The William Heysham Line of Philadelphia

Arthur was a merchant ship captain and privateer. As the captain of the privateer REVENGE he captured the French brigantine OVER WINDER in April 1747. REVENGE was next captained by Alexander Troup, see below - from "Privateering in King Georges' War, 1739-1748" by Howard M. Chapin. Helme was also captain of the privateers POLLY and PEARL (or PERLL). At least one source calls him a "piratical privateersman," and "a notorious offender against the Spaniards." In October 1779, during the Revolutionary War, Arthur was hired to command the MINERVA, a schooner of twelve guns as a privateer. He cruised off the Capes of Virginia, though unsuccessfully - from "The Life and Times of Stephen Girard, Mariner and Merchant" Volume 1, by John Back McMaster, 1918.

I haven't yet found anything on Arthur's sons William and George, but Benjamin Helme became a New York City lawyer. In addition to a number of wills to which he was a witness, in 1757 he was a signatory to a New York City bond which bound him along with Isaac DePeyster, the colonial treasurer, his father, Abraham DePeyster, and Augutus [Van] Cortland to its payment. Benjamin became a supporter of the Revolution and on 7 November 1775 he was elected as a Deputy to the Provincial Congress. He was also a member of the Committee of One Hundred which acted as an Executive committee of the Provincial Congress. He was listed amongst those patriots who were forced to flee the city when General Howe captured it in September 1776. See Passaic's Victory Day for an account of his meeting with General George Washington.

The only other information on the family in American I have been able to uncover is an Arthur Helme Roorbach, a Hudson river steamboat captain born in 1775 in New York City, who I suspect is the offspring of Francis or Jane Helme, Arthur Helme's daughters.

New York, or New Amsterdam as it was then called, was originally a Dutch colony under the control of the Dutch West India Company, but by 1664 as many as half of the residents were not Dutch, the second largest group being the English. They came for religious freedom, better farmland, or to trade because New Amsterdam was such a rich port.

The word Yankee, according to H.L. Mencken, originated in the Dutch of New York, deriving from Jan - kees, meaning John Cheese, which had been a Hollander nickname in Flanders and Germany. The English used it to identify Dutch freebooters and in this sense it became familiar in New York. The New York Dutch applied it to the English settlers in Connecticut, who were regarded at the time as putting business ahead of morals. As time went on, the term was in general use to designate a disliked neighbor to the north.

England coveted the Dutch colony. Not only was it a rich prize in itself, and in possession of England's chief trading opponent, but it separated the two English colonies in Massachusetts Bay and Virginia. In 1664 England sent a powerful fleet into New Amsterdam and seized the colony. The pragmatic Dutch gave up without a shot being fired. Note the star shaped fort at the southern end of the island. This was Fort Amsterdam, the orginal Dutch fortification. The fort was renamed several times by the English; as Fort James, Fort William, Fort Anne and Fort George, honoring different monarchs.

The British built up the wharves on the eastern side of the island, expanded the shoreline and achieved what the Dutch had not been able to do, turn the city into a highly profitable port of trade.

By 1750 New York City was a busy port containing some twelve thousand residents and more than five hundred vessels, great and small. However, it was a great deal smaller than it is today, and only the third largest city in the colonies, after Philadelphia and Boston. Everything north of what is now the City Hall area was forest and outside city limits. The northern end of the town was defended by a wooden wall. It had blockhouses on the shore corners and bastions along the wall. This defensive line became a paved lane called Wall street when the British dismantled the wall in 1699. In the same year a new City Hall was built where Broad street ended at Wall Street, across from the Trinity church.

Broadway was the major thoroughfare, passing by the old Dutch fort. Broad street, the next major road, had originally had a canal down its middle to allow cargo to be brought further into the city. The British filled this in 1676 creating an especially wide street, earning it its name.

This is a port city located on the north side of the Tyne river, in Yorkshire. The view below was engraved in 1745. Newcastle is the regional capital of northeast England. The oldest part of Newcastle is the Quayside, which was until the nineteenth century, the commercial hub of all Tyneside. Most historical of the buildings in this area of the town are the keep of the Norman castle and the adjacent fourteenth century church of St Nicholas with its famous lantern tower. Until the onset of Victorian developments these two buildings were the two most prominent buildings in the townscape of Newcastle upon Tyne. The city came to prominence in the nineteenth century as the shipping point for the coal industry of northern England. The phrase, "shipping coals to Newcastle," identifies a useless task. By the way, the term 'sea coal' refers to coal delivered by ship, that is, from England.

The Family originated in Scotland and were settled in New York by at least 1703 when (19) John Troup, a perriwig maker, was made a freeman of the city. He had three sons, John, Robert and Alexander.

Originally a barber, like his father. In 1750 he was at Hanover Square in the hardware business. During the French War he was the agent of Robert Troup, his brother, who was "a famous privateersman." He died at Jamaica, Long Island, on 21 February 1775, aged 70 years. He was a member of the St. Andrews Society of New York City, a charitable origination that aided poor Scotsmen. Archibald Kennedy, below, was also a member. Confusingly, there is also a Captain John Troup, R.N., but he apparently was not related to this family.

John appears to have been a close friend of Thomas Truxton Sr. and the guardian of his son, Thomas Truxton Jr., who was later to become one of America's great frigate Captains. A copy of the will of Thomas Truxton Sr., of Jamaica, Long Island, dated 18 November 1761, proved 18 October 1765, and reprobated 17 April 1776 reads:

"In the name of God, Amen. I, Thomas Truxton, of Jamaica, in Queens County, Gent., "being of perfect and sound mind, Blessed be God for his mercies, but being bound out on a voyage to parts remote beyond the Seas, and knowing the Dangers and perils, as well thereof as of the Enemies, and also the uncertainty of Life." "I leave to my son, Thomas Truxton, born of the body of my late most valuable, dear and affectionate wife, Sarah Truxton," "all my estate in this province, in cash, bonds, plate, etc. If he dies under age, I give all his estate to my two sisters, Sarah Frances and Elizabeth Truxton. As to the estate to which I may be entitled in the Island of Jamaica, West Indies, or in England or elsewhere, I leave to my said son 1/2 (except such sums as may be due from Hon. Philip Pinnock, Esq., which I give to my two daughters). I make my esteemed friend, Mr. John Troup, of Jamaica, Queens County, executor."

Of Hanover, New Jersey. He commanded the brig HESTER [or ROYAL HESTER], 16-guns, and gained a reputation during King George's War in the 1740's. He was known as the "chief of the privateersmen." He brought the news of Thomas Heysham's death back to New York City. He later commanded the privateer-brig STURDY BEGGAR, 26-guns, during the French & Indian Wars. He died in 1768 at the age of 61.

The executor of his father's will; he was active during the Revolution.

The youngest of four children, he inherited his father's independent ways and sided with the patriots in the Revolution. Robert Jr. was born in Hanover, New Jersey on 19 August 1757. He attended Kings College [the present Columbia University] where he was a close friend and room mate of Alexander Hamilton. He was a Colonel in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and aide to General Gates, while Hamilton was aide to General Washington. A lawyer, member of the New York state assembly, and judge of the U.S. District Court for New York from 1796 to 1798. He was also one of the great movers and original subscribers of the Erie Canal. In his later life he was a Land agent in western New York state, the agent for the Pulteney estate of Sir William Johnstone Pulteney, fifth Baronet and Member of Parliament. Well regarded as a kind and prudent manager, the town of Troupsberg in Steuben county was named for him. He died in New York City on 14 January 1832.

A merchant ship captain, he was master of the brigantine WILLIAM AND SARAH. As a privateer he commanded the brig REVENGE during King George's War. He had no sons.

The brig, like the HESTER, is a two-masted sailing ship where both masts are square rigged. The rear mast carries a gaff sail as well.

In nautical terms, the only vessel called a ship, like the ANTILOPE, is one that carries three masts with at least three square sails on all three masts.

The Gulf, or bay, of Honduras washes the shores of Guatemala, Belize (previoulsy known as the British Honduras) and Honduras in Central America.

Christopher Columbus established Spain's claim to Central America during his last voyage in 1502, when he sailed along its coast from the Gulf of Honduras, which he named, to Panama. While the Spanish colonized the whole area, the coastal regions, often referred to as the "Mosquito Coast," suffered from the depredations of pirates, who were endemic to the area, and from a concerted effort by the British to control trade in the region. The territory of British Honduras, now Belize, was originally part of the Spanish claim, but in the first half of the seventeenth century it was settled by English adventurers, mostly of the buccaneering type, without even a pretence of legal right. Later the English claimed possession by prescription, and, because of Spanish military inferiority, carried the claim. Spanish attacks on the colony continued until 1798 when the settlers won a decisive victory over the Spanish. The chief trade items were logwood, used to produce dye, and mahogany.

The jungles of Central America were breeding grounds for numerous diseases, including yellow fever and malaria. The incidence of such maladies across the Caribbean basin earned the area the title of the 'White Man's Graveyard.'

Thomas Heysham was probably trading for lumber in the region when he caught a "fever" and died.

He was born in about 1670 in Scotland and came to America in about 1700. He died in 1724 in New York City and was buried at the Trinity Church. He married Christine [Ludlow?]. Their children were: Francis (1700), who marred her cousin Gabriel Ludlow, Michael (1702), James (1703), George (1705), Christiana (1706-1784), who married Colonel Thomas DeKay of New York, Mary, and Thomas (1710).

In an inventory of 6 July 1724 pursuant to his death, Captain Duncan had owned two houses, rental properties on Little Queens Street, and a farm in East New Jersey. Listed in the inventory was a coat of arms and a brass-hilted sword.

He married Martha Ludlow, the sister of Gabriel Ludlow Jr. [see below]. His children included Frances Duncan (c1735) who married her cousin Gabriel G. Ludlow. His daughter Susan Duncan married William Wickham. The Wickham's were, generally, Loyalists. Parker Wickham, William's cousin, was banished and his estates in Long Island were confiscated at the end of the Revoltuion.

The executor of Thomas Heysham's will, he was a merchant of the city and slaveholder who lived on Broadway. His will was probated on 10 September 1760. He was clearly a prosperous man for he left 1000 pounds to his daughter, Arabella, and an equivalent sum to his son-in-law George Duncan Ludlow (1734), who had married his daughter, Frances (c1740). Thomas Duncan had no surviving sons. Thomas' sister, Frances (1700), married Gabriel Ludlow Jr. (c1700), a cousin.

James Tucker was born in about 1700 and settled in New York City where he first appears on record on the occasion of his marriage, on 31 July 1728, in the First Reformed Dutch Church of New York, to Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Cornelius and Jenneke (Paers) Woertendyke. Cornelius Woertendyke was a son of Jacob Woertendyke from the bowery (the country). He married Jenneke Paers of New York on 13 March 1709.

James Tucker resided on part of the Woertendyke estate near the present Elizabeth Street, named in honor of his wife. They had three sons, James, Thomas, and Robert. Robert graduated from King's college, now Columbia, in 1769 and became a physician. James Tucker died in 1759 (probably), a notice of his decease, with the names of his exectutors, appearing on 21 January 1760.

A long line of lawyers, all unimaginatively named James Emott, lived and prospered in New York City and its environs.

The first James Emott came to Elizabethtown, New Jersey from England in 1682. He was Secretary of the Province of New Jersey, Clerk of the Council in 1683, Deputy Secretary in 1684, and Captain-Lieutenant of a Foot Company at Perth Amboy on 11 December 1686. He married Mary Lawrence, the step-daughter of the first governor of New Jersey, Sir Philip Carteret. Moving to New York City in the 1690's, he was vestryman of the, then new, Trinity Church. He was most famously the counsel for the celebrated pirate, Captain Richard Kidd. He died in April 1713 in New York City leaving a widow with four sons and a fortune of £2,000. More than one person wondered how much of his fortune was based on Captain Kidd's loot.

This next item probably relates to this James Emott. In response to a vote to establish a public school system in New York in 1704, it was argued that the votes of Jews should not be counted, thereby reversing the outcome of the voting. James Emott, referred to as 'the leading New York attorney,' opened the hearing on behalf of the petitioners against the Jews. In an impassioned oration, he argued that it was an insult to a Christian commonwealth that the killers of Christ should exercise power, and that Jews should not have rights in New York that they did not have in England. Emott, in a landmark for American liberties, lost.

The James Emott who witnessed Thomas Heysham's will, and probably drafted it for him as his lawyer, styled himself a 'Gentleman Attorney at Law.' I think he meant that not only was he a cut above the usual as a lawyer, but that his clientele were as well. He was also the Notary Public of New York from January 1766 to 10 June 1768. He is less famous than either his father or his son, below.

His son, the third James Emott (1771-1850), was also a lawyer. He was a New York state legislator in 1804 and a leader of the Federalist party in Congress from 1809 to 1813, afterwards returning to the New York Assembly where he was the speaker. In his later years he was a judge of the second circuit court.

The fourth James Emott (1823-1884) also practiced law. He was elected the first mayor of Poughkeepsie, New York, was a justice of the New York Supreme court and judge of the court of appeals. In his later years he was a member of the Committee of Seventy that was instrumental in the overthrow of the Boss Tweed ring of Tammany Hall that had so corruptly run the city of New York.

New York City jail, known as the New Gaol, was built in 1759. The first city structure built specifically as a jail, it was completed on the northern fringes of the city, in an area known as the Commons. Most of the rooms in the three story structure housed lawbreakers, but a few rooms were set aside for debtors and paupers. It was located next door to the almshouse. Bridewell prison, to the west, was built in 1775, afterwhich the New Gaol became the debtors prison. By the time of the print to the left the structure had become the Hall of Records and gained a wooden top.

To protect the city from attacks out of the north a palisades had been built in 1745. It was a wall between ten and 14 feet tall made of cedar logs that were about ten inches in diameter and were set into a trench about three feet deep. The wall was placed just north of the gaol and almshouse. Wall street was just to the south.

Insolvent debtors were often imprisoned for failing to honor their debts. Early on debt was seen as a moral issue and the failure to honor a debt constituted a character flaw. This idea, however, began to change in the mid-1700's as commercial debt increased. The economic downturn following the Seven Years War (1754-1763) caused people to see debt as an economic issue often due to market forces outside the individual's control. Many came to see the debtors prisons as misconceived. Reformers complained that in the two major debtors' prisons, the New Gaol in New York City and Philadelphia's Prime Street Jail, respectable middle class businessmen and their families were often incarcerated with common criminals. Little substantive change was made, however, until after the American Revolution.

The Jauncey's were staunch supporters of the DeLancey party of New York in the pre-Revolutionary period and were Loyalists during the later conflict. Jauncey & Hoyt, importers, was their firm.

John and his brother, James, below, were the founders of this old New York merchant family. He was born in Bermuda, the younger son of a merchant family. He moved to New York City and first married Sarah Van Tienhoven. He became a merchant ship master in 1737. He commanded a privateer, LINCOLN, of 14-guns in 1743. That ship was lost, but he returned in a French prize, ANNUNCIATION, in 1746. He and John Lawrence, another New York merchant, owned the privateer, CHARMING SALLY, of 26-guns, in 1756. Another partner in this ship may have been George Harison, see below. John subsequently owned many privateers, including MARY ANN, another CHARMING SALLY, of 12-gusn, ROYAL HUNTER, SALLY, and POLLY. During this time and after he also captained merchant ships. He lived in Jamaica, Long Island. He married Margaret Heyder in 1764. He died in the winter of 1767/8. His children were John (1738), Joseph (1744), Cornelius, and Sarah.

He was born in 1738. He married Ellizabeth Hicks in 1761. He was also a privateer, arriving in New York in 1757 in charge of a prize brig. He later commanded the SALLY and PHILIP. He lived on Long Island, just south of Christopher Heysham. In 1765 a John Jauncey was a witness to the will of Catherine Heysham's son, William, so there may have been a long-standing friendship. John Jr. died at sea near Grand Cayman, in the Bahamas, in 1767.

He married Susannah, the daughter of Edward Nicholl, a New York merchant. Was Edward the brother of Richard Nichols, esq? If so, there's another connection to the Heysham family via Elizabeth Stollard, below. Joseph was the master of a trading vessel to the West Indies. He died in Charleston in 1779.

He was born in Bermuda and emigrated to New York with his brother, John. A Presbyterian. He became a merchant ship master in 1743. He commanded the CHARITY. He married Maria, the daughter of William Smith, sea captain. He then abandoned the sea and became a merchant. He fitted out many privateers in 1757 and 1758. He owned the OLIVER CROMWELL, John Nicholl commander, AMERICA, MARY ANNE, LORD HOWE, GOOD INTENT and CATY. A warden of the port of New York from 1758 to 1774. In 1765, during the Stamp Act crisis, he agreed to abide by the non-importation agreements. He was elected to the General Assembly in 1768, but was not seated until 1769. He served through 1775, when the Assembly was dissolved. He, James DeLancey and Jacob Walton generally directed affairs in the Assembly.

It was probably James Jauncey who initiated the act for the relief of Catherine Heysham, and probably at the instigation of her brother-in-law, Christopher.

In 1774 he was a member of the Committee of 51 that remonstrated against the arbitrary course of the British Parliament. He returned to England after the war where he died in 1790. His sons were William, James and John.

He never married. He built the Jauncey house which adjoined the Ludlow house on Broad street, so there was that affinity as well.

The second son of James. Master of the Rolls in 1774. He was a Loyalist during the Revolution. He died in 1777.

He would have been too young to be the witness to William Heysham's will. He died in 179-.

The Rapaljes were an old Dutch family of Walloon origin and were amongst the earliest settlers of New Amsterdam. The first European child born in New York state, in June 1625, was Sara Jores De Rapalje, daughter of Joris Janszen de Rapalje and Catalina Trico. At the time of Catherine's problems Stephen and Garrit [Garrett] Rapalje were merchants of New York City. Garrett was born on 31 May 1730. He was engaged in the importation of ironmongery and dry goods at his store oppostie the Fly Market.

A Michael Laurier, Cooper, was made a Freeman of New York City in July 1732. His daughter, Mary Lourier, married Thomas Cooper on 27 July 1761. His son, Edward Lourier, had a vault reserved for him in the New York church, circa 1768.

"In 1763 four blacks, "Lester, Caesar, Mingo and Isaac," fled from William Bull of New York City, who offered to pardon them if they returned." - from "Root and Branch: African Americans in New York and East Jersey, 1613-1863" by Graham Russell Hodges. William submitted a notice of four runaway slaves in the "New York Weekly Post-Boy" in October 1763. He was appointed Inspector of firewood for the "Slip Commonly Called pecks Slip" in 1769. - from "Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York, 1675-1776" by Herbert L Osgood, Austin Baxter Keep, and Charles Alexander Nelson. He received in pay 4 coppers per cord. He almost immediately quit the position. He was a witness to the will of William Corby, one of Elizabeth's witnesses, in 1782.

He was the Recorder of New York City and, in the Mayor's absence, presided over the Mayor's Court. A vestryman of Trinity church, as was James Emott.

He was the son of Robert Auchmuty, a lawyer of Boston, who emigrated from Scotland. Samuel's brother, Robert Jr., was a defense attorney during the Boston Massacre trial and co-counsel with future President John Adams. He was later a Judge of the Admiralty Court for New England. Samuel, left, was born in Boston and received his degree in divinity at Harvard in 1742. He became the rector of Trinity church, in New York, a Governor of Kings College, and was the Chaplain to "the Right Honorable William, Earl of Sterling." He married a Mrs. Tucker in 1749. The Reverend died in 1777.

Samuel had three daughters, Mary Juliana, Isabella and Jane, whom Elizabeth Tuder Stollard called her cousins. Samuel's three sons were Robert-Nichols, Robert-Harrison, a surgeon with the British Army, and Sir Samuel Auchmuty (1756-1822), GCB. The latter was a loyalist who fought with the British during the American Revolution. Young Samuel received a commission in the 45th Foot and went to England with his regiment after the war. He served with distinction in India, Eqypt, Argentina, Java, and Ireland. He retired as a Lietuenant General.

These were daughters of Richard Nicholls [Nichols], esq., whom Elizabeth Tuder Stollard also called her cousins. Jane married George Harrison, Esq., surveyor of customs. Mary married the Reverend Samuel Auchmuty. Another daughter, Elizabeth, married Alexander Colden, of Flushing, Surveyor-General and the son of Cadwallader Colden, Governor of New York in the 1760's. A fourth daughter, Susannah, married John Burges and, upon his death, Dr. Peter Middleton, governor of King's college.

Did Richard have a niece, Susannah? Susannah, the daughter of Edward Nicholl, married Joseph Jauncey. Note the Jauncey connections above.

Richard Nichols, gent. was the Coroner in the government of John Montgomerie, 1728-1731, and held the position until at least 1746. He was also for a period the Deputy Clerk, a post he resigned in 1747. In about 1731, in the first financial advertisement ever in New York, "Richard Nicholls Attorney at Law, near the Fort in New York" offered to negotiate the sale of land and properties. "Richard Nicholls, who was the first broker in New York, was of a good Welsh family, and was an attorney here for sixty years, and for many years postmaster." - from "Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Family History of New York" by William S Pelletreau. Richard Nichols, esq., Postmaster was mentioned in the correspondence of Rev. Auchmuty. He lived on Broadway, just below Wall street. He died in 1775. I don't think he was in any wasy connected with Colonel Richard Nicholls (1624-1672), the Governor of New York and New Jersey in the 17th century.

He married Ann Emett. In 1776 William was one of 547 Loyalists of New York who pledged their loyalty to the King and requested that martial law in the city be suspended. This implies that he was of the middling rank I would think. This petition was addressed to General Howe and Admiral Howe, the King's Commissioners for Restoring Peace in the colonies. William Corby made his will in 1782 and it was proved in November of that year. His witnesses included William Bull. His executors included his "good friends, Richard Jenkins and Jasper Ruckel, bakers." This, contrarily, would imply that he was a "mechanic" or trademan.

A William Corby was Governor of the State in 1732, but I don't know if there was any relationship. He died in New York City in 1736.

Was this Michel or Michael?

New York City's first institution of higher learning, Kings College (now Columbia University), was founded in 1754 by a grant of King George II. In July of that year it commenced instruction of a class, consisting of ten students, in the vestry room of Trinity Church. While construction began in 1755, college buildings were not occupied until May 1760. It is the fifth oldest college in the United States and one of the eight Ivy League institutions.

A member, like Captain Troup and Archibald Kennedy, of the St. Andrews Society of New York City. Captain John Waddell came from Dover, in England, but was undoubtedly of Scottish origin. He was born on 21 October 1714. On 30 November 1736, he married Ann Kirton. On 14 October 1746, he became a Freeman of the City of New York under the designation of "Mariner." A correspondent with Thomas Wharton. He was one of the first subscribers to the New York Society Library, as was his wife and he was one of the original 33 members of the Masonic Society of the City of New York. He died on 29 May 1762. There are portraits of Captain Waddell and his wife in the New York Historical Society.

He achieved minor fame through his signature to Queen Anne’s acceptance of a surrender of governance by the proprietors of the colonies of East and West Jersey. This seems to have occurred in 1709, but was witnessed by John in 1747.

Another prominent family of New York, they were closely associated with the Duncans, above. The name Ludlow is derived from the town of Ludlow in Shropshire, England. They are an ancient family of English origin and there is a Ludlow Castle. Ludlow street in New York was named for this family.

He was born at Castle Cary, Somerset, on 2 November 1663, the son of Gabriel and Martha [Cary?] Ludlow of Warminster, Wiltshire. He came to the colony of New York in 1694 and became prominent in business and public life. He was an early merchant of New York City and in 1699 he was Clerk of the colonial assembly. He was an active churchman and vestryman of Trinity Episcopal Church.

He married Sarah Hanmer on 5 April 1697. She was the daughter of Reverend Hanmer, one of the first rectors of Trinity Church. They had twelve children, among whom were sons Gabriel Jr. and William.

His sons were George Duncan and Gabriel George. There appears to have been a sister, Martha, as well who married George Duncan.

He was born on Long Island, New York, in 1734. He married Francis Duncan, a daughter of Thomas Duncan. Thomas Duncan was the executor of Thomas Heysham's will and probably a guardian of William Heysham, Thomas Heysham's son. George studied law, and, notwithstanding a serious impediment of speech, became eminent as an advocate. Previous to the Revolution he exercised much influence in the colony, and was councillor and a judge of the supreme court in 1769. His mansion at Hempstead Plain, later called Hyde Park, was one of the largest houses on Long Island. In 1778 he was made the Master of the Rolls and Superintendent of police on Long Island. Ludlow was a strong Loyalist, and the previous year his house at Hempstead had been plundered and it is said that he escaped imprisonment by climbing on the roof through the scuttle and hiding behind the chimney. After the Revolution he was compelled to leave the country. He was included in the New York Act of Attainder which seized and sold all of the assets of the Tories and his seat at Hyde Park and his other property were confiscated.

"Public Auction," read the newspaper advertisement, offering for sale at police headquarters in Jamaica, "a quantity of household furniture, consisting of mahogany tables and chairs, beds and bedsteads, a very elegant eight-day clock, glass, china, earthen and pewter ware, and some plate, with a variety of kitchen utensils."

The brother of George Duncan, he was born in New York City on 16 April 1736. He entered the military service of the crown at the beginning of the Revolution and was colonel and commandant of De Lancey's 3d battalion in 1782. At the close of the war his estate of 140 acres in Hyde Park was confiscated, and he was banished. He also moved to New Brunswick. He was a member of the first council of St. John, its first mayor, and on the organization of the court of vice-admiralty in 1787, although not a member of the bar, was appointed judge.

He was born on 21 April 1707. He married Mary Duncan, the daughter of Captain George Duncan. She was born on 14 February 1714 and died on 21 September 1799. Their children were James, Mary W., Sarah, Frances S., William, George, Cary, Gabriel William and Frances.

Of Jamaica, New York. He was born on 31 August 1736. An attorney.

3 January 1760. "License of Cary Ludlow to be Attorney at Law, the several Courts of Record in the Province." - from "The New York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin"

He was born on 18 June 1738.

He was born on 11 August 1742. From a listing of all those "Persons whose property was Confiscated in the Several Counties of Somerset, Hunterdon, Morris, and Sussex Counties of the State of New Jersey, for joining the Army of the King of Great Britain &c. as returned to the Auditors Office, previous to the first day of May 1787:"

Morris County
William Ludlow
George Ludlow

The De Freest's were an old Dutch Family, members of the Reformed Dutch Church of New Amsterdam.

See above. A prominent lawyer and jurist. He was a cousin of Cary Ludlow.

A New York City merchant. His family were Hugenouts from La Rocelle, France. His father, Pierre, was born in New Rochelle, in Westchester county, in 1699, while Peter was born in New York City in 1740. At the time of William's will he was only 25 years old, so just starting out on his career. He was a loyalist and during the Revolution he became an agent for the English.

". . . the only character who ever alarmed Franklin himself, a man named Peter Allaire, . . .
. . . he led an adventurous life in international commerce. He purveyed wheat and rice to the French troops in Guiana, sold cannon and cloth in Morocco, traded on the Barbary Coast, in Span and Jamaica, and traveled to Russia more than once. Based in London since 1776, he shuttled freely and frequently between England and France, even after hostilities broke out . . . Allaire got in touch with Franklin quite early in 1777 and offered his services an an American agent in London . . . By May 22, 1778, Allaire's role as a shuttling intelligence agent seem established . . . " - from "My Life with Benjamin Franklin" by Claude-Ann Lopez

"a memorial of Peter Allaire, of New York, proposing to supply copper coins, was referred to the Board of Treasury to report." - from the Journals of the Continental Congress, 27 December 1785

". . . the time for caution on the frontier had ended. Writing from New York in August 1790, this spy argued that 5000 to 7000 men from the western country would join the British in a military venture to conquer Spanish Florida . . . "Take the Floridas" P.A. advised. "Open a free navigation of the Mississippi for the western inhabitants, and you bind that county and its inhabitants forever in spite of Congress, or all the world, for without the Mississippi, its fruitfulness is useless; a few frigates and 2000 men would retake it in three weeks . . . All dispatches sent by ‘P. Allaire' and ‘PA' came from Peter Allaire . . ." - from "The Whiskey Rebellion: Frontier Epilogue to the American Revolution" by Thomas Paul Slaughter

He was born in Bordentown, New Jersey. A merchant of great influence, his firm was John & William Imlay, importers. A Commissioner of the Peace for Burlington county, New Jersey in 1761 and a justice of the county in 1767. He was a member of the New York City Chamber of Commerce from 1769 to 1772, as were Garret Rapelje and James Jauncey (see above). A member of New York's "Social Club" that met at Fraunce's Tavern. Other members included John Jay, Gouverneur Morris, and Robert R. Livingston, patriots, and Daniel Ludlow, and George and William Ludlow, brothers, loyalists. William Imlay was listed as a loyalist, "at first, but doubtful after 1777." This club was broken up in 1775.

There was a William Imlay who was amongst those Quakers rounded up in 1777 and sent to Virginia as people of questionable loyalty.

"Resolved, That William Imlay, said to be a subject of the State of New York, having behaved in like manner as the persons above mentioned, and in particular declined to give assurance of allegiance to the State of New York, be removed and secured with the rest." - from "Exiles in Virginia: With Observations on the Conduct of the Society of Friends During the..." by Thomas Gilpin

A patriot nevertheless, William was appointed by Washington as Commissioner of Loans. He held this office from at least 1781 until his death. Also Commissioner for the Connecticut Loan Office. His signature is on numerous loans and bonds, some of which were co-signed by Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He died in Hartford, Connecticut.

In the autumn of 1776 the Congress opened loan offices in the several States and authorized a lottery to raise money "for defraying the expenses of the next campaign." The prizes of the lottery were made payable in loan-office certificates. This scheme was abandoned, but the Loan Offices continued to operate, issuing loan certificates and bonds to defray the cost of the war.

A New York merchant, circa 1750. A John Richards had a "genteel plantation" on the Passaic river, in Bergen county, New Jersey in an area called New Barbados Neck, now Rutherford. A Loyalist, he removed to New York during the Revolution. He was shot and killed while on a pass through the American lines to visit his farm.

The Jauncey family were one of the wealthiest in New York City. This was probably John Jauncey Jr., who was about William's age. He died at sea off Grand Cayman, the Bahamas in 1767. See the entry above.

The Morris family was also very wealthy. Richard was born in 1730, the brother of Gouverneur Morris. He was a judge of the Admiralty Court and was appointed Chief Justice of the New York State Supreme Court in 1779 despite his lack of ardor for the Revolutionary cause.

Richard left England after serving in Oliver Cromwell’s army, became a merchant in Barbados, and emigrated to New York City when it was known, under the Dutch, as New Amsterdam. He purchased a tract of land in what is now the Bronx, which, along with other real estate, descended to his son, Lewis Morris. The New York estate was erected into a manor, called Morrisania, in 1697. Richard died in 1672.

He was born in 1671 and died in 1746. An early leader of New York’s “Country” party and doughty champion of the popular cause in the colonial assemblies of New York and New Jersey against the “Court” party centered in the Governor’s Council aligned with a string of supposedly corrupt and power-grabbing governors. Shown at right.

Lewis Sr.’s eldest son, was born in 1698 and died in 1762. He was the second lord of the manor and became judge of the high court of Admiralty.

Lewis Jr.'s brother, he was born circa 1700 and died in 1764. He was appointed Chief Justice of New Jersey in 1738 by his father and later became Governor of Pennsylvania in 1754. Protests from the western counties over his administration of frontier defenses resulted in his resignation in 1756.

At left, he was the third and last lord of the manor. He was born in 1726 and died in 1798. He signed the Declaration of Independence.

At right, the half-brother of Lewis Morris III, was born in Morrisania in 1752. Probably the most distinguished member of the family. He attended King's College (later Columbia College and University) in New York City, graduating in 1768 at the age of 16. Three years later, after reading law in the city, he gained admission to the bar. When the Revolution came he was a patriot, despite misgivings about the possibility of mob rule. He was a member of the Continental Congress and a close friend of George Washington. He later worked with Robert Morris, the chief merchant of Philadelphia and Superintendent of Finance for the United States, to whom he was unrelated. He was one of the leading figures of the Constitutional Convention. He was Minister to France, replacing Thomas Jefferson, and later elected to the Senate.

At left, he witnessed William Heysham's will. The brother of Gouverneur & Lewis Morris, he was born in 1730 and died in 1810. He was born in Morrisania, and was a judge of the Admiralty Court, like his father. He was appointed Chief Justice of the New York State Supreme Court in 1779 despite his lack of ardor for the Revolutionary cause. Morrisania was annexed to the city of New York as part of the Bronx in 1874.

The son of Richard Morris, he was born in 1760 and died in 1825. He was born in Scarsdale, New York and saw active service during the early part of the Revolution. He was Assistant to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs from 1781 to 1783. He established a manor at Springfield, Veront, was active in Vermont politics, and served as Representative in the U.S. Congress from 1797 to 1803.

This area was settled by the Dutch and named for a flower that grew there in profusion, the yellow celandine. The Dutch called the flower a gouwe and the settlement Gouwenberg. The English renamed it Golden Hill. Eventually it was absorbed by the city. The area is on the east side of Lower Manhattan, basically John Street east of William Street. This area is four blocks north of Wall street. All that remains today is the narrow Gold street.

This was the site in 1770 of the first blood shed in the American Revolution. A mob, trying to prevent British soldiers from tearing down a “liberty pole,” attacked the soldiers, leaving many wounded.

The Pemberton's were a prominent Quaker family.

He had arrived in Pennsylvania in 1682. He became William Penn's chief administrator in Bucks County. He was the Clerk of all Courts, Registrar of Wills, Receiver of the Proprietary Quit Rents, Surveryor General, and Master of the Rolls. He also served three terms in the Provincial Council, four terms in the General Assembly, was President of the Assembly, and Presiding Officer of the Yearly Meeting of Friends in Philadelphia.

His son (1684-1754) was an extremely successful merchant and leader of Philadelphia. Like his father he was president of the Legislature and Presiding Officer of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends. He was dubbed 'King of the Quakers.' During the French and Indian War he led negotiations that led to peace with the Eastern Delaware on the Pennsylvania frontier in 1758.

Israel's sons, Israel Pemberton Jr., James Pemberton and John Pemberton carried on in Phineas' and Israel's footsteps and played prominent roles in Philadelphia. Israel Jr. and James were among the merchants who were negotiating with the liberal members of Parliament associated with Edmund Burke, trying to preserve peace and head off the American Revolution in the period 1770-1775. When the time for revolution came Israel Pemberton Jr. (1715-1779) was a patriot and printed a remonstrance demanding freedom for the people. Many of Israel's letters are available, mainly dealing with the question of peacedul relations with the Indians, but none dealing with Giles Heysham.

The largest of the two-masted ships in the 18th century, the Snow was known for being 'extremely convenient for navigation' (Culver 1935: 235). The sails and rigging on its two masts are similar to those of the main and fore-masts of a ship-rigged (three-masted) vessel. However, unlike a Brig, a third, smaller mast was stepped onto the deck and held a trysail (similar to a mizzen sail on a ship-rigged vessel). The Snow was very similar in rigging to the Brig, and some vessels (known as hermaphrodites) could be changed from Brig to Snow and vice-versa with minor modifications.

Captain Nicholas Garrison (1701-1781) was the captain of the Snow IRENE. He was born on Staten Island, New York. He shipped many Moravians [German Mennonites] to New York and Pennsylvania. See The Moravian ship Irene for more details about the Captain and his ship.

Captain Robert Pickeman was the captain of the passenger ship AURORA. He shipped many Paltinates to America.

Captain John Lickley was the captain of the LEATHLEY. He operated on the Hamburg to Philadelphia route in 1753.

He was born in 1719 in Flushing, Long Island, in New York. A mariner, he was a founding member of the Marine Society of New York in 1770. This was a benevolent society founded for the purpose of improving maritime knowledge and for relieving indigent and distressed masters of vessels, and the wives and orphan children of deceased mariners. James Jauncey, Esq., was also a founding member. This organization is still in existence. During the Revolution Augustine, along with Samuel Tuder, was in charge of the construction, in Poughkeepsie, of two of the thirteen frigates authorized by the Continental Congress.

From the Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789, Volume 5, August 16 1776-December 31 1776, to Augustine Lawrence and Samuel Tuder:

Gentlemen.
Philadelphia, 21st October, 1776

Your letter of the 7th inst. advising that the ships Congress and Montgomery were nearly ready for launching, was received. You will observe the above names are now to be given to those ships. We are, at this distance, at a loss to direct their destination. The marine committee have therefore wrote to the Convention for the State of New-York, now at the Fishkills, requesting that they would give you proper directions relative to the launching and otherwise disposing of those ships with their stores, so as to preserve them in the best manner you can from being destroyed. You are therefore to correspond with the said Convention for that purpose.

Your humble servants,

Fra. Lewis
Phil. Livingston

CONGRESS was a 28 gun frigate. Launched in 1776 and destroyed in 1777. The second ship of this name, it was a sailing frigate built by Lancaster Burling at Poughkeepsie, New York, under authority of an act of the Second Continental Congress, dated 13 December 1775. One of the first 13 ships authorized to be built by the new government, she was placed under the command of Captain Thomas Grenell [or Grinnell] in the summer of 1776. Before her outfitting was completed, the British occupied the approaches to the Hudson River and extended their control of the environs throughout 1777. The infant Continental Navy suffered the destruction of CONGRESS in October 1777 to prevent her seizure by the enemy.

MONTGOMERY was a 24 gun frigate. Launched in 1776 and destroyed in 1777. She was placed under the command of Captain John Hodge.

From Sir Henry Clinton's Raid up the Hudson River, October 1777; upon the taking of the forts on the Hudson on 6 October 1777:

"About 10 oClock at Night the Rebels set fire to their two Ships, Montgomery and Congress, some Gallies and other armed Vessels with their Cannon Stores &ca in them."

Augustine died on 5 April 1794 New York City.

Originally a merchant and colonel in the York county, Massachusetts militia. In 1745 he led a highly successful expedition against Louisbourg, a French fortress at Cape Breton. He was created a Baronet for his success. The only native of America who, down to this day, has been raised to an hereditary English title. He died before the Revolutionary War.

Trinity Church, an Episcopal parish that once owned a large part of lower western Manhattan, is one of New York City's oldest institutions, being founded in 1646. It's charter was issued in the name of King William III in response to the Anglican colonists' eagerness to build a church to call their own. The Church was to function in accordance with the Church of England and an annual rent of one peppercorne was required to the crown.

The wealth of the parish derived from a land grant bestowed by Queen Anne in 1705. The first church was destroyed in 1776 by a massive fire, an engraving of the ruins is to the right, stemming from an American Revolution battle. A second church was built anew in 1790, but like its predecessor, it did not stay standing long. Heavy snows from the harsh winters of 1838-1839 weakened the church's structure and it was inevitably torn down. The third and last structure, built in 1846, is a Neo-Gothic masterpiece.

The De Peysters were French Huguenots who had sought asylym in the Netherlands when their religion was suppressed in France. They settled in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam in the 17th century and become wealthy merchants and prominent in the governance of the colony. Their family included mayors of the city, governors of the state and chief justices of the courts. They appear to have been allied, at least by marriage, with the Livingston family. James was born on 6 February 1726. I believe he married the daughter of Joseph Reade, a governor of King's College. He died on 27 July 1799 in Jamaica, Long Island. His daughter's portrait was painted by the artist Charles Willson Peale.

An Irishman from Derry, "in 1753 Folliot emigrated to New York City; two years later he formed a partnership with Archibald Cunningham of Derry; the firm, Cunningham & Folliot, prospered in the flaxseed and linen trades, as well as in smuggling." - from "Irish Immigrants in the Land of Canaan." Of Dock Street, New York City. Known as an "extensive importer." He had large land interests in northern New Jersey and Dutchess County, New York, and derived a substantial income from rents and from managing the estates of others. A founding member, in 1768, of the New York Chamber of Commerce. He was a member of the Friends of Liberty and Trade, an organization opposed to the Sons of Liberty that wanted both good relations with England and the preservation of liberty. In 1775 he was elected to the Committee of One Hundred and chosen a member of the Provincial Congress for the City and County of New York, but he declined to serve. He was a slave holder and sided with the Loyalist cause during the Revolution. His properties were confiscated and sold in 1784. He is famous for a journal he kept that has survived.