The Loyalists of Massachusetts Part 54

CHRISTOPHER HATCH.

Of Boston. When the Royal Army evacuated that town, March 17, 1776, cannon, shot, and sh.e.l.ls were left on his wharf, and in the dock. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. He accepted a commission under the crown, and was a Captain in the Loyal American regiment. He was wounded and commended for his gallantry. At the peace he retired on half pay, about 80 per annum. He was a grantee of the city of St. John, N. B., soon after going there established himself as a merchant near the frontier, and finally at St. Andrews. He was a magistrate, and colonel, in the militia. He died at St. Andrews, 1819, aged seventy. Elizabeth, his widow, died at the same place, 1830, at the age of seventy-five.

HARRIS HATCH, son of Christopher, was a gentleman of consideration in New Brunswick, where he held the office of Member of her Majesty's Council Commission of Bankruptcies, Surrogate, Registrar of Deeds, member of the Board of Education, Lieut. Colonel in the Militia, and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas.

HAWES HATCH, of Boston, brother of Christopher Hatch. He went to Halifax with the Royal Army in 1776. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. He entered the service, and in 1782 was a captain in De Lancey's Second Battalion. He retired on half pay at the close of the war, and was a grantee of the city of St. John. For some years after the Revolution, he lived at and near Eastport, Maine, on the frontier. He died at Lebanon, N. H., in 1807.[256]

[256] Sabine's Loyalists.

WARD CHIPMAN.

John Chipman was born in Whitechurch, near Dorchester, England, about 1614, and died April 7, 1708. He sailed from Barnstable, Devon County in May, 1631, in the ship Friendship, arriving in Boston July 14th, 1631.

John Chipman was the first and only one of the name to seek a home in America, and up to 1850 there was no Chipman in this country who was not descended from him. He was for many years a selectman, then in Plymouth County invested with the authority of a magistrate, and was often a "Deputy to Court" and he, with three a.s.sistants, was designated to frequent the early Quaker meetings and "endeavor to reduce them from the errors of their wayes". In 1646 he married Hope, second daughter of John and Elizabeth Howland, born in Plymouth, Ma.s.s., 1629, died 1683.

John Chipman had eleven children, and except a son and daughter who died in infancy, all survived him. His eldest son Samuel Chipman, was born in Barnstable, Ma.s.s., 1661, and died in 1723. He built on the paternal homestead near the Custom House the "Chipman Tavern," which continued in the line of his posterity until 1830. He was by record a yeoman, and an inn-holder. He too had eleven children.

Rev. John Chipman, of the third generation, was the third son of Samuel aforesaid, was born in Barnstable 1691, died March 23, 1775. He graduated from Harvard College in 1711, and was ordained 1715 as pastor of the first church in the precinct of Salem and Beverly, now North Beverly. He married, first, Rebecca Hale, and, second, Hannah, daughter of Joseph Warren, of Roxbury. He had fifteen children, all by the first marriage.

John Chipman of the fourth generation, eldest son of Rev. John Chipman, was born in Beverly 1722, died 1768. Graduated from Harvard College in 1738, admitted to the practice of law, which at the time of his death embraced only twenty-five barristers in Ma.s.sachusetts, which also included then the district of Maine. He had abilities of a rare order, his services were appreciated and sought in distant localities. While arguing a case before the Superior Court at Falmouth (Portland), Maine, he was suddenly seized with apoplexy, from which he died. He had twelve children.

WARD CHIPMAN, the subject of this biography, was of the fifth generation, and the fourth son of the aforesaid John Chipman. He was born in Marblehead, Ma.s.s., July 30, 1754, and died at Fredericton, N.

B., Feb. 9, 1824. He graduated from Harvard College in 1770. His graduation oration being the first delivered there in the vernacular language. He studied law in Boston under the direction of Hon. Daniel Leonard, and Hon. Jonathan Sewell, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ma.s.sachusetts. Ward Chipman and Daniel Leonard, with fifteen other names, appear upon "The Loyal Address" to Gov. Gage on his departure from Boston in 1775 as "of those gentlemen who were driven from their Habitations in the country to Boston."[257] He left Boston at the evacuation and went with the army to Halifax, "being obliged to abandon his native land." He then went to England, where he was allowed a pension in common with a long list of his suffering fellow-countrymen, but a state of inaction being ill-suited to his ardent mind, in less than a year he relinquished his pension and rejoined the King's troops at New York, where he was employed in the Military Department and in the practice of the Court of Admiralty. In 1782 he held the office of Deputy Mustermaster-General, of the Loyalist forces.

[257] Chipmans of America.

In 1783 he was one of the fifty-five who pet.i.tioned for extensive grants of lands in Nova Scotia, out of which was erected the province of New Brunswick, of which province he was appointed Solicitor-General and continually afterwards bore a conspicuous part, and attained the highest honors. He was a member of the House of a.s.sembly and Advocate at the Bar, a Member of his Majesty's Council, a Judge of the Supreme Court, Agent for the settling of disputed points of boundary with the United States until he closed his mortal career while administering the Government of the Colony as President, and Commander in Chief, during a vacancy in the office of Lieut. Governor. His remains were conveyed from Fredericton to St. John where a tablet, adds to above quoted statement, the following: "Distinguished during the whole of his varied and active life, for his superior abilities and unweariable zeal, for genuine integrity and singular humanity and benevolence, his loss was universally deplored; and this frail tribute from his nearest connection affords but a feeble expression of the affectionate respect with which they cherished the memory of his virtues."

Hon. Ward Chipman married Elizabeth, daughter of Hon. William Hazen of Haverhill, Ma.s.s., and his wife, the only daughter of Dr. Joseph LeBaron of Plymouth, Ma.s.s. She died at St. John in 1852 in her eighty-sixth year. The wife of Hon. William Gray of Boston was his sister. Ward, his only child, was born July 21, 1787, graduated at Harvard College in 1805, where so many of his ancestors had before him. He held many places of honor and trust; was finally chief justice of New Brunswick, and died at St. John in 1851 in his sixty-fifth year. While the Prince of Wales, now King Edward VII., was in that city in August, 1860, he occupied the Chipman mansion.

GOVERNOR EDWARD WINSLOW.

Edward Winslow was born at Droitwich, Worcestershire, England, 19 October, 1595. He appears to have been a well educated and accomplished man. In the course of his travels on the continent of Europe he went to Leyden and there became acquainted with Mr. John Robinson, and the church under his pastoral charge, which he joined in 1617. He married the 16th of May, 1618, and settled in that city till the church removed to America in 1620. In his "Brief Narration" he says: And when the ship was ready to carry us away the bretheren that stayed feasted us that were to go at our pastor's home. After tears and singing of psalms they accompanied us to Delph's Haven, where we were to embark, and there feasted us again. But we, going aboard ship lying at the quay ready to sail, the wind fair, we gave them a volley of small shot and three pieces of ordnance, and so lifting up our hands to each other and our hearts to the Lord we departed, etc.

Winslow's name is third on the list of those who subscribed to the Covenant, or compact, before the disembarkation at Cape Cod. He was one of the first who came on sh.o.r.e to seek out the most eligible place for founding a settlement in this wild and unknown land. He was a gentleman of the best family of any of the Pilgrims, his father, Edward Winslow, Esq., being a person of importance in Droitwich. In all the initiatory labor for establishing this little colony, the nucleus of a great nation, he was ever active and influential in promoting the welfare of the Pilgrims, who on account of the respectability of his family, and the excellent qualities of his mind and heart appear to have regarded him with more than ordinary respect and confidence, which was never misplaced.

At the annual election in 1624 Mr. Winslow was elected a.s.sistant and in 1644 Governor of Plymouth Colony.

In 1655 Oliver Cromwell appointed three commissioners, of which number Winslow was the chief, to go with an expedition against the Spaniards in the West Indies under Admiral Penn and General Venables. The three commissioners to direct their operations. After an unsuccessful attack on St. Domingo, the fleet sailed for Jamaica, which surrendered without any resistance. But Mr. Winslow, who partook of the chagrin of defeat, did not live to enjoy the pleasure of victory. In the pa.s.sage between Hispaniola and Jamaica the heat of the climate threw him into a fever, which put an end to his life on May 8, 1655, in the sixty-first year of his age. His body was committed to the deep, with the honors of war, forty-two guns being fired by the fleet on that occasion.

After Bradford, Plymouth Colony owed to no man so much as to Edward Winslow. Always intelligent, generous, confident, and indefatigable, he was undoubtingly trusted for any service at home or abroad which the infant settlement required.

JOSIAH WINSLOW, the only surviving son of Governor Edward Winslow, was born at Plymouth in 1629 and died on the family estate, Careswell, Marshfield, Dec. 18, 1680, in the 52nd year of his age. He was buried at the expense of the colony "in testimony of the colony's endeared love and affection for him." He married Penelope, daughter of Herbert Pelham, Esq., who came to Boston in 1645.

He stood upon the uppermost heights of society, he reached every elevation that could be obtained, and there was nothing left for ambition to covet, because all had been gained. He was the first native-born general and the first native-born governor. The governor acquired the highest military rank and had engaged in active and successful warfare with the highest command in New England. He presided over the legislative, executive and judicial departments of the government. In addition to his military and civil distinction he acquired that of being the most delightful companion in the colony. He lived on his ample paternal domain and his hospitality was magnificent and the attractions of the festive board at Careswell were heightened by the charm of his beautiful wife. He was elected governor in 1673, which office he held until his death. He was succeeded by his only surviving son.

ISAAC WINSLOW, born in 1670 and died Dec. 6, 1738. This eminently distinguished man sustained the chief places of power and honor in the colony, and was a worthy successor to his father in being its chief military commander, a member of the Council for more than 20 years and for some time its president, and for several years Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and Judge of Probate; the last office he held at his death. His eldest son, Josiah, graduated at Harvard College in 1721, was killed in battle with the French and Indians at Georges Island, May 1st, 1724. His second son, great grandson of the first governor of Plymouth, was the celebrated

JOHN WINSLOW, born in Marshfield, May 27, 1702, and died in Hingham, 1774, in his 73rd year. No native of New England, probably, except Sir William Pepperell, was more distinguished as a military leader. In 1740-1 he was a captain in the unfortunate expedition to Cartagena under the command of Admiral Vernon, and subsequently endured much hard service in the several enterprises against Crown Point and Nova Scotia.

He will be remembered in our annals princ.i.p.ally in removing the Arcadians from Nova Scotia. The forces employed by the Colony at this period was composed almost entirely of Ma.s.sachusetts troops, specially enlisted for the service to act as a distinct body. They formed into a regiment of two battalions, of which Governor Shirley was the Colonel, and of which Winslow, then a half-pay Captain in the British army and a Major-General in the Militia, was Lieutenant-Colonel. As Shirley could not leave his government to take command in person, Monckton, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Army, was appointed to conduct the first battalion and Winslow the second. The plan for abducting the Arcadians was kept a profound secret, both by those who formed it and by those who were sent to execute, the home government knew nothing about it and it appears to have been done solely by the Colonial government; Colonel Winslow was but the instrument and acted under the Governor's written and positive instructions.

In 1756 Major-General Winslow took the field with eight thousand men raised in New England and New York to repel the French invasion and marched against Montcalm, who to save Crown Point and Ticonderoga made a movement from Oswego by the St. Lawrence River. As soon as the French General returned to Canada, Winslow and his army returned to Ma.s.sachusetts.

In 1762 he was appointed with William Brattle and James Otis to act as Commissioner "to repair to the river St. Croix, determine where the easterly line of Maine is to begin and extend the said line as far as should be thought necessary." In compliment to General Winslow, "the fourth of a family more eminent for their talents, learning and honors than any other in New England," one of the towns on the Kennebec River in 1771 was called by his name. Of this town he was one of the original grantees. He died at Hingham in 1774, aged seventy-one, leaving two sons and a widow, who embarked with the Royal Army from Boston in 1776. She was in England in 1783, and enjoyed a pension from the government.

Pelham Winslow, eldest son of General John, was born June 8th, 1737, graduated at Harvard College in 1753, and entered the office of James Otis to fit himself for the bar, was a staunch loyalist. In 1774 he abandoned his home to escape mob violence and took refuge in Boston. At the evacuation in 1776 he accompanied the Royal Army to Halifax, and thence went to New York, where he entered the military service of the Crown, and was Major. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. He died at Brooklyn, New York, in 1783, leaving a wife and an infant daughter.

Dr. Isaac Winslow, second son of General John, born April 7, 1739, graduated at Harvard College in 1762, died in 1819. He commenced the practice of physic, and though of the same principles as other members of his family, remained upon his estate during the war, and his life, thereby saving it from confiscation, for although he was a strong loyalist his medical services were of such great value to the revolutionists that they did not drive him forth and deprive him of his property. Sabine says: I find it said, and the authority good, that in 1778 he treated about three hundred patients inoculated with smallpox, and such was his remarkable success not one of them died. His son John, an eminent lawyer, deceased at Natchez in 1820. His widow, Frances, died at Hingham in 1846, aged eighty-four. The family tomb of the Winslows is at Marshfield, on the Careswell estate, of which Governor Winslow was the first owner. It was afterwards purchased by Daniel Webster, on which he resided until his death.

EDWARD WINSLOW, only brother of General John, born June 7, 1714, died at Halifax in 1784, aged seventy-two years. He graduated at Harvard College in 1765, resided at Plymouth, was Clerk of the Courts, Register of Probate, Collector of the Port. He was obliged to seek shelter in Boston from mob violence, at the evacuation in 1776 went with the Army to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he died. The ceremonies at his funeral were of a style to confer the highest honors to himself, and his ill.u.s.trious family. His estates in Ma.s.sachusetts were confiscated, but every branch of his family was amply provided for by the generosity of the British Government.

EDWARD WINSLOW, JR., only son of the aforesaid Edward. He was born in 1745, died at Fredericton, N. B., 1815, aged seventy years, graduated at Harvard College in 1765. In 1774, the Plymouth County Convention "Resolved, That Edward Winslow, Jr., one of the two clerks of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace and Court of Common Pleas for this County, has, by refusing this body a copy of an Address made at the last term in this County, to Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., betrayed the trust reposed in him, by refusing his attendance when requested, treated the body of this county with insult and contempt, and by that means rendered himself unworthy to serve the county in said office."

In 1775 he joined the Royal Army at Boston, and entering the service became a Colonel. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. In 1782 he was Muster-Master-General of the Loyalist forces employed under the Crown.

After the war he settled in New Brunswick, and was a member of the first Council formed in that Colony, Surrogate-General, Judge of the Supreme Court, and finally Administrator of the Government. The Royal Arms which for many years were displayed in the Council Chamber in the Old State House in Boston, still exist, and are carefully preserved in Trinity church, St. John, N. B. The story of their exit from Boston, and by what means they came to find a permanent home at St. John, were not known till recently, when doc.u.ments were found, which leave no question or room for doubt.

In the winter of 1785 Edward Winslow was at Halifax and Ward Chipman, a fellow refugee from Boston, had taken up his residence at St. John. In a letter of Mr. Winslow to Mr. Chipman on the 16th January, 1785, he says, "Give my old Custom House seal to Mr. Leonard, and tell him I'll forward _the famous carv'd Coat of Arms_ by the first conveyance from Halifax."

A subsequent letter to Mr. Chipman, refers more fully to the subject which is in part as follows:

Halifax, 25 March, 1785.

My Dear Fellow:

By the schooner Halifax I send a small a.s.sortment of stationery as per invoice.... In the box with your stationery is a venerable Coat of Arms, which I authorize you to present to the Council Chamber, or any other respectable public Room, which you shall think best ent.i.tled to it. They (Lyon & Unicorn) were constant members of the Council at Boston (by mandamus) ran away when the others did--have suffered--are of course Refugees and have a claim for residence at New Brunswick.

Cordially yours ED. WINSLOW.[258]

Ward Chipman, Esq.

[258] See Royal Memorials by Rev. Edmund F. Shafter. Also cut of Coat of Arms on outside cover of this work.

Judge Winslow was one of the founders of the Old Colony Club, at Plymouth, and was one of its most active members. He delivered the first anniversary address of that a.s.sociation on the 22 of December or Forefathers' Day, in 1770.

ISAAC WINSLOW was a Boston merchant, son of Col. Edward Winslow, born May 2, 1709. He was the third in descent from John Winslow who came from Droitwich to Boston in 1655, and died in 1674. He was a brother of Governor Edward of the Plymouth Colony. He was a gentleman highly esteemed for his benevolence and other virtues. He graduated at Harvard College in 1727, then entered the counting room of James Bowdoin, and subsequently with his brother Joshua carried on an extensive and profitable business in Boston. They also became considerable ship owners, and had one ship constantly in the London trade. Joshua was one of the consignees of the tea destroyed by the mob. Isaac retired from business in 1753, and became a resident of Roxbury. He was the last occupant of the Dudley mansion, which was razed to the ground a few days after the battle of Bunker Hill, to make way for the works erected here by the Americans. The Universalist church was built upon its site. In making the necessary excavation for the church, the wine cellar of the mansion was unearthed and strange to say, as it may seem, the liquors were, after a lapse of forty-five years, found intact.[259]

[259] The Town of Roxbury. Francis S. Drake, pp. 355-6.

In June 1760 he received the thanks of the town for a gift of land near Meeting House Hill. His first wife, Lucy, daughter of Gen. Samuel Waldo, died in Roxbury in 1763, at the age of forty-three.

In 1774 he was an Addresser of Gov. Hutchinson, and 1775 of Gen. Gage.

He was appointed Mandamus Councillor, and was qualified. This was an offence that could not be forgiven by the disunionists.