics,  and 
a  strong  upholder  of  the  principles  and  policies  of  that  party,  but  was 
never  an  office-seeker,  although  he  would  not  deny  the  popular  de- 
mand for  his  nomination  to  the  various  public  posts  which  he  held. 
It  often  became  his  duty  to  engage  in  the  settlement  of  estates,  and 
he  frequently  served  as  a  commissioner  for  that  purpose.  He  was  a 
man  of  high  ideals  and  strong  belief,  and  was  one  of  the  chief  advo- 
cates of  temperance  in  that  part  of  the  state.  His  death  occurred 
July  29, 1895,  and  two  days  later  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Slade 

124 


THE  SLADE  FAMILY  IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

Mill  passed  the  following  resolutions  as  a  testimonial  to  his  charac- 
ter: 

William  Lawton  Slade  was  one  of  the  originators  of  this  company, 
and  has  been  its  president  since  the  date  of  its  incorporation  in  1871. 
He  has  always  identified  himself  with  its  interests,  and  its  welfare 
has  been  his  constant  care.  He  gave  freely  of  his  time  and  thought 
to  the  business  of  the  corporation.  Every  subject  presented  to  his 
attention  received  from  him  calm  consideration,  and  mature  delib- 
eration, and  his  judgment  was  universally  respected.  He  was  broad 
in  his  views,  f  arseeing  in  his  suggestions,  and  looked  not  alone  to  the 
present,  but  to  the  future. 

He  was  a  man  of  noble  presence,  high  character,  sound  judgment, 
and  unswerving  integrity.  He  was  pleasant  in  his  manner,  and  was 
universally  esteemed  and  respected. 

This  corporation  has  lost  in  him  a  firm  friend,  a  wise  counselor 
and  a  sagacious  adviser,  and  its  directors,  each  and  every  one,  feel 
a  keen  sense  of  personal  bereavement. 

It  is  resolved  that  we  attend  his  funeral  in  a  body  and  that  copies 
of  this  record  be  furnished  to  his  family  and  for  publication. 

Heney  S.  Fenner,  Clerk. 

William  Lawton  Slade  married,  October  5,  1842,  Mary  Sherman, 
daughter  of  Asa  and  Elizabeth  (Mitchell)  Sherman,  of  Portsmouth, 
Rhode  Island.  (See  Sherman  V.)  She  was  born  September  16, 
1815,  in  Portsmouth,  Rhode  Island,  and  died  March  29, 1900,  in  Som- 
erset, Massachusetts.  Children:  1.  Caroline  Elizabeth,  mentioned 
below.  2.  Abigail  L.,  born  March  15,  1848,  died  November  5,  1872 ; 
married  James  T.  Milne.  3.  Mary,  born  July  12,  1852,  died  August 
15,  1877;  married  Velona  W.  Haughwout,  and  died  leaving  three 
children :  Mary,  Alice,  and  Elizabeth.  Of  these,  Mary  and  Elizabeth 
died  in  young  womanhood,  and  Alice  is  the  wife  of  Preston  C.  West 
of  Saskatchewan,  Canada.  4.  Sarah  Sherman,  died  young.  5.  Anna 
Mitchell,  died  young. 

VII.  Caroline  Elisabeth  Slade,  daughter  of  William  Lawton  and 
Mary  (Sherman)  Slade,  was  born  January  3, 1846,  at  Somerset.  She 
"became  the  wife  of  Hezekiah  Anthony  Brayton,  of  Fall  River.  (See 
Brayton  VII  in  "American  Families." 

(The  Holmes  Line.) 

One  of  the  most  notable  of  the  early  ministers  of  the  Baptist 
church  in  New  England  was  the  Rev.  Obadiah  Holmes,  one  of  the 

125 


THE  SLADE  FAMILY  IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

early  converts  to  the  Baptist  faith  who  suffered  severe  persecution 
for  his  religious  beliefs  at  the  hands  of  the  Puritans.  Rev.  Obadiah 
Holmes  was  the  companion  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Clarke  for  many 
decades.  He  was  the  founder  of  a  numerous  progeny  which  has 
spread  into  every  State  in  the  Union.  Rev.  Obadiah  Holmes,  how- 
ever, was  but  one  of  a  dozen  or  more  immigrants  of  the  name  of 
Holmes  who  settled  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  and  in  Ply- 
mouth prior  to  1650. 

I.  Rev.  Obadiah  Holmes,  founder  of  the  family  in  America,  was 
born  at  Preston,  Lancashire,  England,  about  the  year  1606.  Of  his 
early  youth  little  has  been  discovered.  He  came  to  the  New  England 
colonies  about  1639,  and  settled  first  in  Salem,  Massachusetts, 
whence  he  removed  to  Rehoboth,  Massachusetts,  where  he  resided 
eleven  years.  While  living  in  this  place  he  became  a  convert  to  the 
distinctive  views  of  the  Baptists,  and  was  especially  strenuous  in  re- 
jecting infant  baptism,  and  in  maintaining  the  doctrine  of  ; '  soul  lib- 
erty. ' ' 

In  1649,  Rev.  Obadiah  Holmes  and  eight  others  withdrew  from  Mr. 
Newman's  church  in  Rehoboth  and  established  a  church  by  them- 
selves. Mr.  Newman  retaliated  by  making  every  effort  in  his  pow- 
er to  rouse  the  civil  authorities  against  them,  and  was  successful  to 
the  extent  of  drawing  four  petitions  respectively  from  the  town  of 
Rehoboth,  from  Taunton,  from  all  the  clergymen  in  the  Colony  of 
Rhode  Island  but  two,  and  from  the  government  of  Massachusetts. 
These  were  presented  to  the  Plymouth  Colony,  but  because  of  the 
milder  spirit  of  tolerance  which  prevailed  at  the  time,  the  separatists 
were  simply  directed  "to  refrain  from  practices  disagreeable  to 
their  brethren,  and  to  appear  before  the  Court."  Rev.  Obadiah 
Holmes  became  a  member  of  the  church  of  Dr.  John  Clarke,  at  New- 
port, and  in  July,  1651,  accompanied  his  minister,  with  John  Cran- 
dall,  in  the  visit  to  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  where  they  held  a  religious 
meeting  in  the  house  of  William  Witler.  They  were  arrested  and 
imprisoned  in  Boston,  where  they  were  condemned  by  the  court  to 
suffer  fines  or  whippings, — Dr.  Clarke,  £20 ;  Rev.  Holmes,  £30 ;  and 
Mr.  Crandall,  £5.  The  alternative  was  the  payment  of  the  fine  or  to 
be  publicly  whipped.     Holmes  refused  to  pay  the  fine,  and  would 

126 


THE  SLADE  FAMILY  IN  ENGLAND  AND  AMERICA 

not  allow  his  friends  to  pay  it  for  him,  saying  that  "to  pay  it  would 
be  acknowledging  himself  to  have  done  wrong,"  whereas  his  con- 
science testified  that  he  had  done  right,  and  he  "durst  not  accept  de- 
liverance in  such  a  way."  He  was  accordingly  kept  in  prison  until 
September,  when  he  was  publicly  whipped  with  thirty  lashes  from 
a  three-corded  whip,  on  Boston  Common,  with  such  severity,  testi- 
fied Governor  Joseph  Jencks,  "that  in  many  days,  if  not  some  weeks, 
he  could  take  no  rest  but  as  he  lay  upon  his  knees  and  elbows,  not  be- 
ing able  to  suffer  any  part  of  his  body  to  touch  the  bed  whereon  he 
lay."  "You  have  struck  me  with  roses,"  he  said  to  his  tormentors. 
Soon  after  this,  Rev.  Obadiah  Holmes  and  his  followers  removed  to 
Newport,  where  in  1652  he  was  chosen  to  supply  the  place  of  Dr. 
Clarke,  who  had  left  his  church  to  accompany  Roger  Williams  to 
England.  His  connection  with  the  church  as  pastor  and  as  assistant 
to  Dr.  Clarke  on  his  return  from  England,  continued  until  his  death, 
in  Newport,  in  1682,  at  the  advanced  age  of  seventy-six  years.  In 
1676  he  succeeded  Dr.  Clarke  to  the  pastorate  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church  of  Newport.  Rev.  Obadiah  Holmes  had  eight  children ;  one 
of  his  sons,  Obadiah,  was  for  several  years  a  judge  in  New  Jersey 
and  a  minister  in  Cohansey  in  that  State.  Another  son,  John,  was 
a  magistrate  in  Philadelphia.  A  daughter,  Sarah,  is  mentioned  be- 
low. 

II.  Sarah  Holmes,  daughter  of  Rev.  Obadiah  Holmes,  became  the 
wife  of  William  Slade,  the  founder  of  the  Slade  family  in  America. 
(SeeSladel.) 

Note. — Except  where  otherwise  noted,  references  cited  will  be  found  in  future  num- 
bers of  "Americana." 


127 


The  Wardwell  Family 


ARDWELL,  as  a  surname,  had  its  origin  in  the  medieval 
institution  of  " watch  and  ward,"  which  at  one  time 
^/J$  flourished  in  England.  Early  ancestors  of  the  family 
in  England  may  actually  have  been  those  who  kept  the 
" watch  and  ward,"  or  guardians  of  the  peace  and  safety  of  the 
towns  of  the  realm,  or  they  may  merely  have  been  residents  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  watch  towers.  The  family  in  England  attained  high 
rank  and  great  power  and  influence  in  the  early  part  of  the  dominion 
of  the  Normans  in  England,  and  is  traced  in  a  direct  line  to  a  mem- 
ber of  the  train  of  William  the  Conqueror,  who  in  return  for  his  ser- 
vices was  given  extensive  estates  under  the  feudal  system  in  West- 
moreland. When  the  adoption  of  surnames  spread  among  the  upper 
classes,  this  noble,  following  an  almost  universal  custom,  assumed 
the  name  of  Wardell  or  Wardwell,  from  an  old  watch  tower  or  watch 
hill  which  stood  on  his  estate  on  the  northern  borders  of  Westmore- 
land. Here  signals  were  given  to  Moothy  Beacon  on  any  inroad  of 
the  fierce  Scotch  tribes  of  the  borderland.  The  Wardwell  family 
maintained  its  prestige  and  prominence  in  England  through  inter- 
vening centuries  down  to  the  period  of  colonial  immigration. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  colonial  period  the  American  branch  of 
the  family  was  planted  in  New  England  by  one  William  Wardwell, 
or  Wardell.  The  family  early  assumed  a  place  of  distinction  and 
prominence  among  our  early  colonial  families,  and  to  the  present 
day  has  not  relinquished  but  has  added  to  the  prestige  of  a  time- 
honored  name.  The  Wardwells  of  New  England  have  played  a  no- 
table part  in  the  development  of  its  life.  The  name  is  found  with 
frequency  and  in  high  places  in  the  annals  of  our  military  and  naval 
achievements,  and  in  the  history  of  the  professions,  business,  finance 
and  the  industries.  Bristol,  Rhode  Island,  has  been  the  home  of  the 
branch  of  the  Wardwell  family  herein  under  consideration,  for  two 
and  a  half  centuries.  From  this  branch  sprang  the  following  men 
whose  names  are  notable  in  the  history  of  Rhode  Island  affairs :  Ben- 

128  " 


THE  WARDWELL  FAMILY 

jamin  Wardwell,  Colonel  Samuel  Wardwell,  Colonel  Hezekiah 
Church  Wardwell,  Hon.  William  T.  C.  Wardwell,  and  Hon.  Samuel 
D.  Wardwell. 

Arms — Argent  on  a  bend  between  six  martlets  sable  three  bez- 
ants. 

Crest — A  lion's  gamb  holding  a  spear,  tasseled  or. 
Motto — Avlto  viret  honore. 

I.  William  Wardwell,  immigrant  ancestor  and  founder,  settled 
first  in  Boston,  later  accompanying  Wheelwright  to  Exeter,  Massa- 
chusetts. He  returned  to  Boston  after  a  temporary  residence  in 
Ipswich,  and  for  several  years  conducted  the  Hollis  Inn  there.    He 

married  (first)  Alice ,  (second)  December  5,  1657,  Elizabeth, 

widow  of  John  Gillet. 

II.  Vzal  Wardwell,  son  of  William  and  Alice  Wardwell,  was  born 
April  7,  1639,  and  died  October  25,  1732.  He  married  (first)  in 
Ipswich,  May  3, 1664,  Mary  Ring,  widow  of  Daniel  Ring,  and  daugh- 
ter of  Robert  and  Mary  (Bordman)  Kinsman,  of  Ipswich,  and  after 
her  death  remarried,  and  removed  to  Bristol,  Rhode  Island,  where 
he  founded  the  Wardwell  family  of  that  place.  He  married  (sec- 
ond) Grace . 

III.  Benjamin  Wardwell,  son  of  Uzal  and  Grace  Wardwell,  was 
born  April  19,  1688,  and  died  in  June,  1739.     He  was  of  Bristol, 

Rhode  Island.    He  married  (first)  Mary ,  who  died  May  2, 

1733. 

IV.  William  Wardwell,  fourth  son  of  Benjamin  and  Mary  Ward- 
well,  was  born  in  1722,  at  Bristol,  Rhode  Island;  was  a  large  land 
holder,  and  prominent  figure  in  the  early  community.  He  mar- 
ried, September  26,  1742,  Mary  Howland,  daughter  of  Samuel  How- 
land,  and  descendant  of  John  Howland,  of  the  "Mayflower."  (See 
Howland  V). 

V.  Benjamin  (2)  Wardwell,  son  of  William  (2)  and  Mary  (How- 
land) Wardwell,  was  born  in  Bristol,  Rhode  Island,  and  baptized 
there,  February  9,  1753.  He  was  thrice  married ;  he  married  ( sec- 
ond) November  19,  1780,  Katherine  Glover,  daughter  of  Captain 

129 


THE  WARD  WELL  FAMILY 

Joseph  and  Elizabeth  (Bass)  Glover,  of  Braintree,  Massachusetts, 
who  died  January  14,  1803.     (See  Glover). 

VI.  Benjamin  (3)  Wardivell,  son  of  Benjamin  (2)  and  Katherine 
(Glover)  Wardwell,  was  born  August  24,  1784,  in  the  town  of  Bris- 
tol, Khode  Island;  business  man  and  public  leader  of  note  in  the 
town;  died  September  12,  1871.  He  married,  January  14,  1807, 
Elizabeth  Manchester,  daughter  of  Zebedee  and  Deborah  (Briggs) 
Manchester,  of  Little  Compton,  Rhode  Island. 

VII.  Elisabeth  Manchester  Wardwell,  daughter  of  Benjamin  (3) 
and  Elizabeth  (Manchester)  "Wardwell,  was  born  November  6, 
1827.  She  married,  September  27,  1853,  Ramon  Guiteras,  of 
Matanzas,  Cuba,  descendant  of  an  old  Cuban  family,  of  Spanish 
origin,  an  extensive  plantation  owner,  and  gentleman  of  culture. 
They  were  the  parents  of  Miss  Gertrude  E.  Guiteras,  who  resides  at 
the  Wardwell  home  in  Bristol,  and  of  the  late  Dr.  Ramon  Guiteras, 
of  New  York.     (See  January  number  of  "Americana"). 

(The  Manchester  Line.) 

Arms- — -Quarterly,  first  and  fourth  argent,  three  lozenges,  con- 
joined in  fess  gules,  within  a  bordure  sable.  Second  and  third,  or, 
an  eagle  displayed  vert,  beaked  and  membered  gules. 

Crest — A  griffin's  head  couped,  wings  expanded  or,  gorged  with 
a  collar  argent,  charged  with  three  lozenges, gules. 

Supporters — Dexter,  a  heraldic  antelope  or,  armed,  tufted  and 
hoofed  argent.  Sinister,  a  griffin  or,  gorged  with  a  collar,  as  the 
crest. 

Motto — Disponendo  me.  non  mutando  me.  (By  disposing  of  me, 
not  changing  me). 

Thomas  Manchester,  the  immigrant  ancestor  of  this  notable  Rhode 
Island  family,  was  born  in  England,  and  was  a  resident  of  New 
Haven,  Connecticut,  in  the  year  following  the  planting  of  the  colony, 
1639.  Afterward,  however,  he  settled  at  Portsmouth,  Rhode  Island, 
where  he  is  first  mentioned  in  the  land  records  January  25,  1655, 
when  he  and  his  wife  sold  to  Thomas  Wood  twelve  acres  of  land.  He 
married  Margaret,  daughter  of  John  Wood,  who  under  her  father's 
will  received  eight  pounds,  which  it  was  ordered,  March  17,  1655, 
John  Wood  pay  to  his  sister,  Margaret  Manchester.    Eight  acres  of 

130 


THE  WARDWELL  FAMILY 

land  were  granted  at  Portsmouth  to  Thomas  Manchester,  December 
10,  1657,  and  July  6,  1658,  he  sold  to  Richard  Sisson  one  three-hun- 
dredth right  in  Canonicut  and  Dutch  Islands.  He  and  his  wife  testi- 
fied, June  7, 16S6,  that  they  heard  and  saw  Ichabod  Sheffield  married 
by  William  Baulstone  many  years  before.  He  deeded  to  his  son 
John,  July  9,  1691,  his  mansion  house  and  all  lands  at  Portsmouth, 
except  the  piece  at  the  lower  end  of  the  ground,  in  possession  of  his 
son,  Thomas,  one-half  to  be  his  at  the  death  of  the  grantor  and  the 
other  half  after  the  death  of  the  grantor's  wife,  mother  of  the  gran- 
tee, provided  he  pay  to  the  sons  Thomas,  William  and  Stephen,  ten 
shillings  each,  to  Job  twenty  shillings,  and  daughters  Mary  and  Eliz- 
abeth ten  shillings  each.  He  also  deeded  to  his  son  John  all  his  per- 
sonal property,  including  cattle,  chattels,  implements,  bonds,  sums 
of  money  and  whatever  belonged  to  him  at  the  time  of  his  decease. 
Thomas  Manchester  died  in  1691,  and  his  wife  in  1693.  For  more 
than  two  hundred  years  the  family  has  been  identified  with  Tiver- 
ton, Little  Compton,  and  the  surrounding  country. 

Elizabeth  Manchester,  who  became  the  wife  of  Benjamin  (3) 
Wardwell,  of  Bristol,  Rhode  Island,  was  a  member  of  this  old  fam- 
ily. She  was  the  daughter  of  Zebedee  and  Deborah  (Briggs)  Man- 
chester, and  granddaughter  of  Archer  and  Elizabeth  Manchester,  of 
Little  Compton,  where  she  was  baptized  July  31,  1810.  She  mar- 
ried, January  14,  1807,  Benjamin  (3)  Wardwell.  (See  Ward- 
well  VI). 

The  Briggs  family,  of  which  Deborah  Briggs,  mother  of  Elizabeth 
(Manchester)  Wardwell,  was  a  member,  bears  arms  as  follows: 
Argent  three  escutcheons  gules,  each  charged  with  a  bend  of  the 
field.  Crest :  An  arm  vambraced,  and  hand  holding  a  bow  and  ar- 
row proper. 

Note. — References   cited  will  be   found   in  the  preceding  and   future  numbers   of 
"Americana." 


131 


Ancestry  and  Heraldry 

By  Marcus  Ulbricht. 

"Any  people,  who  are  indifferent  to  the  noble  achievements  of 
remote  ancestors,  are  not  likely  to  achieve  anything  worthy  to  be  re- 
membered by  their  descendants. ' ' — Macaulay. 

NCESTRY  is  the  relation  to  or  connection  with  one's  an- 
cestors ;  especially,  noble  or  worthy  lineage.  Ancestor 
is  one  from  whom  descent  is  derived;  a  person  further 
back  in  the  line  than  a  grandfather.  Descendant  is  one 
who  is  descended  as  issue,  lineally,  from  another,  however  remotely, 
as  a  child,  grandchild,  great-grandchild.  j 

Heraldry  is  the  science  that  treats  of  emblazoning  in  proper  colors 
and  of  describing  in  proper  terms  armorial  bearings  and  determin- 
ing genealogies,  and  the  manner  in  which  families  and  dignities  are 
represented  and  their  connection  with  family  histories  and  titular 
rank. 

History  and  Genealogy,  linked  as  they  are  with  Heraldry,  are 
illustrated  and  in  some  instances  explained,  by  the  science  of  arms. 
It  is  certain  that  in  all  ages  of  the  world  symbolical  signs  of  one 
kind  or  other  have  been  adopted,  either  to  denote  the  valor  of  a  chief 
or  of  a  nation,  or  to  distinguish  themselves  or  families,  or  the  noble 
from  the  inferior. 

The  use  of  armorial  designs  is  supposed  to  have  been  from  the 
Egyptian  hieroglyphics ;  but  most  antiquarians  agree  that  it  is  al- 
most certain  that  it  was  not  until  the  Crusades  that  Heraldry  came 
into  general  use.  It  flourished  as  an  art  chiefly  under  the  feudal 
system  and  came  into  general  hereditary  use  about  A.  D.  1200.  The 
appellation  "arms"  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  marks  of  distinc- 
tion, so  called,  were  chiefly  and  first  worn  by  military  commanders 
on  their  shields,  banners  and  other  appliances. 

As  to  Heraldry,  we  Americans  should  understand  that  we  cannot 

132 


ANCESTRY  AND  HERALDRY 

dismiss  or  refuse  to  recognize  it  because  we  are  living  and  thriving 
in  a  great  Republic,  and  not  in  a  country  which  is  ruled  by  royalty. 
Some  one  will  say:  "AYhat  right  have  you  to  bear  'Arms'  in  this 
great  republic T"  The  answer  is  clear.  This  Republic  of  ours  also 
has  a  coat-of-arms,  and  no  one  dare  dispute  its  right  to  it,  and  so 
have  all  the  States  and  many  counties  and  cities.  Our  Republic 
adopted  an  eagle  as  its  emblem,  but  it  is  a  republican  eagle,  not  a 
royal  one.    No  one  would  dare  to  take  that  eagle  away  from  it. 

We  may  repudiate  royalty,  but  we  cannot  and  will  not  disavow  the 
noble  men  and  women  who  were  our  ancestors  and  whose  blood  is 
flowing  in  our  veins ;  and,  if  we  go  back  far  enough,  we  will  find  one 
or  more  of  them  who  never  saw  the  American  shores,  but  had  the 
right  to  and  bore  a  coat-of-arms.  If  one's  ancestors  were  granted 
the  right  to  bear  arms,  that  right  and  the  arms  themselves  became 
the  exclusive  right  and  property  of  his  family,  and  that  right  de- 
scended from  generation  to  generation.  The  American  citizen, 
whose  ancestors  had  that  right,  has  inherited  the  coat-of-arms,  and 
if  he  chooses  to  print  it  on  his  stationery  or  have  it  painted  on  his 
coach  or  on  the  walls  of  his  rooms,  it  is  perfectly  appropriate,  and 
his  inherent  right  to  do  so,  at  the  same  time  honoring  the  memory 
of  his  forefathers  who  by  valiant  deeds  or  other  meritorious  services 
had  gained  the  confidence,  esteem  and  approbation  of  their  super- 
iors, and  in  token  thereof  were  rewarded  with  the  right  to  bear  arms. 

A  complete  Coat-of-Arms,  or  Achievement,  consists  of 

1.  The  Escutcheon  or  Shield,  upon  which  the  different  symbols  are 
depicted.    It  may  have  any  form  or  shape,  as  the  artist  may  desire. 

2.  The  Helmet,  which  rests  upon  the  shield. 

3.  The  Mantling  or  Lambrequin,  which  partly  covers  the  helmet, 
was  originally  a  leather  covering  to  protect  the  helmet  from  damp- 
ness, and  the  wearer  from  the  heat  of  the  sun,  and,  becoming  ragged 
in  the  heat  of  battle,  was  eagerly  seized  upon  by  the  artist  to  form 
pleasing  and  decorative  designs. 

4.  The  Wreath,  the  Chapeau  or  the  Ducal  Coronet,  on  which  the 
crest  is  placed. 

5.  The  Crest,  which  issues  from  the  wreath,  chapeau  or  coronet, 

133 


ANCESTRY  AND  HERALDRY 

above  the  helmet.    One  cannot  have  a  crest  unless  he  has  a  coat-of- 
arms ;  a  crest  alone  is  not  granted. 

6.  The  Motto,  which  is  designed  on  a  scroll  or  ribbon  placed  at  the 
bottom,  beneath  the  shield.  A  motto  can  be  selected  or  relinquished 
at  will.  The  descendants  of  one  and  the  same  family  can  each  have 
a  different  motto. 

7.  The  Supporters  (which  are  borne  only  by  Peers)  are  figures  of 
human  beings  or  other  living  creatures,  placed  at  the  side  or  sides 
of  the  shield,  and  appearing  to  support  it. 

The  principal  parts  of  an  Achivement,  or  Coat-of-Arms,  are  the 
arms,  the  crest  and  the  motto ;  but,  when  fully  emblazoned,  the  hel- 
met, mantling  and  supporters  (if  any)  must  be  used. 

The  four  accompanying  illustrations  of  Family  Arms  will  explain 
the  above. 

Figure  1  is  a  Coat-of-Arms,  without  wreath,  crest  or  motto,  as 
borne  by  the  Font  family. 

Figure  2  shows  the  arms  of  the  Paine  family,  with  wreath,  crest 
and  motto. 

Figure  3  is  a  complete  Achievement,  or  Coat-of-Arms,  with  hel- 
met, mantling,  wreath,  crest  and  motto,  as  borne  by  the  Emery 
family. 

JFigure  4  shows  an  illustration  of  a  Coat-of-Arms  complete,  with 
the  addition  of  the  supporters.  Such  an  achievement  can  only  be 
borne  by  peers.    The  Arms  are  those  of  the  Ingham  family. 

"Of  all  the  affections  of  man,  those  which  connect  him  with  An* 
cestry  are  among  the  most  natural  and  generous.  They  enlarge  the 
sphere  of  his  interests,  multiply  his  motives  to  Virtue,  and  give  in- 
tensity to  his  sense  of  duty  to  generations  to  come,  by  the  perception 
of  obligation  to  those  which  are  passed.' '  Qtjincy. 


134 


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. 

Three  Distinguished  Litterateurs  Recently 

Deceased 


HORTLY  before  the  last  preceding  issue  of  this  Maga- 

^jj     zine,  three  distinguished  litterateurs  have  passed  away 

q     —the  Rev.  Samuel  Hart,  D.  D.,  Charles  Elliott  Fitch,  L. 

H.  D.,  and  William  S.  Pellet reau,  A.  M.    All  were  in- 


timately associated  in  a  professional  and  personal  way,  with  the 
American  Historical  Society,  and  their  labors  were  crowned  with 
achievements  of  enduring  value,  along  historical,  genealogical  and 
antiquarian  lines.  Of  such  it  may  well  be  said  that :  Their  works  do 
follow  them. 

While  Charles  Elliott  Fitch,  lawyer,  journalist  and  educator,  of 
Syracuse,  during  a  long  and  unusually  active  life,  held  various  im- 
portant official  positions,  and  always  with  ability  and  fidelity,  his 
chief  distinction  was  in  the  field  of  letters.  With  the  exception  of  Dr. 
Ellis  H.  Roberts,  of  Utica,  he  was  the  sole  survivor  of  that  remark- 
able group  of  "writing  editors"  who  made  a  deep  impression  upon 
the  public  affairs  of  the  State  of  New  York  in  the  years  following 
the  Civil  War.  In  the  Metropolis,  Greeley  of  the  "  Tribune "  and 
Raymond  of  the  * '  Times ' '  were  both  in  the  last  decade  of  their  ser- 
vice. From  1867  Dana  was  brilliantly  identified  with  the  "Sun," 
and  Bryant  was  yet  at  the  head  of  the  "Evening  Post."  Weed,  of 
the  Albany  "Journal,"  had  but  lately  ended  his  newspaper  activi- 
ties. In  the  interior,  a  school  of  trenchant  and  aggressive  journal- 
ists embraced  Roberts  of  the  Utica  "Herald,"  Francis  of  the  Troy 
"Times,"  Carroll  E.  Smith  of  the  Syracuse  "Journal,"  Warren  of 
the  Buffalo  "Commercial,"  and  Matthews  of  the  Buffalo  "Ex- 
press." Of  Fitch  it  has  been  said  by  a  discriminating  writer,  Alex- 
ander, that  he  was  an  editorial  advocate  and  disputant  who  had  to 
be  reckoned  with.  In  Alexander's  recent  history  of  New  York, 
dealing  with  the  period  immediately  following  the  Civil  War,  there 
are  various  references  to  the  editorial  work  and  political  influence 
of  Fitch,  and,  as  said  by  the  writer  quoted,  in  vigor  and  grace  of 

135 


THREE  DISTINGUISHED  LITTERATEURS  DECEASED 

editorial  expression  he  was  at  least  the  equal  of  any  of  his  up-State 
contemporaries;  but  he  had  the  advantage  of  most  of  them  in  his 
bountiful  store  of  historical  learning — the  one  unmatched  fountain 
of  enlightened  and  convincing  editorial  discourse. 

Charles  Elliott  Fitch  was  born  in  Syracuse,  New  York,  December 
3,  1835,  son  of  Thomas  Brockway  and  Ursula  (Elliott)  Fitch;  his 
father  was  for  nearly  fifty  years  a  prominent  merchant  and  banker 
of  Syracuse ;  his  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Daniel  Elliott,  architect 
and  builder,  who  settled  in  Syracuse  in  1827.  Mr.  Fitch  was  eighth 
in  descent  from  the  Rev.  James  Fitch,  a  Congregational  minister, 
well  known  for  his  missionary  labors  in  conjunction  with  John  Eliot, 
the  Apostle  among  the  Indians,  who  having  preached  in  Saybrook, 
Connecticut,  removed  with  nearly  all  his  congregation  to  Norwich, 
Connecticut,  and  is  regarded  as  the  chief  founder  of  that  place.  Mr. 
Fitch  was  of  pure  Puritan  ancestry  throughout,  having  been 
descended  in  direct  lines  from  Governor  William  Bradford  and 
Elder  William  Brewster,  of  the  "Mayflower." 

Charles  E.  Fitch  attended  select  schools  in  Syracuse,  except  for 
one  year  at  a  boarding  school  in  Stamford,  Connecticut.  He  was 
especially  prepared  for  college  at  Alger  Institute,  Cornwall,  Con- 
necticut, Rev.  Edward  Watson  Andrews,  principal.  In  1851  he 
entered  Williams  College,  under  the  presidency  of  Mark  Hopkins, 
and  was  graduated  therefrom  in  1855  with  honor;  subject  of  his 
commencement  oration,  "Berkshire."  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Sigma  Phi  fraternity;  and  throughout  his  course  was  prominent 
in  the  Philotechnian  Society,  secretary  and  vice-president. 

In  1855-56  he  studied  law  in  the  office  of  Hon.  Israel  S.  Spencer, 
in  Syracuse,  and  in  the  latter  year  entered  the  Albany  Law  School 
(now  the  law  department  of  Union  University),  from  which  he  was 
graduated  Bachelor  of  Laws,  his  graduation  thesis  being  "Theory 
of  Interest."  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  February,  1857,  and 
entered  upon  practice  in  Syracuse,  which  he  continued  until  1864, 
with  the  following  partners :  Henry  S.  Fuller,  Henry  A.  Barnum, 
and  A.  Judd  Northrup.  Fitch  &  Barnum  were  city  attorneys  in 
1860,  Amos  Westcott  being  mayor.  During  this  period  Mr.  Fitch 
was  president  of  the  Calliopean  Society,  the  leading  literary  society 
of  Syracuse  (1856-57) ;  president  of  the  Junior  Fremont  and  Day- 

136 


C-U^.    <£    lA^cAj 


THREE  DISTINGUISHED  LITTERATEURS  DECEASED 

ton  Club,  a  political  association  of  young  men  not  yet  voters  (1856) ; 
director  of  Franklin  Institute  (1858-61),  and  corresponding  secre- 
tary in  1859 ;  director  and  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Onondaga 
County  Historical  Society  (1859-60).  In  1861  he  was  a  member 
of  the  Onondaga  County  Board  of  Supervisors  from  the  Seventh 
Ward  of  Syracuse ;  of  this  board  he  was  in  1916  the  sole  survivor. 
In  1864  he  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  Provost  Court,  Department 
of  North  Carolina,  at  New  Bern,  under  Colonel  Edwin  S.  Jenney, 
Provost  Judge  (also  of  Syracuse),  and  served  in  that  capacity  in 
1864-65,  and  in  the  latter  year  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession there.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  had  not  yet  been 
reestablished,  but  he  had  much  remunerative  practice  in  justices' 
courts,  civil  and  criminal,  and  in  military  commissions  and  courts- 
martial,  some  of  his  cases  being  notable. 

He  returned  to  Syracuse  in  December,  1865.  He  had  a  liking  for 
his  profession,  but  journalism  now  opened  to  him  a  field  which  was 
most  congenial.  From  1857  to  the  time  of  his  death,  he  was  a  fre- 
quent contributor  to  Syracuse  journals,  and  his  writings  had  been 
received  with  favor.  In  May,  1866,  he  became  a  member  of  the 
firm  of  Summers  &  Company  (Moses  Summers,  William  Summers, 
Henry  A.  Barnum  and  Charles  E.  Fitch),  publishers  of  the  Syra- 
cuse "Standard,"  and  of  which  he  was  made  editor-in-chief,  and 
continued  as  such  until  1873,  when  he  relinquished  it  to  become 
editor-in-chief  and  a  stockholder  and  trustee  in  the  Rochester  "Dem- 
ocrat and  Chronicle,"  so  continuing  until  1890,  when  impaired 
health  and  public  duties  called  him  from  his  editorial  chair.  Firmly 
adhering  to  Republican  principles,  in  1872  he  favored  the  liberal 
element  of  the  party,  and  he  vigorously  fought  the  Grant  third  term 
project,  in  line  with  the  "Half  Breeds."  He  gave  his  paper  a  lit- 
erary as  well  as  a  political  tone,  and  his  polished  style  and  critical 
analysis  of  character  gave  a  special  weight  and  attractiveness  to 
his  biographical  articles  and  all  pertaining  to  the  personality  of  the 
prominent  men  of  his  day  then  before  the  public. 

In  1876  Mr.  Fitch  was  a  delegate  to  the  Republican  National 
Convention  in  Cincinnati,  and  in  1888  was  chairman  of  the  State 
Convention  at  Buffalo.  In  1880  he  was  supervisor  of  the  United 
States  census  for  the  western  district  of  the  State.     From  1890  to 

137 


THREE  DISTINGUISHED  LITTERATEURS  DECEASED 

1894  he  was  Collector  of  Revenue  for  Western  New  York,  under 
appointment  by  President  Harrison,  and  made  a  phenomenal  rec- 
ord, collecting  for  the  government  the  sum  of  nine  million  dollars, 
and,  in  his  final  settlement,  without  a  penny  at  fault  in  his  accounts. 
In  1894  he  was  secretary  of  the  New  York  State  Constitutional 
Convention.  During  all  the  years  from  1864  to  1892  he  was  fre- 
quently on  the  stump  in  behalf  of  the  Republican  party  in  its  most 
important  campaigns,  and  he  was  a  delegate  from  Onondaga  and 
Monroe  counties  to  many  Republican  State  Conventions,  usually 
serving  upon  the  committee  on  resolutions. 

Mr.  Fitch  was  especially  distinguished  in  the  fields  of  literature 
and  education.  In  1877  he  was  elected  by  the  Legislature  a  Regent 
of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  as  such  served 
with  conspicuous  ability  for  the  unusual  period  of  twenty-seven 
years,  from  1877  to  1904.  From  1893  to  1896  he  was  university 
extension  lecturer,  delivering  ten  lectures  on  "  Civil  and  Religious 
Liberty"  in  a  score  of  cities  and  towns  in  New  York,  New  Jersey 
and  Pennsylvania;  from  1895  to  1904  was  lecturer  before  Teach- 
ers' Institutes  under  appointment  by  the  Hon.  Charles  R.  Skinner, 
superintendent  of  public  instruction,  and  speaking  in  nearly  every 
county  in  New  York,  mainly  on  historical  subjects ;  and  from  1904 
to  1906  was  chief  of  the  important  School  Libraries  Division  of  the 
New  York  Education  Department.  During  all  these  years  he  also 
delivered  many  orations  and  addresses,  all  distinguished  by  lofty 
literary  and  oratorical  ability.     These  include,  in  part : 

Annual  address  as  president  of  the  Calliopean  Society,  Syracuse, 
1856  and  1857 ;  address  in  commemoration  of  the  laying  of  the  first 
Atlantic  cable,  Syracuse,  1858;  "The  National  Problem/'  at  Delphi, 
July  4,  1861;  "Union  and  Liberty,"  at  New  Bern,  North  Carolina, 
July  4,  1865;  "The  Press  of  Onondaga  County,"  at  Syracuse,  and 
repeated  in  various  villages  in  Onondaga  county,  1868;  "The 
Risks  of  Thinking,"  before  the  Sigma  Phi  Society  at  the  University 
of  Michigan,  1870;  "The  Limitations  of  Democracy,"  at  Marathon, 
New  York,  July  4,  1871;  "Union  and  Unity,"  at  Cortland,  New 
York,  1872;  "American  Chivalry,"  at  Syracuse,  Memorial  Day, 
1874;  "Church  and  State,"  at  Annual  meeting  of  school  commis- 
sioners and  superintendents,  State  of  New  Yrork,  Rochester,  1875 ; 
"Education  and  the  State,"  before  the  New  Y'ork  State  Teachers' 

138 


THREE  DISTINGUISHED  LITTERATEURS  DECEASED 

Association,  Watkins,  New  York,  1876;   "National  and  Individual 

Independence, ' '  at  Skaneateles,  New  York,  July  4,  1876;  "Chivalry 
and  Duty,"  at  Albion,  New  York,  Memorial  Day,  1877 ;  "The  Perils 
of  Journalism,"  before  the  New  York  Press  Association,  Syracuse, 
1878;  "The  Meaning  of  the  Flowers,"  Geneva,  New  York,  Memo- 
rial Day,  1879;  "Migration  and  Development,"  before  Wyoming 
Pioneer  Association,  Silver  Lake,  New  York,  1880;  "Mental  Lim- 
itations," at  Commencement,  Ingham  University,  1880;  address 
and  author  of  resolutions  at  citizens'  meeting  at  Rochester,  on  death 
of  President  Garfield,  1881 ;  the  sketch  of  Garfield,  printed  in  "In 
ternational  Magazine"  by  request;  "The  American  College,"  1884, 
at  semi-centennial  of  Sigma  Phi  Chapter  at  Williams  College,  and 
repeated  substantially  at  the  centennial  of  the  University  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  Albany;  Historical 
address  at  the  semi-centennial  of  the  City  of  Rochester,  1884 ;  Five 
lectures  on  "Journalism"  before  the  students  of  Cornell  Univer- 
sity, 1885;  "A  Layman's  view  of  the  Medical  Profession,"  before 
graduating  class  of  Medical  College,  Syracuse  University,  June  11, 
18S5;  "Journalism  as  a  Profession,"  Rutgers  College  commence- 
ment, June,  1886,  and  repeated  at  Haverf ord  College,  March,  1890 ; 
"The  Christian  School,"  at  Keble  School  commencement,  June, 
1889;  "The  Value  of  Exact  Knowledge,"  Founders'  Day,  Lehigh 
University,  1891;  Memorial  address  on  George  William  Curtis, 
before  the  Regents  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
Senate  Chamber,  Albany,  1892 ;  "Higher  Education  and  the  State," 
University  Convocation,  Albany,  July,  1893;  Historical  address  at 
Centennial  of  Onondaga  County,  Syracuse,  1894;  Historical  address 
at  semi-centennial  of  City  of  Syracuse,  1897;  "Patriotism  in  Edu- 
cation," before  State  Teachers'  Association,  Rochester,  1898;  His- 
torical address  at  semi-centennial  of  Genesee  county,  Batavia,  1902 ; 
"Regents'  Examinations,"  at  University  Convocation,  Albany, 
1902;  Memorial  address  on  Carroll  E.  Smith,  before  Onondaga 
County  Historical  Association,  Syracuse,  1903;  "Susan  B.  An- 
thony and  Human  Liberty,"  before  Syracuse  Political  Equality 
Club,  April  20,  1906;  also  many  unpublished  lyceum  lectures  and 
papers  read  before  the  Fortnightly  and  Browning  clubs  of  Roches- 
ter, and  elsewhere,  and  which  were  ail  burned  in  the  Albany  Capitol 
fire  in  February,  1911 — a  most  serious  loss  to  the  memorabilia  of 
the  State.  These  included  "Gerrit  Smith,"  "Thomas  Chatterton," 
"The  Law  of  Libel,"  "John  Milton  as  a  Politician,"  "Robert 
Burns,"  "Arnold  of  Brescia,"  "Henry  Clay  in  1850,"  "The  Inter- 
continental Railway,"  "The  Puritan  and  the  Dutchman,"  "Prussia 
and  Stein,"  "A  Forgotten  Author— Fitz  Hugh  Ludlow,"  "Drawn 

139 


THREE  DISTINGUISHED  LITTERATEURS  DECEASED 

Toward  the  Orient — Lafcadio  Hearn,"  and  a  lecture  on  Abraham 
Lincoln,  which  he  delivered  a  hundred  times. 

Mr.  Fitch  was  a  contributor  at  various  times  to  " Harper's  Week- 
ly," the  New  York  " Tribune,' '  the  New  York  " Times,"  the  Troy 
" Times,"  and  the  Syracuse  "Herald,"  and  was  associate  editor  of 
the  Rochester  "Post-Express"  (1896-98).  He  was  the  author  of 
the  article  on  "The  Press,"  in  Peck's  "History  of  Rochester;" 
"The  Public  School  History  of  Common  School  Education  in  New 
York  from  1813  to  1904,"  published  by  the  Department  of  Public  In- 
struction, 1904;  "Secretary's  Report  at  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of 
the  Class  of  1855,"  1905;  "History  of  Browning  Club,  Rochester," 
1910.  Mr.  Fitch  also  edited  "Political  New  York  from  Cleveland 
to  Hughes,"  (1913),  and  was  supervising  editor  and  writer  of  many 
brilliant  biographical  sketches  of  the.  "Memorial  Cyclopedia  of 
New  York."  He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Arts 
from  Syracuse  University,  1875;  was  a  trustee  of  the  Merchants' 
Savings  Bank  of  Rochester,  1878-99;  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Fortnightly  Literary  Club  of  Rochester,  1882,  resigning  therefrom 
in  1898;  elected  member  of  Williams  Chapter,  Phi  Beta  Kappa, 
1883;  president  of  Rochester  Historical  Society,  1892-93;  one  of 
the  founders  of  Sigma  Phi  chapter  at  Lehigh  University,  1887,  and 
at  Cornell  University,  1890;  received  honorary  degree  of  L.  H.  D. 
from  Hamilton  College,  1895;  was  member  of  the  Society  of 
Mayflower  Descendants,  American  Geographical  Society,  American 
Historical  Society,  Syracuse  Club  (predecessor  of  the  Century), 
the  Rochester  and  Rochester  Whist  clubs,  president  of  the  Wil- 
liams College  Association  of  Western  New  York,  and  of  the  Sigma 
Phi  Association  of  Central  and  Western  New  York. 

Dr.  Fitch  married,  July  21,  1870,  Louise  Lawrence,  daughter  of 
Thomas  A.  Smith  (sometime  editor  of  the  Syracuse  "Standard"), 
and  Charlotte  Elizabeth  (Lawrence)  Smith,  and  first  cousin  of  the 
Hon.  Carroll  E.  Smith.  His  children  are:  Lawrence  Bradford 
(B.  A.,  Williams,  1892),  a  civil  engineer  of  Rochester;  and  Elizabeth 
Le  Baron,  wife  of  Rev.  Wallace  Hubbard  Watts,  chaplain,  United 
States  army.    Dr.  Fitch  died  January  13,  1918. 

140 


fcM»WA»,Tii';-h^-.>sa***iL;^  it-f---iiii-vr,-  i, -r-mimt  i imm  -  itri-iiuri  iiittiiniii-rr^1'--'-^--'11        ■*■  '■  "'•'iy 


^Z^^g^^^X^^ 


THREE  DISTINGUISHED  LITTERATEURS  DECEASED 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Hart,  dean  of  the  Berkeley  Divinity  School, 
whose  death  occurred  at  Middletown,  Connecticut,  February  25, 
1917,  from  pneumonia,  after  an  illness  of  only  a  few  days,  was 
one  of  the  most  scholarly  and  influential  divines  and  theologians 
of  his  day. 

He  was  born  in  Old  Saybrook,  June  4,  1845,  the  son  of  Henry  and 
Mary  Witter  Hart,  his  father  being  a  prosperous  farmer,  who  was 
also  justice  of  the  peace  and  judge  of  probate.  He  was  descended 
from  Stephen  Hart,  who  came  from  England  to  Cambridge  in 
1637  and  later  migrated  to  Hartford  and  finally  to  Farmington. 
Among  his  ancestors  were  also  Captain  Thomas  Hart,  and  John 
Hart,  who  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1703,  its  second  gradu- 
ate, and  who  later  became  a  tutor  at  the  college. 

Young  Hart  was  reared  on  his  father's  farm  in  Old  Saybrook, 
and  when  not  in  school  was  busy  in  farm  work.  His  father  was 
well-to-do,  and  his  son,  after  his  education  in  the  district  schools, 
was  sent  to  the  Episcopal  Academy  at  Cheshire,  where  he  prepared 
for  college.  He  entered  Trinity  College,  from  which  he  received 
his  B.  A.  degree  in  1866.  Before  this  date  he  had  decided  to  enter 
the  ministry,  and  upon  completing  his  academic  course  he  entered 
the  Berkeley  Divinity  School  in  Middletown,  where  he  was  gradu- 
ated in  1869,  receiving  his  Master's  degree  at  Trinity  the  same  year. 
He  was  ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  Williams  on  June  2,  1869,  and 
to  the  priesthood  the  following  year.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he 
had  been  a  priest  for  forty-seven  years  and  in  orders  for  nearly 
forty-eight,  was  seventh  among  the  priests  of  the  diocese  in  order 
of  canonical  residence.  During  the  last  year  of  his  course  in  Berke- 
ley Divinity  School  he  was  a  tutor  in  Trinity  College. 

The  work  of  an  instructor  appealed  to  the  young  priest,  more  than 
did  the  routine  of  a  parish,  and  shortly  after  his  ordination  he  was 
made  Assistant  Professor  of  Mathematics  and  in  1873  he  became 
professor  of  that  subject.  Ten  years  later  he  became  Professor 
of  Latin  at  Trinity  College,  and  he  held  that  post  until  he  left  in 
1899  to  become  vice-dean  of  Berkeley  Divinity  School,  and  removed 
from  Hartford  to  Middletown  and  became  leader  and  chaplain 
in  1908. 

He  had  already  become  well  known  in  the  church  outside  the  dio- 

141 


THREE  DISTINGUISHED  LITTERATEURS  DECEASED 

cese  of  Connecticut,  and  in  1886  was  made  custodian  of  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  an  office  which  he  held  until  the  time  of  his  death. 
An  intimate  friend  of  Bishop  Williams,  his  name  was  used  as  one  of 
the  candidates  when  the  failing  health  of  Bishop  Williams  led  to  the 
election  of  a  bishop  coadjutor  in  1897,  and  at  that  time  he  had 
already  declined  an  election  to  the  bishopric  of  the  diocese  of  Ver- 
mont to  take  the  place  later  filled  by  Bishop  A.  C.  A.  Hall.  His 
name  was  again  used  as  a  candidate  when  Bishop-Coadjutor  Brews- 
ter became  sole  bishop  of  the  diocese.  In  1892,  at  the  general 
convention  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church,  he  was  secretary  of 
the  House  of  Bishops,  which  honor  he  held  until  his  death,  officiating 
at  the  recent  triennial  convention  held  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri.  In 
1898  he  was  made  historiographer  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
church.  He  had  been  a  senator  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  fraternity 
since  1892. 

In  1885  he  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity 
from  Trinity  College,  and  the  same  title  was  conferred  upon  him 
by  Yale  University.  In  1899  Trinity  gave  him  the  degree  of  Doc- 
tor of  Canon  Law,  while  Wesleyan  University  later  gave  him  the 
degree  of  LL.D. 

There  were  few  churches  in  the  diocese  in  which  he  had  not 
preached,  for  probably  no  other  priest  in  the  diocese  possessed 
such  knowledge  of  the  church  in  Connecticut  as  did  he,  and  few 
equalled  him  in  his  knowledge  of  the  history  of  his  native  State. 
He  was  often  heard  in  the  church  in  his  native  town,  Old  Saybrook, 
and  during  the  pastorate  of  the  late  Kev.  Dr.  W.  G.  Andrews,  of 
Guilford,  he  was  frequently  heard  in  Christ  Church  in  that  town, 
where  his  ancestors  once  lived.  He  was  one  of  the  speakers  there 
when  the  town  celebrated  the  two  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniver- 
sary of  its  settlement  in  September,  1889.  Whenever  a  Hartford 
parish  observed  an  anniversary,  he  was  invariably  called  upon  to 
give  the  historical  address,  his  last  appearance  in  that  capacity 
there  being  at  the  Church  of  the  Good  Shepherd  in  December,  1916. 
He  gave  the  historical  address  at  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  of 
St.  John's  parish,  and  a  few  years  ago  he  was  heard  at  Christ 
Church,  when  that  venerable  parish  observed  an  anniversary.  His 
mastery  of  historical  data,  the  purity  of  his  English  and  the  charm 

142 


THREE  DISTINGUISHED  LITTERATEURS  DECEASED 

of  his  delivery,  made  him  invariably  the  cboice  when  an  address 
of  the  sort  was  called  for.  For  some  years  Trinity  College  depended 
upon  him  for  its  necrology  and  it  was  he  who  collected  the  data  and 
who  read  the  list  at  Alumni  Day. 

Dr.  Hart  was  president  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society 
from  1900  to  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was  vice-president  of  the 
Wadsworth  Atheneum,  and  president  of  the  trustees  of  the  Good 
Will  Club,  in  which  he  was  always  keenly  interested.  From  1873 
to  1888  he  was  secretary  of  the  American  Philological  Association, 
and  was  its  president  in  1892-93.  He  was  president  of  the  Connec- 
ticut Library  Association  from  1894  to  1896.  He  was  prominent 
in  other  societies  and  organizations,  including  the  American  Ori- 
ental Society  of  Biblical  Literature  and  Exegesis,  the  American 
Historical  Association,  the  New  Haven  Historical  Society,  the  So- 
ciety of  Colonial  "Wars,  the  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science,  and  the  Psi  Upsilon  fraternity.  He  was  also  one 
of  those  chosen  by  his  cousin,  the  late  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Hart  Colt,  as 
executors  to  administer  certain  bequests  left  by  her,  and  for  more 
than  thirty  years  he  had  been  practically  a  weekly  visitor  at  the 
Hartford  Hospital,  where  he  conducted  services. 

He  was  known  as  a  writer,  appearing  in  1873  as  the  editor  of  the 
" Satires  of  Juvenal,"  and  in  1875  he  issued  the  "Satires  of  Per- 
sius,"  and,  shortly  after,  he  published  "Bishop  Seabury's  Com- 
munion Office,  With  Notes."  In  1895  he  edited  "Maclear's  Manual 
For  Confirmation  and  Holy  Communion,"  and  in  1901  he  wrote  the 
"History  of  the  American  Prayer  Book,"  a  topic  upon  which  he 
gave  a  series  of  lectures  in  Christ  Church.  For  fifty  years  he  was 
a  voluntary  and  irregular  contributor  to  the  "Hartford  Courant." 
Among  his  last  labors  was  that  upon  the  "Encyclopedia  of  Con- 
necticut Biography. ' ' 

At  the  annual  convention  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  convention 
held  in  St.  Paul's  Church,  New  Haven,  in  1904,  a  committee  of  three 
clergymen  and  five  laymen  was  appointed  to  prepare  a  memorial 
on  the  occasion  of  the  completion  of  Rev.  Dr.  Hart's  thirtieth  year 
as  registrar,  and  which  concluded  with  the  following  fervent  tribute : 

He  has  virtually  given  his  life  to  Connecticut;    and  the  gift  has 

143 


THREE  DISTINGUISHED  LITTERATEURS  DECEASED 

included  a  wealth  not  only  of  intellectual  and  moral,  but  of  spiritual 
power,  put  forth  in  priestly  ministries  such  as  the  best  of  parish 
priests  might  have  been  thankful  to  be  equal  to.  And  the  modest 
office  of  registrar,  in  which  he  has  for  almost  a  generation  wrought 
so  untiringly  and  unselfishly,  would  seem  furnished  in  him  with  an 
instrument  far  too  costly  for  such  uses,  were  it  not  that  he  has 
wrought  so  fruitfully  as  to  make  uses  seem  worth  the  cost. 

This  is  saying  much,  for  though  the  cost  to  us  is  nothing,  it  may 
easily  have  been  to  him  the  sacrifice  of  laurels,  to  be  green  for 
generations,  which  he  could  have  won  in  Christian  literature.  But 
he  has  the  consciousness  of  having  served  his  own  generation  by  the 
will  of  God.  And  we,  seeking  to  offer  an  appreciation  not  only  of 
his  great  service,  but  of  his  great  sacrifice,  can  take  pleasure  in  the 
thought  that  he  is  still  in  his  intellectual  prime,  and  while  continu- 
ing, as  we  desire,  the  services  so  valuable  to  us,  may  yet  accomplish 
some  other  work,  sure  to  be  invaluable  to  us  because  worthy  of  him ; 
possibly  erecting  his  monument  out  of  the  very  stones  that  he  had 
quarried. 


William  S.  Pelletreau,  a  first  authority  on  Long  Island  history, 
and  whose  genealogical  investigations  have  covered  the  entire 
United  States,  is  a  descendant  of  Huguenot  ancestors  who  left  their 
native  France  on  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and  were 
among  the  earliest  settlers  of  Southampton,  Long  Island.  His 
grandfather  and  father  were  famed  as  silversmiths  throughout 
Long  Island  and  the  Eastern  States.  His  mother  was  the  daughter 
of  Colonel  Isaac  Welles  of  Westfield,  Massachusetts,  a  lineal  de- 
secendant  of  Governor  Thomas  Welles,  famous  in  the  early  history 
of  that  colony.  She  was  a  lady  of  very  superior  education  and 
mental  ability,  of  deep  religious  feeling  and  worthy  of  her  illustrious 
ancestry. 

William  S.  Pelletreau,  son  of  William  S.  and  Elizabeth  (Welles) 
Pelletreau,  was  born  in  Southampton,  July  19,  1840.  His  early 
education  was  obtained  at  the  village  school  and  at  Southampton 
Academy.  Having  few  amusements  in  his  early  years,  his  attention 
was  turned  to  study,  in  which  he  made  more  than  ordinary  profic- 
iency, especially  in  the  study  of  languages. 

In  1861  he  was  elected  town  clerk  of  Southampton,  and  from  this 
was  led  to  devote  his  life  to  study  and  writing  on  historical  and 

144 


—-'■»- — 5 — 


- 


J^m; 


.; 


THREE  DISTINGUISHED  LITTERATEURS  DECEASED 

genealogical  subjects.  When  he  entered  the  office  of  clerk,  the  rec- 
ords of  the  town  (the  oldest  in  the  State,  and  dating  back  to  1639) 
were  in  a  chaotic  condition,  and  all  but  illegible.  He  at  once  under- 
took the  almost  hopeless  task  of  collecting  and  arranging  them  in 
chronological  order,  and  transcribing  them.  The  dilapidated  books 
were  then  strongly  bound,  and  may  last  for  generations  to  come; 
and  in  this  manner  the  oldest  records  of  the  oldest  town  were  re- 
cued  from  utter  destruction.  Having  succeeded  in  arousing  public 
interest  in  the  subject,  a  vote  was  passed  at  the  town  meeting  in 
1873,  authorizing  the  printing  of  the  first  "Book  of  Records."  This 
work,  which  was  performed  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Pelletreau, 
was  the  first  of  the  kind  ever  printed  on  Long  Island,  and  attracted 
immediate  attention.  It  was  very  favorably  reviewed  in  the  news- 
papers and  historical  magazines,  and  through  the  influence  of  How- 
ard Crosby,  LL.D.,  Chancellor  of  the  University  of  the  City  of 
New  York,  that  institution  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree 
of  Master  of  Arts.  The  second  and  third  volumes  were  printed 
at  a  later  date.  Since  then  his  entire  life  was  devoted  to  historical 
research.  Among  the  many  works  he  wrote  may  be  mentioned 
histories  of  Greene  county  and  Rockland  county,  New  York,  the 
genealogical  portion  of  the  "History  of  Westchester  County ;' ' "  His- 
tory of  Putnam  County,  New  York;"  "Records  of  Smithtown,  Long 
Island;"  "Early  New  York  Houses;"  "Early  Long  Island  Wills." 
Probably  the  most  important  works  are  four  volumes  of  "Abstracts 
of  New  York  Wills,"  eleven  volumes,  prepared  as  part  of  the  "Col- 
lection of  the  New  York  Historical  Society."  These  volumes  contain 
very  carefully  prepared  abstracts  of  all  the  wills  and  documents  con- 
tained in  the  first  eighteen  books  of  Wills  in  the  New  York  Surro- 
gate's office,  and  are  a  mine  of  historical  and  genealogical  knowl- 
edge 

Mr.  Pelletreau  was  a  life  member  of  the  New  York  Historical 
Society,  and  was  connected  with  the  Huguenot  Society  of  America. 
He  never  married.  He  retained  the  ownership  of  the  old  family 
home  of  colonial  days,  but  made  his  residence  in  New  York  City, 
where  he  died,  January  6,  1918,  aged  seventy-seven  years.  He  was 
a  real  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  genial,  modest,  and  well  poised. 
His  remains  were  interred  in  the  old  cemetery  at  Southampton, 

145 


■ 


THREE  DISTINGUISHED  LITTERATEURS  DECEASED 

Long  Island,  where  many  generations  of  his  ancestors  rest.  He 
survived  all  his  twelve  brothers  and  sisters.  Among  the  latter  was 
Miss  Helen  E.  Pelletreau,  for  many  years  president  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania College  for  Women,  at  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania. 


146 


The  Founding  of  Vermont:   The  Controversy 
Over  the  New  Hampshire  Grant 

Br  Joel  N.  Eno,  A.  M.,  Brooklyn,  New  York. 

3%~nra{AHUEL  DE  CHAMPLAIN,  who  in  1608  established  a 

SSc^ij     trading  post  at  Quebec,  the  first  permanent  French  set- 

Sj      tlement  in  Canada,  the  next  summer,  desiring  to  explore 

S&l     the  country  southward,  joined  a  party  of  Hurons  going 


against  the  Iroquois,  and  discovered  the  lake  early  known  as  the 
Lake  of  the  Iroquois,  but  which  afterward  bore  the  name  of  Cham- 
plain;  but  as  the  business  of  the  French  in  Canada  was  the  fur  trade, 
not  settlement,  they  did  not  find  occasion  or  need  to  build  any  post 
within  the  limits  of  what  is  now  called  Vermont,  until  1665,  when 
they  built  Fort  St.  Anne,  on  Isle  La  Motte,  in  the  north  end  of  Lake 
Champlain,  and  left  there  Capt.  LaMotte  de  la  Luciere  as  command- 
ant, with  a  garrison  of  sixty  men,  In  1696,  seigniories  were  granted 
in  the  vicinity,  and  there  were  a  few  settlers  in  what  are  now  the 
townships  of  Alburgh  and  Swanton.1 

The  first  white  inhabitants  at  Chimney  Point,  at  the  junction  of 
the  southern  narrow  part  with  the  broad  part  of  Lake  Champlain, 
near  the  east  side,  in  the  present  town  of  Addison,  are  identified  by 
historians  as  the  following:  Governor  Dongan  in  a  letter  to  Capt. 
Palmer,  Sept.  8,  1687,  asks  him  to  inform  King  James  II.  that  he 
(Dongan)  proposes  to  build  a  fort  at  Corlear's  Lake  (Lake  Champ- 
lain), at  the  pass  in  the  lake  150  miles  north  from  Albany;2  and 
on  March  31,  1690,  acting  Governor  Leisler  wrote  to  the  Bishop  of 
Salisbury  that  he  had  sent  to  the  pass  on  the  lake,  sixty  men  (under 
Captains  Abraham  Schuyler  and  DeWarm)  to  maintain  it  as  an  out- 
post.3   DeWarm  built  here  a  little  fort,  some  say  of  stone,  abandoned 


1.  Robinson's  Vermont,  p.  19. 

2.  Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  vol.  3,  p.  477. 

3.  Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  vol  3,  p.  700. 

147 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

ere  long;  but  the  French  built  here  a  blockhouse  and  windmill  in 
1730,  and  probably  repaired  the  fort  built  by  De  Warm.  In  1731  they 
built  Fort  Frederic,  a  few  miles  farther  south,  on  the  west  side  of  the 
lake,  at  a  place  which  they  called  Point  a  la  Che  venire  (Scalp  Point), 
later  known  by  its  corresponding  English,  Crown  Point.4  In  1743  a 
seignory  in  this  vicinity,  four  by  five  leagues,  was  registered  at  Que- 
bec; and  1745  to  1759,  a  settlement  extended  north  four  miles.  The 
Chimney  Point  fort  was  used  by  roving  bands  of  French  as  head- 
quarters  and  refuge.  Another  post  was  at  the  site  of  the  present 
Colchester,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Winooski  river;  but  all  of  the 
French  settlements  were  abandoned  by  1759,  in  the  French  and  In- 
dian war. 

In  the  southeastern  portion  of  the  present  town  of  Brattleboro,  the 
government  of  Massachusetts  in  1724  built  Fort  Dummer,  on  what 
it  supposed  was  Massachusetts  territory;  this  was  the  first  settle- 
ment of  whites  which  proved  permanent,  in  what  is  now  Vermont, 
New  Hampshire  also  being  under  the  same  government  during  most 
of  its  existence  until  1741;  it  established  temporarily  also  SartwelPs 
Fort  and  Bridginan's  Fort,  in  the  present  town  of  Vernon,  and  a 
post  at  Fort  Hill,  in  Putney. 

In  1741  New  Hampshire  was  made  a  separate  royal  province,  and 
Benning  Wentworth  was  appointed  its  Governor,  the  bounds  of  his 
province  being  described  as  follows,  as  it  had  no  charter : 

George  the  Second  .  .  .  King  .  .  .  etc.  To  our  Trusty 
and  wTell-beloved  Benning  Wentworth,  Esq.,  Greeting:  Know  you 
that  we  .  .  .  have  thought  fit  to  constitute  and  appoint  you  the 
said  Benning  Wentworth  to  be  our  Governor  and  Commander  in 
chief  of  our  province  of  New  Hampshire,  bounded  on  the  south  side 
by  a  similar  curve  line  pursuing  the  curve  of  Merrimac  River  at 
three  miles  distance  on  the  north  side  thereof,  beginning  at  the  At- 
lantic Ocean  and  ending  at  a  point  due  North  of  a  place  called  Pau- 
tucket  Falls,  and  by  a  straight  line  drawn  from  thence  due  West 
cross  the  said  River  till  it  meets  with  out  other  Governments,  and 
bounded  on  the  south  (north!)  side  by  a  line  passing  up  through  the 
mouth  of  Piscataqua  Harbour,  and  up  the  middle  of  the  River  to  the 
Eiver  of  Newichwannock,  part  of  which  is  called  Salmon  Fall,  and 
through  the  middle  of  the  same  to  the  furthest  head  thereof,  and 

4.    Hiland  Hall,  Early  Hist,  of  Vt,  p.  2. 

148 


GOVERNOR  BENNING  WENTWORTH 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

from  thence  north  two  degrees  Westerly  untill  one  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  be  finished  from  the  mouth  of  Piscataqua  Harbour 
aboresaid,  or  until  it  meets  with  our  other  Governments. 

Given  at  Whitehall  July  the  3d  in  the  15th  Year  of  his  Majesty's 
Reign.5 

This  description  left  the  western  boundary,  "our  other  govern- 
ments/ '  Gov.  Wentworth  assuming  that  his  province  met  New  York 
on  a  continuation  of  the  same  line  which  divided  Massachusetts  from 
New  York.  This  was  the  position  of  the  New  Hampshire-Massachu- 
setts boundary  conference,  1719.6  In  1749,  after  King  George's  war 
between  England  and  France  was  ended,  he  received  a  petition  for  a 
grant  of  lands  at  the  extreme  western  terminus  of  the  territory 
claimed  by  New  Hampshire,  and  touching  both  the  boundary  of 
Massachusetts  and  the  assumed  boundary  of  New  York.  Thereupon 
he  wrote  a  letter  to  Gov.  Clinton  of  New  York. 

Portsmouth,  Nov.  17,  1749.  Sir  I  have  it  in  command  from  His 
Majesty  to  make  grants  of  the  unimproved  lands  within  my  Govern- 
ment to  Such  of  the  Inhabitants  and  others,  as  shall  apply  for  Grants 
for  the  Same,  as  will  oblige  themselves  to  settle  and  improve,  agree- 
ably to  his  Majesty's  Instructions.  The  war  hitherto  has  prevented 
me  .  .  .  but  .  .  .  people  are  daily  applying  for  Grants  of 
Land  in  all  Quarters  of  this  Government,  and  particularly  some  f  or 
townships  to  be  laid  out  in  the  WTestern  part  thereof,  which  will  fall 
in  the  neighborhood  of  your  Government.  I  think  it  my  duty  to 
apprise  you  thereof,  and  to  transmit  to  your  Excellency  the  descrip- 
tion of  New  Hampshire  as  the  King  has  determined  it  in  the  words 
of  my  Commission ;  which,  after  you  have  considered  .  .  .  you 
will  be  pleased  to  give  me  your  sentiments  in  that  manner  it  will  af- 
fect the  Grants  made  by  you  or  preceding  Governours.     .     .     . 

In  consequence  of  his  Majesty's  determination  of  the  boundarys 
between  New  Hampshire  and  the  Massachusetts  A  Surveyor  and 
proper  Chainmen  were  appointed  to  run  the  Western  line,  from 
three  miles  north  of  Pautucket  Falls.  And  the  Surveyor  upon  Oath 
has  declared  that  it  strikes  Hudsons  River  about  80  poles  between 
where  Mohawks  River  comes  into  Hudsons  River ;  which  I  presume 
is  North  of  the  City  of  Albany,  for  which  Reason  it  will  be  necessary 
for  me  to  be  informed  how  far  north  of  Albany  the  Government  of 
New  York  Extends  by  his  Majesty's  Commission  to  your  Excel- 

5.  Doc.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  p.  331-2. 

6.  Belknap,  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  vol.  1,  p.  191. 

149 


. 

THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

lency;  and  how  many  miles  to  the  Eastward  of  Hudson's  River,  to 
the  Northward  of  the  Massachusetts  Line,  that  I  may  Govern  myself 
accordingly.     .     .     . 

B.  Wentworth.7 

Governor  Clinton  not  replying  immediately,  Gov.  Wentworth 
granted  the  township  of  Bennington  in  January,  1749-50;  and  in 
April  received  from  Gov.  Clinton  the  following : 

In  Council  New  York,  3  April,  1750. 

Ordered  that  his  Excellency  do  acquaint  Gov.  Wentworth  that  the 
Province  is  bounded  Eastward  by  Connecticut  River,  the  letters  Pat- 
ent from  King  Charles  the  2d  to  the  Duke  of  York  Expressly  grant- 
ing all  the  lands  from  the  west  side  of  Connecticut  River  to  the  East 
side  of  Delaware  Bay.8 

A  renewed  grant  to  the  Duke  of  York  was  made  June  29  (New 
Style,  July  9),  1674,  after  the  reoccupation  by  the  Dutch  in  1673, 
with  very  little  change  in  the  wording  from  the  original  grant  of 
March  12  (22),  1663-4,  which  follows: 

Charles  the  Second  .  .  .  etc.  .  .  .  Know  ye  that  wee  by  these 
presents  for  us  our  heirs  and  Successors  Do  Give  and  Grant  unto 
our  Dearest  Brother  James  Duke  of  York  his  Heirs  and  Assigns  All 
that  part  of  the  Maine  Land  of  New  England  beginning  at  a  certain 
place  called  or  known  by  the  name  of  St.  Croix  next  adjoining  to 
New  Scotland  in  America  and  from  thence  extending  along  the  Sea 
Coast  unto  a  certain  place  called  Petuaquine  or  Pemaquid  and  so 
up  the  River  thereof  to  the  furthest  head  of  the  same  as  it  tendeth 
Northwards  and  extending  from  thence  to  the  River  Kinebequi  and 
so  upwards  by  the  shortest  course  to  the  River  Canada  Northward. 
And  also  all  that  Island  or  Islands  commonly  called  by  the  several 
name  or  names  of  Matowacks  or  Long  Island  situate  lying  and  being 
towards  the  "West  of  Cape  Cod  and  the  Narrow  Higansetts  abutting 
upon  the  maine  land  between  the  two  Rivers  there  called  or  known 
l>y  the  several  names  of  Connecticut  and  Hudsons  River  together 
also  with  the  said  River  called  Hudsons  River  and  all  the  Land  from 
the  West  side  of  Connecticut  (River)  to  the  East  side  of  Delaware 
Bay  and  also  all  those  several  Islands  called  or  known  by  the  Names 
of  Martin's  Vinvard  and  Nantukes  otherwise  Nantucket.9     .     .     . 


7.  Doc.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  p.  331. 

8.  Doc.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  P-  332. 

9.  Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  vol.  2,  pp.  295-8. 

150 


GEORGE   CLINTON 


First  Governor  of  New  York,  serving  1777-95,  1801-04;  was  most  active  as  a 
General  In  the  Revolution,  and  Vice-President  1805-12.  Born  at  Little  Britain,  N.  Y., 
July  26,  1739;  died  at  Washington,  D.  C,  April  20,  1812.  From  the  painting  by  Ezra 
Ames. 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

(The  Doc.  Kel.  to  Col.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.  have  "West  side  of  Connecti- 
cut," which  accords  with  the  agreement  between  Connecticut  and 
New  Netherland  already  existing  when  the  grant  to  the  Duke  was 
made.) 

Governor  Wentworth  writes  to  Governor  Clinton,  April  25,  1750, 
in  reply  to  the  "opinion  that  Connecticut  Eiver  is  the  Eastern 
Boundary  of  New  York  Government,  which  would  have  been  entirely 
satisfactory  to  me  .  .  .  had  not  the  two  Charter  Governments 
of  Connecticut  and  the  Massachusetts  Bay  extended  their  bounds 
many  miles  to  the  Westward  of  said  River ;  and  it  being  the  opinion 
of  his  Majesty 's  Council  of  this  Government,  whose  Advice  I  was 
to  take  on  these  Occasions,  that  New  Hampshire  had  an  equal  right 
to  claim  the  same  extent  of  Western  boundarys  with  those  Charter 
Government,  I  had  in  consequence  of  their  advice  before  your  Let- 
ter came  to  my  hands,  granted  one  township  due  north  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Line  of  the  Contents  of  six  miles  square,  and  by  measure- 
ment 24  miles  east  of  the  city  of  Albany,  presuming  that  this  Gov- 
ernment was  bounded  by  the  same  North  and  South  Line  with  Con- 
necticut and  Massachusetts  Bay,  before  it  met  with  his  Majesty's 
other  Governments.  ...  It  will  therefore  give  me  great  satis- 
faction, if  you  can  inform  me  by  what  Authority  Connecticut  and  the 
Massachusetts  Government  claimed  so  far  to  the  Westward  as  they 
have  settled,  and  in  the  meantime  I  shall  desist  from  Making  any 
further  Grants  on  the  Western  Frontier  of  my  Government,  that 
may  have  the  least  probability  of  Interfering  with  your  Govern- 
ment."10 The  above  (Bennington)  township  charter  was  dated  Jan. 
3, 1749-50. 

Clinton  replies  June  6,  1750:  "As  to  Connecticut,  their  claim  is 
founded  upon  an  agreement  with  this  Government,  in  or  about  the 
year  1684,  afterwards  confirmed  by  King  William ;  in  consequence  of 
which  the  Lines  between  the  two  Governments  were  run  and  the 
Boundaries  marked  in  the  year  1725.  But  it  is  presumed  that  the 
Massachusetts  Government  at  first  possessed  themselves  of  those 
Lands  by  Intrusion,  and  through  the  negligence  of  this  Government 
have  hitherto  continued  in  their  possession  the  Lands  not  being  pri- 


io.    Doc  Hist  of  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  p.  332. 

151 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

vate  Property.  From  Information  I  have,  there  is  Reason  to  appre- 
hend that  the  Lands  within  the  township  you  have  lately  granted,  or 
part  of  them,  have  heen  granted  here."11 

The  western  boundary  of  Connecticut  being  the  basis  of  decision 
and  the  pivotal  point  of  the  controversy,  we  trace  its  history  from 
the  accession  of  the  Duke's  government  in  New  York,  Oct.  13,  1664, 
within  six  weeks  after  the  surrender  of  New  Netherland,  the  Connec- 
ticut Assembly  appointed  five  commissioners,  at  their  head  Governor 
Winthrop,  who  had  been  a  party  to  the  surrender  by  the  Dutch,  to 
agree  upon  and  settle  with  the  king's  commissioners  the  boundary 
line  between  the  colony  and  the  new  province  granted  to  the  Duke. 
The  award  of  boundaries  is  as  follows : 

By  virtue  of  his  Majesty's  commission  we  have  heard  the  differ- 
ence about  the  bounds  of  the  patents  granted  to  his  royal  highness 
the  Duke  of  York,  and  his  Majesty's  colony  of  Connecticut  alleged 
by  Mr.  Allyn  Senior,  Mr.  Gold,  Mr.  Richards,  and  Capt.  Winthrop ; 
and  having  diligently  considered  all  the  reasons.  .  .  .  We  do  de- 
clare and  order  that  the  southern  bounds  of  his  Majesty's  colony  of 
Connecticut  is  the  sea,  and  that  Long  Island  is  to  be  under  the  gov- 
ernment of  his  royal  highness  the  Duke  of  York  as  is  so  expressed  in 
said  patents  respectively.  And  also  by  virtue  of  his  Majesty's  com- 
mission and  by  the  consent  of  both  the  Governors  and  the  gentlemen 
above  named,  we  also  order  and  declare  that  the  creek  or  river  called 
Mamaroneck  which  is  reputed  to  be  about  thirteen  miles  to  the  east 
of  Westchester,  and  a  line  drawn  from  the  east  point  or  side  where 
the  fresh  water  falls  into  the  salt,  at  high  water  mark,  north-north- 
west to  the  line  of  the  Massachusetts  be  the  western  bounds  of  said 
colony  of  Connecticut;  and  all  plantations  lying  westward  of  that 
creek  and  line  so  drawn  to  be  under  his  royal  highness '  government, 
and  all  plantations  lying  eastward  of  that  creek  and  line  to  be  under 
the  government  of  Connecticut. 

Given  under  our  hands  at  James  Fort  in  New  York  on  the  island 
of  Manhattan,  this  4th  day  of  December,  1664.  (Signed  by  Richard 
Nicolls,  George  Cartwright,  S.  Mavericke.) 

We  the  Governor  and  Commissioners  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
Connecticut,  do  give  our  consent  to  the  limits  and  bounds  above  men- 
tioned, as  witness  our  hands.  (Signed  by  John  Winthrop,  Allyn 
Senior,  Richards,  Gold,  John  Winthrop,  Jr.)12 


ii.     Doc.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  p.  333. 
-  12.    H.  Hall,  Early  Hist,  of  Vt.,  p.  24,  Doc.  of  N.  Y.  Senate,  1857,  vol.  4,  p.  102,  and 
Smith,  Hist  of  N.  Y.,  vol.  1,  pp.  36-37. 

152 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

Referring  to  this  decision,  transmitted  to  the  Duke,  Gov.  Xicolls 
himself  writes  to  the  Duke  of  York,  November,  16G5 : 

I  have  formerly  rendered  account  of  the  decision  and  settlement 
of  the  bounds  between  Your  K.  Hs.  and  the  Patent  of  Conecticot 
made  by  his  Majties  Commissioners  and  the  Governor  and  Council 
of  Conecticott,  wherein  live  towns  were  relinquished  to  Conecticott 
by  virtue  of  their  praecedent  graunt  from  his  Majesty,  although  the 
same  tracts  of  land  were  given  to  your  R.  Hs  to  the  utter  ruine  of 
that  Colony  and  a  manifest  breach  of  their  late  patent,  which  de- 
termination was  a  leading  case  of  aequall  Justice  and  of  good  conse- 
quence to  all  the  Colonies,  and  therefore  wee  were  well  assured 
would  be  an  acceptable  service  to  Your  R.  Hs  though  to  the  diminu- 
tion of  your  bounds ;  so  that  to  the  East  of  New  Yorke  and  Hudsons 
River,  nothing  considerable  remains  to  Your  R.  Hs  except  Long  Isl- 
and and  about  twenty  miles  from  any  part  of  Hudsons  River.  I 
looke  therefore  upon  all  the  rest  as  onely  empty  names  and  places, 
possest  forty  yeares  by  former  grants,  and  of  no  consequence  to 
Your  R.  Hs  except  all  N.  England  could  be  brought  to  submitt  to 
Your  R.  Hs  his  patent.13 

The  "Patent  of  Conecticott, ' '  and  "praecedent  graunt/ •  was  the 
charter  of  Connecticut,  dated  April  23,  1662,14  and  given  by  Charles 
II.,  which  clearly  had  priority  of  claim  before  the  same  King's 
grant  to  the  Duke  of  York,  dated  March  12(22),  1664;  and  granted 
a  tract  extending  from  Narragansett  river  on  the  east  to  the  South 
Sea  (Pacific  Ocean)  on  the  west,  right  across  New  Netherlands  whose 
claims  to  the  territory  the  king  and  his  predecessors  denied.  Though 
the  king  and  his  brother  were  willing  to  disregard  the  moral  rights 
of  the  Dutch,  and  also  of  the  Connecticut  possessors,  prudence  made 
them  keep  in  view  the  legal  rights  guaranteed  by  charter ;  a  position 
exemplified  in  the  king's  comments  written  to  Gov.  Andros,  28  Jan., 
1675-6,  on  the  repetition  in  the  patent  of  June  20, 1674,  of  the  bound- 
aries of  the  patent  of  1664 ;  Andros,  on  the  strength  of  the  later  pat- 
ent, demanding  all  the  land  west  of  Connecticut  river,  which  the 
king  "approved,  in  order  to  keep  the  title  clear;  but  at  present  not 
willing  you  should  proceed  further  .  .  .  and  in  the  interim 
though  the  agreement  by  the  commissioners  in  1664  were  never  con- 


13.  Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  vol.  3,  V-  106. 

14.  Macdonald,  Select  Charters,  pp.  116-119  (Conn.),  and  137-9  (Patent  of  N.  Y.) 

153 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

firmed  by  me,  I  soe  far  approve  of  the  prudence  of  Coll.  Nicholls  at 
that  time,  as  to  admitt  by  noe  means  of  any  nearer  accesse  of  those 
of  Connecticut  than  to  the  mouth  of  Marinac  (or  Mamaronock)  river 
and  along  the  edge  of  it,  provided  they  come  to  noe  place  within 
twenty  miles  distance  of  Hudsons  River."13 

In  fact,  the  king  and  the  duke  could  hardly  fail  to  remember  that 
it  had  been  unmistakably  proved,  in  the  case  of  their  own  father, 
Charles  L,  that  in  England  the  king  was  not  above,  but  amenable  to, 
the  law. 

The  agreement  as  to  the  details  for  drawing  the  boundary  line 
were  fixed  under  Gov.  Dongan,  Nov.  28, 1683,  approved  by  King  Wil- 
liam III,  in  Council,  March  14,  1699,  and  confirmed  March  28,  1700, 
in  which  confirmation  the  bounds  are  recapitulated ;  the  line  was  sur- 
veyed October,  1684,  beginning  at  Byram  river,  the  first  reach,  1  1-2 
miles  added  to  the  second,  6  1-2  miles  completing  the  8  miles  ordered 
for  the  first  line  north-northwest  (or  to  be  exact,  7  miles  and  120 
rods  brought  the  line  to  its  nearest  point  to  the  Hudson) ;  thence 
parallel  to  the  Sound,  or  northeast,  12  miles,  till  the  farthest  point 
or  20  miles  from  the  Hudson  is  reached;  thence  8  miles  north- 
northwest,  thence  nearly  due  north  100  miles  to  the  Massachusetts 
line.16 

The  next  step  is  the  Massachusetts  boundary,  whose  junction  with 
the  Connecticut  boundary  is  defined  by  the  Commissioners  of  1664 
as  the  ending  point  of  the  "western  bounds  of  said  colony  of  Con- 
necticut ;"  hence  at  this  junction  it  was  at  least  as  far  west  as  the 
point  it  met.  Dongan  himself  writes  of  the  meagerness  of  his  prov- 
ince to  the  Lords  of  Trade,  Feb.  22,  1687 :  "What  was  good  and  did 
lie  convenient  and  near  the  sea,  for  ye  most  part  is  taken  from  us 
by  Connecticut  and  East  and  West  Jersey.  What  is  left  is  pretty 
well  settled,17  "which  did  not  apply  or  was  not  true  of  territory  north 
or  east  of  the  mouth  of  the  Mohawk  river ;  and  New  York  had  no  set- 
tlement whatever  at  that  time  within  the  present  bounds  of  Ver- 
mont.' '  Gov.  Sloughter  writes  to  the  governors  of  the  other  colonies, 
July  11,  1691:  "I  doubt  not  but  you  are  very  sensible  of  the  many 


15.  Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  3,  p.  235. 

16.  Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  PP-  625-9. 

17.  Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  3,  p.  397. 

154 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

branches  that  have  been  lopped  off  from  this  government  in  the  late 
reignes,  and  that  it  is  now  confined  to  a  great  narrowness,  haveing 
only  Hudson's  River  and  Long  Island  for  the  bounds.' n8 

At  the  time  of  the  original  grant  to  the  Duke  of  York,  Massachu- 
setts had  Springfield,  Northampton  and  Hatfield,  west  of  the  Con- 
necticut river;  in  1666,  Westfield,  farther  west;  in  1722,  two  town- 
ships on  the  Housatonic  river;  but  it  was  not  till  1725,  with  the  lay- 
ing out  of  Sheffield  near  the  southwestern  corner  of  the  colony,  that 
it  first  meets  with  claimants  from  New  York,  namely:  Lieut.  Gov. 
Clarke,  who  claimed  that  its  lands  came  within  16  miles  from  the  Hud- 
son, and  included  lands  (Livingston  patent)  granted  by  New  York 
in  1688  ;18%  that  is,  it  fell  within  the  assumed  20  mile  limit.  That  it  had 
not  occurred  to  the  government  until  1738  to  claim  for  that  colony 
eastward  to  the  Connecticut  river  under  the  old  charter  to  the  Duke, 
seems  to  be  incontrovertibly  shown  by  an  official  report  then  made 
by  the  Surveyor  General,  C.  Colden,  Feb.  14, 1738,  (after  being  Sur- 
veyor-General for  15  years).  He  makes  no  mention  of  the  Connecti- 
cut river  as  a  boundary,  but  bounds  the  province  instead  by  the  col- 
onies Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  Massachusetts,  by  her  char- 
ter of  March  4(14),  1628-9,  like  Connecticut,  extended  to  the  South 
Sea ;  this  charter  in  1684  was  annulled ;  but  William  III  granted  her  a 
new  charter  Oct.  7(17),  1691,  which, while  it  subtracted  from  her  self- 
government,  even  added  largely  to  her  territory.  At  a  conference  at 
New  Haven,  of  the  Commissioners  of  New  York  and  Massachusetts 
on  boundaries,  as  late  as  Oct.  1,  1767,  Massachusetts  at  first  would 
agree  to  a  line  12  miles  from  the  Hudson,  then  one  at  16  miles ;  New 
York,  to  a  line  30,  then  24  miles  east  from  the  Hudson ;  and  finally  to 
the  line  recommended  by  the  Board  of  Trade  in  1757,  viz:  "That  a 
line  to  be  drawn  Northerly  from  a  point  on  the  South  boundary  line 
of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  twenty  miles  distant  due  East  from  Hud- 
son's river,  to  another  point  20  miles  distant  due  East  from  the  said 
river,  on  that  line  which  divides  the  provinces  of  New  Hampshire 
and  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  would  be  a  just  and  equitable  line  of  di- 
vision between  your  Majesty's  provinces  of  Mass.  Bay  and  New 


18.    Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  3,  P-  785. 

1854.    H.  Hall,  Early  Hist  of  Vt.,  p.  34,  and  Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  7, 
p.  206. 

155 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

York;"19  the. objection  of  New  York  to  this  was  that  it  assumed  the 
course  of  the  Hudson  river  to  be  due  north  and  south,  while  it  is  east, 
of  north;  and  proposed  in  lieu  of  it,  a  line  20  miles  from  the  Hudson, 
run  by  lines  at  right  angles  to  the  general  course  of  the  river.  The 
line  was  finally  settled  May  18,  1773,  beginning  at  a  place  fixed  by 
New  York  and  Connecticut  for  the  northwest  corner  of  the  Oblong, 
and  running  north  21  degrees  10  min.  30  sec.  east  to  the  north  line  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  (province). 

As  the  boundary  was  not  arbitrated  by  a  third  party  until  1764, 
the  above  evidences  indicate  that  in  the  negotiations  between  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  York  previous  to  that  time.  New  York  tacitly  ac- 
cepted or  actually  in  words  implied,  the  20  mile  line  as  in  the  agree- 
ment with  Connecticut.  Moreover,  it  accepted  the  charter  boundary 
on  the  west  of  New  York;  the  Duke's  grant  extending  no  farther 
west  than  the  east  side  of  Delaware  bay ;  from  that  bound  westward, 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  grants  stood  as  before,  as  the  part 
of  New  York  west  of  Connecticut  was  that  comparatively  narrow 
projection  between  the  Mamaroneck  or  20  mile  line  and  the  Dela- 
ware, nothing  fell  here  to  Connecticut,  which,  starting  from  the  Del- 
aware, still  continued  westward  through  Pennsylvania  to  the  Pacific 
ocean.  With  Massachusetts,  however,  New  York  had  to  settle  for 
her  extension  farther  west  than  any  part  of  the  Delaware,  on  Dec. 
16, 1786,  by  giving  to  Massachusetts  the  pre-emption  right  to  six  mil- 
lion acres  in  western  New  York  about  2,200,000  acres  of  which  right 
Massachusetts  sold  to  Oliver  Phelps  and  Nathaniel  Gorham  of 
Massachusetts  for  $1,000,000,  to  be  paid  for  settlement  of  the  Indian 
claims,  the  date  of  the  sale  being  April  21,  1788,20  the  Massachusetts 
charter  of  1691  holding,  because  it  laid  out  the  grant  "  towards  the 
South  Sea  or  westward  as  far  as  our  Collonyes  of  Ehode  Island, 
Connecticut,  and  the  Narragansett  Countrey,"  and  the  Connecticut 
charter  and  grant  of  1662  was  never  revoked.  In  fact,  as  the  colony 
charters  of  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut  gave  those  colonies  com- 
plete self-government,  reserving  no  authority  to  the  king,  and  were 
otherwise  satisfactory,  the  charters  were  used  in  lieu  of  Constitu- 


19.  Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist  N.  Y.,  vol.  7,  p.  224. 

20.  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  3,  p.  646. 

156 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

tions  of  those  States  in  Connecticut  until  1818,  and  in  Rhode  Island 
until  1842.  After  the  formation  of  the  United  States,  Massachusetts, 
Virginia,  the  Carolinas,  and  Connecticut  transferred  their  claims, 
patented  to  the  South  Sea,  but  practically  realized  only  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi,— to  the  United  States;  Virginia  reserving  a  tract  of  Mili- 
tary lands,  and  Connecticut  the  Western  Reserve  in  Ohio,  until  they 
could  turn  their  avails  to  the  destined  purpose. 

The  reason  is  now  evident  why  both  Connecticut  and  Massachu- 
setts considered  further  settlements  on  the  tract  east  of  the  20  mile 
line  no  intrusion,  nor  a  justification  of  a  dog-in-the-manger  policy 
on  the  part  of  New  York,  to  shut  their  settlers  out  of  lands  which  she 
through  "negligence' '  failed  to  settle  herself;  and  they  had  settled 
several  towns  in  the  Litchfield  and  the  Berkshire  hills  before  1749. 

Such  was  the  situation  before  Governor  Clinton  and  Gov.  Went- 
worth  in  1750.  Both  agreed  to  lay  " representations' '  of  the  matter 
before  the  king.  Wentworth  made  the  first  approach,  writing  to  the 
Board  of  Trade  Mar.  23,  1750-1,  concerning  the  boundary;21  it  was 
complained  afterward  that  he  did  not  communicate  his  representation 
to  Gov.  Clinton.  As  Gov.  Clinton  seemed  to  be  doing  nothing  in  the 
matter,  Gov.  Wentworth,  in  answer  to  petitions,  began  to  grant  oc- 
casionally a  township ;  this  did  not  determine  whether  its  jurisdic- 
tion should  be  under  New  Hampshire  or  New  York  government ;  for 
the  determination  of  jurisdiction  the  king  reserves  to  himself  in  his 
own  (or  royal)  provinces,  acting  usually  through  the  medium  of 
special  commissioners,  as  Gov.  Nicolls  sets  forth  to  the  Colony  of 
Massachusetts,  June  12,  1668:  "And  for  the  better  praevention  of 
all  differences  and  disputes  upon  the  bounds  and  limitts  of  the  sev- 
erall  Colonies  His  Maties  pleasure  is  that  all  determinations  made 
by  His  Maties  Commissioners  with  reference  to  the  said  bounds  and 
limitts  may  still  continue  to  be  observed  till  upon  a  full  representa- 
tion of  all  praetences  His  Matie  shall  make  his  owne  finall  determi- 
nation, etc.,  which  very  words  you  will  find  in  yr  owne  letter  from 
liis  Matie  concluding  thus:  'And  His  Matie  expects  that  full  obedi- 
ence be  given  to  this  signification  of  his  pleasure  in  all  particulars. 


21.    Doc.  Hist  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  p.  341. 

157 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

Given  at  the  Court  at  Whitehall  the  10th  day  of  Aprill  1666     .     .     . 
by  His  Maties  Command.  Wm.  Morrice.'  "22 

The  evidence  which  appears  even  in  the  New  York  records,  indi- 
cates that  Wentworth  was  justified  in  considering  that  the  wording 
of  the  patent  to  the  Duke  of  York  in  March,  1664,  immediately  pre- 
ceding his  conquest  of  New  Netherland  from  the  Dutch,  was  not  in- 
tended as  a  layout  of  a  definite  boundary,  but  so  expressed  as  to  be 
sure  to  include  all  the  lands  which  the  Dutch  held  in  New  Nether- 
land, and  that  it  was  rendered  "obsolete,"  or  of  no  force,  by  the 
award  of  the  Commissioners  directly  after  the  transfer  to  the  Eng- 
lish, and  by  the  Dongan  agreement,  and  all  other  known  precedents. 
"But  whatever  its  design,  it  was  found  by  the  Commissioners  that  a 
large  portion  of  the  territory  described  by  its  language,  had  been 
long  held  by  others,  under  previous  grants,  to  which  the  Duke  could 
have  no  valid  claim,  and  that  therefore  his  interest,  as  well  as  the 
demands  of  justice,  required  that  the  Connecticut  river  should  be  re- 
linquished as  an  eastern  boundary,  and  a  line  established  toward  the 
Hudson  river"23  .  .  .  corresponding  very  nearly  with  that 
which  had  been  previously  accepted  as  its  eastern  boundary  by  New 
Netherland,  in  1663,  for  Connecticut;  while  the  Eeport  of  the  King's 
Commissioners  concerning  Massachusetts  names  "its  just  limits, 
wch  ye  Comissrs  find  to  be  Seconnet  Brook  on  ye  Southwest  and 
Merrimack  River  on  the  North  East,  and  two  right  lines  drawn  from 
each  of  these  two  places  till  they  come  within  twenty  miles  of  Hud- 
sons  River;  for  that  is  already  planted  and  given  to  His  Royall 
Highness."24 

The  records  of  both  parties  to  the  joint  boundaries  between  New 
York  and  the  two  colonies,  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  agree,, 
and  are  further  confirmed  in  the  course  of  the  controversy.  There  is 
also  convincing  evidence  to  justify  the  statement  that  the  northern 
part  of  the  territory  now  New  York,  was  "unknown"  to  those  who 
drew  up  the  patents  to  the  Duke  of  York.  Schenectady  was  the  north- 
ernmost New  York  settlement  in  1690.  From  thence  northward  to 
the  St.  Lawrence  was  the  territory  of  the  Iroquois  Indians ;  and  it 


22.  Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist,  vol.  3,  pp.  170-1. 

23.  H.  Hall,  Early  Hist.  Vt.,  p.  25. 

24.  Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  vol.  3,  p.  112. 

158 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

took  long  wars  between  the  French  and  English  to  determine  to 
which  its  jurisdiction  should  belong,  and  was  not  decided  until  1759 ; 
the  French  claiming  as  belonging  to  Canada  all  the  lands  drained  by 
the  tributaries  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  building  forts  to  command  both 
ends  of  Lake  Champlain.  Before  the  wars,  New  York  claimed  the 
Iroquois  country  only  indirectly,  through  the  jurisdiction  of  their 
allies,  the  Iroquois,  as  a  protectorate;  the  French  on  like 
grounds  might  claim  the  Abenaki  country  from  Lake  Cham- 
plain  eastward,  as  they  had  been  allies  and  protectors  of  the 
Abenakis  or  Algonquins,  from  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  Cham- 
plain.  Surveyor-General  Colden,  who  afterwards  as  Lieuten- 
ant-Governor was  one  of  the  most  strenuous  advocates  of  the 
New  York  claims  against  Wentworth's  grants,  in  describing 
the  boundaries  of  New  York,  Feb.  14,  1738,  after  giving  the  south 
and  west  bounds,  writes,  ''From  thence  it  continues  to  extend  easter- 
ly along  the  boundaries  of  Canada  to  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts 
Bay;  then  southerly  along  the  boundaries  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and 
of  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  to  the  Sound,  between  Long  Island  and 
the  main."25  This  last  boundary  corresponded  precisely  with  Went- 
worth's  assumption  "that  this  Government  was  bounded  by  the 
same  North  and  South  Line  with  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts 
Bay,  before  it  met  with  his  Majesty's  other  Governments,"  that  is, 
in  this  case,  New  York.  New  Hampshire  having  been  a  part  of 
Massachusetts  from  1641  to  1679,  and  under  the  same  Governor  till 
1741,  except  for  the  intervals  1680  to  1690,  and  1691  to  1699,  her 
boundaries  had  not  been  distinctly  settled  until  1740,  and  as  Massa- 
chusetts' charter  made  her  north  bound  three  miles  north  of  the 
Merrimac,  it  was  taken  as  meaning  three  miles  north  of  its  source, 
or  the  Pemigewasset,  thence  westward  to  the  South  sea,  except  for 
the  conflicting  claim  of  New  York. 

When  Wentworth  began  his  administration  as  Governor,  New 
Hampshire  had  only  28  towns,  granted  by  Massachusetts,  these  be- 
ing in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  colony;  but  very  properly  and 
necessarily,  if  he  was  not  to  rule  over  a  wilderness,  he  had  authority 
from  the  king  to  make  grants  of  unimproved  lands  to  applicants  who 


2$.    Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.,  vol.  6,  pp.  124-5. 

159 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

would  settle  and  improve  them;  naturally  he  was  very  desirous  to 
increase  the  settlements  under  his  government,  and  had  promptly 
started  the  boundary  matter  on  the  way  to  the  king,  whose  preroga- 
tive it  was  to  settle  it;  and  had  also  apprised  Gov.  Clinton  of  his  in- 
tention to  make  his  first  grant;  and  having  had  no  withdrawal  or  re- 
striction of  his  power  to  grant,  considered  the  interests  of  his  colony 
the  paramount  issue.  He  made  the  first  grant  of  Halifax  May  11, 
1750;  of  Wilmington,  April  30,  1751;  renewed  the  New  Taunton 
grant  made  by  Massachusetts  in  1735,  as  the  township  of  Westmin- 
ster, Nov.  9,  1752;  and  made  the  Rockingham  grant  Dec.  30,  1752.2" 
In  1753  he  had  several  petitions  from  companies  of  Massachusetts 
men  for  grants  in  the  same  (southern)  part  of  the  tract  west  of  the 
Connecticut,  and  granted  Newfane,  Poultney,  Putney,  Stamford, 
Townshend,  and  Brattleboro ;  and  three  townships  in  the  early  part 
of  1754.  The  French  and  Indian  war  coming  on,  no  more  grants 
were  made  until  1760;  and  the  danger  of  making  new  settlements 
caused  most  of  the  earlier  grants  to  lapse ;  one  of  the  usual  condi- 
tions being  that ' '  every  grantee  is  to  plant  or  cultivate  five  acres  for 
every  fifty,  within  five  years,' '  or  forfeit  his  share.  For  example, 
Newfane,  granted  as  Fane,  June  21,  1753,  and  Chester,  granted  as 
Flamstead  Feb.  25,  1754,  were  so  forfeited.  But  after  the  French 
and  Indian  war  had  ceased  in  America  in  1760,  and  the  exposed  tract 
now  Vermont  was  freed  from  that  danger,  petitions  for  grants  and 
regrants  were  very  numerous. 

A  township  grant  was  usually  about  23,040  acres,  or  equivalent  to 
six  miles  square,  divided  into  sixty  or  more  equal  shares ;  every  pro- 
prietor to  pay  one  shilling  proclamation  money  for  every  hundred 
acres,  as  quitrent  to  the  king,  for  every  year  after  the  expiration  of 
ten  years  from  the  date  of  the  town  charter ;  500  acres  to  be  reserved 
in  each  township  for  the  Governor,  one  share  for  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  for  the  use  of  the  first  settled  minister, 
and  one  share  for  a  glebe.27 

The  Governor's  fee  for  the  giving  of  a  town  charter  was  often 
$100,  but  not  uniform ;  it  reached  in  some  instances  £250 ;  the  quit- 


26.  N.  H.  Town  Charters,  vol.  3,  pp.  207,  378,  541,  557. 

27.  N.  H.  Town  Charters,  vol.  3,  charters  of  Arlington,  Barnet,  Bennington,  etc. 

160 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

rent  to  the  king  was  pretty  regularly  one  shilling  per  100  acres,  but 
sometimes  only  one  ear  of  Indian  corn.  Instances  of  Gov.  Went- 
worth's  fees  are:  Rutland,  $100;  Underbill,  $230.41;  Barnet  £21(J 
currency,  then  worth  about  $700;  the  currency  or  bills  being  of 
course  in  pounds,  shillings,  and  pence,  and  depreciated  in  value  so 
that  the  half  of  the  Governor's  salary  paid  in  bills,  £250,  was  within 
a  few  years  worth  only  thirty  five-sixths  of  its  face  or  value  when 
voted  by  the  Assembly  in  1741 ;  and  the  other  half,  based  on  the  ex- 
cise, could  not  be  collected."™1  The  patent  fees  in  New  York  were 
according  to  New  York  records  themselves,  much  higher,  and  includ- 
ed fees  to  six  officials  besides  the  Governor.  The  difference  in  fee 
may  help  to  explain  who  so  many  more  sought  patents  from  New 
Hampshire  than  afterwards  from  New  York.  The  petitioners  for 
township  grants  were  mostly  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts  people, 
and  a  still  stronger  reason  was  the  town  incorporation  or  self-gov- 
ernment privileges;  for  example,  the  charter  of  Addison  reads 
"And  that  the  same  be  and  is  incorporated  into  a  township  by  the 
Name  of  Addison,  and  that  the  Inhabitants  that  do  or  Shall  hereaf- 
ter Inhabit  Said  Township  Are  hereby  Declared  to  be  Enfranchised 
with  and  Intitled  to  all  &  every  the  Priviledges  &  Immunities  that 
other  Towns  within  our  Said  Province  by  Law  Exercise  &  Enjoys."28 
These  were  the  same  privileges  enjoyed  by  towns  in  the  charter 
governments  Massachusetts,  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  many 
of  which  in  New  York  are  vested  in  the  county  now ;  and  in  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Council  then,  considerably.  In  pine-bearing  districts,  re- 
serve was  made,  in  either  province,  of  pines  suitable  for  masts  and 
ship-timber,  for  the  royal  navy. 

Gov.  Wentworth's  understanding  of  the  boundary  line  between 
New  England  and  New  York  was  the  common  understanding  in  Eng- 
land all  along,  as  shown  in  the  "Geography  of  the  Earth"  published 
in  London  in  1709,  in  which  New  England  is  separated  from  New 
York  by  a  line  from  near  the  Hudson  to  Lake  Champlain  and  along 
it  to  Canada ;  in  maps  of  the  British- American  Plantations,  in  the 
"Gentleman's  Magazine"  for  1754,  1755,  1757,  1762,  1763,  and  in 


27%.    Belknap,  Hist.  N.  H.,  vol.  I,  p.  323. 
28.    N.  H.  Town  Charters,  vol.  3,  pp.  3-5. 

l6l 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

others,  such  as  Dr.  Mitchell's  "Map  of  the  British  and  French  Do- 
minions in  North  America," 1755,  and  the  map  in  the  Report  of  the 
English  Commissioners,  entitled  "Memorials  of  the  English  and 
French  Commissioners  concerning  Nova  Scotia  or  Acadia/ '  pub- 
lished at  London,  1755.  The  New  York  officials  mention  Blau  &  Ogil- 
by's  map  as  upholding  the  Connecticut  river  as  boundary,  however. 
The  fundamental  principle  of  Wentworth's  contention  was  that  by 
the  government  decision  of  1740,  the  three  miles  north  of  the  Merri- 
mac  stated  in  the  Massachusetts  charter  as  the  northern  boundary 
of  that  colony,  was  to  be  taken  on  the  east  and  west  course  near  the 
mouth,  and  not  from  the  source ;  he  understood  that  New  Hampshire 
as  in  his  instructions  had  the  same  western  boundaries  marked  for 
the  same  tract  when  it  stood  under  the  name  of  Massachusetts. 
Hunter,  after  being  Governor  of  New  York  from  1710  to  1719,  in  an- 
swer to  the  query  of  the  Lords  of  Trade,  "What  are  the  reputed 
boundaries  thereof"  (that  is,  of  New  York)?  answers,  "Its  bound- 
aries East,  a  parallel  twenty  miles  distant  from  Hudsons  River."29 
Before  considering  further  movements  in  the  controversy,  we  note 
the  recapitulation  of  the  New  York  side  in  Gov.  Try  on 's  Proclama- 
tion of  Dec.  11,  1771:  "That  the  Representation  containing  a  State- 
ment of  the  Claims  of  New  York  was  forwarded  to  the  proper  office 
about  the  close  of  the  Year  1751;  and  incroachments  having  been 
made  by  inhabitants  of  New  Hampshire  on  Lands  and  possessions 
of  his  Majesty's  subjects  of  New  York,  this  Government,  on  the  28 
July,  1753,  issued  proclamation  for  apprehending  all  persons  who 
should  thereafter  under  color  of  title  from  New  Hampshire,  take 
possession  of  Lands  granted  by  this  province.  Incursions  of  Indians 
obstructing  all  new  settlements,  the  matter  rested  till  ...  20 
July,  1764,"  the  date  when  the  boundary  was  decided  by  the  king. 
As  Wentworth  had  not  waited  for  the  king's  decision  before  begin- 
ning to  issue  patents,  so  Clinton  had  not  waited  for  the  king's  deci- 
sion before  threatening  arrest  by  force,  against  the  grantees  re- 
ceiving New  Hampshire  patents ;  between  the  last  two  dates,  there- 
fore, the  conflict  was  between  the  Governors ;  the  Governor  of  New 
York  claiming  not  only  the  right,  but  the  exclusive  right  to  grant 


29.     Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  5,  p.  555,  and  vol.  7,  p.  224. 

162 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

lands  in  the  disputed  territory,  even  to  the  use  of  force  to  exclude 
Wentworth  who  had  the  same  relation  of  royal  governor,  to  the 
king ;  and  nominally  equal  in  authority  to  grant  lands ;  so  that  if  it 
was  dishonorable  in  Wentworth  to  grant  lands  while  the  decision 
was  pending,  it  was  equally  so  for  the  Governor  of  New  York  to  do 
so.  Why  then  did  the  latter  threaten  to  use  force  to  oust  the  New 
Hampshire  grantees,  and  substitute  his  own?  There  were  two  chief 
causes  why  he  dared  to  do  this ;  first,  because  New  York  having  more 
and  stronger  supporters  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  king  than  any 
other  of  the  thirteen  colonies,  their  support  of  the  king  entitled  them 
to  his  support  of  their  measures ;  secondly,  the  profits  of  grants,  to 
the  Governor  and  his  land-speculating  friends.  In  1760,  war-peril 
having  passed,  large  numbers  of  petitions  from  intending  settlers 
came  to  Wentworth;  and  he  prepared  to  locate  the  settlers;  Joseph 
Blanchard  was  commissioned  to  lay  off  townships  every  six  miles  up 
the  Connecticut  river  on  both  sides ;  three  rows  of  townships  were 
laid  out  east  of  the  20  mile  line  from  the  Massachusetts  boundary 
north  to  Poultney;  and  two  tiers  thence  north  to  Burlington.  In 
1761,  Hubartus  Neal  continued  the  survey  from  Blanchard 's  north- 
ern limit  up  the  Connecticut  to  the  present  Lemington ;  from  his  first 
grant  in  1749  to  the  decision  1764,  Wentworth  granted  129  town- 
ships, 4  regrants,  4  renewals,  6  individual  grants  west  of  the  Con- 
necticut. Lieut.  Gov.  Colden,  roused  to  the  danger  to  New  York's 
claim,  on  Dec.  28, 1763,30  ordered  New  York  officers  to  exercise  juris- 
diction as  far  as  the  Connecticut  river,  and  wrote  also  to  the  British 
Board  of  Trade  a  vigorous  letter  for  that  claim;  and  though  Gov. 
Wentworth  issued  a  counter  proclamation  March  13,  1764,  to  New 
Hampshire  officers  to  exercise  jurisdiction  as  far  westward  as 
grants  of  land  have  been  made  by  this  Government  ;31  his  power  in 
the  region  west  of  the  Connecticut  was  near  its  close;  for  the  fol- 
lowing was  being  drawn  up:  "At  the  Court  of  St.  James,  20  July, 
1764.  .  .  .  Order  in  Council  fixing  the  boundary  between  N.  Y. 
&  N.  H.  His  Majesty  doth  .  .  .  hereby  Order  and  Declare  the 
Western  Banks  of  the  Eiver  Connecticut  from  where  it  enters  the 


30.  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  pp.  346-351. 

31.  Doc.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  p.  355. 

163 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  as  far  as  the  Forty-fifth  degree  of 
Northern  Latitude,  to  be  the  Boundary  Line  between  the  said  two 
Provinces  of  New  Hampshire  and  New  York."  "His  Majesty"  was 
George  III. 

On  account  of  the  poverty  of  the  "Grants,"  and  the  sickness  and 
death  of  Robinson,  their  claims  were  inadequately  presented. 

This  order  does  not  seem  to  have  reached  Gov.  Wentworth  until 
after  the  middle  of  October,  for  his  last  grant  in  this  region,  Wards- 
boro,  is  dated  Oct.  17,  1764.  Meanwhile,  Sheriff  Schuyler  writes  to 
Lieut.  Gov.  Colden  "that  the  New  Hampshire  People  had  turned 
Hans  Juery  Creiger,  an  Inhabitant  under  the  Proprietors  of  Hoseck 
Patent,  out  of  possession  of  his  Lands  and  Tenements ;  drove  off  his 
Cattle  and  took  off  with  them  a  Parcel  of  Indian  Corn ;  and  for  the 
Redemption  of  his  Cattle  compelled  him  to  pay  $45;  And  .  .  . 
said  New  Hampshire  People  were  the  next  Day  to  be  at  the  Houses 
of  Peter  Voss  and  Bastian  Deale,  in  order  in  Like  Manner  to  dis- 
possess them  of  their  possessions,  which  they  had  peaceably  enjoyed 
under  the  Proprietors  of  said  Hoseck  Patent  for  upwards  of  Thirty 
years  past  .  .  .  But  before  I  could  get  there,  said  New  Hamp- 
shire People  had  already  perpetrated  their  Design  of  turning  the 
said  Peter  Voss  and  Bastian  Deale  out  of  their  possessions,  and 
claimed  the  same  as  belonging  to  the  Province  and  under  the  juris- 
diction of  New  Hampshire.  Har.  Schuyler,  Sheriff.  17  Aug.,  1764.  "32 

On  the  other  side,  Gov.  Wentworth  on  the  same  day  (Aug.  17) 
wrote  a  letter  to  Lieut.  Gov.  Colden  "representing  that  Several  of 
the  Inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Pownall  .  .  .  were  set  upon  by 
the  Sheriff  of  Albany,  and  more  than  30  men  on  horseback,  and  that 
the  Deputy  Sheriff  with  three  other  principal  Inhabitants  were 
seized  upon  and  carried  to  Albany,  where  they  were  immediately 
committed  to  gaol.  And  desirous  that  His  Honour  would  give  or- 
ders for  the  Release  of  the  Prisoners  so  apprehended  and  committed, 
adding  that  it  would  be  an  act  of  cruelty  to  punish  Individuals  for 
Disputes  between  the  two  Governments,  and  that  as  the  jurisdiction 
is  the  main  thing  in  question,  he  is  ready  and  willing  to  submit 
what  concerns  him  to  the  King."    The  Council  (4  Sept.)  advised  his 


32.    Doc.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  p.  356. 

164 


„ 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

Honor  to  "  acquaint  Gov.  Wentworth  with  the  circumstances  of  this 
Affair  as  reported  to  him  by  letter  from  the  Sheriff  of  Albany,  and 
that  as  the  Parties  were  committed  for  an  offence  within  the  un- 
doubted jurisdiction  of  this  Province,  for  which  they  are  to  answer 
in  a  legal  course  of  justice,  he  can  do  nothing  further  therein  than  to 
recommend  that  the  Bail  demanded  be  moderate,  and  that  the  Con- 
troversy respecting  the  different  claim  of  Boundary  made  by  each 
Provinces,  already  lies  before  his  Majesty."33 

As  the  government  of  New  York  was  evidently  obnoxious  to  the 
settlers  on  the  lands  granted  by  Gov.  Wentworth,  Lieut.  Gov.  Golden 
deemed  it  best  to  profess  that  he  meant  them  no  injustice,  and  ac- 
cordingly issued  an  "  Order  of  the  Governor  and  Council  of  New 
York,  in  Favor  of  the  occupants  under  New  Hampshire  who  were 
settled  before  the  22nd  May,  1765,"  as  follows: 

The  Council  taking  into  consideration  the  case  of  those  persons 
who  are  actually  settled  under  the  Grants  of  the  Government  of  New 
Hampshire,  on  lands  Westward  of  Connecticut  River,  and  Eastward 
of  Hudson's  River;  which  by  his  Majesty's  Order  in  Council  of  20 
day  of  July  last  are  declared  to  be  within  the  Jurisdiction  of  this 
Province ;  and  that  the  dispossessing  of  such  persons  might  be  ruin- 
ous to  themselves  and  their  families,  is  of  opinion,  and  it  is  accord- 
ingly ordered  by  his  Honour  the  Lieut.  Governor,  with  the  Advice 
of  the  Council,  that  the  Surveyor-General  do  not,  until  further  Or- 
der, make  Return  on  any  Warrant  of  Survey  already,  or  which  may 
hereafter  come  into  his  hands,  of  any  Lands  so  actually  possessed 
under  such  Grants,  unless  for  the  Persons  in  actual  possession  there- 
of, as  aforesaid ;  and  that  a  Copy  hereof  be  served  on  said  Surveyor- 
General.34 

On  October  9,  1765,  was  presented  a  "Petition  for  the  erection  of 
certain  Counties  in  the  northern  part  of  this  Province;"  two  on  the 
Connecticut  river,  and  three  on  the  west  side  of  the  height  (or  ridge 
of  the  Green  mountains) ;  beginning  at  the  Massachusetts  line  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  Connecticut  river;  names  also  were  proposed  for 
these  counties :  Olden  and  Sterling,  for  those  on  the  Connecticut,  and 
Manchester,  Kingsbury,  and  Pitt  for  the  others.  ...  So  elab- 
orate a  division  was  not  considered  necessary  by  New  York  officials. 


33.    Doc.  Hist,  of  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  pp.  356-7. 
34-    Doc.  Hist  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  p.  357. 

165 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

Hence  on  Oct.  15,  a  petition  was  made  for  a  county  between  the  Con- 
necticut and  the  mountains,  from  Massachusetts  line  to  45  decrees 
north  latitude ;  in  order  that  the  settlers  may  have  law  and  justice ; 
that  is,  among  themselves,  instead  of  being  obliged  to  attend  at  dis- 
tant Albany.  The  committee  reported  on  the  county  plan,  but  rec- 
ommended the  use  of  justices  of  the  peace,  Oct.  22.35  The  new  Gov- 
ernor, Moore,  arrived  in  November,  1765. 

On  June  6,  1766,  there  was  an  order  by  the  Governor  and  Council 
"that  the  claimants  under  New  Hampshire  sue  out  their  grants,  by  a 
limited  time,  to  prevent  the  preference  of  other  petitioners.  .  .  . 
That  all  persons  holding  or  claiming  lands  under  the  Grants,  do  as 
soon  as  may  be,  appear  by  themselves  or  Attornies,  and  produce  the 
same,  together  with  all  Deeds,  Conveyances  or  other  instruments  by 
which  they  derive  any  title  or  claim  to  said  Lands,  before  his  Excel- 
lency in  Council;  and  that  the  claims  of  such  person  or  persons  who 
shall  not  appear  and  support  the  same  as  aforesaid,  within  the  space 
of  three  months  from  the  date  hereof,  be  rejected;  and  the  Petitions 
already  proposed  for  the  said  Lands  forthwith  proceeded  upon ;  also 
that  Notice  hereof  be  given,  by  publishing  this  order  three  weeks 
successively  in  one  or  more  of  the  public  Newspapers  printed  in  this 
City."     (New  York.)36 

On  Jan.  20,  1766,  twenty-one  new  justices  were  added  to  the  fifty- 
five  for  the  county  of  Albany,  and  the  portion  of  "New  Hampshire 
Grants ' '  between  the  Connecticut  river  and  the  Green  mountains  was 
•erected  into  Cumberland  county,  July  3,  1766 ;  but  a  royal  order  of 
June  26,  1767,  disallowed  the  act  of  the  New  York  Legislature  in 
•erecting  the  county.37 

On  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  in  1765,  many  petitions  for  grants 
were  made ;  and  as  a  result  of  the  order  that  all  claimants  produce 
deeds,  the  claims  of  96  townships  were  tested,  of  which  91  were 
decreed  to  be  in  New  York,  before  his  Majesty's  order  fixing  the 
Connecticut  river  as  a  boundary,  being  within  20  miles  of  Hudson 
river  and  Lake  Champlain;  but  only  Bennington,  Shaftesbury  and 
Pownal  had  settlers  and  were  confirmed.    The  rest  waited  until  after 


35.  Doc.  Hist  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  pp.  358-361. 

36.  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  p.  363. 

37.  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  p.  375,  (note). 

166 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

the  time  limit  for  settlement  had  expired,  and  reverted  to  the  crown, 
by  the  conditions  of  the  charters.  Proceedings  were  had  on  24  of 
the  remaining  number ;  four  townships  passed  through  all  the  forms, 
and  their  patents  passed  the  great  seal;  three  more  were  ready  for 
signing,  when  the  command  came,  to  make  no  more  grants ;  the  re- 
maining 48  had  made  no  step  except  to  claim,  few  having  any  set- 
tlers on  them. 

The  order  of  the  king  in  Council,  forbidding  the  Governor  of  New 
York  to  make  grants  of  any  lands  already  patented  by  New  Hamp- 
shire, issued  from  the  Court  of  St.  James,  24  July  1767. 38  It  was 
well ;  not  only  to  protect  actual  settlers  who  had  obtained  their  lands 
from  what  was  generally  understood  to  be  the  proper  authority  to 
grant  them;  but  also  because  many  townships  granted  both  by  New 
Hampshire  and  by  New  York  were  being  brought  into  the  hands  of 
groups  of  land  speculators ;  in  fact,  these  were  the  mainsprings  of 
the  controversy  and  furnished  the  means.  Nearly  all  of  Went- 
worth's  grants  were  either  in  the  southern  half,  or  west  of  the  Green 
Mountains;  a  few  near  the  Connecticut,  and  he  is  said  to  have  ac- 
cumulated some  wealth  from  the  charter  fees;  but  Clark,  who  was 
Governor  of  New  York  1736  to  1741,  is  reported  to  have  made  £100,- 
000  from  his  office;  and  Gov.  Clinton  accumulated  £84,000  in  ten 
years.  The  new  restriction  on  the  grants  was  the  result  of  an  appeal 
Nov.  1766,  and  March,  1767,  to  king  George  III,  by  the  TVentworth 
grantees,  since  they  had  paid  the  fees,  and  yet  New  York's  Lieut. 
Gov.  Colden  had  declared  all  Wentworth's  grants  "null  and  void," 
and  would  give  them  no  redress,  but  on  the  contrary  regranted  many 
of  Wentworth's  grants  to  New  Yorkers  on  the  pretence  that  the 
prohibition  applied  only  to  future  grants;  but  the  British  govern- 
ment on  Dec.  9, 1769,  informed  him  that  it  applied  to  "any  grants  to 
be  made  of  lands  annexed  to  New  York  by  his  Majesty's  determina- 
tion of  the  boundary  of  New  York  and  New  Hampshire."39  The  or- 
der was  reaffirmed  in  1771,  and  never  repealed.  New  York  jurisdic- 
tion was  feared,  not  only  because  it  provided  new  government  and 
laws,  but  annulled  the  titles  to  the  lands  which  the  Wentworth  gran- 


38.    Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  pp.  375-6 ;  and  Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  7,  P- 
917. 

39-    Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  p.  365. 

167 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

tees  occupied;  also  numbers  of  men  appeared  in  1765  from  New  York 
city,  acting  for  speculators  there  and  accompanied  by  surveyors. 
These  speculators  obtained  grants  of  the  most  valuable  portion  of 
their  lands,  and  for  the  poorer  lands  the  fees  were  fully  equal  to 
their  value.  Golden  granted  to  his  friends  Attorney-General  Kempe, 
James  Duane,  and  Walter  Rutherford,  the  rich  valley  of  the  Bat- 
tenkill,  12  miles  by  4,  and  Crean  Brush  obtained  10,000  acres  in 
southwest  Bennington  and  northwestern  Pownal,  actually  occupied 
by  Wentworth  grantees  at  the  time.40  Sir  Henry  Moore  succeeded 
Colden  in  1766,  and  Samuel  Robinson  was  sent  as  agent  by  the  Went- 
worth settlers  to  the  king,  arriving  in  London  early  in  1767,  and  ob- 
tained the  order  of  July  24.  Moore  dying  Sept.  11,  1769,  Lieut.  Gov. 
Colden  commenced  new  attacks  on  the  settlers,  claiming  that  the 
king's  orders  applied  only  to  lands  actually  granted  by  New  Hamp- 
shire,41 and  he  proceeded  to  issue  new  patents  to  speculators  as  fast 
as  they  furnished  fees ;  granting  indiscriminately  not  only  lands  not 
previously  granted  by  New  Hampshire,  but  some  which  had.  The 
Walloomschack  patent  of  12,000  acres  in  Bennington  covered  the 
farm  of  James  Breakenridge,  on  whom  New  York  served  a  writ  of 
ejectment  Oct.  19,  1769,  but  found  a  number  of  men  gathered,  who 
would  not  disperse  on  order  of  Esquire  John  Munro ;  hence  he  with- 
drew and  reported  to  Colden,  wTho  issued  a  proclamation  for  the  ap- 
prehension of  the  men  present,  as  rioters.42  At  the  ejectment  trials 
in  June,  1770,  the  Court  declared  the  New  Hampshire  charters  null 
and  void.  Ethan  Allen  as  a  proprietor  under  a  New  Hampshire 
charter,  assisted  the  defendants,  and  the  Bennington  settlers  voted 
to  take  the  farms  of  Breakenridge  and  Fuller  under  the  protection 
of  the  town,  and  to  defend  them  against  the  New  York  officers  at  all 
hazards.  There  was  a  second  attempt  by  Munro,  and  the  indictment 
of  sixteen  leading  men  as  rioters.  He  as  justice  of  the  peace  of  Al- 
bany county,  succeeded  in  taking  one  man  prisoner.  The  trial  was  at 
Bennington.  Sheriff  Ten  Eyck  made  a  general  summons  of  the  citi- 
zens of  Albany,  and  on  July  28,  1771,  set  out  at  the  head  of  from 
200  to  300  men  variously  armed,  for  Breakenridge 's  house,  one  and 


40.  N.  Y.  Calendar  Land  Papers,  p.  316-7. 

41.  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  P-  376. 

42.  H.  Hall,  Early  Hist.  Vt.,  pp.  1 17-126. 

168 


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THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

one-half  mile  over  the  old  New  York  line,  arriving  the  next  morning. 
The  house  was  barricaded  and  held  by  18  men;  about  100  armed 
men  were  in  the  woods  near,  and  in  a  field  near  the  house  a  smaller 
body.  The  bridge  one-half  mile  from  Breakenridge 's  house  was 
guarded,  but  Mayor  Cuyler  of  Albany  was  allowed  with  a  few  oth- 
ers, to  pass  to  the  house.  In  reply  to  the  question  why  so  many  men 
were  assembled,  Breakenriage  assureu  kirn  thai  lie  had  no  further 
concern  with  the  farm,  but  "that  the  township  had  resolved  to  take 
the  same  under  their  protection,  and  that  they  intended  to  keep  it." 
The  Mayor  reported  to  the  Sheriff,  but  only  20  to  30  of  his  party 
tried  to  cross.  After  a  parley,  he  seized  an  axe  and  threatened  to 
break  open  the  door.  The  party  in  the  field  presenting  their  pieces 
toward  him,  he  withdrew  to  try  to  take  possession  of  Fuller's  farm, 
but  his  posse  melted  away,  many  in  Albany  county  being  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  New  Hampshire  grantees.  On  the  farm  of  James 
Breakenridge  began  the  future  State  of  Vermont ;  a  military  organi- 
zation being  forthwith  formed  by  several  townships  west  of  the 
Green  Mountains,  called  the  "Green  Mountain  Boys,"  for  the  pro- 
tection of  their  grants ;  the  headquarters  being  at  the  Green  Moun- 
tain tavern  of  Stephen  Fav.  The  warnings  of  Bennington  town 
meetings  till  1770  were  headed  "Province  of  New  Hampshire,"  but 
after  that  no  province  for  some  years  was  specified.  The  captain  of 
the  "Boys"  was  Seth  Warner,  a  neighbor  of  Breakenridge,  living 
three-fourths  mile  from  the  New  York  line.  The  contemporary  his- 
tory of  the  region  north  of  Bennington  county,  (now  Rutland  coun^ 
ty),  shows  that  at  the  time  of  the  proclamation  of  April  10,  1765, 
(that  Connecticut  river  is  the  eastern  boundary  of  New  York,)  more 
than  two-thirds  of  the  tract  had  been  granted  in  sixteen  townships. 
Immediately  after,  Colden  granted  12,000  acres  as  military  patents 
in  the  present  county,  principally  in  Benson,  Fairhaven,  and  Paw- 
let;  later,  military  patents  for  26,000  acres  were  granted,  of  which 
not  less  than  25,000  acres  were  granted  after  the  order  of  July  24, 
1767,  forbidding  all  grants,  "under  penalty  of  incurring  his  Majes- 
ty's highest  displeasure."43  These  military  grants  were  mostly  for 
the  benefit  of  speculators;  but  far  more  land  was  granted  in  civil 


43-    Calendar  N.  Y.  Land  Papers,  pp.  355-391  (1765),  and  H.  Hall,  pp.  506-511. 

169 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

grants  in  Rutland  county,  1770-1772,  amounting  to  222,500  acres,  on 
which  the  Governor's  fees  were  $31.25  per  1000  acres ;  and  among  six 
other  government  officials,  $59  more;  the  total  of  these  fees  being 
$20,080.62,  of  which  the  Governor  had  $6953.12  leaving  $13,127.50 
to  be  divided  between  the  Secretary  of  the  Province,  the  Clerk  of  the 
Council,  the  Auditor,  the  Receiver  General,  the  Attorney  General 
and  the  Surveyor  General.44  Nearly  all  the  patentees  were  New 
York  City  speculators,  who  were  well  aware  that  most  of  the  lands 
had  been  previously  granted  by  New  Hampshire,  and  many  were 
settled  under  that  title.  They  had  no  desire  to  occupy  the  lands 
themselves,  but  only  to  dispose  of  them  at  a  profit,  for  which  they 
directly  disobeyed  the  royal  order  of  1767.  Socialborough,  13  miles 
by  6,  or  48,000  acres,  was  patented  April  3,  1771,  nominally  to  48 
patentees,  but  when  the  $30,000  was  paid  at  the  final  settlement  of 
the  "New  Hampshire  Grants "  controversy,  its  distribution  showed 
that  12,000  acres  belonged  to  the  clerk  of  the  Council,  and  other  gov- 
ernment officials,  and  15,000  acres  to  James  Duane,  the  latter  being 
a  leading  land  speculator, — Duane  having  large  holdings,  i.  e. 
Duanesburgh,  Schenectady  county,  N.  Y. ;  and  the  remaining  15,000 
acres  were  unclaimed,  probably  because  the  proprietors  were  Tories 
who  left  the  country  before  the  settlement,  1790.  The  patent  of  Dur- 
ham purported  to  grant  32,000  acres  to  32  individuals;  but  on  the 
distribution  of  the  $30,000  April  3,  1799,  it  was  found  that  14,225 
acres  belonged  to  city  claimants,  of  which  one-third  was  owned  by 
James  Duane.45  From  a  statement  in  behalf  of  the  Colony  of  New 
York  in  1773,  it  was  assumed  that  a  patent  from  the  New  York  gov- 
ernment to  Godfrey  Dellius  in  1696  included  a  large  tract  in  part  in 
Rutland  and  Addison  counties;  but  the  patent  itself  shows  clearly 
that  not  an  acre  of  the  tract  could  possibly  have  been  on  the  east 
side  of  Lake  Champlain,  or  in  any  part  of  Vermont.46 

There  was  wholesale  land  litigation  from  1769  to  1776,  requiring 
constant  defence  in  New  York  courts,  on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  "Grants" ;  which  drew  to  their  support  the  sturdy  men  essen- 
tial to  maintain  an  exposed  position  against  adverse  judgments,  even 


44.  Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  7,  pp.  921-6. 

45.  Doc.  Hist,  vol.  4,  pp.  616-7  (8vo,  p.  102-4). 

46.  H.  Hall,  Early  Hist  Vt,  pp.  488-495- 

170 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

to  the  force  of  arms,  especially  Ethan  and  Ira  Allen,  Thomas  Chit- 
tenden, Seth  Warner,  and  Dr.  Jonas  Fay.  The  issue  was  between  the 
New  England  conception  of  civil  liberty,  with  small  free  landholders, 
and  the  English  system  of  royal  landholders,  non-residents,  entail- 
ing tenantry.  Ira  Allen  was  the  statesman  and  diplomat  of  the  five. 
Of  him  Thomas  Chittenden,  the  first  Governor,  said,  ''There  would 
have  been  no  Vermont,  if  there  had  been  no  Ira  Allen."  Dr.  Fay 
was  the  author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  of  Vermont; 
Ethan  Allen,  the  organizer  and  military  leader. 

The  Documentary  History  of  New  York  in  1771  contains  a  list  of 
129  New  Hampshire  grants  under  patents  from  Gov.  Benning  Went- 
worth.47  On  June  6,  1771,  the  Board  of  Trade  writes  to  the  Lords 
of  the  Privy  Council,  or  advisers  of  the  king,  on  land  claims.  1.  Per- 
sons possessing  lands  under  grants  legally  and  properly  obtained 
from  the  government  of  New  York  antecedent  to  any  pretence  set  up 
by  the  government  of  New  Hampshire  to  grant  lands  west  of  the 
Connecticut  river;  only  two  or  three  grants  of  this  class  existed.  2. 
Persons  wrho,  in  consequence  of  grants  from  the  Governor  of  New 
Hampshire  have  made  actual  settlement  and  improvement  .  .  . 
in  cases  where  possession  does  not  interfere  with  the  rights  of  oth- 
ers .  .  .  ought  to  be  left  in  entire  possession  of  such  lands  as 
they  have  actually  cultivated  and  improved  .  .  .  subject  to  no 
other  condition  than  what  is  contained  in  the  grants  under  which 
they  claim.  3.  The  claim  of  reduced  officers  and  soldiers  obtaining 
warrants  from  the  Governor  of  New  York,  provided  they  do  not 
claim  lands  bona  fide  settled  under  grants  from  New  Hampshire.48 

Gov.  Tryon  of  New  York  writes  to  Justices  Skeene,  Munro,  etc., 
24  August,  1771,  concerning  a  riot  and  the  dispossession  of  Donald 
Mclntire  and  others  from  lands  granted  by  this  government.  Gov. 
John  Wentworth  procured  the  drawing  of  a  map  of  New  Hampshire ; 
and  Judge  Wells  on  Sept.  18,  1771,  says  the  survey  had  gone  to 
England. 

In  his  proclamation  of  Dec.  11,  1771,  Gov.  Tryon,  reiterating  the 
right  of  New  York  to  the  territory  in  dispute,  gives  a  resume  of  the 


47.  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  pp.  430-1. 

48.  Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  8,  p.  272. 

171 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

history  of  the  dispute  from  1749,  in  which  he  charges  that  notwith- 
standing Gov.  Wentworth  had  consented  to  exchange  "representa- 
tions'' with  New  York,  he  stated  and  transmitted  the  claim  of  New 
Hampshire  23  March,  1750-1,  without  previously  communicating  a 
copy  thereof  to  this  government ;  the  hrst  intimation  of  which  trans- 
action was  had  from  their  own  agent  in  Great  Britain;  and  the  Rep- 
resentation containing  a  statement  of  the  claims  of  New  York  was 
forwarded  to  the  proper  office  about  the  close  of  the  year  1751;  and 
encroachment  having  been  made  by  inhabitants  of  New  Hampshire 
on  the  lands  and  possessions  of  his  Majesty's  subjects  of  New  York, 
this  government  on  28  July,  1753,  issued  a  proclamation  for  appre- 
hending all  persons  who  should  thereafter  under  color  of  title  from 
New  Hampshire  take  possession  of  lands  granted  by  this  province. 
The  Incursions  of  the  Indians  obstructing  all  new  settlements,  the 
matter  rested  until  his  Majesty's  order  of  20  July,  1764,  declaring 
the  west  banks  of  the  Connecticut  from  where  it  enters  the  province 
of  Massachusetts  Bay  to  45  degrees  north  latitude  the  boundary  be- 
tween New  York  and  New  Hampshire.  By  this  act,  Gov.  Tryon  put 
himself  clearly  on  record  as  adopting  the  quarrel ;  and  the  deputies 
of  Bennington  and  adjacent  towns  sent  J.  Hawley  and  James  Break- 
enridge  in  October,  1772,  as  their  agents,  to  London  to  petition  for  a 
confirmation  of  their  claims  under  grants  of  New  Hampshire ;  Haw- 
ley from  the  New  York  jurisdiction,  and  Breakenridge  from  New 
Hampshire  jurisdiction.49 

The  Representation  of  the  Board  of  Trade  to  the  Lords  of  the 
Privy  Council,  censures  the  conduct  of  the  Governor  of  New  York ; 
as,  contrary  to  the  letter  of  the  49th  article  of  his  instructions,  he 
had  passed  patents  of  confirmation  of  several  townships  granted  by 
the  Governor  of  New  Hampshire ;  and  adds : 

All  grants  made  by  the  government  of  New  York  of  any  lands 
originally  settled  under  grants  from  the  government  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  which  fell  within  this  district  (New  Hampshire  Grants  be- 
fore 1741)  are  in  every  light  in  which  they  can  be  viewed,  oppressive 
and  unjust,  but  however  unwarrantable,  cannot  be  set  aside,  by  any 
authority  from  his  Majesty.  It  is  expedient  that  the  original  pro- 
prietors should,  on  quitting  them,  receive  a  grant  free  of  expense  of 

49.    Doc.  Hist  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  p.  456. 

172 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

an  equal  number  of  acres  in  some  other  part  of  the  district  between 
the  Hudson  and  the  Connecticut  river;  and  for  every  three  acres  im- 
proved, fifty  acres  of  waste  land.  Grants  made  by  New  York  pre- 
viously to  the  establishment  of  townships  laid  out  by  the  Governor 
of  New  Hampshire,  on  which  any  actual  improvement  has  been 
made,  should  be  undisturbed.  Extortion  by  servants  of  the  Crown  in 
New  York,  taking  greater  fees  upon  grants  of  land  than  what  was 
established  by  the  ordinance  of  the  Governor  (Hunter)  and  Council 
of  (Oct.  19)  1710,  is  unwarrantable  and  unjust.  By  that  ordinance, 
the  fees  allowed  to  be  taken  upon  grants  of  land,  by  the  Governor, 
Secretary  and  Surveyor,  were  larger  than  what  are  at  this  day  re- 
ceived for  the  same  service  in  any  other  of  the  colonies.  ...  Of 
later  times,  the  Governor,  Secretary  and  Surveyor  have  taken,  and 
do  now  exact  considerably  more  than  double  what  that  ordinance  al- 
lows and  a  number  of  other  officers  do,  upon  various  pretences,  take 
fees  upon  all  grants  of  land  in  so  much  that  the  whole  amount  of 
these  fees  upon  a  grant  of  1000  acres  of  land  is,  in  many  instances, 
not  far  short  of  the  real  value  of  the  fee  simple ;  and  we  think  we  are 
justified  in  supposing  that  it  has  been  from  a  consideration  of  the 
advantage  arising  from  these  exorbitant  fees  that  His  Majesty's 
Governors  of  New  York  have  of  late  years  taken  upon  themselves 
the  most  unwarrantable  pretences  to  elude  the  restrictions  contained 
in  his  Majesty's  instructions  with  regard  to  the  quantity  of  land  to 
be  granted  any  one  person,  and  to  contrive  by  insertion  in  one  grant, 
of  a  number  of  names  utterly  fictitious,  or  which,  if  real,  are  only 
lent  for  the  purpose  to  convey  to  one  person  in  one  grant  from  twen- 
ty to  forty  thousand  acres  of  land ;  an  abuse  which  is  now  grown  to 
that  height  as  well  to  deserve  your  Lordships'  attention.  Whitehall, 
Dec.  3,  1772.  "50 

This  charge  of  abuse  of  the  granting  power  by  " unwarrantable 
pretences"  is  fully  substantiated  by  such  cases  as  the  grant  of  So- 
•cialborough,  April  3,  1771,  and  of  Durham,  Jan.  7,  1772,  already 
oited  with  the  military  grants,  which  throw  light  on  the  " graft"  in 
fees.  Durham  was  number  7  of  35  townships  of  36  square  miles 
each,  formed  from  the  obsolete  J.  H.  Lydius  purchase  of  60  by  20 
miles,  from  the  Mohawk  Indians  in  1732,  and  is  now  Clarendon.  New 
York  had  allowed  its  confirmation  by  Gov.  Shirley  of  Massachusetts 
in  1744,  and  by  New  Hampshire,  Sept.  5,  1761,  and  4  square  miles  of 
it  was  further  involved  under  the  Socialborough  grant  by  New  York, 


50.    Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  8,  pp.  333-336. 

173 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

which  included  also  Rutland  and  Pittsford  sites.  Both  grants  were 
storm  centres  in  the  controversy  between  the  partisans  of  New  York 
and  the  Green  Mountain  Boys.  Spencer  and  the  "Durhamites" 
against  about  100  "Boys"  under  Ethan  Allen  clashed  in  1778;  the 
latter  ordered  Spencer  to  purchase  a  right  under  a  New  Hampshire 
title, which  would  be  granted  at  a  reasonable  rate,  and  they  would  de- 
fend him  against  extortion.  Benjamin  Hough  of  Socialborough,  by 
his  fierce  petition  to  the  New  York  Assembly  caused  a  reward  of 
£100  each  for  the  arrest  of  Ethan  Allen  and  Remember  Baker,  and 
£50  each  for  the  arrest  of  Seth  Warner,  James  Breakenridge,  Robert 
Cochran,  Peleg  Sunderland,  John  Smith,  or  Silvanus  Brown,  and  the 
passing  of  the  New  York  law  of  March  9,  1774,  which  placed  before 
the  "Boys"  the  alternative  of  victory  or  death,  as  follows: 

Whereas  a  Spirit  of  Riot  and  Licentiousness  has  of  late  prevailed 
in  some  parts  of  the  counties  of  Charlotte  and  Albany,  and  many 
Acts  of  Outrage  and  Cruelty  have  been  perpetrated  by  a  number  of 
turbulent  Men,  who,  assembling  from  Time  to  Time  in  Arms  have 
seized  insulted  and  menaced  several  Magistrates  and  other  Civil  Of- 
ficers, so  that  they  dare  not  execute  their  respective  Functions.  .  .  . 
Be  it  enacted  .  .  .  That  if  any  Persons  to  the  number  of  three  or 
more  being  unlawfully,  riotously  and  tumultuously  assembled  with- 
in either  of  the  said  Counties  to  the  Disturbance  of  the  Public  Peace 
at  any  time  after  the  passing  of  this  Act,  and  being  required  or  com- 
manded by  any  one  or  more  Justice  or  Justices  of  the  Peace,  or  by 
the  High  Sheriff,  or  his  Under  Sheriff,  or  by  any  one  of  the  Coroners 
of  the  County  where  such  Assembly  shall  be, — by  Proclamation  to 
be  made  in  the  King's  Name,  in  the  Form  hereinafter  directed  to 
disperse  themselves  .  .  .  shall  .  .  .  notwithstanding  such 
Proclamation  made,  unlawfully  riotously  and  tumultuously  remain 
and  continue  together  .  .  .  that  then  every  Person  or  Persons 
so  continuing  together  .  .  .  shall  for  every  such  Offence  upon 
Conviction  thereof  in  due  form  of  Law  .  .  .  suffer  12  Months 
Imprisonment  without  Bail  or  Mainprize,  and  such  further  Corporal 
Punishment  as  the  respective  Courts  before  which  he,  she  or  they 
shall  be  convicted,  shall  judge  fit,  not  extending  to  Life  and  Limb, 
and  before  his,  her  or  their  Discharge  shall  enter  into  Recognizance 
with  two  sufficient  Securities  in  such  Sums  as  said  Courts  shall  re- 
spectively direct  to  be  of  Good  Behaviour,  and  to  keep  the  Peace 
towards  his  Majesty  and  all  his  subjects  for  the  term  of  three  Years 
from  such  his  her  or  their  Discharge  out  of  Prison.    .    .    .    And  be  it 

174 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

further  enacted.  .  .  .  That  if  any  Person  or  Persons  do  or  shall 
with  Force  and  Arms  wilfully  and  knowingly  oppose  obstruct  or  in 
any  Manner  wilfully  and  knowingly  let,  hinder  or  hurt  any  Person 
or  Persons  who  shall  begin  to  proclaim,  or  go  to  proclaim  according 
to  the  Proclamation  hereby  directed  to  be  made  whereby  such  Proc- 
lamation shall  not  be  made ;  that  then  every  such  opposing,  letting 
hindering  or  hurting  such  Person  or  Persons  so  beginning  or  going 
to  make  such  Proclamation  as  aforesaid  shall  be  adjudged  Felony 
without  benefit  of  Clergy ;  and  that  the  Offenders  therein  shall  be  ad- 
judged Felons  and  shall  suffer  Death  as  in  Cases  of  Felony  without 
benefit  of  Clergy.  .  .  .  And  whereas  Complaint  and  Proofs 
have  been  made  as  well  before  his  Excellency  the  Governor  in  Coun- 
cil as  before  the  General  Assembly.  That  Ethan  Allen  sometime  of 
Saulsbury  in  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  but  late  of  Bennington  in 
the  County  of  Albany  Yeoman,  Seth  Warner  late  of  Bennington  said 
County  Yeoman,  Remember  Baker  late  of  Arlington  in  said  County 
Yeoman,  Robert  Cochran  late  of  Rupert  in  the  County  of  Charlotte 
Yeoman,  Peleg  Sunderland  and  Sylvanus  Brown  late  of  Socialbor- 
ough  in  the  same  County  Yeomen,  James  Brackenridge  late  of  Wal- 
lumschack  in  the  County  of  Albany  Yeoman,  and  John  Smith  late 
of  Socialborough  in  the  County  of  Charlotte  Yeoman,  have  been 
principal  Ringleaders  of,  and  Actors  in  the  Riots  and  Disturbances 
aforesaid;  and  the  General  Assembly  have  thereupon  addressed  his 
Excellency  the  Governor  to  issue  a  Proclamation  offering  certain 
Rewards  for  apprehending  and  securing  said  Offenders.  .  .  . 
Be  it  therefore  enacted  .  .  .  That  it  shall  be  lawful  to  and  for 
his  Excellency  the  Governor  ...  by  and  with  the  Advice  of  the 
Council  as  often  as  either  of  the  abovenamed  Persons  shall  be  in- 
dicted ...  to  make  his  order  in  Council  requiring  and  com- 
manding such  Offender  and  Offenders  to  surrender  themselves  re- 
spectively within  the  Space  of  Seventy  Days  next  after  the  first  Pub- 
lication thereof  in  the  New  York  Gazette  and  Weekly  Mercury,  to 
one  of  his  Majesty's  Justices  of  the  Peace  for  either  of  the  said 
Counties  respectively,  who  are  hereby  required  thereupon  to  commit 
him  or  them  without  Bail  or  Mainprize  to  the  Gaol  of  the  City  of  New 
York  or  of  the  City  and  County  of  Albany  .  .  .  which  Order  the 
Clerk  of  his  Majesty's  Council  or  his  Deputy  shall  cause  to  be  forth- 
with printed  and  published  in  Eight  successive  Papers  of  the  New 
York  Gazette  and  Weekly  Mercury.  .  .  .  And  in  Case  said  Of- 
fenders shall  not  respectively  surrender  themselves  .  .  .  he  or 
they  so  neglecting  or  refusing  to  surrender  .  .  .  shall  from  the 
Day  to  be  appointed  for  his  or  their  surrender  as  aforesaid  be  ad- 
judged deemed  and  taken  (if  indicted  for  a  Capital  Offence  here- 

175 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

after  to  be  perpetrated)  to  be  convicted  and  attainted  of  Felony,  and 
shall  suffer  Death  as  in  cases  of  Persons  convicted  and  attainted  of 
Felony  by  Verdict  and  Judgment  without  benefit  of  Clergy."  (For 
aiding  and  abetting  an  offender  the  same  penalty  as  for  riot;  and  no 
immunity  promised  for  surrender,  to  Allen  and  the  others  named.) 
The  act  to  be  in  force  till  Jan.  1,  1776.51 

At  a  general  meeting  of  the  committees  for  the  townships  in  the 
New  Hampshire  Grants,  April  14th,  1774,  or  a  month  after  the  pas- 
sage of  the  above  extreme  and  despotic  act,  it  was  resolved  "that  our 
inhabitants  hold  themselves  in  readiness,  at  a  minute's  warning  to 
aid  and  defend  such  friends  of  ours,  who,  for  their  merit  to  the  great 
and  general  cause,  are  falsely  denominated  rioters ;  but  that  we  will 
not  act  anything  more  or  less  but  on  the  defensive,  and  always  en- 
courage due  execution  of  law  in  civil  cases,  and  also  in  criminal 
prosecutions  that  are  so  indeed ;  and  that  we  will  assist  to  the  utmost 
of  our  power,  the  officers  appointed  for  that  purpose."  But  though 
the  policy  of  Ethan  Allen  and  the  Green  Mountain  Boys  was  to  over- 
awe New  York  interference  by  a  display  of  strength  and  numbers, 
and  hitherto  to  avoid  bloodshed;  when  proscribed  as  outlaws  with  a 
price  on  their  heads,  to  be  punished  if  they  surrendered,  and  con- 
demned without  hearing  or  trial  to  die  the  death  of  felons,  if  they 
did  not  surrender,  they  were  roused  to  declare  on  April  16,  1774, 
"We  will  kill  and  destroy  any  person  or  persons  whomsoever  that 
shall  presume  to  be  accessory,  aiding,  or  assisting  in  taking  any  of 
ns."52 

But  events  of  national  importance  to  all  the  thirteen  American  col- 
onies soon  overshadowed  and  halted  provincial  quarrels.  The  Con- 
tinental Congress  meeting  Sept.  5,  1774,  was  followed  by  the  sus- 
pension of  British  authority  in  nearly  all  these  colonies  except  New 
York,  where  the  first  interruption  of  the  courts  occurred  March  14, 
1775,  known  as  the  "Westminster  Massacre."53  The  Provincial 
Council  of  New  York,  in  the  face  of  the  royal  veto,  had  on  March 
19,  1768,  affixed  the  "Great  Seal"  of  the  Province  to  an  act  of  the 
Assembly  passed  on  the  18th,  re-establishing  the  county  of  Cumber- 


51.  Colonial  Laws  of  N.  Y.P  vol.  5,  pp.  647-655. 

52.  H.  Hall,  Early  Hist.,  Vt.  pp.  180-183. 

53.  Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  pp.  545-550. 

176 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

land,  with  Chester  as  its  shire  town.  The  anti-court  party,  led  by- 
Col.  Nathan  Stone  of  Windsor,  defied  the  authority  of  this  court,  and 
rescued  Joseph  Waite  from  the  high  sheriff,  Daniel  Whipple,  whom 
with  his  posse  they  held  prisoners  for  seven  hours ;  and  on  June  5, 
1770,  the  day  appointed  by  law  for  holding  the  regular  term  of  the 
"Inferior  Court  of  Common  Pleas,"  prevented  the  sitting,  which 
was  to  be  held  in  a  dwelling  house,  there  being  no  court  house,  and 
only  an  apology  for  a  jail.  Though  the  rest  of  the  community  pre- 
vented further  interference  with  the  Court,  a  movement  arose  for 
placing  the  courthouse  elsewhere,  several  towns  offering  to  build  a 
courthouse  if  such  town  be  declared  the  county  seat.  Judge  Chand- 
ler of  Chester  thereupon,  to  hold  down  the  site,  built  a  court  house  30 
by  16  feet,  at  his  own  expense,  and  leased  it  to  the  county  for  ten 
years,  in  1771,  but  probably  only  two  terms  of  court  were  held  there, 
when  Judge  Wells  and  four  other  opponents  of  the  Chester  site 
urged  Westminster  as  the  county  seat,  and  the  bill  passed  March  24, 
1772.  Record  exists  of  a  court  at  Chester  June  2,  1772,  adjourned 
to  the  meeting-house  in  Westminster,  and  assembled  there  June  9, 
1772.  In  1773  a  courthouse  about  forty  feet  square  was  completed 
at  Westminster,  built  of  hewn  logs,  and  clapboarded.54  When  the 
agitation  in  1774  concerning  independence  of  Great  Britain  was  un- 
der way,  Isaac  Low  of  New  York  investigated  the  sentiments  of  the 
people  of  the  "Grants"  toward  Great  Britain,  and  the  towns  in 
Cumberland  county  were  invited  to  send  delegates  to  a  convention 
at  Westminster,  Oct.  19,  1774.  The  Convention,  while  professing 
loyalty  to  the  king,  resolved  to  defend  their  just  rights  as  British 
subjects,  and  viewed  the  Acts  of  Parliament  blocking  up  Boston 
harbor  as  unjust  and  arbitrary.  A  second  convention  assembled 
Nov.  30,  and  the  delegates  promised  to  adhere  to  all  resolves  passed 
by  the  Continental  Congress.55 

Judge  Chandler,  representing  the  authority  of  New  York,  was  to 
hold  court  at  Westminster  March  13, 1775 ;  but  the  settlers,  unarmed, 
proposed  by  peaceable  means  to  prevent  it ;  but  were  fired  upon  by 
the  sheriff's  posse,  and  William   French   was   mortally   wounded, 


54-  B.  H.  Hall,  Hist.  Eastern  Vt.,  vol.  i,  pp.  159-186,  and  Hemenway,  Vt.  Historical 
Gazetteer,  vol.  5,  pp.  1-9. 

55-  B.  H.  Hall,  Hist,  of  Eastern  Vt,  vol.  1,  pp.  198-9,  204. 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

"the  protomartyr  to  the  cause  of  American  liberty ;"  later,  several 
others  were  wounded,  Daniel  Houghton  mortally.  This  was  the 
"Westminster  Massacre."  A  Committee  of  Safety  appointed  by  a 
large  convention  of  the  inhabitants  of  Cumberland  county,  met  at 
Westminster  April  11,  1775,  and  resolved  that  it  is  the  "duty  of  the 
inhabitants  to  wholly  renounce  and  resist  the  administration  of  the 
government  of  New  York  till  such  time  as  the  lives  and  property  of 
these  inhabitants  may  be  secured  by  it,  or  till  such  time  as  they  can 
have  opportunity  to  lay  their  grievances  before  his  Majesty  in  Coun- 
cil, with  a  humble  petition  to  be  taken  out  of  so  oppressive  a  jurisdic- 
tion, and  either  annexed  to  some  other  government,  or  erected  and 
incorporated  into  a  new  one.  Col.  Haseltine,  Charles  Phelps  and 
Col.  Ethan  Allen  were  chosen  a  committee  to  prepare  a  remon- 
strance and  petition  to  King  George.50  The  battle  of  Lexington, 
April  19, 1775,  determined  the  question  for  them,  and  no  petition  was 
presented. 

Ethan  Allen  was  soon  found  (May  10)  at  Ticonderoga,  demanding 
its  surrender  from  the  British  commander ;  New  York  fell  into  line 
for  the  common  defence,  and  left  for  a  time  the  " Grants' '  in  open 
rebellion  to  her  authority,  though  three  delegates  were  elected  to 
represent  the  county  in  the  New  York  Assembly,  and  on  June  21, 
1775,  took  their  seats  there ;  but  after  the  Declaration  of  American 
independence,  a  committee  of  delegates  from  25  towns,  on  Jan.  15, 
1777,  having  found  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  people  of  Cum- 
berland county  favorable  to  an  independent  state  government  adopt- 
ed the  declaration  ' '  That  the  district  of  territory  comprehending  and 
usually  known  by  the  name  and  description  of  the  New  Hampshire 
Grants,  of  right  ought  to  be,  and  is  hereby  declared  forever  here- 
after to  be  considered  as  a  free  and  independent  jurisdiction  or  State 
by  the  name  and  forever  hereafter  to  be  called,  known,  and  distin- 
guished by  the  name  of  New  Connecticut,  (alias  Vermont)."57 
Tryon  left  his  governorship  to  become  an  officer  in  the  British  army, 
1777 ;  to  destroy  Danbury,  Fairfield  and  Norwalk,  Connecticut,  1779. 

A  declaration  of  loyalty  to  the  United  States  had  already  been 


56.  H.  Hall,  Early  Hist.  Vt.,  pp.  191-5.    B.  H.  Hall,  vol.  I,  pp.  217-241. 

57.  H.  Hall,  Early  Hist.  Vt.,  pp.  238-9;  B.  H.  Hall,  vol.  1,  pp.  247,  283. 

178 


' 


' 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

made  by  a  convention  July  24, 1776 ;  "We  the  subscribers, inhabitants 
of  that  district  of  land  commonly  called  and  known  by  the  name  of 
the  New  Hampshire  Grants,  do  voluntarily  and  solemnly  engage,  un- 
der all  the  ties  held  sacred  amongst  mankind,  at  the  risque  of  our 
lives  and  fortunes  to  defend  by  arms  the  United  American  States 
against  the  hostile  attempts  of  the  British  fleets  and  armies,  until 
the  present  unhappy  controversy  between  the  two  countries  shall  be 
settled."58  By  the  "irony  of  fate"  Col.  Warner  and  his  regiment 
were  engaged  mainly  in  the  defence  of  New  York.  The  pointedness 
of  this  "irony"  is  seen  from  the  fact  that  New  York,  almost  direct- 
ly after  her  signers  had  affixed  their  signatures  to  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  in  the  State  Convention  of  Aug.  2,  1776,  voted 
that  all  quitrents  formerly  due  to  the  king  of  Great  Britain,  are  now 
due  and  owing  to  this  Convention,  or  such  future  government  as 
shall  hereafter  be  established  in  this  State";  thereby  squarely  as- 
suming the  sole  responsibility  for  any  acts  committed  in  prosecuting 
the  New  York  side  of  the  "grants"  controversy,  and  eliminating 
Great  Britain  from  that  controversy.  For  Vermont  to  submit  to 
New  York  now  was  to  put  all  the  "grants"  into  her  hands,  and  sub- 
ject to  her  sole  decision.  To  contest  with  New  York,  might  range 
Vermont  against  Congress  also,  for  New  York  was  within  the  United 
States  confederation,  and  Vermont  was  outside.  Vermont  sentiment 
tended  toward  a  total  separation  from  New  York,  and  the  independ- 
ence of  Vermont.  NewHampshire  was  willing  to  admit  it ;  Massachu- 
setts and  Connecticut  rather  approved  than  condemned;  but  New 
York  considered  it  dangerous  rebellion;  and  the  President  of  the 
New  York  Convention  Jan.  20,  1777,  reported  to  Congress  "a  part 
of  this  State  hath  been  prevailed  on  to  revolt  and  disavow  the  au- 
thority of  its  legislature";  and  by  letter  criticizes  Congress  for 
granting  a  commission  to  Col.  Warner,  "an  outlaw,"  and  claims  it 
"absolutely  necessary  to  recall  the  commission  to  Warner  and  the 
officers  under  him.59  The  Committee  of  the  Whole,  considering  a 
printed  letter  of  Thomas  Y'oung  of  Philadelphia,  laid  before  it  by  a 
delegate  of  New  York,  and  addressed  to  the  inhabitants  of  Vermont 


58.    B.  H.  Hall,  Hist.  E.  Vt.,  vol.  1,  p.  268,  note. 
59-    Doc.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  pp.  557-559- 

179 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

"Resolved,  that  the  independence  attempted  to  be  established  by  the 
people  styling  themselves  inhabitants  of  the  New  Hampshire 
Grants,  can  derive  no  countenance  or  justification  from  the  act  of 
Congress  declaring  the  United  Colonies  independent  of  Great  Bri- 
tain, nor  from  any  other  act  or  resolution  of  Congress!"  "Resolved 
that  the  petition  of  Jonas  Fay,  Thomas  Chittenden,  Heman  Allen, 
and  Reuben  Jones,  in  the  name  and  on  behalf  of  the  people  styling 
themselves  as  aforesaid,  praying  that  their  declaration  that  they 
would  consider  themselves  an  independent  State,  may  be  received; 
that  the  district  in  said  petition  described  may  be  numbered  among 
free  and  independent  States,  and  delegates  thereof  may  be  admitted 
to  seats  in  Congress — be  dismissed.  Resolved  that  Congress,  by 
raising  and  officering  the  regiment  commanded  by  Col.  Warner, 
never  "meant  to  give  any  encouragement  to  the  claim  of  the  people 
aforesaid  to  be  considered  an  independent  State;  and  that  the  con- 
tents of  said  paragraphs  (in  the  letter  of  Thomas  Young)  are  de- 
rogatory to  the  honor  of  Congress."60 

From  these  resolutions,  the  people  of  Vermont  concluded  that  the 
resolutions  were  drawn  up  under  the  influence  of  New  York;  but 
that  only  confirmed  their  resolution.  In  June,  Burgoyne  with  8000 
British  and  Indians  started  from  Canada  for  the  American  fort  at 
Crown  Point ;  that  being  taken,  the  American  troops  at  Ticonderoga 
had  to  abandon  that  fort  July  6,  1777;  then  were  approaching  di- 
rectly upon  the  "Grants"  by  way  of  Fort  Edward.  As  New  Hamp- 
shire had  gone  farther  than  any  other  State  toward  acknowledging 
the  independence  of  Vermont,  her  Committee  of  Safety  wrote  in 
pressing  terms  to  the  Exeter,  N.  H.,  Committee  of  Safety,  for  assist- 
ance. The  New  Hampshire  Assembly  was  immediately  called  to- 
gether, and  a  large  body  of  State  militia  under  Gen.  Stark  was  or- 
dered to  Charlestown,  N.  H.,  ready  "to  act  with  the  troops  of  the  new 
State  or  any  other  of  the  States;  danger  from  the  British  was  re- 
moved, Burgoyne  captured  14  towns ;  and  Weare,  President  of  New 
Hampshire,  notified  Ira  Allen,  Secretary  of  State  of  Vermont, 
addressing  Vermont  as  a  free  and  independent  State.  The 
idea    was     not     only     popular    in     New    Hampshire,     but    16 


6o.    Doc.  Hist  N.  Y.,  vol.  4,  pp.  562-3,  569. 

180 


- 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

of  her  towns,  and  on  the  west  several  New  York  towns,  wanted  to 
join  the  new  State;  this  ranged  both  against  the  forming  of  a  new 
State.61  Feb.  12,  1779,  Vermont  voted  to  dissolve  the  proposed  un- 
ion with  the  16  towns ;  New  York  proposed  armed  resistance  to  an- 
nexation of  New  York  towns;  Ethan  Allen  in  July  attempted  con- 
ciliation, in  vain,  and  then  proposed  that  their  claims  and  that  of 
Massachusetts  in  case  of  the  breaking  up  of  the  State,  with  the  claim 
of  Vermont,  be  heard  and  determined  by  Congress.02  "The  Gover- 
nor and  Council  of  Vermont  after  months  in  this  critical  condition, 
on  Dec.  10,  1779,  published  an  appeal  to  the  world,  stating  that  the 
State  existed  independent  of  any  of  the  thirteen  States,  and  was  not 
accountable  to  them  for  her  liberty;  that  they  were  and  ever  had 
been  ready  to  bear  their  proportion  of  the  burden  and  of  the  war 
with  Great  Britain ;  but  not  so  lost  to  sense  and  honor  that  after  they 
had  expended  so  much  blood  and  treasure  they  should  now  give  up 
everything  worth  fighting  for,  the  right  of  making  their  own  laws 
and  choosing  their  own  form  of  government,  to  the  arbitrament 
of  any  man  or  body  of  men  under  heaven." 

Congress  granted  that  when  the  rights  and  independence  of  Ver- 
mont were  debated,  her  representatives  might  be  present;  and  she 
was  notified  Sept.  19, 1780,  when  New  Hampshire  and  New  York  pre- 
sented their  claims.  Ira  Allen  and  Stephen  E.  Bradley  were  present 
as  the  representatives  of  Vermont;  and  presented  a  remonstrance 
Sept.  22,  against  suppressing  the  voice  of  Vermont  in  the  proceed- 
ings. In  1781,  finding  the  towns  of  western  New  Hampshire  and 
eastern  New  York  still  ready  to  join  their  government,  Vermont  en- 
tered on  the  policy  taught  her  by  her  neighbors, — of  making  claims, 
namely,  to  these  districts ;  with  such  success  that  35  New  Hampshire 
towns  were  represented  in  the  Vermont  Assembly  in  April,  1781, 
and  on  the  16th  of  June,  10  districts  in  New  York  adjacent.  The 
British  in  Canada,  seeing  Vermont  isolated,  through  Col.  Beverly 
Kobinson,  by  letter  to  Ethan  Allan,  March  30,  1780,  offered  induce- 
ments to  Vermont  to  become  a  British  province ;  the  first  letter  be- 
ing unanswered,  a  second  was  sent  Feb.  2, 1781,  and  Allen  on  March 


6i.    N.  H.  Provincial  &  State  Papers,  vol.  X,  pp.  253-5. 
62.    N.  H.  Prov'l  &  State  Papers,  vol.  X,  pp.  272-377. 

I8l 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

9,  enclosed  both  letters  in  a  letter  to  Congress,  claiming  the  right  of 
Vermont  to  agree  on  cessation  of  hostilities  with  Great  Britain,  pro- 
vided the  United  States  persists  in  rejecting  her  appeal  for  union 
with  them;  the  people  of  Vermont  being  exposed  to  the  whole  force 
of  Canada,  7000  strong,  wThile  they  had  neither  magazines,  money,  or 
army,  and  had  to  provide  for  their  own  safety,  considering  them- 
selves designedly  forsaken  by  the  other  colonies,  to  force  them  to 
submit  to  New  York.63  Congress  was  persuaded  that  the  only  way 
to  secure  Vermont  w^as  to  admit  her  into  the  Union ;  hence  on  Aug. 
7,  1781,  accepted  the  offer  of  New  York  and  New  Hampshire  pre- 
viously made,  submitting  to  the  decision  of  Congress,  and  appointed 
a  committee  of  five  to  confer  with  persons  appointed  by  the  people 
of  the  "Grants,"  on  what  terms  it  is  proper  to  admit  them  into  the 
Union.  On  Aug.  18,  an  agreement  was  made  to  recognize  Vermont's 
independence,  provided  she  relinquish  all  demands  for  lands  and 
jurisdiction  east  of  the  west  bank  of  Connecticut  river,  and  on  the 
west  side  of  a  line  beginning  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Massachu- 
setts, thence  running  20  miles  east  of  the  Hudson  thence  by  the  west 
bounds  of  the  townships  granted  by  the  late  Governor  of  New  Hamp- 
shire to  the  river  running  from  South  bay,  to  Lake  Champlain  and 
along  the  waters  of  Lake  Champlain  to  45  degrees  north  latitude, 
except  a  neck  of  land  between  Missisquoi  bay  and  Lake  Champlain.64 
New  York  protested  on  the  15th  and  17th  Nov.,  but  the  Vermont  As- 
sembly accepted  on  Feb.  22,  1782,  the  boundary  sanctioned  by  Con- 
gress. Though  minor  difficulties  resulted  from  the  great  dilatori- 
ness  of  Congress  in  acting  on  the  admission  of  Vermont,  and  causes 
of  irritation  between  New  York  and  Vermont, — the  losing  of  the  seat 
of  government  by  New  York  city  to  Philadelphia  for  lack  of  a  small 
number  of  votes,  induced  New  York  to  seek  the  friendship  and  vote 
of  Vermont;  and  she  appointed  commissioners  July  15,  1789,  who 
treated  with  others  appointed  by  Vermont  Oct.  23,  1789.  After  two 
or  three  meetings  they  came  to  an  agreement  on  boundary  lines  and 
compensation  for  New  York  claims  within  them,  and  on  Oct.  7,  1790, 
the  New  York  Commissioners  declared  the  consent  of  New  York 


63.  H.  Hall,  Early  Hist.  Vt,  pp.  337-345,  359-377- 

64.  H.  Hall,  Early  Hist.  Vt.,  pp.  346-355- 

182 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  VERMONT 

Assembly,  that  Vermont  be  admitted  into  the  Union,  and  all  claims 
of  New  York  to  cease,  provided  that  for  the  lands  granted  by  New 
York,  that  on  or  before  June  1,  1794,  said  State  of  Vermont  would 
pay  to  the  State  of  New  York  $30,000,  and  that  grants  from  New 
York  in  Vermont  should  cease,  and  rights  and  titles  under  New  York 
grants  except  those  made  in  confirmation  of  the  grants  by  New 
Hampshire.65  Vermont  legislature  passed  an  act  Oct.  28,  1790,  di- 
recting Vermont  to  pay  the  $30,000.  Thus  ended  the  bitter  contro- 
versy of  26  years.  Vermont  was  admitted  to  the  United  States  by 
act  of  Feb.  18,  1791,  in  effect  March  4, 1791.  New  York  had  granted 
from  1765  to  1776  through  her  Governors  2,115,616  acres,  for  which 
they  had  received  $66,112.74  in  fees.  The  fees  to  the  Surveyor-Gen- 
eral, Secretary,  Clerk  of  Council,  Attorney-General,  and  Auditor- 
General  brought  the  amount  up  to  $190,933.73,  all  except  180,620 
acres  by  Moore,  granted  in  direct  disobedience  to  the  king's  order  of 
1767,  under  a  system  denounced  by  high  British  officials  and  upheld 
by  acts  disapproved  by  large  numbers  of  the  people  of  New  York. 


65.     H.  Hall,  Early  Hist.  Vt,  pp.  444-449,  and  B.  H.  Hall,  Hist.  Eastern  Vt,  vol.  2, 
PP.  558-565. 


183 


Chapters  in  the  History  of  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia 


By  Arthur  Wentworth  Hamilton  Eaton,  M.  A.,  D.  C.  L. 

NO.  X 

Halifax  and  the  American  Revolution 

"  'And  I  abide  by  my  Mother's  House,' 
Said  our  Lady  of  the  Snows." 

— Kipling. 


1 T  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  Nova  Scotia  stood  in  no 
essentially  different  relation  to  Great  Britain  and  her 
rule  of  her  American  colonies  from  that  borne  by  the 
thirteen  colonies  that  afterward  became  the  first  States 
of  the  Union.  She  was  simply  the  most  easterly  of  the  British 
American  colonies  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  of  which  Pennsylvania 
extended  farthest  west  and  Georgia  farthest  south,  her  English  set- 
tlement having  been  later  than  that  of  the  others,  but  her  constitu- 
tion and  government  not  differing  in  any  essential  particular  from 
theirs,  and  her  intercourse  with  them  all,  especially  the  New  Eng- 
land colonies,  being  very  friendly  and  close.1  The  population  of  this 
extreme  eastern  province,  moreover,  which  numbered  between  fif- 
teen and  twenty  thousand,  had  been  drawn  in  great  part  from  New 
England,  between  1749  and  1762,  and  never  since  the  people  emi- 
grated, except  perhaps  in  the  depth  of  the  winters,  had  commercial 
and  social  intercourse  between  them  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  towns 
from  which  they  had  come  for  a  single  month  been  intermitted.  At 
the  beginning  of  the  revolutionary  struggle,  therefore,  it  was  not  by 
any  means  a  foregone  conclusion  that  Nova  Scotia  would  not  range 


I.  See  on  this  point,  "Nova  Scotia  during  the  Revolution,"  an  article  in  the  Amer- 
ican Historical  Review,  X,  pp.  52-71,  by  Emily  P.  Weaver.  "Writers  dealing  with  the 
period,"  says  Miss  Weaver,  "frequently  assume  that  Nova  Scotia  was  from  the  first  in 
a  class  altogether  distinct  from  that  of  the  revolting  colonies  and  therefore  do  not  think 
her  exceptional  course  worthy  of  remark.  One  of  such  writers  is  Green  in  his  His- 
tory of  the  English  People." 

184 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

herself  on  the  side  of  the  revolting  colonies,  and  in  process  of  time 
come  to  share  whatever  fortune  the  general  protest  of  these  colonies 
against  the  abuses  of  the  government  in  England  might  bring  them. 

The  extent  of  territory  embraced  by  Nova  Scotia,  which  at  that 
time,  as  always  until  then,  had  embraced  the  present  province  of 
New  Brunswick,  and  which  also  included  the  recently  attached  island 
of  Cape  Breton,"  was  a  little  greater  than  that  of  the  province  of 
New  York,  and  was  well  up  in  the  scale  of  square  mileage  to  the 
province  of  Georgia,  and  her  well  known  fertility  and  the  great 
wealth  of  her  forests  and  fisheries,  in  spite  of  her  comparatively 
scanty  population,  made  her  an  object  of  no  little  consideration  in 
the  eyes  of  the  revolutionary  leaders.  The  importance,  moreover, 
of  the  capital  of  the  province  as  a  strategic  military  and  naval  base 
on  the  extreme  eastern  part  of  the  continent  was  by  no  means  over- 
looked. To  draw  this  maritime  province  into  the  Kevolution,  there- 
fore, was  an  issue  that  the  revolutionists  strongly  desired  to  effect. 

In  July,  1775,  Benjamin  Franklin  prepared  a  sketch  of  a  plan  for 
permanent  union  of  the  American  colonies,  which  while  allowing  to 
each  the  continuance  of  the  virtual  independence  it  enjoyed,  pro- 
posed for  each  adequate  representation  in  an  annual  Congress, 
which  should  deal  with  all  measures  of  resistance  to  injustice  and 
oppression  from  any  source.  Besides  the  thirteen  colonies  that  sub- 
sequently became  the  first  States  of  the  Union,  Canada,  Nova  Scotia, 
and  Florida  were  included  in  his  plan,  while  Ireland,  the  West  In- 
dies and  Bermuda  also  were  to  be  invited  to  join.  The  plan,  another 
of  whose  details  was  the  creation  of  a  certain  number  of  " lords' ' 
for  each  colony,  Nova  Scotia  to  have  one,  was  submitted  to  the  Con- 
tinental Congress,  but  was  not  acted  upon.3 

The  first  action  of  Congress  relative  to  Nova  Scotia,  after  the  Rev- 
olution began,  was  a  formal  resolve  of  that  body  on  the  10th  of  No- 
vember, 1775,  to  send  two  persons  secretly  to  the  province  to  learn 
the  disposition  of  the  people  towards  the  American  cause,  to  inquire 
into  the  condition  of  the  fortifications,  wherever  there  were  any,  and 


2.  Cape  Breton  was  annexed  to  Nova  Scotia  by  royal  proclamation  on  the  7th  of 
October,  1763.  In  1784  it  was  separated  from  Nova  Scotia,  and  Sydney  was  made  the 
capital.    In  1820,  it  was  again  united  to  Nova  Scotia,  as  it  now  is. 

3.  See  Albert  Henry  Smyth's  "Life  and  Writings  of  Benjamin  Franklin,"  Vol.  10, 
p.  291. 

185 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

of  the  dockyards  at  Halifax- and  probably  Fort  Cumberland,  and  to 
discover  the  quantity  of  artillery  and  warlike  stores  the  province 
had,  with  also  the  number  of  war-ships  and  other  ships  lying  in  the 
harbours,  as  also,  of  course,  the  numerical  strength  of  the  land  and 
sea  forces.  This  resolve  was  evidently  at  once  communicated  to 
General  Washington,  at  Cambridge,  for  nine  days  later  Washing- 
ton wrote  the  president  of  the  Congress  that  as  soon  as  two  "capa- 
ble persons  •  ■  could  be  found  he  would  dispatch  them  to  Xova  Scotia 
"on  the  service  resolved  on  in  Congress."  On  the  28th  of  the  same 
month  he  again  wrote  the  president:  "There  are  two  persons  en- 
gaged to  go  to  Nova  Scotia  on  the  business  recommended  in  your 
last.  By  the  best  information  we  have  from  thence,  the  stores,  etc., 
have  been  withdrawn  some  time.  Should  this  not  be  the  case  it  is 
next  to  an  impossibility  to  attempt  anything  there  in  the  present  un- 
settled and  precarious  state  of  the  army. ' '  On  the  30th  of  January, 
1776,  he  wrote  again  from  Cambridge,  that  even  if  the  persons  sent 
for  information  to  Nova  Scotia  should  report  favourably  on  troops 
being  sent  there,  he  had  no  troops  that  he  could  send.  It  would  be 
quite  inadvisable,  he  thought,  to  raise  troops  "in  the  eastern  parts 
of  this  government. ' ' 

On  the  16th  of  February,  1776,  it  was  resolved  in  Congress  that 
this  body  "submit  the  expediency  and  practicability  of  an  expedition 
to  Nova  Scotia  to  General  Washington,  and  would  by  no  means  ac- 
cept the  plan  proposed  by  Thompson  and  Obrian  so  far  as  relates  to 
Tory  property  nor  the  destruction  of  the  town  of  Halifax. ' '  On  the 
27th  of  March,  1776,  General  Washington  wrote  Congress  that  Colo- 
nel Eddy  had  brought  him  a  petition  from  Nova  Scotia  which  stated 
that  the  people  of  that  province  were  afraid  they  would  have  to  take 
up  arms  unless  they  were  protected.  The  Nova  Scotians  think, 
Washington  says,  that  it  would  be  better  if  five  or  six  hundred 
troops  could  be  sent  them,  the  presence  of  whom  would  quiet  the 
people's  fears,  and  would  also  prevent  the  Indians  taking  sides  with 
the  government.  He  is  uncertain  what  had  better  be  done,  "for  if 
the  army  is  going  to  Halifax,  as  reported  by  them  [Col.  Eddy  and 
whoever  were  his  colleagues  in  presenting  the  appeal]  before  they 
left,  such  a  force,  or  much  more,  would  not  avail. '  '■    On  the  8th  of 

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CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

July,  1776,  Congress  resolved  "that  General  Washington  have  per- 
mission to  call  forth  and  engage  in  the  service  of  Nova  Scotia  so 
many  Indians  of  the  St.  John's,  Nova  Scotia,  and  Penobscot  tribes 
as  he  shall  judge  necessary,  and  that  he  be  desired  to  write  to  the 
General  Court  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  requesting  their  aid  in  this 
business  and  informing  them  that  Congress  will  reimburse  such  ex- 
penses as  may  be  necessarily  incurred  in  consequence  of  the  fore- 
going resolutions. ' ' 

On  the  30th  of  December,  1776,  and  the  7th  of  January,  1777, 
further  resolutions  were  passed  by  Congress  showing  that  the  reduc- 
tion of  Nova  Scotia  was  still  under  consideration,  and  on  the  8th  of 
January,  1777,  a  resolution  was  passed  that  the  Council  of  the  State 
of  Massachusetts  be  desired  "to  attend  to  the  situation  of  the  ene- 
my' '  in  Nova  Scotia,  and  if  this  body  thought  that  an  attack  on  Fort 
Cumberland  could  advantageously  be  made  in  that  winter  or  the  fol- 
lowing spring,  "whereby  the  dockyard  and  other  works,  together 
with  such  stores  as  could  not  easily  be  removed,' '  should  be  de- 
stroyed, its  members  were  empowered  to  raise  a  body  of  not  more 
than  three  thousand  men,  under  such  officers  as  they  should  appoint, 
to  carry  on  the  said  expedition  and  to  provide  military  stores  and 
convey  them  to  such  of  the  eastern  parts  of  the  state  as  they  should 
think  best.  On  the  29th  of  April,  1777,  at  a  board  of  war,  it  was  re- 
solved that  if  fifteen  complete  battalions  should  be  furnished  by  New 
Hampshire  and  Massachusetts,  three  of  these  might  be  employed  in 
Nova  Scotia  in  such  ways  as  should  be  thought  most  conducive  to 
the  general  advantage,  either  for  offensive  operations  or  to  give  pro- 
tection to  the  friends  of  the  United  States  in  this  province. 

What  seems  to  have  been  the  last  important  resolve  of  Congress 
in  reference  to  an  invasion  of  Nova  Scotia  was  made  on  the  21st  of 
May,  1778,  and  in  negation  of  such  a  design.  On  that  date  Congress 
accepted  the  report  of  a  committee  to  whom  the  matter  of  such  in- 
vasion had  been  referred,  to  the  effect  "that  the  wresting  of  Nova 
Scotia  from  the  British  power  and  uniting  the  same  to  these  states 
is  for  many  weighty  reasons  a  very  desirable  object,  but  that  the 
propriety  of  making  this  attempt  at  the  present  crisis  seems  doubt- 
ful; and  upon  the  whole  it  appears  wise  to  wait  a  while,  until  the 
event  of  a  war  taking  place  between  France  and  Great  Britain,  and 

i87 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

the  consequences  that  may  have  upon  the  British  force  on  this 
continent,  shall  render  an  attempt  upon  Nova  Scotia  more  likely  to 
succeed.' '  If,  however,  any  urgent  occasion  for  immediate  action 
should  arise,  the  council  of  Massachusetts  was  empowered  to  furnish 
the  people  of  Nova  Scotia  who  were  loyal  to  the  United  States  with 
a  force  not  to  exceed  two  regiments,  to  assist  in  reducing  the  prov- 
ince. 

The  exact  number  of  English  speaking  people  in  Nova  Scotia,  in- 
cluding the  present  New  Brunswick  and  the  island  of  Cape  Breton, 
in  1775,  we  are  not  able  to  give,  but  it  was  probably,  as  we  have 
stated,  somewhat  under  twenty  thousand,  and  of  these  inhabitants 
not  far  from  three-quarters,  it  is  estimated,  were  people  who  or 
whose  parents  had  been  born  in  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  or 
Rhode  Island,  and  who  naturally  shared  the  spirit  of  liberty  which 
so  generally  animated  the  people  who  still  remained  in  the  New  Eng- 
land colonies  from  which  they  had  come.  In  a  recently  published 
monograph  on  that  extraordinary  man  Alexander  McNutt,  who, 
with  vision  and  energy  but  apparently  without  sufficient  business  in- 
tegrity or  judgment  for  carrying  such  an  enterprise  successfully 
through,  tried  between  1759  and  1765  to  colonize  Nova  Scotia  with 
North  of  Ireland  people,  we  have  shown  that  McNutt  repeatedly 
appealed  to  Congress  to  take  active  measures  to  capture  the  prov- 
ince for  the  Revolution.4  When  the  Revolution  broke  out  he  was 
living  in  retirement  on  an  island  in  Shelburne  harbour  on  the  south- 
ern shore  of  Nova  Scotia,  having  long  before  ceased  his  efforts  for 
colonization,  and  his  antagonism  towards  the  Nova  Scotia  authori- 
ties, and  doubtless  towards  British  rule  at  large,  impelled  him  to  use 
his  utmost  energies  in  trying  to  induce  Congress  to  take  forcible 


4.  Our  monograph  on  Alexander  McNutt  (Americana  magazine,  December,  1913) 
shows  that  in  January  and  March,  1779,  respectively,  McXutt  appealed  to  the  Congress 
to  assist  the  Nova  Scotians  to  revolt.  His  appeals  were  referred  to  a  committee,  which 
reported  in  April,  1779.  The  report  proposed  that  in  order  to  deliver  Nova  Scotia  from 
"British  despotism"  a  road  should  be  opened  from  Penobscot  to  the  St.  John  river,  and 
that  to  prosecute  the  work  a  body  of  men  not  exceeding  fifteen  hundred  should  be  en- 
gaged, and  the  sum  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars  should  be  advanced.  What  debate  there 
may  have  been  on  this  report  we  do  not  know,  but  the  recommendations  of  the  commit- 
tee were  not  acted  on.  On  the  29th  of  February,  1779,  Benjamin  Franklin  writes  Comte 
de  Vergennes :  '"While  the  English  continue  to  possess  the  ports  of  Halifax.  Rhode  Isl- 
and, and  New  York,  they  can  refit  their  ships  of  war  in  those  seas,  defend  more  easily 
their  fisheries,  and  interrupt  more  effectually  by  their  cruisers  the  commerce  between 
France  and  America."    Life  and  Writings  of  Benjamiyv  Franklin,  Vol.  7,  p.  235. 

188 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

measures  to  wrest  Nova  Scotia  from  the  authority  of  the  Crown.  In 
his  appeals,  moreover,  McNutt  claimed  to  be  acting  not  by  any 
means  without  authorization  from  the  people  of  Nova  Scotia  itself, 
but  rather  as  the  appointed  agent  of  a  large  body  of  intelligent  Nova 
Scotians  who  were  thoroughly  disaffected  towards  the  British  Gov- 
ernment. That  McNutt,  as  he  moved  about  Nova  Scotia,  with  the 
island  in  Shelburne  harbour  as  his  base,  using  his  influence  to  em- 
bitter the  people  among  whom  he  went  against  English  rule,  found 
in  several  parts  of  the  province  very  widespread  sympathy  with  the 
Revolution  is  now  a  perfectly  well  recognized  fact.  "A  very  large 
proportion  of  the  immigrants  from  the  Atlantic  States/'  writes  a 
well  known  Nova  Scotian,  "were  open  and  avowed  sympathizers 
with  the  war  against  the  mother  country.  From  Cumberland  to  On- 
slow, and  from  Falmouth  to  Yarmouth  they  formed  an  overwhelm- 
ing majority."5 

When  the  Assembly  met  at  Halifax  in  June,  1770,  the  Governor, 
Lord  William  Campbell,  reported  to  the  Home  Authorities  that  he 
■did  not  discover  in  Nova  Scotia  "any  of  that  licentious  principle 
with  which  the  neighbouring  colonies  are  so  highly  infected. ' '  Camp- 
oelTs  immediate  predecessor,  Governor  Wilmot,  who  died  in  1766, 
had  made  virtually  the  same  report;  some  time  in  his  administra- 
tion he  had  written  that  "the  sentiments  of  a  decent  and  dutiful  ac- 
quiescence" prevailed  among  the  people  under  his  jurisdiction.  Yet 
as  early  as  July  24,  1762,  the  inhabitants  of  Liverpool  had  strongly 
protested  against  any  interference  by  the  governor  with  what  they 
claimed  as  their  rights,  saying  that  they  were  born  in  a  country  of 
liberty,  and  were  not  to  be  autocratically  ruled.  By  this  spirit  it  is 
evident  the  people  of  the  province  generally  were  controlled,  and  in 
the  earlier  stages  of  the  Revolution  it  manifested  itself  in  almost 
every  place  where  New  England  or  North  of  Ireland  people  in  con- 
siderable numbers  had  settled. 

Probably  the  earliest  active  expression  of  such  spirit  was  in  the 
remote  colony  on  Moose  Island,  in  Passamaquoddy  Bay,  where 
the  town  of  Eastport  (Maine)  now  stands.  This  island,  the  final 
ownership  of  which  as  of  other  territory  about  Passamaquoddy  Bay 


5.     This  statement  is  made  by  Mr.  W.  C.  Milner,  agent  for  the  Dominion  Archives 
in  Nova  Scotia,  in  his  "Records  of  Chignecto,"  p.  46. 

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CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

and  the  river  St.  Croix,  which  flows  into  it,  was  not  settled  until  long 
after  the  Revolution,  was  at  that  time  popularly  regarded  as  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  the  settlers  there,  some  ten  fam- 
ilies at  least,  were  probably  all  from  New  England,  though  two  or 
three  of  them  were  clearly  of  North  of  Ireland  stock.6  In  the  Jour- 
nals of  the  Continental  Congress  we  find  under  date  of  November  2, 
1775,  that  "the  inhabitants  of  Passamaquoddy,  in  Nova  Scotia,  hav- 
ing chosen  a  Committee  of  Safety,  and  having  by  their  petition  ap- 
plied to  the  Congress  to  be  admitted  into  the  Association  of  the 
North  Americans  for  the  promotion  of  their  rights  and  liberties,' '  it 
was  resolved  that  a  committee  of  five  should  be  appointed  to  take  the 
matter  into  consideration  and  report  what  steps  it  would  be  best 
to  take  in  consideration  of  the  appeal. 

On  the  14th  of  May,  1776,  a  large  proportion  of  the  heads  of  fam- 
ilies settled  at  Maugerville,  on  the  St.  John  river,  all  we  believe 
from  Massachusetts,  assembled  in  the  meeting-house  there  and 
voted  the  strongest  resolutions  of  sympathy  with  New  England,  ap- 
pointing a  committee  to  go  to  the  Massachusetts  General  Court  and 
beg  for  its  protection  and  help.  "It  is  our  minds  and  desire,' '  say 
the  men,  "to  submit  ourselves  to  the  government  of  Massachusetts 
Bay,  and  we  are  ready  with  our  lives  and  fortunes  to  share  with 
them  the  event  of  the  present  struggle  for  liberty,  however  God  in 
his  providence  may  order  it."7  To  the  Massachusetts  legislature, 
accordingly,  the  committee  went,  and  on  the  General  Court  records 
of  the  Bay  State  we  find  the  terms  of  their  petition  clearly  stated. 
The  committee  express  deep  sorrow  at  the  general  calamity  brought 
on  America  by  a  ruinous  and  destructive  civil  war,  and  complain  bit- 
terly of  the  impositions  they  and  the  people  they  represent  have 


6.  "The  New  England  period  in  Passamaquoddy  history  began  about  1763.  From 
1760  there  had  been  a  general  movement  from  the  older  provinces  to  Nova  Scotia,  and 
many  thousands  from  New  England  settled  in  the  peninsula,  while  a  few  hundreds 
came  to  what  is  now  New  Brunswick.  In  1763  various  settlers  began  to  locate  about  Pas- 
samaquoddy." New  Brunswick  Historical  Society's  Collections,  Vol.  1,  p.  211.  Men  named 
Bowen,  Boynton,  Clark,  Cochran,  Crow,  Ricker,  Shackford,  and  Tuttle,  are  said  to  have 
received  grants  of  land  on  Aloose  Island,  which  was  probably  the  first  considerable  set- 
tlement in  the  Passamaquoddy  region,  between  1772  and  1774,  and  it  seems  likely  that  in 
summer  at  least  many  others  resorted  to  the  island  for  fishing.  See  Lorenzo  Sabine's, 
"Moose  Island,"  in  W.  H.  Kilby's  "Eastport  and  Passamaquoddy,"  p.  141,  and  appendix 
A.  of  this  book,  pp.  490,  491. 

7.  Archdeacon  Raymond's  "St.  John  River,"  etc.,  p.  434. 

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CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

suffered  from  oppressive  acts  of  his  Majesty's  Government.  The 
governor  of  Nova  Scotia,  they  say,  " having  thought  proper  effect- 
ually to  prevent  their  being  supplied  with  arms  and  ammunition  by 
ordering  a  large  penalty  on  any  of  those  articles  being  shipped  into 
the  province,  at  the  same  time  requiring  them  to  assemble  in  military 
array  and  by  force  of  arms  repel  all  invaders,  martial  law  pro- 
claimed throughout  the  province  and  civil  authority  made  subordi- 
nate, exorbitant  taxes  required  of  them  to  support  the  war  against 
the  United  Colonies, — under  these  circumstances  they  find  it  imprac- 
ticable for  them  to  continue  as  neutors  and  to  subsist  without  com- 
merce, and  they  therefore  now  openly  declare  that  they  could  never 
see  any  shadow  of  justice  in  that  extensive  claim  of  the  British  Par- 
liament of  the  right  of  enacting  laws  binding  the  colonies  in  all  cases 
whatever,  that  as  tyranny  ought  to  be  resisted  in  its  first  appearance 
they  are  convinced  that  the  united  provinces  are  just  in  their  pro- 
ceedings in  this  regard. ' ' 

To  both  houses  of  the  Massachusetts  legislature  this  appeal  was 
presented  and  in  the  minutes  of  the  General  Court  we  find  recorded, 
that  the  St.  John  river  people,  " after  mature  consideration  have 
thought  fit  to  submit  themselves  to  this  Government  and  desire  its 
protection  and  promise  to  adopt  such  measures  as  this  Government 
shall  propose  for  their  future  conduct  and  are  ready  with  their  lives 
and  fortunes  to  share  with  this  colony  the  event  of  the  present  strug- 
gle for  liberty;  they  therefore  humbly  ask  protection  as  a  defence- 
less people,  and  that  the  Honourable  Court  will  grant  such  relief 
and  assistance  as  is  proper,  hoping  that  the  Honourable  Court  will 
not  tamely  see  them  butchered  or  plundered  for  showing  themselves 
friendly  to  the  cause  of  America."8 

Beginning  in  the  autumn  of  1776,  various  men  of  Massachusetts 
birth  who  had  settled  in  Yarmouth  and  Barrington,  in  the  peninsula 


8.  This  petition,  as  we  have  said,  was  presented  to  both  houses,  and  it  was  ordered 
that  the  commissary-general  should  give  the  agents  of  the  St.  John  river  people  (Asa 
Perley  and  Asa  Kimball)  one  barrel  of  gunpowder,  three  hundred  and  fifty  flints,  and 
two  hundred  and  fifty  weight  of  lead  from  the  colony  stores,  and  that  the  agents  should 
have  liberty  to  purchase  in  Massachusetts  forty  stand  of  small  arms  for  the  use  of 
their  constituents.  The  committees  of  correspondence  and  safety,  also  in  any  of  the 
seaports  of  Massachusetts,  were  directed  to  grant  permits  to  them  to  transport  the 
same  or  any  other  goods  from  port  to  port  within  the  colony.  Records  of  the  General 
Court  of  Massachusetts,  vol.  35,  pp.  65,  66,  85. 

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CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

of  Nova  Scotia,  appealed  to  the  Massachusetts  General  Court  for 
permission  to  return  with  their  families  and  effects  to  their  native 
province,  to  escape  the  hardships  they  were  suffering  from  the  inter- 
ruption of  friendly  relations  between  Nova  Scotia  and  the  Bay  State. 
"We  look  on  ourselves/ '  some  of  these  petitioners  say,  as  being  "as 
unhappily  situated  as  any  people  in  the  world;  being  settlers  from 
the  Massachusetts  Bay,  for  whose  welfare  we  earnestly  pray,  having 
fathers,  brothers,  and  children  living  there.' '  Throughout  the  strug- 
gle then  going  on,  they  continue,  they  have  remained  loyal  to  the 
cause  of  liberty,  and  have  done  everything  in  their  power  to  assist 
men  still  living  in  Massachusetts  who  have  happened  to  visit  them 
to  get  back  in  safety  to  their  New  England  homes.  Of  the  distress 
to  which  they  have  been  brought  by  the  interruption  of  trade  be- 
tween Nova  Scotia  and  Massachusetts,  and  the  consequent  lack  of 
markets  for  their  fish,  they  give  a  melancholy  account,  and  they  pray 
that  provisions  shall  be  sent  them  for  the  ensuing  winter  and  until 
such  time  as  they  can  remove  from  Nova  Scotia  to  their  former 
homes,  "unless  these  tremendous  times  are  stinted,  which  God  grant 
maybe  soon."9 

In  Cumberland  County,  near  the  Chignecto  Isthmus,  and  in  what 
is  now  Colchester  County,  the  inhabitants  of  two  townships  of  which, 
Truro  and  Londonderry  wholly,  and  the  third,  Onslow,  in  part,  were 
people  of  North  of  Ireland  stock,  sympathy  with  New  England  and 
antagonism  to  the  actions  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Government  were  very 
strong.  An  oath  of  allegiance  which  the  Government  attempted  to 
enforce  on  all  adult  males  in  Truro  and  Onslow  in  1777  was  stoutly 
refused  by  all  except  five  to  whom  it  was  offered.  In  King's  County, 
also,  whose  inhabitants  had  almost  all  come  from  the  towns  of  east- 


9.  "In  the  [Massachusetts]  House  of  Representatives,  Nov.  15.  1776,  whereas  it 
appears  to  this  Court  that  the  within  petitioners,  inhabitants  of  Barrington  in  Xova 
Scotia,  have  proved  themselves  firm  friends  to  the  United  States  of  America,  and  on 
that  account  are  determined  as  soon  as  may  be  to  transport  themselves  and  their  fam- 
ilies from  that  province  to  this  state  in  order  to  get  out  of  the  reach  of  British  tyranny: 
And  it  being  represented  that  the  inhabitants  of  Barrington,  from  a  determined  refusal 
of  trade  with  the  enemies  of  America  have  exposed  themselves  to  great  hardships 
through  want  of  such  provisions  as  are  necessary  to  support  them  until  they  can  be  re- 
moved; therefore  Resolved  that  the  prayer  of  the  within  petition  be  so  far  granted  as 
that  the  within  named  Heman  Kenney,  be  and  he  thereby  is  permitted  to  pur- 
chase and  export  from  any  town  or  place  in  this  state  to  said  Barrington,  solely  for  the 
purpose  of  enabling  the  said  inhabitants  thereof  to  transport  themselves  from  thence  to 
this  state,  250  bushels  of  corn,  30  barrels  of  pork,  2  hogsheads  of  molasses,  2  do.  of  rum, 
200  lbs.  of  coffee."    "In  Council  Nov.  16,  1776,  Read  and  Concurred." 

192 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

ern Connecticut, according  to  tradition  a  liberty  pole  was  cut  and  was 
about  to  be  erected  when  a  company  of  Orange  Rangers  from  Hali- 
fax appeared  on  the  scene  and  prevented  the  rebellious  demonstra- 
tion.10 

In  Cumberland  the  disaffection  was  almost  as  universal  and  bit- 
ter as  in  Maugerville,  the  "rebels"  there  numbering,  it  is  said,  about 
two  hundred  men,  many  of  them  heads  of  families  and  persons  of 
the  largest  means  and  the  highest  consequence.  In  this  county,  near 
the  isthmus  which  connects  New  Brunswick  with  Nova  Scotia,  was 
situated  the  most  important  fort  in  the  Nova  Scotian  peninsula  next 
to  the  much  older  one  at  Annapolis  Royal, — the  little  fortification 
known  when  it  was  in  French  hands  as  Beausejour,  but  after  it  was 
finally  captured  by  New  England  troops  in  1755  as  Fort  Cumber- 
land. In  August,  1775,  it  was  reported  at  Halifax  that  the  "New 
England  rebels ' '  had  cleared  a  road  from  St.  John  river  to  Shepody 
to  enable  a  force  to  march  on  this  fort.  In  October,  1776,  another 
report  was  made  to  the  authorities  that  a  force  was  being  gathered 
on  the  frontier  having  the  same  purpose  in  view,  and  the  truth  of 
this  report  was  soon  to  be  established.  One  of  the  Cumberland  set- 
tlers from  Massachusetts,  a  native  of  the  town  of  Norton,  was  a  cer- 
tain Jonathan  Eddy,  who  had  taken  up  his  residence  in  Cumberland 
either  in  1760  or  a  little  later.  With  profound  sympathy  with  the 
Revolution  this  man  in  August,  1776,  had  gone  to  the  Massachusetts 
General  Court  with  a  petition,  in  which  he  was  joined  by  William 
Howe  and  Zebulon  Rowe,  other  Massachusetts  men,  neighbors  of 
his  in  Cumberland,  setting  forth  that  "the  enemy"  were  repairing 
the  forts  in  Nova  Scotia  to  the  great  disturbance  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Cumberland,  their  object  clearly  being  "to  keep  the  people  in 
subjection  to  their  tyrannical  measures."11    The  greater  part  of  the 


io.  We  have  mentioned  this  tradition  in  our  "History  of  King's  County,  Nova  Sco- 
tia," pp.  431,  432,  but  what  authority  it  has  we  do  not  know. 

11.  See  a  "Memoir  of  Colonel  Jonathan  Eddy  of  Eddington,  Maine,"  etc.,  by  Joseph 
W.  Porter,  Augusta,  Maine,  1877.  Jonathan  Eddy  was  a  son  of  Eleazer  Eddy  and  his 
wife  Elizabeth  (Cobb)  of  Norton,  Mass..  and  was  born  in  1726.  In  1755  he  was  an  offi- 
cer in  Col.  Winslow's  regiment  in  Nova  Scotia,  in  1758  he  raised  a  company  for  the  re- 
duction of  Canada,  in  1759  he  raised  a  company  for  Colonel  Joseph  Frye's  regiment,  in 
which  he  served  as  captain  from  April  2,  1759,  to  December  31,  1759.  He  left  active  ser- 
vice in  1760,  when  he  probably  went  at  once  to  Cumberland,  Nova  Scotia.  There  he 
served  as  deputy  provost  marshal  and  in  other  offices.  March  27,  1776,  it  is  said,  he 
came  to  General  Washington's  headquarters  at  Cambridge  with  his  petition  from  Nov 
Scotia. 

193 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX.  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Nova  Scotians,  Eddy  declares,  were  much  concerned  at  the  acts  of 
their  authorities,  many  being  so  troubled  that  they  had  already  left 
their  farms  to  be  confiscated  and  had  returned  to  the  province  of 
their  birth.  The  only  way  that  proper  relief  could  come  to  the  peo- 
ple on  whose  behalf  he  was  petitioning,  he  says,  would  be  by  the 
General  Court's  granting  them  a  small  force  with  ammunition  and 
provisions  so  that  they  could  "destroy  the  enemy's  forts."  The  re- 
sponse of  the  Massachusetts  legislature  to  Eddy's  appeal  was  a 
resolution  that  the  commissary  general  be  directed  to  deliver  to  him 
and  his  fellow  petitioners  two  hundred  pounds  of  gunpowder,  five 
hundred  weight  of  musket  balls,  three  hundred  gun  Hints,  and  twenty 
barrels  of  pork.12  At  the  same  time  the  court  ordered  that  James 
JBowdoin,  Walter  Spooner,  and  Henry  Gardner,  Esq.,  with  such 
others  as  the  legislature  should  join  with  them,  should  be  a  commit- 
tee "to  make  inquiry  into  the  intention  and  dispositions  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Nova  Scotia  respecting  the  cause  now  in  dispute  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  to  consider  the  probabil- 
ity of  effecting  a  revolution  in  that  province,  and  of  the  way  [of] 
and  means  for  effecting  the  same. ' n3 

The  "Eddy  rebellion"  in  Cumberland  is  one  of  the  most  highly 
dramatic  and  best  remembered  events  in  the  history  of  Nova  Scotia. 
In  his  volume  "The  Eiver  St.  John,"  Archdeacon  Raymond  de- 
scribes the  beginning  of  it  as  follows.  "In  July,  1776,  Eddy  set  out 
from  Boston  and  proceeded  to  Machias  [Maine].  He  left  that 
place  about  the  middle  of  August  in  a  schooner  with  twenty-eight 
men  as  a  nucleus  of  his  proposed  army.  At  Passamaquoddy  a  few 
people  joined  him.  He  did  not  meet  with  much  encouragement  at 
St.  John,  although  Hazen,  Simonds,  and  White  refrained  from  any 
hostile  demonstration.14  Proceeding  up  the  river  to  Maugerville,  Ed- 


12.  On  September  4,  1776,  it  was  resolved  that  whereas  the  General  Court  by  a  re- 
solve on  September  2d,  had  directed  the  commissary  general  to  deliver  to  Jonathan 
Eddy,  William  Howe,  and  Zebulon  Rowe  ammunition  and  provisions,  these  men  having 
represented  that  they  wanted  bread  rather  than  pork,  the  commissary  should  be  directed 
to  deliver  to  them  only  ten  barrels  of  pork  and  as  much  bread  as  would  amount  to  the 
value  of  ten  barrels  of  pork.    Records  of  the  General  Court,  Vol.  35,  p.  200. 

13.  General  Court  Records,  Vol.  35,  pp.  194. 

14.  Messrs.  Hazen,  Simonds,  and  White  were  New  England  men  and  conspicuous 
traders  at  what  is  now  St.  John,  New  Brunswick.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution, 
says  Dr.  Raymond,  their  situation  was  very  embarrassing,  they  would  very  likely  most 
gladly  "have  assumed  a  neutral  attitude  in  the  approaching  contest,"  but  they  held  small 

194 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

dy  says,  ho  found  the  people  'almost  universally  hearty  in  our  cause ; 
they  joined  us  with  one  captain,  one  lieutenant,  and  twenty-five  men, 
as  also  sixteen  Indians. '  .  .  .  On  his  arrival  at  Cumberland, 
Eddy  was  joined  by  many  of  the  settlers,  but  his  whole  force  did  not 
exceed  two  hundred  men,  badly  equipped  and  without  artillery. ,m 

Colonel  Eddy's  attack  on  the  fort  and  the  failure  of  his  enterprise 
is  described  in  a  letter  of  the  leader  himself  to  the  General  Court. 
His  force  consisted  of  a  hundred  and  eighty  men,  but  a  hundred  of 
these  he  had  felt  it  necessary  to  send  to  other  points.  With  the 
eighty  that  remained  he  proceeded  to  the  fort,  to  which  he  began  at 
once  to  lay  siege.  The  force  within,  commanded  by  Lieutenant-Col- 
onel Joseph  Gorham,  consisted  of  a  hundred  men,  and  these  for  sev- 
eral days  kept  the  besieging  party  at  bay.  On  the  27th  of  Novem- 
ber an  armed  ship  arrived  from  Halifax  with  nearly  four  hundred 
soldiers  from  the  garrison  there,  and  some  of  these  entered  the  fort. 
On  the  30th,  two  hundred  soldiers  rushed  out  of  the  fort  to  the  tem- 
porary barracks  where  Eddy's  men  were  quartered  and  ordered 
the  besiegers  away.  Without  making  any  further  resistance,  it 
would  seem,  which  indeed  would  have  been  useless,  Eddy  and  his 
men  retreated  to  the  St.  John  river  and  the  fort  remained  secure  in 
British  hands."18 

In  a  letter  of  Colonel  John  Allan  of  Cumberland,  a  British  born 
man,  who  had  been  a  member  of  the  Nova  Scotia  legislature,  but 
who  was  one  of  the  strongest  sympathizers  in  this  part  of  Nova 
Scotia  with  the  Eddy  invasion,17  written  to  the  Massachusetts  Gen- 


official  positions  under  the  Nova  Scotia  Government  and  they  had  sworn  allegiance  to 
the  King,  they  therefore  remained  nominally  loyal.  Dr.  Raymond's  "St.  John  River," 
P-  427. 

15.  This  statement  does  not  seem  harmonious  with  the  records  of  the  Massachu- 
setts General  Court,  which  give  the  date  of  Eddy's  appeal  to  that  body  for  munitions  of 
war  and  provisions  as  the  month  of  August.  The  extract  from  Dr.  Raymond's  book 
given  here  will  be  found  on  pp.  437,  438  of  the  volume. 

16.  A  young  Cumberland  man,  Richard  John  Uniacke,  who  afterward  rose  to  exalted 
position  in  Halifax,  was  concerned  in  the  revolt.  He  was  sent  prisoner  to  Halifax.  Soon 
after  his  release  he  went  to  England  to  complete  his  law  studies.  In  1782,  he  became  so- 
licitor general  of  Nova  Scotia,  in  1783  member  of  the  assembly  for  Sackville.  and  later 
speaker  of  the  house,  attorney-general,  and  member  of  the  council.  He  died  October  10, 
1830. 

17.  Colonel  John  Allan  between  1769  and  1776  was  Justice  of  the  Peace,  clerk  of 
sessions,  and  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  representative  to  the  assembly,  and  held  other 
local  offices.  From  the  beginning  of  1776  he  was  suspected  of  treasonable  practices. 
For  his  career  and  for  an  interesting  genealogical  account  of  the  Allan  family  see  Fred- 
erick Kidder's  "Eastern  Maine  and  Nova  Scotia  in  the  Revolution."    One  of  John  Allan's 

195 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

eral  Court  on  the  19th  of  February,  1777,  Colonel  Allan  declares 
that  most  of  the  English  and  all  the  French  capable  of  bearing  arms 
in  the  northern  part  of  Nova  Scotia  joined  the  Eddy  force.  In  the 
rush  of  the  garrison  upon  the  invading  troops,  he  tells  us,  only  one 
invader,  and  he  a  white  man,  was  killed;  the  rest  fled  pre- 
cipitately, the  garrison  troops  following  them  for  the  dis- 
tance of  six  miles.  On  the  way,  the  pursuing  party  burned  twelve 
houses  and  twelve  barns,  "in  which  was  contained  one-quarter  of 
the  bread  of  the  country. ' '  To  the  residents  of  Cumberland  who  had 
assisted  the  invasion,  Colonel  Gorham  soon  issued  a  proclamation 
of  pardon  if  they  would  lay  down  their  arms,  but  the  majority  of 
them,  it  would  seem,  before  long  with  their  families  fled  across  the 
border  of  Massachusetts  into  what  is  now  the  State  of  Maine,  at  a 
town  called  Eddington  in  1785  being  rewarded  for  their  sympathy 
with  the  Revolution  by  grants  of  land  ranging  in  size  from  fifteen 
hundred  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  acres. 

The  task  of  government  in  Nova  Scotia  in  these  suspicious  and 
troubled  times  was  attended  by  the  greatest  agitation  among  both 
public  officials  and  the  people  who  surrounded  them.  Indeed  at  Hal- 
ifax, especially,  where  the  supreme  authority  was  exercised,  there 
was  among  government  officials  and  the  people  of  all  occupations 
and  ranks  such  deep-seated  apprehension  and  continual  fear  that 
Mr.  Murdoch  forcibly  says  the  Haligonians  lived  "under  a  reign  of 
terror.' '  On  the  8th  of  October,  1773,  Major  Francis  Legge  had 
taken  the  oath  of  office  as  governor-in-chief,  and  his  stay  in  the  prov- 
ince lasted  until  May  12,  1776.  In  the  first  momentous  years  of  the 
Revolution,  therefore,  he  was  at  the  head  of  all  governmental  activ- 
ities, and  if  any  local-governmental  influence  was  needed  to  fan  the 
flame  of  disaffection  against  the  Crown,  if  such  existed,  among  the 
people  at  large,  into  a  raging  fire,  his  suspicious  and  utterly  unsym- 
pathetic temper  was  calculated  to  furnish  that  influence.  In  alarm- 
ing dispatches  to  England  he  charged  rank  disloyalty  not  only  on 
the  people  generally  throughout  the  province  but  on  the  members  of 


sisters  was  Jean  Allan,  born  in  April,  1759,  who  was  married  7  February  1775,  to  the  Hon. 
Thomas  Cochran  of  Halifax,  and  reared  there  a  family  of  great  local  importance.  See  a 
monograph  by  this  author  on  the  Cochran  and  Inglis  families. 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

both  houses  of  the  provincial  legislature  as  well.1"  On  the  first  of 
January,  1776,  he  wrote  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth  that  the  great  ad- 
vances the  rebels  were  making  in  Canada,  and  the  determination  of 
these  people  to  capture  Nova  Scotia  for  the  Revolution  gave  him 
great  apprehension.  He  had  had  a  law  passed,  he  says,  to  enroll  a 
fifth  of  the  militia  for  active  service  and  had  tried  to  put  the  men  in 
arms,  but  that  the  people  of  at  least  twTo  important  counties,  An- 
napolis and  Kings,  as  he  understood,  had  refused  to  be  enrolled.  In 
the  town  of  Halifax  he  had  proclaimed  martial  law,  and  he  had  nom- 
inated a  council  of  war  to  conduct  the  military  defence  of  the  prov- 
ince in  general  with  secrecy  and  dispatch.  On  the  11th  of  January 
lie  enclosed  to  the  Earl  memorials  from  the  inhabitants  of  Truro, 
OnslowT,  and  Cumberland  against  the  lawT  to  arm  the  militia,  and  said 
that  a  similar  spirit  of  obstinate  revolt  existed  in  all  the  remoter 
districts.19 

In  November,  1776,  after  Legge  had  left  the  province  and  the  gov- 
ernment had  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  lieutenant-governor  and  the 
Council,  occurred  the  Eddy  invasion,  and  the  news  of  this  and  the 
rumor  that  still  more  powerful  measures  wTere  contemplated  to  cap- 
ture Nova  Scotia  threw  all  the  authorities  at  Halifax  into  a  panic  of 
fear.  Immediately  a  nightly  patrol  of  the  town  was  established,. 
and  a  regular  inquiry  instituted  into  the  characters  and  employ- 
ments of  all  persons  entering  the  town.  Strangers  coming  from  the 
country  or  elsewhere  wTere  ordered  to  report  at  the  Provincial  Sec- 


18.  Lieutenant-Governor,  the  Hon.  Michael  Francklin,  between  whom  and  Legge 
there  was  very  bad  feeling,  on  the  2d  of  January,  1776,  wrote  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth: 
"It  is  with  the  utmost  reluctance  I  am  now  obliged  to  inform  your  lordship  there  is  great 
reason  to  believe  and  it  is  confidently  asserted  that  the  Governor  has  made  representa- 
tions of  the  officers  of  government,  and  that  few  or  none  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  prov- 
ince in  general,  not  even  the  officers  of  this  government  but  are  disaffected,  and  are  in- 
clinable to  give  countenance  and  assistance  to  the  rebels  now  in  arms  against  the  Crown. 
If  it  be  true  that  Governor  Legge  has  made  such  representations,  I  do  avow  and  assert 
that  such  representations  are  totally  untrue  and  without  foundation,  which  can  be  made 
to  appear  by  a  thousand  instances."  Murdoch's  "Historv  of  Nova  Scotia,"  Vol.  2,  pp.  564, 
565. 

19.  The  petitions  from  Cumberland,  Truro  and  Onslow  all  urge  that  if  the  hus- 
bands and  fathers  were  obliged  to  enroll  in  the  militia  and  leave  their  homes,  their  fam- 
ilies would  have  no  means  of  support,  the  Truro  petition  adds  in  addition  that  the  settle- 
ments would  be  utterly  defenceless  against  attack  if  the  men  were  thus  drawn  off. 
"Those  of  us,"  the  Cumberland  people  say.  "who  belong  to  New  England  being  invited 
into  this  province  by  Governor  Lawrence's  proclamation,  it  must  be  the  greatest  piece 
of  cruelty  and  imposition  for  them  to  be  subjected  to  march  into  different  parts  of 
America,  and  that  done  by  order  of  his  Majesty." 

197 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

retary 's  office,  and  all  persons  under  the  least  suspicion  were  obliged 
to  give  security  for  good  behaviour.  In  May,  1777,  as  we  have  seen, 
an  effort  was  made  to  exact  from  all  the  men  of  Truro,  Onslow,  and 
perhaps  Londonderry,  a  majority  of  whom  were  North  of  Ireland 
Presbyterians,  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  Britain,  but  this  oath  all  the 
men  of  these  townships  with  the  exception  of  five,  as  we  have  also 
seen,  positively  refused  to  take.  In  punishment  of  their  disloyalty 
the  Council  with  amusing  inappropriateness  resolved  to  prosecute 
these  rigid  Protestants  as  Popish  recusants. 

Precisely  how  much  ground  Governor  Legge  had  for  accusing  the 
members  of  the  Council  of  sympathy  with  the  Revolution  it  is  not 
easy  now  to  say.  Three,  at  least,  of  them,  Binney,  Gorham,  and  Mor- 
ris, were  natives  of  Massachusetts,  and  Newton  was  of  Massachu- 
setts stock,  and  there  is  no  sufficient  reason  why  they  may  not  all 
have  shared  to  some  extent  the  spirit  which  animated  their  friends 
and  relatives  in  Boston  who  took  the  popular  side.20  Of  the  Nova 
Scotia  House  of  Assembly,  out  of  a  total  of  thirty-three  members 
representing  the  province  at  large,  no  less  than  twenty-four  were 
New  England  men,  while  other  important  public  officials  like  the 
chief  surveyor,  the  solicitor-general,  the  provincial  treasurer,  the 
judge  of  admiralty  for  appeals,  and  the  register  and  marshal  of  the 
court  of  admiralty  were  of  New  England  birth.  Concerning  the  Bos- 
ton born  head  of  the  judiciary,  the  Honourable  Chief  Justice  Jona- 
than Belcher,  who  however  died  on  the  30th  of  March,  1776,  the  tra- 
dition is  emphatic  that  he  was  distinctly  in  sympathy  with  the  Revo- 
lution. That  Governor  Legge  was  not  far  wTrong  in  accusing  the 
New  Englanders,  including  the  New  Hampshire  Scotch-Irish,  in  the 
province  at  large,  of  perfect  readiness  to  separate  themselves  from 
British  rule,  we  have  given,  as  we  believe,  irrefutable  proof. 


20.  The  number  of  British  born  men  in  the  Council  up  to  this  time  had  always 
been  greater  than  of  American  born.  In  1777  the  council  seems  to  have  had  but  ten 
members,  instead  of  twelve,  the  full  number,  the  men  of  as  we  suppose  British  birth  be- 
ing, Richard  Bulkeley,  James  Burrow,  John  Butler,  John  Creighton,  Michael  Franck- 
lin,  and  Arthur  Goold.  Of  these,  undoubtedly  the  most  influential  was  Michael  Franck- 
lin,  who  indeed  had  married  into  a  conservative  Boston  family,  but  who  retained 
throughout  his  life  a  strong  sympathy  with  England,  from  which  country  he  had  come. 
That  the  Nova  Scotia  Council  contained  a  majority  of  men  born  in  Britain  is  to  be  ac- 
counted for  by  the  fact  that  in  1777  civil  government  in  the  province  had  existed  only 
twenty-eight  years,  :nd  that  since  no  men  in  public  life  were  natives  of  Nova  Scotia, 
the  successive  English  governors  had  preferred  to  surround  themselves  with  men  born 
in  Britain  rather  than  men  born  in  the  New  England  colonies. 

198 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Of  the  influential  Halifax  merchants  of  New  England  birth, 
-whose  trade  had  been  in  large  measure  with  Boston,  there  were  some 
at  least  who  without  any  doubt  sympathized  preponderatingly  with 
the  colonies  from  which  they  had  come.  Among  the  reputable  mer- 
chants who  had  been  in  the  town  almost  since  Cornwallis  landed  were 
Joseph  Fairbanks  and  John  Fillis.  In  the  early  summer  of  1775,  Fair- 
banks gathered  a  cargo  of  hay  for  the  British  troops  at  Boston  and 
had  it  ready  for  shipment.  Suddenly  it  took  fire,  and  some  one  sent 
a  statement  to  Boston  that  Fillis  in  conjunction  with  another  New 
England  trader  named  Smith  had  had  a  hand  in  burning  it.  On  the 
16th  of  June,  Fillis  and  Smith  complained  to  the  House  of  Assembly 
that  they  were  greatly  distressed  by  this  unjust  report  and  "were 
unable  to  detect  the  vile  traducers  of  their  characters/ '  they  there- 
fore begged  the  legislature  to  exonerate  them.  In  testimony  against 
them  was  the  declaration  of  Mr.  Richard  Cunningham,  who  had  re- 
cently returned  from  Boston,  that  he  had  been  told  there  that  Gen- 
eral Gage  had  a  list  of  persons  in  Halifax  disaffected  to  the  Crown, 
and  that  the  first  names  on  that  list  were  those  of  Fillis  and  Smith, 
the  former  of  whom,  at  least,  Gage  had  been  told  had  had  a  part  in 
burning  the  hay.  Whether  there  was  any  truth  in  the  accusation  or 
not  we  cannot  tell,  but  the  House  of  Assembly  cleared  the  merchants 
of  the  charge,  declaring  that  the  gentlemen  in  question  were  dutiful 
and  loyal  subjects  of  King  George  the  Third,  and  had  behaved  with 
decency  and  good  order.  The  reports  against  their  loyalty,  the  As- 
sembly voted,  were  "base,  infamous,  and  false' '  charges. 

Another  of  the  most  notable  Boston  born  merchants  in  Halifax, 
and  probably  the  earliest  of  these  who  had  settled  in  the  town,  was 
Malachy  Salter.  On  the  10th  of  October,  1777,  an  order  was  passed 
in  council  for  Salter's  arrest  on  a  charge  of  treasonable  correspond- 
ence with  the  rebels,  and  prosecution  against  him  was  ordered. 
Somewhat  later  he  was  allowed  to  give  a  thousand  pounds  security 
for  his  good  behaviour  and  was  remanded  for  trial  at  the  next  term 
of  the  Supreme  Court.  How  long  he  had  been  under  suspicion  we 
cannot  tell,  put  this  action  of  the  council  explains  the  fact  that  a 
month  before  the  order  was  given,  Salter,  then  in  Boston,  had  peti- 
tioned the  Massachusetts  General  Court  for  liberty  to  transfer  him- 

199 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

self  and  his  family  and  their  effects  from  Halifax  to  the  province  of 
his  birth.  "Your  petitioner,"  he  says  to  the  Massachusetts  Legisla- 
ture, "was  formerly  an  inhabitant  of  the  town  of  Boston,  but  has  for 
many  years  past  resided  at  Llalifax  in  Nova  Scotia,  where  he  has  a 
considerable  interest  in  real  and  personal  estate,  but  having  suffered 
severely,  both  in  person  and  property,  on  account  of  his  political 
principles,  and  for  the  favor  and  assistance  he  afforded  to  the  Amer- 
ican seamen  and  others  in  captivity  there,  his  residence  in  that  prov- 
ince must  render  him  very  unhappy ;  Your  petitioner  therefore  hum- 
bly prays  that  he  may  have  liberty  to  depart  for  Halifax  and  return 
as  soon  as  he  conveniently  can  with  his  family  and  effects,  to  settle 
in  this  State,  without  molestation  of  any  armed  vessel,  or  any  other 
person  by  land  or  water,  belonging  to  the  LTnited  States  of  America, 
and  that  your  Honors  will  be  pleased  to  grant  him  a  certificate  for 
his  protection,  and  your  petitioner  as  in  duty  bound  shall  ever  pray, 
etc."  This  petition  was  presented  to  the  General  Court  on  the  15th 
of  September,  1777,  and  two  days  later  was  granted  by  both  houses.21 
At  his  trial  by  the  Nova  Scotia  Supreme  Court,  however,  Mr.  Salter 
was  honourably  acquitted. 

That  the  Nova  Scotians  at  large,  even  in  remote  rural  settlements, 
kept  themselves  fairly  well  informed  concerning  the  progress  of 
events  in  New  England  throughout  the  whole  of  the  war  we  have 
every  reason  to  believe.  The  first  Nova  Scotia  newspaper,  the  Nova 
Scotia  Chronicle  and  Weekly  Advertiser,  published  at  Halifax,  be- 
gan its  career  in  January,  1769,  and  in  whatever  it  said  about  poli- 
tics it  showed  sympathy  for  the  most  part  with  the  assertion  of 
colonial  rights.  In  its  modest  columns  "the  question  of  war  and  of 
separation  of  the  colonies  from  Great  Britain  was  freely  discussed 
six  years  before  the  first  shot  was  fired  at  Lexington,  and  the  people 
were  informed  that  great  numbers  of  Englishmen  looked  on  America 
as  in  rebellion."  Besides  this  means  of  gaining  knowledge  of  polit- 
ical movements  in  New  England,  the  Nova  Scotians  were  in  frequent 
receipt,  through  the  coming  into  their  harbours  from  Boston  of  trad- 
ing and  fishing  vessels,  of  newspapers  printed  in  the  Massachusetts 


21.  See  the  Massachusetts  Archives,  Vol.  183,  p.  136,  General  Court  Records,  Vol. 
38,  p.  29.  Also  Edmund  Duval  Poole's  "Yarmouth  and  Barrington  in  the  Revolutionary 
War,"  p.  32. 

200 


. 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

capital,  and  of  news  by  word  of  mouth  from  the  captains  and  crews 
of  these  vessels  and  occasional  passengers  which  the  vessels  brought. 
When  the  stamp  act  was  passed  in  1770,  the  Liverpool  people  showed 
public  marks  of  discontent  with  it,  and  we  cannot  doubt  that  the  peo- 
ple of  other  counties  of  which  we  have  spoken  were  just  as  strong  in 
denouncing  it  as  they. 

The  weightiest  influence  on  Nova  Scotia  in  favor  of  the  Revolution 
wTas  of  course,  to  a  people  struggling  for  a  prosperous  existence,  not 
so  much  political  sentiment  as  the  pressure  of  economic  necessity. 
On  the  17th  of  May,  1775,  it  was  resolved  by  Congress  "that  all  ex- 
portations  to  Quebec,  Nova  Scotia,  the  Island  of  St.  Johns  [Prince 
Edward  Island],  Newfoundland,  Georgia,  except  the  parish  of  St. 
Johns,22  and  East  and  West  Florida  should  immediately  cease,  and 
that  no  provisions  of  any  kind,  or  other  necessaries,  be  furnished  to 
the  British  fisheries  on  the  American  coasts  until  it  be  otherwise  de- 
termined by  the  Congress.  "23  In  the  spirit  of  this  resolution  of  Con- 
gress, on  the  5th  of  July,  1775,  Governor  Legge  issued  a  proclama- 
tion forbidding  all  persons  in  Nova  Scotia  to  correspond  with  or  in 
any  wTay  assist  the  rebels  in  New  England,  and  directed  the  justices 
of  the  peace  throughout  the  province  to  publish  the  order  and  cause 
it  to  be  read  several  times  in  all  places  of  public  worship.  A  second 
proclamation,  also,  under  a  recent  act  of  the  Assembly,  was  issued 
by  him,  forbidding  arms,  gunpowder,  ammunition,  or  saltpetre  be- 
ing exported  or  carried  coastwise  except  by  license  from  himself. 

In  the  Massachusetts  General  Court,  likewise,  on  the  9th  of  April, 
1776,  the  following  prohibitive  statute  was  passed:  " Whereas  it  is 
apprehended  that  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  colony  may  be  in- 
duced from  a  regard  to  their  own  interest  to  employ  their  vessels  the 
ensuing  season  in  the  business  of  fishing,  and  in  order  to  avoid  the 
inconveniences  they  may  be  exposed  to  by  an  act  of  parliament  pro- 
hibiting all  manner  of  trade  and  commerce  with  the  united  colonies 


22.  "Well  governed  and  generously  treated  by  Parliament  Georgia  had  little  cause 
to  aspire  after  independence,  but  St.  John's  Parish  sent  a  delegate  to  the  Second  Conti- 
nental Congress  in  March,  1775,  and  its  example  was  followed  by  other  parishes.  In 
1778,  the  British  captured  Savannah,  and  in  1779  Augusta  and  Sunbury.  Savannah  was 
held  by  the  British  until  1782.  The  first  State  Constitution  was  framed,  however,  in 
February,  1777,  and  on  January  2,  1788,  the  Federal  Constitution  was  ratified."  New 
International  Encyclopoedia,  Vol.  9,  p.  633. 

2Z-     See  "Journals  of  Each  Provincial  Congress  of  Massachusetts,  1774-1775."  P-  3l3- 

201 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

and  declaring  forfeited  all  such  vessels  and  cargoes,  etc.,  as  shall  be 
taken  belonging  to  the  same,  may  make  over  the  property  of  their 
vessels  to  some  inhabitant  of  Nova  Scotia;  to  the  intent  therefore 
that  no  inhabitant  of  this  colony  may  unwarily  go  into  such  a  method 
of  conduct,  it  is  resolved  chat  if  any  inhabitant  of  this  colony  shall 
upon  any  pretence  whatever  transfer  his  property  in  any  vessel  to  an 
inhabitant  of  the  province  of  Nova  Scotia  he  will  therefore  violate  a 
resolve  of  the  congress  prohibiting  all  intercourse  with  the  inhabit- 
ants of  that  province,  and  of  course  may  expect  to  be  obliged  to  sub- 
mit to  the  pains  and  penalties  due  to  such  an  offence.""4 

Besides  the  strict  prohibition  of  trade  with  the  other  colonies  un- 
less she  would  come  frankly  into  the  Revolution,  by  which  her  people 
were  reduced  to  great  distress,  Nova  Scotia  suffered  greatly  from 
the  depredations  of  Massachusetts  privateers.  As  early  as  1775, 
armed  vessels  were  fitted  out  at  various  places  in  Massachusetts  to 
prey  on  Nova  Scotia  vessels,  and  even  on  private  property  on  land  in 
places  that  were  accessible  from  the  sea.25  The  crews  that  manned 
these  vessels  in  some  cases  well  deserved  the  name  that  has  been 
given  them  of  "brutal  marauders,' '  for  their  conduct  was  so  out- 
rageous that  even  friends  of  the  Revolution  in  the  province  were 
forced  to  remonstrate  to  Congress  against  their  piracies.  During 
the  autumn  of  1776,  says  Archdeacon  Raymond,  "the  Bay  of  Fundy 
was  so  infested  with  pirates  and  picaroons  that  the  war  vessels 
Vulture,  Hope,  and  Albany  were  ordered  around  from  Halifax.  But 
they  were  not  entirely  successful  in  furnishing  protection,  for  the 
privateers  managed  sometimes  to  steal  past  the  large  ships  in  the 
night  and  in  fogs,  and  continued  to  pillage  the  defenceless  inhabit- 
ants."26 

"Throughout  the  whole  period  of  the  war,"  says  Mr.  Edmund  Du- 
val Poole,  "the  Massachusetts  General  Court  was  in  almost  constant 
receipt  of  petitions  from  individual  inhabitants  of  Yarmouth,  Bar- 


24.  Records  of  the  Massachusetts  General  Court,  Vol.  34,  pp.  740,  741.  See  also  p. 
200. 

25.  In  1775,  people  in  the  interior  parts  of  the  province  made  earnest  appeals  to 
the  Government  at  Halifax  for  ammunition  for  their  guns,  to  prevent  the  depredations 
of  pirates. 

26.  "The  River  St.  John,  its  Physical  Features,  Legends,  and  History,  from  1604  to 
1784"  (Archdeacon  Raymond,  LL.D.,  F.  R.  S.  C),  p.  437- 

202 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

rington  and  other  places  in  the  Province,  praying  leave  to  return 
with  their  families  and  effects.  These  petitions  were  usually 
granted,  and  a  pass  issued  to  each  applicant,  directing  the  com- 
manders of  all  ships  of  war  and  privateers  belonging  to  the  State  not 
to  interfere  with  or  molest  the  holder  on  his  passage  between  Nova 
Scotia  and  Massachusetts.  But  comparatively  few  availed  them- 
selves of  the  privilege  after  having  obtained  the  desired  permission 
to  return.  It  is  very  evident  that  the  written  passports  were  them- 
selves the  desideratum,  and  were  used  as  a  means  of  protection 
against  the  reprisals  of  American  privateers  while  engaged  in  fish- 
ing or  coasting  in  their  small  shallops  or  schooners.  In  a  great 
many  instances  our  fishermen  were  able  to  save  their  vessels  from 
capture  and  confiscation  by  this  shrewd  Yankee  trick,  although  it 
did  not  always  succeed." 

On  the  part  of  the  Nova  Scotians,  also,  not  a  little  retaliatory 
privateering  was  done,  New  England  vessels  being  captured  and 
brought  into  Halifax  and  their  crews  and  the  passengers  on  them 
imprisoned  there.  For  the  confinement  of  these  prisoners  of  war, 
says  a  recent  writer,27  the  prison  ships  and  jail  were  utterly  inade- 
quate. Moreover,  the  restraints  laid  upon  the  prisoners  were  ex- 
tremely lax,  a  few  were  allowed  to  give  their  parole  and  then  get 
to  their  homes  as  best  they  could,  but  large  numbers  of  them  were 
constantly  escaping,  and  the  Government  does  not  seem  to  have 
made  much  effort  to  recapture  them.    A  great  many  of  them  made 


27.  This  writer  is  the  author  of  the  very  valuable  articles  appearing  in  the  Halifax 
Acadian  Recorder  once  a  week,  under  the  pseudonym  "An  Occasional."  We  have  re- 
produced in  a  few  sentences  above,  without  quoting  exactly,  his  remarks  on  the  subject 
in  hand.  In  his  discussion  of  the  subject  "An  Occasional"  further  says:  "Although  all 
manner  of  intercourse  between  the  Colony  and  the  Province  was  forbidden  by  both 
Governments,  there  was  one  way  by  which  these  conditions  could  equalize  themselves, 
and  the  authorities  necessarily  shut  their  eyes  to  a  great  deal.  From  time  to  time  as 
provisions  grew  scarce,  it  became  customary  for  one  or  more  of  our  fishermen  to  load 
his  shallop  with  fish  or  salt  (another  article  in  great  demand  in  the  Colonies,  and  with 
which  our  people  were  well  supplied,  by  reason  of  their  trade  with  the  West  Indies), 
and  to  put  on  board  as  many  of  the  ex-prisoners  as  were  at  hand  or  could  be  accom- 
modated, and  boldly  set  sail  for  some  Massachusetts  port.  Often  they  were  held  up  by 
American  privateers  while  on  their  way,  but  usually  the  presence  of  the  Americans  on 
board,  together  with  the  permits  described  above,  served  as  a  means  of  protection  and 
they  were  allowed  to  proceed.  Upon  their  arrival  their  vessels  were  sometimes  seized 
as  the  property  of  subjects  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain."  But  the  next  thing  in  order 
would  be  a  petition  from  the  owners  or  captains  of  the  vessels  before  the  cargoes  could 
be  disposed  of,  "praying  for  liberty  to  sell  the  fish  or  salt,  to  purchase  provisions  with 
the  proceeds,  and  to  depart  with  the  same.  These  petitions  were  almost  invariably 
granted." 

203 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

their  way,  sometimes  through  the  woods,  sometimes  along  the  shore, 
to  Barrington  and  Yarmouth,  where  they  were  sure  to  find  friends. 

When  peace  between  Britain  and  the  United  States  was  finally 
sealed,  the  restrictions  of  trade  and  general  intercourse  between 
Nova  Scotia  and  the  other  colonies  were  of  course  removed,  and  un- 
der changed  conditions,  but  with  somewhat  of  the  old  freedom,  the 
earlier  relations  between  the  closely  allied  peoples  were  resumed. 

Why  Nova  Scotia  did  not  give  the  Revolution  the  strong  support 
the  other  Atlantic  seaboard  colonies  of  Britain  in  America  gave  it 
and  become  a  fourteenth  State  in  the  American  Union,  instead  of 
remaining  a  possession  of  the  British  Crown,  is  a  question  that  it  is 
hardly  necessary  now  to  answer,  for  the  answer  is  implicit  in  the 
long  array  of  facts  we  have  in  this  chapter  adduced.  From  first  to 
last  there  was  no  reluctance  on  the  part  of  a  great  majority  of  the 
people  to  throw  in  their  lot  frankly  with  their  friends  in  the  New 
England  colonies  who  had  revolted  against  British  oppression,  and 
many  were  anxious  to  do  so,  but  they  were  a  rural  people,  lacking 
the  necessary  equipment  of  war,  and  too  few  in  numbers  and  too 
scattered  to  make  organized  resistance  to  the  authority  exercised  at 
Halifax,  without  powerful  aid  from  the  New  England  colonies,  at  all 
able  to  succeed.  That  such  help  from  the  Continental  Congress  or 
the  Massachusetts  General  Court  did  not  come  we  have  seen,  and  the 
Nova  Scotia  government  being  firmly  in  the  hands  of  men  loyal 
to  Britain,  a  governor-in-chief  and  lieutenant  governor  sworn  to  de- 
fend British  authority  and  a  council  in  which  Englishmen  rather 
than  colonials  were  in  the  majority,  nominal  allegiance  to  Britain 
on  the  part  of  the  whole  population  was  preserved.  Thus  Nova 
Scotia  in  the  end  was  left  divorced  in  large  measure  from  the  colon- 
ies to  which  she  was  bound  by  the  closest  geographical,  social,  and 
commercial  ties.  In  such  unfortunate  isolation  she  remained  until 
she  became  a  province  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada  in  the  federation 
of  the  provinces  in  1867. 


204 


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A  Rare  Old  Flag 


HE  great  war  in  which  our  country  is  now  engaged  is 
marked  with  incidents  of  rare  interest.  Perhaps  the 
most  significant  is  the  alliance  of  the  United  States  with 
Great  Britain,  the  Mother  Country  from  which  the 
American  Colonies  separated,  and  against  whom  a  second  war  was 
waged,  that  of  1812-14. 

The  perspective  of  history,  a  final  assize,  has  in  both  instances 
wiped  out  animosities.  As  to  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  it  has  done 
more — it  has  vindicated  the  cause  for  which  Washington  and  his 
followers  fought,  as  of  almost  as  great  importance  to  the  Mother 
Country  as  to  the  New  Nation  from  whose  loins  it  sprang.  Had  the 
real  statesmen  of  England  been  listened  to  at  the  outset  of  that 
struggle,  had  they  been  able  to  control  the  man  of  foreign  descent,  of 
Hanoverian  principles  and  feeble  intellect,  the  Third  George,  the 
American  Colonies  would  perhaps  today  be  such  a  constituent  part 
of  the  British  Empire  as  are  Canada  and  Australia.  It  is  to  be  re- 
membered that  the  early  American  rebels  did  not  set  out  to  establish 
a,  new  nation;  they  sought  a  redress  of  grievances,  and  constitu- 
tional government,   as  did  their  forefathers  under  Cromwell. 

The  War  of  1812-14  was  an  insignificant  affair,  comparatively. 
WTiatever  its  merits  on  either  side,  there  is  no  more  feeling  left  in 
either  country,  and  both  are  now  allied  in  the  deepest  sense  in  the 
upholding  of  democracy  as  opposed  to  autocracy.  In  the  spirit  of 
a  common  sympathy  and  a  common  determination,  such  representa- 
tive bodies  as  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution  and  the  Sons  and 
Daughters  of  St.  George  have  met  together  on  various  occasions  in 
many  of  our  larger  cities,  as  in  St.  Ann's  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  Brooklyn  in  February  last,  in  celebration  of  Washington's 
Birthday — a  spirit  which  had  a  counterpart  in  the  joint  meeting  of 
the  "Blue  and  the  Gray,"  former  soldiers  of  the  Union  and  Confed- 
erate armies,  on  the  historic  battlefield  of  Gettysburg,  on  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  that  great  conflict. 

205 


A  RARE  OLD  FLAG 

On  all  such  and  kindred  occasions,  the  "Star  Spangled  Banner' r 
holds  first  place  of  honor,  and  its  history  is  ever  a  principal  theme, 
while  the  singing  of  soul  stirring  words  of  what  has  become  our 
principal  national  air  and  hymn  are  never  omitted.  The  story  of 
how  Francis  Scott  Key  came  to  write  his  verses  is  familiar  in  a  gen- 
eral way,  but  the  following  narrative  is  more  specific  than  most  of 
those  extant. 

At  the  time  of  the  War  of  1812-14,  Key  was  serving  as  United 
States  District  Attorney  for  the  District  of  Columbia,  under  Presi- 
dent Madison.  When  the  British  army  under  General  Ross  reached 
Upper  Marlboro,  Maryland,  on  its  way  to  attack  the  national  capi- 
tal, British  officers  billetted  themselves  at  the  plantation  of  Dr.  Wil- 
liam Beanes,  a  well  known  physician.  When  they  came  to  resume 
their  march,  they,  out  of  fear  that  he  might  reveal  their  movements 
to  the  Americans,  took  Dr.  Beanes  into  custody  and  placed  him  in 
charge  of  the  British  admiral.  A  British  soldier,  writing  to  the 
"London  Times/ '  concerning  the  affair  at  Bladensburg  and  conse- 
quent events,  said:  "The  inhabitants  of  that  village  (Bladensburg) 
at  the  instigation  of  a  medical  practitioner  called  Bran  (or  Beanes) r 
had  risen  in  arms  as  soon  as  we  were  departed,  and,  falling  upon 
such  individuals  as  strayed  from  the  column,  put  some  of  them  to 
death,  and  made  others  prisoners.  A  soldier  whom  they  had  taken 
and  who  escaped,  gave  this  information  to  the  troopers  just  as  they 
were  about  to  return  to  headquarters ;  upon  which  they  immediately 
wheeled  about  and,  fast  galloping  into  the  village,  pulled  the 
doctor  out  of  bed  (for  it  was  early  in  the  morning)  and  compelled 
him,  by  the  threat  of  a  violent  death,  to  liberate  his  prisoners,  and 
mounting  him  before  one  of  the  party,  brought  him  in  triumph  into- 
the  camp."  This  account  is  apparently  overcolored,  for  it  is  else- 
where stated  on  good  authority  that  Admiral  Cochrane,  who  occu- 
pied the  house  of  Dr.  Beanes,  found  no  fault  with  the  conduct  of 
that  worthy  as  to  humanity  toward  the  British  soldiers  who  fell  into 
his  hands. 

Mr.  Key,  who  was  serving  as  a  volunteer  aide  attached  to  the 
American  forces,  was  a  close  personal  friend  of  Dr.  Beanes,  and, 
with  the  consent  of  President  Madison,  set  out  to  visit  the  British 

206 


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A  RARE  OLD  FLAG 

fleet  under  a  flag  of  truce,  in  hopes  of  procuring  the  Doctor's  release. 
He  was  received  with  all  courtesy,  by  Admiral  Cockburn,  who,  how- 
ever, declined  to  release  his  prisoner,  as  the  attack  upon  Baltimore 
was  soon  to  open,  and,  moreover,  as  an  additional  precaution,  also 
took  Key  into  custody,  with  the  assurance  that  both  should  be  liber- 
ated as  soon  as  the  impending  battle  was  over.  Key  and  Beanes 
were  sent  under  guard  to  the  " Surprise,' '  but  were  soon  afterward 
transferred  to  the  cartel-ship  "Minden,"  which  was  moored  within 
sight  of  the  fort.  Key  and  his  friend  paced  the  deck  all  the  night, 
knowing  from  the  unceasing  bombardment  that  the  fort  had  not  sur- 
rendered. It  ceased  before  daylight,  and  for  a  time  they  were  in 
anxious  suspense.  At  length  the  day  broke,  and,  eagerly  peering 
through  the  mist,  they  saw  to  their  joy  that  "our  flag  was  still 
there. ' ' 

Witnessing  the  baffled  fleet  hoist  sail  preparatory  to  departure, 
Key's  pent-up  emotions,  stirred  to  their  depth  by  patriotic  fervor 
and  devotion,  burst  forth  in  the  anthem  of  joy  which  has  become  the 
"Te  Deum"  of  the  nation.  Lingering  with  his  friend  on  the  deck  of 
the  ship  from  which  they  were  not  yet  released,  Key  wrote  down  a 
few  lines  on  the  back  of  a  letter,  and  completed  the  song  in  the  boat 
on  their  way  to  the  shore.  He  wrote  it  out  fully,  as  we  now  have  it, 
at  the  inn  where  he  remained  that  night  in  Baltimore,  probably  the 
Fountain  Inn,  near  the  landing.  In  the  morning  he  took  it  to  his 
brother-in-law,  Judge  Joseph  Nicholson,  who  had  just  returned  from 
Fort  McHenry,  being  among  its  defenders.  It  is  said  that  the  Judge 
suggested  as  an  air  for  the  words,  the  then  familiar  "Anacreon  in 
Heaven."  Key  favored  the  suggestion,  and  the  song  was  printed 
in  the  office  of  "The  Patriot."  Within  an  hour,  so  says  a  con- 
temporary acccount,  the  handbills  containing  it,  with  its  symbols  of 
liberty — the  eagle  and  clipper  ship — were  all  over  town,  hailed  as  a 
spontaneous  expression  of  the  people's  feelings.  Meanwhile  Key 
gave  a  pen  copy  to  Captain  Eades,  who  hastened  to  the  tavern  on 
Holiday  street,  where  the  actors  were  accustomed  to  assemble.  Key 
had  written  on  his  manuscript,  as  the  air,  "Anacreon  in  Heaven," 
and  Ferdinand  Durang  mounted  a  chair  and  sang  the  new  song.  The 
verses  as  first  published  in  a  journal  (the  "Baltimore  American"), 

207 


A  RARE  OLD  FLAG 

appeared  under  the  title,  "A  New  Song  by  a  Gentleman  of  Mary- 
land."   The  air  was  the  same  that  is  sung  today. 

The  flag  which  proved  the  inspiration  of  Key's  magnificent  effort, 
now  known  throughout  the  whole  world,  is  represented  in  the  ac- 
companying illustration,  taken  from  "Baltimore:  Its  History  and 
People, "  (Lewis  Historical  Publishing  Co.,  1912),  and  upon  which 
the  present  narrative  is  based.  The  flag  is  29  by  33  feet,  and  was  de- 
posited in  the  National  Museum  at  Washington  City  by  Mr.  Eben 
Appleton,  a  descendant  of  Colonel  Armistead,  the  heroic  defender 
of  Fort  McHenry. 

Francis  Scott  Key  died  in  Baltimore,  January  11,  1843.  In  1884 
James  Lick,  the  California  millionaire,  bequeathed  $60,000  for  a 
monument  to  his  memory,  and  which  now  adorns  Golden  Gate  Park, 
San  Francisco;  and  in  1898  a  monument  was  reared  at  Frederick, 
Maryland,  over  the  remains  of  Key  and  his  wife,  Mary  (Tayloe) 
Key.  His  most  ambitious  monument  was  unveiled  in  Baltimore, 
May  16,  1911.  It  is  one  of  the  most  unique  and  most  pretentious  of 
its  class  in  the  United  States,  and  was  the  gift  of  Charles  L.  Mar- 
burg, who  on  the  15th  of  December,  1906,  made  the  offer  to  the  city. 
Mr.  Marburg  died  on  the  February  2nd  following,  after  providing 
for  the  carrying  out  of  his  intention.  The  monument  was  designed 
by  Antonin  Mercie,  the  French  sculptor  who  designed  the  tombs  of 
Theirs  and  Michelet  in  the  Cemetery  of  Pere  la  Chaise  in  Paris, 
and  also  the  monument  to  the  composer  Gounod  in  the  Pare  Mon- 
ceau.  The  conception  is  highly  imaginative,  representing  the  poet 
returning,  after  the  bombardment  of  Fort  McHenry,  from  the  Brit- 
ish ship  aboard  which  he  had  been  detained  during  the  memorable 
battle,  in  the  act  of  offering  to  Columbia  the  anthem  which  the  re- 
pulse of  the  invaders  had  inspired  him  to  write.  A  classic  structure 
of  caen  stone  with  Ionic  columns  occupies  the  center  of  the  design, 
rising  out  of  the  waves,  and  surmounted  by  the  figure  of  Columbia 
in  gilt  bronze,  holding  aloft  the  "Star  Spangled  Banner."  At  its 
base  a  boat  carved  from  stone  and  reposing  on  waves  of  the  same 
material,  contains  the  figure  of  Key  and  a  sailor  on  verdant  bronze. 
Key  stands  on  the  seat  in  the  stern  of  the  boat,  with  eyes  upturned 
to  the  figure  of  Columbia ;  while  the  sailor,  resting  on  his  oars,  gazes 

208 


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This  inspired  Key's  song.     Now  in  National  Museum, 
Washington   City 


A  RARE  OLD  FLAG 

with  rapt  attention  upon  the  poet.  The  waves  carved  from  stone 
merge  into  the  waters  of  a  basin  supplied  from  concealed  fountains. 
On  either  of  two  sides  of  the  stone  fabric  is  a  gilded  bronze  tablet, 
one  picturing  the  bombardment  from  the  fort,  while  the  other  repre- 
sents the  battle  as  seen  from  the  attacking  fleet.  The  unveiling  of 
the  monument  was  witnessed  by  a  throng  of  several  thousands.  On 
the  temporary  stand  erected  for  the  occasion  were  seated  many 
prominent  citizens,  among  whom  were  Mayor  Mahool,  Cardinal  Gib- 
bons, ex-Governor  Warfield,  several  descendants  of  Key,  and  mem- 
bers of  Francis  Scott  Key  Chapter,  Daughters  of  the  American  Rev- 
olution. The  monument  was  unveiled  by  Mrs.  William  Gilmor,  a 
granddaughter  of  the  poet.  The  orator  of  the  occasion  was  W.  Stuart 
Symington. 

The  old  Fort  McHenry  flag  was  made  by  Mrs.  Mary  Pickerstill,  of 
Baltimore,  under  the  direction  of  Commodore  Barry  and  General 
Striker.  It  bore  stars  and  stripes  in  number  representing  the  States 
then  in  the  Union — eight  red  and  seven  white  stripes,  and  fifteen 
stars.  The  original  United  States  flag  bore  thirteen  stripes  and  the 
same  number  of  stars,  until  two  more  of  each  were  added  on  the  ad- 
mission of  Vermont  (1791)  and  Kentucky  (1792)  to  the  Union,  mak- 
ing fifteen  of  each,  and  it  so  remained  for  twenty-five  years.  This 
pattern  of  flag  was  the  first  American  ensign  to  be  raised  over  a  for- 
eign fort,  at  Derne,  Tripoli,  after  its  bombardment  and  reduction  in 
the  battle  against  the  Barbary  pirates.  It  was  also  the  form  of  the 
first  American  flag  carried  around  the  world,  by  Commodore  Por- 
ter in  the  "Essex,"  and  was  also  the  one  under  which  General  Jack- 
son fought  at  New  Orleans.  In  1818,  by  Act  of  Congress,  the  stripes 
were  reduced  to  the  original  number  of  thirteen,  with  the  provision 
that  each  State  should  be  represented  by  a  star,  additions  to  be  made 
from  time  to  time  as  new  States  were  admitted  to  the  Union,  and  this 
law  has  remained  unaltered  to  the  present  day. 

It  has  been  stated  that  the  old  Fort  McHenry  flag,  now  in  the  Na- 
tional Museum,  shows  that  one  of  the  stars  has  been  removed,  and 
that  it  was  cut  out  and  sent  to  President  Lincoln.  We  have  been  un- 
able to  verify  the  latter  statement.  If  it  is  a  fact,  the  perpetrator 
committed  an  unwarranted  act  of  sacrilege. 

209 


. 


Morristown  in  the  Revolution 

Fkom  "History  of  Morris  County,  New  Jersey,"  Lewis  Historical 

Publishing  Co. 


pl^pglHE  historic  building,  known  as  Washington's  Headquar- 


K 


ters,  whose  foundations  were  laid  in  1772,  was  finished 
in  1774,  and  occupied  by  the  Ford  family  in  that  year. 
It  is  located  on  a  gentle  eminence  nearly  a  mile  east  of 


Morristown  Green,  and  in  full  view  from  the  railroad.  Morris 
avenue  (Whippany  road)  and  "Washington  avenue  unite  in  front  of 
the  house,  and  form  Morris  street,  one  of  the  five  thoroughfares 
that  branch  out  from  "The  Green."  During  the  summer  of  1873 
the  property  was  offered  for  sale  in  order  to  settle  the  estate  of 
Henry  A.  Ford,  a  lineal  descendant  of  Colonel  Jacob  Ford.  A 
few  gentlemen  who  attended  the  sale,  headed  by  former  Governor 
and  United  States  Senator  Theodore  F.  Randolph,  purchased  the 
property,  their  object  being  to  preserve  for  the  people  the  house 
with  its  great  historic  associations.  To  this  end  they  formed  the 
Washington  Association  of  New  Jersey,  with  capital  stock  limited 
to  $50,000,  transferable  only  with  the  consent  of  the  Association, 
and  then  only  to  a  male  descendant  of  the  holder.  If  no  such 
descendant  claims  within  five  years  from  the  death  of  a  holder,  the 
stock  becomes  the  property  of  the  State.  The  Association  obtained 
a  very  liberal  charter  from  the  State,  among  its  provisions  being 
total  exemption  from  taxation ;  prohibition  of  any  unsightly  build- 
ing or  object  near  by;  police  powers  upon  and  near  the  grounds; 
and  the  semi-annual  payment  by  the  State  of  $1,250  to  aid  in  keep- 
ing the  Headquarters  in  condition  and  open  to  the  public. 

The  house  is  filled  with  relics  and  mementoes  of  the  Revolution, 
with  the  office  and  bedroom  furniture  of  General  Washington,  all 
as  nearly  as  possible  as  it  was  when  he  used  it.  The  most  highly 
prized  relic  is  the  original  pen  commission  issued  to  Washington 
as  "General  and  Commander-in-Chief,"  signed  bv  John  Hancock, 


210 


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THE  NEWARK  WASHINGTON 

By  J.  Massey  Rhind,  sculptor,  of  New  York;  provided  for  by  the  late  Amos  H.  Van  Horn 

dedicated  in  November,  1912 


MORRISTOWN  IN  THE  REVOLUTION 

and  dated  June  19,  1775,  and  preceding  the  engrossed  commission 
ordered  by  the  Congress.  The  house  and  grounds,  beautifully 
kept,  present  a  pleasant  sight,  the  ancient  cannon  on  the  lawn  and 
the  national  flag  floating  above  giving  an  imposing  military  effect. 
Volumes  could  be  and  have  been  written  concerning  the  Headquar- 
ters and  its  sacred  associations.  The  house  is  open  to  visitors  on 
week-days. 

In  connection  with  the  foregoing  in  relation  to  the  "Father  of  his 
Country"  as  a  sojourner  at  Morristown,  it  is  pleasing  to  add  to 
these  pages  the  following  on  "Washington  and  the  Holy  Com- 
munion," from  the  pen  of  the  Rev.  James  M.  Buckley,  D.  D.,  LL.D., 
the  eminent  divine,  author  and  antiquarian.     His  narrative  follows : 

After  the  death  of  a  great  man,  if  he  had  been  connected  with  na- 
tional or  general  political  affairs,  or  in  places  of  power,  especially  as 
commander  of  armies  on  land  or  sea,  his  biography  is  hurriedly  put 
upon  the  market.  Later,  others  have  been  produced  by  authors 
who  aim  to  make  not  only  a  great  work  but  to  spread  knowledge 
hitherto  hidden  from  the  public.  Frequently  two  or  more  bring 
forth  histories  of  the  life  of  the  same  man;  and,  when  this  is  the 
case,  there  is  often  much  contradiction  between  them.  Therefore 
succeeding  generations  "instructed  only  by  popular  writers,  think 
too  highly  or  too  meanly  of  the  world's  heroes  or  sages."  This  is 
illustrated  in  the  elaborate  biographies  of  Washington,  and  also 
in  the  "sketches  of  individual  characteristics  or  actions;"  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  question  whether  George  Washington  took  the  Holy 
Communion  when  his  army  lay  encamped  in  the  environs  of  Mor- 
ristown, New  Jersey. 

The  late  Dr.  Samuel  Hanson  Cox,  a  noted  Presbyterian  minister, 
first  attracted  attention  to  this  subject.  He  had  received  the  ac- 
count from  Dr.  Hillyer,  who  had  it  from  the  lips  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Timothy  Johnes,  who  had  been  for  many  years  the  pastor  of  the 
church,  and  who  administered  the  sacrament  at  that  time.  Accord- 
ing to  Dr.  Hilyer,  at  that  time  the  church  was  occupied  as  a  hos- 
pital for  smallpox  patients,  that  loathsome  malady  being  epidemic 
in  the  army.  During  that  period,  the  religious  services  were  held 
in  the  orchard  not  far  from  the  parsonage. 

In  the  morning  of  the  previous  day,  General  Washington,  after 
his  customary  inspection  of  the  camp,  visited  Dr.  Johnes  and  said : 
"Doctor,  I  understand  that  the  Lord's  Supper  is  to  be  celebrated 
with  you  next  Sunday.  I  would  learn  if  it  accords  with  the  canons 
of  your  church  to  admit  communicants  of  another  denomination Vs 

211 


MORRISTOWN  IN  THE  REVOLUTION 

Doctor  Jolmes  responded,  "Most  certainly;  ours  is  not  a  Presbyte- 
rian table,  but  the  Lord's  table,  and  hence  we  give  the  Lord's  invi- 
tation to  all  His  followers  of  whatever  name."  The  General  re- 
plied, "I  am  glad  of  it;  that  is  as  it  ought  to  be.  But,  as  1  was  not 
sure  of  the  fact,  I  thought  1  would  ascertain  it  from  yourself,  as  I 
propose  to  join  with  you  on  that  occasion.  Though  I  am  a  member 
of  the  Church  of  England,  I  have  no  exclusive  partialities."  On 
the  next  Sabbath,  General  Washington  was  present,  seated  on  his 
own  campstool,  brought  over  from  the  residence  in  which  he  then 
lived. 

This  story  is  reported  in  the  "Presbyterian  Magazine,"  in  ar- 
ticles in  the  February  and  Deecember  numbers  for  1851.  The  Feb- 
ruary number  contained  the  account,  and  shortly  after  the  editor 
received  a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Nicholas  Chevalier,  of  Virginia,  who 
stated  that  some  years  before  he  was  informed  by  Dr.  Johnes,  a  son 
of  the  Eev.  Dr.  Johnes,  that  the  religious  services  including  the 
Holy  Communion  were  then  held  in  an  orchard.  The  editor  of  the 
magazine  wrote  to  Mr.  Kirtland,  and  also  to  the  pastor  of  the  Sec- 
ond Presbyterian  Church  at  Morristown,  who  had  married  into  the 
family  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Johnes,  and  who  corroborated  the  statement. 
Being  convinced  that,  if  such  an  account  were  correct,  such  event 
would  be  commonly  known  in  all  the  important  families  who  had 
descended  directly  from  the  most  influential  inhabitants  of  Mor- 
ristown, I  began  in  1897  an  investigation  among  them,  with  the  fol- 
lowing results : 

I.  I  secured  a  certificate  signed  by  Mrs.  Anna  Johnes  Little,  wife 
of  the  Hon.  Theodore  Little,  a  well  known  lawyer  in  Morristowm, 
an  elder  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  and  president  of  the 
First  National  Bank.     It  was  as  follows : 

"It  has  always  been  the  tradition  in  my  family  that  Washington  took  the  com- 
munion in  a  hollow  back  of  the  parsonage  during  the  ministry  of  my  great-grandfather, 
the  Rev.  Timothy  Johnes,  D.  D.,  who  was  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  for  fifty 
years.  The  churches  were  at  that  time  used  as  hospitals,  and  the  services  were  held 
out-of-doors  behind  the  parsonage. 

"Washington  frequently  asked  Dr.  Johnes'  advice  during  his  residence  in  Morris- 
town,  and  they  were  on  the  most  friendly  terms. 

"(Signed)     Mrs.  Anna  Johnes  Little. 
"January,  1898." 

II.  The  following  certificate  is  signed  by  two  ladies,  descendants 
on  both  sides  from  important  families  of  Morristown: 

"Mills  St.,  Morristown,  N.  J. 
"I  have  always  heard,  from  my  father  and  mother  both,  this  story :     That  General 
Washington  partook  of  the  Communion  at  the  outdoor  service  held  in  the  little  hollow 
behind    Parson    Johnes'    house.     General    Washington    asked    him    if    he    might    com- 

212 


MORRISTOWN  IN  THE  REVOLUTION 

mune  with  them,  and  Dr.  Johnes'  reply  was  that  it  was  the  Lord's  table.     It  was  always 
understood  that  such  was  the  case. 

"(Signed)     Irene   Mills, 

"Maria  B.  Mills. 
"January,   1898." 

III.  The  following  is  from  the  Hon.  John  Whitehead,  late  United 
States  Commissioner  for  New  Jersey,  and  author  of  the  "Judicial 
and  Civil  History  of  New  Jersey,''  and  of  several  hundred  his- 
torical articles  in  the  historical  and  analogous  publications  in  the 
State : 

"Morristown,  N.  J.,  Feb.   16th,   1898. 
"My  Dear  Sir: 

"My  relations  with  Morristown  prior  to  my  continued  residence  there,  which  began 
in  1865,  have  always  been  of  the  most  intimate  character.  My  ancestors  were  Morris- 
town people  extending  back  four  or  five  centuries.  I  cannot  remember  the  time  when 
I  did  not  believe  fully  that  Washington  while  here  with  the  army  during  the  Revolution, 
partook  of  the  Communion  with  the  Presbyterian  church.  It  was  one  of  those  tradi- 
tions which  are  believed  as  much  as  tho  they  were  actual  fact,  known  to  have  occurred. 
So,  when  I  heard  some  years  ago  that  it  was  doubted  whether  such  an  occurrence  had 
actually  happened,  I  took  measures  to  satisfy  myself  on  the  subject.  I  was  quite 
astounded  and  more  disappointed  to  learn  that  there  was  so  little  evidence  on  the  sub- 
ject. The  conviction  of  its  truth  was  shattered,  and  I  began  to  imagine  that,  after  all, 
it  only  rested  on  tradition,  and,  almost  in  despair,  I  gave  up  the  attempt  to  fortify  my 
belief. 

"But,  to  my  very  great  delight,  I  was  furnished  with  proof  which  seemed  to  me 
almost  irrefragable.  An  old  lady,  one  of  the  representatives  of  our  most  respected  fam- 
ilies, informed  me  that  her  father,  who  was  then  a  ruling  elder  in  the  Presbyterian 
church,  told  her  that  he  was  present  on  the  occasion  when  General  Washington  par- 
took of  the  elements  at  the  table,  and  that  he  himself  handed  him  the  bread  and  wine. 
The  church  edifice  at  the  time  was  used  as  a  hospital  for  the  smallpox  patients  among 
the  soldiers,  and  the  congregation  were  in  the  habit  of  assembling  in  the  open  air,  in  a 
little  dell  in  the  rear  of  the  parsonage,  then  occupied  by  the  Rev.  Timothy  Johnes,  D.  D.r 
then  pastor  of  the  church.  This  parsonage  is  still  in  existence,  in  most  excellent  pres- 
ervation, and  is  now  used  by  the  Memorial  Hospital. 

"I  think  if  any  one  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago,  in  the  hearing  of  any  old  or  middle- 
aged  Morris  County  man  had  expressed  any  doubt  as  to  the  truth  of  the  story  about 
Washington's  partaking  of  the  Communion  with  the  First  Presbyterian  church-members, 
he  would  have  been  most  sharply  rebuked.  It  was  a  story  which  no  one  in  Morris 
County  ever  doubted,  until  these  last  years  when  that  iconoclastic  spirit,  which  seems 
disposed  to  destroy  all  our  beautiful  traditions,  attacked  this.  It  seems  to  me  to  savor 
almost  of  impiety  for  an  American  citizen  to  attempt  to  detract  from  the  character  of 
the  Father  of  his  Country,  and  I  do  not  envy  the  man  who  attempts  to  do  it. 
"Very  truly  and  sincerely  yours, 

"J.    Whitehead." 

IV.  The  Hon.  Frederick  G.  Burnham  was  a  lawyer  in  active  civil 
practice  when  I  consulted  him  upon  this  subject.  He  is  still  living, 
and  known  widely  as  the  donor  and  founder  of  the  Burnham  Indus- 
trial Farm.    He  writes : 

"Morristown,  N.  J.,  February  15th,  1897. 
"Dear  Mr  Buckley  : 

"You  requested  me  to  give  you  a  short  narrative  of  a  conversation  that  took  place 
between  Mrs.  Lindsley,  my  great-aunt,  and  myself,  at  Morristown,  in  1844.     My  aunt, 

213 


MORRISTOWN  IN  THE  REVOLUTION 

I  think,  was  about  seventy-eight  years  of  age  at  that  time;  she  was  born  in  Morris 
County,  a  sister  to  my  grandfather,  Silas  Condict,  who  died  in  Morristown  in  1848.  My 
aunt  frequently  visited  at  my  grandfather's  house,  and  had  taken  quite  a  fancy  to  me; 
she  was  in  the  habit  of  relating  many  incidents  of  Revolutionary  times  to  me  and  found 
a  ready  listener.  The  statement  which  I  now  make  I  remember  as  distinctly  as  tho  it 
were  narrated  to  me  yesterday,  and  there  can  be  no  question  but  that  I  perfectly  under- 
stood her.     .     .     . 

"As  the  time  approached,  when  in  accordance  with  the  Presbyterian  usage  the  Sac- 
rament of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  to  be  administered,  Washington  wrote  to  Mr. 
Johnes  that  he  understood  such  to  be  the  case;  that  he  was  unaware  of  the  rules  obtain- 
ing in  the  Presbyterian  church,  as  he  was  a  communicant  in  the  Established  Church 
of  England,  but  that  if  it  was  in  accordance  with  the  rules  of  the  Presbyterian  church, 
it  would  give  him  great  pleasure  to  worship  with  them  on  that  occasion  and  to  partake 
of  the  Sacrament.  To  this  letter  the  Rev.  Mr.  Johnes  replied  that  the  custom  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  was  to  invite  all  Christians  to  the  table  of  the  Lord,  as  it  was  in  no 
wise  an  ordinance  belonging  to  the  Presbyterian  church  alone,  and  that  it  would  give 
him  great  pleasure  to  welcome  General  Washington  at  the  service  on  the  coming  Sab- 
bath. When  the  next  Sabbath  came  the  usual  preparations  for  the  church  service  and 
for  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  were  made  in  the  open  air,  on  the  spot  where 
they  were  accustomed  to  worship,  as  1  have  said.  General  Washington  attended,  was 
seated  with  the  congregation,  remained  through  the  service,  and  there  partook  of  the 
Lord's  Supper.  The  only  thing  which  I  wish  I  could  remember  distinctly,  is  whether 
my  aunt  said  that  she  was  present  herself  and  saw  General  Washington.  But  that  she 
spoke  of  it  in  the  most  complete  and  detailed  manner,  and  without  the  slightest  pos- 
sible question,  and  referred  to  it  as  an  event  which  had  happened  within  her  recollection 
and  was  perfectly  remembered,  and  of  which  she  possessed  the  most  perfect  knowledge, 
there  can  be  no  question  whatever. 

"My  profession  has  called  upon  me  for  many  years  to  be  cautious  in  sifting  evi- 
dence, and  I  say  without  any  question  that,  considering  the  character  of  the  woman, 
her  strong  intellect  and  keen  perceptions  and  perfect  memory,  there  is  no  more  doubt 
about  the  correctness  of  her  narrative  than  there  is  of  the  fact  that  General  Washing- 
ton was  present  with  his  troops  in  Morristown  in  that  winter.  Besides  this  statement, 
made  to  me  in  this  clear  and  emphatic  manner,  I  wish  to  add  that  there  are  several  per- 
.sons  still  living  in  Morristown  and  in  its  vicinity  to  whom  the  above  facts  were  told  by 
their  parents  or  grandparents,  so  that  the  story,  as  I  have  given  it,  is  corroborated  in 
a  variety  of  ways  and  by  a  variety  of  persons. 
"Believe  me  to  remain, 

"Very  truly  yours, 

"Frederick  G.  Burnham." 

V.  In  1851,  James  Kichards,  D.  D.,  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyte- 
Tian  Church  in  Morristown,  and  son  of  the  venerable  Dr.  Kichards, 
who  succeeded  Dr.  Johnes  in  1794,  informed  the  editor  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Magazine  in  1851  that  he  had  often  heard  his  father  relate 
the  circumstances  of  this  Communion,  he  having  heard  it  from  Dr. 
Johnes. 

VI.  Dr.  Albert  Barnes,  famous  as  a  commentator,  was  many  years 
the  pastor  in  Philadelphia,  and  was  ordained  and  installed  as  pastor 
of  the  Presbyterian  church  and  congregation  in  Morristown  by  the 
Presbytery  on  the  8th  day  of  February,  1825.  Dr.  Johnes  had  then 
been  dead  only  29  years.  Dr.  Barnes  informed  the  editor  of  the 
Presbyterian  Magazine  that  he  never  had  any  doubt  on  the  subject. 

VII.  Although  every  reasoning  mind  would  be  convinced  by  what 
has  been  brought  forward,  that  George  Washington  participated  in 

214 


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FORT  NONSENSE  HILL 


MORRISTOWN  IN  THE  REVOLUTION 

the  Holy  Communion  from  the  hands  of  the  pastor  and  elders  of  the 
First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Morristown,  I  subjoin  another  testi- 
mony of  great  weight.  A  few  days  after  my  articles  were  published 
in  the  Independent,  I  received  from  Dr.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  known 
throughout  the  Protestant  world,  the  following  letter : 

"Dear  Brother: 

"I  have  read  your  article  in  this  week's  Independent  with  much  satisfaction;  but 
if  I  had  known  that  you  were  preparing  it,  I  could  have  saved  you  the  trouble  of  get- 
ting those  affidavits. 

Morristown  is  the  native  place  of  my  mother  and  ancestors.  Dr.  Timothy  Johnes 
was  my  great-great-grandfather.  In  October  eight  years  ago  I  published  in  the  Inde- 
pendent an  account  of  Washington's  Communion  from  my  ancestor,  Dr.  Johnes,  and 
gave  my  own  grandparents   for  the  authority  for  the  facts." 

Any  method  which  would  discredit  the  truth  of  this  narrative 
would  overthrow  nearly  every  fact  in  the  history  of  mankind  that 
rests  upon  tradition.  It  has  been  always  believed  and  believed  by 
all  who  had  opportunity  to  know  the  facts,  and  has  been  by  them 
transmitted  to  their  children  to  the  fourth  and  fifth  generations. 

Foet  Nonsense. 

The  hill  known  as  Mount  Washington,  or  Kemble  Mountain,  ends 
abruptly  in  Morristown,  back  of  the  court  house,  and  it  is  the  site 
of  the  famous  old  "Fort  Nonsense.' '  The  spot  is  nearly  one  hun- 
dred feet  above  the  Park,  and  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  sea 
level.  On  April  27,  1888,  occurred  the  unveiling  of  a  commemora- 
tive monument,  and  the  subjoined  account  of  that  interesting  event 
is  by  Kev.  Dr.  James  M.  Buckley,  the  author  previously  quoted. 

The  business  portion  of  the  town  was  decked  with  flags,  stream- 
ers and  bunting.  Many  private  residences  also  were  decorated. 
The  site  of  the  pre-revolutionary  Arnold  Tavern  exhibited  a  full 
length  oil  portrait  of  Washington.  Stores  were  closed  and  busi- 
ness suspended.  Various  organizations  formed  in  front  of  and 
either  side  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  with  whose  members 
Washington  worshipped.  After  the  procession  had  moved  through 
the  most  important  parts  of  the  town,  it  marched  to  the  Fort,  where 
the  right  of  the  line  opened,  and  the  invited  guests,  the  orator,  the 
Washington  Association,  and  others,  marched  and  took  their  posi- 
tion at  the  Monument.  The  gun  was  rushed  to  position  for  the 
salute.     Among  the   interested   persons   were   two   hundred   and 

215 


MORRISTOWN  IN  THE  REVOLUTION 

twelve  girls  from  the  public  school,  who,  together  with  the  boys, 
formed  a  body  of  three  hundred  and  forty-five  children.  The  Ban- 
ner devoted  four  columns  to  the  event. 

The  Monument  stands  on  the  highest  point  of  the  Fort,  command- 
ing a  view  on  all  sides.  The  exercises  were  opened  with  prayer  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Albert  Erdman,  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Morristown.  This  was  followed  by  a  short  and  pertinent 
address  by  Mr.  J.  W.  Roberts,  the  president  of  the  Washington 
Association.  He  gave  ex-Mayor  Miller  credit  for  first  proposing 
the  erection  of  the  Monument  that  would  mark  the  fast-disappearing 
lines  of  the  Fort. 

Dr.  J.  M.  Buckley,  editor  of  the  Christian- Advocate,  of  New  York, 
was  then  introduced,  and  elevated  to  the  top  of  the  Monument, 
whence  "he  held  the  close  attention  of  the  large  assembly  of  ladies 
and  gentlemen  as  well  as  those  who  composed  the  various  organiza- 
tions massed  about  the  Park."  His  address  is  synoptized  as  fol- 
lows: 

As  early  as  December  7th,  1776,  Washington  wrote  to  the  Presi- 
dent of  Congress  that  he  had  directed  three  regiments  from  Ticon- 
deroga  to  halt  at  Morristown,  where  eight  hundred  militia  had  col- 
lected. On  the  14th  of  December  of  that  year,  Colonel  Ford's 
militia  had  an  engagement  with  the  enemy,  and  expected  it  would 
be  renewed  the  next  morning  to  gain  the  passes  of  the  mountains. 
On  the  22nd  of  December,  Colonel  Ford  brought  militia  from  Chat- 
ham up  to  Morristown.  On  the  31st  of  December,  the  colonel  was 
taken  ill,  and  died  on  the  11th  of  January,  1777 ;  his  father,  Colonel 
Jacob  Ford,  Sr.,  died  on  the  19th  day  of  the  same  month.  Both  of 
these  deaths  occurred  before  General  Washington  reached  Morris- 
town ;  the  latter,  as  is  well  known,  went  there  immediately  after  the 
battle  of  Princeton. 

During  the  proceedings,  Dr.  Buckley  introduced  various  inci- 
dents, in  one  of  which,  in  Whippany,  Anna  Kitchel  said :  "I  have 
a  husband,  a  father  and  five  brothers,  in  the  American  army ;  and 
if  the  God  of  Battles  will  not  care  for  us,  we  will  fare  with  the 
rest. ' ' 

At  that  time  the  people  were  generally  poor,  but  there  were  many 
patriots  in  Morristown.     Some  made  powder,  and  others  made  pow- 

216 


MORRISTOWN  IN  THE  REVOLUTION 

der  into  cartridges.  The  ministers  were  all  patriots.  When  Gen- 
eral Washington  went  to  Morristown,  he  did  not  like  the  situation; 
but  after  he  had  remained  for  some  time,  he  found  that  the  enemy 
could  not  possibly  get  into  the  county. 

In  December,  1779,  Washington  began  ''his  Morristown  life," 
and  became  the  guest  of  the  widow  of  Colonel  Jacob  Ford,  Jr.,  at 
what  is  now  the  noblest  monument  and  still  most  charming  residence 
which  Morristown  contains,  and  historically  inferior  in  interest  to 
Mount  Vernon  only.  "Eighteen  of  the  servants  belonging  to  Gen- 
eral Washington's  family,  and  all  of  Mrs.  Ford's,  were  crowded 
together  into  the  kitchen  and  buildings  about  it."  And,  as  Wash- 
ington said,  "Scarce  one  of  them  were  able  to  speak  for  the  colds 
they  had. ' ' 

The  army  was  encamped  about  four  miles  southwest  from  Mor- 
ristown. To  reach  it  from  that  town,  one  had  to  go  nearly  four 
miles  to  property  now  owned  by  D.  H.  McAlpin,  and  turn  to  the 
right  and  go  for  half  a  mile.  On  that  estate  there  were  found 
sixty-six  fireplaces  in  one  field,  and  many  of  these  served  as  beacon- 
lights.  Often  at  night  there  might  be  seen  fire  on  the  Short  Hills, 
afterward  followed  by  the  brilliant  lights  on  the  Denville  mountain, 
and  all  the  way  to  the  line  of  mountains  of  Orange  county,  New 
York. 

After  describing  the  situation  and  what  was  going  on,  the  speaker 
then  turned  to  traditions,  the  clearest  of  which  say  that,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  assigned  purpose  of  the  fortification,  Washington  ordered 
its  construction  in  order  to  keep  the  men  employed  so  as  to  preserve 
their  health  and  prevent  the  rising  of  discontent.  Also,  when  he 
was  removing,  and  was  asked  what  name  should  be  given  to  the 
Fort,  he  answered,  "Fort  Nonsense." 

If  we  apply  the  test  of  reason  to  history,  it  appears  entirely  har- 
monious with  these  known  facts:  1.  The  soldiers  were  kept  in 
their  huts  for  a  long  time  in  a  cold  and  stormy  season.  2.  They 
were  greatly  dispirited.  3.  They  were  poorly  clad  and  sheltered, 
and  poorly  paid.  4.  They  were  necessarily  idle,  unless  work  was 
laid  out  for  them  by  the  commander.  5.  They  wTere  homeless  to  a 
great  degree. 

To  hold  them  together,  no  more  reasonable  method  could  be  de- 

217 


MORRISTOWN  IN  THE  REVOLUTION 

sired  than  to  keep  them  at  work.  All  great  commanders  have  un- 
derstood this.  Work  everywhere  presents  an  antidote  to  ill-health, 
depression  and  excessive  emotion  of  all  kinds.  It  requires  more 
determination  and  patriotism  to  endure  a  winter  under  such  circum- 
stances without  fighting  than  it  does  to  advance  in  all  the  panoply 
of  war  upon  the  enemy. 

Fort  Nonsense,  as  a  name,  may  be  by  some  doubted.  But  it  is  be- 
cause of  the  partial  view  they  have  of  the  Father  of  his  Country, 
and  his  peculiar  situation. 

Frequently  opposing  generals  have  been  friends.  This  was  seen 
in  the  Civil  War  between  the  North  and  the  South.  Scarcely  a 
week  after  Washington  had  made  his  headquarters  at  Morristown, 
on  January  31,  1777,  he  wrote  two  letters  to  Lord  Howe,  the  com- 
mander of  the  British  army,  on  the  subject  of  the  cruel  usage  our 
captured  soldiers  and  sailors  were  receiving  in  New  York,  and 
referred  for  proof  to  their  emaciated  countenances  which  would  con- 
firm it,  and  "did  he  not  endeavor  to  obtain  a  redress  of  their  griev- 
ances,' '  he  writes,  "he  would  think  himself  as  culpable  as  those  who 
inflicted  such  severities  upon  them." 

If  Washington  was  not  a  wit,  he  was  at  times  capable  of  humor. 
Howe  is  said  to  have  sent  to  Washington  in  their  discussions  a  copy 
of  Watts '  version  of  the  120th  Psalm,  as  follows : 

"Thou  God  of  love,  thou  ever  blest, 

Pity  my  suffering  state ; 
Wilt  thou  not  set  my  soul  at  rest 
From   lips   that  love  deceit? 

"Hard  lot  of  mine ;    my  days  are  cast 

Among  the  sons  of  strife, 
Whose  never-ceasing  brawlings  waste 
My  golden  hours  of  life. 

"O!  might  I  change  my  place, 
How  would  I  choose  to  dwell 
In    some   wide,   lonesome    wilderness 
And  leave  these  gates  of  hell !" 

It  is  also  said  that  Washington  returned  Watts '  version  of  the 
101st  Psalm  entitled  "The  Magistrate's  Psalm,"  containing  the  fol- 
lowing pointed  verses : 

"In  vain  shall  sinners  strive  to  rise 
By  flattering  and  malicious  lies ; 
And  while  the  innocent  I  guard 
The  bold  offender  shan't  be  spared. 
218 


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MORRISTOWN  IN  THE  REVOLUTION 

"The  impious  crew,  that  factious  band, 
Shall    hide    their    heads,    or    quit    the    land; 
And  all  who  break  the  public  rest, 
Where  I  have  power,  shall  be  suppressed." 

Dr.  Buckley  closed  with  congratulations  to  citizens  of  all  classes, 
and  especially  those  of  foreign  descent;  and  paid  a  tribute  to  the 
patriotism  and  good  taste  of  the  Washington  Association,  closing 
with  the  sentiment:  The  Memory  of  the  Hero  is  the  Treasure  of 
His  Country. 

The  memorial  stone  is  as  it  came  from  its  native  quarry,  and 
stands  some  four  feet  high,  and  weighs  about  four  tons. 


Editor's  Note. — The  beautiful  city  Morristown  of  today  stands 
out  in  marked  contrast  with  the  village  of  revolutionary  times,  with 
its  few  and  widely  separated  buildings.  As  here,  so  in  all  the  vari- 
ous New  Jersey  cities  and  towns  which  were  associated  in  name  with 
Ihe  stirring  events  of  that  far-back  day.  As  a  sidelight,  we  present 
a  view  of  a  skirmish  at  Market  and  Broad  streets,  in  Newark,  with 
a  present-day  background,  from  a  drawing  made  by  Mr.  Edwin  S. 
Fancher  for  the  Newark  "Sunday  Call,"  and  published  in  Mr. 
Frank  J.  Urquhart's  "History  of  the  City  of  Newark/'  (Lewis  His- 
torical Publishing  Co.,  1913). 


219 


Doctor  Benjamin  Thomson,  The  Poet 

By  Russell  Leigh  Jackson 

MONG  the  prominent  men  of  letters  who  exercised  great 
influence  during  the  early  Colonial  period,  there  is  prob- 
ably no  one  whose  name  so  wTell  remembered  is  yet  so 
apparently  forgotten  as  to  himself,  as  Doctor  Benjamin 
Thomson,  of  Roxbury,  Mass.,  whose  literary  productions  in  verse 
have  earned  for  him  the  title  of  ' '  The  Poet  Thomson. ' ' 

The  man  who  early  in  life  portrayed  such  poetical  genius,  was 
born  of  a  family  noted  for  its  refinement  and  culture,  on  the  four- 
teenth day  of  July,  1642.  The  father,  Rev.  William  Thomson,  was 
minister  at  Braintree,  now  known  as  Quincy,  and  was  regarded  at 
that  time  as  one  of  the  ablest  divines  in  the  Colony.  A  few  months 
after  the  birth  of  Benjamin  Thomson,  his  father  departed  for  Vir- 
ginia to  engage  in  missionary  work.  His  labors  in  the  southern  col- 
ony are  kindly  referred  to  and  the  man  himself  made  the  subject  of 
much  praise  by  the  eminent  Cotton  Mather,  of  Boston,  in  his  "Mag- 
nalia."  While  in  the  South,  Rev.  William  Thomson  is  generally 
credited  with  the  honor  of  having  converted  to  Christianity,  Daniel 
Gookin,1  at  that  time  a  resident  of  Virginia,  but  who,  later  removed 
to  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  and  became  the  progenitor  of  the 
prominent  family  bearing  the  name. 

Abigail  Thomson,  the  mother,  was  from  the  scant  knowledge  we 
have  of  her,  a  remarkable  woman,  exceptionally  intelligent,  pious, 
and  an  excellent  wife.    Her  devotion  and  strength  of  character  are 


i.  Major  General  Gookin  emigrated  from  Virginia  to  Cambridge  in  1644;  married 
(1)  Mary  Dolling  (2)  Hannah  (Tyng)  Savage,  widow  of  Habijah  Savage  and  daugh- 
ter of  Capt.  Edward  Tyng  of  Boston.  Many  of  his  descendants  have  been  famous, 
among  them  being  President  John  Quincy  Ad'ams.  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy,  Judge  Charles 
Jackson,  Dr.  Stephen  Higginson  Tyng,  Dr.  Charles  W.  Eliot,  Capt.  Nathaniel  Tracy.  Major 
Henry  Lee  Higginson,  Dr.  James  Jackson.  Justice  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  of  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court,  and  many  others.  Major  General  Gookin's  children  were  by 
Mary  Dolling,  although  his  son,  Nathaniel,  married  a  daughter  of  Hannah  Tyng,  thus 
preserving  a  Tyng  strain  to  many  of  his  descendants. 

220 


DR.  BENJAMIN  THOMSON,  THE  POET 

shown  in  the  fact  that  she  accompanied  her  husband  to  Virginia, 
where,  because  of  the  change  in  climate,  she  died  in  January,  1643. 

Soon  afterwards,  Rev.  Mr.  Thomson2  returned  to  his  parish, 
where  he  remained  until  his  death,  which  occurred  December  10, 
1666 ;  he  was  always  a  beloved  citizen,  highly  respected  and  honored. 

Benjamin  Thomson,  the  fourth  son,  was  reared  in  an  atmosphere 
of  literature,  and  in  his  sixteenth  year  entered  Harvard  College, 
from  which  he  graduated  in  1662,  receiving  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
of  Arts,  and  later  Doctor  of  Medicine.  His  career  while  at  college 
was  fully  as  brilliant  as  was  his  father's  at  Oxford,  and  he  matricu- 
lated with  high  honors.  His  knowledge  of  the  sciences  of  mathe- 
matics and  medicine  would  have  rendered  his  name  famous,  as  he 
was  an  authority  on  either  subject,  but  it  was  in  literature  that  he  at- 
tained the  most  prominence,  and  it  is  as  a  poet  and  writer  that  he  is 
best  remembered. 

Shortly  after  his  graduation  he  taught  school,  finally  becoming 
master  of  the  Boston  Grammar  School.  It  was  in  this  capacity  that 
he  was  given  the  opportunity  of  imparting  knowledge  to  the  after- 
wards eminent  Cotton  Mather,  one  of  his  pupils.  The  latter  both  in 
his  diary  and  in  "Magnalia"  refers  to  his  teacher,  Dr.  Thomson, 
with  great  reverence. 

He  was  succeeded  as  Master  of  the  school  in  1674  by  Samuel 
Phipps,  of  Boston.  A  few  years  before,  about  1668  or  1669,  he  had 
married  Miss  Susanna  Kirtland,  daughter  of  Mr.  Philip  Kirtland, 
of  Lynn. 

From  1674  until  1701  he  was  engaged  in  literary  work,  his  ablest 
piece  of  composition  written  during  this  period  being  "New  Eng- 
land's Crisis,"  a  remarkable  treatise  on  life  in  colonial  days.  This 
is  the  poem  which  contains  the  much  quoted  paragraph : 

"Men  had  better  stomachs  at  religion 
Than  I  to  capon,  turkeycock  or  pigeon  ; 
When  honest  sisters  met  to  pray,  not  prate 
About  their  own,  and  not  their  neighbor's  state." 


2.  Rev.  William  Thomson  married  for  his  second  wife,  Anne,  widow  of  Simon 
Crosby,  by  whom  he  had  one  daughter. 

Mr.  Thompson  preached  for  several  years  at  Winwick,  England,  and  came  to  Amer- 
ica in  1637,  being  engaged  as  minister  first  at  Kittery,  Maine.  He  was  ordained  19  No- 
vember, 1639.    He  was  granted  120  acres  of  land  in  Braintree. 

221 


DR.  BENJAMIN  THOMSON,  THE  POET 

As  an  historian  who  delighted  in  giving  excellent  descriptions  of 
colonial  life,  he  is  scarcely  rivalled,  inasmuch  as  most  of  his  work 
was  in  verse.  One  paragraph  which  I  recall  in  particular  as  dis- 
tinctly descriptive  of  domestic  life  and  habits  runs  as  follows : 

"The   dainty  Indian  maize 
Was  eat  with  clam  shells  out  of  wooden  trays 
Under  thatched  huts  without  the  cry  of  rent, 
And  the  best  sauce  to  every  dish,  Content." 

His  poem  on  the  Rev.  Samuel  Whiting,  as  given  in  "Magnalia," 
volume  one,  pages  510-11,  is  considered  an  excellent  example  of  his 
style,  as  is  one  in  commemoration  of  his  former  pupil,  Cotton  Math- 
er, in  the  same  volume,  page  20. 

It  has  generally  been  conceded  that  Doctor  Thomson  was  by  far 
the  most  intellectual  person  in  the  Colony,  with  the  probable  excep- 
tion of  Cotton  Mather,  who  was  many  years  his  junior.  Thomson's 
familiarity  with  Latin  and  Greek  literature  is  referred  to  by  the  Rev. 
Abijah  P.  Marvin  in  his  "Life  and  Times  of  Cotton  Mather.' ' 

The  advent  of  Longfellow, Whittier,  Lowell, Holmes,  Emerson  and 
other  American  writers  of  the  nineteenth  century,  rather  dimmed 
the  once  shining  light  of  Doctor  Thomson's  popularity,  but  prior  to 
the  opening  of  the  last  century  he  was  regarded  as  a  famous  author, 
and  stanzas  of  verse  from  his  pen  were  often  seen  in  the  newspaper 
columns,  as  are  bits  of  Longfellow's  or  Whittier's  poems  seen  in 
periodicals  today. 

It  is  rather  interesting  to  note  that  the  first  volume  of  the  "Im- 
partial Herald,"3  under  date  of  August  3,  1793,  later  for  over  one 
hundred  and  twenty  years  known  as  the  "Newburyport  Herald, 'r 
contained  the  following  stanza  from  Thomson : 

"Ye  shades  of  ancient  heroes,  ye  who  toil'd 
Thro'  long  successive  ages  to  build  up 
A  labouring  plan  of  state;  behold  at  once 
The  wonder  done." 

In  1696  he  was  town  clerk  of  Braintree,  and  from  1701  to  1703  he 


3.  The  "Impartial  Herald,"  later  the  "Newburyport  Herald,"  founded  in  1793,  dis- 
continued in  1915,  was  one  of  the  oldest  newspapers  in  America.  Here  William  Lloyd 
Garrison  set  type  before  his  removal  to  Boston.  It  was  for  many  years  owned  by  the- 
Huse  family  of  Newburyport,  and  the  Withington  family  of  that  city,  so  prominent  in 
journalism,  were  identified  with  it. 

222 


DR.  BENJAMIN  THOMSON,  THE  POET 

taught  the  Koxbury  school.  His  death  occurred  April  13,  1714,  be- 
ing at  that  time  in  his  seventy-second  year.  His  wife  had  died  July 
27, 1693.  A  most  curious  epitaph  points  out  his  grave  in  the  ancient 
Boxbury  cemetery,  corner  of  Washington  and  Eustis  streets : 

Sub  spe  immortali,  ye 
Herse  of  Mr.  Benj.  Thomson 

Learned  Schoolmaster, 
&  Physician  &  ye 
Renowned  poet  of  N.  Engl. 
Obiit  Aprilis  13,  Anno  Dom. 

1714  &  Aetatis  suae  74 
Mortuus  Sed  Immortalis. 
He  that  would  try 
What  is  true  happiness  indeed,  must  die. 

Of  the  children  of  Doctor  Thomson  we  have  record  of  seven — Su- 
sannah, wife  of  John  Saunders,  of  Boston ;  Abigail,  wife  of  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Belcher,4  of  Dedham ;  Anna ;  Eleanor,  wife  of  the  Rev.  Thom- 
as Symmes,  of  Bradford;  Elizabeth,  wife  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Par- 
sons,5 of  Lebanon,  Connecticut ;  Benjamin,  junior,  who  married  Han- 
nah Ellis,  of  Boston ;  Doctor  Philip,  of  Roxbury,  who  married  Mary 
Mount  joy,  of  Falmouth  (Portland)  Maine. 


4.  Rev.  Joseph  Belcher,  of  Boston,  Dedham  and  Swansea,  son  of  Joseph  and  Rebec- 
ca (Gill)  Belcher,  (H.  C.  1690)  a  prominent  divine.  His  portrait  hangs  in  the  vestibule 
of  the  First  Church  in  Dedham.  Died  April  27,  1723.  His  daughter  Abigail  married 
Hon.  Perez  Bradford,  brother  of  Hon.  Gamaliel  Bradford,  son  of  Lieut.  Samuel  and 
Hannah  (Rogers)  Bradford,  and  great-grandson  of  Governor  William  Bradford,  also 
of  John  Alden  and  Thomas  Rogers,  both  of  the  "Mayflower."  Many  of  Perez  Bradford's 
descendants  settled  in  Connecticut,  New  York  and  Rhode  Island. 

5.  Rev.  Joseph  Parsons  of  Lebanon,  Conn.,  son  of  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  (Strong) 
Parsons  (H.  C.  1697)  preached  at  Lebanon;  Salisbury,  Mass.;  and  died  March  13.  1740. 
His  wife  died  at  Kensington,  N.  H.,  in  1774.  Three  sons,  Revs.  Joseph,  Samuel  and 
William,  were  all  prominent  divines.  The  former,  born  in  1702  (H.  C.  1720)  married 
Frances,  daughter  of  Lieut.  Gov.  John  Usher,  and  was  grandfather  of  Dr.  Usher  Par- 
sons, surgeon  on  the  "Lawrence,"  Commodore  Perry's  flagship.  Dr.  Parsons  married 
Mary  Jackson  Holmes,  daughter  of  Rev.  Abiel  and  Sarah  (Wendell)  Holmes,  sister  of 
Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  and  great-granddaughter  of  Hon.  Edward  and  Dorothy 
(Quincy)  Jackson,  of  Boston.  Mary  (Jackson)  Wendell,  mother  of  Sarah  (Wendell) 
Holmes,  was  a  sister  of  Hon.  Jonathan  Jackson,  of  Newburyport,  who  marriel  Hannah, 
daughter  of  Capt.  Patrick  Tracy.  Mary  J.  Holmes  was  also  descended  from  Anne 
Bradstreet,  the  poetess,  so  that  two  very  literary  families  were  united  at  her  marriage 
to  Dr.  Parsons. 

Rev.  Samuel  Parsons,  born  in  1707  (H.  C.  1730)  married  Mary,  daughter  of  Samuel 
Jones,  and  was  ancestor  to  the  founder  of  Parsonsfield.  Maine. 

_      Rev.  William  Parsons,  the  third  son,  born  in   1716   (H.  C.   1735),  married   Sarah 
Burnham. 


223 


The  Expulsion  of  the  British  Consuls  by  the 
Confederate  Government 

By  Milledge  L.  Bonham,  Jb.,  Louisiana  State  University. 

'ROM  the  formation  of  the  Confederate  Provisional  Gov- 
ernment in  1861  to  the  surrender  of  Lee's  army,  the 
status  of  foreign  consuls  in  Southern  ports  was  a  vexa- 
tious question.  The  extreme  State  rights  advocates 
wished  to  demand  that  these  agents  secure  new  exequaturs  from 
the  Confederate  government.  The  government  itself  took  the  posi- 
tion that  so  long  as  the  consuls  who  had  been  received  prior  to  the 
formation  of  the  Confederacy,  treated  the  government  thereof  with 
proper  respect,  they  might  continue  to  act  under  the  exequaturs 
issued  by  the  United  States  government,  which,  at  the  time  of  issue 
was  the  properly  accredited  agent  of  the  States  later  seceding. 

The  uncertainty  of  their  status,  the  exigencies  of  the  military, 
economic  and  political  situation,  and  in  many  cases  their  own  lack  of 
tact,  caused  these  consular  officials  to  engage  in  controversy  with  al- 
most every  State  government,  the  naval,  military,  and  civil  author- 
ities of  the  Confederacy,  and  the  naval  and  military  officials  of  the 
Union.1 

One  case  is  of  especial  interest.  Streight's  raid  in  the  spring  of 
1863,  the  fall  of  Vicksburg  and  Port  Hudson  a  few  weeks  later,  the 
tightening  of  the  blockade  of  Savannah  and  Charleston  and  the  siege 
of  the  latter  city,  caused  the  Confederate  government  and  the  au- 
thorities of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  to  make  extra  efforts  to  re- 
cruit their  forces.  Both  of  these  States  ordered  the  enrolling  of  all 
able-bodied  men  of  certain  ages,  including  (for  local  defense)  for- 


i.  Bonham,  "British  Consuls  in  the  Confederacy,"  passim ;  Butler,  "Judah  P.  Ben- 
jamin," passim;  Callahan,  "Diplomatic  History  of  the  Southern  Confederacy":  Richard- 
son, "Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Confederacy";  Garner,  et  al.,  "Studies  in  Southern 
History  and  Politics,"  ch.  iv  ;  "Official  Records  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  Navies," 
Series  i,  vols.  XVI ;  ibid,  i,  XV. 

224 


' 


BRITISH  CONSULS  AND  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT 

eign  residents.  The  British  consuls  at  Charleston  and  Savannah  at 
once  inaugurated  a  correspondence  with  governors  of  these  States, 
as  well  as  with  the  Confederate  State  Department,  protesting  that 
British  subjects  were  not  liable  for  even  local  duty.  Finding  their 
protests  unavailing,  the  two  consuls  notified  the  respective  gover- 
nors, about  October  1,  1863,  that  they  had  instructed  their  "  nation- 
als" who  might  be  unwillingly  enrolled,  that  they  should  throw 
down  their  arms  in  the  face  of  the  enemy.2  The  governors  notified 
the  consuls  that  such  an  act  by  a  soldier  would  be  dealt  with  accord- 
ing to  martial  law.  The  governor  of  Georgia  (Joseph  E.  Brown) 
and  the  consuls  forwarded  copies  of  the  correspondence  to  the  Con- 
federate government.  Judah  P.  Benjamin,  of  Louisiana,  was  at  this 
time  Secretary  of  State.  He  received  these  startling  documents  on 
October  7,  1863.  Congress  W'as  not  in  session,  and  the  day  before 
President  Davis  had  started  on  a  visit  to  Atlanta  and  Chattanooga. 
As  Governor  Brown  and  the  Confederate  authorities  were  rather  at 
loggerheads,  and  General  Bragg  was  in  a  controversy  with  General 
Forrest  and  other  subordinates,  it  wTas  highly  inexpedient  to  recall 
the  President,  who  was  on  a  mission  of  conciliation.  It  was  impossi- 
ble to  give  him  an  adequate  idea  of  the  situation  by  telegraph,  yet 
the  crisis  demanded  prompt  action. 

Mr.  Benjamin  decided  upon  a  course  unique  in  American  history, 
namely,  to  take  the  grave  responsibility  of  expelling  foreign  agents, 
in  the  absence  of  and  without  the  knowledge  of  the  President.  When 
the  President  of  the  United  States  has  been  away  from  the  capital 
he  has  arranged  to  keep  so  closely  in  touch  with  affairs  that  such  a 
critical  decision  could  scarcely  be  necessary  in  his  absence.3  Calling 
his  fellow  cabinet  officers  together,  Mr.  Benjamin  laid  the  circum- 
stances before  them  and  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  consuls 
should  be  expelled.  Finding  his  colleagues  in  entire  accord  with  him, 
he  drew  up  the  order,  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  the  consul  at  Savan- 
nah, copies  of  which  were  sent  to  the  other  consuls,  to  the  press,  to 


2.  "Pickett  Papers,"  (Mss.  Archives  of  the  Confederate  Government,  now  in  the 
Library  of  Congress)  ;  Candler,  "Confederate  Records  of  Georgia,"  III,  391-403;  "Pick- 
ens-Bonham  Mss."  (Library  of  Congress)  ;  "Sessional  Papers  of  Parliament,"  (Com- 
mons), 1864,  LXII,  413  et  seq. 

3.  For  example,  see  the  instructions  of  Washington  and  Jefferson  to  their  cabinets, 
as  discussed  in  the  "Yale  Review,"  XV,  190  et  seq. 

225 


BRITISH  CONSULS  AND  THE  CONFEDERATE  GOVERNMENT 

jhe  Confederate  Commissioner  to  France  (John  Slidell),  to  Presi- 
dent Davis,  etc.,  etc.  In  this  letter  the  secretary  said  that  it  ap- 
peared that  "the  consular  agents  of  the  British  government  [had] 
been  instructed  not  to  confine  themselves  to  an  appeal  for  redress 
to  the  courts"  or  the  Confederate  government,  "but  that  they  even 
arrogate [d]  the  right  to  interfere  directly  with  the  execution  of  the 
Confederate  laws,  and  advise  soldiers  of  the  Confederate  armies  to 
throw  down  their  arms  in  the  face  of  the  enemy.  This  assumption 
of  jurisdiction  by  foreign  officials  within  the  territory  of  the  Con- 
federacy, and  this  encroachment  on  its  sovereignty,  [could]  not  be 
tolerated  for  a  moment."  Therefore  the  consuls  were  directed  to 
"promptly  depart  from  the  Confederacy  and  in  the  meantime  .  .  . 
cease  to  exercise  any  consular  functions  within  its  limits."4 

On  receiving  notice  of  this  action,  the  President  telegraphed  his 
approval.  As  the  blockading  forces  would  not  permit  British  war- 
ships to  enter  the  beleaguered  ports  to  take  them  away,  the  consuls 
were  unable  to  depart  as  ordered,  but  the  military  and  civil  authori- 
ties were  instructed  to  see  that  the  "  expelled "  agents  in  their  re- 
spective fields  ceased  all  official  activities.  The  British  government 
ordered  the  consul-general  at  Havana  to  proceed  to  Eichmond  to 
protest  against  this  action  of  the  Confederate  authorities,  but  the 
Federal  government  refused  to  let  him  pass  through  the  blockade.5 

President  Roosevelt,  when  he  ordered  the  mustering-out  of  a  bat- 
talion concerned  in  the  Brownsville  trouble,  cited  as  a  precedent  a 
similar  action  by  General  Lee.  So  far,  it  has  not  been  necessary  for 
a  Federal  Secretary  of  State  to  take  drastic  action  in  the  absence  of 
the  President.  Should  the  occasion  arise,  he,  like  Mr.  Roosevelt,  can 
find  a  precedent  (and  the  only  American  one,  so  far  as  my  research 
goes),  in  Confederate  procedure. 

4.  Pickett  Papers";  Sessional  Papers,"  ut  supra;  Richardson,  ut  supra.  II,  576  et 
seq. ;  "Journal  of  the  Confederate  Congress,"  VI,  503;  "Annual  Cyclopedia,"  III,  788; 
"London  Times,"  Oct.  31,  1863 ;  "Richmond  Enquirer,"  Oct.  15 ;  "Richmond  Sentinel," 
Oct.  14. 

5.  Hansard,  "Parliamentary  Debates,"  Series  3,  CLXXIV,  1917;  U.  S.  Dept.  of 
State,  "Diplomatic  Correspondence,"  1864-5,  U»  568. 


226 


Editorial 


WORDS  OF  APPRECIATION 

It  is  certainly  gratifying  to  note  the  words  of  appreciation  that 
come  with  relation  to  '  *  Americana. ' '  A  subscriber  in  Boston  writes : 
"I  congratulate  you  very  heartily  on  the  elegance  of  your  January 
issue.  You  have  brought  ■  Americana '  to  a  rebirth  in  a  rather  mag- 
nificent manner."  Another,  who  was  a  contributor  to  that  number, 
writing  from  Cambridge,  New  York,  says,  "I  congratulate  you  on 
the  splendid  appearance  of  the  Magazine,  and  the  excellence  of  its 
contents.  I  feel  it  an  honor  to  be  associated  with  it. ' '  A  third,  writ- 
ing from  Princeton,  New  Jersey,  says,  "Your  'Americana'  is  the 
best  appearing  magazine  of  its  kind  that  I  have  ever  seen." 

With  all  due  thanks  for  these  kindly  words,  it  is  fitting  to  remark 
that,  while  they  awaken  gratitude,  they  also  impose  upon  the  man- 
agement no  small  responsibility — not  only  that  of  maintaining  the 
present  standard,  but  of  making  such  constant  improvement  as  its 
best  abilities  will  admit. 


A  REGEETABLE  DISPERSION 

The  early  part  of  March  witnessed  the  dispersion  of  a  most  re- 
markable collection  of  firearms,  swords  and  sabres,  a  collection  with 
which  none  other  in  the  country  can  compare,  so  far  as  we  have 
knowledge.  It  was  the  accumulation  of  fifty  years,  made  by  Mr. 
James  Dean,  of  Freeport,  Long  Island,  a  veteran  of  the  War  for 
the  Union,  and  a  first  authority  on  the  history  of  battle  arms  of  every 
description  since  the  invention  of  gunpowder.  The  sale  was  from 
the  Keeler  Art  Galleries,  12  Vesey  Street,  New  York  City.  The 
items  were  1296  in  number,  and  with  the  exception  of  a  few  com- 
paratively insignificant  pieces,  each  article  was  called  and  sold  sep- 
arately— rare  specimens  of  English,  French,  Belgian,  German,  Aus- 

227 


EDITORIAL 

trian,  Prussian,  Turkish,  Japanese,  African  and  Russian  arms ;  and 
even  an  ancient  Chinese  matchlock  gun,  beautifully  inlaid  with  gold 
and  silver.  The  collection  was  particularly  rich  in  both  British  and 
American  arms  of  the  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  periods,  and  of 
Union  and  Confederate  arms  of  Civil  War  times.  It  is  to  be  re- 
gretted that  the  entire  collection  could  not  have  passed  to  some  mu- 
seum, instead  of  being  scattered  throughout  the  whole  country. 


"TOM"  MOORE  IN  AMERICA 

Dr.  Eaton,  in  his  admirable  chapter  of  "History  of  Halifax/'  in 
the  preceding  number  of  this  Magazine,  mentions  the  visit  to  that 
city  of  the  Irish  poet,  "Tom"  Moore.  Of  course  it  was  not  within 
the  scope  of  the  writer  to  elaborate  upon  such  incidents  as  that  visit; 
it  would  require  volumes  to  mention  the  celebrities  who  during  two 
centuries  and  more  came  within  the  gates  of  the  famous  "Citadel 
City,"  and  anything  of  their  doings  while  there.  Of  them  all,  few 
are  better  known  to  the  world  than  Moore;  perhaps  none  of  them 
known  to  the  world  of  letters  has  left  to  us  so  little  of  his  impres- 
sions while  there. 

Moore  had  become  so  famous  for  his  verse  that  he  was  made  Poet 
Laureate,  but  his  only  official  work  in  that  capacity  was  one  ode, 
and  he  resigned  the  position.  In  September,  1803,  he  left  England 
for  Bermuda,  having  been  appointed  registrar  of  the  Admiralty 
Court  there.  His  duties  were  uncongenial,  and  he  appointed  a 
deputy,  and  after  an  absence  of  fourteen  months  returned  home. 
Four  months  of  that  time  were  passed  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  While  in  Bermuda  he  wrote  various  sonnets,  few  if  any  of 
which  are  familiar  to  American  readers  or  possess  any  interest  for 
them.  On  his  way  home,  he  tarried  at  Norfolk,  Virginia,  and  his 
stay  there  was  marked  by  a  few  poems  addressed  to  ladies  whom  he 
met,  and  by  one  which  was  set  to  music,  and  was  a  familiar  parlor 
song  of  a  past  generation.  It  was  founded  upon  a  local  legend  of  a 
young  man  whose  sweetheart  having  died,  lost  his  mind,  strayed 
away  from  home,  and  perished  in  the  Dismal  Swamp,  vainly  search- 
ing for  her  whom  he  loved.     The  verse  begins  with  the  stanza : 

228 


■' 


EDITORIAL 

"They  made  her  a  grave  too  cold  and  damp 

For  a  heart  so  loving  and  true ; 
And  she's  gone  to  the  Lake  of  the  Dismal  Swamp, 
Where  all  night  long,  by  a  fire-fly  lamp, 
She  paddles  her  white  canoe." 

In  Washington,  Moore  wrote  a  string  of  verses  by  no  means 
complimentary  to  the  city,  to  the  American  people,  or  to  their  insti- 
tutions, as  witness  the  following  from  his  notes  and  letters : 

"A  little  stream  runs  through  the  city,  which,  with  intolerable 
affectation,  they  have  styled  the  Tiber.  It  was  originally  called 
Goose  Creek. 

44 The  Federal  City  (if  it  must  be  called  a  city).  .  .  .  The 
President's  house,  a  very  noble  structure,  is  by  no  means  suited  to 
the  philosophical  humility  of  its  present  possessor  (Jefferson), 
who  inhabits  but  a  corner  of  the  mansion  himself,  and  abandons  the 
rest  to  a  state  of  uncleanly  desolation. 

"In  the  ferment  which  the  French  revolution  excited  among  the 
Democrats  of  America,  and  the  licentious  sympathy  with  which  they 
shared  in  the  wildest  excesses  of  jacobinism,  we  may  find  one  source 
of  that  vulgarity  of  vice,  that  hostility  to  all  the  graces  of  life,, 
which  distinguishes  the  present  demagogues  of  the  United  States,. 
and  has  become  indeed  too  generally  the  character  of  their  country- 
men. ' ' 

Interrupting  for  the  moment  the  continuity  of  the  poet's  journey,. 
it  may  be  remarked  with  some  satisfaction  that  he  was  scarcely  bet- 
ter satisfied  with  Halifax.  His  only  noticeable  poem  with  reference 
to  that  city  is  of  his  leaving  it  on  the  ship  Boston  for  home : 

"With  triumph  this  morning,  oh,  Boston  !  I  hail 
The  stir  of  thy  deck  and  the  spread  of  thy  sail, 
For  they  tell  me  I  soon  shall  be  wafted  in  thee 
To  the  flourishing  isle  of  the  brave  and  the  free; 
And  that  chill  Nova  Scotia's  unpromising  strand 
Is  the  last  I  shall  see  of  American  land." 

Possibly  this  is  hypercritical,  for,  of  all  the  poets,  none  is  more 
loveable  than  "Tom"  Moore,  and  songs  of  his  live  wherever  the 
English  tongue  is  heard,  side  by  side  with  those  of  Burns.  In  one 
respect  he  even  surpasses  Scotia's  bard;  his  Irish  Ballads  and  Na- 
tional Airs  are  at  once  touching  and  soul  stirring;  and  many  of 
them  find  an  echo  in  every  English  and  American  heart  as  an  ex- 

229 


' 


EDITORIAL 

pression  of  fervent  patriotism  and  martial  spirit.  Many  of  these, 
with  such  others  as  " Those  Evening  Bells,"  and  "Oft  in  the  Stilly 
Night,"  will  live  when  "Lalla  Rookh"  and  "Loves  of  the  Angels" 
are  forgotten — as,  indeed,  they  wellnigh  are  already. 

In  the  estimation  of  many,  Moore  is  at  his  best  in  his  Sacred 
Songs.  These  were  given  exquisite  musical  settings  from  Beeth- 
oven, Haydn,  Mozart,  Handel,  and  other  great  masters;  while  not 
a  few  are  set  to  charming  themes  specially  written  for  them  by  Sir 
John  Stevenson.  Various  of  these  are  found  in  some  of  the  best 
hymnals,  and  are  used  in  church  worship  and  on  funeral  occasions. 
The  following  is  worthy  to  rank  with  Addison's  "Spacious  Firma- 
ment on  High : ' ' 

"Thou  art,  O  God,  the  life  and  light 

Of  all  this  wondrous  world  we  see; 
Its  glow  by  day,  its  smile  by  night, 

Are  but  reflections  caught  from  Thee. 
Wher'er  we  turn,  Thy  glories  shine, 
And  all  things  fair  and  bright  are  Thine." 

Another  rare  gem  is  the  following : 

"Oh   Thou   who   dry'st  the  mourner's  tear, 

How  dark  this  world  would  be 
If,  when  deceived  and  wounded  here, 

We  could  not  fly  to  Thee. 
The  friends  who  in  our  sunshine  live, 

When  winter  comes  are  flown ; 
And  he  who  has  but  tears  to  give, 

Must  weep  those  tears  alone. 

"But  Thou  wilt  heal  that  broken  heart 

Which,  like  the  plants  that  throw 
Their  fragrance  from  the  wounded  part, 
Breathes  sweetness  out  of  woe." 

And  this : 

"As  down  in  the  sunless  retreats  of  the  ocean 
Sweet  flowers  are  springing  no  mortal  can  see — 
So,  deep  in  my  soul  the  still  prayer  of  devotion, 
Unheard  by  the  world,  rises  silent  to  Thee — 
My  God!  silent,  to  Thee — 
Pure,  warm,  silent  to  Thee." 

It  only  remains  to  name  that  sweetly  touching  "Come,  ye  Dis- 
consolate," with  its  familiar  setting,  and  which  has  an  echo,  if  not  a 
partial  imitation,  in  Chopin's  "Funeral  March" — to  forgive  all  of 

230 


EDITORIAL 

"Tom"  Moore's  trespasses  (none  of  a  seriously  unmoral  kind)  and 
take  him  to  our  hearts  as  one  who,  in  supreme  degree,  voices  the 
best  that  in  us  lies,  and  beyond  our  own  expression. 


A  RARE  OLD  FLAG 


Under  the  above  caption  (p.  205)  is  an  account  of  the  flag  at  Fort 
McHenry,  which  inspired  the  writing  of  our  national  song,  "The 
Star  Spangled  Banner."  The  narrative  reminds  the  writer  that 
while  the  song  was  first  sung  in  Baltimore,  Maryland,  in  that  city 
was  also  sung  for  the  first  time  the  most  famous  lyric  of  the  South 
in  the  Civil  War  period,  and  one  of  the  most  stirring  and  dramatic 
evoked  in  that  time — "Maryland,  My  Maryland,"  by  James  Ryder 
Randall. 

The  author  of  the  song  was  a  native  of  Baltimore.  When  the  Civil 
"War  opened,  he  was  filling  the  chair  of  English  Literature  at  Poy- 
dras  College,  at  Pointe-Coupee,  Louisiana.  When  came  to  him  news 
of  the  clash  in  the  streets  of  Baltimore,  April  19th,  1861,  while  a 
Massachusetts  regiment  was  marching  through  on  its  way  to  the 
national  capital,  he  wrote  the  verses,  which  were  printed  in  the 
"New  Orleans  Delta"  on  April  26th,  and  were  copied  into  most 
southern  newspapers  within  a  few  days.  They  first  appeared  in  Bal- 
timore in  "The  South,"  on  May  31st,  and  were  first  sung  in  that 
city  by  Henry  C.  Wagner,  to  the  air  of  the  then  familiar  "Ma  Nor- 
mandie."  A  few  days  later,  at  a  social  gathering  in  the  same  city, 
Miss  Jennie  Cary  suggested  as  a  more  suitable  air,  that  of  the  col- 
lege song,  "Lauriger  Horatius."  This  in  its  turn  was  displaced  by 
the  German  folk-song  air,  "Tannenbaum,  0  Tannenbaum,"  and  to 
which  it  has  ever  since  been  sung. 

Another  coincidence :  The  first  printing  of  "Maryland,  My  Mary- 
land," music  with  the  words,  was  in  Baltimore,  through  the  effort  of 
Miss  Rebecca  Lloyd  Nicholson,  who  copied  the  air  from  a  Yale  song- 
book,  and  took  it  to  a  publisher.  This  Miss  Nicholson  was  a  grand- 
daughter of  Judge  Joseph  Nicholson,  who,  as  related  in  this  Maga- 
zine (page  207),  was  instrumental  in  giving  "The  Star  Spangled 
Banner"  to  the  world,  nearly  fifty  years  before. 

231 


EDITORIAL 

BOOK  REVIEWS 

Encyclopedia  of  Pennsylvania  Biography;  by  John  W.  Jordan, 
LL.D. ;  10  volumes;  quarto,  half  leather,  pp.  400  to  each  volume; 
eight  volumes  issued ;  price  $9  a  volume.  The  Lewis  Historical  Pub- 
lishing Company,  265  Broadway,  New  York  City. 

This  valuable  series  is  replete  with  biographical  data  and  en- 
riched with  genealogical  material  of  value.  In  reviewing  the  series 
we  find  that  high  ideals  are  constantly  kept  in  view.  Wealth  and  po- 
sition are  not  the  only  requirements  for  representation;  achieve- 
ments are  properly  estimated,  and  are  the  essential  qualifications 
for  all  whose  biographies  appear.  It  is  profusely  illustrated  with 
full  page  steel  and  copper  portrait  engravings.  This  work  is  recom- 
mended to  all  genealogical  libraries. 

History  of  New  Hampshire;  by  Everett  S.  Stackpole,  author  of 
"Old  Kittery  and  Her  Families,"  "History  of  Durham,  N.  H.," 
etc.;  five  volumes,  illustrated;  American  Historical  Society,  New 
York. 

To  the  production  of  this  valuable  work,  the  author  has  brought 
abilities  of  a  very  high  order,  and  indefatigable  industry.  While 
he  has  availed  himself  of  all  standard  works,  he  has  added  much 
new  matter  concerning  the  early  history  of  the  State,  gleaned  from 
manuscripts  recently  copied  in  London,  under  the  direction  of  the 
New  Hampshire  Historical  Society.  A  highly  capable  advisory 
board  comprising  many  of  the  most  thoroughly  informed  men  of  the 
State,  of  national  reputation,  have  aided  with  advice  and  sugges- 
tions, and  in  the  settlement  of  disputed  points.  The  work  is  well  il- 
lustrated, and  contains  various  fine  reproductions  of  ancient  maps. 
The  historical  narrative  comprises  four  volumes,  the  fifth  volume  be- 
ing devoted  to  genealogical  and  biographical  matter  relating  to  New 
Hampshire  people. 

X 

Love  and  Life  ;  by  Thomas  Williams  Bicknell,  A.  M.,  LL.D.,  Prov- 
idence, Rhode  Island. 

It  is  remarkably  well  that  one  who  has  spent  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  a  century  as  an  educator,  historian,  antiquarian  and  au- 
thor, now,  well  past  his  eightieth  year,  has  the  erectness  of  frame 
and  sprightliness  of  motion  that  belong  to  few  a  score  of  years 
younger ;  it  is  better  that  he  preserves  his  intellectual  vigor  to  such 

232 


EDITORIAL 

a  degree  that  he  is  at  the  present  moment  closing  up  a  monumental 
historical  work,  ("History  of  Rhode  Island/'  soon  to  be  published 
by  the  American  Historical  Society) ;  it  is  best  of  all  that  he  retains 
the  sunniness  of  disposition  and  warmth  of  heart  that  in  so  many 
cases,  probably  in  most,  are  seen  only  to  youth. 

Such  a  one  is  the  author  of  the  little  volume  of  poems  above 
named.  His  verse  stories  of  the  past,  such  as  "The  Little  White 
Church/ '  "The  Old  Grist  Mill,"  "The  Old  Homestead/ '  and  "The 
District  School,"  refeature  to  the  reader  a  generation  which  be- 
longs to  ancient  history,  as  does  he  whom  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes 
pictures  in  "The  Last  Leaf,"  and  with  whom  is  ever  associated  the 
Great  Lincoln  for  his  love  of  its  pathetic  lines : 

"And  the  mossy  marbles  rest 
On  the  lips  that  he  has  pressed 

In  their  bloom — 
And  the  names  he  loved  to  hear 
Have    been    carved    for    many    a    year 

On  their  tomb." 

Mr.  Bicknell's  verses  dealing  with  the  human  affections  are  the 
utterances  of  a  heart  full  of  love  not  only  for  those  near  and  dear, 
but  for  all  humankind;  his  "Song  of  the  Years"  shows  him  undis- 
mayed by  their  passage;  while  his  "I'm  Not  Over  Sixty,"  written 
on  his  eightieth  birthday,  reveals  his  heart  and  mind  as  in  perennial 
spring. 

Encyclopedia  of  American  Biography;  by  a  Notable  Board  of 
Contributors  and  Revisors;  16  volumes,  quarto,  half  leather,  pp. 
400  to  each  volume ;  three  volumes  issued ;  $12  a  volume ;  American 
Historical  Society,  267  Broadway,  New  York  City. 

A  number  of  national  encyclopedias  have  been  published,  con- 
taining the  biographies  of  American  men  and  women.  These  have 
been  issued  in  encyclopedia  style  of  writing,  and  consisted  of  bare 
facts  told  in  a  concise  manner.  In  the  new  "Encyclopedia"  the  sub- 
jects are  dealt  with  in  more  detail,  and  the  reader  is  not  only  able 
to  retain  the  facts,  but  can  also  estimate  the  traits  of  character  that 
were  an  essential  factor  in  the  career  of  the  subject.  The  typo- 
graphical features  of  the  volumes  are  pleasing  to  the  eye;  a  large 
distinct  type  is  used,  and  the  double  column  pages  are  easily  read. 
In  the  first  volume  alone  there  are  over  sixty-five  page  steel  engrav- 
ings, besides  a  number  of  copper  plates,  and  the  other  volumes  are 
also  profusely  illustrated.     The  "Encyclopedia"  shows  many  im- 

233 


EDITORIAL 

provements  over  any  of  its  predecessors;  the  biographies  are  lim- 
ited to  those  who  have  been  identified  with  the  public,  commercial 
and  literary  affairs  of  the  country  since  the  close  of  the  Civil  War. 

New  Jersey's  First  Citizens,  1917-18;  octavo,  pp.  564;  price 
$10;  published  by  J.  J.  Scannell,  Paterson,  N.  J. 

This  work  is  of  unique  character.  It  is  devoted  to  biographies 
and  portraits  of  notable  living  men  and  women  of  New  Jersey,  and 
the  compiler  has  limited  the  number  to  five  hundred.  As  sixteen 
deaths  occurred  during  the  publication  of  the  work,  the  sketches  of 
such  are  omitted,  leaving  represented  in  the  work  four  hundred  and 
eighty-four  of  the  foremost  citizens  of  the  State.  The  compiler 
claims  that  he  favored  none  in  his  selection.  While  some  of  the 
sketches  are  of  persons  among  the  leaders  in  the  world,  and  fre- 
quently mentioned  in  the  public  press,  there  are  numbers  relating  to 
the  modest  workers  who  have  been  the  vitalizing,  fruitful  and  ele- 
vating forces  in  the  community  life,  and  these  are  rightly  given  their 
place  in  the  publication. 

The  compiler  in  his  missionary  work  in  obtaining  material  for  the 
sketches,  seems  to  have  encountered  opposition  among  some  of  the 
first  citizens  of  the  State,  who  feared  that  the  work  would  not  be  ex- 
clusive enough  for  their  appearance,  and  therefore  failed  to  co-oper- 
ate with  the  editor  in  aiding  him  to  obtain  the  material  to  make  the 
work  as  complete  as  it  should  be.  This  is  a  complaint  made  by  most 
compilers  of  genealogical  and  biographical  works.  Some  citizens, 
in  many  cases  those  who  owe  their  advancement  in  life  to  the  public 
voice,  seem  chary  to  furnish  data  of  themselves  to  make  a  public 
record  to  be  preserved.  They,  therefore,  assume  a  position  contrary 
to  all  precedents  of  the  past,  as  it  is  only  through  the  personal  chron- 
icles of  the  first  citizens  of  ancient  times  that  we  are  able  to  obtain  a 
truthful  account  of  the  history  of  the  world  during  the  periods  with 
which  they  were  identified. 

The  compiler  promises  to  issue  a  revised  edition  of  the  work 
biennially,  the  next  volume  to  appear  in  January,  1919.  The  publi- 
cation is  an  addition  to  any  library  interested  in  genealogy  and  biog- 
raphy. The  work  is  illustrated  with  portraits  of  some  of  those 
whose  biographies  appear. 

234 


1 


■-•;. 


Js** 


«se 

AMERICANA 

JULY,     1918 

Jt 

Arnold  and  Allied  Families 


Arnold  Arms — Purple,  azure  and  sable,  three  fleurs-de-lis  or,  for 
Ynir;  gules  a  chevron  ermine,  between  three  pheons  or,  for  Arnold. 

Crest — A  demi-lion  rampant  gules,  holding  between  its  paws  a 
lozenge  or  fire  ball. 

Motto — Mihi  gloria  cess um. 

The  family  of  Arnold  had  its  beginning  among  the  ancient  Princes 
of  Wales,  tracing  according  to  the  records  in  the  College  of  Arms 
to  Ynir,  King  of  Gwentland,  1100,  a  lineal  descendant  of  Ynir,  sec- 
ond son  of  Cadwalader,  King  of  the  Britons.  In  the  twelfth  gen- 
eration a  descendant  of  Ynir,  Koger,  adopted  the  surname  of  Ar- 
nold. From  Roger  Arnold  came  William  and  Thomas  Arnold,  the 
American  ancestors  of  the  distinguished  Arnold  family  of  Rhode 
Island.  The  descent  of  William  and  Thomas  Arnold  from  Ynir, 
King  of  Gwentland,  covers  sixteen  generations,  and  extends  over  a 
period  of  more  than  four  and  a  half  centuries.  In  point  of  honor- 
able antiquity  and  prominence  in  English  history,  the  Arnold  family 
ranks  among  the  most  important  of  the  kingdom.  The  American 
family  of  the  name  occupies  a  place  in  American  life  and  affairs 
no  less  influential  than  that  of  the  early  English  house. 

I.  Ynir,  King  of  Gwentland,  married  Nesta,  daughter  of  Justin, 
King  of  Glamorgan. 

II.  Meiric,  King  of  Gwentland,  married  Eleanor,  of  the  house  of 
Trevor. 

III.  Ynir  Vidian,  King  of  Gwentland,  married  Gladice,  daughter 
of  the  Lord  of  Ystradyr. 

IV.  Carador,  King  of  Gwent,  married  Nesta,  daughter  of  Sir  Ry- 
dereck  le  Gros. 

235 


. 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

V.  Dyenwall,  Lord  of  Gwent,  married  Joyes,  daughter  of  Hamlet, 
son  of  Sir  Druce,  Duke  of  Balladon,  of  France. 

VI.  Systal,  Lord  of  Upper  Gwent,  married  Annest,  daughter  of 
Sir  Peter  Kussell,  Lord  of  Kentchinch,  in  Hereford. 

VII.  Arthur,  married  Jane,  daughter  of  Lein,  Lord  of  Cantros- 
blyn. 

VIII.  Metric,  married  Annest,  daughter  of  Craddock. 

IX.  Gwillim,  married  Jane,  daughter  of  Ivon,  Lord  of  Lighs-Ta- 
byvont. 

X.  Arnholt,  Esq.,  married  Janet,  daughter  of  Philip  Fleming, 
Esq. 

XI.  Arnholt  (2)  Esq.,  married  Sibyl,  daughter  of  Madoc. 

XII.  Roger  Arnold,  of  Llanthony,  in  Monmouthshire,  England, 
was  the  first  of  the  family  to  adopt  a  surname.  Arnold  as  a  per- 
sonal name  is  now  practically  forgotten  in  English  speaking  coun- 
tries. Nevertheless  it  was  widely  popular  in  the  thirteenth,  four- 
teenth and  fifteenth  centuries,  at  the  time  when  fontal  names  were 
being  universally  adopted  as  surnames.  Arnold,  with  its  many 
variations  and  diminutives,  became  a  great  favorite.  Roger  Ar- 
nold, in  adopting  the  surname  which  has  served  the  family  to  the 
present  day,  chose  the  fontal  name  of  his  father  and  grandfather, 
namely  Arnholt,  or  Arnold.  He  married  Joan,  daughter  of  Sir 
Thomas  Gamage. 

XIII.  Thomas  Arnold,  son  of  Roger  Arnold,  and  successor  to  the 
estates  in  Monmouthshire,  married  Agnes,  daughter  of  Sir  Richard 
Warnstead. 

XIV.  Richard  Arnold,  son  of  Thomas  and  Agnes  (Warnstead) 
Arnold,  married  Emmate,  a  daughter  of  Pearce  Young. 

XV.  Richard  (2)  Arnold,  son  of  Richard  (1)  and  Emmate 
(Young)  Arnold,  was  born  in  Somersetshire,  England,  and  later  re- 
moved to  Dorsetshire,  where  he  became  lord  of  the  manor  at  Bag- 
bere.  His  name  appears  on  the  "Subsidy  Rolls"  of  the  County  of 
Dorset,  1549.  He  wTas  patron  of  the  churches  of  Blanf  ord  and  Bing- 
ham Melcombe.  His  manor  house  at  Bagbere  was  standing  until 
1870,  when  it  was  demolished.  His  will  was  probated  July  9,  1595 ; 
he  desires  "to  be  buried  in  the  Parishe  Church  of  Milton,  in  the 
He  called  Jesus  He  as  we  go  to  the  Tower.' ' 

236 


. 

ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

XVI.  Thomas  Arnold,  second  son  of  Richard  (2)  Arnold  is  men- 
tioned in  his  father's  will,  He  resided  for  some  time  at  Malcombe 
Horsey,  and  removed  later  to  Cheselbourne,  locating  on  one  of  his 
father's  estates.  The  family  register  of  baptisms  of  his  children 
was  preserved  and  brought  to  America.  He  married  (first)  Alice, 
daughter  of  John  Gulley,  of  North  Over,  parish  of  Tolpuddle,  near 
Cheselbourne.  Their  children  were:  1.  Thomasine.  2.  Joanna, 
baptized  November  30,  1577.  3.  Margery,  born  August  30,  1581. 
4.  Robert,  baptized  1583.  5.  John,  born  1585.  6.  William,  men- 
tioned below.  Children  of  the  second  wife:  7.  Elizabeth,  born 
1596.  8.  Thomas,  born  April  18,  1599 ;  settled  in  Watertown,  Mas- 
sachusetts, as  early  as  1640,  and  was  the  founder  of  the  notable 
Arnold  family  of  that  vicinity.     9.  Eleanor,  baptized  July  31,  1606. 

THE  FAMILY  IN  AMEKICA 

I.  William  Arnold,  immigrant  ancestor  and  founder  of  the  Rhode 
Island  Arnold  family,  was  the  son  of  Thomas  Arnold,  and  the  young- 
est child  of  his  first  wife,  Alice  (Gulley)  Arnold,  and  was  born  in 
Leamington,  England,  June  24,  1587.  He  lived  for  a  time  at  Chesel- 
bourne, where  he  was  appointed  administrator  of  the  estate  of  his 
brother,  John  Arnold,  November  23,  1616.  In  1635  he  emigrated 
with  his  family  to  America  and  located  in  the  town  of  Hingham,  in 
the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  wThere  he  was  a  proprietor  in  that 
year.  In  1636  he  was  associated  with  Roger  Williams  in  the  found- 
ing of  Providence,  and  was  one  of  the  twelve  who  received  from 
him  deeds  to  the  lands  the  latter  had  bought  from  Canonicus  and 
Miantonomi.  In  1636  he  removed  to  Pawtuxet,  and  in  the  same  year 
came  into  possession  of  large  tracts  in  Providence  and  Warwick. 
He  was  one  of  the  twelve  first  members  of  the  Baptist  church.  Wil- 
liam Arnold  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  figures  in  the  early  life 
of  the  colony  until  the  time  of  his  death,  and  filled  numerous  posts 
of  trust  and  responsibility.  He  was  prominent  in  the  troubles 
between  Massachusetts  and  Rhode  Island  over  the  Gortonists,  and 
for  a  period  of  fifteen  years  was  one  of  those  who  subjected  them- 
selves to  the  government  of  Massachusetts;  he  later  turned  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  Rhode  Island,  however.     He  received  deeds  at  sun- 

237 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

dry  times  from  Thomas  Olney,  Henry  Fowler,  William  Harris, 
Kalph  Earl,  etc.,  the  last  of  which  indicates  that  he  was  then  living, 
(in  1652)  near  Pawtnxet  Falls,  on  the  north  side  of  the  river.  Wil- 
liam Arnold  was  a  representative  of  the  finest  type  of  immigrant 
to  the  American  colonies  in  the  seventeenth  century,  coming  of  a 
fine  stock,  highly  intelligent  and  intellectual,  refined  and  cultured,  a 
leader  of  men.  His  progeny  since  the  time  of  the  founding  of  the 
family  in  New  England  has  been  of  the  same  type,  and  has  wielded 
large  influence  in  American  life  and  affairs.  He  died  some  time 
between  1675  and  1677.  He  married,  in  England,  Christian  Peake, 
daughter  of  Thomas  Peake,  and  they  were  the  parents  of  the  follow- 
ing children:  1.  Elizabeth,  born  November  23,  1611.  2.  Benedict, 
born  December  21,  1615;  president  of  Providence  Plantations, 
1657-60-62-63,  and  Governor  of  the  Rhode  Island  Colony,  1663-78. 
3.  Joanna,  born  February  27,  1617.     4.  Stephen,  mentioned  below. 

II.  Stephen  Arnold,  son  of  William  and  Christian  (Peake)  Ar- 
nold, was  born  in  Leamington,  England,  December  22,  1622.  He 
was  in  his  thirteenth  year  when  in  1635  he  accompanied  his  parents 
to  America,  residing  with  them  at  Providence  for  some  time.  He 
later  settled  at  Pawtuxet,  where  he  had  a  large  estate,  a  portion  of 
which  he  divided  among  his  sons  during  his  lifetime.  He  was  prom- 
inent in  public  aff airs  and  held  important  offices  in  the  colony.  The 
size  of  his  estate  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  he  was  taxed  one 
pound,  September  2,  1650.  He  purchased  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  acres  of  land  at  Pawtuxet,  August  14,  1659,  and  bought  lands  of 
the  Indians,- south  of  the  Pawtuxet  river,  July  30,  1674.  He  was  a 
large  importer  of  liquors,  bringing  in  seventeen  ankers  in  all 
between  1660  and  1664.  He  was  deputy  to  the  General  Court  in 
1664-65-67-70-71-72-74-76-77,  1684-85,  "and  1690,  and  was  assistant 
in  1672-77-78-79-80-90-96  and  1698.  In  1681  he  purchased  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  acres  and  other  tracts  in  Warwick,  and  in  that 
year  his  taxable  estate  in  Providence  included  one  hundred  and 
fifty-two  acres  of  property,  forty  head  of  cattle,  seven  horses, 
eighty-seven  sheep,  and  five  swine.  In  1678  he  received  fifty  shill- 
ings from  the  colony  for  sheep  furnished  for  the  sustenance  of 
troops  quartered  at  Pawtuxet.     The  greater  part  of  his  estate  was 

238 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

distributed  by  him  in  gifts  and  deeds  before  bis  death.  He  died 
November  15,  1699,  in  Pawtuxet,  and  his  will  was  proved  December 
12th  of  that  year.  Stephen  Arnold  was  one  of  the  wealthiest  and 
most  prominent  of  the  landed  proprietors  of  Rhode  Island  of  his 
day.  He  married,  November  24,  1646,  Sarah  Smith,  born  in  1629, 
died  April  15,  1713,  daughter  of  Edward  Smith  of  Rehoboth,  Mas- 
sachusetts. 

III.  Israel  Arnold,  son  of  Stephen  and  Sarah  (Smith)  Arnold, 
was  born  in  Pawtuxet,  Rhode  Island,  October  30,  1649,  and  died  at 
Warwick,  Rhode  Island,  September  15,  1716.  He  was  admitted  a 
freeman  in  1681,  and  served  as  deputy  to  the  General  Court  in 
1683-90-91-1700-02-03-05-06.  In  1690  he  was  a  member  of  a  com- 
mission to  apportion  the  taxes  of  the  colony  among  the  several 
towns.  In  1703  he  protested  with  others  against  the  expenditure  of 
money  for  sending  agents  to  England.  He  married,  April  16,  1677, 
Mary,  widow  of  Elisha  Smith,  and  daughter  of  James  and  Barbara 
(Dungan)  Barker.  She  died  September  19,  1723.  His  will,  dated 
March  23,  1717,  was  proved  September  23  of  that  year,  and  was 
administered  by  his  wife  Mary  and  son  Joseph. 

IV.  William  Arnold,  son  of  Israel  and  Mary  (Barker-Smith)  Ar- 
nold, was  born  at  Warwick,  Rhode  Island,  about  1681.  He  died  at 
Warwick,  June,  1759.  About  1705  William  Arnold  married  Deliv- 
erance Whipple,  born  February  11,  1679,  daughter  of  John  and 
Rebecca  (Scott)  WTiipple. 

V.  Caleb  Arnold,  son  of  William  and  Deliverance  (Whipple)  Ar- 
nold, was  born  at  Warwick,  Rhode  Island,  about  1725,  and  died  at 
Pawtucket,  Rhode  Island,  March  13,  1799.  He  resided  in  Paw- 
tucket,  during  the  greater  part  of  his  life,  and  was  prominent  in  its 
affairs.  He  married  Susanna  (Stafford)  McGregor,  born  March 
10, 1722-23,  widow  of  Alexander  McGregor,  and  daughter  of  Joseph 
and  Susanna  Stafford,  of  Warwick,  Rhode  Island.  Children :  Jo- 
seph, Samuel,  William,  Patsy  and  two  other  daughters. 

VI.  Captain  Joseph  Arnold,  son  of  Caleb  and  Susanna  (Staf- 
ford) Arnold,  was  born  at  Cranston,  Rhode  Island,  August  13,  1755. 

239 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

He  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolution,  serving  with  Captain  Thomas 
Holden's  company,  Colonel  James  Varnum's  regiment,  at  Bunker 
Hill,  and  later  came  under  General  Washington's  command.  In 
June,  1777,  he  was  appointed  as  first  lieutenant  of  Captain  Cole's 
company.  He  was  ensign  in  Colonel  Christopher  Greene's  regi- 
ment, which  marched  to  Morristown,  New  Jersey,  serving  under 
General  Washington  in  April  of  that  year;  marched  to  Fort  Mont- 
gomery, joined  the  main  army  in  Pennsylvania,  marched  to  White- 
stone,  going  later  into  winter  quarters  at  Valley  Forge  with  the 
army  that  suffered  such  hardships.  On  June  1,  1778,  he  was  ap- 
pointed captain;  was  in  General  Sullivan's  expedition,  recruited  a 
company  of  black  troops  which  he  commanded,  and  honorably  dis- 
charged November  9,  1779.  By  virtue  of  his  rank  he  was  entitled 
to  membership  in  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  joining  the  Rhode 
Island  branch  of  the  Society,  December  17,  1783.  Captain  Joseph 
Arnold  died  at  Apponaug,  July  20,  1840.  He  married,  September 
6, 1785,  Sarah  Stafford>  daughter  of  Stukeley  Stafford. 

VII.  Joseph  Franklin  Arnold,  son  of  Captain  Joseph  and  Sarah 
(Stafford)  Arnold,  was  born  at  Cranston,  Rhode  Island,  in  1788,  and 
died  there  August  15,  1855.  He  married,  March  24,  1816,  Sarah 
Rice,  who  was  born  April  2,  1795,  a  daughter  of  William  and  Sarah 
Rice,  of  Cranston,  Rhode  Island. 

VIII.  Joseph  Franklin  (2)  Arnold,  son  of  Joseph  Franklin  (1) 
and  Sarah  (Rice)  Arnold,  was  born  in  Apponaug,  Rhode  Island, 
.Tune  23,  1821.  Early  in  life,  after  western  travel,  he  settled  at 
New  Orleans,  Louisiana,  then  third  in  commercial  importance 
among  the  cities  of  the  Union.  He  there  became  identified  with 
Mississippi  river  steamboat  navigation,  and  owned  the  "Eclipse" 
and  the  "Natchez,"  two  boats  well  known  on  the  river.  The  Civil 
War  swept  away  the  fortune  he  had  been  many  years  in  amassing, 
and  drove  him  a  fugitive  to  the  wilderness,  but  he  finally  succeeded 
in  reaching  his  native  State.  He  at  once  began  rebuilding  his  for- 
tunes by  establishing  a  sale  and  exchange  mart  in  Providence,  which 
he  successfully  conducted  the  remainder  of  his  life.  He  died  in 
Warwick,  Rhode  Island,  December  21,  1881. 

240 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

f 

Married,  at  New  Orleans,  June  14,  18-49,  Louise  Constance,  born 

in  Demeroringer,  France,  April  6,  1831,  and  died  January  6,  1917. 

Joseph  Gilbert,  connected  with,  the  Arnold  family  of  Rhode  Is- 
land through  his  marriage  in  June  14,  1893,  to  Miss  Caroline  Ar- 
nold, daughter  of  Joseph  Franklin  Arnold  and  his  wife,  Louise 
(Constance)  Arnold,  was  born  in  the  town  of  Woonsocket,  Rhode 
Island,  July  24,  1852.  He  received  a  liberal  education  in  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  place,  and  after  graduating  he  immediately 
entered  into  business,  spending  the  following  period  of  forty  years 
in  Woonsocket  and  Blackstone,  Rhode  Island.  After  several  ex- 
tensive business  trips  through  the  Southern  States  he  returned 
north  and  settled  in  1893  in  Apponaug,  where  he  resided  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life. 

Although  keenly  interested  in  many  branches  of  business,  he  fol- 
lowed the  real  estate  trade  for  a  great  many  years.  He  started 
in  a  small  way  in  Woonsocket,  but  soon  struck  out  for  larger  fields, 
and  opened  offices  in  the  old  Howard  building  in  Providence.  He 
became  known  and  popular  among  the  business  men  of  the  latter 
city.  He  was  naturally  affable  and  friendly,  and  his  ingrained 
integrity  and  honesty  inspired  a  trust  among  his  associates  seldom 
encountered  in  the  present  day  of  business.  He  became  identified 
with  many  large  movements  that  have  played  a  prominent  part  in 
the  development  of  Providence  and  its  outlying  districts,  and  he 
also  held  extensive  interests  in  land  located  in  the  surrounding 
towns  and  villages.  Through  his  energy,  perseverance  and  native 
ability  in  his  chosen  work  he  rose  gradually  to  an  enviable  position 
in  the  world  of  business.  He  took  a  great  interest  in  the  town  af- 
fairs and  civic  management  of  Apponaug,  though  he  had  not  the 
time  at  his  disposal  he  would  have  wished  to  devote  to  it.  He  was 
the  Independent  party  candidate  for  the  office  of  town  treasurer 
for  the  fall  of  1916,  but  was  defeated  by  the  Republican  candidate. 

Mr.  Gilbert  died  at  his  home  in  Apponaug,  March  20,  1917,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-four  years. 

IX.  Arthur  Henry  Arnold,  son  of  Joseph  Franklin  (2)  and 
Louise  (Constance)  Arnold,  was  bora  at  New  Orleans,  Louisiana, 

241 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

September  8,  1855.  In  1861  he  was  brought  to  Warwick  by  his  par- 
ents, who  were  obliged  to  flee  from  the  South  with  the  outbreak  of 
the  Civil  War,  and  there  he  attended  the  public  schools.  He  made 
further  preparation  in  the  select  school  of  Mrs.  Graves,  the  Quaker- 
ess, then  entered  East  Greenwich  Seminary  under  the  then  principal 
Rev.  James  T.  Edwards.  At  an  early  age  he  became  associated 
with  his  father  in  business  in  Providence,  but  in  1869,  after  a  tour 
of  western  and  southern  cities,  he  was  prevailed  upon  to  remain  in 
New  Orleans,  the  city  of  his  birth.  From  1869  until  1872  he  was 
connected  with  the  New  Orleans  &  St.  Louis  Steamboat  Company. 
In  the  same  year  he  came  north  and  entered  the  employ  of  the  Bos- 
ton &  Providence  Railroad  Company,  advancing  through  all  inter- 
mediate grades  to  that  of  passenger  conductor.  In  1880  lie  was 
made  conductor  of  the  Dedham  &  Boston  Express,  and  when  the 
new  station  at  Dedham,  Massachusetts,  was  completed,  he  had  the 
distinction  of  running  the  first  train  out  of  the  new  structure.  With 
the  passing  of  the  road  to  the  Old  Colony  Eailroad  Company,  Mr. 
Arnold  was  transferred  to  the  main  line,  and  was  conductor  of  the 
Colonial  Express  on  its  first  trip  under  the  new  management.  Later 
he  was  conductor  of  a  train  running  between  Providence,  Rhode  Is- 
land, and  Plymouth,  Massachusetts.  In  1910  he  retired  from  the 
railroad,  and  devoted  the  remaining  three  years  of  his  life  to  the 
real  estate  business. 

Mr.  Arnold  possessed  musical  talent  of  a  high  order,  and  while 
in  the  South  placed  himself  under  capable  instructors  and  thor- 
oughly trained  his  fine  baritone  voice  in  form,  shade,  expression 
and  sentiment.  Under  Signor  Brignoli,  the  Italian  composer  and 
opera  tenor,  he  perfected  the  cultivation  of  his  voice  after  returning 
East,  and  often  held  positions  in  concert  and  choir  work.  He  was 
strongly  urged  to  go  upon  the  operatic  stage  professionally,  but  he 
could  not  be  induced  to  do  so,  although  he  often  appeared  as  a  bari- 
tone soloist  in  concerts,  and  added  greatly  to  the  success  of  such 
entertainments. 

Genial,  affable,  and  social  by  nature,  he  was  yet  very  strict  in  the 
performance  of  duty.  He  was  thoroughly  fitted  for  his  work,  found 
it  congenial  to  his  tastes,  and  gave  to  it  the  best  of  his  abilities, 
becoming  a  favorite  with  the  traveling  public,   and  was  highly 

242 


9  I 


- 


• 


tf)  <UA*du«JL  .^,    l^cUt^-^r^^^     ^rt^r^O 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

esteemed  by  the  railroad  management.  He  was  a  popular  member 
of  the  Masonic  order,  belonging  to  Mt.  Vernon  Lodge,  No.  4,  Free 
and  Accepted  Masons;  Providence  Chapter,  No.  1,  Royal  Arch 
Masons ;  Providence  Council,  No.  1,  Royal  and  Select  Masters ;  St. 
John's  Commandery,  No.  1,  Knights  Templar;  Rhode  Island  Con- 
sistory, thirty-second  degree,  Ancient  Accepted  Scottish  Rite;  Pal- 
estine Temple,  Nobles  of  the  Mystic  Shrine.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Conductors'  Relief  of  Boston;  vice-president  of  the  Conduc- 
tors' and  Engineers'  Investment  Company;  member  of  the  Rhode 
Island  Society,  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  through  the  ser- 
vice of  his  great-grandfather,  Captain  Joseph  Arnold ;  member  of 
the  Rhode  Island  Chapter,  Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  through  the 
service  of  his  ancestor,  Stephen  Arnold,  of  the  second  Ameri- 
can generation. 

Arthur  Henry  Arnold  died  at  his  handsome  residence,  No.  572 
Elmwood  avenue,  Providence,  April  24,  1913. 

He  was  thrice  married.  Issue  by  first  wife :  1.  Louise,  married 
James  S.  Kenyon,  of  Providence.  He  married  (second)  Cora  Etta 
Barnes,  born  November  2,  1869,  died  July  2,  1906.  Married  (third) 
March  2,  1908,  Caroline  Frances  "Waterman,  daughter  of  John  01- 
ney  and  Susan  Johnson  (Bosworth)  Waterman,  of  Warren,  Rhode 
Island.     (See  Waterman  VIII,  and  Bosworth  VII). 

Mrs.  Arnold  continues  her  residence  in  Providence,  is  active  in 
all  good  works,  noted  for  her  charity  and  benevolence,  her  gracious 
hospitality  and  womanly  graces.  She  is  a  member  of  the  Rhode 
Island  Historical  Society;  Gaspee  Chapter,  Daughters  of  the 
American  Revolution,  through  the  services  of  her  maternal  great- 
grandfather, Peleg  Bosworth;  Rhode  Island  Society  of  Colonial 
Dames  of  America;  Rhode  Island  Society  of  Colonial  Governors; 
Rhode  Island  Society  of  Mayflower  Descendants,  eligible  to  all 
these  societies  through  her  distinguished  maternal  and  paternal 
ancestry. 

(The  Waterman  Line.) 

Arms — Or  a  buck's  head  caboosed  gules. 

One  of  the  earliest  and  most  famous  names  in  the  colonial  history 
of  Rhode  Island  is  that  of  Waterman.     Few  families  of  the  early 

243 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

Colony  or  of  the  State  have  attained  to  the  place  of  prominence  in 
its  affairs  which  the  Waterinans  have  held  from  the  very  founding 
of  Providence  Plantations.  Colonel  Richard  Waterman,  founder  of 
the  family  in  America,  was  one  of  the  thirteen  original  proprietors 
of  Providence,  and  one  of  the  leading  figures  in  its  affairs  until 
the  time  of  his  death.  The  Watermans  to  the  present  day  have 
relinquished  none  of  the  prestige  and  influence  in  official  and  in 
social  life  which  pleased  their  ancestors  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago  in  the  foremost  rank  of  English  colonists. 

I.  Colonel  Richard  Waterman,  immigrant  ancestor  and  founder 
of  the  Waterman  family  of  New  England,  was  a  passenger  to  Amer- 
ica in  the  fleet  with  Higginson  in  the  year  1629,  having  been  sent  as 
an  expert  hunter  by  the  Governor  and  Company  of  Massachusetts 
Bay,  although  tradition  brought  forward  at  various  times  has  stated 
that  he  came  in  the  same  ship  with  Roger  Williams,  with  whom  he 
later  joined  his  fortunes.  Richard  Waterman  settled  in  Salem,  Mas- 
sachusetts, where  he  became  a  member  of  the  church.  He  soon  fell 
into  disrepute  in  the  Salem  settlement  because  of  his  sympathy  with 
the  views  of  Roger  Williams,  and  in  March,  1638,  followed  Roger 
Williams  to  Providence,  having  been  banished  from  Salem.  In 
Providence  in  the  same  year  he  was  the  twelfth  among  those  to 
whom  were  granted  equal  shares  of  the  land  that  Williams  received 
from  Canonicus  and  Miantonomi.  After  a  period  of  years  he 
joined  with  Randall  Holden,  Samuel  Gorton,  and  others,  in  the  pur- 
chase of  a  large  tract  on  the  western  shore  of  Narragansett  Bay 
from  Miantonomi.  Here  was  commenced  the  settlement  of  Shawo- 
mut,  which  afterward  became  known  as  Warwick.  Richard  Water- 
man did  not  remove  thither,  however,  but  remained  in  Providence. 
He  endured  with  the  other  purchasers  of  that  property  the  losses 
and  persecutions  which  fell  upon  the  small  colony  through  the  un- 
just claims  of  Massachusetts  to  the  district.  In  1643  the  Massa- 
chusetts authorities  sent  a  squad  of  soldiers  to  arrest  the  leaders 
of  the  colony,  and  carried  them  prisoners  to  Boston,  where  many 
of  them  were  imprisoned  for  several  months.  Richard  Waterman 
suffered  the  confiscation  of  part  of  his  estate  by  order  of  the  court 
in  October,  1643,  and  was  bound  over  to  appear  at  the  May  term 

244 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

following.  His  companions  barely  escaped  the  death  sentence,  while 
the  sentence  pronounced  against  Waterman  at  the  General  Court 
was  as  follows:  " Being  found  erroneous,  heretical  and  obstinate, 
it  was  agreed  that  he  should  be  detained  prisoner  till  the  Quarter 
Court  in  the  seventh  month,  unless  five  of  the  magistrates  do  find 
cause  to  send  him  away ;  which,  if  they  do,  it  is  ordered  that  he  shall 
not  return  within  this  jurisdiction  upon  pain  of  death/ '  After  his 
release,  however,  he  took  an  important  part  in  securing  justice  for 
the  Warwick  settlers.  The  long  controversy  was  eventually  settled 
by  a  decision  of  the  English  authorities  in  favor  of  the  rightful 
owners  who  had  purchased  the  land  from  Miantonomi.  Waterman 
held  possession  of  his  valuable  property  in  Providence  and  in  old 
Warwick,  bequeathing  it  to  his  heirs,  whose  descendants  have  been 
numerous  and  prominent  and  influential  in  Rhode  Island  affairs  to 
the  present  day.  He  was  a  prominent  church  officer,  a  colonel  of 
the  militia,  and  a  man  of  great  force  and  fine  ability  in  large  affairs. 
In  1639  he  was  one  of  the  twelve  original  members  of  the  first  Bap- 
tist church  in  America.  Richard  Waterman  died  in  1673.  A  mon- 
ument to  his  memory  has  been  erected  by  some  of  his  descendants 
on  the  old  family  burying  ground  on  the  corner  of  Benefit  and 
Waterman  streets,  Providence.  His  wife  Bethia,  of  whose  family 
no  trace  has  been  found,  died  December  3,  1680. 

II.  Resolved  Waterman,  son  of  Colonel  Richard  and  Bethia  Wa- 
terman, was  born  in  1638.  He  only  lived  to  attain  the  age  of  thirty- 
two  years,  but  he  had  risen  to  the  distinction  of  deputy  to  the  Gen- 
eral Court  in  1667,  being  then  twenty-nine,  and  gave  great  promise 
of  a  life  of  usefulness  and  honor.  He  died  in  1670.  Resolved  Wa- 
terman married,  in  1659,  Mercy  Williams,  who  was  born  in  Provi- 
dence, Rhode  Island,  July  15,  1640,  the  daughter  of  Roger  Williams. 
Mercy  Williams  Waterman  married  (second)  January  8, 1677,  Sam- 
uel Winsor,  and  died  in  1707. 

m.  Ensign  Resolved  (2)  Waterman,  son  of  Resolved  (1)  and 
Mercy  (Williams)  Waterman,  was  born  in  Providence,  Rhode  Is- 
land, in  the  year  1667,  and  in  1689  settled  in  what  is  now  the  town 
of  Greenville,  Rhode  Island.     He  served  as  ensign  of  militia  for 

245 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

many  years,  and  in  1715  represented  the  town  in  the  General  As- 
sembly. He  died  January  13,  1719.  Ensign  Resolved  Waterman 
married  (first)  Anne  Harris,  born  November  12,  1673,  daughter  of 
Andrew  Harris,  and  granddaughter  of  William  Harris,  the  founder 
of  the  family  in  America. 

IV.  Colonel  Resolved  (3)  Waterman,  son  of  Ensign  Resolved 
(2)  and  Anne  (Harris)  Waterman,  was  born  in  the  town  of  Smith- 
field,  Rhode  Island,  March  12,  1703.  He  built  the  Greenville  Tav- 
ern in  1733,  and  was  a  man  of  importance  who  in  the  records  is 
dignified  with  the  title  of  Esquire.  He  represented  Smithfield  in 
the  General  Assembly  in  May  and  June,  1739,  and  in  May  and  Octo- 
ber, 1740,  and  in  May  and  October,  1741.  He  died  July  15,  1746. 
He  married,  September  20,  1722,  Lydia  Mathewson,  daughter  of 
John  and  Deliverance  (Malavery)  Mathewson,  who  was  born  in 
Providence,  June  7,  1701. 

V.  Captain  John  Waterman,  son  of  Colonel  Resolved  (3)  and  Ly- 
dia (Mathewson)  Waterman,  was  born  in  1728.  He  became  a  ship 
owner  and  sea  captain,  sailing  his  own  ships  to  China  and  other 
foreign  countries.  He  was  known  as  " Paper  Mill  John,"  from  the 
fact  that  he  built  one  of  the  first  paper  mills  in  America.  He  was 
an  early  and  extensive  manufacturer  not  only  of  paper,  but  operated 
a  fulling  mill,  a  woolen  cloth  finishing  mill,  and  a  chocolate  factory. 
In  1769  he  engaged  in  printing  and  publishing.  His  enterprises 
brought  him  great  gain,  and  he  was  rated  among  the  wealthiest 
men  in  the  State,  part  of  his  wealth  consisting  of  slaves.  His  prop- 
erty and  personal  estate  was  inherited  by  his  only  son,  his  daugh- 
ters receiving  only  their  wedding  outfits.  He  died  February  7, 
1777.  Captain  John  Waterman  married,  January  17,  1750,  Mary 
Olney,  who  was  born  in  1731,  died  September  5,  1763,  daughter  of 
Captain  Jonathan  and  Elizabeth  (Smith)  Olney,  her  father  the 
founder  of  Olneyville,  Rhode  Island,  her  mother  a  daughter  of 
Christopher  Smith.  Mrs.  Waterman  was  a  granddaughter  of 
James  and  Hallelujah  (Brown)  Olney,  and  a  descendant  of  Chad 
Brown. 

246 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

VI.  John  Olney  Waterman,  son  of  Captain  John  and  Mary  (01- 
ney)  Waterman,  was  born  May  28,  1758.  He  inherited  and  spent 
his  father's  large  estate  in  his  short  life  of  thirty-eight  years.  He 
became  a  member  of  St.  John's  Lodge,  Xo.  1,  Free  and  Accepted 
Masons,  in  1779,  as  soon  as  he  was  eligible  (twenty-one  years),  his 
name  being  the  ninety-third  to  be  enrolled  a  member  of  this  body, 
which  is  the  oldest  lodge  in  Rhode  Island.  He  died  February  18, 
1796.  John  Olney  Waterman  married  Sally  Franklin,  who  was 
born  in  February,  1762,  a  woman  of  strong  character,  a  great 
beauty  and  belle.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Captain  Asa  and  Sarah 
(Paine)  Franklin,  and  was  related  to  the  Benjamin  Franklin  family. 
Captain  Asa  Franklin  was  ensign  of  the  First  Light  Infantry  of 
Providence  county;  ensign  in  June,  1769,  of  the  Second  Company, 
Providence  Militia ;  ensign,  May,  1770 ;  ensign  in  August,  1774,  of 
Providence  County  Light  Infantry;  lieutenant  in  May,  1789;  Sep- 
tember, 1790 ;  May,  1791,  June,  1792 ;  May,  1793,  rendering  a  mili- 
tary service  long  and  honorable.  Mrs.  Sally  Franklin  Waterman, 
widowed  at  the  age  of  thirty-four  years,  married  (second)  Edward 
Searle,  of  Scituate,  Rhode  Island.  She  spent  the  last  twelve  years 
of  her  life  with  her  son,  John  Waterman,  and  died  June  5,  1842, 
aged  eighty  years. 

VII.  John  Waterman,  son  of  John  Olney  and  Sally  (Franklin) 
Waterman,  was  born  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  March  22,  17S6, 
and  lived  to  the  great  age  of  ninety-three  years.  He  was  educated 
in  the  public  schools,  and  then  began  to  learn  the  carpenter's  trade. 
After  a  few  months  he  entered  the  employ  of  his  uncle,  Henry  P. 
Franklin,  a  cotton  manufacturer,  and  finding  the  milling  industry 
greatly  in  accordance  with  his  tastes  and  ambitions,  he  remained 
and  became  an  expert  not  only  in  cotton  mill  management  but  in 
the  building  of  machinery  for  the  mill.  In  1808,  in  partnership  with 
Daniel  Wilde,  he  contracted  with  Richard  Wheatley  to  operate  his 
cotton  mill  at  Canton,  Massachusetts.  In  connection  with  the  mill 
was  a  machine  shop  equipped  for  repairing  and  rebuilding  machin- 
ery, which  was  an  important  adjunct  in  the  business  during  the 
three  years  the  partnership  existed.  For  a  time  thereafter,  Mr. 
Waterman  continued  alone  in  the  manufacture  of  machinery,  but  in 

247 


. 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

1812,  in  association  with  his  uncle,  Henry  P.  Franklin,  he  built  and 
put  in  operation  the  Merino  Mill  in  Johnston,  Ehode  Island.  This 
mill,  with  a  capacity  of  fifteen  hundred  spindles,  was  run  for  seven 
years  with  Mr.  Franklin  as  financial  head,  Mr.  Waterman  acting  as 
manufacturing  agent.  In  1819  Mr.  Waterman  leased  the  Union 
Mills,  in  which  he  had  first  learned  the  business.  He  suffered 
considerable  loss  in  the  operation  of  the  Merino  Mill,  and  to  finance 
the  Union  Mill  purchase  and  outfitting  he  borrowed  $20,000  of  Pitch- 
er &  Gay,  of  Pawtucket.  Four  years  later,  so  profitable  had  the 
venture  been,  that  after  paying  Pitcher  &  Gay  he  had  a  handsome 
balance  to  his  credit. 

For  the  next  three  years  he  was  resident  agent  for  the  Blackstone 
Manufacturing  Company,  but  health  failing,  he  resigned  and  went 
south,  although  there  he  acted  as  purchasing  agent  for  the  Black- 
stone  Mills  and  also  as  salesman.  For  ten  years  he  remained  in  the 
south,  located  at  New  Orleans,  acting  as  cotton  broker  for  northern 
mills,  associated  part  of  that  period  with  Thomas  M.  Burgess,  of 
Providence.  In  1829  he  returned  to  Providence,  and  that  year  built 
the  Eagle  Mills  at  Olneyville,  Ehode  Island.  Mill  No.  1  began 
operations  in  the  spring  of  1830,  and  in  1836  Mill  No.  2  was  com- 
pleted, Mr.  Waterman  continuing  their  operation  until  his  retire- 
ment in  1848. 

Mr.  Waterman  was  initiated  in  St.  John's  Lodge,  No.  1,  Free  and 
Accepted  Masons,  May  1,  1822,  and  raised  to  the  degree  of  Master 
Mason  the  following  November.  He  became  a  companion  of  Provi- 
dence Chapter,  No.  1,  Royal  Arch  Masons,  February  27,  1823;  a 
cryptic  Mason  of  Providence  Council,  Royal  and  Select  Masters, 
No.  1,  January  29,  1824;  and  a  Sir  Knight  of  St.  John's  Comman- 
dery,  No.  1,  Knights  Templar,  February  7,  1825.  He  was  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  Baptist  church,  although  not  a  member,  and  it  was 
largely  through  his  generosity  that  the  Baptist  church  in  Olneyville 
was  built. 

John  Waterman  died  at  his  home  in  Johnston,  Rhode  Island,  to 
which  he  had  retired  after  leaving  the  business  world,  October  26, 
1879. 

He  married,  in  Canton,  Massachusetts,  in  1809,  Sally  Williams, 
who  was  born  March  1,  1787,  and  died  suddenly,  April  10,  1862, 

248 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

daughter  of  Stephen  Williams,  and  a  lineal  descendant  of  Roger 
Williams. 

VIII.  John  Olney  (2)  Waterman,  son  of  John  and  Sally  (Wil- 
liams) Waterman,  was  born  in  Canton,  Massachusetts,  November  4, 
1810.  In  infancy  he  was  brought  to  Johnston,  Rhode  Island,  and  all 
his  life  was  a  true  and  loyal  son  of  Rhode  Island  in  all  but  birth.  He 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools  and  Plainfield  (Connecticut) 
Academy,  early  beginning  work  in  the  cotton  mills.  He  was  clerk 
in  the  store  operated  by  the  Merino  Mills  in  1827-28-29,  leaving  in 
the  last  year  to  become  agent  for  the  Eagle  Mills,  owned  by  his 
father,  at  Olneyville.  He  continued  in  that  capacity  until  1847, 
when  he  was  engaged  to  build  and  operate  the  first  cotton  mill  in  the 
town  of  Warren,  Rhode  Island,  for  the  Warren  Manufacturing 
Company.  From  that  time  until  the  present,  the  name  of  Water- 
man has  been  connected  with  successful  cotton  manufacturing  in 
Warren.  From  the  completion  of  the  first  mill,  Mr.  Waterman 
maintained  official  relation  with  the  Warren  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany as  treasurer  and  agent,  devoting  thirty-three  years  of  his  life 
to  its  affairs,  seeing  the  single  mill  of  1847  grow  to  three  large  mills 
equipped  with  58,000  spindles  and  1,400  looms,  weaving  sheetings, 
print  cloths,  and  jaconets.  The  second  mill  was  built  in  1860  from 
the  profits  of  the  first,  and  the  third  in  1870  from  the  profits  of  the 
first  and  second  mills,  the  company  later  increasing  its  capital  stock 
to  $600,000. 

Mr.  Waterman  during  his  Providence  residence  served  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  of  Independent  Fire  Wards.  In  1845  he  was 
elected  to  the  Rhode  Island  Legislature  from  Providence,  and  re- 
elected in  1846,  serving  with  honor.  In  1848  he  moved  his  residence 
to  Warren,  Rhode  Island,  and  there  his  great  business  ability,  his 
conservative  managerial  talents  and  his  sagacious  financiering, 
made  him  a  leader.  In  1855  he  was  elected  a  director  of  the  Fire- 
man's Mutual  Insurance  Company  of  Providence;  in  1860  a  direc- 
tor of  the  newly  organized  Equitable  Fire  and  Marine  Insurance 
Company ;  in  1868  a  director  of  the  Blackstone  Mutual  Fire  Insur- 
ance Company,  organized  that  year;  and  in  1874  of  the  newly 
formed  Merchants'  Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Company,  holding  these 

249 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

directorships  until  his  death.  He  was  equally  prominent  in  War- 
ren's banking  circles;  in  July,  1S55,  he  aided  in  organizing  Sowani- 
set  State  Bank,  and  was  chosen  a  director;  also  was  made  a  direc- 
tor of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Warren  upon  its  organization  in 
1864,  and  was  elected  vice-president  in  1866,  serving  in  that  office 
until  his  death ;  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Warren  Institution 
for  Savings,  and  in  1870  was  chosen  a  trustee;  in  1875  was  elected 
a  director  of  the  Old  National  Bank  of  Providence,  and  later  and 
until  his  death  was  its  honored  president.  He  was  identified  with 
other  interests  and  institutions,  among  them  the  Providence  Board 
of  Trade.  He  was  the  friend  of  every  deserving  person  or  enter- 
prise, and  freely  gave  them  his  aid.  In  fact  "he  represented  that 
class  of  men  whose  untiring  industry,  superior  natural  gifts  and 
strict  integrity  place  them  at  the  head  of  the  great  manufacturing 
interests  for  which  Rhode  Island  is  justly  celebrated.' ' 

John  Olney  Waterman  died  at  his  home  in  Warren,  April  24, 
1881,  all  business  in  the  town  being  suspended  on  the  day  of  his 
funeral,  in  respect  to  his  memory. 

He  married  (first)  in  1838,  Caroline  Frances  Sanford,  who  died 
in  1840,  daughter  of  Joseph  C.  Sanford,  of  Wickford,  Rhode  Island. 
He  married  (second)  June  26,  1849,  Susan  Johnson  Bosworth,  born 
March  22, 1828,  died  in  Warren,  March  16, 1897,  daughter  of  Colonel 
Smith  Bosworth,  of  Rehoboth  and  Providence,  and  his  wife,  Sarah 
Tripp.  Mrs.  Waterman  is  buried  with  her  husband  in  Swan  Point 
Cemetery,  Providence.  (See  Bosworth  VIII).  The  children  of 
John  Olney  and  Susan  Johnson  (Bosworth)  Waterman  were: 

1.  Caroline  Frances  Waterman,  who  was  born  in  Warren,  Rhode 
Island,  July  9,  1850;  she  married,  March  2,  1908,  Arthur  Henry 
Arnold,  of  Providence,  who  died  April  24,  1913.     (See  Arnold  IX). 

2.  John  Waterman,  born  in  Warren,  January  11,  1852.  He  was 
educated  in  a  private  school  in  Warren  until  thirteen  years  of  age, 
then  spent  six  years  in  Warren  High  School,  leaving  at  the  age  of 
nineteen  years  to  enter  the  business  world  in  which  his  forefathers 
had  won  such  high  reputation  and  such  sterling  success.  He  inher- 
ited their  strong  business  traits,  and  although  but  forty-eight  years 
were  allotted  him,  he  bore  worthily  the  name  and  upheld  the  family 
reputation.  Upon  the  death  of  his  honored  father  in  1881,  he  suc- 
ceeded him  as  treasurer  of  the  WTarren  Manufacturing  Company, 

250 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  a  director  of  three  of  Warren's 
four  banks  and  connected  with  banks  and  insurance  companies  of 
Providence.  In  1895  the  three  mills  of  the  Warren  Manufacturing 
Company  were  destroyed  by  fire,  and  from  the  ruins  arose  one 
magnificent  mill  with  the  capacity  of  the  former  three,  a  splendid 
monument  to  the  Watermans,  father  and  son,  to  whom  the  wonder- 
ful success  of  the  company  was  due.  For  many  years  John  Water- 
man emulated  the  example  of  his  sire  in  the  interest  he  took  in  the 
George  Hail  Free  Library,  and  all  public  affairs  of  Warren.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  building  committee  in  charge  of  the  erection 
of  the  town  hall,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  chairman  of  a  com- 
mittee for  increasing  school  facilities.  He  was  for  many  years 
colonel  of  the  Warren  Artillery,  and  was  past  master  of  Washing- 
ton Lodge,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons.  From  boyhood  he  had  been 
an  attendant  of  St.  Mark's  Episcopal  Church,  of  which  he  was  con- 
firmed a  member;  had  been  a  member  of  the  church  choir,  had 
served  as  an  officer  of  the  Sunday  School  for  thirty-one  years,  for 
twenty-four  years  was  a  vestryman,  and  for  eleven  years  junior 
warden.  He  personally  superintended  the  improvement  and 
enlargement  of  St.  Mark's  Chapel,  a  movement  he  inaugurated  and 
generously  supported.  He  possessed  the  Waterman  energy;  va- 
cations were  almost  unknown  to  him;  and  although  the  possessor  of 
great  wealth  he  was  one  of  the  most  democratic  of  men.  Kindly 
and  genial  in  nature,  he  mingled  freely  with  all  classes,  preserved 
the  strictest  integrity  in  his  dealings  with  all,  and  in  all  his  enter- 
prises exhibited  remarkable  persistency  and  tenacity  of  purpose, 
laboring  faithfully  and  unceasingly.  John  Waterman  married,  De- 
cember 17,  1884,  Sarah  Franklin  Adams,  who  survived  him,  and 
married  (second)  April  4,  1904,  Eev.  Joseph  Hutcheson,  of  Colum- 
bus, Ohio.  John  Waterman  died  at  his  home  in  Warren,  Rhode 
Island,  December  21,  1900. 

(The   Bosworth    Line.) 

Arms — Gules  a  cross  vair  between  four  annulets  argent. 
Crest — A  lily  proper,  slipped  and  leaved. 

The  name  of  Bosworth  appears  in  the  very  early  days  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay  Colony.  Zacheus  or  Zachariah  Bosworth  was  of 
Boston  in  1630,  probably  having  come  over  in  the  fleet  with  Win- 
throp.  Benjamin  Bosworth  was  of  Hingham,  in  1635.  John  Bos- 
worth was  of  Hull,  where  he  was  admitted  a  freeman  in  1634.  Han- 
aniel  Bosworth  was  a  citizen  of  Ipswich  in  1648.    Edward  Bosworth, 

251 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

the  founder  of  the  line  herein  under  consideration,  may  not  truly 
be  called  a  colonial  settler,  for  he  died  before  reaching  the  shores 
of  New  England.  His  sons  and  widow,  however,  settled  in  the 
Massachusetts  Bay  Colony.  From  these  Bosworths  and  still  oth- 
ers came  the  Bosworths  of  today  in  New  England.  The  Bosworths 
of  Eehoboth  have  been  a  particularly  noted  branch  of  the  family 
from  the  early  decades  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

I.  Edward  Bosworth,  the  first  of  the  direct  line  of  whom  we  have 
definite  information,  embarked  for  New  England  with  his  wife 
Mary  in  the  ship  "Elizabeth  and  Dorcas/ '  in  1634.  He  died  at  sea, 
however,  as  the  vessel  was  nearing  the  port  of  Boston,  and  his  re- 
mains were  interred  in  Boston.  His  widow  and  children  next  ap- 
pear on  the  records  of  the  town  of  Hingham,  Massachusetts,  in  the 
following  year,  1635.  The  Widow  Mary  Bosworth  died  in  Hing- 
ham, May  18,  1648. 

II.  Jonathan  Bosworth,  son  of  Edward  and  Mary  Bosworth,  was 
born  in  England,  about  1611,  and  accompanied  his  parents  to 
America,  in  1634.  He  settled  in  Hingham,  where  he  married. 
Among  his  children  was  Jonathan,  mentioned  below. 

III.  Jonathan  (2)  Bosworth,  son  of  Jonathan  (1)  Bosworth,  was 
born  in  Hingham,  Massachusetts,  where  he  resided  all  his  life.  He 
married  Hannah  Howland,  daughter  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Tilley) 
Howland,  both  of  whom  were  of  the  "Mayflower"  company  in  1620. 
Among  the  children  of  Jonathan  (2),  and  Hannah  (Howland)  Bos- 
worth, was  Jonathan,  mentioned  below. 

IV.  Jonathan  (3)  Bosworth,  son  of  Jonathan  (2)  and  Hannah 
(Howland)  Bosworth,  was  born  September  22,  1680.  He  married 
Sarah  Eounds,  and  they  were  the  parents  of  four  children. 

V.  Ichabod  Bosworth,  son  of  Jonathan  (3)  and  Sarah  (Rounds) 
Bosworth,  was  born  May  31,  1706,  in  the  town  of  Swansea,  Massa- 
chusetts. He  married  (first)  January  12,  1726-27,  Mary  Brown, 
and  they  were  the  parents  of  four  children.     He  married  (second) 

252 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

in  Warren,  Rhode  Island,  November  19,  1748,  Bethia  Wood,  of 
Swansea,  Massachusetts,  and  they  were  the  parents  of  Peleg  Bos- 
worth,  mentioned  below.  Ichabod  Bosworth  was  a  prosperous 
farmer  and  well  known  citizen  of  Swansea. 

VI.  Peleg  Bosworth,  son  of  Ichabod  and  Bethia  (Wood)  Bos- 
worth, was  born  May  6, 1754,  in  Swansea,  Massachusetts.  He  was  a 
soldier  in  the  Revolution,  serving  as  a  private  in  Captain  Stephen 
Bullock's  company,  Colonel  Carpenter's  regiment,  marching  to  Bris- 
tol, Rhode  Island,  on  the  alarm  of  December  8,  1776,  serving  twelve 
days  to  December  20,  1776;  also  in  Captain  Israel  Hick's  company, 
Colonel  John  Daggett's  regiment,  marched  January  5,  1778,  dis- 
charged March  31,  1778,  serving  two  months  twenty-seven  days  in 
Rhode  Island;  also  in  Lieutenant  James  Horton's  company,  Col- 
onel Thomas  Carpenter's  regiment,  enlisted  August  2,  1780,  dis- 
charged August  7,  1780,  serving  six  days  on  an  alarm,  marched  to 
Tiverton,  Rhode  Island.  ("  Massachusetts  Soldiers  and  Sailors  in 
the  War  of  the  Revolution,"  vol.  2,  page  382).  Peleg  Bosworth 
married,  September  1,  1774,  Mary  (Polly)  Smith,  who  was  born  in 
Rehoboth,  Massachusetts,  in  August,  1749,  and  died  in  1818. 

VII.  Colonel  Smith  Bosworth,  son  of  Peleg  and  and  Mary  (Polly) 
(Smith)  Bosworth,  was  born  in  the /town  of  Rehoboth,  Massachu- 
setts, October  28,  1781.  After  a  limited  period  of  schooling  he 
began  the  active  business  of  life  by  completing  in  Providence,  Rhode 
Island,  an  apprenticeship  at  the  mason's  trade.  From  a  journey- 
man he  advanced  to  contracting,  and  in  partnership  with  Asa  Bos- 
worth erected  many  of  the  beautiful  homes  on  the  east  side  of  the 
river  in  Providence,  also  a  number  of  the  city's  churches  and  pub- 
lic buildings.  Bosworth  &  Bosworth  were  the  contractors  for  St. 
John's  Episcopal  Church  on  North  Main  street,  Providence,  and 
the  Beneficent  Congregational  Church  on  Broad  street,  and  in 
1814  built  the  mills  of  the  Providence  Dyeing,  Bleaching  and  Calen- 
dering Company  on  Sabin  street.  Two  years  later,  on  March  16, 
1816,  Colonel  Bosworth  accepted  an  appointment  as  agent  for  the 
company,  and  for  nineteen  years  filled  that  responsible  post  effi- 
ciently and  ably.     In  1835  he  resigned,  but  until  1841  continued  in 

253 


ARNOLD  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

the  company's  service  as  superintendent  or  general  outside  man- 
ager. His  connection  with  that  company  brought  him  wide  ac- 
quaintance and  reputation  among  the  business  men  of  the  city,  and 
under  his  able  management  the  company  experienced  great  pros- 
perity, becoming  one  of  the  largest  establishments  of  its  nature  in 
the  United  States. 

Long  before  Providence  became  a  city,  Colonel  Bosworth  was 
active  in  public  affairs  and  held  many  town  offices.  After  its  incor- 
poration as  a  city  he  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Fire  Wards, 
chief  engineer  of  the  Fire  Department,  and  street  commissioner. 
His  military  title  was  gained  through  his  service  in  the  Rhode  Is- 
land State  militia,  in  which  he  held  the  rank  of  colonel  for  many 
years.  He  directed  the  erection  of  the  earthworks  on  Fox  Point  in 
1812,  and  during  the  Dorr  War  was  captain  of  the  City  Guards  of 
Providence.  He  was  a  life  member  of  St.  John's  Lodge,  No.  1, 
Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  of  Providence,  and  late  in  life  became  a 
member  of  Beneficent  Congregational  Church,  in  which  faith  and 
connection  he  died.  He  was  most  generous  in  his  benefactions, 
kindliness  and  a  keen  sense  of  justice  characterizing  markedly  all 
his  actions.  He  lived  in  the  love  and  good  will  of  his  fellow  citizens, 
and  was  highly  esteemed  as  a  man  of  honor  and  integrity. 

Colonel  Bosworth  married,  January  31,  1805,  Sarah  Tripp,  born 
October  6,  1785,  died  November  13,  1860,  at  Warren,  Rhode  Island, 
daughter  of  Othniel  and  Sarah  Tripp,  of  Swansea,  Massachusetts. 
Mrs.  Bosworth  was  buried  in  North  Graveyard,  Providence. 

Colonel  Smith  Bosworth  died  at  his  home  in  Providence,  Rhode 
Island,  March  9,  1857,  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age. 

VIII.  Susan  Johnson  Bosworth,  daughter  of  Colonel  Smith  and 
Sarah  (Tripp)  Bosworth,  was  born  in  Providence,  Rhode  Island, 
March  22,  1828,  and  died  March  16,  1897.  She  married,  June  26, 
1849,  John  Olney  Waterman,  of  Providence,  Rhode  Island.  (See 
Waterman  VTH). 


254 


The  Sherman  Family 

^HE  surname  Sherman  had  its  origin  in  Germany,  where 
n  today  we  find  it  spelled  Schurman,  Schearman,  Scher- 
man  and  Shearman.  It  is  of  the  occupative  class,  and 
i  was  anciently  derived  from  the  occupation  of  early 
progenitors  who  were  dressers,  or  shearers  of  cloth.  The  English 
family  was  a  prominent  one,  and  probably  settled  originally  in  the 
County  of  Suffolk,  whence  they  removed  to  Essex  in  the  fifteenth 
century.     The  name  is  found  in  England  as  early  as  1420. 

The  following  are  heraldic  descriptions  of  various  branches  of 
the  Sherman  family  arms : 

Device  granted  to  Thomas  Sherman,  of  the  Shermans  of  Yaxley, 
County  Suffolk,  England,  under  Henry  VII: 

Arms — Or,  a  lion,  rampant,  sable,  between  three  oak  leaves  vert. 
Crest — A  sea  lion,  sejant,  sable,  charged  on  the  shoulder  with 
three  bezants,  two  and  one. 
Motto — Mortem  vince  virtute. 

Arms  of  the  London  Shermans,  descendants  of  the  Yaxley  house : 
Arms — Same  as  above,  with  an  annulet  for  difference. 
Crest — A  sea  lion,  sejant,  per  pale,  or  and  argent,  guttee-de-poix, 
finned,  of  the  first,  gold,  on  the  shoulder  a  crescent  for  difference. 

Arms  of  the  Ipswich  branch,  descendants  of  the  brother  of 
Thomas  Sherman: 

Arms— Azure  a  pelican  or,  vulning  her  breast  proper. 
Crest — A  sea  lion,  sejant,  per  pale,  or  and  argent,  guttee-de-poix, 
finned  gold. 

Among  notable  members  of  the  family  in  America,  are  the  follow- 
ing named : 

John  Sherman,  (1823-1900),  American  financier  and  statesman. 

255 


THE  SHERMAN  FAMILY 

Younger  brother  of  General  William  Tecumseh  Sherman,  and  of  the 
Lancaster  (Ohio)  family;  Representative  and  Senator  from  Ohio; 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  1877,  and  Secretary  of  State  under 
President  McKinley. 

Charles  R.  Sherman,  father  of  General  William  Tecumseh  Sher- 
man and  of  John  Sherman;  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State  of  Ohio. 

Roger  Sherman,  (1721-1793),  American  political  leader,  and 
signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence;  of  the  Newton  (Massa- 
chusetts) family,  but  later  made  New  Haven  his  home;  Judge  of  the 
Connecticut  Superior  Court;  treasurer  of  Yale  College;  delegate 
to  the  Continental  Congress  in  1774-81  and  1783-84;  Representative, 
1789-91 ;  Senator,  1791-93 ;  on  the  committee  that  drafted  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence,  and  also  on  that  which  drafted  the  Ar- 
ticles of  Confederation. 

General  Thomas  West  Sherman,  Federal  officer  in  the  Civil  War. 

William  Tecumseh  Sherman,  (1820-1891),  American  general;  of 
the  Lancaster  (Ohio)  family.  Descended  from  Edmond  Sherman, 
who  emigrated  from  England  to  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  in 
1634.  General  William  T.  Sherman  fought  the  Seminole  Indians  in 
Florida;  served  through  the  Mexican  War  with  great  credit,  and 
became  famous  during  the  Civil  War,  when  he  made  the  historical 
" March  to  the  Sea"  from  Atlanta  to  Savannah  with  sixty  thousand 
picked  men. 

The  lineage  of  the  Suffolk  family  of  England  which  produced 
the  progenitor  of  the  American  branch,  is  as  follows : 

I.  Thomas  Sherman,  Gentleman,  born  about  1420 ;  resided  at  Diss 

and  Yaxley,  England ;  he  died  in  1493.     He  married  Agnes , 

and  they  were  the  parents  of  John,  mentioned  below. 

II.  John  Sherman,  son  of  Thomas  and  Agnes  Sherman,  gentle- 
man, of  Yaxley,  was  born  about  1450,  and  died  in  November,  1504. 
He  married  Agnes,  daughter  of  Thomas  Fullen,  and  they  were 
the  parents  of  Thomas  (2). 

III.  Thomas  (2)  Sherman,  son  of  John  and  Agnes  (Fullen)  Sher- 
man, was  born  about  1480,  and  died  in  November,  1551.  He  resided, 
as  did  his  father,  at  Diss,  on  the  river  Waveney,  between  Norfolk- 
shire  and  Suifolkshire.  His  will  mentions  property  including  the 
manors  of  Royden  and  Roydentuft  at  Royden  and  Bessingham, 

256 


. 


THE  SHERMAN  FAMILY 

besides  the  estates  in  Norfolkshire  and  Suffolkshire.  We  have  the 
record  of  his  wife  (probably  not  his  first),  who  was  Jane,  daughter 
of  John  Waller,  of  Wortham,  in  Suffolkshire. 

IV.  Henry  Sherman,  son  of  Thomas  (2)  and  Jane  (Waller) 
Sherman,  was  born  about  1530,  in  Yaxley,  England,  and  is  men- 
tioned in  his  father's  will.  His  first  wife,  Agnes  (Butler)  Sherman, 
was  buried  October  14,  1580,  and  he  married  (second)  Margery  Wil- 
son, a  widow. 

V.  Henry  (2)  Sherman,  son  of  Henry  (1)  and  Agnes  (Butler) 
Sherman,  was  born  about  1555,  in  Colchester,  England,  but  made  his 
home  in  Dedham,  Essex;  he  married  Susan  Hills,  and  died  in  1610. 
His  will,  made  August  21,  1610,  was  proved  September  8th  of  the 
same  year.  Six  of  the  sons  mentioned  below  were  living  at  the  time 
of  their  father's  death:  1.  Henry,  born  in  1571,  died  in  1612.  2. 
Samuel,  mentioned  below.     3.  Susan,  born  in  1575.     4.  Edmond,  or 

.  Edward,  born  about  1577.  5.  Nathaniel,  born  in  1580.  6.  John, 
born  August  17,  1585.  7.  Elizabeth,  born  about  1587.  8.  Ezekiel, 
born  July  25,  1589.     9.  Mary,  born  July  27,  1592.     10.  Daniel,  born 

,   died  in   1634.     11.   Anne,   married   Thomas   Wilson.     12. 

Phebe,  married  Simeon  Fenn. 

VI.  Samuel  Sherman,  son  of  Henry  (2)  and  Susan  (Hills)  Sher- 
man, was  born  in  1573,  and  died  in  Dedham,  County  Essex,  Eng- 
land, in  1615.     He  married  Philippa  Ward. 

7.  Philip  Sherman,  immigrant  ancestor,  and  progenitor  of  the 
American  family,  was  born  at  Dedham,  County  Essex,  England, 
February  5,  1610,  son  of  Samuel  and  Philippa  (Ward)  Sherman. 
He  came  to  America  when  twenty-three  years  of  age,  and  settled  in 
the  town  of  Roxbury,  Massachusetts,  in  the  year  1633.  On  May 
14th  of  the  following  year  he  was  made  a  freeman  of  the  colony, 
his  name  standing  next  on  the  list  after  that  of  Governor  Haynes. 
In  1635  he  returned  to  England  for  a  short  time,  but  again  took  up 
residence  in  Roxbury  two  years  later.  On  November  20,  1637,  he 
and  others  were  warned  to  give  up  all  arms  because  "the  opinions 

257 


THE  SHERMAN  FAMILY 

and  revelations  of  Mr.  Wheelwright  and  Mrs.  Hutchinson  have 
seduced  and  led  into  dangerous  errors  many  of  the  people  here  in 
New  England. "  The  church  record  says  that  he  was  brought  over 
to  "Familism"  by  Porter,  his  wife's  stepfather.  In  1636  he  was 
one  of  the  purchasers  of  the  Island  of  Aquidneck,  now  Rhode  Island, 
and  on  the  formation  of  a  government  in  1639  became  secretary 
under  Governor  William  Coddington.  In  1637  he  with  eighteen 
others  signed  the  following  compact:  "We  whose  names  are  under- 
written do  here  solemnly  in  the  presence  of  Jehovah  incorporate 
ourselves  into  a  Bodie  Politick,  and  as  he  shall  help  will  submit  our 
persons,  lives  and  estates  unto  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  King 
of  Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords,  and  to  all  those  perfect  and  most  abso- 
lute laws  of  his  given  us  in  his  holy  word  of  truth,  to  be  guided  and 
judged  thereby.' '  In  1638  he  removed  to  Portsmouth,  Rhode 
Island,  where  there  is  record  of  him  as  early  as  May  13th  of  that 
year.  The  Massachusetts  authorities  evidently  believed  that  he 
was  still  under  their  jurisdiction,  for  on  March  12,  1638,  though  he 
had  summons  to  appear  at  the  next  court,  ' '  if  they  had  not  yet  gone 
to  answer  such  things  as  shall  be  objected,''  he  did  not  answer  the 
summons,  and  continued  to  occupy  a  prominent  place  in  Rhode 
Island  affairs. 

Philip  Sherman  was  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  figures  in  early 
affairs  in  the  colony,  and  played  a  large  part  in  public  life.  He  was 
general  recorder  of  the  colony  in  the  years  1648-49-50-51,  and  in 
1665-1667  served  as  deputy  to  the  General  Court  of  Rhode  Island. 
On  April  4,  1676,  he  was  one  of  the  sixteen  men  of  good  judgment 
and  ability  chosen  to  assist  and  advise  the  Council  in  regard  to  the 
conduct  of  the  Narragansett  campaign.  After  his  removal  to 
Rhode  Island,  he  left  the  Congregational  church,  of  which  he  had 
been  a  member,  and  united  with  the  Society  of  Friends.  Tradition 
affirms  that  he  was  "a  devout  but  determined  man."  Early  records 
kept  by  him  in  his  official  capacities,  still  extant,  show  him  to  have 
been  a  very  neat  and  expert  penman,  as  well  as  a  man  of  broad  and 
liberal  education. 

Philip  Sherman  married  Sarah  Odding,  stepdaughter  of  John 
Porter,  of  Roxbury,  and  his  wife  Margaret,  who  was  a  widow  Od- 
ding at  the  time  of  her  marriage  to  Porter.     Children:     1.  Eber, 

258 


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THE  SHERMAN  FAMILY 

born  in  1634,  lived  in  Kingstown,  Rhode  Island,  died  in  1706  2. 
Sarah,  born  in  1636;  married  Thomas  Mumford.  3.  Peleg,  born  in 
1638;  died  in  1719,  in  Kingstown.  4.  Mary,  born  in  1639,  died 
young.  5.  Edmond,  lived  in  Portsmouth  and  Dartmouth,  died  in 
1719.  6.  Samson,  mentioned  below.  7.  William,  born  in  1643,  died 
young.  S.  John,  born  in  1644 ;  a  farmer  and  blacksmith,  in  what  is 
now  South  Dartmouth ;  died  April  16,  1734.  9.  Mary,  born  in  1645 ; 
married  Samuel  Wilbur.  10.  Hannah,  born  in  1647 ;  married  Wil- 
liam Chase.  11.  Samuel,  born  in  1648;  lived  in  Portsmouth,  died 
October  9,  1717.  12.  Benjamin,  born  in  1650,  lived  in  Portsmouth. 
13.  Philippa,  born  October  1,  1652;  married  Benjamin  Chase. 

II.  Samson  Sherman,  son  of  Philip  and  Sarah  (Odding)  Sher- 
man, was  born  in  the  town  of  Portsmouth,  Rhode  Island,  in  1642, 
and  passed  his  entire  life  there,  a  prominent  and  respected  citizen. 
He  married,  March  4,  1675,  Isabel  Tripp,  born  in  1651,  daughter  of 
John  and  Mary  (Paine)  Tripp.  She  died  in  1716.  Children:  1. 
Philip,  born  January  16,  1676.  2.  Sarah,  born  September  24,  1677. 
3.  Alice,  born  January  12,  1680.  4.  Samson,  born  January  28,  1682. 
5.  Abiel,  born  October  15,  1684.  6.  Isabel,  born  in  1686.  7.  Job, 
mentioned  below. 

III.  Job  Sherman,  son  of  Samson  and  Isabel  (Tripp)  Sherman, 
was  born  in  Portsmouth,  Rhode  Island,  November  8,  1687,  and  died 
there  November  16,  1747.  He  married  (first)  December  23,  1714, 
Bridget  Gardiner,  of  Kingstown,  Rhode  Island,  and  (second)  in 
1732,  Amie  Spencer,  of  East  Greenwich,  Rhode  Island.  Children  of 
the  first  marriage:  1.  Philip,  born  December  12,  1715.  2.  Israel, 
born  October  31,  1717.  3.  Mary,  born  January  16,  1719.  4.  Job, 
born  May  2,  1722.  5.  Bridget,  born  May  7,  1724.  6.  Sarah,  born 
October  29,  1726.  7.  Alice,  born  April  25,  1728.  8.  Mary,  born  Oc- 
tober 13,  1730.  Children  of  the  second  marriage:  9.  Amie,  born 
May  27,  1734.  10.  Benjamin,  born  September  14,  1735.  11.  Sam- 
son, mentioned  below.  12.  Martha,  born  November  28,  1738.  13. 
Walter,  born  August  20, 1740. 14.  Dorcas,  born  November  2, 1742.  15. 
Abigail,  born  September  10,  1744. 

IV.  Samson  (2)  Sherman,  son  of  Job  and  Amie  (Spencer)  Sher- 
man, was  born  in  Portsmouth,  Rhode  Island,  July  23,  1737.     He 

259 


THE  SHERMAN  FAMILY 

spent  his  entire  life  in  his  native  place  engaged  extensively  in  farm- 
ing. He  married,  December  9,  1761,  Ruth,  daughter  of  David  and 
Jemima  (Tallman)  Fish,  of  Portsmouth,  Rhode  Island,  and  they 
were  the  parents  of  the  following  children :  1.  Walter,  born  April 
4,  1763;  married  Rebecca  Anthony,  of  Portsmouth.  2.  Amy,  born 
January  6,  1764;  married  Daniel  Anthony,  of  Portsmouth.  3.  Job, 
born  January  21,  1766 ;  married  Alice  Anthony.  4.  Susanna,  born 
October  19,  1767,  married  Peleg  Almy,  of  Portsmouth.  5.  Anne, 
born  November  19,  1770,  married  Nathan  Chase,  of  Portsmouth.  6. 
David,  born  June,  1772,  married  Waite  Sherman,  of  Portsmouth.  7. 
Ruth,  born  October  21,  1773 ;  died  in  infancy.  8.  Ruth,  born  Feb- 
ruary 20, 1778,  married  Obadiah  David,  of  New  Bedford,  Massachu- 
setts. 9.  Asa,  mentioned  below.  10.  Abigail,  born  April  2,  1782; 
married  Abram  Davis,  of  Fair  Haven,  Massachusetts.  11.  Mary, 
born  November  18,  1783;  married  David  Shove,  of  Berkley,  Mas- 
sachusetts. 

V.  Asa  Sherman,  son  of  Samson  (2)  and  Ruth  (Fish)  Sherman, 
was  born  December  22,  1779,  in  Portsmouth,  Rhode  Island,  and  died 
at  Fall  River,  Massachusetts,  December  29,  1863.  He  was  a  birth- 
right member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  was  an  extensive  land 
owner  and  farmer  in  Portsmouth.  He  was  buried  in  the  old 
Friends '  Cemetery  at  Portsmouth.  Asa  Sherman  married,  at  the 
Friends J  Meeting  in  Portsmouth,  November  11,  1805,  Elizabeth 
Mitchell,  born  October  17,  1782,  in  Middletown,  Rhode  Island, 
daughter  of  Richard  and  Joanna  (Lawton)  Mitchell  (see  Mitchell 
HI).  Their  children  were:  1.  Ruth,  born  November  21,  1806.  2. 
Joanna,  born  July  30, 1808,  died  at  Fall  River.  3.  Sarah,  born  Feb- 
ruary 20, 1810 ;  married,  November  30, 1829,  Abner  Slade,  of  Swan- 
sea, Massachusetts.  4.  Amy,  born  September  16,  1811;  married, 
October  21,  1839,  Mark  Anthony,  of  Taunton,  Massachusetts.  5. 
Richard  Mitchell,  born  September  16,  1813.  6.  Mary,  mentioned 
below.  7.  Asa,  born  December  23,  1817.  8.  Daniel,  born  June  25, 
1820.  9.  William,  born  April  9,  1823.  10.  Annie,  born  July  17, 
1826,  died  at  Fall  River,  January  15,  1849. 

VI.  Mary  Sherman,  daughter  of  Asa  and  Elizabeth  (Mitchell) 
Sherman,  was  born  September  16,  1815,  at  Portsmouth,  Rhode 
Island.     She  married,  October  5,  1842,  Hon.  William  L.  Slade,  of 

260 


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THE  SHERMAN  FAMILY 

Somerset,  Massachusetts.     (See  Slade  VII).     They  were  the  par- 
ents of  Caroline  Elizabeth  Slade,  mentioned  below. 

VII.  Caroline  Elizabeth  Slade,  daughter  of  Hon.  William  Lawton 
and  Mary  (Sherman)  Slade,  was  born  at  Somerset,  Massachusetts, 
January  3,  1846.  She  married,  March  25,  1868,  Hezekiah  Anthony 
Brayton,  of  Fall  River,  Massachusetts.     (See  Brayton  VII). 

(The   Chase   Line.) 

The  surname  Chase  is  of  ancient  French  origin,  and  had  its  origin 
in  the  French  verb,  chasser,  to  hunt.  In  the  intermingling  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  and  Norman-French  tongues,  the  word  chase  was 
adopted  with  its  original  meaning,  and  later  came  to  be  applied  to 
that  part  of  a  forest  of  park  termed  the  chase,  an  open  piece  of 
ground  for  the  herding  of  deer  and  other  game.  Residents  near 
these  large  deer  enclosures,  of  which  every  knight  or  noble  had  at 
least  one  under  the  feudal  regime,  adopted  the  name  Chase  as  a 
surname  when  the  custom  spread  to  the  middle  classes.  Chase 
families  had  before  this  date,  however,  wielded  large  power  among 
the  landed  gentry  and  nobility.  The  ancestral  seat  of  the  American 
branch  of  the  ancient  England  family  was  at  Chesham,  Bucking- 
hamshire, through  which  passes  the  river  Chess.  Several  immi- 
grants of  the  name  were  in  the  New  England  Colonies  in  the  first 
half  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Their  progeny  is  large  and  prom- 
inent, and  is  today  found  in  every  part  of  the  United  States.  One 
of  the  most  notable  descendants  of  the  early  Chase  family  was  the 
Hon.  Salmon  Portland  Chase,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under 
President  Lincoln,  and  successor  of  Judge  Roger  B.  Taney  as  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

I.  William  Chase,  immigrant  ancestor,  and  founder  of  the  line 
herein  under  consideration,  was  born  in  England,  and  came  to 
America  in  1630  in  company  with  John  Winthrop.  Thomas  and 
Aquila  Chase,  who  settled  at  Hampton,  New  Hampshire,  in  1639, 
were  brothers,  and  are  thought  by  many  authorities  to  have  been 
cousins  of  William  Chase,  the  first  comer.  The  record  of  Rev. 
John  Eliot,  the  Indian  Apostle,  of  "such  as  adjoined  themselves  to 
this  church,' '  the  first  church  of  Roxbury,  has  this  entry:  "Wil- 
liam Chase,  he  came  with  the  first  company,  bringing  with  him  hia 
wife  Mary  and  his  son  William."     "He  later  had  a  daughter  whom 

261 


THE  SHERMAN  FAMILY 

they  named  Mary,  born  about  the  middle  of  3rd  month,  1637,  after 
which  date  he  removed  to  Scituate,  but  went  with  a  company  who 
made  a  new  plantation  at  Yarmouth.' '     On  October  19,  1630,  Wil- 
liam Chase  applied  for  admission  as  a  freeman  at  Roxbury,  where 
he  subsequently  became  a  town  officer.     In  1634  he  was  made  a 
freeman  at  Boston.     In  1639  he  was  constable  at  Yarmouth,  Mas- 
sachusetts, whither  he  had  removed  the  year  previous,  and  where 
he  died.     His  will,  proved  May  13,  1659,  was  dated  May  4  of  that 
year,  and  the  court  ordered  Eobert  Dennis  to  divide  the  estate  as  he 
:  ordered.     His  son  Benjamin  received  two  parts  of  three,  and  Wil- 
;  liam,  the  eldest  son,  received  the  third  part.     In  October,  1659,  his 
:  widow  Mary  was  found  dead,  and  a  coroner's  inquest  decided  that 
1  she  died  a  natural  death.     In  1645  William  Chase  served  against 
the  Narragansett  Indians.     In  1643  his  name,  as  well  as  that  of  his 
:  son,  appears  on  the  list  of  males  able  to  bear  arms,  between  the  ages 
1  of  sixteen  and  sixty.     In  1645  he  was  a  drummer  in  Myles  Stand- 
ish's  company  that  went  to  the  banks  opposite  Providence.     Chil- 
dren of  William  and  Mary  Chase:     1.  William,  born  in  England, 
mentioned  below.     2.  Mary,  born  in  March,  1637 ;   died  October  28, 
I  1652.     3.  Benjamin,  born  in  1640. 

II.  William  (2)  Chase,  son  of  William  (1)  and  Mary  Chase,  was 
born  in  England,  about  1623,  and  accompanied  his  parents  to  Amer- 
ica in  1630,  at  the  age  of  about  seven  years.  In  1638  he  removed 
with  his  father's  family  to  Yarmouth,  where  he  resided  during  his 
entire  life,  and  where  he  died  on  February  27,  1685.  Children :  1. 
William,  married  (first)  Hannah  Sherman;    (second)  December  6, 

1732,  Priscilla  Perry.     2.  Jacob,  married  Mary  .     3.  John, 

married,  in  1674,  Elizabeth  Baker.  4.  Elizabeth,  married,  May  27, 
1674,  Daniel  Baker.  5.  Abraham,  married  Elizabeth .  6.  Jo- 
seph, married,  February  28,  1684,  Sarah  Sherman.  7.  Benjamin, 
married,  September  21,  1696,  Amy  Borden.  8.  Samuel,  mentioned 
below. 

III.  Samuel  Chase,  son  of  William  (2)  Chase,  was  born  in  Yar- 
mouth, Massachusetts,  and  married,  in  1699,  Sarah  Sherman,  daugh- 
ter of  Samuel  and  Martha  (Tripp)  Sherman.  He  was  a  prosperous 
farmer,  and  respected  citizen  of  Yarmouth.  Children:  1.  Phebe, 
mentioned  below.    2.  Martha,  born  February  24,  1702;    married 

262 


THE  SHERMAN  FAMILY 

(first)  June  5,  1722,  Ezekiel  Fowler;  (second)  May  11,  1749,  Sam- 
uel Bowen.  3.  Susanna,  born  April  7,  1704;  married  July  5,  1726, 
William  Buffinton.  4.  Elisha,  born  May  5,  1706;  married  (first) 
October  20,  1726,  Elizabeth  Wheaton;  (second)  January  16,  1746, 
Sarah  Tucker.  5.  Samuel,  born  January  20,  1710 ;  married  August 
13,  1730,  Abigail  Buffum.  6.  Eleazer,  born  April  27,  1711;  mar- 
ried, May  26,  1730,  Kuth  Perry.  7.  Philip,  born  August  20,  1715 ; 
married  Hannah  Buffurn.  8.  John,  born  December  8,  1720;  mar- 
ried, January  18,  1744,  Lydia  Luther.  9.  Sarah,  married  Daniel 
Baker. 

IV,  Phebe  Chase,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Sarah  (Sherman) 
Chase,  was  born  in  Yarmouth,  Massachusetts,  January  22,  1700. 
She  married,  December  6,  1720,  Edward  Slade,  son  of  William  the 
founder  and  Sarah  (Holmes)  Slade.     (See  Slade  II). 

(The   Buffum   Line.) 

7.  Robert  Buffum,  immigrant  ancestor  and  progenitor  of  a  family 
which  has  been  continuous  and  prominent  in  New  England  for  more 
than  two  hundred  and  seventy  years,  was  born  in  Yorkshire  or 
Devonshire,  England,  and  was  in  Salem,  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay 
Colony,  as  early  as  1638.  He  was  a  yeoman,  and  to  some  extent  a 
trader.  All  the  family  except  Bobert  Buffum,  through  sympathy 
with  the  Quakers  who  were  being  persecuted,  became  Quakers  them- 
selves. On  one  occasion  Deborah  Buffum,  youngest  daughter  of 
the  founder,  through  great  religious  fervor  and  excitement,  removed 
nearly  all  of  her  clothing  and  marched  through  the  streets  of  Salem, 
proclaiming  that  she  was  bearing  testimony  against  the  nakedness 
of  the  world.  She  was  later  tried  and  condemned  to  walk  through 
the  streets  of  Salem,  in  the  same  manner,  at  the  "tail  end"  of  a 
cart,  accompanied  by  her  mother. 

Robert  Buffum  was  a  husbandman  by  principal  occupation,  and 
the  trade  he  carried  on  was  the  sale  of  garden  seeds,  which  was 
continued  by  his  widow  after  his  death.  She,  Tamosin  Buffum,  was 
appointed  to  administer  the  estate,  which  was  inventoried  at  more 
than  £270.  He  made  a  will  disposing  of  his  worldly  estate  in  man- 
ner prescribed  by  law,  but  when  it  was  offered  for  probate  the  sub- 
scribing witnesses,  being  Friends,  would  only  affirm,  and  not  swear 

263 


THE  SHERMAN  FAMILY 

"on  the  book,"  hence  the  instrument  was  refused  probate  by  the 
court.  Robert  Buffum  died  in  1669,  and  his  wife,  who  was  born  in 
1606,  died  in  1688.  They  were  the  parents  of  the  following  chil- 
dren: 1.  Joshua,  born  in  1635;  on  account  of  sympathy  with  the 
Quakers  he  was  banished  from  the  colony,  and  returning  to  Eng- 
land laid  his  case  before  the  King,  wTho  ordered  the  Salem  authori- 
ties to  take  him  back,  and  it  is  a  fact  worthy  of  note  that  the  first 
Quaker  meeting  held  in  New  England  was  later  held  at  his  house ; 
he  married  Demaris  Pope.  2.  Lydia,  born  in  1644;  married  (first) 
John  Hill;  (second)  George  Locker.  3.  Margaret,  married  John 
Smith.  4.  Sarah,  married  William  Beane.  5.  Mary,  born  in  1648; 
married  Jeremiah  Beale.  6.  Caleb,  mentioned  below.  7.  Deborah, 
married  Robert  Wilson. 

II.  Caleb  Buffum,  son  of  Robert  and  Tamosin  Buffum,  was  born 
in  Salem,  Massachusetts,  July  29,  1650,  and  died  in  1731.  He  and 
his  brother  Joshua  were  executors  of  their  mother's  will,  which 
was  proved  June  19,  1688.  Under  the  will,  Caleb  received  ' '  2  acres 
of  meadow  and  a  great  pewter  basin."  He  married,  March  26,  1672, 
Hannah  Pope,  who  was  born  about  1648,  daughter  of  Joseph  and 
Gertrude  Pope.  Their  children  were:  1.  Caleb,  born  May  14, 
1673.  2.  Robert,  born  December  1,  1675.  3.  Jonathan,  born  about 
1677,  mentioned  below7.     5.  Benjamin.     6.  Hannah.     7.  Tamosin. 

III.  Jonathan  Buffum,  son  of  Caleb  and  Hannah  (Pope)  Buffum, 

was  born  about  1677.     He  married  Mercy ,  and  they  were,  the 

parents  of  several  children,  among  whom  the  following  are  re- 
corded :  1.  Jonathan,  born  December  8,  1713 ;  died  young.  2.  De- 
borah, born  February  1,  1716-17.  3.  Jonathan,  born  September  16, 
1719.  4.  Mercy,  mentioned  below.  There  were  probably  others, 
but  no  record  of  them  can  be  found. 

IV.  Mercy  Buffum,  daughter  of  Jonathan  and  Mercy  Buffum,  was 
born  July  23, 1723,  at  Salem,  Massachusetts,  and  died  November  18, 
1797,  in  Swansea,  Massachusetts.  She  married  Samuel  Slade.  (See 
Slade  III). 

Note. — References   in    foregoing  will  be   found  in    former   or   future  numbers   of 
"Americana." 

264 


The  Howland  Family 


^HE  original,  highly  ornamented,  water  color  painting  of 
the  Howland  escutcheon  from  which  copies  of  the  arms 
used  in  this  country  have  been  made,  is  said  to  have 
been  brought  to  America  shortly  after  the  arrival  of 


the  ' '  Mayflower. ' '  In  1865  this  painting  was  in  the  possession  of 
Rev.  T.  Howland  White,  of  Shelbourne,  Nova  Scotia,  a  grandson  of 
Gideon  White,  whose  wife  was  Joanna,  daughter  of  John  Howland, 
son  of  the  Pilgrim.     The  arms  bear  the  following  inscription : 

He  beareth  sable,  two  bars  argent,  on  a  chief  of  the  second  three 
lions  rampant  of  the  first,  and  for  his  crest  on  a  wreath  of  his  colors 
a  lion  passant  sable,  ducally  gorged  or.     By  the  name  of  Howland. 

The  original  Howlands  in  America  were  Arthur,  Henry  and  John. 
The  last  named  was  of  the  "Mayflower"  number,  and  is  the  progen- 
itor of  the  line  herein  under  consideration.  The  progeny  of  these 
three  Howlands  is  a  large  and  prominent  one  in  New  England,  and 
from  the  earliest  years  of  the  struggle  of  Plymouth  Colony  for  a 
foothold  in  the  New  World  has  played  an  important  part  in  our  life 
and  affairs. 

J.  Humphrey  Howland,  the  first  of  the  line  of  whom  we  have  defi- 
nite information,  was  the  father  of  the  American  immigrants,  and 
was  a  citizen  and  draper  of  London.  His  will,  proved  July  10,  1646, 
bequeathed  to  sons:  George,  of  St.  Dunstan's  in  the  East,  Lon- 
don; Arthur,  Henry  and  John.  The  last  three  were  to  receive 
under  his  will,  dated  May  28,  1646,  £8  4s.  4d.  out  of  the  debt  "due 
the  testator  (Humphrey)  by  Mr.  Buck,  of  Salem,  Massachusetts." 
Annie  Howland,  widow  of  Humphrey  Howland,  was  executrix  of 
the  estate.  She  was  buried  at  Barking,  County  Essex,  England, 
December  20,  1653.  The  sons  Arthur,  Henry  and  John,  were  in 
Scrooby,  England,  and  were  members  of  the  band  of  Puritans  who 
left  England  because  of  religious  intolerance  and  sought  freedom  in 
Amsterdam,  Holland,  where  they  remained  a  year,  subsequently 
removing  to  Leyden,  whence  they  emigrated  to  the  New  World. 

265 


THE  HOWLAND  FAMILY 

77.  John  Hoivland,  son  of  Humphrey  and  Annie  Howland,  held  to 
the  original  faith  of  the  Puritans,  and  was  an  officer  of  Rev.  John 
Cotton's  church,  and  a  staunch  adherent  of  the  orthodox  faith  until 
his  death,  while  Arthur  and  Henry  were  Quakers.  John  How- 
land's  was  the  thirteenth  name  on  the  list  of  forty-one  signers  of  the 
"Compact"  in  the  cabin  of  the  ' ' Mayflower, ' '  in  "Cape  Cod  Har- 
bor," November  21,  1620.  At  this  time  he  was  twenty-eight  years 
of  age,  and  according  to  Prince  was  a  member  of  Governor  Carver's 
family.  How  this  came  about  is  not  known,  but  it  is  probable  that 
Carver  saw  elements  in  his  character  which  led  him  to  supply  young 
Howland 's  wants  for  the  journey  to  America,  and  to  cause  him  to 
be  considered  one  of  the  family.  That  he  possessed  sound  judg- 
ment and  business  capacity  is  shown  by  the  active  duties  which  he 
assumed,  and  the  trust  which  was  reposed  in  him  in  all  the  early 
labors  of  establishing  a  settlement.  While  the  "Mayflower"  was 
yet  in  Cape  Cod  Harbor,  ten  of  "her  principal"  men  were  "sente 
out"  in  a  boat  manned  by  eight  sailors,  to  select  a  place  for  land- 
ing; among  them  was  John  Howland.  A  storm  drove  them  into 
Plymouth  Harbor  and  Plymouth  was  selected  as  the  place  of  set- 
tlement. 

The  first  mention  of  John  Howland  in  the  old  Plymouth  Colony 
records  is  on  a  list  of  freemen ;  and  in  an  enumeration  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Governor's  Council  of  seven,  of  which  he  is  the  third.  In 
1633  or  1634  he  was  an  assessor;  was  selectman  of  Plymouth  in 
1666,  and  was  chosen  deputy  of  the  same  town,  in  1652-56-58-61-62- 
66-67-70.  He  was  elected  to  public  office  for  the  last  time  on  June 
2,  1670,  at  which  time  he  was  nearly  eighty  years  of  age.  Besides 
these  public  positions  of  honor  and  trust,  he  was  very  often  selected 
to  lay  out  and  appraise  land,  to  run  highways,  to  settle  disputes, 
and  to  serve  on  committees  of  every  description.  He  was  not  only 
full  of  zeal  for  the  temporal  welfare  of  the  colony,  but  gave  pow- 
erful encouragement  to  a  high  standard  of  morals  and  religion,  so 
much  so  that  he  is  recorded  as  "a  godly  man  and  an  ancient  pro- 
fessor in  the  ways  of  Christ."  It  is  shown  that  he  was  active  in 
Christian  work,  for  Governor  Bradford  notes  that  he  became  "a 
profitable  member  both  in  Church  and  Commonwealth,"  and  it 
appears  that  at  the  ordination  of  John  Cotton,  Jr.,  in  1667,  John 

266 


THE  HOWLAND  FAMILY 

Howland  "was  appointed  by  the  church  to  join  in  the  imposition 
of  hands/ '  He  lived  at  what  was  called  Rocky  Nook,  where  he  died 
February  23,  1672-73. 

John  Howland  married  Elizabeth  Tilley,  daughter  of  John  Tilley, 
and  ward  of  Governor  Carver,  into  whose  family  she  was  taken  at 
the  death  of  her  father,  when  she  was  about  fourteen  years  of  age. 
She  died  December  21,  16S7,  aged  eighty  years,  in  Swanzey,  Massa- 
chusetts, at  the  home  of  her  daughter,  Lydia  Brown,  and  was  the 
last  but  three  of  the  " Mayflower' '  passengers  to  die.  Their  chil- 
dren were :  1.  Desire,  born  October  13,  1623,  in  Barnstable ;  mar- 
ried, in  1643,  Captain  John  Gorham.  2.  John,  born  in  Plymouth, 
February  24,  1627.  3.  Jabez,  mentioned  on  following  page.  4. 
Hope,  born  August  30,  1629;  died  January  8,  1684;  married,  in 
1646,  John  Chipman.  5.  Elizabeth,  married  (first)  September  13, 
1649,  Ephraim  Hicks,  of  Plymouth,  who  died  December  2,  1649; 
married  (second)  July  10,  1651,  John  Dickarson,  of  Plymouth.  6. 
Lydia,  married  James  Brown,  and  settled  in  Swanzey.  7.  Ruth, 
married,  November  17,  1664,  Thomas  Cushman.  8.  Hannah,  mar- 
ried, July  6, 1661,  Jonathan  Bosworth.  9.  Joseph,  died  in  January, 
1704.  10.  Isaac,  born  November  16, 1649 ;  died  March  9, 1724 ;  mar- 
ried Elizabeth  Vaughn,  born  in  1652 ;  died  October  29,  1727. 

HI.  Jabez  Howland,  son  of  John  and  Elizabeth  (Tilley)  How- 
land, was  born  in  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  in  1628.  He  resided  in 
Plymouth  during  the  early  part  of  his  life,  and  took  an  active  part 
in  public  life,  holding  various  civil  offices.  He  served  as  a  lieuten- 
ant under  Captain  Benjamin  Church  in  King  Philip's  War,  and 
proved  his  bravery  under  a  test  made  by  Church  for  that  purpose. 
He  was  a  blacksmith  and  cooper,  doing  a  very  large  business  in  both 
these  trades,  which  were  of  large  importance  in  early  colonial  days. 
He  removed  to  Bristol,  Rhode  Island,  where  he  settled,  and  con- 
ducted a  blacksmith  establishment.  His  residence  was  on  Hope 
street,  where  he  kept  a  hotel.  Jabez  Howland  was  first  town  clerk 
of  Bristol,  and  subsequently  became  prominent  in  the  affairs  of  the 
town.  He  was  selectman,  assessor,  and  deputy  to  the  General 
Court.  He  was  active  in  the  construction  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional Church  of  Bristol.     His  will,  dated  July  14,  1708,  was  proved 

267 


THE  HOWL  AND  FAMILY 

April  21,  1712,  and  disposed  of  an  estate  valued  at  £600.  He  was 
one  of  the  most  influential  citizens  of  early  Bristol,  highly 
esteemed. 

He  married  Bethiah  Thatcher,  daughter  of  Anthony  Thatcher, 
and  granddaughter  of  Anthony  Thatcher,  who  came  from  Sarum, 
England,  with  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth  Jones,  in  the  ship 
"James,"  in  April,  1635.  The  vessel  was  wrecked  off  Cape  Ann, 
August  16  of  that  year,  and  he  was  made  administrator  of  the 
estate  of  Joseph  Avery,  one  of  the  victims  of  the  disaster.  The 
General  Court  gave  to  Anthony  Thatcher  the  island  on  which  the 
vessel  was  wrecked.  He  was  a  tailor  by  trade,  and  settled  first  in 
Marblehead,  whence  he  removed  to  Yarmouth,  on  Cape  Cod,  and 
gave  allegiance  to  the  Plymouth  Colony,  January  7,  1639.  He  was 
deputy  to  the  General  Court,  a  magistrate,  and  was  licensed  to 
marry  persons. 

Thatcher  Anns. — Gules  a  cross  moline  argent ;  on  a  chief  or  three 
grasshoppers  proper. 

Crest — A  Saxon  sword  or  seax  proper. 

Children  of  Jabez  and  Bethiah  (Thatcher)  Howland:  1.  Jabez, 
born  November  15, 1670.  2.  John,  born  March  15, 1673.  3.  Bethiah, 
born  August  6,  1674.  4.  Josiah,  born  October  6,  1676.  5.  John, 
born  September  26,  1679.  Eecorded  in  Bristol,  Rhode  Lsland :  6. 
Judah,  born  May  7,  1683.  7.  Seth,  born  January  5,  1684-85.  8. 
Samuel,  mentioned  on  following  page.  9.  Experience,  born  May 
19, 1687.     10.  Joseph,  born  October  14,  1692. 

IV.  Samuel  Howland,  son  of  Jabez  and  Bethiah  (Thatcher)  How- 
land,  was  born  in  Bristol,  Rhode  Island,  May  16, 1686.  He  married, 
May  6,  1708,  Abigail  Cary,  born  August  31,  1684,  daughter  of  John 
and  Abigail  (Allen)  Cary;  she  died  August  16,  1737.  Samuel 
Howland  was  a  lifelong  resident  of  Bristol,  prominent  in  its  affairs, 
and  the  owner  of  considerable  property.  Children:  1.  Samuel, 
born  April  3,  1709.  2.  Abigail,  born  October  18,  1710.  3.  John, 
born  September  27,  1713,  4.  Tabitha,  born  November  13,  1715.  5. 
Seth,  born  July  9,  1719.  6.  Mary,  mentioned  on  a  following  page. 
7.  Phebe,  born  September  9,  1721 ;  married  John  Wardwell. 

268 


THE  HOWLAND  FAMILY 

Cary  Arms. — Argent,  on  a  bend  sable  three  roses  of  the  first, 
seeded  or,  barbed  vert,  a  border  of  the  second  bezantee. 
Crest — A  swan,  wings  elevated  proper. 
Motto — Virtute  excerptae  (Conspicuous  for  virtue). 

Abigail  Allen,  mother  of  Abigail  (Cary)  Howland,  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  Samuel  Allen,  who  came  from  Bridgewater,  England,  with 
his  wife  Aome,  and  settled  in  Braintree,  Massachusetts.  The  wife 
died  in  1641,  and  he  married  (second)  Margaret  Lamb,  who  was 
the  mother  of  Abigail  Allen,  wife  of  John  Cary.  John  Cary,  ances- 
tor of  Abigail  (Cary)  Howland,  was  born  about  1610,  and  resided 
near  Bristol,  Somersetshire,  England,  whence  he  came  about  1634 
to  America,  and  settled  in  Duxbury,  Massachusetts,  where  he  had  a 
farm.  He  was  one  of  the  proprietors  of  Bridgewater,  Massachu- 
setts, and  one  of  its  first  settlers,  locating  in  what  is  now  West 
Bridgewater,  one-quarter  of  a  mile  east  of  the  present  town  house. 
Bridgewater  was  incorporated  as  a  town  in  1656,  and  John  Cary 
was  its  first  town  clerk,  filling  that  office  for  several  years.  He  mar- 
ried, in  1644,  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Francis  and  Elizabeth  God- 
frey. His  eldest  child,  John  (2)  Cary,  was  born  November  4,  1645, 
in  Duxbury,  Massachusetts,  resided  in  Bridgewater  until  1680, 
when  he  removed  to  Bristol,  Rhode  Island,  and  died  there  July  14, 
1721,  his  estate  valued  at  £700.  The  deed  of  his  first  land  in  Bris- 
tol was  dated  September  14,  1680,  and  he  was  present  at  the  first 
town  meeting  of  that  town,  prominent  in  town  affairs,  and  deacon 
of  the  church  from  its  organization  until  his  death.  He  was  one 
of  the  first  " raters' '  or  assessors,  secretary  of  the  county,  clerk  of 
the  peace,  and  representative  in  the  General  Assembly  in  1694.  He 
married  in  Bridgewater,  December  7,  1670,  Abigail,  daughter  of 
Samuel  Allen  and  his  second  wife,  Margaret  Lamb,  who  at  the  time 
of  her  marriage  to  Samuel  Allen  was  a  widow,  maiden  name  French. 
His  second  daughter  became  the  wife  of  Samuel  Howland,  as  pre- 
viously noted. 

V.  Mary  Hoivland,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Abigail  (Cary)  How- 
land, was  born  in  Bristol,  Rhode  Island,  March  18,  1720.  She  mar- 
ried, September  26, 1742,  William  (2)  Wardwell,  of  Bristol,  descend- 

269 


%- 


THE  HOWLAND  FAMILY 

ant   in   the   fourth   American   generation   of   William   Wardwell, 
founder  of  the  line  in  New  England.     (See  Wardwell  IV). 

(The  Tilley  Line.) 

Tilley  Arms. — Argent  a  wivern  with  wings  endorsed  sable, 
charged  on  the  breast  with  an  annulet  or. 

Crest — The  head  of  a  battle-ax  issuing  from  the  wreath. 

As  early  as  the  Norman  Conquest,  the  surname  Tilley  is  found 
in  England,  and  appears  in  the  "Domesday  Book."  The  name  was 
common  also  in  France  and  Holland  at  an  early  date,  and  is  doubt- 
less of  Norman-French  origin,  as  Lower  states  that  there  is  a  vil- 
lage of  Tilly  in  the  Department  of  Calvados,  in  Normany.  The 
name  is  spelled  in  ancient  records  Tillie,  Tilly,  Teley,  Tiley,  Tilee 
and  Tely.  We  have  at  the  present  time  the  surname  Tylee,  prob- 
ably of  the  same  stock. 

Edward  and  John  Tilley  were  among  the  passengers  of  the  "  May- 
flower.' '  Edward  and  his  wife  Ann  both  died  in  the  spring  of 
1620-21.  John  brought  his  wife  and  daughter  Elizabeth,  and  he 
and  his  wife  also  died  early  in  1621.  The  only  descendants  of  these 
^V  Pilgrim  Tilleys  are  through  Elizabeth  Tilley,  who  became  the  wife 
of  John  Howland.  No  person  can  claim  descent  through  these 
ancestors  in  the  male  line.  There  was  another  John  Tilley  in  Dor- 
chester who  came  in  1628;  died  without  issue.  William  Tilley,  of 
Barnstable  and  Boston,  came  from  Little  Minories,  England,  in  the 
ship  " Abigail/ '  in  June,  1636,  left  a  daughter  Sarah,  but  no  sons. 
Others  of  the  name  came  later. 

7.  John  Tilley y  immigrant  ancestor,  came  to  the  American  colonies 
in  December,  1620,  a  passenger,  with  his  wife  and  daughter  Eliza- 
beth, in  the  ship  "Mayflower.' '  Both  John  Tilley  and  his  wife  died 
early  in  1621. 

II.  Elizabeth  Tilley,  daughter  of  John  Tilley,  was  born  in  Eng- 
land, and  accompanied  her  parents  to  New  England.  After  the 
death  of  her  parents  she  became  the  ward  of  Governor  John  Carver, 
when  she  was  about  fourteen  years  of  age.     She  married  John 

270 


THE  HOWLAND  FAMILY 

Howland,  who  was  also  a  passenger  on  the  " Mayflower.' '  Eliza- 
beth (Tilley)  Howland  died  December  21,  1687,  aged  eighty  years. 
(See  Howland  II). 

Note. — References    in    foregoing   will   be    found   in    former   or    future   numbers   of 
"Americana." 


271 


Chapters  in  the  History  of  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia 

By  Akthue  Wentworth  Hamilton  Eaton,  M.  A.,  D.  C.  L. 

No.  XI 
Halifax  and  the  New  York  Tories 

"To  go  or  not  to  go,  that  is  the  question ; 
Whether  'tis  best  to  trust  the  inclement  sky 
That  scowls  indignant,  or  the  dreary  Bay 
Of  Fundy  and  Cape  Sable's  rocks  and  shoals, 
And  seek  our  new  domain  in  Scotia's  wilds, 
Barren  and  bare,  or  stay  among  the  rebels, 
And  by  our  stay  rouse  up  their  keenest  rage." 

The  Tory's  Soliloquy  (printed  in  the  New  Jersey  Journal). 

^HE  great  migration  of  Loyalists  to  Nova  Scotia  as  a 
result  of  the  Revolution,  of  which  the  flight  of  the  Bos- 
ton Tories  thither  with  Howe's  fleet  is  the  picturesque 
prelude,  occurred,  as  is  well  known,  in  the  years  1782 
and  1783,  especially  the  latter  year.  That  by  far  the  larger  num- 
ber of  these  later  refugees  from  the  other  Colonies  landed  either 
at  Port  Roseway,  Digby,  or  the  mouth  of  the  St.  John  river  is  of 
course  true,  but  that  Halifax  more  or  less  permanently  received  a 
share  of  them  is  equally  true.  In  an  interesting  sketch  of  Governor 
Parr,  in  the  Collections  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society,  the 
late  Mr.  James  Macdonald  says:1  "Parr  was  sworn  in  Governor 
in  October,  1782,  and  peace  with  the  new  Republic  was  arranged 
on  the  30th  of  November,  1782.  In  December  following,  many  ships 
with  a  large  number  of  Loyalists  and  troops  that  had  fought  on  the 
British  side  arrived  from  New  York,  and  the  Governor's  work 
began.     Every  week  brought  its  quota  to  swell  the  already  over- 


I.  "Memoir  of  Governor  John  Parr,"  by  James  S.  Macdonald,  in  the  Collections 
of  the  Nova  Scotia  Historical  Society,  vol.  14,  PP-  41-78.  In  quoting  at  length  from 
Mr.  Macdonald  we  always  have  to  revise  his  rhetoric.  In  this  quotation  we  give  his 
exact  statements,  but  some  changes  in  the  English  have  been  absolutely  necessary  and 
have  been  made. 

272 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

populated  town.  The  feeding  of  such  a  multitude  was  a  most  dim- 
cult  task,  and  the  flour  mills  at  Sackville  were  kept  at  work  night 
and  day  to  provide  bread.  Parr  worked  steadily  and  methodically, 
as  he  had  done  all  his  life,  and  being  a  seasoned  veteran  was  able, 
it  is  said,  to  work  at  times  twenty  out  of  the  twenty-four  hours  of 
the  day  at  the  task  of  arranging  for  the  subsistence  of  such  a  host. 
The  greatest  problem  was  to  have  them  housed  before  the  severity 
of  winter  came.  The  troops  came  by  shiploads,  and  the  vivid  expe- 
rience of  Halifax  at  the  declaration  of  war  was  repeated.  Every 
shed,  outhouse,  and  store  was  crowded  with  people.  Thousands 
were  under  canvas  on  the  Citadel  and  at  Point  Pleasant,  every- 
where indeed  where  tents  could  be  pitched.  *St.  Paul's  and  St. 
Matthew's  churches  were  crowded,  and  hundreds  were  sheltered 
there  for  months.  Cabooses  and  cook-houses  were  brought  ashore 
from  the  ships,  and  the  people  were  fed  near  them  on  Granville  and 
Hollis  streets.  People  suffered  all  the  miseries  of  unsanitary  con- 
ditions in  an  overcrowded  town,  and  there  were  many  deaths  among 
the  strangers.  For  months  the  greater  number  of  these  ten  thou- 
sand refugees  were  fed  on  the  streets,  among  the  people  being 
many  who  had  been  reared  in  luxury. ' ' 

Whether  it  is  true  that  as  many  as  ten  thousand  Loyalists,  includ- 
ing troops  that  had  fought  on  the  British  side,  were  for  a  longer 
or  shorter  period  located  in  Halifax  or  not,  we  do  not  know,  but  the 
Tory  migration  at  this  time  to  the  province  generally  had  so 
direct  and  lasting  an  influence  on  the  capital  town  that  it  becomes 
necessary  to  devote  a  chapter  exclusively  to  it  here. 

In  the  colony  of  New  York,  which  unlike  Massachusetts  was  a 
Eoyal  or  Crown  Colony,  a  large  proportion  of  the  people,  particu- 
larly of  Westchester  County,  Queen's  County  (Long  Island),2  and 
Staten  Island,  were  sympathetic  with  the  British  cause,  and  when 
the  issue  of  the  war  became  clearly  unfavorable  for  the  British,  and 
finally  when  peace  was  declared,  these  champions  of  loyalty  to  the 


2.  Of  Queen's  County,  Long  Island,  Judge  Jones  in  his  "History  of  New  York 
during  the  Revolution"  says:  "Nearly  a  third  of  the  whole  inhabitants  have  since  the 
late  peace  and  the  recognition  of  American  independence,  preferred  the  inhospitable 
wilds  of  Nova  Scotia  rather  than  live  in  a  country  governed  by  the  iron  and  oppres- 
sive hand  of  rebellion,  though  settled,  planted,  and  improved  by  their  ancestors  nearly 
a  century  and  a  half  ago." 

273 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

mother  country  saw  that  nothing  was  left  them  but  to  emigrate. 
From  the  summer  of  1776,  when  the  battle  of  Long  Island  put  New 
York  in  the  hands  of  General  Howe,  for  seven  years  this  town  was 
the  headquarters  of  British  rule  in  America.  Under  the  protection 
of  the  forces  garrisoned  there,  therefore,  many  of  the  most  influ- 
ential citizens  of  New  Y'ork,  as  of  other  colonies  besides  New  Y^ork, 
put  themselves,  and  this  was  especially  true  when  the  act  of  at- 
tainder, passed  by  the  New  YTork  legislature  on  the  22d  of  October, 
1779,  proscribed  nearly  sixty  prominent  citizens,  "for  the  crime  of 
adhering  to  the  enemies  of  the  State,"  declared  their  estates,  real 
and  personal,  confiscated,  and  proclaimed  that  each  and  every  of 
them  who  should  at  any  time  thereafter  be  found  in  any  part  of  the 
State  should  be  and  were  adjudged  and  declared  guilty  of  felony, 
and  should  suffer  death  as  in  cases  of  felony,  without  benefit  of 
clergy. 

Thrust  from  all  places  of  public  influence,  robbed  of  their  prop- 
erty, insulted  by  mobs,  declared  felons  by  the  newly  constituted 
authorities,  and  as  we  have  seen,  even  threatened  with  death,  they 
soon  looked  toward  Nova  Scotia,  where  six  or  seven  years  before 
their  Boston  fellow  sufferers  had  gone,  as  a  suitable  place  of  refuge. 
In  February,  1782,  the  new  English  ministry  recalled  Sir  Henry 
Clinton  from  his  command  of  the  American  forces,  and  in  his  place 
appointed  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  who  arrived  in  New  York  and  took 
command  the  following  April.  In  November  of  the  same  year, 
provisional  articles  of  peace  were  signed  at  Paris  and  then  the 
necessity  for  the  removal  of  the  Loyalists  became  urgent.  Sir  Guy 
accordingly  began  a  correspondence  with  the  governor  of  Nova  Sco- 
tia with  reference  to  their  settlement  in  this  province,  and  the  Loy- 
alists themselves  appointed  agents  to  whom  they  entrusted  the  most 
important  matters  connected  with  their  proposed  emigration.  These 
agents  were  Lieutenant-Colonel  Benjamin  Thompson  of  Massachu- 
setts, better  known  as  Count  Rumford;  Lieutenant-Colonel  Edward 
Winslow,  Jr.,  of  Massachusetts,  Muster-Master-General  of  the  Loy- 
alist forces  employed  under  the  Crown;  Major  Joshua  Upham,  of 
Brookfield,  Massachusetts,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  of  the  class  of 
1763 ;  the  Eev.  John  Sayre,  who  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  was 
Rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Fairfield,  Connecticut;  Amos  Botsford, 

274 


COUNT  RUMFORD 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

of  Newtown,  Connecticut,  a  graduate  of  Yale,  of  17G3;  and  James 
Peters,  of  New  York.  It  seems  singular  that  of  these  seven  New 
York  agents,  six  should  have  been  New  England  men,  and  only  one 
a  native  New  YTorker. 

The  first  emigration  of  New  YTork  people  to  Nova  Scotia  took 
place  soon  after  the  signing  of  the  provisional  articles  at  Paris. 
About  two  months  before  this,  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Nova 
Scotia,  Sir  Andrew  Snape  Hainond,  received  a  letter  from  Sir 
Guy  Carleton,  in  which  the  latter  announced  that  more  than  six  hun- 
dred persons  wished  to  embark  for  Nova  Scotia  before  winter,  and 
a  much  larger  number  the  next  spring,  but  that  he  could  not  find 
shipping  just  then  for  more  than  three  hundred.  He  recommends 
for  these  intending  emigrants  that  a  grant  of  Hive  or  six  hundred 
acres  shall  be  given  each  family,  and  three  hundred  acres  apiece 
to  single  men,  and  that  two  thousand  acres  for  a  glebe  and  a  thou- 
sand acres  for  a  school  shall  be  set  apart  in  each  township,  no  fees 
or  quit-rents,  whatever,  to  be  exacted  for  these  lands.  He  also 
recommends  that  the  "Refugees"  be  given  materials  and  the  assist- 
ance of  workmen  for  their  necessary  building.  About  this  time  Sir 
Guy  was  waited  on  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Seabury,  then  of  Westchester, 
and  Col.  Benjamin  Thompson,  of  the  King's  American  Dragoons,  on 
behalf  of  the  Loyalists  desiring  to  go  to  Nova  Scotia.  The  result 
of  the  conference  was  a  promise  from  the  Commander-in-Chief  that 
they  should  be  provided  with  proper  vessels  to  carry  them  and 
their  horses  and  cattle  as  near  as  possible  to  the  place  in  which 
they  intended  to  settle;  that  besides  food  for  the  voyage,  one  year's 
provisions  or  the  equivalent  in  money  should  be  allowed  them ;  that 
warm  clothing  in  proportion  to  the  wants  of  each  family,  and  medi- 
cines, should  be  furnished  them;  that  pairs  of  mill  stones,  iron 
work  for  grist  mills  and  saw  mills,  nails,  spikes,  hoes,  axes,  spades, 
shovels,  plough-irons,  and  such  other  farming  utensils  as  should 
appear  necessary,  and  also  window  glass,  should  be  given  them; 
that  tracts  of  land,  free  from  disputed  titles  and  conveniently  situ- 
ated, large  enough  to  afford  from  three  to  six  hundred  acres  to  each 
family,  to  be  surveyed  and  divided  at  public  cost,  should  be  guar- 
anteed; that  in  every  township,  "over  and  above"  two  thousand 
acres  should  be  allowed  for  the  support  of  a  clergyman  and  one 

275 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

thousand  acres  for  the  support  of  a  school,  and  that  these  lands 
should  be  inalienable  forever.  Finally,  that  a  sufficient  number  of 
good  muskets  and  cannon,  with  a  proper  quantity  of  ammunition, 
should  be  allowed,  to  enable  the  people  to  defend  themselves  against 
any  hostile  invasion. 

On  the  nineteenth  of  October,  five  hundred  Loyalists  from  New 
York  arrived  at  Annapolis  Royal,  Nova  Scotia,3  bringing  with 
them  at  least  one  member  of  the  committee  appointed  in  New  York  to 
look  after  their  affairs,  a  man  who  founded  one  of  the  leading  New 
Brunswick  families,  Mr.  Amos  Botsford.  The  London  Political 
Magazine  in  1783  says :  "When  the  Loyal  Refugees  from  the  north- 
ern Provinces  were  informed  of  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons against  offensive  war  with  the  rebels,  they  instantly  saw  there 
were  no  hopes  left  them  of  regaining  their  ancient  settlements  or  of 
settling  down  again  in  their  native  country.  Most  of  them,  there- 
fore, who  had  been  forward  in  taking  up  arms  and  in  fighting  the 
battles  of  the  mother  country,  finding  themselves  deserted,  began  to 
look  out  for  a  place  of  refuge,  and  Nova  Scotia  being  the  nearest 
place  to  their  old  plantations,  they  determined  on  settling  in  that 
province.  Accordingly,  to  the  number  of  five  hundred,  they  em- 
barked for  Annapolis  Royal:  they  had  arms  and  ammunition,  and 
one  year's  provisions,  and  were  put  under  the  care  and  convoy  of 
H.  M.  S.  Amphitrite,  of  twenty-four  guns,  Captain  Robert  Briggs. 
This  officer  behaved  to  them  with  great  attention,  humanity,  and 
generosity,  and  saw  them  safely  landed  and  settled  in  the  barracks 
at  Annapolis,  which  the  Loyalists  soon  repaired.  There  were 
plenty  of  wild  fowl  in  the  country,  and  at  that  time  (which  was  last 
fall)  a  goose  sold  for  two  shillings  and  a  turkey  for  two  and  six- 
pence. The  Captain  was  at  two  hundred  pounds  expense  out  of  his 
own  pocket,  in  order  to  render  the  passage  and  arrival  of  the  unfor- 
tunate Loyalists  in  some  degree  comfortable  to  them." 

Before  Captain  Briggs  sailed  from  Annapolis  the  grateful  Loy- 
alists waited  on  him  with  the  following  address: 

"To  Robert  Briggs,  Esqr.,  Commander  of  H.  M.  S.  Amphitrite: 
The  loyal  refugees  who  have  emigrated  from  New  York  to  settle  in 

3.     Murdoch's  History  of  Nova  Scotia,  vol.  3,  says  three  hundred. 

276 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Nova  Scotia  beg  your  acceptance  of  their  warmest  thanks  for  the 
kind  and  unremitted  attention  you  have  paid  to  their  preservation 
and  safe  conduct  at  all  times  during  their  passage.  Driven  from 
our  respective  dwellings  for  our  loyalty  to  our  King,  after  endur- 
ing innumerable  hardships  and  seeking  a  settlement  in  a  land 
unknown  to  us,  our  distresses  were  sensibly  relieved  during  an 
uncomfortable  passage  by  your  humanity,  ever  attentive  to  our 
preservation. 

"Be  pleased  to  accept  of  our  most  grateful  acknowledgments  so 
justly  due  to  you  and  the  officers  under  your  command,  and  be 
assured  we  shall  remember  your  kindness  with  the  most  grateful 
sensibility. 

"We  are,  with  the  warmest  wishes  for  your  health  and  happiness 
and  a  prosperous  voyage, 

"With  the  greatest  respect,  Your  most  obedient  humble  servants, 
"In  behalf  of  the  refugees. 

"Amos  Botsford, 
Th.  Ward, 
Fred.  Hauser, 
Sam.  Cummixgs, 
Elijah  Williams.4 
"Annapolis  Royal,  the  20th  of  October,  1782.' ' 

On  the  fourteenth  of  January,  1783,  Amos  Botsford  and  his  fel- 
low explorers  wrote  from  Annapolis  to  their  friends  in  New  York, 
describing  the  country.  After  giving  the  most  favorable  account 
of  the  region  from  Annapolis  to  St.  Mary's  Bay,  they  say:  "We 
proceeded  to  St.  John's  river,  where  we  arrived  the  latter  end  of 
November,  it  being  too  late  to  pass  in  boats,  and  the  water  not 
being  sufficiently  frozen  to  bear.  In  this  situation  we  left  the  river, 
and  (for  a  straight  course)  steered  by  a  compass  through  the  woods, 
encamping  out  several  nights  in  the  course,  and  went  as  far  as  the 
Oromocto,  about  seventy  miles  up  the  river,  where  there  is  a  block- 


4.  Of  the  persons  whose  names  are  signed  to  this  address,  Amos  Botsford  was 
from  Newtown,  Conn.  (See  Sabine's  Loyalists)  ;  Frederick  Hauser,  of  whose  origin 
we  know  nothing,  was  a  surveyor,  and  with  Amos  Botsford  and  Samuel  Cumming* 
explored  St.  Mary's  Bay  and  the  lower  part  of  the  St.  John  river  (see  the  Winslow 
Papers,  edited  by  Archdeacon  Raymond,  pp.  77,  211)  ;  Samuel  Cummings  was  from  Ne\* 
Hampshire,  and  with  his  wife  and  two  children  (at  Annapolis  Royal)  was  proscribed 
in  1782  (see  Sabine's  Loyalists,  vol.  2,  p.  502)  ;  Elijah  Williams,  a  son  of  Major  Elijah 
Williams  of  Deerfield,  Mass.,  before  coming  to  Nova  Scotia  had  been  practising  law  al 
Keene,  N.  H.  (See  "The  Genealogy  and  History  of  the  Family  of  Williams  .  .  . 
Descendants  of  Robert  Williams  of  Roxbury,"  published  at  Greenfield,  Mass.,  in  1847)- 
He  returned  later  to  Mass.  and  died  at  Deerfield  in  1793. 

277 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

house,  a  British  post.  The  St.  John's  is  a  fine  river,  equal  in  mag- 
nitude to  the  Connecticut  or  Hudson.  At  the  mouth  of  the  river 
is  a  fine  harbour,  accessible  at  all  seasons  of  the  year — never  frozen 
or  obstructed  by  the  ice,  which  breaks  in  passing  over  the  falls; 
here  stands  Fort  Howe,  two  leagues  north  of  Annapolis  Gut." 
"The  interval  lies  on  the  river,  and  is  a  most  fertile  soil,  annually 
manured  by  the  overflowings  of  the  river,  and  produces  crops  of  all 
kinds  with  little  labour,  and  vegetables  in  the  greatest  perfection. 
The  up-lands  produce  wheat  both  of  the  summer  and  winter  kinds, 
as  well  as  Indian  corn.  Some  of  our  people  chuse  Conway  [now 
Digby],  others  give  the  preference  to  St.  John.  Our  people  who 
came  with  us  are  settled  here  for  the  winter;  some  at  the  fort,  some 
in  the  town,  and  others  extend  up  the  Annapolis  river  near  twenty 
miles,  having  made  terms  with  the  inhabitants; — some  are  doing 
well,  others  are  living  on  their  provisions;  their  behaviour  is  as 
orderly  and  regular  as  we  could  expect.' ' 

These  five  hundred  New  York  Loyalists  were  speedily  followed 
by  five  hundred  and  one  refugees  from  the  Carolinas,  who  fled  from 
Charleston  when  that  city  was  evacuated.  In  a  dispatch  to  the 
Eight  Hon.  Thomas  Johnston,  the  minister  in  England,  Governor 
Parr  of  Nova  Scotia  says :  "I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that 
with  the  arrival  here  of  the  heavy  ordnance  from  Charleston  in 
South  Carolina,  came  five  hundred  and  one  refugees,  men,  women, 
and  children,  in  consequence  of  directions  from  Sir  Guy  Carleton  to 
Lieutenant-General  Leslie,  who  has  sent  them  to  the  care  of  Major- 
General  Patterson,  commander  of  the  troops  in  this  province,  with 
whom  I  have  concurred  as  far  as  in  my  power  to  afford  them  a 
reception. ' ' 

In  January,  1783,  the  governor  notified  the  English  minister  of 
future  arrivals,  but  it  was  in  the  spring  of  that  year  that  the  great 
emigration  of  New  York  Tories  to  Nova  Scotia  began.  In  April, 
two  separate  fleets  left  for  the  Acadian  Province  by  the  Sea.  The 
first,  which  sailed  from  New  York,  April  26th,  comprised  sixteen 
square  rigged  ships  and  several  schooners  and  sloops  protected  by 
two  ships  of  war,  and  carried  four  hundred  and  seventy-one  fam- 
ilies, under  command  of  Colonel  Beverly  Robinson,  its  destination 

278 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

being  Port  Razoir,  or  Roseway,  afterwards  Shelburne,  near  tho 
south-western  end  of  Nova  Scotia. 

On  the  fourth  of  May  these  people  reached  Port  Roseway  and 
were  met  by  three  surveyors  from  Halifax,  with  whose  aid  they  at 
once  began  to  lay  out  a  city  which  they  had  projected  before  leav- 
ing New  York.5  Their  plan  made  provision  for  live  main  parallel 
streets,  sixty  feet  wide,  to  be  intersected  by  others  at  right  angles, 
each  square  to  contain  sixteen  lots,  sixty  feet  in  width  and  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  feet  in  depth.  At  each  end  of  the  town  a  large 
space  was  left  for  a  common,  and  when  the  refugees  came,  these 
reservations  the  engineers  with  the  assistance  of  the  fatigue  par- 
ties rapidly  cleared,  so  that  tents  could  be  erected  for  the  tem- 
porary shelter  of  the  people.  July  eleventh,  the  town  was  divided 
into  north  and  south,  the  streets  were  named,  and  the  lots  were 
numbered,  every  settler  being  given  fifty  acres  on  each  side  the 
harbour,  and  a  town  and  water  lot  besides. 

The  other  fleet,  which  sailed  from  New  York  on  the  twenty-sev- 
enth of  April,  1783,  comprised  twenty  vessels,  on  board  of  which 
were  three  thousand  people,  men,  women,  and  children.  The  names 
of  the  vessels  were :  the  Camel,  Captain  Tinker ;  the  Union,  Captain 
Wilson ;  the  Aurora,  Captain  Jackson ;  the  Hope,  Captain  Peacock ; 
the  Otter,  Captain  Burns ;  the  Spencer;  the  Emmett,  Captain  Reed; 
the  Thames;  the  Spring,  Captain  Cadish;  the  Bridgewater;  the 
Favorite,  Captain  Ellis;  the  Ann,  Captain  Clark;  the  Commerce, 
Captain  Strong;  the  William;  the  Lord  Townshend,  Captain  Hogg; 
the  Sovereign,  Captain  Stuart;  the  Sally,  Captain  Bell;  the  Cyrus; 
the  Britain;  and  the  King  George.  The  destination  of  this  fleet 
was  the  River  St.  John,  at  the  mouth  of  which,  a  little  distance 
apart,  stood  the  two  old  forts,  La  Tour,  then  called  Fort  Freder- 
ick, and  the  less  historical  Fort  Howe.  On  the  eighteenth  of  May 
the  vessels  came  to  anchor  in  the  harbour  of  St.  John,  the  Loyalists 
for  the  most  part  landing  at  Lower  Cove,  near  the  old  Sydney 
Market  House.6 


5.  The  Church  of  England  in  Nova  Scotia,  Dr.  A.  W.  H.  Eaton,  pp.  135,  6. 

6.  May  12,  1783,  Sir  Guy  Carleton  writes  General  Washington :  "An  embarkation 
was  in  much  forwardness  previous  to  the  official  information  of  peace.  .  .  .  This 
fleet  sailed  about  the  27th  of  April  for  different  parts  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  including  the 

279 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

The  people  of  the  first  fleet  are  said  to  have  come  to  their 
determination  to  settle  at  Shelburne,  through  advice  given  them  by- 
Captain  Gideon  White,  a  native  of  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  in 
which  place  he  was  born  March  28,  1752.  This  young  man,  who 
was  a  great  grandson  of  Peregrine  White,  of  Plymouth,  and  father 
of  the  late  venerable  Rev.  Thomas  Howland  "White,  D.  D.,  of  Shel- 
burne, at  the  outbreak  of  the  war  made  his  escape  from  Plymouth 
to  avoid  being  either  drafted  into  the  American  army  or  thrown 
into  prison,  and  starting  for  Nova  Scotia  on  a  trading  voyage  vis- 
ited various  places  along  the  south  shore  of  the  province.  At  Bar- 
rington  he  was  captured  by  an  American  armed  vessel,  commanded 
by  a  Captain  Sampson,  and  then  was  carried  back  to  Plymouth  and 
thrown  into  prison,  where  he  found  his  father.  Within  a  day  or 
two  he  was  taken  out  and  hanged  by  the  waist  to  the  village  "liberty 
pole,"  but  Captain  Sampson,  hearing  of  the  outrage,  landed  with  a 
party  of  his  men  and  rescued  the  prisoner  from  his  uncomfortable, 
if  not  dangerous,  position.  In  the  list  of  persons  who  went  to  Hal- 
ifax with  General  Howe's  fleet,  Gideon  White's  name  is  found,  and 
it  is  probable  that  he  returned  with  the  fleet  to  New  York  and  there 
gave  information  regarding  the  Nova  Scotia  sea-board  to  the  Loy- 
alist leaders,  who  acting  on  his  advice  finally  determined  to  found  a 
city  at  Port  Razoir. 

That  St.  John  should  have  been  chosen  by  the  Tories  as  the 
site  of  another  town  is  not  strange,  for  the  broad,  navigable  St. 
John  river,  lined  with  fertile  marshes,  had  long  attracted  traders 
from  New  England,  and  on  both  sides  of  it,  awaiting  settlement,  lay 
an  immense  tract  of  country  as  fertile  as  the  peninsula  of  Nova 
Scotia  itself,  and  even  greater  in  extent. 

On  the  6th  of  June  Governor  Parr  informs  the  Secretary  of  State 
that  since  January  15th  upwards  of  seven  thousand  refugees  have 
arrived  in  the  province,  and  these,  he  says,  are  to  be  followed  by 
three  thousand  of  the  provincial  forces,  and  by  others  besides. 


troops  carried  seven  thousand  persons  with  all  their  effects ;   also  some  artillery  and  pub- 
lic stores." 

May  22d,  Adjutant  General  Oliver  De  Lancey  orders,  that  "the  Refugees  and  all  the 
Masters  of  Vessels  will  be  attentive  that  no  Person  is  permitted  to  embark  as  a  Refugee 
who  has  not  resided  Twelve  Months  within  the  British  Lines,  without  a  special  Pass- 
port from  the  Commandant.  It  is  also  recommended  to  the  Refugees  to  take  Care  no 
Person  of  bad  Character  is  suffered  to  embark  with  them." 

28o 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

July  6th,  he  writes  that  a  considerable  number  of  Loyalists  had  peti- 
tioned for  land  in  the  island  of  Cape  Breton,  and  the  governor, 
who  had  had  instructions  to  grant  no  land  in  that  island,  asks  his 
Majesty's  pleasure  in  the  matter.  In  a  letter  to  Lord  North,  of 
the  30th  of  September,  Governor  Parr  states  that  from  November, 
1782,  to  the  end  of  July,  1783,  upwards  of  thirteen  thousand  had 
arrived  at  Annapolis,  Halifax,  Port  Jtoseway,  St.  John  River,  and 
Cumberland,  and  that  since  July,  many  more  had  landed  at  these 
places  and  at  Passamaquoddy,  so  that  the  total  number  in  the 
province  then  was  probably  not  less  than  eighteen  thousand.  He 
had  visited  Port  Roseway  as  soon  as  he  could  after  the  arrival 
of  the  settlers  there,  and  had  found  upwards  of  five  thousand  per- 
sons, to  which  number  many  more,  he  expected,  would  soon  be 
added.7 

In  September  many  vessels  left  New  York  for  Nova  Scotia,  car- 
rying in  all  some  eight  thousand  refugees.  One  of  these  was  the 
ship  Martha,  which  had  on  board  a  corps  of  the  Maryland  Loyalists, 
and  a  detachment  of  De  Lancey's  2d  Regiment,  in  all  a  hundred 
and  seventy-four  persons.  This  vessel  was  wrecked  on  a  ledge  of 
rocks  between  Cape  Sable  and  the  Tuskets,  and  ninety-nine  per- 
ished, seventy-five  being  saved  by  fishing  boats  and  carried  to  St. 
John,  where  they  had  intended  settling.  Between  the  end  of  Sep- 
tember and  the  twenty-first  of  October,  two  thousand  Loyalists 
arrived,  and  at  some  time  in  the  latter  month  what  is  known  as  the 
"Fall  Fleet' '  reached  St.  John,  bringing  twelve  hundred  more.  Oth- 
ers coming  in  single  vessels,  before  and  at  the  final  evacuation  of 
New  York,  which  occurred  November  25,  1783,  it  is  estimated  that 
not  less  than  five  thousand  spent  the  winter  of  1783-84  on  the  site 
of  the  city  of  St.  John.  August  thirteenth  of  the  latter  year,  Gover- 
nor Parr  writes  Lord  North  that  grants  for  four  thousand,  eight 
hundred  and  eighty-two  families  had  passed  the  great  seal  of  the 


7.  In  a  letter  from  an  officer  belonging  to  H.  M.  Ship  Due  de  Chartres,  dated  Nova 
Scotia,  October  12,  1783,  the  writer  says  :  "The  great  emigration  of  Loyalists  from  New 
York  to  this  province  is  almost  incredible,  they  have  made  many  new  settlements  in  the 
Bay  of  Fundy.  .  .  .  Numbers  of  families  are  also  gone  to  Halifax,  but  the  majority 
are  fixed  at  Port  Roseway,  where  they  have  erected  a  large  city,  which  contains  nine 
thousand  inhabitants,  exclusive  of  Black  Town,  containing  about  twelve  hundred  free 
Blacks,  who  have  served  during  the  war."  Quoted  in  the  "Manual  of  the  Corporation 
of  the  City  of  New  York"  for  1870. 

28l 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

province,  and  that  others  were  preparing  for  a  hundred  and  fifty 
more.  The  number  of  persons  already  located,  he  thinks,  amounts 
to  nearly  thirty  thousand. 

The  whole  number  of  Loyalists  who  left  the  revolting  colonies, 
first  and  last,  cannot  have  been  less  than  a  hundred  thousand  souls, 
Judge  Jones  thinks  that  Sir  Guy  Carleton  must  have  assisted  that 
many  to  leave  New  York  alone.  Mr.  De  Lancey  says :  ' l  They  came 
to  New  York  to  embark  for  almost  all  parts  of  the  world,  England, 
Scotland,  Ireland,  Canada,  Newfoundland,  Cape  Breton,  Nova  Sco- 
tia, New  Brunswick,  the  Bermudas,  the  Bahamas,  Florida,  Jamaica, 
and  the  lesser  West  Indies."  The  Loyalists  of  the  Southern  col- 
onies chiefly  shipped  for  Florida,  the  Bermudas,  the  Bahamas,  and 
the  West  Indies.  Of  the  Tory  emigrants  to  Upper  Canada,  which 
was  then,  like  Nova  Scotia  (and  New  Brunswick),  almost  wholly 
unsettled,  Ryerson,  in  his  "Loyalists  of  America,"8  says:  "Five 
vessels  were  procured  and  furnished  to  convey  this  first  colony  of 
banished  refugee  Loyalists  to  Upper  Canada;  they  sailed  around 
the  Coast  of  New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia,  and  up  the  St.  Law- 
rence to  Sorel,  where  they  arrived  in  October,  1783,  and  where  they 
built  themselves  huts  or  shanties,  and  wintered.  In  May,  1784,  they 
prosecuted  their  voyage  in  boats,  and  reached  their  destination, 
Cataraqui,  afterwards  Kingston,  in  July."  Other  bands  of  Loyal- 
ists made  their  way  to  Canada  by  land,  the  most  common  route 
being  by  Albany. 

Many  of  the  Loyalists  who  had  come  to  Nova  Scotia  were  so 
destitute  that  in  May,  1783,  an  order  for  a  muster  was  issued  by 
Governor  Parr,  so  that  their  needs  might  be  fully  known.  This 
muster  occupied  a  little  over  two  months,  from  May  twentieth  to 
July  twenty-seventh,  and  the  report  finally  made  by  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Robert  Morse,  who  had  the  direction  of  it,9  covers  the  fol- 
lowing nearly  thirty  settlements:  Annapolis  Royal  and  vicinity, 
Antigonish,  Bear  River,  Chedabucto,  Chester  Road,  Cornwallis  and 
Horton,  Country  Harbour,  Cumberland  and  vicinity,  Dartmouth, 


8.  Vol.  2,  p.  188. 

9.  "A  General  Description  of  the  Province  of  Nova  Scotia  and  a  Report  of  the 
Present  State  of  the  Defences,  with  Observations  leading  to  the  further  growth  and 
Security  of  this  Colony,  done  by  Lieutenant-Colonel  Morse,  Chief  Engineer  in  America, 
upon  a  Tour  of  the  Province  in  the  Autumn  of  the  Year  1783  and  the  Summer  of  1784." 

282 


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CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Digby,  Gulliver's  Hole  (St.  Mary's  Bay);  Halifax  and  vicinity; 
about  Halifax  Harbour;  between  Halifax  and  Shelburne,  along  the 

coast;  Jedore,  Musquodoboit,  Newport  and  Kenticook;  Nine  Mile 
Eiver,  Partridge  Island,  Passamaquoddy ;  Pictou  and  Meri- 
gomish;  River  St.  John;  Sheet  Harbour,  Shelburne,  Ship 
Harbour,  Island  of  St  John  (Prince  Edward  Island),  Windsor, 
Windsor  Road,  and  Sackville.  According  to  this  muster  the  War 
of  the  Revolution  had  brought  into  Nova  Scotia  28,347  persons,  of 
whom  12,383  were  men,  5,486  women,  4,671  children  above  the  age  of 
ten,  4,575  children  under  the  age  of  ten,  and  1,232  servants,  chiefly, 
no  doubt,  negroes  who  had  been  and  virtually  still  continued  to  be 
slaves.  Of  these  people,  9,260  are  reported  as  at  River  St.  John, 
7,923  at  Shelburne,  1,830  at  Annapolis  Royal  and  vicinity,  1,787  at 
Passamaquoddy,  1,295  at  Digby,  1,053  at  Chedabucto,  856  at  Cum- 
berland and  thereabouts,  651  between  Halifax  and  Shelburne,  480  at 
Dartmouth,  and  380  in  the  Island  of  St.  John ;  the  rest  being  scat- 
tered, in  numbers  ranging  from  16  to  324,  through  the  other  places 
mentioned  above.  The  name  Chedabucto  in  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Morse's  report  is  the  original  name  of  what  is  now  Guysborough. 
The  Indians  gave  the  name  Chedabucto  to  at  least  that  part  of 
Guysborough  County  which  lies  about  the  harbour  or  bay.10 


IO.  The  record  of  grants  in  the  Crown  Land  Office  in  Halifax  shows  that  soon 
after  the  Revolution,  principally  in  1784  and  1785,  grants  were  made  to  persons  at 
Advocate  Harbour,  Antigonish,  Aylesford,  Beaver  Harbour,  Chester,  Clements,  Country 
Harbour,  Dartmouth,  Digby,  Green  River,  Guysborough,  Jordan  River,  Maccan,  Meri- 
gomish,  Musquodoboit,  New  Manchester,  Parrsborough,  Port  Hebert.  Port  Medway, 
Port  Mouton,  Port  Roseway,  Remsheg  and  Tatamagouche,  River  Philip,  Roseway 
Harbour,  Salmon  Brook,  Sable  River,  Shelburne,  Ship  Harbour,  Sissibou,  St.  Mary's 
Bay,  Tracadie,  and  Wilmot.  These  grants  were  probably  not  all  to  Loyalists  but 
undoubtedly  most  of  them  were.     Some  grants  probably  were  never  taken  up. 

Of  Colonel  Morse's  report,  Dr.  Raymond  writes:  "The  report  of  Lt.-Col.  Morse 
is  in  the  possession  of  J.  W.  Lawrence  (of  St.  John),  and  I  have  studied  it.  We 
must  bear  in  mind  that  Col.  Morse's  muster  was  made  in  the  summer  of  1784,  and  is 
liable  to  be  under  the  mark,  for  two  reasons.  First,  a  considerable  number  of  the 
Loyalists  had  already  removed,  owing  to  their  unfavorable  impressions  of  the  country, 
some  to  Upper  Canada  (see  Ryerson's  Loyalists),  some  to  England — these  chiefly  of 
the  more  affluent  classes,  while  some  had  returned  to  the  United  States.  A  second 
class,  I  have  no  doubt,  failed  to  be  enumerated  by  Col.  Morse  owing  to  the  scattered 
settlements,  established  at  isolated  points,  and  to  the  hurried  way  in  which  the  enumera- 
tion was  completed.  Loyalist  settlements  were  made  on  the  St.  John  river  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1783,  at  some  eight  or  more  points,  that  at  Woodstock  being  a  hundred  and 
forty-four  miles  from  the  sea.  Other  settlements  were  made  at  Passamaquoddy 
by  refugees  from  Penobscot  and  elsewhere,  at  various  points  at  the  head  of  the  Bay 
of  Fundy,  along  the  New  Brunswick  shore,  and  at  a  large  number  of  points  in  Nova 
Scotia  and  Cape  Breton.     The  facilities  for  communication  were  so  poor  at  this  time, 

283 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Gathered  into  a  publication  entitled  "Manual  of  the  Corporation 
of  the  City  of  New  York"  for  1870,  we  find  many  notices  from 
sources  contemporary  with  the  migrations  of  the  removal  of  Royal- 
ists from  New  York  to  Nova  Scotia,  Canada,  Jamaica,  the  Bahamas, 
etc.,  but  chiefly  to  Nova  Scotia,  in  1783.  Under  date  of  April  22  of 
that  year,  a  Philadelphia  newspaper  (but  what  newspaper  we  do 
not  know)  says:  "Accounts  from  New  York  mention  that  the  last 
embarkation  of  refugees,  consisting  of  near  5,000  souls,  sailed  from 
thence  on  Thursday  last  for  Nova  Scotia."  A  New  York  newspa- 
per of  April  23d  says :  "The  number  of  inhabitants  going  to  Nova 
Scotia  in  the  present  fleet  consists  of  upwards  of  nine  thousand 
souls,  exceeding  by  more  than  one  thousand  the  largest  town  in 
Connecticut,  including  the  out  parishes."  A  Philadelphia  news- 
paper of  April  29,  1783,  informs  its  readers  that  "a  late  New  York 
paper  says  that  the  number  of  souls  embarked  in  the  last  Heet  for 
Nova  Scotia  amounts  to  9,000."  "Yesterday,"  says  a  New  York 
newspaper  of  May  17th,  "arrived  a  vessel  from  Halifax,  by  which 
we  learn  that  the  fleet  with  about  six  thousand  Refugees,  which 
lately  left  this  city,  were  safely  landed  at  Port  Roseway,  after  a 


that  the  enumeration  could  scarcely  have  been  carried  out  with  exactness,  and  I  there- 
fore think  the  number  returned  by  Col.  Morse  was  much  too  small."  "In  addition  to  the 
Loyalist  exiles  from  New  York  to  Nova  Scotia  during  the  first  ten  months  of  1783,  there 
were  arrivals  at  Halifax  and  Annapolis  from  Boston  and  other  New  England  ports, 
amounting  to  probably  at  least  2,000,  of  whom  1,100  came  at  the  time  of  the  evacuation 
of  Boston." 

Dr.  Raymond's  judgment  regarding  the  probable  understatement  of  the  number  of 
Loyalists  in  Nova  Scotia  in  Colonel  Morse's  Report  is  no  doubt  correct.  The  general 
style  of  Colonel  Morse's  report  on  Nova  Scotia  shows  that  he  was  not  a  very  accurate 
observer,  and  in  some  degree  weakens  the  value  of  his  statistics.  Nevertheless,  they 
must  be  duly  weighed  by  any  one  desiring  properly  to  estimate  the  number  of  Loyalists 
who  came  to  Nova  Scotia  at  the  close  of  the  war.  It  seems  likely,  judging  from  other 
data,  that  the  number  at  Halifax,  Shelburne,  and  on  the  St.  John  River,  is  understated, 
for  Colonel  Morse  himself  admits  that  "a  very  small  proportion  of  the  people  are  yet  on 
their  lands."  A  few  thousands,  therefore,  might  be  added  to  include  those  overlooked 
in  the  muster,  those  who  had  come  early  to  Nova  Scotia  and  had  gone  thence  to  Eng- 
land, Upper  Canada,  Newfoundland,  or  back  to  the  United  States,  and  the  few  Loy- 
alists that  might  not  put  in  a  claim  for  "the  Royal  bounty  of  provisions."  Having  made 
a  liberal  allowance  for  all  these,  however,  it  is  hard  to  believe,  if  Colonel  Morse's 
muster  be  in  any  degree  accurate,  that  the  number  of  Loyalists  was  much  more  than 
thirty  thousand  in  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  to 
this  number  two  or  three  thousand  more  may  be  added  and  the  limits  of  accurate  state- 
ment not  be  transgressed. 

Mr.  Edward  F.  De  Lancey,  editor  of  Judge  Thomas  Jones's  History  of  New  York 
during  the  Revolutionary  War,  says  he  is  satisfied  from  a  personal  examination  of  the 
manuscript  records  in  the  Secretary's  office  at  Halifax  that  the  number  of  Tories,  men, 
women,  and  children,  who  emigrated  from  New  York  to  Nova  Scotia,  amounted  to  at 
least  thirty-five  thousand. 

284 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

six  days  passage."  A  Chatham,  New  Jersey,  newspaper  of  May 
21st,  says:  "The  British  and  their  adherents,  so  habituated  to 
perfidy,  find  it  difficult  to  forego  it;  for  in  the  last  Nova  Scotia 
fleet  they  sent  off  upwards  of  700  negroes  belonging  to  the  good 
people  of  these  states." 

A  New  York  newspaper  of  June  7th  is  quoted  as  saying:  "Yes- 
terday arrived  the  Camel,  Captain  William  Tinker,  in  eight  days 
from  the  river  St.  John,  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  who  left  the  new 
settlers  there  in  good  health  and  spirits.  Captain  Tinker  sailed  in 
company  with  eight  other  transports  for  this  port."  A  Philadel- 
phia newspaper  of  June  10th,"  says:  "We  hear  that  another  em- 
barkation of  his  Britannic  Majesty's  most  faithful  and  loyal  sub- 
jects, the  refugees,  will  shortly  leave  New  York,  destined  for  Nova 
Scotia.     They  are  said  to  consist  of  about  6,000." 

A  New  York  newspaper  of  June  11th  records :  ' ;  The  Schooner 
Two  Friends,  Captain  Fisher,  arrived  here  on  Sunday  last  in 
seven  days  from  Port  Roseway.  A  number  of  transports  and  small 
vessels  were  preparing  to  sail  for  this  port  under  convoy  of  his 
Majesty's  Ship  Albacora,  when  Captain  Fisher  left  that  port. 

.  .  The  Benevolent  and  Charitable  of  all  Denominations  are 
hereby  informed  that  a  very  considerable  number  of  People,  having 
left  their  former  Habitations,  are  now  embarked  for  the  Province  of 
Nova  Scotia.  The  greater  part  of  whom,  having  tender  Wives  and 
little  Infants,  and  having  lost  All,  are  left  in  circumstances  ex- 
tremely indigent ;  they  are  therefore  recommended  in  the  most 
earnest  manner  to  the  Public,  as  proper  objects  of  charity.  Note. 
As  their  Necessities  are  very  urgent  it  is  much  to  be  wished  that 
those  who  choose  to  Contribute  will  do  it  without  delay."  This 
appeal  is  signed  by  Messrs.  Rogers  and  Murray,  and  William 
Laight,  Queen  Street;  by  David  Seabury,  Peter  Bogart,  and  Rev. 
John  Sayre,  Smith  Street;  and  by  Rev.  James  Sayre,  at  Brooklyn." 

A  Chatham,  New  Jersey,  newspaper,  under  date  of  June  11th, 
records:  "From  the  many  accounts  from  Westchester  and  the 
neighboring  towns  in  the  State  of  New  York,  near  the  British  posts, 
the  inhabitants  of  said  towns  are  in  the  most  unhappy  Situation  of 
any  people  under  the  sun.  Those  called  the  King's  or  loyal  Refu- 
gees continue  in  their  old  practice  of  beating,  burning,  hanging, 

285 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

and  cutting  men  and  women  in  order  to  extort  their  money  and 
other  effects ;  which  is  of  late  continued  and  put  in  practice  with  the 
most  unheard  of  cruelties  and  barbarity  that  ever  was  known ;  but 
especially  since  the  refugees  have  left  Morrisania  are  now  getting 
all  they  can  to  carry  off  with  them  to  Nova  Scarcity,  where  they  say 
is  nine  months  winter  and  three  months  cold  weather  in  the  year. 
They  come  from  New  York  and  Long  Island  in  the  night  and  sculk 
about  Westchester  in  the  day,  and  when  night  comes  on  again  they 
exercise  the  above-recited  cruelties;  so  that  the  inhabitants  dare 
not  lodge  in  their  houses.' '  Some  of  the  chief  offenders  are  then 
mentioned,  the  names  given  being,  Henry  Quaill,  Abraham  Bonker, 
Archibald  Purdy,  Jonathan  Lovebury,  and  Stephen  Baxter.11 

How  large  a  proportion  of  the  Loyalist  emigrants  to  Nova  Scotia 
consisted  of  officers  and  men  of  the  various  regiments  that  had 
been  in  service  in  the  other  colonies  on  the  British  side,  so  far  as 
we  know  has  never  been  exactly  estimated.  In  March,  1783,  the 
commanding  officers  of  fourteen  of  the  thirty-one  provincial  regi- 
ments named  by  Sabine12  in  his  "American  Loyalists' '  petitioned 
for  grants  of  land  in  the  still  loyal  British  colonies  for  their  officers 
and  men,  asking  also  for  pensions  and  half  pay.13  A  New  York 
newspaper  of  August  16,  1783,  is  quoted14  as  saying:  "We  are 
informed  that  the  following  British  Eegiments  are  intended  for 
Nova  Scotia,  viz.:  Seventeenth,  Royal  Welsh  or  Twenty-Third, 
Thirty-Third,  Thirty-Seventh,  Eoyal  Highlanders  or  Forty-Second, 
Fifty-Seventh,  and  that  all  the  other  British  Battalions  are  to 
depart  for  Europe/ '  In  September  of  this  year  the  ship  Martha, 
which  was  wrecked  between  Cape  Sable  and  Tusket,  started  for  St. 
John  with  a  corps  of  the  Maryland  Loyalists,  and  a  detachment  of 
De  Lancey's  Second  Battalion.  General  Oliver  De  Lancey's  Bri- 
gade comprised  three  battalions,  each  five  hundred  strong,  the  first 
and  second  of  which  consisted  in  part  of  New  York  men,  with  prob- 
ably a  strong  contingent  from  the  Tory  towns  of  Connecticut,  such 


11.  An  occasional  newspaper  notice  also  appears  in  the  publication  from  which 
these  extracts  are  copied  of  the  foundering  of  some  vessel  carrying  refugees  to  Nova 
Scotia  and  the  drowning  of  all  on  board.  Why  this  publication  does  not  give  the  names 
of  the  newspapers  from  which  it  quotes  we  do  not  know. 

12.  Sabine's  American  Loyalists,  vol.  i,  p.  73. 

13.  Murdoch's  History  of  Nova  Scotia,  vol.  3,  p.  15. 

14.  In  the  "Manual  of  the  Corporation  of  the  City  of  New  York"  for  1870. 

286 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

as  Stamford,  Greenwich,  Norwalk,  and  Fairfield.15  The  third  bat- 
talion was  drawn  entirely  from  Queen's  County,  Long  Island.  The 
anger  of  the  patriots  was  naturally  fierce  against  De  Lancey's  whole 
brigade,  which,  in  a  petition  against  the  men  being  allowed  to 
return  to  their  homes  in  Stamford  or  Greenwich,  was  designated  as 
that  "most  infamous  banditti  known  as  De  Lancey's  corps."  At 
the  close  of  the  war  this  brigade  was  disbanded  in  Nova  Scotia. 
The  third  battalion,  commanded  by  Captain  Ludlow,  arrived  at  St. 
John  in  October,  1783,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  second  battalion 
also  spent  the  next  winter  at  St.  John,  for  Captain  Jacob  Smith, 
Sergeant  Thomas  Fowler,  Corporal  Richard  Rogers,  and  others  of 
this  battalion  drew  adjoining  city  lots  on  the  south  side  of  Britain 
Street,  near  Wentworth  Street,10  in  the  New  Brunswick  town.  The 
following  year,  October  15,  1784,  a  grant  was  passed,  under  the 
great  seal  of  the  province  of  Nova  Scotia,  of  lands  to  a  hundred  and 
twenty  men  of  this  battalion,  on  the  Upper  St.  John.17  As  a  rule 
each  private  received  a  hundred  acres,  each  non-commis- 
sioned officer  two  hundred  acres,  and  each  commissioned  of- 
ficer five  hundred  and  fifty  acres.  The  whole  grant  comprised 
twenty-four  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  with  the  usual 
allowance  of  ten  per  cent,  for  roads.  The  first  settlement  at  Wood- 
stock, New  Brunswick,  was  made  by  members  of  De  Lancey's  corps, 
either  in  the  summer  of  1783,  or  more  probably  in  the  following 
spring. 

Regarding  the  settlement  of  disbanded  troops  at  Guysborough, 
in  the  eastern  part  of  Nova  Scotia,  the  late  Mrs.  James  E.  Hart,  a 
careful  historian  of  Guysborough  county  has  written:  "The  Duke 
of  Cumberland's  Regiment  (Lord  Charles  Montagu's),  was  the 
first  to  arrive  at  Chedabucto.  These  troops  reached  there  in  the 
transport  Content,  May  16, 1784.  They  were  disbanded  in  Jamaica, 
October  24,  1783,  and  Lord  Charles  made  arrangements  for  their 
settlement  in  Nova  Scotia,  and  himself  came  with  them  to  Halifax 


15.  De  Lancey's  second  battalion  was  commanded  by  Col.  George  Brewerton.  Stephen 
De  Lancey,  eldest  son  of  the  General,  being  lieutenant-colonel. 

16.  Early  Days  of  Woodstock    (pamphlet)    by  Archdeacon   Raymond,   LL.D.,   St 
John,  1891. 

17.  The  names  of  these  grantees  are  recorded  in  the  Crown  Land  Office  at  Fred- 
ericton. 

287 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

in  the  transports  Industry  and  Argo,  arriving  there  December  13th. 
The  regiment  comprised  three  hundred  men,  under  Captain  Ralph 
Cunningham,  but  as  no  provision  had  been  made  for  their  reception 
the  whole  force  had  to  spend  the  winter  in  huts  inHalifax,  erected  on 
the  site  of  the  present  Province  Building.  Owing  to  the  severity  of 
the  climate  and  their  poor  shelter  many  of  them  died,  Lord  Charles 
Montagu  himself,  to  the  great  grief  of  the  troops,  succumbing  like 
his  men.18 

"In  the  autumn  of  1783,  about  eight  hundred  people,  soldiers  and 
their  families  belonging  to  the  British  Legion,  came  to  Port  Mouton, 
in  the  western  part  of  the  Province.  The  next  spring  a  tire  des- 
troyed all  their  houses,  furniture,  clothing,  and  most  of  their  live 
stock.  Word  of  this  was  sent  to  Halifax,  and  with  all  possible  dis- 
patch a  war-ship  was  sent  to  their  relief.  Not  satisfied  to  rebuild 
at  Port  Mouton,  they  had  scouting  parties  reconnoitre  the  Province, 
with  the  result  that  they  decided  to  go  to  Chedabucto.  On  the  21st 
of  June,  1784,  part  of  them,  under  Colonel  Mollison,  arrived  there, 
sailing  probably  from  Halifax.  They  are  called  in  the  muster-roll 
the  *  Associated  Departments  of  the  Army  and  Navy.' 

"On  the  13th  of  July,  1784,  the  Loyalists  from  St.  Augustine, 
Florida,  were  mustered  at  Halifax  on  board  the  transport  Argo, 
bound  for  Chedabucto.  They  numbered  fifty-nine  men,  twenty 
women,  thirty-three  children,  and  nine  servants.  They  settled  in 
Guysborough  county,  near  the  entrance  of  the  Strait  of  Canso.  On 
the  17th  of  July,  1784,  the  3rd  and  4th  Battalions  of  the  60th,  or 
Eoyal  American  Regiment,  were  mustered  at  Halifax,  on  their  way 
to  Chedabucto.  They  numbered  seventy-six  men,  thirty-four 
women,  nineteen  children,  and  four  servants.  They  located  on  the 
south  side  of  Chedabucto  Bay.  They  had  enlisted  in  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania,  many  of  them  having  German  an- 
cestries, some  being  of  Dutch  descent. 

"In  December,  1783,  the  transport  Nymph  arrived  at  Country 


18.  Lord  Charles  Greville  Montagu,  second  son  of  Robert,  third  Duke  of  Man- 
chester, was  born  in  1741.  He  died  at  or  near  Halifax,  February  3,  1784.  Murdoch  in 
his  "History  of  Nova  Scotia"  (vol.  3,  p.  24),  giving  notes  of  the  year  1783,  says  that 
late  in  the  year  Lord  Charles  Montagu  arrived  at  Halifax,  "with  200  of  his  disbanded 
corps  from  Jamaica,  via  Havana,  whither  they  had  been  driven  by  storm."  Lord 
Charles  Greville  Montagu  is  buried  under  St.  Paul's  Church,  in  which  there  is  a  mon- 
ument to  his  memory. 

288 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  XOVA  SCOTIA 

Harbour,  Guysborough  county,  with  officers  and  privates,  some  of 
them  with  families.  They  belonged  to  the  South  Carolina  Royalists, 
Royal  North  Carolina  Regiment,  and  King's  Carolina  Rangers. 
Their  port  of  sailing  is  not  known." 

That  in  the  cases  of  some  of  the  disbanded  troops  who  settled 
in  Nova  Scotia  there  was  unfortunate  delay  in  the  granting  of  lands, 
is  shown,  for  instance,  by  the  fact  that  Colonel  Edward  Winslow, 
Jr.,  Muster-Master-General  of  the  Loyalist  forces  employed  under 
the  Crown,  and  a  member  of  the  first  council  of  New  Brunswick, 
wrote  to  his  friend  Ward  Chipman:  "I  saw  all  these  provincials, 
whom  we  have  so  frequently  mustered,  landing  in  this  inhospitable 
climate  in  the  month  of  October,  without  shelter  and  without  know- 
ing where  to  find  a  place  to  reside.  The  chagrin  of  the  officers  was 
not  to  me  as  truly  affecting  as  the  distress  of  the  men.  Those  rep- 
utable sergeants  of  Ludlow's,  Fanning 's,  Robinson's,  etc.  (once 
hospitable  yeomen  of  the  country),  addressed  me  in  language  that 
almost  murdered  me  as  I  heard  it:  'Sir,  we  have  served  all  the 
war;  we  were  promised  land,  we  expected  you  had  obtained  it  for 
us.  We  like  the  country;  only  let  us  have  a  spot  of  our  own  and 
give  us  such  kind  of  regulations  as  will  protect  us.'  " 

Regarding  the  Hessian  troops  who  came  to  Nova  Scotia,  a  large 
number  of  them  settling  here  permanently,  as  for  example  in  the 
locality  known  as  the  "Waldeck  Line,"  near  Clementsvale,  in  An- 
napolis county,  an  accurate  Halifax  local  historiographer,  Mr.  T. 
Vardy  Hill,  in  a  letter  to  the  writer  of  this  history,  says :  "On  the 
15th  of  April,  1782,  the  Secretary  of  State,  Lord  George  Germaine, 
sent  orders  to  the  chief  officer  in  command  of  the  Hessian  forces 
at  New  York  to  proceed  to  Halifax  with  these  troops,  to  place  them 
there  under  General  Campbell,  commanding  officer  in  Nova  Scotia.19 
On  the  13th  of  August,  1782,  one  thousand,  nine  hundred  and  four- 
teen Germans  arrived  at  Halifax.  The  headquarters  office  record 
of  corps,  etc.,  which  served  in  the  Nova  Scotia  command  after  1783, 
gives  the  following  regiments  as  leaving  New  York  for  that  prov- 
ince in  May,  1783:     De  Seitz's  Regiment,  the  Hessian  Recruits, 


19.  Mr.  Hill  here  refers  to  the  Canadian  Archives  for  1894,  p.  390-  Major  Gen- 
eral John  Campbell  arrived  at  Halifax  from  New  York  as  commander  of  the  forces, 
December  9,  1783.    Murdoch's  "History  of  Nova  Scotia,"  vol.  3,  p.  24. 

289 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Hesse-Hanoverian  Grenadiers,  Hesse-Hanoverian  Yagers,  Anhalt 
Zerbsters,  Waldeckers,  Hesse-Hanoverian  Regiment  (1st  Bat- 
talion), and  Brunswickers."20  3aron  De  Seitz,  as  is  well  remem- 
bered, died  at  Halifax  soon  after  coming  there  with  his  regiment 
and  was  buried  in  a  vault  under  St.  Paul's  Church.  In  the  church 
still  hangs  his  hatchment,  which  has  the  unusual  feature  of  an 
inscription.  This  inscription  is  as  follows:  "In  Memory  of  Franz 
Carl  Erdman  Baron  de  Seitz,  Colonel  and  chief  of  a  Regiment  of 
Hessian  foot  and  Knight  of  the  order  pour  la  vertue  militaire, 
departed  this  life  decbr  1782,  in  the  65th  year  of  his  age." 

The  arrival  of  the  Loyalists  at  St.  John  and  at  Shelburne  and 
other  points  on  the  rocky  Nova  Scotia  sea-coast,  cannot  be  pictured 
without  sadness.  The  age  in  which  these  exiles  lived  was  far  less 
luxurious  than  that  in  which  we  live,  yet  in  the  older  colonies 
from  which  they  came  many  of  them  had  been  the  possessors  of  con- 
siderable wealth,  a  few  having  had  what  was  then  great  wealth,  and 
most  of  them,  at  least  having  owned  or  been  the  inmates  of  com- 
fortable homes  in  prosperous  communities.  To  have  been  com- 
pelled to  leave  these  settled  homes  for  hastily  constructed  tents  and 
log  houses  in  the  wild  forests  of  an  almost  unexplored  province; 
and,  men,  women,  and  little  children,  to  be  made  to  suffer  all  the 
privations  and  hardships  of  pioneer  life, was  enough,  one  would  sup- 
pose, to  have  discouraged  even  the  bravest  hearts.  For  such  peo- 
ple as  the  Barclays,  Bayards,  De  Lanceys,  Ludlows,  Robinsons,  and 
Wilkinses  of  New  York;  and  the  Blisses,  Chipmans,  Lydes,  Put- 
nams,  Snellings,  and  Winslows  of  Massachusetts,  to  be  obliged  to 
leave  luxurious  surroundings  for  the  incredible  hardships  of  life 
in  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick  in  those  days,  must  have  been 
much  the  same  as  it  would  be  now  for  the  Cuttings, Iselins,  Morgans, 
or  Rhinelanders  of  New  York ;  or  the  Higginsons,  Lawrences,  Low- 
ells, or  Thayers  of  Boston,  to  banish  themselves  suddenly  to  some 
lonely  part  of  Arizona,  leaving  most  of  their  property  behind. 

To  the  actual  physical  discomforts  which  these  people  suffered 
on  sea  and  land  we  must  add  the  sorrow  many  felt  at  the  severing  of 
family  ties,  the  breaking  of  friendships  that  were  dear  as  life  itself, 


20.    Mr.  Hill  here  refers  to  Canadian  Archives  for  1894,  p.  490. 

290 


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CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

and  the  sad  separation  from  scenes  that  had  become  endeared  to 
them  by  a  thousand  tender  associations.  Bishop  John  Inglis  writes 
in  1844,  after  his  first  episcopal  visit  to  Shelburne,  that  he  had 
found  there,  still  living,  some  of  the  New  York  emigrants,  who  told 
him  "that  on  their  first  arrival,  lines  of  women  could  be  seen  sitting 
on  the  rocks  of  the  shore,  weeping  at  their  altered  condition ;"  and 
Sabine  says,  "I  have  stood  at  the  graves  of  some  of  these  wives  and 
daughters,  and  have  listened  to  the  accounts  of  the  living  in  shame 
and  anger."  At  St.  John  the  first  dwellings  were  all  log  huts,  a  little 
church  being  the  earliest  frame  building  erected.  Walter  Bates, 
describing  the  settlement  of  Kingston,  on  the  St.  John  river,  by 
himself  and  his  fellow  passengers  of  the  "good  ship  Union/'  says: 
"The  next  morning  with  all  our  effects,  women  and  children,  we 
set  sail  above  the  falls,  and  arrived  at  Belleisle  Bay  before  sunset. 
Nothing  but  wilderness  before  our  eyes;  the  women  and  children 
did  not  refrain  from  tears !  John  Marvin,  John  Lyon  and  myself 
went  on  shore  and  pitched  a  tent  in  the  bushes  and  slept  in  it  all 
night.  Next  morning  every  man  came  on  shore  and  cleared  away 
and  landed  all  our  baggage,  and  the  women  and  children,  and  the 
sloop  left  us  alone  in  the  wilderness.  We  had  been  informed  that 
the  Indians  were  uneasy  at  our  coming,  and  that  a  considerable 
body  had  collected  at  the  head  of  Belleisle.  Yet  our  hope  and  trust 
remained  firm  that  God  would  not  forsake  us.  We  set  to  work 
with  such  resolution  that  before  night  we  had  as  many  tents  set  as 
made  the  women  and  children  comfortable."  Soon  "every  man 
was  jointly  employed  clearing  places  for  building,  cutting  logs, 
carrying  them  together  by  strength  of  hands,  and  laying  up  log 
houses,  by  which  means  seventeen  log  houses  were  laid  up  and  cov- 
ered with  bark,  so  that  by  the  month  of  November,  every  man  in  the 
district  found  himself  and  family  covered  under  his  own  roof,  and 
a  happier  people  never  lived  upon  this  globe,  enjoying  in  unity 
the  blessings  which  God  had  provided  for  us  in  the  country  into 
whose  coves  and  wild  wToods  we  were  driven  through  persecution." 

The  annual  reports  of  the  Church  of  England  missionaries,  to 
the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  give  us  much  insight 
into  the  troubles  experienced  by  the  Tory  exiles  at  the  beginning 
of  their  new  life  in  these  provinces.     Not  a  little  of  their  suffering, 

291 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

as  in  the  case  of  the  disbanded  troops,  came  from  unavoidable 
delays  in  the  allotment  of  lands  for  their  use.  It  is  quite  possible 
that  the  Nova  Scotia  government  may  not  have  been  thoroughly 
systematic  in  its  methods  of  arranging  for  the  settlement  of  these 
unhappy  people,  but  it  will  be  remembered  that  for  two  or  three 
years  the  refugees  kept  pouring  into  the  province  in  bewildering 
numbers,  and  that  certain  formalities  were  necessary  in  granting 
the  smallest  amount  of  government  land  for  their  use.  No  one  who 
examines  the  records  of  the  time  can  help  seeing  that,  as  Sir  Guy 
Carleton  in  New  York  was  determined  to  leave  nothing  undone 
that  he  could  do  to  assist  the  Loyalists  in  leaving  their  old  homes, 
so  Governor  Parr  in  Nova  Scotia,  was  most  anxious  to  help  them 
find  comfortable  new  homes  in  the  country  to  which  they  had  come. 
But  it  is  clear  that  Parr  and  his  Council  were  sometimes  at  their 
wits'  end  to  know  how  to  provide  for  this  unexpected  influx  of  new 
inhabitants. 

The  progress  of  the  leading  Loyalist  settlements  in  Nova  Scotia 
and  New  Brunswick  can  perhaps  be  ascertained  better  from  the 
Eeports  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  than  in 
any  other  way.  The  missionaries,  who  like  their  congregations 
had  been  obliged  to  leave  the  revolting  colonies,  knew  intimately 
the  condition  of  the  wilderness  communities  in  which  their  lot  was 
now  cast ;  and  the  exigencies  of  their  missions  and  the  rules  of  the 
Society  required  that  detailed  reports  of  the  people's  condition 
should  be  sent  to  England  every  year.  "Of  the  terrible  sufferings 
and  hardships  the  Loyalists  underwent,  who  came  to  Nova  Scotia 
and  New  Brunswick/ '  says  Mr.  Edward  F.  De  Lancey,  "the  history 
of  these  provinces  makes  sad  mention.  Sufhce  it  to  say  here,  that 
they  have  never  been  paralleled  since  the  persecution  of  the 
Huguenots  and  their  flight  from  France  at  the  Revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes,  in  1685/ ' 

Among  the  Loyalists  who  left  the  various  colonies  now  states 
of  the  American  Union,  for  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  were 
some  seventy  men  who  were  promoted  to  so  high  official  rank,  or 
became  otherwise  so  prominent  in  their  new  spheres,  as  to  have  left 
their  names  indelibly  stamped  on  the  history  of  the  Maritime  Prov- 
inces.   Thomas  Barclay,  who  after  the  peace  became  H.  M.  first 

292 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Consul-General  at  New  York,  was  one  of  these  men;  Daniel  and 
Jonathan  Bliss,  Sampson  Salter  Blowers,  Ward  Chipman,  Charles 
Inglis,  Jonathan  Odell,  John  Wentworth,  and  Isaac  Wilkins  were 
others.  A  great  many  of  the  Loyalists  who  founded  families  in 
Nova  Scotia  or  New  Brunswick  came  from  Westchester,  New  York. 
Of  this  stock  are  the  families  of  Bates,  Bonnett,  Bugbee,  Disbrow, 
Gidney,  Merritt,  Mott,  Palmer,  Purdy,  Sneden,  Wetmore,  and  Wil- 
kins. Other  New  l"ork  names  were  Anderson,  Andrews,  Auch- 
muty,  Barclay,  Barry,  Barton,  Baxter,  Bayard,  Beardsley,  Bedle, 
Bell,  Betts,  Billopp,  Bremner,  Burton,  Campbell,  Carman,  Coyle, 
De  Lancey,  De  Mille,  De  Peyster,  De  Veber,  Dick,  Ditmars,  Dunn, 
Fowler,  Hatfield,  Hewlett,  Horsfield,  Inglis,  Livingston,  Ludlow, 
McKay,  Miles,  Moore,  Murray,  Peters,  Pine,  Pryor,  Eapalje,  Rem- 
sen,  Eobinson,  Sands,  Seaman,  Thorne,  Van  Cortlandt,  Ward,  Wat- 
son, Weeks,  Wetmore,  Wiggins,  Willett,  and  Wilmot.  From  Mas- 
sachusetts came  representatives  of  the  families  of  Ayres,  Barnard, 
Beaman,  Bliss,  Blowers,  Brattle,  Brinley,  Brymer,  Burton,  Camp- 
bell, Chipman,  Courtney,  Cunningham,  Cutler,  Danforth,  Davis, 
De  Blois,  Dunbar,  Forrester,  Garnett,  Garrison,  Gore,  Gray,  Green, 
Greenwood,  Hallowell,  Hatch,  Hathaway,  Hazen,  Hill,  Howe,  Hub- 
bard, Hutchinson,  Jones,  Kent,  Leonard,  Leslie,  Loring,  Lyde, 
Mansfield,  Minot,  Murray,  Oliver,  Paine,  Parker,  Perkins,  Poole, 
Putnam,  Robie,  Ruggles,  Sewall,  Snelling,  Stearns,  Upham,  White, 
Winslow,  and  Willard.  From  Connecticut  came  Bates,  Botsford, 
Hanford,  and  Jarvis.  From  Ehode  Island,  Chaloner,  Coles,  Halli- 
burton, and  Hazard.  From  Maine,  Gardiner;  from  New  Hamp- 
shire Blanchard  and  Wentworth;  from  New  Jersey,  Blauvelt, 
Burwell,  Cooke,  Crowell,  Hartshorne,  Lawrence,  Milledge,  Odell, 
Van  Buskirk,  and  Van  Norden.  From  Pennsylvania,  Butler,  Bis- 
sett,  Boggs,  Lenox,  Marchington,  Stansbury,  and  Ve/non.  From 
Virginia,  Benedict,  Bustin,  Coulbourne,  Donaldson,  Lear,  Saun- 
ders, and  Wallace;  from  North  Carolina,  Fanning;  from  Mary- 
land, Hensley.  Viscount  Bury  says  truly  of  the  settlement  of  the 
Loyalists  in  the  several  provinces  of  what  is  now  the  Dominion  of 
Canada:  "It  may  safely  be  said  that  no  portion  of  the  British 
possessions  ever  received  so  noble  an  acquisition/ ' 

The  advent  of  so  many  thousands  of  new  people  to  Nova  Scotia 

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CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

and  the  unusual  interest  taken  in  their  welfare  by  the  Home  Gov- 
ernment and  the  provincial  authorities,  naturally  created  some 
jealousy  in  the  minds  of  the  older  inhabitants.  The  Tories  were 
not  in  a  conciliatory  frame  of  mind,  and  having  lately  come  out  of 
a  far  more  advanced  civilization  than  that  of  the  forest  inrt  Nova 
Scotian  shores,  they  would,  not  unnaturally,  also  make  more  or  less 
assertion  of  superiority  to  the  older  settlers  at  their  quiet  fisheries 
and  on  their  farms  along  the  rough  Atlantic  seashore  and  beside  the 
dyke-lands  of  the  Basin  of  Minas  and  Cobequid  Bay.  The  inev- 
itable friction  that  actually  did  arise  between  the  two  bodies  of  peo- 
ple could  not  be  lessened,  either,  by  the  fact  that  many  of  the  Loy- 
alists were  men  so  long  accustomed  to  assert  themselves  strongly 
in  political  and  social  affairs  that  in  their  new  sphere  they  could  not 
help  soon  making  their  influence  felt  in  marked  ways.  Such  per- 
sons as  General  Timothy  Euggles,  Major  Thomas  Barclay,  Col. 
James  and  Col.  Stephen  De  Lancey,  Mr.  Isaac  Wilkins,  and  Samp- 
son Salter  Blowers,  could  not  remain  inactive,  or  take  second  rank 
in  any  place  where  their  fortunes  might  be  cast.  Accordingly,  we 
find  these  men,  and  others  of  their  fellow  Loyalists,  shortly  occu- 
pying prominent  places  in  the  Council,  the  House  of  Assembly,  the 
Judiciary,  and  the  social  life  of  Nova  Scotia ;  while  in  what  is  now 
New  Brunswick  a  distinct  agitation  very  soon  began  to  show  itself 
for  the  formation  of  a  new  province. 

The  history  of  Shelburne,  the  Loyalist  settlement  at  Port  Razoir, 
begun  with  such  high  hopes  and  resulting  in  a  few  years  in  such 
dismal  failure,  has  a  melancholy  interest.  Its  New  York  founders 
from  the  start  determined  to  make  it  an  important  naval  and  mili- 
tary station,  and  at  one  time  hoped  that  it  would  supplant  Halifax 
as  the  capital  of  the  Province.  In  a  short  time  after  its  founda- 
tion, its  population  rose  to  between  ten  and  twelve  thousand,  but 
the  site  chosen  for  it  was  so  unfavorable,  there  being  no  good  farm- 
ing country  about  it,  that  before  many  years  had  passed  the  major- 
ity of  its  inhabitants  had  moved  away,  either  to  New  Brunswick, 
to  other  parts  of  Nova  Scotia,  or,  as  in  many  cases,  to  their  old 
homes  in  the  United  States,  leaving  it  a  sad  and  disappointed  place. 
Such  of  those  who  returned  to  the  United  States  locked  their  doors, 
not  even  removing  their  furniture,  and  quietly  went  away,  leaving 

294 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

their  houses  to  be  taken  unchallenged  possession  of  by  negroes  or 
other  poor  settlers  in  future  times. 

"I  have  lately  been  at  Shelburne,"  writes  Bishop  John  Inglis, 
in  1844,  in  his  letter  already  referred  to,  "where  nearly  ten  thou- 
sand Loyalists,  chiefly  from  New  York,  and  comprising  many  of 
my  father's  parishioners,  attracted  by  the  beauty  and  security  of 
a  most  noble  harbor,  were  tempted  to  plant  themselves,  regardless 
of  the  important  want  of  any  country  in  the  neighborhood  fit  for 
cultivation.  Their  means  were  soon  exhausted  in  building  a  spa- 
cious town,  at  great  expense,  and  vainly  contending  against  indom- 
itable rocks;  but  in  a  few  years  the  place  was  reduced  to  a  few 
hundred  families.  Many  of  these  returned  to  their  native  country, 
and  a  large  portion  of  them  were  reduced  to  poverty.  .  .  . 
Some  few  of  the  first  emigrants  are  still  living.' '  How  many  ac- 
tually remained  in  the  peninsula  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  how  many 
went  back  to  the  United  States,  it  is  impossible  to  say.  There  are 
still  many  families  of  Loyalist  descent  in  this  province,  but  a  large 
number  of  the  most  important  Loyalist  names  have  now  almost  or 
quite  disappeared. 

In  1783,  as  soon  as  the  people  of  Shelburne  were  well  settled, 
Governor  Parr  came  down  from  Halifax  and  paid  them  a  visit.  On 
Sunday,  July  twentieth,  he  arrived  in  H.  M.  Sloop  La  Sophie.  When 
he  disembarked,  salutes  were  fired  from  the  ship,  and  as  he  landed, 
cannon  were  also  fired  by  the  artillery  at  the  port,  the  officers  of 
the  corps  on  duty  receiving  him  with  due  formality.  On  Tuesday 
morning  he  again  landed,  amidst  loud  cannonading,  and  marched 
up  King  Street,  through  long  lines  of  the  inhabitants  assembled  to 
do  him  honor,  to  the  place  appointed  for  his  reception  by  the  jus- 
tices of  the  peace  and  other  principal  inhabitants  of  the  place. 
After  an  address  had  been  presented  to  him,  he  named  the  new  town 
Shelburne,  and  " drank  the  King's  health,  prosperity  to  the  town 
and  district  of  Shelburne,  and  to  the  Loyalists,  each  toast  being 
accompanied  with  a  general  discharge  of  cannon. ' '  In  the  evening 
a  grand  dinner  was  given  on  board  the  Sophie,  and  the  next  day 
another  at  the  house  of  Justice  Robertson,  in  the  town.  A  public 
ball  and  supper,  "  conducted  with  the  greatest  festivity  and  de- 

295 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

coram,"  followed  later;  after  which  his  Excellency,  well  pleased, 
returned  to  Halifax. 

The  next  year,  in  May,  Sir  Charles  Douglas,  Bart.,  Commander 
of  the  British  Navy,  on  this  station,  visited  the  town  and  was  fit- 
tingly received;  the  same  month  Sir  John  Wentworth,  then  Mr. 
Wentworth,  Surveyor  General  of  the  King's  Woods  in  North  Amer- 
ica, made  Shelburne  a  brief  visit.  Four  years  later,  the  town 
received  Prince  William  Henry,  afterwards  King  William  IV,  then 
a  young  naval  officer,  who  came  in  the  warship  Andromeda  and 
staid  four  days.  During  his  stay  a  ball  was  given  for  his  Royal 
Highness,  which  the  Prince  himself  opened  with  Mrs.  Bruce,  wife 
of  the  Collector  of  the  port.  In  1786,  says  Murdoch,  "the  new  city 
was  a  gay  and  lively  place.  Every  holiday  or  anniversary  of  any 
description,  wTas  loyally  kept  and  mirthfully  enjoyed.  On  St.  An- 
drew's day,  December  eleventh,  of  that  year,  the  St.  Andrew's  So- 
ciety gave  an  elegant  ball  at  the  Merchants'  coffee  house.  The  ball 
room  was  crowded  on  the  occasion,  and  the  hours  of  the  night  passed 
away  in  the  most  pleasing  manner." 

The  settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  John  River  was  much 
more  successful.  WTien  the  first  Loyalists  reached  that  picturesque 
bay  the  shores  were  densely  wooded,  only  a  little  spot  about  Fort 
Howe  showing  that  white  men  had  ever  been  there  before.  The 
refugees  lived  first  in  log  huts,  brush  camps,  or  canvas  tents,  but 
slowly,  on  the  cleared  slopes  small  frame  houses  arose,  a  little 
Anglican  Church,  also,  being  built  for  worship,  as  well.  In  the  be- 
ginning, the  town  was  laid  out  in  lots  and  given  in  two  grants,  one  to 
eleven  hundred  and  eighty-four  grantees,  another  to  ninety-three. 
Other  Loyalist  settlements  also  soon  arose, — at  Fredericton,  which 
in  1788,  was  made  the  capital  of  the  new  province,  at  Gagetown, 
Kingston,  Maugerville,  St.  Andrews,  Sussex,  and  Woodstock. 

The  displeasure  of  many  of  the  Loyalists,  civilians  as  well  as 
soldiers,  regarding  what  they  felt  to  be  the  tardy  action  of  govern- 
ment in  the  apportionment  of  their  lands,  or  with  the  allotments 
themselves,  has  frequently  been  discussed.  Both  in  Nova  Scotia 
and  New  Brunswick,  this  displeasure  emphatically  showed  itself. 
At  Shelburne,  in  consequence  of  discontent  with  the  allotments 
already  made,  the  Governor  and  Council,  August  5,  1784,  appointed 

296 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

the  following  persons  as  their  agents  there  in  the  assignment  of 
lands:  Isaac  Wilkins,  James  McEwen,  Abraham  Van  Buskirk, 
Joseph  Brewer,  David  Thompson,  Joshua  Watson,  Benjamin  Da- 
vis, Charles  McNeal,  Ebenezer  Parker,  Alexander  Leckie,  Joshua 
Pell,  Nicholas  Ogden,  Robert  Gray,  justices  of  the  peace ;  Valentine 
Nutter,  Peter  Lynch,  William  Charles  White,  John  Lownds,  Alex- 
ander Robinson,  Patrick  Wall,  Michael  Langan,  Isaac  Wilkins  and 
any  four  of  the  others,  to  constitute  a  quorum.  In  November,  1784, 
the  governor  authorized  Amos  Botsford,  the  Rev.  Edward  Brude- 
nell,  Colonel  Barton,  and  Messrs.  Hill  and  Stump,  to  lay  out  and 
assign  unlocated  lands  in  Digby  to  such  persons  there  as  were 
unprovided  with  land.  At  St.  John  there  was  so  great  dissatis- 
faction that  in  1783  four  hundred  persons  signed  an  agreement  to 
remove  to  Passamaquoddy.  Tuttle,  in  his  history  of  Canada,  says : 
"The  Loyalists  who  settled  at  the  St.  John  River  did  not  agree  very 
well  with  the  original  settlers.  They  grew  angry  with  the  Gov- 
ernor because  their  grants  of  land  had  not  been  surveyed,  and  he  in 
turn  charged  them  with  refusing  to  assist  in  the  surveys  by  acting 
as  chainmen  unless  they  were  wrell  paid  for  it." 

Soon  the  Loyalists  demanded  additional  representation  in  the 
Nova  Scotia  Assembly,  but  this  Governor  Parr  opposed,  on  the 
ground  that  his  instructions  forbade  his  increasing  or  diminishing 
the  number  of  representatives  in  the  Assembly.  Failing  in  their 
efforts  to  secure  increased  representation,  the  people  next  began 
to  agitate  for  a  new  province  north  of  the  isthmus,  a  policy  against 
which  Governor  Parr  naturally  strongly  contended.  In  the  early 
part  of  1784  as  many  as  three  hundred  and  forty-one  persons  at 
Parr  Town  (St.  John)  passed  resolutions  of  various  sorts  regard- 
ing the  separation,  and  so  influential  were  the  Loyalists  with  the 
English  ministry  that  their  request  was  granted  and  in  August 
news  came  out  to  the  Halifax  authorities,  in  the  packet  from  Fal- 
mouth, that  a  new  province,  in  compliment  to  the  reigning  family 
of  England  to  be  called  New  Brunswick,  was  to  be  at  once  set  off. 
The  line  between  New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia,  it  was  declared, 
was  to  be  at  the  narrowest  part  of  the  isthmus,  from  Bay  Verte  to 
Cumberland  Basin,  which  division  would  place  Fort  Cumberland, 
and  indeed  much  of  what  was  then  Cumberland  County,  within 

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CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

the  limits  of  the  new  province.  The  governor  of  New  Brunswick 
was  to  be  Colonel  Thomas  Carleton,  a  brother  of  Sir  Guy,  who  had 
himself  commanded  a  regiment  during  the  war  and  was  highly 
esteemed  by  the  exiled  Loyalists. 

In  October,  Colonel  Carleton  and  his  family  arrived  at  Halifax 
from  London,  in  the  St.  Lawrence,  Captain  Wyatt,  after  a  passage 
of  eight  weeks;  and  on  Sunday,  November  twenty-first,  at  three 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  they  reached  St.  John,  where  they  received 
a  most  enthusiastic  welcome.  As  the  Ranger,  the  sloop  in  which 
they  had  crossed  the  bay  from  Digby,  entered  the  harbor,  one  salute 
of  seventeen  guns  was  fired  from  the  battery  at  Lower  Cove,  and 
another  from  Fort  Howe.  The  house  of  Mr.  George  Leonard,  at 
the  corner  of  Union  and  Dock  streets,  had  been  fitted  up  for  their 
reception,  and  thither,  amidst  great  applause,  the  distinguished 
party  was  at  once  conducted.  As  his  Excellency  entered  the  door 
the  crowd  gave  three  rousing  cheers,  with  "Long  live  our  King  and 
Governor !"  Then  the  enthusiastic  people  dispersed,  to  dream  of 
the  august  ceremony  that  should  be  held  on  the  morrow,  when  the 
Chief  should  take  the  oaths  of  his  office  and  the  new  Council  be 
sworn. 

The  first  Legislative  Council  of  New  Brunswick  consisted  of 
George  Duncan  Ludlow,  James  Putnam,  Abijah  Willard,  Gabriel  G. 
Ludlow,  Isaac  Allan,  William  Hazen,  and  Dr.  Jonathan  Odell,  all 
of  whom  had  been  men  of  considerable  note  in  the  colonies  from 
which  they  had  come.  Five  days  after  the  first  meeting  of  the  new 
Council,  its  number  was  increased  by  the  appointment  of  Guilfred 
Studholm,  and  on  the  fourth  of  December,  by  that  of  Edward  Wins- 
low.  In  July,  1766,  two  more  members  were  added,  Messrs.  Joshua 
Upham  and  Daniel  Bliss.  A  judiciary  was  also  appointed,  consist- 
ing of  George  Duncan  Ludlow,  Chief  Justice ;  and  James  Putnam, 
Isaac  Allan,  and  Joshua  Upham,  Assistant  Judges.  The  Supreme 
Court  met  for  the  first  time  on  Tuesday,  February  first,  1785,  in 
the  little  frame  church,  which  thus  served  both  for  worship  and  the 
administration  of  justice.  The  first  parliament  of  the  province 
assembled  at  St.  John  on  the  third  of  January,  1786,  in  a  house 
known  as  the  "Mallard"  house,  on  the  north  side  of  King  Street, 
the  members  being :     Stanton  Hazard,  and  John  McGeorge,  for  the 

298 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

City  of  St.  John;  and  William  Pagan,  Ward  Chipman,  Jonathan 
Bliss,  and  Christopher  Billopp,  for  the  county.  The  Speakership 
of  the  House  of  Assembly  was  given  to  Amos  Botsford,  the  presi- 
dency of  the  Council  to  the  Chief  Justice,  Mr.  Ludlow,  the  office 
of  Attorney-General  to  Dr.  Jonathan  Odell,  and  that  of  Provincial 
Secretary  to  Jonathan  Bliss. 

Of  these  high  officials,  most  of  whom  were  for  many  years  after 
their  first  appointment  intimately  connected  with  the  destinies  of 
the  province  they  had  helped  create,  George  Duncan  Ludlow  had 
been  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  York;  James  Putnam  had 
long  ranked  as  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  in  America ;  Abijah  Wil- 
lard,  of  Massachusetts,  had  been  a  mandamus  councillor  and  had 
served  in  the  army  from  the  taking  of  Louisburg  until  1763,  later 
being  commissary  to  the  troops  at  New  York ;  Gabriel  G.  Ludlow,  of 
New  York  had  commanded  a  battalion  of  Maryland  volunteers ;  Isaac 
Allan  had  been  colonel  of  a  New  Jersey  corps  of  volunteers  and  had 
lost  an  estate  in  Pennsylvania  because  of  his  attachment  to  the  royal 
cause;  William  Hazen,  formerly  of  Newburyport,  Massachusetts, 
had  come  to  Passamaquoddy  and  St.  John  as  a  trader  in  1764 ;  the 
Eev.  Dr.  Jonathan  Odell,  of  New  Jersey,  had  practised  medicine, 
and  had  been  a  successful  Church  of  England  clergyman,  in  the  lat- 
ter capacity  acting  as  chaplain  to  the  royal  troops;  and  Guilfred 
Studholm,  probably  also  a  New  England  man,  had  been  in  the  prov- 
ince for  some  years  in  military  service,  as  commander  at  Fort  Howe. 

Connected  with  the  city  of  St.  John,  in  the  present  province  of 
New  Brunswick,  in  the  days  of  its  founding  by  New  York  Loyalists, 
is  the  name  of  one  man  whose  record  in  the  Revolution  no  one  has 
ever  attempted  to  justify.  This  was  the  notorious  Benedict  Ar- 
nold. In  1787,  Arnold  made  his  residence  in  St.  John,  and  there 
entered  into  mercantile  life,  trading  chiefly  with  the  West  Indies. 
"Mr.  Sparks  suggests,' '  writes  Mr.  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  "that  the  Eng- 
lish Government  granted  him  facilities  in  the  way  of  contracts  for 
supplying  the  troops  there  with  provisions.  At  any  rate  he  car- 
ried on  an  extensive  business,  building  ships,  and  sending  cargoes 
to  the  West  Indies,  his  two  sons,  Richard  and  Henry,  aiding  him  in 
his  operations.  .  .  .  Arnold  is  said  to  have  exhibited  here  some 
of  his  characteristic  faults,  living  in  a  style  of  ostentation  and  dis- 

299 


•-.- 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

play,  and  being  so  haughty  and  reserved  in  his  intercourse  that  he 
became  personally  obnoxious.  "While  the  family  were  residing  at 
St.  John,  George  Arnold,  their  sixth  child  was  born.,,  In  1788, 
General  Arnold  and  his  family  returned  to  London,  where  thev  had 
first  settled  five  years  before.  In  1790  they  were  again  at  St. 
John,  but  in  1791  they  removed  permanently  to  England. 

In  his  survey  of  the  Loyalists  at  large,  Dr.  George  E.  Ellis  of 
Boston,  in  the  "  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,"  says  :21 
" Among  those  most  frank  and  fearless  in  the  avowal  of  loyalty  and 
who  suffered  the  severest  penalties,  were  men  of  the  noblest  char- 
acter and  of  the  highest  position.  So,  also,  bearing  the  same  odious 
title,  were  men  of  the  most  despicable  nature,  self-seeking,  and 
unprincipled,  ready  for  any  act  of  evil.  And  between  these  two 
were  men  of  every  grade  of  respectability  and  every  shade  of  mean- 
ness/ '  The  New  York  Loyalists  have  often  been  spoken  of  as  if  they 
comprehended  all  the  " aristocracy"  of  that  town.  Such  a  state- 
ment if  made  of  Boston  would  be  more  nearly,  though  not  entirely, 
true.  In  New  York  some  of  the  most  active  supporters  of  the  Rev- 
olution, like  John  Jay  and  Governor  Morris,  bore  names  as  aris- 
tocratic and  held  places  as  socially  high  as  any  in  the  province ;  and 
though  the  De  Lanceys,  De  Peysters,  Philippses,  and  Johnsons,  and 
the  greater  part  of  the  people  in  society  who  acknowledged  the  lead- 
ership of  these  families,  were  enthusiastic  supporters  of  the  crown, 
the  Schuylers  and  Livingstons,  at  least,  were  known  as  equally 
loyal  to  the  cause  of  the  Whigs. 

So  far  as  religion  ruled  in  the  colonies,  the  Episcopalians  were 
very  largely  Tory  in  sympathy,  and  the  same  was  true  of  a  minority 
of  the  adherents  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  body  wherever  it  existed. 
The  Presbyterians,  however,  of  the  middle  colonies  and  the  Con- 
gregationalists  of  New  England  almost  without  exception  gave 
their  support  strongly  to  the  patriot  cause.  In  both  the  middle  col- 
onies and  New  England  the  government  officials  of  all  sorts  natur- 
ally ranged  themselves  on  the  royal  side,  while  in  such  sea- 
ports as  Salem  and  Plymouth,  and  in  the  trading  villages  of  New 
York,  including  those  of  Long  Island  and  Staten  Island,  the  mer- 


21.    "Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America,"  vol.  8,  p.  185. 

300 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

chants  who  did  business  directly  with  the  mother  country 
and  whose  interests  would  necessarily  suffer  by  any  disturbance  of 
the  old  relations,  were  opposed  to  the  Revolution.  Besides  these 
two  classes  of  people,  whose  material  interests  made  it  almost  neces- 
sary for  them  to  be  loyal  to  Britain,  not  a  single  fair-minded  histor- 
ian in  these  days  fails  to  recognize  that  there  were  among  the  Loy- 
olists  countless  men  and  women  of  the  highest  principles,  who  loved 
constitutional  order,  hated  anarchy,  and  believed  that  obedience  to 
law  was  the  first  duty  of  honest  citizens.  The  people  of  this  class, 
however,  were  not  by  any  means  all  so  bigotedly  conservative,  and 
so  stupidly  insensible  to  their  rights  as  colonists,  as  to  be  willing  to 
endure  any  hardships  that  overbearing  ministries  in  England  might 
impose  upon  them,  but  believing  that  to  preserve  a  united  empire 
was  more  important  than  to  secure  the  immediate  redress  of  tem- 
porary wrongs,  they  were  willing  to  bide  their  time  until  the  mother 
country  could  be  made  to  see  her  duty  towards  her  American 
colonies  and  should  be  willing  to  abolish  their  wrongs. 


301 


De  Soto's  Route  in  Arkansas 

By  Ada  Mixon,  Washington,  D.  C. 


T  has  never  been  satisfactorily  determined  just  where  De 
Soto  crossed  the  Mississippi  river,  which  he  discovered 
on  June  18,  1541,  or  how  far  westward  he  went  after- 
ward. His  wanderings  through  the  present  States  of 
Florida,  Georgia,  Alabama  and  Mississippi  have  been  traced  with  a 
fair  degree  of  accuracy,  but  the  few  writers  who  have  touched  upon 
his  route  through  Arkansas  each  give  a  different  account  of  it. 
Some  chroniclers  state  that  he  went  as  far  west  as  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, unmindful  of  the  fact  that  it  took  him  two  years  to  travel  from 
Tampa  Bay  to  the  point  where  he  crossed  the  Mississippi,  and  that 
his  travels  west  of  that  river  occupied  only  a  year.  Some  writers 
have  placed  the  point  of  crossing  at  Chickasaw  Bluff,  and  the  route 
through  the  Ozarks  of  Arkansas  and  Missouri.  Later  writers  are 
of  the  opinion  that  the  point  of  crossing  must  have  been  a  short 
distance  north  of  the  34th.  parallel,  and  this  is  far  more  likely,  as 
may  be  determined  by  the  description  of  his  wanderings  immedi- 
ately after  reaching  the  western  bank  and  by  comparing  that  des- 
cription with  the  present  aspect  of  the  same  region. 

The  route  outlined  on  the  accompanying  sketch  has  been  worked 
out  from  a  careful  study  of  the  only  recorded  accounts  which  are 
regarded  as  accurate.  First  in  importance  is  the  report  of  the  Fac- 
tor or  Chief  Commissary  of  the  expedition,  Don  Luys  Hernandez  de 
Biedma,  which  was  written  from  notes  jotted  down  during  the 
journey.  This  is  very  brief,  giving  only  a  few  essential  details, 
names  of  tribes,  towns,  rivers,  resources  and  some  directions.  Sec- 
ond, the  journal  of  Rodrigo  Ranjel,  De  Soto's  private  secretary, 
which  bears  evidence  that  it  was  an  actual  journal  made  during 
their  travels,  and  gives  more  fully  than  Biedma 's  work  the  direc- 
tions taken  and  descriptions  of  the  various  regions  traversed.  Third. 
the  account  given  by  an  anonymous  writer  known  only  as  ' '  The  Gen- 

302 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  IN  ARKANSAS 

tleman  of  Elvas,"  a  resident  of  Elvas,  in  Portugal,  who  with  a 
party  of  Portuguese  gentlemen  joined  the  expedition  of  De  Soto  at 
Seville.  A  list  of  names  of  these  Portuguese  is  given  in  this  narra- 
tive, and  no  doubt  so  modest  a  cavalier  as  "The  Gentleman  of 
Elvas"  has  placed  his  own  name  last  upon  this  list.  If  this  deduc- 
tion is  correct,  his  real  name  was  Don  Alvaro  Fernandez,  who  is 
mentioned  last  in  the  list  of  nine  names.  His  account  of  the  expe- 
dition wTas  undoubtedly  made  from  notes  and  dates  set  down  on  the 
trip ;  this  has  been  proven  by  comparison  with  the  calendars  of  the 
years  1539  to  1543.  While  some  of  his  statements  are  evidently 
made  in  error,  his  narrative  has  been  accepted  as  the  best  story 
extant  of  their  travels  through  those  primeval  forests,  both  on 
account  of  its  engaging  literary  style  and  its  reliability  as  compared 
with  the  two  official  texts.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  this  is  the  only 
contribution  from  Portugal  to  the  history  of  the  New  World.  Its 
merit  places  it  in  the  foremost  ranks  of  history  of  that  period,  a 
period  which  includes  some  of  the  brightest  stars  in  the  literary 
firmament.  Without  doubt  the  "Gentleman  of  Elvas"  was  a  cava- 
lier of  some  standing  at  home  and  of  some  importance  in  the  expe- 
dition itself,  being  present  at  the  counsels  of  the  officers,  and  bear- 
ing his  part  nobly  both  in  the  deliberations  and  in  the  fighting. 

Previous  writers  on  this  subject  have  based  their  determination 
of  De  Soto's  route  largely  upon  the  account  of  the  Inca  Garcilero 
de  la  Vega,  a  historian  of  the  sixteenth  century,  whose  narrative 
was  written  from  reminiscences  related  by  an  old  soldier  forty 
years  after  he  had  returned  from  the  expedition.  It  is  an  interest- 
ing and  romantic  story,  but  obviously  inaccurate  and  highly  colored. 
This  narrative  has  been  entirely  ignored  in  tracing  the  route  of  De 
Soto  herewith  presented. 

Besides  these  sources  of  data  for  the  route,  the  only  other  cor- 
roborative method  possible  is  a  personal  examination  of  the  country 
involved,  and  this  has  been  done  by  the  author  as  far  as  concerns 
the  first  portion  of  the  journey  immediately  following  their  crossing 
of  the  Mississippi  river.  Beyond  that,  the  directions  and  descrip- 
tions in  the  three  records  referred  to  have  been  followed,  and  the 
fact  that  the  map  of  the  region  corroborates  their  accounts  may  be 
considered  further  proof  of  the  general  accuracy  of  the  whole. 

303 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  IN  ARKANSAS 

De  Soto's  method  of  advance  in  his  explorations  seems  to  have 
been  first,  to  surprise  the  natives  and  take  a  number  of  prisoners 
who  were  retained  as  hostages  until  he  could  communicate  with  the 
cacique,  or  chief  of  the  tribe.  His  interpreter,  Juan  Ortiz,  had 
spent  twelve  years  among  the  Indians  of  Florida,  and  was  his  means 
of  communication  during  the  first  three  years  of  exploration.  Af- 
ter reducing  the  chief  to  submission,  exacting  tribute  of  supplies, 
guides,  interpreters,  and  slaves  to  help  carry  their  burdens,  De  Soto 
and  his  party,  after  stopping  in  one  village  a  few  days  or  longer, 
would  pass  on  to  another  province.  From  the  Indians  he  learned 
where  gold  might  be  found,  or  where  abounded  the  most  fertile  fields, 
the  most  prolific  crops,  and  the  most  abundant  game.  Very  often 
they  would  reach  a  village  to  find  it  deserted  by  the  natives,  who 
had  heard  of  the  approach  of  the  Spaniards  and  had  fled  in  terror. 

It  is  remarkable  that  these  Indians  of  1541  knew  nothing  of  the 
calumet,  which  was  regarded  as  an  important  institution  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  later  by  the  Indians  in  the  same  territory. 
Also,  their  demeanor  was  altogether  at  variance  with  our  generally 
accepted  ideas  of  Indian  characteristics.  When  defeated  or  when 
seeking  clemency,  the  chief  always  gave  way  to  tears  instead  of 
maintaining  the  stoical  dignity  of  the  tribes  of  later  years,  the 
type  long  familiar  to  us  in  song  and  story. 

As  De  Soto  had  heard  from  the  Indians  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Mississippi  reports  of  the  prosperity  of  the  Pacaha  country  on  the 
opposite  shore,  his  desire  was  to  find  the  Pacahas  as  soon  as  he 
crossed  the  " Great  River,"  as  the  Mississippi  was  designated  by 
the  Spaniards.  For  that  reason,  after  crossing  the  river  his  course 
was  northeasterly,  following  the  river  until  he  reached  a  large  town 
in  Aquixo  and  advanced  to  the  town  of  Aquixo,  which  Ranjel  says 
was  "very  beautiful  or  beautifully  situated."  No  doubt  after  the 
swamps  which  opposed  their  passage  on  both  sides  of  the  "Great 
River,"  and  among  which  they  had  wandered  for  many  weary  days, 
they  were  pleased  to  see  the  hills  of  Crowley's  Ridge,  which  begin 
at  the  present  town  of  Helena. '  On  the  principle  that  what  was  a 
good  site  for  a  town  then  would  still  be  a  good  site,  it  is  most  likely 
that  the  town  of  Aquixo  stood  upon  the  present  site  of  Helena.  This 
town  is  partly  on  the  hills,  and  partly  on  the  plain  below  stretching 

304 


. 

DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  IN  ARKANSAS 

to  the  " Great  River/ '  and  may  be  described  as  "a  beautiful  vil- 
lage, or  beautifully  situated."  One  day's  journey  below  Helena, 
therefore,  may  be  regarded  as  the  most  probable  place  at  which  De 
Soto's  expedition  crossed  the  Mississippi  river,  but  owing  to  the 
changes  which  have  occurred  since  then  in  the  river  bed,  it  is  im- 
possible to  give  any  one  spot  even  as  a  mere  conjecture.  It  is  a  well 
known  fact  that  the  Mississippi  river  has  changed  its  course  at  var- 
ious points  and  at  various  times  within  the  memory  of  man,  and  in 
the  course  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  the  topography  of  that 
vicinity  has  probably^  undergone  a  complete  change,  although  two 
hundred  miles  south  of  the  area  affected  by  earthquakes. 

They  crossed  the  " Great  River"  on  Saturday,  June  18,  and  stayed 
at  Aquixo  from  Sunday  until  Tuesday,  states  the  terse  diary  of 
Ranjel.  The  Indians  at  Aquixo  told  them  of  a  fertile  and  prosper- 
ous country  called  Casqui,  three  days7  journey  from  there,  and  they 
started  in  that  direction  and  crossed  "a  small  river."  Neither  of 
the  three  chroniclers  state  in  what  direction  the  party  went  in 
search  of  Casqui,  and  previous  writers  have  assumed  that  they  con- 
tinued their  northeasterly  course,  and  that  the  ''small  river"  was 
what  is  now  the  St.  Francis  river.  But  there  were  tall  pines  at  the 
town  of  Casqui,  and  none  exist  in  the  St.  Francis  river  valley — cer- 
tainly not  on  the  eastern  side  of  that  river,  where  the  land  is  low 
and  swampy,  nor  is  the  land  "higher,  drier  and  more  level  than 
any  other  alongside  the  river  that  had  been  seen  until  then,"  as 
Elvas  describes  the  land  of  Casqui.  To  find  such  a  country  we  must 
turn  to  the  westward  where,  three  days'  travel  from  Helena  in  the 
southern  part  of  Monroe  county,  it  is  "higher,  drier  and  more 
level"  and  is  also  a  region  of  pines.  Pine  City  may  be  considered 
the  site  of  one  of  the  Casqui  towns,  possibly  the  town  of  Casqui 
itself,  where  a  cross  of  pine  fifty  feet  high  was  set  up  by  the 
Spaniards  on  a  handmade  hill.  The  "small  river"  which  they 
crossed  was  Big  creek,  which  at  that  time  was  larger  than  its  pre- 
sent dimensions,  as  all  smaller  streams  tend  to  grow  less  if  the 
region  through  which  they  flow  is  under  cultivation.  For  exam- 
ple, in  1812,  when  the  city  of  Washington  was  besieged  by  the  Brit- 
ish, it  is  a  matter  of  history  that  the  British  ships  sailed  up  the 

305 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  IN  ARKANSAS 

Anacostia  river  as  far  as  Bladensburg,  Maryland,  an  impossible 
feat  at  the  present  day  for  even  the  smallest  seagoing  craft. 

On  Wednesday  the  travellers  passed  through  "the  worst  tract 
for  swamps  and  water  they  had  found  in  all  Florida,''  according  to 
Ranjel.  On  Thursday  they  reached  the  Casquin  country.  It  was 
here  that  the  pine  cross  was  erected  at  the  request  of  the  Chief  of 
Casqui.  Observing  that  the  Christians  were  more  powerful  than 
himself,  he  expressed  a  desire  to  worship  the  Christian's  God, 
frankly  admitting  that  his  wish  was  born  of  a  desire  for  material 
profit.  He  willingly  furnished  them  with  supplies,  and  offered  to 
help  them  invade  the  Pacaha  province,  whose  tribe  were  his  heredit- 
ary enemies.  The  "Gentleman  of  Elvas"  says  that  "in  the  fields 
were  many  walnut  trees,  having  tender-shelled  nuts  in  the  shape  of 
acorns,  many  being  found  stored  in  the  houses."  This  is  the  region 
of  pecan  forests.  Ranjel  says  that  in  the  town  of  Casqui  "over 
the  door  to  the  principal  tent,  were  many  heads  of  fierce  bulls,' ' 
which  were  without  doubt  the  heads  of  buffaloes. 

From  here  they  went  in  the  direction  of  Pacaha,  accompanied  by 
Casqui,  who  sent  his  men  ahead  to  build  a  bridge  for  the  Spaniards 
across  a  lake  or  swamp  which  separated  the  two  provinces.  The 
Elvas  gentleman  calls  this  "a  lake  like  an  estuary  that  entered  the 
Great  River,"  and  it  was  "half  a  cross  bow  shot  over,  of  great  depth 
and  swiftness  of  current."  Ranjel  refers  to  it  as  a  "swamp."  The 
bridge  made  for  them  by  the  Indians  was  "built  of  wood  in  the  man- 
ner of  timber  thrown  across  from  tree  to  tree ;  on  one  side  there 
being  a  rail  of  poles  higher  than  the  rest  as  a  support  for  those  who 
pass."  It  took  the  Spaniards  a  day  to  cross  this  swamp.  North- 
east of  Casqui  or  Pine  City,  in  the  southwestern  corner  of  Lee 
county,  is  a  cypress  swamp  which  is  still  a  formidable  body  of  water 
in  high  water  time,  and  in  those  days  before  the  surrounding  region 
was  under  cultivation,  no  doubt  covered  a  much  longer  and  wider 
extent  of  territory.  They  took  several  towns  in  Pacaha,  one  of 
which  may  have  occupied  the  present  site  of  La  Grange,  on  Crow- 
ley's ridge,  and  three  days  later  they  reached  the  village  of  the 
Chief  of  Pacaha,  which  was  near  the  Mississippi  and  the  mouth  of 
the  St.  Francis  river.     They  surprised  the  Pacahas,  who  fled  as  the 

306 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  IN  ARKANSAS 

Spaniards  approached  and  took  refuge  on  "an  island  between  two 
rivers,"  one  of  which  was  the  "Great  River." 

There  seems  to  be  little  doubt  that  this  other  river  was  the  St. 
Francis,  but  the  exact  point  at  which  the  St.  Francis  then  entered 
the  Mississippi  is  difficult  to  determine.  An  examination  of  the 
map  of  this  territory  shows  that  these  twTo  rivers  come  within  one 
and  a  third  miles  of  each  other  at  a  point  about  nine  miles  in  a  di- 
rect line  above  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Francis.  The  topography  of 
this  region  leads  one  to  the  conclusion  that  it  may  be  possible  that 
formerly  the  Mississippi's  course  led  through  this  one  and  a  third 
mile  "cut-off"  and  into  the  present  channel  of  the  St.  Francis, 
where  that  river  follows  an  irregular  course  around  an  extent  of 
territory  which  probably  at  some  time  was  an  island.  If  this  is  the 
case,  the  "island  betw-een  two  rivers"  may  have  been  at  the  mouth 
of  the  L'Anguille  river  where  it  now  flows  into  the  St.  Francis  river, 
the  St.  Francis  at  that  time  entering  the  Mississippi  at  the  western 
end  of  the  "cut-off." 

Says  Ranjel,  "In  Aquixo,  Casqui  and  Pacaha,  they  saw  the  best 
villages  seen  up  to  that  time,  better  stockaded  and  fortified  and  the 
people  of  finer  quality  excepting  those  of  Cofatichiqui."  Pacaha 
was  the  first  fortified  town  the  Spaniards  found  in  Florida.  It 
was  surrounded  by  a  stockade  of  timber  ten  feet  high  and  plastered 
with  mud.  Around  this  was  a  moat  which  was  fed  by  a  ditch  lead- 
ing from  the  "Great  River,"  and  this  moat  was  well  stocked  with  a 
wonderful  variety  of  fish,  as  were  all  the  waters  in  that  neighbor- 
hood. The  travellers  caught  them  with  nets,  and  "however  much 
might  be  the  casting  there  was  never  any  lack  of  them."  "There 
was  a  fish  called  bagre,  the  third  part  of  which  was  head,  with,  gills 
from  end  to  end,  and  along  the  sides  were  great  spines,  like  very 
sharp  awls.  Those  of  this  sort  that  lived  in  the  lake  were  as  big 
as  pike ;  in  the  river  were  some  that  weighed  from  one  hundred  to 
one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds.  'Many  were  taken  with  the  hook. 
There  was  one  in  the  shape  of  a  barbel;  another  like  bream  with 
the  head  of  a  hake,  having  a  colour  between  red  and  brown,  and 
was  the  most  esteemed.  There  was  likewise  a  kind  called  peel-fish, 
the  snout  a  cubit  in  length,  the  upper  lip  being  shaped  like  a  shovel. 
Another  fish  was  like  a  shad.     .     .     .     There  was  one  called  pereo, 

307 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  IN  ARKANSAS 

the  Indians  sometimes  brought,  the  size  of  a  hog,  and  had  rows  of 
teeth  above  and  below.' '  The  sportsmen  who  fish  in  these  waters 
will  recognize  many  of  these  types  of  fish  today. 

In  Pacaha  they  found  many  shawls,  deer-skins,  lion  and  bear- 
skins, and  many  cat-skins.  "  Numbers  who  had  been  a  long  time 
badly  covered  there  clothed  themselves.  Of  the  shawls  they  made 
mantles  and  cassocks ;  some  made  gowns  and  lined  them  with  cat- 
skins,  as  they  also  did  the  cassocks.  Of  the  deer  skins  were  made 
jerkins,  shirts,  stockings  and  shoes;  and  from  the  bear  skins  they 
made  very  good  cloaks,  such  as  no  water  could  get  through.  They 
found  shields  of  raw  cowhide  out  of  which  armor  was  made  for  the 
horses/ '  This  passage  and  the  preceding  one  regarding  the  fish 
are  from  the  narrative  of  the  Elvas  Gentleman.  Evidently  the  buf- 
faloes roamed  in  those  primeval  forests  not  many  miles  from  the 
Mississippi  river.  As  the  travellers  had  lost  most  of  their  clothing 
in  the  great  fire  at  Mauvila  (Mobile)  they  were  now  glad  to  array 
themselves  in  the  habilaments  of  a  pioneer  trapper,  even  the  priests 
of  the  party.  All  the  sacred  vestments  and  implements  of  the  holy 
office  had  been  lost  in  the  fire,  so  that  the  first  religious  services  con- 
ducted on  the  western  side  of  the  " Great  River" — first  recorded  at 
Casqui — were  more  Lutheran  or  Calvinistic  than  Roman  in  char- 
acter. 

De  Soto,  after  invading  Pacaha  with  the  aid  of  Casquin,  was  de- 
serted by  Casquin  at  a  critical  moment  in  the  fight.  Later,  having 
subdued  Pacaha,  he  had  arranged  to  aid  Pacaha  to  conquer  Cas- 
quin, but  that  wily  chief,  hearing  of  his  design,  came  to  him  weep- 
ing and  humbly  acknowledging  his  fault.  In  a  long  speech  punc- 
tuated with  sobs,  Casquin  asked  why  De  Soto  wished  to  treat  him, 
a  friend  and  a  brother  Christian,  ^so  cruelly.  De  Soto  received 
him  kindly  and  endeavored  to  make  peace  between  him  and  Pacaha, 
and  thought  he  had  succeeded  until  he  invited  them  to  join  him  at  a 
feast.  As  they  were  about  to  sit  down  at  the  banquet,  the  two  chiefs 
began  a  heated  argument  and  were  about  to  come  to  blows.  Sum- 
moning the  aid  of  the  interpreter,  De  Soto  learned  that  both  the 
great  chiefs  claimed  the  distinction  of  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of 
his  host.  They  agreed  to  submit  the  question  to  "the  Governor," 
and  each  gave  his  reason  for  demanding  the  place  of  honor  as  his 

308 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  IN  ARKANSAS 


right — Pacaha,  because  his  ancestors  were  more  honorable,  and 
Casquin  because  he  was  older  and  more  distinguished.  De  Soto 
finally  gave  the  right  hand  place  to  Pacaha.  Thus  the  first  discus- 
sion of  the  question  of  diplomatic  precedence  recorded  on  the  North 
American  continent  took  place  in  the  backwoods  of  Arkansas  in  the 
summer  of  1541,  but  the  end  of  such  disputes  is  not  yet,  as  the  hosts 
and  hostesses  of  Washington  can  but  do  not  testify. 

While  the  party  was  at  Pacaha,  an  expedition  was  sent  to  the 
northwest  in  search  of  more  provisions  and,  as  always,  on  the  look- 
out for  signs  of  gold.  They  were  also  anxious  to  find  a  route  to  the 
sea.  They  traveled  eight  days ' '  through  a  wilderness  which  had  large 
pondy  swamps" — which  answers  to  the  description  of  certain  parts 
of  Lee  and  Monroe  counties  in  high  water  time,  more  especially 
in  the  tracts  now  reclaimed  by  cultivation.  Biedma,  who  went  on 
this  expedition,  says  they  found  a  region  " where  we  didn't  find  even 
trees,  and  only  some  wide  plains  on  which  grew  a  plant  so  rank  and 
high  that  even  on  horseback  we  could  not  break  our  way  through" 
— this  must  have  been  Prairie  county.  Finally  they  came  to  a 
small  village  with  huts  covered  with  rush  sewed  together — they 
called  this  province  Caluca.  The  people  "  cared  little  to  plant,  find- 
ing support  in  meat  and  fish."  They  returned  from  this  expedition 
"in  great  extremity,  eating  green  persimmons  and  cornstalks  found 
in  this  Indian  town."  These  Indians  told  the  party  that  toward 
the  north  the  country  was  thinly  populated;  the  "cattle  were  in 
such  plenty  no  corn  field  could  be  protected  from  them  and  the 
inhabitants  lived  upon  meat." 

Eight  days'  journey  northwest  of  Pacaha  would  follow  a  line 
more  or  less  parallel  to  the  Missouri  and  North  Arkansas  railroad, 
which  runs  through  the  prairie  region  of  north  Monroe  county  and 
in  Prairie  county.  The  Carluc  village  may  have  been  on  Cache 
river,  as  the  inhabitants  lived  on  fish  and  meat.  It  was  the  cus- 
tom of  these  people  to  move  their  tents  of  skins  from  place  to  place 
according  to  the  supplies  they  found.  As  soon  as  the  fish  or  meat 
of  one  region  was  gone,  they  folded  their  tents  and  moved  on  to 
another  better  supplied. 

After  a  month's  stay  at  Pacaha,  the  Governor  and  his  party  went 
back  toward  the  land  of  the  Casquines.     The  Indians  had  told  the 

309 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  IN  ARKANSAS 

Spaniards  of  a  large  province  and  country  of  great  abundance  to- 
wards the  southwest  called  Quiguate.  On  the  way  toward  Quiguate 
they  visited  Casquin,  and  that  friendly  chief  took  them  in  canoes 
across  the  river  of  Casqui,  which  was  a  branch  of  the  "Great  River,' ' 
and  was  as  "large  as  the  Guadalquiver ' ' — this  refers  to  White 
river.  Their  place  of  crossing  was  probably  at  some  point  near 
Casscoe.  On  the  second  day  they  camped  by  a  stream,  probably 
Rattlesnake  Bayou,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Goldman.  About  three 
days'  journey  from  White  river  brought  them  to  Quiguate,  the  "lar- 
gest village  they  had  seen  in  all  Florida,"  according  to  the  testi- 
mony of  all  three  of  the  authorities  from  which  this  record  is  tak- 
en. It  was  situated  on  another  river  of  Casqui,  now  known  as  the 
Arkansas  river.  According  to  present  calculations,  Quiguate  was  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Pine  Bluff,  on  the  Ar- 
kansas river.  This  country  of  Quiguate,  "like  that  of  Casqui  and 
Pacaha,  was  level  and  fertile,  having  rich  river  margins  on  which 
the  Indians  made  extensive  fields,"  says  Elvas. 

At  Quiguate  they  were  told  that  eleven  days '  travel  to  the  north- 
west was  a  province  called  Caligua,  where  they  subsisted  on  certain 
cattle  and  where  interpreters  might  be  found  for  the  whole  distance 
to  the  "other  sea."  De  Soto  was  trying  to  find  a  way  out  to  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico.  Also,  Caligua  was  in  the  mountains  and  he  hoped 
to  find  gold  there. 

They  remained  at  Quiguate  eight  or  ten  days  to  find  guides  and 
interpreters,  leaving  there  August  26  in  search  of  Caligua.  They 
traveled  northwest  through  a  region  of  swamps,  finding  no  place 
to  camp  for  three  nights, — "from  swamp  to  swamp  made  a  journey 
over  four  swamps  and  days'  marches,  seeing  no  end  of  fish  because 
all  that  country  is  flooded  by  the  Great  River  when  it  overflows 
its  banks."  "Swamps  where  we  drank  from  the  hand  and  found 
an  abundance  of  fish,"  says  Biedma.  This  was  through  the  low 
marshes  and  swamps  between  the  Arkansas  and  Saline  rivers. 
They  were  following  in  a  general  way  the  direction  of  the  Saline 
river  toward  its  source  in  the  mountains  of  Saline  county. 

And  now  comes  one  of  the  most  puzzling  passages  in  the  whole 
account  of  the  expedition.  They  left  Quiguate  on  August  26,  and 
on  Tuesday,  September  1,  they  reached  the  river  of  Caligua,  "and 

310 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  IN  ARKANSAS 

Wednesday  likewise  the  same  river.''  At  first  blush  this  sen- 
tence leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the  party  were  doubling  on  their 
trail,  as  they  were  sometimes  compelled  to  do  owing  to  the  mis- 
takes of  the  interpreter  in  understanding  the  directions  given  by  the 
Indians.  But  as  Juan  Ortiz  did  not  die  until  they  reached  winter 
quarters  at  Autianque,  it  is  not  likely  that  such  a  mistake  occurred 
at  this  point.  An  explanation  may  be  found  by  an  examination  of 
the  map  of  Saline  county  where  the  Saline  river  takes  its  rise  in 
four  branches  or  forks.  Evidently  they  first  reached  the  North 
fork  and  next  day  the  Alum  fork  of  Saline  river.  When  they  left 
Caligua  they  ''crossed  the  river  again,"  says  Ranjel,  referring  to 
the  Middle  fork,  which  is  south  of  the  Alum  fork.  As  no  mention 
is  made  of  the  South  fork,  the  presumption  is  that  Caligua  was  sit- 
ated  in  the  extreme  western  portion  of  Saline  county  between  Alum 
fork  and  middle  fork.  Going  southward  they  would  find  the  South 
fork  a  much  smaller  stream  and  cross  it  without  making  any  note 
of  it. 

According  to  Biedma's  description  of  Caligua,  the  "land  is  very 
plentiful  of  substance,  and  we  found  a  large  quantity  of  dressed 
cows'  tails  and  others  already  cured."  In  reaching  the  town  they 
"went  over  much  even  country,  and  other  of  broken  hills  coming 
straight  upon  the  town  as  much  so  as  if  we  had  been  taken  thither 
by  a  royal  highway  instead  of  which  not  a  man  in  all  time  had  passed 
there  before."  This  is  perhaps  the  earliest  description  on  record 
of  a  buffalo  trail. 

They  found  the  town  of  Caligna  populated,  and  "from  it  they 
took  much  people  and  clothes  and  a  vast  amount  of  provisions  and 
much  salt.  It  was  a  pretty  village  between  some  ridges  along  the 
gorge  of  a  great  river,"  says  Ranjel.  According  to  Elvas:  "About 
40  leagues  from  Quiguate  stood  Caligua,  at  the  foot  of  a  mountain 
in  the  vale  of  a  river  of  medium  size  like  the  Cava,  a  stream  which 
passes  through  Estremadura."  Estremadura  is  the  name  of  a 
province  of  Portugal,  but  the  name  of  Cava  does  not  appear  on  the 
map,  but  there  is  a  small  doubt,  however,  that  the  stream  was  the 
Middle  fork  of  Saline  river.  The  soil  was  very  rich,  yielding  corn 
in  such  profusion  that  old  corn  was  thrown  out  of  store  to  make 
room  for  new  grain.     Beans  and  pumpkins  were  in  plenty,  "larger 

3ii 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  IN  ARKANSAS 

and  better  than  those  of  Spain/ '  Elvas  adds  that  the  "pumpkins 
when  roasted  have  nearly  the  taste  of  chestnuts.' '  From  Caligua 
"at  midday  they  went  to  kill  some  cows  of  which  there  are  very 
many  wild  ones,"  says  Ranjel.  This  town  was  in  what  is  now  the 
National  Forest  Reservation,  near  the  present  town  of  Beaudry. 

The  Indians  at  Caligua  told  them  that  six  leagues  north  were 
many  cattle  where  the  country,  being  cold,  was  thinly  inhabited,  and 
that  to  the  best  of  their  knowledge  the  province  that  was  better 
provisioned  than  any  other  and  more  populous  was  to  the  south 
called  Cayas.  The  chief  of  Caligua  gave  them  a  guide  to  the  Cayas 
province.  They  left  Caligua  on  Tuesday,  September  6;  on  Wed- 
nesday they  passed  some  mountains,  evidently  where  the  South  fork 
of  Saline  river  takes  its  rise,  and  came  to  Calpasta,  where  was  an 
"excellent  salt  spring  which  distilled  good  salt  in  deposits."  On 
Thursday,  September  8,  they  reached  Palisema,  which  must 
have  been  somewhere  north  of  Hot  Springs.  Elvas  says  that  at 
Palisema  the  house  of  the  cacique  was  canopied  with  colored  deer- 
skins with  designs  drawn  on  them,  and  the  ground  likewise  was  cov- 
ered as  if  with  carpets.  The  chief  left  his  house  in  that  state  for 
the  Governor's  use,  though  he  didn't  dare  to  await  his  coming.  The 
Governor  sent  a  captain  with  horse  and  foot  to  look  for  him  and, 
though  many  persons  were  seen  owing  to  the  roughness  of  the 
country,  only  a  few  men  and  boys  were  secured.  Houses  were 
few  and  scattered  and  corn  was  scarce. 

Sunday  they  reached  Quixila,  where  they  rested  over  Monday. 
This  may  have  been  on  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Hot  Springs. 
Tuesday,  the  fifth  day  of  their  journey  from  Caligua,  they  reached 
Tatilcoya,  which  was  on  "a  copious  river  which  empties  into  the 
Great  Eiver."  This  was  the  Ouachita  river,  at  some  point  in  Gar- 
land county,  southwest  of  Hot  Springs.  Here  the  guide  led  them 
four  days'  journey  up  stream  to  Cayas,  which  they  found  to  be  "a 
very  rough  country  of  hills."  They  camped  at  Tanico,  which  was 
probably  situated  near  Cedar  Glades,  in  Montgomery  county,  among 
the  Magazine  Mountains. 

The  province  of  Cayas  seems  by  the  map  to  be  in  close  proximity 
to  the  province  of  Caligua,  and  the  route  they  took  in  reaching 
Tanico  is  a  roundabout  course.     This  was  on  account  of  the  rough- 

312 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  IN  ARKANSAS 

ness  of  the  country,  the  intervening  mountains  forming  a  boundary 
between  the  two  provinces,  and  the  southward  trail  was  perhaps 
much  easier  and,  though  longer  in  the  distance,  shorter  to  travel.  Be- 
sides, the  travelers  were  totally  in  the  hands  of  the  Indians,  who 
may  have  had  reasons  of  their  own  for  taking  them  by  a  roundabout. 
way.  Perhaps  they  didn't  want  their  visitors  to  know  that  in 
Cayas  they  would  be  so  near  to  Caligua. 

Both  Kanjel  and  Elvas  state  that  salt  was  made  from  sand  in 
Cayas.  "The  salt  is  made  along  by  a  river  which,  when  the  water 
goes  down,  leaves  it  upon  the  sand.  As  they  cannot  gather  the  salt 
without  a  large  mixture  of  sand,  it  is  thrown  together  into  certain 
baskets  they  have  for  the  purpose,  made  large  at  the  mouth  and 
small  at  the  bottom.  These  are  set  in  the  air  on  a  ridge-pole,  and 
water  being  thrown  on,  vessels  are  placed  under  them  wherein  it 
may  fall;  then,  being  strained  and  placed  on  the  fire,  it  is  boiled 
away,  leaving  salt  at  the  bottom/'  says  the  Gentleman  of  Elvas. 
Kanjel,  after  describing  the  same  method  of  making,  adds,  "and 
in  that  way  our  Spaniards  made  excellent  salt,  very  white  and  of 
good  flavor." 

They  "tarried  a  month  at  Tanico  in  the  province  of  Cayas."  Here 
Elvas  says  the  horses  fattened  more  than  anywhere  else,  owing  to 
the  large  quantity  of  corn  there.  "Blade  of  it,  I  think,  is  the  best 
fodder  that  grows."  The  beasts  drank  so  copiously  from  the  very 
warm  and  brackish  lake  that  they  became  swollen  and  ill. 

The  Cacique  of  Cayas  told  them  of  a  fertile  province  up  stream 
called  Tula.  According  to  Elvas  it  was  "one  and  a  half  day's 
journey  to  south  of  Cayas."  The  province  of  Cayas  is  now  com- 
prised in  the  Arkansas  National  Forest  Reservation,  where  the 
Ouachita  river  follows  a  tortuous  course  through  the  Magazine 
Mountains,  though  its  general  direction  is  to  the  west  South  of 
Cedar  Glades  (Tanico)  the  Ouachita  river  curves  to  the  southward 
and  then  makes  a  sharp  turn  toward  the  northwest,  so  that  the 
region  of  the  Tulas  may  have  been  both  "up  stream"  and  in  a  south- 
erly direction.  Before  reaching  Tula  they  passed  over  some  very 
rough  hills.  After  a  fight  with  the  Tulas  they  returned  through  a 
bad  passage  in  a  vale  made  by  the  river.  Later,  De  Soto  went  back 
with  a  larger  force  to  conquer  these  Indians.  They  were  the  fiercest 

3i3 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  IN  ARKANSAS 

fighters  that  the  Spaniards  met  in  "all  Florida."  Says  Ranjel, 
"they  fought  with  long,  hard  poles  like  lances,  the  ends  hardened 
by  fire,  and  were  the  best  fighting  people  the  Spaniards  had  met 
with,  and  they  fought  like  desperate  men,  with  the  greatest  valor 
in  the  world."  "Came  on  us  in  packs  by  eights  and  tens  like  wor- 
ried dogs,"  says  Biedma.  And  Elvas:  "The  struggle  lasted  so 
long  that  the  steeds,  becoming  tired,  could  not  be  made  to  run." 
They  showed  no  mercy  and  asked  none,  so  that  it  was  almost  im- 
possible to  take  any  prisoners.  Finding  that  they  were  always 
overtaken  by  the  mounted  soldiers,  the  Tulas  took  refuge  on  the  tops 
of  their  houses,  going  from  roof  to  roof,  defending  with  the  courage 
of  any  white  man  the  sanctity  of  his  home  and  his  family  honor. 

Evidently  they  lived  in  huts  and  not  wigwams.  Elvas  says  the 
"speech  of  this  Cacique — like  those  of  the  other  chiefs  and  all  the 
messengers  in  their  behalf  who  came  before  the  Governor — no  ora- 
tor could  more  elegantly  phrase. ' '  For  this  brave  Chief  also  came 
finally  before  the  conqueror  in  tears,  and  acknowledged  his  indis- 
cretion in  resisting  so  powerful  an  enemy. 

From  Tula  they  went  southwest  to  Quipana,  at  the  base  of  some 
very  steep  ridges,  and  near  a  river,  reaching  the  town  after  a 
journey  of  five  days  "over  some  very  sharp  mountains."  Ranjel 
says  it  was  "between  ridges  of  mountains  near  a  river,"  and  "all 
the  country  was  mountainous  from  Tula."  Elvas  calls  it  a  "very 
rough  country."  This  river  was  the  Big  Mazarn  creek,  in  the 
western  part  of  Hot  Springs  county,  which  runs  through  a  moun- 
tainous section,  and  the  place  of  crossing  may  have  been  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Chandler.  From  Tula  toward  the  west  was  thinly 
populated— to  the  southeast  were  great  towns  principally  in  a 
province  called  Autianque,  eighty  leagues  or  ten  days'  journey 
from  Tula.  Near  Autianque  was  "a  great  water  which  appeared  to 
be  an  arm  of  the  sea,"  which  they  afterwards  learned  was  the  same 
as  the  river  at  Cayas,  the  Ouachita.  On  the  way  to  Autianque  they 
passed  two  towns  called  Anoixi  and  Catamaya.  Says  Biedma,  they 
marched  "in  a  direction  to  the  east,  and  having  crossed  these  moun- 
tains went  down  some  plains  where  we  found  a  population  suited  to 
our  purpose — a  town  nigh  in  which  was  much  food  on  a  copious 
river  emptying  into  the  Great  River." 

3i4 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  IN  ARKANSAS 


It  took  them  twelve  days  to  reach  Autianque  from  Tula,  on  ac- 
count of  the  roughness  of  the  country  and  the  fact  that  they  had  to 
care  for  their  wounded,  several  of  whom  died  on  the  way.  The  town 
of  Autianque  was  probably  near  the  present  site  of  Saginaw,  in  Hot 
Springs  county,  south  of  Malvern  on  Ouachita  river.  Ranjel  says 
it  was  "a  plain  well  peopled  and  of  attractive  appearance."  They 
reached  Autianque  on  Wednesday,  November  2,  and  left  it  March 
31.  During  this  long  cold  winter  the  Spaniards  learned  from  the 
Indians  how  to  catch  "  conies, "  as  they  called  the  squirrels  of  those 
mountains.  According  to  the  Gentleman  of  Elvas,  "they  were  of 
two  sorts,  one  of  them  like  that  of  Spain,  the  other  of  color,  form 
and  size,  of  the  great  hare,  though  longer  even  and  having  bigger 
loins.' '  The  contrivance  they  used  for  catching  the  conies  "is  a 
strong  spring  that  lifts  the  animal  off  its  feet,  a  noose  being  made 
of  a  stiff  cord  to  run  about  the  neck,  passing  through  rings  of  cane 
that  it  may  not  be  gnawed." 

The  winter  was  severe  at  Autianque,  with  "so  much  snow  we 
thought  to  have  died,"  says  Biednia.  Here  Juan  Ortiz  died,  a  loss 
that  was  irreparable. 

"Monday,  March  5,  1542,  the  Governor  left  Autianque  to  seek 
Nilco,  which  the  Indians  said  was  near  the  Great  River,"  with  the 
purpose  of  going  to  the  sea  to  recruit  his  forces.  He  had  not 
over  three  hundred  efficient  men  nor  more  than  forty  horses  left  of 
that  gallant  force  of  six  hundred  men  and  two  hundred  horses 
which  had  landed  at  Tampa  Bay  some  three  years  before.  Some  of 
the  horses  were  lame.  "They  had  had  no  shoes  for  a  year  but  had 
little  need  of  them  in  a  smooth  country. ' ' 

Ten  days  journey  down  the  Ouachita  river  brought  them  to 
Ayays,  on  that  river,  where  they  crossed  in  a  pirogue  which  they 
built.  This  crossing  was  made  to  avoid  the  Little  Missouri  river, 
which  enters  the  Ouachita  at  the  intersection  of  Dallas,  Clark  and 
Ouachita  counties.  The  towm  of  Ayays  therefore  was  at  this  place. 
From  Saginaw  to  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Missouri  river  seems  a 
short  distance  for  a  journey  of  ten  days,  but  after  the  death  of  Juan 
Ortiz,  their  only  efficient  interpreter,  they  had  to  depend  on  an  In- 
dian youth  who,  in  ascertaining  the  directions  concerning  the  route 
they  wished  to  go,  would  require  a  whole  day  to  find  out  what 

3i5 


• 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  IN  ARKANSAS 

Ortiz  could  learn  in  a  few  hours;  and,  more  often  than  not,  he 
would  understand  the  opposite  of  what  was  intended,  so  that  the 
party  often  had  to  retrace  their  steps  after  a  day's  journey  in  the 
wrong  direction,  thus  losing  much  time. 

They  were  now  on  the  east  bank  of  the  Ouachita.  After  crossing, 
they  traveled  three  days  "through  a  desert,  a  region  so  low,  so  full 
of  lakes  and  bad  passages,  that  at  one  time  for  the  whole  day  the 
travel  lay  through  water  up  to  the  knees;  at  places  in  others,  to 
the  stirrups,  and  occasionally  for  a  distance  of  a  few  paces, 
there  was  swimming,"  says  Elvas.  The  Portuguese  Gentleman 
uses  the  word  desert  to  convey  the  idea  of  deserted. 

They  reached  Tatilpinco,  a  town  near  the  lake  "which  flowed 
copiously  into  the  river  with  a  violent  current."  It  was  March, 
which  is  the  overflow  season.  They  traveled  all  day  along  the  mar- 
gin of  this  lake  seeking  for  a  ford,  but  could  discover  none  nor  any 
way  to  get  over.  This  must  have  been  Two  Bayou,  where  appear  a 
number  of  small  lakes.  Returning  to  Tatilpinco,  they  found  two 
friendly  natives  who  showed  them  the  crossing  and  the  road,  as  in 
the  overflow  the  marks  of  trails  and  paths  are  completely  covered 
by  water.  They  made  rafts  and  causeways  from  reeds  and  timber 
of  houses,  and  on  these  they  crossed  this  river.  Three  days' 
journey  from  here  brought  them  to  the  province  of  Nilco,  which  was 
plentifully  supplied  with  stores  of  corn,  beans,  walnuts  and  dried 
persimmons.  It  was  the  "most  populous  country  that  was  seen 
in  Florida,  and  most  abundant  in  maize  excepting  Coca  and  Ap- 
alache,"  which  were  east  of  the  Great  Eiver.  Nilco  occupied  the 
territory  between  the  Salina  river  and  Bartholomew  Bayou.  "The 
Governor  sent  a  captain  with  fifty  men  and  six  canoes  down  the 
river  to  Guachoya,  while  he  with  the  rest  marched  by  land,"  and 
arrived  here  the  middle  of  April.  He  took  his  quarters  in  the  town 
of  the  cacique,  which  was  palisaded,  and  situated  "a  crossbow  shot" 
from  the  Mississippi.  This  province  of  Guachoya  was  most  likely 
the  same  territory  now  comprised  in  Tensas  county,  Louisiana,  and 
was  separated  from  the  province  of  Nilco  to  the  northward  by  Bar- 
tholomew Bayou. 

From  Guachoya,  De  Soto  sent  a  detachment  to  find  a  way  south- 
ward to  the  sea,  but  they  returned  in  eight  days  reporting  that  they 

316 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  IN  ARKANSAS 

had  been  able  to  travel  only  fourteen  or  fifteen  leagues  in  that  time 
on  account  of  the  great  bogs  that  come  out  of  the  river,  the  cane- 
brakes  and  thick  scrubs  that  were  along  the  margin,  and  that  they 
had  found  no  inhabited  spot.  Then  the  Governor  sank  into  a  "deep 
despondency,"  seeing  that  he  could  not  sustain  himself  in  the  coun- 
try without  succour.  Before  taking  to  his  pallet  he  sent  a  messen- 
ger to  the  Chief  of  Quigaltam,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Great  River, 
to  say  that  he,  De  Soto,  was  a  child  of  the  Sun,  and  demanding 
tribute.  By  the  same  messenger  the  chief  sent  a  reply  to  the  effect 
that  he  would  not  believe  that  De  Soto  was  a  child  of  the  Sun  unless 
he  would  cause  the  waters  of  the  Great  Rivers  to  dry  up.  He  added 
that  it  was  not  his  custom  to  visit  any  one — instead  of  that,  all  of 
whom  he  had  ever  heard  had  come  to  visit  him  and  pay  him  tribute 
either  voluntarily  or  by  force.  He  ended  with  these  words :  ' '  Neith- 
er for  you  nor  for  any  man  will  I  set  back  one  foot."  De  Soto  was 
at  that  time  "very  ill  of  fevers,"  and  could  not  accept  this  haughty 
challenge  as  he  otherwise  would  have  done. 

Opposite  the  Tensas  shore  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  after- 
wards there  lived  the  Natchez,  who  were  known  to  the  trailmakers 
of  that  time  as  very  fierce  and  warlike  Indians.  No  doubt  these 
of  Quigaltam  were  the  progenitors  of  the  Natchez. 

At  Guachoya,  on  May  21,  1542,  died  Don  Hernando  de  Soto,  Gov- 
ernor of  Florida,  after  naming  Don  Luis  de  Moscoso  as  his  succes- 
sor in  command  of  the  expedition  and  Governor  of  Florida  until 
the  King  would  make  a  permanent  appointment.  After  his  burial 
in  the  Great  River,  De  Soto's  effects  were  sold  at  auction  among  the 
members  of  the  expedition.  "For  each  slave  or  horse  was  given 
two  or  three  thousand  cruzados,  to  be  paid  at  the  first  melting  up 
of  gold  or  silver,  or  division  of  vassals  and  territory,  with  the  obli- 
gation that  should  there  be  nothing  found  in  the  country  the  pay- 
ment should  be  made  at  the  end  of  a  year,  those  having  no  property 
to  pledge  to  give  their  bond.  A  hog  brought  in  the  same  way 
trusted,  200  cruzados.  Those  who  had  left  anything  at  home  bought 
more  sparingly  and  took  less  than  the  others,"  on  the  principle, 
presumably,  that  he  who  has  nothing  can  lose  nothing.  De  Soto's 
property  consisted  of  two  male  and  three  female  slaves,  three 
horses  and  seven  hundred  swine. 

3*7 


DE  SOTO'S  ROUTE  IN  ARKANSAS 

Thus  Guachoya,  besides  being  distinguished  as  the  place  of  De 
Soto's  death  and  picturesque  burial,  is  also  notable  as  the  scene  of 
the  first  slave  market  on  the  North  American  continent. 

Under  Moscoso's  leadership  the  Spaniards  decided  to  find  a  way 
to  the  sea  toward  the  west,  and  on  June  5  they  started  back  the 
way  they  had  come,  following  the  Ouachita  river  at  least  a  part  of 
the  way.  Their  wanderings  during  the  next  year  are  chronicled 
only  by  Biedma  and  Elvas,  the  first  named  devoting  only  two  pages 
to  what  must  have  been  a  year  of  dreadful  privations.  Lacking 
the  directions  and  dates  of  Ranjel,  one  is  left  only  the  narrative  giv- 
en by  the  Portuguese  gentleman,  who  becomes  less  and  less  explicit 
as  their  difficulties  increased.  There  is,  consequently,  scarcely  enough 
data  for  even  an  approximate  account  of  their  travels.  It  seems 
an  unquestionable  fact,  however,  that  they  reached  the  valley  of 
the  Saline  river  in  southwest  Arkansas,  (which  is  not  the  same 
Saline  river  of  the  Magazine  Mountains  eastward  of  the  Ouachita), 
and  here  they  found  more  salt.  So  many  difficulties  beset  their 
passage  that  they  finally  decided  to  return  to  Nilco,  there  to  make 
preparations  to  journey  down  the  Great  River  to  the  sea.  On  reach- 
ing Nilco,  they  found  the  natives  had  no  crops  nor  supplies  for  them, 
but  they  were  told  of  Aminoya,  a  plentiful  land  to  the  north  of 
Nilco,  whither  they  went  and  found  besides  plenty  of  corn  and  fod- 
der, suitable  timber  for  building  the  brigantines  they  needed.  Ami- 
noya was  probably  in  Desha  or  Chicot  county,  Arkansas.  In  June, 
1543,  they  left  Aminoya,  and  after  many  vicissitudes  and  privations 
succeeded  in  reaching  Panuco,  on  the  coast  of  Mexico,  a  sad  looking 
crew,  ragged  and  barefoot,  totally  unlike  the  brilliant  company 
which  had  sailed  from  Cuba  four  years  before. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  world,  De  Soto's  expedition  into  Florida  was 
regarded  as  a  failure,  but  in  view  of  its  achievement,  history  has 
accorded  him  a  prominent  niche  in  its  hall  of  fame. 


318 


_ 


«....  >....»■  "-«  I  ii ;  m  ini  wtrnmrngt. 


jfcJwmil^MliK'Wt'JiUitot^^ 


^^4^, 


Rhode  Island:  Boston  the  Preparatory  School 

for  Aquidneck 

By  Thomas  Williams  Bicknell,  LL.D.,  Providence,  R.  L* 

3gjj|  HE  peculiar  circumstances  and  events  that  preceded  and 
attended  the  founding  of  the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island, 
on  Aquidneck,  are  singular  in  nature  and  of  fascinating 
interest.  As  the  story  will  show,  the  whole  body  of 
people  who  were  the  original  settlers  on  Rhode  Island  migrated 
from  England  to  make  homes  in  the  Bay  Colony.  Most  of  them, 
perhaps  all,  had  no  thought  of  establishing  a  new  settlement  out- 
side the  Bay,  and  made  Boston  their  home,  by  purchasing  land, 
owning  farms,  building  houses,  becoming  freemen,  engaging  in  bus- 
iness and  taking  an  active  part  in  all  industries  incident  to  found- 
ing a  new  seaport  town, — the  metropolis  of  the  colonial  life  and 
business  of  New  England.  For  eight  years,  the  future  Rhode  Is- 
land colonists  were  engaged,  mind  and  soul,  in  all  the  interests  and 
industries  and  activities  of  this  new  town.  They  were  leaders  in 
Church  and  State, — founders  of  Boston  and  the  Bay  Colony,  in  the 
largest  and  truest  sense. 

In  March,  1638,  a  strange  event  occurred, — the  most  marvellous 
and  the  most  momentous  in  the  early  history  of  the  Bay  Colony. 
It  was  no  less  than  the  expulsion  of  a  large  group  of  the  most  intel- 
ligent, the  most  influential,  the  wealthiest  citizens,  freemen,  office- 
holders, church  and  society  workers  of  Boston.  More  than  sixty 
families, — over  300  souls, — owning  lands  and  houses  in  Boston, 
conducting  important  businesses,  and  related  by  many  strong  ties 
to  all  the  affairs  of  the  town  and  Colony,  were  driven  in  the  wintry 
season  to  depart  from  the  town  they  had  helped  to  found,  into  a 
cruel  exile, — whither, — only  a  wise  and  overruling  Providence  could 
know  or  determine.     A  cruel  fate  attended  the  expulsion  of  the 


♦From  advance  sheets  of  "History  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence 
Plantations,"  by  Thomas  Williams  Bicknell,  LL.D.,  (The  American  Historical  Society). 

319 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

Huguenots  from  France, — cruel  alike  to  both  parties.  Volumes 
have  been  written  on  the  forced  exile  of  the  Pilgrims  from  Lincoln- 
shire to  Leyden.  The  banishment  of  Roger  Williams  from  Massa- 
chusetts has  been  the  ground  of  debate  of  thousands  of  apologists 
and  Puritan  defenders.  The  poet  Longfellow,  in  "Evangeline,"  has 
given  a  limited  immortality  to  the  forcible  transfers  of  the  Acadian 
Colony  to  a  Southern  clime.  From  Boston  to  Aquidneck  was  a 
shorter  journey,  with  a  most  successful  conclusion  for  Democracy 
and  Soul  Liberty.  This  chapter  reveals  the  story  in  part,  illustrat- 
ing the  Old  World  Dream,  translated  into  a  New  World  Realism. 
A  Colony  of  loyal  men  and  women  were  banished.  A  new  state 
arose,  dedicated  to  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty,  named  Rhode  Is- 
land. 

Liberty  of  person,  of  estates,  and  of  all  just  rights,  has  always 
been  a  strong  passion  of  the  Anglo  Saxon  race  and  mind.  The 
wresting  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  an  English  subject  from  the 
hands  of  King  John,  in  Magna  Charter,  was  a  part  only  of  a  series 
of  concessions  of  royal  prerogatives,  secured  by  the  demands  of 
the  common  people.  The  colonization  of  North  America,  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  found  its  source  and  inspiration  in  the  love 
of  and  the  demand  for  a  larger  measure  of  civil  and  religious  free- 
dom than  was  then  possessed  by  the  English  people.  The  great 
middle  class  of  Britain  had  absorbed  the  doctrines  of  the  Reforma- 
tion and  their  minds  had  become  thoroughly  saturated  with  the 
teachings  and  idealism  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  Scriptures,* 
including  the  freedom  moving  events  of  the  Apocrypha,  then  an 
integral  part  of  the  Protestant  Bible.  Slowly,  with  the  introduc- 
tion of  parts  or  the  whole  of  the  newly  published  Bible,  the  homes 
of  the  English  people  became  schools  of  religious  study,  and  often 
of  theological  debate.  The  history  and  doctrines  of  the  Bible  were 
matters  of  daily  conversation  in  the  homes,  on  the  streets,  in  the 
market  places,  and  in  political  and  social  circles.  Large  portions 
of  the  Bible  were  committed  to  memory.  A  divine  infallible  book 
was  worth  more  than  fallible  priests  and  human  literature.  The 
voice  of  God  was  an  authority  far  superior  to  the  orders  of  the 
Bishop  or  the  canons  of  the  church.  The  Hebrew  invasion  of  Eng- 
land not  only  gave  new  life  to  liberty  loving  people  of  the  British 

320 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

Isles,  but  inspired  a  new  literature,  and  to  ardent  minds,  instinct 
with  reform,  it  suggested  new  ideals  in  leadership  and  new  fields  for 
operation,  as  Canaan  was  the  outcome  of  Egyptian  bondage.  The 
new  love  for  the  Old  Testament  nomenclature  led  parents  to  reject 
Pagan  or  royal  names  for  the  Hebrew.  The  English  records  are 
flooded  with  Old  Testament  names  from  Adam  and  Eve,  through 
Noah,  Methusaleh,  Moses  and  Aaron,  to  Kerenhappuch  and  Maher- 
shalalalhashbaz.  Moses,  David,  Isaiah,  Jesus  and  Paul,  were  fa- 
miliar characters  of  daily  study.  Hume  says,  * '  Cromwell  hath  beat 
up  his  drums  clean  through  the  Old  Testament — you  may  learn  the 
genealogy  of  our  Saviour  by  the  names  in  his  regiment.  The  mus- 
ter-master uses  no  other  list  than  the  first  chapter  of  Matthew. ' ' 

It  is  no  wonder  then  that  civil  freedom  became  the  waking  dream 
of  common  English  folks,  and  that  freedom  in  thought  and  worship, 
as  revealed  in  the  Old  Testament  in  the  Hebrew  Commonwealth  and 
in  the  New  Testament,  and  in  the  sublime  democracy  of  Jesus, 
should  become  the  two  most  powerful  and  far-reaching  forces  that 
entered  into  sixteenth  century  English  thought  and  life.  From 
the  opened  Bible,  were  the  new  ideas  as  to  religion  and  government. 
John  Milton  was  a  most  faithful  interpreter  of  the  Puritan  concep- 
tion of  the  new  revelation,  reviving,  in  enduring  historic  verse,  the 
visions  of  Dante  and  the  literalism  of  the  Church  Fathers.  As 
an  inspired  book,  every  page,  every  line,  every  word  of  the  Bible 
was  inspired  and  received  a  literal  interpretation.  An  eternal 
Heaven  with  its  blessedness  had  its  anticlimax  in  an  eternal 
Hell  with  its  awfulness.  The  daily  contemplation  of  re- 
ligious themes  and  eternal  issues  gave  to  the  Puritans 
a  sober,  an  austere,  almost  a  tragic  character.  Every  event  of  life 
was  by  the  Divine  will  and  foreknowledge.  '  *  The  chief  end  of  man 
was  to  glorify  God  and  to  enjoy  him  forever. ' '  Macaulay  says,  ' '  The 
Puritan  was  made  up  of  two  different  men.  The  one  all  self-abase- 
ment, penitence,  gratitude,  passion;  the  other  proud,  calm,  inflex- 
ible, sagacious.  He  prostrated  himself  in  the  dust  before  his  Maker ; 
but  he  set  his  foot  on  the  neck  of  his  king."  In  his  great  eulo- 
gium,  the  great  Englishman  calls  the  Puritans  the  most  remarka- 
ble body  of  men  which  the  world  has  ever  produced.  And  these 
were  Bible-made  men. 

321 


• 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQU1DNECK 

The  Hebrew  Commonwealth  became  the  study  of  the  Puritan 
leaders.  God  was  its  law-giver,  its  governor,  its  judge.  What 
noblier  idealism  can  be  conceived  for  a  state  than  to  have  the  Su- 
preme Ruler  of  the  Universe  as  its  founder,  His  laws  as  their 
rule  of  action,  His  guidance  as  a  Providential  director  and  gover- 
nor, His  benediction  as  final  judge.  To  the  individual  or  collective 
Puritan,  in  England,  or  America,  God's  presence  was  real,  not  a 
fiction,  and  his  over-ruling  power  translated  trials  into  blessings, 
and  made  the  rough  and  crooked  paths  of  life  seem  smooth  and 
straight. 

Mr.  Williams  named  his  first  resting  place,  Providence,  as  Jacob 
had  ages  before  called  his  Peniel,  and  as  late  as  1842,  the  Puritan 
spirit  still  inhered  in  the  statesmen  of  Rhode  Island,  in  the  mak- 
ing of  the  State  Constitution,  under  which  we  now  live.  The  pre- 
amble reads:  "We,  the  people  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations,  grateful  to  Almighty  God  for  the  civil  and 
religious  liberty  which  he  hath  so  long  permitted  us  to  enjoy,  and 
looking  to  Him  for  a  blessing  upon  our  endeavor  to  secure  and 
transmit  the  same  unimpaired  to  succeeding  generations,  do  ordain 
and  establish  this  Constitution  of  government :' '  1.  In  truth,  the 
Hebrew  concept  of  a  Divine  Governor,  which  inspired  Williams  and 
Clarke  as  Puritan  leaders,  still  lives. 

Possession  of  a  people,  newly-born  into  the  life  of  the  Spirit  of 
Liberty,  Democracy  was  coming  to  be  esteemed  a  divine  right  of  the 
Commons,  as  Monarchy  had  been  and  was  then  regarded  by  the 
Aristocracy  as  the  divine  right  of  the  King;  the  right  of  the  people 
to  choose  their  own  rulers  and  make  their  own  laws  was  only  hark- 
ing back  to  the  days  of  the  WTitenagemot  when  manhood  was 
sovereignty.  Then  Britons  did  not  need  to  study  the  Democracy 
of  the  Greek  Agora  and  of  the  Roman  Forum,  for  their  own  fathers 
had  practised  in  the  arts  of  freemen  in  the  forests  of  Germany  and 
on  the  shores  of  the  North  Sea  in  ages  past.  As  to  soul-liberty, 
the  most  sacred  and  universal  of  natural  human  rights,  every 
sword  of  persecution  drawn,  and  every  fagot  lighted  at  the  stake, 
was  the  harsh  act  of  tyranny  against  the  essential,  the  eternal 
truth,  that  the  soul  of  man  must  ever  be  free  to  choose,  love  and 
worship. 

322 


•  ■"'■  ■gyry 


J. 


/■ 


SUPPOSED  PORTRAIT  OF  DR.  JOHN  CLARKE 

Founder  of  the  Aquidneck  Grant 

From  an  oil  painting 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDXECK 

England  of  the  seventeenth  century  was  a  Church-State,  as  is 
England  of  the  twentieth.  The  new  birth  of  a  great  body  of  the 
people  to  the  ideas  of  a  broader  civil  freedom  and  church  inde- 
pendency, inaugurated  the  Pilgrim  church,  the  exile  in  Holland, 
and  the  settlement  of  the  Plymouth  (Mass.)  Colony  in  1620.  Anoth- 
er body  of  Englishmen,  agreeing  in  large  measure  with  the  Pil- 
grims as  to  a  Democratic  State,  but  still  adhering  to  the  traditional 
Church-State  idea,  organized  another  colonial  plan,  under  the  title 
of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  in  America.  These  people  were 
styled  Puritans  and  were  as  bitterly  hated  by  the  Church-State  of 
England  as  were  the  Pilgrims. 

John  Fiske  says  of  the  Puritans:  "Their  principal  reason  for 
coming  to  Xew  England  was  their  dissatisfaction  with  the  way  in 
which  affairs  were  managed  in  the  old  country.  They  wished  to 
bring  about  a  reform  in  the  Church  in  such  wise  that  the  members 
of  a  congregation  should  have  more  voice  than  formerly  in  the 
church  government,  and  that  the  minister  of  each  congregation 
should  be  more  independent  than  formerly  of  the  bishop  and  civil 
government.  .  .  .  Finding  the  resistance  to  their  reforms  quite 
formidable  in  England,  and  having  some  reason  to  fear  that  they 
might  themselves  be  crushed  in  the  struggle,  they  crossed  the  ocean 
in  order  to  carry  out  their  ideas  in  a  new  and  remote  land,  where 
they  might  be  comparatively  secure  from  interference. " 

The  Puritan  State  came  into  being  in  New  England,  when  Gover- 
nor John  Winthrop,  leading  an  English  colony  of  800  settlers, 
landed  at  Naumkeag,  now  Salem,  Mass.,  in  June,  1630.  On  that 
date,  Plymouth  Colony  had  300  settlers,  and  Winthrop  found  300 
at  Salem  who  had  settled  at  that  port  since  1628.  In  1630  the  total 
colonial  population  of  Xew  England  did  not  exceed  1,400.  The  key- 
note of  the  Puritan  enterprise  is  found  in  a  noble  and  tender  fare- 
well letter  of  Gov.  John  Winthrop  and  his  official  associates,  "to 
the  rest  of  their  brethren  in  and  of  the  Church  of  England,  ' '  writ- 
ten on  the  ship  Arbella,  at  Yarmouth,  April  7,  1630.  That  they 
were  not  Separatists  as  were  the  Plymouth  colonists,  is  expressed 
in  the  sentence,  "Who  esteem  it  our  honor  to  call  the  Church  of 
England,  from  whence  we  arise,  our  dear  mother ;  and  cannot  pari 
from  our  native  country,  where  she  specially  resideth,  without  much 

3^3 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

sadness  of  heart  and  many  tears  in  our  eyes,  ever  acknowledging 
that  such  hope  and  part  as  we  have  obtained  in  the  common  salva- 
tion we  have  received  in  her  bosom,  and  sucked  it  from  her  breasts." 
Among  the  names  of  signers  of  this  letter  of  loyalty  to  the  English 
Church-State  appears  the  name  of  William  Coddington,  who,  later, 
figures  so  large  in  the  history  of  the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island. 

The  same  sentiment  towards  the  English  Church  and  State  was 
expressed  by  Rev.  Francis  Higginson,  who  came  to  Salem  in  1628, 
with  the  Endicott  colonists:  "We  will  not  say,  as  the  Separatists 
were  wont  to  say  at  their  leaving  of  England,  '  Farewell  Babylon, 
farewell  Rome,'  but  we  will  say  i farewell  dear  England,'  farewell 
the  Church  of  God  in  England,  and  all  the  Christian  friends  there. 

.  .  .  We  go  to  practice  the  positive  part  of  Church  reforma- 
tion, and  to  propagate  the  Gospel  in  America."  All  the  found- 
ers of  the  colonies  of  Providence  Plantations  and  of  Rhode  Island 
were  originally  residents  in  and  in  most  cases  freemen  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay  Colony.  As  the  founding  of  both  the  Colonies  on 
Narragansett  Bay  was  due  to  sharp  differences  between  these 
founders  and  the  policy  and  government  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay 
Colony,  it  seems  wise  to  state  at  the  outset  the  principles  and  policy 
of  the  Puritan  State  of  the  Bay. 

The  Massachusetts  company  was  an  organized  government,  whose 
field  of  operations  and  colonial  powers  were  clearly  defined  by  the 
royal  Patent  granted  by  Charles  L,  under  date  of  March  4th,  1628- 
9.  Corporation  meetings  were  held,  officers  elected  and  various 
business  transacted  in  England.  The  chief  officers  were  a  Gover- 
nor, a  Deputy  Governor,  a  Treasurer  and  eighteen  Assistants,  to 
be  elected  from  time  to  time  by  the  major  vote  of  the  freemen  of 
the  company.  Matthew  Craddock  was  the  first  Governor.  The 
above  named  officers  constituted  The  General  Court,  which  usually 
met,  while  in  England,  at  the  House  of  the  Deputy  Governor.  The 
General  Court  legislated  for  the  company  and  could  by  major 
vote  enlarge  the  body  of  freemen.  At  one  of  the  meetings  held  in 
England  it  was  voted  to  elect  two  clergymen  as  freemen  in  order 
that  their  prayer  might  ' '  sanctif ye ' '  their  proceedings,  as  the  end 
of  their  mission  was  "chiefly  the  glory  of  God."  The  settlement 
at  Salem,  under  John  Endicott  and  Rev.  Francis  Higginson,  in  1628, 

324 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK. 

was  made  by  the  Company  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay.  Before  the 
departure  of  the  Company  for  New  England,  John  Winthrop  was 
elected  Governor  and  William  Coddington  an  Assistant. 

In  1630,  the  whole  Bay  Company  was  transplanted  bodily  from 
England  to  Salem.  As  Mr.  Lodge  has  said,  "It  was  the  migration 
of  a  people,  not  the  mere  setting  forth  of  colonists  or  adventurers." 
Most  of  the  families  were  wealthy;  many  held  high  social  rank; 
all  were  well  educated  for  their  time;  most  were  members  of  the 
Church  of  England,  from  which  it  was  a  sore  trial  for  them  to  sepa- 
rate themselves.  These  people,  nicknamed  Puritans  at  home, 
crossed  the  sea  for  four  chief  reasons : 

First — To  establish  homes  and  a  new  social  order  in  New  Eng- 
land. 

Second — To  establish  a  reformed  State-Church. 

Third — To  establish  a  reformed  Church-State. 

Fourth — To  carry  the  Christian  faith  into  foreign  parts  to  save 
a  Pagan  people. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  a  choice  body  of  men  and  women  were 
demanded  for  such  an  enterprise,  involving  as  it  did  the  reform  of 
Anglo-American  society  throughout.  It  certainly  required  the  sift- 
ing of  kingdoms  to  find  the  seed  for  such  planting.  The  Bay  Com- 
pany owned  all  the  lands  within  its  Patents  by  royal  consent.  The 
Indian  rights  of  occupancy,  as  tenants  at  will,  were  dissolved  by 
agreement  or  purchase.  The  qualification  of  a  freeman  was  based 
on  church  membership.  Property  rights  and  civil  government  were 
thus  in  the  absolute  control  of  the  Bay  Colonists.  Two  sources  of 
danger  were  constant.  One  was  the  interference  of  the  Crown  with 
the  vested  rights  of  the  Colony.  The  second  was  the  incoming  and 
intrusion  of  men  and  women  whose  acts  and  influence  seemed  sub- 
versive of  the  policy  of  the  Puritan  Commonwealth.  As  self-pres- 
ervation is  the  first  law  of  states  as  well  as  of  individuals,  we  must 
exercise  large  consideration  and  great  charity  for  a  people  set- 
ting up  a  new  government  in  the  wilderness,  as  well  as  for  those, 
who,  differing  from  them  in  matters  of  opinion  or  practise,  entered 
reasonable  protests  against  their  public  policy  and  accepted  separa- 
tion and  exile  in  preference  to  conformity  to  Puritanism,  as  inter- 
preted by  Wilson,  Winthrop  and  Endicott.     The  Puritan  ship  of 

325 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

state  was  outward  bound,  on  a  voyage  on  new  and  uncharted 
seas.  Her  officers  and  crew  were  inexperienced  in  sea-craft; 
strange  would  it  have  been,  had  not  her  passengers,  in  narrow 
straits  and  in  threatening  storms,  advised  and  urged  new  courses 
with  furling  of  sails.  Stranger  still,  if  in  the  peril  of  the  hour,  the 
officers  had  not,  in  sheer  desperation,  set  on  shore,  in  desert  places, 
the  leaders  in  incipient  mutiny.  The  figure  suggests  what  is  to 
follow : 

Between  1630  and  1638,  the  Bay  Colony,  with  its  chief  seat  at 
Boston,  had  more  than  doubled  its  population.  Boston  furnished 
an  excellent  harbor  for  the  passenger-bearing  vessels.  Among  the 
arrivals  we  find  the  names  of  the  following  persons  who  shared  in 
founding  the  two  Rhode  Island  Colonies:  William  Coddington, 
Roger  Williams,  William  Harris,  William  and  Benedict  Arnold, 
William  and  Anne  Hutchinson,  William  Baulston,  Samuel  Wilbour, 
Henry  Bull,  Randall  Holden,  John  Clarke,  Samuel  Gorton,  John 
Coggeshall,  Edward  Hutchinson,  John  Sanford,  William  and  Mary 
Dyer,  William  Aspinwall,  John  Porter,  Philip  Sherman,  William 
Brenton,  Robert  Harding,  Nicholas  Easton,  Thomas  Savage  and 
others. 

Concerning  Rev.  William  Blackstone,  a  dweller  at  Boston,  who 
invited  Gov.  Winthrop  and  his  fellows  to  settle  on  the  Peninsula, 
and  who  in  1634  became  the  first  permanent  white  settler  on  Prov- 
idence Plantations,  we  have  already  written.  To  Mr.  Williams  and 
the  reasons  for  his  exile  another  chapter  will  be  devoted.  In  this 
chapter,  we  propose  to  show  what  Boston  and  the  Bay  Colony  did 
in  preparing  Clarke,  Coddington,  the  Hutchinsons,  Bull  and  others 
for  founding  the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  on  Aquidneck. 

In  order  to  participate  in  affairs  civil  or  ecclesiastical  in  the 
Puritan  Colony,  it  was  necessary  to  become  a  freeman,  by  joining 
the  colonial  church,  which  was  organized  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  Au- 
gust, 1630.  This  State-Church  was  not  the  English  church  of 
ordinances,  ceremonials  and  vestments,  presided  over  by  a  priest- 
hood appointed  by  bishops  and  directed  by  canons  and  synods.  It 
was  a  simple,  democratic  institution,  adopting  its  own  covenant  and 
articles  of  faith  and  electing  its  own  clergy  by  a  major  vote  of  the 
membership.    The  order  was  called  Congregationalism, — a  cult  con- 

326 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

temporaneous  with  Episcopacy  and  Presbyterianism.  Each  church 
was  an  independent  organism,  recognizing  Jesus  Christ  as  its  only 
leader  and  acknowledged  Governor.  In  such  a  church,  free  from 
most  of  the  forms  of  the  Episcopal  Church  of  England,  the  member- 
ship came  into  the  practical  exercise  of  individual  rights,  in  affairs 
spiritual.     This  was  a  school  of  freedom  and  equality. 

So  far  as  can  be  ascertained  all  the  adult  members  of  the  Rhods 
Island  Colony  were,  at  the  time  of  their  separation  from  the  Bay 
Colony,  members  of  some  one  of  the  Puritan  churches  of  the  Bay 
Colony, — most  were  in  good  standing  in  the  Boston  church,  of  which 
Eev.  John  Wilson  and  Rev.  John  Cotton  were  pastors. 

As  freemen,  the  males  were  invested  with  the  right  of  voting  for 
all  civil  officers  and  affairs  and  of  holding  any  civil  office.  All  civil 
officers  were  elected  at  stated  times  by  the  major  vote  of  the  free- 
men. The  annual  town  meeting  was  the  occasion  for  the  freeman 
to  exercise  the  new  privilege  of  choosing  his  rulers  in  town  and 
Colony,  and  in  making  the  laws  which  should  be  observed  in  both. 
Here,  at  Boston,  in  this  first  school  of  freemen,  the  founders  of 
Aquidneck  learned  and  practised  their  first  lessons  in  democratic 
government.  As  members  of  the  First  Church,  it  may  be  safely 
assumed  that  they  were  a  people  of  godly  walk  and  conversation, — 
not  mischief  makers,  nor  disturbers  of  the  peace  of  the  town.  That 
they  intended  to  make  the  Bay  Colony  their  permanent  home  is 
evident  from  the  facts  of  land  ownership,  erection  of  comfortable 
houses,  businesses  engaged  in,  clearing  the  lands  for  gardens  and 
farms,  etc.,  etc.  While  the  freemen  were  thus  engaged,  their  wives 
and  daughters  set  the  standards  of  economy  and  social  and  intellec- 
tual life.  We  may  believe  that  popular  amusements  were  few  and 
that  the  household  duties  of  house-wives  in  a  new  town  in  the  wilds 
were  most  laborious  and  engrossing,  yet  we  may  imagine  that  after- 
noon teas  and  quiltings  did  afford  privileges  of  social  acquaintance 
and  true  fellowship  quite  as  substantial  and  soul-satisfying  as  the 
more  elaborate,  costly  and  fashionble  modes  of  social  intercourse 
of  the  twentieth  century,  in  the  metropolis  of  New  England.  These 
old-time  Boston  men  and  women  of  1630-38  had  their  hands  full  of 
hard  work,  their  minds  full  of  new  thoughts  and  contrivings,  and 
their  hearts  full  of  human  interest  and  achievement.     This  school 

327 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

of  free  thought  aiid  action,  on  the  shores  of  Massachusetts  Bay, 
was  a  grand  preparation  through  experience,  hardship,  discipline, 
courage,  faith,  for  later  and  more  vigorous  duties  and  responsibil- 
ities awaiting  them  below  the  horizon  of  their  daily  vision  and  ex- 
pectation, in  a  new  field  of  action,  in  Narragansett  Bay. 

The  founding  of  a  well  ordered  seaport  town,  like  Boston, — the 
port  of  entry  and  exit  of  all  the  commerce  of  that  day,  was  a  matter 
of  no  small  importance,  and  our  future  founders  of  Newport  and 
Portsmouth  had  their  first  experience  there  in  shaping  municipal 
affairs.  In  the  first  board  of  ten  selectmen  of  Boston,  we  find  the 
names  of  William  Coddington,  John  Coggeshall  and  William  Bren- 
ton.  In  1636,  the  names  of  William  Hutchinson,  John  Coggeshall, 
John  Sanford,  William  Aspinwall,  William  Brenton  and  William 
Balston  appear  as  fathers  of  the  town,  one-half  of  the  board.  In 
1637,  the  future  settlers  at  Aquidneck  had  a  majority  of  one  in  the 
town  government.  This  was  the  last  year  of  their  residence  in 
Boston, 

In  the  higher  and  more  responsible  offices  of  the  Bay  Colony  our 
future  founders  of  Rhode  Island  bore  a  conspicuous  and  honorable 
part.  Of  the  General  Court,  the  legislative  body  of  the  Colony, 
William  Coddington  was  a  member  from  1630  to  1638.  As  an  As- 
sistant to  the  Governor,  he  was  elected  by  the  freemen  in  1629, 
1630,  1632  to  1638.  He  filled  the  office  of  Colonial  Treasurer  for 
three  years,  1634-5  and  6.  In  1636,  Mr.  Coddington  was  chosen  a 
judge  to  preside  over  courts  in  Boston,  Dorchester,  Weymouth 
and  Hingham.  In  1635,  Mr.  Coddington  was  chosen  a  member  of  the 
Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  with  the  Governor,  Deputy  Gov- 
ernor, John  Winthrop,  John  Endicott  and  other  chief  citizens  of 
the  colony.  He  was  also  on  a  committee  with  Gov.  Winthrop  to  fix 
the  conditions  of  settlement  at  Andover.  In  1637,  he  was  chosen 
one  of  a  committee  of  five  to  adjust  matters  relative  to  the  soldiers 
sent  to  Block  Island.  Thus  Mr.  Coddington  was  a  public  officer  in 
the  Colony  for  more  than  eight  years,  filling  the  most  responsible 
offices,  by  the  choice  of  the  people  and  the  General  Court.  He  was 
also  a  merchant  and  built  the  first  brick  house  in  the  town  of  Boston. 

William  Brenton,  a  cofounder  of  Boston  and  Aquidneck,  was 
chosen  to  superintend  the  building  of  a  House  of  Correction  in  Bos- 

328 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

ton,  in  1634,  the  year  he  was  made  a  freeman.  He  was  a  selectman 
of  Boston  in  1634-5-6-7.  In  1635,  he  was  appointed  on  a  commit- 
tee to  consider  what  action  should  be  taken  with  John  Endicott  ot 
Salem  in  defacing  the  English  flag  by  cutting  out  the  cross.  The 
same  year  he  was  appointed  to  furnish  "at  the  public  charge "  all 
that  was  needed  at  the  prison  in  Boston.  He  was  elected  a  Deputy 
from  Boston  to  the  General  Court  in  1635-6-7. 

John  Coggeshall  was  a  silk  merchant  of  Boston.  He  was  made 
a  freeman  Nov.  6,  1632;  was  elected  a  deacon  of  the  First  Church 
in  1634,  holding  the  office  until  his  removal  to  Aquidneck.  In  1634 
and  1636,  he  was  a  Boston  selectman,  and  in  1634-5-6-7,  a  Deputy 
from  Boston  in  the  General  Court.  In  1634,  he  gave  £5  towards 
the  seafort,  was  chosen  overseer  of  public  ammunition,  and  in  1635 
was  chosen  Commissioner  of  Commerce  for  Boston,  and  was  elected 
as  a  tax  assessor  for  the  Colony. 

William  and  Anne  Hutchinson  arrived  in  Boston  in  1634,  joining 
the  First  Church  with  four  children,— Richard,  Francis,  Faith  and 
Bridget, — the  same  year.  Two  sons,  Edward  and  Elisha,  and  pos- 
sibly a  third,  George,  were  already  at  Boston,  on  the  arrival  of  their 
parents.  William  Hutchinson  had  a  grant,  not  long  after  his  ar- 
rival, of  the  site  now  known  as  the  "Old  Corner  Bookstore,"  which 
then  extended  from  Washington  street,  on  the  north  side  of  School, 
to  the  City  Hall  lot.  Governor  Thomas  Hutchinson  of  the  Bay  Col- 
ony was  the  great-grandson  of  William  and  Anne  Hutchinson, 
through  son  Elisha  and  grandson  Thomas.  Major  Thomas,  found- 
er of  the  Savage  family  in  America,  representative,  speaker  and 
assistant,  noted  as  a  staunch  soldier  and  Indian  fighter,  married 
Faith  Hutchinson,  from  whom  came  James  Savage,  the  great  an- 
nalist of  New  England  Genealogy. 

William  Hutchinson  was  elected  twice  as  a  selectman  of  Boston, 
served  two  years  as  a  Deputy  from  Boston  in  the  General  Court, 
and  with  William  Coddington  was  a  Judge  in  the  County  Court. 
Both,  besides  their  Boston  property,  had  large  farms  at  Mt.  Wol- 
laston.  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson  acted  as  physician,  advisor  and 
midwife  to  Boston  mothers. 

Many  other  names  of  Aquidneck  founders  are  found  among  the 
recorded  lists  of  church  members,  freemen,  officeholders  and  busi- 

329 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

ness  men  of  Boston.  The  evidence  is  conclusive  that  these  men  and 
their  associates  obtained  valuable  training  and  experience  in  the 
Boston  school  for  freemen,  which  fitted  them  to  become  the  found- 
ers of  a  new  commonwealth. 

Another  factor  of  great  value  in  a  new  civil  life  is  the  family 
tie  and  relations.  At  Boston,  acquaintances  were  made,  as  they 
nowhere  else  can  be,  in  a  new  society  in  the  wilderness.  Pioneer 
life  makes  strong  and  abiding  friendships.  Common  hardships 
and  joys  are  chains  of  steel,  which  never  break.  Large  families  also 
have  a  strong  binding  power,  uniting  whole  communities  in  number- 
less ways. 

William  Coddington  had  thirteen  children;  William  Hutchinson, 
seven ;  Joseph  Clark,  brother  of  Dr.  John  Clark,  ten ;  Robert  Carr, 
six;  Richard  Borden,  ten;  Caleb  Carr,  eleven;  John  Coggeshall, 
eleven;  John  Briggs,  six;  John  Crandell,  nine;  John  Cranston,  ten; 
George  Gardiner,  fourteen;  William  Harris,  thirteen;  Randall 
Holden,  eleven;  William  Brenton,  eight.  Boston  men  and  women 
were  certainly  making  wise  provision  for  an  unforeseen  venture, 
— a  new  plantation.  Race  suicide  was  not  a  crime  of  the  fore- 
mothers. 

Much  more  could  be  written  of  the  important  services,  individual 
and  collective,  of  the  Aquidneck  settlers  in  the  founding  of  Boston, 
during  the  first  eight  years  of  the  development  of  social  order,  civil 
government  and  a  church  of  the  Puritan  faith.  It  must  be  clear  to 
all  that  they  shared  the  highest  honors  and  posts  of  service  of  the 
town  and  colony  w^ith  Winthrop,  Endicott,  Bradstreet,  Bellingham, 
Dudley  and  Saltenstall.  Their  experiences  in  all  the  various  offices 
and  functions  gave  them  the  exercise  of  their  varied  talents  in  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  concerns,  and  to  judge  of  the  excellency  and 
defects  in  organization  and  administration.  The  lessons  thus 
learned  in  their  practical  daily  life  were  inwrought  in  their  civic 
thought  and  consciousness,  and  became  their  guide  in  the  establish- 
ment of  a  new  state.  "Magistracy"  under  law  was  the  keynote  in 
the  structure  of  the  English  State.  It  held  the  same  vital  position 
in  the  Puritan  Commonwealth  of  the  Bay  and  later  in  the  new  Col- 
ony soon  to  be  planted  in  the  midst  of  Narragansett  Bay.  Histo- 
rian Arnold  says:     "Their  plans  were  more  matured  at  the  outset 

330 


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BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

than  those  of  the  Providence  settlers.  To  establish  a  Colony  inde- 
pendent of  every  other  was  their  avowed  intention,  and  the  organi- 
zation of  a  regular  government  was  their  initial  step." 

Few  events  in  New  England  history  are  so  sublimely  trying  as 
the  rending  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  in  1638,  when  more 
than  sixty  families, — and  more  than  300  persons — composing  a  Col- 
ony three  times  the  size  of  the  Pilgrim  Colony  at  Plymouth,  in  1620, 
were  "dismissed"  and  summarily  sent  forth  into  cruel  exile,  in 
the  midst  of  wintry  weather,  on  stormy  seas,  to  find  a  hitherto  un- 
known harbor  of  shelter  among  savage  beasts  and  savage  men.  Let 
us  direct  our  thoughts  to  the  issue,  fraught  with  such  tremendous 
and  far-reaching  results  to  both  parties. 

The  first  four  years  of  Boston  history — 1630-1634 — was  a  period 
of  social  and  civic  acquaintance  and  adjustment.  Protection  from 
local  perils  and  the  safeguarding  of  colonial  rights  of  franchise, 
made  social,  political  and  even  religious  unity  an  absolute  necessity. 
A  hostile  home  government  in  England  might  at  any  moment,  and 
without  just  cause,  put  an  end  to  local  government  and  make  the 
political  life  of  Boston  people  more  burdensome  than  it  had  been  the 
laud  of  their  birth,  while  a  hostile  Indian  raid  might  at  any  moment, 
by  torch  and  tomahawk  wipe  out  the  infant  Colony.  In  union  alone 
was  safety. 

The  next  four  years — 1634-1638 — constitute  an  era  of  differentia- 
tion and  separation,  singularly  enough,  along  lines  of  the  most 
abstruse  religious  thought  and  denominational  cleavage,  involving 
under  the  hard  and  obscure  title,  the  Antinomian  Controversy,  the 
most  vital  elements  of  civil  and  social  liberty.  By  reason  of  it, 
Boston  became  the  storm-center  of  New  England,  not  only  of  sharp 
debate,  but  of  deep-seated  and  violent  hatred,  causing  divisions  of 
families  and  social  circles,  business  estrangements,  political  ani- 
mosities, church  excommunications  and  colonial  banishments. 

Concerning  this  remarkable  mental  and  spiritual  phenomenon, 
which  stirred  the  whole  New  England  pioneer  life  to  its  deepest 
depths,  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  late  president  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Historical  Society,  writes  as  follows:  "In  its  essence, 
that  controversy  (Antinomian)  was  a  great  deal  more  than  a  re- 
ligious dispute ;  it  was  the  first  of  the  many  New  England  quicken- 

33i 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

ings  in  the  direction  of  social,  intellectual  and  political  develop- 
ments,— New  England's  earliest  protest  against  formulas.  .  .  . 
It  was  designed  by  no  one.  No  one  at  the  time  realized  its  signifi- 
cance. It  was  to  that  community  just  what  the  first  questioning 
of  an  active  mind  is  to  a  child  brought  up  in  the  strictest  observance 
of  purely  conventional  forms.  .  .  .  They  represented  the  ideas 
of  extreme  civil  liberty  and  religious  toleration.  .  .  .  The  issue 
between  religious  toleration  and  a  compelled  theological  conform- 
ity, was,  as  a  matter  of  established  policy,  then  to  be  decided.  It 
was,  and  the  decision  lasted  through  five  generations.  .  .  .  For 
good  or  evil,  it  committed  Massachusetts  to  a  policy  of  strict  re- 
ligious conformity.  .  .  .  The  domination  of  1637  was  not  dis- 
turbed or  seriously  shaken  until  the  era  of  the  Unitarian  movement 
under  Channing,  in  1819.' ' 

Anne  Hutchinson  was  the  leading  spirit  in  this  strife  of  tongues, 
and  this  home  of  Anne  and  William  Hutchinson,  occupying  the  site 
of  "The  Old  Corner  Book  Store,"  Boston,  was  the  place  and  scene 
of  the  most  ardent  discussions  that  ever  exercised  the  minds,  influ- 
enced the  judgments  and  determined  the  acts  of  the  whole  body  of 
the  young  metropolis. 

The  Hutchinson  family  left  Boston,  Old  England,  in  July,  and 
landed  in  Boston,  New  England,  in  the  autumn  of  1634.  William 
Hutchinson,  a  man  of  good  blood  and  a  fair  estate,  was  grandson 
of  John  Hutchinson,  a  former  Lord-Mayor  of  the  city  of  Lincoln, 
England.  Anne,  his  wife,  was  the  daughter  of  Kev.  Francis  and 
Bridget  (Dryden)  Marbury,  of  London.  The  mother,  Bridget,  was 
sister  of  Sir  Erasmus  Dryden,  Baronet,  grandfather  of  the  poet 
Dryden.  Her  sister,  Catharine  Marbury,  was  the  wife  of  Mr.  Bich- 
ard  Scott,  who  settled  at  Providence. 

The  Bev.  John  Cotton,  pastor  of  St.  Botolph's  Church  in  Bos- 
ton, the  favorite  minister  and  teacher  of  the  Hutchinsons,  had  re- 
moved to  Boston,  New  England,  in  1633,  and  had  become  the  asso- 
ciate minister  to  Bev.  John  Wilson,  pastor  of  the  First  Church  of 
the  Bay.  Mr.  Cotton's  liberal  teachings  in  the  home  church  had 
endeared  their  relations,  and  his  personality  was  a  strong  magnet 
to  draw  the  Hutchinsons  to  Boston,  the  following  year. 

The  Hutchinsons,  parents  and  children,  at  once  joined  the  Puri- 

33^ 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

tan  Church  of  Boston,  and  entered  heartily  into  all  the  active  life  of 
the  new  town.  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  a  woman  of  fine  social  qualities 
and  the  mother  of  a  large  brood  of  children,  soon  became  an  influ- 
ential factor  in  society,  and  as  nurse,  physician  and  midwife,  a  ben- 
efactor and  friend  to  all  the  families  in  Boston. 

Governor  Winthrop  calls  Mrs.  Hutchinson  a  woman  "of  a  ready 
wit  and  bold  spirit,' '  and  her  husband,  "a  man  of  very  mild  temper 
and  weak  parts,  and  wholly  guided  by  his  wife."  Rev.  Thomas 
Weld,  the  most  bitter  enemy  of  both,  tells  us  that  the  wife  was  "a 
woman  of  a  haughty  and  fierce  carriage,  of  a  nimble  wit  and  active 
spirit,  and  a  very  voluble  tongue,  more  bold  than  a  man,  though 
in  judgment  and  understanding  inferior  to  many  women." 

It  is  more  than  probable  that  Mr.  Weld's  opinion  was  shaped 
somewhat  by  the  lashings  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  voluble  tongue. 

The  historian  Palfrey  speaks  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson  as  "a  capable 
and  resolute  woman,"  and  "a  kind  and  serviceable  neighbor,  espe- 
cially to  persons  of  her  own  sex  in  times  of  sickness ;  and  by  these 
qualities  united  with  her  energy  of  character  and  vivacity  of  mind, 
she  acquired  esteem  and  influence."  Gov.  Arnold  calls  her  "a 
woman  of  great  intellectual  endowments  and  of  masculine  energy, 
to  whom  even  her  enemies  ascribed  unusual  powers,  styling  her  'the 
masterpiece  of  woman's  wit,'  and  describing  Her  as  'a  gentle- 
woman of  an  haughty  carriage,  a  busy  spirit,  competent  wit  and  a 
voluble  tongue,'  who,  by  a  remarkable  union  of  charity,  devotion 
and  ability,  soon  became  the  leader,  not  only  of  her  own  sex,  but  of 
a  powerful  party  in  the  state  and  church,  so  that  her  opponents  have 
termed  her,  by  a  species  of  anagrammatic  wit  'the  Nonesuch,'  was 
Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson,  the  founder  and  champion  of  the  Anti- 
nomian  'heresy.'  " 

Equally  complimentary  are  the  opinions  of  Bancroft,  Adams  and 
Dr.  Ellis.  Bancroft  calls  her  ' '  a  woman  of  such  admirable  under- 
standing, that  her  enemies  could  never  speak  of  her  without  ac- 
knowledging her  eloquence  and  ability. ' '  Mr.  Adams  says  she  pos- 
sessed "a  strong  religious  instinct,  and  a  remarkably  well-devel- 
oped controversial  talent,  wonderfully  endowed  with  the  indescrib- 
able quality  known  as  magnetism."  Dr.  Ellis  estimates  her  as  "a 
pure  and  excellent  woman,  to  whose  person  and  conduct  there  at- 

333 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

taches  no  stain  ...  of  a  high  spirit,  and  gifted  in  argument 
and  speech. ' ' 

Here,  evidently,  i3  a  woman  of  vision,  of  power,  of  passion,  of 
mental  vigor  and  clearness,  and  of  moral  and  spiritual  convictions. 
She  is  strong  enough  in  her  own  right  to  set  at  naught  the  traditions 
of  men  as  to  a  woman's  sphere  in  the  church  and  in  the  civil  society, 
who  opens  her  house  once  and  often  twice  a  week  for  a  meeting 
of  Boston  women  to  discuss  the  live  questions  of  church  and  state. 
She  goes  even  further  and  invites  the  men  of  Boston  to  sit  with  the 
women,  in  this  first  open  Forum  in  America,  or  of  its  kind  in  the 
world,  to  discuss  the  topics  of  supreme  moment,  as  seen  in  that 
early  day.  It  is  not  a  school  of  tattlers  or  scandalmongers,  but  of 
serious  Puritans,  debating  serious  concerns,  and  a  most  serious 
and  high-souled  woman  presides  and  sets  the  keynote  for  the  think- 
ing body  of  town  folks,  who  crowd  her  "large  and  commodious 
home."  Mrs.  Hutchinson  had  won  her  way  into  the  hearts  of  Bos- 
ton society  by  her  sympathetic  and  helpful  services  as  midwife  to 
young  mothers  and  a  domestic  physician  and  nurse  to  the  sick  of 
both  sexes.  Boston  society  responds  quickly  to  her  invitations  to 
her  house  and  hospitality.  But  readiest  of  all,  Boston  lends  a  quick 
ear  to  her  discussion  of  magistrates  and  town  government,  to  her 
views  of  household  economics  and  child  training,  and  most  earnestly 
to  her  views  of  religious  doctrines  and  discipline  as  taught  and 
administered  by  Rev.  John  Wilson  and  Rev.  John  Cotton,  the  min- 
isters of  the  First  Church. 

In  matters  of  religion  and  theology,  Anne  Hutchinson  was  a  seer, 
a  prophetess,  "a  Daniel,  come  to  judgment.''  Three  great  spiritual 
concepts  possessed  her.  She  believed  that  the  human  soul  could 
and  did  hold  close  communion  with  the  Divine  Over-Soul.  She  be- 
lieved in  direct,  special  revelations  from  the  Divine  to  the  human 
— f  rom  God  to  her  own  soul.  She  also  believed  in  a  spiritual  justifi- 
cation of  the  soul  of  man,  with  God,  through  Faith.  She  clearly  and 
fearlessly  declared  herself  a  teacher  of  the  doctrine  of  Justification 
through  Faith,  rather  than  of  sanctification  through  works;  the 
Covenant  of  Faith  rather  than  of  good  works.  These  doctrines 
constituted  substantially  what  was  styled  "Antinomianism,"  an 

334 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

obscure  word  and  of  little  value  in  our  day,  except  as  an  historic 
relic  in  the  museum  of  antiquated  theology. 

Mrs.  Hutchinson's  intensely  practical  temper  led  her  to  make  ap- 
plication of  her  teachings  to  her  own  church  and  its  ministers.  She 
openly  asserted  and  constantly  affirmed  that  Rev.  John  Wilson  was 
only  a  cold  formalist,  living  in  and  teaching  "The  Covenant  of 
Works/ '  So  far  did  she  carry  her  dislike  to  the  doctrine  and  its 
teachers,  that  she  would  walk  out  of  the  meeting  house  whenever 
Mr.  Wilson  and  others  of  his  thinking  began  to  preach,  and  many, 
of  like  belief  with  herself,  followed  her  example.  Her  favorite 
teacher,  Rev.  John  Cotton,  was  to  her  mind,  a  true  disciple  in  ' i  The 
Covenant  of  Grace,"  as  was  Rev.  John  Wheelwright,  her  brother- 
in-law,  the  minister  of  the  church  at  Braintree,  Mass.  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson's kindly  spirit  and  generous  services  had  won  the  hearts 
of  the  people  of  Boston.  Her  earnest  arguments,  clothed  in  win- 
ning words,  won  their  intellectual  assent  and  cordial  adherence,  so 
much  so  that  the  audiences  at  her  Thursday  afternoon  meetings  were 
larger  than  those  at  the  First  Church  on  Sundays.  The  leading 
men  of  Boston  as  well  as  the  women,  became  adherents  to  her 
teachings,  and  at  one  time  all  but  five  members  of  the  First  Church 
claimed  to  be  her  followers.  Among  them  were  William  Codding- 
ton,  Sir  Harry  Vane,  Governor,  and  the  whole  of  the  Aquidneck 
delegation.  Gov.  Winthrop  stood  with  Rev.  John  Wilson  in  opposi- 
tion to  Mrs.  Hutchinson.  Outside  of  Boston,  the  ministry  was 
unanimously  opposed  to  her  doctrines  and  teachings,  and  when  she 
declared  the  clergy  of  The  Bay  Colony  to  be  "cold  formalists," 
"dead,  without  a  name  to  live,"  "whited  sepulchres,"  "hypo- 
crites," "false  teachers,"  etc.,  etc.,  they  felt  that,  unless  this  new 
sectarian  was  silenced,  their  holy  craft  was  in  great  danger  of  an 
ignominious  overthrow,  and  that  downfall  would  be  due  to  a  woman  1 
Was  not  the  colony  a  theocracy?  Was  not  God's  Word  the  rule  of 
life  in  the  new  state?  Was  not  the  ministry  the  interpreters  and 
teachers  of  that  Word?  Shall  Heresy  be  allowed  to  destroy  a 
Puritan  Commonwealth?  Shall  the  ministry,  the  church,  the  theoc- 
racy, the  new  order  of  statehood,  go  down  under  the  assaults  of  a 
feminine  foe  "whose  tongue  was  as  a  sword  and  her  sex  a  shield?" 

335 


,. 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

The  voice  of  the  clergy  of  the  Bay  Colony  was  almost  as  the  voice 
of  one  man  in  an  emphatic  determination  to  put  down  this  persistent 
advocate  of  adjudged  pestilential  and  heretical  doctrines.  Rev. 
John  Cotton  and  Rev.  John  Wheelwright  aligned  themselves  with 
the  Antinomian  cause,  although,  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Cotton,  his  atti- 
tude was  later  changed  to  one  of  opposition  to  his  former  English 
parishioner  and  favorite. 

For  four  years, — 1634-1638 — Mrs.  Hutchinson  had  taught  a  new 
Revelation  as  to  Church  and  State.  In  the  midst  of  much  debate 
that,  in  our  time,  seems  incoherent  and  meaningless,  this  new  school 
emphasized  certain  great,  essential  principles  of  modern  Democ- 
racy, or  what  Mr.  Lodge  calls  at  that  age  liberal  Puritanism.  The 
open  Forum  at  the  Hutchinsons  was  none  other  than  the  free  and 
untrammelled  debate  of  the  New  England  town  meeting,  in  which 
John  Adams  tells  us  our  liberties  were  first  asserted  and  assured. 
Liberty  of  thought  and  speech  were  not  only  claimed  as  the  right  of 
freemen,  but  was  fully  illustrated  and  confirmed.  But  liberty  of 
thought  and  expression  is  only  another  name  for  Religious  lib- 
erty, and  it  is  not  too  much  to  affirm  that  in  the  Hutchinson  School 
there  was,  for  three  years,  the  most  absolute  exercise  of  Religious 
Freedom,  as  a  basic  principle  of  a  Free  State. 

Still  more,  the  larger  conception  of  a  Free  Commonwealth  was 
evolved,  in  which  all  classes  of  people — clergy  and  laity,  the  rich 
and  the  poor,  the  learned  and  the  unlearned, — stood  as  equals  before 
the  law,  with  rights  as  to  life,  liberty  and  justice,  unabridged,  ex- 
cept as  forfeited  by  crime,  or  lost  by  incompetency.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  construct  a  broader  platform  in  concerns  civil,  social,  econom- 
ical and  religious,  than  we  find  claimed,  advocated  and  for  a  brief 
time  enjoyed,  in  the  Hutchinson  Free  State,  at  the  corner  of  Wash- 
ington and  School  streets,  Boston,  in  the  Bay  Colony,  1634-1638. 
Even  the  claimants  for  the  rights  of  man,  irrespective  of  sex,  may 
assume  Anne  Hutchinson  of  Boston  as  their  leader  and  first  great 
advocate  and  practitioner,  so  far  as  the  conditions  of  her  time 
made  such  claims  and  practise  valid. 

Rev.  John  Wheelwright,  minister  to  the  Congregational  church  at 
Braintree,  born  at  Alford,  Lincolnshire,  1592,  was  a  non-conform- 
ist preacher,  learned  and  eloquent,  and  withal  a  defender  of  "The 

336 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

Covenant  of  Grace/ '  On  a  Fast  Day  in  January,  1G37,  he  deliv- 
ered what  Mr.  Adams  calls  "the  most  momentous  sermon  ever 
preached  from  the  American  pulpit.' '  The  sermon  was  a  masterly 
defence  of  "The  Covenant  of  Grace/'  as  taught  by  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son and  himself,  "against  pagans  and  anti-Christians,  and  those 
that  runne  under  a  Covenant  of  Works."  It  was  a  bold  affirmation 
of  a  spiritual  faith  in  opposition  to  a  worldly,  unspiritual  orthodoxy. 
In  March,  1637,  the  General  Court  declared  Mr.  Wheelwright  guilty 
of  contempt  and  sedition,  deferred  the  sentence,  and  changed  the 
seat  of  government  to  Cambridge,  as  Boston  was  in  full  sympathy 
with  the  accused  minister.  Troublous  days  are  on  at  Boston.  The 
spring  election  turned  on  the  issue  as  to  "The  Covenants," — orth- 
odoxy triumphed.  Governor  Vane  was  defeated.  Coddington 
failed  of  an  election  as  an  Assistant,  and  all  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson's 
adherents  on  the  general  ticket  were  defeated.  Fisticuffs  were  en- 
gaged in  by  the  most  devout,  and  Pastor  Wilson  climbed  a  tree  to 
harangue  the  voters,  all  of  whom  were  church  members.  Vane  soon 
went  back  to  England.  Coddington  was  elected  a  Deputy  to  the 
General  Court  from  Boston,  as  were  William  Aspinwall  and  John 
Coggeshall.  Rev.  John  Cotton  saw  a  new  light  in  the  election 
returns  and  was  "won  over  to  an  uncompromising  orthodoxy." 
Winthrop,  Governor,  and  Endicott,  Dudley,  Bellingham,  Bradstreet, 
Saltonstall  and  others  of  the  orthodox  party  sat  in  the  ' '  Seats  of  the 
Mighty."  In  the  spring  election  of  1637  in  the  Bay  Colony  the 
hands  on  the  time  piece  of  Progress  and  Spiritual  Enfranchisement 
were  set  back  into  the  twilight  hours  and  the  pendulum  ceased  to 
beat. 

August  30,  1637,  the  first  Cambridge  Synod  of  Magistrates  and 
Ministers  met  at  Newtown,  and  before  it  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson  was 
summoned  to  answer  to  eighty-two  ' '  erroneous  opinions ' '  cherished 
and  taught  in  her  school  at  Boston.  Single-handed  and  alone  she 
withstood  the  assaults  and  answered  the  questionings  of  this  large 
lay  and  clerical  court,  nearly  all  of  whose  numbers  were  hostile  to 
the  defendant.  To  those  who  care  to  read  the  celebrated  polemic 
dialogue,  reference  is  made  to  "Antinomianism  in  Massachusetts 
Bay  Colony"  by  Charles  Francis  Adams.  As  was  to  be  expected, 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  heard  and  condemned  by  the  Synod  after  a 

337 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

session  of  twenty-four  days,  and  her  case  was  referred  to  the  Great 
and  General  Court  of  the  Colony  as  well  as  to  the  church  of  which 
she  was  a  member,  for  such  discipline  as  those  bodies  might  see  fit 
to  exercise. 

The  session  of  the  General  Court  of  the  Bay  Colony  in  Novem- 
ber, 1637,  was  an  event  of  mighty  significance  in  the  annals  of  Amer- 
ican History — probably  greater  than  any  that  has  since  succeeded, 
for  in  and  by  it  the  magistrates  declared  various  opinions  heretical 
and  also  voted  banishment  to  a  large  body  of  the  most  eminent 
and  valuable  citizens  of  Boston  and  other  Colonial  towns.  As  a 
result  of  such  action  and  the  forcible  migration  of  this  class  of  peo- 
ple, new  towns  were  established  in  Northern  and  Southern  New 
England  and  a  new  Colony  was  created  on  Aquidneck  in  Narragan- 
sett  Bay,  which  embodied  in  its  primal  acts  the  principles  of  Civil 
and  Religious  Liberty,  against  whose  establishment  at  Boston,  the 
orthodox  party  of  the  Bay  Colony,  led  by  Governor  John  Win- 
throp,  had  so  strenuously  and  successfully  set  themselves.  "The 
Lord  brethren"  of  Boston  had  shown  themselves  the  lineal  descend- 
ants of  the  Bishops  of  the  mother  land,  and  the  several  acts  of  scis- 
sion made  possible  and  certain  the  founding  and  permanent  estab- 
lishment of  a  liberal  Puritan  State  on  Aquidneck,  in  Narragansett 
Bay,  dedicated  to  Civil  and  Soul  Liberty  from  its  first  inception. 

"There's  a  Divinity  that  shapes  our  ends, 
Rough  hew  them  how  we  will." 

Events  of  moment  follow  in  rapid  succession.  We  turn  to  the 
pages  of  the  Eecords  of  The  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New 
England  for  their  establishment: 

Nov.  2,  1637.  "Mr.  John  Wheelwright,  being  formerly  convicted 
of  contempt  and  sedition,  a: id  now  justifying  himself  and  his  former 
practise,  being  to  the  disturbance  of  the  civill  peace,  hee  is  by  the 
Court  disfranchised  and  banished,  having  14  days  to  settle  his 
affaires,  and  if  within  that  time  hee  depart  not  the  patent,  hee 
promiseth  to  render  himselfe  to  Mr.  Staughton,  at  his  house,  to  bee 
kept  till  hee  bee  disposed  of. 

"Mr.  John  Coggeshall  being  convented  for  disturbing  the  publike 
peace  was  disfranchised,  and  enjoyned  not  to  speake  anything  to 

338 


AQUIDNECK  GRANT 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

disturb  the  publike  peace,  upon  pain  of  punishment."  Mr.  Cogge- 
shall  was  a  Deacon  of  the  First  Church  and  was  recently  elected  as 
a  Deputy  from  Boston  as  was  Deacon  William  Aspinwall.  Both 
were  unceremoniously  expelled  from  the  General  Court  and  a  new 
election  ordered.  Mr.  Coddington  was  also  a  Deputy  from  Bos- 
ton, but  was  allowed  to  retain  his  seat  in  the  court. 

"Mr.  William  Aspinwall  being  convented  for  having  his  hand  to 
a  petition  or  remonstrance,  being  a  seditious  libell,  and  justifiing 
the  same,  for  which,  and  for  his  insolent  and  turbulent  carriage, 
hee  is  disfranchised  and  banished,  puting  in  sureties  for  his  depar- 
ture before  the  end  of  the  first  month  next  ensuing. 

"Mrs.  (Anne)  Hutchinson  (wife  of  Mr.  William  Hutchinson), 
being  convented  for  traducing  the  ministers  and  their  ministry  in 
this  country,  shee  declared  volentarily  her  revelations  for  "her 
ground,  and  that  shee  should  be  delivered  and  the  Court  ruined, 
with  their  posterity,  and  thereupon  was  banished,  and  the  meane 
while  was  commited  to  Mr.  Joseph  Welde  untill  the  Court  shall 
dispose  of  her." 

These  acts  were  all  passed  under  date  of  Nov.  2,  1637.  At  the 
next  sitting  of  the  Court,  on  Nov.  15,  several  more  citizens  and  free- 
men were  disfranchised  for  signing  the  Wheelwright  protest.  Five 
days  later,  Nov.  20,  the  General  Court  passed  an  act  that,  for  una- 
dulterated, high  handed  tyranny,  has  few  more  flagrant  examples 
in  the  history  of  half  civilized  states.  It  was  worthy  of  the  insolent 
audacity  of  Archbishop  Laud  and  the  Star  Chamber.  Here  it  is 
fresh  from  the  Eecords  of  The  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  Vol. 
I,  p.  211: 

"Whereas  the  opinions  and  revelations  of  Mr.  Wheelwright  and 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  have  seduced  and  led  into  dangerous  errors  many 
of  the  people  heare  in  Newe  England,  insomuch  as  there  is  just 
cause  of  suspition  that  they,  as  others  in  Germany,  in  former  times, 
may,  upon  some  revelation,  make  some  suddaine  irruption  upon 
those  that  differ  from  them  in  judgment,  for  prevention  whereof 
it  is  ordered,  that  all  those  whose  names  are  underwritten  shall 
(upon  warning  given  or  left  at  their  dwelling  houses)  before  the 
30th  day  of  this  month  of  November,  deliver  at  Mr.  Cane's  house, 
at  Boston,  all  such  guns,  pistols,  swords,  powder,  shot  and  match 
as  they  shall  bee  owners  of,  or  have  in  their  custody,  upon  paine  of 
ten  pound  for  every  default  to  bee  made  thereof ;  which  armes  are 

339 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

to  bee  kept  by  Mr.  Cane  till  this  Court  shall  take  further  order 
therein.  Also,  it  is  ordered,  upon  like  penalty  of  £X  that  no  man 
who  is  to  render  his  armes  by  this  order  shall  buy  or  borrow  any 
guns,  swords,  pistols,  powder,  shot,  or  match,  untill  this  Court  shall 
take  further  order  therein.' ' 

Fifty-eight  citizens  of  Boston  are  named  and  seventeen  from 
nearby  towns.  On  a  groundless  suspicion,  for  no  crime,  seventy- 
five  heads  of  families  are  subjected  to  the  humiliation  of  carrying 
to  Mr.  Cane's  house  in  Boston,  all  the  means  of  personal  and  family 
protection  they  possessed,  thereby  setting  at  naught  the  well  estab- 
lished doctrine  of  the  house  the  castle,  not  even  entering  the  prem- 
ises by  a  legal  search  warrant. 

Of  the  men  of  Boston,  who,  within  a  few  months  of  this  were 
founders  of  a  new  town  at  Aquidneck,  were  William  Hutchinson, 
husband  of  Anne,  Dea.  William  Aspinwall,  Samuel  Cole,  William 
Dyer,  husband  of  Mary,  Edward  Rainsford,  John  Batton,  John 
Sanford,  Richard  Cooke,  Richard  Fairbanks,  Oliver  Mellows,  Sam- 
uel Wilbour,  John  Oliver,  Richard  Gridley,  Zachariah  Bosworth, 
William  Townsend,  William  Pell,  Richard  Hutchinson,  James  John- 
son, Gen.  Thomas  Savage,  John  Odlin,  Gamalial  Wayte,  Edward 
Hutchinson,  Isaac  Gross,  Richard  Carder.  Robert  Harding,  Rich- 
ard Wayte,  John  Porter,  Jacob  Elliott,  Thomas  Wardell,  William 
Wardell,  William  Baulston,  William  Freeborn,  Henry  Bull,  William 
Salter,  Dr.  John  Clarke,  Dea.  John  Coggeshall,  Mr.  Easton,  of  New- 
bury, Richard  Bulgar  and  Philip  Sherman,  of  Roxbury,  all  of  whom 
were  included  in  the  act  of  disarmament  of  peaceable  citizens,  whose 
only  civic  offence  was  their  endorsement  of  the  liberal  views  of  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  and  Rev.  John  Wheelwright  as  to  a  free  church  in  a  free 
state.  It  seems  almost  unbelievable  that  Governor  John  Win- 
throp  and  men  of  his  type  should  have  committed  an  act  of  such 
a  criminal  character,  for  which  they  could  have  been  held  amen- 
able for  treason  against  the  state  in  the  Courts  of  England.  But 
the  unjust  order  was  obeyed,  arms  and  ammunition  were  given 
up  by  these  hitherto  loyal  citizens,  for  the  most  part  church  mem- 
bers and  freemen  of  the  Bay  Colony.  Other  plans  and  the  found- 
ing of  other  towns  and  a  new  Colony  possess  the  minds  and  hearts 

34o 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

of  these  men  and  women,  whose  opinions  as  to  civil  and  religious 
freedom  are  so  at  variance  with  the  theocracy  of  Boston. 

The  closing  acts  of  the  drama  are  a  worthy  sequel  to  the  events 
which  were  inaugurated  by  the  advent  of  Anne  Hutchinson  to  Bos- 
ton in  1634.  The  time  is  March,  1638.  The  place  is  the  meeting 
house  of  the  First  Church  of  Boston.  The  Rev.  John  Wilson  is  in 
the  pulpit,  and  Anne  Hutchinson  stands  before  him  to  receive  the 
sentence  of  excommunication,  with  a  crowded  assembly  as  wit- 
nesses. It  is  the  hour  of  the  jubilant  triumph  of  Puritan  orthodoxy 
over  a  more  liberal  faith  and  a  more  liberal  civil  policy.  Wilson  and 
Winthrop  are  vindicated;  Anne  Hutchinson  is  silenced.  Listen 
to  the  words  of  condemnation  rolling  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Puri- 
tan Pope  of  Boston  against  the  female  culprit  at  the  foot  of  the 
sacred  altar  of  the  temple  of  the  despised  Jesus, — "Therefore  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  in  the  name  of  the  church  I 
do  not  only  pronounce  you  worthy  to  be  cast  out  but  I  do  cast  you 
out;  and  in  the  name  of  Christ  do  I  deliver  you  up  to  Satan,  that 
you  may  learn  no  more  to  blaspheme,  to  seduce  and  to  lie ;  and  I  do 
account  you  from  this  time  forth  to  be  a  Heathen  and  a  Publican, 
and  so  to  be  held  of  all  the  brethren  and  sisters  of  this  congrega- 
tion and  of  others ;  therefore  I  command  you  in  the  name  of  Christ 
Jesus  and  of  this  church  as  a  leper  to  withdraw  yourself  out  of  the 
congregation. ' '  It  is  difficult  to  think  of  such  an  awful  utterance 
from  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  of  Love  of  the  Christ.  One  can 
almost  see  Angels  weep  and  Satan  laugh. 

As  Anne  Hutchinson  turned  from  the  altar  to  leave  the  house, 
bearing  in  her  heart  the  heavy  anathemas  of  the  church  she  had 
loved,  out  of  the  awe-stricken  throng  came  Mary  Dyer,  one  of  her 
disciples  and  devoted  friends,  took  her  arm  and  walked  by  her  side 
down  the  aisle  and  out  of  the  house.  One  story  has  it  that  William 
Coddington  also  walked  by  her  side.  If  not  in  fact,  he  did  in  spirit, 
as  did  all  the  devoted  band  who  were  preparing  for  a  new  exodus  to 
a  new  land  of  promise.  One  standing  at  the  meeting  house  door  said 
to  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  "The  Lord  sanctify  this  unto  you."  She  re- 
plied, "The  Lord  judgeth  not  as  man  judgeth.  Better  to  be  cast 
out  of  the  church  than  to  deny  Christ."  A  stranger  in  Boston, 
pointing  at  Mary  Dyer,  asked,  "Who  is  that  young  woman?"     The 

34i 


BOSTON  THE  PREPARATORY  SCHOOL  FOR  AQUIDNECK 

reply  was,  "It  is  the  woman  which  bore  the  monster."  Twenty- 
four  years  later,  Mary  Dyer  was  hung  on  Boston  Common  for  being 
a  Quakeress. 

One  more  event  is  of  record  when  we  turn  to  the  great  "experi- 
ment" for  which  eight  years  of  Boston  history  has  been  the  pre- 
paratory school, — the  founding  of  The  Colony  of  Khode  Island,  in 
Narragansett  Bay.  We  have  already  noted  the  warnings  of  the 
Bay  Colony,  the  notes  of  the  impending  separation,  exclusion  and 
banishment.  On  the  12th  of  March,  1638,  the  summons  is 
issued  against  Mr.  Coddington  and  others  as  follows:  "Mr. 
William  Coddington,  Mr.  John  Coggeshall,  Governor  Wil- 
liam Baulston,  Edward  Hutchinson,  Samuel  Wilbore,  John  Porter, 
John  Compton,  Henry  Bull,  Philip  Shearman,  Willi  Freeborne  and 
Biehd  Carder,  these  haveing  license  to  dept,  summons  is  to  go  out 
for  them  to  appear  (if  they  bee  not  gone  before)  at  the  next  Court, 
the  third  month,  to  answer  such  things  as  he  objected." 

The  Stone  which  the  builders  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony 
rejected,  shall  soon  become  the  corner  of  a  new  Commonwealth, 
styled  The  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  on  Aquidneck. 


342 


George  Lansing  Raymond 

English  Ancestors  of  John  and  William  Raymond  of  Beverly, 

Mass. 

N  page  196  of  the  Record  Book  entitled  "Grey"  in  Som- 
erset House,  London,  England,  may  be  found  the  will 
of  George  Raymond  of  Glaston,  probated  in  1652.  In 
IS  it  he  mentions  his  sons  John  and  William  and  his  daugh- 
ter Elizabeth  as  being  "in  New  England.' '  In  a  court  record  of 
Salem,  Massachusetts,  December  18,  1697,  William  is  made  to  say 
that  he  came  to  New  England  about  1652.  In  another,  Book  17, 
page  24,  William  and  John  are  shown  to  be  brothers,  and,  according 
to  the  church  registry  of  their  ages  at  their  deaths,  John  is  shown 
to  have  been  about  twenty  years  older  than  William,  and  to  have 
been  born  between  1616  and  1618.  Enough  is  left  of  the  records 
of  St.  John's  Church,  Glastonbury,  to  inform  us  of  the  baptism  of 
George  Raymond's  son  George  in  1616  and  his  death  in  1617,  also 
of  the  burial,  in  1618,  of  the  wife  of  George  Raymond,  probably 
after  the  birth  of  John,  the  same  who  died  in  Beverly,  Massachu- 
setts, January  18,  1703,  aged  about  eighty-seven.  George  Ray- 
mond of  Glaston  married  a  second  time.  We  find  in  the  registry 
that  Maurice,  son  of  George  Raymond,  was  baptized  April  24,  1621. 
Apparently,  too,  John  Raymond  had  a  first  wife  in  England.  In 
the  registry  of  St.  Benedict's  Church,  Glastonbury,  we  find  that 
Margaret  Raymond,  wife  of  John  Raymond,  was  buried  May  28, 
1639.  Existing  English  l '  Chancery  Proceedings,  B  and  A,  Charles 
I.  R.,  23,  No.  45,  Feb.  6,  1645,"  show  that  John  Raymond,  Gent., 
when  he  decided  to  go  "across  the  seas,"  left  in  trust  with  two 
uncles  a  house  that  he  owned.  This  house  was  only  five  or  six  miles 
from  Glastonbury.  It  explains  why,  because  John  had  property  of 
his  own,  the  will  of  George  of  Glaston  left  him  only  "one  shilling." 
Others  of  George's  children  shared  better,  but  the  most  of  his  prop- 
erty went  to  his  son  Maurice.     This  was  probably  the  family  name 

343 


GEORGE  LANSING  RAYMOND 

of  George's  second  wife.  The  name,  sometimes  in  the  same  docu- 
ment spelled  Morris,  is  French,  and  may  have  belonged  to  one  of  the 
large  number  of  Huguenot  refugees  known  to  have  settled  in  Glas- 
tonbury. All  records  there  are  missing  between  about  1621  and 
1653.  The  name  Maurice  may  explain  why  the  branch  of  the  Ray- 
mond family  descended  from  William,  of  Beverly,  holds  a  tradition 
of  Huguenot  descent. 

George  Eaymond,  or  Rayment — both  spellings  are  used  in  the 
same  documents — after  promising  his  signature  to  his  will,  signs  it 
with  only  his  mark.  The  will  is  phrased  exactly  as  if,  because  he 
was  paralyzed,  or,  at  least,  too  feeble  to  write,  he  had  it  copied  from 
the  will  of  Arthur  Raymond,  of  Ilchester,  dated  in  1623 ;  and  this 
Arthur,  for  several  reasons,  seems  to  have  been  the  father  of 
George.  Ilchester  is  situated  only  twelve  miles  from  Glastonbury. 
Arthur's  will  leaves  a  house  and  other  property  to  his  wife  and  to 
each  of  two  other  sons ;  but  no  house,  yet  the  largest  share  of  the 
property,  to  "George,  my  eldest  son."  George's  will,  made  thirty 
years  later,  shows  why  he  did  not  need  a  honse.  He  refers  to  his 
possessions  in  the  house  that  he  occupies  "in  the  churchyard  of  St. 
John's  Glaston."  The  father  of  Arthur,  George,  of  Ilchester,  had 
left  money  for  ' i  George,  the  son  of  Arthur,  to  help  to  breed  him  to 
school."  In  the  churchyard  of  St.  John's  there  can  still  be  seen  the 
ruins  of  a  great  schoolhouse  that  was  once  there.  Very  likely 
George  Raymond  was  connected  with  it  as  a  teacher.  Perhaps  it 
was  because  his  son  William  had  learned  something  from  his  father 
with  reference  to  the  subject  that,  some  years  later,  the  Beverly 
(Massachusetts)  Records  tell  of  his  being  appointed  to  assist  the 
selectmen  in  securing  a  teacher  for  their  town.  Moreover,  the  uncles 
— really  grand  uncles,  though  this  term  was  not  used  in  those  days 
— to  whom  John's  house  was  left  in  trust  when  he  went  "across 
the  seas"  were  Arthur's  brothers  mentioned  in  the  will  of  George, 
of  Ilchester.  Both  this  will  and  that  of  Arthur  are  printed  in  the 
volume  entitled  "Somerset  Wills."  Enough  remains  of  the  rained 
tomb  of  William  Raymond,  of  Ilchester,  brother  of  Arthur,  to  en- 
able us  to  make  out  the  coat  of  arms  of  this  family.  The  shield  is 
that  described  by  Bnrke  in  his  book  entitled  "General  Armory" 
as  "argent  three  bars  sable,"  in  other  words,  silver  with  three  black 

344 


GEORGE  LANSING  RAYMOND 

bars,  these  of  equal  size  crossing  the  shield  horizontally.  The  crest 
is  a  "dexter  arm  embowed  in  armor,  grasping  a  battle  axe,  all  prop- 
er," which  means  in  their  proper  natural  color.  The  simplicity  of 
this  coat  of  arms  shows  its  age.  In  1581  and  later,  other  coats  of 
arms  were  granted  to  members  of  the  Raymond  family.  *Appar- 
ently,  too,  they  belonged  to  the  same  branch  of  the  family.  This 
is  said  because  we  find  different  coats  of  arms  used  by  different  fam- 
ilies of  this  name  living  side  by  side  in  the  same  counties  and  towns. 
It  is  worth  while  to  say  also  that  the  story  of  a  battle  axe  crest, 
like  that  of  a  Huguenot  ancestry,  is  traditional  in  this  branch  of  the 
Raymond  family  of  America.  It  is  a  crest  that  surmounts  many 
different  English  coats  of  arms.  It  is  sometimes  said  to  have  been 
given  to  his  knights  by  William  the  Conqueror.  If  there  is  any 
truth  in  this  statement,  the  crest  connects  this  family  of  Raymond 
with  that  of  a  knight  whose  name  is  inscribed  at  Battle  Abbey 
among  those  Normans  who  fought  at  the  battle  of  Hastings  in  1066. 
The  family  of  this  knight  is  said  to  have  settled  at  a  place  named 
Raymond  in  the  Hundred  of  Wye  in  the  County  of  Kent.  The  mi- 
grations of  the  family  are  apparently  indicated  in  the  places  to 
which  Burke  assigns  the  use  of  the  coat  of  arms  just  described,, 
namely,  Langley  Park,  County  Kent;  Saling  Hall  and  Valentine 
House,  County  Essex;  and  Marpole,  County  Devon.  The  latter 
was  not  far  from  Ilchester,  County  Somerset. 

Captain  William  Raymond,  of  Beverly,  was  in  the  Narragansett 
fight  in  1675 ;  a  deputy  to  the  General  Court  in  1685-6 ;  lieutenant 
commander  of  Beverly  and  Wenham  troops  in  1683 ;  and  commander 
of  an  expedition  to  Canada  in  1690,  for  which  he  and  his  soldiers 
subsequently  received  from  the  Crown  a  grant  of  a  county  of  land. 
The  wills  of  George  and  Arthur,  the  immediate  ancestors  of  Wil- 
liam in  England,  show  that  both  were  Protestants,  but  not  exces- 
sively puritanic.  William,  of  Beverly,  was  so  influential  in  his 
church  that  he  was  able  to  persuade  his  pastor,  Rev.  John  Hale,  to 
accompany  the  expedition  to  Canada;  but,  at  a  time  when  Baptists 
were  shunned  and,  more  or  less,  persecuted  in  New  England,  he 
married,  as  his  second  wife,  the  daughter  of  the  first  Baptist  minis- 
ter who  came  to  Boston,  Ruth  Hull.  In  the  heat  of  the  Salem  witch- 
craft excitement,  his  son  William,  when  a  young  man,  testified  that 

345 


GEORGE  LANSING  RAYMOND 

he  told  one  who  had  said  that  another  had  tried  to  bewitch  her,  that 
"she  lied."  Captain  William  married,  for  his  first  wife,  Hannah, 
daughter  of  Edward  Bishop.  Their  son  William,  born  about  1666, 
married  Mary,  daughter  of  John  Kettle.  Their  son  William,  born 
February  11,  1690,  married  Deborah,  daughter  of  Benjamin  Balch, 
and  settled  in  Rochester,  Massachusetts.  Their  son  Daniel,  born 
March  17, 1717,  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  John  Blackmer,  and 
widow  of  Isaac  Doty,  and  moved  to  Sharon,  Connecticut.  Their 
son  Paul,  born  November  15,  1774,  married  Rachel,  daughter  of 
Zebulon  Stevens,  and  settled  in  Richmond,  Massachusetts.  Their 
son,  Benjamin,  born  in  Richmond,  Massachusetts,  October  19,  1744, 
moved  to  Rome,  New  York,  and  married  Hannah,  daughter  of 
Thomas  Wright.  Benjamin  Raymond  was  by  profession  a  civil 
engineer,  and  was  the  first  to  plat  large  sections  of  northern  New 
York  State.  He  became  also  a  county  judge  of  St.  Lawrence  county. 
He  was  founder  and  for  some  time  sole  supporter  of  St.  Lawrence 
Academy,  located  at  Potsdam,  New  York.  He  died  while  employed 
on  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  Canal,  September  26,  1824. 

Benjamin  Wright  Raymond,  the  son  of  Benjamin  and  Hannah 
(Wright)  Raymond,  was  born  at  Rome,  New  York,  October  23, 1801. 
He  married,  June  12, 1835,  Amelia  Porter,  daughter  of  Reuben  Por- 
ter. She  was  born  at  Auburn,  New  York,  February  15,  1814.  Ben- 
jamin W.  Raymond  was  a  man  of  great  public  spirit,  foresight  and 
generosity.  JHe  was  twice  mayor  of  Chicago,  Illinois,  was  president 
•of  that  city's  Board  of  Trade,  president  of  the  Fox  River  Valley 
Uailroad,  also  of  the  Wisconsin  Central  Railroad,  and  first  presi- 
dent of  the  Elgin  National  WTatch  Company,  and  of  the  board  of 
trustees  of  Lake  Forest  University.  A  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
•church,  he  was  a  trustee  and  elder  in  that  denomination.  He  died 
April  5, 1883.     His  widow's  death  occurred  May  23,  1889. 

George  Lansing  Raymond,  the  son  of  Benjamin  Wright  and 
Amelia  (Porter)  Raymond,  was  born  at  Chicago,  Illinois,  Septem- 
ber. 3,  1839.  With  the  exception  of  one  great-grandmother,  Filipa 
Hollenbeck,  of  a  Dutch  family  of  New  York,  all  of  his  ancestors 
came  to  this  country  through  New  England ;  and  all  at  a  very  early 
date.  This  can  be  authenticated  by  the  records  of  the  Society  of 
Jlayflower  Descendants  and  of  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars.  Among 

346 


GEORGE  LANSING  RAYMOND 

these  ancestors  of  the  first  generation  that  settled  in  America  were 
Rev.  Thomas  Walley  and  Lieutenant  Samuel  Allyn,  of  Barnstable, 
Mass.;  William  Adlen,  of  Gloucester;  Deputy  John  Balch  and  Ed- 
ward Bishop,  of  Beverly;  William  Fellows,  of  Ipswich;  John  Kettle, 
of  Gloucester;  William  Blackmar;  Peter  Branch;  Governor  William 
Bradford;  Thurston  Clark;  Edward  Doty,  Mayflower  pilgrim; 
Elder  John  Faunce;  George  Morton,  the  author  of  "Morton's  Rec- 
ords  of  Plymouth;"  and  Thomas  Richards,  all  of  the  Plymouth 
Colony;  John  Lake,  a  brother-in-law  of  Governor  Winthrop,  and 
Captain  John  Gallop,  of  Swamp  Fight  fame,  of  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  Colony;  and  of  the  Connecticut  Colony,  John  Bronson  and 
Thomas  Root,  soldiers  in  the  Pequot  War ;  Deputy  Richard  Butler, 
John  Carrington,  Deputy  John  Deming,  Nathaniel  Foot,  Ensign 
William  Goodrich,  Deputy  John  Holcombe,  John  Hopkins,  Matthew 
Marvin,  Joseph  Mygatt,  Dr.  Daniel  Porter,  of  Farmington ;  Thom- 
as Sherwood,  Deputy  Timothy  Stanley,  Deputy  John  Cole,  Deputy 
John  Steele,  Deputy  Henry  Stevens,  Joseph  Clark,  John  Stoddard, 
Elder  John  Strong,  the  last  three  being  of  Windsor;  Deputy  Rich- 
ard Treat,  Hugh  Gaylord,  Andrew  Warner,  Governor  John  Web- 
ster, Major  William  Whiting,  Matther  Woodruff,  and  Thomas 
Wright.  In  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations  were  Deputy 
Henry  Hall  and  Richard  Pierce.  In  collateral  branches,  James 
Otis,  the  patriotic  lawyer  of  Boston,  Massachusetts;  Samel  Hop- 
kins, the  puritanic  preacher  of  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  and  Noah 
Webster,  the  lexicographer,  were  all  first  cousins  of  the  great  grand- 
parents of  the  family  of  Benjamin  W.  Raymond.  Of  their  own  an- 
cestors, Paul  Raymond,  Zebulon  Stevens,  Captain  and  Dr.  James 
Porter,  and  probably  Oliver  Root,  were  all  soldiers  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary War. 

George  Lansing  Raymond,  after  attending  private  schools  in 
Chicago,  spending  about  a  year  as  cash-boy  in  a  large  drygoods 
store,  and  two  years  in  a  boarding  school  in  Auburn,  New  York, 
went  in  1857  to  Phillips  Academy  at  Andover,  Massachusetts.  Af- 
ter finishing  a  course  of  studies  at  this  institution,  he  entered  Wil- 
liams College,  where  he  graduated  in  1862.  After  graduation  he 
presented  himself  for  enlistment  for  service  in  the  Civil  W^ar,  but 
was  rejected  for  physical  disabilities.    He  subsequently  studied 

347 


GEORGE  LANSING  RAYMOND 

for  one  year  at  the  Auburn  Theological  Seminary,  and  for  two  years 
at  the  Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  where  he  graduated  in  1865. 
Besides  the  degrees  of  A.  B.  and  A.  M.,  given  in  course  at  Williams 
College,  he  has  received  an  honorary  degree  of  A.  M.  from  Prince- 
ton University,  and  of  L.  H.  D.  in  1883  from  Rutgers  College,  and  in 
1889  from  Williams  College. 

After  his  student  life  in  America  he  traveled  and  studied  in 
Europe  three  years,  taking  courses  in  aesthetics  with  Professor 
Vischer,  of  Tubingen  University,  later  with  Professor  Curtius  at 
the  time  when  that  historian  of  Greece  was  spending  several  hours 
a  week  with  his  pupils  among  the  marbles  of  the  Berlin  Museum. 
For  a  few  weeks  after  that,  he  was  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian  church 
in  Darby,  Pennsylvania.  His  interest  in  art  and  literature  and  his 
writings  on  these  subjects  led  to  his  being  called  in  1874  to  Wil- 
liams College  where,  under  the  title  of  Professor  of  Oratory,  he  at 
different  times  taught  in  whole  or  in  part,  English  literature,  aes- 
thetics, rhetoric,  and  elocution.  The  success  of  his  pupils  who,  in 
every  year  but  one  between  1874  and  1880,  took  prizes  in  the  inter- 
collegiate contests  in  oratory  and  composition  then  held  annually 
in  New  York  City,  caused  him  in  the  latter  year  to  be  called  to  the 
chair  of  oratory,  aesthetics  and  criticism  in  Princeton  University. 
This  position,  owing  to  prolonged  ill  health,  he  resigned  in  1893. 
The  trustees  of  the  University,  on  their  own  initiative,  relieving  him 
of  excessive  work,  elected  him  to  a  professorship  of  aesthetics. 
Wishing  to  reside  permanently  in  a  warmer  climate,  he  accepted  in 
1895  a  professorship  of  aesthetics  in  the  George  Washington  Uni- 
versity, from  which,  and  from  all  further  academic  work,  he  retired 
in  1912. 

Through  all  his  life,  Professor  Kaymond  has  been  contributing 
through  his  written  volumes  to  the  subjects  that  he  has  been  called 
upon  to  teach.  When  teaching  elocution,  for  instance,  he  recog- 
nized that  all  the  arts  are  primarily  developments  of  different 
forms  of  expression  through  the  tones  and  movements  of  the  body, 
and  he  began  a  thorough  study,  chiefly  during  vacations  in  Paris,  of 
methods  of  representing  thought  and  emotions  through  singing  and 
speaking,  also  through  postures  and  gestures.  The  results  of  this 
study  he  published  in  his  " Orator's  Manual"  and  in  a  collaborated 

348 


GEORGE  LANSING  RAYMOND 

textbook  called  "The  Writer."  In  this  latter  publication,  tne  prin- 
ciples underlying  written  discourse  were  for  the  first  time  corre- 
lated to  those  of  oral  discourse ;  and  he  showed  the  identity  of  the 
same  principles  as  applied  not  only  to  those  arts  but  to  all  the 
higher  arts  in  a  series  of  volumes  on  "Comparative  Aesthetics." 
Dr.  M.  M.  Miller,  one  of  his  pupils,  in  the  preface  to  "An  Art 
Philosopher's  Cabinet,"  a  volume  made  of  extracts  from  the  "Com- 
parative Aesthetics,"  credits  Professor  Raymond  with  being  "the 
author  of  the  only  complete  system  of  art  interpretation  that  has  yet 
been  produced  in  any  country, — complete  because  of  its  analytic 
and  synthetic  unity,  treating  its  theme  equally  in  its  historical  and 
theoretical  aspects,  and  applying  identical  principles  to  both  sub- 
ject-matter and  form  as  used  in  every  one  of  the  higher  arts."  Pro- 
fessor Raymond  conceives  of  art  as  the  representation  of  human 
thought  and  emotion  through  the  use  of  effects  perceived  in  nature. 
He,  therefore,  insists  equally  upon  significance  in  art,  and  upon 
imitation,  upon  what  is  called  expression  and  upon  what  is  called 
form  of  technique.  He  maintains  that  it  is  through  applying  right 
principles  and  all  of  them  together,  rather  than  by  imitating  his- 
toric styles  or  devising  eccentric  ones,  that  the  artist  can  be  guided 
to  trustworthy  and  original  methods  of  production. 

Besides  art  criticism,  Professor  Raymond  has  also  written 
poetry.  To  quote  again  from  Dr.  Miller,  "his  verse  is  simple  yet 
dignified,  direct  yet  graceful,  and  clear  yet,  so  far  as  his  own  ideal, 
invariably  imaginative,  his  conception  being  that  nothing  can  be 
expressed  according  to  the  methods  of  art  except  as  by  way  either 
of  reproduction  or  reference.  The  means  or  implements  of  expres- 
sion are  forms  that  can  be  seen  or  heard  in  natural  life. "  In  all  of 
Professor  Raymond's  larger  poems  like  "The  Aztec  God,"  "Co- 
lumbus," and  "Dante,"  a  very  high  purpose  is  evident.  His  "Life 
in  Song"  is  said  to  contain,  under  the  guise  of  a  story  of  a  reform- 
er, the  most  accurate  expression  that  has  yet  been  given  to  the  mo- 
tives underlying  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  in  our  country, 
and  the  war  of  secession.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  too,  its  final  canto, 
though  printed  almost  forty  years  ago,  foretells  in  vision  the  pres- 
ent war  for  democracy  and  its  causes,  as  perfectly  as  if  its  author 
had  been  writing  history  and  not  prophesy.    We  append  a  full 

349 


GEORGE  LANSING  RAYMOND 

list  of  titles  and  dates  of  publication  of  Professor  Raymond's  writ- 
ings -."Colony Ballads"  (1876) ;  "Ideals  Made  Real"  (1877) ;  "Ora- 
tor's Manual,"  a  text  book  (1879);  "Modern  Fishers  of  Men" 
(1879) ;  "A  Life  in  Song"  poems  (18S6) ;  "Poetry  as  a  Represen- 
tative Art"  (1886) ;  "Ballads  of  the  Revolution,  and  Other  Poems 
(1877) ;  "Sketches  in  Song"  (1887) ;  "The  Genesis  of  Art  Form" 
(1893);  "The  Speaker,"  a  text  book  with  M.  M.  Miller  (1893); 
"The  Writer,"  a  text  book  with  P.  Wheeler  (1893);  "Art  in 
Theory"  (1894) ;  "Pictures  in  Verse"  (1894) ;  "Rhythm  and  Har- 
mony in  Poetry  and  Music"  (1895);  "Painting,  Sculpture  and 
Architecture  as  Representative  Arts"  (1895);  "Proportion  and 
Harmony  of  Line  and  Color  in  Painting,  Sculpture  and  Architec- 
ture" (1899) ;  "The  Representative  Significance  of  Form"  (1900) ; 
"The  Aztec  God,  and  Other  Dramas"  (1900) ;  "Ballads  and  Other 
Poems"  (1901);  "The  Essentials  of  Esthetics"  (1907);  "Dante 
and  Collected  Verse"  (1909);  all  published  by  G.  P.  Putnam's 
Sons,  New  York;  also  "The  Psychology  of  Inspiration"  (1907); 
"Fundamentals  in  Education,  Art  and  Civics,"  essays  and  ad- 
dresses (1910) ;  and  "Suggestions  for  the  Spiritual  Life,"  college 
chapel  talks  (1912),  published  by  Funck  and  Wagnalls  Company, 
New  York;  "The  Mountains  about  Williamstown"  (1913),  G.  P. 
Putnam's  Sons;  "A  Poet's  Cabinet"  (1914) ;  and  " An  Art  Philos- 
opher's Cabinet"  (1915)  contain  extracts  from  his  writings  selected 
by  M.  M.  Miller,  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons. 

Though  Professor  Raymond  has  never  held  any  public  office,  he 
has  all  his  life  been  doing  what  he  could  to  lead  public  opinion, 
usually  being  himself  some  years  ahead  of  it.  For  instance,  as 
early  as  1872  he  pleaded  before  the  labor  committee  of  the  Consti- 
tutional Convention  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  for  an  amend- 
ment abolishing  or  restricting  child  labor;  in  1874,  in  six  articles 
in  the  "Yale  Courant,"  he  showed,  for  the  first  time — and  twenty 
years  before  the  starting  of  the  simplified  spelling  reform — that 
othography  simplified  in  accordance  with  the  laws  and  history  of 
English  could  be  applied  to  every  group  of  words  now  spelled  irreg- 
ularly, and  cause  them  to  be  spelled  regularly;  between  1876  and 
'93  he  argued  in  Lyceum  lectures  for  Civil  Service  Reform ;  in  1896 
he  stumped  New  Jersey  in  behalf  of  the  gold  standard  for  our  cur- 
rency; in  1908  he  was  appointed  Delegate  from  the  District  of  Co- 

350 


GEORGE  LANSING  RAYMOND 

lumbia  to  the  Seventeenth  Universal  Peace  Congress  in  London. 
He  has  always  been  interested  in  efforts  to  improve  the  young.  For 
many  years  he  was  a  director  of  the  National  Society  of  Religious 
Education,  and  on  the  retirement  of  Supreme  Court  Justice  Har- 
lan, he  was  selected  to  take  his  place,  but  refused  to  accept  the 
position. 

In  matters  having  to  do  with  art,  he  was  appointed  by  the  Na- 
tional Society  of  the  Fine  Arts,  and  also  by  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia, as  a  delegate  to  the  third  International  Congress  of  Public  Art, 
at  Leige,  Belgium,  September  15-21,  1905;  and  he  was  vice-pres- 
ident of  the  American  Free  Art  League,  and  chairman  of  its  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  Directors  when,  in  1909,  all  that  the  league  then 
sought  was  obtained  through  the  passage  of  the  Payne-Aldrich 
tariff  law. 

Having  delivered  addresses  that  were  requested  by  different  so- 
cieties, he  became  a  member  of  the  Spelling  Reform  Association; 
Modern  Language;  Classical  (vice-president  of  its  Washington 
branch) ;  the  American  Philosophical ;  Social  Science,  of  which  he 
was  a  vice-president;  American  Association  for  Advancement  of 
Science;  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science;  the  National 
Sculpture  Society;  National  Geographical  Society;  Archeological 
Institute  (vice-president  of  its  Los  Angeles  branch) ;  Southern 
Society  of  Philosophy  and  Psychology;  National  Society  (now  Fed- 
eration) of  the  Fine  Arts  (a  charter  member  and  on  its  first  lecture 
committee) ;  the  Washington  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences;  and 
the  Washington  Society  for  Philosophic  Inquiry.  He  is  a  Fellow 
of  the  North  British  Academy,  and  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Arts 
of  North  Britain;  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars;  of 
the  Mayflower  Descendants  (twice  governor  of  the  District  of 
Columbia  branch) ;  of  the  Atlantic  Union  and  Authors  Club  of  Lon- 
don ;  of  the  Century,  Authors,  and  National  Arts  clubs  of  New  York, 
and  of  the  Cosmos  Club  of  Washington,  D.  C.  He  is  also  a  mem- 
ber of  the  college  fraternities — Kappa  Alpha  and  Phi  Beta  Kappa. 

Professor  Raymond  attends  the  Presbyterian  church,  and,  as  a 
rule,  votes  the  Republican  ticket.  He  married,  in  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania,  July  31,  1872,  Mary  E.  Blake.  They  have  one  living 
child,  Maybelle,  who  married,  in  1911,  Tyler  Dennett,  and  has  two 
children:    George  Raymond  and  Tyler  Eugene. 

3Si 


Editorial 


A  NOTABLE  CENTENNIAL 

Illinois  was  admitted  to  the  Union  as  a  State,  one  hundred  years 
ago  the  coming  December  3rd.  This  centennial  anniversary  will  be 
generally  observed  throughout  its  bounds.  Very  properly,  a  lead- 
ing part  in  arranging  therefor  is  being  taken  by  its  schools  and  col- 
leges. In  view  of  the  present  world  war,  the  historical  retrospect 
is  of  dramatic  interest. 

Although  Ohio  and  Indiana  became  States  before  it,  Illinois  has 
an  older  history  than  they,  and  out  of  it  they  were  carved.  As  early 
as  1634,  Nicolet  discovered  what  is  now  known  as  Lake  Michigan, 
and  which  he  called  "Lac  de  Illinois,"  from  the  name  of  an 
Indian  tribe,  and  meaning  "men."  In  1682  Tonty  refers  to  the 
"Illinois  Country,"  and  of  his  having,  under  directions  by  La  Salle, 
erected  a  fort  near  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Peoria.  The  first 
official  designation  of  the  "Illinois  Country"  was  in  1775,  when  the 
Continental  Congress  passed  an  act  in  which  it  was  so  named,  and 
dividing  it  into  departments.  In  1778,  following  the  conquest  by 
General  George  Rogers  Clark  ("Americana,"  Jan.,  1918),  Virginia 
by  its  House  of  Delegates  erected  the  "County  of  Illinois,"  holding 
it  to  comprise  all  country  west  and  north  of  the  Ohio  river.  In 
1800,  Illinois  became  a  part  of  the  Indiana  Territory;  in  1809  the 
latter  was  divided,  and  the  Territory  of  Illinois  was  created,  and 
then  included  Wisconsin  and  a  part  of  Minnesota. 

As  a  State,  Illinois  has  given  to  the  Universal  Hall  of  Fame  which 
enshrines  the  memories  of  the  world's  greatest  benefactors,  two 
names  which  will  be  cherished  the  world  over  until  the  end  of  time 
— Abraham  Lincoln  and  Ulysses  S.  Grant — above  all  others,  the 
Saviors  of  the  Union.  These  are  names  to  be  recalled  with  especial 
veneration  in  these  days  when  it  would  seem  as  if  democracy  and 
civilization  were  in  imminent  peril.     Never  before  was  there  occa- 

352 


EDITORIAL 

sion  as  now  for  such  devout  gratitude  to  the  Almighty  Kuler  for  the 
results  of  the  War  for  the  Union.  The  successful  issue  of  that 
mighty  struggle  alone  prevented  the  establishment  of  a  foreign 
dynasty  in  Mexico.  The  dismemberment  of  the  Union  would 
scarcely  have  left  on  American  soil  two  Confederacies — a  Northern 
and  a  Southern ;  these  would  have  been  further  divided.  All  would 
have  been  at  the  mercy  of  a  foreign  power;  and  it  may  be  safely 
presumed  that  America  would  have  become  the  scene  of  a  World's 
War,  as  Belgium  and  France  today. 

Such  dire  results  were  rendered  impossible  by  the  restoration  of 
the  American  Union  under  the  leadership  of  two  great  men  from  the 
State  wThose  centennial  is  celebrated  this  year — Lincoln,  the  personi- 
fication of  the  moral  soul  of  America,  and,  in  large  degree,  the  Cre- 
ator of  that  Soul;  and  Grant,  the  personification  of  her  resolute 
will  and  material  power — soul,  will  and  powers  which,  it  is  to  be 
hoped  and  believed,  are  finding  reincarnation  today,  to  the  vindica- 
tion of  the  rights  of  man  and  liberal  government,  the  world  over. 

The  next  number  of  "  Americana "  will  contain  an  interesting 
resume  and  philosophical  study  of  Illinois  history,  by  a  resident  of 
that  State,  accompanied  by  illustrations  of  unusual  significance. 


WAR  IN  LITERATURE 

From  certain  literature  of  the  last  century,  relating  to  the  events 
and  individual  characters  of  the  men  of  a  more  or  less  remote  past, 
it  would  seem  as  though  some  of  those  events  and  characters  were 
now  being  reproduced  in  the  present  war,  albeit  on  a  more  satanic 
and  stupendous  scale. 

Blackmore's  "Whitehaven,"  recounting  the  scenes  in  England 
when  invasion  by  Napoleon  Bonaparte  was  daily  expected,  and  was 
finally  defeated  through  the  masterly  fight  made  by  her  navy  under 
the  famous  Nelson,  depicts  the  attitude  and  conduct  of  the  people 
along  the  English  coast  at  that  time.  Their  dread  and  expectation 
of  a  hostile  visitation  at  any  moment,  would  doubtless  be  a  pretty 
faithful  description  of  what  people  in  those  same  districts  have  been 

353 


EDITORIAL 

fearing  and  undergoing  daily  and  nightly  for  more  than  two  years 
past. 

Again,  Sir  Walter  Scott's  "Anne  of  Gierstein,"  written  in  1817. 
This  we  believe  is  his  only  work  in  which  he  laid  his  scenes  in  Con- 
tinental Europe.  He  had  never  visited  those  lands ;  but  he  was  a 
diligent  student  of  history,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  his  characters  were 
overcolored  as  much  as  were  some  of  his  native  Scotland.  It  is 
a  fine  tribute  to  the  illustrious  author  that  so  capable  a  critic  as 
Lockhart  pronounced  his  descriptions  of  mountain  and  valley  in 
Burgundy  and  Flanders  to  be  strictly  true  to  nature.  In  this  novel, 
Scott  has  given  vivid  portrayal  of  the  military  marauders  of  that 
period  as  far  back  as  1474,  and  some  of  his  portraiture  would  apply 
today  in  faint  degree  to  the  Kaiser,  to  Von  Hindenberg  and  Tirpitz. 

And  lastly,  Victor  Hugo,  in  his  world's  masterpiece  of  fiction — 
"Les  Miserables."  After  his  dramatic  description  of  the  Battle  of 
Waterloo,  he  moralizes  thus: 

"The  moment  had  arrived  for  the  incorruptible  supreme  equity 
to  reflect,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  principles  and  elements  on 
which  the  regular  gravitations  of  the  moral  order,  as  of  the  material 
order,  depend — complained.  Streaming  blood,  overcrowded  grave- 
yards, mothers  in  tears,  are  formidable  pleaders.  When  the  earth 
is  suffering  from  an  excessive  burden,  there  are  mysterious  groans 
from  the  shadow,  which  the  abyss  hears.  Napoleon  had  been  de- 
nounced in  infinitude,  and  his  fall  was  decided.  Waterloo  is  not  a 
battle,  but  a  transformation  of  the  universe"  (or,  as  another  trans- 
lator phrases  it,  "a  change  of  front  of  the  universe"). 

"The  shadow  of  a  mighty  right  hand  is  cast  over  Waterloo;  it  is 
the  day  of  destiny,  and  the  force  which  is  above  man  produced  that 
day.  Hoc  erat  in  fails.  On  that  day,  the  perspective  of  the  human 
race  was  changed,  and  Waterloo  is  the  hinge  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. The  disappearance  of  the  Great  Man  was  necessary  for  the 
advent  of  the  Great  Age,  and  He  who  cannot  be  answered  under- 
took the  task." 

And  then,  Hugo's  wonderful  epitomization  of  his  indictment  and 
verdict — "God  was  tired  of  Napoleon,"  or,  as  another  translator 
has  it,  "Napoleon  embarrassed  God."  The  writer  of  this  had  not 
read  a  page  of  "Les  Miserables"  for  more  than  a  score  of  years, 
when  occurred  the  rape  of  Belgium  and  the  great  crime  of  all  ages, 

354 


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EDITORIAL 

the  sinking  of  the  "Lusitania."  Then  came  back  to  his  memory 
the  phrase  last  quoted — "God  was  tired  of  Napoleon."  It  is  an  all 
but  world-wide  prayer  and  hope  and  belief  that  He  who,  whether  by 
direct  interposition  or  through  human  agencies,  controls  events 
upon  this  earth,  will  soon  tire  of  the  War  Lord  of  today,  compared 
with  whom  Attila,  the  Duke  of  Alva,  and  Cortez  and  Napoleon,  were 
pigmies  in  armies  and  deathdealing  appliances,  and,  themselves, 
knights  sans  reproche. 


LITERARY  NOTES 


To  anyone  except  a  technical  student  pursuing  his  investigations 
for  a  real  purpose,  statistical  arrays  of  figures  convey  but  vague 
ideas.  "System,  the  Magazine  of  Business/ '  in  vivid  contrast, 
takes  the  question,  "Is  Massachusetts  as  large  as  Texas !"  and  an- 
swers it  through  the  medium  of  a  map  showing  how  the  United 
States  would  appear  if  the  size  of  each  State  corresponded  with  its 
population.  Upon  that  basis,  Massachusetts  is  shown  to  be  about 
as  large  as  Texas ;  while  Rhode  Island  is  as  large  as  the  combined 
states  of  Wyoming  and  Idaho.  Of  course  census  figures  do  not 
materially  lie,  but  they  do  not  convey  the  truth  so  impressively  as 
does  such  an  illustration  as  the  above. 

The  present  number  of  "Americana"  contains  a  chapter  from 
advance  sheets  of  "The  History  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  and 
Providence  Plantations,"  by  that  accomplished  historian,  Thomas 
Williams  Bicknell,  LL.D.,  and  to  be  published  by  the  American  His- 
torical Society,  Inc.  Through  philosophic  treatment,  this  work 
will  give  a  new  outlook  to  the  twentieth  century  citizen — the  real 
object  of  all  historic  study.  True  history  is  not  only  the  record  of 
action,  but  its  interpretation.  The  narrative  history  referred  to 
is  made  fascinating  by  thrilling  stories  of  the  heroic  acts  of  men 
and  women  of  high  and  low  degree.  The  common  man  must  come 
into  his  own,  and  the  process  of  the  growth  of  the  common  man  of 
the  twentieth  century  from  the  man  of  the  same  race  and  language 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  is  made  manifest. 

355 


EDITORIAL 

The  Boston  Book  Company  has  just  issued  its  eleventh  annual 
volume,  "Annual  Magazine  Subject-Index,"  edited  by  Frederick 
Winthrop  Faxon,  A.  B.,  and  compiled  with  the  co-operation  of 
librarians  throughout  the  country.  It  gives  a  key  to  all  subjects 
treated  in  many  periodicals  and  Society  Transactions.  While  gen- 
eral in  scope,  it  specializes  in  history,  travel,  mountaineering,  ex- 
ploration, outdoor  life,  fine  arts  and  architecture;  and  is  a  very  full 
index  to  topics  of  vital  interest  at  this  time,  when  the  map  of  the 
world  is  continually  in  the  mind's  eye  on  account  of  the  great  war — 
history,  geography  and  travel.  The  work  will  be  of  great  value 
to  people  engaged  in  literary  labors. 

"The  Grass  in  the  Pavement"  is  the  title  of  a  beautiful  little 
volume  of  verse  by  Miss  M.  E.  Buhler.  In  the  main  it  is  a  compila- 
tion of  her  contributions  to  leading  journals,  and  which  have  had 
appreciative  readers  who  will  be  pleased  to  have  them  now  in  book 
form.  There  is  not  an  indifferent  piece  in  the  collection.  Each  is 
a  gem  of  thought,  frequently  having  for  its  basis  something  the  mul- 
titude pass  by  as  "an  unconsidered  trifle,"  but  in  wmich  the  author, 
in  her  deep  thought,  sees  a  profound  philosophical  lesson.  Of  such 
is  "The  Grass  in  the  Pavement,"  which  gives  title  to  the  volume, 
with  its  pitiful  appeal,  and  the  cheering  and  ennobling  reply,  carry- 
ing a  lesson  which  goes  to  the  foundations  of  human  destiny.  Of 
like  import  is  "Dust,"  a  rebuke  to  vanity.  The  initial  poem,  "The 
Dreamer,"  might  be  taken  for  a  portraiture  of  the  author — one 
"in  touch  with  life's  mysteries,  and  with  a  heart  that  understands." 
To  the  one  discouraged  and  tired  under  the  strain  of  life 's  concerns, 
her  verses  bring  relief  and  courage.  (James  T.  White  &  Co.,  New 
York;  $1.25). 

Of  making  books  of  the  Great  Wrar  there  seems  to  be  no  prospect 
of  early  end,  yet  there  is  growing  into  thought,  and  frequent  expres- 
sion, a  conviction  that  the  field  is  being  overworked,  that  is  to  say, 
along  the  line  of  personal  experiences.  From  such,  we  turn  with  a 
sense  of  relief  to  a  really  informative  volume,  "Dramatic  Mo- 
ments in  American  Diplomacy,"  by  Ralph  Page  (Doubleday,  Page 
&  Co.,  284  pp.;  $1.25).  It  is  not  a  chronological  history  of  Ameri- 
can diplomacy  as  such,  but  a  series  of  sketches  of  important  diplo- 

356 


EDITORIAL 

matic  events,  abounding  in  weighty  incidents  which  have  no  telling 
in  official  reports,  and  covering  the  relations  of  our  government 
with  Great  Britain,  France,  Kussia,  Germany,  etc.,  from  revolu- 
tionary days  down  to  those  of  the  Panama  Canal  acquisition.  Of 
almost  direct  relation  to  the  present,  are  the  stories  of  the  efforts 
of  Germany  to  get  a  foothold  in  the  Carribean,  and  of  Admiral 
Dewey's  defiance  to  the  German  fleet  at  Manila.  Of  a  real  personal 
interest  to  the  present  reviewer,  are  the  pages  relating  to  the  mas- 
terly conduct  of  two  of  our  Ministers — Elihu  Washburne,  at  Paris, 
during  the  Franco-Prussian  War;  and  General  Stewart  L.  Wood- 
ford at  Madrid,  just  prior  to  our  War  with  Spain — from  both  of 
whom  he  heard  interesting  details  in  personal  conversation.  All 
pages  of  the  volume  are  of  deep  interest,  and,  in  view  of  present- 
day  conditions,  many  have  a  deeper  meaning  than  they  would  have 
had  a  couple  of  years  ago: 

The  Halifax  (Nova  Scotia)  "Acadian  Recorder' \  contains  a  re- 
view of  nearly  a  column  length,  of  the  January  number  of  "Ameri- 
cana, ' '  and  from  which  the  following  are  excerpts : 

"The  first  issue  of  '  Americana'  for  the  present  year  is  a  remark- 
able production,  both  from  a  literary  and  a  typographical  stand- 
point. The  cover  design  and  numerous  cuts  are  most  admirable, 
and  the  articles  are  all  of  the  greatest  interest.  ' Heraldry  in  Amer- 
ica,' by  Henry  Yellowley,  supplies  a  great  amount  of  information 
on  a  subject  that  the  man  on  the  street  had  never  dreamt  of  linking 
up  with  this  continent  and  its  affairs.  The  article  of  greatest 
general  interest  is  undoubtedly  that  by  Wilma  Orem,  dealing  with 
the  decline  of  English  influence  in  Turkey. 

"  'Americana'  also  contains  another  instalment  of  'The  History 
of  Halifax,'  by  Dr.  Arthur  Wentworth  Eaton,  the  gifted  Nova  Sco- 
tian  writer  of  prose  and  verse,  an  interesting  sketch  of  General 
Sir  Fenwick  Williams  and  other  provincial  notables  being  included. 
No  such  collection  of  biographies  has  heretofore  been  published. 
The  stories  told  are  not  only  interesting,  but  entertaining,  and  in 
parts  racy.  It  is  not  necessary  to  say  that  the  diction,  the  same  as 
in  all  Dr.  Eaton's  writings,  is  perfect  English.  The  magazine  is 
one  of  the  most  sumptuous  publications  produced,  the  printing, 
paper  and  illustrations  being  all  of  the  highest  class.  Dr.  Eaton 
has  collected  a  vast  amount  of  information  from  public  records  and 
private  sources  about  Halifax  and  its  people,  during  the  first  hun- 

357 


^  EDITORIAL 

dred  years  of  its  existence,  which  he  has  been  publishing  in  previous 
volumes  of  'Americana.'  Much  of  this  information  has  never  be- 
fore been  made  public,  and  is  of  the  highest  value  from  all  historical 
standpoints.  The  once  flourishing  'Whaling  Industry'  is  treated  by 
Z.  W.  Pease  in  a  most  readable  manner.' ' 


358 


r^^^^^^v^^n^yr^-^--^^.:,,Amr'-^m  ••■■••  <•••  • 7T-  t~— m 


^r^^^^^Tttlif4m4ii^imm  ^^  m*«\ui*^*foMH*^t^£ia 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
As  he  appeared  at  time  of  Lincoln-Douglas  Debate, 


1858 


0 

AMERICANA 

OCTOBER,    1918 

«£ 

Centennial  of  Illinois 


Andrew  Stuart  Cuthbertson,  Bunker  Hill,  Illinois. 


E  LLINOIS  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a  State,  one 
hundred  years  ago.  This  centennial  anniversary  is  being 
observed  very  generally  throughout  the  bounds  of  that 
commonwealth  by  colleges  and  schools,  patriotic,  his- 


torical and  other  societies,  culminating  in  a  final  observance  Decem- 
ber 3rd,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Illinois  Centennial  Commission, 
established  by  law,  and  the  State  Historical  Society. 

Now  that  we  are  involved  in  a  great  war,  thoughtful  minds  turn 
to  the  past,  in  order  that  we  may  learn  lessons  which  will  aid  us  in 
solving  the  problems  of  the  present,  and  better  bear  the  burdens  in- 
cident to  the  future.  An  historical  retrospect  will  be  of  great  inter- 
est, and,  as  a  preface  thereto,  no  words  can  be  more  appropriate, 
than  those  of  the  patriotic  Governor  of  Illinois  (Lowden)  who  in  his 
Centennial  Proclamation  said:  "We  have  one  hundred  years  of  no- 
ble history  as  a  background;  whether  we  shall  have  another  hun- 
dred years  equally  as  inspiring,  depends  on  the  issue  of  the  world- 
wide war.  It  will  help  Illinois  to  play  a  great  part  in  that  war  if 
the  people  will  refresh  their  courage,  and  strengthen  their  will  by  a 
study  df  the  first  hundred  years. ' ' 

"Whether  it  be  in  its  recorded  history  dating  back  to  the  coming  of 
the  Jesuits  in  1673,  or  in  the  legends  and  romance  of  an  earlier  date, 
the  development  of  the  territory  comprising  what  is  now  Illinois  is 
full  of  interest.  Here  met  the  Indian  and  mound  builder ;  the  fur 
trader  and  outlaw,  priest  and  adventurer,  explorer  and  settler,  sol- 
dier and  Indian  chief,  orator,  statesman,  and  politician — bold  hearts 
all,  and  all  of  whom  bore  some  part  in  laying  the  foundations  of  a 

359 


' 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

great  State,  and  determining  the  destinies  of  a  mighty  Nation.  And 
all  these  builded  better  than  they  knew. 

One  hundred  years  ago  the  twenty-first  star  was  added  to  our 
National  Flag.  Then,  the  only  means  of  transportation  was  by 
the  "ancient  trails,''  where  wild  beasts  stalked  over  the 
boundless  prairies,  and  wild  men  made  pathless  journeys,  or 
glided  upon  the  sparkling  waters.  ''Teeming  with  romance, 
every  wave  a  messenger  of  some  forgotten  sacrifice  in  the 
brave  days  of  old,  still  rolls  in  peerless  majesty  that  ancient  high- 
way of  the  prairie,  the  historic  Illinois."  Today,  Illinois  is  a  great 
network  of  splendid  highways,  and  traversed  by  one  of  the  greatest 
systems  of  railroads  in  America.  A  short  century  has  come  and 
gone ;  the  virgin  prairie  has  yielded  to  the  plow  of  the  settler,  and 
become  the  corn  belt  of  the  nation,  a  granary  of  the  world.  With- 
in the  State's  boundaries  is  one  of  the  greatest  of  all  industrial  cit- 
ies. The  center  of  population  has  moved  from  the  sea-coast  States 
to  the  middle  of  the  * '  Prairie  State. ' '  Truly  can  it  be  said  that  Illi- 
nois, in  one  hundred  years,  has  become  "the  heart  of  the  nation." 

During  all  this  material  development,  while  this  advancement  was 
taking  place,  during  all  this  industrial  growth  and  physical  transfor- 
mation, never  for  a  single  moment  have  her  brave  men  and  devoted 
women  forgotten  that  they  are  of  a  nation,  as  expressed  by  the 
greatest  of  her  sons,  "conceived  in  liberty,  and  dedicated  to  the 
proposition  that  all  men  are  created  free  and  equal,  and  have  cer- 
tain inalienable  rights,  among  which  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness."  It  was  from  Illinois  that  George  Wheeler  en- 
listed from  Elgin,  as  the  first  volunteer  soldier  of  the  War  for  the 
Union.  The  entire  number  of  men  furnished  from  that  State  in  that 
struggle  was  256,297. *  Besides,  Illinois  gave  those  two  incom- 
parable men,  whose  names  are  written  in  letters  of  gold  upon  our 
nation's  roll  of  honor,  whose  memory  will  be  ever  cherished  as 
among  the  world's  greatest  benefactors,  and  whose  deeds  demon- 


1.  The  contribution  of  Illinois  to  the  War  for  the  Union  (1861-1865).  was  256,297  men, 
about  fifteen  per  cent,  of  the  entire  population.  Her  contribution  to  the  present  great 
World's  War  to  the  present  time  (Aug.,  1918).  is  280,029  men.  or  25.732  more  men  than 
was  furnished  during  the  entire  period  of  the  Civil  War.  To  equal  the  percentage  of 
1861-65,  she  would  need  to  contribute  more  than  900.000  men. 

360 


t***^*****^  i    x-  ritnnfr'itf^1-" 


O'CONNOR'S  STATUE  OF  LINCOLN 
Springfield,  Illinois 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

strated  above  all  others  the  fact  that  this  American  Union  of  States 
is  forever  indestructible— Abraham  Lincoln  and  Ulysses  S.  Grant. 

Illinois  takes  its  name  from  its  principal  river,  which,  in  turn, 
was  named  from  the  Indian  confederacy  of  five  tribes,  known  as  the 
Illini,  and,  according  to  Albert  Gallatin,  the  noted  authority  on 
the  Indian  language,  is  derived  from  the  Delaware  word  ''Leno 
Leni,"  or  "Illim,"  meaning  real,  or  superior,  men,  the  termination 
of  the  word  being  of  French  origin.  Marquette  and  Joliet  were  the 
first  wThite  men  to  place  foot  upon  the  soil  of  Illinois,  or  to  guide 
a  canoe  over  the  surface  of  its  placid  streams.  The  Jesuit  Father 
Marquette,  polished,  genteel  and  refined,  yet  of  knightly  courage, 
and  capable  of  enduring  the  severest  hardships,  labored  faithfully 
and  successfully  among  the  Indians.  His  grave  is  the  one  green 
spot  upon  the  sands  washed  by  the  Straits  of  Mackinaw.  Afterward 
came  the  daring  Frenchman  La  Salle,  who  navigated  the  upper  Mis- 
sissippi, built  a  fort  at  St.  Louis  and  another  at  Peoria,  explored  the 
lower  Mississippi,  and  died  in  the  swamps  of  Louisiana,  one  of  the 
great  men  of  his  day.  His  explorations  and  those  of  his  friend 
Tonty  are  full  of  historic  interest,  and  their  memory  will  ever  live 
in  the  history  of  Illinois. 

The  Territory  was  first  specifically  recognized  in  1775,  when  it 
was  designated  the  "Illinois  Country,"  by  the  Continental  Con- 
gress. The  first  governor  of  the  Northwest  Territory  of  which  Illi- 
nois was'  a  part,  was  General  Arthur  St.  Clair,  who  served  until 
1800,  when  the  Territory  wras  divided,  and  became  known  as  the 
Territo^  of  Illinois  and  Indiana.  When  Illinois  appeared  upon  the 
map  in  its  present  form  and  became  one  of  "America's  imperial 
commonwealths, ' '  Shadrach  Bond  was  made  its  first  governor.  He 
was  inaugurated  on  October  6,  1818,  at  Old  Kaskaskia,  the  first 
capital.  It  was  here  that  the  first  legislature  convened,  in  a  large 
rough  old  building  of  ancient  limestone,  having  a  steep  roof,  gables 
of  unpainted  boards,  and  dormer  windows.  It  was  situated  in  the 
center  of  the  village  square.  Some  able  historians  assert  that  the 
edifice  was  the  British  military  headquarters,  captured  by  George 
Rogers  Clark  in  1787.  In  1820  Vandalia  became  the  capital,  and 
there  was  built  the  first  State  House,  during  the  administration  of 

361 


. 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

Governor  Coles  (1822-26).     On  July  4,  1839,  while  Joseph  Duncan 
was  governor,  Springfield  became  the  third  and  present  capital. 

The  explorations  by  the  French  in  the  seventeenth  century  and 
the  history  of  the  French  settlements  in  Illinois,  while  full  of  inter- 
est, are  without  particular  historical  significance.  If  the  Mississippi 
Valley  was  to  be  colonized  in  the  century  following  the  French  discov- 
ery, it  must  be  done  by  the  French  nation.  England  had  enough  room 
for  colonization  along  the  Atlantic  coast;  the  Dutch  were  comfort- 
ably settled  along  the  Hudson;  Spain  was  not  attracted  by  the 
prairies,  but  lured  to  the  mountains  through  the  finding  of  precious 
metals,  and  in  seeking  for  gold  pressed  still  further  west.  So  the 
French  must  colonize  Illinois,  if  it  were  to  be  done  in  the  first  one 
hundred  years  after  they  discovered  it.  But  we  find  the  French  oc- 
cupancy of  the  territory  without  particular  influence  upon  the  his- 
tory of.  the  State,  and  the  principal  reason  for  this  is  the  disposition 
and  temperament  of  the  people,  so  vividly  portrayed  by  Lottie  E. 
Jones,  and  typified  in  the  settlers  of  old  Kaskaskia,  in  the  character 
of  "Jules"— 

"Hunter,  voyager,  or  soldier  whose  enlistment  had  expired,  light- 
hearted  and  gay.  He  was  simple  and  temperate.  He  was  placid  as 
he  smoked  in  his  red  cap  by  some  cottage  door;  then  he  would  be 
excited — raving,  weeping,  threatening  in  the  crowd.  The  merriest 
of  mortals,  he  was  one  of  the  hardiest  and  the  handiest.  He  could 
swim  like  an  otter,  run  like  a  deer,  paddle  all  day  without  resting; 
and,  while  he  paddled,  he  sang  or  told  stories,  and  laughter  was  his 
dear  companion.  He  could  imitate  an  Indian  yell,  mimic  the  hissing 
rattlesnake,  could  skin  a  deer,  and  scrape  a  fiddle. 

"Here  in  Kaskaskia,  nature  had  been  bountiful,  he  could  raise 
corn  for  sagamiti  and  hominy.  Here  the  maple  yielded  him  sugar. 
Here  was  cotton  for  garments  and  wheat  for  flour.  Around  him  was 
fertile  grassy  prairie  for  cattle  to  grow  fat  upon;  wild  grapes,  per- 
simmons and  cherries  in  abundance  for  his  use ;  and  pecans,  acorns, 
hickory  nuts,  hazel  and  walnuts,  for  his  swine.  Here  were  the  buf- 
falo, elk  and  deer  for  hides  and  food.  The  rivers  were  full  of  fish, 
while  the  forests  abounded  in  fur  bearing  animals  whose  skins  he 
might  acquire  and  sell. 

"Jules  decided  to  settle  and  marry  a  French  woman  if  possible, 
and  if  not,  an  Indian  maid.  At  Kaskaskia  he  could  find  these,  with 
music  and  dancing  and  a  glass  of  domestic  wine  to  complete  his  en- 

362 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

joyinent.  He  could  live  in  elegant  ease  on  what  he  could  farm  and 
shoot.  He  could  cut  his  own  lumber,  make  his  own  mortar,  get  a  lot 
near  others  of  his  kind  and  procure  a  deed  for  his  cornfield  with  a 
right  of  common  for  wood  and  pasture. 

"Here  was  no  taxes.  Here  he  had  a  mild  paternal  government. 
Here  he  was  lazy  when  the  mood  suited,  and  happy  always;  with 
Priest  Father  to  give  him  consolation  on  the  doorstep  of  death,  and 
bury  him  with  the  rites  of  the  church.  The  strenuous  life  of  the 
twentieth  century  and  all  the  burdens  and  responsibilities  incident 
thereto  were  unknown  to  the  settlers  of  Old  Kaskaskia  and  Ca- 
hokia." 

Such  was  the  life  of  the  more  lowly,  the  ordinary  people.  Fash- 
ion and  wealth  were  not  altogether  lacking.  The  best  blood  of 
France  tlowed  there,  and  the  well-born  Kaskaskians  surrounded 
themselves  with  an  elegance  brought  from  Canada  or  over  the 
seas.  They  had  good  homes,  and  life  was  made  easy  with  the 
abundant  harvests  and  many  slaves.  There  were  also  people  of 
taste  and  refinement,  and  "the  social  functions  at  the  homes  of  a 
Bauvais,  or  a  Charleville,  or  a  Viviat,  a  La  Chauces,  or  a  Sancier, 
whether  in  Kaskaskia  or  Cahokia,  would  have  done  credit  to  the 
salons  of  Paris/ '  Such  were  the  social  and  industrial  conditions  of 
the  times  in  the  Illinois  country  in  1759 — a  social  condition  which 
must  of  necessity  disappear  in  the  development  of  a  great  State. 
Wliat  then  determined  its  destiny  %  To  five  incidents  of  supreme  im- 
portance let  us  now  direct  our  attention,  these  events  so  far  sur- 
mounting all  others  that  they  may  well  be  termed  the  "high  points' ' 
in  Illinois  history. 

An  event  of  importance  took  place  in  1759,  when  the  Indians  from 
the  Illinois  country  agreed  to  a  compact  already  in  existence,  with- 
drawing their  support  from  the  French  and  transferring  it  to  the 
English.  This  is  referred  to  by  some  historians  as  "The  Silver 
Covenant  Chain/ '  so  called  by  the  Indians  themselves,  and  entered 
into  at  a  time  when  France  needed  all  the  assistance  obtainable.  The 
withdrawal  of  the  Indian  support  was  a  great  loss  to  the  French, 
and  its  transference  to  the  English  was  a  strong  factor  in  determin- 
ing the  supremacy  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  in  America. 

In  1778  that  daring  young  Virginian,  George  Rogers  Clark,  with  a 
mere  squad  of  soldiers,  came  floating  down  the  Ohio,  effected  a  land- 

363 


CENTENNIAL  OF   ILLINOIS 

ing  on  Illinois  soil  just  above  old  Fo,rt  .Massac,  marched  over  the 
prairies  to  Kaskaskia,  with  no  provisions  except  parched  corn,  and, 
on  the  second  anniversary  of  the  signing  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, captured  the  fort  and  occupied  the  country.  Early 
in  1779,  Clark  made  one  of  the  most  wonderful  winter  campaigns 
on  record,  captured  Vincennes  on  the  Wabash,  and  attacked  and 
captured  Fort  Sacville,  with  its  garrison.  Thus  all  the  North- 
west Territory  south  of  Detroit  passed  under  the  control  of  Virgin- 
ia, and  was  governed  by  that  State  as  "the  County  of  Illinois,"  un- 
til it  was  ceded  to  the  United  States,  making  it  possible  for  our  rep- 
resentatives in  Paris  in  1783  to  establish  the  western  boundaries  of 
the  United  States  at  the  Mississippi  river,  rather  than  the  Alleg- 
heny Mountains. 

The  young  man  who  accomplished  this  deed  and  rendered  so  great 
a  service  to  our  State  and  the  Nation  as  well,  was  then  but  twenty- 
six  years  of  age.  He  was  six  feet  tall,  with  red  hair,  dark  eyes,  of 
firm  build,  and  picturesque  and  stately  presence.  He  came  of  a  good 
family,  was  fairly  well  educated,  and  was  a  friend  of  Jefferson, 
Hamilton  and  Patrick  Henry.  He  was,  however,  "a  restless 
rover  of  the  woods,"  with  the  ccfurage  of  the  men  of  the  frontier 
who  with  Boone  explored  Kentucky— a  land,  said  Parrish,  of  "he- 
roes and  desperadoes,  saints  and  sinners."  He  had  been  a  student  in 
the  school  conducted  by  that  sturdy  Scotchman,  Donald  Robertson, 
among  whose  graduates  was  James  Madison.  He  was  a  land  sur- 
veyor by  profession,  who  had  been  commissioned  by  the  Council  of 
the  State  of  Virginia  (of  which  body  John  Marshall  was  a  member 
and  who  participated  in  his  appointment),  to  survey  all  the  terri- 
tory tributary  to  the  Ohio  river.  It  was  while  returning  along  the 
"wilderness  road"  from  this  surveying  expedition  that  Clark 
learned  of  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne.  Skilled  in  woodcraft,  and 
of  bold  originality,  he  at  once  planned  a  stroke  which  proved  as  mo- 
mentous in  the  history  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  as  did  the  over- 
throw of  Burgoyne  in  the  annals  of  the  Hudson.  While  performing 
his  duties  as  surveyor  along  the  Ohio,  he  secretly  sent  spies  through- 
out the  Illinois  country,  and  from  their  reports  he  conceived  that  by 
a  bold  and  sudden  movement  the  entire  region  could  be  secured,  and 
thus  averting  a  general  attack  by  the  Indian  tribes  on  the  North- 

364 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

western  frontier,  already  instigated  and  planned  by  Colonel  Henry 
Hamilton,  the  British  commander  at  Detroit.  Hurrying  to  Virginia, 
Clark  laid  his  plans  before  Governor  Patrick  Henry,  who  at  once 
approved  them,  as  did  Jefferson,  Madison  and  Wythe,  and  it  was  by 
their  authority  and  direction  alone  that  the  scheme  was  carried  to 
completion.  To  have  consulted  the  legislature,  with  the  publicity 
incident  thereto,  would  have  meant  defeat  to  the  enterprise ;  secrecy 
and  dispatch  were  indispensable;  so  this  adventurous  young  man, 
with  only  the  approval  of  the  governor  and  a  few  close  advisers,  set 
about  the  enlistment  and  equipping  of  a  force  of  350  men  for  the 
undertaking.  Most  of  the  materials  necessary  were  procured  in 
Pittsburg,  and  in  the  spring  of  1778  he  started  down  the  Ohio  with 
a  flotilla  of  boats,  a  few  pieces  of  light  artillery,  and  180  picked  rifle- 
men whom  he  enlisted  with  the  greatest  of  difficulty,  supposedly  to 
defend  the  Kentucky  settlements.  Landing,  he  weeded  out  and  left 
behind  all  whom  he  deemed  either  undesirable  or  unable  to  endure 
the  fatiguing  journey,  and  began  his  northward  journey  over  the 
prairies  of  Illinois,  with  only  153  men,  guided  by  some  hunters  whom 
he  met  returning  from  the  French  settlements,  against  which  he  had 
set  out,  120  miles  distant  as  a  crow  flies.  When  within  the  present 
limits  of  Williamson  county,  the  guides  became  bewildered  and  lost 
their  way  and  general  confusion  resulted,  but  threats  of  death 
brought  them  to  their  senses,  and  a  distant  point  of  woodland  was 
recognized,  from  which  the  expedition  marched  direct  to  Kaskaskia, 
a  village  of  about  250  houses.  Arriving  near  the  town,  they  con- 
cealed themselves  along  the  banks  of  the  river,  while  reconnoitering 
parties  were  sent  out.  One  of  these  parties  took  possession  of  a 
house  three-quarters  of  a  mile  above  the  town,  on  the  west  bank  of 
the  stream.  From  the  family  living  there,  it  was  learned  that  a 
great  many  men  were  in  the  village,  but  few  of  them  Indians ;  that 
the  militia  had  been  recently  under  arms,  but  all  fear  of  danger  hav- 
ing passed,  had  been  dismissed;  and  that  on  that  very  night  the 
sentinels  had  left  their  post,  and  were  attending  a  ball  given  by  the 
officers  of  the  garrison  within  the  fort. 

Clark  divided  his  force  into  three  parties,  two  of  which  crossed 
the  river  in  boats,  secured  secretly  for  the  purpose,  and  were  di- 
rected to  proceed  to  the  town  from  different  directions ;  while  he,  in 

365 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

command  of  the  third,  was  to  enter  the  fort  through  the  postern  gate, 
to  which  place  he  was  to  be  directed  by  one  of  the  captives.  This 
plan  was  carried  out,  and  Clark  entered  the  fort  unobserved,  but  as 
soon  as  he  was  discovered  the  festivities  ceased.  He  calmly  directed 
all  to  proceed  with  their  merrymaking,  but  to  remember  that  they 
were  now  dancing  not  beneath  the  banner  of  Great  Britain,  but  that 
of  Virginia.  At  the  same  time,  the  two  other  detachments  entered 
the  village  at  both  extremes,  and  ran  through  the  streets  with  hid- 
eous cries, "  The  Long  Knives !— The  Long  Knives !"— a  name  which 
had  been  given  to  the  Virginians  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  by  the  British  officers  in  command  of  the  post  at  De- 
troit, endeavoring  to  create  in  the  minds  of  the  unsuspecting  French 
fearful  apprehensions  respecting  their  ferocity  and  inhumanity.  It 
was  said  that  the  Americans  not  only  plundered  property,  but  mur- 
dered indiscriminately  women  and  children,  the  object  being  to  stim- 
ulate, through  wholesome  fear,  a  determined  resistance  on  the  part 
of  the  people  in  case  of  attack,  and  to  induce  them  to  supply  the  In- 
dians with  guns,  ammunition  and  scalping  knives,  for  use  in  their 
depredations  against  the  Americans.  Clark  determined  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  this  fear,  surprise  the  village,  and  cause  all  to  submit 
without  resistance,  feeling  that  afterward  they  would  become 
friends  either  from  gratitude  or  from  learning  the  deceptions  which 
had  been  practiced  upon  them.  The  plan  of  attack  was  entirely  suc- 
cessful, and  within  two  hours  after  his  arrival  the  townsmen  and 
their  families  fled  panic-stricken  to  their  homes,  where  the  back- 
woodsmen ordered  them  to  remain.  Thus  victory  was  complete 
without  the  shedding  of  a  drop  of  blood,  although  the  forces  in  the 
garrison  were  twice  the  number  of  men  under  Clark. 

On  the  morning  of  the  5th  of  July,  Clark  withdrew  his  forces  from 
the  town  to  a  position  around  it,  and  directed  that  the  inhabitants 
should  have  no  intercourse  with  his  troops.  The  people  were,  how- 
ever, permitted  upon  the  streets,  and  Clark,  perceiving  that  his  or- 
ders were  being  disregarded,  and  that  the  people  were  assembling 
in  groups  and  engaging  in  earnest  conversation  with  some  of  his 
men,  ordered  a  number  of  the  principal  officers  of  the  militia  to  be 
put  in  irons,  assigning  no  cause  therefor.  This  sudden  exhibition 
of  arbitrarv  power  did  not  spring  from  a  despotic  disposition  in  the 

366 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

man,  for  none  had  a  higher  regard  for  personal  liberty  and  the  rights 
of  others  than  had  Clark,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  no  one  had  a 
clearer  insight  of  human  nature.  When  the  last  hope  seemed  van- 
ished, an  audience  was  granted  the  priest  and  a  few  elderly  men  of 
the  village.  These  were  informed  that  France  was  in  open  alliance 
with  the  colonies,  a  fact  which  was  used  to  influence  the  French  in- 
habitants to  espouse  the  cause  of  America.  The  spirit  of  the  people 
of  Kaskaskia,  upon  learning  the  truth,  rose  by  leaps  and  bounds,  and 
from  the  many  acts  and  kindness  shown  them  by  their  captors,  they 
were  convinced  that,  instead  of  becoming  slaves  to  the  "Long 
Knives,"  whom  they  had  been  ever  taught  to  fear,  they  would  now, 
taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  American  Eepublic,  be  permitted 
to  depart  in  peace,  and  meet  as  of  old  in  their  little  church,  and  al- 
lowed to  "worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  con- 
science." All  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  but  the  commandant,  M. 
Eocheblave,  who  deeply  in  sympathy  with  the  British,  had  been  bois- 
terous and  insulting.  He  was  made  prisoner,  and  for  his  pains  sent 
to  Virginia,  his  slaves  sold,  and  the  money  divided  among  Clark's 
men.  A  small  party  under  the  command  of  Captain  Bowman,  accom- 
panied by  several  leading  Kaskaskians,  proceeded  on  horseback  to 
Cahokia,  sixty  miles  up  the  river.  Upon  their  first  appearance,  con- 
sternation reigned  in  the  timid  little  village,  but,  as  soon  as  it  was 
learned  that  there  had  been  a  change  in  the  government,  their  fear 
gave  place  to  huzzahs  for  freedom  and  America.  The  fort  submitted 
without  opposition,  and  the  oath  of  allegiance  was  administered  to 
all. 

Father  Pierre  Gibault,  the  priest  at  Kaskaskia,  had  become  in- 
tensely devoted  to  the  cause  of  the  colonies,  and  was  sent  to  Vin- 
cennes  on  the  Wabash  to  learn  of  conditions  there.  Keturning  late 
in  the  summer,  he  reported  that  through  his  influence  the  small  gar- 
rison of  British  soldiers  had  withdrawn  before  the  threatened  up- 
rising of  the  French  inhabitants  could  be  effected,  or  the  arrival  of 
"The  Long  Knives"  under  Clark.  One  Captain  Helm  was  placed 
in  command  of  the  post,  with  a  single  companion  by  the  name  of 
Henry. 

While  this  was  going  on,  General  Hamilton,  the  British  comman- 
der at  Detroit,  was  not  idle.    He  gathered  together  a  war  party  con- 

3fy 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

sisting  of  177  Creoles  and  300  Indians  in  order  to  recapture  and 
regarrison  Vincennes.  Taking  command  in  person  on  October  7th, 
he  set  out,  but  owing  to  storms  he  did  not  reach  the  fort  for  seventy 
days.  Captain  Helm  attempted  resistance,  but,  being  deserted  by 
the  French  militia,  surrendered.  Within  a  month  the  news  came  to 
Clark  at  distant  Kaskaskia,  and  the  Illinois  country  was  plunged 
into  wild  alarm  caused  by  rumors  of  an  advance  of  the  British  and 
Indians.  Confidence  was  only  restored  through  the  personality  of 
Clark,  who  waited  for  more  definite  information.  This  came  on  Jan- 
uary 29th,  through  a  Spanish  merchant  by  the  name  of  Vigo,  who  in- 
formed Clark  that  Hamilton,  with  all  his  force  except  about  eighty 
men,  had  returned  to  Detroit,  where  a  spring  campaign  was  being 
planned. 

If  Clark  was  anything,  he  was  a  man  of  action,  and,  as  such*,  he 
decided  to  strike  immediately.  He  constructed  a  large  bateau,  which 
he  christened  "The  Willing,"  armed  her  with  four  swivel  guns, 
manned  her  with  forty  volunteers,  and  sent  her  down  the  Mississippi, 
February  4, 1779,  with  orders  to  patrol  the  Ohio  and  ascend  the  Wa- 
bash as  far  as  possible,  and  to  allowr  no  person  to  ascend  to  the  fort 
or  descend  the  river.  He  himself,  on  a  following  day,  February  7, 
1779,  marched  out  at  the  head  of  170  bold  men,  beneath  the  flags  of 
both  America  and  France,  for  a  230  mile  journey  in  the  dead  of  win- 
ter, through  a  wilderness  of  alternating  lakes,  rivers,  woodland,  and 
prairie.  The  Jesuit  priest,  Gibault,  and  all  the  inhabitants,  escorted 
the  little  armv  out  of  the  village.  Freshets  had  swollen  the  streams 
and  inundated  the  valleys.  Incessant  rains  and  consequent  mud  and 
mire  impeded  their  advance,  progress  was  slow,  and  suffering 
intense.  Lack  of  food  and  shelter,  toil  and  exposure,  disheartened 
the  men.  At  the  end  of  eleven  days  the  little  army  arrived  at  the 
flooded  lands  on  the  Wabash,  nine  miles  below  Vincennes.  The 
sunrise  gun  from  the  fort  could  be  heard,  but  between  the  soldiers 
and  that  gun  was  an  expanse  of  icy  water  neck  deep.  The  situation 
was  desperate,  retreat  was  impossible.  Clark  asserted  that  upon 
crossing  that  sheet  of  water  all  hardships  would  be  at  an  end.  Cap- 
tain Bowman  with  twenty-five  picked  men  was  placed  in  the  rear, 
with  orders  to  shoot  any  who  refused  to  march,  and  Clark  advanced 
into  the  water.     A  cry  of  approval  went  up  from  the  men,  the  march 

368 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

proceeded,  and  the  opposite  shore  was  first  reached  by  the  tallest 
and  strongest.  Fires  were  built,  by  which  some  of  the  most  feeble 
and  those  benumbed  from  cold,  were  revived  during-  the  night.  At 
dawn  Clark  divided  his  party  into  two  bands,  following  the  same  tac- 
tics used  at  Kaskaskia.  one  under  Captain  Bowman,  the  other  he 
commanded  himself,  and  at  about  7  o'clock  in  the  morning  began 
the  attack  upon  the  unsuspecting  fort.  The  town  people  were 
friendly,  greeting  the  advance  of  the  troops  with  cheers,  and  hand- 
ing to  them  muchneeded  ammunition.  The  commander  of  the  fort, 
taken  by  complete  surprise,  thought  the  first  shots  were  by  drunken 
Indians.  There  was  no  hesitation  among  Clark's  men  who  sur- 
rounded the  fort.  Their  attack  was  so  swift  and  their  fire  so  deadly 
that  not  a  gunner  dared  remain  at  his  post.  Hamilton  sent  out  a 
"white  flag,  and  negotiations  followed.  The  fort  wae  surrendered, 
and  the  Northwest  Territory,  south  of  Detroit,  passed  under  the 
control  of  Virginia. 

Clark  had  with  him  a  most  remarkable  body  of  men,  without  mili- 
tary dress  or  discipline;  homespun  trousers  fringed  with  leather 
thongs;  buckskin  hunting  shirts;  moccasins  on  their  feet;  home- 
made hat  or  cap  on  the  head ;  at  every  hip  hung  a  powder  horn,  and 
each  man  carried  a  flintlock  rifle  which,  when  pointed  by  a  Virginian 
backwoodsman,  meant  death.  There  was  implicit  confidence  in  the 
leader  and  commander  who  had  conceived  the  importance  of  wrest- 
ing from  British  control  the  Northwest  Territory,  bordering  upon 
the  Ohio,  and  who  had  the  authority  of  Virginia  to  undertake  the 
task.  The  hardships  of  the  campaign  would  have  discouraged  the 
most  courageous,  but  no  hardship  is  too  great  for  the  man  with 
vision.  In  the  midst  of  winter,  in  a  wilderness,  facing  an  unknown 
and  outnumbering  enemy,  this  gallant  leader  had  conducted  a  forced 
march  of  230  miles,  part  of  the  way  through  ice  water  to  the  should- 
ers, with  a  small  party  of  ragged,  famished,  undisciplined  men,  and 
without  artillery,  captured  strongly  stockaded  forts,  mounted  with 
swivel  guns  and  manned  by  trained  veterans. 

In  this  Centennial  Year,  and  at  all  times,  Illinois  should  honor  the 
memory  of  the  man  who  conceived  and  put  into  execution  this  heroic 
and  momentous  deed.  The  military  expedition  conducted  by  Clark 
was  crowned  by  the  diplomacy  of  Jay  and  our  commissioners  in 

369 


. 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

Paris  in  1783 ;  through  the  boldness  of  the  one  and  the  sagacity  of 
the  other,  the  American  Nation  was  enabled  to  fix  the  western  boun- 
daries of  the  United  States  at  the  Mississippi  river,  rather  than  at 
the  Allegheny  Mountains. 

All  the  glory  of  this  daring  enterprise  and  its  vast  results  belong 
to  Clark,  as  he  alone  conceived  the  plan  and  carried  it  to  completion. 
In  appreciation  of  the  services  so  rendered,  the  Act  of  Virginia  of 
December  20,  1783,  provided,  among  other  things,  "that  a  quantity 
not  exceeding  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres  of  land,  prom- 
ised by  this  State,  shall  be  allowed  and  granted  to  the  then  Colonel 
(now  General)  George  Rogers  Clark,  and  to  the  officers  and  soldiers 
of  his  regiment,  who  marched  with  him  when  the  forts  of  Kaskas- 
kia  and  St.  Vincent's  were  reduced,  and  to  the  officers  and  soldiers 
who  have  since  been  incorporated  into  the  same  regiment,  to  be  laid 
off  in  one  tract,  the  length  of  which  is  not  to  exceed  double  the 
breadth,  in  such  place  on  the  northwest  side  of  the  Ohio  as  a  major- 
ity of  the  officers  shall  choose  and  to  be  afterwards  divided  among 
the  said  officers  and  soldiers  in  due  proportion,  according  to  the 
laws  of  Virginia." 

By  the  celebrated  Ordinance  of  1787,  passed  by  Congress,  provid- 
ing for  the  government  of  the  territory  lying  north  and  wTest  of  the 
Ohio  river,  and  also  for  its  future  division,  it  was  distinctly  stated 
in  Article  5  thereof,  that  the  territory  should  be  divided  into  no  less 
than  three  States,  and,  at  its  option,  Congress  might  form  one  or 
two  more,  thus  limiting  the  number  of  States  to  five.  The  southern 
boundary  of  the  two  northern  States  was  provided  as  "an  east  and 
westerly  line  drawn  through  the  southern  bend  or  extension  of  Lake 
Michigan."  Ohio  and  Indiana  wTere  admitted  into  the  Union,  with 
the  prescribed  northern  boundary  at  40  degrees  and  39  minutes 
north  latitude. 

When  came. the  time  to  ac'mit  Illinois  into  the  Union  as  a  State, 
Nathaniel  Pope,  then  the  delegate  from  the  Territory  in  Congress, 
introduced  an  amendment  to  the  bill,  which  was  adopted,  estab- 
lishing the  northern  boundary  of  the  State  at  42  degrees  and  30  min- 
utes north  latitude.  The  year  1818  is  important  not  only  on  account 
of  its  being  the  birth  year  of  the  State,  but  because  of  this  extension 
of  its  northern  boundary.    The  line  as  originally  prescribed  would 

37o 


On-o    <2s^e^f^       'YYbwJy   *&  s&*~~ — o       a*4T*~j      £<-^-c~j'   Cz£^j  ^ 

^S-c^7      Jtfl~S    ^l*-£^     (l—^—Z)*      /U~**S     f. ^O^^     /^~C^£-£ 


0OuAj 


-C4>« ?—-+<>  — » 


Fourth  page  of  autographic  biographical  sketch  written  by  Abraham  Lincoln, 

at  request  of  his  friend,  Hon.  J.  W.  Fell,  for  use  during  the  Presidential 

campaign  of  i860 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

have  deprived  Illinois  of  a  lake  coast  line,  which  has  proven  of  such 
great  value  to  the  State,  and,  it  is  safe  to  say,  to  the  Nation  as  well. 
In  1778,  and  even  when  the  State  was  admitted  into  the  Union,  the 
need  of  a  coast  line  was  not  so  apparent.  Northern  Illinois  was  then 
a  howling  wilderness.  Its  early  settlers  came  down  the  Ohio  and  up 
the  Mississippi.  The  vast  alluvial  tracts  known  as  "the  American 
bottoms' '  had  no  means  or  use  for  transportation,  except  the 
great  river,  but,  if  the  future  development  of  the  State  had  been  con- 
fined to  the  river,  Illinois  would  have  been  limited  in  its  resources, 
and  its  people  the  poorer.  Without  the  coast  line  on  the  lake,  inter- 
course with  the  East  would  have  been  cut  oft*.  The  Puritan  popula- 
tion, with  New  England  ideas,  would  never  have  come  in  to  modify 
the  sentiments  of  the  people  who  were  under  the  influence  of  the 
interests  of  the  Southern  States.  If  the  extension  had  not  been 
made,  Illinois  would  have  lost  fifty  miles  of  territory  and  fourteen 
counties — the  very  counties  which  later  by  their  vote  aided  in  de- 
termining the  slavery  question,  so  far  as  Illinois  was  concerned,  and 
in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  saved  the  State  to  the  Union, 
and  gave  Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  United  States  as  President.  The 
East  and  the  West,  through  the  foresight  of  Judge  Pope,  became 
bound  together,  and  the  tie  which  so  bound  them  was  not  only 
that  of  commercial  interest,  but  the  ideas  and  moral  standards  of  the 
people ;  and,  because  of  this  tie,  the  American  Union  of  States  could 
not  be,  was  not,  and  never  can  be,  dissolved.  Had  it  not  been  for 
the  amendment  of  Judge  Pope,  Chicago  would  have  certainly  been 
lost  to  Illinois,  and  possibly  to  the  Nation.  Without  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral railroad  and  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  canal,  and  the  facilities 
for  growth  afforded  thereby,  Chicago  would  never  have  become  the 
great  city  and  center  of  commercial  enterprise  it  now  is.  Truly  it  can 
be  said  that  the  vision  of  a  city  by  the  lake,  in  the  mind  of  a  great 
man  from  Illinois,  marked  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  that  State,  and 
helped  determine  the  destiny  of  our  Nation. 

Following  the  war  of  1812,  the  "Illinois  Country' '  was  a  land  of 
peace,  and  for  fifteen  years  people  from  the  East  and  South  fairly 
swarmed  to  settle  upon  its  fertile  prairies,  beyond  the  watercourses, 
and  away  from  the  woodland.  Down  the  St.  Lawrence  and  across 
the  lakes,  as  well  as  from  New  York  and  Virginia,  the  Carolinas  and 

37i 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

Kentucky,  by  way  of  the  rivers,  they  came.  Those  from  a  certain  lo- 
cality settled  in  some  particular  district,  and  small  towns  sprang  up 
in  a  night,  in  the  midst  of  surrounding  wilderness.  The  region  north 
and  west  of  the  Illinois  river,  however,  remained  sparsely  settled, 
the  only  means  of  communication  between  the  distant  settlements  in 
Northern  Illinois  being  dim  trails  across  the  unbroken  prairies, 
over  which  Indians,  sullen  at  being  steadily  pushed  back  by  the 
white  invasion,  still  swarmed  in  search  of  game. 

The  discovery  of  lead  at  Galena  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  a 
coach  road  between  that  mining  community  and  Peoria,  known  as 
"Kellogg's  Trail,"  opened  as  early  as  1672,  along  which  were  a  few 
scattered  villages,  most  of  them  named  after  some  conspicuous 
settler  or  local  character— "Old  Alan  Kellogg,"  at  Kellogg 's  Grove; 
John  Dixon,  at  Dixon's  Ferry;  "Dad  Joe,"  at  Dad  Joe's  Grove  ;  and 
Charles  S.  Boyd,  at  Boyd's  Grove,  etc.  There  were  also  collections 
of  houses  and  small  settlements  at  LaSalle,  Ottawa  and  Newark,  and 
perhaps  three  hundred  people  at  Chicago,  in  cabins,  protected  by 
Fort  Dearborn;  and  between  these,  upon  widely  separated  farms, 
were  the  homes  of  the  pioneers  of  Illinois — the  men  and  the  women 
who  faced  the  dangers  of  a  savage  foe,  endured  the  cold  of  winter 
and  the  heat  of  summer,  who  shook  with  chills  and  malaria,  who  suf- 
fered and  toiled  while  they  converted  the  broad  prairies  of  Illinois 
into  prosperous  farms,  dotted  here  and  there  by  busy  cities,  and  who 
by  thrift,  energy  and  industry,  blazed  the  way  for  the  development 
of  a  great  State  which  was  to  play  so  important  a  part  in  determin- 
ing the  destiny  of  a  great  nation. 

In  the  year  1804,  General  Harrison  negotiated  a  treaty  with  the 
Indians,  wherein  the  Bed  Man  agreed  to  withdraw  beyond  the  Mis- 
sissippi, reserving  only  the  right  to  till  the  ancient  fields  and  hunt 
in  Illinois,  until  the  arrival  of  the  "homesteader."  This  treaty  was 
afterwards  ratified  by  a  Federation  of  Indian  Tribes  in  full  council, 
at  Fort  Armstrong.  In  the  year  1828  the  land  in  the  immediate  vi- 
cinity of  the  Bock  Biver  was  surveyed,  platted,  thrown  open  to  set- 
tlement, and  actually  occupied,  and  the  Indian  tribes  given  notice  to 
vacate  the  territory,  as  per  the  terms  of  the  treaty.  Keokuk  and  his 
followers  did  so.  Black  Hawk,  then  sixty  years  of  age,  with  a  long 
and  successful  leadership,  became  jealous  of  the  encroachment  by 

372 


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LINCOLN  MONUMENT,  SPRINGFIELD,  ILLINOIS 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

the  white  men, and  attempted  to  rally  the  western  tribes  to  resistance. 
In  this  enterprise  he  met  with  but  little  success,  and  gathered  about 
him  only  a  few  of  the  most  restless  and  reckless.  The  settlers  allowed 
Indians  to  remain  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  mouth  of  the  Rock  River 
and  hunt  and  till  their  "old  fields"  by  an  informal  and  verbal  agree- 
ment. This  added  nothing  to  their  legal  right,  but  it  did  encourage 
them  in  their  determination  to  resist  removal.  They  planted  their 
corn  and  reaped  their  harvests,  hunted,  and  had  their  feasts,  but 
were  at  all  times  sullen.  They  made  no  display  of  open  hostilities, 
but  after  the  fall  hunt  was  over  they  began  to  collect  in  their  accus- 
tomed camp  and  listen  to  the  advice  of  the  old  chief,  Black  Hawk.  A 
series  of  petty  depredations  followed,  cattle  and  horses  were  driven 
off  and  killed,  and  property  destroyed,  but  no  settler  was  harmed.  In 
this,  Black  Hawk  displa}~ed  diplomatic  shrewdness.  He  determined 
that,  if  a  war  was  to  be,  the  settlers  must  begin  it  and  strike  the 
first  blow,  the  wily  chief  believing  that  then  he  could  rally  to  his  aid 
all  the  allied  tribes  to  defend  their  ancient  rights. 

Complaint  of  these  incursions  reached  Governor  Reynolds,  who  at 
once  requested  regular  troops  under  General  Gaines  to  expel  the 
invaders ;  and  at  the  same  time  issued  a  call  for  volunteers  to  guard 
the  frontier,  and  to  which  call  fifteen  hundred  mounted  men  re- 
sponded. The  campaign  following,  resulted  in  many  skirmishes, 
and  finally  the  battle  of  "The  Bad  Ax,"  in  which  one  hundred  and 
fifty  Indians  were  killed  outright,  and  many  hundred  drowned  at- 
tempting to  escape  by  swimming  the  river.'  It  was  a  war  of  short 
duration,  but  it  w^as  marked  by  many  acts  of  particular  bravery  and 
heroism. 

In  this  war  were  engaged  two  notable  figures.  Colonel  Zachary 
Taylor,  afterwards  President  of  the  United  States,  marched  at  the 
head  of  four  hundred  regulars,  and  among  the  private  soldiers  was 
Abraham  Lincoln.  When  Mr.  Lincoln  first  volunteered,  he  was  a 
candidate  for  the  captaincy  of  his  company,  with  a  certain  William 
Kirkpatrick  as  a  rival.  The  two  candidates  were  placed  a  short  dis- 
tance away  from  the  men,  who  were  requested  to  "fall  in"  behind 
the  man  of  their  choice.     Lincoln  was  overwhelmingly  and  "hilar- 


2.     L.  P.  Brockett  M.  D.,  in  his  "Life  and  Times  of  Abraham  Lincoln,"  says  that 
Lincoln  did  not  participate  in  the  battle  of  "The  Bad  Ax." 

373 


' 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

iously  elected,"  April  21st,  1832.  Upon  the  disbanding-  of  the  com- 
pany, he  re-enlisted  as  a  private  in  Captain  Elijah  lles's  company, 
May  23rd,  1832,  and  was  mustered  into  service  by  Lieutenant  Rob- 
ert Anderson,  who  had  been  assigned  to  the  position  of  inspector- 
general  on  the  staff  of  Governor  Reynolds,  with  the  rank  of  colonel. 
This  was  he  who  as  General  Anderson,  thirty  years  later,  so  gal- 
lantly defended  Fort  Sumter  when  Lincoln  was  President.  For  his 
services  in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  besides  his  pay  of  $11  per  month, 
Lincoln  received  two  bounty  land  warrants. 

Warrant  No.  52,076  for  40  acres,  issued  under  the  act  of  Sept.  28, 
1850,  (9  Stat.  520),  wras  granted  to  Mr.  Lincoln  for  his  service  as 
captain,  4th  Illinois  Volunteers,  in  the  Black  Hawk  War.  This 
warrant  was  located  by  Mr.  Lincoln  through  his  attorney  in  fact, 
duly  appointed  for  that  purpose  only,  at  the  Dubuque  (Iowa)  Land 
Office,  July  21,  1854,  on  the  n.-w.  14,  s.w.  14,  sec.  29,  t.  84  n.,  r.  15  w., 
Iowa.  This  land  was  patented  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  June  1,  1855,  and  the 
patent  is  recorded  in  Vol.  280,  p.  21,  record  of  miscellaneous  mili- 
tary grants  in  the  General  Land  Office  in  Washington,  D.  O.  The 
land  is  situated  in  Tama  county,  Iowa,  the  county  seat  of  which  is 
Toledo. 

Warrant  No.  68,645,  for  120  acres,  issued  under  the  act  of  March 
3, 1855,  (10  Stat.,  701),  was  also  granted  to  Mr.  Lincoln  for  his  ser- 
vice in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  December  27,  1859,  at  the  Council 
Bluffs  (Iowa)  local  Land  Office.  Mr.  Lincoln  in  person  located  said 
warrant  on  the  e.  y2  n.-e.  14  and  n.-w.  14  n.  e.  %  sec.  18,  t.  84  n.,  r.  39 
w.,  Iowa.  This  land  was  patented  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  September  10, 
1860,  and  the  patent  is  recorded  in  vol.  468,  p.  53,  record  of  miscel- 
laneous military  grants,  in  the  General  Land  Office,  Washington,  D. 
C.  The  land  is  situated  in  Crawford  county,  Iowa,  the  county  seat 
of  which  is  Denis  on." 


3.  By  a  curious  error,  Henry  C.  Whitney,  a  personal  friend  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  a 
fellow  law  practitioner,  in  his  "Lincoln,  the  Citizen,"  named  the  120  acre  grant  to  Mr. 
Lincoln  as  being  situated  in  Illinois. 

The  author  is  under  obligations  to  the  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office, 
Washington,  D.  C,  for  the  explicit  information  given  above  as  to  the  land  warrants. 
The  Commissioner  writes:  "These  warrants  do  not  appear  to  be  on  file  in  this  office 
at  this  time  (Aug.  24,  1918).  They  appear  to  have  been  used  by  the  Bureau  of  Pen- 
sions, Department  of  the  Interior,  in  connection  with  its  exhibit  at  the  Alaska-Yukon- 
Pacific  Exposition,  and  it  is  presumed  the  warrants  are  in  the  files  of  the  Bureau  of 
Pensions." 

374 


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CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

The  year  1824  is  important  in  that  there  was  settled  forever,  so 
far  as  Illinois  was  concerned,  the  slavery  question,  and  the  settle- 
ment of  that  question  by  that  State  went  far  towards  its  settlement 
in  the  Nation.  The  first  slaves  were  brought  into  Illinois  in  1720 
by  the  French ;  the  right  to  hold  them  was  recognized  by  the  edict  of 
Louis  XIII,  and  reaffirmed  by  Louis  XV.  When  the  Territory  was 
ceded  to  Great  Britain  in  1763,  it  was  provided  that  "  those  who  be- 
come subjects  of  her  Britannic  Majesty  shall  enjoy  all  the  rights, 
privileges  and  liberties  of  trade,  as  the  old  subjects  of  the  king/' 
which  included  the  right  to  hold  slaves,  and  such  right  was  not  dis- 
turbed by  the  conquest  of  Clark  in  behalf  of  Virginia.  Nor  was  sla- 
very interfered  with  until  the  Ordinance  of  1787  was  adopted.  In 
this  instrument,  which  was  the  organic  law  for  the  government  of 
the  Northwest  Territory,  it  was  provided,  by  the  terms  of  Article 
VI,  that i '  there  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in 
said  territory. ' ' 

However,  the  iniquitous  seed  of  slavery  had  been  sown.  The  nox- 
ious weed  had  taken  root,  and  the  question  was  a  constant  source  of 
agitation.  Besides,  the  Constitution  of  1818  provided  in  Section 
2,  Article  VI,  "That  no  person  bound  to  labor  in  any  other  State, 
shall  be  hired  to  labor  in  this  State,  except  within  the  tract  reserved 
for  salt  works  near  Shawneetown,  nor  even  at  that  place  for  a 
longer  period  than  one  year  at  a  time ;  nor  shall  it  be  allowed  there 
after  the  year  1825."  The  operation  of  these  salt  works  was  very 
lucrative,  and  the  industry  was  responsible  to  a  very  large  degree 
for  the  pro-slavery  agitation.  Before  Illinois  was  admitted  into 
the  Union  as  a  State,  these  works  were  leased  to  individuals  who 
worked  the  same  with  slaves  imported  from  Kentucky  and  Tennes- 
see. After  the  State  was  admitted  into  the  Union  and  the  Consti- 
tution adopted,  containing  the  clause  referred  to,  it  was  apparent 
that  the  lease  to  the  salt  works,  about  to  expire,  could  not  be  re- 
newed. Those  interested  in  the  industry  began  to  look  about  for 
some  method  by  which  the  monopoly  owned  by  them  would  not  be 
terminated.  It  was  decided  by  the  general  inspector  of  the  salt 
industry,  a  Major  Willis  Hargrave,  that  an  amendment  to  the  con- 
stitution would  be  the  only  sure  remedy.  The  election  of  a  legisla- 
ture favorable  to  such  an  amendment  was  at  once  undertaken,  and 

375 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

the  campaign  was  conducted  under  his  direction  and  leadership 
and,  after  fraudulently  disqualifying  one  of  the  members  opposed  to 
slavery,  was  successful,  and  a  resolution  calling  a  convention  to 
amend  the  Constitution  of  Illinois,  legalizing  slavery  within  the 
State,  was  passed  by  the  third  General  Assembly,  by  a  majority  of 
one. 

The  following  eighteen  months  were  marked  with  strenuous  toil 
and  intense  feeling,  on  the  part  of  both  the  friends  and  opponents  of 
slavery.  Governor  Coles,  who  on  his  way  to  Illinois  from  Virginia 
set  his  slaves  free  upon  reaching  free  territory,  gave  his  entire  sal- 
ary of  $4,000  to  the  campaign ;  besides,  he  made  a  vigorous  speaking 
tour  of  the  State  in  the  interest  of  those  who  opposed  the  amend- 
ment, visiting  every  county,  and  is  entitled  to  much  credit  for  keep- 
ing Illinois  a  free  State.  Each  side  worked  to  the  uttermost,  and  on 
election  day  every  effort  wTas  made  by  both  factions  to  bring  to  the 
polls  the  sick,  the  lame,  the  blind  and  the  halt,  in  order  that  they 
might  cast  a  vote  either  for  or  against  the  proposition.  Pro-slavery 
lost  by  an  overwhelming  majority,  and  legalized  slavery  was  forever 
forbidden  in  Illinois. 

But  the  cause  still  continue  to  cast  its  shadow  over  the  State.  On 
the  south  was  Kentucky,  and  on  the  wrest  was  Missouri,  both  Slave 
States;  while  half  of  the  population  of  the  Prairie  State  were  in 
sympathy  with  and  believers  in  the  institution.  All  kinds  of  lawless- 
ness were  indulged  in ;  kidnapping  of  negroes  was  practiced ;  neigh- 
borhoods, churches  and  families  were  divided ;  mob  violence  was  re- 
sorted to ;  and  Elijah  P.  Love  joy  gave  up  his  life  in  Alton,  because  in 
his  newspaper  he  advocated  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  fact  as  well 
as  in  name.  The  first  shot  fired  at  Lexington  attracted  all  eyes  to 
the  birth  of  a  New  Nation  founded  in  Freedom.  The  shot  that  was 
fired  in  Alton  was  the  response  of  brave  men  who  defended  Lovejoy 
and  his  press.  It  was  the  first  armed  resistance  to  a  system  which 
was  a  sin  against  God,  a  crime  against  nature,  and  a  stumbling  block 
in  the  way  of  American  civilization.  The  lifeless  form  of  that 
stern  unyielding  man  from  New  England  lay  at  the  feet  of  a  mob ; 
his  crimson  blood  stained  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  but  for  a 
moment,  then  mingled  with  the  mighty  flood,  and  rippled  on  to  the 
sea.    But  the  struggle  had  been  begun.    Truth  and  justice  had  grap- 

37^ 


STATUE  OF   STEPHEN   A.   DOUGLAS 
Springfield,   Illinois 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

pled  with  wrong  and  oppression,  and,  before  the  end  came,  many 
streams  ran  crimson  with  the  blood  of  brave  men  whose  lives  were 
sacrificed  in  vindication  of  the  cause  for  which  Love  joy  fell. 

In  1858,  we  have  the  Lincoln  and  Douglas  debates,  which  lost  for 
Mr.  Lincoln  the  Senatorship,  but  made  him  president  in  1860.  Ste- 
phen A.  Douglas,  as  chairman  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Territo- 
ries, was  largely  responsible  for  the  law  of  1854  which  repealed  the 
Missouri  Compromise  so  far  as  the  same  related  to  the  unorganized 
portion  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  lying  north  of  36  degrees  and  30 
minutes,  and  through  it  was  opened  to  slavery  or  freedom,  as  the 
future  inhabitants  might  determine,  under  the  principles  of  "home 
.rule,"  or  the  doctrine  of  Ci popular  sovereignty."  He  thus  brought 
upon  himself  the  opposition  and  denunciation  of  all  the  enemies  of 
slavery  and  those  opposed  to  its  farther  extension.  In  1858  Douglas 
was  the  Democratic  nominee  for  re-election  to  the  United  States 
Senate,  while  Abraham  Lincoln  was  the  nominee  of  the  Republican 
party.  The  Lincoln-Douglas  debates,  local  in  their  inception,  became 
national  in  the  final  results.  Mr.  Lincoln  lost  the  senatorship,  but 
from  that  day  he  was  the  leader  of  his  party,  and  the  recognized 
champion  of  liberty  and  the  rights  of  men.  The  stand  which  Doug- 
las took  divided  his  party,  and  Mr.  Lincoln  became  President  in 
1860.  The  Southern  States  withdrew  from  the  Union,  and  the  words 
of  the  great  Emancipator,  "a  house  divided  against  itself  cannot 
stand, ' '  were  exemplified.  The  house  was  divided ;  it  was  reunited. 
It  did  stand ;  it  will  forever  stand. 

In  the  struggle  which  followed,  the  history  of  Illinois  deals  pecu- 
liarly, for  it  was  from  the  prairies  of  Illinois  that  came  the  two  men 
who  completed  the  work  which  was  begun  by  Washington,  and  pro- 
claimed in  and  by  the  Declaration  of  Independence— the  two  men  who 
cemented  the  discordant  elements  of  the  nation,  who  above  all  others 
may  justly  be  termed  the  Saviors  of  the  American  Union  of  States- 
Abraham  Lincoln  and  Ulysses  S.  Grant.  It  is  to  a  citizenship  which 
today  exemplifies  the  character,  works  and  deeds  of  those  two  men 
who  above  all  others  typify  the  unity  and  solidity  of  the  Republic, 
that  the  Allied  Powers  of  the  World  look,  as  the  only  possible  Sav- 
iors of  the  cause  of  Freedom,  Righteousness  and  Democracy.   Be- 

377 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

fore  we  can  truly  appreciate  their  greatness  or  place  a  proper  value 
upon  the  services  rendered  by  them  not  only  to  our  nation,  but  to  the 
world  as  well,  we  must  look  at  the  conditions  which  confronted  Pres- 
ident Lincoln  at  the  beginning  of  his  administration,  and  in  no  place 
are  they  more  strikingly  portrayed  than  by  Isaac  N.  Arnold,  in  his 
' i Life  of  Abraham  Lincoln:" 

"When  he  became  President,  the  Ship  of  State  was  tossing  among 
the  rocks,  driven  hither  and  thither  by  a  fearful  tornado.  He  found 
the  treasury  empty,  the  national  credit  gone,  the  little  nucleus  of 
an  army  and  navy  scattered  and  disarmed,  many  of  the  officers 
rebels,  and  those  who  were  loyal,  strangers.  The  party  which  elected 
him  was  in  the  minority,  he  having  received  but  a  plurality  of  the 
popular  vote.  The  old  democratic  party,  which  had  ruled  most  of 
the  time  for  half  a  century,  was  hostile,  and  a  large  portion  of  it, 
even  in  the  North,  in  sympathy  with  the  insurgents ;  while  his  own 
party  was  made  up  of  discordant  elements.  Nor  had  he  or  his  party 
then  acquired  prestige  and  the  confidence  of  the  people.  It  is  the  ex- 
act truth  to  say  that  when  he  entered  the  White  House,  he  was  the 
object  of  personal  and  unfavorable  prejudice  with  a  majority  of  the 
people,  and  of  contempt  to  the  powerful  minority.  He  entered  upon 
the  work  of  restoring  the  Union  without  sympathy  from  any  of  the 
great  powers  of  Western  Europe.  Those  which  were  not  open  ene- 
mies manifested  a  cold  neutrality,  or  a  secret  hostility,  and  none  of 
them  extended  to  him  and  his  administration  any  cordial  good  will 
or  moral  aid.  The  London  Times  gave  expression  to  the  hope  and 
belief  of  the  ruling  class,  not  only  of  Great  Britain,  but  of  France, 
when  it  said  exultingly  4The  great  republic  is  no  more.  The  bubble 
is  burst. '  Yet  in  spite  of  all,  this  inexperienced  man  of  the  prairies, 
by  his  sagacity,  his  sound  judgment,  his  wisdom,  his  integrity  and 
his  trust  in  God,  crushed  the  most  stupendous  rebellion,  and  one  sup- 
ported by  armies  more  vast,  resources  greater,  and  an  organization 
more  perfect  than  any  which  ever  before  had  undertaken  the  dis- 
memberment of  a  nation.  He  not  only  united  and  held  together 
against  bitter  and  contending  factions,  his  own  party,  but  strength- 
ened it  by  winning  the  confidence  and  support  of  the  best  part  of  all 
parties.  He  composed  the  bitter  quarrels  of  rival  military  leaders 
and  at  length  discovered  and  placed  at  the  head  of  his  armies  the 
skill  and  ability  which  secured  military  success.  Gradually  he  won 
the  respect,  the  confidence,  the  good  will,  and  sympathy  of  all  na- 
tions and  peoples.    His  own  countrvmen  learned  that  he  was  honest 

378 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

and  patriotic,  that  he  was  as  unselfish  and  as  magnanimous  as  he 
was  true,  and  they  re-elected  him  almost  by  acclamation,  and  after 
a  series  of  brilliant  victories,  he  overcame  and  destroyed  all  armed 
opposition.  Ever  keeping  pace  with  public  sentiment  (and  this  was 
a  public  sentiment  he  himself  had  created),  he  struck  blow  after 
blow  at  the  institution  of  slavery,  until  he  proclaimed  emancipation, 
and  crowned  his  work  by  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution,  pro- 
hibiting slavery  throughout  the  Republic  (as  the  same  had  been  in- 
corporated into  the  organic  law  of  Illinois  in  1818,  and  reaffirmed  by 
the  electorate  in  1824)  'thus  realizing  the  dream  of  his  early  years. 
And  all  this  he  accomplished  within  the  brief  period  of  four  years.' ' 

In  the  days  when  the  forces  of  Freedom  seemed  to  be  shaken  and 
and  the  armies  of  autocracy  apparently  successful,  the  Champions 
of  Liberty,  from  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  turned  their  eyes  to 
America,  and  emissaries  from  the  nations  which  once  said  "The 
Great  Republic  is  no  more,"  journeyed  to  America's  Sacred  Shrines, 
and  the  "Hero  of  the  Marne"  with  teardimmed  eyes  and  reverent 
hand  laid  his  wreath  upon  the  bier,  and  departed  with  the  words  of 
Lincoln,  not  only  upon  his  lips,  but  stamped  upon  his  heart:  "Let 
us  have  faith  that  right  makes  might,  and  in  that  faith,  to  the  end, 
do  our  duty ; ' '  and  at  the  Tomb  on  Riverside  Drive,  he  became  im- 
bued with  that  indomitable  will  of  the  Great  Soldier  which  resulted 
in  the  restoration  of  the  Union. 

The  struggles  of  the  men  of  1776,  all  the  hardships  which  they 
endured,  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  to  Washington,  and  the  sub- 
sequent events  which  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  American 
nation,  based  upon  the  idea  of  a  government,  "by  the  consent  of  the 
governed, "  would  have  been  effort  in  vain,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
Immortal  Lincoln,  who  said,  "That  this  nation,  under  God,  shall 
have  a  new  birth  of  freedom,  and  that  government  of  the  people,  by 
the  people,  and  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth," 
and  for  the  resolute  will  of  Grant  and  the  men  who  followed  him 
to  Appomattox. 

The  man  who  had  implicit  faith  that  "Right  makes  Might,"  as 
well  as  the  man  who  had  the  material  force  and  power  to  vindicate 
tEat  faith,  which  both  faith  and  power  are  today  exemplified  in  the 

379 

• 


CENTENNIAL  OF  ILLINOIS 

character  and  deeds  of  the  men  who  are  fighting  for  Freedom  and 
the  Rights  of  Men,  came  from  the  Prairies  of  Illinois. 


Author's  Note. — The  principal  authorities  on  Illinois  History,  covered  by  the 
foregoing  article,  and  upon  which  the  same  is  based  are:  "The  American  Revolution," 
by  John  Fiske,  Vol.  II,  Chap.  x.  "Decisive  Dates  in  Illinois  History."  by  Lottie  E. 
Jones.  "The  Winning  of  the  West,"  by  Theodore  Roosevelt.  Part  II,  Chapters  6-7- 
8.  Randall  Parrish's  "Hi.-toric  Illinois."  "Critical  Periods  in  American  History." 
John  Fiske,  Chap.  1.  "The  History  of  the  American  people,"  by  Woodrow  Wilson. 
"Illinois  Historical  Collections — Lincoln-Douglas  Debates,"  Vol.  III.  "History  of  Illi- 
nois, 1673  to  1873,"  by  Alexander  Davidson  and  Bernard  Stuve.  Isaac  N.  Arnold's  "Life 
of  Abraham  Lincoln."  "Life  of  John  Marshall,"  by  Albert  J.  Beveridge,  Vol.  I,  p.  210, 
"Legislation  and  Council  of  State,"  with  footnote-  "Abraham  Lincoln,  a  History,"  by 
John  G.  Nicolay  and  John   Hay. 


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Gen.  Arthur  St  Clair — First  Governor  of  the 
Northwest  Territory 

John  N.  Boucher,  Greensburg,  Penn. 

NDER  the  justly  celebrated  Ordinance  of  1787,  Major 
General  Arthur  St.  Clair  was  appointed  first  Governor 
of  the  Northwestern  Territory.  This  territory  em- 
braced all  of  the  country  then  belonging  to  us  west  of 
Pennsylvania  and  north  of  the  Ohio  river.  It  now  forms  the  States 
of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  and  has  a  pop- 
ulation of  nearly  twenty  millions.  Since  Illinois  is  soon  to  cele- 
brate her  Centennial  of  Statehood,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  look  into 
the  life  and  character  of  this  noted  man. 

He  was  the  son  of  William  and  Margaret  (Balfour)  St.  Clair,  and 
was  born  at  Thurso  Castle,  in  Scotland,  on  March  23rd,  1734,  old 
style.  The  St.  Clairs  were  of  Norman  origin,  and  the  family  became 
one  of  the  most  noted  in  British  history.  In  the  line  of  the  St. 
Clairs  were  knights,  earls,  lords  and  dukes,  many  of  whom  had  bat- 
tled for  English  and  Scotch  supremacy,  and  whose  names  have  been 
preserved  for  centuries  in  the  poetic  and  legendary  lore  of  Eng- 
lish story.  Many  poets  sang  of  their  illustrious  deeds,  and  the 
sweetest  singer  of  them  all  tells  in  "The  Song  of  Harold"  how 
the  Orcades  were  once  held  under  the  princely  sway  of  the  St. 
Clairs : 

"Then  from  his  seat  with  lofty  air, 
Rose  Harold,  bard  of  brave  St.  Clair ; 
St.  Clair  who,  feasting  with  Lord  Home, 
Had  with  that  lord  to  battle  come. 
Harold  was  born  where  restless  seas 
Howl  round  the  storm-swept  Orcades  ; 
Where  once  St.  Clair  held  princely  sway 
O'er  isle  and  islet,  strait  and  bay ; 
Still  nods  their  palace  to  its  fall, 
Thy  pride  and  sorrow,  fair  Kirkwall." 

By  reverses  of  fortune  which  came  to  their  immediate  forbears, 

-       38i 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

his  parents  had  lost  their  extensive  ancestral  possessions,  and  at 
the  time  of  his  birth  were  without  great  influence  at  the  Court  of  St. 
James  or  in  Scotland.  The  estate  then  held,  was  but  a  remnant  of 
the  original,  and  it  was  entailed  by  the  laws  of  primogeniture,  so 
that  Arthur,  the  youngest  son,  could  not  hope  to  inherit  even  a  part 
of  the  encumbered  possessions.  His  education  therefore  was  to 
fit  him  for  a  profession,  and  in  early  manhood  he  entered  the  Uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh,  intending  later  to  take  up  the  study  of  medi- 
cine. On  the  death  of  William,  his  father,  the  young  student  moved 
to  London,  that  he  might  have  the  benefit  of  a  hospital  practice  in 
the  world's  greatest  metropolis.  There  he  entered  the  office  of  Dr. 
William  Hunter,  then  regarded  as  one  of  the  first  physicians  of  the 
city. 

About  that  time  a  war  broke  out  between  England  and  France,  the 
American  part  of  which  is  known  as  the  French  and  Indian  War. 
Murray,  Mouckton  and  the  brave,  romantic  young  Englishman, 
General  James  Wolfe,  were  raising  an  army  to  carry  the  war 
against  the  French  on  the  St.  Lawrence  river  in  Canada,  the  whole 
of  which  was  then  under  the  dominion  of  Louis  XV.  William  Pitt 
had  succeeded  the  weak  Duke  of  Newcastle  as  premier  of  England. 
Almost  the  first  work  of  his  great  administration  was  to  inspire  the 
young  Briton  with  an  abiding  faith  in  the  new  ministry.  War  was 
shaking  both  Europe  and  America.  The  streets  of  London  were 
filled  with  the  sound  of  the  bugle  and  the  measured  tread  of  the  gren- 
adiers. Ambitious  young  men  were  anxious  to  enlist  in  the  service 
of  the  crown.  St.  Clair  could  not  resist.  His  family  secured  an 
ensign's  commission  for  him,  dated  May  13,  1757,  and  he  sailed  for 
America  in  the  early  part  of  1758.  He  was  with  the  army  of  Gen- 
eral Jeffrey  Amherst,  and  in  the  division  that  was  commanded  by 
General  James  Wolfe.  On  April  17, 1759,  he  was  made  a  lieutenant, 
and  held  that  rank  when  engaged  in  one  of  the  most  daring  and  ro- 
mantic military  expeditions  in  American  history.  He  was  with  the 
army  when,  nnder  cover  of  darkness,  it  silently  floated  down  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  landed  under  the  shadowy  Heights  of  Abraham,  since 
known  as  Wolfe's  Cave.  He  heard  Wolfe  repeat  the  "Elegy  in  a 
Country  Churchyard,"  which  the  poet  Thomas  Gray  had  just  pub- 

382 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

lished  to  the  world,  of  which  the  General  said  he  would  rather  be 
the  author  than  to  take  Quebec : 

"The  curfew  tolls  the  knell  of  parting  day, 
The  lowing  herd  winds  slowly  o'er  the  lea. 
The  plowman  homeward  plods  his  weary  way 
And  leaves  the  world  to  darkness  and  to  me." 

He  was  with  them,  too,  when  they  clambered  up  the  hitherto  im- 
passable Heights,  and  was  near  the  brave  young  Englishman  when 
he  received  his  death  wound,  when  the  shout  of  victory  recalled  for  a 
moment  his  departing  spirit,  and  was  with  him  when  he  died  with 
the  song  of  battle  on  his  lips,  at  the  moment  of  success. 

"The    boast   of    heraldry,   the   pomp   of    power, 
All  that  beauty,  all  that  wealth  e'er  gave. 
Await  alike  the  inevitable  hour, — 
The  paths  of  glory  lead  but  to  the  grave." 

To  add  to  his  military  training,  he  was  with  the  Sixtieth  Royal 
American  Regiment,  which  had  been  organized  by  the  Duke  of 
Cumberland  for  services  in  the  Colonies,  and  in  the  same  battalion 
were  Charles  Lawrence,  Robert  Monckton,  James  Murray,  and  Hen- 
ry Bouquet,  names  without  whose  brave  deeds  the  French  and  In- 
dian War  annals  would  be  tame  indeed. 

When  Quebec  was  captured  from  the  French,  the  fortress  was 
garrisoned  by  the  English,  and  St.  Clair,  among  other  young  officers, 
remained  with  the  army.  After  a  few  months'  occupation,  a  part  of 
the  Sixtieth  Regiment  was  sent  to  Boston.  St.  Clair  accompanied 
them,  bearing  letters  and  documents  for  General  Thomas  Gage,  his 
kinsman.  While  stationed  there  he  became  acquainted  with  Phoebe 
Bayard,  with  whom  he  was  united  in  marriage  at  Trinity  Church, 
Boston,  on  May  15,  1760,  by  the  rector,  Rev.  William  Hooper.  She 
was  the  daughter  of  Balthazar  Bayard,  and  a  niece  of  Governor 
James  Bowdoin,  of  Massachusetts.  With  her  he  received  a  legacy 
of  about  $14,000,  a  princely  fortune,  as  fortunes  were  in  those  days. 
Their  social  standing  opened  up  to  them  every  avenue  of  cultured 
association  in  Boston.  His  wife  was  related  to  the  foremost  fam- 
ilies of  the  city  and  of  New  York,  the  Winthrops,  Jays,  Verplancks 
and  Stuyvesants,  and  his  own  connection  with  General  Gage,  the 
commandant  of  Boston,  added  military  luster  to  their  prospective 

383 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

future.  But  the  same  spirit  which  prompted  him  to  turn  from  the 
culture  of  his  native  land,  pushed  him  westward,  and  as  early  as 
1765  a  military  permit  to  a  tract  of  land  near  Fort  Pitt  (now  Pitts- 
burgh) was  granted  to  him  by  General  Gage. 

The  French  were  expelled  from  the  Ohio  Valley  in  1758  by  General 
John  Forbes,  but  for  years  the  English  government  and  the  Penns 
were  compelled  to  keep  a  road  and  a  line  of  forts  connecting  it  with 
the  East,  that  is  with  a  base  of  supplies.  St.  Clair  was  accordingly 
made  commander  of  Fort  Ligonier  in  1767,  and  from  that  time  on 
was  a  citizen  of  Western  Pennsylvania.  Because  of  his  thorough 
education,  his  military  service  under  Wolfe,  and  his  wealth,  he 
very  soon  became  the  most  prominent  man  west  of  the  Allegheny 
mountains.  It  was  he  who  took  the  lead  in  the  long  contest  between 
Virginia  and  Pennsylvania  for  possession  of  the  lands  surrounding 
the  head  waters  of  the  Ohio,  now  known  as  Southwestern  Penn- 
sylvania, one  of  the  most  productive  sections  of  the  LTnion.  To 
defend  it  was  indeed  an  herculean  task,  made  all  the  more  so  by 
home  opposition,  for  Virginia  claiming  the  territory,  had  sold  lands 
and  settled  hundreds  of  families  in  that  section.  Thinking  them- 
selves still  citizens  of  Virginia,  they  were  loathe  to  see  the  Penn- 
sylvania claim  triumph.  The  Quakers  in  the  East  were  the 
thriftiest  people  in  Pennsylvania,  but  they  would  not  assist  in  the 
contest,  for  they  were  religiously  opposed  to  war.  They  were  also 
opposed  to  the  Penns,  then  Proprietaries  of  Pennsylvania,  who 
had  embraced  the  religion  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  the  Quak- 
ers regarded  them  as  renegades  from  the  Quaker  religion  of  their 
revered  father,  William  Penn.  The  Quakers  talked  of  the  sinful- 
ness of  war,  wore  broad-brimmed  hats,  defied  Lindley  Murray  in  the 
use  of  the  English  language,  and  devoted  themselves  to  the  acquisi- 
tion of  wealth  and  the  enjoyment  of  the  comforts  it  brought.  Furth- 
ermore, the  middle  counties  had  been  settled  by  German  peasants, 
who,  having  known  but  little  else  than  servitude  in  Europe,  were 
delighted  with  the  new  enjoyment  of  liberty.  They  hated  the  idea 
of  military  service,  for  it  reminded  them-of  the  oppressive  armies  of 
Germany,  from  whence  they  had  fled.  Speaking  only  the  German 
tongue,  they  neither  knew  nor  cared  who  owned  the  land  in  the 

3»4 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

Ohio  Valley,  so  long  as  they  could  by  industry  increase  their  herds 
and  widen  their  productive  acres. 

Then  Benjamin  Franklin  was  the  intellectual  and  political  leader 
of  Pennsylvania.  But  the  feudal  system  which  had  grown  up 
among  the  Penns  was  extremely  obnoxious  to  him,  though  he  saw 
the  danger  of  the  Virginia  claims  on  the  Ohio.  He  therefore  op- 
posed any  measure  of  the  administration  which  would  add  strength 
to  the  Penns.  These  matters  left  the  defense  against  Virginia 
mostly  to  a  divided  settlement  among  whom  the  Scotch-Irish  Pres- 
byterians, the  Catholics  and  the  G-erman  Lutherans,  predominated, 
and  these  in  turn  were  equally  intolerant  of  each  other. 

St.  Clair's  greatest  difficulty  was  to  hold  the  people  together  and 
keep  them  in  the  face  of  all  this  opposition  from  abandoning  their 
homes  and  leaving  all  to  Virginia.  Against  all  these  enemies,  and 
the  Indians  as  well,  St.  Clair  almost  singlehanded,  held  the  settlers 
together,  and  all  documentary  evidence  tends  to  prove  conclusively 
that  but  for  his  efforts  Southwestern  Pennsylvania  would  have 
been  abandoned  to  Virginia.  What  the  effect  would  have  been  had 
this  section,  with  its  unnumbered  millions  of  natural  wealth,  been 
peopled  and  managed  by  the  lassitude  of  the  Cavalier  rather  than  by 
the  energy  of  the  Scotch-Irish,  the  reader  can  readily  imagine.  The 
question  was  finally  settled  by  arbitration,  and  Pennsylvania  re- 
ceived all  the  territory  that  St.  Clair,  on  the  part  of  the  Penns, 
contended  for. 

St.  Clair's  work  in  the  Revolution  can  be  accurately  traced  from 
the  histories  of  that  period.  Though  he  had  been  an  English  army 
officer,  his  extensive  correspondence  indicates  that  there  was  no  dan- 
ger of  his  becoming  a  Tory.  His  espousal  of  the  American  cause  was 
one  of  the  most  significant  acts  of  his  life.  The  centuries  of  royal 
blood  in  his  veins,  his  every  tie  of  kindred,  his  services  in  the  royal 
army  and  his  close  association  with  the  Penns  and  other  Tories  of 
Philadelphia,  apparently  might  have  bound  him  indissolubly  to  the 
English  cause.  But  these  were  as  gossamer  threads  to  him  when 
they  conflicted  with  the  rights  of  the  oppressed  colonies.  It  has  been 
said  of  him  that,  "when  he  drew  his  sword  he  threw  away  its  scab- 
bard. ' '    When  he  entered  the  war  he  wrote,  ' '  I  hold  that  no  man  has 

385 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

a  right  to  withhold  his  services  when  his  country  needs  them.  Be  the 
sacrifice  ever  so  great,  it  must  be  yielded  on  the  altar  of  patriotism." 

His  first  appointment  was  to  raise  an  army  to  chastise  the  Indians 
in  the  Detroit  region.  There  were  no  funds  for  him,  but  he  en- 
listed 450  men  who  were  to  furnish  their  own  arms,  horses,  forage 
and  provisions,  and  to  march  at  once.  General  Benedict  Arnold  was 
then  storming  Quebec,  and  when  his  expedition  failed,  the  Continen- 
tal Congress  called  St.  Clair  and  his  forces  into  the  Revolution.  He 
entered  under  the  commission  of  a  colonel,  and  his  first  duty  was  to 
make  preparation  for  war,  rather  than  to  actively  engage  in  it.  His 
work  was  in  and  around  Philadelphia,  where  he  recruited,  drilled 
and  provisioned  volunteers. 

From  Philadelphia  he  was  ordered  to  take  six  companies  to  Que- 
bec when  Arnold  was  severely  wounded.  General  Montgomery,  first 
in  command,  was  killed,  Thompson  had  died,  and  General  Sullivan 
was  in  command.  The  knowledge  which  St.  Clair  had  gained  con- 
cerning that  region  when  with  Wolfe,  made  him  an  important  addi- 
tion to  the  northern  army.  He  suggested  a  fortification  on  a  point 
at  Three  Rivers,  to  prevent  the  British  transports  from  reaching 
Quebec.  His  plan  was  adopted,  and  with  his  army,  reinforced  by 
Thompson's  troops,  St.  Clair  was  appointed  to  guard  the  point.  The 
battle  of  Three  Rivers  and  the  retreat  was  managed  by  St.  Clair. 
Canada  did  not  desire  to  be  annexed  to  the  LTnited  States,  but  pre- 
ferred to  remain  with  England.  The  battle  was,  from  a  scientific 
military  standpoint,  one  of  the  best  contested  fields  among  all  the 
battles  of  the  Revolution.  The  army  retired  from  Canada  with  fly- 
ing colors. 

In  August,  1776,  St.  Clair  was  made  a  brigadier-general,  and  was 
called  to  Washington's  army,  then  in  its  well  managed  retreat  be- 
fore General  Howe  across  New  Jersey.  He  was  now  for  the  first 
time  under  the  eye  and  direct  command  of  the  Great  Chief  and 
fought  under  him  at  White  Plains.  He  was  with  the  army  on  the 
stormy  night  in  December  when  they  crossed  the  Delaware  on  their 
march  to  Trenton,  and,  in  conjunction  with  General  Sullivan,  com- 
manded the  division  of  the  army  which  took  the  river  road  from  the 
crossing  to  Trenton,  while  Washington  and  General  Nathanael 
Greene  led  the  other  division.    He  shared  in  no  small  degree  the  vic- 

386 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

tory  over  the  Hessians,  and  no  battle  in  the  Revolution  did  as  much 
to  strengthen  the  languishing  cause  of  the  colonies  as  the  battle  of 
Trenton.  It  is  claimed  by  all  of  St.  Clair's  biographers,  and  also 
by  St.  Clair  himself,  that  it  was  he  who  suggested  to  Washington 
the  movement  of  the  army  which,  a  few  days  after  the  battle  of  Tren- 
ton, culminated  in  the  victory  at  Princeton.  The  great  historian, 
George  Bancroft,  labors  in  vain  to  prove  that  this  claim  is  without 
foundation.  He  labors  thus  with  no  apparent  reason,  save  to  glorify 
Washington,  for  like  many  writers,  he  seems  partial  to  the  great 
chief.  He  bases  his  theory  that  Washington  conceived  the  move- 
ment, on  the  report  of  the  march ;  but  the  report  does  not  cover  or 
refer  to  the  origin  of  the  plan.  There  is,  on  the  other  hand,  no  au- 
thority whatever  to  refute  St.  Clair's  positive  statement,  which  is 
corroborated  by  statements  of  a  number  of  staff  officers.  It  is  not 
denied  by  any  one  that  General  St.  Clair  directed  the  details  of  the 
march,  and  that  his  brigade,  composed  of  New  Hampshire,  Connect- 
icut and  Massachusetts  troops,  with  two  six-pounders,  marched  at 
the  head  of  the  advancing  army  with  Washington.  For  St.  Clair's 
part  in  these  two  battles,  Trenton  and  Princeton,  he  was  made  a 
major  general  on  the  recommendation  of  Washington  a  few  weeks 
afterwards.  It  may  be  mentioned  in  this  connection,  that  he  was  the 
only  officer  from  Pennsylvania  who  became  a  major-general  during 
the  Revolution,  though  others  were  brevetted  when  the  war  closed. 
The  outlook  of  the  Colonial  army  in  the  summer  of  1777  was  a 
very  gloomy  one.  The  soldiers  were  but  half  clad,  half  fed,  and  al- 
most ready  to  disband.  This  condition  prompted  the  British  to 
greater  efforts,  hoping  to  stamp  out  the  rebellion  at  once.  Their 
purpose  was  to  divide  the  colonies  by  a  line  of  English  fortresses  go- 
ing up  the  Hudson,  thence  by  Lake  George  and  Lake  Champlain  to 
the  St.  Lawrence  river.  Burgoyne's  army  was  already  in  Canada, 
and  he  was  instructed  to  march  south  by  these  lakes  and  unite  with 
Sir  Henry  Clinton's  army  which  was  to  pass  up  the  Hudson  from 
New  York.  This  would  have  hopelessly  divided  the  colonies  by 
stopping  all  communication  between  them,  and  would  have  probably 
compelled  our  armies  to  disband.  Ticonderoga,  the  same  which  the 
bold  Ethan  Allan  had  captured  and  which  Francis  Parkman  calls 
the* 'school  ground  of  the  American  Revolution, "was  then  in  posses- 

387 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

sion  of  the  colonists.  It  is  situated  between  Lake  Champlain  and 
Lake  George.  While  this  was  held  by  the  American  army  a  union 
of  Burgoyne 's  and  Clinton's  forces  was  impossible.  A  quarrel  be- 
tween Generals  Schuyler  and  Gates  necessitated  a  new  commander. 
Congress,  perhaps  because  of  St.  Clair's  newly  won  laurels,  sent 
him  to  take  command  of  Ticonderoga,  and  to  hold  it  at  all  hazards. 
He  was  given  2,200  men  in  all,  a  force  that  wTas  entirely  inadequate, 
though  it  was  probably  all  the  weak  army  could  furnish. 

Most  of  the  few  victories  of  the  American  army  in  the  Revolu- 
tion were  won  by  taking  desperate  chances,  and  no  one  was  more 
willing  to  make  the  sacrifice,  with  even  the  faintest  hope  of  success, 
than  General  St.  Clair.  Burgoyne 's  army  came  down  the  lake  and 
attacked  Ticonderoga  in  June,  1777.  Nearby  was  a  high  rocky  pro- 
montory, since  called  Mount  Defiance,  which  overlooked  and  prac- 
tically commanded  Ticonderoga.  This  was  inaccessible  to  St.  Clair's 
army  because  of  its  weakness,  and  moreover  his  army  was  too 
small  to  hold  both  Ticonderoga  and  Mount  Defiance.  General  Ar- 
nold, a  few  months  before,  had  asked  for  not  less  than  twenty  thou- 
sand men  to  hold  it.  Burgoyne  found  he  could  not  capture  Ticon- 
deroga without  fortifying  Mount  Defiance.  He  therefore,  by  means 
of  ropes  and  tackle,  hoisted  cannon  to  its  crest,  and  placed  there 
a  suflicient  force  to  command  ,the  fort  below.  The  French,  Eng- 
lish and  American  officers  had  all  regarded  Mount  Defiance  as 
inaccessible  to  heavy  artillery,  but  now  its  crest  bristled  with  Eng- 
lish guns. 

St.  Clair  and  his  officers  at  once  agreed  that  against  such  a  fortifi- 
cation even  ten  thousand  men  could  not  hold  Ticonderoga,  and  that 
his  army  must  either  retreat  or  be  captured.  The  army  retreated 
the  following  night,  going  towards  Hubbardston  and  Castleton, 
thirty  miles  away.  The  British  followed  them,  and  several  small 
engagements  ensued,  in  which  St.  Clair  lost  heavily.  But  to  fol- 
low his  forces,  Burgoyne  was  compelled  to  divide  his  army.  As 
St.  Clair  retreated,  he  blocked  the  way  with  deep  ditches,  destroyed 
bridges,  and  felled  timber,  making  pursuit  still  more  difficult.  His 
army  then  formed  a  nucleus  to  which  Generals  Gates  and  Arnold 
added  their  forces,  and  the  united  army  under  Gates  attacked  Bur- 
goyne.    Clinton's  army,  with  provisions,  was  delayed  in  its  journey 

&8 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

up  the  Hudson,  and  in  the  meantime  the  forces  under  Gates  were 
increased  by  hardy  volunteers,  so  that  in  a  few  weeks  the  entire 
army  of  Burgoyne,  waiting  for  Clinton's  tardy  relief,  was  forced  to 
surrender  at  the  battle  of  Saratoga,  though  Clinton's  army  was  less 
than  fifty  miles  away.  Creasy  has  seen  fit  to  include  this  as  one  of 
the  " Fifteen  Decisive  Battles  of  the  World." 

Reporting  the  surrender  of  Ticonderoga  and  the  retreat,  SL 
Clair  wrote  these  words:  "I  know  I  could  have  saved  my  reputa- 
tion by  sacrificing  the  army ;  but  were  I  to  do  so,  I  should  forfeit  that 
which  the  world  could  not  restore,  and  which  it  cannot  take  away  — 
the  approbation  of  my  own  conscience. ' '  On  July  14,  before  Bur- 
goyne 's  defeat,  he  wrote  to  Congress:  "I  have  the  most  sanguine 
hopes  that  the  progress  of  the  enemy  will  be  checked,  and  I  may  yet 
have  the  satisfaction  to  experience  that,  by  abandoning  a  post,  I 
have  eventually  saved  a  state."  This  proves  almost  conclusively 
that  St.  Clair  foresaw  a  brilliant  victory  over  the  English, 'and  was 
willing  to  sacrifice  himself  if,  by  so  doing,  he  could  save  his  army 
from  capture  and  thus  bring  about  the  defeat  of  Burgoyne. 

All  blame  for  the  loss  of  Ticonderoga  was  for  a  time  put  on  St. 
Clair,  who  explained  the  matter  to  Washington  and  Jay,  and  quietly 
asked  for  a  court  of  inquiry.  A  very  able  one  was  finally  granted, 
with  Major  General  Benjamin  Lincoln  as  president.  They  heard 
the  evidence  and  in  their  findings  entirely  exonerated  St.  Clair,  '  *  of 
all  and  every  charge  against  him,  with  the  highest  honor."  Then 
the  tide  turned  somewhat  in  his  favor,  for  the  people  saw  that,  as 
a  direct  result  of  his  surrender,  the  English  army  had  sustained  the 
heaviest  loss  ever  known  in  America,  this,  after  all  their  prepara- 
tions and  glowing  prospects,  and  that  the  Colonies  were  yet  intact. 
St.  Clair  was  warmly  congratulated  by  the  leading  men  of  the  na- 
tion, but  the  letter  from  Lafayette  was  perhaps  the  most  cherished 
of  all.  "I  cannot  tell  you,"  wrote  the  eminent  Frenchman,  "how 
much  my  heart  was  interested  in  anything  that  happened  to  you,  and 
how  much  I  rejoiced,  not  that  you  were  acquitted,  but  that  your  con- 
duct was  examined. ' ' 

St.  Clair  was  criticised  for  surrendering  Fort  Ticonderoga  before 
he  was  attacked.  His  only  alternative  was  to  remain,  as  General 
Greene  did  shortly  before  at  Fort  Washington,  and,  like  Greene, 

389 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

needlessly  sacrifice  his  army,  which  by  retreat  might  have  been 
saved  to  the  Colonies.  Upon  several  occasions,  had  Washington 
not  retreated  before  he  was  attacked,  his  army  would  have  been  cap- 
tured. Indeed,  one  of  Washington's  strongest  points  as  a  general 
was  his  ability  to  evade  a  contest  and  extricate  his  army,  when  there 
could  be  but  one  result  if  he  gave  battle. 

Let  us  look  further  into  St.  Clair's  reasons  for  retreating,  for  the 
facts  brought  out  by  the  court  of  inquiry  speak  very  eloquently  in 
his  favor.  Burgoyne's  army,  when  he  met  St.  Clair,  numbered 
7,863,  while  St.  Clair  had  less  than  2,200,  all  of  whom  were  ill  fed, 
poorly  armed,  and  but  half-clad.  Burgoyne  surrendered  142  heavy 
guns,  while  St.  Clair  had  less  than  100  second-rate  cannon  of  vari- 
ous sizes  and  they  were  served  by  inexperienced  men.  It  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  defend  his  retreat  in  this  age  of  general  intelligence. 
The  " United  States  Gazette,"  in  speaking  of  his  plea  before  the 
court  of  inquiry,  said :  ' '  His  defense  on  that  occasion  is  still  extant, 
and  exhibits  a  sample  of  profound  generalship.  While  the  English 
language  shall  be  admired,  it  will  continue  to  be  an  example  of  mar- 
tial eloquence."  It  is  easy  now  to  see  the  wisdom  of  St.  Clair's 
retreat,  rather  than  to  surrender  his  entire  army,  in  which  case  Bur- 
goyne's defeat  could  not  have  been  brought  about. 

After  this  he  was  with  the  army  at  Brandywine  and  Valley  Forge 
and  was  then  detailed  to  organize  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey 
troops  and  send  them  to  the  front.  When  Arnold  turned  traitor 
Washington  scarcely  knew  whom  to  trust,  but  with  implicit  confi- 
dence, he  selected  St.  Clair  to  take  charge  of  West  Point,  after  which 
he  was  placed  in  command  of  Philadelphia.  He  was  afterwards 
selected  with  Greene,  Lafayette,  Clinton,  Knox,  Stark,  etc.,  as  a 
member  of  the  most  noted  military  jury  that  ever  sat  in  this  coun- 
try—to try  the  unfortunate  Major  Andre.  They  were  selected  be- 
cause of  their  high  character  both  as  soldiers  and  civilians  and  be- 
cause they  were  educated  in  the  military  history  of  foreign  coun- 
tries. They  reported  unanimously  that  Andre  should  be  considered 
as  a  spy  and  should  suffer  death. 

In  the  closing  days  of  the  great  war,  when  the  well  wrorn  armies 
had  practically  surrounded  the  British  at  Yorktown,  St.  Clair  was 
daily  in  conference  with  Washington,  and  was  not  by  any  means 

390 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

the  least  of  those  illustrious  men  who  stood  guard  at  the  final  mo- 
ment, when  the  long  contest  was  decided  in  favor  of  the  colonies. 

St.  Clair  is  often  regarded  as  a  soldier  only,  while  in  reality  he 
was  one  of  the  statesmen  of  the  Revolutionary  period  and  united  a 
very  extensive  knowledge  of  letters,  of  history  and  of  the  classics 
with  his  military  life.  Shortly  after  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  he 
was  selected  as  a  member  of  the  Executive  Council  of  his  State,  and 
in  1785  was  elected  a  member  of  Congress.  Even  in  the  Council 
and  in  Congress,  before  party  lines  were  drawn,  he  began  to  express 
opinions  of  government  that  were  afterwards  adopted  by  the  Feder- 
alists. In  1787  he  was  elected  President  of  Congress,  the  highest  of- 
fice in  the  government,  a  position  which  can  be  compared  only  with 
that  of  President  of  the  United  States.  The  latter  position  was  cre- 
ated by  the  constitution  of  1787,  which  therefore  abolished  the  office 
of  President  of  Congress.  It  was,  however,  the  Congress  over  which 
he  presided  wTiich  provided  for  the  convention  by  which  the  present 
constitution  of  the  United  States  was  formed. 

His  prerogatives  as  governor  of  the  Northwestern  Territory 
were  very  extensive.  He  was  not  .only  the  executive  officer  of  the 
Territory,  but  the  law-giver  as  well.  He  appointed  judges,  and 
these,  in  council  with  himself,  had  the  power  to  make  laws  for  the 
government  of  the  Territory.  He  erected  counties  and  named  them, 
appointed  officers,  built  forts,  founded  and  named  towns,  and  held 
treaties  with  the  Indians.  Going  down  the  Ohio  river  in  1791,  he  ar- 
rived at  Fort  Washington,  and  around  it  organized  Hamilton  county, 
naming  it  after  the  great  constructive  statesman,  then  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury.  To  the  town  around  the  fort  he  gave  the  name  of 
Cincinnati,  after  the  society  by  that  name  consisting  of  officers  of 
the  Revolution,  of  which  he  was  president  of  the  Pennsylvania  divi- 
sion. 

His  administration  in  the  Northwestern  Territory  is  too  exten- 
sive a  subject  to  be  reviewed  in  this  brief  sketch.  Governor  Nash,  at 
the  Centennial  of  Ohio  Statehood,  said :  ' '  Our  grandest  glory  arises 
from  the  fact  that  we  have  faithfully  kept,  during  these  one  hundred 
years,  all  the  precepts  of  the  best  law  ever  formed  for  the  govern- 
ment of  mankind,  the  great  Ordinance  of  1787,  in  making  of  which 
St.  Clair  took  an  active  part. ' ' 

39i 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

In  all  ,this  new  country  he  again  encountered  hostile  Indians  who, 
having  been  driven  westward,  were  constantly  committing  depreda- 
tions on  the  Ohio  frontier.  General  Josiah  Harmar  was  accordingly 
sent  out  in  1790  to  subdue  them,  but  his  army  was  badly  defeated. 
In  1791  St.  Clair  was  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the  army, 
and  was  vested  with  a  corresponding  military  power  in  the  Terri- 
tory. An  army  of  2,000  regular  troops  was  at  his  disposal,  and  he 
had  authority  to  increase  it  as  he  saw  lit,  by  calling  out  the  militia. 
In  September,  1791,  the  army  was  assembled  at  Fort  Washington, 
now  Cincinnati.  It  was  not  by  any  means  an  ideal  army,  though 
there  were  three  regiments  of  regulars  in  the  infantry,  two  compan- 
ies in  the  artillery,  and  one  company  of  cavalry.  As  they  journeyed 
towards  the  enemy,  about  600  militia  joined  them,  though  by  St. 
Clair's  proclamation  all  should  have  been  with  them  at  Cincinnati, 
and  should  have  been  subjected  to  the  severest  discipline  and  drill. 
The  march  began  on  September  17,  and,  as  usual  in  new  countries, 
the  army  had  to  cut  roads  through  the  wilderness,  which  made  its 
progress  necessarily  slow.  On  the  Big  Miami  river  they  erected 
Fort  Hamilton,  and  some  distance  farther  on  they  erected  Fort 
Washington  and  still  later  Fort  Jefferson.  At  each  fort  a  small 
garrison  was  left,  for  they  were  nearing  the  Indian  country.  Shortly 
after  they  left  Fort  Jefferson  one  of  the  militia  regiments  deserted 
bodily.  Washington  Irving  in  his  admirable  "Life  of  Washington " 
in  referring  to  these  militia,  say :  4 '  They  were  picked  and  recruited 
from  the  worst  element  in  Ohio.  Enervated  by  debauchery,  idle- 
ness, drunkenness,  and  every  species  of  vice,  it  was  impossible,  in  so 
short  a  time,  to  fit  them  for  the  arduous  duties  of  Indian  warfare. 
They  were  without  discipline,  and  even  the  officers  were  not  accus- 
tomed to  being  under  a  commander." 

Such  men  were  useless  in  a  campaign,  yet  St.  Clair  was  forced  to 
send  the  First  Regiment  after  the  deserters,  to  prevent  their  waylay- 
ing the  belated  provisions,  which  was  their  avowed  intention,  and  of 
which  provisions  his  men  were  in  urgent  need.  His  effective  army 
yet  numbered  about  1,400,  and  they  moved  to  a  point  near  the  head- 
waters of  the  WTabash  river,  now  in  Mercer  county.  It  was  supposed 
that  the  main  body  of  the  Miami  tribe  of  Indians  was  about  twelve 
miles  from  the  encampment.    Here  they  meant  to  entrench  them- 

392 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

selves  and  build  such  fortifications  as  would  protect  them,  while 
they  awaited  the  arrival  of  the  First  Regiment  with  the  deserting 
militia.  They  encamped  late  and  weary  on  November  3rd,  and  the 
General,  with  the  engineers,  immediately  laid  out  plans  for  the 
proposed  " works  of  defense' '  which  they  were  to  erect  the  day  fol- 
lowing. 

St.  Clair  knew  that  his  army  was  not  in  proper  condition  to  meet 
the  Indians,  but  the  matter  was  urgent,  for,  emboldened  by  Har- 
mar's  defeat,  the  enemy  was  almost  daily  committing  depredations 
on  the  settlers.  He  had  learned  in  the  Revolution,  that  a  weak  army 
can  sometimes  overcome  a  strong  one,  or  by  a  desperate  effort, 
grasp  victory  from  defeat.  The  government  at  Philadelphia  had 
urged  him  to  immediate  action.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  he  could 
have  conquered  the  enemy,  with  a  reasonable  time  given  to  discip- 
line his  army,  but  winter  was  fast  approaching,  supplies  were  scarce 
and  the  sturdy  settlers  wrere  calling  for  relief.  ''The  President  urges 
you,"  wrote  the  Secretary,  "by  every  principle  that  is  sacred,  to 
stimulate  your  exertions  in  the  highest  degree  and  move  as  rapidly 
as  the  lateness  of  the  season  and  the  nature  of  the  case  will  possibly 
admit. ' '  There  was  nothing  left  for  St.  Clair  to  do  but  to  go  against 
them  at  once. 

A  short  time  before  the  break  of  day  on  November  4,  the  General 
had  a  reveille  sounded,  which  brought  all  troops  to  line  ready  for 
action.  Thus  they  watched  till  the  sun  arose,  when,  there  being  no 
sign  of  danger  reported  to  the  outposts,  the  troops  were  dismissed 
to  get  rest  and  breakfast.  But  they  had  scarcely  disbanded  wThen  a 
scattering  volley  of  rifle  shots  came  from  the  front.  The  Indians, 
having  found  the  army  in  battle  array,  had  delayed  the  attack  until 
it  broke  ranks.  At  once  the  drums  beat  and  the  officers  formed  their 
ranks  in  line.  The  Indians,  with  their  usual  cunning,  fired  first  on 
the  militia,  which  at  once  fell  back  in  confusion  on  the  regulars.  They 
were  followed  by  swarms  of  Indians  some  of  whom  ran  beyond  the, 
first  ranks  and  tomahawked  officers  and  soldiers  who  had  been  car- 
ried back  to  have  their  wounds  dressed.    The  confusion  was  terrible. 

St.  Clair  was  suffering  from  a  fever.  Irving  says:  "The  veteran 
St.  Clair,  unable  to  mount  his  horse,  was  borne  about  on  a  litter,  and 
preserved  his  coolness  in  the  midst  of  the  peril  and  disaster,  giving 

393 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

his  orders  with  judgment  and  self-possession."  By  his  own  sugges- 
tion, he  was  carried  to  a  place  where  the  firing  seemed  heaviest,  and 
when  Col.  Drake,  a  Revolutionary  officer  of  great  bravery  and  experi- 
ence, was  trying  to  overcome  the  confusion  and  hold  his  lines  steady, 
St.  Clair  directed  them  to  make  a  vehement  charge  with  bayonets. 
This  at  first  promised  good  results,  for  many  Indians,  concealed  in 
the  tall  grass,  fled  in  confusion,  but  the  soldiers  were  unable  to  over- 
take them.  They  soon  returned  seemingly  in  increased  numbers, 
and  a  second  bayonet  charge  was  followed  with  the  same  results.  The 
artillery  was  practically  of  no  use,  for  the  daring  Indians  killed  the 
men  and  horses  before  they  could  render  any  service  against  the 
scattered  and  concealed  foe.  The  regulars  fought  bravely  and  with 
much  more  system  and  effect  than  one  might  expect,  but  the  confu- 
sion spread  from  the  militia  till  it  pervaded  all  the  troops. 

Behind  trees  and  bushes  and  hidden  in  the  tall  grass,  were  appar- 
ently Indians  without  number.  With  their  bullets  came  showers  of 
arows  and  the  wounds  from  the  latter  seemed  more  painful  and  ex- 
asperating than  gun-shot  wounds.  The  soldiers  were  necessarily 
more  or  less  in  line,  and  this  seemed  only  to  aid  the  Indians  in  their 
peculiar  style  of  warfare.  The  General  did  not  require  a  letter  to 
carry  him  from  place  to  place,  except  in  the  beginning  of  the  contest. 
When  the  battle  raged  and  his  forces  began  to  wane,  the  excitement 
brought  back  his  strength  as  though  the  vigor  of  his  youth  had  been 
renewed.  Eight  balls  passed  through  his  clothes  and  hat,  one  of 
which  cut  a  lock  of  hair  from  the  side  of  his  head.  Two  horses  were 
killed  under  him  just  as  he  had  been  helped  to  mount  them.  For 
an  hour  or  more  no  horse  being  near,  he  moved  about  on  foot,  and 
surprised  all  who  saw  him  by  the  agility  he  displayed.  When  again 
well  nigh  exhausted,  he  was  placed  on  a  pack-horse,  the  only  kind 
that  could  be  procured,  and  though  he  was  scarcely  able  to  force  the 
animal  out  of  a  walk,  he  rode  him  till  the  battle  ended.  Adjutant 
General  Winthrop  Sargent,  in  a  private  diary  wrote  particularly  of 
"St.  Clair's  coolness  and  bravery  though  debilitated  by  illness." 
The  battle  lasted  for  about  four  hours  when  there  was  nothing  left 
to  do  but  to  retreat,  and  this  the  army  accomplished  but  with  the 
greatest  confusion.  Hundreds  of  soldiers  threw  away  their  arms 
and  fled  toward  the  fort. 

394 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

When  fourteen  hundred  men  fought  this  infuriated  mob  of  sav- 
ages, struggling  for  their  native  land,  it  seems  an  insult  to  Ajneri- 
can  heroism  to  have  the  event  forever  known  as  '4St.  ('lair's  De- 
feat." It  is  more  fitting  to  commemorate  their  unrivaled  bravery 
by  calling  it  the  lt  Battle  of  the  Wabash."  Though  countless  acts 
of  heroism  and  daring  courage,  which  have  challenged  the  praise 
and  admiration  of  four  generations  and  which  will  live  as  long  as 
any  war  stories  of  our  border  history,  were  performed,  yet  the 
result  was,  nevertheless  most  disastrous.  There  were  593  reported 
killed  and  214  wounded.  The  brave  general  was  among  the  last  to 
leave  the  field. 

After  the  result  of  the  battle  became  known,  a  bitter  feeling  arose 
throughout  the  Union  against  St.  Clair.  The  real  situation,  had  it 
been  understood,  as  it  is  now,  would  have  thoroughly  defended  him 
against  all  blame,  but  the  means  of  circulating  the  true  story  of  the 
battle  were  extremely  limited  and  most  people  knew  nothing  of  it 
except  the  general  result  and  the  number  of  killed  and  wounded.  At 
St.  Clair's  request  therefore  a  congressional  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  investigate  the  entire  affair  and  report  their  findings. 
The  investigation  disclosed  a  most  disgraceful  neglect  in  the  com- 
missary department  over  which  the  commander  had  no  control  and 
which  alone  wrould  have  rendered  success  almost  impossible.  It  dis- 
closed also  that  Captain  Slough  with  a  scouting  party  was  sent  out 
on  the  night  of  November  3rd  and  that  he  found  Indians  in  large 
numbers.  This  he  reported  to  General  Butler  who  said  he  would 
report  it  to  the  commander,  but  he  made  no  report  whatever.  But- 
ler, though  a  man  of  fine  ability  and  great  courage,  who  lost  his  life 
in  this  battle,  was  disgruntled  because  of  St.  Clair's  appointment. 
It  was  also  disclosed  that  St.  Clair  had  ordered  Colonel  Oldham  to 
take  four  or  five  parties  out  an  hour  before  daybreak  the  following 
morning.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  fourth  he  sent  his  adjutant 
general  to  see  if  they  had  started ;  they  had  not  and  then  came  the 
attack  of  the  savages.  The  congressional  committee  reported  as 
follows : 

*  '"The  committee  conceive  it  but  justice  to  the  commander-in-chief 
to  say  that,  in  their  opinion  the  failure  of  the  late  expedition  can  in 
no  respect  be  imputed  to  his  conduct,  either  at  any  time  before  or 

395 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

during  the  action,  but  that,  as  his  conduct  in  all  preparatory  ar- 
rangements was  marked  with  peculiar  ability  and  zeal,  so  his  con- 
duct during  the  action  furnishes  strong  testimonials  of  his  coolness 
and  integrity. ' ' 

St.  Clair  resigned  and  General  Anthony  Wayne  succeeded  him  as 
commander-in-chief  early  in  1792.  Through  Washsington  St.  Clair 
promptly  tendered  the  benefit  of  his  information  concerning  the 
army  to  his  successor,  whereupon  the  president  replied:  k4Your 
wishes  to  afford  your  successor  all  the  information  of  which  you 
are  capable,  although  unnecessary  for  any  personal  conviction,  must 
be  regarded  as  additional  evidence  of  the  goodness  of  your  heart 
and  your  attachment  to  your  country." 

Both  the  government  and  Wayne  profited  by  the  lessons  in  Indian 
warfare.  The  whole  country  had  awakened  to  the  magnitude  of  the 
undertaking.  A  well  equipped  army,  more  than  twice  as  large  as 
St.  €lair's,  was  given  to  Wayne.  This  army  he  drilled  for  over  two 
years  and  selecting  his  own  time  he  marched  over  the  roads  which 
St.  Clair  had  opened,  and  in  August,  1794,  met  the  Indians  at  Fallen 
Timbers  and  completely  overwhelmed  them. 

St.  Clair  has  been  somewhat  censured  for  not  throwing  up  breast- 
works on  the  night  of  November  3.  Breastworks  such  as  an  army 
could  throw  up  in  a  night,  would  have  been  utterly  futile  against 
savages  who  fought  like  wild  animals.  Henry  Bouquet  was.  by  far, 
the  most  successful  Indian  fighter  of  his  day  and  in  his  greatest 
contest  and  victory  at  Bushy  Run  in  1763,  he  fought  the  enemy  all 
afternoon  until  nightfall  temporarily  ended  the  battle.  He  could 
have  thrown  up  breastworks  in  the  night  as  a  protection  against  the 
enemy  in  the  more  terrible  contest  which  he  knew  would  follow  with 
the  earliest  dawn.  Such  an  idea  never  entered  his  mind.  Like 
St.  Clair,  he  knew  too  well  the  methods  of  Indian  warfare  not  to 
realize  that  such  earthworks,  though  potent  against  drilled  troops, 
would  have  been  no  protection  whatever  against  his  savage  enemy. 
Indeed,  both  commanders  must  have  known  that  breastworks  such 
as  an  army  could  have  thrown  up  in  a  night  would  have  but  aided 
the  savages  by  confining  the  troops  to  a  position  that  was  not  in  any 
way  inaccessible  to  them. 

No  intelligent  student  of  history  now  believes  that  St.  Clair  should 

396 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

have  been  expected  to  hold  Ticonderoga  against  Burgoyne's  army 
or  that  his  army  was  properly  equipped  and  drilled  to  meet  the  In- 
dians in  1791.  In  both  of  these  battles  the  highest  possible  military 
skill  was  displayed  on  the  part  of  the  commander.  In  this  connec- 
tion the  late  Mr.  James  M.  Swank  the  noted  authority  on  iron  and 
steel,  in  his  sketch  of  General  St.  Clair  as  an  early  iron  master, 
says: 

" Generals  cannot  always  win  victories  as  is  illustrated  in  the 
Battle  of  Waterloo.  In  our  own  country,  Washington  was  compelled 
to  surrender  to  the  French  and  Indians  at  Great  Meadows  and  he 
was  repatedly  defeated  during  the  Revolution.  McDowell  lost  the 
first  Bull  Run  battle,  Burnside  failed  at  Fredericksburg,  Hooker  at 
Chancellorsville,  Sherman  at  Kenesaw  Mountain,  although  all 
these  were  good  soldiers.  Grant  met  with  signal  defeat  on  the  first 
day  at  Shiloh  and  also  at  Cold  Harbor,  while  Lee  lost  the  battle  at 
Antietam  and  his  star  set  at  Gettysburg.  St.  Clair  was  not  defeated 
because  of  any  lack  of  Generalship  or  personal  bravery  in  himself. ' ' 

St.  Clair  remained  as  Governor  of  the  Northwestern  Territory  in 
all  about  fifteen  years,  and  was  removed  by  Thomas  Jefferson  in 
1802.  He  was  an  ardent  Federalist  with  unbounded  admiration  for 
the  centralized  power  doctrine  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  views  di- 
rectly antagonistic  to  the  tenets  of  Jefferson.  St.  Clair  had  also 
advocated  the  re-election  of  John  Adams,  whose  unpopular 
administration,  favoring  among  other  things,  the  deserved- 
ly obnoxious  alien  and  sedition  laws,  had  elected  Jefferson.  It  may 
have  been  unfortunate  that  so  pronounced  a  Federalist  was  ap- 
pointed to  this  position,  for  the  Western  people  were  largely  Jeff er- 
sonian,  and  were  clamoring  for  statehood  which  could  only  be  se- 
cured through  Jefferson's  friends. 

When  St.  Clair  returned  to  Pennsylvania  from  Ohio  he  settled  in 
his  old  residence  in  Logonier  Valley  and  built  Hermitage  Furnace, 
hoping  thus  to  recuperate  his  exhausted  fortune.  He  was  a  pioneer 
in  the  iron  business  in  Western  Pennsylvania  and  manufactured  pig- 
iron  and  castings  for  the  Pittsburg  market  when  the  Iron  City  was 
in  its  infancy.  A  flouring  mill  which  he  had  built  on  his  estate 
before  the  Revolution  and  which  he  gave  to  his  neighbors  for  their 
use  during  th  ewar,  was  now  in  ruins  and  he  rebuilt  it.     His  resi- 

397 


. 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

dence  "Hermitage"  was  about  a  mile  north  of  Logonier.  The  tra- 
dition is  that  Washington  sent  two  carpenters  who  came  from  Mt. 
Vernon  on  horseback  to  do  the  finer  work  on  the  residence.  This 
work  was  the  admiration  of  the  common  people  and  it  is  equal  to  the 
best  of  the  carpentering  in  the  old  colonial  houses.  The  residence  is 
all  gone  now  save  the  parlor.  The  quaintly  devised  woodwork,  the 
mantlepiece  and  wainscoting  of  the  room  remaining,  doubtless  saved 
it  from  destruction.  It  is  now  preserved  because  of  its  historic  as- 
sociations. Vying  in  stately  simplicity  of  design  and  in  rich  inte- 
rior with  the  wood  work  of  our  best  homes  of  modern  times,  it  bids 
fair  to  bear  down  to  coming  generations  one  of  the  few  splendid 
specimens  of  colonial  architecture  in  Western  Pennsylvania.  Near 
by  are  the  crumbling  ruins  of  Hermitage  Furnace. 

The  story  of  the  financial  difficulties  which  so  clouded  General  St. 
•Clair 's  later  years,  is  not  a  pleasant  one  to  contemplate.  Besides 
the  fourteen  thousand  pounds  which  came  to  him  by  marriage,  he 
was  the  owner  of  large  tracts  of  land  which  he  purchased  or  received 
from  the  Penns  and  from  the  State,  for  services  rendered.  He  also 
made  some  good  land  investments.  All  his  property  was  sold  by  the 
sheriff  to  satisfy  his  creditors,  and  the  most  lamentable  feature  of 
his  embarrassment  is,  that  his  debts  were  nearly  all  contracted  in 
the  interest  of  the  State  and  Nation,  and  should  have  been  paid  by 
them  and  not  by  St.  Clair. 

During  his  last  years  he  presented  memorials  to  the  State  Legis- 
lature and  to  Congress  asking,  not  for  charity,  but  for  a  simple 
reimbursement  of  the  moneys  he  had  expended  for  the  public,  and 
not  a  single  statement  in  any  of  them  was  ever  disbelieved  or  denied. 
In  one  of  them  he  explains  his  situation  by  saying  that,  when  he 
entered  the  Revolution,  he  could  not  leave  his  young  wife,  born  and 
reared  in  the  best  society  of  Boston,  alone  with  her  children  on  an 
unprotected  and  hostile  frontier.  This  compelled  him  to  sell  a  part 
of  his  real  estate  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  upon  some  of  which 
he  had  expended  large  amounts  of  money,  at  a  great  sacrifice.  It 
was  sold  for  two  thousand  pounds,  but  in  deferred  payments,  and 
the  purchaser  paid  him  in  depreciated  continental  currency,  so  that 
of  the  two  thouand  pounds  he  received  less  than  one  hundred.  He 
purchased  a  house  in  Pottsgrove,  near  Philadelphia,  as  a  family  res- 

398 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

idenee  while  he  was  in  the  army.  In  the  sale  of  this  he  lost  the 
half  by  the  bankruptcy  and  suicide  of  the  purchaser. 

In  a  memorial  to  the  Assembly  he  says  that,  beginning  in  1774,  he 
supplied  nearly  all  the  forts  and  blockhouses  in  Westmoreland 
county  with  arms  and  means  of  defense  at  his  own  expense.  In  the 
memorial  to  Congress  he  says  that  in  the  darkest  days  of  the  Revo- 
lution, when  Washsingt on's  soldiers  were  daily  deserting  and  the 
army  rapidly  melting  away  because  they  had  not  been  paid,  Wash- 
ington himself  applied  to  him  (St.  Clair)  to  save  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Line,  the  best  organization  in  the  army.  He  accordingly  ad- 
vanced money  for  recruiting  and  for  bounty,  and,  with  the  aid  of 
William  Butler,  the  Line  was  saved.  To  this  claim,  the  government 
actually  plead  the  statute  of  limitations. 

But  the  indebtedness  which  directly  caused  the  sale  of  his  real 
estate  was  contracted  while  he  was  Governor  of  the  Territory. 
Among  other  dutiese  which  he  performed  there,  was  to  act  as  Indian 
agent,  and  as  such  he  negotiated  several  treaties.  The  amounts 
appropriated  were  not  generally  sufficient  to  cover  the  terms  of  the 
treaty,  and,  rather  than  have  it  fail,  St.  Clair  frequently  advanced 
the  necessary  money.  In  one  treaty  alone  he  was  forced  to  expend 
sixteen  thousand  dollars,  while  but  eight  thousand  had  been  set 
aside  for  it.  When  the  army  for  the  campaign  of  1791  assembled  at 
Cincinnati,  it  was  found  that  the  appropriation  was  not  sufficient  to 
equip  it,  so  St.  Clair  gave  his  bond  to  a  wealthy  gentleman  in  Pitts- 
burgh for  the  amount  necessary,  on  the  express  promise  of  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury  that  it  would  be  repaid.  It  would  have  been 
repaid  had  Hamilton  remained  in  office.  But  the  new  administra- 
tion was  averse  to  making  good  the  amounts  expended  by  a  Feder- 
alist. There  was  a  hope  of  its  payment,  however,  while  Hamilton 
lived,  for  he,  better  than  any  other,  knew  of  the  justice  of  the  claim. 
St.  Clair,  with  no  desire  whatever  to  contest  the  validity  of  the  bond, 
confessed  a  judgment  against  his  real  estate.  The  face  of  the  bond 
with  interest  in  August,  1803,  amounted  to  $7,042.00.  Payments 
had  been  made  on  it  from  time  to  time  by  St.  Clair,  so  that,  when  his 
property  was  sold  in  1808,  it  amounted  to  $10,632.17.  The  prop- 
erty was  sold  by  the  sheriff  in  1808,  1809  and  1810,  when  the  embar- 
go had  driven  all  money  out  of  the  country,  and,  though  valued  at 

399 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

$50,000.00,  it  did  not  bring  more  than  the  debt,  interest  and  costs. 
The  residence  and  furnace  were  sold  for  $4,000,  though  the  furnace 
and  mill  alone  had  been  rented  to  James  Hamilton  and  Company  of 
Pittsburgh  for  $3,000  a  year.  The  first  sale  took  place,  as  the 
Westmoreland  court  records  show,  in  June,  1808,  and  the  last  on 
October  15th,  1810.  His  creditors  did  not  stop  with  the  sale  of  his 
real  estate,  but  also  all  his  personal  property,  save  a  few  articles  he 
selected  and  which  were  exempt  from  levy  and  sale.  Among  these 
was  one  bed  and  bedding,  a  few  books  from  his  English  library, 
embracing  his  favorite  Horace,  whose  classic  beauty  of  verse  he  had 
long  admired,  and  a  bust  of  John  Paul  Jones,  King  of  the  Seas,  pre- 
sented to  him  and  sent  by  Jones  himself  from  Paris. 

When  the  General  was  turned  out  of  house  and  home  by  these  pro- 
ceedings, he  and  his  family  moved  to  a  tract  of  land  which  his  son, 
Daniel,  owned  on  Chestnut  Ridge,  about  six  miles  from  his  former 
home.  Though  the  house  was  little  more  than  a  log  cabin,  it  was  on 
the  State  road  leading  to  the  West,  and  here  he  entertained  travel- 
ers, that  he  might  thus  earn  a  living  for  his  family.  Broken  with  the 
storms  of  more  than  three  score  years  and  ten,  saddened  by  the  mem- 
ories of  the  past,  denied  by  ingratitude  that  which  w^as  justly  due 
him  from  his  State  and  Nation,  he  quietly  awaited  the  last  roll  call. 

To  a  truly  altruistic  man  like  St.  Clair,  who  had  really  given  of  his 
abundance  with  a  profligate  hand  to  the  weak  and  destitute,  poverty, 
though  gloomy  in  its  aspect,  was  a  bright  and  shining  crown  of  glory 
which  only  added  to  his  greatness.  No  one  who  wTas  capable  of  ap- 
preciating true  worth  ever  came  in  contact  with  him,  even  in  his  last 
years,  who  did  not  recognize  at  once  the  presence  of  the  statesman, 
a  soldier  unacquainted  with  fear,  a  scholar  in  the  best  sense  of  the 
term,  and  a  patriot  pure  and  unswerving.  Eead  his  letter  to  the 
ladies  of  New  York,  who,  hearing  of  his  needs,  sent  him  a  present 
of  four  hundred  dollars  in  gold,  and  compare  it  with  our  best  Eng- 
lish letters.    We  quote  but  a  few  lines : 

1  'To  soothe  affliction  is  certainly  the  happy  and  appropriate  privi- 
lege of  the  fair  sex,  and  although  I  feel  all  I  can  feel  for  the  relief 
brought  to  myself,  their  attention  to  my  daughters  touches  me  most. 
Had  I  not  met  with  distress,  I  should  not  perhaps  have  known  their 
worth.    Though  all  their  prospects  in  life,  and  they  were  once  very 

400 


' 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

flattering,  have  been  blasted,  not  a  sigh,  not  a  murmur,  has  been  al- 
lowed to  escape  them  in  my  presence,  and  their  plans  have  been  di- 
rected to  rendering  my  reverses  less  affecting  to  me ;  and  yet  I  can 
truly  testify  that  it  is  entirely  on  their  account  that  my  situation 
ever  gave  me  a  moment's  pain." 

The  last  picture  we  have  of  St.  Clair  refers  to  a  period  three  years 
before  his  death,  when  he  was  almost  overwhelmed  with  a  mountain 
of  sorrow,  yet  there  are  few  public  men  of  our  day  who  would  not 
feel  proud  to  be  thus  described.  It  is  from  the  pen  of  Elisha  Whit- 
tlesly,  who,  with  Joshua  K.  Giddings  and  James  A.  Garfield,  repre- 
sented the  Ashtabula  District  in  Congress  fifty-six  years.  The  let- 
ter was  written  to  Senator  Richard  Broadhead,  and  is  as  follows : 

"In  1815  three  persons  and  myself  performed  a  journey  from 
Ohio  to  Connecticut  on  horseback  in  the  month  of  May.  Having  un- 
derstood that  General  St.  Clair  kept  a  small  tavern  on  the  ridge  east 
of  Greensburg,  I  proposed  that  we  stop  at  his  house  and  spend  a 
night.  He  had  no  grain  for  our  horses,  and  after  spending  an  hour 
wTith  him  in  the  most  agreeable  and  interesting  conversation  respect- 
ing his  early  knowledge  of  the  Northwestern  Territory,  we  took 
leave  of  him  with  deep  regret. 

"I  never  was  in  the  presence  of  a  man  that  caused  me  to  feel 
the  same  degree  of  veneration  and  esteem.  He  wore  a  citizen's  dress 
of  black,  of  the  Revolution;  his  hair  was  clubbed  and  powdered. 
When  we  entered  he  arose  with  dignity  and  received  us  most  cour- 
teously. His  dwelling  was  a  common  double  house  of  the  western 
country,  that  a  neighborhood  would  roll  up  in  an  afternoon.  There 
lived  the  friend  and  confident  of  Washington;  the  ex-Governor  of 
the  fairest  portion  of  creation.  It  was  in  the  neighborhood,  if  not 
in  view  of  a  large  estate  at  Ligonier  that  he  owmed  at  the  commence- 
men  of  the  Revolution,  and  which  was  sacrificed  to  promote  the  suc- 
cess of  the  Revolution.  Poverty  did  not  cause  him  to  lose  his  self- 
respect,  and  were  he  now  living,  his  personal  appearance  would  com- 
mand universal  admiration." 

St.  Clair  at  no  time  in  the  war  appeared  so  great  as  when,  under 
adverse  circumstances,  he  tried  to  save  an  army  or  prevent  its  de- 
struction. So  it  may  have  been  that,  in  the  poverty  of  his  declining 
years,  his  true  nobility  asserted" itself,  and  shone  forth  all  the  more 
brilliantly.    With  no  complaint  whatever,  he  readily  forgot  that  the 

401 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

nation  had  taken  the  best  years  of  his  life  and  most  of  his  property, 
and  now  in  want,  anothenr  generation  of  rnlers  refused  to  recom- 
pense him.  One  sentence  from  the  New  York  letter  is  the  key  to  his 
whole  life:  "It  is  entirely  on  their  account  that  my  situation  ever 
gave  me  a  moment's  pain."  He  always  forgot  himself  when  the 
rights  of  others  or  the  interests  of  the  State  were  being  considered. 
Perhaps  more  than  any  other  was  he  an  exemplar  of  the  motto  of 
the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  "Omnia  relinquit  servare  rempuhli- 
cam." 

There,  on  the  mountains,  in  a  rude  log  cabin,  lived  the  personal 
friend  and  companion  of  Washington,  Greene,  Steuben,  Lafayette, 
Hamilton,  Franklin,  Wayne,  Gates  and  Schuyler,  and  in  no  small 
degree  did  he  share  their  glory.  When  the  Revolution  closed,  he  was 
one  of  the  leading  men  of  the  nation — a  gentleman,  a  scholar,  a  sol- 
dier and  a  statesman.  His  manners  were  those  of  the  polished  so- 
ciety in  which  his  earlier  days  were  spent,  and  no  adversity  could 
change  the  unvaried  courtesy  which  was  a  part  of  his  nature.  His 
conversation  was  embellished  with  wit  and  wisdom.  Often  was  he 
seen  wandering  alone  over  the  hills  and  through  the  wilderness,  with 
his  hands  behind  his  back,  and  in  deep  thought,  like  Napoleon  on  the 
bleak  and  lonely  island  of  St.  Helena.  In  his  youth  he  has  been  de- 
scribed as  being  tall  and  graceful,  with  chestnut  brown  hair,  blue 
eyes  and  fair  complexion,  and  as  a  complete  master  of  all  the  ac- 
complishments of  the  best  society  of  the  age.  In  old  age  his  form 
was  somewhat  bowed,  but  his  square  shoulders,  his  cleanly  shaven 
face  and  dignified  address  still  remained.  His  portrait,  given  in  this 
'sketch,  is  from  a  painting  by  Charles  Wilson  Peale,  the  original 
of  which  hangs  in  Independence  Hall  in  Philadelphia. 

Never  did  the  proud  old  General  seek  pity  or  charity.  On  one  oc- 
casion he  and  William  Findley,  who  was  then  in  Congress,  were 
talking,  perhaps  concerning  measures  for  St.  Clair's  reimbursement. 
Findley  was  then  a  man  of  power  and  wealth,  while  St.  Clair  was  re- 
duced almost  to  penury.  Findley,  with  perhaps  the  kindest  of  feel- 
ings said :  i  i  General,  I  pity  your  case  and  heartily  sympathize  with 
you."  Then  the  old  warrior,  though  bent  with  the  adversities  of 
more  than  four  score  years,  proudly  drew  himself  up,  and  with 
flashing  eyes  said:  "I  am  sorry,  sir,  but  I  cannot  appreciate  your 
sympathy/ '    At  another  time  when  toasted  at  a  military  muster  by 

402 


MONUMENT  AT  GREEXSBURG.  PEXX. 
Erected  over  the  remains  of  Gen.  Arthur  St.  Clair 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

a  thoughtless  admirer,  as  ''the  brave,  but  unfortunate  St.  Clair,"  he 
was  aroused  in  an  instant  and  demanded  that  the  offender  retract 
his  words.  He  would  not  be  complimented  and  commiserated  in  a 
single  sentence;  his  achievements  in  the  service  of  England  and 
America  in  both  war  and  peace  were  deserving  of  all  glory  without 
a  compromising  word  of  pity  or  regret. 

On  August  30th,  1818,  just  a  century  ago,  while  driving  down  the 
mountain,  he  probably  sustained  a  paralytic  stroke,  for  he  fell  from 
his  wagon  and  was  found  unconscious  by  the  roadside.  Taken  to 
his  home,  he  died  the  day  following,  without  regaining  conscious- 
ness. His  body  was  interred  by  the  Masonic  fraternity  in  the  ceme- 
tery which  now  bears  his  name,  in  Greenburg.  Nineteen  days  after 
his  death,  his  wife,  the  once  accomplished  Phoebe  Bayard,  of  Bos- 
ton, who  had  willingly  accepted  the  hard  life  on  the  rude  frontier 
with  her  husband,  was  laid  to  rest  by  his  side.  In  1832  a  plain  sand- 
stone monument  was  erected  over  his  grave  by  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity, and  its  inscription  spoke  eloquently  and  truthfully  of  the 
neglect  of  the  nation.     It  is  as  follows : 

"The  earthly  remains  of  Major  General  Arthur  St.  Clair  are  de- 
posited beneath  this  humble  monument,  which  is  erected  to  supply 
the  place  of  a  nobler  one  due  from  his  country. ' ' 

But  the  sandstone  crumbled  with  the  storms  of  eighty  years,  and 
in  1913  the  Masonic  fraternity  of  the  vicinity  of  Greensburg  erected 
a  new  monument  of  the  finest  quality  of  Westerly  granite,  and,  be- 
cause of  the  symmetrical  beauty  of  the  old  one,  the  new  one  was 
made  an  exact  duplicate  of  the  old,  including  the  inscriptions. 
Thus,  while  fate,  indeed,  denied  to  him  the  victories  whcih 
he  dearly  earned  both  at  Ticonderoga  and  on  the  wooded  banks  of 
the  Wabash,  she  has  crowned  him  with  a  glorious  immortality. 

In  a  wider  sense,  however,  General  St.  Clair  has  builded  for  him- 
self by  his  life's  work,  monuments  more  enduring  than  granite. 
The  progress  of  Southwestern  Pennsylvania,  the  center  of  commer- 
cial industry,  a  section  which  he  practically  founded,  and  over  which 
he  first  spread  the  elevating  influences  of  civil  government,  is  his 
monument;  the  freedom  and  progress  of  this  nation,  to  secure 
which  he  gave  the  best  years  of  his  life,  is  his  monument;    the 

403 


GENERAL  ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR 

achievements  of  the  Middle  West,  which  he  opened  up  to  civiliza- 
tion and  education  under  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  five  great  states, 
now  teeming  with  nearly  twenty  millions  of  happy,  industrious  and 
progressive  people  is  his  monument.  Let  him  sleep,  therefore,  if 
need  be,  without  the  "nobler  monument  due  him  from  his  country," 
for  as  long  as  the  maples  wave  above  him,  their  graceful  branches 
and  yearly  strew  his  grave  with  the  golden  leaves  of  autumn ;  as 
long  as  the  flowers  bud  and  bloom  at  his  feet,  and  the  morning  songs 
of  wild  birds  fill  the  air;  as  long  as  honor,  charity,  self-sacrifice 
and  patriotism  remain  the  sweetest  of  human  virtues,  so  long  will 
the  name  of  Arthur  St.  Clair  awaken  alike  the  proudest  and  saddest 
memories  of  the  American  people. 


404 


Americans  as  Conquistadores  and  Annexationists 

Charles  W.  Super,  Athens,  Ohio 

igry-^y  HERE  never  was  a  time  in  the  history  of  the  world  when 
®T®rl  the  sentiment  called  patriotism  was  so  much  in  need  of 
fe$  !  Wjm  definition  as  at  present.  The  last  few  years  have  dem- 
"^^^8,i  onstrated  that  it  may  typify  the  highest  virtues  and  the 
lowest  vices.  We  have  seen  it  display  the  strength  of  civilization 
without  the  mercy  of  civilization.  We  have  seen  it  as  the  incarna- 
tion of  brute  force  combined  with  the  complete  negation  of  the  quali- 
ties which  primarily  distinguish  the  civilized  man  from  the  savage. 
We  have  seen  it  defy  Force,  and  pay  homage  to  it  with  fire  and 
sword,  with  lying  and  hypocrisy,  with  the  denial  of  every  claim  to 
consideration  that  one  human  being  has  the  inalienable  right  to  ex- 
pect from  another.  We  have  seen  it  entrusted  to  the  keeping  of  a 
military  caste  that  knows  neither  honor  nor  compassion,  that  spares 
neither  human  life  nor  female  virtue,  nor  the  priceless  and  irre- 
placeable treasures  which  the  world  has  respected  for  a  thousand 
years.  We  have  seen  a  powerful  league  of  nations  doing  its  utmost 
with  deliberate  malice  to  hurl  back  the  world  fifteen  centuries,  with 
resources  and  agencies  which  the  fifth  century  never  dreamed  of. 
On  the  other  hand,  we  have  witnessed  the  entry  into  the  fray  of  the 
most  powerful  nation  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  without  prospect  of 
material  gain,  but  with  the  sole  determination  to  rescue  civilization 
from  impending  ruin.  Both  these  sentiments  are  at  least  in  a  large 
measure  new  to  the  world,  but  especially  the  latter.  We  are  wit- 
nessing a  most  wonderful  display  of  the  determination  to  rescue  the 
world,  for  all  time  to  come,  from  a  people  to  wThom  might  makes 
right,  from  a  people  who  have  no  more  conscience  than  a  gorilla. 
Henceforth  when  we  hear  a  man  prate  of  his  patriotism,  we  shall 
need  to  know  whether  it  is  the  mere  refuge  of  a  scoundrel,  a  pro- 
fession of  a  narrow  sectionalism,  or  a  virtue  which,  like  charity, 

405 


AMERICANS  AS  CONQUISTADORES  AND  ANNEXATIONISTS 

though  beginning-  at  home,  sheds  its  benignant  rays  over  the  whole 
world  and  makes  it  a  better  place  to  live  in. 

The  policy  and  practice  of  conquest  or  subjugation  or  annexation 
or  incorporation,  was  not  considered  a  matter  for  discussion  among 
nations  until  about  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Previous  to 
that  date,  the  doctrine  wras  almost  universally  hold  that  the  van- 
quished have  no  rights  which  the  victors  are  bound  to  respect,  ana 
that  any  concessions  granted  to  the  former  are  a  pure  gratuity.  The 
trial  of  Warren  Hastings,  however,  revealed  the  existence  in  Eng- 
land of  an  international  conscience,  while  the  number  of  eminent 
men  who  took  part  iii  the  trial  of  the  alleged  tyrant  is  evidence  they 
represented  a  large  section  of  the  English  people.  It  is  clear  that  in 
Great  Britain,  at  least,  the  doctrine  that  the  vanquished  are  wholly 
at  the  mercy  of  the  victors  was  no  longer  unchallenged.  Not  much 
earlier,  began  the  agitation  for  the  abolition  of  slavery.  While  it  is 
true  that,  for  at  least  a  century  preceding,  small  bodies  of  Chris- 
tians had  denounced  the  holding  of  men  in  a  lifelong  bondage  against 
their  will,  they  had  not  made  much  impression  upon  the  general 
public.  The  two  movements  were  doubtless  closely  connected.  It 
should  also  be  noted  that  the  fierce  denunciations  of  the  policy  of 
the  "King's  Friends"  by  Chatham,  Burke,  and  others,  indicates 
the  rise  of  a  conviction  that  even  colonies  have  rights  which  it  is  the 
duty,  and  which  it  will  be  to  the  advantage  of  the  mother  country 
to  recognize  and  to  respect.  We  have  here,  indeed,  a  new  element, 
or,  rather,  two  new  elements,  in  political  thought.  It  may  be  that 
the  demand  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  arose  earlier  in  England  than 
elsewhere  because  there  were  in  that  country  neither  slaves  nor 
serfs.1     The  English  were  therefore  in  position  to  envisage  the  hold- 


r.  In  England,  opposition  to  every  form  of  human  bondage  began  to  manifest  itself 
with  the  rise  of  dissent  in  Protestantism.  By  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
the  mild  form  of  slavery  known  as  serfdom  had  almost  ceased  to  exist.  In  France  it 
was  abolished  by  the  Revolution.  On  the  other  hand,  in  some  parts  of  Germany  it 
perdured  until  far  into  the  nineteenth  century.  In  Prussia  it  was  abolished  in  1807;  in 
Wiirtemberg,  one  year  later;  in  Bavaria  in  1818;  and  in  Upper  Lusatia  not  before  1832. 
It  is  not  making  an  extravagant  claim  to  say  that  all  the  great  intellectual  movements 
now  recognized  as  reforms,  not  only  originated  in  England,  but  had  in  that  country 
their  most  vigorous  champions.  Among  these  were  not  only  opposition  to  slavery,  but 
agitation  for  religious  liberty,  for  trial  by  jury,  for  freedom  of  the  press,  prison  reform, 
amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  working  classes,  extension  of  the  privilege  of  voting 
ministerial  responsibilty,  and  temperance.  One  of  the  rules  John  Wesley  drew  up  for 
the  guidance  of  his  members  forbids  "drunkenness,  buying  or  selling  spirituous  liquors, 

406 


AMERICANS  AS  CONQUISTADORES  AND  ANNEXATIONISTS 

ing  of  human  beings  in  bondage  from  the  humanitarian  rather  than 
from  the  commercial  point  of  view.  The  opposition  to  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  Jamaica,  where  it  was  economically  profitable,  was  so 
strong  that  everybody  on  the  island  who  was  suspected  of  being 
guilty  of  encouraging  the  natives  to  demand  their  inalienable  rights, 
was  severely  dealt  with. 

If  the  agitation  for  the  recognition  of  human  rights  had  taken  the 
course  in  France  pointed  out  by  Voltaire,  Montesquieu  and  others, 
it  would  have  been  less  sanguinary  than  were  the  years  that  fol- 
lowed the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution.  But  largely  owing  to  the  ex- 
traordinary eloquence  of  Rousseau  as  a  writer,  many  Frenchmen 
came  to  look  upon  society  as  incorrigibly  corrupt  and  irrational,  and 
believed  it  would  have  to  be  rebuilt  from  the  foundations  after  the 
existing  structure  had  been  completely  destroyed.  The  savage  state 
was  considered  as  the  ideal  state,  and  a  return  to  savagery  as  a 
return  to  nature.  These  innovators  failed  to  recognize  the  import- 
ant fact  that  progress  is  founded  upon  experience,  and  that  every 
attempt  to  hasten  it  unduly  was  bound  to  eventuate  in  failure.  In 
truth,  one  state  is  no  more  natural  than  another.  In  Germany  there 
was  at  that  time  a  considerable  number  of  men  who  looked  upon 
the  English  constitution  as  the  best  in  existence,  but  who  also  sympa- 
thized with  the  doctrines  of  Rousseau,  the  formula  of  which  is, 
briefly,  man  is  naturally  good  until  society  corrupts  him.  Soon,  how- 
ever, many  Frenchmen  began  to  see  that  they  had  been  duped  and 
misled  by  their  enthusiasm,  and,  when  the  opportunity  occurred, 
they  threw  themselves  blindly  into  the  arms  of  the  strong  man  as  the 
only  savior  from  ruin.  Napoleon  was  not  altogether  indifferent  to 
the  force  of  a  national  spirit ;  neither  in  Italy  nor  in  Germany  did 
he  interfere  with  the  language  of  the  people,  and  only  to  a  limited 


or  drinking  them  unless  in  cases  of  extreme  necessity."  That  the  prime  minister  shall 
be  responsible  to  the  sovereign  and  not  to  the  people;  that  the  sovereign  can  spend 
money  from  the  public  treasury  and  even  engage  in  war,  is  the  last  remnant  of  mediaeval- 
ism  which  alone  perdures  in  Prussia.  It  is  a  relic  of  the  times  when  monarchs  re- 
cruited their  armies  in  the  open  market  and  treated  them  just  as  if  they  were  so  many 
cattle.  It  must  be  said  to  the  credit  of  Englishmen  and  Frenchmen  that  they  never  sold 
themselves  to  the  highest  bidder,  and  that  their  sovereigns  never  imposed  upon  them 
this  form  of  ignominy.  Although  slavery  was  not  abolished  by  parliamentary  enactment 
until  several  years  later,  the  decision  of  Lord  Mansfield  in  the  Somerset  case  in  1772, 
to  the  effect  that  slavery  could  not  exist  in  England,  was  regarded  as  having  the  force 
of  law. 

407 


AMERICANS  AS  CONQUISTADORES  AND  ANNEXATIONISTS 

extent  with  their  local  institutions.  It  was  not  until  he  undertook  to 
conquer  the  Spaniards,  and  later  the  Russians,  that  he  began  to 
realize  the  force  of  national  consciousness.  Such  a  feeling  could 
hardly  be  developed  in  countries  like  Italy  and  Germany,  which  had 
from  time  immemorial  been  divided  into  different  and  often 
hostile  camps.  It  has  long  been  the  fashion  to  characterize  the  Con- 
gress of  Vienna  as  a  wholly  reactionary  body.  This  is  hardly  just. 
That  nearly  all  of  its  members  were  decidedly  conservative  can 
not  be  denied,  but  the  result  of  its  deliberations  were  not  wholly 
negative.  It  did  not  undo  all  the  work  of  Napoleon,  though  it  did 
not  recognize  the  right  of  peoples  to  determine  their  own  political 
destiny.  It  did  not,  because  it  could  not  wholly  suppress  political 
agitation.  This  continued  particularly  vigorous  in  Great  Britain 
and  France,  but  it  was  not  extinguished  even  in  Germany  and  Italy. 
The  slavery  question  continued  to  attract  public  attention.  It  was 
mainly  through  English  influence  that  the  outrages  against  the  na- 
tives in  the  Congo  were  discontinued,  and  later  against  the  Peru- 
vians. The  cry  for  Home  Rule  in  Ireland  was  also  taken  up  anew. 
It  made  slow  progress,  because  the  situation  was  an  extremely  com- 
plicated one.  On  the  whole,  all  of  England's  outlying  possessions 
were  virtually  independent  by  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury. Even  the  government  of  India  had  so  far  commended  itself  to 
the  natives  that  it  has  remained  loyal  to  the  present  day.  The  re- 
calcitrants are  mainly  a  few  ambitious  spirits  who  are  more  inter- 
ested in  their  personal  aggrandizement  than  in  the  welfare  of  their 
countrymen. 

With  these  few  preliminaries  before  us,  it  will  be  instructive  to 
trace  the  growth  of  democracy  and  the  application  of  the  principle 
of  self-government  as  put  in  practice  by  the  government  of  the 
United  States.  Slavery  had  been  entirely  abolished  on  British  ter- 
ritory about  the  time  the  agitation  assumed  a  serious  phase  in  this 
country.  At  the  present  day  the  British  government  is  more  demo- 
cratic than  any  other  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  In  the  Strait  Set- 
tlements there  are  many  wealthy  Orientals  who  enjoy  all  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  Englishmen.  American  democracy  is  not  always 
consistent.  It  looks  more  kindly  upon  a  white  than  on  a  black  or 
yellow  man. 

408 


AMERICANS  AS  CONQUISTADORES  AND  ANNEXATIONISTS 

The  purchase  of  Louisiana  and  of  Florida  was  not  in  contraven- 
tion of  the  principles  of  democracy.  The  French  in  the  former  ter- 
ritory were  so  widely  scattered  and  had  already  become  American- 
ized to  such  an  extent  that,  except  a  small  group  in  New  Orleans, 
they  cared  little  for  France.  Under  the  new  regime  they  were  not 
denied  the  right  to  manage  their  own  affairs  in  their  own  way.  All 
the  inhabitants  had  come  to  see  that  their  interests  were  bound  up 
with  America,  rather  than  with  the  lands  beyond  the  sea.  The  free 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi  was  essential  to  their  economic  pros- 
perity, even  to  their  existence  as  a  commonwealth.  How  rapidly 
Americanization  progressed,  was  demonstrated  by  the  battle  of 
New  Orleans,  which  was  fought  and  won  largely  by  volunteers 
recruited  from  the  region  round  about.  In  Florida  there  were  few 
Spaniards  except  government  officials,  and  they  seemed  to  be  chiefly 
concerned  to  make  themselves  as  obnoxious  as  possible.  There  is 
little  doubt  that  the  entire  region  could  have  been  taken  by  force 
by  the  United  States  if  the  government  had  been  so  minded.  There 
would  probably  have  been  fought  a  few  battles  at  sea,  which  would 
have  taken  the  usual  course  of  Spanish  naval  battles.  That  the 
price  paid  was  ridiculously  low,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  ethics  of 
the  bargain.  TVhen  an  article  is  offered  for  sale,  the  buyer  has  a 
perfect  right  to  get  it  for  as  little  as  the  seller  is  willing  to  accept. 
If  he  obtains  by  purchase  what  he  could  have  taken  by  distraint,  he 
exhibits  a  regard  for  the  ethics  of  the  case  which  has  always  been 
rare  in  the  dealings  of  one  nation  with  another. 

Ever  since  our  war  with  Mexico,  there  have  been  among  us  men 
who  impugned  the  motives  that  prompted  this  country  to  take  the 
step  that  led  to  the  inevitable  consequence.  Still,  when  the  entire 
situation  is  thoroughly  canvassed,  there  is  rather  more  to  be  said 
for  than  against  the  course  pursued  by  the  United  States.  When 
the  Mexican  capital  had  been  taken  by  General  Scott,  the  entire 
republic  was  at  his  mercy.  The  natural  obstacles  which  impeded 
the  progress  of  his  little  army  were  so  formidable  that  if  the  Mexi- 
cans had  known  how  to  turn  them  to  account,  or  had  cared  to  do 
so,  it  is  doubtful  if  he  could  have  made  headway  against  them.  For, 
while  the  individual  Mexican  soldier  often  displayed  a  bravery  that 
bordered  on  recklessness,  his  leaders  were  incompetent,  and  his 

409 


AMERICANS  AS  CONQUISTADORES  AND  ANNEXATIONISTS 

sacrifices  in  vain.  Nothing  else  was  to  be  expected  under  the  tyran- 
nical and  utterly  selfish  regime  of  Santa  Ana.  These  conditions 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  merits  of  the  case,  but  they  explain  the 
comparatively  feeble  resistance,  and  the  dissatisfaction  in  the  rear. 
If  the  Mexican  people  as  a  whole,  or  even  any  considerable  portion 
of  them,  had  taken  any  interest  in  the  conflict,  the  task  of  the  invad- 
ers would  have  been  much  more  difficult.  This  truth  is  further  cor- 
roborated by  the  successful  uprising  in  Santa  Fe  and  on  the  Pacific 
coast.  It  was  the  ineradicable  incompetence  of  the  Spaniards  as 
administrators  that  led  to  the  gradual  loss  of  all  her  over-sea 
possessions.  It  would  almost  seem  as  if  the  Mexican  had  inherited 
in  a  larger  measure  that  incompetence,  than  any  of  the  other  com- 
monwealths on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  When  the  time  for  a  final 
settlement  arrived,  the  American  government  exhibited  a  gener- 
osity that  bordered  on  magnanimity.  Mexico  was  treated  as  an 
unfortunate  belligerent,  rather  than  as  a  vanquished  foe.  The  money 
she  received  immediately  and  several  years  later  for  the  Gadsden 
Purchase,  would  have  compensated  her  for  all  her  outlay.  But  it 
did  not  benefit  the  Mexican  people  in  the  least,  as  little  as  did  the 
huge  indemnity  extorted  from  France  by  Prussia  in  1871  benefit 
the  Germans. 

In  politics,  gains  that  seem  at  the  time  to  have  been  ill-gotten, 
sometimes  justify  themselves  by  the  course  of  subsequent  events. 
Such  has  been  preeminently  the  case  with  the  territory  acquired 
from  Mexico.  There  is  hardly  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  that  if,  two  or 
three  decades  after  the  incorporation  into  the  Union,  the  people  had 
been  given  the  choice  of  remaining  or  of  returning  to  their  former 
allegiance,  hardly  one  man  in  twenty  would  have  voted  for  a  change. 
Except  under  the  Diaz  regime,  the  states  south  of  the  Rio  Grande 
have  been  in  a  constant  turmoil,  while  those  to  the  north  have  been 
enjoying  comparative  peace  and  unprecedented  prosperity. 

The  forbearance  shown  by  the  government  of  the  United  States 
toward  Cuba  is  without  parallel  or  precedent  in  the  history  of  inter- 
national relations.  Affairs  in  the  distracted  island  were  a  public 
nuisance  for  decades,  and  this  government  endeavored  to  abolish 
it  by  peaceful  means.  During  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury there  were  five  vigorously  contested  insurrections.     President 

410 


AMERICANS  AS  CONQUISTADORES  AND  ANNEXATIONISTS 

Polk  expressed  American  sympathy  by  proposing  to  buy  Cuba  from 
Spain  for  one  million  dollars.  In  1858  the  Senate  increased  the 
amount  to  five  millions.  From  1868  to  the  Spanish- American  War, 
the  Cubans  were  in  a  chronic  state  of  revolt.  The  inhabitants  had 
reached  the  fixed  determination  to  throw  off  the  Spanish  yoke  at  all 
costs.  Not  only  was  the  home  government  corrupt  and  cruel,  but  it 
utterly  disregarded  the  welfare  of  the  islanders.  President  Mc- 
Kinley,  from  the  moment  of  his  inauguration,  showed  his  solicitude 
to  bring  peace  to  the  distracted  island.  In  his  first  message  to 
Congress  he  spoke  of  the  peculiar  horrors  of  war,  and  plainly  inti- 
mated that  the  time  might  come  when  this  country  could  no  longer 
stand  aloof.  He  declared,  among  other  things,  that  "if  it  shall 
hereafter  appear  to  be  a  duty  imposed  by  our  obligations  to  our- 
selves, to  civilization,  and  to  humanity,  to  intervene  with  force,  it 
shall  be  without  fault  on  our  part,  and  only  because  the  necessity 
for  such  action  will  be  so  clear  as  to  command  the  support  and 
approval  of  the  civilized  world."  Besides,  the  terribly  unsanitary 
condition  of  the  islands,  and  especially  of  Havana,  was  a  constant 
menace  to  the  health  of  the  near-lying  portions  of  the  United  States 
and  to  every  port  on  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts.  In  1876  it  was 
admitted  in  the  Spanish  Cortes  that  although  145,000  soldiers  had 
been  employed  in  the  effort  to  stamp  out  revolt,  practically  noth- 
ing had  been  accomplished.  Spain  was  determined  not  to  make  any 
concessions,  and  the  Cubans  were  equally  determined  not  to  yield 
to  force.  Here  was  an  impasse  which  could  only  be  opened  by  vig- 
orous action  on  the  part  of  the  United  States.  But  the  pledge  given 
to  the  people  of  Cuba  and  to  the  world  by  our  government,  dis- 
claimed any  intention  to  exercise  sovereignty  over  the  island  except 
for  the  pacification  thereof;  but,  even  in  case  of  interference,  it 
asserted  the  determination,  when  that  is  accomplished,  to  leave  the 
government  to  the  people  of  the  island.  No  serious  attempt  has 
been  made  to  break  this  pledge.  What  does  this  signify?  It  sig- 
nifies nothing  less  than  that  we  have  a  national  conscience,  and  that 
we  must  keep  our  pledges,  no  matter  how  much  their  keeping  will  be 
to  our  detriment  and  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  people  of  Cuba. 

The  case  of  Porto  Rico  hardly  comes  under  consideration  in  this 
connection.     It  fell  into  the  lap  of  the  United  States  like  a  ripe  apple 

411 


AMERICANS  AS  CONQUISTADORES  AND  ANNEXATIONISTS 

from  a  tree.  Her  people  did  not  seek  independence,  convinced  that 
their  welfare  would  be  best  promoted  by  annexation  to  the  Great  Re- 
public than  by  complete  independence.  Perhaps  there  would  have 
been  no  war  with  Spain  in  1898,  if  the  "Maine"  had  not  been  blown 
up.  It  is  probable  that  the  government  at  Madrid  was  not  directly 
concerned  in  that  atrocity.  But  its  course  was  so  tortuous,  so  dil- 
atory, and  so  clearly  in  line  with  Spanish  precedent,  that  this  coun- 
try would  brook  no  further  delay,  and  President  McKinley  was 
forced  into  active  hostility,  much  against  his  will,  and  before  this 
country  had  made  adequate  preparation  for  active  hostilities.  Our 
navy,  as  usual,  was  prepared,  and  virtually  decided  the  conflict. 
When  Spain  sued  for  peace,  she  received  the  same  generous  treat- 
ment that  had  been  accorded  to  Mexico  half  a  century  earlier.  Al- 
though helpless,  she  was  not  dealt  with  as  such.  She  could  not  have 
collected  a  dollar  from  the  United  States  except  by  their  consent. 

After  the  status  of  the  Philippines  had  been  determined,  that  of 
two  islands,  Cagayan  and  Sibuta,  remained  somewhat  in  doubt.  It 
was  by  no  means  clear  that  they  were  a  part  of  the  Philippine  group. 
But  after  the  commissioners  from  this  country  had  taken  a  look  at 
them,  they  decided  to  take  possession ;  and,  rather  than  quibble  or 
lay  themselves  liable  to  the  charge  of  having  acted  ungenerously, 
they  recommended  the  payment  to  Spain  of  $100,000,  notwithstand- 
ing the  fact  that  Spain  could  no  more  have  held  them  than  if  they 
had  been  situated  a  hundred  miles  from  Xew  York  harbor.  For 
the  first  time  in  their  history  the  Filipinos  were  given  a  share  in 
their  own  government.  That  virtual  independence  was  not  ac- 
corded to  them,  is  largely  due  to  the  mixed  character  of  the  inhab- 
itants. There  is  no  cohesion  among  them,  and  this  can  be  brought 
about  only  by  teaching  them  a  common  language,  and  by  a  sympa- 
thetic guidance  along  the  new  path  in  which  the}'  are  now  treading 
with  somewhat  faltering  steps.  There  is  some  reason  to  believe 
that  in  the  case  of  those  far-off  islands  the  United  States  govern- 
ment has  pursued  an  ideal  more  rapidly  than  judiciously.  The  most 
difficult  of  all  governments  to  carry  on  wisely  is  a  democracy,  and 
democracies  have  only  been  successful  after  long  experience.  In 
the  proceedings  that  resulted  in  the  virtual  annexation  of  the  Sand- 
wich Islands  this  government  employed  neither  threats  nor  vio- 

412 


AMERICANS  AS  CONQUISTADORES  AND  ANNEXATIONISTS 

lence.  It  may  be  said  furthermore  that  a  stable  government  has  the 
moral  right  to  take  measures  to  safeguard  its  own  interests,  that  lor 
the  time  may  appear  somewhat  drastic.  But  the  question  is  always 
to  be  considered  whether  a  change  in  the  government  meets  with  the 
approval  of  the  natives. 

In  this  connection,  the  case  of  Korea  is  interesting  and  instruc- 
tive. Americans  in  that  country  are  unanimous  in  the  declaration 
that  the  Koreans  are  now  enjoying  a  contentment  and  prosperity 
to  which  they  had  hitherto  been  complete  strangers.  The  course 
pursued  by  our  government  in  the  case  of  Hayti  and  San  Domingo 
was  in  accord  with  our  traditional  policy.  Instead  of  making  the 
island  a  territory,  it  sent  a  few  marines  to  restore  and  to  maintain 
order,  for  which  many  of  the  inhabitants  were  duly  grateful.  Our 
action  signified  nothing  more  than  that  every  administration  must 
fulfill  the  pledges  of  its  predecessor.  The  turbulent  island  could 
easily  have  been  annexed  without  striking  a  blow,  but  such  a  course 
was  never  seriously  considered.  It  would  have  been  wiser,  as  was 
soon  demonstrated  by  the  course  of  events,  if  the  treaty  made  by 
President  Grant  had  been  ratified.  He  rightly  discerned  the  course 
events  would  take  ere  long,  but  he  was  ahead  of  the  public  opinion 
of  his  day. 

The  purchase  of  Alaska  was  the  first  break  in  our  policy  of  the 
annexation  of  non-contiguous  territory.  The  chief  reason  why  the 
project  met  with  so  little  adverse  criticism  in  America  was  doubt- 
less owing  to  a  misconception  of  its  significance.  It  was  regarded 
rather  a  colossal  joke  than  as  a  matter  of  business.  It  was  more- 
over felt  that  it  could  not  result  in  any  serious  complications. 

The  acquisition  of  the  Danish  West  Indies  was  in  harmony  with 
our  traditional  altruistic  policy.  Our  government  paid  for  the 
islands  much  more,  very  much  more,  than  they  were  worth  to  the 
owners  and  even  to  the  United  States  except  potentially.  But  even 
after  the  purchase  had  been  formally  completed,  the  natives  were 
consulted  as  to  their  wishes  in  the  matter.  Everybody  knows  what 
Germany  would  have  done  in  the  case  unless  she  had  been  restrained 
by  a  fear  of  the  American  navy.  The  Emperor  would  have  said  to 
Denmark:  "We  will  pay  you  for  the  islands  what  we  regard  as 
their  value.    If  you  do  not  choose  to  accept  our  offer,  we  shall  take 

413 


AMERICANS  AS  CONQUISTADORES  AND  ANNEXATIONISTS 

them  by  force  and  you  will  receive  nothing/'  And  very  little  force 
would  have  been  required,  as  Denmark  was  in  no  position  to  resist 
even  a  small  part  of  the  force  which  Germany  could  have  brought 
into  action.  Our  course  in  the  matter  was  a  deed  of  unprecedented 
generosity  in  international  relations. 

To  love  one's  country  merely  because  one  happens  to  be  born  in  it, 
an  event  for  which  nobody  is  responsible,  is  a  cheap  form  of  patriot- 
ism. On  the  other  hand,  if  one  can  give  a  reason  for  the  faith  that  is 
in  him,  which  will  carry  conviction  to  foreigners,  he  has  the  support 
of  sound  logic.  Viewing  his  country  in  the  light  of  its  history,  the 
American  has  fewer  acts  to  apologize  for  than  any  other  man  on  the 
face  of  the  earth.  The  fact  that  wTe  have  always  been  conscious  of 
our  shortcomings  and  have  not  hesitated  to  admit  them,  is  a  good 
omen  for  the  future.  The  virtue  now  known  as  patriotism  is  a  senti- 
ment of  modern  or,  more  strictly,  of  recent,  origin.  Among  the  an- 
cient Greeks  it  was  racial,  not  territorial.  Every  Greek  felt  that  he 
was  superior  to  a  barbarian,  that  is,  to  a  foreigner,  by  right  of  birth 
and  by  that  alone.  In  Rome,  at  least  during  the  empire,  citizenship 
was  almost  as  often  a  matter  of  purchase  or  of  favor  as  of  birth. 
During  the  civil  wars  every  leader  claimed  to  be  fighting  for  the 
glory  of  Rome.  Horace,  although  he  had  cast  in  his  lot  with  the 
losing  side,  nevertheless  wrote.  "Dulce  et  decorum  est  pro,  patria 
mori,"  but  he  did  not  put  his  doctrine  in  practice.  After  Christian- 
ity had  become  the  dominant  religion,  all  who  professed  it  consid- 
ered themselves  superior  to  the  pagans,  no  matter  what  their  race 
or  their  nationality.  "When  Protestantism  broke  the  bond  of  a  com- 
mon faith,  the  feud  between  the  old  and  the  new  creed  often  waxed 
extremely  bitter.  When  Protestantism  broke  up  into  several  groups, 
the  question  of  allegiance  was  still  further  complicated,  and  new  an- 
imosities were  engendered.  During  the  wars  of  the  Fronde,  the 
troops  of  Conde  and  of  Turenne  followed  their  leaders  blindly  and 
fought  for  or  against  the  court.  Very  nearly  the  same  conditions 
obtain  at  present  so  far  as  religion  is  concerned.  The  maxim: 
"Theirs  not  to  reason  wiry,"  holds  good  almost  as  truly  now  as  ever. 
During  the  Thirty  Years  War,  companies  passed  from  one  side  to 
the  other,  sometimes  more  than  once.  As  the  soldiers  expected  to 
increase  their  meager  allowance  by  plunder,  they  were  a  terrible 

414 


AMERICANS  AS  CONQUISTADORES  AND  ANNEXATIONISTS 

scourge  to  civilians,  especially  to  the  peasants  who  were  most  ex- 
posed to  their  ravages.  In  this  respect  the  German  tribes  have  had, 
from  time  immemorial,  an  unsavory  reputation.  The  chief  differ- 
ence between  the  Germans  of  the  earlier  period  and  those  of  the 
present  day,  together  with  their  allies,  is  that  the  latter  plunder 
selectively,  while  the  former  plundered  indiscriminately.  Under 
Louis  XIV  the  French  armies  were  only  in  part  national.  They  con- 
tained Swiss,  Irish,  Germans,  Italians  and  others.  The  companies 
that  had  been  recruited  by  the  various  captains  were  his  property. 
To  them  the  king  allotted  a  certain  sum  of  money  for  all  purposes, 
and  he  kept  as  much  of  it  for  himself  as  he  could.  No  questions  were 
asked  about  creed  or  nationality. 

It  should  be  said  to  the  credit  of  the  Prussian  kings  that  they 
never  sold  their  troops  to  foreign  powers.  But  neither  Prussians 
nor  Germans  ever  laid  aside  their  proclivity  for  plundering.  Wil- 
helm's  troops  have  returned  to  the  practices  which  made  the  Lands- 
knecht — the  appellation  is  significant — a  terror  to  all  the  civilians  of 
Central  Europe.  They  have  exhibited  a  recrudescence  of  the  spirit 
of  their  ancestors,  and  put  it  in  practice  with  all  the  resources  of  the 
savant  and  the  encouragement  of  the  intellectuals,  including  the 
clergy.  They  have  shown  to  a  frightful  degree  that  they  are  still 
barbarians  at  heart,  although  they  have  put  on  a  thin  veneer  of  civil- 
ization. In  way  of  contrast,  it  should  be  said  to  the  credit  of  the  first 
Napoleon  that  he  always  did  all  in  his  power  to  prevent  looting  by 
the  men  under  his  command.  As  he  could  not  be  everywhere,  he  re- 
warded his  marshals  munificently,  with  the  distinct  purpose  of  re- 
moving all  temptation  to  enrich  themselves  at  the  expense  of  the 
invaded  countries.  He  did  not  wish  to  terrorize  the  natives,  because 
he  expected  to  hold  the  countries  he  had  conquered  and  to  turn  them 
to  his  profit.  On  the  contrary,  with  the  Germans  of  the  present  day, 
ruthlessness  is  a  reasoned  policy  put  in  practice  for  the  purpose  of 
breaking  down  the  power  of  resistance  of  the  enemy,  without  the 
slightest  regard  to  the  equities  of  the  case  or  to  the  recognized  prin- 
ciples of  modern  warfare.  Many  deeds  have  been  done  during  the 
present  titanic  conflict  which  would  be  incredible  were  they  not  at- 
tested by  irrefragable  testimony. 

Hitherto  it  has  been  difficult,  in  fact  impossible,  to  convince  the 

4i5 


AMERICANS  AS  CONQUISTADORES  AND  ANNEXATIONISTS 

Spanish-Americans  that  we  have  no  designs  upon  their  territory. 
However,  a  change  seems  to  have  come  over  them  in  that  respect 
within  the  last  year,  if  an  American  writer  is  correct  in  his  diagnosis 
of  public  opinion,  who  expresses  himself,  perhaps  a  little  over-en- 
thusiastically,  as  follows : 

The  thing  that  absolutely  smashed  the  old  prejudice— hatred  would 
scarcely  be  too  harsh  a  word— and  brought  the  present  evident  de- 
sire for  friendship  so  universally  seen  in  Latin- America  during 
these  days,  was  our  entrance  into  the  war.  For  once  we  have  done  a 
thing  that  Latin- America  cannot  attribute  to  our  desire  to  make  a 
dollar.  The  Monroe  doctrine,  the  liberation  of  Cuba,  the  policeing  of 
San  Domingo,  our  interference  in  Nicaragua— all  meant,  as  they 
saw  it,  "America  for  the  North  Americans."  But  now  continental 
solidarity  and  American  unity,  are  the  words  most  often  used  in 
editorial  pages  and  in  public  utterances  all  over  the  South. 

h 

When  we  feel  prompted  to  regard  all  Americans  as  little  Jack 
Homers,  and  to  congratulate  ourselves  that  we  are  not  as  other  men, 
it  comes  as  a  somewhat  rude  shock  to-  our  self-complacency  when 
we  reflect  upon  the  treatment  the  Red  Man  has  received  at  the  hands 
of  our  government.  The  singular  and  inexplicable  fact  in  our  deal- 
ings with  him  has  been,  from  the  first,  that  he  has  never  been  con- 
sidered as  an  inferior  like  the  negro.  Nobody  feels  ashamed  when 
told  that  he  has  Indian  blood  in  his  veins ;  in  fact  he  is  rather  proud 
of  it,  and  prone  to  think  himself  a  little  superior  to  those  who  are 
lacking  in  this  patent  of  nobility  which  came  to  him  without  the  ask- 
ing. Most  of  our  Indian  wars  have  been  due  to  the  aggressions  of 
white  men,  albeit,  at  his  worst,  the  Red  Man  never  displayed  what 
is  called  savagery,  to  such  a  frightful  extent  as  the  G-ermans  have 
been  doing  for  almost  four  years.  There  is  a  savagery  that  is  far 
more  frightful  than  the  kind  of  which  savages  alone  were  supposed 
to  be  capable.  Since  our  government  policy  has  been  directed  to 
helping  rather  than  hindering,  the  Red  Man  has  made  wonderful 
progress ;  hence  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  he  would  not  have 
done  equally  well  if  he  had  been  accorded  similar  treatment  three 
centuries  ago.  In  truth,  the  progress  made  by  the  Indians  and 
other  races  can  be  considered  wonderful  only  for  the  reason  that  it 
has  shown  the  falsity  of  the  popular  conception  which  denied  him 

416 


AMERICANS  AS  CONQUISTADORES  AND  ANNEXATIONISTS 

capacities  which  he  was  not  permitted  to  develop.  The  twentieth 
century  has  proved  that  the  long-cherished  belief  in  the  superiority 
or  inferiority  of  races  is  intellectual  rather  than  moral.  In  its  deal- 
ings with  natives,  our  government  has  at  all  times  been  in  a  difficult 
position,  for,  while  it  was  duty  bound  to  protect  its  citizens,  it 
could  not  control  their  activities  along  the  frontiers. 

It  is  not  fair  to  the  past  to  judge  it  by  the  highest  moral  standards 
of  the  present;  it  is  eminently  fair  to  judge  it  by  the  highest  stand- 
ard of  contemporaries.  Xo  people  have  so  little  to  apologize  for  as 
the  Americans.  Therefore  let  us  not  take  it  for  granted  that  they 
were  always  right.  Every  age  should  acknowledge  the  errors  and 
shortcomings  of  the  past,  and  endeavor  to  profit  by  them.  There 
has  been  a  constant  striving  in  both  our  federal  and  national  legis- 
latures to  achieve  the  greatest  good  of  the  largest  number.  These 
results  follow  from  the  nature  of  our  government;  it  gives  to  every 
man  a  chance  to  be  heard,  and  to  be  represented  in  the  law-making 
body.  We  are  free  from  the  absurd  assumption  that  a  man  is  fit  to 
govern  because  his  father  or  grandfather  was  believed  to  be  fit. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  man  who  is  inspired  by  the  example  of  noble 
ancestors,  and  desires  to  surpass  them  in  the  service  of  his  country- 
men, merits  commendation.  It  is  easier  to  arouse  the  spirit  of  emu- 
lation in  the  young  by  placing  before  them  the  records  of  men  who 
have  exemplified  the  highest  virtues,  than  by  the  mere  teaching  of 
abstract  principles.  It  is  inconceivable  that  the  English  speaking 
people  could  make  a  national  hero  of  such  a  man  as  Frederick  the 
second  of  Prussia."  What  a  contrast  between  his  character  and 
that  of  his  contemporary,  George  Washington,  of  whom  Lecky 
writes:  "It  was  always  known  by  his  friends,  and  it  was  soon  ac- 
knowledged by  the  whole  nation  and  by  the  English  themselves,  that, 
in  Washington,  America  had  found  a  leader  who  could  be  induced 
by  no  earthly  motive  to  tell  a  lie,  or  to  break  an  engagement,  or  to 
commit  any  dishonorable  act."     One  needs  but  to  glance  through 


2.  "I  will  now  give  up  to  you  the  knowledge  of  man.  though  at  his  expense.  Believe 
me,  he  is  always  delivered  up  to  his  passions;  vanity  is  at  the  bottom  of  all  his  thirst  for 
glory,  and  his  virtues  are  all  founded  on  his  self-interest  and  ambition.  Have  you  a 
mind  to  pass  for  a  hero?  Make  boldly  your  approaches  to  crimes.  Would  you  like  to 
be  thought  virtuous?  Learn  to  appear  artfully  what  you  are  not." — Frederick  to  his 
nephew. 

417 


AMERICANS  AS  CONQUISTADORES  AND  ANNEXATIONISTS 

the  pages  of  the  once  widely  read  Macaulay  to  find  abundant  evi- 
dence that  in  England  every  form  of  double-dealing  of  cruelty,  of 
the  disregard  of  the  rights  of  the  humblest  citizen,  was  always  con- 
demned by  a  large  portion  of  the  citizens. 

The  United  States  has  given  to  the  world  a  practical  demonstra- 
tion of  the  meaning  of  the  term  " melting-pot,' '  that  a  few  years  ago 
would  have  been  deemed  impossible.  For,  while  our  government 
can  hardly  be  said  any  longer  to  extend  the  welcoming  hand  to  all 
the  people  of  Europe,  it  kindly  receives  those  who  come,  if  they  are 
equipped  with  the  proper  qualifications  and  express  a  willingness  to 
obey  our  laws,  if  not  to  conform  at  once  to  our  customs.  How  rap- 
idly foreigners  become  Americanized  wTas  demonstrated  for  the  first 
time  during  the  Spanish-American  wTar.  The  Spanish  government 
flattered  itself  that  since  the  personnel  of  our  navy  wTas  so  largely 
composed  of  foreigners,  they  wTould  not  fight  for  their  adopted  coun- 
try. The  Spaniards  wTere  soon  disillusionized.  The  present  Ger- 
man emperor  and  his  military  advisers  made  the  same  mistake  re- 
garding the  Germans  wrho  dw^ell  among  us.  As  long  as  they  had  to 
choose  between  the  Fatherland  and  England,  they  preferred  the 
former,  misled  by  the  lying  propaganda  that  had  been  so  unblush- 
ingly  carried  on  among  us.  But  when  at  length  the  bitter  truth  was 
forced  upon  them,  and  they  realized  that  they  had  been  duped  by  a 
government  that  regards  neither  honor,  nor  justice,  nor  the  princi- 
ples held  sacred  in  every  civilized  land,  very  few  of  them  hesitated 
to  espouse  the  cause  typified  by  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  Hardly  less 
remarkable  than  the  reconstruction  and  transformation  of  the  vari- 
ous political  ideals  which  the  immigrants  brought  with  them  to  our 
shores,  has  been  the  gradual  amelioration  of  the  animosities  engen- 
dered among  peoples  professing  different  creeds  and  religions.  If 
the  framers  of  ,our  constitution  had  introduced  no  newT  principle 
into  legislation  than  complete  tolerance  in  religion,  they  w^ould  have 
earned  the  everlasting  gratitude  of  mankind. 


418 


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Chapters  in  the  History  of  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia 

By  Arthur  Went  worth  Hamilton  Eaton,  M.  A.,  D.  C.  L. 

No.  XII 

The  Halifax  Garrison  and  Social  Life  in  the  Town 

IFE  in  Halifax  among  military  officers,  and  the  relations 
between  these  and  the  civilian  population,  during  the 
long  period  that  Halifax  remained  a  popular  military 
station  garrisoned  by  Imperial  troops,  we  should  no 
doubt  find  picturesquely  illustrated  in  thousands  of  imprinted  let- 
ters and  diaries  existing  in  the  British  Empire,  if  we  could  get  at 
these.  Printed  descriptions  of  Halifax  military-social  life  are  not 
too  frequently  found,  but  some  such  descriptions,  as  we  have  before 
intimated,  certain  interesting  printed  volumes  yield. 

One  such  account  occurs  in  the  diary  of  General  William  Dyott,  a 
genial  officer  who  died  in  Staffordshire,  England,  in  May,  1847,  at 
the  advanced  age  of  almost  eighty-six.1  General  Dyott,  who  was 
born  in  Staffordshire,  on  the  17th  of  April,  1761,  stood  socially  very 
high  in  the  army,  and  his  diary  extending  over  sixty-four  of  the 
most  interesting  years  in  English  history,  from  1781  to  1845,  has 
much  of  the  piquant  charm  of  the  diary  of  the  immortal  Pepys.  In 
April,  1787,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six,  a  lieutenant  in  the  Fourth,  he 
was  ordered  with  his  regiment  from  Ireland  to  Halifax,  and  in  No- 
va Scotia  he  remained  continuously  until  December,  1792.  On  the 
22nd  of  July,  1787,  he  arrived  in  Halifax  harbour,  and  his  descrip- 
tion of  the  scenery  along  the  shores  and  of  the  town  as  he  ap- 
proached it  is  interesting  to  read.     He  says : 

"We  were  agreeably  awoke  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the 
22nd,  and  informed  that  we  were  in  the  Bay  of  Halifax,  and  should 

i.  "Dyott's  Diary,  1781-1845.  A  selection  from  the  Journal  of  William  Dyott,  some- 
time General  in  the  British  Army  and  Aide-de-Camp  to  His  Majesty,  King  George  III." 
London,  Archibald  Constable  and  Company,  Limited.     1907. 

419 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

be  at  anchor  by  ten  o'clock.  We  all  got  up  happy  in  the  idea  of 
being  released  from  seven  weeks'  confinement.  The  entrance  into 
the  harbour  of  Halifax  has  nothing  very  pleasing.  It  lies  nearly 
east  and  west.  The  west  side  is  a  rock  partly  covered  with  wood, 
and  has  at  the  extremity  a  lighthouse,  there  being  a  very  danger- 
ous reef  of  rocks  running  some  distance  into  the  sea.  The  east  side 
is  pretty  enough.  There  is  a  large  island  called  Cornwallis  Island, 
which  has  some  cultivation  and  a  good  deal  of  wood.  Near  the 
town,  and  about  the  centre  of  the  harbour,  there  is  a  small  island 
called  George's  Island,  where  the  signals  are  made  for  the  shipping, 
and  on  which  there  are  works.  It  is  very  well  situated  for  guarding 
the  harbour.  We  came  to  anchor  close  to  the  town  about  twelve 
o'clock.  I  never  was  more  rejoiced.  The  Colonel  immediately  went 
on  shore  to  wait  upon  the  Governor.  In  the  afternoon  I  dressed 
and  went  on  shore,  after  being  seven  weeks  in  filth  and  rags.  A 
clean  coat  appeared  quite  awkward  and  strange. 

4 'The  town  of  Halifax  is  prettily  enough  situated  on  a  hillside,  at 
the  top  of  which  there  is  a  citadel  and  block-house.  The  houses  are 
all  built  of  wood,  and  in  general  painted  white  or  yellow,  which  has  a 
very  pleasing  effect,  particularly  in  summer.  The  streets  extend 
from  north  to  south  along  the  side  of  the  hill,  and  are  intersected 
by  cross  streets,  extending  from  the  shore  up  the  hill  towards  the 
block-house.  The  Governor,  Parr,  and  the  commissioner  of  the  dock- 
yard, have  both  very  good  houses.  There  are  three  barracks,  which 
would  contain  from  600  to  1,000  men.  There  are  also  two  churches, 
both  very  neat  buildings  of  wood,  and  one  or  two  meeting-houses. 
There  is  a  square  in  town  called  the  Grand  Parade,  where  the  troops 
in  garrison  parade  every  evening  during  the  summer,  and  where 
all  the  belles  and  beaux  of  the  place  promenade,  and  the  bands  re- 
main to  play  as  long  as  they  walk." 

Leaving  the  ship,  young  Dyott  went,  he  says,  to  the  Parade. 

■""  The  first  person  I  saw  was  Mr.  Cartwright,  late  lieutenant  in 
the  Staffordshire  Militia.  He  was  an  ensign  in  the  60th,  acting  ad- 
jutant. We  disembarked  the  next  day,  the  23rd,  about  two  o'clock, 
and  dined  with  the  60th  regiment.  They  were  going  to  Quebec. 
We  were  not  able  to  get  into  our  barrack-rooms,  as  the  60th  did  not 
embark  till  Thursday.  However,  we  got  an  empty  room  in  the  bar- 
racks, and  four  of  us  laid  our  beds  on  the  floor,  and  enjoyed  most 
heartily  our  repose,  hard  as  it  was. 

"July  27.— We  began  our  mess.  From  the  high  price  of  pro- 
visions, beef  being  eightpence  and  mutton  sixpence  per  pound,  we 

420 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

were  obliged  to  pay  high  for  messing.  Two  dollars  a  week  and  our 
rations  equal  to  threee  shillings  and  sixpence  more.  Port  wine 
from  fifteen  to  twenty  pence  per  bottle ;   sherry  nearly  the  same. 

"August  11.— I  went  on  a  fishing  party  with  Captain  Devernet, 
of  the  artillery.  It  is  one  of  the  principal  summer  amusements  of 
this  place,  and  a  very  pleasant  one  indeed.  There  were  ten  of  us ; 
we  had  a  large  boat,  allowed  the  artillery  by  government,  and  also 
a  smaller  one  for  the  eatables.  .  .  .  We  sat  down  about  four 
o'clock,  and  of  all  the  dishes  I  ever  tasted,  I  never  met  so  exquisitely 
good  a  thing  as  the  chowder.  We  attempted  to  make  it  on  board 
ship,  but  nothing  like  this.  It  is  a  soup,  and  better  in  my  opinion 
than  turtle.  The  recipe  I  don't  exactly  know,  but  the  principal 
ingredients  are  cod,  haddock,  pork,  onions,  sea-biscuit,  butter,  and  a 
large  quantity  of  cayenne  pepper.  In  short,  the  tout  ensemble  was 
the  best  thing  I  ever  ate.  We  had  some  excellent  Madeira,  of 
which  we  drank  a  bottle  each,  and  some  very  good  lime  punch  with 
dinner. 

"August  20.— A  duel  was  fought  between  Captain  Dalrymple  of 
the  42d,  and  Lieutenant  Roberts  of  the  57th,  owing  to  the  former 
having  two  years  prior  to  the  duel  said  in  a  company  that  Mr.  Rob- 
erts  was  not  fit  for  the  Grenadiers ;  at  the  same  time  hinting  that  he 
had  sold  some  of  his  brother's  books.  Lieutenant  Roberts  at  the 
time  this  discourse  took  place  was  in  Europe,  and  not  meeting  with 
Captain  Dalrymple  till  now,  he  being  quartered  at  Cape  Breton,  had 
not  an  opportunity  of  demanding  satisfaction.  They  fired  only  one 
pistol  each,  as  Captain  Dalrymple  was  wounded  in  the  arm,  but  not 
dangerously. 

"Friday,  October  2tj.—\  dined  at  the  Commissioner's.  That  same 
day  the  fleet  from  Quebec,  under  the  command  of  Commodore  Saw- 
yer, arrived  here,  consisting  of  the  Leander,  50  guns,  Captain  Sir 
James  Barclay,  Bart.,  with  the  broad  pennant;  the  Pegasus,  28 
guns,  Captain  his  Royal  Highness  Prince  William  Henry ;  the  Re- 
source, 28  guns,  Captain  Minchin;  and  the  Wenzel  sloop,  Captain 
Wood.  On  their  passage  from  Quebec,  the  Leander  struck  on  a  rock 
in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  and  was  very  near  being  lost.  It  was 
a  most  dismal  situation,  as  all  the  Commodore's  family  were  with 
him  on  board.  They  were  obliged  to  quit  the  ship,  and  went  on 
board  his  Royal  Highness 's  ship.  When  the  Leander  came  in,  she 
was  obliged  to  be  towed  up  the  harbour  to  the  Dockyard  and  hove 
down.  Her  bottom  was  found  to  be  in  a  most  shattered  condition. 
His  Royal  Highness  was  rather  expected  in  the  evening  at  the  Com- 
missioner's, but  he  did  not  quit  his  ship.     On  his  coming  to  anchor, 

421 


CHAPTERS   IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,   NOVA  SCOTIA 

the  Brigadier-General  waited  upon  him;  he  positively  declined  any 
compliments  as  a  prince. 

"Sunday  his  Royal  Highness  dined  at  the  Commodore's;  Mon- 
day at  the  Commissioner's;  Tuesday  he  reviewed  the  regiment  at 
11  o'clock.  It  was  the  first  time  I  had  seen  him,  and  little  expected 
to  have  received  such  marks  of  his  condescension  as  I  afterward  did. 
Our  review  was  nothing  more  than  the  common  form ;  his  Royal 
Highness  expressed  much  satisfaction  at  the  appearance  of  the  men. 
After  the  review  was  over,  the  officers  were  all  presented  to  him  on 
the  Parade.  His  Royal  Highness  is  very  much  like  his  Majesty,  but 
better  looking.  He  is  about  5  foot  7  or  8  inches  high,  good  com- 
plexion and  fair  hair.  He  did  the  regiment  the  honour  to  dine  with 
them;  I  sang  several  songs,  with  which  he  was  much  entertained. 
He  dislikes  drinking  very  much,  but  that  day  he  drank  near  two  bot- 
tles of  Madeira.  When  we  broke  up  from  the  mess  he  went  to  my 
room  and  got  my  cloak  to  go  to  his  barge,  as  it  rained  a  good  deal. 
I  accompanied  him  to  the  boat  and  wished  him  a  good  night. 

"Wednesday  Morning.— I  met  him  walking  in  the  street  by  him- 
self. I  was  with  Major  Vesey,  of  the  6th  regiment.  His  Royal 
Highness  made  us  walk  with  him ;  he  took  hold  of  my  arm,  and  we 
visited  all  the  young  ladies  in  town.  During  our  walk  he  told  Vesey 
and  me  he  had  taken  the  liberty  of  sending  us  a  card  to  dine  with 
him  on  Sunday  (a  great  liberty !).  Vesey  and  I  walked  with  him  till 
he  went  on  board.  He  dined  en  famille  with  the  Commodore.  I 
dined  with  Vesey  at  O'Brien's. 

"In  the  evening  a  ball  at  the  Governor's.  We  went  about  seven; 
his  Royal  Highness  came  about  half  after,  and  almost  immediately 
began  country  dances  with  Miss  Parr,  the  Governor's  daughter.  We 
changed  partners  every  dance ;  he  danced  with  all  the  pretty  women 
in  the  room,  and  was  just  as  affable  as  any  other  man.  He  did  me 
the  honour  to  talk  a  great  deal  to  me  before  supper  during  the 
dance.  We  went  to  supper  about  twelve,  a  most  elegant  thing,  near 
sixty  people  sat  down.  We  had  scarce  began  supper  when  he  called 
out:  'Dyott,  fill  your  glass'  (before  he  asked  any  person  in  the 
room  to  drink) ;  when  I  told  his  Royal  Highness  my  glass  was  full, 
he  said,  'Dyott,  your  good  health,  and  your  family.'  Aoout  half 
an  hour  after,  he  called  out:  4 Dyott,  fill  a  bumper'— then,  'Dyott, 
here's  a  bumper  toast.'  After  supper  he  gave  five  or  six  bumper 
toasts,  and  always  called  to  me  to  see  them  filled  at  my  table.  We 
had  a  most  jolly  evening,  and  he  retired  about  two  o'clock.  The  la- 
dies all  stood  up  when  he  came  into  the  room,  and  remained  so  till 
he  sat  down. 

"Thursday  Morning.— 1  met  him  on  the  Parade.     He,   Major 

422 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

Vesey,  and  myself,  walked  about  the  town  all  morning.  He  would 
go  into  any  house  where  he  saw  a  pretty  girl,  and  was  perfectly 
acquainted  with  every  house  of  a  certain  description  in  the  town. 
He  dined  with  the  Commodore  and  Captain  of  the  Fleet  at  O'Erien's 
Tavern. 

"  Saturday.— I  met  him  at  Parade,  and  attended  him  all  the  morn- 
ing. He  dined  with  the  captain  of  the  Resource.  Vesey  dined  with 
me,  and  we  had  a  good  deal  of  company  at  the  mess,  and  got  very 
drunk. 

"Sunday  Morning.— I  met  him  after  church  at  Mrs.  Wentworth's, 
Governor  Went  worth's  lady.  He  [Mr.  Wentworth]  was  gone  up 
the  country  on  business,  as  he  is  surveyor-general  of  the  woods  of 
this  province.  Mrs.  W.  is,  I  believe,  a  lady  fonder  of  our  sex  than 
her  own,  and  his  Royal  Highness  used  to  be  there  frequently.  I  at- 
tended him  from  thence  to  his  barge ;  as  we  went  along  he  told  me 
he  would  send  his  cutter  for  me  to  any  place  I  chose,  to  come  to  din- 
ner. I  told  his  Royal  Highness  I  was  to  go  on  board  with  Captain 
Minchin  in  his  barge.  We  went  a  little  after  three,  all  in  boots,  at 
his  particular  wish  (he  dined  everywhere  in  boots  himself). 

"He  received  us  on  the  quarter-deck  with  all  possible  attention, 
and  showed  us  into  the  cabin  himself.  His  cabin  is  rather  small  and 
neatly  furnished.  The  company  at  dinner  was:  The  Governor; 
the  General;  two  of  the  captains  of  the  fleet;  Major  Vesey;  Cap- 
tain Gladstanes,  57th  regiment;  Captain  Dalrymple,  42nd;  Hodg- 
son, of  ours,  and  myself.  A  most  elegant  dinner;  I  did  not  think  it 
possible  to  have  had  anything  like  it  on  board  ship.  Two  courses, 
removes,  and  a  most  elegant  dessert.  Wines  of  all  sorts,  such  Ma- 
deira I  never  tasted.  It  had  been  twenty-eight  years  in  bottle ;  was 
sent  as  a  present  to  his  Royal  Highness  from  the  East  Indies  by 
Sir  Archibald  Campbell.  We  had  two  servants  out  of  livery,  and 
four  in  the  King's  livery.  His  Royal  Highness  sat  at  the  head  of 
the  table,  and  one  of  the  chaplains  of  the  navy  at  the  foot.  No  of- 
ficer of  his  ship,  as  it  is  a  rule  he  has  laid  down  never  to  dine  in  com- 
pany with  any  subaltern  officer  in  the  navy-  We  dined  at  half-past 
three,  and  drank  pretty  freely  till  eight,  when  we  had  coffee,  and 
after,  noyau,  etc.  He  found  out  I  had  never  been  on  board  so  large 
a  ship,  and  before  I  came  away  he  told  me  to  come  and  breakfast 
with  him  the  next  morning  at  eight  o'clock,  and  he  would  show  me  all 
over  the  ship. 

"I  went  ashore  that  evening  with  Captain  Minchin,  who  has  a 
house  in  town.  Gladstanes,  Dalrymple,  Hodgson,  and  I  supped 
with  him.  Before  I  went  there  I  met  his  Royal  Highness  and  Sir 
James  Barclay,  captain  of  the  Leander,  walking  about  the  streets. 

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CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

He  made  roe  walk  with  him  till  near  ten  o'clock,  and  some  pretty 
scenes  we  had. 

"The  next  day,  Monday,  the  5th  of  November,  he  had  fixed  to  land 
as  a  prince  of  the  blood,  to  receive  the  address  from  the  Governor 
and  Council,  to  dine  with  them,  and  to  go  to  a  ball  given  by  the 
town.  T  went  to  breakfast  with  him  at  eight,  found  the  cutter  wait- 
ing for  me  at  the  dockyard  and  a  royal  midshipman  attending.  His 
Royal  Highness  was  on  the  quarter-deck  when  T  went  on  board.  We 
immediately  went  below  to  breakfast,  which  consisted  of  tea,  coffee, 
and  all  sorts  of  cold  meat,  cold  game,  etc.,  etc.  His  Highness  break- 
fasted almost  entirely  on  cold  turkey.  His  purser  made  breakfast, 
and  his  first  lieutenant  and  two  of  the  midshipmen  (who  take  it  in 
turn)  breakfasted.     They  did  not  stay  two  minutes  after." 

When  breakfast  was  over  for  the  Prince  and  his  guest,  his  Royal 
Highness  showed  Dyott  over  the  ship,  and  then  the  young  lieuten- 
ant went  on  shore  "to  get  the  regiment  ready"  to  receive  the  prince : 

"At  two  o'clock  the  garrison  marched  down  and  lined  the  streets 
from  the  wharf  to  the  Government  House.  A  captain's  guard  with 
colours  was  formed  on  the  right  to  receive  him,  and  a  detachment  of 
artillery  with  three  field-pieces  fired  a  royal  salute  on  his  landing. 
His  Royal  Highness  left  the  Commodore's  ship  about  a  quarter  af- 
ter two  in  his  own  barge  (which  was  steered  by  an  officer).  His 
barge's  crew  most  elegantly  dressed,  and  the  handsomest  caps  I 
ever  saw— black  velvet,  and  all  except  the  coxwain's  with  a  silver 
ornament  in  front,  and  the  King's  arms  most  elegantly  cast.  The 
coxwain's  was  of  gold,  and  his  Royal  Highness  told  me  it  cost  fifty 
guineas.  As  he  was  steered  by  an  officer,  what  is  termed  the 
strokesman  wore  the  coxwain's  cap.  The  Commodore's  ship  lay 
about  half  a  mile  from  the  wharf  where  he  landed,  and  as  he 
passed  the  ships,  followed  by  the  Commodore  and  captains  of  the 
fleet  in  their  barges,  his  Royal  Highness  and  the  Commodore  each 
having  the  standard  of  England  hoisted  in  their  barge,  he  was  sa- 
luted by  each  of  them  separately,  having  their  yards  manned,  etc. 
WTien  he  came  within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  wharf,  his  barge  drop- 
ped astern,  and  the  Commodore's  and  captain's  pushed  on  and 
landed  to  receive  him  immediately  on  his  stepping  out  of  his  barge 
(the  Governor,  Council,  House  of  Assembly,  etc.,  and  all  the  great 
people  being  there  to  receive  him).  He  was  saluted  by  the  field- 
pieces  on  the  wharf,  and  proceeded  through  a  line  of  troops  to  the 
Government  House,  the  soldiers  with  presented  arms,  the  officers 
and  colours  saluting  him  as  he  passed,  and  all  the  bands  playing 
'God  save  the  King.' 

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CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

"When  he  entered  the  Government  House  he  was  saluted  by  the 
twenty-four  pounders  on  the  Citadel  Hill.  On  his  being  arrived  in 
the  levee  room,  the  different  branches  of  the  legislature  being  there 
assembled  and  all  the  officers  allowed  to  be  present,  the  Governor 
presented  the  address,  to  which  his  Royal  Highness  read  his  answer, 
and  read  it  with  more  energy  and  emphasis  than  anything  I  ever 
heard.  At  the  same  time  he  had  the  most  majestic  and  manly  ap- 
pearance I  ever  beheld. 

"Immediately  he  had  finished,  the  officers  went  out  to  change  the 
position  of  the  troops  from  the  wharf  to  the  tavern  where  he  was 
to  dine.  He  passed  up  the  line  and  was  saluted  as  before.  The 
troops  then  marched  to  their  barracks,  and  in  the  evening  tired  a 
feu  de  joie  on  the  Citadel  Hill.  At  eight  o'clock  his  Royal  High- 
ness went  to  the  ball,  where,  I  do  suppose,  there  must  have  been  near 
three  hundred  people.  The  business  much  better  conducted  than  I 
imagined  it  would.  The  supper  was  quite  a  crowd,  and  some  such 
figures  I  never  saw.  His  Royal  Highness  danced  a  good  deal.  He 
began  with  Miss  Parr,  the  Governor's  daughter.  He  did  me  the 
honour  to  converse  with  me  frequently,  and  walked  arm-in-arm 
about  the  room  for  half  an  hour.  He  retired  about  one  o  'clock  and 
appeared  much  pleased  with  the  entertainment. 

"Tuesday.— He  came  on  shore  about  twelve,  and  was  made  a 
member  of  the  Loyal  and  Friendly  Society  of  the  Blue  and  Orange, 
and  dined  w^ith  the  Society  at  our  mess-room.  All  our  officers  were 
members,  and  invited  the  Governor,  the  Commodore,  the  Commis- 
sioner, and  Major  Vesey  of  the  6th  regiment  to  meet  the  Prince.  We 
gave  him  a  very  good  dinner,  and  he  was  in  very  good  spirits.  He  is 
not  fond  of  drinking  himself,  but  has  no  objection  to  seeing  other 
people.  I  was  vice-president,  and  sung,  etc.  He  got  up  about  nine, 
and  as  he  left  the  room  he  called,  'Dyott,'  on  which  I  followed,  and 
had  the  honour  of  walking  with  him  alone  to  his  barge,  as  he  wished 
the  General  and  the  rest  a  good  night.     .     .     . 

"Wednesday.— I  met  him  in  the  street  and  walked  about  all  morn- 
ing. That  day  I  had  the  honour  to  meet  his  Royal  Highness  at  din- 
ner at  Governor  Wentworth's,  or  rather  Mrs.  Wentworth's,  the 
Governor  being  away  from  home.  Mrs.  Went  worth  is  a  most 
charming  woman,  but,  unhappily  for  her  husband,  rather  more  par- 
tial to  our  sex  than  her  own.  But  he,  poor  man,  cannot  see  her 
foibles,  and  they  live  very  happy.  I  believe  there  was  a  mutual 
passion  which  subsisted  between  his  Royal  Highness  and  her.-  She 
is  an  American,  but  lived  a  good  deal  in  England  and  with  people 

2.     Prince  William  Henry  was  almost  twenty  years  Lady  Wentworth's  junior,  he 
was  born  August  21,  1765,  the  date  of  her  birth  was  September  30,  1745. 

425 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

of  the  first  fashion.  As  I  was  pretty  intimate  in  the  house,  she 
desired  me  to  dine  there.  The  company  was,  his  Royal  Highness, 
Major  Vesey,  Captain  Grladstanes,  Hodgson  of  ours,  a  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Brindley,  the  latter  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Wentworth's,  arid  myself.  I 
never  laug'hed  so  much  in  my  life;  he  was  in  vast  spirits  and  pleas- 
anter  than  anything  I  ever  saw.  We  had  a  most  elegant  dinner 
and  coffee,  and  then  went  to  dress,  as  he  always  dines  in  boots,  and 
the  Commissioner  gave  a  ball  in  honour  of  his  Royal  Highness.  He 
dressed  at  Mrs.  Wentworth's  and  went  in  her  carriage,  but  not  with 
her,  as  the  ladies  of  Halifax  are  a  little  scrupulous  of  their  virtue, 
and-think  it  a  danger  if  they  were  to  visit  Mrs.  Went  worth.  For  my 
part  I  think  her  the  best-bred  woman  in  the  province.  I  was  obliged 
to  go  early,  as  the  Commissioner  requested  I  would  manage  the 
dancing,  etc. ;  that  is,  that  I  would  act  as  a  master  of  the  ceremonies. 
I  went  about  eight.  The  Commissioner's  house  and  the  dockyard 
was  most  beautifully  illuminated  and  made  a  tine  appearance.  His 
Royal  Highness  arrived  about  nine.  Everybody  stands  up  when  he 
enters,  and  remains  so  till  he  desires  the  mistress  of  the  house  to 
sit  down.  Soon  after  he  came  we  began  dancing.  I  forgot  to  men- 
tion that  at  Mrs.  Wentworth's  he  told  me  I  was  to  dine  with  him 
on  Friday.  He  is  very  fond  of  dancing;  we  changed  partners  every 
dance.  He  always  began,  and  generally  called  to  me  to  tell  him  a 
dance.  The  last  dance  before  supper  at  the  Governor's  and  at  the 
Commissioner's,  his  Royal  Highness,  Major  Vesey,  myself,  and  six 
very  pretty  women  danced  'Country  Bumpkin'  for  near  an  hour. 
We  went  to  supper  about  one.     .     .     . 

"Thursday  Morning.— I  met  him  in  town,  and  walked  in  the  dock- 
yard with  him  all  morning.  He  dined  that  day  with  the  57th  regi- 
ment. I  had  the  honour  of  an  invitation  to  meet  him.  We  had  an 
amazing  company;  all  the  great  people,  but  not  very  pleas- 
ant. His  Royal  Highness  retired  about  eight;  and  as  we 
went  out  he  called  me  to  accompany  him.  We  strolled  about 
the  town,  went  to  some  of  the  houses  of  a  certain  description,  and 
to  be  sure  had  some  pretty  scenes.  He  did  me  the  honour  to  say 
it  was  very  seldom  he  took  so  much  notice  of  a  subaltern.  He  said 
it  was  not  from  any  dislike  he  had  to  them,  but  that  he  was  in  a  situ- 
ation where  everybody  had  an  eye  on  him,  and  it  would  be  expected 
he  should  form  acquaintance  with  people  high  in  rank.  I  attended 
him  to  his  barge ;  he  went  aboard  about  ten. 

"Friday  Morning. — I  met  him  at  Mrs.  Wentworth's.  We  stayed 
there  more  than  an  hour.  Then  walked  the  town  till  two  o'clock,  as 
he  dined  at  three.  .  .  .  The  cutter  was  waiting  at  the  dockyard 
a  little  before  three.     The  company :     Colonel  Brownlow  of  the  57th, 

426 


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CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

who  had  arrived  from  England  the  day  before;  Major  Vesey, 
Hodgson,  Captain  Hood  of  the  navy,  and  myself.  His  Royal  High- 
ness received  us  on  the  quarter-deck,  and  we  went  to  dinner  imme- 
diately. Not  quite  so  great  a  dinner  as  before,  but  vastly  elegant. 
He  was  in  great  spirits  and  we  all  got  a  little  inebriated.  *  We  went 
ashore  about  seven  to  dress  for  a  ball  at  the  Commodore's.  He 
dressed  at  Airs.  Wentworth's.  When  we  first  came  on  shore,  he 
was  very  much  out  indeed,  shouted  and  talked  to  every  y>erson  he 
met.  I  was  rather  late  at  the  Commodore's.  The  company  not 
quite  so  numerous  as  at  the  Governor's:  the  house  not  being  large. 
We  had  a  very  pleasant  ball;  4 Country  Bumpkin.'  the  same  set,  and 
a  devilish  good  supper.  We  danced  after  supper  and  till  four 
o'clock.  He  dances  vastly  well,  and  is  very  fond  of  it.  I  never  saw 
people  so  completely  tired  as  they  all  were.  1  saw  his  Royal  High- 
ness to  his  barge  and  ran  home  as  fast  as  I  could. 

"Saturday  Morning.— We  had  a  meeting  of  the  Blue  and  Orange, 
as  his  Ro}~al  Highness  gave  a  dinner  to  the  Society  that  day  at  our 
mess-room,  and  was  chosen  Superior  of  the  Order.  He,  Major  Ve- 
sey, and  myself,  walked  about  all  morning  visiting  the  ladies,  etc. 
He  desired  to  dine  at  half -past  three.  He  took  the  chair  himself  and 
ordered  me  to  be  his  vice.  We  had  a  very  good  dinner,  and  he  sent 
wine  of  his  own;  the  very  best  claret  I  ever  tasted.  We  had  the 
Grenadiers  drawn  up  in  front  of  the  mess-room  windows  to  fire  a 
volley  in  honour  of  the  toasts.  As  soon  as  dinner  was  over  he  began. 
He  did  not  drink  himself;  he  always  drinks  Madeira.  He  took 
very  good  care  to  see  everybody  fill,  and  he  gave  twenty-three  bump- 
ers without  a  halt.  In  the  course  of  my  experience  I  never  saw  such 
fair  drinking.  When  he  had  finished  his  list  of  bumpers,  I  begged 
leave  as  vice  to  give  the  Superior,  and  recommended  it  to  the  So- 
ciety to  stand  upon  our  chairs  with  three  times  three,  taking  their 
time  from  the  vice.  I  think  it  was  the  most  laughable  sight  I  ever 
beheld,  to  see  the  Governor,  our  General,  and  the  Commodore,  all 
so  drunk  they  could  scarce  stand  on  the  floor,  hoisted  up  on  their 
chairs  with  each  a  bumper  in  his  hand;  and  the  three  times  three 
cheer  was  what  they  were  afraid  to  attempt  for  fear  of  falling.  I 
then  proposed  his  Royal  Highness  and  a  good  wind  whenever  he 
sailed  (as  he  intended  sailing  on  Monday),  with  the  same  ceremony. 
He  stood  at  the  head  of  the  table  during  both  these  toasts,  and  I 
never  saw  a  man  laugh  so  in  my  life.  When  we  had  drunk  the  last, 
the  old  Governor  desired  to  know  if  we  had  any  more,  as  he  said  if 
he  once  got  down,  he  should  never  get  up  again.  His  Royal  High- 
ness saw  we  were  all  pretty  well  done,  and  he  walked  off*.  There 
were  just  twenty  dined  and  we  drank  sixty-three  bottles  of  wine. 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

1  t  When  he  went  out  he  called  ine  and  told  me  he  would  go  to  my 
room  and  have  some  tea.  The  General,  Colonel  Brownlow,  and  my- 
self were  at  tea.  The  General  and  Colonel  as  drunk  as  two  drum- 
mers. I  was  tolerably  well  myself,  and  knew  what  1  was  about 
perfectly.  He  laughed  at  them  very  much.  After  tea  we  left 
them  in  my  room  and  went  on  a  cruise,  as  he  calls  it,  till  eleven, 
when  he  went  on  board.  I  don't  recollect  ever  to  have  spent  so 
pleasant  a  day.  His  Royal  Highness,  whenever  any  j>erson  did  not 
fill  a  bumper,  always  called  out,  M  see  some  of  God  Almighty 's  day- 
light in  that  glass,  Sir ;  vanish  it. ' 

"Monday  Morning.— At  seven  o'clock  his  Royal  Highness  sailed. 
I  got  up  to  take  a  last  view  of  his  ship  as  she  went  out,  and  as  a 
tribute  of  respect  to  his  Royal  Highness,  from  whom  I  had  received 
such  flattering  marks  of  condescension.  I  think  I  never  spent  a 
time  so  joyously  in  my  life ;  and  very  sorry  when  he  left  us. ' ,3 

"New  Years  Day,  January  ly  1788.— I  dined  at  Mr.  Brindley's, 
brother-in-law  to  Mrs.  Wentworth.  The  same  party  as  on  Christ- 
mas Day  at  Governor  Wentworth 's.  I  cannot  say  I  was  in  very 
good  spirits.  Was  asked  to  dine  the  next  day  at  Mr.  Townsend's 
and  at  the  Commissioner's,  but  as  it  was  the  day  on  which  I  lost 
my  dear  father,  I  refused  them  both  and  did  not  leave  the  barracks 
all  day." 

In  contrast  to  all  this  dining  and  wining  and  exuberant  general 
gayety,  with  a  little  scandal  casually  thrown  in,  is  the  account  the 
young  lieutenant  gives  of  the  death  and  funeral  of  a  daughter  of  the 
Admiral  then  on  the  Station: 


3.  Prince  William  Henry,  Duke  of  Clarence,  third  son  of  George  3rd.  and  Queen 
Charlotte  Sophia,  was  born  in  Buckingham  Palace,  August  21,  1765.  He  was  therefore  a 
little  over  twenty-two  when  he  first  reached  Halifax.  On  this  visit,  which  lasted  from 
October  26  to  November  13,  1787.  he  was  captain  of  the  Pegasus.  His  second  visit  last- 
ed from  August  17,  1788,  until  late  in  November,  1788.  This  time  he  came  in  the  An- 
dromeda. The  whole  fleet  was  under  command  of  Commodore  Herbert  Sawyer,  who  be- 
came an  admiral  in  1795. 

The  Duke  of  Clarence  succeeded  to  the  throne  as  William  IV  on  the  death  of  his 
brother,  George  IV,  on  the  26th  of  June,  1830.  Many  times  during  his  reign  General 
Dyott  was  at  court  and  the  King  was  always  gracious  to  him,  usually  asking  him  what 
the  difference  in  their  ages  was,  and  how  long  they  had  been  acquainted.  But  Dyott  was 
disappointed  that  the  King  did  nothing  to  advance  him,  and  his  references  to  his  old 
companion  at  Halifax  are  sometimes  tinged  slightly  with  acrimony.  On  the  accession  ot 
William  he  writes :  "Having  in  younger  days  seen  much  of  King  William  the  Fourth 
and  partaken  of  several  weeks  familiar  intercourse  as  far  as  Prince  and  subject  was  al- 
lowable, I  have  little  hesitation  in  arguing  that  William's  will  not  be  a  reign  in  which 
any  great  benefits  are  likely  to  accrue  to  the  nation  from  kingly  exertion.  He  has 
neither  consistency,  firmness,  nor  discretion.  I  hope  I  may  be  mistaken.  .  .  .  His 
present  Majesty  three  and  forty  years  ago  has  more  than  once  said  to  me  'I  shall  be 
glad  if  I  can  ever  be  of  any  service  to  you.'  Prince's  promises  are  not  permanent 
proofs."    Dyott's  Diary,  vol.  2,  p.  82. 

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CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

"On  the  30th  of  January  [1788],  poor  Miss  S.  Sawyer,  daughter 
to  the  Admiral,  died,  universally  regretted  by  all  ranks  as  a  most 

amiable,  good,  deserving  young  woman.  She  had  had  a  swelling 
in  her  arm  for  some  months.  The  faculty  agreed  it  should  be 
opened,  which  was  done  accordingly.  It  continued  in  that  state,  not 
healing  or  mending,  for  near  two  months.  That  at  length  brought 
on  a  fever,  of  which  she  languished  for  twenty-one  days.  I  was 
much  hurt,  knowing  her  to  be  so  good  a  creature.  She  was  only 
eighteen  years  of  age,  and  a  very  handsome,  fine  woman.  I  was  de- 
sired to  attend  her  funeral  as  a  bearer.  I  cannot  say  I  ever  felt 
more  in  my  life  than  on  the  occasion,  when  I  reflected  that  about 
three  months  before  I  was  dancing  with  her,  and  that  now  I  was  at- 
tending her  to  her  grave.  It  really  made  me  as  melancholy  as  any- 
thing I  ever  experienced.  The  funeral  was  a  handsome  one,  as 
follows : 

4 'At  the  head  of  the  procession  were  the  Bishop  and  Rector;  then 
the  body  with  eight  bearers.  That  is,  on  the  right  side,  Lieutenant 
Nicholson,  5/th  regiment;  Captain  Gladstanes,  ditto;  Lieutenant 
Lawford,  R.  N. ;  Captain  Sir  James  Barclay,  ditto ;  on  the  left  side 
Lieutenant  Dyott,  4th;  Captain  Hodgson,  ditto;  Lieutenant 
d 'Acres,  R.  N. ;  Captain  Hood,  ditto.  The  under  bearers  were  the 
Admiral's  barge  crew  in  white  trousers,  white  shirts,  with  a  piece 
of  love  ribbon  tied  round  the  left  arm,  black  velvet  caps  and  white 
ribbons  tied  round  them.  The  coffin  covered  with  white  cloth  hand- 
somelv  ornamented.  On  a  silver  plate,  'Sophia  Sawver.  Born 
10th  March  70.     Died  31st  Jan.  '88.' 

"After  the  body,  Mr.  d 'Acres,  secretary  to  the  Admiral  as  chief 
mourner;  next  the  nurse  and  Miss  Sawyer's  maid  in  deep  mourn- 
ing and  white  hoods.  The  bearers  had  on  full  uniform ;  white  hat- 
bands and  scarves,  black  sword-knots,  cockades,  and  crape  round  the 
left  arm.  After  the  two  women  followed  Colonel  Brownlow,  57th, 
and  Captain  Minchin,  R.  N.,  General  Ogilvie,  and  the  Commissioner, 
and  the  Governor  by  himself.  All  with  white  hat-bands  and  scarves. 
There  were  also  three  or  four  of  the  family,  and  some  officers  be- 
longing to  the  Admiral's  ship,  with  hat-bands  and  scarves.  After 
them  followed  almost  all  the  officers  belonging  to  the  fleet ;  many  of 
the  garrison;  all  the  people  in  town  that  were  acquainted  with  the 
Admiral ;  and  to  close  up  the  whole,  a  long  string  of  empty  carriages. 
"As  we  entered  the  church  [St.  Paul's],  which  is  a  full  mile 
from  the  Admiralty,  the  organ  began  a  most  solemn  dirge,  which 
continued  near  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  The  service  was  then  per- 
formed, and  I  think  in  my  life  I  never  saw  so  much  grief  as  through- 
out the  whole  congregation.     I  must  own  I  have  never  shed  so  many 

429 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

tears  since  I  left  school.  I  believe  sorrow  was  never  more  universal 
than  on  the  occasion.  It  was  a  very  cold  day,  and  walking  so  slow 
in  silk  stockings  and  thin  shoes,  I  was  almost  perished. 

'  'The  following-  Sunday,  all  the  people  who  had  been  invited  to 
the  funeral  attended  Church,  as  the  Bishop  was  to  preach  an  occa- 
sional sermon.  His  text  was  most  admirably  adapted  from  the 
Thessalonians,  and  his  discourse  the  most  affecting  I  ever  heard. 
He  frequently  pointed  to  her  grave  and  admonished  the  younger 
part  of  his  hearers,  and  more  particularly  those  who  had  attended 
the  interment,  to  prepare  to  meet  death,  not  knowing  how  soon  they 
might  be  cut  off.  On  the  whole  it  was  a  most  admirable  sermon, 
and  called  up  the  passions  more  forciblv  than  anything  I  ever 
heard. " 

Unfortunately  for  the  morals  of  both  the  military  and  civilian 
population  of  Halifax,  in  August,  1788,  the  future  King  of  Eng- 
land unexpectedly  returned,  for  another  and  longer  visit.  Lieuten- 
ant Dyott 's  diary  therefore  for  over  three  months  describes  din- 
ners, with  excessive  wine-drinking,  balls,  suppers,  visits  at  Mrs. 
Wentworth's,  and  public  reviews  of  the  troops  and  other  spectacu- 
lar events  that  give  glowing  colour  to  his  chronicle,  but  that  do  not 
bespeak  for  the  town  the  highest  degree  of  seriousness  or  morality. 
On  a  certain  Friday  his  Royal  Highness  dined  at  the  Chief  Justice's, 
and  how  it  was  the  lieutenant  "does  not  know,"  but  the  sailor  prince 
set  to  immediately  ^fter  dinner,  "and  I  never  saw,"  says  Dyott, 
"a  man  get  so  completely  drunk.  He  desired  the  General  to  order 
the  whole  garrison  up  to  Citadel  Hill,  to  fire  a  feu  de  joie,  but  his 
Highness  was  not  able  to  attend  to  it,  as  he  was  obliged  to  go  to  bed 
at  Pemberton's,  where  he  slept  for  three  hours,  and  then  went  to 
his  ship."  "I  believe  I  shall  never  spend  three  months  in  that  way 
again,  for  such  a  time  of  dissipation,  etc.,  etc.,  I  cannot  suppose 
possible  to  happen,"  reflects  the  diarist  on  the  Prince's  departure, 
yet,  "I  must  own,"  he  says,  "I  thought  it  time  as  agreeably  em- 
ployed as  I  ever  experienced,  and  to  be  sure  the  company  of  a  Prince 
added  not  a  little  to  the  joyous  hours." 

In  the  biography  of  another  young  officer  of  the  garrison  at  a 
period  some  sixty  years  later  than  that  of  Dyott 's  diary,  the  biog- 

430 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

raphy  of  Captain  Hedley  Vicars,4  we  are  glad  to  bo  introduced  to  a 
far  different  phase  of  Halifax  garrison  life  from  that  portrayed  by 
General  Dyott.  In  the  summer  of  1851,  Hedley  Vicars,  then  a  lieu- 
tenant, and  in  his  twenty-fifth  year,  came  from  Jamaica  to  Hali- 
fax with  his  regiment,  the  97th  foot,  For  a  very  short  time  he  was 
sent  probably  to  Quebec,  but  soon  his  regiment  was  transferred  to 
the  Halifax  garrison.  In  Halifax  Vicars  remained  until  May,  1853, 
and  in  that  time  he  developed  a  spiritual  faith  and  consecration  to 
true  religion  that  give  him  a  high  place  in  the  ranks  of  fervent  dis- 
ciples of  Christ  the  ages  along.  Naturally  conscientious,  and  with 
strong  religious  tendencies,  soon  after  he  reached  Halifax,  it  would 
seem,  he  had  a  profound  conversion.  "It  was  in  the  month  of  No- 
vember, 1851,"  says  his  biographer,  "that  while  awaiting  the  return 
of  a  brother  officer  to  his  room,  he  idly  turned  over  the  leaves  of 
a  Bible  which  lay  on  the  table.  The  words  caught  his  eye,  'The 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ  his  Son  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin.'  Closing 
the  book,  he  said,  'If  this  be  true  for  me,  henceforth  I  will  live,  by 
the  grace  of  God,  as  a  man  should  live  who  has  been  washed  in  the 
blood  of  Jesus  Christ. '  This  new  spirit  of  consecration  he  retained 
uninterruptedly  to  the  end  of  his  brief  career,  which  sadly  termi- 
nated in  the  camp  before  Sebastopol,  in  the  war  of  the  Crimea,  on 
the  night  of  the  22d  of  March,  1855." 

During  six  or  seven  months  after  his  resolve,  he  had  to  encounter, 
says  his  biographer,  no  slight  opposition  from  fellow  officers,  in  the 
mess.  A  few,  however,  were  also  "walking  with  God,"  and  they 
and  he  had  many  times  of  delightful  Christian  intercourse.  The 
chaplain  of  the  garrison  at  that  time  (and  until  his  death  in  1860) 
was  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Thomas  Twining,  one  of  the  most  devoted 
Christian  ministers  Halifax  has  ever  known,  and  in  him  Hedley  Vic- 
ars and  his  religious  fellow  officers  found  a  warm  sympathizer  and 
friend.5     "Under  so  deep  an  obligation  did  Vicars  consider  himself 


4.  Hedley  Shafto  Johnstone  Vicars  was  born  in  the  Mauritius,  on  the  7th  of  De- 
cember, 1826,  his  father  being  an  officer  there  in  the  Royal  Engineers.  His  hrst  com- 
mission he  obtained  in  1843,  his  captaincy  he  reached  after  he  left  Halifax,  in  1854.  He 
died  of  wounds  at  the  Crimea  on  the  226.  of  March,  1855.  His  biography,  one  of  the 
most  touching  religious  biographies  known  to  evangelical  religious  literature,  was  writ- 
ten by  Catherine  M.  Marsh,  and  published  by  Robert  Carter  and  Brothers  of  New 
York  in  1859  (2d  edition  1861),  pp.  300.  See  also  the  "Dicctionary  of  National  Biog- 
raphy." 

5.  A  brief  sketch  of  the  Rev.  John  Thomas  Twining.  D.  D.,  will  be  found  in  Eaton's 
"History  of  King's  County,  Nova  Scotia,"  p.  851. 

431 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 

to  Dr.  Twining,  that  he  frequently  referred  to  him  as  his  spiritual 
father;  and  to  his  spiritual  preaching  and  teaching,  and  blessed 
example  of  'walking  with  God/  may  doubtless  be  traced,  under  the 
mighty  working  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  those  clear  and  happy  views  of 
religion,  and  that  consistency  and  holiness  of  life,  which  succeeded 
his  conversion.7'  Dr.  Twining  held  Bible  classes  tor  the  officers 
and  men  of  the  regiments,  and  at  these  Vicars  was  always  present. 
On  his  part,  the  young  soldier  taught  in  the  garrison  Sunday  School, 
visited  the  sick,  and  took  every  opportunity  to  read  the  Scriptures 
and  pray  with  the  men  of  his  regiment  singly.  Of  three  of  these, 
wrote  one  of  his  fellow  officers,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Ingraham,  "he 
could  soon  say  confidently  that  they  had  followed  him  in  turning  to 
God.  At  the  same  time  he  was  also  the  means  of  awakening  some  of 
his  brother  officers  to  make  the  earnest  inquiry,  kWhat  must  I  do 
to  be  saved  V  .  .  .  The  name  of  Jesus  was  ever  on  his  lips  and 
in  his  heart.  Much  grace  was  given  him  to  confess  Jesus  boldly  be- 
fore others ;  and  when  he  was  adjutant,  his  example  and  his  rebukes 
to  the  men  for  swearing  carried  great  weight,  and  showed  his  zeal 
for  the  honour  of  God."  In  a  touching  letter  to  Captain  Vicars' 
sister,  Lady  Rayleigh,  written  on  the  21st  of  May,  1855,  two  months 
after  (Vicars '  death.  Dr.  Twining  says  of  his  friend : 

*' His  was  a  lovely  character;  it  was  impossible  to  know  him  and 
not  love  him;  every  creature  about  my  house  did  love  him.  He  had 
to  suffer  a  fiery  persecution  from  some  of  the  officers  of  his  regi- 
ment. The  Lord  saw  that  it  was  best,  and  made  it  a  means  of 
strengthening  and  confirming  him  in  the  faith.  You  know,  my  dear 
madam,  that  a  certain  degree  of  religion  is  considered  by  the  world 
to  be  decorous  and  proper,  but  there  is  nothing  so  much  dreaded  as 
being  '  righteous  over  much/  It  is  quite  impossible  for  a  Christum 
to  comply  with  the  maxims  and  customs  of  a  world  which  'lieth  in 
wickedness;7  but  my  beloved  friend  was  strengthened  to  bear  a  con- 
sistent testimony  to' the  truth,  to  take  up  his  cross  and  follow  Jesus. 
He  took  part  in  all  efforts  amongst  us  in  the  Redeemer's  cause  to 
win  souls  to  Him.  For  example,  the  Naval  and  Military  Bible  So- 
ciety, City  Missions  on  the  plan  of  those  at  home,  and  a  Society  for 
giving  the  Scriptures  in  their  own  language  to  the  Mic-mac  Indians 
—the  aborigines  of  this  country.  Of  these  Societies  he  was  a  mem- 
ber, and  his  memory  is  now  warmly  cherished  by  those  with  whom 

432 


CHAPTERS  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  HALIFAX,  NOVA  SCOTIA 


he  was  a  fellow  labourer  in  these  causes.     But  he  rests  from  hit 
labours,  his  emancipated  spirit  is  with  its  (Jod."" 


6.  Captain  Hedley  Vicars'  devoted  life  in  Halifax  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  tra- 
ditions Halifax  keeps.  Early  in  1918  died  in  Halifax,  at  an  advanced  age.  probably  the 
last  person  who  remembered  and  had  been  influenced  by  Captain  Vicars.  Thi^  was  Mr. 
Stuart  Tremaine.  The  fact  of  Mr.  Tremaine's  friendship  with  Captain  Vicars  was  al- 
luded to  by  Ven.  Archdeacon  Armitage  at  the  time  of  Tremaine's  funeral. 


l^iM&Wgglg*^ 


433 


• '  i 


Moses  Greeley  Parker,  M.  D. 


^P^P^IIJ  ARKER  is  an  ancient  English  family  name  derived  from 
the  occupation  of  the  progenitors  who  first  used  it  as  a 
surname,  as  park  keeper,  and  the  forms  Parens  and  De 
Parco  are  found  in  the  Domesday  Book,  the  eleventh 
century.  It  is  unlikely  that  the  numerous  English  families  have  the 
same  original  ancestor.  Geoffrey  Parker,  for  instance,  was  in  Eng- 
land before  the  year  925,  probably  a  Saxon,  while  Johannes  Le 
Parker,  a  Norman,  came  with  William  the  Conqueror,  and  was 
a  keeper  of  the  royal  parks. 

Arms.— Gules,  on  a  chevron  between  three  keys  erect  argent,  as 
many  fleurs-de-lis  of  the  field. 

Crest.— An  elephant's  head  couped  argent,  collared  gules,  charged 
with  three  fleurs-de-lis  or. 

Motto.— Secundis  dubiisque  rectus  (Upright  both  in  prosperity 
and  in  perils). 

There  were  no  less  than  twenty-five  immigrants  named  Parker  in 
the  State  of  Massachusetts  alone,  before  1650.  It  is  not  likely  that 
they  were  all  closely  related,  but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the 
Parkers  of  Reading,  Woburn,  Chelmsford,  and  Groton,  were  broth- 
ers or  very  near  relatives.  Abraham  Parker  lived  in  Woburn,  and 
in  Chelmsford,  Massachusetts. 

Deacon  Thomas  Parker,  who  was  born  in  England,  embarked  for 
America  on  March  11th,  1635,  in  the  ship  ' '  Susan  and  Ellen, ' '  which 
was  fitted  out  by  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  with  whose  family  a  tra- 
dition connects  the  Parkers  by  marriage.  He  settled  in  Lynn  Vil- 
lage, later  called  Reading,  where  he  lived  in  the  eastern  part,  on  the 
old  Parker  homestead  where  Deacon  Parker,  the  immigrant  ances- 
tor, died,  and  where  Deacon  Parker,  the  last  of  his  family  to  occupy 
it,  passed  away  in  1822.  He  was  an  active  and  prominent  citizen,  a 
man  of  ability  and  property.  He  was  appointed  a  commissioner  to 
try  small  causes  in  1636,  and  admitted  a  freeman  in  1637.     The 

434       ' 


■ 


MOSES   GREELEY   PARKER,   M.    D. 

Parker  genealogy  locates  his  residence  within  thirty  rods  of  the 
present  town  hall  of  Wakefield,  Massachusetts,  formerly  the  south 
parish  of  Reading.  Deacon  Thomas  Parker  became  a  deacon  of  th« 
Reading  church,  selectman  in  1661,  and  continued  in  that  capacity 
for  five  years.  He  was  thirty  years  of  age  when  he  left  his  nativa 
country,  England,  and  was  seventy-eight  years  old  when  he  died. 
Dr.  Moses  Greeley  Parker  was  a  direct  descendant  of  this  immigrant 
ancestor,  inheriting  many  of  his  sterling  qualities  of  character. 

Kendall  Parker,  great-grandfather  of  Dr.  Moses  Greeley  Parker, 
and  the  fourth  in  descent  from  Deacon  Thomas  Parker,  the  emi- 
grant, was  a  son  of  Jonathan  Parker,  Junior,  and  was  born  in  Read- 
ing, in  1723.  He  settled  when  a  young  man  in  the  adjacent  town  of 
Dracut,  Massachusetts,  where  his  descendants  have  lived  to  the  pres- 
ent time.  He  died  there  in  1776.  He  was  a  soldier  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  was  among  those  who  rallied  to  Lexington,  Massachusetts, 
April  19th,  1775,  to  sound  the  alarm.  He  was  in  Captain  Joshua 
Reed's  company,  serving  in  Colonel  Green's  regiment,  and  later  in 
Colonel  Varnum's  regiment.  He  paid  ten  pounds  to  hire  men  for 
the  Continental  army  later  in  the  war. 

Peter  Parker,  son  of  Kendall  Parker,  the  patriot,  was  born  in 
Dracut,  Massachusetts,  May  17th,  1754.  He  was  all  his  life  a 
farmer  in  his  native  town  of  Dracut.  He  was  united  in  marriage  with 
Bridget  Coburn,  and  they  were  the  parents  of  seven  children,  as 
follows:  Samuel  Parker;  Elsy  Parker;  Hannah  Parker;  Peter 
Parker,  Jr.;   Amos  Parker;   Theodore  Parker;   Rhoda  Parker. 

Theodore  Parker,  sixth  in  descent  from  Deacon  Thomas  Parker, 
the  emigrant  ancestor,  and  father  of  Dr.  Moses  Greeley  Parker, 
was  born  in  Dracut,  Massachusetts,  September  29,  1799.  He  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native  town,  and  followed  farm- 
ing there.  He  married  (first)  Lydia  Carter,  of  TTilrnington,  Mas- 
sachusetts, who  died  June  26th,  1832.  He  was  united  in  marriage 
(second)  with  Miss  Hannah  Greeley,  of  Hudson,  New  Hampshire,  a 
relation  of  Horace  Greeley,  the  well  known  editor  and  statesman. 
He  died  in  Dracut,  Massachusetts,  December  20,  1865,  and  she  died 
in  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  September  1,  1890.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Theo- 
dore Parker  were  the  parents  of  three  children : 

435 


MOSES   GREELEY   PARKER,   M.    D. 

1.  Theodore  E.  Parker,  who  was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss 
Frances  Brackett,  of  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  and  they  became  the 
parents  of  one  son,  Theodore  E.  Parker,  Junior,  who  married  Miss 
Henrietta  Talbot,  a  granddaughter  of  C.  P.  Talbot. 

2.  Mary  Greeley  Parker,  born  in  Dracut,  Massachusetts,  January 
5th,  1836.  She  obtained  her  education  in  the  Seminary  at  West  Town- 
send,  Massachusetts,  and  at  the  Female  College  at  Worcester,  Mas- 
sachusetts. She  taught  school  in  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  and  on 
January  8th,  1868,  became  the  wife  of  Leonard  Harvey  Morrison,  of 
New  York.  Mr.  Morrison  passed  away  November  12th,  1907,  and 
after  that  time  Mrs.  Morrison  made  her  home  with  her  brother,  Dr. 
Moses  Greeley  Parker. 

3.  Dr.  Moses  Greeley  Parker,  in  whose  memory  we  are  writing. 

4.  Adelaide  C.  Parker,  born  in  Dracut,  Massachusetts,  October  29, 
1843,  and  died  there,  February  12,  1844. 

Moses  Greeley  Parker,  M.  D.— In  an  extended  search  it  would  be 
very  difficult  indeed  to  find  one  who,  better  than  the  late  Moses  Gree- 
ley Parker,  gave  substantial  proof  of  the  wisdom  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  when  he  said,  "There  is  something  better  than  making  a 
living,  and  that  is  making  a  life. "  With  a  realization  of  this  truth, 
Dr.  Moses  Greeley  Parker  persistently  and  energetically  labored, 
not  only  to  win  success,  but  to  make  his  life  a  continual  source  of 
benefit  to  his  fellow-men.  While  many  men  owe  their  success  to 
intense  concentration  upon  one  line  of  effort,  and  while  this  quality 
is  of  decided  value,  there  are  a  few  exceptions  in  American  enter- 
prise, where  leaders  of  business  matters  have  been  so  variously 
endowed  by  nature  that  they  have  been  able  to  organize  and  manage 
successfully  a  number  and  variety  of  exceedingly  important  under- 
takings. Of  these  exceptional  men,  Dr.  Moses  Greeley  Parker  is  an 
example  par  excellence.  A  man  of  great  sagacity,  quick  percep- 
tions, sound  judgment,  noble  impulses,  and  remarkable  force  and 
determination  of  character,  he  commanded  the  respect  and  confi- 
dence of  all  who  knew  him.  It  is  unnecessary  to  add  that  as  a  phy- 
sician he  was  held  in  the  highest  estimation,  the  record  of  his  daily 
life  being  filled  with  evidence  of  this  fact.  In  all  professions,  but 
more  especially  the  medical,  there  are  exalted  heights  to  which 
genius  itself  dares  scarcely  soar,  and  which  can  only  be  gained  after 
long  years  of  patient,  arduous,  and  unremitting  toil,  and  inflexible 

436 


MOSES   GREELEY   PARKER,   M.    D. 

and  unfaltering  courage.  To  this  proud  eminence  we  may  safely 
state  that  Dr.  Parker  rose.  The  influence  of  a  human  life  can  never 
be  properly  and  fully  estimated,  but  such  men  as  Dr.  Parker  create 
and  maintain  the  honor  of  the  medical  profession. 

Dr.  Moses  Greeley  Parker  was  born  in  Dracut,  Massachusetts,  Oc- 
tober 12th,  1842,  the  son  of  Theodore  and  Hannah  (Greeley)  Park- 
er, and  united  in  his  person  the  blood  of  two  of  the  oldest  and  most 
renowned  of  Xew  England  families.  On  his  father's  side  he  was 
descended  from  Deacon  Thomas  Parker,  and  was  related  to  the 
great  abolitionist,  Theodore  Parker.  On  his  mother's  side  he  was 
descended  from  Andrew  Greeley,  who  settled  in  this  country  in  1640. 
On  his  maternal  side  he  was  also  related  to  the  celebrated  statesman 
and  editor,  Horace  Greeley.  Dr.  Parker's  great-grandfathers, 
Kendall  Parker  and  Joseph  Greeley,  were  among  the  minute-men 
who  rallied  to  Lexington,  on  April  19th,  1775,  and  his  grandfather, 
Peter  Parker,  served  valiantly  in  the  Continental  army  during  the 
Revolutionary  War. 

Dr.  Parker  was  educated  in  the  district  schools  of  his  native  town 
of  Dracut,  Massachusetts,  then  later  in  the  Howe  School  at  Billerica, 
Massachusetts,  and  prepared  for  college  at  Phillips  Academy,  And- 
over.  After  teaching  in  the  district  schools  of  Xew  Hampshire  for 
three  yrears,  Dr.  Parker  took  up  the  study  of  medicine  at  Long  Is- 
land College  Hospital  Medical  School  in  Brooklyn,  New  York.  He 
later  studied  at  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  from  which  he  received 
his  degree  of  M.  D.  in  1864,  and  this  honor  was  followed  by  others 
from  Europe,  where  he  studied  at  the  University  of  Vienna  during 
1873  and  1874,  and  in  Paris,  France,  the  following  year.  One  week 
after  his  graduation  from  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  Dr.  Parker 
enlisted  for  the  remainder  of  the  Civil  War,  being  commissioned  as- 
sistant surgeon  in  the  Fifty-seventh  Massachusetts  Infantry  Regi- 
ment. Shortly  after,  at  the  request  of  General  Benjamin  F.  Butler, 
he  was  transferred  to  the  Second  United  States  Cavalry  Regiment, 
then  at  Fortress  Monroe,  and  with  this  unit  served  at  Suffolk,  Wil- 
liamsburg, Drury's  Bluff,  Point  of  Rocks,  and  the  siege  of  Peters- 
burg, at  which  latter  place  he  was  in  the  trenches  at  the  time  of  the 
explosion  of  the  great  mine,  on  July  30th,  1864.  From  this  service, 
Dr.  Parker  was  transferred  to  the  base  hospital  of  the  Eighteenth 

437 


• 


. 


MOSES   GREELEY   PARKER,   M.    D. 

Army  Corps,  whore  ho  had  charge  of  the  First  Division,  and  re- 
ceived the  wounded  from  Petersburg,  Deep  Bottom,  Cold  Harbor, 
Dutch  Gap,  and  Fort  Harrison.  He  later  superintended  the  build- 
ing of  an  additional  winter  hospital  with  four  thousand  beds.  He 
was  serving  as  officer  of  the  day  just  before  the  fall  of  Richmond, 
and  as  such  had  the  honor  of  receiving  personally  President  Lincoln, 
Oeneral  Grant,  and  the  latter  Ts  staff.  He  also  was  a  member  of  the 
council  of  administration  on  the  effects  of  the  twenty-one  hundred 
soldiers  who  died  in  the  hospitals. 

Upon  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  Dr.  Parker  returned  to  Lowell, 
Massachusetts,  and  took  up  the  practice  of  his  profession,  in  which 
he  developed  a  remarkable  skill,  and  revealed  a  talent  for  special 
research  and  for  progressive  methods  in  medicine.  In  1866  he 
became  a  specialist  in  diseases  of  the  eye  and  ear.  Nothing  has  con- 
tributed so  much  to  the  advance  of  medical  and  surgical  science  as 
the  creation  of  specialists  devoted  to  the  study  and  treatment  of 
diseases  of  the  various  organs  of  the  human  body.  It  must  be  evi- 
dent to  every  one  that  it  is  utterly  impossible  for  any  one  mind 
to  cultivate  the  whole  field  of  medicine  thoroughly,  and  that  the  ten- 
dency to  special  work  has  increased.  In  1873,  desiring  to  specialize 
in  certain  branches  of  the  profession,  Dr.  Parker  closed  his  office, 
and  spent  two  years  in  study  abroad.  Returning  to  Lowell,  he 
opened  a  free  dispensary,  and  gave  freely  of  his  expert  services  to 
the  poor  of  that  city,  his  private  practice  meantime  assuming  very 
large  proportions.  In  1876  Dr.  Parker  became  president  of  the 
Lowell  Medical  Journal  Society,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Interna- 
tional Congress  of  Opthalmology  at  New  York.  For  thirty  years  he 
was  physician  at  St.  John's  Hospital  in  Lowell,  his  home  city,  and 
was  a  trustee  of  the  Lowell  General  Hospital  from  1898  to  the  time 
of  his  death.  He  was  a  trustee  of  the  Howe  School  at  Billerica, 
Massachusetts.  He  had  been  a  delegate  to  the  National  Arbitration 
and  Peace  Congress  in  New  York  in  1907. 

Dr.  Parker  had  been  greatly  interested  in  the  telephone  industry 
from  the  days  of  the  parent  company,  the  American  Telephone  Com- 
pany, and  was  a  personal  friend  of  Alexander  Graham  Bell,  the 
inventor.  When  Professor  Bell  first  exhibited  his  crude  telephonic 
apparatus  in  1878,  Dr.  Parker  was  an  interested  observer,  and  was 

438 


. 


' 


MOSES   GREELEY   PARKER,   M.    D. 

quick  to  see  the  marvelous  commercial  utility  of  the  invention.  As  a 
result  of  one  of  the  lectures  given  by  Professor  Bell,  Dr.  Parker 
built  a  telephone  line  from  his  house  to  his  office,  a  distance  of  about 
half  a  mile,  and  was  delighted  at  the  advantage  it  gave  him.  In 
1879  the  Lowell  District  Telephone  Exchange  was  established,  and 
Dr.  Parker  was  quick  to  see  its  vast  possibilities,  and  so  great  was 
his  confidence  in  the  future  of  the  telephone,  that  he  was  the  first 
man  to  walk  into  the  exchange  and  ask  to  be  permitted  to  buy  a  block 
of  stock.  He  associated  himself  with  various  small  licensed  tele- 
phone concerns,  which,  largely  through  his  instrumentality,  were 
later  merged  into  the  New  England  Telephone  Company.  From 
that  day  to  his  -death,  Dr.  Parker  served  constantly  as  a  director  in 
the  company,  and  as  a  member  of  its  executive  board.  His  activi- 
ties in  this  great  and  growing  business  led  to  his  retirement  from 
the  practice  of  medicine,  in  which,  however,  he  retained  a  vivid  sci- 
entific interest.  He  became  one  of  the  largest  individual  sharehold- 
ers in  the  enterprises  of  both  the  American  Telephone  Company 
and  the  New  England  Telephone  Company,  and  was  regarded  as  one 
of  the  most  farseeing  men  connected  with  those  mammoth  concerns. 
Dr.  Parker  had  been  a  director  and  member  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee of  the  New  England  Company  since  its  organization  in  1883. 
He  also  was  interested  in  the  Bell  Telephone  Company,  and  was  a 
director  in  the  Aroostook  Telephone  Company  and  the  Knox  Tele- 
phone Company.  Another  evidence  of  Dr.  Parker's  foresight  as 
applied  to  telephoning  is  the  method  of  calling  by  number  that  pre- 
vails today.  In  the  early  days  subscribers  were  called  for  by  name, 
and,  as  the  size  of  the  exchanges  increased,  it  became  a  matter  of 
some  difficulty  to  train  operators  to  remember  the  switchboard  loca- 
tions of  the  different  persons  called  for.  Dr.  Parker  saw  that,  in 
the  event  of  an  epidemic,  the  telephone  system  might  be  rendered 
useless.  He  suggested,  therefore,  that  subscribers,  instead  of  being 
called  for  by  name,  be  called  for  by  number,  which  practice  was 
adopted  and  still  prevails.  In  many  other  ways  Dr.  Parker  con- 
tinued to  contribute  to  the  development  of  the  telephone. 

During  his  busy  life,  Dr.  Parker  found  time  to  devote  to  the  study 
of  electricity,  and  was  the  first  to  photograph  the  electric  current 
and  show  that  it  takes  the  form  of  spirals.     His  scientific  bent  led 

439 


MOSES   GREELEY    PARKER,   M.    D. 

him  to  experiment  in  photography  as  well  as  in  electricity,  and  he 
was  the  first  to  photograph  the  tubercular  bacillus  from  Cushing's 
microscopical  specimens.  He  also  invented  a  thermocautery,  and 
not  long  after,  devised  and  patented  an  improvement  in  the  process 
of  producing  and  maintaining  a  very  high  degree  of  heat  by  hydro- 
carbonization.  He  received  a  diploma  from  the  Massachusetts 
Charitable  Mechanics  Association  for  an  incandescent  cautery.  He 
was  made  president  of  the  Middlesex  North  District  Medical  Society 
in  1898  and  1899.  He  was  a  member  of  the  .American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation and  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society ;  and  was  a  contribu- 
tor to  medical  and  scientific  journals. 

In  politics,  Dr.  Parker  was  a  stalwart  Republican,  but  never 
sought  political  preferment.  He  was  named  a  special  member  of 
the  commission  on  tuberculosis  by  Governor  Douglas,  and  had  acted 
with  similar  boards  in  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  and  elsewhere  at 
various  times.  In  his  later  years  of  life,  Dr.  Parker  turned  his 
attention  to  various  patriotic,  philanthropic  and  charitable  enter- 
prises. He  was  long  an  active  worker  in  the  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution,  serving  first  as  president  of  the  State  society,  and  later, 
in  1911  and  1912,  as  national  president-general,  a  distinction  which 
he  regarded  as  by  far  the  most  notable  in  his  career.  He  was  chosen 
by  his  intimate  friend,  Frederick  Fanning  Ayer,  to  work  out  the 
details  of  the  Aver  Home  in  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  and  had  always 
served  that  institution  as  the  head  of  its  governing  board  as  presi- 
dent. He  was  also  the  leading  spirit  of  the  Lowell  Day  Nursery  As- 
sociation, and  was  deeply  engrossed  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  plans 
for  a  new  building,  greatly  extending  the  work. 

Dr.  Parker  was  also  a  member  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  the  Bostonian 
Society,  Bunker  Hill  Monument  Association,  the  Massachusetts  So- 
ciety of  Colonial  Wars,  of  which  he  had  been  one  of  the  board  of 
managers;  the  Order  of  Colonial  Governors,  and  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic.  He  was  president  of  the  Parker  Historical  and 
Genealogical  Association,  and  was  affiliated  with  the  Masonic  order. 
Dr.  Parker  was  sent  by  the  United  States  government  as  a  delegate 
to  the  International  Medical  Congress  held  at  London,  England,  in 
1913. 

The  city  of  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  was  profoundly  shocked  and 

440 


MOSES   GREELEY   PARKER,   M.   D. 

grieved  by  the  announcement  of  Dr.  Parker's  death,  which  occurred 
October  1st,  1917,  in  his  seventy-sixth  year.  He  was  a  man  whose 
death  at  any  time,  under  any  circumstances,  would  have  cast  a  gloom 
over  the  community,  and  the  sorrow  of  the  many  who  knew  and  loved 
him  was  greatly  intensified  by  the  suddenness  with  which  the  blow 
fell  upon  them.  His  judgment  was  excellent,  his  opinions  were  hon- 
est, and  he  was  always  loyal,  faithful  and  patient.  He  was  friendly, 
amiable  and  helpful,  c\nd  his  good  nature  was  never  known  to  fail. 
He  was  the  possessor  of  fine  natural  abilities,  and  such  a  man  is 
always  stronger  than  he  appears  to  be  in  any  live,  growing  commu- 
nity. Being  a  descendant  from  two  of  the  oldest  Xew  England  fam- 
ilies, Dr.  Moses  Greeley  Parker  lived  up  to  the  standard  set  by  his 
illustrious  ancestors,  and  during  his  career  proved  himself  to  be  a 
man  among  men. 

Dr.  Parker  never  married,  and  is  survived  by  his  sister,  Mrs. 
Mary  Greeley  Morrison,  and  one  nephew,  Theodore  E.  Parker,  who 
is  division  commercial  superintendent  of  the  Eastern  Massachusetts 
Division  of  the  New  England  Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company. 

(The  Greeley   Line.) 

Arms.— Argent,  on  a  cross  sable  five  escallops  or. 

The  Greeley  family  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  illustrious  in 
the  New  England  States,  having  maintained  a  high  place  in  the 
regard  of  the  community  from  the  very  earliest  Colonial  period  to 
the  present  time. 

Andrew  Greeley,  the  emigrant  ancestor,  was  born  about  the  year 
1617,  and  died  in  Salisbury,  Massachusetts,  June  30,  1697.  His 
wife,  Mary  Moyse,  died  there  December  24,  1703.  Andrew  Gree- 
ley was  an  early  settler  in  Salisbury,  Massachusetts.  The  exact 
date  of  his  arrival  there,  or  in  what  vessel,  is  unknown.  He  set- 
tled on  a  part  which  is  now  included  in  Seabrook,  New  Hampshire, 
and  thereupon  built  a  tide  mill  for  the  grinding  of  corn,  on  Kane's 
river.  In  1650,  in  addition  to  this  mill,  he  built  a  large  saw  mill. 
All  of  the  children  of  the  three  successive  generations  of  Andrew 
Greeley  were  born  on  the  old  Greeley  homestead. 

Families  bearing  the  name  of  Greeley  have  been  so  numerous  in 

441 


■ 


MOSES   GREELEY   PARKER,  M.   D. 

this  country  that  their  mere  numbers  preclude  the  possibility  of  trac- 
ing to  a  common  ancestor.  Andrew  Greeley  was  the  emigrant  ances- 
tor of  this  branch  of  the  family,  and  his  descendants  inherited  a  rare 
combination  of  qualities  that  formed  a  noble  manhood  and  woman- 
hood. 

Joseph  Greeley,  great-grandfather  of  Dr.  Moses  Greeley  Parker, 
and  a  lineal  descendant  of  xAndrew  Greeley,  was  born  in  Haverhill, 
Massachusetts,  February  IS,  1731.  He  was  united  in  marriage 
with  Prudence  Clement,  in  Haverhill,  August  6,  1752.  Prudence 
(Clement)  Greeley  was  born  at  Amesbury,  Massachusetts,  in  1730, 
a  daughter  of  Jonathan  and  Mary  (Greenleaf)  Clement.  Joseph 
Greeley  passed  away  at  Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  November  26, 
1814;  his  wife  died  there  January  22,  1806.  Joseph  Greeley  re- 
ceived from  his  father  a  lot  of  land  in  Nottingham  West,  New 
Hampshire,  but  did  not  go  there  to  live.  He  was  sergeant  in  the 
Third  Foot  Company  of  Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  under  Captain 
Colby,  which  marched  on  the  alarm  of  April  19th,  1775,  from  the 
town  of  Haverhill  to  Cambridge,  Massachusetts.  He  traveled  sev- 
enty miles,  and  was  six  days  in  the  service.  At  one  time  he  was  a 
teacher. 

Hannah  Greeley,  the  mother  of  Doctor  Moses  Greeley  Parker,  and 
a  lineal  descendant  of  Andrew  Greeley,  the  emigrant,  was  born  in 
Hudson,  New  Hampshire,  July  19,  1806.  She  became  the  wife  of 
Theodore  Parker,  January  30,  1834,  the  wedding  ceremony  taking 
place  in  Hudson,  New  Hampshire.     (See  Parker). 


A42 


The  Mitchell  Family 


A rms.— Sable,  a  fess  wavy  between  three  mascles  or. 
Crest.— A  phoenix  in  flames  proper. 
Motto.— S  per  nit  humum. 

There  are  many  branches  of  this  family  scattered  throughout  the 
United  States,  founded  in  early  colonial  days  by  the  several  rep- 
resentatives of  the  house  who  came  from  England  and  Scotland  and 
settled  principally  in  the  New  England  States.  Their  descendants 
were  numerous  and  migrated  from  one  part  of  the  country  to 
another  as  new  territories  were  opened.  Almost  invariably,  how- 
ever, members  of  the  various  branches  are  to  be  found  within  a  short 
distance  of  the  original  location  of  the  progenitor. 

The  Mitchells  of  Roanoke  county,  Virginia,  offer  a  good  example 
of  this  rule.  In  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  descen- 
dants continued  to  live  on  and  in  the  vicinity  of  the  old  family  estate, 
while  other  members  are  found  through  the  South.  They  are  re- 
lated by  marriage  to  the  family  of  Colonel  Zachary  Lewis,  whose 
father  was  a  messmate  of  Washington  during  the  war  with  the 
French.  They  are  connected  in  the  same  degree  with  the  Thomas 
and  Graham  families,  the  latter  that  of  William  Graham,  Governor 
of  North  Carolina. 

The  Pennsylvania  family  was  founded  by  the  descendants  of 
William  Mitchell  and  his  wife  Elizabeth,  who  emigrated  from  York- 
shire county,  England,  and  settled  in  Bermuda.  Sons  of  this  branch 
also  settled  in  Baltimore.  Another  branch  of  the  York  county 
(Pennsylvania)  family  claim  George  Mitchell,  born  in  Scotland  in 
1734,  as  progenitor. 

The  Long  Island  family,  of  ancient  origin,  has  furnished  many 
famous  men,  as  have  the  Nantucket  stock,  of  which  Professor  Maria 
Mitchell  and  her  brother  Henry  were  descended.  The  Connecti- 
cut Mitchells  claim  kinship  with  Eebecca  Motte,  of  Revolutionary 
fame;  with  Governor  Saltonstall,  and  Governor  Dudley  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  with  the  Gardiners  of  Gardiner's  Island,  New  York. 

443 


■ 


THE  MITCHELL  FAMILY 

One  western  branch  of  the  family  claim  " Honest  John  Hart"  as 
an  ancestor.  He  was  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, from  New  Jersey.  James  Mitchell,  a  Scotch  settler 
from  Glasgow,  in  1730,  founded  the  family  which  produced,  among 
other  well  known  men,  Stephen  Mitchell,  his  son,  who  was  one  of  the 
members  of  the  first  Congress  at  Philadelphia.  He  was  also  Chief 
Justice  of  Connecticut.  Donald  Mitchell,  best  known  as  "Ik  Mar- 
vel/' the  essayist,  was  of  the  third  generation  in  America.  Stephen 
Mitchell  had  six  sons,  all  college  graduates. 

Matthew  Mitchell  was  the  progenitor  of  another  family  of  the 
name  in  Connecticut.  He  was  a  passenger  on  the  ship  "  James,  •' 
in  1635,  together  with  his  wife  and  child,  and  settled  in  Connecticut, 
near  Wethersfield,  of  which  town  he  became  clerk  in  1639.  He  was 
a  representative  at  the  court  from  Saybrook,  and  took  an  active  part 
in  the  Pequot  War,  subsequently  removing  to  Hempstead,  Long 
Island,  in  1643.  The  town  of  Hingham,  Massachusetts,  was  prob- 
ably named  by  Edward  Mitchell,  a  passenger,  in  1638,  on  the  ship 
"Diligent,"  from  Hingham,  England. 

Experience  Mitchell,  who  lived  at  Plymouth,  Duxbury  and  Bridge- 
water,  Massachusetts,  came  from  England  on  the  ship  "Ann,"  in 
1623.  He  married  Jane,  the  daughter  of  Francis  Cook,  one  of  the 
"Mayflower"  passengers,  and  they  were  the  founders  of  a  large  and 
prominent  family. 

Many  Mitchells  gained  fame  in  the  American  Revolution,  among 
them:  Major  Abiel  Mitchell,  of  Massachusetts;  Colonel  Mitchell, 
of  Massachusetts ;  Captain  Alexander  Mitchell,  of  New  Jersey ;  Na- 
thaniel Mitchell,  captain  of  a  battalion  of  the  Flying  Camp,  of  Del- 
aware ;  Captain  Joseph  Mitchell,  of  Virginia ;  Captain  James  Mitch- 
ell, of  South  Carolina;  Major  Ephraim  Mitchell,  of  South  Caro- 
lina ;  and  Lieutenant  John  Mitchell,  of  Georgia. 

The  most  prominent  member  of  the  Nantucket  family,  descendant 
of  old  Quaker  stock,  and  an  astronomer  of  international  repute, 
was  Maria  Mitchell,  born  August  1,  1818,  daughter  of  William 
Mitchell.  Her  father  (1791-1869)  was  a  school  teacher  and  self- 
taught  astronomer,  who  rated  chronometers  for  Nantucket  whalers. 
He  was  well  known  in  the  New  England  States  as  a  learned  man, 

444 


. 


-- 


1 


v. 


s: 


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t-ux.****^*    .kt.-ftj.ffffi.i   r^i^j-i*..^    .,.«^.  >..-^.. -•„      ■  w^^clK, 


THE    NANTUCKET    MITCHELL    HOMESTEAD 


• 


THE  MITCHELL  FAMILY 

and  held  the  position  of  overseer  of  Harvard  University  from  1857 
to  1865,  with  all  the  prestige  attached  to  such  an  office.  For  a  time 
he  was  in  the  employ  of  the  United  States  Coast  Survey,  and  did 
much  excellent  work  in  that  department. 

Maria  Mitchell  had  as  early  as  1831  (during  the  annual  eclipse  of 
the  sun)  been  her  father's  assistant  in  his  observations,  and  the 
progress  she  made  under  his  tutorage,  together  with  a  certain  innate 
genius  she  possessed  in  the  science,  is  evident  from  the  fact  that 
fifteen  years  later,  on  October  1,  1847,  she  discovered  a  telescopic 
comet,  seen  by  De  Vico  on  October  3rd,  by  W.  R.  Dawes  on  Octo- 
ber 7th,  and  by  Madame  Rumker  on  October  11th.  For  this  discov- 
ery, outstripping  as  she  did  the  famous  astronomers  of  the  world, 
she  received  a  gold  medal  with  the  congratulations  of  the  King  of 
Denmark,  and  was  elected  in  1848  to  the  American  Academy  of  Arts 
and  Sciences,  being  the  first  woman  member  of  this  organization.  In 
1850,  in  further  recognition  of  her  excellent  work,  she  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of 
Science. 

She  removed  from  Nantucket  to  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  in  1861,  set- 
ting up  in  the  latter  city  the  great  equatorial  telescope  which  had 
been  presented  to  her  by  popular  subscription  of  the  women  of 
America.  Here  she  lived  and  studied  until  late  in  the  year  1865, 
when  she  was  chosen  Professor  of  Astronomy  and  Director  of  the 
Observatory  at  Vassar  College.  She  continued  actively  in  this 
position  until  1888,  when  she  became  Professor  Emeritus.  For 
many  years  she  had  specialized  in  the  study  of  Jupiter  and  Saturn, 
and  in  1874  she  began  making  photographs  of  the  sun.  She  died  at 
Lynn,  Massachusetts,  June  28,  1889. 

Henry  Mitchell,  her  brother,  was  a  famous  hydrographer.  He 
was  born  in  1830,  and  died  in  1902. 

Adjoining  the  Maria  Mitchell  homestead,  which  is  still  carefully 
preserved,  stands  a  memorial  astronomical  observatory  and  library, 
erected  in  her  honor  by  popular  subscription  in  1908.  In  it  are  kept 
the  excellent  collections  and  records  which  she  and  her  brother  made 
in  years  of  patient  research  in  the  fields  of  their  chosen  sciences. 

/.  Richard  Mitchell,  immigrant  ancestor  and  progenitor  of  the 

445 


THE  MITCHELL  FAMILY 

American  family  herein  under  consideration,  was  born  in  Birck- 
town,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  Great  Britain,  in  1G86.  He  learned  the 
trade  of  tailor,  and  on  reaching  his  majority  decided  to  enter  busi- 
ness independently.  He  accordingly  visited  London  for  the  pur- 
pose of  purchasing  materials,  and  while  there  was  seized  by  a  press 
gang  and  taken  on  board  a  man-of-war.  Tailors  were  not  then 
exempted  from  impressment  as  were  other  mechanics.  This  vessel 
sailed  for  the  New  World,  and  anchored  for  a  time  in  Newport, 
Rhode  Island,  and  here  Mitchell  found  opportunity  to  escape.  He 
seems  to  have  established  himself  almost  immediately  in  his  trade 
in  Newport,  for  he  made  a  suit  of  clothes  for  the  Governor's  son, 
which  so  pleased  the  latter  that  he  secreted  Mitchell  until  after  the 
vessel  had  sailed.  He  continued  to  reside  in  Newport,  where  he 
became  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  a  useful  member 
of  the  community.  In  1708  he  married  Elizabeth  Tripp,  of  Dart- 
mouth, Massachusetts,  a  daughter  of  James  and  Mercy  (Lawton) 
Tripp,  granddaughter  of  James  and  Mary  (Paine)  Tripp,  and  of 
George  and  Elizabeth  (Hazard)  Lawton,  and  great-granddaughter 
of  Thomas  Hazard,  the  founder  of  the  noted  Hazard  family  of 
Rhode  Island.  Richard  Mitchell  died  September  24,  1722,  aged 
thirty-six  years,  and  his  widow  married  (second)  April  18,  1734, 
William  Wood;  she  died  February  13,  1740.  Children:  I.Eliza- 
beth, born  July  13, 1709;  married,  December  8,  1726,  Jabez  Carpen- 
ter. 2.  Mary,  born  October  17,  1712 ;  married  May  18,  1732,  Caleb 
Coggeshall.  3.  James,  mentioned  below.  4.  Richard,  born  Septem- 
ber 5,  1719,  settled  in  Nantucket,  Massachusetts.  5.  Joseph,  born 
November  25, 1720. 

II.  James  Mitchell,  son  of  Richard  and  Elizabeth  (Tripp)  Mitch- 
ell, was  born  in  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  April  20,  1715.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  in  which  he  was  an  elder.  He 
lived  for  a  time  at  Nantucket,  Massachusetts,  but  later  removed  to 
Middletown,  Rhode  Island,  near  the  Portsmouth  line,  where  he 
continued  to  make  his  home  until  his  death,  October  5,  1799.  James 
Mitchell  married  Anna  Folger,  who  died  April  1,  1738 ;  she  was  a 
daughter  of  Jethro  and  Mary  Folger,  of  Nantucket,  Massachusetts. 
Their  children  were :     1.  Mary,  born  November  10,  1739 ;   married 

446 


THE  MITCHELL  FAMILY 

Mathew  Barker,  of  Newport.  2.  James,  born  August  31,  1743 ;  mar- 
ried Elizabeth  Anthony.  3.  Elizabeth,  born  July  9,  174b;  married 
Giles  Hoosier.  4.  Hepsabeth,  born  March  14,  1750;  married  (first) 
Peter  Chase;  (second)  David  Burl'um.  5.  Richard,  mentioned  be- 
low. 

III.  Richard  (2)  Mitchell,  son  of  James  and  Anna  (Folger)  Mitch- 
ell, was  born  in  Middletown,  Rhode  Island,  November  25,  1754,  and 
lived  near  what  is  now  known  as  Mitchell's  Lane,  where  he  died  Oc- 
tober 26,1833,  and  where  he  is  buried.  He  married, November  6,  177(5, 
Joanna  Lawton,  of  Portsmouth,  daughter  of  John  and  Sarah  Law- 
ton;  she  died  August  6,  1830.  Their  children  were:  1.  Jethro 
Folger,  born  March  14,  1778;  married  Anne  Gould.  2.  Isaac,  born 
August  21,  1779;  married  Sarah  Gould.  3.  John,  born  January  15, 
1781;  married  Katharine  Gould.  4.  Elizabeth,  mentioned  below. 
5.  Peter,  born  July  3,  1784 ;  married  Mary  Wales.  6.  Sarah,  born 
May  19,  1787.  7.  Joanna,  born  December  3,  1788;  married  David 
Eodman.  8.  Ann,  born  August  6,  1791.  9.  Richard,  born  February 
29,  1793. 

IV.  Elizabeth  Mitchell,  daughter  of  Richard  (2)  and  Joanna 
(Lawton)  Mitchell,  was  born  October  17,  1782,  in  Middletown, 
Rhode  Island.  She  married,  November  11,  1805,  Asa  Sherman,  of 
Portsmouth,  Rhode  Island.  (See  Sherman  V.).  Their  daugh- 
ter, Mary  Sherman,  became  the  wife  of  William  Lawton  Slade  (see 
Slade  VI),  descended  from  William  Slade,  the  founder  of  the 
Slade  family  in  America  (q.  v.),  and  whose  wife  was  Sarah  Holmes, 
daughter  of  Rev.  Obadiah  Holmes,  one  of  the  most  noted  of  the 
early  Baptist  ministers  in  New  England. 

Holmes  Arms. —Barry  wavy  of  six  or  and  azure,  on  a  canton  gules 
a  lion  passant  of  the  first. 

Crest.— Out  of  a  naval  crown  or,  a  dexter  arm  embowed  in  armor, 
holding  a  trident  proper,  spear  gold. 

Motto.— Justum  et  tenacem  propositi. 

Among  prominent  persons  of  the  Mitchell  family  are  the  follow- 
ing: 

Sir  Andrew  Mitchell,  Vice- Admiral  of  the  British  fleet  that  forced 

447 


THE  MITCHELL  FAMILY 

the  entrance  to  Texel  Island,  Holland,  in  the  war  against  the  French 
and  I>utch,  in  1794.  He  captured  the  Dutch  fleet,  helping  to  estab- 
lish the  naval  supremacy  of  Great  Britain. 

Sir  Charles  H.  B.  Mitchell,  High  Commissioner  of  the  State  of 
Perak,  one  of  the  Malay  States,  who  was  directly  responsible.'  for  the 
first  meeting  between  the  native  chiefs  and  the  British  residents 
for  the  purpose  of  friendly  discussion  in  1897. 

James  Mitchell,  Scotchman,  who  perfected  an  ingenious  amplifica- 
tion of  the  Maelzel  Metronome. 

John  Mitchell,  who  perfected  and  manufactured  the  first  machine- 
made  steel  pens. 

J.  A.  Mitchell,  one  of  the  founders  and  the  first  editor  of  the 
weekly  magazine,  "Life." 

J.  C.  Mitchell,  one  of  the  most  famous  of  the  early  raquet  players. 

J.  K.  Mitchell,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  liquid  gas  field.  He  first 
froze  sulphurous  acid  gas  to  a  solid. 

Dr.  P.  Chalmers  Mitchell,  member  of  the  Zoological  Society  of 
London,  a  recognized  authority  in  the  study  of  mammalia. 

R.  A.  H.  Mitchell,  Eton,  Oxford,  Hants.  Prominent  Briton,  and 
the  greatest  cricket  player  of  all  times. 

W.  M.  Mitchell,  well  known  astronomer,  specializing  in  the  study 
of  the  sun. 

Dr.  Samuel  Latham  Mitchell,  of  the  Long  Island  family.  United 
States  Senator,  and  author,  who  urged  the  adoption  of  Fredonia  as 
the  proper  name  for  this  country  in  his  "Address  to  the  Fredes  or 
People  of  the  United  States. ' ' 

Stephen  Mitchell,  a  tobacco  manufacturer  of  international  repute ; 
founder  of  the  second  largest  library  in  Scotland. 


Note. — References  in   foregoing  will  be   found  in  preceding  numbers  of   "Amer- 
icana." 


448 


The  Allen  and  Allied  Families 

JlpHE  surname  Allen  had  its  origin  in  the  Christian  name, 
Mtlf^!  Whi°h  is  Very  ancient  Fitz-Aleyne  (the  son  of  Allen) 
SlKl  aWears  on  the  ro11  of  Battle  Abbey.  Among  the  first 
'^^'i  to  use  Allen  as  a  surname  was  Thomas  Allen,  sheriff  of 
London  in  1414;  Sir  John  Allen  was  mayor  of  London  in  1524,  Sir 
William  Allen  in  1571,  and  Sir  Thomas  Alleyn  in  165S.  Edward 
Allen  (1566-1626),  a  distinguished  actor  and  friend  of  Shakespeare 
and  Ben  Jonson,  in  1619  founded  Dulwich  College,  with  the  stipula- 
tion that  the  master  and  secretary  must  always  bear  the  name  of 
Allen,  and  this  curious  condition  has  always  been  easily  fulfilled 
through  the  plentitude  of  scholars  of  the  name. 

Arms.— Paly  of  ten  argent  and  azure,  over  all  a  cross  potent  or. 
Crest.— A  demi-lion  azure  holding  in  his  paws  the  rudder  of  a 
ship  or. 

Motto. — Fortiter  gent  crucem. 

There  were  more  than  a  score  of  emigrants  of  this  surname  from 
almost  as  many  different  families  who  left  England  before  1650  to 
settle  in  the  American  Colonies.  The  name  in  early  times  was 
spelled  Allin,  Alline,  Ailing,  Allein,  and  Allen,  the  latter  spelling  be- 
ing most  generally  in  use  to-day. 

1.  George  Allen,  probably  a  son  of  Ralph  Allen,  of  Thurcaston, 
Leicestershire,  England,  was  born  in  1568,  under  the  reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth.  He  was  a  farmer  near  Bridgewater,  in  Somersetshire, 
and  was  a  member  of  a  company  which  set  sail  from  England  on 
March  20,  1635,  arriving  at  Boston  on  May  6th  following.  For  a 
time  he  resided  at  Saugus,  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  and  in  1637  joined 
Edmund  Freeman  and  others'  in  the  purchase  of  the  town  of  Sand- 
wich. When  this  town  was  incorporated,  Mr.  Allen  was  chosen 
first  deputy,  the  first  officer  in  the  town,  and  served  in  that  capacity 
several  years.     He  was  a  member  of  the  church  organized  in  Sand- 

AACk 


. 


THE  ALLEN  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

wich  in  1638 ;  became  freeman  in  that  town  June  30, 1639,  and  consta- 
ble at  the  same  time.  In  1640  he  was  a  surveyor  of  land  and  high- 
ways; in  1641  member  of  a  committee  of  five  to  divide  the  meadow 
lands,  receiving  a  considerable  acreage;  in  1646  he  built  his  house 
one-fourth  of  a  mile  from  the  meeting-house,  on  the  road  to  the  (  ape, 
and  this  stood  until  1882.  After  the  purchase  of  Sandwich,  several 
of  his  sons  removed  to  that  town  with  their  families.  George  Allen 
*  died  there  May  2.  1648,  aged  eighty  years.  His  widow  Catherine 
afterward  married  John  Pollings,  and  removed  to  Boston. 

II.  Samuel  Allen,  son  of  George  and  Catherine  Allen,  was  born 
in  England,  and  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Boston  in  1628. 
Thence  he  removed  to  Braintree,  a  part  of  Boston,  and  was  recorded 
a  freeman  there  in  1635.  In  1640  he  had  a  grant  of  twenty-eight 
acres  of  land  in  Braintree.  He  died  there  August  5,  1669.  His 
first  wife,  Ann,  died  September  29,  1641,  and  he  married  (second) 
Margaret  (French)  Lamb.     (See  French). 

HI.  Abigail  Allen,  daughter  of  Samuel  and  Margaret  (French- 
Lamb)  Allen,  was  born  in  Braintree,  Massachusetts.  She  married 
in  Bridgewater,  December  7,  1670,  John  Gary.     (See  Howland  IV). 

(The    Godfrey    Line.) 

Godfrey  is  one  of  the  several  notable  surnames  which  owe  their 
origin  to  the  popularity  of  heroes  and  leaders  of  the  surname  epoch. 
Godfrey  of  Lorraine,  the  famous  Crusader,  made  his  deeds  of 
valor  and  his  personal  name  as  familiar  as  did  Coeur  de  Lion  his 
own.  King  Richard,  however,  was  an  Englishman,  and  Godfrey  a 
Frenchman,  wherefore  among  English-speaking  peoples  Richard 
obtained  superiority,  but  coming  at  the  epoch  of  hereditary  sur- 
names, both  have  wielded  an  enormous  influence  on  nomenclature. 

Arms.— Argent  a  griffin  passant,  wings  endorsed  sable,  between 
three  lions '  heads  erased  gules. 

Crest.— A  griffin  passant  sable,  holding  a  scepter  or  in  the  dexter 
forepaw. 

Three  emigrants  by  the  name  of  Godfrey  left  England  and  settled 
in  Massachusetts  before  the  year  1650.     Francis  Godfrey  was  of 

450 


, 


THE  ALLEX  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

Duxbury  in  16:38.  John  Godfrey  came  in  the  ship  "Mary  and 
John,"  March  24.  1638.  and  lived  at  Newbury  and  Andover.  Wil- 
liam Godfrey  settled  in  Watertown,  and  later  removed  to  Hampton, 
New  Hampshire.  Richard  Godfrey  settled  in  Taunton,  Massachu- 
setts, as  early  as  1652.  The  Connecticut  family  is  descended  from 
Christopher  Godfrey,  who  settled  before  1685  at  Greene's  Farms, 
Fairfield,  Connecticut. 

J.  Francis  Godfrey,  immigrant  ancestor  and  founder,  was  a  na- 
tive of  England.  He  settled  at  Duxbury,  Massachusetts,  where  he 
had  a  grant  of  land  in  1638.  He  later  removed  to  Marshfield,  and 
finally  to  Bridgewater.  His  will,  dated  October  29,  166—,  proved 
July  30,  1669,  bequeaths  to  his  wife  Elizabeth;  daughter  Elizabeth 
Cary,  wife  of  John;  grandchildren  John  and  Elizabeth;  servants 
John  Pitcher,  and  Richard  Jennings,  a  minor.  He  had  goods  at 
Providence  and  Bridgewater. 

II.  Elizabeth  Godfrey,  daughter  of  Francis  and  Elizabeth  God- 
frey, married  in  1644,  John  Cary,  of  Bridgewater,  Massachusetts. 
(See  Howland  IV). 

(The  French  Line.) 

The  French  family,  for  centuries  one  of  the  foremost  in  England, 
claims  descent  from  Rollo,  Duke  of  Normandy,  a  Norseman  viking, 
who  settled  in  France,  and  in  A.  D.  910  formally  adopted  the  Chris- 
tian religion  and  was  baptized,  taking  the  name  of  Robert,  Count  of 
Paris,  who  was  his  godfather.  With  his  invading  Norsemen,  pro- 
genitors of  the  Normans  who  subsequently  invaded  England,  he  had 
already  conquered  the  province  of  Normandy,  which  was  now  ceded 
to  him  in  due  form  by  Charles  the  Simple  of  France,  who  also  gave 
him  his  daughter  Gisela  in  marriage,  A.  D.  912. 

Arms.— A  bend  or,  between  two  dolphins  embowed  argent. 
Crest.— A  crescent  per  pale  argent  and  or,  between  the  horns  a 
fleur-de-lis  per  pale  or  and  argent. 

French  has  been  in  use  as  a  surname  in  England  since  the  year 
1100.  Antiquarians  have  brought  to  light  about  forty  variations, 
including  Frene,  Freyn,  Freyne,   de  la  Freyne,   de  la  Fessnay, 

45i       s 


• 


THE  ALLEN  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 


Frainch,  Ffrenche  and  French.  The  ancient  motto  of  the  family, 
used  in  the  days  of  chivalry  and  indicative  of  the  character  of  its 
descendants,  was  malo  mori  quam  foedari  ("Death  rather  than  dis- 
honor"). Among  the  arms  of  the  seventeen  families  of  French 
mentioned  by  Burke,  the  heraldic  dolphin  and  the  fieur-de-lis  are 
most  conspicuous,  indicating  a  French  origin.  From  Harlovan, 
third  son  of  Rollo,  descended  Sir  Maximilian  de  French,  whose  son, 
Sir  Theoples  French  (or  Freyn),  accompanied  William  the  Con- 
queror to  England  and  fought  at  the  battle  of  Hastings. 

The  American  family,  dating  from  the  early  years  of  the  colonial 
period,  descends  from  several  immigrants  of  the  name,  of  whom 
the  earliest  to  arrive  were  John  French  of  Braintree,  and  Lieuten- 
ant William  French  of  Billerica.  These  men,  both  natives  of 
England,  became  the  founders  of  families  which  ranked  prom- 
inently in  colonial  Massachusetts,  subsequently  spreading  through- 
out New  England. 

Margaret  French,  of  the  second  generation  of  the  family  in 
America,  married  (first)  Edward  Lamb,  and  (second)  Samuel  zYl- 
len,  of  Bridgewater.     (See  Allen  II). 

(The  Bass  Line). 

The  surname  Bass  had  its  source  in  the  French  has,  which  means 
literally  "of  low  stature/'  and  corresponds  in  origin  to  the  Eng- 
lish surnames  Short  and  Stout.  The  name  is  found  in  very  ancient 
English  records,  and  is  traced  to  the  reign  of  King  Edward  III.  It 
became  common  in  England,  however,  after  the  revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes  and  the  attendant  tide  of  emigration  from  France 
to  England  and  the  American  Colonies.  The  family  has  been  one 
of  prominence  in  England  for  several  centuries,  and  bears  arms  in 
many  of  its  branches. 

Crest.— Out  of  a  ducal  coronet  two  wings  proper. 
Arms.— Sable,  a  bordure  argent. 

The  American  family  of  the  name  has  been  prominent  in  New 
England  life  and  affairs  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years.  Mas- 
sachusetts has  been  the  seat  of  the  principal  branches  of  the  family 
since  the  time  of  its  founding.     Deacon  Samuel  Bass,  immigrant 

"      452 


THE  ALLEN  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

ancestor  and  progenitor,  was  born  in  England  in  1600.  He  came 
to  America  with  his  wife  Anne  about  1630,  and  settled  first  in  Bos- 
ton. He  subsequently  became  one  of  the  earliest  members  of  the 
Roxbury  church,  organized  in  1632,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  that 
town,  near  Hog  Bridge.  He  removed  to  Braintree,  Massachusetts, 
in  1640,  and  became  one  of  its  leading  citizens.  He  was  admitted  a 
freeman,  May  14,  1634;  in  1641  he  was  elected  deputy  to  the  Mas- 
sachusetts General  Court,  and  for  twelve  years  represented  the 
town  in  the  Legislature.  He  was  elected  the  first  deacon  of  the 
church  at  Braintree,  and  filled  the  office  for  half  a  century.  Deacon 
Samuel  Bass  was  a  man  of  strong  personality  and  vigorous  mind, 
eminently  litted  for  the  position  of  leadership  which  he  occupied 
in  Braintree  for  so  many  decades.  He  died  December  30,  1694, 
aged  ninety-four  years,  at  Braintree,  at  which  time  the  statement 
appears  in  the  town  records  that  he  was  the  father,  grandfather 
and  great-grandfather  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-two  persons.  His 
wife  Anne  died  September  5,  1693,  aged  ninety-three  years.  This 
remarkable  couple  were  the  progenitors  of  a  family  which  has 
never  relinquished  the  position  of  influence  it  held  in  the  early 
days  of  the  colony. 

Elizabeth  Bass,  who  became  the  wife  of  Captain  Joseph  Glover, 
of  Braintree,  Massachusetts,  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Deacon 
Samuel  Bass,  and  a  member  of  the  Braintree  family.  She  was  the 
mother  of  Katherine  Glover,  wife  of  Benjamin  (2)  Ward  well,  of 
Bristol,  Bhode  Island.     (See  Wardwell  V). 

(The  Jones  Line.) 

Arms.— Or,  a  chevron  engrailed  between  three  Cornish  choughs 
sable,  all  within  a  bordure  bezantee. 

Crest.— a  battle-axe  and  spear  in  saltire,  handles  gules,  heads  ar- 
gent, mounted  or. 

The  origin  of  the  surname  Jones  lies  obscure  in  antiquity.  It  is 
ofvbaptismal  classification,  signifying  literally  the  son  of  John,  or 
"Johan"  or  "Jone,"  as  the  name  was  at  first  written  and  pro- 
nounced for  both  the  masculine  and  feminine.  In  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries  Johan  stood  for  both  Johannes  and  Johanna. 
Difficulties  arising  from  the  indiscriminate  use,  made  necessary  a 

453 


THE  ALLEN'  AND  ALLIED  FAMILIES 

distinctive  form  for  the  two  sexes,  and  the  masculine  took  the  form 
of  John,  and  the  feminine  Joan.  It  is  quite  clear  from  evidence 
that  for  a  time  the  sound  Jone  represented  both,  however.  The 
name  appears  in  English  medieval  registers  of  very  early  date,  and 
continues  under  widely  diversified  forms  for  centuries  until  all  are 
crystallized  under  the  form  John  for  the  masculine,  and  Joan  for 
the  feminine. 

Families  of  the  name  have  figured  prominently  in  English  life 
for  several  centuries,  and  have  controlled  vast  landed  estates  in  all 
parts  of  the  kingdom.  Among  the  early  settlers  in  the  New  Eng- 
land Colonies  were  many  immigrants  of  the  name  Jones,  who  became 
the  founders  of  several  families  which  from  the  close  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  to  the  present  day  have  played  a  prominent  and  in- 
fluential part  in  New  England  life  and  affairs. 

Elizabeth  Jones,  who  became  the  wife  of  Rev.  Anthony  Thatcher, 
founder  of  the  Thatcher  family  in  America,  was  a  member  of  a  fam- 
ily long  established  in  Wiltshire,  England. 


Note. — References  in  foregoing  will  be  found  in  preceding  numbers  of  "Americana. 


454 


The  Van  Der  Heyden  Family 

A rms.— Argent,  a  deini-vol  sable. 

Crest.— Three  roses  gules,  slipped  and  leaved  vert,  between  two 
wings,  dexter  argent,  sinister  sable. 

The  name  of  the  Van  der  Heyden  family  is  derived  from  the 
Dutch,  and  it  signifies  that  those  coming  from  the  town  of  Hey- 
den in  the  Province  of  Brabant,  Holland,  took  the  name  of  that 
place,  or  were  known  as  persons  k '  from  Heyden. ' '  Heyden  has  the 
English  meaning,  Heather.  Hence,  it  may  reasonably  be  supposed 
that  this  town  derived  its  name  from  the  peculiarity  of  the  sur- 
roundings, such  as  large  fields  of  heather. 

The-  Van  der  Heyden  family  is  one  that  gained  prominence  whejar^ 
^tMs  country  was  in  its  infancy,  and  from  the  time  of  the  earliest 
colonists  began  to  exert  an  important  interest  upon  affairs.  They 
were  individually  large  landholders,  and,  coming  down  to  the  period 
of  the  American  Revolution,  a  hundred  years  later,  the  members 
participated  in  the  battle  for  liberty. 

Settling  first  in  Albany,  when  coming  to  this  country,  a  few  gen- 
erations afterwards  one  finds  this  family  spread  over  a  large  area 
which  is  now  known  as  Troy,  New  York,  occupying  it  as  their  fam- 
ily estates,  and  it  may  authoritatively  be  stated  that  they  were 
the  earliest  settlers  of  Troy,  or,  more  strictly  speaking,  that  city 
was  not  Troy  until  many  years  after  it  had  gone  by  the  name  of 
Van  der  Heyden,  and  they  allowed  others  to  buy  land  from  them 
and  thus  by  settlers  coming  there  it  grew  into  a  <iity.  The  Van 
der  Heydens  were  there  a  hundred  years  before  anyone  thought  of 
the  place  as  Troy.  Dirck  Van  der  Heyden  must  have  been  a  man 
of  far  more  than  ordinary  sense  and  enterprise,  or  he  would  not 
have  chosen  a  place  for  his  large  farm  at  so  advantageous  a  local- 
ity as  to  make  it  appear  favorable  for  the  thousands  who  flocked 
there  afterward,  and  buying  land  from  him,  made  a  city  where  he 
had  his  homestead. 

There  is  no  need  to  go  into  the  details  of  what  is  ancient  Ameri- 

455 


\ 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

can  history,— the  sailing  of  Henry  Hudson  in  his  small  Dutch  ship, 
the  "Half-Moon,"  up  the  river  that  bears  his  name,  until  he  found 
by  sending  a  small  boat  further  northward  that  his  vessel  could  not 
pass  the  falls  at  Troy.  That  was  in  September  of  1609,  not  so  very 
long  before  the  first  of  the  Van  der  Heydens  followed  the  same 
route;  but  they  did  not  turn  back,  as  did  Hudson. 

A  score  of  years  after  the  discovery  of  the  river,  Kiliaen  Van 
Rensselaer,  the  wealth}  Patroon,  living  in  Amsterdam,  Holland,  se- 
cured a  tract  of  land  on  the  west  shore  of  the  Hudson  river  by  pur- 
chasing it  from  the  Indians.  By  making  subsequent  purchases,  his 
lands  comprised  an  area  taking  in  whole  counties,  measuring  back 
from  the  Hudson  river,  on  both  sides,  twelve  miles,  and  about  twen- 
ty-four miles  from  its  northern  to  the  southern  limit  of  his  land, 
and  this  included  not  only  the  site  of  Albany  but  likewise  that  of 
Troy. 

At  this  period  of  American  history,  the  place  that  became  shortly 
the  home  of  the  Van  der  Heyden  family  was  surrounded  by  Indian 
settlements.  There  were  the  Mohawks,  dwelling  to  the  west,  across 
the  Hudson  river  from  what  is  now  Troy,  in  what  the  Dutchmen 
styled  Moenemines  Casteel.  This  was  a  typical  red  man's  village, 
which  might  be  described  as  a  series  of  long,  low  huts.  It  was 
located  upon  the  island  which  was  formed  by  the  third  and  fourth 
branches  of  the  Mohawk  river,  not  far  to  the  south  of  what  is  now 
the  town  of  Waterford.  To  the  east  of  the  Van  der  Heyden  prop- 
erty (in  Troy)  was  the  tribe  of  Mohegan  or  Mohican  Indians,  also 
prominent  and  powerful.  They  had  their  own  fortified  village, 
and  it  was  known  to  the  Dutch  by  the  title  of  "Unumats  Casteel." 
It  was  located  not  far  to  the  north  of  the  Poesten  kill  creek,  and 
tradition  has  it  that  Uncas,  "the  last  of  the  Mohicans,"  was  born 
there.  As  the  name  of  this  creek  appears  in  the  deeds  of  the  Van 
der  Heyden  family,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  remark  that  the  modern 
inhabitant,  forgetful  of  the  significance  of  Dutch  words,  does  not 
heed  the  tautology  when  he  quickens  his  speech  by  uniting  the  two 
words  to  form  "Poestn  kill,"  and  then  adds  the  word  "creek;"  but 
originally  it  was  equivalent  to  "Post's  Creek."  The  two  tribes 
named  soon  became  friendly  with  the  Dutch  settlers,  for  they  found 
it  decidedly  advantageous  to  have  dealings  with  them,  and  by  barter 

456 


. 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

obtained  rum  for  their  wild  animal  skins.  By  reason  of  this  trade, 
the  vessels  sailing-  up  the  Hudson  river  brought  rum,  and  went  back 
laden  with  pelt. 

Patroon  Kiliaen  Van  Rensselaer,  through  his  agent  in  this  coun- 
try, Sebastiaen  Jansen  Crol,  secured  his  first  tract  of  land  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  Hudson  river  on  July  27,  1630,  from  the  Mohawk 
Indians,  and  thereafter  kept  adding  other  purchases  until  the  ma- 
norial estate  extended  from  Baeren  Island,  some  fourteen  miles 
south  of  Albany,  to  the  Mohawk  river,  on  the  north,  the  northern 
boundary  line  being  a  little  to  the  south  of  Moenemines  Castle,  on 
Haver  Island.  Opposite  Fort  Orange,  or  Albany,  he  secured  a 
tract  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  running  northward  from  Peta- 
nock,  the  famous  Mill  creek,  to  Xegagones,  which  tract  was  then 
called  Gesmessert.  This  included  the  area  of  Troy,  and  there- 
upon it  was  that  the  Van  der  Heyden  family  settled  after  spending 
a  time  in  Beverwyck,  the  site  of-  Albany.  The  land  on  the  east  side 
of  the  river  proved  to  be  more  fertile  by  far  than  the  sandy  soil  of 
the  site  of  Albany.  It  was  broken  up  into  little  valleys  through 
which  flowed  streams,  which  were  of  great  service  in  operating  mills, 
for  power  was  at  a  premium  in  those  days,  and  mill  rights  were 
considered  very  valuable.  Along  the  river  there  was  space  for 
farming,  back  of  it  wooded  hills. 

I.  Jacob  Tyssen  Van  der  Heyden  was  the  first  member  of  this 
family  to  come  to  .America.  In  reality  he  was  Jacob,  the  son  of 
Tys  (Matthys  or  Matthias),  who  lived  in  Heyden,  Holland.  His 
departure  for  this  country  is  recorded  as  from  Amsterdam,  Holland, 
where  he  might  have  resided  for  some  time  prior  to  his  decision  to 
migrate,  or  he  might  have  gone  there  to  form  one  of  a  group  of  col- 
onists who  assembled  there  to  sign  papers  of  embarkation  under  the 
charter  rights.  He  was  born  about  1616.  He  came  to  America  in 
1654,  at  which  time  he  was  about  thirty-eight  years  old,  and  remain- 
ing in  New  Amsterdam  (New  York  City)  for  a  brief  time,  went  up 
the  Hudson  river  to  Beverwyck  (Albany),  where  he  presently  se- 
cured property.  He  returned  to  Holland  the  following  year  in 
order  to  marry  the  girl  he  had  left  behind.  He  and  Annatje  Hals 
were  married  at  Amsterdam,  Holland,  on  July  25,  1655;  she  died 
about  1691. 

457 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

Jacob  Tyssen  (or  Mathyssen)  Van  der  Heyden  was  a  member  of 
a  burgher  militia  corps  of  New  Amsterdam  in  the  year  1653,  which 
appears  to  be  the  earliest  mention  of  his  name  on  any  record  in  this 
country.  He  bought  a  lot  on  Broadway  in  that  place  (New  York 
City),  in  1653;  but  resold  it  shortly,  evidently  in  preparation  for 
his  return  to  Holland  in  case  he  might  decide  not  to  come  back 
again.  In  1658  he  obtained  a  permit  to  trade  with  Indians.  He 
bought  his  house  lot  in  Beverwyek  (Albany),  in  January,  1660.  He 
was  over  sixty  years  old  in  1676,  and  died  between  1680-1690. 

Children  of  Jacob  Tyssen  (or  Mathyssen)  Van  der  Heyden  and 
wife  Annatje  Hals: 

1.  Matthys  Van  der  Heyden,  b.  1656;   see  forward. 

2.  Dirck  Van  der  Heyden,  b.  about  1662;    see  forward. 

3.  Caatje  Van  der  Heyden,  b.  about  1664;  mar.  Pierre  De  Gar- 
moux,  or  de  Garmo,  alias  Villeroy,  Aug.  26, 1704 ;  by  whom :  Maria 
de  Garmo,  bap.  at  Albany,  May  23,  1686,  buried  Jan.  9,  1725,  mar. 
Barent  Metselaer,  bap.  1684;   no  issue  recorded. 

4.  Geesje  Van  der  Heyden,  b.  about  1667;  mar.  at  Albany,  Oct. 
16,  1687,  Abraham  Kip.     She  was  buried  at  Albany,  Feb.  9,  1748. 

5.  Johannes  Van  der  Heyden,  b.  about  1672 ;   see  forward. 

6.  Cornelia  Van  der  Hevden,  b.  about  1673;  buried  at  Albany, 
May  4,  1725. 

7.  Ariaantje  Van  der  Heyden,  b.  about  1675 ;  had  a  child  by  Lieut. 
Symon  Young,  Albany  sheriff,  recorded  in  Albany  Dutch  Church; 
Rebecca,  bap.  Oct.  13,  1695. 

8.  Annatje  Van  der  Hevden,  b.  about  1675;  mar.  in  New  York 
City,  Feb.  17,  1695,  Paulus  Miller. 

In  the  year  1663,  there  came  to  Beverwyek  (Albany)  another  of 
the  family,  named  Jan  Cornelise  Van  der  Heyden.  He  settled  there 
as  a  trader.  What  relationship  he  bore  to  Jacob  Tyssen  Van  der 
Heyden  is  undecided;  but  they  were  not  brothers,  for  the  former 
was  the  son  of  Matthys,  and  the  latter  a  son  of  Cornelis  Van  der 
Heyden,  as  shown  by  their  middle  names.  He  was  probably  a 
cousin,  who  remained  in  Holland  until  induced  to  come  across  by 
receiving  nattering  accounts  of  the  country's  opportunities  from 
Jacob,  some  nine  or  ten  years  after  Jacob  had  arrived. 

Jan  Cornelise  Van  der  Heyden  was  born  at  Sevenbergen,  Bra- 
bant.    He  married  Aeltje  Janse  Wemp,  the  daughter  of  Jan  Ba- 

458 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

rentse  Wemp,  of  the  colony  of  Rensselaerswyck,  who  was  prominent 
there.  When  Jan  Cornelise  Van  der  Heyden  and  his  wife  made  a 
joint  will  on  September  1,  1663,  they  had  no  children  living. 

Wemp  had  for  an  alias  the  name  of  4tPoest,"  and  he  was  the 
man  after  whom  the  Poesten  kill  in  Troy  was  named.  He  was  in 
Beverwyck  as  early  as  1657,  and  presently  owned  many  lots  there. 
He  also  acquired  real  estate  for  a  bouwerie,  or  farm,  at  Lubberde's 
Land,  now  Troy,  from  Madame  Johanna  De  Laet,  wife  of  one  of  the 
original  Van  Rensselaer  co-owners  or  partners  under  the  Dutch 
charter,  and  Wemp's  heirs  conveyed  it  to  Pieter  Pieterse  Van 
Woggelum,  1669-72.  Wemp  died  in  1663,  and  in  1664  his  widow, 
Maritje  Myndertse,  married  Sweer  Teunise  Van  Velsen,  of  Sche- 
nectady. 

Sweer  Teunise  Van  Velsen  removed  to  Schenectady  with  his  fam- 
ily in  1669,  so  as  to  occupy  the  original  patent  of  Jan  Barentse 
Wemp  in  that  place,  and  thereupon  left  "his  two  lots  lying  at  Lub- 
berde  Land,  in  the  occupation  of  Jacob  Heven. ' ?  Van  Velsen  then 
became  a  miller,  and  continued  to  reside  in  Schenectady,  disposing 
of  some  of  his  land  and  the  mill  on  the  Poesten  kill,  June  25,  1675, 
to  Jan  Cornelise  Vyselaer  and  Lucas  Pieterse.  At  that  time,  adja- 
cent to  the  "Great  Meadow  Ground"  and  lying  in  what  was  called 
Lubberde  Land,  later  to  be  known  as  Lansingburg,  was  a  large  farm 
owned  by  Pieterse  Van  W'oggelum.  He  sold  it  June  2,  1707,  to 
Dirck  Van  der  Heyden.  It  embraced  the  tract  of  land  between 
the  Poesten  kill  and  the  Piseawen  kill. 

As  the  title  to  this  property  was  vested  at  that  time  in  the  Van 
Rensselaer  family,  the  sale  was  confirmed  to  Dirck  Van  der  Hey- 
den by  Hendrick  and  Maria  Van  Rensselaer,  two  of  the  executors  of 
Kiliaen  Van  Rensselaer,  the  second  patroon,  on  December  15,  1720. 
Despite  this  so-called  sale,  the  Van  Rensselaer  family  demanded  the 
continuance  of  an  annual  ground-rent  for  the  farm,  and  hence  re- 
quired each  year  the  payment  of  three  and  three-fourths  bushels  of 
wheat  and  two  fat  hens  or  capons,  to  be  turned  over  to  the  Patroon, 
or  his  agent,  at  the  Manor  office  in  Rensselaerswyck.  Philip  Ver 
Planck  made  a  map  that  year,  upon  which  the  old  saw-mill  on  the 
Poesten  kill  and  the  site  of  the  original  Van  der  Heyden  homestead 
are  indicated. 

459 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

Dirck  Van  der  Hoyden  persistently  refused  to  part  with  any  of 
his  land  as  years  went  on,  declining  offer  after  offer,  as  though  he 
counted  upon  a  rich  increase  in  land  values,  which  turned  out  to  be 
a  fact.  Possibly  he  had  in  mind  a  strong  desire  to  provide  each  of 
his  children  with  farms  of  goodly  size,  that  they  might  in  turn 
divide  among  their  children,  and  so  continue  the  vast  estate  in  the 
family.  That  is  what  actually  happened.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the 
place  bore  the  name  of  Van  der  Heyden,  for  it  was  theirs  alone. 
Dirck  Van  der  Heyden  deeded  the  property  in  November,  1731,  to 
his  three  sons:  Jacob.  David  and  Matthys.  The  next  year,  by 
deed  bearing  date  of  March  2,  1732,  David  Van  der  Heyden  released 
and  conveyed  his  interest  in  this  estate  to  his  brother  Jacob.  On 
April  3,  1739,  Jacob  and  Matthys  Van  der  Heyden  divided  the  farm, 
and  filed  a  partition  deed  to  that  effect. 

When  Jacob  Van  der  Heyden  died,  April  18,  1746,  his  son  Dirck 
came  into  possession  of  the  middle  and  northern  farms,  and  on  July 
2,  1746,  Dirck  Van  der  Heyden  conveyed  to  his  brother  Jacob,  "two 
full  equal  just  fourth  parts"  of  the  "two  certain  tracts  of  land.'' 

On  March  1,  1770,  Matthys  Van  der  Heyden  willed  his  farm  lo- 
cated on  the  north  side  of  the  Poesten  kill  to  his  sons,  Dirck  and 
John,  and  their  sons;  but  mortgaged  the  whole  of  the  property  to 
Lucas  Van  Vechten,  January  21,  1771,  for  $1,000  in  English  money. 

On  May  11,  1774,  by  a  deed  of  release,  Jacob  I.  Van  der  Heyden, 
the  son  of  Jacob  and  nephew  of  Dirck,  became  the  owner  of  the  farm 
on  the  south  side  of  the  Piscawen  kill. 

When  Dirck  Van  der  Heyden  died,  in  1775,  his  son,  Jacob  Dirck, 
inherited  the  "Middle  Farm,"  and  Jacob  I.  and  Matthys  owned 
severally  the  northern  and  southern  farms. 

While  these  farms  bordered  the  river  on  their  western  limits  and 
ran  eastward  to  the  sloping  hills  which  hem  in  the  city  of  Troy, 
Jacob  Van  der  Heyden  chose  an  elevation  for  his  home,  and  in  1756 
built  a  house  on  the  hill  not  far  north  of  the  Hoosick  road.  This 
old  homestead  was  of  one  story,  but  most  substantial  in  its  construc- 
tion. It  boasted  a  commodious  attic,  and  was  of  the  type  so  com- 
mon in  those  days.  The  portion  of  his  farm  near  the  house  was 
laid  out  as  a  flower  garden,  for  there  was  a  level  plat  before  the 
front  door  which  was  the  lawn.     The  entrance  was  not  quite  in  the 

460 


THE  VAX  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

center,  opening  upon  a  hall,  which  made  it  tka  double  house/'  To 
the  left,  as  one  entered,  were  two  windows,  and  one  upon  the  right. 
His  farm  proper  consisted  of  undulating  ground,  which  he  planted 
for  orchard  and  raised  the  usual  farming  stock. 

The  "Middle  Farm,"  between  the  lines  of  what  became  Grand 
and  Division  streets,  was  less  undulating  and  not  so  rocky.  It  had 
the  advantage  of  a  stream  that  flowed  in  rapid  stream  from  the  hill, 
east  of  a  line  of  what  is  now  Federal  street,  and  ran  southward  into 
the  Poesten  kill,  following  the  line  of  Sixth  street.  The  portion 
bordering  the  river,  between  Broadway  and  CongTess  street,  was 
made  into  an  apple  orchard,  and  a  highway  crossed  the  farm  on  the 
line  of  Congress  street.     To-day  it  is  important  city  property. 

The  Van  der  Heyden  home  on  this  farm  was  erected  on  the  site 
of  the  State  Armory  in  Troy.  It  was  on  the  east  side  of  River 
street,  about  a  stone  ?s  throw  from  the  Hudson  river.  It  was  built  in 
1752.  In  a  general  way  it  seemed  a  duplicate  of  the  one  previously 
described.  In  front  of  it  was  the  ferry  landing,  which  crossed  to 
where  the  Schuyler  family  had  a  historic  old  home  on  "The  Flatts," 
and  the  Van  der  Heyden  family  derived  an  income  therefrom,  for 
Jacob  D.  Van  der  Heyden  acquired  the  privilege  of  conveying  peo- 
ple and  animals  by  the  only  route  connecting  the  two  sides  of  the 
river  above  Albany.  In  this  old  house  the  first  three  of  his  eight 
children  were  born. 

Behind  the  house  was  the  small  family  burial  ground,  surrounded 
by  a  low  fence.  The  bodies  remained  there  undisturbed  until  July, 
1857,  when  they  were  transferred  to  Oakwood  Cemetery,  north  of 
Troy.  On  the  river  side  of  the  River  road,  to  the  west,  was  the  "Old 
Garden,"  extending  from  the  ferry  wharf  to  what  is  Division 
street.  South  of  this  the  farm  lands  were  cultivated.  To  the  north, 
where  it  was  far  less  fertile,  only  grass  and  scrub  oak  grew. 

About  a  hundred  feet  south  of  the  "Middle  Farm,"  and  to  the 
east  of  the  River  road,  was  the  one-story  home  of  Matthys  Van  der 
Heyden,  built  in  1752.  It  was  of  brick,  one  story  high,  resembling 
the  last  house  mentioned;  but  varied  by  having  four  long  dormer 
windows,  running  from  peak  to  the  facade.  Before  the  entrance 
was  a  comfortable  porch,  made  in  the  old  Dutch  form,  with  huge 
seats  on  either  side,  where  visitors  tarried,  or  the  head  of  the  house 

461 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

Connecticut,  in  1786,  and  when  Jacob  D.  Van  der  Heyden  turned 
a  deaf  ear  upon  the  appeal  to  sell  or  lease,  Matthias  Van  der  Heyden, 
who  had  Jess  money  than  the  former,  allowed  Ashley  to  lease  his 
home,  which  he  converted  into  a  roadside  resort  called  4iThe  Farm- 
ers' Inn."  Opposite  to  this,  so  as  to  gain  trade  coming  from  Al- 
bany, he  established  a  ferry,  which  was  named  Ashley's  Ferry. 

Benjamin  Covell  arrived  from  Providence  on  November  2,  1786, 
and  put  up  at  this  inn.  Jacob  Van  der  Heyden  refused  to  sell  any 
part  of  his  farm  to  him,  and  as  Covell  liked  the  looks  of  the  farm- 
ing land  he  proceeded  to  lease  a  lot  near  the  inn  and  forthwith 
erected  a  dwelling.  Writing  on  November  16,  1786,  to  his  brother, 
Silas  Covell,  he  said :  kk  This  country  is  the  best  for  business  I  ever 
saw.  I  will  go  into  my  store  the  18th  of  November;  hired  it  for  six 
months  for  $12  lawful  money.  Done  more  business  in  one  day 
than  in  one  week  in  Providence.  The  night  of  the  15th  after  sun- 
down, took  in  twenty  dollars.  Got  my  goods  first  from  Albany,  but 
in  the  spring  will  go  to  New  York. ' ' 

In  the  end,  Ashley  and  Covell  managed  to  persuade  Jacob  D.  Van 
der  Heyden  to  dispose  of  some  of  his  property,  for  the  land  was  in 
demand,  and  there  was  the  opportunity  to  receive  excellent  finan- 
cial returns.  Both  of  the  Van  der  Heydens  began  at  last  to  turn 
their  attention  to  real  estate  enterprises.  As  a  direct  consequence 
of  the  boom  in  land,  a  map  was  made  on  May  1,  1787,  and  the  farm 
was  partitioned  into  lots.  The  plan  for  a  village  was  under  way, 
and  it  was  given  the  name  of  Van  der  Heyden,  for  so  had  the  place 
been  commonly  known.  On  this  ancient  map  there  appear  289  lots, 
mostly  fifty  feet  wide,  and  130  feet  deep,  with  an  alley,  twenty 
feet  wide,  running  along  the  rear.  The  streets  were  then  laid  out 
with  a  width  of  sixty  feet.  In  1787,  Lansingburg,  commonly  called 
New  City,  had  nearly  five  hundred  inhabitants,  and  Albany  had 
three  thousand.  There  was  no  Troy  then ;  it  was  Van  der  Heyden. 
In  1789  it  was  decided  to  change  the  name,  and  the  place  was  called 
Troy ;  but  the  members  of  the  old  family  persistently  gave  the  ad- 
dress as  "Van  der  Heyden,  alias  Troy." 

More  graphic  and  accurate,  doubtless  more  interesting  than  any 
other  account  of  the  Van  der  Heydens  and  their  homes,  is  the  nar- 
rative furnished  to  posterity  by  the  Hon.  John  Woodworth,  a  jus- 

463 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

tice  of  no  mean  note,  who  wrote  his  "  Reminiscences ' '  in  1853,  when 
eighty-five  years  old.  He  wrote  regarding  what  he  saw,  and  his 
death  occurred  in  1858;  the  edition  having  been  very  limited,  few 
have  had  access  to  the  information  that  follows : 

' '  After  the  Close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  in  1785,  when  quite 
a  Lad,  under  the  Instruction  of  the  late  Hon.  John  Lovett,  of  faceti- 
ous Memory,  then  Principal  of  an  Academy  in  Albany,  one  bright 
Morning  in  April,  on  his  Invitation,  I  embarked  with  him  in  a  Canoe 
to  make  a  voyage  to  Half-Moon  Point,  now  the  Village  of  "Water- 
ford. 

"Mr.  Lovett  ?s  Servant  Man  was  of  the  Party.  We  tugged  at  the 
Oars  against  a  strong  Current,  making  slow  Progress,  continually 
admonished,  if 

'We  slack  our  Hands,  or  cease  to  strive. 

Then  down  the  Flood  with  headlong  Haste  we  drive.' 

"About  Sun-set  we  arrived  at  the  south  Part  of  the  Village  of 
Lansingburgh,  where  dwelt,  on  the  Bank  of  the  River,  one  Baily 
Austin.  The  young  Lad  was  landed  for  the  Night ;  Mr.  Lovett  con- 
tinued the  Voyage ;  the  Parting  was  rather  unpleasant,  though  not 
comparing  with  the  Case  of  Calypso,  who  remained  disconsolate 
after  the  departure  of  Ulysses. 

"The  next  Morning,  Mr.  Lovett  returned.  We  wended  our  way 
back  to  Albany.  In  gliding  down  the  beautiful  Hudson,  on  the 
gentle  Current,  I  well  remember  the  Ground  on  which  the  City  of 
Troy  is  now  located.  Then  all  was  quiet;  no  Bustle  of  Commerce 
at  that  Time. 

"  There  stood  at  some  Distance  from  each  other,  three  ancient 
brick  Buildings,  probably  erected  in  the  preceding  Century;  the 
most  northern  occupied  by  Jacob  I.  Van  der  Heyden,  familiarly 
known  as  Big  Jacob;  next  came  Jacob  D.  Van  der  Heyden,  owner 
of  the  greater  Part  of  the  Ground  on  which  the  City  is  built,  and 
under  whom,  or  his  Descendants,  the  Inhabitants  hold  Title;  the 
last  was  the  dwelling  of  Mat.  Van  der  Heyden,  which  I  observed,  a 
few  days  since,  was  standing  a  Relick  of  former  Times. 

"There  was  a  Stillness,  and  I  may  say  a  Solitude,  about  these 
Dwellings,  as  profound  as  the  Quiet  that  surrounded  Rip  Van 
Winkle  in  Sleepy  Hollow.  Ah,  who  at  that  Day  could  look  forward 
through  the  dark  Vista  of  Time  and  conjecture  the  future  Destiny 
of  this  Queen  of  Cities  l" 

Joel  Munsell,  of  Albany,  famed  as  an  antiquarian  and  publisher  of 

464 


» 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

numerous  works  of  American  history,  took  such  keen  interest  in  the 
" Reminiscences' '  of  Judge  Woodworth  that  in  1860  he  printed  an 
edition  of  two  hundred  copies  for  private  distribution,  and  added 
foot-notes  in  order  to  furnish  interesting  details.  It  is  fortuuate 
that  he  dealt  with  the  Van  der  Heyden  landmarks  in  this  fashion, 
saying : 

"Matthias  Van  der  Heyden,  Proprietor  of  the  Farm  situated 
South  of  Division  Street,  was  the  Father  of  Uncle  Derick,  who  was 
the  Father  of  the  Matthias  here  alluded  to.  His  House  is  still 
standing  on  the  Corner  of  Division  and  River  Streets,  and  is  the 
oldest  House  (I860)  in  Troy.  It  was  built  before  the  French  War, 
as  early  as  the  Year  1752. 

"The  principal  Story  remains  in  its  original  State;  but  its  Glory 
has  departed,  and  Ichabod  might  well  be  inscribed  on  its  Walls.  It 
was  formerly  surmounted  by  a  G-ambrel  Roof,  but  that  has  been  sup- 
planted by  a  more  Yankee  Covering. 

"On  the  Front  of  the  House,  between  the  two  Windows  on  the 
Left,  and  a  little  above  them,  is  inserted  a  Brick,  with  the  broad 
Surface  outward,  on  which  is  cut  these  Letters  and  Figures :  D  V 
H.  AD.  1752.  The  Position  of  the  D  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the 
Vision  of  the  Artist  misrht  have  been  slightlv  turned  bv  the  Merry 
Ale  of  that  Day. 

"Between  the  Second  Window  on  the  Left,  and  the  Door,  and  a 
little  above  them,  is  inserted  another  Brick  of  the  same  Description, 
on  which  is  cut  the  following :     M  V  H.  1752. 

"South  of  the  South  "Window,  and  a  little  above  it,  is  cut,  on  a 
similar  Brick,  I  V  H.  1752.  These  Initials  are  supposed  to  have 
stood  for  Dirk,  (or  Derick,  Richard),  Matthias  and  Jacob  Van  der 
Heyden. 

"Jacob  L,  Proprietor  of  the  Northern  Farm,  or  upper  Part  of 
the  City,  was  a  Grandson  of  Dirk,  the  original  Lessee.  He  mar- 
ried Maria,  Daughter  of  Aaron  Van  Schaick  of  Coxsackie.  The 
House  he  occupied  (and  which  has  been  owned  and  occupied  about 
thirty  Years  by  Dr.  A.  D.  Spoor,  now  of  Louisville,  Ky.),  was  built 
for  him  in  the  Year  1767,  after  oral  Instructions  of  his  Father  on 
his  Deathbed  at  Albany,  where,  while  on  a  Visit,  he  was  seized  with 
a  violent  Colick,  of  which  he  died  suddenly,  under  Circumstances 
that  prevented  the  Execution  of  a  Will  in  due  Form. 

"It  is  built  of  Bricks  9  inches  long  by  414  inches  wide,  and  less 
than  2  inches  thick,  and  baked  so  thoroughly  as  to  resist  all  At- 
tempts to  cut  them  with  a  Trowel.     It  is  one  Storv  high,  with  Gam- 

465 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

brel  or  Curb  Roof,  the  Rafters  of  which  are  nearly  vertical,  and 
these,  starting  from  the  Side-walls,  several  Feet  above  the  Second 
Floor,  make  the  upper  Rooms  equivalent  to  the  second  Story,  except 
that  they  are  lighted  only  by  Windows  at  the  Ends  of  the  House. 

4 'The  original  Shingles  were  three  Feet  long,  secured  by  large 
ten-penny  Wrought-Nails,  which  were  replaced  in  1834  by  new  ones 
of  modern  Dimensions;  the  first  having  withstood  the  Elements 
sixty-seven  Years. 

"The  Floor  Timber  is  all  Oak  or  Yellow-pine,  and  still  perfectly 
sound.  The  Floors  and  the  Casings  of  the  Doors  and  Windows,  are 
all  Y^ellow-pine ;  and  even  the  Doors  and  Sashes  were  of  the  same 
Material,  and  made  in  the  Style  of  that  remote  Period;  but  were 
replaced  by  new  ones  in  1634. 

*  *  The  House  stands  about  one  hundred  Feet  from  the  east  Line  of 
River  Street,  between  Hoosick  and  Vanderheyden  Streets.  When 
the  House  was  built,  however,  River  Street  had  not  been  laid  out,  and 
the  Road  to  Lansingburgh  ran  East  of  it,  and  the  Homestead  em- 
braced all  the  Ground  on  the  west  Side  down  to  the  River. 

"The  Indians  still  had  Wigwams  a  few  Rods  north  of  the  House 
at  the  time  it  was  built.  The  Mansion  House  was  apportioned  to 
Derick  L,  in  the  Partition  of  the  Estate. 

"Jacob  D.,  was  the  Proprietor  of  the  Middle  Farm,  which  was 
first  laid  out  into  City  Lots  and  built  on.  and  he  therefore  was  called 
Patroon.  His  Mansion  was  the  large  Brick  Building  still  stand- 
ing in  the  Walnut  Grove,  at  the  southwest  Corner  of  Eighth  and 
Grand-Division  Streets,  near  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Cross. 

"His  Wife  was  a  Yates.  He  died  4th  Sept.,  1809,  leaving  several 
Sons.  One  of  them,  Derick  G.,  built  and  occupied  as  a  Mansion  the 
brick  Building  at  the  Corner  of  River  and  Ferry  Streets,  which  has 
since  been  enlarged,  and  converted  into  a  Publick  House,  known  at 
present  as  the  St.  Charles  Hotel. 

"He  died  in  one  of  the  West  India  Islands,  whither  he  had  gone 
for  the  Benefit  of  his  Health,  and  left  two  or  three  Daughters,  all  now 
Deceased. 

"John  G.,  another  Son  of  Jacob  D.,  married  a  Miss  Gaston,  and 
died  childless;  and  Jacob,  a  younger  Son,  married  a  Sister  of  the 
above  mentioned  Miss  Gaston.  He  died  long  since  in  London, 
England,  leaving  two  Children,  who  are  now,  or  were  lately,  living 
with  their  Mother  in  Lansingburgh/' 

The  "Albany  Gazette"  of  January  9,  17S9,  printed  this  notice: 

"This  Evening  the  Freeholders  of  the  Place  lately  known  as 
Vanderheyden 's  or  Ashley's  Ferry,  situate  on  the  East  Bank  of 

466 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

Hudson's  River,  about  seven  Miles  above  Albany,  met  for  the  Pur- 
pose of  establishing  a  Xaine  for  the  said  Place ;  when,  by  a  Majority 
of  Voices  it  was  confirmed  that  in  Future  it  should  be  called  and 
known  by  the  Name  of  TROY." 

A  notable  house  was  that  of  Jacob  Van  der  Heyden  in  Albany.  He 
bought  it  in  1778,  and  for  many  years  it  was  known  as  "the  Van 
der  Heyden  Palace."  This  venerable  edifice  was  situated  in  North 
Pearl  street,  on  the  west  side,  the  second  lot  south  of  the  corner 
of  Maiden  Lane,  where  is  now  the  main  entrance  of  the  Albany 
Savings  Bank.  It  was  erected  by  the  Hon.  Johannes  Beeckman,  a 
worthy  and  wealthy  burgher  of  his  day.  It  was  tradition  that  the 
bricks  employed  in  its  construction  were  imported  in  ballast  from 
Holland.  Mr.  Beeckman  occupied  it  as  his  residence  until  his  death 
in  1756,  after  which  time  his  two  daughters  continued  to  dwell  there 
until  their  marriage  a  short  time  previous  to  the  Revolution.  The 
elder  daughter  married  Mr.  Bain  of  the  British  army,  and  removed 
to  the  West  Indies;  the  other  married  John  McCrea.  and  remained 
in  the  house  until  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  when  they  departed 
from  the  city.  George  Merchant  then  secured  its  use  for  an 
academy,  there  being  no  other  in  the  city  at  that  time. 

Jacob  Van  der  Heyden  bought  it  in  1778  for  the  consideration  of 
$5,790  in  American  money,  or  about  $7,000,  paying  for  it  in  English 
pounds,  although  based  on  the  rate  of  money  at  that  time  some  have 
figured  it  as  $2,895.  It  would  seem  that  Van  der  Heyden  secured 
it  as  an  investment  at  a  forced  sale,  when  Miss  Van  der  Heyden  by 
wedding  an  Englishman  felt  obliged  to  leave  her  home  on  account 
of  the  war,  for  it  continued  as  an  academy  until  the  great  fire  of 
1797  destroyed  Jacob  Van  der  Heyden 's  residence,  and  he  moved 
into  the  Beeckman  house  that  he  had  bought.  He  remained  there 
until  his  death  in  1820,  and  bequeathed  it  to  members  of  his  fam- 
ily. For  years,  standing  in  so  prominent  a  place  on  the  main  street, 
it  attracted  much  attention  by  reason  of  being  a  remarkably  fine 
"type  of  Dutch  architecture,  and  tourists  made  it  a  point  to  see  the 
Van  der  Heyden  Palace. ' '  Its  dimensions  were  a  frontage  of  fifty 
feet  and  a  depth  of  twenty  feet.  It  had  a  central  hall,  with  a  large 
room  on  each  side.  In  spite  of  the  modernizing  it  experienced  by 
way  of  improvement  for  comfort  and  repairs,  it  nevertheless  car- 

467 


■-■■   •    ■ 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

ried  the  mind  back  to  early  Dutch  days,  for  the  huge  oaken  beams 
and  massive  iron  braces  extended  into  the  rooms.  It  arrested  the 
antiquarian  fancy  of  Washington  Irving  on  his  visit  to  Albany,  and 
is  described  by  the  great  historian  in  his  story  of  Dolph  Heyliger, 
in  Eracebridge  Hall,  as  the  residence  of  Heer  Antony  Vanderheyden. 
Irving  secured  the  weather  vane  from  the  peak  of  the  Van  der  Hey- 
den  Palace,  a  metal  horse  running  at  great  speed,  and  it  may  be 
seen  today  gracing  the  turret  of  the  Washington  Irving  residence 
at  Sunny  Side,  on  the  east  shore  of  the  Hudson,  some  thirty  miles 
north  of  New  York  City.  He  built  li Sunny  Side"  shortly  after  his 
return  from  European  travel  in  1806,  and  it  was  in  1822  that  he 
wrote  "Braeebridge  Hall,"  introducing  the  character  of  Van  der 
Hey  den. 

The  Van  der  Heyden  Palace  had  a  variety  of  tenants,  until  finally 
the  property  was  purchased  by  the  Baptist  church,  and  the  work 
of  demolition  of  this  respected  landmark  began  on  June  5,  1833. 
Some  twenty  years  later  the  place  became  the  Temple  of  the  Odd 
Fellows,  with  suites  of  offices  for  lawyers,  and  the  new  building  of 
the  Albany  Savings  Bank  was  opened  on  the  Van  der  Heyden  Pal- 
ace site  on  April  25,  1899.  Today,  nearly  two  hundred  years  after 
that  house  was  built,  Albanians  still  recall  the  site  and  appearance 
of  the  landmark,  and  the  "Palace' '  is  a  familiar  term. 

The  City  Hall  in  Troy  was  erected  upon  ground  that  had  been  in 
the  Van  der  Heyden  family  for  many  generations.  There  had  been 
considerable  discussion  between  the  mayor  and  the  common  coun- 
cil regarding  an  advantageous  site,  abetted  by  factions  of  citizens 
who  were  particularly  bitter  in  their  arguments.  The  mayor's  fac- 
tion was  an  advocate  of  the  location  finally  selected,  which  had 
been  a  burial-ground  given  to  the  city,  at  Third  and  State  streets. 
The  common  council  had  stood  out  for  the  purchase  of  the  Athen- 
aeum building.  Both  sides  issued  petitions  to  be  presented  to  the 
eouncil.  On  June  8,  1875,  the  cemetery  site  was  adopted.  In  order 
to  perfect  the  title,  the  Van  der  Heyden  heirs  were  awarded  $10,000 
to  surrender  any  rights  thereto,  and  the  latter 's  representative  was 
Miss  Elizabeth  Van  der  Heyden.  It  might  be  remarked  that  the 
family  has  been  recognized  among  lawyers  as  one  of  importance 
and  ever  before  their  minds,  for  practically  all  the  deeds  incorpo- 

468 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

rate  the  name  of  Van  der  Heyden  when  a  search  for  clear  title 
is  made. 

//.  Matthys  Van  der  Heyden,  the  oldest  child  of  Jacob  Mathyssen 
Van  der  Heyden  and  his  wife,  Annatje  Hals,  was  born  in  1656.  In- 
stead of  living  with  other  members  of  his  family  at  Albany,  he 
removed  to  Xew  Amsterdam  (New  York  City)  where  his  name  ap- 
pears on  the  muster  roll  of  1673  as  a  cadet  in  Captain  Cornelis 
Steenwyck's  company  of  New  Orange  militia  of  New  Amsterdam. 
His  name  is  on  a  list  of  members  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church 
of  New  Amsterdam  on  September  2,  1675.  He  took  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  King  of  England  on  November  4,  1678,  after  the 
Dutch  gave  way  to  the  English  rule.  In  a  census  for  1703  he  is 
found  as  the  head  of  a  family  that  then  included  one  female  and  two 
children. 

His  father-in-law,  Colonel  Augustine  Hermans,  had  a  colony  in 
Maryland,  named  Bohemia  Manor,  and  it  is  believed  that  it  was  in 
1703  that  Matthys  Van  der  Heyden  removed  to  that  place.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  Maryland  for  the  terms  1709- 
13-15-16.  His  daughters  married  into  respected  Maryland  fam- 
ilies, and  had  noteworthy  descendants,  as  was  the  case  when  Ariana 
Van  der  Heyden  married  Hon.  Edmund  Jennings,  whose  daughter, 
Ariana  Jennings,  married  Hon.  John  Randolph,  and  their  son,  Ed- 
mund Randolph,  born  August  10,  1753,  was  aide  to  General  Wash- 
ington, 1775;  Governor  of  Virginia,  1786-88;  United  States  At- 
torney-General, 1789-90,  and  Secretary  of  State  in  Washington's 
cabinet,  1794-95. 

Matthys  Van  der  Heyden  married  Anna  Margaretha  Hermans. 
She  was  born  in  1658,  daughter  of  Colonel  Augustine  Hermans,  who 
was  a  native  of  Prague,  Bohemia.  After  receiving  an  education  in 
Holland,  he  came  to  America  about  the  same  time  as  the  Van 
der  Heyden  progenitor,  and  settled  in  New  Amsterdam,  where  he 
married  his  first  wife,  Maria  Varleth.  He  then  removed  to  Mary- 
land and  organized  there  a  colony  which  he  named  Bohemia  Manor. 
He  was  repeatedly  chosen  a  member  of  the  Maryland  Legislature. 
His  second  wife  was  a  Miss  Ward,  of  Cecil  county,  Maryland.  Issue 
of  Matthys  and  Anna  Margaretha  (Hermans)  Van  der  Heyden: 

469 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

1.  Jane  Van  der  Heyden;  married Gouts,  of  Scotland. 

2.  Anna  Francina  Van  der  Heyden,  mar.  (1st)  Edward  Shippen, 
of  Philadelphia ;   mar.  (2nd)  Col.  Hynson,  of  Chestertown,  Md. 

3.  Augustina  Van  der  Heyden,  b.  1685;  died  1775;  mar.  James 
Harris. 

4.  Ariana  Van  der  Hevden,  b.  1690;  died  April  — ,  1741;  mar. 
(1st)  James  Frisby,  Feb.' 9,  1713;  mar.  (2nd)  Thomas  Bordley,  of 
Yorkshire,  Eng.,  in  1723;  mar.  (3rd)  Nov.,  1728,  Hon.  Edmund  Jen- 
nings, of  Annapolis,  Md. 

II.  Dirck  Van  der  Heyden,  second  son  of  Jacob  Tyssen  Van  der 
Heyden,  was  born  in  the  Colony  of  Rensselaerswyck,  or  Albany.  By 
his  efforts  he  accumulated  a  sufficient  sum  of  money  to  buy  an  enor- 
mous estate  for  himself,  and  no  doubt  this  is  the  reason  that  so 
many  historical  writers  have  considered  him  the  progenitor  of  the 
family  in  America.  At  any  rate  he  was  prominent,  and  the  head  of 
a  large  family.  Different  writers  have  styled  him  k 4 a  tapper, ' '  "an 
inn-keeper,"  and  "a  winekeeper."  Doubtless  he  pursued  ,the  same 
course  as  that  of  most  of  the  leading  burghers,  being  a  trader  and 
conducting  a  general  store,  for  aside  from  agricultural  pursuits 
there  was  small  opportunity  in  those  days  of  investing  and  mak- 
ing money.  He  died  at  Van  der  Heyden  (Troy,  N.  Y.),  and  was 
brought  to  the  Dutch  burial  ground  of  Albany  for  interment  on 
October  13,  1738.  It  is  likely  that  his  remains  are  to-day  under  the 
tower  of  the  Madison  Avenue  Dutch  Eeformed  Church  of  that  city, 
whither  were  removed  all  the  bodies  which  were  placed  about  the  old 
church  at  the  intersection  of  Broadway  and  State  street,  and  re- 
moved about  1805  to  the  new  church  grounds  on  Beaver  street,  Al- 
bany, to  rest  there  until  it  was  razed.  A  description  of  his  prop- 
erty, told  in  brief,  is  of  wider  interest  than  a  family  concern,  for  it 
forms  the  early  history  of  one  of  the  well-known  cities  of  this 
country. 

Jan  Barentsen  Wemp  (alias  Poest)  of  Rensselaerswyck,  having 
been  thrifty  and  provident  as  a  trader,  decided  to  invest  his  sav- 
ings in  the  fertile  valley  along  the  east  shore  of  the  Hudson  above 
Albany,  and  he  bought  what  was  commonly  called  the  Great  Meadow 
Ground,  between  the  Poesten  kill  and  Meadow  creek,  now  forming 
a  portion  of  the  site  of  Troy.  He  did  not  think  alone  of  the  possi- 
bilities of  agriculture,  for  there  was  no  limit  to  the  opportunities  for 

470 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

farming  in  those  clays  when  the  land  was  sparsely  settled  upon; 
but  he  had  in  mind  the  advantage  of  intercepting  the  savages  bear- 
ing furs  to  the  white  traders  before  they  passed  down  the  river  to 
trade  with  the  inhabitants  of  Beverwyck.  This  would  allow  him  to 
purchase  countless  beaver  and  other  skins,  or,  lacking  the  funds  to 
corner  the  fur  market,  he  could  make  a  selection.  Wemp  had, 
however,  but  four  years  in  which  to  put  his  plans  into  execution, 
for  he  was  taken  violently  sick,  and  died  in  June,  1663.  He  be- 
queathed his  valuable  property  to  his  wife,  two  sons  and  three 
daughters.  The  eldest  of  his  daughters,  Aeltje,  had  married  Jan 
Cornelise  Van  der  Heyden.  The  widow  did  not  remain  unmarried 
long,  for  the  year  following  her  widowhood,  she  married  Sweer 
Teunise  Van  Velsen,  and  thus  he  acquired  control  of  much  good 
property. 

This  particular  tract  of  land  was  the  most  southerly  of  the 
estate,  for  Sir  Richard  Nicolls,  the  Colonial  Governor,  confirmed 
his  possession  by  a  patent  of  April  13,  1667,  describing  it  as  "a  cer- 
tain parcel  of  land  lying  near  Albany,  on  the  other  side  of  the  creek 
or  kill,  beginning  from  the  mill  on  the  creek  and  to  go  on  over 
the  said  creek  unto  the  Great  Meadow  ground,  whereabout  sixty-six 
paces  the  trees  are  marked."  This  same  patent  states  that  Jan 
Barentsen  Wemp  acquired  the  land  from  the  Indian  owners  in  the 
year  1659,  with  the  consent  of  Jan  Baptist  Van  Rensselaer,  director 
for  the  Patroon,  and  Arent  Van  Curler.  The  mill  was  evidently 
the  saw-mill  operated  by  Jan  Barentsen  Wemp,  whose  name  appears 
in  the  Rensselaerswyck  records  in  the  form  of  Jan  Barentsen  Poest, 
—hence  the  Poesten  kill  at  Troy. 

Dirck  Van  der  Heyden  had  large  land  holdings  in  the  Schaghti- 
coke  region,  to  the  east  of  Troy.  It  seems  that  the  city  of  Al- 
bany acquired  a  tract  of  considerable  size  there,  and  at  times  bar- 
gained to  lease  or  sell  farm  portions.  It  was  decided  in  Common 
Council,  August  27,  1714;  present  Robert  Livingston,  Jun.,  Esq., 
Mayor;  Johannes  Cuyler,  Esq.,  Recorder,  and  six  aldermen  (states 
an  old  documentary  record),  that,  " Whereas  notice  has  been  given 
by  advertisement  to  ye  inhabitants  of  this  City  that  some  land  lying 
at  Schaahkook  &  places  adjacent  belonging  to  the  said  City  shall  be 
farmed  out  this  day  at  two  o'clock  in  ye  afternoon,— It  is  there- 

47i 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

fore:  Resolved  that  severall  pieces  of  land  at  Sehaahkook  shall  be 
let  or  farmed  out  on  the  severall  conditions  following  by  a  public 
vendue."     Then  followed  a  description  of  the  several  lots:  — 

"No.  Seven.  Dirck  Vanderheyden  is  ye  highest  bidder  for  one- 
third  part  of  ye  Round  flatt  &  one-third  of  a  small  flatt  of  six  mor- 
gan on  ye  south  side  of  ye  Sehaahkooks  Creek,  together  with  one- 
third  of  sixty  morgan  of  wood  land  adjoyning  to  ye  sd  Round  flatt 
for  ye  sume  of  seaventy-five  Pounds  and  ye  Rent  of  thirty  bushels 
of  merchandable  winter  wheat  after  ye  first  day  of  May  one  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  seaventeen  yearly  and  every  year  in  ye 
month  of  January  or  February  for  ever,  and  on  such  conditions  as 
ye  other  tenants. 

"Dirck  Vanderheyden  is  the  highest  bidder  for  one-third  part  of 
ye  Round  flatt  &  one-third  part  of  a  small  flatt  of  six  morgan  on  ye 
south  side  of  ye  Sehaahkooks  Creek,  together  with  one-third  of  six- 
ty morgan  of  wood  land  adjoyning  to  ye  said  Round  flatt  for  ye  sume 
of  Eighty  Seaven  Pounds  and  ye  Rent  of  thirty  bushell  winter 
wheat  after  the  first  day  of  May  one  thousand  seaven  hundred  and 
seaventeen,  and  on  such  conditions  as  the  other  tenants."  (The  de- 
cision regarding  the  various  farm  lots  above  mentioned  was  deter- 
mined by  drawing  slips  of  paper  from  the  mayor's  hat). 

It  was  while  he  was  a  resident  of  Albany  that  he  made  his  famous 
purchase  of  the  Troy  lands  from  Pieter  Pieterse  Van  Wogglelum, 
June  2,  1707.  From  that  time  onward,  he  was  regarded  as  the  Pa- 
troon,  for  his  estate  equalled  the  proportions  of  a  manor  and  it 
bore  his  name,  appearing  on  the  maps  as  Van  der  Heyden.  His 
name  appears  upon  a  petition  addressed  to  King  "William  I,  of  Eng- 
land, in  1701. 

Dirck  Van  der  Heyden  had  an  unfortunate  experience  with  In- 
dians in  1686,  the  year  in  which  his  city  received  its  charter.  He 
left  Albany  on  an  important  expedition  to  visit  an  Indian  tribe,  and 
his  little  party  was  set  upon  by  both  French  and  Indians,  who  not 
only  robbed  them,  but  carried  him  and  his  friends  to  Canada,  where 
they  were  held  for  some  time  as  prisoners  in  Quebec.  Ordinarily 
this  would  not  have  been  severe  upon  a  man,  but  letters  he  wrote 
show  that  he  was  severely  maltreated,  and  was  practically  subjected 
to  slavery,  being  made  to  work  as  their  prisoner.  He  finally  made 
his  escape,  in  company  with  three  others,  and  at  the  end  of  five  days 

472 


..    .  . 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

arrived  back  at  Albany  very  much  exhausted  by  his  painful  and 
perilous  journey.  He  made  the  long  trip  entirely  by  water,  except- 
ing for  a  space  of  about  three  miles. 

Dirck  (Derick  or  Richard)  Van  der  Heyden  married  Rachel 
Jochemse  Ketelhuyn,  at  Albany,  March  9,  1687.  This  family  name 
was  also  written  Ketelhuin  at  that  time,  and  a  little  later  on  was 
abbreviated  to  Kittel  and  Kittle.  This  date  of  their  marriage  was 
about  half  a  year  before  Albany  received  a  charter  from  Gover- 
nor Thomas  Dongan.  Her  father  was  Joachim  (or  Jochem)  Ketel- 
huyn. He  came  to  Rensselaerswyek  from  Cremyn,  in  1642,  the 
same  year  in  which  Dominie  Johannes  Megapolensis  was  sent  over 
by  Patroon  Kiliaen  Van  Rensselaer  to  erect  the  first  church  of  any 
denomination  at  Albany,  then  known  as  his  colony  of  Rensselaer- 
swyck,  under  the  guns  of  Fort  Orange.  He  was  the  progenitor  of 
his  family  in  America.  He  bought  a  house  lot  on  the  west  corner  of 
Broadway  (then  North  Market  street)  and  Maiden  Lane,  Albany. 

All  their  children  were  baptized  in  the  Albany  Hutch  Church. 
Issue : 

1.  Agniet  (Agnes),  bap.  Aug.  28,  1687. 

2.  Annatje  (Anna),  bap.  Jan.  1,  1689. 

3.  Jacobus  (James),  bap.  Aug.  3,  1690. 

4.  Jacob  (Jacob),  bap.  April  23,  1692:   see  further. 

5.  Dirck  (Richard),  bap.  Jan.  7,  1694;   see  further. 

6.  David  (Dav^id),  bap.  May  19,  1695;   see  further. 

7.  Matthys  (Matthew),  bap.  Jan.  10,  1697;   see  further. 

8.  Annatje  (Anna),  bap.  March  26,  1699;  died  July  10,  1709. 

9.  Jochem  (Joachim),  bap.  Sept.  15,  1700;   see  further. 

10.  Rachel,  bap.  Sept.  19, 1703. 

11.  Johannes  (John),  bap.  March  2, 1707;  see  further. 

III.  Jacob  Van  der  Heyden,  the  fourth  child  of  Dirck  and  Rachel 
Jochemse  (Ketelhuyn)  Van  der  Heyden.  was  born  at  Albany,  New 
York,  where  he  was  baptised  in  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch 
Church  on  April  23,  1692.  He  died  April  S,  1746,  and  was  buried  in 
the  Dutch  Church  burial  ground  at  Albany,  on  April  10,  1746.  Jacob 
Van  der  Heyden  married  Hester  Visscher,  at  Albany,  on  May  3, 
1719.  She  was  born  at  Albany,  where  she  was  baptised  on  July  21, 
1692.  She  was  the  third  child  of  Nanning  Harmense  Visscher  and 
his  wife,  Hester  Tjerkse.    Issue : 

473 


' 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

1.  Dirck  Van  dor  Heyden,  bap.  June  19,  1720,  of  whom  further. 

2.  Nanning  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Nov.  25,  1721 ;  was  an  officer  in 
American  Revolution,  serving  as  a  lieutenant  in  3rd  New  York 
Regiment  of  the  Line,  under  Col.  .fames  Clinton,  and  also  under 
Col.  Pieter  Gansevoort. 

3.  Jacob  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  March  6,  1725 ;  see  further. 

4.  Alida  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Oct.  27,  1727. 

IV.  Dirck  Van  der  Heyderi,  eldest  child  of  Jacob  and  Hester 
(Visscher)  Van  der  Heyden,  was  born  at  Albany,  New  York,  where 
he  was  baptised  on  June  19,  1720.  He  became  the  heir-at-law  to  the 
Northern  and  Middle  Allotments,  and  conveyed  the  former  to  his 
younger  brother  Jacob,  by  a  deed  dated  July  2,  1746,  being  the  19th 
year  of  King  George  II,  as  recorded  in  the  Rensselaer  County 
Clerk's  office,  Book  of  Deeds,  pages  62-65,  March  17,  1802.  This 
property  has  already  been  described. 

Dirck  Van  der  Heyden  married  Elizabeth  Wendell.  She  was 
born  at  Albany,  where  she  was  baptised  in  the  Dutch  church,  on 
November  29,  1724.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Evert  Wendell  and 
his  wife,  Elizabeth  Staats.     Issue: 

1.  Elizabeth  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Nov.  16,  1746 ;  d.  y. 

2.  Elizabeth  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Feb.  19,  1749;  mar.  Jan  Han- 
sen, at  Albany,  Dec.  13,  1771,  who  was  born  at  Albany,  where  bap. 
March  28,  1742,  the  son  of  Philip  Hansen  and  Geertruy  Van  Nes. 
Issue : 

Elizabeth  Hansen,  b.  at  Albany,  April  30,  1774. 

3.  Hester  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  at  Albany,  Aug.  12,  1750;  mar. 
Cornells  Lansing,  who  was  born  at  Albany,  where  bap.  July  6,  1752, 
son  of  Abraham  Lansing  (the  ancestor  of  the  Lansing  family  of 
Lansingburg,  N.  Y.),  and  his  wife,  Catharina  Lie  verse. 

4.  Catarina  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  at  Albany,  Jan.  5,  1752 ;  mar. 
Levinus  Lansing,  at  Albany,  March  11,  1770,  who  was  born  at  Al- 
bany, where  bap.  on  June  23,  1754,  the  son  of  Franciscus  Lansing 
and  Maritje  Lieverse.  Issue:  i.  Cathrina  Lansing,  bap.  at  Al- 
bany, Oct.  8,  1770.    ii.  Dirck  Lansing,  bap.  at  Albany,  Jan.  23,  1772. 

5.  Jacob  Dirckse  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  July  14, 1754 ;  d.  y. 

6.  Alida  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  July  14,  1754;  mar.  Elisha  Adams. 

7.  Susanna  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Nov.  5,  1758 ;  d.  y. 

8.  Jacob  Dirckse  Van  der  Heyden,  b.  Oct.  28,  bap.  Nov.  5,  1758; 
see  forward. 

474 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

9.  Susanna  Van  dor  Heyden,  bap.  Oct.  24,  17(52;  mar.  Gideon 
Hinman. 

V.  Jacob  Dirckse  Van  der  Heyden,  son  of  Dirck  and  Elizabeth 
(Wendell)  Van  der  Heyden,  was  born  at  Albany,  New  York,  Octo- 
ber 28,  1758,  where  he  was  baptised  on  November  5,  1758.  His  name 
sometimes  appears  as  Jacob  Derick  Van  der  Heyden.  It  has  been 
stated  that  he  attended  college  and  received  a  fair  education,  his  fam- 
ily being  one  of  ample  means  and  ranking  among  the  wealthy  land- 
owners of  New  York  Colony.  When  only  seventeen  years  of  age 
he  became  the  proprietor  of  the  "Middle  Farm,"  at  Van  der  Hey- 
den, or  Troy,  New  York.  It  is  a  matter  of  historic  concern  to  note 
the  great  extent  of  real  estate  that  Jacob  D.  Van  der  Heyden  owned. 
One  gains  an  admirable  estimate  of  this  from  an  article  published 
on  May  26,  1806,  in  "The  Troy  Gazette,"  from  which  a  portion  of 
the  description  of  the  growth  of  Van  der  Heyden,  or  Troy,  is  copied : 

"As  part  of  the  village,  built  on  the  estate  of  Jacob  I.  Van  der 
Heyden,  deceased,  has  not  been  regularly  laid  out,  no  other  street 
yet  intersects  River  street  in  a  northerly  or  southerly  direction, 
except  one  by  a  circuitous  passage.  This  one  is  a  continuation  of 
Fifth  street,  which,  when  laid  out  in  a  direct  line,  will  run  into 
Kiver  street  about  a  mile  from  the  south  end  of  the  latter,  and  with 
the  upper  end  of  that  form  a  street  nearly  straight,  through  the 
whole  length  of  the  village.  Sixth,  Seventh  and  Eighth  (and  per- 
haps other  streets)  if  continued  from  the  north  line  of  the  original 
plan,  will  run  in  like  course,  east  of  north,  without  intersecting  or 
touching  River  street  at  all.  But  on  the  south,  these  streets  will 
strike  the  kill  before-mentioned,  on  the  east  side  of  the  village. 

"Six  hundred  and  eight  lots  are  already  laid  out  on  the  estate  of  J. 
D.  Van  der  Heyden,  Esq.,  and  several  more  on  land  further  south. 
All  those  lots  on  the  cross  streets  will  afford  at  least  two  additional 
house  lots,  should  the  population  of  the  village  ever  require,  or  the 
high  price  of  building  lots  tempt  the  subdivision  of  them,— a  thing 
no  way  improbable. 

"Even  the  lots,  fronting  the  other  streets  only,  may  afford  two 
building  lots,  as  has  been  the  case  with  many  of  them  already.  So 
that  the  land  of  J.  D.  Van  der  Heyden,  Esq.,  wil  admit  of  the  erec- 
tion of  fifteen  or  sixteen  hundred  dwelling-houses  and  stores,  to- 
gether with  out-houses  sufficient  for  the  same." 

Elikanah  Watson  describes  the  village  of  Van  der  Heyden  in  a 

475 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

more  entertaining  and  graphic  manner  in  his  "Reminiscences  of 
Albany,"  which  was  written  at  about  the  same  time  as  the  forego- 
ing. It  is  to  be  found  in  Munsell's  "Annals  of  Albany/'  Volume 
X,  page  220.     The  following  is  an  excerpt : 

"My  curiosity  satisfied.  I  sent  my  horse  towards  Albany  and  em- 
barked on  board  a  returning  bateaux,  and  proceeded  down  the  Mo- 
hawk to  Little  Falls,  anxious  to  examine  that  place,  with  an  eye  to 
canals. 

"We  abandoned  ourselves  to  the  current  of  the  (Mohawk)  river, 
which,  with  the  aid  of  our  oars,  impelled  us  at  a  rapid  rate.  We 
met  numerous  bateaux  coming  up  the  river,  freighted  with  whole 
families,  emigrating  to  the  'land  of  promise/ 

"I  was  surprised  to  observe  the  dexterity  with  which  they  manage 
their  boats,  and  the  progress  they  make  in  polling  up  the  river 
against  a  current  of  at  least  three  miles  an  hour.  The  first  night  we 
encamped  at  a  log-hut  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  the  next  morn- 
ing I  disembarked  at  German  Flats. 

"The  meanderings  of  the  river,  by  my  estimate,  about  doubles 
the  distance  of  a  direct  line.  We  passed  a  valuable  tract  of  16,000 
acres  of  land  situated  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  which  has  been 
granted  by  the  State  to  Baron  Steuben. 

"From  Schenectady,  I  pursued  the  road  across  a  thickly  settled 
country,  embracing  many  line  farms,  to  Ashley's  Ferry,  six  miles 
above  Albany. 

"On  the  east  side  of  the  river,  at  this  point,  a  new  town  has  been 
recently  laid  out,  named  Vanderheyden.  ( The  original  name  of  the 
present  beautiful  city  of  Troy).  This  place  is  situated  precisely 
at  the  head  of  navigation  on  the  Hudson. 

"Several  bold  and  enterprising  adventurers  have  already  set- 
tled there ;  a  number  of  capacious  warehouses  and  several  dwellings 
are  already  erected.  It  is  favorably  situated  in  reference  to  the 
important  and  growing  trade  of  Vermont  and  Massachusetts ;  and 
I  believe  it  not  only  bids  fair  to  be  a  serious  thorn  in  the  side  of  New 
City  (Lansingburg),  but  in  the  issue  a  fatal  rival. 

"I  spent  a  day  in  examining  this  locality,  and  then  walked  on  the 
banks  of  the  Hudson,  a  distance  of  three  miles,  to  Xew  City,  where 
I  continued  several  days.  This  place  is  thronged  by  mercantile  emi- 
grants, principally  from  New  England,  who  have  enjoyed  a  very 
extensive  and  lucrative  trade,  supplying  Vermont  and  the  region  on 
both  banks  of  the  Hudson,  as  far  as  Lake  George,  with  merchan- 
dise, and  receiving  in  payment  wheat,  pot  and  pearl  ashes,  and  lum- 

476 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

ber.  But,  as  I  remarked,  I  think  Vanderheyden  must,  from  its 
more  eligible  position,  attain  the  ultimate  ascendency. 

"I  crossed  the  river  at  Half-Moon,  a  small  hamlet,  and  about  a 
mile  from  this  place  I  visited  the  Cohoes  falls,  upon  the  Mohawk 
river. 

"Nothing  so  much  charms  and  elevates  my  mind  as  the  contem- 
plation of  nature  in  her  bold  and  majestic  works.  Fixing  my  posi- 
tion on  the  margin  of  the  bank  which  descends  in  a  vertical  preci- 
pice of  about  seventy  feet,  T  beheld  the  volume  of  the  Mohawk, 
plunging  over  a  fall  of  about  the  same  height,  and  nearly  per- 
pendicular. 

"The  barrier  of  rocks,  the  lofty  banks,  the  roaring  and  dashing 
of  the  waters,  and  the  cloud  of  midst,  presented  a  spectacle  of  sur- 
prising sublimity.  The  river  divides  immediately  below  the  falls 
into  three  branches,  and  empties  into  the  Hudson  nearly  opposite 
New  City.  The  bed  of  the  stream  is  filled  with  rocks,  among  which 
it  rushes  and  surges  in  terrific  impetuosity." 

Back  in  the  year  1800,  the  people  of  Troy  and  Lansingburg  felt 
the  need  of  a  bank,  as  there  never  had  been  an  institution  of  that 
character  in  the  vicinity,  and  the  inhabitants  had  to  undertake  a 
journey  to  Albany  when  wishing  to  make  a  deposit.  By  the  Act 
of  March  31,  1801,  the  project  was  brought  to  a  climax  by  the  grant- 
ing of  a  charter  to  the  Farmers'  Bank.  The  question  arose  whether 
it  should  be  in  Lansingburg  or  Troy,  and  when  the  ballots  were 
lifted  one  by  one  from  a  hat,  the  former  name  appeared  on  two, 
and  Troy  was  written  on  the  third  ballot  thus  removed.  The  direc- 
tors agreed  to  accept  two  lots,  a  collection  of  houses  around  Mount 
Olympus,  which  were  tendered  by  Jacob  D.  Van  der  Heyden,  and 
decided  to  erect  thereon  a  building  to  be  thirty  by  forty  feet.  It 
was  constructed  from  brick,  and  the  site  was  the  second  lot  to  the 
south  of  the  one  on  the  southwest  corner  of  First  and  State  streets. 
It  was  opened  November  15,  1808. 

On  November  29,  1808,  a  number  of  influential  men  of  Troy  as- 
sembled for  the  purpose  of  forming  "the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  of  the  Village  of  Troy,"  and,  after  incorporating,  turned 
their  attention  to  the  purchase  of  a  lot  and  the  erection  of  an  edifice. 
The  ground  for  this  church  was  bought  from  Jacob  D.  Van  der  Hey- 
den on  December  25, 1808,  and  consisted  of  lots  743  and  744,  located 

477 


■ 

■ 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

on  the  east  side  of  the  alley,  on  the  east  side  of  State  street,  between 
Fourth  and  Fifth  streets,  the  value  being  fixed  at  $500. 

The  ground  for  the  first  cemetery  in  Troy  was  conveyed  to  the 
village  trustees  by  Jacob  D.  Van  der  Heyden,  on  May  10,  1796.  It 
extended  along  the  east  side  of  Third  street,  from  State  street  to 
the  lot  on  which  the  First  Baptist  Church  was  built.  The  last  inter- 
ment was  that  of  the  remains  of  Piatt  Titus,  who  died  April  30, 
1833.  At  the  time  this  site  was  chosen  for  Troy's  new  City  Hall,  in 
1875,  there  were  156  graves  still  in  existence,  most  of  the  removals 
having  been  made  to  Mount  Ida  and  Oakwood  cemeteries  at  the 
expense  of  the  city. 

The  old  Eagle  Tavern  of  1803,  which  witnessed  many  entertain- 
ments and  lodged  scores  of  men  of  wide  repute,  was  built  on  land 
leased  by  Jacob  D.  Van  der  Heyden.  In  1816  his  land  was  absorbed 
by  the  city  of  Troy  to  form  the  park  known  as  Washington  Square. 

Undoubtedly  the  most  important  or  popular  commercial  block  in 
Troy  today  is  that  containing  the  large  dry-goods  building  of  the 
late  William  H.  Frear,  operated  since  1917  by  his  sons.  Its  ca- 
reer started  on  March  10,  1789,  when  Jacob  D.  Van  der  Heyden 
leased  a  large  lot  to  Mathise  Vandenburgh,  who  in  turn  surrendered 
it  to  Elias  Lee,  and  it  passed  next  to  Nathan  Betts,  Nathan  and  Ste- 
phen Warren,  to  Eliakim  Warren,  and  on  October  13,  1831,  to  the 
heirs  of  LeGrand  Cannon,  and  finally,  on  May  4,  1891,  to  William 
H.  Frear,  who  paid  $124,000  to  the  heirs  of  Cannon. 

These  few  facts,  presented  in  briefest  detail,  are  mentioned  in 
order  to  illustrate  with  what  large  interests  of  Troy's  city  life  he 
was  dealing,  and  the  private  deals  overshadowed  these  considerably. 

The  handsome  large  east  window  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Troy  was  placed  there  in  memory  of  Jacob  D.  Van  der 
Heyden  by  the  congregation.  A  marble  tablet  in  that  church  bears 
this  inscription:  "Inscribed  to  the  Memory  of  Jacob  D.  Van 
der  Heyden,  Esq.,  Founder  and  Father  of  this  Congregation,  and 
the  first  Ruling  Elder  in  this  Church.  Born  in  Albany,  October 
28,  1758.     Died  in  Troy,  September  4,  1809." 

Under  the  Act  of  March  25,  1794,  creating  the  Trustees  for  the 
Village  of  Troy,  the  name  of  Jacob  D.  Van  der  Heyden  appears  on 
the  list  of  1794. 

478 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN   FAMILY 

Jacob  D.  Van  der  Heyden  died  in  his  home  at  Troy  on  Septem- 
ber 4, 1809,  and  was  buried  in  Oakwood  Cemetery  of  that  place.  His 
children  survived  him,  yet  none  lived  to  reach  the  age  of  forty-three 
years.  He  left  a  will  which  exhibits  the  fairness  of  his  character, 
for  he  made  a  most  equitable  division  of  his  property.  He  directed 
that  the  land  first  be  divided  into  specific  shares  holding  an  equal 
value,  and  numbered  with  a  certain  lot  corresponding  with  the  num- 
ber of  his  children.  These  ballots  were  then  to  be  placed  in  a  box, 
with  their  names  upon  ballots  in  a  similar  box,  and  two  disinter- 
ested persons  were  to  draw  the  slips  from  the  boxes,  which  would 
then  be  matched,  one  name  corresponding  with  the  ballot  bearing  a 
description  of  the  land.  He  allowed  his  executor  to  sell  the  land, 
or  so  much  thereof  as  seemed  best,  in  the  interest  of  any  minor  child, 
contemplating  an  advantageous  offer  for  any  land  before  a  child 
reached  his  majority  and  had  the  power  to  sell. 

The  eminent  jurist,  Judge  John  Woodworth,  who  was  well-ac- 
quainted with  Mr.  Van  der  Heyden,  furnishes  this  estimate  of  his 
character:  "His  example  at  that  early  day,  shed  a  moral  influ- 
ence in  the  community,  the  fruit  of  which  is  visible  at  the  present 
day."  Another  person  wrote  of  him:  "Descending  from  a  Dutch 
ancestry  of  grave,  virtuous  and  industrious  people,  he  was  one  of 
Troy's  most  estimable  citizens." 

Jacob  Dirckse  Van  der  Heyden  married  Annatje  (Anna,  or  Jan- 
netje)  Yates,  at  Albany,  in  1781.  She  was  baptised  at  Albany  on 
February  19,  17-49,  and  died  (aged  29  yrs.,  4  mos.),  September  11, 
1793.  Her  parents  were  Adam  Christoffel  Yates  and  Annatje  Ger- 
ritse,  Albany.  He  married  (2nd)  Mary  Owen,  who  was  born  July  1, 
1767,  and  died  February  20,  1809,  the  daughter  of  Joshua  Owen,  of 
Troy.     Issue: 

1.  Derick  Yates  Van  der  Heyden,  born  Dec.  23,  1781;  died  iaged 
36  yrs.  1  m.  6  d.)  Feb.  1,  1818.  He  was  firewarden  for  Troy  for  the 
Second  Ward  during  the  terms  1813-1814, 1814-1815,  1815-1816.  He 
was  constituted  a  trustee  on  the  passage  of  the  Act  of  April  13, 
1814,  "to  incorporate  the  proprietors  of  the  Conduit  Company  of 
Troy,"  which  privileged  that  corporation  to  discontinue  the  use 
of  earthen  conduits  and  to  lay  cast-iron  pipes  instead.  Formerly 
the  village  was  supplied  with  water  conveyed  in  wooden  pipes,  the 

479 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

trunks  of  trees  having  a  small  bore  through  the  center,  and  later 
earthen  pipes,  two  feet  long,  with  a  hole  of  an  inch  and  a  half  diam- 
eter, were  used.  Issue:  i.  Jacob  Derick  Van  der  Hevden,  born 
Dec.  18,  1812,  died  Dec.  7,  1816.     ii.  Derick  Y^ates  Van  der  Hevden, 

born ,  1817,  died  March  28,  1818.     iii.  Jane  Elizabeth  Van 

der  Heyden,  born ,  1814,  died  Dec.  9,  1833,  mar.  Jacob  Douw 

Lansing. 

2.  Catherine  Van  der  Heyden,  born  1783 ;  died  April  7,  1822,  aged 
38  yrs.,  8  mos.,  2/  d. ;  mar.  Jacob  Lansing,  born  in  Albany,  March  21, 
1784,  son  of  John  Abraham  Lansing  and  Elizabeth  Fryer. 

3.  Jan  Oerritsen  Van  der  Heyden,  born  at  Albany,  Nov.  5,  1786; 
died  at  Troy,  Jan.  5,  1829;  no  issue. 

4.  Jane  Van  der  Heyden,  born  1798 ;  died  Aug.  12,  1813,  aged  14 
yrs.,  9  mos.,  14  d. 

5.  Samuel  Van  der  Heyden,  born  1801;  died  at  Troy,  Nov.  27, 
1823,  aged  22  yrs.,  6  days.  Had  son,  Samuel  Douglas  Van  der 
Heyden. 

6.  Jacob  D.  E.  Van  der  Heyden,  born  1804;  died  Dec.  25,  1839. 

7.  Blandina  Van  der  Heyden,  died  Sept.  14,  1838 ;  mar.  Walter 
R.  Morris. 

8.  Sally  Ann  Maria  Van  der  Heyden,  b.  Apr.  1,  1806 ;  d.  Oct.  8, 
1831 ;  mar.  John  H.  Bayeux. 

IV,  Jacob  Van  der  Heyden,  son  of  Jacob  and  Hester  (Visscher) 
Van  der  Heyden,  was  born  at  Albany,  New  York,  where  he  was 
baptised  in  the  Dutch  Church  on  March  6,  1725.  He  died  at  Al- 
bany, and  was  buried  on  September  24,  1820.  He  married  Maria 
Halenbeck,  about  1749.  She  was  baptised  March  8,  1724,  and  was 
the  daughter  of  Jacob  Isaacse  Halenbeck,  of  Catskill,  New  Y'ork, 
and  his  wife,  Maria  Visscher,  who  were  married  November  18,  1715. 
The  first-born  child  was  named  for  its  grandfather,  Jacob  Isaacse 
Halenbeck.     Issue : 

1.  Jacob  Isaacse  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Dec.  3,  1749;  see  for- 
ward. 

2.  Nanning  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Sept.  29,  1751 ;  d.  y. 

3.  Nanning  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Feb.  24,  1754;  died  1791;  mar. 
Catharina  Levison,  by  whom  Annatje  Van  der  Heyden,  born  Jan. 
22,  1782. 

4.  Derick  (or  Dirck)  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Jan.  7,  1759;  see  for- 
ward. 

5.  Maria  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Nov.  1,  1761;  mar.  Levinus 
Levisee. 

480 


THE  VAX  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

V.  Jacob  Isaacse  Van  der  Heyden,  son  of  Jacob  and  Maria  (Hal- 
enbeek)  Van  der  Heyden,  was  baptised  December  3,  174-!),  and  died 
August  23,  1801.  Married  Maria  Van  Schaick.  She  was  baptised 
July  26,  1746;  died  April  6,  1S13,  and  was  buried  April  10,  1813. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  Wessei  Van  Schaick,  of  Coxsackie,  New 
York,  and  his  wife,  Maria  Grerritse.     Issue: 

1.  Jacob  Isaacse  Van  der  Heyden,  Jr.  Issue :  i.  Jacob  Isaac  Van  der 
Heyden,  bom  1800;  died  Oct.  6.  1830 ;  aged  29  yrs.  0  mos.  ii.  Maria 
Van  der  Heyden,  married  Robert  M.  Winne,  son  of  Moses  Winne. 
Robert  M.  Winne  and  Maria  Van  der  Heyden  Winne  had:  Eliza- 
beth Ann  Winne,  who  mar.  Ransom  Baldwin  Moore,  and  had  Mary 
Catherine  Moore,  who  mar.  (1st)  Craig  A.  Marsh  (dec),  issue: 
Craig  A.,  Jr.,  died  in  infancy;  married  (2nd)  Orville  Taylor  War- 
ing, of  Plainneld,  N.  J. 

2.  Nancy  Van  der  Heyden,  mar.  Elias  Feats. 

3.  Maria  Van  der  Heyden,  born  1780;  died  April  29,  1835;  aged 
55  yrs.,  11  mos.,  3  d. ;  mar.  Abraham  Lansing,  who  was  born  Aug. 
6,  1776;  died  June  2,  1820,  son  of  John  Abraham  and  Elizabeth 
(Fryer)  Lansing. 

4.  John  Van  der  Heyden,  born  1784;  died  Sept.  6,  1811;  aged  27 
yrs.;   no  posterity. 

5.  Derick  Isaac  Van  der  Heyden,  born  1785;  died  June  6,  1829; 
aged  33  yrs.,  7  mos.,  14  d. 

6.  Aaron  Van  der  Heyden,  born  1786;  died  Feb.  22,  1809;  aged 
22  yrs.,  2  mos.,  13  d. 

7.  Robert  Van  der  Heyden,  born  1789;  died  June  2,  1810;  aged 
21  v.,  16  d. ;  no  posterity. 

V.  Birch  Van  der  Heyden,  son  of  Jacob  and  Maria  (Halenbeck) 
Van  der  Heyden,  was  born  January  5th  and  baptised  January  7, 
1759.  This  was  at  the  time  of  the  close  of  the  French  and  Indian 
warfare.  He  conducted  a  farm  of  a  great  many  acres  back  of  Troy, 
near  what  is  now  Oakwood  Cemetery.     Issue : 

1.  Mary  Van  der  Heyden,  born  May  23, 1779. 

2.  Jacob  Dirck  Van  der  Heyden,  born  Dec.  14, 1780 ;  died  at  Troy, 
February  — ,  1862.     He  inherited  the  farm  from  his  father.     Mar. 

(1st)  Alida ,  by  whom  Dirck;    mar.  (2nd)   Mary  C.  Coons. 

Issue :  i.  Dirck  Van  der  Heyden.  ii.  Jane  Van  der  Heyden,  born 
Apr.  27, 1815;  died  Mch.  24, 1863;  mar.  Lavinus  Van  Leversee,  Clif- 
ton Park,  Saratoga  co.,  N.  Y.     iii.  Nanning  Van  der  Hevden,  born  at 

4Si 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN   FAMILY 

Troy,  Juue  3,  1818;  died  at  Troy,  March  23,  1870;  mar.  Elizabeth  L. 
Springer,  born  1819;    died  July  9,  1846.     Issue:     a.  Helen  Man* 

Van  der  Heyden,  born  Jan.  1,  1842;  died ,  1860.     b.  Prances 

Van  der  Heyden,  born  Nov.  1,  1845. 

///.  Dirck  Van  der  Heyden,  fifth  child  of  Dirck  and  Rachel  Jo- 
chemse  (Ketclhuyn)  Van  der  Heyden,  was  born  at  Albany.  New 
York,  where  he  was  baptised  in  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  on 
January  7,  1694.  His  name  also  appears  in  records  as  "Derick." 
He  became  heir-at-law  to  the  Northern  and  Middle  Allotments,  and 
conveyed  to  his  brother  Jacob  the  Northern  Allotment,  by  deed 
dated  July  2,  1746,  being  the  19th  year  of  King  George  II,  as  re- 
corded in  the  Rensselaer  County  Clerk's  office  in  Book  of  Deeds,  pp. 
62-65,  March  17,  1802. 

Dirck  Van  der  Heyden  married  Egbert je  Bratt,  April  22,  1716. 
She  was  baptised  May  15,  1692,  and  was  the  daughter  of  Dirck  Ba- 
rentse  Bratt  and  his  wife,  Annatje  Teunise.  They  had  an  only 
child,— a  daughter,  named  Rachel,  baptised  at  Albany,  in  the  Dutch 
Church,  July  29,  1716.  She  mar.  Harnien  Nanning  Visscher,  at  Al- 
bany, February  24,  1739.  He  was  born  at  Albany,  where  he  was 
baptised  December  26,  1700;  died  at  Albany,  where  he  was  buried 
on  August  24,  1774,  and  was  the  son  of  Nanning  Harmense  Visscher 
and  his  wife,  Alida  Vinhagen.  Issue :  Nanning  Visscher,  born  at 
Albany,  where  baptised  December  2,  1739;  married  Alida  Fonda, 
April  21,  1785.  Issue :  Rachel  Visscher,  born  at  Albany,  February 
7,  1786. 

///.  David  Van  der  Heyden,  sixth  child  of  Dirck  and  Rachel 
Jochemse  (Ketelhuyn)  Van  der  Heyden,  was  born  at  Albany,  New 
York,  where  he  was  baptized  in  the  Dutch  Church  on  May  19,  1695. 

He  released  his  interest  in  the  lands  located  at  Vanderheyden,  or 
Troy,  jointly  deeded  to  the  three  brothers,  to  his  elder  brother, 
Jacob,  on  March  2,  1732,  deciding  to  reside  in  Albany,  where  he  was 
^chosen  Alderman  of  the  Second  Ward  on  September  29,  1744.  and 
was  re-elected  September  29,  1745.  He  contracted  with  the  Albany 
authorities  to  construct  one  of  the  old-time  blockhouses,  as  described 
in  a  record  made  h}-  the  Common  Couaeil  at  a  meeting  held  on  De- 
cember 12,  1747: 

482 


THE  VAX  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

"This  board  agreed  with  Yanderheyden  to  supply  Block  House 
No.  4  on  the  same  terms  and  for  the  same  time  as  the  others.  He 
began  last  Thursday,  being  the  10th  inst.  Resolved,  that  it*  any- 
thing happen  to  be  wanting  to  the  Sentry  boxes  or  Batteries  round 
the  walls  of  this  city  that  the  Mayor  or  Recorder  or  the  Aldermen 
of  the  ward  where  such  defect  happens  to  be,  or  any  of  them,  take 
care  that  the  same  be  made,  mended  or  repaired  at  the  charge  of 
the  corporation.  Resolved,  that  Johannes  Hun  and  Cornells  Bog- 
haert  make  up  the  deficiencies  in  the  city  wall  at  the  several  places 
as  mentioned  in  a  memorandum  given  to  Johannes  Hun  for  that 
purpose.  Benjamin  Bratt  undertook  to  open  and  shutt  the  Gates 
and  sweep  the  snow  from  off  the  Batteries  in  the  northern  division 
of  the  city  at  seven  pound  per  annum  from  the  first  day  of  Feb- 
ruary. He  began  to  open  and  shutt  the  Gates  aforesaid  the  28th 
day  of  January  last.  Johannes  Seger  undertook  as  above  for  the 
southern  division  at  the  same  price.' ' 

David  Van  der  Heyden  made  his  will,  February  7,  1770,  which 
was  probated  on  August  13,  1770,  mentioning  therein  the  children 
named  below,  with  exception  of  Nanning.  He  died  at  Albany,  May 
30,  1770. 

He  had  leased  of  the  city  on  September  5, 1766.  a  lot  in  perpetuity 
for  a  family  burial  ground,  on  the  west  side  of  Swan  street,  north 
of  Washington  street,  paying  thereon  a  rental  of  $2.50,  which  was 
commuted  in  1856,  on  which  lot  was  erected  a  vault,  known  as  the 
"Stringer  Vault,''  from  his  daughter  Rachel,  who  married  Dr. 
Samuel  Stringer.  At  the  time  that  excavations  were  made  on  the 
south  side  of  Beaver  street  in  Albany,  between  South  Pearl  and 
Green  streets,  in  order  to  make  a  public  market  of  what  had  been 
the  "Middle"  or  Second  Dutch  Reformed  Cmirch,  and  its  burial 
ground  to  the  east  and  west  thereof,  in  November,  1882,  the  re- 
mains of  David  Van  der  Heyden  and  those  of  his  wife  were  found. 
Their  bodies  were  exhumed  and  removed  to  the  new  burial  ground, 
and  a  transcription  was  made  of  the  inscription  upon  the  tombs : 

"Here  Lies  the  Body  of  David  Van  Der  Heyden,  Who  Died  the 
30th  of  Mav,  Anno  Domini,  1770.  Enter 'd  in  the  76th  Year  of  his 
Age." 

"Memento  Mori.  Here  Lies  the  Body  of  Gertrude,  Wife  of  Da- 
vid Van  Der  Heyden,  Who  died  the  27th  day  of  September,  1784, 
Aged  88  Years  and  6  months." 

483 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

Talcott  makes  this  reference : 

"The  Beaver  street  burial  ground  had  been  used  for  that  purpose 
for  many  years  before  the  church  at  the  foot  of  State  street,  at  the 
intersection  of  Broadway,  Albany,  was  demolished  in  1806,  and  the 
dead  from  that  churchyard  were  removed  to  the  Beaver  street 
burial  yard  of  the  Middle  Dutch  Church  when  the  other  church  was 
razed.  When  the  Middle  Dutch  Church  was  built,  the  gravestones 
were  laid  upon  the  graves  and  covered  with  earth  to  a  depth  of 
three  feet.  The  records  show  that  before  this,  as  soon  as  the 
ground  was  wholly  occupied,  it  was  customary  to  add  a  layer  of 
earth  upon  the  surface  and  commence  burying  over  the  top  of  the 
last  tier  of  coffins.  Alter  the  church  burial  ground  was  finally 
abandoned  for  burials,  the  new  churchyard  was  used,  located  south 
of  the  Capitol  Park,  adjoining  State  street,  and  after  a  time  the 
bodies  were  removed  to  what  is  now  Washington  Park,  Albany,  and 
in  1842,  all  were  taken  to  the  Albany  Rural  Cemetery,  that  the  city 
might  employ  the  burial  ground  as  a  public  park. ' ' 

David  Van  der  Heyden  married  Geertruy  Visscher,  at  Albany,  De- 
cember 26,  1725.  She  was  born  in  Albany,  where  she  w^as  baptised 
on  March  8,  1696.  She  was  the  fifth  child  of  Xanning  Harmense 
Visscher  and  his  wife,  Alida  Vinhagen.  She  died  in  her  home  at 
Albany,  on  September  27,  1784,  and  was  buried  in  the  Dutch  Church 
burial  ground  at  the  intersection  of  Broadway  and  State  street,  less 
than  a  hundred  feet  to  the  west  of  the  Federal  building,  or  Post- 
Office;  but  about  1805  the  remains  were  removed  to  the  Beaver 
street  burial  ground,  and  later  on  to  the  cemetery  occupying  the  site 
of  Washington  Park.  They  now  rest  in  the  Albany  Rural  Ceme- 
tery.    Issue : 

1.  Dirck  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  at  Albany,  Oct.  30,  1726. 

2.  Rachel  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  at  Albany,  Aug.  22,  1730 ;  d.  y. 

3.  David  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  at  Albany,  Nov.  19,  1732. 

4.  Alida  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  at  Albany,  Aug.  28,  1734;  mar. 
Dominie  Barent  Vrooman,  of  Schenectady,  N.  Y. 

5.  Jacob  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  March  3,  1737 ;  see  forward. 

6.  Nanning  Van  der  Heyden,  buried  Sept.  23,  1739. 

7.  Rachel  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  July  16,  1740;  mar.  Dr.  Samuel 
Stringer,  a  native  of  Maryland,  and  settled  in  Albany  at  the  close  of 
the  French  War,  where  he  died  July  11,  1817,  after  a  valiant  career 
as  a  Revolutionary  surgeon,  and  prominent  member  of  the  earliest 
Masonic  fraternity. 

484 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

IV.  Jacob  Van  der  Heyden,  son  of  David  and  Geertruy  (Viss- 
cher)  Van  der  Heyden,  was  born  at  Albany,  New  York,  where  he 
was  baptised  on  March  3,  1737.  He  died  in  his  home  in  that  city, 
September  19,  1820. 

He  was  a  man  of  social  prominence,  was  well  educated,  and  had  an 
ample  fortune.  He  was  a  director  of  the  Bank  of  Albany,  which  was 
the  first  institution  of  its  kind  in  that  city.  He  was  chosen  a  city 
assessor  in  1783.  In  177S  he  bought  the  house  erected  in  1725  by 
Johannes  Beeckman  on  the  west  side  of  North  Pearl  street,  Al- 
bany, one  house  lot  to  the  south  of  the  southwest  corner  of  Maiden 
Lane,  which  became  famed  as  a  landmark,  known  widely  as  the 
"Van  der  Heyden  Palace,"  until  that  attractive,  typical  Dutch  resi- 
dence was  razed  in  1833,  to  afford  a  site  for  the  First  Baptist  Church 
of  Albany.  This  was  the  house  that  caught  the  attention  of  Wash- 
ington Irving.  He  married  Janet  Livingston,  who  was  born  in 
1753,  and  died  on  December  10,  1825.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
John  and  Catherine  (Ten  Broeck)  Livingston.     Issue: 

1.  Janet  Livingston  Van  der  Heyden,  born  at  Albany,  Novem- 
ber 22,  1777;  she  removed  to  Stillwater,  Saratoga  county,  New 
York. 

2.  Alida  Van  der  Heyden,  born  at  Albany,  1780;  died  Jan.  16, 
1805 ;  no  issue. 

3.  Captain  David  Van  der  Heyden,  born  at  Albany,  July  19,  1784; 
died  Sept.  19,  1820.  He  served  in  the  War  of  1812  as  a  second  lieu- 
tenant of  6th  New  Yrork  Regiment,  and  was  promoted  captain. 

4.  Derick  Livingston  Van  der  Heyden,  born  at  Albany,  1789;  died 
Feb.  8,  1826,  and  was  buried  Feb.  12,  1826.  He  was  *'an  attorney- 
at-law  and  master  in  chancery. "  He  was  elected  clerk  of  the  State 
Assembly  by  63  votes,  when  it  convened  on  November  7,  1820,  being 
then  thirtv  years  old.  He  delivered  the  patriotic  oration  at  Geneva, 
N.  Y.,  July  4, 1820,  and  the  one  at  Albany,  July  4, 1821. 

III.  Matthys  Van  der  Heyden,  seventh  child  of  Dirck  and  Rachel 
Jochemse  (Ketelhuyn)  Van  der  Heyden,  was  born  at  Albany,  New 
York,  where  he  was  baptised  in  the  Dutch  Church  on  January  10, 
1697.    Died  in  1772. 

He  inherited  what  was  known  as  the  Southern  Allotment  of  the 
lands  at  Van  der  Heyden,  or  Troy.  In  1739,  one-third  of  his  fath- 
er's vast  estate  was  partitioned  to  him.     His  share  contained  four 

485 


THE  VAX  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

hundred  and  ninety  acres.  This  tract  was  hounded  on  the  north 
by  what  is  now  Division  street,  and  on  the  south  by  the  Poesten  kill. 
Upon  this  farm  he  built  his  residence  in  1752,  locating-  it  on  a  site 
which  would  be  the  southeast  corner  of  River  and  Division  streets, 
Troy,  New  York. 

He  was  a  private  in  Captain  Henry  Van  Rensselaer's  company  of 
the  Albany  county  militia,  in  1715,  being  then  only  eighteen  years 
old.  He  wTas  made  a  firemaster  of  the  Second  Ward  in  Albany,  on 
November  16,  1721,  and  held  the  same  office  for  the  First  Ward,  in 
1732.  Although  an  Albanian  for  the  first  half  of  his  life,  when  he 
received  the  fortune  his  father  bequeathed  to  him  in  land  at  Troy, 
he  deemed  it  best  to  leave  Albany  for  the  remainder  of  his  life. 

Matthys  Van  der  Heyden  married  first  Greertruy ,  and  he 

married  (second)  Margarita  Bratt,  or  Bradt,  Albany,  December  17, 
1730.  Margarita  Bratt  was  born  at  Albany,  June  29,  1707,  and  was 
the  daughter  of  Captain  Johannes  Barentse  and  Maria  (Ketelhuyn) 
Bratt,  residing  on  the  north  corner  of  Broadway  and  Maiden  Lane, 
in  Albany.      Issue : 

1.  Derick  M.  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  May  14,  1732 ;   see  forward. 

2.  Johannes  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Dec.  12,  1733;  drowned,  June 
18,  1784. 

3.  Jochem  Bratt  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  June  20, 1736. 

4.  Matthys  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Nov.  25,  1739. 
5«  Mattheus  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Feb.  14,  1742. 
6.  Maria  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Jan.  10,  1746. 

IV.  Derick  Matthys  Van  der  Heyden,  son  of  Matthys  and  Mar- 
garita (Bratt)  Van  der  Heyden,  was  born  at  Albany,  where  he  was 
baptised  on  May  14,  1732.     He  died  May  16,  1814. 

When  seventeen  years  old,  he  managed  to  have  his  name  entered 
on  the  city  records,  by  reason  of  his  youthful  pranks,  thus  becoming 
of  interest  to  his  posterity.  The  record  of  April  3,  1749,  shows  a 
summons  for  him  and  Jacob  Van  der  Heyden,  as  follows:  "The 
Common  Council  ordered  the  constables  of  this  city  to  notify  the 
following  persons  to  appear  before  the  board,  and  the  following 
appeared  and  were  ordered  to  appear  next  Mayor's  Court,  with 
sufficient  sureties  for  their  appearance  at  the  next  Generall  sessions 
to  answer  what  they  know  of  breaking  down  the  market  houses  in 

486 


■ 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

this  city,  of  which  they  are  suspected  to  be  concerned  in  breaking 
down  part  of  that  one  which  stands  in  the  Second  Ward,  viz:  Wou- 
ter  De  Foreest,  Jan  Knoet,  Dirck  M.  Van  Der  Heyden,  Daniel  R. 
Winne,  Bastiaen  Fisher,  Jacob  Van  Der  Heyden,  Jacob  De  Garmo, 
Dirck  Ahu.  Roseboom." 

He  was  commissioned  an  ensign  of  Col.  Sir  William  Johnson's 
regiment  of  Albany  county  militia  on  August  18,  1757,  at  the  out- 
break of  the  French  and  Indian  War,  and  thus  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
five  years  participated  in  active  fighting  with  savages  in  vicinity  of 
Lake  George. 

Derick  M.  Van  der  Heyden  married  Sara  Wendell,  at  Albany, 
July  15,  1758.  She  was  born  at  Albany,  where  she  was  baptized  in 
the  Dutch  Church  on  November  27,  1726,  and  she  was  the  daughter 
of  Isaac  Wendell  and  his  wife,  Catalyna  Van  Dyck.     Issue : 

1.  Margarita  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  June  17,  1759;  mar.  at 
Schaghticoke,  June  20, 1779,  Matthew  J.  DeGarmo. 

2.  Matthias  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Sept.  9,  1760;  died  Aug.  17, 
1825;  mar.  Mary  Daucher,  or  Denker.  Issue:  i.  Derick  Matthias 
Van  der  Heyden,  born  Aug.  26,  1783 ;  died  Feb.  5,  1S09.  ii.  Henry 
Matthias  Van  der  Heyden,  born  May  25,  1785 ;  died  June  22,  1820. 
iii.  Matthias  Van  der  Heyden,  born  Nov.  25,  1788;  died  Nov.  23, 
1840.  iv.  Jacob  Matthias  Van  der  Heyden,  born  June  11,  1793; 
mar.  Rebekah  McCarty. 

3.  Johannes  Dirckse  Van  der  Heyden,  born  Oct.  18,  1761;  died 
April  13,  1825.  He  was  a  private  during  the  American  Revolution, 
serving  in  the  Sixth  Company  of  the  Fourth  Rensselaerswyck  Bat- 
talion, commanded  by  Colonel  Stephen  J.  Schuyler.  He  married 
Susan  Van  Arnum.  Issue :  i.  Richard  Van  der  Heyden.  ii.  Jacob 
Van  der  Heyden.  iii.  Levinus  D.  Van  der  Heyden.  iv.  Susan  Van 
der  Heyden;  mar.  Philip  Ford.  v.  Sarah  Van  der  Heyden;  mar. 
Henry  Gardiner. 

4.  Richard  Van  der  Heyden,  born  June  3,  1763:  died  Jan.  1. 
1816;  mar.  (1st)  Ariaantje  Wheeler;  mar.  (2nd)  Elizabeth  Good- 
heart. 

5.  Abraham  Dirckse  Van  der  Heyden,  born  April  25,  1767 ;  died 
March  14,  1847;  mar.  Maria  Sharp.  Issue:  i.  George  Van  der 
Heyden.  ii.  Richard  Van  der  Heyden.  iii.  John  F.  Van  der  Hey- 
den. iv.  Catherine  Van  der  Heyden.  v.  Sarah  Van  der  Heyden; 
mar.  Henry  Oothout. 

III.  Jochem  Van  der  Heyden,  son  of  Dirck  and  Rachel  Jochemse 

487 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN   FAMILY 

(Ketelhuyn)  Van  der  Heyden,  was  born  at  Albany,  New  Y'ork, 
where  he  was  baptized,  September  15,  1700,  and  he  died  in  1746. 
His  elder  brother,  David,  was  his  executor.  He  inherited  land  from 
his  father,  situated  at  Schaghticoke,  New  York,  which  he  offered  to 
sell  to  the  Albany  Common  Council,  January  31,  1727.  He  removed 
to  Schenectady,  where  he  continued  to  reside. 

Jochem  Van  der  Heyden  married  first  Annatje  Ketelhuyn,  at 
Albany,  January  8,  1725.  She  was  baptized  September,  1696;  died 
about  1726,  and  was  the  daughter  of  Daniel  Ketelhuyn,  of  Sche- 
nectady, and  his  wife,  Debora  Viele.  He  married  second  Baata 
Clute,  at  Schenectady,  July  10,  1730.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
Johannes  Clute,  of  Niskayuna,  and  his  wife,  Baata  Slichtenhorst. 
She  was  born  at  Schenectady,  where  she  was  baptized  on  May  7, 
1704,  and  she  died  there.  Their  first  four  children  were  born  in 
Albany,  where  they  were  baptized,  and  the  last  three  were  born  in 
Schenectady,  where  they  were  recorded  in  the  church  book  of  bap- 
tisms.    Issue : 


1.  Dirck  Jochemse  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Oct.  24,  1725 ;  see  for- 
ward. 

2.  Johannes  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Nov.  7,  1731 ;  killed  March  1, 
1756,  in  a  battle  with  the  Indians  near  Fort  Madison.  He  married 
Catrina  Brouwer,  who  was  bap.  at  Schenectady,  Sept.  28,  1740,  the 
daughter  of  Jacob  and  Maria  (Bovie)  Brouwer,  of  Schenectady. 
Issue:  Adam  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  at  Schenectady,  Nov.  9,  1755. 
He  was  a  soldier  in  the  American  Revolution,  enlisting  as  a  private, 
serving  in  the  Third  New  York  Regiment  of  the  Line,  under  Col. 
James  Clinton  and  Col.  Pieter  Gansevoort;  also,  in  the  First  Reg- 
iment of  the  Line,  under  Col.  Goose  Van  Schaick.  (See  Records 
of  Sons  of  the  Revolution).' 

5.  Baata  Van  der  Heyden,  born  at  Schenectady,  where  bap.  April 
13,  1740.  She  mar.  Matthias  Bovie  (or  Bovier),  at  Schenectady, 
Oct.  11,  1760.  Issue:  i.  Baatje  Bovie,  bap.  Albany,  May  31,  1761. 
ii.  Geertruy  Bovie,  bap.  Albany,  Feb.  2,  1766.  iii.  Catrina  Bovie, 
bap.  Albany,  Sept.  11,  1768.     iv.  Johannes  Bovie,  bap.  Schenectady, 

,  1770.     v.  Rachel  Bovie,  bap.  Schenectady,  Sept.  6,  1772.  vi. 

Rachel  Bovie,  bap.  Schenectady,  Nov.  15,  1776.     vii.  Elisabeth  Bo- 
vie, bap.  Schenectady,  June  8, 1784. 

6.  Matthys  Van  der  Heyden,  born  in  Schenectady,  March  7,  1742. 

7.  Abraham  Van  der  Heyden,  born  in  Schenectady,  where  bap. 

488 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN   FAMILY 

Oct.  28,  1744 ;   removed  to  Albany.     He  was  a  soldier  in  the  Amer- 
ican Revolution. 

IV.  Dirck  Jochemse  Van  der  Heyden,  son  of  Jochem  and  An- 
natje  (Ketelhuyn)  Van  der  Heyden,  was  born  at  Albany,  New 
York,  where  he  was  baptised  on  October  24,  1725.  He  married 
Margarita  Ketelhuyn  (Kittle  or  Kittel),  of  Sehaghticoke,  on  Feb- 
ruary 28,  1754.  She  was  baptised  January  24.  1722,  and  was  the 
daughter  of  Daniel  and  Debora  (Viele)  Ketelhuyn,  of  Schenectady, 
New  York.     Issue: 

1.  Annatje  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Sept.  8,  1754. 

2.  Joachim  Van  der  Heyden,  (Gersham)  bap.  April  25,  1756; 
served  in  the  Revolution,  enlisting  as  a  private  in  First  Regt.  of 
the  Line,  commanded  by  Col.  Goose  Van  Schaiek,  also  in  the  3rd 
Regiment  of  the  Line,  under  Col.  James  Clinton  and  Col.  Pieter 
Oansevoort. 

3.  David  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Feb.  26,  1758;    see  forward. 

4.  Daniel  Van  der  Heyden,  born  Feb.  22,  1760;  died  Sept.  19, 
1820.  He  was  an  officer  in  the  War  of  1812,  and  in  the  Revolution 
enlisted  as  private  in  2nd  Regiment  of  Albany  County  Militia,  under 
Col.  Abraham  Wemple ;  see  further. 

5.  Eva  Van  der  Heyden,  born  March  3,  1762. 

6.  Jacob  Van  der  Heyden,  born  May  17,  1765. 

V.  David  Van  der  Heyden,  son  of  Dirck  and  Margarita  (Ketel- 
huyn) Van  der  Heyden,  was  born  at  Albany,  New  York,  where  he 
was  baptised  on  February  26,  1758.  He  died  July  9,  1840.  He 
served  in  Captain  William  Dieters'  company  in  the  Revolution, 
enlisting  as  a  private  in  the  Second  Regiment  of  Albany  County 
Militia  under  Col.  Abraham  Wemple.  He  was  an  Indian  trader, 
traveling  as  far  west  as  Detroit  on  horseback.  His  house  lot  in 
Schenectady  was  the  north  corner  of  Union  and  College  streets. 

David  Van  der  Heyden  married  Emmet je  Van  Vorst.  She  was 
born  at  Schenectady  in  1746,  and  died  July  8,  1805,  aged  59  yrs.,  3 
mos.,  3  days.  She  was  the  mother  of  his  eleven  children.  They 
were  all  born  and  baptised  in  Schenectady.  His  second  wife  was 
Gitty  Thalimer,  who  died  June  23, 1822,  in  her  69th  year.     Issue : 

1.  Margarita  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  July  8,  1781. 

489 


e 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

2.  Maria  Van  der  Heyden,  born  Jan.  3,  1784. 

3.  Annatje  Van  der  Heyden,  born  Feb.  24,  1786. 

4.  Johannes  Van  der  Heyden,  born  Apr.  31,  1787. 

5.  Evah  Van  der  Heyden",  born  Jan.  25,  1789. 

6.  Cornells  Van  der  Heyden,  born  Nov.  27,  1791. 

7.  Elisabeth  Van  der  Heyden.  born  May  8,  1793. 

8.  Elisabeth  Van  der  Heyden,  born  Dec."  10,  179."). 

9.  Dirck  Van  der  Heyden,  born  Sept.  19,  1798. 

10.  Daniel  Van  der  Heyden.  born  Nov.  4,  1800. 

11.  Debora  Van  der  Heyden,  born  Nov.  17,  1801. 

V.  Daniel  Van  der  Heyden,  son  of  Dirck  and  Margarita  (Ketel- 
huyn)  Van  der  Heyden,  was  born  in  Schenectady  on  February  22, 
1760.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  American  Revolution,  enlisting  as  a 
private  in  the  Second  Regiment  of  Albany  County  Militia,  under 
Col.  Abraham  Wemple. 

Daniel  Van  der  Heyden  married  Maria  Van  Antwerp  (Antwer- 
pen),  who  was  born  in  Schenectady  on  November  3,  1759,  and  was 
the  daughter  of  Abraham  and  Annatje  (Mebie)  Van  Antwerp,  of 
Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  where  all  their  children  were  born  and  baptised. 
Issue : 

1.  Dirck  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  July  11,  1784. 

2.  Margarietje  Van  der  Heyden,  born  Oct.  — ,  1786. 

3.  Annatje  Van  der  Heyden,  born  Mch.  30,  1790. 

4.  Engeltje  Van  der  Heyden,  born  June  15,  1792. 

5.  Eva  Van  der  Heyden,  born  Dec.  2,  1794. 

6.  Abraham  Van  der  Hevden,  born  Aug.  21,  1797. 

7.  David  Van  der  Heyden,  born  Apr.  21,  1800. 

111.  Johannes  Van  der  Heyden,  son  of  Dirck  and  Rachel  Jo- 
chemse  (Ketelhuyn)  Van  der  Heyden,  was  born  in  Albany,  New 
York,  where  he  was  baptised  on  March  2,  1707.  He  was  more  reg- 
ularly known  as  Johannes  Dirckse  Van  der  Heyden  being  the  son  of 
Dirck,  to  distinguish  him  from  his  first  cousin,  Johannes  Van  der 
Heyden,  Jr.,  born  August  2,  1702,  for  they  were  nearly  of  the  same 
age,  and  the  latter  had  come  to  Albany  to  live  after  the  death  of  his 
father. 

He  was  appointed  high  constable  at  the  time  of  the  charter  elec- 
tion, September  29,  1729.    At  a  meeting  of  the  Common  Council 

490 


THE  VAN  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

held  at  Albany  on  February  29,  1730,  it  was  decided  "that  whereas 
Johannes  Dirckse  Van  der  Heyden  was  appointed  high  constable 
of  Albany  by  the  Commonalty  September  29,  1729,  and  since  then 
removed  out  of  the  city,  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  appoint  some 
one  in  his  place,  the  Commonalty  thereupon  named  Hendrick  Hal- 
lenbeeck  as  his  successor." 

Johannes  Dirckse  Van  der  Heyden  married  Catherine  Ward,  on 
September  8,  1736.  Issue:  Elizabeth  Van  der  Elevden,  born  April 
2,  1738. 

II.  Johannes  Van  der  Heyden,  son  of  Jacob  Mathyssen  Van  der 
Heyden,  progenitor  of  the  family  in  America,  and  his  wife,  An- 
natje  Hals,  was  born  about  1672,  and  he  died  Sept.-Oct.,  1702. 

He  was  registered  a  "freeman"  of  New  York  City  on  April  24, 
1696/7.  He  was  appointed  constable  of  the  North  Ward  in  that 
city,  September  29,  1702,  and  at  a  meeting  of  the  aldermen  held  on 
October  14,  1702,  he  was  reported  as  deceased.  Shortly  after  that 
his  brother,  Matthys,  removed  to  Maryland,  and  his  brother  Dirck 
was  residing  in  Albany,  so  his  family  removed  to  the  latter  place. 

He  married  Mary  Woodard,  January  6,  1697.     Issue : 

1.  Jacob  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  New  York,  April  4,  1697 ;  d.  y. 

2.  Annatje  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  New  York,  January  15,  1699. 

3.  Jacob  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  New  York,  January  31,  1700. 

4.  Johannes  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  New  York,  August  2,  1702; 
see  forward. 

III.  Johannes  Van  der  Heyden,  Jr.,  son  of  Johannes  and  Mary 
(Woodard)  Van  der  Heyden,  was  born  in  New  York  City,  where  he 
was  baptised  on  August  2,  1702. 

After  the  death  of  his  father,  the  family  removed  to  Albany,  in 
order  to  be  near  the  guidance  of  Dirck  Van  der  Heyden,  the  uncle. 
He  made  a  journey  to  the  country  of  the  Seneca  Indians  with  four 
companions  in  1723,  the  city  of  Albany  paying  for  the  provisions 
and  other  expenses,  as  recorded  in  the  certificate  dated  April  18, 
1723.  He  was  made  a  fireman  of  the  First  Ward  of  Albany  in  1727, 
and  was  a  constable  in  1728.  He  was  chosen  assistant  alderman  in 
1728,  and  at  the  charter  election,  held  on  September  29,  1737,  was 
elected  an  Alderman.     His  will  was  probated  on  August  5,  1771.     In 

491 


THE  VAX  DER  HEYDEN  FAMILY 

this  document  he  bequeaths  his  large  Dutch  Bible,  printed  in  Hol- 
land in  1676,  to  his  son,  Johannes.  This  ancient  Bible  is  now  owned 
by  Mrs.  Alice  Easton  Pray,  of  Albany,  and  contains  family  rec- 
ords written  in  Dutch.  It  was  received  through  line  of  descent  and 
is  prized  highly. 

Johannes  Van  der  Hey  den,  Jr.,  married  (first),  at  Albany,  Jan- 
uary 16,  1724,  Rachel  Van  der  Heyden.  She  was  baptized  at  Al- 
bany, September  19,  1703;  died  at  Schenectady,  and  was  buried  "at 
the  Flatts"  January  3,  1754.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Dirck  and 
Rachel  Jochemse  (Ketelhuyn)  Van  der  Heyden.  All  his  children  by 
this  marriage  were  born  and  baptised  in  Albany.  He  married  (sec- 
ond), at  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  August  5,  1758,  Mary  Butler,  daugh- 
ter of  Lieutenant  Walter  and  Deborah  (Butler)  Butler.     Issue: 

1.  Johannes  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Nov.  14,  1725;  married  Ca- 
tryna,  daughter  of  Gysbert  Van  Brokelen.  Issue:  i.  Maria  Van 
der  Heyden,  bap.  Schenectady,  June  26,  1757.  ii.  Rachel  Van  der 
Heyden,  bap.  Schenectady,  May  31,  1761 ;  mar.  David  Foreest.  iii. 
Johannes  Van  der  Heyden,  mar.  Annatje  Perrie. 

2.  Rachel  Van  der  Hevden,  bap.  Nov.  19,  1727 ;  buried  at  Albanv, 
Dec.  2,  1727. 

3.  Dirck  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Jan.  19,  1729 ;  was  a  soldier  in  the 
American  Revolution,  enlisting  as  a  private  in  the  First  Regiment 
of  the  Line,  commanded  by  Col.  Goose  Van  Schaick,  and  also  in  the 
Third  Regiment,  under  Col.  James  Clinton  and  Col.  Pieter  Ganse- 
voort. 

4.  Jacob  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  May  15,  1731 ;  mar.  Lea  Brouwer. 
Issue :  Johannes  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  at  Albany,  March  12,  1754 ; 
buried  at  Albany,  March  13,  1755. 

5.  Maria  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Sept.  16,  1733. 

6.  Rachel  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  May  2,  1736;  mar.  at  Schenec- 
tady, Dec.  10,  1758,  Capt.  Jonathan  Ogden,  of  a  Westchester  regi- 
ment, and  had  a  daughter,  Susanna  Ogden,  bap.  at  Schenectady, 
Aug.  3,  1764. 

7.  David  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  April  27,  1740  . 

8.  Mattheus  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  Dec.  1,  1742. 

9.  Janneke  Van  der  Heyden,  bap.  May  8,  1748. 


492 


William  Copley  Winslow,  D.  D. 

Archaeologist 

The  family  name  of  Winslow  is  of  local  derivation  and  is  derived 
from  the  town  of  Winslow  in  Buckinghamshire  in  England.  It  is 
more  than  possible,  however,  that  at  the  time  the  Danes  made  incur- 
sions into  England,  some  of  the  Winslows  from  Denmark  remained 
there  to  settle.  The  Winslows  today  in  Denmark  have  had  the 
same  coat-of-arms  and  motto  for  a  thouand  years  that  the  English 
Winslows  possessed,  and  which  Governor  Edward  Winslow  officially 
used  at  Plymouth,  and  is  engraved  on  his  table  plate  now  in  Pilgrim 
Hall.  James  Benignus  Winslow,  the  celebrated  Danish  anatomist, 
(1669-1700)  had  the  same  coat-of-arms. 

William  Winslow  of  Wyncelow,  the  first  of  the  line,  as  traced 
in  England,  had  two  sons.  John  of  London,  afterwards  of  Wynce- 
low Hall,  was  living  in  1387-88.  He  married  Mary  Crouchman,  and 
died  in  1409-10.  The  other  son,  William,  had  a  son,  Thomas ;  he 
was  of  Burton,  County  Oxford,  and  also  had  lands  in  County 
E&sex.  He  was  living  in  1452,  and  married  an  heiress,  Cecelia  Tan- 
sley,  who  was  known  as  Lady  Agnes.  Their  son,  William,  was  liv- 
ing in  1529,  and  his  son,  Kenelm,  purchased  in  1559  of  Sir  Richard 
Newport  an  estate  called  Newport  Place,  in  Kempsey,  Worcester- 
shire. He  also  owned  an  extensive  estate  in  the  same  parish  called 
Clerkenleap,  which  was  sold  by  his  grandson,  Richard  Winslow,  in 
1655.  He  died  in  1607,  in  the  parish  of  St.  Andrew.  His  will,  dated 
April  14, 1607,  and  proved  November  9  of  the  same  year,  is  still  pre- 
served at  Worcester,  England. 

*  His  only  son  was  Edward  Winslow,  born  in  the  parish  of  St. 
Andrew,  Worcestershire,  England,  October  17,  1560,  and  who  died 
before  1631.  He  lived  in  Kempsey  and  Droitwich,  Worcestershire. 
He  married  (first)  Eleanor  Pelham,  of  Droitwich,  Worcestershire, 
and  (second)  at  St.  Bride  Church,  London,  November  4,  1594,  Mag- 


[From  the  Encyclopedia  of  American  Biography.] 

493 


WILLIAM  COPLEY  WINSLOW,  D.  I). 

dalene  Oliver.  They  had  nine  children  :  Richard,  born  about  1 585  ; 
Edward,  born  October  18,  1595,  at  Droitwich,  who  became  Governor 
of  Plymouth  Colony,  and  married  for  his  second  wife  Susannah 
(Fuller)  White,  the  widow  of  William  WThite,  whose  son  was  Pere- 
grine White,  the  h'rst  born  child  of  Plymouth  Colony;  John,  born 
April  16,  1597,  who  married  Mary  Chilton,  of  the  "Mayflower,"  and 
died  in  167-1,  in  Boston,  Massachusetts ;  Eleanor,  who  remained  in 
England;  Kenelm,  mentioned  below;  Gilbert,  born  October  126, 
1600,  who  came  in  the  "Mayflower,"  signed  the  compact,  returned 
to  England  after  1623,  and  died  there ;  Elizabeth,  who  died  in  Eng- 
land; Magdalene,  who  remained  in  England;  and  Josiah,  born 
February  11, 1605,  who  died  at  Marshfield,  Massachusetts,  December 
1,  1674. 

Kenelm  Winslow,  son  of  Edward  Winslow,  was  born  at  Droitwich, 
April  29,  1599,  baptized  at  St.  Peter's  Church,  May  3,  1599,  and  died 
at  Salem,  Massachusetts,  September  13,  1672.  He  came  first  to 
Plymouth  with  his  brother,  Josiah,  and  was  admitted  a  freeman 
January  1,  1632-33.  He  removed  to  Marshfield,  Massachusetts, 
about  1641,  having  previously  received  a  grant  of  land  there,  at 
Green's  Harbor.  This  home  of  Kenelm  Winslow  was  on  a  gentle 
eminence  by  the  sea  between  Green  harbor  and  South  river.  This 
tract  of  township  was  considered  the  Eden  of  the  region.  It  was 
beautiful  with  groves  of  majestic  oaks  and  graceful  walnuts,  with 
the  underground  void  of  shrubbery.  A  few  of  these  groves  were 
standing  as  late  as  1854.  Kenelm  Winslow  received  other  land 
grants ;  he  was  one  of  the  twenty-six  original  proprietors  of  Asso- 
net,  now  Freetown,  Massachusetts.  He  was  a  joiner  and  builder  by 
trade,  as  well  as  a  planter.  He  filled  various  town  offices,  was  dep- 
jnty  to  the  General  Court  from  1642  to  1644  and  from  1649  to  1653, 
eight  years  in  all.  He  married,  in  June,  1634,  Eleanor  Adams, 
widow  of  John  Adams,  of  Plymouth.  She  survived  him,  and  died  at 
Marshfield,  Massachusetts,  December  5,  1681,  aged  eighty-three 
years.  Their  children  were:  Kenelm,  whose  gravestone  at  East 
Dennis  is  still  legible,  Eleanor,  Ellen,  Nathaniel,  who  inherited  his 
father's  homestead,  and  Job. 

Kenelm  Winslow  was  the  immigrant  ancestor  of  that  branch  of 
the  family  that  William  Copley  Winslow  is  descended  from.     The 

494 


WILLIAM  COPLEY  W1NSLOW,  D.  D. 

latter 's  grandfather,  Nathaniel  Winslow,  married  Anna  Kellogg,  of 
Sheffield,  Massachusetts,  and  their  son,  the  Reverend  Hubbard  Win- 
slow,  D.  D.,  married  Susan  Ward  Cutler,  a  daughter  of  Joseph  and 
Phoebe  (Ward)  Cutler,  of  West  Brookfield,  Massachusetts.  Rev- 
erend Hubbard  Winslow  was  widely  known  as  an  author  and  edu- 
cator, and  in  1832  he  succeeded  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher  in  the  Bowdoin 
Street  Church  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  where  Lowell  Mason,  as 
choir  leader,  set  to  music  "America,"  there  first  sung  in  public. 

On  his  mother's  side,  William  was  descended  from  William  and 
Ann  Hobby,  who  came  to  Boston  soon  after  its  settlement,  and  are 
buried  in  Copp's  Hill  Cemetery.  From  their  son,  Sir  Charles  Hob- 
by and  daughter,  Judith,  are  descended  several  leading  families  in 
Boston— the  Saltonstalls,  Lees  and  Higginsons.  Judith  married 
John  Coleman,  brother  of  Benjamin  Coleman,  D.  D.,  first  pastor  of 
the  Brattle  Street  Church.  Their  son,  Benjamin  Coleman,  married 
Hannah  Pemberton,  who  lived  in  what  is  now  known  as  Pemberton 
Square,  and  their  daughter,  Mary,  married  Rev.  Ephraim  Ward,  for 
nearly  fifty  years  pastor  at  West  Brookfield,  whose  daughter, 
Phoebe,  married  a  Cutler,  they  being  the  maternal  grandparents  of 
William  Copley,  and  in  whose  family  is  the  old  Coleman-Pemberton 
tomb  in  King's  Chapel  yard,  Boston,  where  a  sister  of  his,  Anna, 
who  died  in  1830,  had  been  buried. 

William  C.  Winslow  was  born  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  Janu- 
ary 13,  1840,  and  prepared  for  college  at  the  Boston  Latin  School, 
graduating  in  1862  from  Hamilton  College  in  Clinton,  New  York. 
Ihiring  his  collegiate  course  he  was  instrumental  with  W.  (x.  Sum- 
ner and  Joseph  Cook  of  Yale  College  in  founding  in  1861  "The 
University  Quarterly  Review."  He  was  co-editor  of  "The  Hainil- 
tonian"  during  his  senior  year. 

After  graduating  he  was  for  a  short  time  on  the  star!  of  the 
"New  York  World,' '  and  later  with  Dr.  Tyng  as  associate  editor  of 
the  "Christian  Times.' '  During  this  period  of  1862-65  he  was  a 
student  at  the  General  Theological  Seminary  of  New  York  City, 
and  from  which  he  graduated  in  1865.  He  was  admitted  to  the  dia- 
conate  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church  in  1865,  and  to  the  priest- 
hood in  1867.  Several  months  in  1866  were  spent  in  studying 
archaeology7  and  ancient  sculpture  in  Italy.  Returning  to  the  United 

495 


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WILLIAM  COPLEY  WINSLOW,  D.  D. 

States,  he  lectured  and  wrote  on  these  subjects.  His  only  charge 
as  full  rector  was  at  St.  George's  Church  in  Lee,  Massachusetts,  in 
1867-70.  During  this  time  he  served  as  chairman  of  the  school  board 
and  vice-president  of  the  Berkshire  County  Bible  Society. 

He  removed  to  Boston,  Massachusetts,  in  November,  1870,  where  he 
devoted  his  time  chiefly  to  historical  and  archaeological  researches, 
besides  preaching  in  different  churches  and  holding  temporary 
charges  in  the  diocese  of  Massachusetts.  He  camped  many  times  in 
the  Adirondacks  when  it  was  a  wilderness,  and  became  largely  inter- 
ested in  the  preservation  of  the  forest,  upon  which  he  lectured  and 
wrote  articles  for  the  press.  He  was  chaplain  of  St.  Luke's  Home, 
B-pston,  1877-81.  He  has  been  executive  secretary  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Free  Church  Association  since  1881,  and  has  served  offic- 
ially in  Boston  in  societies  there  and  on  various  committees  in  the 
learned  bodies  of  Europe  and  America. 

His  report  to  the  Journal  of  Convention  of  1889  remarks:  "I 
simply  add  that  I  have  officiated  at  110  services,  attended  97  meet- 
ings (taking  part  in  82  of  them),  for  philanthropical,  charitable,  edu- 
cational, or  historical  purposes,  and  been  present  at  27  committee 
meetings.  Sermons,  addresses,  remarks,  lectures,  for  all  occasions, 
church  and  secular,  foot  up  199."  The  report  in  1892  sums  up  his 
work:  " Delivered  or  read  42  lectures,  addresses,  papers  on  sub- 
jects chiefly  historical,  archaeological,  Biblical;  wrote  282  articles, 
letters,  editorials,  for  the  press;  despatched  3,200  official  letters 
and  notes;  mailed  17,000  circulars."  Probably  1,000  volumes  of 
the  Egypt  Exploration  Fund  were  distributed  during  that  year  in 
the  United  States,  and  the  money  sent  to  England  footed  up  £1,350. 
In  1901  Dr.  Winslow  received  over  $12,000  for  the  Fund. 

It  is,  however,  in  his  archaeological  labors  and  oriental  researches 
that  Dr.  Winslow  won  his  renowned  reputation  in  this  and  foreign 
lands.  He  spent  in  1880  four  months  of  study  in  Egypt  and  Syria, 
and  saw  the  obelisk  lowered  at  Alexandria  that  is  now  in  New  York. 
Entirely  through  his  efforts  the  colossal  statue  of  RamesesIIand  the 
head  of  Hathor,  the  Egyptian  Venus,  were  presented  to  the  Boston 
Museum  of  Fine  Arts.  The  Museum  contains  other  splendid  mon- 
umental objects  procured  through  him ;  such  as  the  gigantic  column 
from  Bubastis,  and  the  exquisite  palm-leaf  column  from  Ahnas. 

496 


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WILLIAM  COPLEY  WINSLOW,  D.  D. 

Other  rare  objects  are  the  gold  handle  to  Pharaoh  Hophra's  tray; 
the  sard  and  gold  sceptre  of  King  Khaskemhui  of  the  second  dyn- 
asty, the  oldest  extant  sceptre  in  the  world.  He  also  secured  from 
Professor  Petrie  the  two  mummies  with  their  portraits  in  colors, 
from  Hawara.  Several  universities  have  received  through  him 
valuable  papyri  discovered  in  the  last  decade  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, among  them  what  was  considered  the  oldest  fragment  of  the 
Gospels  in  the  world,  containing  a  large  part  of  the  first  chapter  of 
the  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew.  It  was  found  in  Oxyrliynchus,  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  miles  south  of  Cairo,  near  the  famous  "Logia"  or 
' 'Sayings  of  Jesus,"  and  its  date  is  given  by  most  experts  as  150  A. 
D.  The  oldest  extant  fragment  of  St.  Paul  he  placed  in  the  Semitic 
Museum  at  Harvard. 

In  1883  Dr.  Winslow  founded  the  American  Branch  of  the  Egypt 
Exploration  Fund,  becoming  successively  its  honorary  treasurer 
and  honorary  secretary  and  vice-president  for  the  United  States. 
He  became  by  vote  of  the  London  Committee  'kthe  official  represen- 
tative of  the  Fund  in  America."  He  not  only  created  the  Ameri- 
can Branch,  but  his  incessant  labors  built  it  up  and  these  labors  were 
wholly  gratuitous.  Through  his  efforts,  directly  and  indirectly, 
probably  $200,000  have  been  raised.  At  a  general  meeting  of  the 
Egypt  Exploration  Fund  held  in  London  in  1888,  it  was  officially 
announced  that  * '  Dr.  Winslow,  with  the  single  exception  of  Sir  Eras- 
mus Wilson,  has  done  more  than  any  one.  not  merely  for  the  work 
of  the  society  but  for  the  cause  of  Biblical  research  in  connection 
with  Egyptology,  throughout  the  civilized  world."  The  official  cir- 
cular of  the  Society  in  London  for  1899  states  that  • '  from  its  foun- 
dation, the  Egypt  Exploration  Fund  has  received  large  pecuniary 
support  from  the  United  States,  chiefly  through  the  enthusiasm  and 
energy  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  W.  C.  Winslow,  of  Boston. ' ' 

At  the  request  of  of  Naville,  its  author,  the  German  government  in 
1887  presented  two  copies  of  his  great  work  "The  Book  of  the 
Dead,"  in  three  volumes,  to  America— one  to  the  American  Orien- 
tal Society,  the  other  to  Dr.  Winslow. 

He  was  among  the  first  in  the  United  States  to  advocate  archae- 
ology as  a  science,  and  to  be  financially  supported,  and  he  was  the 
pioneer  in  this  country  of  Egyptian  exploration.     Oliver  Wendell 

497 


WILLIAM  COPLEY  WINSLOW,  D.  D. 

Holmes  in  1884-  sent  him  that  witty  letter,  "I  believe  in  the  spade," 
which  appears  in  his  "Life  and  Letters."  John  Greenleaf  Whit- 
tier's  letter  to  him,  now  in  his  "Life  and  letters,"  is  in  the  same 
strain. 

The  American  Branch  after  1883  furnished  one-half  the  money, 
Bometimes  more,  for  the  preparation  of  forty  illustrated  quarto  vol- 
umes published  in  London. 

It  was  owing  to  Dr.  Winslow's  earnest  persuasion  that  Miss 
Amelia  B.  Edwards  came  to  America,  and  to  his  untiring  efforts 
that  a  large  part  of  her  brilliant  series  of  lecture  engagements, 
especially  university  or  academic,  was  secured.  Her  first  collegiate 
lecture  was  at  Vassar.  We  quote  from  his  brochure,  "The  Queen 
of  Egyptology:" 

"No  single  achievement  of  my  life  is  more  gratifying  to  me  than 
my  successful  effort  to  induce  my  friend  to  visit  the  United  States. 
The  invitation  was  a  fitting  avant  coureur  to  the  welcome  and  suc- 
cess that  everywhere  was  hers.  Having  written  over  two  hundred 
personal  notes  to  representative  men  and  women  in  every  depart- 
ment of  life  and  work,  I  put  out  a  leaflet,  on  March  1st,  1889,  upon 
her  capacities  to  lecture  and  her  topics,  to  which  I  appended  the 
invitation,  signed  by  Whittier,  Lowell,  Holmes,  Curtis,  Warner, 
Parkman,  Booth,  Vanderbilt,  Morton,  Storrs,  the  editors  of  Har- 
pers', The  Century,  The  Atlantic,  Scribner's,  The  Nation,  The  .Critic, 
The  Literary  World,  about  all  the  leading  university  and  college 
presidents,  etc.,— some  two  hundred  names  in  all." 

Dr.  Winslow  has  served  officially  upon  committees  in  the  New 
England  Historic-Genealogical,  Bostonian,  Webster  Historical, 
Good  Citizenship,  Institute  of  Civics,  American  Oriental,  American 
Historical  Association,  and  other  societies,  and  as  an  active  mem- 
ber of  the  Archaeological  Institute  of  America,  American  Historical 
Association,  American  Statistical,  Economic,  and  other  societies, 
in  some  of  whose  published  Proceedings  are  his  papers.  He  was 
officially  invited  by  the  corporation  of  Southampton,  England,  to 
participate  in  the  Pilgrim  Memorial  celebration  of  a  few  years 
ago. 

As  an  archaeologist,  he  is  honorary  fellow  of  the  Royal  Archaeo- 
logical Institute;  corresponding  member  of  the  British  Archaeo- 
logical Association;  honorary  correspondent  of  the  Victoria  Insti- 

498 


, 


WILLIAM  COPLEY  WINSLOW,  D.  D. 

tute ;  honorary  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  Arts  and  Sciences  and 
fellow  of  the  Antiquarians  of  Scotland.  He  is  on  the  honorary  rolls 
of  five  New  England  and  nineteen  other  State  historical  societies  in 
the  United  States.  He  is  also  on  the  honorary  roll  of  the  Nova 
Scotia  and  Quebec  Historical  Societies  and  the  Montreal  Society  of 
Natural  History.  His  last  important  recognition  was  an  election  as 
honorary  fellow  of  the  Society  of  Oriental  Research  at  Chicago  in 
1917.  As  a  former  member  of  the  Appalachian  Club  of  Boston,  he 
has  explored  and  written  upon  the  mountains  of  New  Hampshire. 
He  has  been  president  of  the  New  England  Alumni  of  Hamilton  Col- 
lege ;  and  at  the  Centennial  of  Hamilton  College,  1912,  Elihu  Root, 
a  college  mate,  was  president,  and  Dr.  Winslow  vice-president.  In 
1881  he  was  instrumental  in  founding  the  Clerical  Club  of  Boston. 
For  ten  years  he  was  Excellent  High  Priest  of  the  St.  Bernard 
Commandery,  Boston. 

In  1902  Dr.  Winslow  informed  the  Fund  Committee  in  London 
of  his  inability  to  remain  in  office  under  the  conditions  then  existing 
in  the  Boston  office.  He  began  to  assist  the  renowned  explorer, 
Professor  Petrie,  in  the  work  of  the  Egyptian  Research  Account 
(Society),  Dr.  Petrie  having  previously  severed  his  connection  with 
the  Fund.  In  1914  the  American  Branch  of  the  Research  was  estab- 
lished with  Dr.  Breasted,  of  Chicago,  the  foremost  American  Egyp- 
tologist, as  president,  and  Dr.  Winslow  as  vice-president  and  hon- 
orary treasurer  of  the  Research.  It  has  issued  thirty-seven  illus- 
trated volumes,  and  its  chief  monumental  trophy  in  America  is  the 
colossal  sphinx  erected  in  front  of  the  Museum  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania.  This  is  next  in  imporatnce  to  the  obelisk  at  the  Met- 
ropolitan Museum.  The  Research  also  publishes  the  magazine  ' '  An- 
cient Egypt." 

Hobart  College  in  1865  conferred  on  Dr.  Winslow  the  honorary 
degree  of  A.  M. ;  Hamilton  College  in  1886  made  him  a  Ph.D. ;  Co- 
lumbia University  at  its  centennial  in  1887,  L.  H.  D. ;  Griswold  Col- 
lege, D.  D.  in  1885;  and  Amherst  College  in  1887,  D.  D.;  St.  An- 
drews University,  Scotland,  LL.D.  in  1888;  King's  College  Univer- 
sity, Nova  Scotia,  D.  C.  L.  in  1888;  and  St.  John's  College  of  An- 
napolis, Maryland,  Sc.  D.  in  1889  "in  recognition  of  the  learning 
and  ability  with  which  he  has  conducted  scientific  investigations. ' ' 

499 


WILLIAM  COPLEY  WINSLOW,  D.  D. 

Dr.  Winslow  is  a  recognized  authority  in  Egyptological  research 
and  exploration,  and  an  authority  in  New  England  history,  espe- 
cially that  referring  to  Plymouth  Colony ;  his  work  along  this  line 
covers  many  scores  of  articles  in  pamphlet  and  magazine  form,  and 
his  special  work  in  archaeology  appears  in  at  least  a  thousand  ar- 
ticles since  1880  dealing  with  discoveries  in  Egypt  and  the  cause  of 
exploration.  He  has  been  associate  editor  of  the  "  American  Anti- 
quarian/7 also  of  the4 'American  Historical  Register, "  and  a  regular 
writer  for  the  "Biblia."  He  has  sometimes  prepared  from  one 
hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  articles  or  letters  in  a  year  for 
the  daily  and  weekly  press.  He  has  written  for  standard  encyclo- 
pedias, delivered  addresses  before  learned  societies,  and  has  been  a 
university  lecturer.  He  is  the  author  of:  "What  Says  Egypt  of 
Israel?"  1883;  "The  Store  City  of  Pithom,"  1885;  "A  Greek  City 
of  Egypt,"  1886;  "Tombs  at  Beni  Hasen,"  "Egypt  at  Home," 
1891;  "Pilgrim  Fathers  in  Holland,"  1891;  "Governor  Edward 
Winslow,"  1895;  "Explorations  at  Zoan,"  "Egyptian  Antiquities 
for  Museums,"  1900;  "Papyri  in  the  United  States,"  1901,  etc., 
and  was  assistant  editor  of  the  "Winslow  Memorial,"  188(5. 

Dr.  Winslow  married,  June  20,  1867,  Harriet  Stillman  Hayward, 
daughter  of  Joseph  and  Mary  (Davenport)  Hayward,  and  grand- 
daughter of  Surgeon-General  Hayward,  of  the  American  Revolution, 
whose  residence  and  garden  occupied  what  is  now  Hayward  Place, 
adjoining  Washington  street,  Boston.  She  was  in  the  tenth  genera- 
tion of  descent  from  William  the  Silent,  Prince  of  Orange.  She 
died  September  13,  1915.  A  daughter,  Mary,  survives.  He  mar- 
ried, May  24th,  1917,  Elizabeth  Bruce  Roelof  son,  whose  great-grand- 
father was  Dr.  Winslow 's  grandfather's  brother  on  his  mother's 
side.  She  is  a  direct  descendant  of  Robert  Bruce,  Liberator  of  Scot- 
land, also,  on  the  Dutch  side,  from  Anneke  Jans,  an  early  settler  in 
New  York,  whose  husband  was  Roeloff,  their  son  taking  the  name 
of  Roeloffson.  Her  grandfather  was  the  first  manufacturer  of 
broadcloth  in  the  United  States,  and  her  father  was  an  officer  in  the 
Union  army  in  the  Civil  War.  His  brother  was  with  Pullman,  the 
originator  of  the  sleeping  car,  and  vice-president  of  the  Pullman 
•Company. 

500 


' 


Editorial 


OF  TIMELY  INTEREST 

In  this  number  of  our  Magazine  are  articles  of  special  and  timely 
interest.  Of  first  importance  is  that  on  the  Illinois  Centennial, 
now  in  course  of  celebration  throughout  the  bounds  of  that  State, 
and  closing  on  December  3rd,  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of 
its  admission  to  the  Union.  This  article  is  written  by  a  resident  of 
Illinois,  one  thoroughly  conversant  with  its  history,  and  deeply 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  its  lessons,  especially  as  exemplified  in  the 
lives  and  services  of  its  most  illustrious  sons,  those  to  whom  is  due 
the  preservation  of  the  Union— Abraham  Lincoln  and  Ulysses  S. 
Grant.  The  writer  has  performed  his  task  on  the  ground  trod  by 
these  mighty  men,  and  much  of  his  material  has  been  drawn  from 
original  documents,  and  from  men  who  were  familiar  with  the 
giant  figures  of  the  days  which  culminated  in  the  success- 
ful War  for  the  Union— a  struggle  which,  had  it  failed,  would  in  all 
probability  have  doomed  the  world  to  autocracy  and  militarism  for 
centuries  to  come. 

This  article  is  embellished  with  several  excellent  illustrations. 
For  two  of  these  we  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Hugh  S.  Magill,  Jr.,  Di- 
rector of  the  Illinois  Centennial  Commission the  statues  of  Lin- 
coln and  Douglas,  recently  set  up  on  the  capitol  grounds  at  Spring- 
field, Illinois,  and  to  be  unveiled  October  5th.  President  Wilson  has 
given  assurance  that  he  will  be  present  unless  prevented  by  some  un- 
usual circumstance.  For  the*  other  illustrations  in  the  Magazine, 
pertaining  to  Lincoln,  including  the  fine  portrait  of  Lincoln  as  he  ap- 
peared in  the  days  of  his  great  debate  with  Douglas  on  the  question 
of  slavery  in  the  territories,  we  owe  gratitude  to  Major  E.  S. 
Johnson,  Custodian  of  the  Lincoln  Monument  at  Springfield,  the  sole 
survivor  of  the  group  of  Springfield  men  who  stood  guard  night 
and  day  over  the  temporary  tomb  of  the  Martyred  President  from 
the  time  the  attempt  was  made  to  steal  the  sacred  remains,  until 

501 


EDITORIAL 

they  were  hermetically  sealed  and  covered  with  the  tons  of  granite 
which  compose  his  resting  place. 

In  the  near  future,  a  statue  of  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant  is  to  be 
erected  near  those  of  Lincoln  and  Douglas,  thus  completing  a  trium- 
virate group  of  wonderfully  historic  importance. 

Closely  related  to  the  chapter  on  "the  Illinois  'Centennial,"  is  that 
on  General  Arthur  St.  Clair,  first  Governor  of  the  Northwest  Terri- 
tory, -first  known  as  "the  Illinois  Country,"  and  "Illinois  County 
of  Virginia, ' '  and  out  of  which  the  State  of  Illinois  was  carved.  The 
remains  of  the  famous  man  are  interred  at  Greensburg,  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  he  passed  his  later  years  and  died,  and  the  narrative 
concerning  him  is  from  the  pen  of  a  native  and  resident  of  that 
place,  a  well  equipped  local  historian  and  antiquarian. 

The  chapter  on  "Americans  as  Conquistadores  and  Annexation- 
ists/ '  is  a  timely  exposition  of  the  policies  and  practices  of  the 
United  States  in  relation  to  its  various  acquisitions  of  foreign  terri- 
tory, and  sets  forth  with  great  clearness  our  freedom  as  a  nation 
from  the  continental  sin  of  covetousness  and  land  robbery. 


SUNDAY  IN  WAR  TIMES 

With  a  full  recognition  of  the  righteousness  of  their  cause  in  the 
great  World  War  in  which  they  have  taken  a  part,  the  people  of 
the  United  States  have  reason  for  satisfaction  in  the  fact  that  when- 
ever they  have  been  called  to  arms,  their  President  and  leading 
generals  have  laid  much  emphasis  upon  Sabbath  observance  in 
army  and  navy.  This  out  of  no  straight-laced  or  superstitious 
thought,  but  out  of  practical  necessity— the  recuperation  of  men 
hard  pressed  with  toil  and  exposure,  and  regard  for  due  mental 
and  moral  conditions. 

These  considerations  have  been  earnestly  set  forth  in  a  recent 
pamphlet  issued  by  the  New  York  Sabbath  Committee.  This  body 
was  formed  years  ago,  primarily  to  preserve  to  working  men  and 
women  a  weekly  rest  day,  but  also  recognizing  to  the  full  the  vital 
connection  of  the  religious  observance  of  the  Sabbath  with  the 

502 


, 


EDITORIAL 

spiritual  life  of  men  and  the  welfare  of  society— a  thought  well  ex- 
pressed by  Hon.  John  Bright  in  a  speech  before  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, as  applicable  to  America  as  to  Great  Britain,  and  quoted  in 
the  pamphlet  referred  to:  "The  stability  and  character  of  our 
country,  and  the  advancement  of  our  race,  depend,  I  believe,  very 
largely  upon  the  mode  by  which  the  Day  of  Rest,  which  seems  to 
have  been  specially  adapted  to  the  needs  of  mankind,  shall  be  used 
and  observed.  The  day  has  had  an  influence  on  our  national  char- 
acter, and  contributed  a  sobriety,  a  steadiness,  and  a  thoughtfulnesa 
to  it,  which  it  otherwise  would  have  wanted/ ' 

The  citations  which  follow  are  all  from  the  Sabbath  Committee 
pamphlet,  specially  prepared  to  meet  present-day  rather  than  gen- 
eral conditions,  and  show  that  the  principles  set  forth  above  have 
governed  our  Presidents  and  leading  military  and  naval  command- 
ers in  the  great  crises  of  our  country.  As  early  as  August  3rd,  1776, 
Washington  issued  an  order  beginning  thus:  "That  the  troops 
may  have  an  opportunity  of  attending  public  worship,  as  \vell  as 
to  take  some  rest  after  the  great  fatigue  they  have  gone  through, 
the  General,  in  future,  excuses  them  from  fatigue  duty  on  Sun- 
days, except  at  the  shipyards,  or  on  special  occasions. ' '  Following 
this,  he  issued  orders  at  times  with  greater  particularity,  and  on 
May  2nd,  1778,  after  the  dreadful  winter  at  Valley  Forge,  the  fol- 
lowing : 

The  Commander-in-Chief  directs  that  Divine  Service  be  per- 
formed every  Sunday  at  11  o'clock,  in  those  brigades  to  which  there 
are  chaplains— those  which  have  none,  to  attend  the  place  of  wor- 
ship nearest  to  them.  It  is  expected  that  officers  of  all  ranks  will, 
by  their  attendance,  set  an  example  to  their  men. 

While  we  are  zealously  performing  the  duties  of  good  citizens 
and  soldiers,  we  certainly  ought  not  to  be  inattentive  to  the  higher 
duties  of  religion.  To  the  distinguished  character  of  patriot,  it 
should  be  our  highest  glory  to  add  the  more  distinguished  charac- 
ters of  Christians. 

The  signal  instances  of  providential  goodness  which  we  have  expe- 
rienced, and  which  have  now  almost  crowned  our  labors  with  com- 
plete success,  demand  from  us  in  a  peculiar  manner  the  warmest 
returns  of  gratitude  and  piety  to  the  Supreme  Author  of  All  Good. 

The  great  War  for  the  Union  evoked  from  President  Lincoln  and 

503 


EDITORIAL 

his  principal  Army  and  Navy  commanders,  orders  of  like  spirit 
with  the  above.  The  Sabbath  Committee  began  the  work  by  re- 
questing General  Winfield  Scott,  then  in  supreme  military  com- 
mand, to  promote  Sabbath  observance  in  the  army  as  far  as  possi- 
ble. It  was  on  the  very  eve  of  the  venerable  general  retiring  from 
service  on  account  of  the  infirmities  of  age,  and  he  referred  the  re- 
quest to  his  successor,  General  George  B.  McClellan,  who  at  once 
issued  the  following  order,  the  spirit  and  verbiage  of  which  are 
eminently  applicable  to  the  present  time: 

The  Major-General  commanding  desires  and  requests  that  in  fu- 
ture there  may  be  more  perfect  respect  for  the  Sabbath  on  the  part 
of  his  command.  We  are  fighting  in  a  holy  cause, and  should  endeavor 
to  deserve  the  benign  favor  of  the  Creator.  Unless  in  the  case  of  an 
attack  by  the  enemy,  or  some  other  extreme  military  necessity,  it  is 
commended  to  commanding  officers  that  all  work  shall  be  suspended 
on  the  Sabbath ;  that  no  unnecessary  movements  shall  be  made  on 
that  day ;  that  the  men  shall,  so  far  as  possible,  be  permitted  to  rest 
from  their  labors;  that  they  shall  attend  Divine  Service  after  the 
customary  Sunday  morning  inspection;  and  that  officers  and  men 
shall  alike  use  their  influence  to  insure  the  utmost  decorum  and  quiet 
on  that  day.  The  General  commanding  regards  this  as  no  idle 
form;  one  day's  rest  in  seven  is  necessary  to  men  and  animals; 
more  than  this,  the  observance  of  the  Holy  Day  of  the  God  of  Mercy 
and  of  Battles,  is  our  sacred  duty. 

Shortly  afterward,  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  commanding  in  the 
West,  issued  an  order  of  similar  purport,  and  Commodore  Foote,  of 
the  Navy,  the  following: 

A  strict  observance  of  Sunday,  as  far  as  abstaining  from  all  un- 
necessary work,  and  giving  officers  and  men  the  opportunity  of 
attending  public  worship  on  board,  will  be*  observed  by  all  persons 
connected  with  the  flotilla.  It  is  the  wish  of  the  Commander-in- 
Chief  that  on  Sunday  the  public  worship  of  Almighty  God  may  be 
observed  on  board  of  all  the  vessels  composing  the  flotilla ;  and  that 
the  respective  commanders  will,  either  themselves,  or  cause  other 
persons,  to  pronounce  prayers  publicly  on  Sunday,  when  as  many  of 
the  officers  and  men  as  can  be  spared  from  duty,  may  attend  the  pub- 
lic worship  of  Almighty  God. 

In  November,  1862,  the  second  year  of  the  War  for  the  Union,  a 

504 


EDITORIAL 

deputation  from  the  Sabbath  Conimittee  visited  President  Lincoln, 
to  request  the  issuance  of  an  order  protecting  the  rights  of  soldiers 
and  sailors  to  a  weekly  day  of  rest  and  worship.  In  replying,  the 
President  made  an  earnest  informal  address,  in  which  he  used 
these  memorable  words:  kiAs  we  keep  or  break  the  Sabbath  Day, 
we  nobly  save  or  meanly  lose  the  last  best  hope  by  which  man  rises.' ' 
And  the  words  of  General  Silas  Casey  are  deserving  of  special  con- 
sideration in  the  present  day: 

I  have  been  thirty-six  years  in  the  military  service  of  my  country, 
and  I  know  that  the  army  needs  a  Sabbath.  I  was  five  years  in  the 
Florida  War.  In  long  marches,  better  time  will  be  made,  and  the 
men  will  go  through  in  better  condition,  by  resting  on  the  Sabbath, 
than  by  continuous  marching.  No  prudent  general  will  plan  for  a 
Sunday  battle.  I  would  appeal  to  the  American  people  to  save  our 
Sabbath.  If  our  wealth  should  be  lost  in  this  terrible  war  ( this  was 
said  in  1862;  how  much  more  impressive  today  i)  it  may  be  recov- 
ered. If  our  young  men  are  killed  off,  others  will  grow  up  and  take 
their  places;  but  if  our  American  Sabbath  is  lost,  it  can  never  be 
restored,  and  all  is  lost. 

President  Lincoln's  order  of  November  15,  1862,  reads  as  follows : 

The  President,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  de- 
sires and  enjoins  the  orderly  observance  of  the  Sabbath  by  the  of- 
ficers and  men  in  the  military  and  naval  service.  The  importance 
for  man  and  beast  of  the  prescribed  weekly  rest,  a  becoming  defer- 
ence to  the  best  sentiment  of  a  Christian  people,  and  a  due  regard 
for  the  Divine  Will,  demand  that  Sunday  labor  in  the  Army  and 
Navy  may  be  reduced  to  the  measures  of  strict  necessity.  The 
discipline  and  character  of  the  national  forces  should  not  suffer,  nor 
the  cause  they  serve  be  imperiled  by  the  profanation  of  the  day  or 
name  of  the  Most  High.  "At  this  time  of  public  distress,"  adopt- 
ing the  words  of  Washington  in  1776, 4  4  Men  may  find  enough  to  do  in 
the  service  of  God  and  their  country,  without  abandoning  them- 
selves to  vice  and  immorality."  The  first  general  order  issued  by 
the  Father  of  His  Country  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
indicates  the  spirit  in  which  our  institutions  were  founded,  and 
should  ever  be  defended:  "The  General  hopes  and  trusts  that 
every  officer  and  man  will  endeavor  to  live  and  act  as  becomes  a 
Christian  soldier  defending  the  dearest  rights  and  liberties  of  his 
country." 

SOS 


' 


EDITORIAL 

In  view  of  facts  that  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Sabbath  Com- 
mittee, concerning  public  parades  and  unnecessary  labor  on  Sun- 
days at  military  stations,  a  memorial  was  addressed  to  President 
Harrison,  who  on  June  7,  1889,  issued  an  order  in  which  he  made 
feeling  reference  to  the  Sabbath  observance  orders  of  Washington 
and  Lincoln,  and  continued: 

The  truth  so  concisely  stated,  cannot  be  too  faithfully  regarded, 
and  the  pressure  to  ignore  it  is  far  less  now  than  in  the  midst  of 
war.  To  recall  the  kindly  and  considerate  spirit  of  the  orders 
issued  by  these  great  men  in  the  most  trying  times  of  our  history, 
and  to  promote  contentment  and  efficiency,  the  President  directs  that 
Sunday  morning  inspection  will  be  merely  of  the  dress  and  general 
appearance,  without  arms ;  and  the  more  complete  inspection  under 
arms,  with  all  men  present,  will  take  place  on  Saturday. 

On  June  12,  1899,  President  McKinley  issued  a  Sabbath  observ- 
ance order,  in  which  he  particularly  cited  those  of  Washington  and 
Lincoln.  It  was  substantially  a  repetition  of  the  order  of  Presi- 
dent Harrison. 

None  would  mistrust  the  sentiments  of  President  Wilson  in  such 
a  matter  as  Sabbath  observance,  nor  need  there  be  wonder  that  he 
overlooked  the  matter,  under  such  tremendous  burden  of  responsi- 
bilities as  are  his  in  all  the  varied  lines  of  direction  of  war  and 
diplomatic  affairs.  In  January  of  the  present  year,  the  Sabbath 
Committee,  through  its  secretary,  the  Rev.  Duncan  J.  McMillan,  D. 
D.,  a  veteran  of  the  War  for  the  Union,  commander  of  a  leading 
Grand  Army  Post  of  New  York  City,  and  chaplain-in-chief  of  the 
Order  in  the  State  of  New  York,  addressed  him  with  reference 
to  the  matter.  In  response,  the  President's  private  secretary  wrote, 
"I  beg  to  enclose  copy  of  the  order  which  the  President  has  been 
glad  to  make  in  the  matter  of  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  Day 
by  the  officers  and  men  of  the  Army  and  Navy."  The  order  is  as 
follows : 

The  President,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and  Navy,  fol- 
lowing the  reverent  example  of  his  predecessors,  desires  and  enjoins 
the  orderly  observance  of  the  Sabbath  by  the  officers  and  men  in  the 
military  and  naval  service  of  the  United  States.  -  The  importance 

506 


■ 


EDITORIAL 

for  man  and  beast  of  the  prescribed  weekly  rest,  the  sacred  rights 
of  Christian  soldiers  and  sailors,  a  becoming  deference  to  the  best 
sentiment  of  a  Christian  people,  and  a  due  regard  for  the  Divine 
Will,  demand  that  Sunday  labor  in  the  Army  and  Navy  be  reduced 
to  the  measure  of  strictest  necessity. 

Such  an  observance  of  Sunday  is  dictated  by  the  best  traditions  of 
our  people,  and  by  the  convictions  of  all  who  look  to  Divine  Provi- 
dence for  guidance  and  protection;  and,  in  repeating  in  this  order 
the  language  of  President  Lincoln,  the  President  is  confident  that  he 
is  speaking  alike  to  the  hearts  and  to  the  conscience  of  those  under 
his  authoritv. 


507 


Statement  of  the  Ownership,  Management.  Circulation.  Etc. 


Required  by  the  Act  of  Congress  of  August  24.  1912. 


OF  AMERICANA,  published  Quarterly  at  Somerville,  New  Jersey,  for  April  1st.  1918. 

State  of  New  York,      / 
County  of  New  York,    j    ss' 

Before  me,  a  Notary  Public,  in  and  for  the  State  and  having  filed  a  certificate  in  the 
county  aforesaid,  personally  appeared  Marion  L.  Lewis,  who.  having  been  duly  sworn 
according  to  law,  deposes  and  says  that  he  is  the  Business  Manager  of  the  Americana, 
and  that  the  following  is,  to  the  best  of  his  knowledge  and  belief,  a  true  statement  of  the 
ownership,  management  (and  if  a  daily  paper,  the  circulation),  etc..  of  the  aforesaid 
publication  for  the  date  shown  in  the  above  caption,  required  by  the  Act  of  August  24, 
1912,  embodied  in  section  443.  Postal  Laws  and  Regulations,  printed  on  the  reverse  of 
this  form,  to  wit: 

1.  That  the  names  and  addresses  of  the  publisher,  editor,  managing  editor,  and  bus- 
iness managers  are:  Publisher.  The  Americana  Historical  Society,  Somerville.  N.  J., 
and  No.  267  Broadway,  New  York  City.  Editor.  Fenwick  Y.  Hedley,  No.  267  Broadway. 
New  York  City.  Managing  Editor,  Marion  L.  Lewis,  No.  267  Broadway,  New  York 
City.     Business  Manager,  Marion  L.  Lewis,  No.  267  Broadway,  New  York  City. 

2.  That  the  owners  are:  Benjamin  F.  Lewis,  Jr.,  No.  542  South  Dearborn  street. 
Chicago,  111.;  Marion  L.  Lewis.  No.  171  Prospect  street.  West  Nutley,  N.  J.;  Metcalf 
B.  Hatch,  Nutley,  N.  J.;  Ed  Lewis,  No.  2121  Foster  avenue,  Brooklyn.  N.  Y. ;  Florence 
A.  Kelsey,  Great  Barrington,  Mass. ;  Benjamin  F.  Lewis,  Sr..  No.  908  Central  avenue. 
Wilmette,   111. 

3.  That  the  known  bondholders,  mortgagees,  and  other  security  holders  owning  or 
holding  1  per  cent,  or  more  of  total  amount  of  bonds,  mortgages,  or  other  securities 
are :     None. 

4.  That  the  two  paragraphs  next  above,  giving  the  names  of  the  owners,  stock- 
holders, and  security  holders,  if  any.  contain  not  only  the  list  of  stockholders  and  security 
holders  as  they  appear  upon  the  books  of  the  company  but  also,  in  cases  where  the  stock- 
holder or  security  holder  appears  upon  the  books  of  the  company  as  trustee  or  in  any 
other  fiduciary  relation,  the  name  of  the  person  or  corporation  for  whom  such  trustee 
is  acting,  is  given ;  also  that  the  said  two  paragraphs  contain  statements  embracing 
affiant's  full  knowledge  and  belief  as  to  the  circumstances  and  conditions  under  which 
stockholders  and  security  holders  who  do  not  appear  upon  the  books  of  the  company 
as  trustees,  hold  stock  and  securities  in  a  capacity-  other  than  that  of  a  bona  fide  owner : 
and  this  affiant  has  no  reason  to  believe  that  any  other  person,  association,  or  corporation 
has  any  interest  direct  or  indirect  in  the  said  stock,  bonds,  or  other  securities  than  as  so 
stated  by  him. 

M.  L.  LEWIS.  Business  Manager. 

Sworn  to  and  subscribed  before  me  this  9th  day  of  May,  1918. 

EDWARD  J.  MARTIN. 

Notary  Public. 

(My  commission  expires  March  30,  1919). 


INDEX 

Vol.  XII. 
January,  1918— December,  1918. 


Allen  and  Allied  Families,  The 449 

Americans   as   Conquistatores   and   Annexationists,   Charles    W. 

Super  405 

Ancestry  and  Heraldry  (Illustrated),  Marcus  Ulbricht 132 

Arnold  and  Allied  Families   235 

Bicknell,  Thomas  Williams,  Rhode  Island:  Boston  the  Prepara- 
tory School  for  Aquidneck 319 

Bonham,  Jr.,  Milledge  L.,  The  Expulsion  of  the  British  Consuls 

by  the  Cofederate  Government 224 

Book  Reviews   (editorial)    232 

Boucher,  John  N.,  Arthur  St.  Clair — First  Governor  of  the  North- 
west Territory 381 

Centennial  of  Illinois  (illustrated),  Andrew  S.  Cuthbertson 359 

Cuthbertson,  Andrew  Stuart,  Centennial  of  Illinois 359 

Decline  of  English  Influence  in  Turkey,  The,  YVilma  Orem 14 

De  Soto's  Route  West  of  the  Mississippi  River,  Ada  Mixon 70 

■  in  Arkansas  (illustrated),  Ada  Mixon 302 

Eaton,  Arthur  Wentworth  Hamilton,  History  of  Halifax,  Nova 

Scotia 32,  184,  272,  419 

Editorial,  Publication  Resumed 114 

The  Great  Wrar 114 

In  Memoriam,  William  S.  Pelletreau 116 

Military  Strength  in  War  of  the  Union 116 

Words  of  Appreciation 227 

A  Regrettable  Dispersion '.  227 

"Tom"  Moore  in  America 228 

A  Rare  Old  Flag 231 

A  Notable  Centennial 352 

War  in  Literature 353 

Literary  Notes    355 

Of  Timely  Interest 501 

(Hi) 


iv  INDEX 

Sunday  in  War  Times 502 

Eno,  Joel  N.,  The  Founding  of  Vermont;  The  Controversy  Over 

the  New  Hampshire  Grants 147 

Expulsion  of  the   British  Consuls   by  the  Confederate   Govern- 
ment, Milledge  L.  Bonham,  Jr 224 

First  Governor  of  the  Northwest  Territory  (illustrated),  John  N. 

Boucher    381 

Fitch,  Charles  E.  (illustrated),  Biographical  Sketch 135 

Founding  of  Vermont,  The  Controversy  Over  the  New  Hamp- 
shire Grants  (illustrated),  Joel  N.  Eno. 147 

Great  War,  The  (editorial) 114 

Guiteras,  Dr.  Ramon  (illustrated),  Biographical  Sketch 9 

Halifax,  Nova   Scotia,   History  of   (illustrated),  Arthur   W.   H. 

Eaton   32,   184,  272,  419 

and  the  American  Revolution .' 184 

and  the  New  York  Tories 272 

Garrison  and  Social  Life  in  the  Town 419 

Hart,  Rev.  Samuel  (illustrated),  Biographical  Sketch 141 

Heraldry  in  America  (illustrated),  Henry  Yellowley 1 

Howland  Family,  The 265 

Ingraham,  Charles  A.,  The  Northwest  Territory  and  the  Ordi- 
nance of  1787 104 

In  Memoriam,  William  S.  Pelletreau  (editorial) 116 

Jackson,  Russell  Leigh,  Doctor  Benjamin  Thomson,  The  Poet. .  .  220 

Literary  Notes  (editorial) 355 

Military  Strength  in  War  for  the  Union  (editorial) :  116 

Mitchell  Family,  The 443 

Mitchell,  Maria  (astronomer),  Biographical  Sketch 444 

Mixon,  Ada,  De  Soto's  Route  in  Arkansas 302 

West  of  the  Mississippi  River 70 

Morristown  in  the  Revolution  (illustrated) 210 

Northwest  Territory,  and  the  Ordinance  of  1787   (illustrated), 

Charles  A.  Ingraham 104 

Notable  Centennial,  A  (editorial)   352 

Of  Timely  Interest  (editorial) 501 

Orem,  Wilma,  The  Decline  of  English  Influence  in  Turkey 14 

Parker,  Moses  Greeley  (illustrated),  Biographical  Sketch 434 

Pease,  Zephaniah  W.,  The  Brave  Industry  of  Whaling 78 

Pelletreau,  William  S.  (illustrated),  Biographical  Sketch 144 


INDEX  v 

Publication  Resumed  (editorial)    114 

Rare  Old  Flag  (illustrated) 205 

(editorial)   231 

Raymond,  George  Lansing,  Biographical  Sketch 343 

Regrettable  Dispersion,  A  (editorial) 227 

Rhode   Island :   Boston   the   Preparatory    School    for  Aquidneck 

(illustrated),  Thomas  Williams  Bicknell 319 

Royal  Governors  and  Government  Houses,  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia.  32 

Sherman  Family,  The 255 

Slade  Family  in  England  and  America  (illustrated) 119 

Sunday  in  War  Time  (editorial) 502 

St.  Clair,  Gen.  Arthur  (illustrated),  John  N.  Boucher 381 

Super,  Charles  W.,  Americans  as  Conquistatores  and  Annexa- 
tionists    405 

Thompson,  Dr.  Benjamin,  The  Poet,  Russell  Lehigh  Jackson.  . .  .  220 

Three  Distinguished  Litterateurs  Recently  Deceased 135 

"Tom"  Moore  in  America  (editorial)  228 

Ulbricht,  Marcus,  Ancestry  and  Heraldry 132 

Van  der  Heyden  and  Allied  Families,  The 455 

War  in  Literature  (editorial) 353 

Wardwell  Family   (illustrated) 128 

Whaling,   The   Brave   Industry   of    (illustrated),   Zephaniah   W. 

Pease   78 

Winslow,  Wrilliam  Copley  (archaeologist),  Biographical  Sketch.  493 

Words  of  Appreciation  (editorial) 227 

Yellowley,  Henry,  Heraldry  in  America 1 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Opposite  Pago 

Aquidneck  Grant,  Map  of 338 

Arnold,  Arthur  H.,  Portrait,  Steel  Engraving,  Frontispiece.  .  .  .No.       3 

Arnold,  Caroline  F.  Waterman,  Portrait,  Steel  Engraving 243 

Ashton  Arms  4 

Barnard  Monument,  New  Bedford,  Mass 85 

Bicknell,  Thomas  W.,  Portrait 319 

Bombardment  of  Fort  McHenry 207 

Bringhurst  Arms   4 

Clarke,  Geo.  Rogers,  Portrait j 104 

Dr.  John,  Portrait 322 

Clinton,  George,   Portrait 151 

De  Soto's  Route  in  Arkansas,  Map  of 306 

De  Pelleport  Arms 1 

Douglas,  Statue  of  Stephen  A.,  Springfield,  Illinois 377 

Du  Pont  Arms 1 

Emery,  Coat  of  Arms 134 

Facsimile  of  Original  Fort  McHenry  Flag 209 

Fitch,  Charles  E.,  Portrait,  Steel  Engraving 136 

Font,  Coat  of  Arms 134 

Fort  Nonsense  Hill 215 

Monument 215 

Garrison  Chapel,  The 282 

Clock  or  Town  Clock,  The 290 

Gilpin  Arms  4 

Government  House,  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia 34 

Grant,  Gen.  Ulysses  S.,  Portrait  in  1863 379 

Grant's  Tomb,  Riverside  Drive,  New  York 380 

Guiteras,  M.D.,  Ramon,  Portrait,  Steel  Engraving 9 

Halifax,  Recent  View  of 419 

Hall  Arms 4 

Harpooner,  The   85 

Hart,  Samuel,  Portrait,  Steel  Engraving 141 

Infantry  Group,  Lincoln  Monument,  Springfield,  Illinois 374 

Ingham,  Coat-of-Arms   . 134 

"Johnny  Cake  Hill,"  New  Bedford,  Mass 93 

Knight  Arms  7 

(Yi) 


ILLUSTRATIONS  vii 

Launch  of  Schooner 100 

Lawton,  Armorial  Ensign  of 122 

Levick  Arms 7 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  Portrait  Taken  in  1858 359 

,  Fourth  Page  of  Autographic  Biographical  Sketch 371 

,  Monument,  Springfield,  Illinois 373 

,  O'Connor's  Statue,  Springfield,  Illinois 361 

Logan  Arms 7 

Mitchell,  Maria,  Portrait,  Steel  Engraving 444 

Moale's  View  of  Baltimore  in  1752 205 

Model  of  Whaling  Ship  in  Bourne  Whaling  Museum,  New  Bed- 
ford, Mass 81 

Nantucket  Mitchell  Homestead,  The 445 

Newark  Statue  of  Washington 210 

Old  Type  British  Ship 78 

Paine,  Coat-of-Arms  134 

Parker,  M.D.,  Moses  Greeley,  Portrait,  Steel  Engraving, 

Frontispiece  No.  4 

Pelletreau,  William  S.,  Portrait 144 

Portsmouth  Compact,  The 330 

Provincial  Buildings  of  Halifax 57 

Sherman,  Elizabeth  Mitchell,  Portrait,  Steel  Engraving 260 

Homestead,  Steel  Engraving 259 

Skirmish  at  Market  and  Broad  Streets,  Newark,  N.  J 219 

Slade  Homestead,  Steel  Engraving 119 

,  Mary  Sherman,  Portrait,  Steel  Engraving 125 

,  Phebe  (Lawton),  Portrait,  Steel  Engraving 123 

,  William  Lawton,  Portrait,  Steel  Engraving,  Frontispiece  No.  2 

State  House,  Montpelier,  Vt 147 

S.t  Clair,  Gen.  Arthur,  Portrait 112,  381 

,  Monument,   Greensburg,   Pa 403 

Thompson,  Benjamin  (Count  Rumford),  Portrait .^74 

Troy,  New  York,  Map  of  1791 465 

Washington's  Headquarters,  Morristown,  N.  J 214 

Waterman,  John  O.,  Portrait 249 

Wentworth,  Governor  Benning,  Portrait. 149 

Weymyss  Arms 1 

Williams,  Gen.  Sir  William  Fenwick,  Bart.,  K.C.B.,  Portrait 32 


I 


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