The Loyalists of Massachusetts Part 36

THEOPHILUS LILLIE, the youngest son, was born August 18, 1730. He married late in 1757 (intentions of marriage published October 27, 1757) Ann Barker, who had been a shop-keeper, in company with Abiel Page, "near Rev. Mr. Mather's meeting-house." He was educated as a merchant and was in retail trade as early as 1758, as shown by the numerous collection suits brought by him, and his advertis.e.m.e.nts in the Boston "Gazette" May 22 of that year. His store was on "Middle (Hanover) Street, near Mr. Pemberton's meeting-house." His stock was miscellaneous English Dry Goods and Groceries.

When it was determined to resist the tax on imports, a non-importation agreement was entered into in August, 1768, by the merchants of Boston, many were forced to sign it through fear of offending the mob, the agreement ended in 1769, and some of those who had been forced into it were determined to proceed in their regular business, and would pay no attention to a renewal of it, among these was Theophilus Lillie. They were proscribed and persecuted for several weeks by the rabble collecting to interrupt customers, pa.s.sing to and from their shops, and houses, by posts erected before their shops with a hand pointed towards them, and by many marks of derision. At length on February 22nd, 1770, a more powerful mob than common, collected before the house of Theophilus Lillie and set up a post on which was a large Wooden Head, with a board faced paper, on which was painted the figures of four of the princ.i.p.al importers. One of the neighbors, Ebenezer Richardson, found fault with the proceedings which provoked the mob to drive him into his home for shelter. Having been a custom house officer, he was peculiarly obnoxious to the mob. They surrounded his house, threw stones and brick-bats through the windows, and, as it appeared upon trial were forcing their way in, when he fired upon them, and killed a boy eleven or twelve years of age. He was soon seized, and another person, George Wilmot with him, who happened to be in the house. They were in danger of being sacrificed to the rage of the mob, being dragged through the streets and a halter having been prepared, but some more temperate than the rest, advised to carry him before a justice of peace, who committed him to prison.

The boy that was killed was Christopher Snider, the son of a poor German. The event was taken advantage of by Sam Adams, and other revolutionary leaders to raise the pa.s.sion of the people, and thereby strengthen their cause. A grand funeral therefore was judged to be the proper course to pursue. In the _Evening Post_ of 26 Feb. is a very minute account of the affair, which had a very great deal to do with subsequent events. The corpse was set down under 'Liberty Tree' whence the procession began. About 50 school boys preceded, and there was "at least 2000 in the procession, of all ranks, amid a crowd of spectators."

The pall was supported by six youths chosen by the parents of the deceased. On the Liberty Tree and upon each side and foot of the coffin were inscriptions well calculated to excite sympathy for the deceased, and at the same time indignation against him, who occasioned his death.

On the 20th of April following the two culprits were tried for their lives. Richardson was brought in guilty of murder, but Wilmot was acquitted. Drake says "In this account of the case of Richardson and Wilmot, it must be borne in mind that it is almost entirely made up from the facts detailed by their enemies. Richardson was no doubt insulted beyond endurance, which caused his rashness, in a moment of intense excitement he fired on the mob. These facts doubtless had their weight with the court, for the Chief Justice Thomas Hutchinson, viewed the guilt of Richardson as everybody would now, a clear case of justifiable homicide, and consequently refused to sign a warrant for his execution, and, after lying in prison two years, was, on application to the King pardoned and set at liberty."[204]

[204] Drake's History of Boston, p. 777.

After the affair of the Wooden Figure at Lillie's, there was constant trouble in Boston between the soldiers and roughs of the town, until the 5th of March, when occurred the affray between the Mob and the Soldiers known as the "Boston Ma.s.sacre."[205]

[205] See pages 43 and 44 for account of the "Ma.s.sacre."

Mr. Lillie had taken no part in the affair that happened near his store, but popular feeling was influenced by that occurrence against him. Mr.

Lillie's full statement of the interference with his business by the illegal committee of citizens, will be found in the "Ma.s.sachusetts Gazette," January 11, 1770. An extract will show his att.i.tude towards the affair.

"Upon the whole, I cannot help saying--although I have never entered far into the mysteries of government, having applied myself to my shop and my business--that it always seemed strange to me that people who contend so much for civil and religious liberty should be so ready to deprive others of their natural liberty: that men who are guarding against being subject to laws [to] which they never gave their consent in person or by their representative should at the same time make laws, and in the most effectual manner execute them upon me and others, to which laws I am sure I never gave my consent either in person or by my representative.

But what is still more hard, they are laws made to punish me after I have committed the offence; for when I sent for my goods, I was told n.o.body was to be compelled to subscribe; after they came, I was required to store them. This in no degree answered the end of the subscription, which was to distress the manufacturers in England. Now, my storing my goods could never do this; the mischief was done when the goods were bought in England; and it was too late to help it. My storing my goods must be considered, therefore, as punishment for an offence before the law for punis.h.i.+ng it was made.

"If one set of private subjects may at any time take upon themselves to punish another set of private subjects just when they please, it's such a sort of government as I never heard of before; and according to my poor notion of government, this is one of the princ.i.p.al things which government is designed to prevent; and I own I had rather be a slave under one master (for I know who he is, I may perhaps be able to please him) than a slave to a hundred or more whom I don't know where to find, nor what they will expect of me."

In 1770 Mr. Lillie removed to Oxford in Worcester County,--a removal induced probably by his recent experiences in Boston. His domicile is stated to be in that town in actions brought by him in Suffolk County.

On account of his political views his new residence did not prove to be any more congenial than Boston had been.

In 1772 he attached for a debt the house of Dr. Alexander Campbell and the people of Oxford took umbrage, and threatened him with violence. In the same year he sold his place in Oxford, and returned to Boston. He bought in 1774 an estate in Brookfield, but it does not appear that he lived upon it at any time. Until the political troubles Mr. Lillie seems to have been in good circ.u.mstances, and to have kept up in his manner of dress the fas.h.i.+ons of the period, according to family traditions. He left Boston in March, 1776 with the British troops for Halifax. His family thus embarking numbered four persons--himself and wife, and one of the other two being, doubtless, a negro servant.

Mr. Lillie's death occurred in Halifax two months after leaving Boston, on May 12. His property in Ma.s.sachusetts was confiscated. Jacob Cooper, of Boston, administered on his estate. Mrs. Lillie continued to live at Halifax, and notwithstanding the confiscation proceedings, she undertook to collect, by suits in Ma.s.sachusetts in 1784-85, some of the debts due to her husband. The Confiscation Act however, was a bar to any recovery.

Mrs. Lillie survived her husband eighteen years. Her funeral is registered on the records of St. Paul's church, Halifax, as being on September 16, 1794, at the age of seventy-nine. Her will dated December 10, 1791, and August 5, 1794 (appointing Foster Hutchinson, the younger, Executor) was proved September 20, 1794, on the oath of John Masters and Foster Hutchinson, the younger. Certain provisions of the will show a particular interest in a colored servant. The will provides: "It is also my will and intention that my black man Caesar be free, and that the sum of ten pounds be retained and left in the hands of my hereinafter named executor, to be applied to the use of said Caesar in case of sickness, or other necessity, at the discretion of said executor." She also bequeathed to him "a suit of mourning cloths suitable for a man in his situation in life"; and in a later codicil, "the feather-bed and bedstead whereupon he usually sleeps, and also the bedclothes and bedding belonging thereto." Mr. Lillie's confiscated personal effects indicate that he lived in a liberal style. At the time of his death.

Governor Hutchinson, then in England, wrote in his Diary, July 24, 1776:

When I came home I heard of Mr. Lillie's death at Halifax. What numbers have been brought to poverty, sickness, and death by refusing to concur with the present measures of America!

Theophilus Lillie died childless. Search was made in July, 1895, by Edward Lillie Pierce and his son George, in the old graveyard at Halifax, but no stone for him or his wife was discovered, although her funeral had been duly recorded in the church register. The stones of Foster Hutchinson and his family were well preserved; and the Lillie stone if ever set up, would be likely to be found near them.

Mr. Lillie's personal property in Ma.s.sachusetts was disposed of and his three pieces of real estate were sold at public auction. His debts were small and the whole amount turned into the treasury, 595, valued at 446 in sterling money. The public gain was considerable.

JOHN LILLIE, the only surviving brother of Theophilus was born August 8, 1728. He is described as a "mariner" in public doc.u.ments, but no details of his career on the sea have been transmitted. He married in Trinity church, August 16, 1754 Abigail Breck (born June 19, 1732.) She was the daughter of John and Margaret Breck. John Lillie died April, 1765, and his will was proved on the 19th. He left six children. John Lillie, his son, became a Major in the Continental Army and served in many engagements with great bravery during the war. General Was.h.i.+ngton certified that Major Lillie "conducted himself on all occasions with dignity, bravery, and intelligence." He was married to Elizabeth Vose, January 20, 1785, and was survived by several children.

Mehitable and Ann Lillie, two of John Lillie's daughters (the mariner) have always with their descendants been well known.

LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO THEOPHILUS LILLIE IN SUFFOLK COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.

To John Greenough, May 26, 1781; Lib. 132, fol. 216. Land and buildings in Boston. Middle St. E.; Samuel Ridgeway S.; Thomas Greenough W. Thomas Greenough and Edward Foster, an absentee, N.

To Samuel Howard. Aug. 3, 1781: Lib. 133, fol. 5. One undivided third of land and large brick dwelling-house in Boston, Sun Court St. N.; Joseph Hemmingway and others E.; John Leach and others S.; Market Square W.

DR. SYLVESTER GARDINER.

Sylvester Gardiner was born in South Kingston, Rhode Island, in 1707. He was descended from the first emigrant of the name to the Narragansett country. His father was William Gardiner, the son of Benoni, the son of Joseph, an English emigrant. Sylvester was the fourth son of William Gardiner and was educated by his brother-in-law, the Rev. Dr. McSparran, for the medical profession. He studied eight years in England and France, and returning to Boston, entered and pursued a successful professional career. He established a store for the importation of drugs and acquired a fortune. He acc.u.mulated much real estate in Maine and became proprietor of one-twelfth part of the "Plymouth Purchase,"

so-called, on the Kennebec River. At one time he owned 100,000 acres and was grantor of much of the land in ancient Pittston. "His efforts to settle the large domain were unceasing from the year 1753 to the Revolution. He was made perpetual moderator of the proprietors at all their meetings; he executed their plans, built mills, houses, stores and wharves, cleared lands, made generous offers to emigrants; established an episcopal mission, and furnished the people of that region with their first religious instruction. And most of all this was accomplished with his own money."[206] He erected houses and mills at Swan Island, Pownalborough and other places, and was the author of the beginnings of many settlements. He was a public spirited man of great zeal and energy, broad and liberal in his views.

[206] Sabine's Loyalists, Vol. I. p. 459.

Dr. Gardiner was married three times. His first wife was Anne, daughter of Doctor John Gibbons of Boston; his second, Abigail Eppes of Virginia; his third, Catharine Goldthwaite. In Boston he was respected by all cla.s.ses. Of the "Government Party," he entertained as guests, Sir William Pepperell, Governor Hutchinson, Earl Percy, Admiral Graves, Major Pitcairn, General Gage, Major Small and others. He was an Addresser of the Royal Governors in 1774 and the year following he became identified with the Royal cause. In 1776, at the evacuation, he abandoned all and found temporary shelter at Halifax. When he left his native country close to the age of three score and ten, he took only about 400 with him. The vessel in which he embarked was dest.i.tute of common comforts, poorly supplied with provisions, and the cabin, which he and several members of his family occupied, was small and crowded with pa.s.sengers. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished and settled in Poole, England. His property in Boston and Maine was confiscated and all goods that could be found were sold at public auction. A library containing five hundred volumes, was sold in 1778-79 at auction by William Cooper. His books and other personal effects amounted to 1658.18.

The estates on the Kennebec were confiscated but the Attorney-General found that the action was illegally prosecuted and inst.i.tuted new proceedings. Before they were brought to a close peace was declared and the proceedings stayed. The heirs of Dr. Gardiner learned these facts and obtained the property. Had there not been a flaw in the first suit this would not have been the case.

"In 1785 Doctor Gardiner returned to the United States. For a part of his losses he pet.i.tioned Ma.s.sachusetts for compensation. He had never borne arms, he said, nor entered into any a.s.sociation, combination or subscription against the Whigs. When he quitted Boston, he stated, too, that he had in his possession a valuable stock of drugs, medicines, paints, groceries and dye stuffs, which having a vessel fully equipped and entirely under his control, he could easily have carried off, but which he left, of choice, for the benefit of the country, which he knew was in need. The claim was acknowledged to the extent of giving his heirs tickets in the State Land Lottery, by which they obtained nearly six thousand acres in the county of Was.h.i.+ngton, Maine."[207]

[207] Sabine's Loyalists, Vol. I, p 460.

Was.h.i.+ngton, on taking possession of Boston, ordered the medicines, etc., in Doctor Gardiner's store, to be transferred to the hospital department for the use of the Continental Army; but the State authorities interfered and required delivery to the Sheriff of Suffolk county. The result, however, was a vote of the council complying with the requisition of the commander-in-chief.

After the peace Doctor Gardiner resided in Newport, Rhode Island, where he still practiced medicine and surgery. There he died suddenly of a malignant fever on August 8, 1786, in his eightieth year. His body was interred under Trinity church and his funeral was attended by most of the citizens. The s.h.i.+pping displayed its colors at half-mast, and much respect was shown by the people. Dr. Gardiner had always been philanthropic and a benefit to mankind. He seems to have been identified in church work wherever he lived and from the following extract appears to have been a member of King's chapel, while residing in Boston: "April 3, 1740.--Rec'd of Mr. Sylvester Gardiner Sixteen Pounds Two s.h.i.+lls, in full for wine for the Chapple for the year past. John Hanc.o.c.k."[208]

[208] "Dealings with the Dead," by a s.e.xton of the Old School.

Dr. Gardiner acted conscientiously in his course in remaining loyal and his "Christian fort.i.tude and piety were exemplary as his honesty was inflexible and his friends.h.i.+p sincere."[209] In the Episcopal church in Gardiner, Maine, near the pulpit, a beautiful cenotaph of black marble about eight feet high enclosed in a fine oaken frame, is erected to the memory of Dr. Gardiner, by Robert Hallowell Gardiner, his grandson and heir.

[209] Newport Mercury. Aug. 14, 1786.

JOHN GARDINER, the eldest son of Dr. Sylvester Gardiner, was born in Boston in 1731, and was sent to England, to complete his education. He studied law at Inner Temple and practiced in the courts of Westminster Hall. He received the appointment of Attorney-General in the West Indies at St. Christopher's. He was denied promotion by the British Government because of his sympathy for the Whigs, and in 1783 he returned to Boston. On February 13, 1784, John Gardiner, his wife, Margaret, and their children were naturalized. John Gardiner was an ardent reformer and an active Unitarian. He was the princ.i.p.al agent in transforming the King's Chapel into a Unitarian church. He wrote an able treatise in defence of the theatre. Removing to Pownalborough, Maine, he represented that town in the General Court from 1789 until his death in 1793-94. He was drowned by the loss of a packet in which he was sailing to Boston to attend the session of the Legislature.

JOHN SYLVESTER JOHN, son of John Gardiner, was born in Wales in 1765.

His father had left America in 1748 before he was of age and resided in England and South Wales until 1768, when he went to St. Christopher's, remaining in the West Indies until 1783. John Sylvester John, became an able theological and political writer. He was rector of Trinity church, Boston, from 1805 until his death, which occurred at Harrowgate Springs, England, in 1830, while traveling for his health.

A tablet was erected in Trinity church to the memory of John Sylvester John Gardiner, who had first been an a.s.sistant and later the rector of the church. At the time of the great Boston fire, November 9, 1872, when old Trinity church on Summer street was destroyed, this tablet was the only relic saved from the interior of the church. It was rescued from the flames by a great-grandson of John Sylvester John Gardiner, and is now in Trinity church, Copley square. Boston.

WILLIAM GARDINER, son of the rector, was an eminent Boston lawyer. He had two daughters, Louisa, who married John Cus.h.i.+ng of Watertown, and Elizabeth.

WILLIAM GARDINER, the second son of Sylvester Gardiner, removed to Gardinerston, Maine, soon after the settlement commenced. He employed a housekeeper and entertained his friends and was famous for his fun making. He gave offence to the Whigs because he "would drink tea"; because he refused to swear allegiance to their cause; and because he called them "Rebels." "Arrangements were made to take him from his bed at night, and tar and feather him, but a Whig, friendly to him, carried him to a place of safety. He was, however, made prisoner, tried and sent to jail in Boston."[210] In March, 1778, he pet.i.tioned for release and was soon after allowed to return home where "he was regarded as a harmless man and was allowed for the most part to remain unmolested, except by petty annoyances." William Gardiner died, unmarried at Gardiner, Maine, and was buried "beneath the Episcopal vestry."

[210] Sabine's Loyalists, Vol. I, p. 462.

ANNE GARDINER, third child of Sylvester Gardiner, married the second son of the Earl of Altamont. HANNAH, a fourth child, was the wife of Robert Hallowell. REBECCA, the fifth child, married Philip Dumarisque. Last, ABIGAIL, married Oliver Whipple, counsellor-at-law, c.u.mberland, Rhode Island, and subsequently of Portsmouth, New Hamps.h.i.+re.

Nearly the whole of the estate in Maine pa.s.sed under the provisions of Doctor Gardiner's will, to Hannah's only son, Robert Hallowell, who, as one of the conditions of that instrument, added the name of Gardiner.

John on account of his political and religious opinions failed to become the princ.i.p.al heir, and William "was not an efficient man."

Sylva.n.u.s Gardiner's second wife was the widow of William Eppes of Virginia, daughter of Col. Benj. Pickman of Salem. She died at Poole, England, leaving a son, Wm. Eppes, who married Miss Randolph of Bristol, whose son was a commissary general in the British Army. A daughter, Love Eppes, married Sir John Lester of Poole, and Abigail Eppes married Richard Routh, a loyalist.