At left, George Washington from the collection of Download-Free-Pictures.com..
The following is from "A Brief History" of "The Loyal American Regiment: 1777 - 1783":
Colonel Beverley Robinson, commander of the Loyal American Regiment, was "...deeply involved in the treason of Benedict Arnold. Sometime in 1779, Robinson wrote the following in a letter to Arnold which urged him to help England end the war:
"It is necessary that a decisive advantage should put Britain in a condition to dictate the terms of reconciliation . . . There is no one but General Arnold who can surmount obstacles so great as these. A man of so much courage will never despair of the republic, even when every door to a reconciliation seems sealed. Render, then, brave General, this important service to your country . . . Let us put an end to so many calamities. You and ourselves have the same origin, the same language, the same laws . . . Beware, then, of breaking forever the links and ties of a friendship whose benefits are proven . . . United in equality, we will rule the universe, we will hold it bound, not by arms and violence but by the ties of commerce -- the lightest and most gentle bonds that human kind can wear."5
Exiles
...
When the war officially ended in defeat for the Crown in 1783, loyalists were forced to leave America. As part of the mass exodus to Canada, the LOYAL AMERICAN REGIMENT left New York City6 in the transport ships Ann and Apollo and headed to Fredericton, New Brunswick where they received a land grant known as Block 12. Once there, the men of the regiment started their lives over. Some stayed. Some moved on to other parts of Canada."
In a footnote:
"Lieutenant John Ward of the LOYAL AMERICAN REGIMENT commanded the last detachment of Loyalist troops to leave New York City when the British handed it back to Washington's forces. From The Loyalists of New Brunswick by Esther Clark Wright, page 87. Ward also wrote of the wretched conditions the loyalists faced when they reached Canada."
" Owing to the lateness of their arrival , they were obliged to shelter themselves under canvas tents on the Barrack Square at Lower Cove.. John Ward mentioned the coldness of the tents, even when thatched with spruce boughs, and the deaths of many women and children during the winter because of exposure and the lack of nourishing food.""
At left, John Ward. It was written of him that on Christmas Day 1808, "At the head of the table sat the white haired grandfather, still hale and hearty, though many years had gone over his head since he first drew his sword in what he considered his duty to his king and country; behind his chair stood his old servant Richard, who had faithfully served his old master for many years."
The following was written about John Ward in 1883 by J. W. Lawrence in Foot-Prints; or, Incidents in Early History of New Brunswick:
John Ward was born in Peekskill, Hudson River, 1752. Sir Wm. Howe, in 1777, appointed him an Ensign in Col. Beverley Robinson's regiment. In 1778 he received a Lieutenant's commission from Sir Henry Clinton. When Major Andre, 1780, went to West Point in the sloop of War Vulture to meet Arnold, the escort was under command of Liet. Ward. On her return to New York, Arnold, and not Andre, was on board. The latter having left by land was taken prisoner. One of his captors, Paulding, married a sister of Lieut. Ward's. The last of the troops that left New York for Parr Town were under his command. The landing was at the Lower Cove. As shelter could not be found, Lieut. Ward with the troops camped under canvas through the winter on the ground long known as Barrack Square. The tents were trenched around and covered with spruce, brought in the boats of the transports from Partridge Island.
[John Ward, Jr., was born in a canvas tent on Barrack Square on December 18, 1883.]
Lieut Ward drew lot 412, King Street, and shortly after removed to Sussex, King's County. Ward's Creek was named after him. Returning to St. John, he entered on a successful business career."
"Lieut. John Ward was a prominent St. John merchant an active and useful citizen; he was interested in steamboating, and one of the first boats that ran between Fredericton and Woodstock was named after him; he died in St. John in 1846 in his 93rd year, the oldest half pay officer in New Brunswick...."
Elsewhere, it is written:
"Ward, John:
After the war, he went with the rest of the regiment to Fredericton, New Brunswick. He became a successful merchant and pioneer of steamboat travel between Saint John and Fredericton.
-- The Loyal Americans, Canadian War Museum, page 83."
In the obituary of his grandson, it was written: "...The Major and his two sons were for a long period among the leading merchants of St. John, doing business under the firm name of John Ward & Sons...."
There are seven small paintings by Charles Caleb Ward hanging in the New Brunswick Art Gallery in the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John, New Brunswick. Two of them are enchanting paintings of men laughing. The following was written about his work in his obituary:
Mr. Ward studied in England under Alfred William Hunt and in New York under Asher B. Durand.
Clarence Ward's "...obituary of 1915 states that for more than 30 years he occupied a desk in City Hall as confidential clerk to the succeeding mayors and as license clerk. He was known as an authority on local history and consulted by many." Clarence Ward was the brother of Charles Caleb Ward. They were survived by their sister, Mrs. T. George Cracknell of New York.
Chalres Ward, one of four sons of Major John Ward, was a merchant and shipbuilder and he had a residence on Wellington Row.
There is a description of Major Ward and Charles, written by Clarence Ward in Volume 1, July-December 1898, of the New Brunswick Magazine, that is reminiscent of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol."
During the Revolutionary War, while,
Recently, I discovered a 1913 description of John Ward's brother-in-law online in "GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY OF SOUTHERN NEW YORK AND THE HUDSON RIVER VALLEY. 1913".
"(IV) John Paulding, "The Patriot," son of Joseph (2) and Sarah (Gardenier) Paulding, was born at the Paulding homestead, near Tarrytown, October 16, 1758, died near Lake Mohegan, February 18, 1818. His tombstone is in the graveyard of St. Peter's church, Peekskill, erected by the corporation of the City of New York, and gives briefly the history of his life. The monument is of white marble, quarried in Westchester County, and is of the most simple form, consisting of a pedestal, surmounted by a cone, showing an elevation of thirteen feet; the whole is composed of the most massive materials and is fastened with iron cramps in such a manner as to resist the severity of the climate for ages to come. The base of the monument covers a square of seven feet, surrounded by and iron railing four feet in height and two feet seven inches distant, the same being inserted in a marble coping fourteen inches broad. The monument comprehends a square of twelve feet, two inches. One side of the monument exhibits a fac-simile of the face of the medal voted by congress of the United States to each of the captors of Andre, on the third day of November, seventeen hundred and eight; the other of its reverse, both carved in bas relief.
In the front of the pedestal is the following inscription [centered]:
Here repose the mortal remains of
JOHN PAULDING
Who died on the 18th day of February, 1818,
In the 60th year of his age.
On the morning of the 23rd of September 1780, Accompanied by two young Farmers of the Co. of
Westchester,
(whose names will one day be recorded
On their own deserved Monuments)
He intercepted the British spy, Andre:
Poor Himself
He disdained to acquire wealth by the sacrifice of
His country
Rejecting the Temptation of great rewards
He conveyed his prisoner to the American camp;
And
By this act of noble self-denial,
The treason of Arnold was detected,
The designs of the enemy baffled;
West Ppoint and the American Army saved;
And these United States
Now by the grace of God, Free and Independent,
Rescued from most imminent peril.
The fourth side of the pedestal bears the following inscription:
The Corporation
Of the City of New York
Erected this Tomb,
As memorial Sacred to
PUBLIC GRATITUDE."
"...He married (second), November 18, 1790, Esther, daughter of Caleb Ward, born April 1, 1768, died March 6, 1804...."
Esther's tombstone had been transcribed online at Sandstones of Van Cortlandtville Cemetery: Cortlandt Manor, NY. She was 35y11m5d when she died.
"Just when the strings of life were broke
I saw my glass was run
Peace to my soul my Jesus spoke
And heavenly joy begun.
One babe before me took her flight
On her my Jesus smild
And now I've pass'd deaths gloomy night
And eight more left behind."
In "GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY OF SOUTHERN NEW YORK AND THE HUDSON RIVER VALLEY. 1913", I also discovered the ancestry of John Ward:
"(The Ward Line.)
Andrew Ward, the founder of this family, was born in England, probably in 1597, died in 1659. He is found first at Watertown, Massachusetts, where he was made freeman May 14, 1634; thence he removed to Wethersfield, Connecticut. He held various offices in the Connecticut colony, and was a staunch supporter of the Congregationalist Church. He next settled at Stamford, Connecticut then a part of the New Haven colony, and gained political prominence there. Finally, he settled at Fairfield, Connecticut. He married Hester, daughter of Edmund and Judith (Angier) Sherman, born April 1, 1606, died about 1666. Children: 1. Edmund. 2. William, died 1675,76. 3. Anne, died July 23, 1718; married about 1650, Caleb Nichols. 4. Mary, married John burr. 5. John, died 1683-84; married, April 18, 1664, Mary Harris. 6. Sarah, married Nathaniel burr. 7. Abigail, married (first), May 2, 1670, Moses Dimon, (second), Edward Howard. 8. Andrew, died in 1690; married in 1667-68, Tryal Meigs. 9. Samuel, of whom further.
(II) Sergeant Samuel Ward, son of Andrew and Hester (Sherman) Ware, was born about 1648, died January 8, 1693. He was called Sergeant. He married (first) Hannah, daughter of Richard and Mary (Hall) Ogden, who died April 30, 1691; (second) Hannah Nichols, widow of Jonathan Nichols. Children all but one by first marriage: 1. Edmund, died in 1712. 2. Sarah. 3. Samuel, died in 1706. 4. William, born about 1678, married Hannah Pell. 5. John, of whom further. 6. Moses, born in 1685. 7. Hannah, married Peter Bulkley.
(III) John, son of Sergeant Samuel and Hannah (Ogden) Ward, was born about 1683, died probably December 6, 1767. He lived at East Chester, Westchester County New York, but probably removed late in life to Peekskill, where he was buried. He married Elizabeth ----------. Children: 1. John, married Mary Pell. 2. Caleb, of whom further. 3. Phebe, married Caleb Morgan.
(IV) Caleb, son of John and Elizabeth Ward, was born November 11, 1728, died May 16, 1802. He lived at Peekskill. He married (first) Mary, daughter of Benjamin Drake, born April 30, 1731, died February 20, 1801, and (second) Rebecca, another daughter of Benjamin Drake. Children, all by first wife: 1 Benjamin, of whom further. 2. John, born in 1752, died November 5, 1846; married Elizabeth Strang. 3. Abigail, married Solomon Fowler. 4. Esther, born April 1, 1765, died March 6, 1804; married John Paulding, the captor of Major André. 5. Mary, married James Perrot. 6. Phebe, born December 31, 1770, died January 4, 1799; married Samuel Jones. 7. Caleb, born in March, 1774, died December 13, 1811; married, September 16, 1794, Susannah Jones."
John Ward's parents were buried in the same cemetery as his secretary, Van Cortlandtville Cemetery, Cortlandt Manor, NY.
I found the following article pasted into the inside cover of Benedict Anold: The Proud Warrior by Charles Colenun Sellers:
At left, Linking the Past with the Present.
"...After the close of the war General Arnold and his sons Henry and Richard who were lieutenants in the legion came to New Brunswick. Arnold lived one time at Rose Hall, Fredericton, and afterwards in St. John; he eventually retired to England. Among those of the American Legion who settled in New Brunswick were Captain Nathan Frink, a dashing officer, who was aide de camp to Arnold. He lived first at St. John, removing afterwards to St. Andrews. He died at St. Stephen in 1817, aged 60 years. Lieut. Andrew Phair, adjutant of the corps, settled at Fredericton where he was post master for many years. Lieut. George Bull, a sturdy loyalist of Ulster county, New York, settled at Woodstock where he died in 1838, at the age of 86 years. His descendants are numerous and highly respected."
(To my knowledge, there is not any evidence that Benedict Arnold lived at Rose Hall.)
There is a brief write-up about the aforesaid Nathan Frink in Glimpses of the Past in the Saint Croix Courier, St. Stephen, NB of July 12, 1894:
"Captain Nathan Frink was also a grantee of St. John, from which place he came to Campobello, thence removing to St. Andrews, and afterwards to St. Stephen. He was a native of Pomfret, Conn. He became a captain in the King’s Loyal American Dragoons, and was afterwards aide-de-camp to General Arnold. Capt. Frink was educated for the bar. His wife, Hester Cuyler, was a descendant of one of the old families of New York who worshipped at Trinity church. On their first coming to St. John, (where Capt. Frink had a grant of four lots on the Carleton side of the harbor,) they occupied a log house with Commissary Davis, grandfather of the wife of the late Joseph Howe, governor of Nova Scotia. Here was born, in February, 1784, their first child, Lucy, the mother of Mrs. W. T. Rose, of St. Stephen. Captain Frink was a magistrate in St. Stephen, and was in receipt of a pension of £200 stg. per annum. He died in 1817 at the age of 60. His wife, Hester, survived him, and enjoyed half pension until her death in 1829. Three of their children were buried at St. Andrews in 1796; descendants of the others reside in this province and in New Haven and New York. The only sister of Captain Frink remained in the old colonies and became the wife of Schuyler Putnam, youngest son of General Israel Putnam."
Captain Frink and Benedict Arnold did lose not contact with one another. Arnold called Frink for his defence in "the great lawsuit for slander for which Arnold became best know." (See: Footprints of Benedict Arnold Late Major General Congressional Army of the American Colonies, Late Brigadier General British Army" by Eric L. Teed, Q.C., M.L.A., pp. 57-97, published in 1971 in the Collections of the New Brunswick Historical Society, No. 20..)
("Nicholas Ogden resided at New York when the Revolution began. From the first he declared against the measures of the Rebels, by whom he was threatened to be tarrd and feathered in the summer of 1775. He made himself particularly obnoxious by rescuing the Rev'd Dr. Cooper, who was attacked by a mob. [Rev'd Dr. Cooper's rescue is described in Alexander Hamilton by biographer Ron Chernow.] He was obliged to seek refuge at Newark, in New Jersey, but again returned to New York. Warrants were issued against him for conspiring against the life of Washington. He was tried by a committee of Congress for that offence, but discharged for want of evidence. He remained with the British army in New York till the evacuation, except a short time he was imprisoned. He had a command as Assistant Brigade Major in the loyal militia, was confidentially employed, and gave intelligence to the Commander-in-Chief that was of service. He married Hannah Cuyler, daughter of Henry Cuyler, of New York, who by will left a large estate to be divided among his six children. Hester Cuyler, a sister of Mrs. Ogden, married Captain Nathan Frink, who settled in New Brunswick. Henry Cuyler's estate was valued at 14,114 in 1776.")
From Rivington's New York Gazette, No. 131, Oct. 19, 1775:
"Last Thursday was married at Newark, in East Jersey, Mr. Nicholas Ogden, son of the honourable judge Ogden, to Miss Hannah Cuyler, sister to Henry Cuyler, Esq., of this city."
("The sugar house that came to be called Rhinelander's was built in 1763 by Henry Cuyler on Rose Street, then known as Prince Street, a remote spot between the Commons, now City Hall Park, and the Bowery Road. Today a connecting ramp between the Brooklyn Bridge and the FDR Drive occupies the site, not Police Headquarters as the plaque beneath the window states. Rhinelander's sugar house was therefore originally known as Cuyler's. The letters "BRC" in the upper-story brickwork are the initials of Barent Rynders Cuyler, son of Henry, and brother of a junior Henry, with whom he jointly, and briefly, owned the building after their father's death in 1770. Barent Cuyler died in Barbados in 1771; the younger Henry, a loyalist to the British crown at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, died in late 1776 or early 1777. By 1790, it was in the possession of the Rhinelanders, another old and wealthy loyalist family, where it would remain for the next century.
Early Dutch emigrants to the New World, the Cuylers had stronger ties to Albany than to New Amsterdam, but were rich enough by 1763 to commission one of the city's largest and sturdiest structures. Sugar houses were sizable industrial buildings for their day. Along with churches, they were landmarks, prominent on 18th century maps and in the landscape of a city that New Yorkers of today would find inconceivably small. The sugar houses were admired as manifestations of the flourishing town's prosperity, and were tourist attractions for rural visitors who had never seen buildings of their mass and height.")
Regardless of the outcome of the 2004 Presidential election, Nathan Frink will have a connection to the next president through his sister and brother-in-law. The great-great-grandfather of Schuyler Putnam was 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.
"Captain George Bull came to Woodstock about the year 1790 and settled on the property at Bull's Creek which has ever since remained in possession of his descendants. Capt. Bull was born in Ulster County, New York in 1752. About the close of the year 1780 he was commissioned Lieutenant in Captain Nathan Frink's troop of cavalry in Gen. Benedict Arnold's American Legion. The other officers of the troop were P. C. Waterbury, Cornet, and Gershom Lockwood, Quarter master. In the course of a few months Capt. Frink's troop numbered upwards of sixty officers and men many of the recruits whose names appear in the muster roll of Feb. 1781, were enlisted by Lieut. Bull. The troop accompanied General Arnold in his celebrated New England raid, and Capt. Frink was his aide-de-camp at the burning of New London. Lieut. Bull was sometimes detailed as escort to Madam Arnold who was a lady famed for her beauty and refinement. The General, according to Lieut. Bull's observation, was never very cordially regarded by the British officers. Though outwardly civil they regarded him as a renegade.
At the peace Lieut. Bull came to New Brunswick and on the disbanding of his corps was placed on the half-pay list for the rest of his days. The rates of half-pay allowed the officers of the disbanded provincial regiments were as follows:
Rank Cavalry Infantry
Colonel $2.40 $2.28
Lieut.-Col. $2.22 2.04
Major 1.92 1.80
Captain 1.32 1.20
Lieutenant .72 .56
Cornet or Ensg. .60 .44
Chaplain .80 .80
Surgeon .48 .48
At the doorway of the house built by the late Mr. Abner Bull at the old homestead may be seen a small brass plate that was formerly on Capt. Bull's army chest which accompanied its owner through all his campaigns. It is inscribed, "Lieut. Bull, American Legion, Cavalry." Mr. Bull proved a useful and influential man in the Woodstock settlement. He accumulated considerable property and filled various parish offices; his name first appeared in the list of the year 1792 as one of the overseers of the poor. He married in November 1784 Nancy McKeen of Maugerville who came to the province with her parents from Litchfield Mass.
Their children were:
William Richard Howe, born July 2, 1785.
George Horation Nelson, born Dec. 19, 1788.
Peter Duncan, born Oct. 3, 1791.
Cadwallader Jervis, born Feb. 10, 1795
Mary Ann, born Feb. 8, 1804
and three sons, Warren Collingwood, Charles Cochran, and Abner, the dates of whose births are not at present known to the writer.
It is related of Captain Bull that being fond of a joke he used to rouse the ire of some of his neighbours who were strong tories, by occasionally expressing republican notions. It would appear however from the names selected for his sons that Captain Bull was a pretty staunch Britisher; but the wonder is that he was not himself a sailor. The names of no less than six famous admirals are perpetuated in his sons showing that the triumphs of the British fleet under Lord Richard Howe, Horatio Nelson, Sir Peter Duncan, Sir John Jervis, Admiral Collingwood and Sir Charles Cochran were greatly appreciated by our old veteran of the revolutionary war. A word now about Captain Bull's children.
Wm. Richard Howe married Sally Ketchum and settled at Richmond. He at one time with his brothers Charles and Warren owned land above the Nackawick but it is not certain that they ever lived there.
George H. N. Bull married Maria, daughter of Captain Jacob Smith, and settled on the lower part of the property originally granted his father-in-law now included within the bounds of the lower part of the town of Woodstock and on a part of which Mr. Richard Bull and others of the family still reside. The first house built by George H. N. Bull just in rear of the present homestead was the third house in the town. Near it was to be seen for many years the old stone chimney of the log house first built by Capt. Jacob Smith.
Peter Duncan Bull married Eunice Beckwith and lived at Presque Isle.
Warren C. Bull married Caroline Perley and lived at Northampton.
Charles C. Bull married Mary Wolverton and lived at Northampton.
Abner Bull the youngest of the family and its last survivor married Frances Elizabeth Perley and lived and died on the old homestead at Bull's Creek. Capt. Bull's only daughter Mary Ann married Paul Micheau Bedell who lived on the lower part of the farm formerly owned by his father-in-law.
The marriage of two of Captain Bull's sons into the Perley family recalls the fact that at one time there prevailed anything but an amiable feeling between the old Maugerville families and the Loyalists; the causes of which we have no difficulty in understanding. Some of the Maugerville people -- probably the majority, sided with the "rebels" during the war, and the loyalists upon their arrival treated them rather superciliously and in some cases attempted to appropriate their land to which in many instances the original settlers had no good and sufficient title. The older inhabitants in their turn regarded the loyalists as interlopers and resented their claim to the special favor of government.
The intensity of the feeling that prevailed is evident from the fact that it has not entirely died out yet. Many of the older people of Sheffield today express themselves in terms that show little veneration for the virtues commonly attributed to the loyalists and on the other hand the loyalist historian, Mr. Hannay (editor of the St. John Telegraph) expresses an equally pronounced opinion as regards the merits of the "Maugerville rebels." Despite the old prejudices there are numberless cases however like that before us, in which we find two sons of Capt. Bull the loyalist wedded two ladies descended from Israel Perley the founder of the Maugerville colony. Capt. Bull and his wife like many others of Woodstock's founders seemed to thrive upon the difficulties and privations they were compelled to undergo and lived to a ripe old age; the former died Oct. 18, 1838 aged 86 years and the latter Aug. 14, 1855 aged 87 years."
The father of the aforesaid commander of the Loyal American Regiment, John Robinson, served in the Virginia House of Burgesses at the same time as the third husband of my alleged 7x great-grandmother, William Green.
Rev. W. O. Raymond, M. A., wrote the following in the Saint Croix Courier, St. Stephen, NB on March 23, 1893 (GLIMPSES OF THE PAST: Contributions to the History of Charlotte County and the Border Towns):
We learn of the fate of two of Susannah Robinson's sons at http://famousamericans.net/beverlyrobinson/, where we also find a portrait of him:
According to Dan Soucoup in "Historic New Brunswick," "With an initial capital of [50,000 pounds] the province's first bank was chartered in 1820 and the thirteen directors were selected from the political and commercial elite. City mayor John Robinson served as the Bank of New Brunswick's first president...."
Online, a copy of "Wall Street Ninety Years Ago ( Originally Published 1921 )," is available.
"...In 1773 Samuel Verplanck bought a frontage of seventy-five feet next to the old city hall for what would now be about $650, and on the easterly portion the famous Verplanck mansion was erected. During the Revolution it was occupied by British officers, among them General Robertson, and for a time it sheltered Benedict Arnold. It was given up by the Verplancks about 1810...."
["Wall Street's future as the financial center of the country was set when in 1822 the United States government bought the Verplanck Mansion on Wall and Broad streets and built on that site the Custom House (later the Sub-Treasury Building)."]
"Passing down the block, the next three houses beyond [the former location of Verplanck Mnsion] were Nos. 17, 19 and 21. The -first was the residence of William M. Seton, and later of John Keese. After it ceased to be a dwelling it contained the law offices of Major Nathaniel Pendleton and of William Duer and Beverly Robinson who practiced under the firm name of Duer & Robinson.... "
Major Nathanial Pendleton's uncle was a boarder of my 7x great-grandother, Sarah Packe.
Beverley and his brother Morris were the two eldest sons of Beverley and Susannah Robinson. Morris Robinson was Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York's first president and its co-founder.
We learn in "The Family Life of Big Business," a speech given by James E. Kavanagh, First Vice-President, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company of New York on Dec. 9, 1937 the following:
"PRESIDENT: Gentlemen: In appraising Canada's exports and Canada's contribution to the world, we should not overlook her native sons and daughters. In every walk of life, in every country, we find Canadians who through their' ability are at the head of their professions and callings and life insurance has been no exception. It is interesting to read while walking down Wall Street in New York the tablets to the memory of one, Morris Robinson, a native of Nova Scotia who was the first President of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, and established the business of modern life insurance on this continent in 1843...."
In the master bedroom in Loyalist House in Saint John, New Brunswick:
(Loyalist House: A National Historic Site: Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada by Steven C. McNeil."
John (1761-1828) married Elizabeth, daughter of the Hon. George D. Ludlow, the chief justice of New Brunswick, and they had five sons and one daughter. Two sons married into the Millidge family of Saint John. The Robinson family records are held by the New Brunswick Museum Archives.
In Trinity Church, "the Aisle Windows, together with two at the bottom of the nave, making in all thirteen, are the works of Messrs. Clayton & Bell, London, and are, with two exceptions, Memorials. Each one is filled with a representation of one of the Apostles...." The eleventh Apostle is St. Jude. It was given by "Mr. John Morris Robinson, with the inscription, "Beverley Robinson, Esq., Born June 11, 1797. Died November 30, 1875; son of Hon. Hohn Robinson, one of the Loyalists."" One of the five sons of John and Elizabeth Robinson was Beverley Robinson. (Trinity Church, Saint John, New Brunswick, and Its Memorials.) He was married to Isabelle Millidge.
John's brother, George Duncan Robinson married Mercy Millidge.
Among the many buried in the Old Burial Grounds are John Robinson, third Mayor of Saint John who died while in office, and his mother-in-law, Frances Ludlow, wife of Hon. George D. Ludlow, Chief Justice of New Brunswick.
Was the gentleman high in office in New Brunswick John Robinson?
There is a portrait of Mary Morris at http://www.famousamericans.net/rogermorris/. There is another portrait of Mary Morris at http://www.nga.gov/press/2002/exhibitions/winterthur/imagelist/391-1.htm. It was painted by the celebrated American portrait artist John Singleton Copley
Her husband, Roger Morris, was exchanged to the 35th regiment in 1758-'9 from the 48th foot and was stationed at Fort Frederick, and occasionally engaged with the Indians that harassed the settlements in Nova Scotia. In Saint john, there is a small plaque marking Fort Frederick's location near the entrance to the toll booth [on the Harbour Bridge]."
Toll booth for Harbour Bridge, Saint John
When Colonel Robert Monckton arrived at the mouth of the St John River in September 1758, he set about immediately to build a strong fort on the site of Villebon's fort. A 1763 plan of the fort shows a small star-shaped fortification. That first winter the garrison consisted of 300 mens under command of Major Roger Morris. A major storm in November 1759 washed away a portion of the ramparts and destroyed the storehouse. Temporary repairs were made. The British garrison remained until 1768, when it was withdrawn to help suppress unrest in Boston. In August 1775, an American Rebel privateer from Machias, Maine pillaged Fort Frederick and burned it down. To protect the western side of the inner harbour, the fort was rebuilt in 1812. A small plaque marking its location is found near the entrance to the toll booth."
Roger Morris was a major character in a sad chapter in the history of New Brunswick, "THE SECOND EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS OF SOUTHERN NOVA SCOTIA...."
"Although the raid of 1758[, which was under the direction of Major Morris,] in the Cape Sable region, which lead to the second Expulsion, brought into exile less Acadians than the two others, that of 1756 and that of 1759, nevertheless it was of the three the most devastating, the most widespread, the one which also lasted the longest, when from the middle of September to the end of October it brought destruction from Pubnico to Chegoggin, plundering all that could be destroyed and reducing to ashes all that could be burned."
In Historic New Brunswick by Dan Soucoup, he writes that th destruction of St. Anne's Point, together with the fall of Quebec, sealed the fate of the remaining Acadians on the St. John.
In letters to and from George Washington, Miss Mary Philipse was called Polly.
"...I have this moment a Letter from our worthy friend B Robinson to Mrs. Robinson The agreeable Miss Polly and all his family are Very Well
... Yrs
... J.C"
In a letter from Joseph Chew to George Washington, March 14, 1757 (Letters to Washington and Accompanying Papers. Published by the Society of the Colonial Dames of America. Edited by Stanislaus Murray Hamilton.), Joseph Chew wrote:
"...I am now at Mr. Robinsons, he Mrs. Robinson and his Dear Little Family are all well they desire their Compliments to you.1
[Note 1: 1 It was at Beverly Robinson's house, when in New York in 1756, that Washington lodged, and where he was kindly entertained. It happened at this time that Miss Mary Philipse, Mrs. Robinson's sister, was an inmate of the family. We know the deep impression Miss Polly's charms made on the heart of the Virginia colonel; an impression deeper than when, at sixteen, his heart was softened by the graces of his "Low Land Beauty."]
Pretty Miss Polly is in the same Condition & situation as you saw her--my best Respects to Capt. Mercer & Stuart accept the same and my most sincere wishes for your welfare and happiness and be assured that I am
... Dear Sir
... Your most Obedt. Servt.
... Jos. CHEW
In a letter from Beverley Robinson to George Washington, August 8, 1757, with Postscript from Joseph Chew (Letters to Washington and Accompanying Papers. Published by the Society of the Colonial Dames of America. Edited by Stanislaus Murray Hamilton.), Joseph Chew wrote:
"DEAR SIR
you shall hear from me at Large Next Post this being just going off I can only inclose you the Papers & Pray tell my Brother I will Write him under Cover to you next week, I arrived here a few days agoe Mrs. Robinson & her Dear little Family are well Miss Polly has had a pain in her Face but is on the mendg. hand. I pray Heaven to Protect you and Assure that I am my Dear Sir
... Your Obed Servt.
JOS CHEW"
In a letter from Beverley Robinson to George Washington, April 16, 1758 (Letters to Washington and Accompanying Papers. Published by the Society of the Colonial Dames of America. Edited by Stanislaus Murray Hamilton.), that sameyear the Miss Polly married Mr. Morris, Beverly Robinson wrote:
"...Mrs. Robinson & family are very well & Desire their Compts. to you as does Mr. & Mrs. Morris1 and your Most Oblidg. Hble. Servt.
[Note 1: 1 Who as Mary Philipse, we remember, had held the heart of our Virginia colonel.]
... BEV: ROBINSON
Four years after Polly became Mrs. Morris, she was still in George Washington's thoughts. In George Washington to Beverley Robinson, September 27, 1762, Account Book 1 (The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745-1799. John C. Fitzpatrick, Editor.), he wrote:
"...I have only to desire therefore that you will please to accept of my sincere good wishes for yourself and Family and that you will make a tender of my best respects to Mrs. Philips, and Mrs. Morris48 when you see her. I am Dr. Sir, etc.
[Note 48: Mrs. Philipse, mother of Mary Philipse, who was then Mrs. Roger Morris.]"
Later in 1780 when Benedict Arnold was given command of West Point by General Washington, he lived in the Robinson house which was known as "Beverly." The Robinson house was lived in by other families in succeeding years but it burned in the1890's.
The famous Jumel mansion is now known as Morris-Jumel Mansion, Manhattan's oldest house. It "was headquarters to General Washington in September and October of 1776. After Washington's departure, the Mansion played host to a succession of British and Hessian military leaders, served briefly as an inn for weary travelers, and finally returned to its role as country house...."
"...Washington made his headquarters here at the Mansion during the fall of 1776 [15 Sept. - 20 October]. It was during this period that the General's troops forced a British retreat at the Battle of Harlem Heights.
According to the PBS seies Liberty!, it was in the fall of 1776 in New York that that Washington shelved "...his dream of a "European-style" army disciplined enough to effectively engage the British regulars in field combat. Already the sense is that new tactics are evolving. "Unless we are absolutely forced into," Washington wrote recently, "we shall avoid a large battle. With the fate of America at stake, our job is to prolong this war as much as possible.""
The house was built eleven years before the Revolution, in 1765, by British Colonel Roger Morris and his American wife, Mary Philipse. The breezy hilltop location proved an ideal location for the family's summer home. Known as Mount Morris, this northern Manhattan estate stretched from the Harlem to the Hudson Rivers and covered more than 130 acres. Loyal to the crown, the Morrises were eventually forced to return to England as a result of the American victory.
During the war, the hilltop location of the Mansion was valued for more than its cool summer breezes. With views of the Harlem River, the Bronx, and Long Island Sound to the east, New York City and the harbor to the south, and the Hudson River and Jersey Palisades to the west, Mount Morris proved to be a strategic military headquarters.
It would appear from a "Letter from Edward Winslow Sr. to Edward Winslow Jr., June 20, 1783, Bowery" that George Washington lived in the house twice:
"...— Old friends are leaving us — Judge Ludlow sailed for Great Britain yesterday — I am told Col Robinson & Col Ludlow are soon to follow him ~..."
President Washington returned to the Mansion on July 10, 1790, and dined with members of his cabinet. Guests at the table included three future Presidents of the United States: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and John Quincy Adams. Alexander Hamilton and Henry Knox were in attendance as well."
In President Washington's own words:
"Saturday 10th. Having formed a Party, consisting of the Vice-President, his lady, Son & Mrs. Smith; the Secretaries of State, Treasuy & War, and the ladies of the two latter; with all the Gentlemen of my family, Mrs. Lear & the two Childrn we visited the old position of Fort Washington and afterwards dined on a dinner provided by Mr. Mariner at the House lately Colo. Roger Morris but confiscated and in the occupation of a common Farmer. I requested the Vice-President & the Secretary at War as I had also in the Morning the Chief Justice, to turn their attention to the Communications of Majr. Beckwith; as I might in the course of a few days, call for their opinions on the important matter of it."
"The departure of the British at the close of the revolution did not end the upheaval in the life of the Mansion. Serving as an inn for New York City-bound travelers, ownership of the house passed through many hands. Finally, in 1810, the Mansion was restored to its original purpose as a country house by the French emigrant Stephen Jumel and his wife Eliza.
...
Stephen Jumel died in 1832, and Eliza, then one of the wealthiest women in New York, later married the former U.S. Vice President, Aaron Burr. Their marriage lasted just two years. Eliza retained ownership of the Mansion until her death in 1865."
"During [George Washington's] stay at the house, he wrote to Polly's aunt, saying, "I beg the favor of having my compliments presented to Mrs. Morris."
Eliza Jumel (1775-1865), allegedly a prostitute who became the toast of New York society, was buried in Trinity Church Cemetery and Mausoleum.
The famous Jumel mansion was also the estate of Aaron Burr and John Jacob Astor, the richest American of his day. A great version its story is told inLittle Journeys To The Homes Of Great Business Men: John Jacob Astor by Elbert Hubbard.
"...It was in this house in the fearsome days of 1776 that Washington first met Alexander Hamilton, later offering the young captain of artillery a position on his staff, which Hamilton accepted. Thus began that close intimacy which was to be of such incalculable benefit to the country, the calm steadfastness of the older man supplementing and holding in check the brilliant genius of the younger."
In an ironic twist:
"Built by Roger Morris, the mansion was bought by French wine merchant Stephen Jumel (pronounced zhoo-MELL) in 1810 for his wife, Elizabeth "Betsey" Bowen, who was rumored to be a former madam and prostitute (the Jumels were never accepted in society because of this.) After Stephen Jumel died, Madame Bowen married the notorious Aaron Burr, who had killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel in Weehawken, New Jersey in 1804, but that marriage was unsuccessful and she sued him for divorce two years later. After her own death in 1865, her ghost is rumored to still be presiding over the mansion!"
There is a portrait of Beverly Robinson in the collections of the New Brunswick Museum. His signature may be found in chaptr XXX of volume I of the PICTORIAL FIELD BOOK OF THE REVOLUTION BY BENSON J. LOSSING.
From American National Biography, published by Oxford University Press, Inc., copyright 2000 American Council of Learned Societies:
With the death of his father-in-law in 1751, Robinson acquired a large estate. Along with Roger Morris and Philip Philipse, he purchased the 205,000-acre Highland Patent in Dutchess County, New York. In 1757 the three partitioned their holdings, with Robinson's share being 60,000 acres of the Highland Patent. In his role as a landlord, Robinson held nearly every local office, including colonel of the Dutchess County militia and judge of the court of common pleas. He also served as a commissary and paymaster for New York troops during the French and Indian War.
The Highland Patent was a source of much litigation for Robinson. It was first deeded by the crown on 17 June 1697 to Adolph Philipse, who did not clear the Indian rights to the land. The Wappinger Indians claimed much of the territory covered by the patent, and they sold or leased land to settlers, mostly from Massachusetts, to help support this claim. Alarmed, the three proprietors--Philipse, Morris, and Robinson--seized lands occupied by the Indians while the Wappinger men were serving in the British armed forces in 1756. By 1761 the proprietors had begun ejectment suits against those who held Indian land titles. Many tenants had renounced their leases with the proprietors and took lands from the Wappingers. The Wappinger chief, Daniel Nimham, twice appealed in vain to the governor and council of New York (the crown refusing to hear the case), and no lawyer in New York would take the Wappinger case. Late in 1765 the displaced tenants, who were considered as squatters and wanted long-term leases and reasonable rent, rioted in the proprietaries from Westchester County to Albany. Mobs forced Highland Patent tenants off their lands and burned their barns. Robinson, for his own protection, fled to New York City on 21 November 1765. In 1766 the rebellion was put down by the New York government.
Robinson kept close watch over his 146 tenancies, which increasingly became more productive, and thereby raised his rental income. Annual rents expected by 1777 amounted to over 1,250. Robinson also profited from fees when tenants sold their rights.
At the beginning of the revolutionary war Robinson was not hostile to the Whig cause, having earlier cooperated with the economic boycott against Great Britain. Given more time to make up his mind he might have supported the Revolution, but probably he expected to remain neutral. Refusing to take the patriot oath of allegiance, he was told by John Jay of the New York Commission for Detecting and Defeating All Conspiracies on 22 February 1777 that he had to declare loyalty to one side or the other. Thus he sought refuge with the British in New York City.
Robinson recruited about 400 men, chiefly from among his tenants and neighbors, to form the Loyal American Regiment; he served as colonel and commander of this unit. He was also put in charge of a corps of guides and pioneers for the British army. Of the officers in the Loyal American Regiment, 72.7 percent were American born. With this unit Robinson served in General Henry Clinton's expedition to the Highlands along the Hudson River, 3-22 October 1777, and took part in the storming of Fort Montgomery just above Peekskill on the west bank of the Hudson, on 6 October 1777.
During the war Robinson played an important role in Clinton's espionage network. His operative plied information from his tenants, friends, and acquaintances in the lower Hudson River region. Clinton used Robinson in an attempt to lure Ethan Allen to bring Vermont into the British fold. In June 1780 Robinson wrote Allen that "you may obtain a separate government under the king and constitution of England," an offer that the British ministry had authorized. Allen did not respond, hoping to sustain pressure on the Confederation Congress to recognize Vermont as a state. Robinson also made a faint effort to bring General Israel Putnam, whose Highlands command headquarters were in the Robinson house, over to the British side. Robinson also volunteered to be a liaison between Clinton and General Benedict Arnold in the West Point treason plot, a mission that was ultimately assigned to John Andre. To this end Robinson arranged the meeting between Andre and Arnold. After the plot unraveled, Robinson wrote to George Washington entreating him to spare Andre's life, and he accompanied Clinton's commissioners for that purpose to Washington's headquarters in order to attest to Andre's innocence.
In August 1782 Robinson left New York City for England. Although he was appointed in 1784 to the council of New Brunswick, he did not serve. For the rest of his life Robinson resided quietly at Thornbury, near Bath, England. After his lands were confiscated by acts of the New York legislature during February and March 1780, Robinson sought £79,980 compensation from the royal claims commission for the loss of his estate; he was awarded £17,000.
Robinson died at his home at Thornbury, survived by his wife and their seven children. Four of his five sons served in the British army during the Revolution, and two of them were knighted. Robinson admitted to no regrets in becoming a Loyalist military officer. "I acted from upright and conscientious principles, in doing my duty to my king and Country," he wrote Clinton on 8 August 1782. That decision made Robinson an exile from his native country and cost him his considerable American estate.
Bibliography
Robinson's letters are in the Sir Henry Clinton Papers, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan. For Robinson as a Loyalist claimant and witness, see the Library of Congress's microfilm edition of the American Loyalist Papers, 1783-1790, the originals of which are in the Public Record Office, and the American Loyalist Transcripts, New York Public Library. The Philipse proprietary case against the Wappinger Indians, presented from the Indian point of view by a contemporary, is in Oscar Handlin and Irving Mark, eds., "Chief Daniel Nimham v. Roger Morris, Beverly Robinson, and Philip Philipse--an Indian Land Case in Colonial New York, 1765-1767," Ethnohistory 11 (Summer 1964): 193-246. Sung Bok Kim, Landlord and Tenant in Colonial New York: Manorial Society, 1664-1775 (1978); Irving Mark, Agrarian Conflicts in Colonial New York (1940; 2d ed., 1965); and Edward Countryman, A People in Revolution: The American Revolution and Political Society in New York, 1760-1790 (1981), relate Robinson to the landlord-tenant problems. Carl Van Doren, Secret History of the American Revolution (1941; repr. 1968); Willard S. Randall, Benedict Arnold: Patriot and Traitor (1990); and Robert M. Hatch, Major John Andre: A Gallant in Spy's Clothing (1986), treat the Robinson-Arnold-Andre connection. Robinson's letter to Ethan Allen of June 1780 is in Charles A. Jellison, Ethan Allen: Frontier Rebel (1969), pp. 245-46. Brief biographies of Robinson and his five sons are in Lorenzo Sabine, Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution, vol. 2 (1869), pp. 221-28. The Robinson-Washington relationship is mentioned in Douglas S. Freeman, George Washington, vols. 1 and 5 (1949, 1952). A death notice is in The Gentleman's Magazine, May 1792, p. 479."
"It was a winter wedding, January the 28th, 1758. The sleighing was good and with bells jingling, guests drove up from New York to crowd the Manor House. Under a crimson canopy stood Mary and her three bridesmaids. Since her father had died in 1751 while in Barbados, the bride was given away by her brother, Lord Phillipse.
Lord Frederick was elegantly attired and wore the gold chain and jewelled badge of the Master Ranger of the Royal Deer Forests of Bohemia, inherited from Viscount Phillipse of Friesland.
The wedding banquet was a sumptuous affair, but it was marred by a strange incident. During the feasting a tall Indian, wrapped in a scarlet blanket, appeared unannounced at the door and a hush fell on the assembly. Speaking directly to Mary, he said, "Your possessions ahall pass from you when the Eagle shall despoil the Lion of its mane." Then he vanished as suddenly as he came. Years afterwards, Lord Phillipse's old coloured valet would roll his eyes and shiver with terror a he repeated the story, for the Indian was real enough; so was the prophecy."
A different version of this story may be found online in The Manor of Philipsborough, an Address Written for The New York Branch of The Order of Colonial Lords of Manors in America by Edward Hagaman Hall, L.H.D.. A book written by Mr. Hall is listed in her bibliography.
Later, she wrote:
"...Today [the descendants of Susanna Phillipse Robinson] in New Brunswick cherish those heirlooms she brought from Beverly House on the Hudson so long ago....The little golden deer set with dimond, emerald, ruby and pearls that the Lords of Phillipse Manor wore on State occasions, still reposes in its velvet-lined casket...."
Onine, there is a charming picture of the staircase of the Robinson's house in "THE HUDSON from THE WILDERNESS TO THE SEA" by Benson J. Lossing (Virtue & Yorston : New York 1866).
In The Manor of Philipsborough, an Address Written for The New York Branch of The Order of Colonial Lords of Manors in America by Edward Hagaman Hall, L.H.D, he said:
"This [jeweled badge of the ancestral office of Keeper of the Deer Forests of Bohemia] was in possession of Mr. John Morris Robinson of St. John, N. B., in 1912, when the writer secured a photograph of it which is reproduced in the Annual Report of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society for 1913."
On Thursday, July 15, 2004, I spoke with historian Harold Wright in the West Branch, Saint John Regional Library. He said that he met with the owner of the deer set in Ottawa and she asked him what she should do with it.
There is a "The Badge of the Ancestral Office of Keeper of the Royal Deer Forests of Bohemia" in the English collection of the McCord Museum.
The provenance of the deer set is detailed in LADY ROBINSON'S REC 0 LL E CTI ON S, available online on a message board:
VREDERICK PHILLIPSE (so written in the old Records) was a native of Friezland, and went to New York, then called the New Netherlands, in 1658. It was then in the possession of the Dutch, and he went with the first Governor, Van Stuyvonsart He had the consent of the Prince to remain if he chose in the new country. He had a great deal of plate and valuable jewellery (an order of a gold Deer, set with a few stones, is now in the possession of my daughter ELIZABETH :* it was worn with a ribbon across the shoulder). He (FREDERICK PHILLIPSE) was married to MARGARET Dacres, and had (in 1658) two sons," PHILLIP, aged two years," and "ADOLPH, four months." He must have been rich, for he made large purchases of land in New York, and also in the country. One large estate was called " Phillipseburgh," another " Fredericksburgh," another "Upper Flower Patent." He had many houses in the city, and land laid out for streets and afterwards built upon; he also built large houses on his estates. His eldest son, PHILLIP, had
(Elizabeth Robinson died 1876, and left the Order or the Deer to her husband's nephew, John Morris Robinson.)"
Clarence Ward concludes "Christmas As It Was," as follows:
"Those of the household who remain behind [after midnight on Christmas Day], gather around the fire, and indulge in reminisinces of by gone times. The old folk recall the days of their youth by the fireside at the old homestead on the Hudson. When they look around and see the sturdy young men and handsome girls who have grown up around them, they give thanks in their hearts for all the blessings vouchsafed them, and for the happy termination of what, for many years, was a life of anxiety and struggles and disappointments, and for the pleasant home they have made in the wilderness far removed from the land of their birth."
Saint John's Loyalist Residents on Film
Southern Loyalist Anthony Allaire is featued in the PBS program "Rebels and Redcoats: How Britain Lost America," as is the treason of Benedict Arnold. "With vivid dramatizations of battles, eyewitness accounts, original documents and paintings, REBELS AND REDCOATS: HOW BRITAIN LOST AMERICA tells the story of the American Revolution from an unusual point of view - that of the British losers. Presented by renowned British military historian Richard Holmes, this four-part series airs on PBS Wednesdays, June 23-30, 2004, 9:00 p.m. ET in two-hour segments."
In one scene, the quote from a letter from Anthony Allaire, dated Charlestown, January 30th, 1781, is dramatized:
"...it fell to my lot to put a Rebel Captain to death, which I did most effectually, with one blow of my sword; the fellow was at least six feet high, but I had rather the advantage, as I was mounted on an elegant horse, and he on foot."
The Allaire family was related to the Robinsons through marriage; Eliza Maria Allaire married Colonel John Robinson. "Captain Anthony Allaire and his wife are buried with other members of the Simonds family in the old burial ground in Fredericton."
For further reading:
Mary Philipse,referring to George Washington, says "There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, till all men walk on higher ground in that lifetime."
"Burrell, John. "Diary of Sergeant John Burrell, 1759-1760." Edited by William Lincoln Palmer. New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 59 (October 1905), pp. 352-354."
- and -
John Burrel's Diary (A sergeant at Fort Frederick) 1760 - Archives Dept., New Brunswick Museum
"I am the author of this book and here are my comments: Daughter of Liberty portrays an incident in the life of my great, great, great, great Aunt Wyntje (Wyn) Quackenbosch (Quackenbush) Mabie who served as a messenger for General Washington during the Revolutionary War. In November 1776 she rode from her farm in Tappan, New York to Fort Lee, New Jersey, and rowed across the Hudson River by rowboat to retrieve papers from Washingtons former headquarters at the Roger Morris House, now called the Morris-Jumel Mansion. Then she rowed back across the Hudson River and delivered the papers to Washington at his new headquarters in Hackensack, New Jersey. The papers contained names of suppliers and volunteer troop replacements so that Washington could quickly restore his shattered defenses. His Army had been reduced to 6,000 troops in just a few short months after the British invasion of New York city in August 1776. The papers were an aid to his first major victory at Trenton on December 26, 1776. I took certain liberties to write Wyn Mabies story so that young readers could comprehend the complex events of the times. This included the addition of Jan and Janneke, ten-year-old twin cousins of Wyns husband, Abraham, who were being cared for by Wyn and her Aunt Susanna. The twins actually represented Wyns and Abrahams own children, a boy Abraham, age two months, and a girl Elizabeth, age 2, who would be too young at the time to talk about their feelings when Wyn undertook her mission. This type of writing - fact meeting fiction - is a process of harvesting things one accidentally knows and merging them with facts. Often it means bending the facts in order to arrive at the truth. For me, writing Wyn Mabies story meant verifying through research a story that had been passed down in my family since the Revolutionary War. Then I linked the details of her mission with precise events and the time they occurred. This research took nearly twenty years to complete before I wrote and illustrated the finished book, which took one year. My purpose for creating Daughter of Liberty was to confirm a life that had become a legend, by restoring Wyn Mabie and her heroism to the book of life. For this reason I begin her story with this 184l quotation by Ralph Waldo Emerson: There is probably no history, only biography."