The Loyalists of Massachusetts Part 42

THE GOLDTHWAITE FAMILY OF BOSTON.

Thomas Goldthwaite, ancestor of all of this name in America, was born in England about 1610. The original home is supposed to be what is now Gowthwaite manor, three miles from Pateley Bridge, Yorks.h.i.+re, West Riding.

He probably came with Governor Winthrop's fleet to America. His first appearance in the Boston records appeared June 14, 1631. Thomas Goldthwaite settled in Roxbury where his name appears as "Thomas Gouldthwaight" in Rev. John Eliot's list of his church members, Eliot having begun his pastorate there in 1632. Thomas was made a freeman in Ma.s.sachusetts, May 14, 1634. In 1636 he appears in Salem where, as an inhabitant he was granted ten acres of land. His first house lot has been located by some of the best antiquarian authority, as on the southwest corner of Ess.e.x and Flint Streets in Salem. In 1636 he married his first wife. Her death occurred some time before 1671 and he then married Rachel Leach, of Salem. He was called "Constable Gouldthwaight"

at a meeting of the selectmen, December 14, 1659. Thomas died in March, 1683, at about the age of seventy-three, his wife Rachel surviving him.

He left three children, Samuel, Mehitable, and Elizabeth.

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

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

His son Ezekiel inherited the estate after his father's death, and sold it to Thomas Sherburn, his brother-in-law.

Sarah Goldthwaite died Oct. 31, 1715, at the age of thirty-five and is buried in Copp's Hill. John Goldthwaite married Mrs. Jane Halsey of Boston as his second wife. From 1708 to 1758 his name is often mentioned in Boston records. He is one of seventeen named as the founders of the New North church in 1714. His name appears in records of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, and in the town records with the t.i.tle of captain, in 1741. In his old age he had a barbecue for descendants on North Square. It was held under a tent because they were too numerous to a.s.semble in a house. He died June 25, 1766, and is probably buried in the tomb of his son Ezekiel on Copp's Hill. He had nine children by his first wife and five by his second.

CAPTAIN JOSEPH GOLDTHWAITE (fourth generation) fourth child of John, was born November 11, 1706, in Boston. He married February 8, 1727, Martha Lewis, who was born in Boston and baptized in the second church, Feb.

29, 1707, the daughter of Martha (Burrell) and Philip Lewis. Joseph joined the Artillery Company in 1730 and in 1738 was First Sergeant. In 1745 he joined the Colonial army for the siege of Louisburg and according to records in the British war office, being commissioned adjutant in the first Ma.s.sachusetts regiment, Honorable William Pepperell, colonel, March 12, 1744-(5) and captain (brevet) March 20, 1744-(5). After his return from the war he became a private citizen, and is seldom spoken of in records by his military t.i.tle, being rather called esquire, or gentleman. In 1728 he appears as a goldsmith, and later as a merchant, licensed as a retailer at his store on Marlboro Street (part of Was.h.i.+ngton) in 1737 and again in 1742. He held several appointments and later became constable. His home in 1744 was on Fish, afterwards North Street. In 1773 he and his family retired to a farm purchased by him in western Ma.s.sachusetts, July 10, 1773, ten acres and mansion house. Here Joseph Goldthwaite died March 1, 1780, aged seventy-two. His widow died October 26, 1783, aged seventy-five, and a double stone marks their graves in Weston. He had ten children.

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

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

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

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

"On the 27th of last month about 20 armed men arrived here from St.

George's who came in the name, and as a committee from the people of St.

George's, and others, who they say had a.s.sembled there to the amount of 250; and this party in their name demanded of me the reason of my delivering the cannon belonging to this fort to the King's forces. I went into the fort and got the Governor's letter to me, and it was read to them. I then informed them that this was the King's fort, and built at his expense, that the Governor was commander in-chief of it; that I could not refuse to obey his orders."

Little is known of Col. Goldthwaite between the surrender of Fort Pownal in the spring of 1775 and his arrival in England early in 1780. Gov.

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

After a life of nearly twenty years spent in retirement in England, Col.

Goldthwaite died Aug. 31, 1799, in his 82 year. Mrs. Catharine, his wife, died Dec. 16, 1796, aged 81. They lie buried in Walthamstow church yard.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

August 4, 1775, Mrs. Goldthwaite with her sister-in-law and a Mrs.

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

the city being then closely besieged.

Mrs. Goldthwaite pet.i.tioned the court to allow her to use the waters in Newton instead of at Stafford, her health being very delicate, and the pet.i.tion was accompanied by her physician's certificate. This was granted to her and she probably remained through the siege at Newton where the family of Mr. Benjamin Goldthwaite had also taken refuge.

After the siege she returned to Boston where she died, probably never seeing her husband again.

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

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

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

There can be no doubt however, as to Captain Philip's real sentiments.

The atmosphere in which he was living must soon have become unendurable to one holding his opinions, and therefore we soon find him in England, where he appears as early as 1780, at that date taking out his brother's administration papers. He bought an annuity in the king's household and became one of the Gentlemen of the bed chamber. In October, 1786, it appears from the probate records at Boston, that he had died probably at sea, for Edward Daws of Boston, trader, is administrator of the estate of Philip Goldthwait, late of Boston, mariner. His inventory contained clothes, a quadrant, books and chest, and amounted to 7, 10 s. He left several sons and daughters, whose descendants are now quite numerous.

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

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

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

LIEUTENANT HENRY GOLDTHWAITE, (fifth generation) son of Colonel Thomas, of Walthamstow, England, born at Chelsea, March 29, 1759, married in England, Sarah Winch of Brampton, Oxon. Henry's name is found as one of the garrison of Fort Pownal Oct. 23, 1775. He afterwards entered the British Army remaining in America, in that service, for some years after most of his family had taken up their abode in England. The records of the British War Office show that he was ensign, Independent Co.

Invalids, Nov. 13, 1793. Lieutenant Royal Garrison Battalion, Sept. 9, 1795, and lieutenant half pay Oct. 31, 1796. He died at sea, in the Mediterranean early in 1800. He left two sons, Charles, born 1796, and Henry Barnes, born 1797, whose descendants are living in England.

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

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

JOHN HOWE.

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

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

Howe had recently become of age, and was a sober, discreet young man.

Mrs. Draper, therefore, was induced, a short time before the commencement of the war, to take him into partners.h.i.+p, but his name did not appear in the imprint of the Ma.s.sachusetts Gazette till Boston was besieged by the Continental Army.

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

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