The Loyalists of Massachusetts Part 33

GENERAL ISAAC ROYALL.

William Royall, the first member of this family of which there is anything definitely known, emigrated to Salem probably during the year of 1629. He had a grant of land there known as "Royall's side" or "Ryall's Neck." He married, at Boston or Malden, Phoebe Green. He was in Cas...o...b..y as early as 1635. His house was built on the south side of what was afterwards known as Royall's River, near its mouth, in North Yarmouth. Here he lived until the troubles with the neighboring Indians, which induced him to remove to Dorchester in 1675, accompanied by his son William, who was born probably at the Casco settlement in 1640. He was a carpenter by occupation, and died in 1724, in the 85th year of his age, and is buried in the tomb built by his son Isaac in the Dorchester burying ground.

Isaac Royall, son of the aforesaid William, born probably at the settlement in Cas...o...b..y about 1672. He early settled at Boston, and engaged in trade, making frequent voyages to Antigua and other West India islands. He married, according to Boston records, on July 1, 1697, Elizabeth, daughter of Asaph Eliot and grandniece of the apostle to the Indians of that name. His wife was the widow of one Oliver, probably of Dorchester.

For a period of forty years Isaac Royall was a resident of Antigua, although his frequent presence in Boston during that time is evinced by his signature to conveyances. His name first appears on the Suffolk records in a mortgage deed given by himself and wife on the 24th August, 1697, he then being styled a "merchant of Boston." His trading operations between 1704 and 1710 with the West Indies, proved the foundation of his fortune.

On December 26, 1732, he purchased of the heirs of Lieutenant Governor Usher the estate in Charlestown (Medford) containing about five hundred acres. The large Mansion house was built by Usher, but has since become widely known as the Royall Mansion. It was one of the finest and most pretentious residences of the time within the suburbs of Boston. It is described by a visitor at that time as "A fine Country Seat belonging to Mr. Isaac Royall, being one of the grandest in N. America." This mansion was greatly added to, and almost rebuilt by the wealthy West Indian planter. He pet.i.tioned the General Court in December, 1737, that he might not be taxed on the twenty-seven slaves which he brought with him from Antigua. "That he removed from Antigua with his family, and brought with him among other things, and chattels, a parcel of negroes, designed for his own use, and not any of them for merchandise."

Isaac Royall, the builder of this mansion, did not live long to enjoy his princely estate, dying in 1739, not long after its completion. His widow, who survived him eight years, died in this house, and was interred from Colonel Oliver's in Dorchester April 25, 1747. The pair share the same tomb in the old Dorchester burying place. His daughter Penelope married Colonel Henry Va.s.sall of Cambridge in 1742. He died in 1769, and she died in Boston in 1800, aged 76.

GENERAL ISAAC ROYALL, a son, who was born in Antigua, probably in 1719, married Elizabeth McIntosh in 1738, but lived mostly in Boston. He became an extensive purchaser of lands in various parts of the State, and was one of the original proprietors of the township of Royalston in Worcester County. He was a member of the Artillery Company of Boston in 1750, was made a brigadier general in 1761, the first of that t.i.tle among Americans. He was elected by the House a Councillor of the Province, and served in that office until 1774, completing twenty-three years of consecutive service.

Much has been written of this man's position at the time of the colonial disturbances in 1774. Possessed of large wealth, and the influence that riches and education carried with them, his course was watched by the people with intense anxiety. He was known to have much in common with the faithful band of Loyalists, who were gathered about Cambridge and Boston, yet he was still faithful to the people's church, and most of his family ties held him to the popular cause. A long letter, written by him to Lord Dartmouth, dated in January of 1774, exists in the archives of the Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society's Proceedings, 1873-1875, page 179. Harris says, "there can be no good reason for doubting the sincerity of his sympathy with the people, and although, when the time came to make a choice, he was prevailed upon to adhere to the side of the government, there is abundant evidence of his continued love towards New England and his desire to return and end his days here." How much harder was it then for a man in his position to make the great sacrifices he did, to give up his loved home and his property, all for the cause of his King.

He wrote to Lord Dartmouth, "I am conscious that in all public affairs I have made the honor of my king and the real Interests and Peace of my country the ultimate end of all my transactions. I am so to live in this world as that I may be happy in another, and no man more ardently wishes and earnestly prays to the G.o.d of Peace for the Restoration of those happy days, which formerly subsisted between us and our mother country than I do."

Three days before the battle of Lexington, Colonel Royall took his departure from Medford. He drove in his chariot, which was one of the few in this vicinity, to Boston, and never again returned.

The mansion itself was indeed one of the finest of colonial residences, standing, as it did, in the midst of elegant surroundings. In the front, or what is now the west side, was the paved court. Reaching farther west were the extensive gardens, opening from the courtyard, a broad path leading to the summer house. The slave quarters were at the south. The brick slave quarters have remained unchanged, and are the last visible relics of slavery in New England. The deep fireplace where the slaves prepared their food is still in place, and the roll of slaves has certainly been called in sight of Bunker Hill, though never upon its summit.

The interior woodwork of the house is beautifully carved, especially the drawing room, guest chamber, and staircase. The walls are panelled, and the carving on either side of the windows is very fine, that in the guest chamber being the most elaborate.

One interested in colonial architecture may wander for hours through this n.o.ble house, and yet feel that there is more to learn. The dark cellar, full of pa.s.sages, the garret with its corners, and the secret staircase so often searched for, yet undiscovered, all furnish good material for imaginary pictures of the Revolutionary days of our ancestors.

The Royall mansion is now owned and occupied by "The Royall House a.s.sociation" and is open for the public.

When Colonel Royall left his mansion he had prepared to take pa.s.sage from Salem to Antigua, but, having gone into Boston, the Sunday previous to the battle of Lexington, and remained there until that affair occurred, he was, by the course of events, shut up in the town. He sailed for Halifax very soon, still intending, as he says, for Antigua, but on the arrival of his son-in-law. George Erving, and his daughter, with the troops from Boston, he was by them persuaded to sail for England, whither his other son-in-law, Sir William Pepperell, had preceded.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GENERAL ISAAC ROYALL'S MANSION, MEDFORD.

He was kind to his slaves, charitable to the poor and friendly to everybody.]

Upon his arrival in England, he exchanged visits with Governors Pownall, Bernard, and Hutchinson. Colonel Royall after the loss of some of his nearest relatives and of his own health, requested that he be allowed to return "home" to Medford and to be buried by the side of his wife, his father and mother, and the rest of his friends. He would fain have lived in amity with all men and with his king too, but the Revolution engulfed him. But he is not forgotten. He died in England 1781, his large hearted benevolence showed itself in many bequests to that country that had driven him forth and to which he was an alien. He bequeathed upwards of two thousand acres of land in Worcester County to found the first Law Professorship of Harvard University and his other bequests were numerous and liberal. He has a town (Royalston) in Ma.s.sachusetts named for him, and is remembered with affection in the place of his former abode. His virtues and popularity at first saved his estate, as his name was not included with those of his sons-in-law, Sir William Pepperell and George Erving, in the "conspirators act," but on the representation of the selectmen of Medford "_that he went voluntarily to our enemies_" his property was taken under the confiscation act and forfeited. It was held by the State until 1805, when it was released by the Commonwealth, owing to the large bequests that Colonel Royall made to the public. It was then purchased by Robert Fletcher, who divided the estate up into house lots and sold them to various persons.

General Royall's mansion was the centre of great festivities, and the most noted families of Boston and vicinity were entertained there. He was noted for his hospitality and was always generous and charitable to the poor, and an excellent citizen. Brooks in his "History of Medford"

says hospitality was almost a pa.s.sion with him. No home in the Colony was more open to friends, no gentleman gave better dinners, or drank costlier wines. As a master he was kind to his slaves, charitable to the poor, and friendly to everybody.

He was a most accurate man and in his daily journal minutely described every visitor, topic, and incident and even descended to recording what slippers he wore and when he went to bed. Some one said in speaking of Colonel Isaac Royall, "it is not that he loved the colonies less but England more." Among his bequests was a legacy of plate to the first church of Medford, and legacies to the clergymen, and while a member of the House of Representatives, he presented the chandelier which adorned its hall.

After the departure of General Royall from his beautiful home, it was taken possession of by the rebels who came pouring into the environs of Boston and laid siege to same. Colonel, afterwards General, John Stark,[194] made the mansion his headquarters, and his New Hampshire troops pitched their camp in the adjacent grounds. It was afterwards occupied by General Lee, who took up his quarters in the mansion, whose echoing corridors suggested to his fancy the name of Hobgoblin Hall.

[194] General John Stark's brother Colonel William Stark, was a man of great bravery and hardihood. Before the Revolution he was a much greater man than his brother John. He commanded New England troops in the capture of Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Louisburg and Quebec. In West's picture, "The Death of Gen. Wolf," he is shown as holding Wolf in his arms. William Stark remained loyal and became a colonel in the Royal Army. He was killed from a fall from his horse at the battle of Long Island.

Elizabeth, the wife of Isaac Royall, died at Medford, July, 1770, and was buried in the marble tomb in Dorchester. Their daughter Elizabeth, the wife of Sir William Pepperell, died at sea upon the voyage to England in 1775.[195]

[195] For an account of the Pepperell family see New Eng. Gen. Reg., xx.

4. Those descended from him comprise probably a hundred families holding the highest social positions including dignitaries in church and state, baronets, presidents of colleges, D. D's., and bishops, and others of exalted rank, perhaps more numerous than can be found in any one family in the British realms.

It is said that the male line of the Royalls has ceased to exist in Maine and Ma.s.sachusetts. The writer knows not of a single living individual bearing the surname who has descended from the stock that in the beginning of the settlement was so vigorous, and promised to be so prolific. This statement will also apply to many other Loyalists'

families that were driven from their homes at the commencement of the Revolution.

GENERAL WILLIAM BRATTLE.

Thomas Brattle, the forefather of the Brattle family that settled in Boston, was at his death accounted the wealthiest man in the Colony.

Though we have no information concerning the family prior to the coming of Thomas Brattle to New England, it is only reasonable to believe that he was descended from an educated and intelligent line. Only four generations bearing the name existed here, and it is a notable circ.u.mstance that all the male representatives of those four generations were men of remarkable powers and distinguished abilities.

THOMAS BRATTLE was born about 1624, and was a merchant of Boston. He was a member of the Artillery Company and captain in the militia, and the commander of several expeditions against hostile Indians. He was one of the founders of the Old South Church. He married Elizabeth, the daughter of Captain William Tyng, by whom he had seven children. His death occurred in 1683.

THOMAS BRATTLE, the son of the former, was born in 1658, and was a graduate of Harvard College. He was a very intelligent man, and was treasurer of Harvard College for twenty-five years. He was one of the founders of the Brattle Street church, and gave an organ to the King's Chapel when it was rebuilt in 1710, the first organ used in Boston in a church. He was a steadfast opposer of the proceedings of the courts during the witchcraft delusion in 1692. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and died in 1713. President Ouincy says of him: "He was distinguished for his private benevolences and public usefulness."

WILLIAM BRATTLE graduated from Harvard college, and for over twenty years was pastor of the Cambridge church. He was also a member of the Royal Society of London.

WILLIAM BRATTLE, son of the former, was baptized by his father in 1706.

He graduated from Harvard College in 1722, and was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. He was a theologian, and as a physician he was widely known, and no higher tribute to his eminence as a barrister need be sought than in the years 1736-7, when, only thirty years of age, he was elected by the House and Council to the office of Attorney General.

He possessed strong peculiarities, and Sabine says of him that "A man of most eminent talents and of greater eccentricities has seldom lived." He inherited a large and well invested property, and had ample means to cultivate those tastes to which, by his nature and education, he was inclined. He was for many years Major General of the Province, and afterwards Brigadier General. His large and beautifully situated house, which now exists in Cambridge, though greatly transformed, known as the "Old Brattle House" was the resort of the fashion and style of this section of the country. At the age of twenty-one he married Katherine, the daughter of Governor Gurdon Saltonstall. She died at Cambridge in 1752, and he married again in 1755, Mrs. Martha, widow of James Allen, and daughter of Thomas Fitch. General Brattle seems to have inherited from his father the same love for and interest in the welfare of his Alma Mater, which so characterized the beloved minister of the church in Cambridge. He was long one of her overseers, and in 1762 was appointed by the Council one of a committee for the erection of Hollis Hall, a task which was satisfactorily completed.

When the Revolution broke out in 1775, he was holding a very honorable office under the crown. Harris says he was "on terms of friendship with many of the regular army officers quartered in Boston and vicinity. His cultivated and refined tastes tending always to draw him to court, rather than plebeian society, were, no doubt, inducements for him to remain loyal. Certain it was, while studiously endeavoring to preserve friendly and peaceful relations with his townsmen and neighbors, he was openly opposed to their principles. He was an Addresser of Gen. Gage and approved of his plans, but at last public excitement reached such a height that he deemed it wise to withdraw from Cambridge, and leaving his house and property in the hands of his only daughter, Madame Wendell, at that time a widow, he quietly joined the Royal army in Boston, and at the evacuation in 1776, sailed with the forces to Halifax, where he died in October of the same year. It is said that his gravestone is still to be seen in the churchyard in that city." There is a portrait of William Brattle in the possession of his descendants, which was painted by Copley, being one of the first productions of that eminent artist. Of his nine children, only two lived to maturity, Katherine in whom the line but not the name was perpetuated, and Thomas.

Katherine was married to John Mico Wendell, a merchant of Boston, in 1752, who was of Dutch origin. After the death of her husband, Katherine removed to Cambridge and resided there until her death in 1821, at the age of nearly ninety-one years. The house was situated near the corner of what afterwards became Wendell street, and North ave. The Centinel of February 10, 1821, contained a memoir from which we gain some knowledge of her character.

"Descended from honorable families, she possessed the virtues and and maintained the honors of her ancestors.... During the war of the Revolution, both her talents and virtues were put to severe tests, and by her wisdom and discretion, her energy, and integrity, her benevolence, and charity, she conciliated the favor of men in power, civil and military; secured to herself personal respect, and rescued the paternal inheritance from the hazard of confiscation. It was by her means that the portion of the estate that fell to her brother Thomas, then in England, was in a like manner preserved.... Her contributions aided in the translation of the Bible into the languages of the East, and in the diffusion of Christian knowledge among the poor and dest.i.tute of our own country."

She had five children, but three of them died before reaching maturity.

Governor James Sullivan, who knew Thomas Brattle well, wrote of him: "Major Brattle exercised a deep reverence for the principles of government, and was a cheerful subject of the laws. He respected men of science, as the richest ornament of their country. If he had ambition, it was to excel in acts of hospitality, benevolence, and charity. The dazzling splendor of heroes, and the achievements of political intrigues, pa.s.sed unnoticed before him, but the character of the man of benevolence filled his heart with emotions of sympathy."... "In his death, the sick, the poor and the distressed have lost a liberal benefactor, politeness an ornament, and philanthropy one of its most discreet and generous supporters."

THOMAS BRATTLE, the youngest and only surviving son of General William and Katherine Saltonstall Brattle, was born at Cambridge in 1742. He graduated from Harvard College in 1760, and not long afterwards visited England and the Continent, for the double purpose of study and travel.

When the war broke out, he was still abroad, and being informed of the position taken by his father, he conceived to be the most prudent course to remain in England. While abroad he traveled over various parts of Great Britain, and made a tour through Holland and France, and was noticed by persons of distinction. Returning to London, he zealously and successfully labored to ameliorate the condition of his countrymen, who had been captured and were in prison. This restored to him his estates, for he was included in the Confiscation, Proscription and Banishment Act of 1778. He returned to America in 1779, and 1784 the enactments against him in Ma.s.sachusetts were repealed, and he took possession of his patrimony. He found his mansion home at Cambridge had been thoroughly ransacked and damaged by the Continental troops, who had occupied it during the war. The neglected estate was restored to its former beauty, and improved by the erection of a green-house, probably one of the earliest known in this part of the country. He lived here for many years, and became well known for his charities. He died, universally lamented and beloved, on the seventh of February, 1801, and was laid to rest in the family tomb, the last of his name. He was never married.

The only descendants of General William and Katharine Saltonstall Brattle, are through their daughter Katherine, who married John Mico Wendell.

CONFISCATED ESTATE OF WILLIAM BRATTLE IN BOSTON, AND TO WHOM SOLD.

To James Allen, May 12, 1781; Lib. 132, fol. 202: Land and buildings in Boston. Tremont St W.; John Rowe and Henry Caner, an absentee, S.; Nathaniel Holmes E.; George Bethune N. and E.; John Andrew and heirs of Samuel Pemberton deceased N.; Robert McElroy W.

and N.; pa.s.sageway W. and W. [N.]

JOSEPH THOMPSON.