USA > Massachusetts > Commonwealth history of Massachusetts, colony, province and state, volume 3 > Part 26
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After nine and a half years in exile he again trod the
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soil of Massachusetts. There he tried to put together the fragments of his broken property, but subsisted chiefly on the allowance which the British government granted him. Though it was good to be at home again, Salem was not what it used to be. "Whilst some from the narrowest and basest condition have arisen to high honors and great wealth, others have fallen into indigent and distressed cir- cumstances." And it is to be hoped that there was more bitterness than truth in one of his less gracious comments : "The triumphant here look down with contempt on the vanquished; their little minds are not equal to the aston- ishing success of their feeble arms."
THE NEW YORK LOYALIST COLONY (1776-1783)
The loyalists who preferred to remain in America, but not to be stranded in gloomy Halifax, appear to have fared pretty well after Washington was driven out of New York in the summer of 1776. Established on Manhattan Island, the Massachusetts refugees made their social headquarters at Hicks' Tavern. Some of their time seems to have been spent in writing assertions of devotion to king, some in com- plaining of the discomforts of military rule. Time and again they petitioned for civil government, but it never came. What these refugees lived on is a mystery. The really poor were saved from destitution by the proceeds of occasional charity collections and lotteries. Clinton finally received permission to give them government aid either in cash or in allotments of rebel lands. Even so, one wonders how the humbler sort of Yankee subsisted in New York as the war dragged on and on. Morally one and all fed on the propaganda put forth in Rivington's Gazette, a loyalist sheet which kept them constantly supplied with false news of rebel disasters and with misinformation about the strength of the British forces!
After October, 1781, there could be little doubt even in loyalist minds that the war was about over. Early in 1782 groups of Tories began to disappear from New York and the exodus continued in increasing volume. Within a year al- most 30,000 (for Manhattan Island was a place of refuge
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for loyalists from all the colonies) packed up their belong- ings and sailed off to Nova Scotia and Canada.
BRITISH INDEMNITY TO LOYALISTS
For temporary support they necessarily turned to the British government, and they were not disappointed. Cloth- ing and food were issued to the needy. The head of every family was given 500 acres of land; every single man, 300 acres. Building materials and tools were furnished as well. It was, of course, a matter of beginning life over again on the fringe of a wilderness and in an inhospitable climate. Nevertheless, the effort on the part of the British govern- ment to provide for those whose loyalty had cost them their country is one of the most creditable pages in Eng- lish history.
Loyalists who had enjoyed offices under the crown were granted pensions or given new offices elsewhere in the British empire. And those who had lost an appreciable amount of property were invited to submit claims for com- pensation. These claims were examined by a commission and awards were made by judges. As a result of these findings and awards the loyalists received cash indemnities amounting to nearly 4,000,000 pounds. But of the twenty- five hundred provincial claimants, less than ten per cent were former residents of Massachusetts. If one adds to the total of these awards the amount expended by Britain in establishing the American loyalists in Nova Scotia and Canada, the result is a grand total of at least six million pounds.
Often one's heart aches for the loyalists of Massachusetts, especially for those who went to England and died there before the end of the war. Thomas Hutchinson, the most prominent of them all, once wrote to a friend, "I assure you I had rather die in a little country farm house in New England than in the best Nobleman's seat in Old England; and have therefore given no ear to any proposal of settling here." Doubtless there were many others who had similar homesick feelings.
It is easy to become sentimental about these unfortunates and to criticize the severity with which the patriot Ameri-
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cans treated them before and after the war. After all, was it not the part of wisdom to banish from the land these non-sympathizers with the new government? Would they not have remained "unreconstructed" in a fragilely reconstructed world? And would not their attitude have made all the more difficult for the infant Republic the try- ing years between 1783 and 1789? No one can give posi- tive answers to these questions. In his own mind the writer is fairly clear that for the momentous experiment known as the United States it was probably a wise, though drastic, policy that drove out of our land those whose faith was in the old régime and not in the great possibili- ties of a new nation.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
ALLEN, CHARLES E .- "Loyalists of the Kennebec" (New England Maga- zine, 1907-1908, Vol. XXXVII, pp. 623-629)-This paper centers upon the Reverend Jacob Bailey and the Episcopalians on the Kennebec River.
ALLEN, JOLLEY .- "The Narrative of Jolley Allen" (Mass. Historical So- ciety, Proceedings, Vol. XVI, pp. 69-99, Boston, 1879)-Introduction by Charles C. Smith. It gives a vivid picture of an unfortunate Tory who left Boston at the time of the evacuation in March, 1776.
BATCHELDER, SAMUEL FRANCIS .- The Life and Surprising Adventures of John Nutting, Loyalist, and his Strange Connection with the Penob- scot Expedition (Cambridge, Mass., 1912)-An interesting and en- lightening account of the fortunes of a Cambridge housewright, who was a consistent Tory.
CURWEN, SAMUEL .- Journal and Letters of the late Samuel Curwen (N. Y., Leavitt, Trow, 1845)-Edited by G. A. Ward. One of the best first-hand accounts of the trials and tribulations of a Massachusetts loyalist-refugee in England during and after the war.
DAVIS, ANDREW MCFARLAND .- The Confiscation of John Chandler's Es- tate (Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1903)-For the student who wishes to trace in every detail the fate of a loyalist estate this volume is without an equal. It also gives a clear conception of the life of a banished loyalist.
EARDLEY-WILMOT, JOHN .- Historical View of the Commission for En- quiring into the Losses, Services, and Claims, of the American Loyal- ists (London, Nichols, Son, and Bentley, 1815)-This is an excellent monograph on Britain's provision for the loyalists after the war. The appendix contains valuable tables and statistics.
ELLIS, GEORGE EDWARD .- "The Loyalists and their Fortunes" (JUSTIN WINSOR, editor, Narrative and Critical History of America, 8 vols., Houghton Mufflin, 1884-1889)-See Vol. V, pp. 185-214.
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SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
HALE, EDWARD EVERETT .- "The Siege of Boston" (JUSTIN WINSOR, editor, Memorial History of Boston, 4 vols., Boston, Osgood, 1882-1886)- See Vol. III, chap. II. Supplemented by Winsor's notes, the chapter throws considerable light on the local loyalists in 1775-1776.
HANNAY, JAMES .- History of New Brunswick (2 vols., St. John, N. B., Bowes, 1909) -See Vol. I, chap. VIII, for a brief but impressive ac- count of the loyalist influx into Nova Scotia after the war.
HANNAY, JAMES .- "The Loyalists" (New England Magazine, 1891, Vol. IV, pp. 297-315)-A delightful and informing paper, with specific references to Massachusetts loyalists at St. John, N. B., after the war. HULTON, ANN .- Letters of a Loyalist Lady (Cambridge, Harvard Univ. Press, 1927)-Letters of the sister of Henry Hulton, Commissioner of Customs of Boston, 1767-1776. For local color and the spirit of the times they are unsurpassed.
HUTCHINSON, THOMAS .- Diary and Letters (2 vols., London, Low, Mars- ton, Searle & Rivington, 1883-86) -Compiled by Peter Orlando Hutch- inson. These contain the most appealing account of a loyalist's suf- ferings in exile.
KINGSFORD, WILLIAM .- The History of Canada (10 vols., London, Trüb- ner, 1888-1898)-In Vol. VII, chap. v, will be found a general treat- ment of the coming of the loyalists and of their hardships.
LATTING, JOHN J., editor .- Salem Loyalists-Unpublished Letters (New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1872, Vol. XXVI, pp. 243-248)-Includes three interesting letters from Samuel Porter of Salem, Rufus Chandler of Worcester, and William Jackson of Boston. One of these was written from London during the war; one from Halifax in 1787; and one from London in 1788.
"List of Graduates at Harvard University, of Anti-Revolutionary or Loyalist Principles." (American Quarterly Register, 1840-1841, Vol. XIII, pp. 403-416; Vol. XIV, pp. 167-172)-The compiler gives more or less information about Tory graduates of Harvard.
MASSACHUSETTS (Commonwealth) .- Acts and Resolves, Public and Pri- vate), of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay (21 vols., Boston, 1869-1922)-See Vol. V. The editor's notes on pages 706-713 are invaluable in tracing the loyalist estates from conservation to confisca- tion. The statute banishing certain loyalists is given on pp. 912-915. MASSACHUSETTS (Commonwealth) -ARCHIVES DIVISION .- An extensive collection of Manuscripts. Vols. CLIV and CLV of the general col- lection are full of loyalist material : lists of suspected persons, ac- counts of absentees' estates and of sequestered goods.
MASSACHUSETTS (Commonwealth) : Commissioners to Consider the Claim of William Simpson .- Report (Boston, 1829)-A claim, as executor of the estate of Jonathan Simpson, against the Province of Massa- chusetts Bay for 1426£ borrowed for the use of the Province. It throws more or less light upon the loyalists and their claims as re- garded from the legal point of view.
Massachusetts Spy (Worcester) .- The issue of November 6, 1783, contains a pathetic "List of persons who have died in Exile from Massachusetts only."
MURDOCH, BEAMISH .- History of Nova Scotia (3 vols., Halifax, 1865- 1867)-Vol. III, chaps. I, II, and III, give more or less attention to the arrival of the loyalists in 1782-1784 and the consequent confusion in certain parts of Nova Scotia.
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NOURSE, HENRY S .- "The Loyalists of Lancaster" (Bay State Monthly, 1884, Vol. I, pp. 377-386)-As its title implies, this paper is very local in its immediate interest, but some of the incidents related are highly significant.
ONTARIO: BUREAU OF ARCHIVES .- Second Report (2 vols., Toronto, 1905) -These contain the claims of the loyalists because of their losses arising from the war. The information about the lives and possessions of the claimants is interesting and more or less truthful. A valuable adjunct to Sabine's work.
OWEN, DANIEL .- "Loyalist Shelburne" (Canadian Magazine, 1911, Vol. XXXVII, pp. 67-71)-This article describes the loyalist migration to Shelburne, N. S., and attributes the choice of that haven of refuge to Gideon White of Plymouth, Mass.
OXNARD, EDWARD .- "Extracts from the Journal of Edward Oxnard" (New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1872, Vol. XXVI, pp. 8-10, 115-121, 254-259)-A lively picture of London during the Revo- lution as seen by a young loyalist of Boston and Falmouth (Portland, Maine).
RYERSON, ADOLPHUS EGERTON .- The Loyalists of America and their Times (2 vols., Toronto, Briggs, 1880)-This book is virtually a history of New England before the Revolution, and of Canada from 1783 to 1816.
SABINE, LORENZO .- The American Loyalists (Boston, Little and Brown, 1847)-These biographical sketches, introduced by an historical essay, are a monument to the industry and scholarship of their author. To the antiquarian and to the historian of this period they are in- valuable. .
SARGENT, WINTHROP, compiler .- Loyalist Poetry of the Revolution (Phila., Collins, 1857)-Few, if any, of these verses originated in Massachu- setts. Those that appeared in Rivington's New York Gazette were doubtless read by Massachusetts refugees in New York toward the end of the war.
SIEBERT, WILBUR H .- "The Dispersion of the American Tories" (Missis- .sippi Valley Historical Review, 1914, Vol. I, pp. 185-197)-Here and there this excellent paper touches the Massachusetts loyalists during and after the siege of Boston.
STARK, JAMES HENRY .- The Loyalists of Massachusetts and the Other Side of the American Revolution (Boston, Stark, 1910)-A useful guide for the antiquarian. It is the local counterpart of Sabine's American Loyalists.
TYLER, MOSES COIT .- "The Party of the Loyalists in the American Revo- lution" (American Historical Review, 1895, Vol. I, pp. 24-45)-A thoughtful study of the loyalists' situation and attitude, with occa- sional references to the Tories of Massachusetts.
"Unreconstructed Loyalists" (Atlantic Monthly, 1891, Vol. LXVII, p. 571) -A sketch in the "Contributors' Club," of the two daughters of Dr. Mather Byles, who were resident loyalists in Boston as long as they lived.
VAN TYNE, CLAUDE HALSTEAD .- The Loyalists in the American Revolu- tion (New York, Macmillan, 1902)-An incomplete and somewhat biased study of the loyalist situation in all the colonies. It contains some helpful material, but fails to answer questions that inevitably occur to the mind of the student.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
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WEAVER, EMILY P .- "Nova Scotia and New England during the Revolu- tion" (American Historical Review, 1904, Vol. X, pp. 52-71)-Pri- marily an exposition of the causes that prevented Nova Scotia from taking the American side in the war; also contains an illuminating page or two on the lot of the Boston loyalists at Halifax in the spring of 1776.
WINSLOW, EDWARD .- Winslow Papers A.D. 1776-1826 (St. John, N.B., Sun Printing Co., 1901)-Edited by W. O. Raymond. The most sig- nificant of these papers are the letters of Edward Winslow, a fighting loyalist of Massachusetts, who became one of the founders of New Brunswick.
CHAPTER X SOCIAL LIFE IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD
BY ARTHUR R. CURNICK
SOCIAL REVOLUTION (1775)
The spirit of revolution during the last half of the eight- eenth century in American life was hardly more political than social. The world has recognized that the stimulus behind the colonial struggle for independence was a resentful sense of exasperating restraints and unjust taxa- tion by an unwise English government; it is not so gener- ally realized that a social revolution was simultaneously in progress and that its factors were of major importance in determining the struggle for liberty.
Viewed from the vantage point of the twentieth century, the colonists of Massachusetts from 1750 to 1790 were not only achieving relief from political control exercised from overseas, but equally from the results of a hundred and fifty years of social bondage in their own communities, from enthrallment of custom, subjugation of intellect and ambition to the fetters of ecclesiasticism.
Yet this negative reaction, as one might expect under the axiom that concentration is synonymous with power, developed in the people of Massachusetts in that period elements of courage and consistency rarely equalled within a state in the history of the world. The Massachusetts folk of 1775, in rallying to the flag of liberty, were follow- ing in the footsteps of their ancestors who had literally created a civilization from a wilderness. Sacrifice had been so stressed as to become the expected.
From earliest childhood the seriousness of this business of living was emphasized. Records exist of the entrance of boys into the Boston Latin School at ages as low as six and one-half years. Listen to a little girl of eight-
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eenth century Massachusetts reciting verses she had com- mitted to memory :-
"Youth, I am come to fetch thy breath And carry thee to shades of death.
No pity on thee can I show,
Thou hast thy God offended so.
Thy soul and body I'll divide,
Thy body in the grave I'll hide,
And thy dear soul in hell must lie With devils to eternity."
MEN OF 1775
While little tongues had been mastering such sentiments for generations, hearts, little and big, were rebelling. Massa- chusetts people were feeling the urge of an independence from every kind and form of autocracy, whether political, moral or religious. The roofs of New England churches were resounding with thunders of the clergy against acting of plays, dancing and "modern tendencies of unrighteous- ness in actions of the people." Nevertheless, the straight puritan was becoming less strait; a new freedom was taking foothold in the social life of 1775.
These builders of a nation were workers. Reports from visitors to Boston and other seaport cities of Massachusetts revealed that the men of that day were tall and erect, rather slim and somewhat pale; but strong and muscular, deadly with the gun. Brutally direct in their treatment of each other, yet warm-hearted were they to all in distress. They loved vehemently; the widower's conscience was clear to love another a few weeks or months after separation from a wife by death.
Many references are found to premature old age among the men of this period. A short life was encouraged by severe exposures, lack of mental exhileration by means of literature or plays; and by the procedure common through- out most of the colonies of treating boys as adults at about the age when we are thinking of putting them into high school. An example is the father who wrote his son a stern letter when the boy had reached the age of
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nine, assuring him that hereafter in all their dealings to- gether the lad was to be treated as a man. This over- stimulation of the mind and early assumption of the burdens of adulthood exerted a decided influence on the span of life of Massachusetts manhood. According to the scanty vital statistics available, few men lived beyond the age of fifty years and scarcely any over seventy years.
HOUSES AND FURNITURE
Houses of this period, in the city, were most frequently of brick, decorated with wood; in the towns, hewn and sawed lumber was used. Walls were divided into com- partments by panels, many with paintings. Much of the fascination of the architecture of these old homes was due to the heavy cornices, designed and built with true art. Wall papers were delightfully artistic and scenic, made with painstaking care. Floors were squared with red cedar or pine, and in the center of many were inlaid designs of endless variety. Compartments were provided for silver plate, valuables and what few books were obtainable.
Furniture was mostly simple, but of carefully chosen wood. On some of the floors, carpets or printed cloths were laid; on others fine sand sprinkled was the only covering. Chairs were straight and highbacked and beds were of the four-poster variety, highly decorated in many cases, with hangings of exquisite homemade draperies. In the homes of many of the richer men, such as that of Hancock, the furnishings would be considered luxurious today. In some matters of furnishing, particularly materials and handwork, the twentieth century must bow to the eighteenth.
DRESS
In their ordinary routine of life the dress of men of that period appears to have been simple, but neat; what- ever extra pains were taken to gain favor in the eyes of the dames was laid out in decoration rather than in material. Some of the most amusing incidents in colonial history surround the arguments between affianced couples as to whether the groom-to-be might wear the periwig, go bald or have his remaining hair cut to a certain fashion.
Special days came along, such as the meetings of the
SHORT
INTRODUCTION TO THE
LATIN TONGUE:
For the Use of the
LOWER FORMS in the LATIN SCHOOL,
BEING THE
ACCIDENGE,
Abridged and compiled in that mot cafy and accu- rate Method, wherein the famous Mi. EZERIEE CHEEVER taught, and which he found the mot advantageous by Seventy Years Experience.
To which is added,
ACATALOGUE of Irregulat NouNs, and VERBS, difpoled Alphabetically.
The SIXTEENTH EDITION.
BOSTON!
Printed for, and Sold by HENRY KNOX Gn Corn-hill. MDccLxxIEL.
From original Courtesy Harvard College Library
PAGE FROM SCHOOL BOOK
From the Massachusetts Magazine
Courtesy of Harvard College Library
HANCOCK HOUSE, BOSTON
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DRESS
provincial government, and then "pomp was general among the men of towns." We may picture John Hancock as he appeared in state: four servants on foot alongside in superb livery; four horses drawing his palatial carriage; at the sides and rear fifty horsemen with drawn sabres, or sometimes half the escort ahead and half behind.
George Whitefield, after visiting in Boston in 1742, wrote home to England, mincing no words in his comments on the dress of the times in Massachusetts as associated with the coolness of the people towards things religious : "Jewels, patches and gay apparel are commonly worn by the female sex, and even the common people I observe dressed up in the pride of life. And the little things that were brought to baptism were wrapped up in such fine things, and so much pains taken to dress them, that one would think they were brought thither to be initiated into rather than renounce, the vanities of this wicked world."
The ladies of these Revolutionary days were beyond a question attractively attired, even to the eyes of a modern connoisseur. Extreme simplicity was shown in apparel at their own firesides, but on the rare occasions of festivity, the dresses were ornate and conceded to have been beautiful.
Let us picture three ladies of means as they enter a social gathering. One wears a dress of brown satin, sleeves ruffled at the elbows, a lace shawl, and on her neck a pearl necklace; the skirt of the pannier type with pocket-hoops on each side at the hips, and on her head a small, lace cap. Upon the second, a somewhat older dame, we find a brown, brocaded damask, with a dark green coat; the dress cut square in the neck, a muslin handkerchief over the shoulders, embroidered muslin sleeves, a cap of the same material, and a pearl necklace. The third, a striking colonial lady, perhaps radiantly at- tired for her third husband, in a white satin dress with train of purple velvet, edged with gold.
Opportunities for special show of dress were so infre- quent that many times we find the ladies bitterly reproached for unbecoming pomp at church services; but a later cen- tury will certainly not begrudge these conscientious, sedate women the taste of this bit of worldliness, even though on a Puritan Sabbath. We may well wonder, however,
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at the hours of preparation necessary for dressing in those days, with countless draperies to arrange, not to speak of hair that must be raised on cushions to a great height, often powdered. It was a case of dignity rather than comfort.
MARRIAGE
As maturity was reached, wedlock was the expected thing, even if it was necessary to use the acknowledged powers of advertising to accomplish that end. In the Boston Evening Post, of February 23, 1759, we find the follow- ing remarkable notice:
"Any young lady between the age of eighteen and twenty- three, of a middling stature, brown hair, regular features and a lively, Brisk Eye; of Good Morals and not Tinctured with anything that may Sully so Distinguished a Form, possessed of 3 or 400 pounds entirely her own Disposal; and where there will be no necessity of going Through the tiresome Talk of addressing parents or Guardians for their consent: Such a one by Leaving a Line directed for A. W. at the British Coffee House on King Street ap- pointing where an Interview may be had will meet with a person who flatters himself he shall not be thought Dis- agreeable by any Lady answering the above description. N.B. Profound Secrecy will be observed. No Trifling Answers will be regarded."
Married women and widows made up most of the adult female population. An unmarried woman at twenty-five years of age was an "antient maid." Some courtships, especially of widows, lasted but a few days. Business details in regard to marriage were most carefully con- sidered, especially in cases where the bride was much younger than the groom, which was most common. Ar- rangements as to returns of dowers in the event of death and stipulations for the transfers of estates were often put into writing before the ceremony could be performed. "Smock" marriages were not uncommon, based on a pe- culiar legend that if a bride were married on the King's highway without other clothing, all debts were cleared. Such marriages were generally performed in the evening, and later in closets to avoid embarrassment.
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CHILDREN
Children of Massachusetts during the Revolutionary period passed through a hard struggle for existence, especially during their earlier years. The death rate of infants was tragically high, owing to general ignorance regarding medical and sanitary science. Much of the medical treatment was pure quackery. To make matters dangerous from the very beginning, baptism of the infant was required within three days of its birth, regardless of weather conditions. Many the babe opened his eyes in those days to catch just a glimpse of the New England sun, then a chill, a prayer and a return to his Maker. Rickets was common through- out the colonies,-treated generally by an extract from snails. Some of the children wore necklaces of amber or wolf's fangs to ward off disease; roses, licorice and vipers were resorted to as a basis for some popular medi- cines. Naturally, children who survived this Spartan test were strong and ready for the rugged life of the day.
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