http://www.famousamericans.net/jamesputnam/

His birthplace in Danvers, Mass., is now known as "Putnam-Perry House (ca 1685), 42 Summer Street. The birthplace of the Loyalist lawyer, James Putnam, this house was later the part-time residence of Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State under Washington."

According to McCullough's "John Adams," John Adams signed a contract on August 21, 1756 with a young Worcester attorney, James Putnam, "to study "under his inspection" for two years." "He changed lodgings, moving in with lawyer Putnam...." "Putnam's fee was $100, when Adams could "find it convenient.""

John Adams' diary is available on-line, as a transcription and as images. In his own hand, you can see where he wrote:

"Spent the Day at Worcester in Riding about with Mr. Putnam to see his Farm. He does what he pleases with Meadows and Rivers of Water. He carries round [illegible] the Streams wherever he pleases."

See: John Adams diary 17, 16 April - 14 June 1771 [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/

John Adams continued his service as a schoolmaster in Worcester. He taught at two-room schoolhouse built in 1752 by James Putnam and John Chandler among others from 1755 until 1758. (James Putnam was the brother-in-law of John Chandler.)

http://www.wpsweb.com/socialstudies/Project%20Fair/story.htm

In his autobiography, John Adams described his meals at his teacher's home. From his description of them, it would appear that Mr. Putnam was a religious man.

At right, the tomb in which James Putam, John Adam's former teacher, and Jonathan Sewell, John Adam's former best friend, were interred, as it was in 1905, from the Judges of New Brunswick and Their Times--Supplement in the October , 1905 (Volume V, Number 4) edition of Acadiensis.

"In this Situation I remained, for about two Years Reading Law in the night and keeping School in the day. At Breakfast, Dinner, and Tea, Mr. Putnam was commonly disputing with me upon some question of Religion: He had been intimate with one Peasley Collins, the Son of a Quaker in Boston, who had been to Europe and came back, a Disbeliever of Every Thing: fully satisfied that all Religion was a cheat, a cunning invention of Priests and Politicians: That there would be no future State, any more than there is at present any moral Government.Putnam could not go these whole Lengths with him. Although he would argue to the extent of his Learning and Ingenuity, to destroy or invalidate the Evidences of a future State, and the Principles of natural and revealed Religion, Yet I could plainly perceive that he could not convince himself, that Death was an endless Sleep. Indeed he has sometimes said to me, that he fully believed in a future Existence, and that good Conduct in this Life, would fare better in the next World than its contrary. My Arguments in favor of natural and revealed Religion, and a future State of Rewards and Punishments, were nothing more than the common Arguments and his against them may all be found in Lucretius, together with many more."

John Adams completed his studies with Putnam in the fall of 1758. He blamed the loss of his first case on the learned and sophisticated Putnam for insufficient training.

In his diary, he wrote:

"...Now I feel the Dissadvantages of Putnams Insociability, and neglect of me. Had he given me now and then a few Hints concerning Practice, I should be able to judge better at this Hour than I can now. I have Reason to complain of him. [illegible] But, it is my Destiny to dig Treasures with my own fingers. No Body will lend me or sell me a Pick axe...."

See: John Adams diary 2, 5 October 1758 - 9 April 1759 [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/

James Putnam's mentoring of James Adam was remembered by Chief Justice Hon. Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr.'s Address to Members of The Missouri Bar on September 13, 2001.

http://www.mobar.org/journal/2001/sepoct/chief.htm

According to the following Web site, "Colonel James Putnam [He was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel in the army, September 24, 1756.], one of the most influential of Worcester's freeholders, had pleaded eloquently against putting the town on record as rebellious and anxious for a war with England," the Worcester Protest.

http://college.holycross.edu/users/staff/bbatty/worcester/loyalists.html

At left, a replica of the Jeanie Johnston is shown in front of the Carnival cruise line's Victory in Saint John's harbour. She puts the journies of John Adams, Jonathan Sewell, and their children into perspective. David McCullough, a John Adams biographer, told his audience at the K-State Landon Lecture: "I think to me as moving to my spirit, as memorable as any moment in the whole process of writing the book about John Adams, was the day I went with my son in the dead of winter, just this time of year, February, to stand at about the place that we think that John Quincy Adams, the father and the little boy, stood on the shores near Quincy at what's called Howe's Neck, with the wind blowing, with the temperature in the low 20s, nearly dark, on a day in mid February, to be picked up in a rowboat and taken out to the U.S. frigate Boston to sail for France, in the midst of winter and in the midst of war, neither the father nor the son having ever set foot on a ship before in his life. [New Paragraph] Well, my son and I went to that place. John Quincy Adams was ten years old at the time, a little boy. His father was in his early forties. My son is in his early forties. We got out of nice warm car and we had good L.L. Bean down coats on and we walked down across the snow to the water's edge, and the wind was blowing and it was about 30 degrees, not 20 degrees, and it was bitterly cold. And the sky was lowering, glowering and these big green rollers were coming in, and we tried to imagine what it would have been like to have gotten into that rowboat and gone out to a frigate sitting out on the horizon, to sail to France in the midst of winter. Nobody ever went to sea on the North Atlantic in the winter if it could be avoided, even in peacetime. And to go in the midst of war was to go knowing that there were British cruisers lying offshore just waiting to capture a ship with somebody like John Adams, to take him to London, to the tower to be hanged. [New Paragraph] I think I felt then in a way one can only feel from the experience of being at the place in roughly the same conditions, the extraordinary courage of that man, and to be taking his son, because his wife Abigail wanted the boy to go to see history happening and to see his father in action, and to learn from his father and to experience the associations that she knew he would have with some of the greatest minds of that extraordinary 18th Century once they reached France."

The exile from Boston for England of Putnam and his fellow Loyalists, and Abigail Adams' reaction to it, is described in "John Adams:"

"That such had come to pass, wrote Abigail, was surely the work of the Lord and "marvelous in our eyes.""

Abigail Adams' letters to John Adams are available on-line, as a transcription and as images. In her own hand, you can see where she wrote to her husband:

"A fine quiet night -- no allarms no Cannon. The more I think of our Enemies quitting Boston, the more amaz'd I am, that they should leave such a harbour, such fortifications, such intrenchments, and that we should be in peaceable possession of a Town which we expected would cost us a river of Blood without one Drop shed. Shurely it is the Lords doings and it is Marvelous in our Eyes. Every foot of Ground which they obtain now they must fight for, and [may they purchase it at a Bunker Hill price.]"

Jonathan Bliss, Esq., of Springfield; Jonathan Sewall, Esq., and James Putnam, Esq., were named in the Banishment Act of the State of Massachusetts.

http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/halew/Mass-Banishment-Act.html

"Banishment Act of the State of Massachusetts

An Act to prevent the return to this state of certain persons therein named and others who have left this state or either of the United States, and joined the enemies thereof."

Barlow's corner in Saint John, New Brunswick, originally granted to James Putnam, is one of the stops on:

http://www.tourismsaintjohn.com/files/fuse.cfm?section=9&screen=352

- and -

On November 25, 1784, the first judges of the Supreme Court of New Brunswick - Chief Justice George Duncan Ludlow, James Putnam, Isaac Allen and Joshua Upham - took their oath of office at Parrtown (Saint John).

At right, the tomb in which James Putnam, John Adam's former teacher, and Jonathan Sewell, John Adam's former best friend, were interred, as it was on July 16, 2004. It sits in the shadow of the Irving Oil Ltd. building. The cement base on which the tomb sits has been extended in all directions, an outer wrought iron fence has been added, and some of the finials on the inner wrought iron fence are missing.

There is a corner in Saint John known as Barlow's Corner. "This corner was originally granted to James Putnam, who had studied law with John Adams in Boston and was appointed Assistant Supreme Court Judge in 1784. Mr. Putnam erected a splendid three-storey building with a store on the lower floor. Mr. Putnam died and the lot was sold to Ezekiel Barlow, who had to comply with some unusual terms of sale. The price was $2,000 in Mexican silver dollars, to be counted in coin before Ward Chipman, the lawyer. To the great merriment of the public, Mr. Barlow procured a wheelbarrow and pushed his considerable load up Chipman Hill to the lawyer's office."

Sabine (Loyalists of the American Revolution , by Lorenzo Sabine (1864)?)said: ""I have often stood at his grave and mused upon the strange vicissitudes of human condition, by which the Master, one of the giants of the American Colonial Bar, became an outlaw, and an exile, broken in fortune and spirit, while his struggling and almost friendless pupil, elevated step by step by the very same course of events, was finally known the world over as the Chief Magistrate of a Nation." It is thus in all successful Revolutions, those that were at the head of affairs are hurled from power, and their fortunes wrecked, whilst young men like John Adams, of great abilities but poor, and little prospects for advancement, are elevated to the highest offices. Who would have ever heard of the "Little Corporal" had it not been for the French Revolution, then there would not have been any "Napoleon the maker of Kings.""

In one of many ironic twists, James Putnam was Benedict Arnold's solicitor.

See: Benedict Arnold in New Brunswick - A Collection Of Articles And Essays. Canada Summer Works Grant, Material Gathered by N. Schell, M. Gormley, and S. Dimock. 1983. 971.024/Arn at the Saint John Free Public Library.

At left, a modern resident of Saint John, my son, enjoys the fountain in the Loyalist Burial Grounds.

On November 25, 1874, J. W. Lawrence, President, read "The First Courts and Early Judges of New Brunswick. He read, as follows:

"Judge Putnam has no relatives living in New Brunswick. Charles S. Putnam, Clerk of the Crown in the Supreme Court, who died at Fredericton in 1837, was his grandson. The latter has a son living in England, John M. Putnam, Esq., Barrister, Plowden Buildings, London. A daughter married the Rev. W. H. Shore, at one time in charge St. Pauk's Church, Portland. The Putnam House, Fredericton, is one of the historic edifices of that city; in it Sir Howard Douglas lived during the erection of the present Government House."

There is a picture of Putnam House in the collections of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery:

""The Putnam House, Fredericton", 1842. Artist: George Neilson Smith. Watercolour and ink over pencil. It was the house of Mrs. Charles S. Putnam, and known as "Willow House". Credit: Beaverbrook Art Gallery/1966.1."

In Historic Homes and People, a recent picture book of Fredericton, there is a photograph of Charles Putnam's as it appeared in the late nineteenth-early twentieth century. Charles Putnam's home was the temporary residence of Lieutenant-Governor Sir Howard Douglas following the fire at the Governor's Mansion in 1825. The caption reads, as follows:

"When lawyer Charles Putnam lived at this King Street residence, he called it Willow Grove. From the mid-1860s this was the home of John Campbell Allen, mayor of Fredericton and later chief justice of the New Brunswick Supreme Court; he was knighted in 1889. Around 1896, merchant Fred B. Edgecombe purchased the house, which he called Ashburton Place, after the birthplace of his father in England. Fred Edgecombe is at the centre of this photograph, holding a dog, with his dry goods wagon in front of his new home. Edgecombe made extensive renovations, adding turrets to extend space on the top floor and an open verandah from the front entry and along the east side of the house. The now elegant residence still stands at 736 King Street, just below St. John Street."

James Putnum had a daughter, Eleanor.

The story of Rufus Chandler, John Chandler's son and a firm Loyalist too, may be found at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~nbpast/family/Chandler/pafn05.htm#272. "...In his will he left all his portraits and sketches of himself and his wife to his kinsman, James Putnam. (Erskine, 346.) James Putnam was his father-in-law. Rufus Chandler & Eleanor Putnam were married on Nov. 18, 1770.

John Adams' diary is available on-line, as a transcription and as images. In John Adams' own hand, you can see where he wrote in his diary:

"This Day, Mr. Putnams eldest Daughter Eleanor, brought to the World her first Daughter, being married to Rufus Chandler, Son of Coll. John."

See: John Adams diary 17, 16 April - 14 June 1771 [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/

James Putnam's grandson is buried in the Mechanic Street Cemetary in Boston.

http://college.holycross.edu/users/staff/bbatty/worcester/cem/mechanic.html

"James Putnam, Aug. 18, 1810, aged 20, son of Ebenezer slid grandly son of Hon. James Putnam, the distinguished lawyer and tory refugee. "

The following record from "From Early Massachusetts Marriages Prior to 1800 By Frederick W. Bailey Worcester, MA 1914" is available on-line:

"Elizabeth Chandler & Ebenezer Putnam of St. John NB Canada ---- Dec. 2, 1786"

The bittersweet tale of John and Rufus Chandler, former students of President John Adams, may explain how Putnam's daughter-in-law and grandson came to be buried back in Massachusetts. Or, was Ebenezer a Patriot?

James Putnam was a relative of General Israel Putnam, the Revolutionary War hero.

• Danvers, Massachusetts: Historical Sites

  http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/Danvers.html

  Danvers, Massachusetts: Historical Sites

  Putnam House ca 1648. 431 Maple Street.

  "Joseph Putnam, uncle of one of the "bewitched girls," lived here in 1692. One of the few to decry witch trials, he kept pistols loaded and horses ready should he be accused. Maj. Gen. Israel Putnam, American commander Bunker Hill was born here in 1718. "Old Put" was famous for his command, "Don't fire 'til you see the whites of their eyes." The house, now owned by the Danvers Historical Society, includes a prominent 18th century gambrel roofed addition."

A web page of, Robert Sewell, a descendant of Jonathan Sewall, the former best friend of John Adams, bears a picture of a plaque in memory of Jonathan Sewall (II) at Trinity Church, St. John, N.B..

At right, the tomb in which James Putnam, John Adam's former teacher, and Jonathan Sewell, John Adam's former best friend, were interred, as it was on July 16, 2004. The cement base on which the tomb sits has been extended in all directions, an outer wrought iron fence has been added, and some of the finials on the inner wrought iron fence are missing.

http://robertsewell.tripod.com/jonsewallii.htm

• TrinitySJ.com: Trinity Anglican Church - Saint John, New Brunswick

  http://www.trinitysj.com/

The plaque confirms that Jonathan Sewell died in 1796 and Esther Sewell died in 1810 in Montreal, Quebec. The plaque also says that Jonathan Sewall died in Saint John and that he was interred in Judge Putnam's vault.

In a letter to Jonathan Sewell of 23rd May 1776, written in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Judge Putnam wrote:

"...By heaven 'tis disagrreable. But I am not discouraged. I shall remain on this continent as long as I can live here, or entertain any prospects of subduing the Rebels. After that I must run away if I can. It can't come to this. for they must, they shall be beat. They shall submit and own they have abused the mildest government and most gracious sovereign that ever existed."

Jonathan Sewell, Jr., made the trip to Nova Scotia in the ship John and Anne. It arrived on April 27, 1795, according to a letter to Ward Chipman from Gregory Townsend, published in Judges of New Brunswick and Their Times--Supplement in the October , 1905 (Volume V, Number 4) edition of Acadiensis. Jonathan Bliss, Captain Sproul and family, Mrs. Putnam, her fair daughter and son Ebenezer were also passengers.

According to another letter published in the same article, this one to Dr. Ebenezer Putnam from Judge Putnam written on January 22, 1786, Dr. Paine treated Mrs. Putnam and son Eben as they were very sick when they arrived in Saint John.

At left, the beautiful fountain in Saint John's Loyalis Burial Grounds.

According to the following Web page, Judge Putnam's vault is in the Loyalist Burial Ground in Saint John, New Brunswick.

• Rob Davis's [sic] Saint John Travel Page

  http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/tt/21f7/

  The Loyalist Burial Grounds is a Saint John landmark.

• City of Saint John

  http://www.tourismsaintjohn.com/files/fuse.cfm?section=11&screen=79

• Loyalist Burial Grounds: Tourism Resources Saint John

  http://www.saintjohn.nbcc.nb.ca/Tourism/LoyalistBurialGround/

  There is a picture of the "Putnam Tomb, Old Burying Ground, St. John, N.B." and the inscription on it in Judges of New Brunswick and Their Times--Supplement in the October , 1905 (Volume V, Number 4) edition of Acadiensis.

There is documentary evidence that Jonathan Sewall had know James Putnam since 1758, at least. John Adams' diary is available on-line, as a transcription and as images. In his own hand, you can see where he wrote:

"Last Superiour Court at Worcester [Bob Paine] dined in Company with Mr. Gridly, Mr. Trowbridge, and several others, at Mr. Putnams, and altho a modest attentive Behaviour would have best become him in such a Company, yet he tried to ingross the whole Conversation to himself. He did the same, in the Evening, when all the judges of the Superiour Court with Mr. Winthrop, Sewall, &c. were present, and he did the same last Thanksgiving day, at Coll. Quincies, when Mr. Wibirt, Mr. Cranch &c. were present. This Impudence may [illegible] sett the Million a Gape at him but will make all Persons of Sense despize him, or hate him."

See: John Adams diary 2, 5 October 1758 - 9 April 1759 [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/

Even after the deaths of Jonathan Sewell and Judge Putnam, the lives of their sons remained intertwined on account of speculation with regard to the origins of John St. Alban Sewell.

• Virtual American Biographies

  http://www.famousamericans.net/jamesputnam/

  "His son, James, born in 1753; died in England in March, 1838, was graduated at Harvard in 1774, and was one of the eighteen country gentlemen that were driven to Boston, and addressed General Gage on his departure in 1775. He went to England, became a barrack-master, a member of the royal household, and an executor of the Duke of Kent."

• Colonel John St. Alban Sewell

  http://www3.sympatico.ca/robert.sewell/johnstalban.html

  "There has been much speculation with regard to the origins of John St. Alban Sewell. Officially, he was baptized in September of 1793 as the natural child (i.e., born without the parents having undertaken the formality of a church marriage) of Chief Justice Jonathan Sewell and Elizabeth Cornfield. It appeared for years that Elizabeth Cornfield didn’t exist and it also appeared quite likely that John St. Alban was the son of Edward Augustus Hanover, Duke of Kent and his much loved and devoted common law wife of over twenty years, Mdm. Julie St. Laurent. Thus, John St. Alban Sewell would have been a half brother of Queen Victoria, whose parents were the Duke of Kent and Princess Victoria Mary Louisa von Saxe-Coburg."

As an aside, Jonathan Sewall, Sr., has connections to the current presidency. His aunt, Susanna Sewall, married Aaron Porter. He is the 2x great-grandchild of John Stanley and Susan Lancock, the 9x great-grandparents of President George Bush. They are 3rd cousins, 7x removed. Susana Sewall is also the 3x great-grandmother of Stephen GROVER CLEVELAND (1837-1908), US President, and the 3x great-grandaunt of one of my favourite authors, WILLIAM SYDNEY PORTER ("O. HENRY") (1862-1910), author.

President George W. Bush is a distant cousin of 22 presidents.

Regardless of the outcome of the 2004 Presidential election, James Putnam will have a connection to the next president through his ancestor and great-great-grandfather, John Putnam. His descendants appear repeatedly in the family trees of both President Bush and John Kerry.

John Putnam and Priscilla Gould are the 9x great-grandparents of John Kerry.

William Wyman married Prudence Putnam, the granddaughter of William Reade and Mabel Kendall and the granddaughter of John Putnam. Among Prudence's descendants is HERBERT CLARK HOOVER (1874-1964), US President. William Reade and Mabel Kendall are the 9x great-grandparents of President George W. Bush.

Elizabeth Bacon, the great-great-grandchild of Thomas Richardson and his wife Mary, married Tarrant Putnam, the great-grandchild of John Putnam. Among Tarrant's descendants is John CALVIN COOLIDGE (1872-1933), US President. Thomas Richardson and his wife Mary are the 10x great-grandparents of President George W. Bush.

James Putnam, the grandchild of John Putnam, married Sarah Brocklebank. They are the 7x great-grandparents of John Kerry.

John Gardner married Elizabeth Putnam, the great-granddaughter of John Putnam. They are the GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS of John Kerry. They are second cousins, 5x removed.

Rebecca Prince married John Putnam, the daughter of John Putnam. They are the 8x GREAT-GRANDPARENTS of John Kerry.

See also: Chapter X, Prejudices Against Law and Lawyers, in "A History of the American Bar" by Charles Warren (1999/10 - Beard Books). Send Jeremy or Rexanna an e-mail!

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Copyright Rexanna M. Keats 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003. All Rights Reserved.