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LETTERS OF 
 
 JAMES MURRAY 
 
 LOYALIST 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 NINA MOORE TIFFANY 
 
 ASSISTED BY 
 
 SUSAN I. LESLEY 
 
 PRINTED: NOT PUBLISHED 
 BOSTON 
 
 1901 
 
COPYRIGHT 
 
 BY SUSAN I. LESLEY 
 
 I90I 
 
6& 
 
 TO ALL THE DESCENDANTS OF 
 JAMES MURRAY 
 
 
PEEFACE 
 
 Late in the year 1885 my uncle, James Murray 
 Robbins, died at Brush Hill, Milton, the last of 
 three generations of honorable men who had owned 
 or occupied the estate for many years. His wife, 
 Frances Mary Bobbins, was the daughter of Abiel 
 Harris, of Portsmouth, N. H. They lived together 
 most happily, from their marriage in 1834, till Mrs. 
 Robbins's death in 1870, which was a great grief to 
 him. But he continued to live on in the old home 
 with his kindest of sisters, making many friends 
 happy by his large hospitality. He was one of the 
 most companionable of men, delighting nieces, 
 nephews, and young friends with his stories of his 
 own adventures in youth, and his reading and com- 
 mentaries on what he read. His wife was one of the 
 early Abolitionists and a most earnest advocate of 
 Emancipation. She brought to the house all those 
 she loved best. For Garrison, my uncle had a great 
 reverence and admiration, and for Edmund Quincy, 
 Wendell Phillips, and Maria W. Chapman and her 
 sisters, a warm regard, and they soon became inti- 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 mate friends, in their devotion to a great cause. 
 My uncle had the warmest sympathy with these 
 friends, but he had not the ardent temperament of 
 his wife, and was, besides, a very hopeful man and 
 a thoughtful reader of both ancient and modern 
 history. And I think he felt in the trend of 
 events almost a certainty that slavery would be at 
 an end, before his own death, and he rejoiced un- 
 speakably that it was so. But I fear slavery would 
 not have ended had all men been as quiet and inert 
 as he was. 
 
 Soon after Mr. Robbins's death his executors put 
 into my hands a large box of letters and papers, 
 written either by or to his grandfather, James 
 Murray. They had lain many years untouched in 
 the garret at Brush Hill. Finding that several of the 
 descendants of my great-grandfather would like to 
 know more of him, I began to put the large collec- 
 tion of material in order for examination and selec- 
 tion. Before I had gone far in that work I was 
 compelled by ill health to abandon it. But after 
 a long time of seeking, I found a most competent 
 person in Mrs. Francis B. Tiffany, of St. Paul, Min- 
 nesota, to take it up and edit it. She has done her 
 work with great care, and I owe her heartiest thanks 
 for the results. Mrs. Tiffany's previous literary 
 work has qualified her pecuHarly to arrange these 
 
PREFACE vii 
 
 scattered and fragmentary materials^ and her con- 
 necting links and footnotes will do much to explain 
 the sequence of the letters, and sustain the interest 
 by giving them some semblance of a narrative. 
 
 The present volume contains only a small portion 
 of the letters which have come down to us through 
 the old Brush Hill garret. The task of selection 
 has not been an easy one. The editors had not 
 the privilege of choosing from a complete corre- 
 spondence and so making anything like a symmetri- 
 cal biographical memoir. Letters which must have 
 been written concerning the important events of 
 the Eevolutionary war have disappeared ; and nat- 
 urally many of those which have been preserved 
 were of temporary value and significance. The 
 fact that there are but few available documents 
 relating to the Colonial history of North Carolina 
 has led to the inclusion of a larger proportion of 
 the letters from that period of James Murray's life, 
 — not for their intrinsic interest, but as a contribu- 
 tion to the historical material of the time. 
 
 The original spelling of these letters has been 
 in most instances carefully reproduced. I remem- 
 ber that some years ago, two friends, gentlemen, 
 were looking over old papers, and one said : " The 
 speUing is so bad, I must think it a sign of illit- 
 eracy." " By no means/' said the other. " Those 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 writers happened to live in a period when orthogra- 
 phy was optionah" 
 
 The illustrations given have been collected from 
 various sources. The original Copley portrait of 
 James Murray is now in the possession of Mr. Frank 
 Lyman, but the frontispiece is from a photograph 
 of a copy made by Margaret L. Bush-Brown, which 
 gave a clearer impression and is more suitable for re- 
 production in photogravure. The portraits of Mrs. 
 Inman and Dorothy Forbes are from photographs 
 of the original Copleys now in the possession of the 
 Revere and Forbes families. I am indebted to my 
 friend, Mr. Bronson Murray, of New York, for the 
 portraits of James Murray's ancestors and of his 
 brother, Dr. John Murray. 
 
 A genealogical table is placed in the Appendix, 
 together with a number of miscellaneous docimients 
 which seemed relevant and appropriate to the pre- 
 sent collection. These consist of a sketch of the 
 Murray family, by Sarah Lydia Howe ; a short no- 
 tice of Robert Bennet (James Murray's maternal 
 grandfather), from Jeffrey's "History and Antiq- 
 uities of Roxburghshire ; " a notice of Dr. John 
 Murray, of Norwich; et letter from Mary Murray 
 concerning the death of her father, Dr. John Mur- 
 ray ; a short note concerning Dorothy Murray ; and 
 two bonds given by Mrs. Inman to her grand- 
 
PREFACE IX 
 
 nephews, John and Ralph Forbes. The original 
 bonds are now in the possession of Mr. Archibald 
 M. Howe, and seem most characteristic and illustra- 
 tive of her attractive personahty. 
 
 I take pleasure in including in the Appendix the 
 biographical sketch of my uncle James by our dear 
 Governor Wolcott, which he wrote for the Histori- 
 cal Society, and told me I might use either in 
 whole or in part, if I would have his permission 
 confirmed by the Society. This I had no difficulty 
 in doing a year before Governor Wolcott died. 
 
 I cannot close without warm thanks to my friend, 
 Miss Catharine I. Ireland, for many months of excel- 
 lent work at verification and selection, and to my 
 kinsman, Mr. Bronson Murray, for much sympathy 
 and valuable information ; and also to my cousin, 
 Archibald M. Howe, for his assistance. 
 
 SUSAN I. LESLEY. 
 Milton, October, 1901. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PA6B 
 
 I. ON THE SCOTTISH BORDER, 1713-1735 1 
 
 II. A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA, 
 
 1735-1763 20 
 
 m. BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY, 1749-1773 103 
 
 rv. A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON, 1765-1778 . 150 
 
 V. IN EXILE, 1770-1781 255 
 
 APPENDIX 291 
 
 INDEX 317 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Page 
 ^ James Murray Frontispiece 
 
 After the painting by Copley. 
 Sketch of Unthank 2 
 
 By Mrs. Cutting, a descendant of Dr. John Murray. 
 
 John Murray of Bowhill 8 
 
 John Murray of Philiphaugh 10 
 
 Facsimile of the document showing James Murray's 
 
 Reinstatement as a Member of the Council in 
 
 North Carolina 92 
 
 Dr. John Murray 102 
 
 From the painting by Samuel Lane in the possession of 
 
 Mr. John Marshall Guion of Seneca Falls, N. Y. 
 Dorothy Murray : Mrs. John Forbes 118 
 
 From the painting by Copley in the possession of the 
 
 Forbes Family. 
 The House at Brush Hill, Milton 120 
 
 From a drawing by Ellen S. Bulfinch. 
 Elizabeth Murray: Mrs. Inman 150 
 
 From the painting by Copley in the possession of the 
 
 Revere Family. 
 Facsimile of the Commission of James Murray as 
 
 Justice of the Peace in Massachusetts .... 158 
 
 The Inman House, Cambridge 180 
 
 Facsimile Letter 214 
 
 Elizabeth Murray : Mrs. Robbins 256 
 
 From the painting (about 1820) by Chester Harding. 
 
LETTERS OF 
 
 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 ON THE SCOTTISH BORDER 
 
 1713-1735 
 
 Among the farms of Roxburghshire, in the valley 
 of the Ewes, a valley which Dorothy Wordsworth 
 characterizes as "unknown to song/' but to her 
 " more interesting than Teviot itself/' is Unthank, 
 the birthplace and early home of James Murray. 
 Around it, as it Hes far up the long deep glen, rise 
 hills, some of them over two thousand feet high, 
 grassy below, feathery with heath at top, and 
 browsed over in the silence and remoteness by num- 
 berless sheep. A little ridge on the brae side is all 
 that is left now to show where once stood the house 
 leased by James Murray's father from the Duke of 
 Buccleuch. This ridge, deserted by all save the 
 lambkins which play about under the trees, is pro- 
 tected still by its group of " Scots firs," with reddish 
 brown bark and cone-laden branches, while at the 
 foot of the brae is a small lonely burying-ground 
 
2 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 inclosed by a low wall.^ For any sign of living 
 human presence one must to-day look to a dwelling- 
 house nearer the river's side, built perhaps at the 
 end of the eighteenth century, comfortable and 
 commodious, but not suggestive of the earlier time. 
 The road which runs past this house, following the 
 river and traversing the valley from end to end, 
 was once a traveled route from Harwich to Carhsle, 
 but is now almost deserted except by the shepherds 
 and the few inhabitants of the valley. Unthank 
 Burn, falling into the Ewes upon the east, still fur- 
 ther identifies the estate, which, to be more definite, 
 is three miles and a quarter below Mosspaul by 
 river and road, six miles above Langholm. 
 
 Yet while geographically Unthank is in Eox- 
 burghshire, ecclesiastically it is included in the 
 Dumfrieshire parish of Ewes ; and it is to the Ewes 
 parish register that we must look for the records of 
 the births of James's brothers and sisters.^ There, 
 
 1 For this description of Unthank we are indebted to a letter 
 written to Mrs. Lesley by Mr. Walter MacLeod. 
 
 2 Among James Murray's papers is the following memorandum : 
 The Births of the Children of John Murray of Unthank tennant born 
 4 Febry 1677 by Annie Bennet his wife born Novr 1694, married 
 the 29th day of April 1712. 
 
 1. James Murray, born Sunday, Angst 9th, 1713. 
 
 2. Archibald, born Friday, April 15th, 1715. 
 
 3. Barbara, born Sunday, Febry 3, 1717. 
 
 4. Anne, born Friday, Jany 23, 1719. 
 
 5. John, born Tuesday, Jany 18, 1721. 
 
 6. Andrew, born Jany 3, 1723. 
 
 7. William, born Wednesday, Apr. 10th 1724. 
 
 8. Elizabeth, bom Thursdy, July 7th, 1726. 
 
 9. Andrew, born Wednesdy, Apr. 10th, 1728. 
 

 
 ' t^^^\ . 
 
 '^^:^-Kir, 
 
 
ON THE SCOTTISH BORDER 3 
 
 too, the marriage of his father, John Murray of Un- 
 thank, to his cousin Anne Bennet, daughter of the 
 Laird of Chesters, is set down, though the more pic- 
 turesque announcement of marriage intentions, "pro 
 primo, pro secundo, pro tertio, is in the register of 
 the Bennet's parish of Ancrum. 
 
 The name of Murray is a famiHar one in Scottish 
 annals. First of the Murrays in our record ^ stands 
 
 1 Line of descent from Archibald de Moravia to John Murray of 
 Bowhill, taken from Burke's Landed Gentry ^ 7th ed., vol. ii. p. 
 1323. 
 
 Archibald de Moravia, mentioned in the chartulary of Newbottle, 
 1280. In 1296 subscribed the oath of fealty to Edward I., and d. 
 in the reign of Robert Bruce, leaving a son and successor, 
 
 Roger de Moravia, who obtained, 1321, from James Lord Douglas, 
 ... a charter, "Terrarum de Fala." . . . Roger d. 1330 [earlier 
 editions say 1380]. His great-grandson, 
 
 Patrick Murray of Falahill, acquiring land about Philiphaugh, had a 
 charter dated 20 Feb., 1477, . . . was s. by his son, 
 
 John Murray of Falahill, ... the celebrated "Outlaw Murray," 
 who . . . bid defiance to the King of Scotland, James IV. . . . 
 The Outlaw . . . was s. by his elder son, 
 
 James Murray of Falahill, who dying about . . . 1529, was s. by his 
 elder son, 
 
 Patrick Murray of Falahill, who obtained under the Great Seal a 
 charter, dated 28 Jan., 1528, " Terrarum de Philiphaugh," and had 
 the heritable sheriffship of Selkirkshire . . . confirmed and rati- 
 fied to himself and his heirs. . . . m. 1st, Margaret Fleming ; 
 2ndly, a dau. of Berth wick ; 3rdly, Elizabeth Ormiston, widow. 
 . . . d. 1580, leaving his grandson (the son of James the younger, 
 of Falahill) his heir. 
 
 Patrick Murray of Falahill, m. 1st, Agnes, dau. of Sir Andrew Mur- 
 ray of Black Barony ; and 2ndly, Marian, dau. of Sir Lewis Bel- 
 lendon. By his first wife he had . . . 
 
 Sir John Murray, Knt., of Philiphaugh [c?. 1640]. He m. 1st, Janet, 
 dau. of Sir William Scott of Ardross, and had by her . . . 
 
 Sir James Murray, knighted by Charles I., m. 1st, Anne, dau. of Sir 
 Lewis Craig of Riccartoun, and, dying before his father, left . . . 
 
 Sir John Murray (successor to his grandfather) . . . m. Ist, Anne, 
 
4 JAJSIES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 Archibald of Moravia, mentioned in the chartulary 
 of Newbottle (1280), and presumably of the Moray s, 
 Lords of Both well. He, by a marriage with a 
 dauo'hter of Sir David Olifard, came into consider- 
 able possessions in the County of Selkirk. In 1296 
 he swore fealty to Edward I., but he lived to see 
 Kobert Bruce king of Scotland. Archibald's son, 
 Roger, obtained, in 1321, from James Lord Doug- 
 las, superior of his lands, a charter, " Terrarum de 
 Fala." He resided at Falahill, and for many years 
 that estate furnished their chief title to his descend- 
 ants. Among these, coming down to the beginning 
 of the sixteenth century, was John Murray of Fala- 
 hill. 
 
 dau. of Sir Archibald Douglas of Cavers, . . . and had six sons 
 and four daughters : 1. James (Sir) his heir ; II. John, of Bowhill, 
 one of the Senators of the College of Justice ; III. William, a 
 colonel in the army ; I. Anne, m. 1st, Alexander Pringle of White- 
 bank, and 2ndly, Robert Rutherford of Rowland ; II. Janet ; III. 
 Rachel ; IV. Elizabeth. Sir John Murray m. 2ndly, Margaret, 
 dau. of Sir John Scott of Scotstarvit, and had by her an only 
 daughter, Jean, who d. young. He d. 1676. 
 With John Murray of Bowhill, second son of the above Sir John 
 Murray, begins the cadet branch of the family, leading to James 
 Murray, Loyalist. The descent is as follows : — 
 John Murray of Bowhill. 
 
 John Murray of Unthank. 
 
 J 
 
 James, Dr. John Barbara. Elizabeth. William. 
 
 " Loyalist.'* of Norwich. 
 The statement that John of Unthank was a son of John of Bow- 
 hill is in accordance with family tradition. It " is so stated," says 
 Mr. Bronson Murray, "in the tree made for my father (in 1842?) 
 by a member of the English family." 
 
 The genealogical table in the appendix, prepared by Mr. Archibald 
 M. Howe, contains additional information. 
 
ON THE SCOTTISH BORDER 5 
 
 It IS this John Murray of Falahill who especially 
 challenges attention as "The Outlaw." His is a 
 figure which looms up vague but heroic in the back- 
 ground of border history, and attains to immortality 
 in the ballad known as " The Sang of the Outlaw 
 Murray." Whether he is a definite Murray of the 
 time of James IV., or several Murrays merged in 
 one half-legendary being, is little to the purpose. 
 In history he may or may not have done all the 
 deeds attributed to him ; in minstrelsy he was a 
 man of gigantic stature, who " laid the country 
 lee " with his great club, maintained a proud state 
 in the isolation of the forest, scorning both court 
 and king, and defied the messengers of James when 
 they claimed the forest lands as possessions of the 
 crown, but yielded fealty at last, upon condition of 
 obtaining from the king the sheriffship of the lands 
 in Ettrick Forest.^ With the dwellers along Tweed 
 or Yarrow, poetry-loving folk whose border ballads 
 
 1 The lands of Ettrick Forest were part of the jointure of James's 
 queen. The High Sheriffship of Ettrick Forest or Selkirkshire was 
 not lost with the passing of the Outlaw. His grandson, Patrick 
 Murray of Falahill, who died in 1580, had the office confirmed to 
 himself and his heirs. It remained a Murray inheritance until the 
 time of the Sir John Murray, Knight, of Philiphaugh, who died in 
 1676. He, it seems, sold the inherited right to the king. Even 
 after that transaction, however, the office was bestowed on members 
 of the family, for in October, 1681, " the Council (Privy) found that 
 Philiphaugh (Sir James Murray, b. 1655) had malversed, and been 
 remiss in punishing conventicles, and therefore they simply deprived 
 him of his right of Sheriffship of Selkirk — it not being heritable, 
 but bought by King Charles from his father — and declared it was 
 devolved in the King's hands to give it to any other." Craig-Brown, 
 Hist, of Selkirkshire, vol. ii. p. 345. 
 
6 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 had turned their very rivers to poems and their 
 fields to history, merely to say Ettrick Forest was 
 to call out memories of a common nursery-lore and 
 common ancestry, and among these people the 
 " Sang of the Outlaw " was an especial favorite. 
 Professor Child, who gives it a place in his collection 
 of Enghsh and Scottish ballads, grants it indeed 
 scant praise. But Sir Walter Scott, who first came 
 across an incomplete version of it among the papers 
 of Mrs. Cockburn, and afterwards printed it with 
 additional stanzas collected from various sources and 
 inserted by him where he thought they properly 
 belonged, accords it high merit. 
 
 The roll of the Outlaw's lands falls imposingly 
 from his lips : — 
 
 " Fair Philiphaugh is mine by right, 
 And Lewinshope still mine shall be ; 
 Newark, Foulshiells, and Tinnies baith, 
 My bow and arrow purchased me. 
 
 "And I have native steads to me, 
 The Newark Lee and Hanginshaw ; 
 I have mony steads in the forest schaw, 
 But them by name I dinna knaw." 
 
 Philiphaugh, first in the Outlaw's roll, is, as Scott 
 portrays it, a plain about a mile and a half in length 
 and a quarter of a mile broad, surrounded on three 
 sides by hills, while its fourth side borders the Et- 
 trick River, just opposite the high bank of Selkirk. 
 The plain is famous as the battle-ground upon 
 
 ^ Scott made Newark Castle the scene where '* The Lay of the Last 
 Minstrel " is recited. Its ruins were just outside the park of Bowhill. 
 Scott, Poetical Works, Edin., 1833, vol. vi. p. 44. 
 
ON THE SCOTTISH BORDER 7 
 
 which the Covenanters cheeked Montrose, marching 
 to the aid of Charles I. A fatal spot it was for the 
 fortunes of the English monarch, and one which 
 is the subject of another ballad in " Scottish Min- 
 strelsy." Eventually Philiphaugh gave its name to 
 the more modern seat of the Murrays and to the 
 head o£ the family. Sir John Murray, who sat in 
 Parliament for the County of Selkirk in 1612, was 
 the first designated as " of Philiphaugh." James, 
 oldest son of this Philiphaugh, was knighted by 
 Charles I., and sacrificed one of his sons in the 
 service of the king. Sir James died before his 
 father, and the title and lands of Philiphaugh de- 
 scended in 1640 to his son, a second Sir John, who 
 was the father of six sons and five daughters. The 
 Murrays of Phihphaugh are traced quite down to 
 modern times by Burke in his " Landed Gentry." 
 But our interest leaves the main line and Phihp- 
 haugh with Su^ John's second son, John Murray of 
 Bowhill. This John Murray was the father of John 
 Murray of Unthank, born in 1677, who in turn was 
 the father of the James Murray whose letters are 
 printed here. 
 
 John Murray of Unthank is described by his sec- 
 ond son, Dr. John Murray of Norwich, as " a man 
 who, by a peculiar fortitude of mind, a steady reso- 
 lution, an unshaken virtue, an uncommon sagacity 
 and successful industry, not only surmounted every 
 difficulty, but endeared his name and raised his 
 credit in the neighborhood where he lived." At 
 Unthank he devoted himself to the care of his es- 
 
8 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 tate and to the education of his sons. Scattered at 
 longer or shorter distances from Unthank, through- 
 out the neighboring counties, were a score of Scot- 
 tish households whose inmates were directly related 
 to him or connected with him by marriage. Stew- 
 arts, Grahams, Pringles, Murray s, Bennets, Kerrs, 
 Scotts, and others had quarreled and married, 
 thriven and multiphed, until the population had be- 
 come one vast cousinship, bound together by that 
 clannish loyalty which, quite apart from pride of 
 name, is ineradicable in the Scots to the present 
 day. Chesters,^ an estate on the Teviot, six miles 
 from Ancrum, had for several generations been pos- 
 sessed by the Bennets, James Murray's maternal 
 ancestors. Robert Bennet, James Murray's great- 
 grandfather, had been a stanch Covenanter, perse- 
 cuted for twenty years or more for his Presbyteri- 
 anism. His history was one long tale of fines and 
 imprisonments, for no sooner was he at liberty than 
 he involved himself in fresh difficulties by attending 
 field conventicles, or by harboring the covenanting 
 preachers in his house. John Murray of Unthank, 
 on the other hand, was by inheritance an adherent 
 of the Established Church. 
 
 Born at Unthank, on Sunday, August 9, 1713, 
 James Murray passed the first fifteen years of his 
 life after the wholesome manner of Scottish lads, 
 porridge-fed, bare-legged, — he protested in after 
 
 1 Chesters was sold about the close of the eighteenth century by 
 the three sisters of Robert Bennet, the last of that name, to the 
 family of Ogilvie. 
 
JOHN MURRAY DF BOWHILL 
 
ON THE SCOTTISH BORDER 9 
 
 years against his grandson's wearing stockings, — 
 and straitly bred in hardihood and industry. He 
 idoHzed his father and took eagerly his instruction, 
 which was apparently all the book learning the boy 
 had. It included French and something of English 
 literature, sufficient Latin to furnish occasional re- 
 freshment and solace throughout the rest of his life, 
 and enough of mathematics to enable him to begin 
 a mercantile apprenticeship in London when thrown 
 out upon the world. With his mother's people at 
 Chesters, including his cousins Anne, Jean, Andrew, 
 Robert, and Barbara, he was intimate. A kindly 
 intercourse, also, was kept up between him and 
 the Philiphaugh cousins at Hangingshaw, of whom, 
 from one or two allusions in the letters, it appears 
 that his favorite was Mary, afterward married to Sir 
 Alexander Don of Newton. In February, 1728, 
 when the father was fifty-one years of age and the 
 son fifteen, John Murray died, leaving his widow 
 and four younger children, Barbara, John, William, 
 and EHzabeth, to the care of James. The httle 
 family remained at Unthank for four years more, 
 James supplying as well as he could the place of his 
 father, until, in 1732, the lease of the farm, as weU 
 as the personal property connected with the estate, 
 were taken off their hands by Robert Elliott and 
 Walter Scott. ^ Even then, Mrs. Murray and the 
 children remained at Unthank, but James, who was 
 by this time nineteen years of age, left them to be 
 
 1 Sir Walter's uncle, James Murray's cousin. His father and 
 James Murray's father married Bennet sisters. 
 
10 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 fitted for business. Through the influence of Sir 
 John Murray of Phihphaugh, who, acting with An- 
 drew Bennet, was one of Mrs. Murray's advisers, 
 he was apprenticed to WilHam Dunbar^ a merchant 
 of London, in the West India trade. In London 
 the lad was an inmate of Mr. Dunbar's family, and 
 for eighteen months after the apprenticeship was 
 over he remained with him. Of his earlier experi- 
 ences in business he wrote to his uncle, Sir John 
 Murray of Philiphaugh : — 
 
 (London, May 25, 1732.) " There is a ship just 
 come from Antigua of which my Master is husband, 
 and he has given me so much to manage it and to 
 show me the method." 
 
 (Dec. 12, 1732.) '' I have shipt by my mas- 
 ter's direction a parcell of coarse Dutch linnens 
 consigned to his correspondend* in Antigua, the 
 amount whereof will be about .£100." 
 
 And to his uncle, Andrew Bennet of Chesters : — 
 
 (Oct. 6, 1732.) "I send by the Unity, John 
 Finlason for Leith, ... a Hamper containing two 
 dozen of rum, one dozen of which (being part of 
 my first fruits in trade) must beg your acceptance 
 of, and please send half a dozen to my mother & 
 the other half dozen you may either present to 
 Baillie Jeardon on Johnny's acct or some little thing 
 instead of it & keep it. They call it good here & 
 say it only wants age." 
 
 Although separated from his mother and his bro- 
 thers and sisters, their affairs continued to receive 
 his anxious care. 
 
JOHN MURRAY OF PHILIPHAUGH 
 
ON THE SCOTTISH BORDER 11 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO ANDREW BENNET. 
 
 London, Aug'' 5th, 1732. 
 ^ Since my last of the 4*^ ult« I have had no occa- 
 sion to write you, and this serves to acquaint you 
 that I continue in health to like my business, etc. 
 
 I am very glad to find by a letter from my Mo- 
 ther that she enjoys health & is pleased with her 
 new way. I hope your advise and the children's 
 benefit will induce her to a town life next year; 
 but, be that as it will, the children must be quaHfied 
 for business, since it is by it that the lads in partic- 
 ular must earn their bread, & you are very sensible 
 that they had much better bestow what they have 
 upon the knowledge of some handsome Employment 
 than have the one and want the other. But both 
 is best, and I shall do my outmost to preserve them 
 their patrimoney intire to begin the world with. 
 Therefore I thought it not amiss to write you the 
 following proposal viz. 
 
 To continue Joliny at school since he likes his 
 book & is endowed with a tolerable good genius, I 
 am advised by very sufficient Judge ; that when he 
 has been two or three more years at School, if he 
 Inclines (& his friends think proper), to bind him 
 to a Surgeon apothecary in Edinb' for five years, 
 & when he has had further practice either in the 
 hospitals here or abroad he has a very good chance 
 of handsome bread almost anywhere in a genteel 
 way, and it does not require a stock to begin with. 
 But his own Avent cannot defray this charge. Nei- 
 ther do I suppose my Mother can easily afford him 
 
12 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 SO much. Therefore I propose to supply what his 
 own Avent comes short of keeping him at school 
 and during his apprenticeship, for which I hope mj 
 Mother will not think unreasonable to give her 
 Obligation to pay me whatever I lay out upon that 
 accot at her death, or else to defray the Charges of 
 their Education and take my Obligation at my death. 
 This proposal may perhaps look out of the way, but 
 sure I am it is made with no other Intent but as 
 the best and most equal way of serving the children 
 without prejudicing my Mother and with as little 
 harm to myself as in duty to them I can contrive, 
 and at the same time as much as my circumstances 
 can well admit of ; for God only knows how matters 
 may turn. . . . 
 
 I have got other 7 new ruffled shirts cost £4 & 
 a suit of clothes for Sundays cost £5, 10. The 
 former I have paid myself, the later my Master will 
 advance for me, and since I have a little money for 
 my pocket you need not remit me any until further 
 advice. 
 
 That article of cloaths will make me go beyond 
 my bounds this year, having all to provide and 
 obliged to go genteel. As for my pocket money, it 
 is but a trifle, for I keep little or no company, hav- 
 ing enough of business to divert me and no more. 
 
 To his sister Barbara, then just at the tempestuous 
 and headstrong age of sixteen, he wrote gentle bro- 
 therly letters, having indeed more sympathy than 
 blame for her not unnatural difficulties of tempera- 
 ment and temper. 
 
ON THE SCOTTISH BORDER 13 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO BARBARA MURRAY. 
 
 LoND° Octo' the 1st, 1733. 
 
 D° Sister Babie, — This comes with a set of 
 Spectators than which I could not think of anything 
 more useful as well as diverting for you, altho be- 
 fore you are perfectly acquaint with them you may 
 think otherwise. 
 
 I earnestly recommend them to your reading and 
 acceptance from your Lo Bro. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO BARBARA MURRAY. 
 
 London 18th Oct', 1734. 
 
 D^ Sister, — With my last to you about this 
 time 12 month I sent you a Sett of Spectators, and 
 with this you have a silver thimble, which tho' a trifle 
 in comparison with the other you must not slight, as 
 the tender of affection is the same in both, for I do 
 assure you I am and always shall be very anxious 
 about your welfare, & I think you are to blame for 
 not writing me ever since I have been here. How 
 you have been & how you [are] employed. 
 
 If you cannot write yourself, you might have got 
 somebody to write for you, tho' I would rather 
 have it of your own if it was the worse. Whatever 
 you do let me advise you to do it with humility, & 
 be ready to take advice of others, especially those 
 of more experience than yourself, for following one's 
 own will against reason, or in other words a perverse 
 obstinacy, generally ends in confusion. Be not fond 
 of appearing in finer cloaths than your fortune will 
 allow, but what are suitable to your station wear 
 
14 JAJMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 neat and clean. x\bove all the love of God & 
 religion without bigotry, and obliging behavior to 
 the world in general, & to our Parents, and other 
 relations & Masters in Part are to be required as 
 carrying with them present as well as future hap- 
 piness. ... I am with sincerity 
 
 Your very affec Bro'. 
 
 " Let me know," he wrote in April, 1733, to his 
 uncle, Chesters, " whether my Mother stays in Un- 
 thank or not. I am afraid (for all her seeming 
 pleased in her letters to me) that she has but very 
 indifferent accommodation there. I wish, if it is so 
 she could be better put up altho at more charge. 
 I would be very willing to contribute to that and 
 forwarding the children's education all I can rather 
 than she should undergo any hardships, or they be 
 lost, when it is in my power to help it, for I am 
 resolved as it is my duty (so far as I am able) to 
 serve her as long as she lives ; and them till they 
 are in a capacity of Serving themselves, and then if 
 they are not wilHng let them see to it." 
 And again in the following month : — 
 '^ If my Mother would be persuaded to go to a 
 town where the children might be educated, I think 
 she and they might live pretty easily upon the whole. 
 . . . And if what I have said is not encouragement 
 to go to a town, and what she has met with not 
 encouragement enough to leave Unthank, I do not 
 know what to say next. It galls me mightily to 
 think that she should have been in a manner driven 
 
ON THE SCOTTISH BOEDER 15 
 
 to such methods as otherwise she would have hated 
 by bemg abused even in that place where not lono- 
 ago she had everything at command. ... I think it 
 will come better from you in my behalf if you will 
 be so kind as to mention it to her in your own way. 
 ... I incHne to say as little and do as much to 
 serve her, &c., as I can, but I make an exception to 
 this last rule with you, since it is necessary you 
 should know my mind about it, which I cannot well 
 tell you in fewer words." 
 
 Very shrewdly, finding that other means of effect- 
 ing the removal failed, James next appealed to the 
 parson. His letter to the Rev. Robert Malcolm is 
 noticeable for the frank and Catholic spirit which 
 it displays : respect is paid to the dissenting pastor, 
 but his own stand as a member of the estabhshed 
 church is firmly maintained. He says : — 
 
 "As we have been often the better for your 
 advice I make bold once more to be troublesome 
 to you. You cannot but know that our quitting 
 the farm has made it very inconvenient for my 
 Mother to live in Unthank . . . She has been 
 often desired to go to a town. ... I know your 
 advice will have a good deal of influence with her, 
 therefore beg your endeavors when you go that 
 way. I have sent you a book by the Kendal Car- 
 rier ... of which I beg your acceptance. It con- 
 tains 16 sermons by Foster, one of the foremost of 
 our non-subscribing Dissenters. I believe on the 
 whole it will please you, tho in some things not 
 agreeable to our estabhshed opinions." 
 
W JAMES MUERAY, LOYALIST 
 
 Thus urged on all sides, Mrs. Murray removed in 
 July, 1734, to Hawick, not far from Unthank, where 
 she remained until she died. 
 
 The share of his father's estate inherited by 
 James amounted to one thousand pounds. Portions 
 of this small patrimony, as has been seen, he was 
 allowed to use in modest ventures of his own to 
 Antigua and elsewhere ; but they did not meet with 
 any very notable success, and the young man deter- 
 mined to try his fortunes in the New World. Grave 
 and discreet beyond his years, abeady he had in 
 several instances undertaken to be responsible for 
 the welfare of others. Sons of Mr. Rutherford and 
 of Mr. Jordan, as well as of his uncle Bennet, had 
 been sent to London to be under his care, and had 
 been placed by him in situations, and faithfully be- 
 friended. It was scarcely to be wondered at, there- 
 fore, that his new plans included provisions for a 
 number of other people. Two sons of Mr. Ellison 
 were to go with him, not to mention ten or twelve 
 mechanics, engaged for five or seven years, and a 
 Scotch domestic, and he even went so far as to 
 undertake the charge of his sister Barbara, only 
 eighteen years of age,^ and of his cousin, Jean Kerr. 
 
 The objective point for these young adventurers 
 was the Cape Fear region in North Carolina. The 
 Carolinas, having shaken off the proprietary rule, 
 were now entering, it was hoped, upon a more pros- 
 perous period as dependencies of the crown. Of 
 the northern colony, after the quarrelsome rule 
 
 1 James himself in 1735 was only twenty-two. 
 
ON THE SCOTTISH BORDER 17 
 
 of Bumngton, Gabriel Johnston had recently been 
 appointed governor. Johnston was a Scotchman, 
 who had been a physician and a professor at St. 
 Andrews University, and who afterwards in London 
 had mingled more or less in politics. Spencer 
 Compton, Baron of Wilmington, had been influ- 
 ential in securing his nomination. North Carohna 
 affairs were thus making some stir in Scottish 
 circles, a fact which directed James Murray's de- 
 sires to this particular colony. To Governor John- 
 ston he had secured letters of recommendation. 
 His friends, Mr. TulHdeph, referred to in the next 
 communication to his uncle, and Mr. ElHson, con- 
 templated taking up lands in the Cape Fear region, 
 and had commissioned him to select them. On his 
 own account he was prepared to make similar invest- 
 ments, from which he sanguinely anticipated speedy 
 and large returns ; while with an eye to the immedi- 
 ate future he laid in a stock of merchandise. 
 
 His enumeration of his reasons for venturing upon 
 this untried course carries with it a conviction of his 
 firmness of purpose, and its confident tone must 
 have beguiled the Laird of Chesters into equally 
 hopeful assent. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO ANDREW BENNET. 
 
 London 13 May 1735. 
 
 . . . The small encouragement that I have to 
 
 stay here and not so much as the prospect of doing 
 
 better has determined me to accept of the first good 
 
 opportunity to push my fortune in any other part of 
 
18 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 the world ; which I told a particular friend of mine 
 here. . . . He has since had Letters from the Gov- 
 ernor of North Carolina (with whom he is very inti- 
 mate) acquainting him of the growing State of that 
 province and of his intention to remove his court to 
 part of it where there is a fine navigable river lying 
 in a convenient place for trade call'd Cape Fare 
 Eiver. There I intend to go some time in August 
 next. I am not able in the compass of a letter to 
 give you all the reasons for such a choice, but for 
 your satisfaction shall give you a few of the most 
 material. 
 
 1. It is a climate as healthy as England. 
 
 2. It is cheaper living there than anywhere in 
 Scotland. 
 
 3. Land which may now be bought there for 1" 
 or 18^^ acre will in all probability double the value 
 every year, the place growing daily more populous 
 as the Land Lower down in that River has already 
 done. This determines me to go so soon as August, 
 that I may be there and purchase about one thou- 
 sand acres before it is known that the Governor 
 intends to remove thither. 
 
 4. I am sure of the Governor's interest to support 
 me. 
 
 5. My own fortune is sufficient both to buy a 
 handsome plantation and carry on as large a trade 
 as I have occasion for ; the profits of which I may 
 expect will at least defray the charges of settling me 
 the first two years and afterwards lay up £200 ster- 
 ling pr. An. 
 
ON THE SCOTTISH BORDER 19 
 
 6. The place by its situation is entirely out of the 
 power of a foreign enemy, which is no small advan- 
 tage in these uncertain times. 
 
 7. I have the advantage of two faithful corre- 
 spondents, Gent"^ of Substance and Experience, one 
 in England ^ and another in the West Indies,^ who 
 are willing to join Interests with me so far as our 
 little trade requires it. . . . All the merchants that I 
 have talked to that have any knowledge of these 
 parts say it is the best thing that I can do ; but, 
 truly, My good friend and Master, who knows little 
 or nothing of the plan, from an excess of Zeal, either 
 for my interest or his own or perhaps both, is vastly 
 out of humour about it and says it is a surprise 
 upon him what he did not expect, as I seemed satis- 
 fied with the offers he made me before I went to 
 Scotland, tho' I said not a word to them either pro 
 or con, I thought them so small, — not that I had 
 any intention to leave him. 
 
 Through the summer his preparations were made 
 and his farewells taken. On September 20, 1735, 
 with his goods and his charges, he embarked at 
 Gravesend in the ship Catherine, Captain Fay, for 
 the port of Charleston. 
 
 1 Mr. EUison. « Mr. TulUdeph. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 1735-1763 
 
 On November 27, 1735, James Murray and his 
 little company, after a good voyage of nine weeks 
 and four days, landed safely in Charleston. " From 
 hence," he wrote two days later to his cousin, John 
 Murray, the son and afterwards the successor of Sir 
 John of Philiphaugh, " I shall in about ten days 
 proceed to Cape Fear." " If I may judge from ye 
 short trial I have had of this country," he adds, " I 
 think it is a very agreeable one, particularly at this 
 season, and ye people seem very friendly among 
 themselves and kind to strangers." 
 
 His reception "by Mr. Grimke and others" in 
 Charleston was cordial. Indeed, the Charleston 
 men, in their efforts to detain him in South Carolina, 
 did not stop at mere cordiality. They united in 
 abusing the Cape Fear country. Some of the new- 
 comers were dissuaded by their bad accounts from 
 journeying further. " The Dutch people that came 
 over with us," runs one of Mr. Murray's letters, 
 " stayed in South Carolina, being deterred from pro- 
 ceeding by misrepresentations. . . . From this you 
 may see ye risk of losing people that are sent that 
 
A PIONEER PLA'JTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 21 
 
 way. I was almo? . in doubt myself . . . from the 
 strange stories they told me." 
 
 With the last day of the old year, however, he was 
 off for the land of doubtful promise, and in due time 
 reached, not, indeed, his final destination, which was 
 New Town, alias " New Liverjiool " and afterwards 
 Wilmington, but its rival, Brunswick. The old 
 proprietary divisions of North Carolina were fast 
 disappearing. At this date the province was divided 
 into two counties, Albemarle and Bath, which in 
 turn were subdivided into precincts. From the 
 precincts were sent the popular representatives, who 
 formed the Assembly's Lower House, a body usually 
 at sword's points with the governor, whoever he 
 might be, and supported or opposed, as the wind 
 shifted, by the Upper House, or Council, as well as by 
 the principal officeholders, namely, the surveyor-gen- 
 eral, the receiver-general and attorney-general, and 
 the secretary of the province. In the precinct of 
 New Hanover in Bath were these two small settle- 
 ments of New Town and Brunswick, both on the 
 Cape Fear River and both strugghng for supremacy. 
 Brunswick had been commended to the former gov- 
 ernor as a settlement deserving advancement, but 
 Johnston, who paid as little heed to the wishes of 
 popular factions as did his predecessors, favored 
 New Town. 
 
 In Brunswick were the Moores, Maurice, George, 
 and Roger, grandsons of Sir John Yeamans. To 
 the Cape Fear lands, which their grandfather had 
 "first settled and afterward abandoned," the brothers 
 
22 JAMES MURRAY, LCYALIST 
 
 had come from South Carohna, and by long residence 
 and many services had acquired leadership in the 
 little community. Maurice Moore had won fame in 
 the Indian wars of the past. He had also gained 
 popularity in the never-ceasing strife between the 
 people and the governors. It was he who, with 
 Edward Moseley, had gone in 1718 to Edenton, and 
 taken forcible possession of aU the papers in the 
 office of the secretary of the province, a high-handed 
 measure which, in spite of his consequent arrest 
 and fine, in no wise lowered him in pubhc esteem, 
 for the people had had need of men of this kind, to 
 hold overbearing officials in check. Moseley, on his 
 part, was for years before and after this episode 
 Speaker of the Lower House. 
 
 James Murray, entering provincial hfe as a thor- 
 ough-going conservative and friend of Johnston, 
 could scarcely be expected to fall into easy relations 
 with the governor's natural enemies. Almost at the 
 outset he clashed with the Moores. From Roger he 
 rented a vacant house, and in it took up his first 
 abode, displaying to the Brunswick folk his London 
 wares, and feeling that he had gained a foothold on 
 the new soil. But his poHtical tendencies and a,ffili- 
 ations put a too great strain upon the relations of 
 landlord and tenant, and within a year Roger gave 
 him notice to " turn out." 
 
 The stock, meanwhile, sold at a good advance, 
 with the exception of a supply of wigs, which met 
 with no market. The utter lack of civilization indi- 
 cated by the small demand for this commodity struck 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 23 
 
 painfully a youth accustomed to the niceties of 
 Scottish gentility. He excused it to his friends on 
 the valid ground that since there was no court here 
 there was no occasion for ceremonious dressing. 
 Even after sixteen years had passed he wrote to his 
 London wigmaker : " We deal so much in caps in 
 this country that we are almost as careless of the 
 furniture of the outside as of the inside of our 
 heads. I have had but one wig since the last I had 
 of you, and yours has outworn et. Now I am near 
 out, you may make me another good grisel Bob." ^ 
 
 Indeed, the unkempt population with its rough 
 and ready ways disappointed and disgusted him 
 from many points of view. The country itself, he 
 declared, was well enough, but of the people of North 
 Carolina he had not much more good to report than 
 had others of their critics in the early days. Their 
 farJts revolted him, their virtues he was not pre- 
 pared to understand. Bona terra, mala gens was 
 at that time his verdict. 
 
 With Governor Johnston, on the- other hand, he 
 was in accord. His letters to the Governor had 
 procured him an invitation to Eden House, the man- 
 sion on Salmon Creek, across the bay from Eden- 
 ton, inherited by Penelope Johnston, the Governor's 
 wife, from her father. Governor Eden. This visit 
 established cordial relations, and resulted in his 
 being asked to join the Governor in an exploring 
 expedition up the Cape Fear. As he had been com- 
 missioned to select lands for Mr. TuUideph and Mr. 
 
 1 Letter to Wm. Guyther, March 20, 1752. 
 
24 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 Ellison in this region, the invitation was oppor- 
 tune. 
 
 The young man's care of Mr. Ellison's sons is 
 only one illustration out of many of the willingness 
 with which he undertook the charge of those who 
 had any claim on his good of&ces. In this case his 
 pains came to naught, for William died in North 
 Carolina not many years after his arrival, and An- 
 drew returned to England. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO WILLIAM ELLISON 
 
 Brunswick, 14''' Feb^, 1735/6. 
 
 Dear Sir — ... We sail'd from Charles town 
 the last day of Dec'', & came over the bar of Cape 
 Fear the 2^^ day of Jan""^ & camp'd ashore all night 
 by a good fire in y^ woods. Next day we got up to 
 this town. I intended to have gone up to Ne\'' town, 
 Alias New Liverpool, but was told there was no 
 house there to be had except I built one ; so w^as 
 obhg'd to bring all ashore here, where I have got !S 
 good convenient house ^ on rent, which I shall keep 
 until I can purchase a few slaves & a plantation in 
 the country where I can have all kind of provisions 
 of my own raising. Here I am oblig'd to pay no 
 less than 17 to 20/ P bushel, this money, for corn, & 
 10, 12 & 14^ P lb. for meat. I am told this place is 
 every bit as healthy as New town. There is a great 
 emulation between the two towns, but I intend to 
 concern my self with neither, but throw my self easily 
 out of trade into y® plantation. 
 ^ Roger Moore's. 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 25 
 
 As to your son William I have the pleasure of 
 giving you a just & good Acco^ of his behavior, 
 which has been very discreet & sober ever since 
 he left you. While at Charlestown he lodg'd & 
 boarded in y® same house with us^ & as soon as my 
 house here was fitt'd up he stay'd with me till we 
 went up to y^ Gov", & there I left him to come down 
 to court with his Excellency next week. The only 
 fault that I & every body else has to him is, that he 
 has not pick't up a common (much less a lawyer's) 
 assurance, yet, the want of which I tell him will be 
 a vast loss to him. . . . 
 
 I have supply' d William with what money he 
 want'd & shall continue so to do as he has occasion 
 for it ; but if you send him a fresh supply, it must 
 be in some thing else than wigs, for I have not been 
 able to sell one of them, tho' I open'd them both in 
 Charles town & here. 
 
 When I was at Brompton I took an opportunity 
 to mention your land to y® Gov"". He said you should 
 have it, but added this question, " what could you 
 do with it ? " For he did not beHeve your son un- 
 derstood how to manage it. I answered that tho' 
 he did not I had another of your sons who would 
 probably learn something of husbandry before his 
 time was out with me, & for him it would be a good 
 beginning, tho' you had not determin'd [on] whom 
 to settle it. As I go up y^ North east with y® Gov% 
 shall see your land & M"" TulHdeph's laid out in y® 
 best place I can. I have not yet determin'd whether 
 to take any for my self. Sterling are not nor will 
 
26 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 for some time be easy to discharge by people that 
 have their effects here. Land is easier to be pur- 
 chased here for Currency than bills on England. . . . 
 
 You are mistaken. We are not deprived of the 
 advantages of y^ gospell preach'd, for we have y^ best 
 minister that I have heard in America to preach & 
 read prayers to us every 2"^ or 3*^ Sunday at least, & 
 in a cold day a good fire in y® church ^ to sit by. In 
 these & many other respects this town is preferable 
 to New town, & yet I believe the last will be first in 
 a little time. We have had a great deal of snow & 
 cold weather since we came here. 
 
 I shall deliver William his indentures, & put him 
 in mind to look out for his 50 acres. If he can find 
 land, he may have 10 times that quantity ; if not, he 
 will get none that is worth while, nor no body else, 
 for people that are aquaint with y^ country only 
 know where y® vacant land is, so they get a warrant 
 survey & patents & then screw as much as they can 
 from a stranger for it, who in his turn serves others 
 the same way. 
 
 ^ As to church services, it may be said that ever since the Bishop 
 of London had, in 1725, extended his jurisdiction to the American 
 colonies, churches or chapels had been established in the different 
 counties ; but to get and keep a reputable minister had been, as late 
 as 1731, a difficult matter. In that year Governor Burrington wrote, 
 in his address to the Duke of Newcastle, " This country has no 
 orthodox minister legally settled ; those that formerly have been here 
 generally proved so very bad that they gave people offence by their 
 vicious lives." 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 27 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO DAVID TULLIDEPH. 
 
 Brunswick, 31 March, 1636. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Since my last of y® 21 Ult*' have been 
 up y® North East branch of this river about 180 
 miles from y^ mouth of it. We found a little diffi- 
 culty in getting up & down, with our Canoes which 
 were deep loaded, by reason of logs lying across; 
 but where y® river was clear we had 6 foot water as 
 far as we went & an easy current. There is not 
 such a Quantity of land in any part of this country 
 yet disco v'd so good as y^ that lyes on the head of 
 y® North East & black river, whose branches enter- 
 lock one another, which is y® centre of y® province, 
 & in all probability will far exceed any part of it 
 were there but industrious people enough to inhabit 
 it. But notwithstanding all I have said & a great 
 deal more I could say in praise of it y^ Gov"" thinks 
 it will not be for your interest to take up any land 
 here unless you come to live on it yourself, & indeed 
 I am of y^ same opinion, for I observe this country 
 even exceeds all ever I heard of y® West Indies for 
 bad Attorneys & overseers. If it was in my way 
 to overlook your plantation, you might expect to be 
 better serv'd ; but I do not intend to take up any 
 land within 100 miles of it for some time, till I see 
 how it is like to be inhabit'd & improv'd, & I am 
 afraid you will get none to live in such an out of 
 y® way place as it will be for some time that will be 
 strictly honest to you, & you are oblig'd to clear 
 about 60 acres of your 2000 within 3 years after 
 you are possessed of it or else your right lapses. . . . 
 
28 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 The burden laid upon trade by the inflated cur- 
 rency and by the almost prohibitive restrictions im- 
 posed by Virginia and other colonies hastened Mr. 
 Murray in his purchase of land. On a plantation 
 he could at least raise food, which was scarce and 
 hiffh, and becomins: more so throuo^h an increase in 
 the number of mouths to be fed ; for within a year 
 of his arrival came the advance guard of a great 
 influx of Irish and Swiss Protestants. These emi- 
 grants, seeking homes in North Carolina, were many 
 of them sent or brought over by Murray's friend 
 and correspondent, Henry McCulloh, a Scotchman ' 
 who later came to Cape Fear as "His Majesty's 
 Surveyor, Inspector and Controller of the Revenue 
 and Grants of Land." ^ 
 
 JAMES MURKAY TO DAVID TULLIDEPH. 
 
 Newtox, Jan^ 10'^ 1736/7. 
 
 ... I can write you nothing Entertaining from 
 this, but from the number of the Irish and Swiss 
 that are soon expected here some of us imagine the 
 prosperity of the country and happiness of its in- 
 
 ^ Williamson says, in his History of North CaroZm a, that McCulloh 
 " speculated largely in crown lands with a view of paying for them 
 by importing settlers," and that his son, Henry Eustace McCulloh, 
 *' reported between three and four hundred persons thus brought into 
 the Provinces." 
 
 In the Life and Letters of James Iredell^ McCulloh is described as 
 having been " cherished by his friends with affection and regard." 
 The same book says, further, that he impaired his large fortune by 
 furnishing means to his immigrants, but that his son, who was appar- 
 ently a man of a very different stamp, succeeded in making good his 
 claim to about sixty-four thousand acres of land. Henry McCulloh 
 was an uncle of James Iredell. 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 29 
 
 habitants in general to be at hand. Others are in 
 dread and confusion, fearing an end will be put to 
 their Lording it over the King's heritage/ 
 
 When I first came in ^ I rented a house of Roger 
 Moore's, to whom my behaviour and mtimacy with 
 some gentleman was so disagreeable that he told me 
 to turn out before I had been 3/4 of a year in the 
 house. Then I bought a house and lot in this town 
 where I now hve, and immediately after purchased 
 a plantation within fifteen miles of about 500 acres. 
 The one cost me £1000 and the other 500£, this 
 Currency. With both I am very well satisfied, and 
 since I cannot make remittances to carry on trade 
 I intend to turn planter as soon as possible. 
 
 Through Mr. McCuUoh Mr. Murray set in motion 
 an application for the position of collector of the 
 port, an appointment which in 1739 he received. 
 As a matter of course, since the time was the reign 
 of George II., when bribery in matters of this sort 
 had not yet fallen into disrepute, he expected to 
 pay a reasonable amount for the appointment. The 
 reasonable amount, £200 in the following letter, 
 shrinks to one half that sum in the next, in view of 
 " ye precariousness of ye post and ye uncertainty of 
 people's fives in this country." ^ Commenting upon 
 
 1 This is an allusion, of course, to the Moores. 
 
 2 To the Cape Fear region. 
 
 3 « . . . Many have I seen since I have been here, hearty & Gay & 
 Brisk one week & the next attended to the grave. This is a dismal 
 climate & when one gets sickly here I have hardly ever known an 
 instance of his recovering." Macdowell, in Colonial Records of 
 North Carolina^ vol. vi. p. 977. 
 
30 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 tills application, he wrote on the same day to Mr. 
 Ellison : " You '11 hear from Mr. McCulloh of a 
 chimerical scheme of mine in behalf of your son 
 and myself. I call it chimerical because it is putting 
 in for a Hving man's post who must first be dead, 
 and it is a court preferment, which imply s more un- 
 certainty than the other." 
 
 JAMES MUKRAY TO HENRY MCCULLOH. 
 
 Brunswick, May 3, 1736. 
 Since my last of y® 24th Feb'"^ I Have not had an 
 opportunity of writing you, for just before I came 
 down from y® North East Cap* Keit sail'd. I then 
 promis'd you an Acco* of our expedition, but must 
 defer it till I have time to write our Journal out 
 fair, which will send you by a vessel that will sail 
 hence in a little time. Y® people here have got y® 
 South Carolina notion that they are not oblig'd to 
 pay residing merchants for their goods in less than 
 a twelve month, so that I shall hardly be able to 
 remitt any thing this year. Indeed it will not be 
 much to my loss, for their only staple commodities, 
 Viz. pitch, tar & turpentine are as dear here as I 
 imagine they will be cheap at home ; & if I delay 
 till next crop I may come in for a little rice, of which 
 there is only 500 barrels made on this river this 
 year, & next crop we expect 1500 or 2000 barrels. 
 I was up at Brompton last week, where I saw y® 
 Gov"" & Cap* Woodard in good health. Y® last has 
 had a gentle fit of y® gout since he came from y® 
 north East, but that expedition was of service to his 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH' CAROLINA 31 
 
 Excellency's health, & Cap* Innes/ & I grew fat 
 upon it. My business at Brompton was to advise 
 about y® employment of M'' Tullideph's negroes, 
 which he intends to send in very soon, for whom 
 have come to a resolution (if my instructions will 
 permitt) to get a plantation within y® settlement 
 there, to employ them untill y® rich land is settled 
 by some familys from Ireland. Now I have men- 
 tioned the Irish I cannot help giving you an in- 
 stance how much some gentlemen here endeavour to 
 defeat all y® Gov" Designs for settling y^ country. 
 Roofer Moore I am told has wrote to M"" Dobbs that 
 it will not be his interest to concern himself in land 
 here or something to y* purpose. His view in which 
 is that if y^ Irish came over here they will be a 
 weight against him in y® Assembly & will by Culti- 
 vating y® land confirm M'^ Dobbs right to what he 
 would be content to take y® advantage of a lapse of, 
 in case a new Gov"* should be appointed, which all y® 
 blank patent gentry are in great hopes of. M"" Soli- 
 vol has been lately appointed Collector & searcher 
 of this port, who is just a dying of a dropsy. If 
 that could be got either for Mr. Ellison or me, or 
 both, one to be principal & y® other deputy, you 
 would do us a particular piece of service. There is 
 £65 V^ Ann Sterling Sallery beside fees here, which 
 may amount to near 100 P'" Ann in all. What 
 money you may have occasion to apply in presents, 
 not exceeding <£200, shall be faithfully paid you as 
 soon as possible, & if y® Comission is in my name 
 
 1 James Innes, afterwards Colonel Innes. 
 
32 JAISIES MUKRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 your security shall be reliev'd by gentlemen of sub- 
 stance either here or in Scotland, & if M'" Ellison 
 will go half y® charges and use his interest to obtain 
 it I obhge my self to make his son WilHam Deputy 
 & give him half y® fees & half y® sterling sallery. I 
 do not expect I have any friends but you two in 
 town at y® season this will reach you to apply to. . . . 
 
 The ^^ blank patent gentry/' alluded to in the 
 preceding letter, are, again, the Moores and their 
 friends. The term probably arose during the alter- 
 cation between Johnston and the holders of certain 
 grants of land made by former governors. During 
 the Proprietary rule patents for North Carolina 
 lands were kept on hand in the secretary's office 
 ready for use. These patents were made out in due 
 form, but with the grantees' names, the number of 
 acres, the description of the lands, and the sums to 
 be paid left blank, to be disposed of and filled up 
 " just as the Lords Proprietors thought fit." Even 
 before the Proprietary rule came to an end govern- 
 ors were forbidden to make any more grants of land, 
 but several did in fact use the blank patents long 
 after the land office was closed, and in some in- 
 stances after the king had taken the province into 
 his own hands. Governor Johnston early came into 
 conflict with those who held land under these pat- 
 ents, the invalidity of which he dwelt upon with 
 insistence, and a bitter quarrel ensued.^ 
 
 Mr. Murray's letters naturally present the Gov- 
 
 1 See Colonial Records of North Carolina^ vol. iv. p. v. 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 33 
 
 ernor's side in these disputes, which derive their 
 main interest from the fact that they were early 
 examples of the long struggle between English 
 authority and American self-rule. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO HENRY MCCULLOH. 
 
 Brunswick, Cape Fear. July 8th, 1736. 
 
 Since my last I have your favour dated y® 12th 
 March, with a very agreeable postscript which I 
 should be very glad to see accomplish' d, for if things 
 in this country are not in a better situation during 
 Mr Johnstons Governm*, I shall almost despair of it. 
 
 By a vessel which will sail directly to your port, 
 in about 3 weeks, I intend to send you a cask of 
 skins which is all y® remittance I have got out of 
 £4800 Currency, value of goods sold since my 
 arrival, I do not reckon Cash, of which I have re- 
 ceived about £900, a Remittance. I have more 
 than half my goods yet on hand, which are no pain 
 to me, as none of them are perishable but some 
 cloath & stockings which I can easily take care of. 
 As y® most necessary things sell first, y® remainder 
 of my cargoe will want an assortment to help it of, 
 which should have desir'd you to send, according to 
 y® list annex' d, had I been able to clear old scores 
 with you. Instead of that I have laid a new demand 
 on you, in y® affair of y® Collector. If you have 
 not, before this reaches you, made some advances in 
 that affair, I desire you would not expend above one 
 hundred pounds about it. That, on second thoughts, 
 I think is enough, considering y® precariousness of 
 
34 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 y post & y® uncertainty of people's lives in this 
 country. If you do succeed in that affair at a con- 
 siderable expence, & if my bill on M^ Dunbar is not 
 honour'd, I desire you will not send y goods men- 
 tion'd. If otherwise, I leave it to you, to send them 
 or not as you find convenient. I intend as soon as 
 I can secure enough of Such tar & Turpentine to 
 send for a vessel from New England ^ and load her 
 to send home to you. 
 
 Newton, Nov. 6, 1736. 
 . . . Last week I was up the North East to the 
 lower part of your land setting the Carpenter to work 
 to finish two houses there (I mean at Camp Innes) 
 for the reception of the Swiss Mess" Hutchinson & 
 Grimkie have sent in.^ They were here about 3 
 days, during which time his Excell^ our good Gov'^ 
 took a great deal of pains to provide for them & to 
 assure them they should have every thing to their 
 satisfaction till they were settled. With which they 
 went up last Tuesday very well pleased. . . . Since 
 I last wrote you have bought a house & lot in 
 this town & a plantation in the country about 15 
 miles from this, joining on Cap* Rowan, 200 acres 
 of the 500 land as good as his that he values at 20/ 
 Ste'" P acre. The other 300 acres are fit for build- 
 
 ^ This illustrates the backwardness of North Carolina in possessing 
 means of transportation. 
 
 * " There are now forty Swiss people," Mr. Murray wrote in this 
 month to Andrew Bennet, " the beginning of six thousand contracted 
 for from that country, which, with a great number of Irish expected 
 next year, will raise our country in a hurry." 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 35 
 
 ing on & for corn & pasture. It cost me about 
 ,£30 Ste"", as I sold my goods, but when I shall turn 
 planter God knows. It will not be till I can turn 
 some Money out of the country to buy some negroes. 
 But first I ought to be even in your books, for if 
 trade is not grown much worse at home I am sensi- 
 ble you must be a looser by mine & every other 
 debt that you get no more than 5 P C by Par. I 
 wish I could write you something agreable of the 
 country or rather the present set of inhabitants, for 
 the place it self is well enough were it peopled by 
 frugal, honest, industrious people who would not 
 sacrifice the general good of the province for the 
 obtaining their own private ends or would not be 
 so stupid as to be led by the nose by those that 
 would. Then I might say without the spirit of 
 prophecy that this Province would soon be one of 
 the best in America. . . . 
 
 Meantime the growth of Newtown had begun. 
 James Innes, like Mr. Murray, was one of the earH- 
 est settlers of the town. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO HENRY MCCULLOH. 
 
 Newton, Jan^ 10*\ 1736/7. 
 . . . Your Swiss famihes are very well, but lost 
 one their men in a fever at Brunswick & another old 
 man since they went up. I have agreed for Indian 
 corn at 12/, pease at 20/, & potatoes at 7/6 P 
 bushell, enough to serve them till next crop. Indian 
 corn is since risen to 15/ & is like to go to 20/. Rice 
 
 U^ 
 
36 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 at £4 PI & hardly to be had. The Swiss have been 
 very uneasy, for their land not being run out by 
 reason of the only surveyor that could do it his being 
 gone into the other county where he was detained 
 by an illness ; but now he is returned, and will settle 
 their bounds next week. 
 
 We are very upish upon Cap* Woodard, M'' John- 
 ston, Cap* Rowan and Cap* Innes each of them pur- 
 chasing a good lot in this town, which thrives a 
 pace. 
 
 The pioneer's descent, however, from great expec- 
 tations to the bed-rock of reality was being made 
 by Mr. Murray even while he noted the country's 
 growth. He felt strongly the peculiar disadvantages 
 from which North Carolina suffered. 
 
 JAMES MUKRAY TO JOHN MURRAY.^ 
 
 Newton, Cape Fear, Jan^ lO''^ 1736/7. 
 
 M^ John Murray 
 
 Hon^ Sir, — It is no small comfort to me to find 
 by yours of the 14*^ June & other letters that I am 
 not yet forgot by my best friends, tho' in this re- 
 mote corner of the world, and that they have a just 
 opinion of my concern for them by giving me an 
 Acco* of their welfare & other occurrencies, than 
 which nothing can be more agreable. 
 
 I wish I could give you equal satisfaction by my 
 letters, but alas it is not to be expected from a new 
 country such as this where you know no body, 
 
 1 A son of John Murray of Philiphaugh. 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 37 
 
 whence we can write of nothing so well as the incon- 
 veniencies we suffer in reality for the advantages we 
 form to our selves in imagination ; and was I to un- 
 dertake to give you a description of the place, it 
 would only be darkening instead of enlivening your 
 Idea of the continent. I shall therefore confine my 
 self to answer your questions, what trade have we & 
 what is my scheme of settlement. ... As the pre- / 
 sent staple commodities are very low in Europe,' Eu- 
 ropean goods are very high here and our payments, 
 being slow and but in small quantities at a time, will 
 not defray the charge of a freight from Britain. 
 We therefore send our peddling to some or other of 
 the neighbouring colonies, for which we have Euro- 
 pean or other goods at their price, and the necessity 
 of our country obliges them to give almost what 
 advance the importer pleases on the goods he thus 
 buys at second hand. J We have .£150,000 of bills 
 emitted by the publick, which are current in all pay- 
 ments, and the King takes them for his quitrents at 
 the rate of 7 for 1 Ster^, but the merchant has for 
 his goods from 12 to 20 for 1 Ster^. These bills 
 are lent out upon good security at 6 PC*' P. an which 
 interest with an impost on liquors is allotted to the 
 sinking of the principal, and so long as this Gov'' is 
 continued he is resolved to observe that act & to 
 grant no more bills for Currency till the present by 
 it's scarceness comes to its true value of 7 for 1. 
 Thereby he and all the king's officers who are paid 
 their sallaries here at that rate will receive the worth 
 of them \ thereby the merchant who sells his goods 
 
38 JAIMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 at the present prices and has his debts outstanding 
 with 10 pC*" P. ^^ accrewing on them will be a great 
 gainer. The Merchant has another chance of turn- 
 ing his cargoe to a good account. He sells his goods 
 at a high price for the reason above observed. The 
 country in a year or two is well settled by Irish 
 and Swiss, who in a year or two more make such 
 commodities as are valuable at home and enrich 
 the country here. Now for what I am to do in the 
 mean time. I have sold about 2/3 of my cargo, for 
 which we have got a pretty large sum of our Cur- 
 rency in debts outstanding and in bills received. 
 Was I to press speedy remittances, it would be very 
 much to my disadvantage. I have provided my self 
 with a plantation in the country within Fifteen miles 
 of the place which in all probability will be the prin- 
 cipal town on this river, if not the Metropolis of the 
 province, that I intend to settle as soon as I can get 
 Negroes. Then I shall live very well upon my own 
 industry and save the interest of my stock. For all 
 my complaints a man with a moderate fortune & tol- 
 lerable management may live very happily and plen- 
 tifully here. I cannot say he has it in his power to 
 make a great fortune at once. 
 
 Barbara Murray married, in less than two years 
 after coming over, Thomas Clark, a young man 
 thoroughly liked by her brother and associated with 
 him in his public and private interests. In the same 
 summer (1737) Mr. Murray received news of the 
 death of his mother, which left the younger chil- 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 39 
 
 dren still more dependent on his care. This ne- 
 cessitated a journey to Scotland, which he accom- 
 plished in the ensuing spring. The settling of Mrs. 
 Murray's estate and other matters detained him for 
 nearly a year, during which time he was much at 
 Chesters and renewed his intimacy with his Bennet 
 cousins, particularly with Barbara. On returning to 
 America he brought with him his younger brother 
 and sister, William, sixteen, and Elizabeth, not quite 
 fourteen, years of age. Elizabeth proved so capable 
 that she was before long installed as James's house- 
 keeper, and thus began that affectionate intimacy 
 between them that was perhaps the most vital and 
 enduring element in the life of each. 
 
 A portion of the small inheritance left to William 
 and Elizabeth he now invested in negroes.^ For 
 himself, although the disadvantage of trade had 
 been strongly impressed upon him, he had been un- 
 able to resist the temptation of bringing over a cargo 
 of goods even larger than his former venture, as the 
 succeeding letter to his brother-in-law relates. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO THOMAS CLARK. 
 
 London, 23 Decemb"', 1738. 
 ... In my last I told you of my brother & Sis- 
 ter's intention to go over with me, who are now 
 here for that purpose. I said also that nothing was 
 coming to you from my mother's Estate. Have 
 
 1 Negroes, since the very earliest days of the country, when slaves 
 worked under Sir John Yeamans, in the Cape Fear settlement, had 
 proved the speediest means of gaining wealth. 
 
40 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 notwithstanding got £20 st^ for you there, which is 
 as much as the two younger childring have got. 
 
 You '11 be surprised when I tell you that, instead 
 of my Scheme of retired life, am going to involve 
 myself in the Cape Fear trade deeper than my self 
 or any of my predecessors or contemporaries have 
 done hitherto, & am now fitting out a Cargo of 
 above £1500 sf to begin with, & have chartered a 
 ship to load derectly back with such Commodities 
 as can be got. If our Gentlemen Planters have a 
 mind to set their trade on the footing of South Caro- 
 lina now they '11 have a fair opportunity. If I find 
 they are not ready & willing to encourage it, espe- 
 cially in the loading of this ship, I shall set down 
 my little family with you & go away without break- 
 ing bulk to South Carolina or Georgia, for my cargo 
 is suited for either of these places, & shall come 
 back with the refuse of my cargo (if any), for which 
 I shall expect 2 & 3000 P Cent, as other people as 
 well as I used (& I presume still continue) to sell 
 for. Let them pay when they will. But I hope 
 this will not be the case & that every body who 
 do's not want to enrich themselves by the ruin of 
 the Planters & Country in General will encourage 
 so Laudable a design & will be as ready to pay me 
 their Commodities in merch*able order as I shall be 
 to sell them goods useful, fresh & reasonable as 
 they can wish. At all Hazards you may fit up my 
 store in the same manner as M"" Drys with all pos- 
 sible dispatch, that is the whole 22 foot by 18 on 
 the east end of the house to be lined with boards 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 41 
 
 on the side & plastered on the siUng, to be shelved 
 as far as the door from the east end, & counter from 
 side to side with a board to fold down in the middle. 
 I hope the cellar is done under neath, and the sashes 
 according to the dementions I sent you by Wimble 
 ready to put in the glass. Let sashes be done for 
 all the windows in the store, and a door for the 
 store cellar. I am affraid I have shaped you more 
 work than you '11 sew till I see you, but you '11 do 
 all you can. Give notice of my intentions to leave 
 this the middle of next month with a Vessel and 
 Cargo bound derectly to you-ward, that those that 
 owe me as well as those that do not may have their 
 goods ready. Great encouragement will be given 
 to rice & tar chused in full bound barrels, turpen- 
 tine & pitch as usual. I have bespoke a petty auger 
 from South Carolina, which at all events cannot miss 
 to sell if not wanted by me. You need put yo'' self 
 to no inconveniences about moving from my house 
 in a hurry, for I shall have none but my brother & 
 Sister & one, two or three more in my family, for 
 whom there will be room enough with you for a 
 while. 
 
 I have also sent their money in value to south 
 Carolina in order to buy negroes for them, most 
 part of which I design to be under your manage- 
 ment. 
 
 M"" Douglass has taken the same method with his 
 in order to sit down in a plantation. So, whether 
 I shall be the better for the Country or not, it is 
 plain the country will be the better for me, &, I 
 
42 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 hope, so will my friends for being recommended 
 thither. . . . 
 
 Mr. Murray had by this time, aided by absence 
 and his natural tolerance, come to wish to be on a 
 friendlier footing with his Cape Fear neighbors. 
 He wrote to John Porter ^ from London, Dec. 20, 
 1738: — 
 
 " I have observed (in you) a justness of thought 
 and generosity of temper that I would endeavor to 
 imitate wherever I found it. If some gentlemen of 
 our acquaintance had with the same good nature 
 overlooked a zeal (perhaps a Httle imprudent) for 
 one's friends I should have had more friends in 
 Cape Fear, but as it is, I am sensible there is and 
 will subsist a Dryness between some certain Gentle- 
 men and me until the unhappy Differences of the 
 Province are reconciled." 
 
 Early in the summer of 1739 he was again in 
 North Carolina, having brought with him John 
 Rutherford, who afterward became receiver-general 
 of the province. 
 
 JAMES MUKRAY TO JAMES RUTHERFORD. 
 
 Cape Fear, Sep* 4, 1739. 
 
 That I may be as Good or Rather as troublesom 
 as I promised in Writing you once in 3 Months, 
 take this for my first, which happens to be about 
 that time Since my Arrival. 
 
 After our Departure from England I expected to 
 ^ Of Newtown. 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 43 
 
 See Cousin John Very Sea Sick, but instead of y\ 
 He was y« only person o£ all the Cabin Passengers 
 that was not Sea Sick, & took a most compassionate 
 Care of us in our Distress. That he might not Be 
 Idle in his Passage I Set him to . . . [a] Book of 
 practical Geometry, in which he took Much DeHght 
 & Made Great Proficience for y" time. Since my 
 Arrival my head has been so much taken up with 
 Business that I cannot go on with him ; but when 
 he is not imployed in y^ Store he applies to it him- 
 self, [so] that with mine or Some other's help next 
 winter I doubt not of his being able to apply Ma- 
 thematicks to most of y" Common Occasions for 
 them in life, particularly Surveying & Gauging, two 
 usef ull Sorts with us. Dehvering out Goods, Writ- 
 ing in y^ Waste Books & copying Letters is his 
 Cheif imployment at present. I am now got to 
 Sep' the 6% & pretty well recovered of what I 
 thought a Severe fit of the Rheumatism, which has 
 laid me up ever Since I wrote y^ forgoing & makes 
 me Glad now to walk with Stilts, what I was never 
 used to before. If you have a Mind to Send any 
 wearing apperel or linnen, y^ most useful Article to 
 Johny, you may Ship it & Send f Receipt to M' 
 Henry Houson Merchant in London, who will for- 
 ward what you Send. If you chuse to Send any 
 thing for Sale, Scots plad about 18^ or 20^ p' Ell, 
 brown Linnen from 3"^ to 18*^ p'^ Ell, Coarse & Mid- 
 ling Diaper, these fit for y^ Summer & Winter. 
 Galacheils Gray at 6^ or 7^ p'^ Ell to be here in 
 Sep^ or October for Winter only. What you buy 
 
44 JA]MES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 by y® Scots Ell, let it be measured by an exact 3 
 foot allowing a thumb, & y^ Measure put on y* 
 Piece. As I am an Invalid & have other letters to 
 ■write yet, I must not Delay. We are in Hopes this 
 war will Drive some of y® Southern Settlements to 
 us. 'T is a Bad wind blows no Body Good. 
 
 The Spanish War, alluded to in the last letter, 
 presented to William an opening for a military 
 career. North Carolina had raised four companies 
 for General Oglethorpe's expedition against St. Au- 
 gustine. That expedition having failed, the North 
 Carolina contingent was to be sent to join the Eng- 
 lish forces at Jamaica, and with it were to go Cap- 
 tain James Innes, Mr. Murray's " most intimate 
 friend next to T. Clark," and also two cousins of 
 the Murrays, Lieutenant Archibald Douglas and 
 Lieutenant Pringle. William was, in his brother's 
 opinion, unfitted for a planter's life. On the other 
 hand, his inheritance was sufficient to procure him a 
 commission, and an opportunity was now offered to 
 enter the army under Captain Innes's special care. 
 At Jamaica, moreover, he would find his brother 
 John, graduated from his " studies of pharmacy and 
 surgery," and appointed surgeon's mate on board 
 the Tilbury, English man-of-war. So, with all these 
 advantages on his side, and further fortified by a 
 letter to John Stuart, Aide-de-camp to Lord Cath- 
 cart, William set out for the war. 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 45 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO CAPT. JAMES INNES. 
 
 Wilmington, 20th Nov!, 1740. 
 
 Dr. Sr. . . . My brother John, Surgeon's mate 
 on board the Tilbury man of War, I have desired to 
 apply to you, as well for advice as for some money, 
 if you find it will be of service to him, either to pro- 
 mote him, preserve or Eecover his health, or to supply 
 him with necessarys and a little pocket money if his 
 pay is not sufficient. I desire you may inquire how 
 much of his own Money he has taken up, and how 
 he has Managed it, that you may the better judge 
 of his economy. You '11 likewise supply my brother 
 Billie with what you think necessary. I leave him 
 intirely to your care, hoping also that his cousins 
 the Lieutenants will be kind to him. 
 
 It is out of my power to give a Greater instance 
 of my confidence in and good opinion of you than 
 I have done by sending hun along with you. I do 
 hereby impower you to engage as far as his (Billy's) 
 whole fortune which is one hundred pounds Ster- 
 ling, in buying a commission. Land, or Negroes or 
 anything Else that you think will be for his Advan- 
 tage, and He approves of it. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO JOHN MURRAY. 
 To M' John Murray, Surgeon's Mate On board the Tilbury Man 
 of War, at Jamaica or Elsewhere, P William Murray. 
 
 Cape Fear, November 13'h, 1740. 
 
 Dear John : ... As this goes with your brother 
 William, I have the less Occassion to be particular 
 in anything that relates to us here. I have only to 
 
46 JAJVIES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 desire that in Case he should be sick you will take 
 all possible Care of him. If you Should have any 
 emergent occasion for Money either to forward your 
 promotion or recover your health, I have desired 
 Cap* Innes to advance you Some. It will require 
 much of your Care and Attention to chuse Your 
 Company — Men of Sense, Sobriety and Good Man- 
 ners — to avoid the Extravagance of many, but not 
 to be so very frugal as to keep no Company at all. 
 Cap* Innes, I hope, will take notice of you, and is 
 very able (as I know by Experience) to give you 
 good advice. I have some thoughts of Going home 
 next Spring, but that resolution will take Effect or 
 not according to the letters I shaU receive from 
 thence. I am 
 
 Dear John 
 your most affectionate Brother 
 
 JAMES MUKRAY TO MRS. BENNET OF CHESTERS. 
 
 Cape Fear, Sept' 1740. 
 ... It would be too tiresome to you to be trou- 
 bled with a Kepetition of the several Particulars in 
 Your Letter, how much some of them pleased me. 
 You, who know me and my Affection for my 
 friends, may easier Imagine than I can Express. 
 And if others Gave an Account of Accidents and 
 Ommissions that are not so Agreeable, it is what I 
 lay my Ace* with to hear in almost every Letter ; for 
 if the Accidents in human Life are by a wise provi- 
 dence for good purposes interlarded with bitter and 
 Sweet, Letters will bring ace* of these Accidents just 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 47 
 
 as they turn out. But to retm'n to my letter. In 
 my last to my uncle I wrote of the Scituation of my 
 Affairs here and that I was winding up my bottom 
 as fast I Could, with an Intent to go home next 
 Spring if some persons with whom my Cheif busi- 
 ness is will take the trouble to advise that it is 
 proper ; but I have much to Complain of the Lazi- 
 ness of Some Correspondents. 
 
 Your letter to Betty gave great joy. She is now 
 my only Housekeeper and entered that Station the 
 beginning of this week just after my return from 
 the north. You have long ago heard the News of 
 my Sister Clark having a son. I have only to tell 
 you that he lately entered the Christian list by the 
 Name of James. Cap* James Innes and I were his 
 God-Fathers. 
 
 I wrote my Uncle that M'" Douglass was to go 
 Lieutenant to Cap* Innes. Since that M"" William 
 Pringle, Clifton's Son, happened to be one of the 
 four Lieutenants appointed at home for this Pro- 
 vince that Came to Edenton while I was there. I 
 brought him along with me a Journey of 200 Miles 
 in five days. He is now in My house and is to 
 be Cap* Innes Eldest Lieutenant. They seem to 
 think themselves very happy in each other. . . . 
 
 [Nov. 26th.] Tempted with the promise of care 
 from my friends Innes, Pringle and Douglas, I have 
 sent my brother Will along with them. They are but 
 just put to Sea with Letters of Marque, and to make 
 the best of their Way to Jamaica, Where they expect 
 to meet the EngHsh forces as well as those of Amer- 
 
48 JAMES MUERAY, LOYALIST 
 
 ica, all under the Command of My Lord Cathcart. 
 I have sent about £80 St^ value along with them 
 and Impowered Capt Innes to spare it to John and 
 William as he should find they stood in need of it. 
 I likewise Impowered Cap* Innes to draw for Will's 
 patrimony if he could lay it out for his advantage. 
 
 When the rest of the Gentlemen going hence on 
 the Expedition were making their Wills Billy also 
 made his at my request and left all he has to my 
 sister Betty & when he gave her the paper and told 
 her what it was the tears run down her Cheeks like 
 hail. I must not omit to tell what they alledge of 
 Mr. Douglass at signing his Will. He first signed 
 a power of Attorney with his usual ease, but when 
 he came to sign the Will his hand shaked terribly, 
 So that he was Obliged to take it twice off before 
 he Could finish his Name ; and when he had done, 
 he said, " I hope never to live to put that Will in 
 force for all this." He could hardly stand this 
 joke. Mr. Pringle by his good natured agreeable 
 way of Disciplining the Company and in his Con- 
 versation and behavior in General gave great Satis- 
 faction to Cap* Innes, to the soldiers and everybody 
 else ; and it gave me Sensible pleasure that I was 
 the Cause of his being allotted to Cap* Innes. . . . 
 Had I been certain of such good Officers, I would 
 readily have persuaded Billy to accept of the Gov" 
 kind offer of a Pr. of Coll ours but by the time we 
 had Determined on it the Govf had filled up all the 
 Commissions he had. So far we were unlucky. . . . 
 A ship had lately arrived after a long passage 
 
A PIOXEER PLANTER DT NORTH CAROLINA 49 
 
 from London which brings some Goods for John 
 Rutherford. . . . 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO ANDREW BENNET. 
 
 Wilmington, Cape Fear, 5"" September, 1741. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I have a long time Denied my 
 self the pleasure of writing to you having still had 
 some hopes of hearing from some of my friends at 
 Chesters by every opportunity. I know not how I 
 have Deserved it, but I never had such Signs of 
 being: fororotten or out of favour there.^ But 
 enough of this. Since my friend M"" M^'CuUoch's 
 Arrival in this Province with his family he has been 
 an Inhabitant of my house in this town, which made 
 it necessary for me to Discard all my own family 
 but Johny Rutherfurd & a Couple of Negroes. 
 Betsy therefore Stays with M"* Clark, as does Jeany 
 Ker. The former has now a Httle of the fever & 
 Ague. My Sister Clark about 3 weeks ago was 
 Delivered of another Son ^ and is bravely Recovered. 
 The Lad promises to be as pretty & thriving a boy 
 as the other, ^ which is saying a great Deal. M"" 
 Clark has been Sheriff of this County ever Since 
 June Last and is to Continue in that Office (worth 
 about £100 Ster P Ann) for two years. He has also 
 had the good fortune to be Appointed Collector of 
 this Port in the Room of Samuel Woodward Dece'd 
 by ]VP Dinwiddle, the Surveyor Gen^ of this Con- 
 tinent, but for want of friends & interest with the 
 
 1 His cousin Barbara was evidently a poor correspondent. 
 
 2 Thomas. ^ James. 
 
50 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 Ministry at home Dispairs of holding it Longer 
 than another is Appointed & sent over by the Lords 
 of the Treasury. That office is also well worth £100 
 a Year, attended with little trouble, & Generally 
 Continues during Life. 
 
 I have Letters from Jamaica of the 15*h June 
 which inform me that Jack & Willy were well, as 
 also M"" Douglass and Cap* Innes, but that M"" Prin- 
 gle was Shott before Bocha Chica on board the 
 Prince Frederick, Lard Awbery Commo'', who was 
 also Killed Next Day. M^ D. & Will had the good 
 Luck to be on a Cruise at the time of that unsuc- 
 cessful Siege and to take Some Valuable prises, from 
 which M^ D. expects £300 & Will £20 to his 
 Share ; but no Doubt you have heard particularly 
 from them. I am tired of Deferring my Voyage 
 any Longer and am Risolved to Depart from this 
 with Johny Rutherfurd some time next month. If 
 it please God to give us a prosperous Voyage, I 
 may have the Pleasure of Eating my Christmass 
 Dinner with you. 
 
 Since I begun this Letter 5 days have Elapsed in 
 which time I have taken my Passage & Cousin 
 John's on board the Leathly, Peter Harrison Comm% 
 for London ; and that we May have Some Money 
 to Spend Among the Spaniards in Case we Should 
 be Nabb'd by them I have by this Opportunity 
 ordered £500 Ste"" insurance against Capture i. e. 
 300 £ for Self & 200 £ for Cousin John. 
 
 Pray give my Sincere Duty to My Aunt and my 
 Love to My Cousins. My Compliments also if you 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 51 
 
 please to My friends in Your Neighbourhood. I 
 am D'" S"" your most obliged & 
 
 most DutifuU Nephew 
 
 Betsy is Recovered of the 
 Fever & Ague 
 
 JM 
 
 Mr. Murray remained in England and Scotland 
 until the latter part of 1742, busy with various com- 
 mercial affairs of himself and his friends in North 
 Carolina. A promise from his cousin Barbara was 
 obtained during his stay, and when he came back to 
 Cape Fear, which he did in February, 1743, it was 
 in the hope of a speedy return to Scotland for the 
 marriage. 
 
 Mr. Murray, as has been said, was appointed ^ 
 collector of the port in 1739. At about that time 
 New Town, the village where he lived, was made 
 the port of entry, to the great detriment of Bruns- 
 wick, which had formerly been the port. This was 
 a grievance to which the opposing faction could not 
 submit in silence. A sHght skirmish of letters be- 
 tween Roger Moore and Mr. Murray was but the 
 prelude to a complaint in the form of a memorial to 
 the Board of Trade, signed by Nath. Rice, Eleazer 
 Allen, E. Moseley, and R. Moore. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO ROGER MOORE. ^ 
 
 Newto 24'h Nov' 1739. i^ 
 
 Sir, I received your Letter Desiring me as 
 Deputy Naval Officer to Come down to Brunswick 
 
52 JAIMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 to Clear out the Henry & Mary of Hull — I am to 
 inform You that his Excellency has Appointed me 
 principal Naval Officer of this port. With Orders 
 to reside here : And He bids me tell you, that if 
 you think either his Majesties Revenue or the in- 
 terest of the County is injured thereby : You may 
 Represent it to the Lords of the Treasury or to y^ 
 Com" of the Customs Who No Doubt will give 
 proper Orders thereupon 
 I am 
 
 Sir your Very humble Serv' 
 
 Soon after this episode, Mr. Murray was drawn into 
 pohtical life by Governor Johnston, who, in Febru- 
 ary of that year, secured his appointment as a mem- 
 ber of the Board of Councilors.^ The appointment 
 was not, judging from the two ensuing letters, espe- 
 cially desired by Mr. Murray, but rather brought 
 about by the Governor's need of his cooperation. 
 
 The quit-rent law, to which the first of these 
 letters refers, was passed before Mr. Murray entered 
 the Council. Governor Johnston, who was first and 
 foremost a faithful servant to the king, reported 
 that the law would raise the revenue to be derived 
 from the province by the crown from nothing at 
 all to £1800 a year, and added as a secondary con- 
 sideration that it would " bring peace and tranquil- 
 lity to a colony which had from its first settlement 
 been quarreling about the points now so happily 
 adjusted." He shared the common view of the 
 
 1 Mr. Murray was then twenty-seven years of age. 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 53 
 
 time in looking upon the province merely as a means 
 of procuring revenue for the mother country. 
 
 The collecting of the quit-rents was, as he said, 
 a matter in which the people had long been success- 
 ful in baJBfling their governors. They would not, 
 and probably could not, pay in gold or silver, or 
 even in paper currency, their proper dues, but were 
 found year after year " insisting on paying their 
 rents in the worst and most bulky kind of their 
 produce, such as butter, cheese, feathers, tar, pitch, 
 Indian corn, &c." These commodities, moreover, 
 the people maintained, must be fetched by govern- 
 ment if they were to be obtained at all, as they had 
 not means of transportation. The result was that 
 the rents usually went unpaid. 
 
 Johnston's quit-rent law limited the commodities 
 to inspected tobacco, hemp, flax, and beeswax, which, 
 moreover, were to be rated so much under their real 
 value that transportation would be covered by the 
 gain in selling them abroad, while no planter would 
 give the preference to payment in commodities if he 
 could possibly lay hold of currency for his rents. 
 
 As to the value of the currency itself, the relation 
 between the bills of the province and sterling and 
 proclamation money was to be settled yearly by the 
 principal persons of the government. 
 
 The law also touched upon the disputed point of 
 the blank patents. By it such patents as were regis- 
 tered in due time and ascertained were confirmed, 
 provided that their aggregate amount did not exceed 
 150,000 acres ; but those that bore a date subsequent 
 
54 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 to the purchase by the crown were left entirely to 
 his majesty's jDleasiire " either to allow them or to 
 declare them null and void." 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO HENRY MCCULLOH. 
 
 Cape Fear, 30 Jan'y, 1739/40. 
 
 ... As to Publick Affairs I wrote you in My 
 last that since the Reconcilement Occasioned by the 
 Quit Rent Law M"" Allen Had Joined the family/ 
 who thereby had got a Majority in Council & were 
 like to Carry things in an Arbitrary and Selfish 
 Way, for Which Reason I proposed to You the 
 taking out my Mandamus, and Charge the fees to 
 Me. But Since that the Govern'" has had a letter 
 from the Board of Trade Wherein they inform him 
 that his Majesty has been Graciously Pleased to 
 Appoint Me a Member of his Council here, Which 
 Will be a Sufficient Warrant for the Gov"" to Call 
 me to My place if he finds his Majes^^ And the 
 Countrys Service Absolutely require it. Till then 
 I Do not Desire it. So you'll take Care Not to 
 Advance any More Money on that Ace* than what 
 I have Already paid the Board of Trade. The 
 Effects of the Quit Rent Law, beside What I have 
 Mention"^, are that it has Made the Gov"" Independent 
 either of Mosely, Moore &c, whom we call the fam- 
 
 ^ A term of derision possibly dating from the time when Maurice 
 Moore and others, in a document setting forth the claims for consid- 
 eration possessed by these holders of the blank patents, stated that 
 there were " twelve thousand persons in their families " and in 
 families of those under their care. Colonial Records of North Caro- 
 lina^ vol. xviii. p. 310. 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 55 
 
 ily, or of the Northern Men ; and his Conduct even 
 Since the Quitrent Law has been Approved by both 
 Sides and by the Country in General. The Only 
 thing the People Complain of is that by the clause 
 in the Q. R. L. for Valuing y^ Currency We are 
 now to Pay our Quit-rents at ten Currency for one 
 Sterhng, whereas before We Grumbled at 7 for 
 one ... 
 
 I hear Mr. Roger Moore alledges that he has an 
 old patent (which is now confirmed by the Q. R. L.) 
 that he Says is Within your 72,000 acres; and 
 sometimes he says it is Within the Bounds of y' 
 Land Sold Yaughan. You '11 Observe a Clause in 
 the Quit Rent Law that all Disputes between Pro- 
 prietors' Patents and those lately issued are Deter- 
 minable by the Gov!" in Council, who I hope will 
 take Care that no injury be done to you. 
 
 The removal from Brunswick of the port of entry 
 was only the forerunner of a yet greater blow to 
 the family. The Governor's account of the doings 
 of the General Assembly of February reads very 
 smoothly, — " Our Assembly, which met here on 
 the fifth of February, 1740, is just now prorogued. 
 They behaved with decency and parted in very 
 good humor (a thing not very common here) after 
 passing some Laws. At present I shall only take 
 notice of one, which is an Act to erect a Yillage 
 called Newtown on the Cape Fear River, into a 
 township by the name of Wilmington. . . . The 
 town is at the meeting of the two great branches 
 
 / 
 
56 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 of the Cape Fear River, its road capable of receiv" 
 ing vessels of great biirthen. ... I always looked 
 upon the want of a Town with a Convenient Port 
 as one of the greatest Obstacles to the Improve- 
 ment of the Trade of the Country and the poHshing 
 its inhabitants. I return your Lordship's thanks 
 for recommending Mr. Murray." 
 
 As a matter of fact it was a time of storms, at least 
 ^' in the Council. The favoring of Newtown and giv- 
 ing it, as the township of Wilmington, the dignity 
 of one of the chief places in the province, could 
 not have been done at that time had not the Gov- 
 ernor been able to call Mr. Murray to a seat in the 
 Council ; ^ even then it was only accompHshed by 
 
 1 « At a Council held at Newbern ISth February, 1739/40. 
 Present his Excellency the Governour 
 
 r W° Smith Math Rowan ^ Esq" 
 
 The Honorable < Nath Rice Edw^ Moseley 1 Members of 
 
 ( Rob* Halton Roger Moore j His Majesty's 
 
 Eleaz' Allen j Council. 
 
 His Excellency the Governour was pleased to acquaint this Board that 
 he had received a letter from Right Honorable the Lords of Trade 
 and Plantations Signifying that he had been graciously pleased to 
 approve of his recommendation of Mr Murray for a Councillor of 
 this Province in the room of Mr Porter deceased, which the Gov- 
 ernour ordered to be read . . . 
 
 Whitehall, Sept. 12th, 1739. 
 
 Sir, — ... In compliance with your request of the 8th of Feby. 
 1737/8 we have recommended Mr Murray to . . . his Majesty for a 
 Councillor in the room of Mr Porter deceased and his Majesty has 
 been graciously pleased to approve of him accordingly. . . . 
 
 M. Bladen. 
 
 Ja. Brudenell. 
 
 R. Plumer. 
 
 . . . And the said Mr Murray, being called to the Board and ac- 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 57 
 
 what was vii-tually a tie vote, made decisive by the ^ 
 eldest councilor's casting a second ballot in addition 
 to his first. This the opposing party insisted was 
 illegal, but the Governor gave it his sanction.^ The 
 four members who had voted against the measure 
 were the former memoriaHsts, Rice, Moore, Allen, 
 and Moseley. They sent in a protest to the Gov- 
 ernor, which was answered, as follows, by the other 
 four who had favored it, Wm. Smith, Robert Hal- 
 ton, Mathew Rowan, and James Murray : — 
 
 " As their [the protestants'] tedious account of 
 the casting vote is but a second edition of their 
 Protest given at Newtown a httle improved in stile 
 and virulence since their arrival at Cape Fear, a few 
 words will serve as an answer to it. We were then 
 and are still of Opinion that in case of an equality 
 of Votes there must be a decisive Vote in the first 
 Person in the Commission, and this we take to be 
 warranted by the practice of several corporations 
 and societies at Home ; and if ever it was necessary 
 or allowable, We do conceive it to be so in this 
 case, for as the Council has seldom or never con- 
 sisted of above eight persons with such a vote it 
 would be in the power of four persons to stop all 
 manner of business and put a negative upon Gov- 
 ernor's Council and House of Burgesses, and this 
 we look upon as an absurdity which can never take 
 
 quainted therewith took and subscribed the several oaths by law 
 appointed to be taken for the qualification of Public Officers also to 
 execute said Office Faithfully." Colonial Records of North Carolina, 
 vol. iv. pp. 444, 445. 
 
58 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 place in any Constitution founded on that of Great 
 Britain." 
 
 Mr. Saunders ^ characterizes Johnston's acceptance 
 of this casting vote as arbitrary and unjust. The 
 above answer, which bears some marks of Mr. 
 Murray's pen, must stand as the Governor's defense. 
 
 Mr. Murray's own account of these matters is as 
 follows : — 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO [PROBABLY MR. HOUSTON]. 
 
 Cape Fear, 25th March, 1740. 
 
 Dear Sir, — This waits on you with Copy of my 
 last of the 30th Jan''^. Since that time the assembly 
 met at New Berne where our Southern gentlemen 
 (viz. M"" Moore and friends) expected to carry every- 
 thing before them and aimed at no less than turn- 
 ing out Chief Justice Smith and putting a tool of 
 their own in his place. To effect this they exhib- 
 ited articles against him in the Lower House, 
 which for want of proof were then dismissed with- 
 out ever being bro* up to the Gov^ in Council who 
 was to have tried him. This being over and the 
 Governor finding the house of burgesses disposed 
 to do business, but being apprehensive of a stop 
 being put to everything in the Council that was not 
 
 every way agreeable to the , who had the 
 
 majority in Council by reason of ColP Pollock's 
 absence, he- sent for me and swore me in by virtue 
 of the Lords of Trades Let". Then the assembly 
 proceeded to business and passed several laws, one 
 
 1 Editor of the Colonial Records of North Carolina. 
 
A PIONKTiiR PLAISTTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 59 
 
 of which estabHshes Newton a town by the name of 
 Wihnington with Privilege of Sending a Member 
 to the Assembly &c. I refer you to the Copy of 
 the acct which is enclosed. The other three acts 
 are for du'ecting the method of proving book debts, 
 for allowing wages to the Members of both Houses 
 viz : 40/ to one and 30/ a day to the other during 
 their Sitting, and appointing John Hodgson speaker 
 of the Lower house pubHck Treasurer for Albe- 
 marle. It was also resolved by both Houses of 
 Assembly that the families lately arrived from North 
 Britain and settled in the Neighborhood of your 
 Lands on the North West branch of Cape Fear 
 Kiver should be exempted from all taxes for ten 
 years, next after their arrival and that all protestant 
 famihes that shall come from Europe to settle in 
 this province provided their number at setting out 
 be above forty shall in like manner be exempted 
 from all taxes for ten years next after their arrival. 
 The assembly was prorogued to Edenton there to 
 be held on the 2d Tuesday of November next. 
 And the Gov'' Intends to hold the assembhes after! j 
 that at Edenton and Wilmington by turns. The ' 
 Court of Chancery is appointed to be held here twice 
 a year. 
 
 The law for this town passing in the council only 
 by the President's casting vote, there being four 
 for and four against the bill, the Moores think they 
 have thereby a good handle to get a law Repealed 
 at home that affects them so much here. I thmk I 
 may Venture to say that it is for your Interest to 
 
60 JA]\1ES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 Support that law and get it confirmed if Possible. 
 Captain Woodward it will also obHge, who had 
 much rather live here than at Brunswick. He is 
 very much indisposed, and has been this long time 
 with the Gout. 
 
 As to Remittances, I shall be able to do something 
 from my old debts when the receiver general returns 
 from the Collection of the Quit Rents at the nor- 
 ward, and as soon as I have a ship load of either 
 Tar or Pitch or part of both with some Rice ready 
 shall send for a vessel to South Carolina or Boston, 
 let the freight be what it will. While the Export 
 of this River continues in the hands it is in at pre- 
 sent, I expect to meet with all the Disappointment 
 they can give. They have already show'd me in 
 several instances what they are capable of doing. 
 But I shall be able within a twelve month to over- 
 come all the hindrance they can give me so far as 
 to satisfy those concerned with me. And what in- 
 jury they can do to my private fortune I had and 
 wiU much rather put up with than basely truckle to 
 a set of men whose doings are in my opinion so far 
 from being justifiable.' . . . 
 
 I have for some months been Naval Officer of this 
 Port at Request and for the benefit of my Brother 
 Clark who formerly executed that office and who 
 will take it into his hands again as soon as he is 
 superseded by a Collector from home for the Port of 
 Bath, whom he expected long ere now. As soon 
 as the Gov'" returns from the Norward so that he 
 (Mr. Clark) can send him his accots attested I shall 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 61 
 
 have a sterling bill of at least forty pounds from 
 him. 
 
 The advantage I have by the naval office is that 
 it brings a great deal of ready money into my hands. 
 
 A year later Mr. Murray bore testimony in a letter 
 to Mr. McCulloh, then newly arrived in America^ as 
 to the relations between Johnston and the people in 
 general. 
 
 JAMES MURKAY TO HENRY MCCULLOH. 
 
 Wilmington, Cape Fear, 12*'^ April, 1741. 
 
 I had the pleasure to Receive the agreable News 
 of your Safe arrival by your letters of the 4*h & 7*h 
 March while I was at Edenton, on which I heartily 
 Congratulate you, M" M'^Culloch and family. . . . 
 I Returned here on friday last after having seen 
 a period to a long session of Assembly at Edenton 
 where a good deal of business has been done. I de- 
 Hvered the letters you inclosed me to the Governor, 
 who has pubHshed the instructions relating to the 
 Land Office by proclamation, and that relating to 
 the reducing of our Money to Procl. Standard was 
 not thought Necessary to be made pubHck. Nor 
 Could he Conveniently promulgate the other instruc- 
 tions &c. till the Sitting of next Council here on 
 the thud tuesday of May, and it is hoped you will 
 be very Cautious in making any declarations about 
 them that will reach this place before the end of 
 May. . . . There has been some debate in Council 
 how My Lord Carteret is to be P^ his eight part of 
 
62 JAIMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 the Quit Rents, whither out of the Gross or Neat 
 Produce ; but they would not take upon y"" to de- 
 termine the same, but left the Receiver General to 
 do as he pleased. No doubt you are informed how 
 My Lord receives his share in So. CaroHna & how 
 he ought to Receive it here. 
 
 The Collection of the Quit Rents for this Year 
 and for all Arrears will as much as possible be 
 endeavoured to be Compleated before the latter end 
 of May. The Officers have Reced so Httle of these 
 4 or 5 years Salary that they would be very much 
 Straitened without it. As to the Disputes of this 
 province, they are not between the people in Gen- 
 eral and the Governor, for they are very well satis- 
 fied with him, but there are a certain set of Men in 
 this Province who are never to be Satisfied, if they 
 have not the Cheif Management of Affairs. As you 
 may meet with some of this Complexion before I 
 have the pleasure of Seeing you I depend so much 
 upon my knowledge of you and on your knowledge 
 of their Characters that I am Certain a Caution of 
 incredulity and reservedness untill you have been 
 sometime in the Country would be altogether need- 
 less. / 
 
 If this finds you in S'' Carolina I would advise 
 M'^s M^Culloch rather to put up with the inconven- 
 iences of this place than to trust her self this sum- 
 mer in so sickly and Mortal a place as S° CaroHna. 
 It is thought this place is rather cooler than any to 
 the Nor'ard in the Settlements of this province by 
 reason of y® constant breeze — 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 63 
 
 Mr. McCuUoh, on his arrival at Cape Fear, occu- 
 pied Mr. Murray's house, availing himself of the 
 offer contained in the following letter. The diffi- 
 culties of the journey in those days, so cheerfully 
 minimized by Mr. MuiTay, are apt to be forgotten 
 unless brought to mind by some such evidence as 
 this. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO HENRY MCCULLOH. 
 
 Wilmington, 11'^ May, 1741. 
 
 ... I am sorry that Affairs of any kind should 
 detain you so long in Charlestown particularly at 
 this season of the year. I should think it much the 
 easiest way for M" M'^Culloh and you too to come 
 by water. If the risque of being taken at sea is 
 apprehended to be great, the coming within land to 
 Winyan [Winyah] and thence up Wackaman [Wa- 
 camaw] to within 5 miles of the widow Master's I 
 am told is very practicable and will shorten the 
 Journey to three very easy days riding. You may 
 have as many horses as you please sent to any place 
 at or on this side Winyan on 5 or 6 days notice 
 before the time they '11 be wanted. . . . 
 
 In my house there is a large Room 22 by 16 feet, 
 the most airy of any in the Country, two tolerable 
 lodging rooms & a Closet up stairs & Garrets above, 
 a Cellar below divided into a Kitchen with an oven 
 and a Store for Liquors, provisions, &c. This makes 
 one half of my house. The other, placed on the 
 east end, is the Store Cellar below, the Store and 
 Counting House on the first floor, & above it is 
 
64 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 partition' d off into four rooms, but this end is not 
 plaister'd but only done with rough boards. Of this 
 house you may have as much as you please, for I 
 can send my Apprentice & httle Sister, who are all 
 the family (beside Serv*^) that I have now to take 
 care of, I say I can send them or at least her to my 
 Brother Clark's. You '11 find here the best water in 
 either of the Provinces, & you '11 generaly be well 
 supplied with fish only by one hand or two employ' d 
 that way. We are also much better Situated for 
 having supplys from the Country. But without a 
 Cook wench, a store of Rmn, Wine, flower, Melasses, 
 Sugar, Tea, &c., brought with you you '11 find your 
 self at a Loss for want of them, or else suppHed with 
 them & everything else that is not the produce of 
 the Country at most extravagant rates. If you in- 
 tend to do any business here, a Cooper and a Craft 
 that wiU carry about 100 barrels will be absolutely 
 necessary. I have suffer'd much for want of them, 
 and that want of Craft and negroes will be a great 
 obstruction in securing the Quantity of Naval Stores 
 at this time that otherwise I might do. Tar is 30 
 to 35/, Pitch 50 to 551 y Turpentine 70/ p bar^, Rice 
 £4 to £4.10 p C, boards 15 to £17.10 p thous^ feet, 
 white oak hh*^ Staves £15 Pm, Shingles 80 to 90/ 
 Pm. 
 
 The Gov' will be here the latter end of this 
 week or beginning of next, and if M'^ Johnston 
 does not continue in the bad state of health she was 
 in when I left Edenton I am in hopes he will stay 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 65 
 
 'til your arrival or at least 'til the return of this 
 Express. 
 
 As to the little Politicks and disputes of this 
 place, I was never more unconcern' d than at present, 
 for I have nothing either to hope or fear from the 
 Issue of them except the pleasure of re-estabhshing 
 a good understanding among my friends whom I 
 know to be Gentlemen of worth & honour. 
 
 With all his energy and a fair share of hopeful- 
 ness, Mr. Murray was wholly without the main- 
 spring of sanguine enthusiasm which moved the 
 New England emigrants and supported the Quakers, 
 a trait of character which has come to stand at home 
 and abroad as one distinctive mark of an American. 
 A true American James Murray never became. Still, 
 he was essentially a man of a pubHc spirit, and so 
 far as that spirit could be exercised in an atmosphere 
 of party faction he exercised it. His pubhc stand- 
 ing was high, and he always wrote about provincial 
 matters with a certain tone of authority. 
 
 In the year in which he was made a member of 
 the Council, George Whitefield, who had come over 
 from England with Fox, visited North Carolina, while , 
 his colleague devoted himself to Virginia. He evi- \ 
 dently urged the importance of schools, and in this t 
 Mr. Murray was ready to second him, not being of - 
 the mind of Governor Berkeley, who broke out, in i 
 his report to the proprietors in 1671 : " Yet I \ 
 thank God there are no free schools nor printing ) 
 
 o 
 
66 JAIVIES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 presses, and I hope we shall not have any these 
 hundred years. For learning has brought disobedi- 
 ence and heresy, and sects into the world, and 
 printing has divulged them, — God keep us from 
 both." 
 
 JAMES MURKAY TO THE REV. GEORGE WHITEFIELD. 
 Wilmington, Cape Fear, June 24'*", 1740. 
 
 D^ Sir ... I heartily thank you for the two 
 barrels flower that you were so kind to Send Me, & 
 the sermons &c with the good advice you give me 
 along with them is very Obliging, & Confirms Me 
 in the Opinion I have always had of you Since I 
 had the hapiness of you acquaintance that you are 
 Sincere disinterested & indefatigable in promoting 
 true Religion, — Christianity. Your Sermons here 
 had (as we have reason to believe) a good Effect on 
 Several of your hearers, & the acco* of them made 
 many others sorry they were absent. 
 
 As the great aim of your life is to do good by 
 propagating the Gospel, it is the opinion of many 
 People of good sence that there is Not a Province 
 in America where your preaching is So Much wanted 
 as in this. 
 
 May therefore hope you'll persist in your first 
 resolution of Staying Sometime among us in your 
 way from the nor' ward. ^.- 
 
 As to a School-master, one would certainly be 
 Very necessary here. I shall consult with those 
 most Immediatly concern'd in that affair, & if they 
 will come under any Engagements sufficient to In- 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 67 
 
 courage one to come here I shall presume to give 
 you the trouble by the Post to Charlestown of a 
 letter to desire you would recommend one to us. 
 
 Early in the year 1744 he went to Scotland to be 
 married to his cousin Barbara. His plantation he 
 left in Mr. Clark's hands. His house was occupied 
 by Mr. McCuUoh. EHzabeth's negroes were hired 
 out, while EHzabeth herseK accompanied her brother. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO JAMES HAZEL. 
 
 Wilmington, 28 Feb., 1743/4. 
 I have three Negroes named Glasgow, Kelso and 
 Berwick ^ in Trust for my Sister EHzabeth Murray, 
 which you may have on hire for three years from 
 the first of March Next, on or before which Time 
 they Shall be DeHvered to You if You Agree to my 
 Proposals ; which are : that you Pay Yearly at the 
 Time and manner after mentioned Eight Pounds 
 Sterling money of Great Brittain for the Negro 
 Called Glasgow, and Six Pounds ten Shillings like 
 money each for Kelso and Berwick, in aU Twenty 
 One Pounds Sterling ; for which Sum You '11 Please 
 to DeHver to me or my Attorney some Time between 
 the 10% Day of May next and the Wh Day of May 
 following and so yearly for the said three Years 
 Good Bills of Exchange, or a Sufficient Quantity of 
 Merchantable Produce fitt for a british market, to be 
 Ship* on your Account & Risque in the first Vessel 
 that I or my Attorneys can Procure freight in after 
 
 ^ The names recall the Scottish associations. 
 
68 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 the Keceipt of it, on which Produce Such Value 
 shall be Insured for you on the Usual Terms as You 
 Please to Direct at each Time of Payment, which 
 Sum Directed to be Insured Shall be accounted for 
 to you in the Customary Terms of Interest in Case 
 of Loss and taken in Payment of the said liire, and 
 the neat Proceeds of Such Commodities so DeHvered 
 & Ship* shaU be taken in Payment of the said hire. 
 Among other Charges of Your Goods aforesaid the 
 Premium of the Sum you Direct to be Insured is 
 also to be Deducted from the Neat Proceeds. And 
 in Case you fail to make Sufficient Payment yearly 
 within the Time above mentioned as above men- 
 tioned. You Will Pay Whatever Simi you are Defi- 
 cient, together with Twenty three P Cent thereon, 
 within two months after Such Deficiency Shall be 
 known, in Tar at the Current Price here, reducing 
 the Same to SterHng at the Common Exchange. 
 You '11 allow this Twenty three P Cent advance 
 because I have excepted of Sixty five pounds (in 
 Consideration of my being Paid in Sterling money) 
 instead of Eighty Pounds you Offered to Pay me 
 here. And as We have by mutual Consent Valued 
 the said Glasgow at five hundred Pounds, and Kelso 
 and Berrwick at four hundred Pounds each, you wiU 
 Return the said three Negroes at the expiration of 
 the said three Years from the first of March next, 
 Provided they are ahve, but in Case of the Death of 
 them or any of them, or in Case they or any of them 
 run away, so as they can not be found, then & in 
 either of these Cases you must Pay in the Same 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 69 
 
 manner you pay the hire aforesaid the Value as 
 above fixed of such Negro or Negroes Dead or run 
 away as aforesaid, and allow the hire of such Dead 
 or Run away Negro as if he had been ahve and pre- 
 sent untill you Pay the Value of him as aforesaid ; 
 and in Case of their being runaway so as not to be 
 had in a Resonable Time, you shall have a Bill of 
 Sale for Such Runaway on Paying the Value as 
 aforesaid and in Case any of them shall Receive any 
 Damage by the WilfuU abuse of Your Overseer^ 
 then you must allow for Such Damage at the Re- 
 turning of the Said Slaves, I am 
 Sir 
 Your most humble Serv* 
 
 At some time during this year — 1744 — James 
 Murray and Barbara Bennet were married. For five 
 years after his marriage Mr. Murray remained in 
 England and Scotland. He Hved at one time at 
 Ninton, at another at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, at an- 
 other in London. It was in a house on Tower Hill, 
 in London, in the year 1745, that his eldest child, 
 Dorothy, was born. The death of Mr. Clark recalled 
 him to America, whither with his wife and child and 
 his sister EHzabeth he returned in 1749. He sailed 
 first to Boston, where Elizabeth, as will be seen in a 
 later chapter, estabHshed herself in business, and 
 leaving his wife and child there temporarily in his 
 sister's charge, he repaired alone to Cape Fear. 
 
 The shoals of the North Carohna coast, and the 
 ignorance of the captain, nearly brought shipwreck 
 
70 JAIMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 to the vessel in which he sailed from Boston. An 
 account of the misadventure was sent to his cousin 
 and sister-in-law, Jean Bennet. The two sisters, 
 Anne and Jean Bennet, stood in a pecuharly inti- 
 mate and dear relation to their sister Barbara's fam- 
 ily, being able, as they never formed absorbing ties 
 of their own, to give the warmest affection and sym- 
 pathy to her, her husband, and her children. They 
 were long held in remembrance by James Murray's 
 descendants, several of whom bore their united 
 names, " Anne Jean." 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO JEAN BENNET. 
 
 Cape Fear July 24*^ 1749. 
 
 ... I had yesterday the Happiness to receive 
 Letters of the 24 June from my Lass and my Sister 
 at Boston. . . . You will be curious to know how I 
 do to hve without them. Why, to confess the truth, 
 I have a much better time of it than I expected. 
 Whether this is owing to age, to the Heat of the 
 Season, the regularity of my life, or to that Serious 
 turn which grows upon me and becomes more and 
 more agreeable, I cannot tell. I shall leave you to 
 determine. I Discover for all, however, by this Sep- 
 aration that so much of my Happiness depends upon 
 my Dear B — that I shall be very averse to such 
 another parting while it pleases God to continue us 
 in hfe, and I purpose to be like the Prodigal son 
 after his hardships more obhging for the time to 
 come. But where am I got to ? . . . Since I Came 
 here I have been in good Spirits and without any 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 71 
 
 sort of ailment. I had indeed a little fright in 
 coming which discomposed me. The Story of it is 
 this : 
 
 We left Boston on the 5*^ of June, and after 
 much contrary winds, warm weather and a Stream 
 against us we made the land on Thursday, the 6*^ 
 of July, about 11 o'clock, having had Soundings 
 about 20 fathom at 8. The day was clear and the 
 wind was fair. In these Circumstances I found a 
 heart more grateful than I believe it would have 
 been after the same Voyage performed in a Week 
 or ten days. At noon we were by the Cap* & 
 Mate's observation ab*' 30 m south of our port. 
 While we were thus sailing along at the rate of 
 four or five miles an hour, and the Pines raising 
 their heads more distinctly to our View, I took the 
 advantage of this Good temper to review my con- 
 duct in the place to which I was now returning, to 
 resolve an Amendment of the many faulty parts of 
 it, and to acknowledge the undeserved goodness of 
 Providence in the several Dispensations by which I 
 had been led to so just a sense of my Sins and to a 
 clearer perception of those Rules which adher'd to 
 wiU secure my Tranquillity in this life and my hap- 
 piness in the next. I need not tell you how much 
 this meditation exalted the pleasure of my present 
 situation & at the same time check'd the excess 
 of it. 
 
 About two o'clock we discover' d, as we thought, 
 the Inlet of Cape Fear and saw a small Vessel going 
 in before us. At three we came so near as to see 
 
72 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 a Ship at Anchor within the Harbour. From that 
 time til four we were trying in vain to bring our 
 Land marks to bear, perplex' d with the shoalness 
 of the Water and with the Breakers we saw ahead. 
 At last, dreading some mistake, we try'd to stretch 
 out again to sea, but the Wind & tide were so 
 strong against us we could not. Then we run in as 
 well as we could. A little after four o'clock the Ship 
 thump'd on the ground about two leagues distant 
 from the shore. At the same time that this shock 
 made my feet start from the Deck it rais'd my heart 
 from its place. The People Star'd at one Another, 
 and the Dog with his tail between his feet run into 
 the Steerage. After a few of these strokes the ship 
 went forward no more, but was only lifted up with 
 the Sea and let fall in the same place. It luckily 
 happen'd to be sand, and she stuck right on her 
 Keel. The Pump was tried ; as yet she made no 
 water. The Sails were left standing to hinder her 
 from Striking, and the Yawl was hoisted out with 
 5 hands to search for the Channel. They returned, 
 finding it all shoal round. Now we fir'd Guns and 
 made other Signals of distress, tho' we knew no 
 help could come to us against such a wind and tide. 
 While we were lying in this posture, the man who 
 •was left in the boat to prevent her staving against 
 the Ship let his rope Slip, and away he went. He 
 had nought on but a shirt & P of trewsers, no sub- 
 sistence, no help in the boat, and above two leagues 
 to the Harbour. Tho' the Wind was in, the tide 
 was almost spent, so we gave up the man for lost ; 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 73 
 
 but that was a small matter to us compar'd to the 
 loss of the boat and the Oars on which our own 
 lives depended. Towards High water between 7 & 
 8 o'clock it looked very black, thunder'd and light- 
 ened much, so that we expected a Storm and to 
 pass our last night but uncomfortably. Yet the 
 Common Sailors shew'd the same Stupidity, the 
 same inconcern about a future State, and the same 
 disregard of a Supreme Power now they were about 
 to die as they had done in their lives. 
 
 A Black Dismal night Succeeded and the Wind 
 increased, but by this time the Water left us at rest 
 upon the Sand and the Wind drove the Waves 
 against the ship as against a Rock, the noise of 
 which prevented me from Sleeping tho I was very 
 much fatigued with helping to heave out Balast to 
 lighten the ship. At last about twelve o' Clock I 
 fell fast a Sleep and was so happy as quite to forget 
 the Condition I was in til near three next morning, 
 when I wakd calm and in good Spirits. Now it 
 being low Water, we saw there was not above two 
 feet Water all round, and the Cap* now first lost all 
 hopes of the Ship and cried like a Child. I had 
 put up the night before a Candlebox with a couple 
 of Shirts, some papers &c, and was puting in the 
 Silver Spoons ; but the Cabin boy told me to put 
 them in my pockets, for they would be taken out of 
 the box. " A good thought," said I, ^' George, they 
 will help to sink me the sooner when turn'd a Drift, 
 and if I 'm sav'd they '11 be safe." While I was 
 lying awake and the waves giving us long warning 
 
74 JAMES MUERAY, LOYALIST 
 
 of their Approach I thought my self very lucky 
 that my wife was not with me, and now I had a 
 very lively view of the vanity of all worldly Posses- 
 sions. Here was a good Vessel, which we imagined 
 was in a few hours to be safe in her port, like to be 
 reduced to a wreck, and ourselves glad to give up 
 every thing to save our lives and but httle prospect 
 of that. Now what avail' d all the Studies, cares 
 & fatigue of my life except those which tended to 
 imj)rove me in Virtue and Religion ? Now it was 
 my greatest Support to have a firm perswasion that 
 whether God intended my life or Death it was in 
 Mercy to me ; if life, to wean me still more from 
 the world and give me another Instance of De- 
 liverance never to be forgot; if Death to take 
 me out of the way of approaching Temptation 
 and for Exercise to the Piety of those concerned 
 in me. 
 
 Our Hopes began again to dawn with the Day, 
 at least of being safe in our Hves. The Weather 
 was moderate & the wind off shore, a thing very 
 uncommon on this coast at this Season. About 
 Sunrise we saw a Boat coming out, which in a little 
 time came to an Anchor and made a Signal for us 
 to send our Boat to her ; but we could not, having 
 nothing but a great Long boat, no Sails and but 
 two oars. As soon as there was water sufficient she 
 made toward us and to our great Joy we found it 
 was the Pilot of Winyan, which place we had mis- 
 taken for Cape Fear. To bring you and myself 
 out of this trouble a little faster than he did, I must 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 75 
 
 briefly let you know that when we saw him every 
 one, having no hopes of saving the ship, began to 
 put up what few things they chused to save to be 
 thrown on board the boat. He boarded us about 
 seven and told us that a few yards distant from us 
 lay a large parcell of Stones thrown out by another 
 ship in the like distress, which if we had hght upon 
 would infallibly have destroyed us. Favourd with a 
 fair wind & moderate Weather, he got us off agam 
 about nine o'Clock to deep water, where you will 
 be glad to leave us til the next Day, being Satur- 
 day, that we came safe in here. 
 
 Mrs. Murray joined her husband in August, 1750, 
 and in the course of a year or two Point Repose, 
 as the North Carolina plantation was fitly called, 
 became their home. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO JOHN MURRAY OF PHILIPHAUGH. 
 
 Wilmington, Nov. 10 1750. 
 ... I am givhig up aU thoughts of Trade and 
 retbing to a Plantation in the Country there not to 
 live in a disgraceful Ease but to be ready at every 
 call to serve my Country or my Friend. When I 
 was appointed one of his Majestys Council for this 
 Province about Eleven year ago there were Eight 
 before me now I stand the fourth in the List — this 
 oface to compare small thmgs with great is like 
 your Attendance on Parliament it gives me the 
 benefit of a two hundred Miles Ride twice a Year, 
 some Influence in the Country and some Power to 
 
76 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 promote the good of it That and the Charge of 
 Sisters Family and the Independence I can live in 
 are my Chief Inducements to spend the rest of my 
 Days here and never more to think of crossing the 
 Atlantick. . . . M"" Rutherford with all his easy Tem- 
 per is more pushing than one would imagine he is 
 daily expected here with a Commission for Receiv"" 
 Gen^ of the Kings Quitrents and a Considerable 
 Cargo both obtaind as we hear by the Assistance 
 of M"" Dinwiddie — his Place will be attended with 
 much fatigue and Perquisites worth about two hun- 
 dred a year. 
 
 My Wife desires to be dutifully remembered with 
 me to Lady Philiphaugh and all your family. I have 
 at last got her from Boston to help to plant this 
 New Country but not till I went for her — In May 
 last I arrived in Boston and left it the end of 
 August by which I had an opportunity of spend- 
 ing three of the most disagreeable Months of this 
 Climate in that poor Healthy Place New England 
 — their Health they owe to Gods goodness their 
 Poverty to their own bad Policy and this to their 
 Popular Government. 
 
 I have Httle to say of om* Friends here but 
 that they are all well — my Eldest daughter is the 
 only Child I have now alive she is a thumping 
 Girl.^ My Sister Clark has three fine boys and a 
 Daughter. 
 
 The temporary shelter which held the family at 
 
 1 Of the death of the daughter born in Boston there is no mention. 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLD^A 77 
 first was before long replaced by a comfortable brick 
 mansion, and though the tale of deaths foUowing 
 hard upon births, bearing evidence to the unhealth- 
 iness of the clhnate, is a sad one, the general tone 
 of hfe there was that of cheerful success.' Mr. 
 Murray's letters to Mrs. Bennet, and to Mrs. Clark, 
 who, in 1753, went back to Scotland, give an idea of 
 the varied and healthful interests of the planter's 
 life, as well as of his unf aihng kindness to his sister, 
 now dependent on him for support. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO BARBARA CLARK. 
 
 Cape Fear, Febr^ 26*, 1755. 
 
 ... I have about 100 thous'd Bricks bm'n^ & 
 am to begin my House, if the Bricklayer keep his 
 word, early next Month. My Crop of Rice comes 
 much short of my expectation, partly by its having 
 been too rank & Lodging & partly from Ignorance & 
 want of Convenience to manage it. The middle part 
 
 James Murray's children, so far as the letters and records show 
 were : — 
 
 Dorothy, b. 1745, in London; died 1811. 
 
 Daughter, b. Jan. 1749, in Boston; died . 
 
 Archibald, b. July 1751, in North Carolina; died 1753. 
 
 John. 
 
 Jean, b. 1754, in North Carolina; died 1758.- 
 
 Elizabeth, b. 1756, in North Carolina; died 1837. 
 
 Infant, b. 1758, in North Carolina; died 1758. 
 
 1 He was always supported by a philosophic habit of mind. Of a 
 cousiVs death he wrote, for example, in 1757, " These Incidents 
 ought to learn us to lean little on Comforts of that kind & to re- 
 semble old Officers season'd in Service, who are not so much on- 
 ce'nd to see their Freinds dropping from about them as watchful to^ 
 do their own part, tiU it comes to their Turn to faU. 
 
78 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 of my Log house I was obliged to turn into a 
 Barn to pound the Rice in, not being able to get a 
 bricklayer in time last fall to build a Barn, and tho 
 I still continue Secretary the Money I get since the 
 Presidents Currency came out is all proc. This 
 renders My remittance for you and my Creditors 
 Slacker & more difficult than I expected it. I thank 
 God, however I have Received & am to receive suf- 
 ficient to make both them & you easier, & the money 
 employed in raising your Nursery gives me more 
 pleasure than any I spend otherways, so you ought 
 not to abate that pleasure by uneasiness or repining 
 on that Score. If Indigo holds its price, or any thing 
 near it, I shall be able to do a great deal, & so will 
 the province in general.^ 
 
 JAMES MUKKAY TO RICHARD OSWALD & CO. 
 
 Cape Fear, Feb. 28, 1755. 
 . . . Being well acquainted with your Publick 
 Spirit, I beg leave to put you in mind of represent- 
 ing to the Lords of Trade & Admiralty the Excel- 
 lent quahty of our Cypress & its fitness for Masts, 
 & how much it would tend to increase our Shipping 
 if proper encouragement could be had for Sending 
 home our pine plank, which far exceeds that of Nor- 
 way which you buy with ready money, whereas our^ 
 would be the purchase of your own Manufactores. 
 
 ^ His success in indigo was fair. In 1759 he wrote to his brother 
 John, " I have made about 1000 lb to my share this year, besides 
 Rice and Tar and might have made clear double that quantity had 
 my Overseer been good." 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 79 
 
 The bounty on Indigo & several other Articles is a 
 proof how usefnll that kind of reward is to drive 
 people out of a beaten Track of mispending their 
 Time into unprofitable exports. The people of this 
 Province are about 30,000, who from their Poverty 
 & the Scarcity of European goods, the Effect of 
 their poverty, are obliged to waste much of their 
 time in the Manufactures of wool, flax & Cotton 
 which with a vast deal more benefit to themselves as 
 well as to the Mother Country might be employed 
 in making the rough Materials to be Manufactored 
 where Labour is Cheap & the Climate & soil more 
 inhospitable. The Poverty of this Province appears 
 to me (but to few in the Province beside me) to be 
 owing in a great measure to our dabling in a paper 
 Currency & dispensing with all special Contracts, 
 under pretince of supporting the Credit of that Cur- 
 rency, but in truth to answer the ill designs of the 
 Champions for it to enable them to pay their Credit- 
 ors on their own terms. Another cause of our Pov- 
 erty, idleness & uselessness to our Mother Country, 
 & likewise of the thinness of our Settlements, [is] a 
 Single person being able to hold a great quantity 
 at a low rent without Cultivation. All Instructions 
 restraining this are continualy broke thro. A more 
 effectual way to remedy the past ills of this kind & 
 to prevent the future seems to be to impose a smart 
 Land tax, either by the General union, if it takes 
 place, if not by act of Parliament. Such an act 
 might be so contrived as to procure a good rent roll 
 for the Crown thro out the Provinces, a Consider- 
 
80 JAMES MUKRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 able part of this Tax to be applied to encourage 
 Manufactures benificial to the Province & Great 
 Britain. I make no Apology for these Hints. Use 
 them as you please. Our Governor ^ has the Interest 
 of the Crown & his Government much at heart, but 
 does not throughly understand the ill Tendency of a 
 paper Currency, especially to a poor Colony, as will 
 be evident to you when I send you his plan for a 
 Land Bank. To this plan it seems he has got the 
 previous Concurrence of the Lords of Trade, & it is 
 to come under consideration next Assembly in No- 
 vember. If it passes, it will continue us in spite of 
 Indigo so much the longer useless to our selves & the 
 Mother Country. 
 
 JAMES MUREAY TO SAMPSON SIMPSON. 
 
 M^ Sampson Simpson > 
 Merch' in New York ) 
 
 Cape Fear, Sept. 4, 1756. 
 ... If you Can meet with a Sober diligent man with 
 or without a familly, Skilld in Tanning and Curry- 
 ing, I desire the favour of you to engage him for me 
 for three years at the rate of forty Pounds Sterling 
 payable in the Currency of this Province yearly, or 
 thirty Pounds like Money payable as aforesaid with 
 Provision, lodging & washing. I shall pay the Cus- 
 tomary Passage for one or two persons, provide him 
 a House & Some ground to Plante, about 5 Acres 
 
 1 Governor Dobbs, who had recently succeeded to the governor- 
 ship upon the death of Governor Johnson. Mr. Murray's opposition 
 to this measure and to others proposed by Dobbs drew down upon 
 him the governor's ill-will. 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 81 
 
 fenced in for himself if he has a familly. You may 
 put an advertisement in your paper for this purpose 
 if you see it necessary, and let me Know before 
 Christmas, whether I Can be Suplied by you. 
 
 JAMES MUREAY TO JOHN WALLACE. 
 
 Mr. John Wallace } 
 Merch* in New York ) 
 
 Cape Fear, Sep* 4, 1756. 
 
 ... I am also in need of good Sawyer to tend a 
 
 Saw Mill, which when well tended & in a Common 
 
 year will Cut about 100 Thousa"^ feet. To such a 
 
 one I would be wiUing to give a tenth part of the 
 
 Lumber Sawn. ... If M'' FrankHn would Send me 
 
 his Gazette postage free, it Should be punctualy 
 
 paid for, & it would also oblige our President, who 
 
 is my next Neighbour. . . • 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO RICHARD OSWALD & CO. 
 
 Cape Fear, July 19, 1756. 
 ... I find also by a trial that my overseer, a Swiss, 
 has made both this year & last that silk may be made 
 here to great advantage. The worms thrive un- 
 commonly, fed with the leaves of wild Mulberry. 
 Whether they will be equally healthy upon the ItaHan 
 I Shall know, as I intend to Plant out 2000 trees 
 next year. This, I hope, will entitle me to the 
 bounty of your improving society in London. I 
 have forgot its name. I shall send you a specimen 
 of the silk. 
 
82 JAJMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 JAMES MUERAY TO BARBARA CLARK. 
 
 Cape Fear, Februry 8'h, 1757. 
 
 . . . The accounts you give of the Children's 
 health & progress except Jammy's are very Satisfac- 
 tory. Only I think the Master is to blame for keep- 
 ing back Tommy in Compleisance to his Brother. 
 We cannot expect that Jam will in his sickly way 
 come any great Length, whereas Tom's genius ought 
 to be improv'd to the uttermost. It is my Settled 
 Intention if I live, & let my Family Increase as it 
 will, to carry on Tom's Education at the Expence of 
 £200 or <£300 Ster. and to make a Lawyer of him, 
 if he has not an aversion to it. Brother John pro- 
 poses to take charge of his Namesake, & Jammy 
 must come out with you when the others have done 
 with their Schools, or sooner by himself when the 
 war is over, if the Doctor's think it wiU be for the 
 Benifit of his health. . . . 
 
 I am much oblig'd to Lady Don for her kindness 
 to you & the Children & shall contrive some such 
 way as you propose to make my Acknowledgments 
 to her. 
 
 When the French and Indian wars broke out, 
 Mr. Murray followed with interest the movements 
 of his friend Captain Innes. "You will be in- 
 formed e'er this," he wrote on September 4, 1754, 
 to Captain Archibald Douglas, " that our old friend 
 Col. Innes has the chief command of the American 
 forces aboard the Ohio, where he has an enemy 
 alert in their preparations and notions, well sup- 
 
A PIOXEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 83 
 
 ported, and only a few ragged men from these dis- 
 contented colonies without money or provisions to 
 oppose them. Thus he is like to gather few laurels 
 on these mountains. He had better have stayed at 
 home to gather Hghtwood." 
 
 Perhaps it was the influence of Dr. Franklin's 
 gazette that inclined him favorably to the " plan of 
 general union " mentioned in the following letter, 
 although it could not endue him with belief in the 
 immediate greatness of America. 
 
 JAMES MURKAY TO JOHN RUTHERFORD. 
 
 Cape Fear, March 3^ 1755. 
 
 . . . About a fortnight ago I had the Pleasure 
 to receive your fav'' & from the Camp at Wills 
 Creek. The calling you off from your Connections 
 & Improvements at home I dare say must be a 
 great Mortification to you, your Lady & Friends, 
 but I would fain hope you will do the Business of 
 the French so speedily that it will only be a short 
 Kecess & give a better ReHsh to your Retirement. 
 The Plan of the General Union or some thing Hke 
 it seems absolutely necessary to bring the Colonies 
 to act with Vigour in their own Defence, & it is 
 thought such Union will prove a Step in the Scheme 
 of Providence for fixing in Time an Empire in 
 America. But this will be long after our Day. 
 
 Every Body in this province (one only excepted) 
 readily acknowledges Col. Innes's fitness for the 
 Task he is engaged in, and will be as ready to thank 
 
84 JAMES MUERAY, LOYALIST 
 
 him in words for His Services but as to pecuniary- 
 Reward I dare say they will not think of it. His 
 Fortunes they know are not only easy, but opulent. 
 Theirs in general are not so. The paper Money 
 they are so bewitchingly fond of gives them, 't is 
 true, some temporary Relief, but certainly brings 
 Discredit, Perfidy & Poverty in the Rear. 
 
 If Indigo succeeds, as we have Reason to hope, 
 the value of our Export wiU be so increased as to 
 remove several of the bad Effects of our Paper Coin ; 
 but if that fails, we must spin & weave & brew for 
 ourselves. No body wiU deal with us. But to re- 
 turn to a more agreeable Subject, your Letter. . . . 
 M'^s Murray & my two Daughters,^ the eldest & 
 youngest of Six Children, are now all my Stock, & 
 are very healthy & hearty. My Wife has not had 
 an Hour's sickness since she has been in the Pro- 
 vince. This and some good Luck as Temporary 
 Secretary render the CHmate and other Cii'cum- 
 stances tolerably easy to us. . . . 
 
 M"" EUiot, Sir Gilbert's Son, about whom you en- 
 quire, is making moderate bread as a Lawyer, & 
 that in spite of great Modesty, Integrity & disin- 
 terestedness. Qualities for which the Gentlemen of 
 that Profession in this Province are not in General 
 very remarkable. 
 
 Of Braddock's defeat he wrote January 14, 1756, 
 to his cousin Lady Mary Don : " Being here at a 
 distance both from the scene and season of war, it 
 
 ^ Dorothy and Jean. 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 85 
 
 is out of my power to give you any information on 
 that head, only that our hopes of success are as san- 
 guine, and we think better founded than ever, since 
 the French have been so depressed at sea and have 
 taught us how to attack and defend in the woods. 
 But whatever coup de maitre by negotiation or arms 
 the French have in reserve for us, it can hardly be 
 more surprising than was Braddock's defeat, not in- 
 deed to everybody, for men of experience, some of 
 them I have conversed with, saw him by council and 
 conduct a bird ready for the snare." 
 
 "While Governor Johnston lived Mr. Murray's in- 
 terest in public affairs was active, though he did not 
 by any means support all the Governor's measures. 
 Johnston had died in 1752. In 1753 Mr. Murray 
 was appointed " Secretary, Clerk of the Council and 
 Clerk of the Crown," but he was not in sympathy 
 with Johnston's successor. Governor Dobbs, who was 
 appointed in 1754. Friction soon arose between 
 them, which resulted in 1757 in the suspension by 
 the Governor of Mr. Murray, as well as of his friend 
 John Rutherford, then receiver - general of quit- 
 rents, from their seats as members of the Council 
 until his Majesty's pleasure should be known. 
 Through exertions of friends in England, however, 
 who presented the matter before the proper authori- 
 ties, both were in 1762, by his Majesty with the ad- 
 vice of his Privy Council, reinstated, Mr. Murray 
 being restored to the rank he held at the time of 
 his suspension. Thi3, owing to the death of the 
 
86 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 senior member, placed him first in the Hst, with the 
 ex-officio rank of president of the Council. The 
 suspension seems to have given him Httle concern, 
 nor are the matters in controversy clearly stated in 
 his letters, but they may be gathered from the 
 printed records. 
 
 The underlying cause of the suspension, and the 
 kernel of the whole matter, was Mr. Murray's oppo- 
 sition to Governor Dobbs. This is apparent from a 
 letter written by the Governor himself to the Board 
 of Trade, dated December 27, 1757, in which he 
 states his case against the two councilors, and in 
 which Mr. Murray is made to figure in the novel role 
 of leader of a junto, enemy of the royal prerogative, 
 and popular agitator. This letter contains the fol- 
 lowing paragraphs : — 
 
 " First it appeared plain to me that they [Murray 
 and Rutherford] and 2 others had agreed always to 
 vote together in Council and others being disunited 
 that they might carry or reject what Bills they 
 thought proper, and thus by a party to make it 
 necessary to the Governour to confide in them and 
 govern by a party. But I had also further reasons 
 against Mr. Murray, who piqued himself in leading 
 and advising the Junto, that he as one of the Coun- 
 cil endeavored to lessen his Majesty's prerogative 
 and add to the power of the Assembly : That he 
 had endeavored to form a party in the Assembly 
 to make himself popular against the Government, 
 raised and encouraged a republican party, drew 
 clauses in the former Sessions which he gave in his 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 87 
 
 own handwriting to them, to obstruct and clog the 
 Aid Bill by encroaching upon his Majesty's pre- 
 rogative and taxing the fees of his officers, and so 
 make a division between the Council and Assembly 
 in case they would not carry the clause in Council. 
 However, his clauses were thrown out by manage- 
 ment in the Lower House. This I had from several 
 of the members of the Assembly, yet did not think it 
 prudent to mention it in Council as a charge against 
 him, but delayed it until by his schemes something 
 further should appear against him. 
 
 " This uniting their Interest together appeared in 
 their carryuig a Bill thro the Council by one vote 
 to distress the Government by secluding several of 
 his Majesty's friends from sitting in future assem- 
 bhes by a Bill to regulate Elections which I rejected, 
 a Copy of which I send to your Lordships that you 
 may see what they and the assembly are driving at 
 to raise their own power and lessen their dependence 
 on the Crown. This Murray and his Junto did that 
 they might make me unpopular with the Assembly 
 in rejecting their favorite Bill. ... I therefore 
 leave it to your Lordships whether I have done my 
 Duty in suspending Mr. Murray and Mr. Rutherford 
 from the Council or whether such a designing man 
 acting in conjunction with others against the pre- 
 rogatives is a fit person to be restored and made a 
 member of the Council." ^ 
 
 The ostensible reason for the suspension, tlie 
 " something more which should appear against him," 
 1 Colonial Records of North Carolina^ vol. v. p. 946. 
 
88 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 for which the Governor waited, before suspending 
 him from the Council, was Mr. Murray's issuing 
 over his signature printed " notes/' which by their 
 terms promised that they should be accepted by the 
 Receiver-General in payment of quit-rents due to the 
 Crown. These instruments were in effect bills 
 drawn upon the Eeceiver-General, by whom some of 
 them were accepted by his writing on the face over 
 his signature, " To be paid with interest," and were 
 subsequently received in payment of quit-rents from 
 the persons into whose hands they came. The 
 charge was thus directed against both Murray and 
 Rutherford.^ The issue of these bills, and their 
 
 ^ Governor Dobbs's version of the matter, contained in a letter of 
 Dec. 26, 1757, to the Lords of the Treasury, is this : — 
 
 "... He [Mr. Rutherford] allowed his friend and adviser, Mr. 
 Murray, one of the Council, to issue printed notes under hand and 
 seal without limitation to be allowed in payment of Quit Rents with 
 Interest, . . . which he himself [Rutherford] endorsed or accepted 
 to give the same a Sanction, and directed the several Sheriffs to take 
 them in payment of Quit Rents, which was an effectual way to de- 
 preciate the paper Currency of the Province, which he said was with 
 an Intention that Mr. Murray might be paid his arrear due from the 
 Establishment, giving him the preference to others without any or- 
 ders for it. Upon this sanction Mr. Murray issued Notes of his 
 own to be allowed in the Counties of New Hanover, Onslow, Duplin 
 and Bladen, and upon the success he had in issuing of these he then 
 issued Notes to be allowed in Quit Rents over the whole Province 
 . . . and refused to pay them in Provincial currency or in anything 
 but for Quit Rents or for Debts due to him, or for Goods bought 
 for him at what price he pleased to sell them, which at least is 300 p 
 cent currency upon sterling money. They said he had issued but few, 
 for which no evidence appeared and can't tell when it would have ended 
 if they had not been stop'd by Proclamation, and after their defence 
 the Council without a Negative voting Mr. Rutherford guilty of a 
 misdemeanor in his Office I suspended him until his Majesty's plea- 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 89 
 
 acceptance and receipt by the Receiver-General in 
 lieu of money was apparently irregular, but involved 
 no bad faith upon the part of either, and was an 
 expedient, not without precedent, adopted as a 
 means of securing payment to Mr. Murray of arrears 
 of his salary then long overdue. At a meeting of 
 the Council, on December 1, 1757,^ the Governor 
 brought the matter before the Board, and an order 
 was passed that a proclamation issue forbidding the 
 receipt of any such bills thereafter. 
 
 Rutherford vigorously defended his course before 
 the Council. When called upon by the Governor 
 to explain his action, he answered," " Mr. Murray 
 having a salary due to him from the Crown for the 
 time he acted as Secretary and Clerk of the Crown 
 in this Province, & having occasion to buy corn and 
 other Commody from the Planters, desired leave 
 to make use of this expedient to get payment of his 
 salary, & firmly obhged himself to be accountable to 
 me in money for the surplus if any. This expedient," 
 he continues, " I consented to for the following rea- 
 sons : — 
 
 "1st. Because the receivers, my Predecessors, 
 
 sure is known, and both him and Mr. Murray from the Council. . . ." 
 Colonial Records of North Carolina, vol. v. p. 941. 
 
 It is to be observed that the letter charges that the notes had been 
 issued " without limitation," and disregards the statement of Ruther- 
 ford and Murray that " he had issued but few," on the ground that 
 no " evidence appeared " to support it, thus casting on them the bur- 
 den of proving a negative. Rutherford stated specifically that the 
 amount issued was £320. 
 
 1 See Colonial Records of North Carolina^ vol. v. p. 821. 
 
 2 See.r&irf.,vol. V. p. 937. 
 
90 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 admitted of orders from the Officers of the Crown, 
 in the like eases for Quit Rents and for sums of 
 greater value. 
 
 " 2nd. Because I apprehended it to be well cal- 
 culated for easing the Tenant and enabling, nay put- 
 ting him in mind, to pay his rents, and at the same 
 time for discharging the debts of the Crown with- 
 out depreciating the Currency, — No person being 
 compelled to take those notes in payment, and the 
 sum issued inconsiderable. 
 
 " 3rd. The sum Mr. Murray issued in notes was 
 three hundred and twenty pounds, of which there are 
 not more now circulating than eighty eight, and that 
 shall speedily be called in." 
 
 The defense was, however, addressed to unwilling 
 ears, and the minutes of the meeting of the Council 
 of December 14, 1757, contain the following re- 
 cord of the suspension : " . . . and on account of 
 the Issuing the Printed notes under hand and Seal 
 by James Murray Esquire promising the same should 
 be accepted by the Receiver General in payment of 
 his Majesty's Quit Rents and the same being agreed 
 to be accepted in payment of his Majesty's Quit 
 Rents by John Rutherford, Esqr. Receiver General 
 of his Majesty's Quit Rents His Excellency was 
 pleased to suspend the said James Murray and John 
 Rutherford Esqr as Members of his Majesty's Coun- 
 cil for this Province, and the said James Murray and 
 John Rutherford are accordingly suspended until his 
 Majesty's pleasure be known." ^ 
 
 1 Colonial Records of North Carolina^ vol. v. p. 827. 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 91 
 
 In a memorial addressed to the " Lords Commis- 
 sioners for Trade and Plantations/' praying for an 
 inquiry and for redress, Mr. Murray states that he 
 was " suspended from his seat ... by his Excel- 
 lency Governor Dobbs without being accused of or 
 being conscious to himself of having been guilty of 
 any crime or misdemeanor whatsoever." ^ The Lords 
 Commissioners sustained the Governor and recom- 
 mended to the Crown that the suspension of both 
 Rutherford and Murray be confirmed. Their recom- 
 mendation was based rather upon the general charges 
 of factious opposition contained in the Governor's 
 letter than upon the issue of the bills, as to which 
 as a sufficient ground for suspension they appear to 
 have entertained doubt. " We must beg leave to 
 submit to your Majesty," they reported, " whether 
 the Reasons entred on the Council Journals, 
 grounded as it appears on Facts fully proved in 
 Council, might not alone be sufficient to justify such 
 suspensions and to induce your Majesty to confirm 
 them ; but if it be true, as Mr. Dobbs alledges in 
 his letter, . . . that these gentlemen have formed 
 parties in the Council and Assembly with design to 
 embarrass and oppose your Majesty's Prerogative 
 and to add to the Power of the Assembly, We are 
 humbly of opinion that it is necessary for the Peace 
 and good government of North CaroHna, as well as 
 for the support of your Majesty's said Governor in his 
 administration, that they should be removed." ^ 
 
 1 Colonial Records of North Carolina, vol. v. p. 956. 
 
 2 Ibid.f vol. V. p. 957. 
 
92 JMIES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 The recommendation of the Lords Commissioners 
 bore date May 12, 1758. No further action ap- 
 pears to have been taken by the Crown in the matter 
 until 1763, when by order of his Majesty (George 
 III. since 1760) both Murray and Rutherford were 
 reinstated as has been abeady explained. 
 
 A few passages from Mr. Murray's letters will 
 serve to show how lightly the whole matter touched 
 him. To his brother John he wrote, in January, 
 1759 : — 
 
 "I can no longer delay my acknowledgments 
 for the most friendly & Zealous part you have 
 acted in my Affairs. I could wish indeed that you 
 had the same View of them that I have taken since 
 I have been untied from the World by the Loss 
 of the greatest Blessing, the greatest Comfort I had 
 in it.^ You would then have saved a deal of Trouble 
 & vexation to your self & my good friend your 
 Father in Law. In my present Temper & Circum- 
 stances I had much rather be the private man mind- 
 ing my Farm & endeavouring to leave something 
 clear to my Family than be the Zealous Counsellor 
 strugling against the Stream for Measures thought 
 right & hated or envied by those I contended for. 
 I cannot, indeed, say that my Zeal has been always 
 temper' d with that meekness and Prudence which 
 ought to be the Cardinal Virtues of a man in public 
 Life." 
 
 And to John Murray of PhiHphaugh in 1760 : — 
 
 ^ This letter was written after the death of Mrs. Murray. 
 
C K ^ 
 
 1 ^ ^^' '^ 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 \^ 
 
 l4 1^ 
 
 
 
 4^1 
 
 
 ^ ^ v^ 
 
 
 
 
 ^1 
 
 ^. 
 
 ^ -^^ .^" 
 
 ^^^<-v'f1^^ 
 
 ^^^Y^ 
 
 ~< 
 
 %: 
 
 d 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 93 
 
 Boston, August 6th, 1760. 
 ... I find by all hands you continue to be the 
 same Zealous Patron of your Friends that Philip- 
 haugh used to be. I am sorry, however, you should 
 have had so much solicitation on my account by 
 Reason of Govr. Dobb's Suspension. That gentle- 
 man by the extraordinary efforts of his power in 
 more Suspensions and Removals &c. &c. has done 
 all that in him lies to establish properly his own 
 Character and that of his opponents. The seven 
 votes and addresses which have lately passed almost 
 unanimously in his Genl. Assembly will probably 
 appear in your public papers and show in what 
 light he stands here. As I have taken no part in 
 these Squables he has nothing new to charge me 
 with, and I hope it will not be in his power for the 
 former score to keep me out of the list in the next 
 Commission. This is the more material as I am now 
 the first, by the death of the late President. . . . 
 
 In a letter of 1761 he said to his brother : — 
 " As to the politicks of our province, it is some 
 time since you knew my Sentiments of them and 
 the Httle desire I had to be again engaged in them, 
 so little that I would not trouble my Friends with 
 a Justification of my Conduct, which you hinted 
 to be necessary. They, I knew, did me Justice in 
 their own Opinion. And there was no room to ex- 
 pect it, let me say whatever I could, from a board 
 which had condemned me unheard, upon no heavy 
 charge. From the apparent partiality and Credulity 
 
94 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 of the first Commissioner, the Dominus factotum, to 
 my Opponent I imagined it in vain to make my 
 personal appearance at home, altho I could have 
 been well supported with money. Mr. Rutherfurd's 
 tedious attendance, successful though it may be in 
 the end, is sufficient to deter every man of less pa- 
 tience and Assiduity than himself, that is about 99 
 in 100. Could I have foreseen the change in the 
 ministry, encouraged by the prospect I should have 
 been ambitious enough to have accepted of your 
 Invitation and of the support that was offered me. 
 Now I believe it too late. From this you perceive 
 that I have seen your Letter of the 7th June, 1760, 
 to my Sister, which overtook me in my way South- 
 ward at Philadelphia; and on my return home I 
 met with your long and distinct letter to me of the 
 15th December, 1759, giving the whole process of 
 Mr. Rutherfurd's affairs and mine at the boards. 
 Tliis afforded great satisfaction, not only to me but 
 to all our Friends to whom it was proper to show it, 
 which were the fewer, that the old Gentleman our 
 Governor might not be further exasperated." 
 
 In the letter of March 3, 1755, to John Ruther- 
 ford, Mr. Murray referred to his wife's constant 
 good health. A wet and sickly season in the sum- 
 mer of 1757, however, brought on a low fever, which 
 was partly checked by change of air only to come 
 back in full force with the autumn. Her illness 
 continued with alarming symptoms through the win- 
 ter until, on the 19th of February, she died. Her 
 infant daughter survived her only a fortnight, and 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 95 
 
 the death of Httle Jean, a child of engaging quah- 
 ties, followed hard upon. 
 
 The letters of this period speak for themselves. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO DOROTHY MURRAY. 
 
 Cape Fear, March 21, 1758. 
 
 My dear Dolly/ — Your Letter to your Mama 
 of the 20*^ Feb came to my hand a few days since 
 with the worked chair, both of which would have 
 given her great pleasure, but she is gone to enjoy 
 pleasures infinitely greater. This Loss, both you 
 & I have Reason to thank God, will be well made 
 up to you in an Aunt whose Affection has been 
 always more like a Mamas than an aunt's ; and as 
 to the two younger Children, if they Survive, 't is 
 probable I may get them tollerably well taken care 
 of 'till you come up to be a Mother to them. If 
 you answer my expectations, you may rest assured I 
 shall be as good a father as you can desire. Such 
 a one the Children of the best of Wives deserves, 
 and shall glory in denying my self the enjoyments 
 of a world I am shortly to leave in purpose that 
 you may the better enjoy a world you are soon to 
 come into. Have therefore no anxiety or Suspicion 
 about my Conduct, but be careful of your own. 
 You have a good example before you. Be constant 
 in your prayers to God & in Endeavours to imitate 
 it. It is my purpose, if it is agreeable to your Uncle 
 & Aunt, to continue you where you are till the Au- 
 
 1 Dorothy was with Mr. Murray's sister Elizabeth in Boston. 
 
96 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 tumn 1760, unless they come hither in the time & 
 then you can return with them. 
 
 If my Sister thinks proper all or part of your 
 Mama's Cloaths shall be sent for you. May God 
 direct & preserve you for a Comfort to a father who 
 at present is desolate enough. 
 
 Your affectionate J M 
 
 March 23. Your Sister Jeany dead 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO MRS. RENNET. 
 
 Cape Fear, March 25'^ 1758. 
 
 Dear Madam, — ... The Waters continued on 
 our low grounds part of July & August with little 
 Intervals, and at going off in September the Vapours 
 from the Swamps made the Inhabitants near the 
 low Grounds very sickly. Hence M'* Murray's and 
 my Daughter Jeany's sickness begun. We went to 
 the Sound near the Sea in October, & they recovered 
 so fast that she was impatient to be home that I 
 might be disengaged to look after my business ; but 
 no sooner came we home than she relapsed into her 
 intermittent fevers, attended with SwelHngs. We 
 went back to the Sound in Nov'', but not with equal 
 benefit. ... At length on the 17'^ of February M" 
 Murray was deliverd of a Daughter in the 8*^ 
 Month, and died on the 19^^. The young child 
 lived only a fortnight after her, and Jeany died on 
 the 23^ of this Month. I am 
 
 Your dutiful & Affect® Son 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER m NORTH CAROLINA 97 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO JEAN AND ANNE BENNET. 
 
 March 27"" 1758. 
 
 D"* Sisters, — I must refer you for what con- 
 cerns you here to my letter to your Mamma of the 
 25^\ The tale is not easy to be repeated. I did 
 not imagine any thing in this world or the Loss of 
 all of it would have sit so heavy on my Spirits. In 
 this Distress the following home spun Lines have 
 been some hours amusement. I know I have no 
 turn for what they aim at, but when I meet with 
 any thing of that sort not unworthy of the Subject 
 I have a very good Marble Slab on which to cut 
 them. I have saved some of your Sister's Hair, 
 which I shall send with my Crop in the fall if I 
 make any for Rings to you both & Mamma. 
 
 You may depend on my making a good Father 
 to both my poor Children. . . . Dolly I intend 
 shall stay with her Aunt for a year or two, & Bettzy 
 must be my little Comfort here if it pleases God to 
 spare her. I am D'' Sisters 
 
 Your Affectionate Bro"" 
 
 February the 19*, 1758. 
 At Point Repose 
 Humbly Confiding 
 In the Approbation of Almighty God 
 
 Of a Life well spent 
 In the prudent and pious Discharge 
 
 Of Every Duty incumbent 
 A Soul departed the Earth 
 And for herself now careth not 
 How or by whom she be here remembered 
 
 But her Friends 
 Who, in her Life were happy, in her Death are desolate 
 
 Here plant this in Fears. 
 
98 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 But why Lament ? since a few minutes more 
 " Will set us o£P this Transitory Scene 
 " In Joy Serene for ever to remain 
 With this Meek Friend whom we deplore. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO BARBARA CLARK. 
 
 Cape Fear, April 1'*, 1758. 
 
 Sister Clark, — ... thus it has pleased God 
 in a very Short time to make a wide breach in my 
 Family. May I learn from it to be more resign' d 
 & to be faithful & Diligent in my part while I am 
 left behind. . . . 
 
 As to advice about your moving & the Children's 
 Education & putting them to business, I am greatly 
 at a Loss. Were it not for the uncertainty of the 
 Times I should be glad to have you here with 
 Tommy, since he inclines to be a planter. It will 
 disappoint my Hopes to see him something of more 
 importance than a meer Planter, but since it has 
 pleased God to disable me to prosecute that Scheme 
 as I intended and to reduce me to this Solitary Con- 
 dition, his being here will be a present ease & help 
 to me without, and your care will be no less neces- 
 sary within doors, for I do not propose to take Dolly 
 from her Aunt at Boston these two years. Jacky 
 cannot be placed better than with his Uncle John 
 to be brought up in his way, but his Education 
 must be finished so as to make him fit for the busi- 
 ness either there or thereabout if you come away. 
 I have no Objections to James's being a Merchant, 
 only let him be with one that is realy such and who 
 is exact and regular in Method, and this on as easy 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 99 
 
 Terms as may be. I suppose you'll bring Anny 
 with you. I still think she ought to be bred under 
 her Aunt at Boston, tho' I have heard nothing in 
 approbation of what I formerly proposed about that 
 either from you or them. If it should succeed, she 
 must stay till Dolly comes away, that we may not 
 be too burdensome. 
 
 You are not to construe any thing in this as a 
 Desire, and much less as peremptory Directions, for 
 your coming out. I submit the whole intirely to 
 your own Judgment and Inclination. If you find 
 Continuing at home will be more agreeable to you 
 and more for the benefit of the Children, stay in 
 God's name. The Difference of Expence in one 
 way or the other will be inconsiderable to me. I 
 tope, if Fortune does not persist in persecuting me, 
 still to be able to continue your 60£ a year, if that 
 will do. But Times must Mend considerably before 
 I can pay up the arrears or enlarge the allowance, 
 as I am sensible it ought to be according as your 
 Children grow up. And it is likely Bro"" John's 
 Circumstances are so narrow & his own Family so 
 large that he can give no Assistance, to which his 
 generous Heart would readily prompt him were he 
 able. 
 
 Miss Bell M^'Neil has been with me since your 
 Sister died & takes great care of the House & 
 Bettzy, who seems at present to thrive, but so did 
 the rest at her age. . . . 
 
100 JAIklES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 DOROTHY MURRAY TO JAMES MURRAY. 
 
 Boston, June 24th, 1758. 
 
 Honoured Father, — I received your most affec- 
 tionate letter which brought the melenchoUy news 
 of my Dear Mammas death. It greaves me very 
 much ... I have an Aunt that has always been 
 like a mother to me which I am very thankfull for, 
 notwithstanding the loss of so Dear and Tender a 
 mamma is very great to me, but Gods will must be 
 done. I hope He will enable me to submit as be- 
 comes one who has been brought up as I have. You 
 my Dear Papa meet with great afflictions ; how mov- 
 ing your letter. The death of my two Sisters so 
 soon after my Mamma must increase your grief tho' 
 small in comparison to the first, yet to so tender and 
 good a Father it is melencholly. You bid me have 
 no anxiety or suspicion about your conduct. No my 
 Papa, far be it from me to suspect you in anything 
 that would not be to my advantage. I am very anx- 
 ious about your health. I hope you will do every- 
 thing to contribute to it and pray keep up your 
 spirits. I shall endevour with the assistance of my 
 Aunt to be qualified as you direct, and hope with 
 your good advice from time to time to answer your 
 expectations in every particular. I am determined 
 to do everything in my power that she thinks will 
 be agreeable to you. 
 
 May God Almighty of his Infinite Goodness, Bless 
 and preserve My Dear Papa for a director to liis 
 helpless babes — helpless indeed without your pater- 
 nal care. I hope we shall have gratitude enough 
 
A PIONEER PLANTER IN NORTH CAROLINA 101 
 
 to acknowledge your goodness to the last moment 
 of our lives. Even after this mortal state that we 
 meet never to part and give thanks that we had so 
 good a Father and Mother, is the sincere prayer of 
 Your most dutiful! Daughter 
 
 Dorothy Murray. 
 
 p^ S, — Give my love to my dear little Sister 
 Betzy. I have sent her a doll and a few other things 
 which I hope she will Hke. Please offer my compli- 
 ments to Mis McNel and I am very glad she is with 
 you. Adieu. 
 
 To Dr. John Murray, who had for some years 
 been married to Mary Boyle, daughter of Valen- 
 tine Boyle, Collector of Customs, and was settled 
 ashore ^ in the practice of his profession, Mr. Murray 
 wrote in January, 1759 : — 
 
 " I congratulate you on your Numerous family, & 
 rejoice to hear how happy a man my Sister Makes 
 you. If your Roses are mix'd with thorns, there 's 
 no other cure for that in my Dispensatory than Re- 
 signation. Every part of your Letter engages my 
 affection, but that the most where you undertake to 
 be a parent to my Girls in case they are deprived of 
 their solitary surviving one. I do not flatter my 
 self with living to take care of some of your Bairns ; 
 
 1 Dr. John Murray served for many years as a surgeon in His 
 Majesty's navy, but having received his diploma from Edinburgh, 
 retired from service on half pay, and in 1751 settled at Wells in 
 Norfolk, where he practiced as a physician until 1768, when be 
 removed to Norwich. See Appendix. 
 
/ 
 
 102 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 but if I do, it will be as much in my power, & no 
 less in my Inclination, if they are willing to become 
 Americans, a Country which in their day will in all 
 probability be a very flourishing one, & the new 
 Acquisitions toward the Mississippi the most. Let 
 me not by anything said alarm you for my health or 
 chearfulness. My Health has been better of late 
 than it used to be in the Winter season, & if I have 
 little Comfort I have little care. My House is almost 
 finished & paid for at a very easy rate, considering 
 the Strength, Beauty & Conveniency of the build- 
 ing. The money & Labour expended on it, or a 
 great part of them, would probably have been sunk 
 otherwise without such a desirable Monument of the 
 Expence. 'T is true the House is by much too grand 
 & splendid for me, considering how my Family & 
 Prospects are reduced, & yet I do not repent the 
 undertaking. If my Daughter does not like it or 
 has no use for it, it will sell better in her day than 
 mine, and in the mean time a Corner of it will afford 
 me a warm & comfortable Retirement. I am not 
 out of humour with the Country as you imagine. I 
 am perswaded I have my health better here than I 
 could have any where else, and my Improvements are 
 amusements to my taste no other place could afford. 
 As to the people, they are neither better or worse in 
 gross than those of other Countries : that I have not 
 been a greater favourite with them is more my own 
 fault than theirs." 
 
DR. JOHN :\IURRAY 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 
 1749-1773 
 
 When James Murray returned to America in 
 1749, accompanied by his wife, his young daughter 
 Dorothy, and his sister Elizabeth, their ship, per- 
 haps owing to stress of weather, put in at Boston. 
 Elizabeth had provided herself with a stock of mil- 
 linery and dry goods, and had, apparently, contem- 
 plated engaging in trade in North Carolina. It may 
 be that her Scottish shrewdness recognized the 
 superior advantages which Boston offered for her 
 undertaking. Be this as it may, she remained in 
 the New England town, and, aided by her brother's 
 advice and credit with the London merchants, 
 launched forth upon a modest but successful busi- 
 ness career. Boston thus became a second home 
 for the Murrays in America. 
 
 Her business affairs, as a rule, ran smoothly. One 
 exception she notes in 1755 as follows : — 
 
 " I have got myself a little involved at present 
 but am in hopes of getting Clear of it soon. There 
 was one Edmund Quincy and sons, very considerable 
 merchants and reckoned to be worth one hundred 
 thousand pound, took it into their heads to draw 
 
104 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 bills, and sold a number of them to very cautious 
 people in this town. Then they were bound for 
 Fletcher to William Vassall for fifteen hundred 
 pound sterling. Fletcher ran away, then Vassall 
 demanded the money of them, so they shut up be- 
 fore the bills they had drawn came back. I had 
 L. 110 came about three weeks ago, and I put it into 
 a Lawyer's hands directly, who tells me I am secure. 
 I had another of L. 45 of them that is not come 
 yet ; so soon as it does I believe I shall have the 
 money for both. I am determined for the future 
 to buy no bills but from Col. Royall who promises 
 to supply me." 
 
 Elizabeth's first abode in Boston was on King 
 Street, with Mrs. Barker, a motherly woman whose 
 sisters and daughters became valued friends of the 
 Murray family. Near by, also on King Street, were 
 the Mackays, eventually to be near connections ; 
 and in time other acquaintances added themselves 
 to these. So attractive, indeed, were Elizabeth's 
 surroundings that Mrs. Murray, who, after her hus- 
 band's departure for Cape Fear, remained for a while 
 in what he called "that poor healthy place, New 
 England," was unwilling to depart for North Caro- 
 lina even after the birth of her second child, the 
 event which had originally detained her. Appar- 
 ently she was really loath to go to the warmer 
 climate, which was one day to cost her her life. 
 When she did at last rejoin her husband, she gladly 
 sent Dorothy back to Elizabeth, realizing well the 
 advantages which the northern town could give. 
 
BITS OF FA:^^LY HISTORY 105 
 
 As with one exception the other children born to 
 James Murray sickened and died in the south, there 
 is reason to believe that Dorothy Murray owed her 
 preservation to her aunt's devotion and to New 
 England air. 
 
 In 1755 EHzabeth married Thomas Campbell, a 
 Scotch merchant and trader, whose enterprises car- 
 ried him back and forth between Boston and Cape 
 Fear. James wrote concerning the event to Dr. 
 John Murray, settled at Wells : — 
 
 " Dolly's being with her Aunt at Boston will cer- 
 tainly be no News to you, nor Betzy's Marriage to 
 Tho' Campbell,* son of James Campbell, whom you 
 may remember a housekeeper in Wilmington. Betzy 
 askd my Approbation of this Match in due form, 
 which I gave, not doubting of her having accepted 
 of the best that offer' d & considering she had not 
 much time to wait for further Choice.^ Beside my 
 complaisance to her, to whom I have never had Oc- 
 casion to refuse any thing, the young Man's Sobri- 
 ety, Industry & Integrity were Recommendations 
 not always to be met with in this part of the world. 
 He is coming hither in a Vessel he charters to load 
 with tar. Having been bred to the Sea, he has had 
 the command of several small vessels from this Port. 
 For further particulars I must refer you to Time & 
 the new Couple." 
 
 On the 14th of March, 1756, another daughter 
 
 ^ In another letter Mr. Murray describes him as " nephew to one 
 of the Professors at St. Andrews." 
 
 2 Mr. Murray had not the gift of second sight to foresee his sis- 
 ter's matrimonial future. 
 
106 JAMES MUERAY, LOYALIST 
 
 was born in Wilmington or at Point Repose. This 
 was EKzabeth^ the only child besides Dorothy who 
 was destined to survive. Dorothy was by this time 
 with Mrs. Campbell in Boston and already deep in 
 the affections of her aunt, who never possessed a 
 child of her own on whom to expend the wealth of 
 her warm heart. 
 
 ELIZABETH MUREAY TO JAMES MURRAY. 
 
 Boston, May 12, 1756. 
 
 ... I am obliged to you for the honour you do 
 me in naming your daughter Elizabeth. I take it 
 wholly to myself, notwithstanding I do not imagine 
 I shall like her half so well as my Doll, who is well 
 and fond of writing and drawing, as little sewing as 
 you please. I shall get a book according to your 
 desire and mind her reading. She hopes you or my 
 sister will write to her. . . . 
 
 General Winslow set out yesterday with eight 
 thousand men for Crown Point. He says he never 
 will return unless he succeeds. His courage and 
 good conduct induces every one to believe he will. 
 I had a letter from Brother John about ten days 
 ago. All friends are well. I neglected writing to 
 them after the earthquake which I am sorry for as 
 they seem to be uneasy about me. 
 
 The business which Elizabeth Campbell had built 
 up for herself was not abandoned upon her marriage. 
 Aided now by the experience of her husband, she 
 still continued to receive goods from London and to 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 107 
 
 sell them at her Boston store. This, as it proved, 
 was a prudent course, for Mr. Campbell's life was 
 short. In a very few years he died, leaving her not, 
 indeed, without means of support, but glad of the 
 additional income furnished by her own exertions. 
 She had, however, health, comparative youth, and 
 friends. Moreover, her large heart and sunny tem- 
 per gave her a winning personality. She was, as her 
 brother said, " vastly beloved for her frankness and 
 continual endeavors to do good offices." 
 
 A comfortable prosperous figure in Boston at that 
 time was Mr. James Smith, sugar baker, whose re- 
 finery had been in working since 1729 or before, — 
 Elizabeth Murray's whole lifetime, practically, — 
 and who had amassed wealth as well as years. His 
 house on Queen Street, — Court Street now, — was 
 central in position, surrounded by other residences 
 of its kind, yet conveniently near the sugar house, 
 which stood on Brattle Street, between the old church 
 and what was known as Wing's Lane. At the same 
 time it was not far from King's Chapel. As one of 
 the churchwardens of King's Chapel and a generous 
 contributor to its needs, Mr. Smith stood high in the 
 esteem of his fellow-townsmen, and the few allusions 
 to him in the records and traditions of his day in- 
 dicate that he was no less a genial friend than an 
 open-handed citizen. 
 
 It was he who imported the old Dutch elms once 
 so prized in Boston. The story goes that Mr. Smith, 
 being in London, was struck by the beauty of the 
 elms in Brompton Park, and procuring some young 
 
108 JAIklES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 trees of the same kind had them planted in his 
 nursery on his beautiful farm, Brush Hill, in Milton. 
 The fame of these trees spreading, one of his friends, 
 Mr. Gilbert Deblois, asked for some, saying that he 
 would in return name his new-born son for Mr. 
 Smith. The bargain was struck, and James Smith 
 Deblois, baptized May 16, 1769, bore witness to its 
 fulfillment. A second friend. Judge Auchmuty, 
 made Mr. Smith a similar offer, and received a sup- 
 ply of the trees. The Dutch elms standing in front 
 of the Unitarian meeting-house at Milton, planted 
 there at a later date by Mr. Murray's son-in-law, 
 Edward Hutchinson Robbins, were of the Brush 
 Hill stock, and so were many others now vanished ; 
 but those received by Mr. Gilbert Deblois became 
 the most celebrated. These were set out in front of 
 the Granary, just opposite Mr. Deblois's house in 
 Tremont street.^ As Addino Paddock's shop win- 
 dow looked out upon them, Mr. Deblois enjoined 
 Mr. Paddock to have an eye to their safety ; and 
 as Mr. Paddock twice had occasion to offer rewards 
 for the discovery of offenders who had injured the 
 trees his name came to be associated with them, and 
 they to be known as the Paddock Elms. Boston 
 made a sturdy fight for them before they fell a prey 
 to advancing travel and traffic. 
 
 What preHminary acquaintance Mr. Smith had 
 with Mrs. Campbell the letters do not say, but in 
 1760 they were married, and for the rest of his life 
 they lived happily together. " I can assure you," 
 
 * Mr. Deblois lived on the site of Horticultural Hall. 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 109 
 
 James Murray wrote to John in 1761, " they both 
 enjoy a happiness which is rarely met with in a 
 match of such disparity." Her brother rejoiced in 
 this marriage, which he declared placed her " in the 
 best circumstances of any of her sex in the town." 
 Prosperity for one member of the family meant help 
 for all. Both James and Elizabeth had a thorough 
 regard for money, but they always wanted it that 
 they might use it for others. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO JOHN MURRAY OF PHILIPHAUGH. 
 
 Boston, Aug. 6, 1760. 
 
 ... I left [Cape Fear] the end of June to visit 
 my Daughter and new married Sister here. This 
 last was married in March to Mr. James Smith, 
 Sugar baker in this town, an agreeable good natured 
 Gentleman of Seventy, a £.30,000 man, ten thou- 
 sand Ster. of which he has settled on Bettzy, beside 
 her own Fortune and the Life Rent of a valuable 
 farm. This sets her above the Cares of the World 
 and, what is vastly preferable, gives her those oppor- 
 tunities of doing good in which Philiphaugh and 
 many of his Relations delight. 
 
 At Mr. Smith's and her Request I am to entreat 
 the favor of you to provide him with a Sober young 
 Man for a Gardner who can perform also the Busi- 
 ness of a Coachman and groom. He will have a 
 negro man under him, whom he must instruct in 
 those Articles. He must be under Indenture or 
 Contract for three years. You may draw for his 
 passage on Messrs Bridgen and Waller, Merchants 
 
110 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 in London, and may agree that there shall be paid 
 to him in gold or silver fifteen pounds Sterling for 
 the first year and twenty pounds Sterling for the 
 two succeeding years and further that he shall be 
 free to return if he chuses at the expiration of one 
 year and his passage home shall be jDaid by Mr. 
 Smith, but he shall not be at liberty to leave his 
 Master or Mistress to go any where else in America. 
 He shall be provided in sufficient Diet, Lodging, 
 and washing, and shall have a compleat Suit of 
 Livery to himself for occasions. He ought to be 
 here before March, Mr. Smith's Gardner being then 
 to leave him. I would not have presumed to give 
 you the trouble of this Commission were I not per- 
 suaded that it is giving you the Opportunity of 
 obliging some deserving Young Man with a very 
 good place in a healthy, plentiful Country under an 
 Indulgent Master and Mistress. 
 
 Her aunt's increased ease was shared by Dorothy. 
 Indeed, her father could not quite approve of the 
 " softness " of his daughter's education. He wrote 
 in August, 1760, to Anne and Jean Bennet : — 
 
 " Dolly, now as tall as her Aunt here, is employed 
 to copy this to show you her progress in writing. 
 The other Branches of her Education have not been 
 neglected, but you would not be pleased to see the 
 indolent way in which she and the young Ladies of 
 this place generally live. They do not get up even 
 in this fine Season till 8 or 9 o'clock. Breakfast is 
 over at ten, a little reading or work until 12, dress 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 111 
 
 for dinner till 2, after noon in making or receiving 
 Visits or going about the Shops. Tea, Supper, and 
 chat closes the Day and their Eyes about 11. I 
 believe I do them great Justice in allowing that 
 they employ to some good purpose two hours of the 
 twenty four. If it is otherwise let your Niece set 
 you right, for she tells me that she is to write by 
 this Vessel." ' 
 
 His opinion of New England was changed. 
 " You cannot well imagine," he said, in this same 
 letter, " what a Land of health, plenty and content- 
 ment this is among all ranks, vastly improved within 
 these ten years. The war on this Continent has 
 been equally a blessing to the English Subjects and 
 a Calamity to the French, especially in the Northern 
 Colonies, for we have got nothing by it in CaroHna. 
 I am almost tempted to wish that instead of broiHng 
 and squabling about public affairs in Carolina I 
 had been set down quietly here, but as it has been 
 otherwise determined by the Supreme over-ruler of 
 all Events, I am satisfied. My Motto may be now 
 Httle Comfort little Care. I formerly enjoyed more 
 of the pleasureable part of life, but never more 
 tranquility. The greatest anxiety I have had of 
 late was to leave my Estate among those to whom it 
 belongs clear of any Incumbrances." 
 
 Of his younger daughter he gives her aunts a 
 good account : — 
 
 " Your niece Bettzy continues to be a very thriv- 
 ing hopeful child, growing more and more Hke her 
 
 1 See Appendix. 
 
112 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 Mamma every day. If I find fortune and Eesolu- 
 tion enough, I propose to send her in two or three 
 years hence under your care. I think it but a piece 
 of Justice to commit to you that lively Remembrance 
 of your Dear Sister, and have nothing to dread but 
 for you, the care and anxiety she will give." 
 
 Betsy was not, however, sent to Scotland. Mrs. 
 Smith had for some time wished to take her name- 
 sake under her own care, and in 1761 the child 
 came to her house, to be thenceforth a close and dear 
 companion. At the same time Mrs. Clark's children, 
 particularly John and Annie, were anxiously con- 
 sidered. " As to our nephew Jacky Clark," Mr. 
 Murray wrote from Boston in July, 1761, to his bro- 
 ther John, "... there is the more reason to be 
 careful of his education as the other two boys have 
 been much neglected by bad Masters. Tommy, 
 however, is hke to prove a good planter and has 
 from Nature the advantage of all his father's agree- 
 able modest behavior. . . . Anny, who is come 
 hither with my little daughter and me, is the best 
 English reader of the three, is very sensible, good 
 tempered, and agreeable. ... I arrived here . . . 
 with Intention to spend the hot months in this place 
 of health, plenty, and good Company. I intend to 
 carry Dolly with me to the Southward in Septr, 
 and to leave Anny Clark and Bettzy with their Aunt 
 tiU our Return next Summer." 
 
 Mrs. Mackay, previously spoken of as living on 
 King Street, had two daughters, Mrs. Gordon and 
 Mrs. Thompson, the latter the wife of Dr. Thomp- 
 
BITS OF FA]VnLY HISTORY 113 
 
 son of Charleston, S. C, who was one of Mr. Mur- 
 ray's friends. Dr. Thompson died, and Mr. Murray, 
 who had done many kind offices for them both, 
 finally, at Mrs. Mackay's home in Boston, on the 
 30th of November, 1761, married Mrs. Thompson, 
 a step which proved to be a fortunate one for Mr. 
 Murray's daughters as well as for the two most con- 
 cerned. 
 
 To Dorothy, who, meanwhile, had been visiting 
 friends in New York, her father sent a few affec- 
 tionate Hues after the ceremony. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO DOROTHY MURRAY. 
 
 Boston, November 30th, 1761. 
 
 Dear Dolly, — Your Aunt has received your 
 letter of the 22d from York, and with me heartily 
 congratulates you on your new Relation, which we 
 hope will in a great measure make up for the late 
 loss you have sustained. 
 
 We are to sleep this night at Brush-hill, and from 
 thence along to-morrow as fast as we can. The 
 Ceremony has been over about an hour very pri- 
 vately, and we eat our St. Andrews dinner with 
 Mrs. Mackay. Remember me to Mr. Rutherford, 
 the Ladies, and Mr. Barker if he is still with you. 
 Your Aunt and Anny are so hurried they have no 
 time to write. In this instance and in every one of 
 my life I hope to prove. Dear Dolly, 
 
 Your truly affectionate Father. 
 
 By April, 1762, schemes for Mr. Murray's re- 
 
114 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 moval to Boston had taken deep hold on Mrs. 
 Smith's mind. Mr. Smith was withdrawing from 
 the sugar business ; she wished Mr. Murray to take 
 it up. Mr. Murray, however, while willingly assent- 
 ing to her plans, was in no haste to be off from his 
 plantation, which he really loved. He was, more- 
 over, soon afterward " reinstated." " I hope it will 
 not prevent his coming here," wrote Mrs. Smith to 
 Dorothy. " If it does, it will be grief to one whose 
 heart is bound up in him and his." But at last the 
 break was made. In 1765 Mr. and Mrs. Murray 
 removed to Boston, to cast in their lot with their 
 sister. 
 
 Mr. Murray already had warm friends in Boston 
 and felt himself in congenial surroundings. He 
 occupied Mr. Smith's house on the corner of Queen 
 Street, the Smiths reserving for themselves a certain 
 portion of it, though they resided at Brush Hill. 
 One of his friends was the Rev. John Hooper, rec- 
 tor of Trinity Church. Mr. Hooper's son, William, 
 had studied law in Boston, under James Otis, and 
 had begun the practice of his profession in Wilming- 
 ton before Mr. Murray left North Carolina. The 
 young lawyer, as time went on, paid his addresses 
 to Annie Clark, who, it will be remembered, was 
 growing up under Mrs. Smith's care. For some 
 time his suit did not prosper. The Murrays, con- 
 servatively loyal to government, were made cau- 
 tious by the patriotic tendencies of James Otis's 
 pupil. Mr. Murray did not fail to give him candid 
 advice. 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 115 
 
 JAMES MUKRAY TO WILLIAM HOOPER. 
 
 Boston, July 6th, 1765. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I am now embracing the first oppor- 
 tunity of acknowledging tlie Kec' of yours of the 
 7th May, a very agreeable Letter so far as you in- 
 sinuate that some of the good folks of our Province 
 have been pleased to think favorably of my Inten- 
 tions, which are all or almost all I deserve any 
 Credit for. After a Service of near thirty years I 
 cannot say I have been able to do them any Essen- 
 tial Service, owing in a great measure to my trusting 
 too much to the Rectitude of my Intentions without 
 the Vehicle of address necessary to bring them into 
 Action in a Government such as ours. Agreeable 
 is your letter likewise, as it informs me of your Close 
 Application to Study and Business, in which I was 
 in great hopes of your Proficiency and success untiU 
 I saw the Stamp Act, which in the Execution will 
 cast such a damp upon the Htigious Spirits of your 
 province by draining their pockets as will greatly 
 abridge the practice of Law there and indeed 
 throughout America, especially in the poorer pro- 
 vinces, and leave bread only for a few of the pro- 
 fession. Whether you will be of the number is 
 doubted, as some conjecture you will be scared by 
 sickness or impelled by passion to come off, and 
 leave your Harvest in the Field. As to your love 
 affair which you hint at I refer you to your father, 
 who has read me part of his letter to you on the 
 subject in a manner perfectly agreeable to my own 
 sentiments. 
 
116 JAJMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 I must own I regret your having had, through 
 my means, fuel for your flame so near you on your 
 own account, but much more for the other — for the 
 parties in that affair treat on very unequal terms. 
 The longer he waits the fitter he may be in every re- 
 spect for matrimony — not so with the other, and to 
 make it up directly would be certain ruin to both, . . . 
 
 I must refer you to other Letters for particulars 
 of your Friends here. I shall only hint a few. 
 Miller at Marleborough dying by inches and look- 
 ing death in the face with the Serenity of a Soc- 
 rates. Mr. Smith has had an ill turn lately, but 
 recruits fast; he is come to town to froHc. Your 
 Brother John is sick, George a Lad of great hopes. 
 Tommy idle because he was too high spirited to do 
 some servile Jobs at Amorys. The People in high 
 dudgeon here upon account of the late Acts, but 
 not so outrao^eous as some of the Southern Colonies. 
 Potash become a very valuable export. This pro- 
 vince, they say will ship a thousand tons this year, 
 value £30 Sterling a ton and more. 
 
 My Wife, Daughter and Niece present their com- 
 pliments to you and will rejoice to hear of your 
 health and success as well as. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Your affectionate 
 Humble Servant. 
 
 At the death, in 1767, of the Kev. John Hooper, 
 and in obedience to his wishes, Mr. Murray assumed 
 a parental care of the family, which consisted of 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 117 
 
 Mrs. Hooper and the sons spoken of in the preced- 
 ing letter. William Hooper then married Annie 
 Clark, though still under the disapproval of her rel- 
 atives. Mr. Murray even went so far as to say : 
 "This match Anny made for herself without her 
 brother's approbation. This young man is an attor- 
 ney at law in North Carolina whither he went under 
 my patronage and where he may do well if he has 
 prudence, which is doubted." That prudence 
 which was doubted was the wisdom to keep on the 
 King's side. In view of the success of the man 
 and of the marriage the comment has a piquant in- 
 terest. 
 
 Dorothy also had, by this time, grown to matu- 
 rity. She was a hvely fascinating young creatui*e, 
 a great favorite with all who knew her, especially, 
 say the family traditions, with one of her cousins. 
 Kather against the protests of her friends, who 
 could not bear the thought of her going so far away 
 from them, she accepted the hand of the Kev. John 
 Forbes, a clergyman then settled at St. Augustine, 
 and their marriage followed in 1769. 
 
 It was with heavy hearts that Dorothy Forbes's 
 father and aunt saw her set off for Florida. Mrs. 
 Smith was, in fact, made almost ill by the loss of the 
 niece who was so dear to her. 
 
 " Words cannot express nor pen write what I 
 have suffered and am hke to suffer by parting with 
 you," says her letter of June 22, 1769. " I dwell 
 much on a promise Mr. Forbes made me. It was 
 that he would make a visit here soon. It often 
 
118 JAJVIES MUERAY, LOYALIST 
 
 rouses my drooping spirits and makes me wish to 
 live to see you happy in each other. Whenever I 
 have thought of your settHng in the world, it has 
 been the height of my ambition to have you near 
 me. It is ordered otherwise and I must submit." 
 
 As a means of distraction she paid a visit to her 
 friend Mrs. Barnes ^ in Marlborough, a correspond- 
 ent whose Hvely pen must be allowed to contribute 
 its share to our knowledge of the family doings. 
 Her letter, which gives a picture of the mode of 
 visiting and of traveling at that time, when the 
 chariot or single horse chaise or riding double were 
 the means of conveyance from one country house to 
 another, is as follows ; — 
 
 MRS. BARNES TO DOROTHY FORBES. 
 
 Marlborough, June 11*^, 1769. ' 
 ... I have rambled down one side of my Paper 
 without thinking what Subject to enter upon. I 
 know of none that will be more agreeable to you 
 then an account of your Aunt & her family. I am 
 very well quahfied for the undertakuig, haveing had 
 the happiness to injoy her Company for this Month 
 past. One liaK of the time we spent at Brush Hill 
 and the other at Marlborough. Her Health (She 
 says) is better then when you left her. You know 
 she never complains, but if one may judge by her 
 countenance She is far from being well. Her 
 jurney to Marlborough was with a Veiw to her 
 Health, but She suffer' d so much fetegue both in 
 
 ^ Wife of Henry Barnes. 
 
DOROTHY MURRAY 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 119 
 
 coming & going that I fear she received but little 
 Benifit. There is a strange fatality attends all her 
 undertakings. As a profe of it I will endeavor to 
 give you some account of our jurney. We sat out 
 from M' Inman's early in the Morning, M"^ & M" 
 Smith in the Chariot which she had converted into 
 a Post Chaise, Miss Murray & my SeK in our Post 
 Chaise, Tom & Bill for attendents, accompanied by 
 M'' Spence & his Wife. We all arrived in very 
 good season to Dinner at Baldwins, but it is out of 
 my Power to give you any description of the Diffi- 
 cultys we underwent in the last fifteen Miles. I 
 shall only say that some of us arrived at 10 o'clock, 
 some at 12 and the Last (which you may be sure 
 was your Aunt) came in at Two in the Morning. 
 However, we none of us received any injury from 
 the jurney, and after M'' Spence & his Wife left us, 
 Your Aunt & I injoy'd a Week together with Httle 
 or no interuption, at the end of which we were 
 favor'd with a Visit from the two M" Beltchers, 
 who staid with us a Week. I beleive your Aunt 
 would not have left us so soon if we could have 
 made M' Smith Eassy, but that was impossible. I 
 could not help joining in Miss Cumingses Prayer 
 and heartily wish'd the good Man in Heaven, for 
 thither he is bound, tho I think he makes but a Slow 
 progress on his jurney. To close the whole of this 
 account, when the Day was fix'd for their departure 
 your Aunt went off in the Morning Mounted upon 
 a Single Horse, with out taking leave of any Body, 
 and rode Twenty Mile fasting without once dis- 
 
120 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 mounting. They reach'd Home the same night, 
 and Your Aunt writes me word that she received 
 no manner of inconvenency from Her jurney, but is 
 in very good Health & Spirits. 
 
 Mr. Smith's long life, cheered to the last by his 
 wife's affectionate care, came to an end on the 4:th of 
 August, 1769.^ Much worn by protracted nursing, 
 Mrs. Smith, taking Elizabeth with her, now went 
 to Scotland for change of scene. It was at this time 
 that Brush Hill passed into Murray hands, for, be- 
 fore leaving home, Mrs. Smith made over to her bro- 
 ther James, in trust for Dorothy and Elizabeth, the 
 Milton farm. Mr. Murray, with much content, estab- 
 lished himself there, hoping to " run off the dregs of 
 his days " in peace. Of the farm he had some years 
 before given his brother a graphic description. It 
 had, he said, " a good house, well furnished, good 
 Gardens and Orchards, Meadows and pasturage in 
 300 acres." Then, continuing, he added, " A rivu- 
 let washes it, and by several windings loses itself 
 between two bushy hills before it runs into the 
 great bay. Of this bay, often covered with sails, 
 and of the Light house there is a fair prospect from 
 the house, which stands on an eminence and over- 
 looks also a pleasant Country round. It is in short 
 one of the pleasantest and most convenient seats I 
 see in the Country." 
 
 ^ " He was ' buried from his own house at ye corner of Queen St.,* 
 says an interleaved almanac of that year." Drake's Hist, of Bost., 
 p. 767. 
 
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 m 
 
 
 
 "> ,.^Vv^' 
 
 1«*!^ T-^T^e 
 
 tt ^-( ?*? 
 
 ^ iff? • Ei- 
 
 
 '-^1^: 
 
 .^ -.#«,,.-—*-'» 
 
 
 ^fT-* 
 
 -' T' 
 
 ^- -*K 
 
 •^1 
 
 .'J.'****!* 
 
 •".T 
 
 
 ^, 
 
 
 
 
 .-^ 
 
 ^ 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 jr. 
 
 
 
 n 
 
BITS OF FAIVIILY HISTORY 121 
 
 Mrs. Murray was frequently at the farm, but she 
 loved the city. " Mrs. Murray continues to move in 
 the gay world/' wrote one of her acquaintances, 
 " with the same spirits as if she was but fiveteen, 
 and is distressed to death for fear there should be 
 no assembly this winter. She roals in her chariot, 
 for you know she's mistress of one, and makes visits 
 to all the great folks." 
 
 A correspondence between Mrs. Barnes and Mrs. 
 Smith carries on our story. 
 
 MRS. BARNES TO ELIZABETH SMITH. 
 
 Oct. 14, 1769. 
 
 ... It is a Mellencholy reflection that before 
 this reaches you we should be separated above three 
 Thousand miles and that while I am now writing 
 you are tossing upon the merciless Ocean, sick and 
 not able to hold up your head . . . But I must 
 once more return to myself and to the Fatal Hour 
 that parted us. Did you see nothing in my counte- 
 nance that discovered my inward anguish, or have I 
 (by coppeing your example) obtained some degree of 
 Fortitude ? My Passion struggled for a Vent, tho 
 I only showed the concern of a common acquaint- 
 ance. 'T is true I did not Dare to Approach you 
 for fear my emotions should burst out into some 
 indecencys, and yet notwithstanding my caution it 
 was reported that I took you in my arms and 
 screem'd violently. You know whence this mis- 
 take proceeded ; the Lady and I were both dressed 
 in Black, and, being pretty much of a size, the 
 
122 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 standers by were deceived. I must confess her be- 
 havior shocked me, nor had I the least inclination 
 to follow her example, tho I earnestly wished for a 
 Parting Kiss had the time and place been proper. 
 . . . Since I have mentioned Mr. Rowe give me 
 leave to ask you if you was not extremely Pleased 
 with his Polite behaviour upon the Warfe? . . . 
 And pray did you observe another gentleman who 
 look'd as if he would have given his eyes for a 
 tender farewell ? But to Mr. Rowe you gave your 
 hand, and to Mrs. Murray your lips, while we at 
 Humble distance stood motionless with Wonder and 
 surprise. 
 
 Nov. 20th, 1769. 
 Last Thursday, which was Thanksgiving Day, a 
 Ball was given by Mrs. Murray at Brush Hill to a 
 number of gentlemen and Ladys from Boston. Miss 
 E. Cumings was one of the Party. Their goods and 
 ours are arrived in very good order, which has 
 caused a Comity from the Well Disposed to wait 
 upon them and write to Mr. Barnes with a desire 
 that the goods may be Stored till further orders. 
 . . . Those daring Sons of Liberty are now at the 
 tip-top of their Power and . . . even to Speak dis- 
 respectfully of the Well Disposed is a Crime equal 
 to high Treason. . . . When the deluded multitude 
 finds they have been led astray by false maxims they 
 may Possibly turn upon them with their own wep- 
 ons. . . . This is my Private opinion, but how I 
 came to give it is a Mistry, for PoHticks is a puddle 
 I never choose to dabble in. 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 123 
 
 Dec. 23, 1769. 
 Oh how I long to have one political Laugh with 
 you! Would you not be diverted to see Squire 
 Barnes and the two little Miss Cumingses Posted 
 together in a News Paper as Enimys to their coun- 
 try ? Do, Bless you, send us a Httle Dash o£ Poli- 
 ticks from tother side the water that we may see 
 something that has the appearance of Truth, for our 
 Well Disposed import such a vast quantity of Ues 
 with their other Articles that they begin to find a 
 dif&culty in vending them. 
 
 Feby the 9, 1770. 
 
 ... I was yesterday thrown into the most Vio- 
 lent agitation by a Letter I received from Mr. 
 Ezekial Goldthwait with a packit enclosed, which 
 he informed [me] was from you. . . . I • • • 
 eagerly stepped aside to open it, in full faith I 
 should find your miniture Picture inclosed. ... I 
 easily got over my disappointment on that Score 
 when I found you had been arrived so Short a 
 Time, but I own not receiving the Journal put me 
 out of all Patience. How could you be so intol- 
 erable careless,— go trust a thing to that conse- 
 quence upon the Eiver; and then the four blank 
 pages in your Letter, how can you answer that ? . . . 
 
 But before I proceed any further in my resent- 
 ment let me consider a httle . . . Next letter I 
 shall have Twenty thousand Opologys to make for 
 writing in the manner I have done. At present I 
 shall only beg that if you discover any Petulance in 
 
124 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 what I have wrote you would ascribe it to my great 
 warmth of affection. . . . 
 
 Only the following fragments of the journal 
 referred to by Mrs. Barnes have been preserved, 
 but these fragments, fortunately, carry us back to 
 Unthank and Chesters. 
 
 Oct. 14th, 1769. I think myself sound in mind 
 but very infirm in body. I am black and blue spots 
 with tossing about the cabin. The poor Boscowen 
 has had the wind ahead since Monday and a very 
 high sea to struggle against. Betsy has been very 
 sick and never had on her clothes till yesterday, when 
 I obliged her to go on deck, where she had not been 
 half an hour before she said she was dying. If you 
 had seen her you would have thought so. The Cap- 
 tain took her in his arms and brought her down ; 
 she lay some time quite stupid. I poured some 
 orange juice in her mouth, and she seemed to revive 
 with the help of a little preserved ginger. In less 
 than an hour she was able to eat some roast duck. 
 
 October 23rd. Our cheerfulness was of short 
 duration. At six o'clock the wind blew like guns ; 
 the dead lights were put up and the gallery doors 
 and windows taken down and dead lights put in 
 their places. The sails were hauled and the vessel 
 laid to. 
 
 October 24. We have had candles all day. Be- 
 fore four this morning the wind shifted and laid the 
 Boscowen so much upon her side that she lay quite 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 125 
 
 still and alarmed all hands on deck. Others ran up 
 in a moment, pulled the sails down and got her to 
 rights. Tell Miss Caty she must not go to sea until 
 she is more reconciled to death. 
 
 November 5th. I am set upon the highest part 
 of the quarter deck to tell you how I feel on the 
 near approach of the land of my nativity. You 
 were afraid Betts would work too much ; she has 
 done nothing but make her black petticoat. Bill 
 and she seem in raptures at the thought of going 
 ashore. 
 
 November 6th. We saw the Lizard yesterday 
 afternoon at four o'clock. Fine wind and clear day. 
 
 November 7. We have had a terrible night. 
 After getting in sight of the Hght house at Dunge- 
 ness they were obhged to lay to, and as there was no 
 prospect of the wind altering the Captain thought 
 it not safe to put into Portsmouth. We set foot on 
 land at half after ten o'clock, came to the tavern 
 where we ate beefsteak and oysters for supper. 
 
 Hampton Court, Nov. 14th. We set out from 
 Portsmouth on Sunday with three post chariots. In 
 the foremost went Mentor ^ and Apollo (a nickname 
 for another gentleman on board) with powder, shot, 
 pistols and guns, expecting highwaymen. In the 
 next EHzabeth and myself, and in the third the ser- 
 vants. We were agreeably disappointed that we 
 had no occasion for Apollo's courage and met with 
 nothing on the way that was entertaining. Bad 
 roads, good taverns and provisions everywhere. 
 
 1 Samuel Danforth of Cambridge. 
 
126 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 During the winter, or for a portion of it, the trav- 
 elers were at Dr. John Murray's in Norwich. In 
 July they visited Scotland. The journal, after a 
 lapse, continues : — 
 
 Chesters, July ye W^, 1770. 
 
 I wrote to you Wednesday the 11 instant. We 
 set out at Eleven o'Clock, got to Linn that night, 
 had very fine weather & roads. On thursday at 
 noon we arrived at Peterborough, viewed the Ca- 
 thedral & the place where Queen Mary was buried. 
 . . . Friday noon we called on Mr. Harrison. He 
 was not come from London. We invited them to 
 Scotland. Slept at York. In the morning viewed 
 the Cathedral where we saw many curiositys. Yor- 
 ick's great grandfather is there. I wished he had left 
 me a legacy. From that we went to the Assembly 
 
 room then to Breakfast. Slept at dined at 
 
 Perth, had fresh horses at Carlisle, came over the 
 river Esk at 6 o'clock. This river divides England 
 and Scotland. Here I had a Qualm come over me. 
 My cousin observed it. He quited his English & 
 talk'd Scot's in a very droll manner. We Slept at 
 Langham, which was only 6 miles from Unthank 
 where I was born. I asked the landlord many 
 questions. I left that Country at six years old, but 
 remembered names of places, and people ; bid the 
 driver stop and tell me when we came to them. 
 Unthank I viewed, and the little rivulet where my 
 Bro'" Will and I learnt our horn book. 
 
 When I came to the Dewslees I thought of my 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 127 
 
 first frind that I used to Weed the Water to see. 
 She died at seven years old. I called in at a Sister 
 of hers who was my brother's first love. This Scene 
 was moving. I bid her look at me. She did so 
 some time. Said she did not know me. I asked her 
 if she remembered Bennee Atcheson. " Yes/' says 
 she, " that was my sister. I beg you '11 tell me who 
 you are." I said, " Betty Murray." She then Claspt 
 me in her arms & cry'd most heartily ; led me to a 
 chair saying, " My dear I 'm glad to See you. Ex- 
 cuse my behaviour, but our fathers & mothers. 
 A sight of you brings many things to my mind. 
 Where is your Brothers & Sister. Who is that 
 with you ? Step down to the road, my son, and ask 
 them to Breakfast." I told her who they were, and 
 ran out of the house. As we proposed to dine at 
 Chesters we were in a hurry. I promised to spend 
 some time with her this summer. 
 
 Next stage was Hawick. Langham Wolly drove 
 to the house we used to five in. Here my mother 
 died. I run over the house & remembered the room 
 where I saw her a corps. While Breakfast was 
 geting ready my cousin. Bets, & I went to the Kirk 
 yeard where we saw the man that dug the grave. 
 We walked about half an hour in that Melancholly 
 place. Before we had done Breakfast I was called 
 out to an old woman. " Pardon me," says she, " but 
 the Saxton told me one of Mrs. Murray's daughters 
 was in town. Are ye Mrs. Baby ? " ' " No, I 'm 
 Betty." She then flew to me. " My dear Betty, 
 
 ^ Barbara. 
 
128 JAMES MUERAY, LOYALIST 
 
 monne night ha ye lain in my arms in Suck in that 
 room. Come up & I '11 shew it to you." This wo- 
 man told me of many of my school fellows and of 
 our Mrs. . 
 
 At twelve we set out and arrived at Chesters Mon- 
 day, ye 16*^ July, before two. My aunt^ met us in 
 the Avenue, let Betts & I into the house & Said, 
 " This is a day I have longed to see." She was 
 more moved than I was. Jeany^ was called. She 
 entered to appearance unmoved, & continued in the 
 Same way until the evening. She then was reHeved 
 by a flood of tears. It gives me pleasure to see her 
 
 cry. She is strangely affected. Anny is at the 
 
 Beathing for the Ehumatism. They wrote to her 
 that we would be here in a fortnight, that is the 
 time she is ordered by the doctors to stay. On 
 tuesday morne Tempenden & cousin Nanny came to 
 See us. His lady had on blisters & was afraid of 
 catching cold, beg'd we wou'd dine there. [Ap- 
 parently the invitation was accepted.] 
 
 My Aunt & I in the chaise, Jeany & Uncle single, 
 Betts behind her uncle Douglas. We spent an 
 agreable day. . . . They returned the visit. My 
 aunt & I left then in the afternoon and r'd to Stand 
 Hill to See Coll. TrombulFs widow and Aunt Sten- 
 house who was sick. Thursday Mr. Scott came to 
 see us. Friday Auntie Stenhouse & Miss Stewart 
 spent the day & slept here. Betts and Uncle Ben- 
 nett dined at Tempenden Saturday. Mrs. Douglass 
 
 ^ The mother of James Murray's first wife. 
 ^ Jean Bennet. 
 
BITS OF FAlVnLY HISTORY 129 
 
 is to come over for me to go to Jedburrough kirk 
 the morn. I wont go. Ill go to Ancrum with my 
 aunt. 
 
 Before I set out from Norwich I said you would 
 like to be of the party, but I thought otherwise on 
 the journey, for our post boys drove so furiously up 
 hill and down that I often said to Betts, " This would 
 not do for Mrs. Barnes." Now I wish for you. I 
 am certain you would be delighted with this coun- 
 try and the reception you would meet with. This 
 place and family is so natural to me it seems as if I 
 had not been gone a year. My Aunt and Bob ^ has 
 made great improvements, but all on my Uncle's 
 plan. Tom Sword, my Uncle's waiting man, is 
 eighty years old, Hves in a house at the foot of the 
 Avenue. His daughter Baby takes care of him 
 under my Aunt's direction. He tells me many old 
 storys that are very pleasing, crys over Betts, says, 
 " 0, my Bairn, how good your Mother was, gentle 
 and simple, all loved her. I have seen 5 Laii'ds 
 here." 
 
 Teviot parts this estate and Mr. Douglasses, and 
 Stand-hill joins on the other side. Judge how agree- 
 ably we are situated. A fine season and the best 
 crops that has been in this country for some time. 
 
 Chesters, Friday morn, July 27th. 
 
 Saturday Mrs. Stenhouse, Miss Stewart, Mr. Turn- 
 bull, Mr. & Mrs. Douglass and Mr. Elliot dined 
 here. Sunday went to Ancrum kirk. According 
 1 Robert Bennet, brother to Anne and Jean. 
 
130 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 to custom took a ps. [piece] in our pouch. Took a 
 walk by the burn side in Sir William Scot's park 
 and eat our bread and cheese between sermons. Got 
 home half after three, Mrs. Stenhouse with us. Had 
 an elegant dinner and good stomachs. Betts sick 
 with eating strawberry s and cream after sallad. 
 They appeared so frightened that she bui'st out a 
 crying. Uncle stood Doctor, and she soon recov- 
 ered. 
 
 Monday. A fine day — walked to the mowers 
 where they were cutting fine grass and said it would 
 be two ton and a half of an acre. In the afternoon 
 we viewed several of our old walks. These brought 
 to Jeany's remembrance and mine some curious bat- 
 tles in our childhood and many promises of friend- 
 ship when we were capable of that noble passion. 
 
 Tuesday 10 o'clock. Uncle, Jeany, Bets and E. 
 S. set out for Newton Don, where we arrived at two 
 and were received in the kindest manner. The good 
 old lady seemed in raptures. I had not seen her 
 these 23 years. It rained hard — we kept house all 
 the afternoon. Wednesday her coach and chaise 
 was tackled for us to take an airing and see aU the 
 curiositys of Kelso. Here she showed me where my 
 Sister hved, talked much of her and the children 
 especially Anny. The dinner bell was ringing when 
 we got home. Sate down in our morning dress. 
 After dinner dressed and altho' the gTass was very 
 wet her ladyship begged us to walk. We kilted our 
 coats and followed her for half a mile to one of the 
 finest falls of water in Scotland, The other side of 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 131 
 
 this water is Sir Kobert Pringles estate. She con- 
 ducted us around by the water side through a fine 
 grove of young trees and some of her tennents 
 houses. Saw a number of children. As they came 
 near her she named them and asked them kind ques- 
 tions, patted their head, bid them put on their bon- 
 net. This good woman is Doctor to all the poor 
 folks for miles round. In difficult cases she advises 
 with my Brother John and Doctor Eutherford. 
 
 Upon her arrival in Norwich Mrs. Smith had con- 
 cerned herself with the future of her brother John's 
 son and daughter, John and Mary. They were 
 both to be sent to New England, to James's care, 
 provided with a stock in trade like that which their 
 aunt had begun life with.-^ The two young emi- 
 grants crossed the ocean safely and were welcomed 
 by Mr. Murray at Brush Hill. 
 
 1 Norwich, March 23d, 1770. 
 
 We, Elizabeth Smith widow late of Boston, New England, now of 
 Norwich and John Murray Doctor of Physic in Norwich aforesaid 
 do hereby bind and oblige ourselves our Heirs, and Executors jointly 
 and severally to Messers Bridgen and Waller, Merchants in London 
 their Heirs and Executors to be accountable for and discharge all 
 such sum or sums of money as they shall from time to time advance 
 in goods in behalf and for the use of John the Son and Mary the 
 Daughter of the said John Murray in consequence of orders now 
 given or hereafter to be given by either or both of us as witness our 
 Hands at Norwich this 23d March 1770. 
 
 Witness : Anne Boyles Signed : John Murray 
 
 Val. Boyles Eliz. Smith 
 
132 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO ELIZABETH SMITH. 
 
 Brush-hill, June 8th, 1770. ' 
 
 Dear Sister, — On Monday evening Capt. 
 Jacobson arrived and on Tuesday morning Mr. 
 Goldthwait who was so kind as to take care of our 
 Niece and Nephew sent me up the Letters they 
 brought. Your Sister went immediately to Town 
 and brought them up in the Evening. They are 
 very fine Children and I am as much pleased now 
 that they are come as I was feared before about 
 their coming, on Account of the factious Spirit now 
 at a great height here, indeed it cannot rise much 
 higher without the poor People, many of whom are 
 almost starving for want of Employment, going to 
 plunder the Eich and then cutting their throats. 
 The Children I intend to keep here as I shall write 
 the Doctor ; their Goods will be easily disposed of 
 if they can be got clear of the Clutches of the Sons 
 of Liberty. How that is to be effected, Jacky 
 Clark ^ is now going to town to consult and contrive. 
 He came hither yesterday from Providence. 
 
 Mr. Goldthwait tells me, there are now seventy 
 houses in town empty and like to continue so and 
 the number even to increase. Among them is your 
 Sugar house. Cotton House, and the two houses in 
 King Street, formerly occupied by Butler, DeCher- 
 
 eau and Pitcher. Mr. G has in vain offered 
 
 them for less rent than they used to let at. 
 
 ^ John Innes Clark. He had come over from England to be ap- 
 prenticed to Mr. Murray, but later went into business with Mr. 
 Nightingale at Providence. 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 133 
 
 Betsey, during the greater part of her stay in 
 Scotland, was at Mrs. Hamilton's boarding school 
 in Edinburgh. There, in her letters, she is to be 
 seen, busied occasionally with such serious studies 
 as writing, music, and dancing ; but oftener and 
 more profitably at the play, or enjoying an assembly, 
 while her aunt keeps her supphed with proper gowns, 
 and rejoices in her when she sees her shining con- 
 spicuous by her beauty among the Edinburgh belles. 
 
 ELIZABETH MURRAY TO ELIZABETH SMITH. 
 
 January 4, 1771. 
 
 . . . When I came from Musilburgh, I received 
 a message from Lady Philiphaugh desiring my com- 
 pany to dine there Saturday and another from Mrs. 
 Brown of Eleston to go to the play with her the 
 same night. I went to both. Mr. Charles Murray 
 is arrived in London and is soon expected here. I 
 am sure I am much obhged to that family. Miss 
 Murray introduced me to Mrs. Brown, who takes a 
 great deal of notice of me both by inviting me to 
 her own house and to public places. Lady Philip- 
 haugh is extremely kind to me, and thinks I never 
 can come often enough to her house. The play 
 and farse a Saturday was " The patron and the Au- 
 thor." A Wednesday I went to the Peers Assembly 
 with Mrs. Hamilton and several of her young Ladies. 
 It was a very brilliant one, a great many handsome 
 women and very genteely dressed. There is to be 
 no Assemblies this Winter, but a few such as the 
 Queen's &c &c. 
 
134 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 ELIZABETH MUERAY TO JEAN BENKET. 
 
 January 11, [1771.] 
 
 ... I wrote my Aunt in my last that I went to 
 the Peers assembly, but did not dance. There is to 
 be one more this season, which is Friday next. 
 Lamott is to have a Publick next Wednesday, so I 
 believe I shall dance at the Queens Assembly. I 
 was at the play last Saturday with Mrs. St. Clair. 
 It was the Spanish Friar and the Apprentice. As 
 for visiting I fear you will hear many complaints of 
 me, for I seldom go abroad without being sent for. 
 In the first place I have writing and Musick to 
 attend in the forenoon, Lamott in the afternoon. I 
 dont know one part of the town so am always 
 obliged to hire a Cheur or run after a Cawde which 
 quite discourages me from paying visits the little 
 time I can spare. 
 
 The Auntie Stenhouse mentioned in the journal 
 and letters w^as an aunt of the Bennet sisters. She 
 rivaled Mrs. Barnes in the license given to her pen. 
 
 HELEN STENHOUSE TO DOROTHY FORBES. 
 
 My Dear Dolly, — 1°" Just now Come over from 
 Stand hill on a viset to Grand ma. Aunt Smith & 
 aU y"^ auntes, not forge ting honey Sister Bettzie who 
 are all very well, & as throng as three in a bed. 
 One makes up Capes ; an other flounceing a gown 
 & pettycoat ; a thii'd make a pin Cusheon, all to Cutt 
 a figure at our Kellso Balls, which is upon y^ 10*^ Inst. 
 F warant many akeing heart they" leave when they 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 135 
 
 return home again. I supose you" soon have a letter 
 from y' Sister y' Dutches of Roxeburgh, for I wont 
 have her a husband in our Country under a Duke, 
 mind that. And mind too that Auntie Stenhouse 
 wont be pleased if you & y'^ husband dont Come 
 over to Stand god father & god mother to y" young 
 Duke. In truth, says ye, I think auntie Stenhouse 
 is Just as Daft & f roHcksome as she was when I left 
 Scotland. Why & so I am. You know 1°^ but a 
 young girl ; only three Scor ; thats all. I Expect 
 to be a grand Aunt in a day or tow by y' Aunt 
 Douglass. I find y'" Lady Ship has made me a great 
 grand aunt Some thne ago.^ How I Shoud Laugh to 
 See my Httle Doll sitting w^ my Nephew, tupphng & 
 Suckleing his Bottle. Well may you & he thrive, 
 Say I ; & when you wi-it to y' friends here pray drop 
 a hne from y' faer hand to old auntie Stenhouse, 
 which I assure you I lay up amongest my favourd 
 Epistles. I must now Conclude, as its drawing negh 
 night & as I"^ wife to a great farmer must get me 
 home against the Cows be to milk to make y" Cheas 
 &c. My affect Compts to my Nephew Forbys, & 
 doe give y' Httle Suckling a kiss from Auntie Sten- 
 house. I ever am. My Dr Mad°^ 
 
 Your most affect aunt 
 
 Hellen Stenhouse. 
 
 Chesters 4"" Sep*' 1770. 
 
 Mr. Murray's next letter to his daughter confesses 
 
 1 A letter from Mr. Murray to Mrs. Smith, of March 12, 1770, 
 said, « I have received a letter of the 5th December from Mr. Forbes 
 giving me the joyful news of Dolly's safe delivery of a son." 
 
136 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 quite naively the home pressure which has sent him 
 over seas. His sister's return to America and the 
 emigration of Dr. John Murray's daughter Anne 
 are also spoken of. During Mrs. Smith's absence 
 and that of her brother her affairs, left in Mr. 
 Goldthwaite's hands, had fallen into confusion, and 
 her return was hastened by her desire to straighten 
 them out. 
 
 JAMES MUKRAY TO DOROTHY FORBES. 
 
 London, June 21st, 1771. 
 
 My Dear Dolly, — Yesterday I had the pleasure 
 to receive your Letters of the 10th February, and on 
 the 27th of last month Mr. Forbes' of the 12th 
 March. These Letters I have been long looking 
 for, having heard a great while ago of Capt. Oakes' 
 safe arrival, but from your and your good mans 
 Silence I inferred that you were not in Spirits and 
 rather pitied than blamed you. For which reason I 
 forbore writing you for some time after my Arrival 
 here, that you might not have the heavy task of 
 Answering letters or the Compunction for not an- 
 swering them. However, I ventured to write Mr. 
 Forbes last month by way of South CaroHna, after 
 Sister Smith, Betsey, Mrs. Barclay, her Daughter, 
 Mr. Barnes and Anny Murray, the Doctor's second 
 Daughter, had embarked for Casco bay in the 
 Osterly-Lizard, a fine large Mast Ship which they 
 preferred to a small Merchantman going directly to 
 Boston. 
 
 Your Aunt's health is much better for her voyage 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 137 
 
 and journey to Scotland, with which both she and 
 Betsey returned much pleased. Had your letters 
 had any toUerable passage, they would have made 
 your Aunt and Sister very happy, and you would 
 have had long Letters from them ; for they are both 
 become great Writers and keep up a large Corre- 
 spondence, while your old father can scarcely and 
 but rarely prevail on himself to write a few lines to 
 those he loves the best. 
 
 Altho' I was silent on the Errand that brought 
 me hither you might easily conjecture it. My Sit- 
 uation at Brush-hill was quite agreeable to me. You 
 know I always liked a Country Life, but your 
 Mamma in the early part of Life always lived in a 
 town and liked it. The Retirement at Brush-hill, 
 especially in the winter time, did not suit her taste. 
 She saw Mr. Ben & Bob HoUywell,' Mr. Flucker,^ 
 and Brig'r Ruggles ^ for being friends of Govern- 
 
 1 Robert Hallowell of Boston was comptroller of the customs. 
 In 1765 a mob " surrounded his elegant house in Hanover Street, 
 tore down his fences, broke his windows, and, forcing the doors at 
 last, destroyed furniture, stole money, scattered books and papers 
 and drank of the wines in the cellar to drunkeness." Sabine's 
 Loyalists of the Am. Rev., vol. i. p. 508. 
 
 Benjamin Hallowell, brother of Robert, was commissioner of the 
 customs. " In 1774, while passing through Cambridge in his chaise, 
 he was pursued toward Boston by about one hundred and sixty men 
 on horseback, at full gallop." Tbid., p. 509. 
 
 2 Thomas Flucker was the last secretary of the Province of Mas- 
 sachusetts Bay. Ihid., p. 428. 
 
 ^ Timothy Ruggles was brigadier-general in the war of 1755. As 
 a lawyer and a supporter of the measures of the Ministry he was 
 frequently opposed, in discussions, to Otis. In 1774 his house was 
 attacked at night, and his cattle maimed and poisoned. He was " a 
 wit and a man of rude manners and rude speech." iJirf., vol. ii. p. 242. 
 
138 JAIVIES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 ment get handsome places, and proposed that I, who 
 had no less signalized myself on that side, should 
 also exert myself and try my Luck and Interest. 
 You, or at least Mr. Forbes knows how necessary it 
 is to keep peace at home. For this end I, under all 
 my aversion to return to the Bustle of Life, from a 
 thorough sense of the vain Issue of it, and quite 
 convinced at the same time of the awkward figure 
 I should make at Court, a Theatre I had never been 
 accustomed to, ventured to cross the Atlantic, im- 
 agining as every body in Boston did, that the affairs 
 of that Province would come under the Considera- 
 tion of Parliament as soon as the prospect of war 
 vanished and that it would require no great degree 
 of Interest or address or Merit to get in the Changes 
 that might happen all I wanted. But on my Arrival 
 I found American affairs were to be passed over in 
 Silence and my Reception from some friends ap- 
 peared colder than I expected. This set me in low 
 Spirits, still lowered by an ugly wet winter, so I was 
 sick of my Voyage. But the weather mending, my 
 Sister and Betsey coming up so hearty, my health 
 grew better, and I plucked up resolution to explain 
 my Errand to some Friends in a manner I had not 
 done for the two first months, and that with so 
 much success as induced me to continue here in 
 hopes that I shall not be forgot when any thing 
 casts up, which I can aim at. If I am obliged at 
 last to return, as Mr. Barnes ^ and many others have 
 done, without any provision, I shall reap this advan- 
 
 ^ Henry Barnes of Marlborough. 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 139 
 
 tage at least by the voyage. Both your Mama and 
 I feeHng the Inconveniences of a Separation will 
 be more patient under those we may meet with to- 
 gether. 
 
 My Presence here has already had one good 
 effect. I have persuaded my Brother Will to sell 
 out of the Army, by which he will have L. 2000 to 
 dispose of at his death to such of Nephews or Nieces 
 as stand most in need or favour. I expect him every 
 day from Ireland, where he leaves the Regiment. 
 
 Your Uncle the Doctor says he is getting into 
 better business than he had at first moving to Nor- 
 wich. Two of the seven children he has left at 
 home are in a dangerous way. He has now three 
 in America.^ 
 
 Your Uncle Bennet is now a Lieut, in the first or 
 Royal Regiment, and is gone with his Corps to 
 Mmorca for three years. Every body speaks weU 
 of him. In his WiU he has left you and Betsey 
 what would have been your Mamma's part of the 
 Estate, which is now above L.300 a year ; this your 
 Aunt Smith learned at Chesters. Your Aunt Jeany 
 is grown very tender. Both she and Anny were 
 very fond of Betsey, and the sight of her has rivet- 
 ted their affections to you both. 
 
 Not being able to visit my native country in the 
 splendor that others who started with me have done, 
 I have hesitated about making the tour, though I 
 have had several pressing Invitations, but I believe 
 I shall pluck up Resolution to take a glimpse of our 
 friends there with brother Will. 
 
 ^ John, Mary, and Anne. 
 
140 JAMES MUKKAY, LOYALIST 
 
 As I write you so seldom, and that (I have said) 
 is partly your fault, I must not let this letter sHp 
 through my hands without being as particular as it 
 may be. I shall enquire at Mr. Forbes's, Bedford 
 Street, for your Mr. Forbes's brother and do him all 
 the service I can. . . . 
 
 One of the best friends I have here is Gen. 
 Mackay, who now has the Reg't quartered with 
 you and with whom I may perhaps have influence 
 to obtain any favor that may lie in our Mr. F's. 
 way, tho' I shall and ought to be cautious of press- 
 ing him on too many sides at once. He tells me 
 there is a Chaplain with his Reg't. . . . 
 
 If I cannot accompHsh my business here in time 
 to reach Boston before the Winter sets in, it will 
 give me a fit opportunity of taking you up to Au- 
 gustine, of going to Cape Fear to settle my affairs 
 there, and from thence to proceed early in the 
 Spring to Boston. But, like a Lover whose Court- 
 ship is known, I shall be loth to leave the Chase, 
 if the game should hold out even till next Spring ; 
 beyond that period I will not persevere. I have a 
 strict charge from your Mama not to go to Carolina 
 without her, and she even threatens to come and 
 carry me home if I do not come out with your 
 Aunt. If she is in earnest in this, it wiU discon- 
 cert me not a little and cause my Departure in a 
 hurry. 
 
 Your Sister (I must return to her) has been much 
 improved at home, was at one of the best boarding 
 schools in Edinburgh, has learned to sing and play 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 141 
 
 on the guitar, is grown very tall and so pretty as to 
 be a conspicuous figure in an Ed^ Assembly. . . . 
 
 I shall send some Shoes for your Son by Mr. 
 Gordon, your Att'y General, who does not look un- 
 like your old Mr. Gordon. But you ought to put 
 no Stockings on the Child. If you cannot lay in a 
 Stock of Resignation about the fate of your Child 
 or Children, you will not only make yourself and 
 every body about you unhappy by your Anxiety, 
 but you will defeat the purpose you aim at, you will 
 kill with kindness. 
 
 Mr. Bridgen, my friend, has an only daughter a 
 child about five years, the heness of a great fortune, 
 who is now faUing a sacrifice to the Doctors and 
 Apothecarys in the whooping-cough, a distemper 
 that seldom proves mortal to poor peoples children, 
 who have free access to air and natures fare. . . . 
 My affectionate complunents to Mr. Forbes and 
 thanks for his kind letter, to which I hope he will 
 count this long letter an answer. 
 
 I am My Dear 
 Your most affectionate father 
 
 No sooner had Mrs. Smith arrived in Boston than 
 Mrs. Barnes's surmises concerning her matrimonial 
 outlook ran riot, and, as it proved, not without excuse. 
 
 MRS. BARNES TO ELIZABETH SMITH. 
 
 Aug. 5, 1771. 
 
 I dare say by this time you have a Httle leisure 
 to look into your own affairs. Pray let me know if 
 
142 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 the Gentleman was not extremely shok'd when you 
 inform' d him his Ticket was a blank and in what 
 manner you communicated the intelHgence ; and I 
 should like wise be glad to know whether your nego- 
 tiations upon the Hill is Hke to take place. ... I 
 will not give you my sentiments upon it till I know 
 whether you were in Jest or Earnest, but so far I 
 will venture to say that I approve of no Hills but 
 Milton Hill. Observe by the way that Cambridge 
 is a flat country and when I exclude Hills that is 
 out of the question. If you like the Situation . . . 
 why I say Amen, but I think it is a little hard that 
 I cannot be Present when all these affairs are in 
 agitation. ... It is not either a high or Low sit- 
 uation that will mend your constitution. Retirement 
 and ease is what you at present stand in need of, 
 and in order to procure that you must fix upon 
 some worthy Person who wiU reheve you from the 
 fatigues and cares of life or at least share them 
 with you. Perhaps you will say the remedy may be 
 as bad as the disease. 
 
 Bad or not, it was a remedy that Mrs. Smith had 
 resolved to try. She did, undoubtedly, feel the 
 need of assistance, and her marriage to Ralph Inman, 
 a wealthy retired merchant of Boston, took place in 
 September of the same year. Although anticipated 
 in a measure by Mrs. Barnes, the step was a siuprise 
 to Dr. John. 
 
BITS OF FAJyiILY HISTORY 143 
 
 DR. JOHN MURRAY TO ELIZABETH INMAN. 
 
 Norwich, November 9th, 1771. 
 
 Dear Sister : — On the 30th of last month your 
 affectionate favour of 23d September came safe to 
 hand, which informed us of your intention to re- 
 enter into a married state, your general reasons for 
 that step and your future plan of life. 
 
 As our children had not mentioned anything of 
 this event, and you said the news of it had given 
 them a shock, I must own that I was a little affected 
 on their account, and I believe your Sister more 
 than me, although she took but little notice of it. 
 
 Upon mature deliberation, I am incHned to ap- 
 prove this change of life after your return to Amer- 
 ica ; for having heretofore appeared as a person of 
 consequence there, it would ill-brook our family 
 spirit to be degraded to a kind of nothingness with- 
 out a home or family. 
 
 The chief reason of my supposing that you would 
 remain single, exclusive of your attachment to the 
 interest of our Children, was the difficulty of find- 
 ing an object every way worthy of your choice ; 
 yet from what I remember, or have heard from you 
 and others of Mr. Inman, I make no doubt of your 
 being as happy in this as in any of your former 
 matrimonial connexions. On this agreeable event, 
 therefore, your Sister most sincerely joins me in 
 wishing both Mr. Inman and you much joy and all 
 manner of happiness for the remainder of your fives. 
 
 With regard to your private affairs, as the con- 
 cern was principally your own, you certainly had a 
 
144 JAMES MUKRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 right to dispose of them as you thought proper ; 
 and the method you have taken, I must think the 
 best, as it is acting with your usual generosity and 
 confidence, which will naturally meet with an equal 
 return. 
 
 I and my family having abeady got so much we 
 have no right to expect, far less to claim, more. 
 Therefore whatever future favours you shew to me 
 or mine ought and shall be attributed to your and 
 Mr. Inman's affection and benevolence. 
 
 My Path is still strewed with thorns, for difficul- 
 ties of one kind or another continually spring up as 
 others are surmounted ; but as it has ever been my 
 study faithfully to discharge the various duties of 
 life, and Providence has most wonderfully supported 
 me in my several exigencies, I have no reason to 
 doubt of the continuance of its protection and 
 support. 
 
 Those principles which I have found useful for 
 my own conduct in life, and have instilled into the 
 elder branches of my family with your approbation, 
 I shall as far as Hes in my power inspire the younger 
 with, who hitherto promise to fall nothing short of 
 their predecessors. Therefore I hope they will in 
 due time become equally worthy of your regard and 
 agreeable to society. 
 
 We write by this conveyance to our children, 
 whose interest, I dare say, will suffer nothing from 
 the late step you have taken, while their behavior 
 and conduct continue to merit your notice and en- 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 145 
 
 couragement. Yet you will forgive me, if I own 
 that I now and then feel a Pang for them. Oh my 
 Children ! Orphans in a Strange Land ! what will 
 become of you, if Providence should remove your 
 Aunt or any Cause ahenate her affection ? Thou 
 God of my Fathers and his Childrens Youth ! vouch- 
 safe also to be the God and the Guide of his Grand- 
 children. 
 
 I continue to draw quarterly upon Messrs Bridgen 
 & Waller for the usual sum, but have been obliged 
 to anticipate a quarter on account of extraordinary 
 expenses in removing into a new House, of which I 
 wrote a sHght description in my last to our Girls. 
 I am sorry to find that the Norwich Manufactory 
 does not answer at Boston, yet Mr. ElHot and Mr. 
 Emery have sent some good Orders to Messrs Brett 
 & Co. Mr. Day is at Holland, so have not seen him 
 since your last came to hand. My Business rather 
 mends, but an illiberal Jealousy has arisen in a 
 quarter I did not expect. 
 
 Charlotte goes to dancing and writing school, 
 improves a pace and grows tall. Bettsy and Charles 
 are much better, but not well. Jemmy is tender. 
 The rest of the Children are in good health, desire 
 their duty to their Uncle and Aunt Inman, and 
 thanks for their cake and gloves. Our friends at 
 Wells are much the same as usual, only Sister Nanny 
 is like to be lame. Your Sister, whose health is still 
 precarious, desires to join in Love to you and 
 Brother Inman, to whom I write, to our other Con- 
 
146 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 nexions, and Compliments to all friends with Dear 
 Sister, 
 Your most obliged and affectionate Brother, 
 
 John Murray. 
 
 P. S. Our Brothers are in London. 
 
 Early in 1773, Mr. Murray, accompanied by his 
 wife, made a journey to the South, and put into effect 
 the long-cherished plan of persuading his daughter 
 to visit her old home. Mrs. Forbes's health had 
 suffered visibly during her stay in St. Augustine. 
 Remembering the fate of her mother, Mr. Murray 
 was strenuous in his advice to her to resort to 
 change of air, and she prepared to travel northward 
 with her two sons, James Grant, a child of three 
 years of age, and John, then little more than an 
 infant. At the last moment Mr. Forbes could not 
 decide to let the older boy go, and she was obliged 
 to proceed without him. Moreover, her father was 
 unexpectedly detained in the South by business, and 
 his plan of escort failed. She was, however, a wo- 
 man equal to every emergency, and her long journey 
 was undertaken with only a maid-servant and a 
 slave, Juba, to care for herself and her little boy. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO ELIZABETH INMAN. 
 
 St. Augustine, April 27th, 1773. 
 
 Dear Sister, — Your Brother and Niece having 
 been unavoidably detained here much longer than 
 we expected was convenient for one in her situation. 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 147 
 
 we are glad to send her and the children by a fine 
 transport ship bound hence to New York ; whence 
 she will take the first conveyance for Rhode Island. 
 I trust in God she will get to Brush-hill in good 
 time, where I need not desire you to make every- 
 thing as convenient for her as may be. I have said 
 children, but Mr. Forbes is so wrapt up in his eldest 
 son who is indeed a very fine boy, that he cannot 
 find resolution to part with him. 
 
 I return this week by water to Charlestown, thence 
 as I can to Cape Fear and thence after putting my 
 affairs in the best posture I can, to make the best 
 of my way with your Sister homeward — vain would 
 be any hint for her to stay in CaroHna — the more 
 she sees of other places, the more fond she is of 
 Boston and its Neighbom-hood. Remember me 
 affectionately to Mr. Inman, Betsey and the rest of 
 the young folks. 
 
 I am most gratefully Dear Sister 
 
 Yours 
 
 Mrs. Forbes's letter from New York, which fol- 
 lows, is brief, but very expressive of the inconven- 
 ience of the uncertain means of travel, and of her 
 urgent need to be at her destination. 
 
 New York, May 10th, [1773]. 
 
 My Dear Aunt, — I arrived here with my little 
 Boy, Juba and a maid Servant on Friday last and 
 am very much distressed that I cannot get an op- 
 portunity for Rhode Island till Wednesday next as 
 
148 JAIVIES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 the Small-pox is very much in this place — I fear my 
 Boy may get it. My papa desired me to send for 
 his carriao-e to meet me ; if it is not convenient I 
 hope you will be so good as write a few lines and 
 leave at Mr. Clarks in Providence for me where I 
 hope wind and weather permitting to be on Satur- 
 day or Sunday and indeed it is fiill time I should 
 be at my journeys end, as the post is just going I 
 have only time to add my respectful compliments 
 to Mr. Inman and love to my Sister and Cousins. 
 I am my Dear Aunt, 
 
 Your dutiful & much obHged Niece 
 
 Hastily written on the same sheet with this letter, 
 but added, evidently, after its receipt in Massachu- 
 setts, are directions which follow, from Mrs. Inman 
 to the household at Brush Hill : — 
 
 " Dear Ladys see that Jack fits up the carriage 
 properly for Providence. I shall bring Bill with me 
 to set out on Wednesday afternoon. Pray boil 
 Barley and Corn for the horses and feed them well. 
 I shall bring Mrs. Forbes directly to Brush-hill I 
 hope on Saturday. Go on slowly in cleaning your 
 house, put up no Curtains till I see you. Pray let 
 the Barley and Corn be boiled till it is split and 
 cool it before you give it to the horses. Give them 
 two quarts each twice a day. Measure it — after it 
 is boiled a little salt in it. If Jack has time he may 
 clean the yard." 
 
 She would not allow her niece to make the fatigu- 
 ing last stage of the expedition alone, but went her- 
 
BITS OF FAMILY HISTORY 1*9 
 
 seM to Providence and fetched her safe home. There 
 she arrived, spent, indeed, and anxious, but stiU in 
 time to give her third son, Ralph Bennet Forbes, 
 the right to caU himself Massachusetts born. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 
 1765-1778 
 
 The political turmoil in the midst of which Mr. 
 Murray had found himself upon his removal to 
 Boston in 1765 filled him with surprise and dismay. 
 The Stamp Act had just been passed, obnoxious 
 duties were being enforced, trade and manufactures 
 were suffering, and the town was in a ferment of 
 wrath and opposition. He had hoped, on leaving 
 North Carolina, that he was turning his back upon 
 rebellion, but here he had alighted upon the very 
 seat of disorder. For it was as disorder, first and 
 foremost, that the movement presented itself to 
 him. 
 
 It has been said that Mr. Murray never became a 
 thorough-going American. The strong family ties 
 that bound him to the old country, in which he had 
 himself grown to man's estate, must at best, even 
 had he possessed a less conservative temper, have 
 divided his allegiance. By force of circumstances 
 as well as of inclination it was inevitable that in 
 North Carolina, and afterwards in Massachusetts, 
 his associates should have been those whose sympa- 
 thies and prejudices were upon the English side. 
 
' MB 
 
 ^^'MKl 
 
 WbB^' ■■II "^' - ^^^^^^^^^m 
 
 ^^^^^^^H -f^^^^KI^M ^^^^^AhB 
 
 ELIZABETH MURRAY (^[RS. INMAN) 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 151 
 
 The Boston of the patriots, of James Otis, John 
 Hancock, and "the brace of Adamses," he never 
 knew. 
 
 Yet he was not incapable of taking a broader 
 view than did many of those in whose company he 
 found himself. As far back as 1755 he had written 
 of a general union of the colonies as " a step in 
 the scheme of Providence for fixing in time an em- 
 pire in America." He had no resentment against 
 the Stamp Act, which he declared to be " a neces- 
 sary spur" to the industry of the colonies; but 
 he was so far from being blind to the logic of the 
 future that he af&rmed : " In process of time this 
 extensive, fertile territory, cultivated as it will be 
 by millions of people, healthy and strong, must by 
 the nature of things preponderate." Perhaps even 
 then he did not contemplate as desirable, or even 
 possible, the severance of the ties between them. 
 At any rate, he did not recognize, in the grotesque 
 demonstrations which he saw around him, any in- 
 dication that America's hour of preponderance or 
 independence had struck ; nor could he see in the 
 simultaneous rioting throughout the colonies the be- 
 ginnings of a union. Even the protest which found 
 expression in pamphlets and in the press, in resolves 
 and remonstrances, had little significance for him. 
 The meaning of the discontent, the strength of the 
 resentment, he did not gauge ; nor could his con- 
 servative, practical mind have been expected to read 
 in the si^ns of the times the future which was hid- 
 den from the eyes of the men who moulded it. 
 
152 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 The epithet of Tory was given in opprobrium. 
 And among the Tories there were doubtless some 
 who had chosen their side from motives of mere 
 self-interest. Of such were many of the of&ce- 
 holding class. Others were Tories because of their 
 love of peace and a quiet life, and because of their 
 natural shrinking from the excess and violence that 
 characterized the acts of those who styled them- 
 selves Patriots. Still others, and these deserved to 
 be called Loyalists rather than Tories, took the Brit- 
 ish side because they could not sever connections 
 with the old home. A few there were who were 
 Tories from pure patriotism, by reason of their con- 
 viction that rebellion meant ruin to America. Of 
 these Thomas Hutchinson was the most distinofuished 
 example. James Murray cannot, indeed, be called 
 a Tory of the Hutchinson t3rpe, and yet he shared 
 completely Hutchinson's conviction that the best 
 interests of America were being sacrificed by the 
 very men who maintained that they were asserting 
 her rights. And although, like all those who sided 
 with the King, he incurred suspicion and hatred, he 
 never, to the end of his life, could see himself as an 
 enemy to the land he had helped to build. 
 
 His own grievances might well have disaffected 
 him. He had entered the sugar business, — from 
 which Mr. Smith had retired, — only to find that 
 particular branch of industry sadly crippled. But 
 it was impossible to shake his loyalty. In July, 
 1765, he wrote to his brother John : — 
 
 " All your friends here are well, but in great 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 153 
 
 dread with others of being crampt in their Com- 
 merce and drained of their money by the late parlia- 
 mentary Regulations, which point more particularly 
 at the ruin of the Sugar Refiners, as well by the in- 
 crease of the Bounty at home, as of the Duties here. 
 At the worst, ' Me silva cavusque tutus ab insidiis 
 tenui solabitur ervo.' My own fate or fare, at this 
 time of hfe, I am not solicitous about. I should re- 
 joice indeed, if it pleased Providence by a moderate 
 share of Industry on my part to render me useful 
 to my connexions, and particularly to enable me to 
 acquit myseK of my obligations." 
 
 Very soon after this the partnership into which 
 he had entered with Mr. Head was dissolved, the 
 sugar-house was shut up, and his business was at an 
 end. The refinery was reopened a year later, but 
 it was then merely a forlorn hope, managed by him 
 with but a single assistant in the counting-room, his 
 young nephew, John Innes Clark. John and his 
 brother Thomas, it may be said here, had come over 
 from England shortly before the year 1765. 
 
 The simimer of 1765 saw the sacking of Hutchin- 
 son's Boston house, when his property was carried 
 off or destroyed, and his valuable manuscripts were 
 scattered to the winds. The letter which follows 
 was written by Mr. Murray in November of that 
 year, but it is singularly free from condemnation 
 of the excesses of the time. 
 
154 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO DR. JOHN MURRAY. 
 
 Boston, New England, Nov. 13, 1765. 
 
 You will have heard long before this reaches you 
 what a Spirit the Stamp Act has raised in these Col- 
 onies, which for want of power on the part of the 
 Crown to check it in these three great Towns, Boston, 
 York, Philadelphia, has gone very great Lengths 
 indeed, particularly at New York. The multitude, 
 among which are many men of figure and fortune, 
 imagine that such proceedings will surely procure a 
 Repeal of the Act and prevent further imposition ; 
 while a few, they call them the base few, are silently 
 of opinion that these late feats will not only rivet 
 the Act in question, but bring the Colonies under 
 a much stricter government than ever they have yet 
 felt. The Truth is, we are the Children of a most 
 indulgent Parent who has never exerted her author- 
 ity over us, till we are grown almost to manhood and 
 act accordingly ; but were I to say so here before 
 our Chief Ruler, the Mob, or any of their adherents, 
 I should presently have my house turned inside out. 
 
 The Stamp Act, so far from being a hurt to the 
 Colonies, which they pretend to be unable to bear, 
 will be a necessary Spur to their Industry. The 
 Difficulty will be to keep that Industry from being 
 employed on articles that will interfere with the 
 Mother Country, and so to preserve the Benefit & 
 dependence of America to Britain as long as may be : 
 but in the process of time, this extensive, fertile ter- 
 ritory, cultivated as it wiU be by millions of people 
 healthy and strong, must by the Nature of things 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 155 
 
 preponderate. Our comfort is that period seems to 
 lie far beyond our day. Enough of poHtics. Let 
 us leave them to abler heads. 
 
 I told you in my Letter of July that the late acts 
 bore hard on the sugar business: these, and the 
 short Crops in the West Indies, have prevented the 
 Importation of raw sugars here, and have in course 
 shut up the sugar houses, and ours among the rest. 
 This loss is like soon to be made up to me by the 
 Demise of my Wife's Mother, who lies at the point 
 of death ; by this about L. 1500 Sterling will fall to 
 our share, the Interest of which will support us in 
 the Silva which I spoke of, for I think it is time for 
 me, all circumstances considered, to leave off bus- 
 thng for the world. 
 
 When the Stamp Act was repealed, and the Smith- 
 Paddock ehns, Tories though they were, blazed with 
 lanterns in the general rejoicing, he stiU held the 
 attitude of judicial and hopeful spectator. To such 
 men as he, men who were averse to partisanship, and 
 whose interests centred whoUy within the domestic 
 circle, yet who could take a large impersonal view 
 of passing events, the inevitable ban under which, 
 as Tories, they afterward fell, bore all the sting of 
 injustice. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO DR. JOHN MURRAY. 
 
 N. E. Boston, June 21, 1766. 
 I begin with informing you that in March last I 
 resumed without a Partner the Sugar business, in 
 
156 JAIMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 hopes to save at least my Expenses of living in town, 
 but how it will turn out I cannot guess till the end 
 of the year. Your nephew J. I. Clark proves a very 
 useful hand in that trade, and I hope in due time 
 will be able to Carry it on with benefit to himself. 
 
 Tommy goes on with moderate success in his busi- 
 ness/ . . . Although there are some Symptoms of 
 our political Constitution and the morals on which 
 it depends being on the decline, I do not think we 
 are yet in Foci RomuH. If the authority of the 
 Crown and measures of Government are the Sport 
 of faction, there is no help for that. Our Disease is 
 the Power of the People, who blindly devolve it on an 
 artful Demogogue. If at his Instigation they have 
 erred in the Repeal, they are making some atonement 
 
 1 Thomas Clark had learned the watchmaker's trade iu England, 
 and having come to this country was practicing it in Boston. In 1767 
 he gave it up, and went to take charge of Mrv Murray's estate in 
 Cape Fear. 
 
 James Clark, his elder brother, had before this had the care of the 
 property; he now paid a visit to his uncle in Boston, and afterward, 
 in 1769, returned to Wilmington. The Cape Fear estate was in 1767 
 valued by Mr. Murray at nearly £3000. Besides Point Repose, 
 which he estimated at £2000, he had mill lands which he estimated 
 at £500, lots in Wilmington at £250, and other lots and lands at 
 Rockfish. In 1776, or sometime thereafter, owing to his adherence 
 to the English side, the whole of Mr. Murray's property was confis- 
 cated. It was then claimed by Thomas Clark, who presented an ac- 
 count for more than the assessed value of the property, and it was 
 ultimately by an act of the legislature made over to him. Mrs. 
 Forbes in 1784 went to Wilmington to recover, if she could, some of 
 her patrimony, but without success. She did not even see her cousin, 
 who wrote from his plantation that floods prevented his leaving his 
 estate to visit her in Wilmington, but that if she could come to 
 him he would be happy to see her, and did not doubt of being able to 
 convince her that he had acted for the best in what he had done. 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 157 
 
 by proper Regulations of trade. By the Lord's Pro- 
 test it is plain the circumstances of the Colonies and 
 the Consequences of the Repeal are understood and 
 foreseen. Mr. Se'ry C-n-y may talk of the Lenity & 
 magnanimity of the K. & Pt. shewn in the Repeal ; 
 but we believe the true motives were the madness of 
 the people here, magnified at home, put the merchants 
 in fear of their Souls, I mean their purses. The 
 merchants terrified the Tradesmen and trading 
 towns, they plied their members, who toward the 
 Conclusion of a Parliament durst not but bend ; the 
 money Interest worked on the ministry, and perhaps 
 the ministry's good will to their predecessors oper- 
 ated a little the same way. Thus they lost for fear 
 of loosing, as you have known Patients die from 
 fear of d3dng. Enough of PoHtics. Let us return 
 to the fire Side. 
 
 The sentiment slowly rising in Massachusetts 
 against slavery was to lovers of the established 
 order but another instance of the leveling tendency 
 of the time, akin to the outcry of the Patriots for 
 liberty and equality. To Messrs. Duncan and An- 
 crum of South Carolina, Mr. Murray wrote, July 6, 
 1765:^ — 
 
 " This incloses Bill of Lading & Invoice for a 
 Negro Wench and a few Goods, which you will dis- 
 pose of to the best advantage for my Ace*, and the 
 three pieces of silk for Mr. Wm. Corbell's ace*. The 
 
 ^ Dr. John Murray, in England, however, was the author of a pam- 
 phlet entitled " On the Gradual Abolition of Slavery." 
 
158 JAIVIES IVIUERAY, LOYALIST 
 
 Wench was M' Hooper's. I am well assurd of her 
 Honesty & that she understands plain cookery, roast 
 & boild, can wash & Iron, and is about 37 years of 
 age. The Reason of her being sent off is her tak- 
 ing to drinking, which the lenity used to Negroes 
 here cannot curb." In March, 1767, he wrote to 
 the same correspondents : " Send me Dennis or some 
 other Clever sedate boy some time in May at farthest. 
 After that time the Importation of negroes here will 
 probably be prohibited." 
 
 When " Sam Adams's two regiments," sent by 
 Gage from New York, arrived in Boston and were 
 refused shelter in various places under the control 
 of the patriots, Mr. Murray came forward, and the 
 sugar-house was opened to them for barracks. 
 Thenceforth " Murray's barracks," or " Smith's 
 barracks," as they were indiscriminately called, 
 were a source of irritation to the town. Moreover, 
 his willingness to lodge British soldiers and a free 
 hospitality shown to British officers, — General 
 Mackay ^ and others were frequently at his house, 
 — marked Mr. Murray as a "King's man." His 
 appointment, in 1768, as justice of the peace, drew 
 him still further into pubHc notice. Popular dis- 
 pleasure, in fact, so far distinguished him as to make 
 him, in the autumn of the next year, the victim of a 
 
 1 The N. E. Hist, and Gen. Registerj vol. xlviii. p. 433, in a list of 
 British officers serving in America, 1754-1774, mentions the Hon. 
 Alexander Mackay as having received his commission as major-gen- 
 eral in April, 1770. There are some indications in the letters that 
 he was related to Mrs. Murray. 
 
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A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 159 
 
 mob, small, certainly, but exclusively his own. He 
 has given a humorous account of it.^ 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO OF NEW YORK. 
 
 Boston, September 30th, 1769. 
 
 No doubt, Sir, you have seen, in the public 
 papers, the story of the quarrel between Mr. Rob- 
 inson and Mr. Otis, on the 5th inst. In that affair 
 Mr. W. S. Brown happened to strike Mr. Gridley, 
 who, interfering in behalf of Mr. Otis, had seized 
 
 '^ Mr. Murray's letter opens with a reference to the quarrel 
 between James Otis and John Robinson. This is described by S. G. 
 Drake as follows : — 
 
 " A very unfortunate affair happened on the fifth of September, 
 at the British Coffee house in King Street, which was a rencontre 
 between James Otis and John Robinson. The latter was one of the 
 Commissioners of the Customs, who, Mr. Otis believed, had deeply 
 injured him by misrepresenting his motives for his political course. 
 He believed also, and probably with good reason, that Robinson, with 
 other Crown officers in Boston, had endeavored to have the leading 
 Patriots, and particularly himself, prosecuted for treason and sent to 
 England for trial. . . . The quarrel was carried into the papers of 
 the day, and resulted in a fight, disgraceful to both parties. 
 
 « Mr. Otis, it seems, went to the coffee house by appointment, where 
 he met Robinson, who began the assault upon him. Others, friends 
 of the former, joined in the assault, and Otis was severely handled, 
 being cut in the head and otherwise wounded. . . . Mr. Otis appears 
 to have gone to the Coffee house unattended by friends, while the 
 other party was well provided by the presence of several officers of 
 the army and navy. A young man named John Gridley happened 
 to be passing the coffee house, and, being a friend of Otis, he went 
 to his assistance, but he was roughly handled, and soon put out of the 
 house. The matter was carried into court, where it was kept tor 
 about four years." S. G. Brake, History of Boston,^. 770. The jury 
 finally brought in a verdict in favor of Mr. Otis for £2000 damages. 
 Otis never fully recovered from the effects of this assault. 
 Robinson was a son-in-law of James Boutineau, afterward a refu- 
 gee, who had married one of Peter Faneuil's sisters. 
 
160 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 Mr. Robinson, and torn his coat. For tliis crime, 
 he, Mr. Brown, was unjustly charged through the 
 town with having attacked Mr. Otis himself, while 
 engaged with Mr. Robinson, and was, therefore, to 
 be treated with the utmost rigor. In order to this 
 he was apprehended on the 6th by a peace officer 
 and carried late in the evening before two justices, 
 Messrs. Dana and Pemberton, in Faneuil Hall, where 
 a multitude assembled. 
 
 I, taking a walk in the Town House that evening, 
 was told of this by Mr. Perkins, and, consulting my 
 feehngs for another's distress more than my own 
 safety, went directly to the Hall to attend the 
 proceedings. 
 
 Soon as the multitude perceived me among them, 
 they attempted repeatedly to thrust me out, but 
 were prevented by Mr. Mason, one of the select- 
 men, caUing out, " For shame, gentlemen, do not 
 behave so rudely." Then, lending me his hand, 
 helped me over the door into the selectmen's seat. 
 Before I got down from the seat I was hiss'd. I 
 bowed. I was hiss'd again, and bowed around a 
 second time. Then a small clap ensued. CompH- 
 ments over, I sat down. The justices asked me up 
 to the bench. I declined. The examination of 
 some evidence was continued, and, being finished, 
 the justices thought fit to bind over Mr. Brown. 
 He lookt about for bail. No one offered but I. 
 Here I desired the justices to take notice that I did 
 not mean by this offer to vindicate what Mr. Brown 
 had done, but only to stand by him now the torrent 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 161 
 
 was against him. The recognizance taken, the jus- 
 tices desired the people to disperse, for that Mr. 
 Brown had complied with the law ; but the crowd, 
 intending more sport, still remained. 
 
 As I was pressing out next to Mr. Dana, my wig 
 was pulled off, and a pate, clean shaved by time ^ 
 and the barber, was left exposed. This was thought 
 a signal and prelude to further insult, which would 
 probably have taken place but for hm-ting the cause. 
 Going along in this plight, surrounded by the crowd, 
 in the dark, Lewis Gray took hold of my right arm 
 and Mr. WiUiam Taylor of my left, and supported 
 me, while somebody behind kept nibbling at my 
 sides and endeavoring to trip me ; for the pleasure, 
 as may be supposed, of treading the reforming jus- 
 tice out of me by the multitude. Mr. Deblois threw 
 himseK in my rear, and suffered not a httle in my 
 defence. Mr. G. Hooper went before, and my wig, 
 disheveled, as I was told, was borne on a staff be- 
 hind. The gentlemen, my friends and supporters, 
 offer'd to house me near the Hall, but I insisted on 
 going home in the present trim, and was by them 
 landed in safety, Mr. Gray and others having con- 
 tinually thus admonished my retinue in the way, 
 " No violence, or you '11 hurt the cause." 
 
 I did not intend to trouble even you, my intimate 
 friend, with this minute detail, much less to pubHsh 
 what I thought no credit to the town ; but our 
 Liberty lads have such a rage for publication that 
 everything must go to the press and be seen through 
 
 ^ Yet he was only fifty-six years old. 
 
162 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 their distorted medium, even though it should in the 
 end hurt their cause. 
 
 To provoke me to this, they have mentioned in a 
 last Monday's paper a late insult, for which, you 
 know, honorable satisfaction has been demanded 
 and given, with a spirit and generosity which none 
 of the nameless scandal-mongers for the papers of 
 Edes and Bell, and Fleet, are possessed of. I am, &c. 
 
 On the fifth of March, 1770, after much provoca- 
 tion on both sides, came the outbreak between the 
 soldiers and the crowd, known in history as the 
 Boston Massacre. 
 
 To Mrs. Smith, who was then abroad, — for this 
 chapter has not yet overtaken in time the close of 
 the previous one, — her brother gave a long and 
 remarkably accurate account of the occurrence. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO ELIZABETH SI^HTH. 
 
 Brush-hill, March 12*^ 1770. 
 Since I wrote you on the 19th of last Month I 
 have had the pleasure of your Letter and DuppHcate 
 of the 7th Dec. and of Bettzy's Letters accompany- 
 ing them. It gives us great pleasure, you may be 
 sure, to hear your health is so much better than 
 when you left us, and that was at a good time, for 
 it would have given you pain to have continued in 
 or near the Turbulent Town of Boston. Had it 
 not been for the two Regiments there, the Mobbing 
 would have been greater and more general than in 
 the year 1765. The Restraint that these were might 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 163 
 
 be a principal Cause that the Soldiers were so often 
 insulted and abused, and to heighten that abuse the 
 news papers bragged how they were conquered. 
 Ill-humour thus worked up on both sides, — the mob 
 assembled in King Street this day se'ennight about 
 eight o'clock in the Evening, insulted the Sentry on 
 his post at the Custom house (Ap thorp's house). 
 Notice of this was sent to the Main Guard. Preston, 
 of the 29, the Captain of the Day, came with a party 
 of eight men to the Belief of the Sentry. The Mob 
 still crowded and abused them, some of them calling 
 out repeatedly, " Fire, why don't you fire," till at 
 length five or six Muskets were fired singly and suc- 
 cessively, which killed as many men and wounded 
 several, but none of note except Mr. Edward Payne 
 who is Hke to do well. This you may be sure set 
 the People in a great fury not being used to such 
 skirmishes. The Lieut. Gov'r came up to the 
 Council Chamber, spoke mildly to the people from 
 the window, told them to disperse and he would see 
 Justice done on the Guilty. He sat with the Coun- 
 sellors and some of the Justices till three o'clock 
 next morning, sent for Col. Dalrymple and Col. 
 Carr, had the former's order for Captain Preston, 
 who surrendered, was examined and committed to 
 Prison, as were the Soldiers of the Party that fired. 
 Five or six witnesses swear that Preston bid his men 
 fire. Others swear that he did not, and say that if the 
 fireing had been by order it would not have been by 
 single muskets. Be it as it will, there will be Kttle 
 Chance for him and his Men with enraged, preju- 
 
164 JAJVIES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 diced Juries. The King's Mercy must be their only 
 hope. At this Conference ^ of the L. Gov'r, Coun- 
 cil and Colonels, the Gov'r by the unanimous advice 
 of the Council directed the Colonel to remove the 
 two Kegiments from the Town to the Castle, which 
 was agreed to. Mr. Sam. Adams told Col. Dalrym- 
 ple in pubhc (when he offered to send off the 29th, 
 which had given the offence, and reserve the 14th) 
 that if he kept either, it must be at his own peril. 
 Upon this the several posts of Sentrys in the town 
 were called in, the main guard given up, the two 
 Kegiments confined to their Barracks, and some dis- 
 positions made for removing them to the Castle, 
 where two Companies of the 29th were actually sent 
 last week, and the Townsf oiks were waiting with im- 
 patience for the embarkation of all the rest. They 
 were beginning to dread that their Removal would 
 be postponed till the Colonel heard from the Gen- 
 eral. I shoidd have told you that the Council, when 
 they advised the Gov'r to order the Regiments away 
 (for it seems he has the right to order them when 
 there is not an Officer superior to the Colonel in 
 Command), [said] that they, the Counsellors, would 
 be responsible for the peace of the Town if the 
 Troops were out. But the Commissioners would not 
 have choosed to trust to such security, they would 
 have gone off with the Regiments, and nobody can 
 blame them, for every falsehood is used to render 
 them odious to and suspected by the People. They 
 were not only charged by Insinuation with the mur- 
 ^ That of the day following the massacre must be meant. 
 
/ 
 
 A TORY m REVOLUTIONAKY BOSTON" 165 
 
 der of the boy who was killed when the Mob was at 
 Richardson's ; but now Andrews, your former Car- 
 penter, has been employed to examine by the holes 
 of the Balls on the South side of King Street and 
 the direction of them, whence it must have proceeded, 
 and it is given out that some of the Shot was from 
 the upper Windows of the Custom*house by Green's 
 Son, hired for that purpose. . . . 
 
 P. S. — I will not answer for the Authenticity of 
 every article of the above, for in my short Interviews 
 with the best Authorities they were on the Reserve, 
 and did not think it became me to be inquisitive. 
 
 Boston, March 14th. 
 
 Of both Regiments, the 29 is already gone to the 
 Castle, the 14th are going. Your Barrack is clear, 
 but not yet given up. The Com'rs are again to de- 
 camp, and affairs are in great Confusion here under 
 the thin covering of an outward Calm. Mr. Comm'r 
 Robinson,^ who carries this, goes home to represent 
 all these things in their proper Hght. 
 
 Your old Brother intends to follow your advice to 
 live well and cheerfully and as quietly as the Busi- 
 ness of his Friends will permit him. Adieu. 
 
 In the box to Col. Harrison are the news papers to 
 this day. 
 
 Mr. Murray was now in the midst of things, and 
 deeply concerned for the safety of Captain Preston. 
 He wrote to Hutchinson expressing his fear that the 
 people would do some injury to Preston, and received 
 
 ^ The same who was in the Otis affray. 
 
166 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 in reply a reassuring note, which is printed in the 
 Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society.^ 
 He also sent to Colonel Dabymple, who commanded 
 one of the regiments, the following communication. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO COLONEL DALRYMPLE. 
 
 Milton, August 27th, 1770. 
 
 Sir, — I am just now honored with your letter of 
 this date, and at your Desire readily excuse your not 
 sooner acknowledging the Receipt of mine of the 
 27th of last month. In that letter I took the Lib- 
 erty to suggest that after much pains taken to pre- 
 judice the People of Boston against Captain Preston 
 there was too much room to suspect he would pass 
 his time but badly, at and after his trial ; that I was 
 well convinced of his Innocence, Zealous for the 
 peace and Credit of the town, and should be sorry 
 to hear of any violence against him ; that I should 
 be ready, as a Civil Magistrate, to escort, I should 
 have said to be escorted by, a party of two hundred 
 men of your Regiment with their Officers to Town, 
 there to remain in Smith's Barrack during his Trial 
 and to the Issue of it ; that a Sentry from the Top 
 of the House could see or hear a Signal from the 
 Goal; that no mortal knew of the proposal and that 
 it did not seem to me necessary that any should 
 know it, but General Gage and you. Sir, and Capt. 
 Preston for his peace of mind. I have recapitulated, 
 because you say that you sent the Letter to the Gen- 
 eral after communicating it to the Lieut. Governor.^ 
 I should have been glad indeed when you saw this 
 
 1 Vol. V. of the Second Series, p. 3G1. ^ Thomas Hutchinson. 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 167 
 
 Step necessary of showing it to His Hon'r, that you 
 had been pleased to give me an opportunity of 
 mending my letter, in that Respect. My not men- 
 tioning His Hon'r proceeded from no Disrespect to 
 him ; but Experience had convinced me that such 
 an Offer from me would not avail with him, unless 
 previously recommended by the General. 
 
 In this day's Letter you are pleased to signify that 
 part of your Orders and Instructions are " to be aid- 
 ing and assisting to the Civil Magistrate in the Exe- 
 cution of Laws and in repressing violences whenever 
 you receive a Regular Requisition for that purpose." 
 What greater Violences in any state, toUerably civil- 
 ized, can be committed than what have lately been 
 committed in Boston ? which violences I do in my 
 Conscience beheve will be crowned with the Murder 
 of Captain Preston, if there is no miHtary force to 
 support a Magistrate and the Laws for his protection. 
 In this firm belief I do require of you such an aid 
 as I before mentioned, and fear not we shall aU be- 
 have on the Service so as to obtain the Approbation 
 of God and all good men. 
 
 This requisition, being made without the partici- 
 pation or even privity of the Lieut. Governor, can- 
 not be disagreeable to his Honor, as he will not be 
 answerable for the Consequences should they prove 
 unfortunate. I have the Honor to be with much 
 Respect Sir, Your most obedient Servant 
 
 Mr. Murray's letter was undeniably a requisition 
 upon the colonel for soldiers to form a guard, but 
 soldiers were in such disfavor that it was probably 
 
168 JAIVIES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 thought prudent to let the town-meeting provide 
 for a guard, which it did. A guard was appointed 
 and kept watch nightly during the Preston trial, 
 the civil magistrates by turns taking their share of 
 the vigils. 
 
 The difficulties of Mr. Murray's friend, John 
 Mein, are a matter of history ; yet, for the purpose 
 of illustrating Mr. Murray's relation to passing 
 events, they may be briefly recounted here. Mr. 
 Mein, of the firm of Mein & Fleming, and pub- 
 lisher in 1768-70 of " The Chronicle," was one of 
 the leading booksellers in Boston. His paper, neu- 
 tral at first, afterwards took up vigorously the cause 
 of the Tories. On the 28th of October, 1769, as 
 he was passing up King Street to his office, he was 
 attacked by a crowd of furious young men and boys 
 and forced to fly for protection to the main guard 
 near by. So insulting and violent were his persecu- 
 tors in demanding him of the soldiers, and so rapidly 
 did their numbers increase, that the two regiments 
 were ordered to arms.^ It was soon after this ex- 
 
 1 In a procession celebrating " Pope's Day," November 5, in this 
 same year, Mr. Mein's effigy was carried through the streets to Copp's 
 Hill, where it was solemnly burned. At the same time upon a trans- 
 parency borne by the young men was an acrostic which ran: — 
 
 " Jnsulting wretch, we '11 him expose, 
 O'er the whole world his deeds disclose ; 
 Hell now gapes wide to take him in, 
 iVow he is ripe, O lump of sin ! 
 3fean is the man, M — n is his name, 
 JE'nough he 's spread his hellish fame, 
 Jnfernal furies hurl his soul 
 ^ine million times from Pole to Pole." 
 
 S. G. Drake, History of Boston, 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 169 
 
 perience that Mr. Mein sailed for England, as Mr. 
 Murray explains. In a letter written before the 
 massacre he says to his sister : — 
 
 " I send in a separate packet what news papers I 
 have saved for the month past. Mr. Mein, who will 
 dehver this, will compleat the Intelligence. He has 
 lately had a more narrow escape with his life from 
 the fury of some of our Chief mobbers than your 
 old Brother had with his quiet Retenue. He goes 
 home in hopes to make their mischievous Intentions 
 turn out to his Emolument, and indeed it would not 
 be safe for him to continue here for some time, they 
 are so exasperated at a late publication of his." 
 
 In the letter of March 12 he adds, upon this sub- 
 ject : — 
 
 "Your old Brother went to town on the first 
 Thursday of the month, according to the printed 
 advertisement sent you. That happened to be the 
 very day that Mr. Hancock by Letters and powers he 
 then received laid an attachment on Mr. Mein's book 
 store and printing ofBce. I dined that day at Mr. 
 E. G's,^ where Mr. Miller in behalf of Mr. Mehi 
 came to me. I went to the House and had a meet- 
 ing of his Friends, who after examining into the 
 state of his affairs found themselves quite safe in 
 becoming security to abide by the Judgment of the 
 
 Court. This Mr. H refused and would not take 
 
 off his attachment and could not be compelled to do 
 it, but matters were managed so with the Sheriff as 
 to get hhn to accept of a pledge for the value of Mr. 
 1 Ezekiel Goldthwaite's. 
 
170 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 Mein's Interest attached at the printing office. This 
 set the press a going again ^ much to the Surprize 
 
 and Disappointment of Mr. H and his party, with 
 
 whom this was the Capital Object in this Stroke 
 of his. A Method has been since hit on to relieve 
 the books also by a tender of other Goods. I should 
 not have dwelt so long on this last Article, but to 
 let you see the baseness of the party and to Account 
 for my being in town from the Thursday to the 
 Monday, the night of the Riot. Mr. Mein's friends 
 having set me at their head to Manage this business, 
 that time was fully employed in trying to surmount 
 the Difficulties that were industriously thrown in the 
 way, and, not being concerned in trade, they thought 
 me the least liable to the malice of the Party. 
 
 " I leave to others to tell you of the Mobbish do- 
 ings upon those they call Importers, among whom 
 they were so mean as to include your poor Miss 
 Cumings. 
 
 " The folly. Rage and Madness of the Party have 
 been greatly raised by the late Accounts they have 
 had that Administration is to give way to them 
 a Second time. If that is true, they will presently 
 have work enough on their hands in America." 
 
 " The trouble which you have kindly and volun- 
 tarily taken in my affairs," Mr. Mein wrote to Mr. 
 Murray in February, 1772, while they were both 
 abroad, " and the great obligations which you have 
 conferred upon me, I entertain an inexpressible idea 
 of. Indeed, expression is always lame where the 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 171 
 
 grateful feelings of the heart are concerned." A 
 letter written in 1775 is interesting as showing Mr. 
 Mein's point of view. 
 
 JOHN MEm TO JAMES MUKRAY. 
 
 London, January ll'", 1775. 
 
 Dear Sir, — ... I have a great deal to say, but 
 this is not the opportunity. Every Body here who 
 is not paid by the Colonies has a very proper sense 
 of the present Contest. Those who find their Emol- 
 ument in deceiving the Colonies will continue to de- 
 ceive them as long as their Emolument continues. 
 Your Province is considered here as in declared re- 
 beUion: Outlawries, Confiscations, and Executions 
 are looked upon to be the certain Consequences. 
 The Men of Property who are the Ringleaders will 
 be the only objects of punishment; the deluded 
 populace are already universally objects of Commis- 
 eration : and all the depredations committed on pro- 
 perty must be raised from the Estates of the Opulent 
 Rebels ; for the poor, who are also the misguided, 
 can make no pecuniary Compensation ; they will 
 also be exempted from personal punishment, as they 
 are only considered as mere Instruments in the hands 
 of their deluders. It is thought here to be a very 
 great calamity that thousands of innocent people 
 should be involved in Misery through the atrocious 
 villany of a few most abandoned Men. 
 
 The American abuse against administration is 
 clearly in the opinion of the Generality here only a 
 flimsy cover for RebeUion. The Contest is not be- 
 
172 JAIMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 tween Ministers and the Colonies, but between Par- 
 liament and the Colonies ; and whichever of them 
 conquers will be the Sovereign Power. The Mer- 
 chants were under a necessity of petitioning to keep 
 up appearances with their Correspondents on your 
 side the Atlantic. Their wishes for Remittances 
 militate against their consciousness of their Duty. 
 But they are far from being insensible, that their 
 property will be only nominal in the Colonies, if the 
 Rights of Parliament are not vigorously preserved 
 and supported. But I have done. I have been led 
 further than I intended. Be not surprised at what- 
 ever may happen. . . . 
 
 In Charles Stewart of London, who was a connec- 
 tion of the family, Mr. Murray had a most excellent 
 friend. It was he who at a later date attended to 
 the procuring of Mr. Murray's salary as collector 
 and who performed manifold business offices. After 
 the affair of the fifth of March he had written to his 
 kinsman, begging him to hold himself aloof from 
 public affairs. Mr. Murray replied as follows : — 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO CHARLES STEWART. 
 
 Milton, Sept' 3^ 1770. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Please to accept of my hearty 
 thanks for your friendly Letter of the 1"' May. The 
 Caution you kindly give, I should be ready to ob- 
 serve, did I see things in the Light you see them 
 for me ; but as you are not on the Spot, you can- 
 not imagine what good the Resolution of one man 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 173 
 
 might do, guided by temper and prudence and sup- 
 ported as it would be. And to say the Truth I 
 should have more pleasure in one day aiding & vin- 
 dicating even one good and Innocent Person un- 
 justly attacked than in drawling out in inglorious 
 ease a number of these years such as I may expect. 
 You may call this Quixotism if you will. Be it so. 
 It is a Spirit, however, that our Superiours on both 
 sides of the Atlantic seem to want, else they would 
 not suffer Government and the friends of Govern- 
 ment to be insulted as they daily are. After all I 
 must own that Administration passing over in 
 Silence & with contempt the American combina- 
 tions against Importation of British goods has had 
 a better effect than would a Severe law to check 
 them. These they are now heartly sick of, & the 
 Trade will probably be quite open by the Spring. 
 
 In a former Letter I took the liberty to recom- 
 mend it to you to supply M'" Mein with a hun- 
 dred pounds, not doubting he would be able to 
 reimburse you, if he lived a twelve month. Late 
 Advices from him tell us that he cannot bring his 
 Creditors to agree to come in share & share, so it 
 will be catch that catch can, & the court and Law- 
 yers will sweep their part. In this State of things 
 I thought it incumbent on me to take a bill of par- 
 cels for a number of Saleable books in Sheets to 
 the amount of that Sum to secure you, if you have 
 advanced him that money. If you have not, you 
 may if you please Lodge the Sum in a friend's hand 
 for him to be paid when these books shall be turnd 
 
174 JAJVIES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 into Cash, and let his Receipt appear here ; if you 
 think a man perhaps too resolute and Zealous de- 
 serves a Subsistence whose fine business and for- 
 tunes have fallen a Sacrifice to the Rage & Malice 
 of faction. 
 
 In the mean time the skies were darkening above 
 Christian Barnes's head, and her husband/ like Mr. 
 Meins, claimed Mr. Murray's sympathy. On March 
 13, 1770, Mrs. Barnes wrote to Mrs. Smith : — 
 
 " The vile town of Marlboro have this day put 
 up a notification to warn the inhabitants to Town 
 Meeting to Vote against importation of English 
 Goods. It does not give us much uneasiness, for 
 as a Guilty Conscience needs no accuser so con- 
 scious Innocence fears none." 
 
 Later she continued : — 
 
 ^ " Henry Barnes resided in the east village, in the house known as 
 the Cogswell House, which he built in 1763. He was a man of con- 
 siderable property, and one of the largest taxpayers in the town. He 
 left Marlborough early in 1775, and repaired to Boston to take shel- 
 ter under the protection of the King's troops. An act was passed in 
 1778 forbidding all persons who had left the State and gone over to 
 the enemy returning to their former homes ... In this act Henry 
 Barnes is expressly mentioned. His property was confiscated. . . . 
 He was in England with his family in 1777, and died in London 
 1808, aged 84." History of Marlborough, by Charles Hudson, p. 156. 
 " As early as 1770 the people of the town condemned Henry Barnes 
 as an importer who brought goods into the country contrary to the 
 agreement of the patriotic and self-sacrificing merchants of Bos- 
 ton and vicinity, and solemnly agreed that they would not trade 
 with him. Subsequently, when in 1775 General Gage sent his spies 
 to Worcester to sketch the topography of the country, they sought 
 his house as a place of refuge, where they supposed themselves per- 
 fectly safe." Tbid. 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONAKY BOSTON 175 
 
 MRS. BARNES TO ELIZABETH SMITH. 
 
 June, 1770. 
 
 Dear Mad'm, — It is long since I have dabbled 
 in politics, and sorry I am to resume the subject. 
 . . . Nor would I now trouble you with it but that 
 I want to vent myself, and, as Mrs. Barclay says, 
 " To whom shall I complain if not to you ? " 
 
 The spirit of discord and confusion which has 
 prevailed with so much violence in Boston has now 
 begun to spread itself into the country. These 
 poor deluded people with whom we have lived so 
 long in peace and harmony have been influenced by 
 the Sons of Rapm to take every method to distress 
 us. At their March meeting they entered into 
 resolves simular to those you have often seen in the 
 Boston newspapers. At their next meeting they 
 chose four inspectors, — men of the most vioulent 
 disposition of any in the town, — to watch those 
 who should purchase goods at the store, with intent 
 that their names should be recorded as enimes to 
 their country. This did not deter those from com- 
 ing who had not voted to the resolves. These were 
 chiefly young people who were not qualified to vote 
 in their town meeting. When they saw their mea- 
 sures had not the desired effect, and that our cus- 
 tom still encreased, they fixed a paper upon the 
 meeting house, impowering and adviseing these un- 
 qualified voters to call a meeting of their own and 
 enter into the same resolves with the other. This 
 was a priviledg they had never enjoyed, and, fond 
 of their new-gotten power, hastened to put it in 
 
176 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 execution, summoned a meeting, chose a moderator, 
 and^ by the direction of those who sat them to 
 work, resolves were drawn up, but not yet passed. 
 
 While all this was in agitation there was great 
 outrao;es committed and insults offered to the im- 
 porters in Boston, so that some of them have been 
 compelled to quit the town, as not only their pro- 
 perty but their lives were in danger. Nor are we 
 wholly free from apprehensions of this Hke treet- 
 ment, for they have already begun to commit out- 
 rages. The first thing that fell a sacrifice to their 
 mallace and revenge was the coach, which caused so 
 much decention between us. This they took the 
 cushings out of and put them in the brook, and the 
 next night cut the carriage to pieces. Not long 
 after they broke the windows at the Pearl Ash 
 Works. It is said that a young gentleman who has 
 formilly headed the mob in Boston and now resides 
 with us is the perpetrator of all this mischief, but I 
 will not believe it until I have further profe. 
 
 The greatest loss we have as yet met with was by 
 a mob in Boston, who, a few nights ago, attacked a 
 wagon-load of goods which belonged to us. They 
 abused the driver, and cut a bag of pepper, letting 
 it all into the street ; then gathered it up in their 
 handkerchiefs and hatts, and carried it off. The 
 rest of the load they ordered back into the publick 
 store, of which the Well Disposed Commity keeps 
 the key. Mr. Barnes has applied to the Left. Gov- 
 ernor for advice, and he advised him to put in a 
 petition to the general court. He then repaired 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 177 
 
 to Mr. Murray and begged his assistance in the 
 drawing of it up. He complied with his request, 
 and it is to be lade before the House next week. . . . 
 The 10th of June the unqualified voters had a 
 meeting, and the next day an effigy was hung upon 
 a hill in sight of the House, with a paper pinned to 
 the breast, whereon was wrote, " Henry Barnes," as 
 infamous importer. This hung up all day, and 
 at night they burnt it. A few nights after they 
 stole the covering from the wagon, which was 
 tarred to secure the goods from the weather, and 
 the same night stole a man's horse from a neigh- 
 boring stable. They dressed an image in this 
 wagon covering, tarred the horse, saddle and bridle, 
 placed the image upon his back, and set him loose 
 about the town, with an infamous paper pinned to 
 the breast, which was summed up with wishing of 
 us all in hell. But still finding that their malace 
 had no effect, they made a bold push and dropped 
 an incendiary letter. ... It is not possible for me 
 to express what I suffered upon the perusal of this let- 
 ter. I could not recollect any one person that we 
 had ever injured or even wished ill to, nor could I 
 imagine such villany ever entered into the heart of 
 man. Mrs. Murray and Miss Polly had been paying 
 us a vissit of a few days, and were just setting off 
 for Brush Hill when the letter was found. Mr. 
 Barnes detained them while he wrote a copy of it, 
 and sent it to Governor Hutchinson. The ladys 
 had not been gone many minutes when I received 
 a letter from Miss Cummings, which was far from 
 
178 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 being a cordial to my drooping spirits. She writes 
 me word that one of the McMasters had been carted 
 out of town at noonday in a most ignominious man- 
 ner, and that the other two brothers had fled for their 
 lives. That the news arrived by Hall had revived 
 the spirit of the other party to such a degree that 
 they had everything to fear, and that it was every- 
 body's opinion poor Preston would be hanged. This 
 is the of&cer who is in jail for the unhappy affair on 
 the fifth of March. 
 
 A gentleman arrived from Boston in the evening 
 and told us that Mr. Hulton's windows had been 
 broke and the family had fled to the castle for pro- 
 tection. You may judge what sleep I had that 
 night, and, indeed, ever since we have sleept in such 
 a manner that it can hardly be caUed rest. It is the 
 busmess of the evening to see the firearmes loaded, 
 and lights properly placed in the store and house ; 
 and this precaution w^e have taken ever since we 
 received the letter. . . . 
 
 June 29. Last night young Nat Coffin came 
 from Boston to pay us a vissit, and he brings this 
 account : That a trader about eleven miles above 
 us, one Cutler, was bringing out a load of goods, 
 and had got about six miles out of town, when a 
 party from Boston persued him and brought him 
 back in his wagon. ... It seems he had purchased 
 some tea in Boston, which the Commity have pro- 
 hibited any one to deal in. . . . My cousin likewise 
 informs us that on Monday last Mr. Fleming shut 
 up his printing office and fled to the castle for 
 protection. 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 179 
 
 July 1st. The affair of Cutler turned out in hav- 
 ing his goods seized and committed to the publiek 
 store, because he had purchased them of Mr. Lillie, 
 an importer. I look upon all goods seized and com- 
 mited to that store as much forfeited to the owner 
 as if they were in the bottom of the sea. For they 
 beo-in to talk of selling them at vendue^ and distrib- 
 uteing the money to the poor. This will make the 
 poor, as they call them, very assidious in seizing 
 everything that comes in their way, and will likewise 
 deter people from purchasing of importers, a thing 
 which they have never yet been able to bring to 
 
 pass. 
 
 July the 5. ... I received a letter this morning 
 from Miss Ame, who acquaints me that Mrs. Murray 
 is just come to town in high spirits and bespoke a 
 new pair of stays to make an appearence when the 
 troops arrive, which she says she is every hour in 
 expectation off. . . . Mr. Barnes had offered all his 
 real estate to sale. I hope he will meet with a 
 purchaser. 
 
 Between the years 1770 and 1775 the letters con- 
 tain Kttle of pubhc interest. Some of those written 
 during the interval have been given in the preceding 
 chapter, which closed with the marriage of Mrs. 
 Smith to Mr. Inman, and the return to Massachu- 
 setts of Mrs. Forbes. To take up the thread of the 
 narrative from that point ; Mrs. Inman went to pre- 
 side over Mr. Inman's establishment in Cambridge, 
 a mansion-house having so many farm buildings, 
 
180 JAMES MURRAY, LOYA^ST 
 
 stables, servants' quarters, etc., that it seemed like a 
 little settlement in itself, standing in the angle of 
 the road from Phip's farm on Lechmere's Point, 
 just where the road turned to the right to run 
 toward the college. Mr. Inman kept his coach and 
 liveried servants, and to his house the British offi- 
 cers often went, for his young people were attrac- 
 tive and his hospitahty was generous. He had been 
 a Boston merchant, but was now retired. He had 
 also acted as agent for Sir Charles Henry Frank- 
 land. Stretching away from the mansion house 
 were " green fields and fragrant pine woods," while 
 a willow-shaded pond and lanes blossoming with 
 thorn and locust trees made the estate one of espe- 
 cial beauty.^ Within the roomy, low-ceilinged house, 
 with its immense fireplaces, spacious cupboards, 
 rambling passages, and secret closets, Mrs. Inman 
 received her husband's friends and her own, and 
 maintained the old mansion's accustomed state. 
 
 Mr. Murray obtained, some time after returning 
 from the London visit referred to in the last chapter, 
 the appointment of inspector of the port of Salem. 
 As his letters say nothing of his duties in connection 
 with the post, they cannot have been arduous. On 
 such public matters as the throwing overboard of the 
 tea, in 1773, the departure of Hutchinson for Eng- 
 land, and the coming of Gage to Boston in 1774, he 
 is also silent. It may be that letters were written 
 that have since been lost, but it is undoubtedly true 
 that great prudence crept into his correspondence. 
 * S. A. Drake, Historic Fields and Mansions of Middlesex. 
 
A TORY IN EEVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 181 
 
 He would rarely do more than refer his friends to 
 the newspapers of the day for any public occurrences, 
 and confined himself as much as possible to his own 
 private affairs. Yet events were hastening toward 
 a crisis. 
 
 In February, 1775, the Barneses were plunged 
 into difficulties by an unsought visit from Captain 
 Brown and Ensign De Berniere, scouts sent out by 
 Gage, in preparation for the momentous 19th of 
 April, to examine the country over which he expected 
 to lead a victorious expedition, which should sweep 
 away disloyalty from the " peasant " ranks. De 
 Berniere's account is graphic. The hungry officers 
 had barely seated themselves at Mrs. Barnes's table 
 when they were obHged to fly by a back door out 
 again into the stormy night. They were scarcely 
 gone when thundering knocks at the front of the 
 house heralded the entrance of the Committee of 
 Safety, who searched the rooms and warned the ter- 
 rified family that the walls should be pulled about 
 their heads if they ever harbored Tories again. In 
 a letter, written, evidently, after De Berniere's visit, 
 and when the British troops were known to be on 
 the eve of marching out into the country, Mrs. 
 Inman offered Mrs. Barnes a refuge in Cambridge. 
 
 " Mr. & Mrs. Deblois's account of the treatment 
 you are likely to meet with," she said, " has taken 
 up my attention and made me very uneasy. You 
 know I am no coward, but I would not put myseM 
 in the power of desperate people. The Governor I 
 do not doubt will do everything in his power to pro- 
 
182 JAJMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 tect, but he cannot prevent fears. Therefore, I beo* 
 the favor of you to fly to Cambridge, where I shall 
 be happy to see you. A few weeks will answer, 
 pray indulge me in this request. A Regiment going 
 through your town will alarm them, I think they will 
 all run away ; they will help settle the Country and 
 learn our people to be good soldiers." 
 
 Whether or not Mrs. Barnes accepted the invita- 
 tion at that time, it is certain that she was in Cam- 
 bridge just before the battle of Lexington, and re- 
 turned home on the eventful day itself, reaching 
 Marlborough in safety, though the entire country- 
 side was in motion with messeno;ers and militia. 
 
 Not a word of comment from the Murrays on 
 what must to them have been the astoundino* re- 
 
 o 
 
 suit of that April march has come down to us. 
 But, indeed, to see the King's troops chased hotly 
 back from Concord, and seeking refuge in Boston 
 from the rebels, may well have struck good loyalists 
 dumb. 
 
 Immediately after the 19th of April, that is, by 
 the 22d, Boston was shut up and Cambridge was be- 
 come the camp of the American army. The British 
 army and the Tories within the lines and the patriots 
 and their friends without were separated by the 
 guards of both sides, stationed about half a mile 
 apart on Roxbury Neck, and by American guards in 
 Charlestown. No one could go in or out without a 
 pass, and any communication was subject to strict 
 scrutiny. In the town were Mr. Inman, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Murray, Mrs. Forbes and her children, and 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 183 
 
 Elizabeth and Annie Murray. Mary Murray had re- 
 turned to England, while her brother John was in 
 Providence. Outside, Mrs. Inman, with only John 
 Inness Clark and her servants, stood by the Cam- 
 bridge farm, though it was virtually in the posses- 
 sion of the Provincials. She had many friends 
 among the patriots, and stood favorably in the 
 public eye as a woman intent on minding her own 
 business and attending to her husband's affairs and 
 property. General Miflin knew her and her nieces 
 personally, and she also had some acquaintance with 
 other officers on the American side.^ 
 
 On the very day that Boston was closed she wrote 
 to her friends within the lines, describing her situa- 
 tion. 
 
 ELIZABETH INMAN TO HER FRIENDS IN BOSTON. 
 
 Cambridge, 22"^ April, 1775. 
 
 I have the pleasure to tell my dear friends that I 
 am well as are all under this roof. 
 
 1 Among these was doubtless to be numbered Colonel (afterwards 
 General) Knox. His wife, who was a daughter of Thomas Flucker, 
 a distinguished Tory, was an intimate friend of Mr. Inman's daugh- 
 ter Susan. In spite of her father's politics Lucy Flucker had married 
 the young rebel, who, at that time (1774), had a flourishing bookstore 
 opposite Williams Court in Cornhill, a fashionable morning resort at 
 that time for the British ofdcers and the Tory ladies. Harrison 
 Gray Otis says that Miss Lucy " was distinguished as a young lady of 
 high intellectual endowments, very fond of books, especially of the 
 books sold by Knox, to whose shelves she had frequent recourse, 
 and on whose premises was kindled, as the story went, ' the guiltless 
 flame ' which was destined to burn on the hymeneal altar." The 
 Fluckers were of a French Huguenot family who came to America 
 from England. Life of Henry Knox, by Noah Brooks, p. 12. 
 
184 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 You know how fond I am of grandeur. I have 
 acted many parts in Ufe, but never imagined I should 
 arrive at the muckle honor of being a General ; that 
 is now the case. I have a guard at the bottom of 
 the Garden, a number of men to patrol to the Marsh, 
 and round the farm, with a body guard that now 
 covers our kitchen parlor, and [now at] twelve 
 o'clock they are in a sweet sleep, while Miss Den- 
 forth and I are in the middle parlor with a board 
 nailed across the door to protect them from harm. 
 The kitchen doors are also nailed. They have the 
 closet for their guns. The end door is now very 
 useful. Our servants we put to bed at half past 
 eight. The women and children have all left Cam- 
 bridge, so we are thought wonders. You know I 
 have never seen troubles at the distance many others 
 have, and as a reward the Gods have granted me a 
 Mentor ^ and a Guardian Angel of three years of age. 
 They are now in bed together. Pray let their friends 
 
 1 Judge Danforth was often affectionately referred to by Mrs. 
 Inman as Mentor. He was an old resident of Cambridge, and 
 had served the town and the province all his life. He was for 
 thirty-six years, from 1739 to 1774, member of the Council ; in 
 the last year he was appointed mandamus councilor, but was " in- 
 duced to resign." Among other posts which he held were those of 
 judge of probate and judge of common pleas. When the Revo- 
 lution began he passed out of office, but though he was well under- 
 stood to be a royalist, his property was not touched. 
 
 He had two sons, Samuel, an eminent physician in Boston, after- 
 ward president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and Thomas, 
 a lawyer in Charlestown until the Revolution, when he fled to Eng- 
 land. 
 
 The child mentioned in the letter must have been one of Judge 
 Danforth's grandchildren. 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONAKY BOSTON 185 
 
 know he is better and she very well. Mentor bids 
 me tell you that we have nothing to fear but from 
 the troops landing near us. These matters you '11 
 know more of than we do; therefore we shall wait 
 tni we hear from you again, which we hope will be 
 time enough to make a safe retreat. There is not 
 one servant will stay if I go. Poor Creatures, they 
 depend on me for protection, and I do not chuse to 
 disappoint them : as far as it is in my power I will 
 protect them. 
 
 This day we had a visit of an officer from our 
 headquarters with written orders to our guards to 
 attend in a very particular manner to our directions. 
 He said we were the happiest folks he had seen. 
 To convince you of that I '11 tell you how we are 
 employed. Jack ^ is in the garden, the others are 
 planting potatoes. We intend to make fence and 
 plant Corn next week. To show you the goodness 
 of the people, they say we may have what provisions 
 we want. Mentor we have raised above us. His 
 Walks are in the upper chambers. 
 
 Boyd was here to-day. Mrs. Barnes is well, got 
 home safe Wednesday.^ 
 
 Mr. Temple. 
 
 Dear Sir: — I am much obliged to you for the 
 trouble you have taken: if you think it prudent 
 you '11 direct this to Mr. Inman, if not let him know 
 as much as you think proper. Half an hour past 
 
 1 John Murray. 
 
 2 Wednesday was the 19th of April. 
 
186 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 twelve o'clock, a cloudy morning. All well. I '11 
 call our watch. We are sleepy, don't think us 
 drunk. We keep nothing but water and Spruce 
 beer. That is delivered freely. 
 
 Adieu every one of you. 
 Saturday morning, 6 o'clock. We have had a 
 quiet night and are all in good spirits. 
 
 From Mrs. Barnes, at Marlborough, at this trying 
 juncture came appeals for help. 
 
 MRS. BARNES TO ELIZABETH INMAN. 
 
 (Without date, probably soon after April 22, 1775.) 
 
 My dear Mrs. Inman was ever my best friend, she 
 appears now to be my only one. It was surely my 
 good angel that detained you in Cambridge to com- 
 fort and console me under the heaviest affliction that 
 I ever encountered. Your first letter was as a cor- 
 dial to a dying person. Your second gave me still 
 greater relief. I yesterday sent Circular letters to 
 the Selectmen petitioning them to meet at our [store] 
 to consult and advise me what method I should take 
 to procure Mr. Barnes' return and to convince them 
 his stay in Boston was not intended. They came 
 according to my request. I read them Mr. Barnes' 
 letter which I received on Thursday night by the 
 post, wherein he laments his not being able to get 
 home. I likewise read them your first letter. They 
 appeared satisfied and highly pleased with your con- 
 duct. They assured me I need be under no appre- 
 hension from the towns people, and gave it as their 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 187 
 
 opinion that neither my person nor interest should 
 be injured. I returned them many thanks for their 
 civihty, but had I one line from General Putnam it 
 would be a surer protection for me than anything 
 in their power to offer. . . . 
 
 (No date.) 
 
 If you are a friend of Col. Putnam ^ I wish you 
 could influence him so far in my favor that he would 
 prevent his troops from molesting me on their return. 
 I have shown them every civility in my power on 
 their way down and shall continue to do so. I thank 
 you from my heart for your kind invitation and 
 offer of protection, but no one knows where they are 
 safest at this time. I have placed a confidence in 
 the people of this town by returning home, and 
 Mr. Barnes will do the same whenever it is in his 
 power. . . . 
 
 Tuesday morning, April [2]9th. 
 
 It is now a week since I had a line from my dear 
 Mrs. Inman, in which time I have had some severe 
 trials, but the greatest terror I was ever thrown into 
 was on Sunday last. A man came up to the gate 
 and loaded his musket, and before I could determine 
 which way to run he entered the house and demanded 
 a dinner. I sent him the best I had upon the table. 
 He was not contented, but insisted upon bringing 
 
 1 By Colonel Putnam Mrs. Barnes probably means General Put- 
 nam's son, Daniel, who seems to have been at times quartered at Mrs. 
 Inman's house, though the letters speak oftener of Colonel Sargent. 
 General Putnam's occupancy of the Inman house must have been 
 delayed until after the battle of Bunker Hill, when Mrs. Inman 
 removed to Milton. 
 
188 JA]VIES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 in his gun and dining with me ; this terrified the 
 young folks, and they ran out of the house. I went 
 in and endeavored to pacify him by every method 
 in my power, but I found it was to no purpose. He 
 still continued to abuse me, and said when he had eat 
 his dinner he should want a horse and if I did not 
 let him have one he would blow my brains out. He 
 pretended to have an order from the General for one 
 of my horses, but did not produce it. His language 
 was so dreadful and his looks so frightful that I 
 could not remain in the house, but fled to the store 
 and locked myself in. He followed me and declared 
 he would break the door open. Some people very 
 luckily passing to meeting prevented his doing any 
 mischief and staid by me until he was out of sight, 
 but I did not recover from my fright for several 
 days. The sound of drum or the sight of a gun put 
 me into such a tremor that I could not command 
 myself. I have met with but little molestation since 
 this afPair, which I attribute to the protection sent 
 me by Col. Putnam and Col. Whitcomb. I returned 
 them a card of thanks for their goodness tho' I knew 
 it was thro' your interest I obtained this favor. . . . 
 The people here are weary at his absence [Mr. 
 Barnes's], but at the same time give it as their opin- 
 ion that he could not pass the guards. ... I do 
 not doubt but upon a proper remonstrance I might 
 procure a pass for him through the Camp from our 
 two good Colonels. ... I know he must be very 
 unhappy in Boston. It was never his intention to 
 quit his family. . . . 
 
A TOKY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 189 
 
 In her plucky defense of the Cambridge farm Mrs. 
 Inman seems to have been left quite alone and almost 
 without advice. Her husband's letters, even, were 
 uncertain and weak. The following, from him, was 
 probably written soon after the closing of the town. 
 
 RALPH INTMAN TO ELIZABETH INMAN. 
 
 Saturday noou, 1775. 
 
 My dear Mrs. Inman. — I have sent this to my 
 friend Mr. Thomas Eussell to get conveyed to you, 
 who will forward to me any of your Letters or what 
 you send down, and if you Incline to come yourself 
 I dont doubt he will conduct you safe. There is 
 no danger of sending Jack from Cambridge, but 
 none must come over that Expects to return, as 
 there is no Passing any way from Boston, and I am 
 of Opinion that you are Safe at Cambridge as in 
 Boston.^ But I know you are more capable of 
 Judging for your Self than any Directions I can 
 give. The young Ladys are well and in good Spirits. 
 George ^ is got almost well tho' not abroad yet. Mrs. 
 Kowe and Mrs. Linzee ^ are also well. 
 I am Dear Mrs. Inman 
 
 Yours 
 
 1 « A part of the agreement with Gage was that the country Tories 
 should be allowed to move into Boston." Winsor, Nar. Sf Crit. Hist. 
 Warren tried to get permission for patriots to come out, but they 
 were kept in as hostages. 
 
 2 Probably George Inman, Mr. Inman's son. 
 
 8 Mrs. Linzee, wife of Captain Linzee, who commanded the Brit- 
 ish man-of-war Falcon, was Mr. Inman's daughter, Susannah. S. A. 
 Drake, in his Historic Fields and Mansions of Middlesex, p. 187, 
 
190 JAJVIES MURKAY, LOYALIST 
 
 Even to obtain permission for a hasty interview 
 at the lines, in the presence of witnesses, was often 
 difficult, and, as Mrs. Inman says in the next letter, 
 it did not do to write much when sending notes back 
 and forth. It is often guesswork to try to extract 
 from the guarded expressions used in the letters that 
 did pass the meaning of the writers, yet some inci- 
 dents may be gleaned, and the general f eehng of the 
 situation is strongly indicated by the fragmentary, 
 interrupted correspondence. Sometimes Mrs. In- 
 man's patience gave out, as she shows in the ensu- 
 ing : — 
 
 ELIZABETH INMAN TO KALPH INMAN. 
 
 Boston, Thursday, April 27th, 1775. 
 
 Dear Sir, — ■ We have heard by G. Putnam that 
 Boston was to be open'd and all that chose to come 
 out had leave off, so I hope you will make us a visit. 
 Your advice is much wanted. If things are to con- 
 tinue in this situation a week or months, your Farm 
 must be put into other hands. It will not suit me 
 to stay here after Judge Denf orth moves, and he is 
 to have a pass to-day to go where and when he 
 pleases. 
 
 If the report should be false about Boston being 
 open, I should be glad to see you at Mr. Russell's. 
 No doubt you can have leave to come over the 
 ferry. 
 
 says : " John Linzee met with Sukey Inman ... in some Royalist 
 coterie, — and like as not at the house of her bosom friend, Lucy 
 Flucker." 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 191 
 
 I send this by a boy who can mform you very 
 particularly how we have lived and managed since 
 you left us. It will not do to write much. Adieu. 
 
 Boyd was here all night. Mrs. Barnes is very 
 well and writes in fine spirits. Every thing there goes 
 on finely. She wants rum and sugar sadly. Cap- 
 tain Ward has gone up, and has orders from head 
 quarters to protect her. 
 
 In a few days, however, she had recovered her 
 equanimity and was prepared to add the Brush HiU 
 farm to her cares, not doubting that she could se- 
 cure protection for that also. The stress of the 
 time is felt in every fine of her letters, even when 
 she pauses to note her blossoming thorn. 
 
 ELIZABETH INMAN TO EALPH INMAN. 
 
 Cambridge, Sunday, April 30th, 1775. 
 
 Dear Sir, — It has ever given me pleasure to 
 study your happiness & to do everything that I 
 thought was for yoiu* interest. I have try'd this 
 week past to see and consult with you what you 
 thought most proper to be done, but all in vain. 
 This morning I rose at 5 o'clock, sent G. Speakman 
 for a Pass to go and return before dinner. He 
 Brought me the inclosed. By it my jaunt was 
 stop'd. What to do I know not. This place will 
 not do for me to make a home of for reasons Doc- 
 tor Danf orth ^ will give you. Complaining is not a 
 failing of mine you well know. If agreeable to you 
 
 ^ Son of the judge. 
 
192 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 do advise with Mr. Murray and Dolly. If he will 
 consent to let her go with me to Brush-hill with her 
 children, I can visit this place as often as I please 
 and see that everything is done properly and take 
 your and his directions in every respect. Dolly need 
 not be afraid. I'll have a proper protection for 
 Brush-hill, her & hers. I do not doubt you and 
 my Brother will protect Mrs. Hooper and the young 
 Ladys. No pass to carry hay in. If Dolly comes 
 out, I shall want Loaf and Brown sugar &c. Ask 
 the Col. to answer the Letter I sent him. Talk to 
 the Doctor about horses and carriages. Job is in 
 want of 20 or 30 pounds 0. T. Betty is my Banker, 
 any stores that are wanted may go to Brush-hill, I 
 can have them from there. Please send out Jack's 
 Clothes. He is obhged to wear a broad Cloth coat 
 to work in. Did you get the handkerchiefs and 
 two caps I sent by the white boy ? I send a night 
 shirt by the Doctor. Pray let Anny have your linen 
 washed often till I can send more. . . . 
 
 Monday morn. 
 
 Pray Anne to make me a frame for a cap with 
 wire and catgut. I 'U put the muslin on it myself. 
 If she does not know what I mean, Betzy does. 
 
 Our thorn tree tells me the day of the month. 
 How diffrent to what the last was, and how diffrent 
 its appearance to the noise I hear from the other 
 room. I hope it is all for the best and matters 
 will be settled soon. Pray Mrs. Rowe to kill her 
 calf, I will not rob her of it these times. Ask Doc- 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 193 
 
 tor Danforth what news from Mrs. Barnes? If 
 you have tap'd the rmn, please to have it drawn off 
 or filled up again. It will waste very fast if you 
 do not. 
 
 Tuesday. — I this moment received yours by cry- 
 ing Molly. The Doctor cannot go, as he waits on 
 his Father to Chelsy. At the lines, I '11 meet you 
 to-morrow at ten o'clock. Would be glad to see 
 our good Col. with you. Do not be uneasy about 
 us, we laugh one half the day and Listen the other. 
 
 Adieu. 
 
 The exact details of the " affair " that the next 
 communication alludes to are not positively known. 
 The letters indicate that some of her servants aroused 
 suspicion against her good faith, and that a party 
 of soldiers came to arrest her. She was able, if this 
 surmise is correct, to summon to her aid those who 
 had authority to interfere, and was left unmolested. 
 
 ELIZABETH INMAN TO RALPH INMAN. 
 
 [Cambriixje, May 6, 1775.] 
 
 Dear Sir, — I have looked over your notes very 
 carefully, and in every one of them I discover that 
 you would rather I could stay in the Country than 
 move to town. It gives me pleasure to know that 
 is your opinion, as an affair happened the day after 
 I saw you that put it out of my power to stir from 
 this. The affair I fear is too serious for me to 
 write. I '11 send you a letter Betsy wrote to Mrs. 
 Barnes. I have often told you Job was not a 
 
194 JAIVIES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 proper person to be in your family after his beha- 
 vior last summer. No doubt you '11 be convinced of 
 it now. The way that I had settled matters the 
 morning I saw you was only to give them the use 
 of the kitchen, the rooms over it, with Miss Sally's 
 room. Now Caty can tell you how we manage. I 
 beg you '11 insist on her coming out of Town again. 
 She is all the security I have for a safe retreat. Mr. 
 Sargent is one of the best men you can imagine, 
 but his business may hurry him into duty in a mo- 
 ment. Then what will become of us God only 
 knows. 
 
 Jack Clark has been to see me, and offered to 
 send Providence wagons to move us stock and block 
 to a place of safety, but I had given my word. By 
 that I must abide. 
 
 Your servants and intrest I will protect as far as 
 it is in my power. These affairs must be entirely 
 your own, as there is not a word said in Boston but 
 what returns here. My letters to you have been 
 misrepresented. 
 
 I wish your friends had consented to your meet- 
 ing me at Mr. Russells, as I earnestly desired; if 
 you had, many, if not all these difficultys might 
 have been prevented. 
 
 Mrs. Forbes and her children joined Mrs. Inman 
 in Cambridge, in this month. May. At that time 
 rumors as to what Burgoyne, Clinton, and Howe 
 would do when they arrived in Boston were rife. 
 An attack on the army at Cambridge was not un- 
 
A TORY IN" REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 195 
 
 reasonably expected of the generals, who required 
 " elbow room." Mr. Murray was alarmed for the 
 safety of the Cambridge household, and begged his 
 sister to leave all and join him in the town. 
 
 JAMES MUEEAY TO ELIZABETH INMAN. 
 
 Boston, May 17, 1775. 
 
 Dear Sister, — As I do not expect another 
 opportunity than this of speaking my mind to you 
 while you remain in the Country, I must now tell 
 you that you cannot with any regard to your own 
 safety or our peace continue out much longer. The 
 whole re-enforcement expected will be here in all this 
 month at furthest. Cambridge will be the first 
 object, and in no part round the Town will the Tory 
 houses be spared by the Natives, whether they be 
 Conquerors or Conquered. Elated pride or despair- 
 ing rage will operate to the destruction of all our 
 property who take sanctuary in the Town, and par- 
 ticularly of such who determine to carry arms in 
 defence of the Town. In this view your second 
 scheme of a retreat for yourself or Dolly at Brush- 
 hill seems improper, and sending off Crane in a pet, 
 however necessary it might be at another time, will 
 tend to set his Liberty Connections against the farm 
 with greater Violence. 
 
 As to provisions here, which they tell me you are 
 in pain about, there will be no want ; plenty there is 
 of flour, salt pork, Indian Corn and fish. 
 
 Inclosed is a copy of what I wrote to Dolly by 
 Crane. He may justly think it hard to dismiss him 
 
196 JA]VIES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 without discharging his last year's wages ; and that, 
 if I could, I do not choose to do till I see some 
 account of what has been in his charge. By- 
 some management among them, my farm account 
 book wherein his and Badcock's account was enter'd 
 which was in my Closet is not to be found. If 
 Badcock has it not in keeping, it is of no use to 
 those who took the other goods. 
 
 We shall take frequent opportunities of sending 
 the boy Lewis over the ferry with open Letters. 
 There is some difficulty indeed of getting a pass for 
 his Return, but that will be overcome. 
 
 By the next day, however, Mrs. Inman had con- 
 vinced both her brother and her husband that Bos- 
 ton was not her best refuge. Mr. Murray's letter 
 of May 18 is prompt and decisive. Mr. Inman's, 
 of the morning after, is wavering and astonishingly 
 vague as to local geography. 
 
 JAMES MURKAY TO ELIZABETH INMAN. 
 
 Boston, Thursday, May 18, 1775. 
 
 Dear Sister, — In answer to your Letter of this 
 day, proposing for the Quiet of your Friends here 
 several places of Retreat, upon Considering all of 
 them. Brush-hill seems the best, tacking the Stough- 
 ton house to it. I mean, to have a bed ready there 
 and some few necessaries that will serve you both 
 for an airing at times and a remoter Retreat upon 
 Emergency. You may have, when you will, every- 
 thing from town that is allowed to anybody else, 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 197 
 
 and may be permitted, I suppose, to carry your own 
 Stores thither. The Mode of Communication with 
 us must be, either by sending a boy (not Badcock 
 or Crane or anybody else that has been in Arms) 
 with or without a Team & a letter to me, to be at 
 the Lines before 12 o' Clock at noon, directed to the 
 care of Capt. Bowen or Mr. Benjamin Davis, on daily 
 Service there, who come into dinner at that hour and 
 will deliver the Letter to me at the Custom House ; 
 or on certain days I may have a boy at the Lines in 
 the forenoon, to bring me any open Letter that shall 
 come. Another advantage of Brush-hill, you may 
 carry both Mr. Inman's stock and mine there and 
 dispose of them between the two farms, or probably 
 Seth Sumner, who has hired Trot's pasture this 
 year, will be glad to have his bargain taken off his 
 hands for the Season. Dolly and her Children will 
 be your attendants there. My Love to them and 
 Miss Goldthwait and Compliments to your kind Pro- 
 tector, Colonel Sargent. 
 
 RALPH INMAN TO ELIZABETH INMAN. 
 
 Boston, Friday morning [May 19], 1775. 
 
 Dear Madam, — Your memorandum I have read 
 carefully over, and am of opinion with that worthy 
 gentlemen that the women and children that do not 
 like to be confined in a Town are to secure a safe 
 retreat in time of danger. Your Brother has given 
 his opinion. Mine is for Limester,^ but would 
 have you follow your own inclinations and you '11 
 
 * Leominster. 
 
198 JAMES MUKRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 please me, only let me know where you go to, that 
 I may make connections to get you supplied with 
 the necessarys you may want for your subsistence. I 
 have no other conveyance than by Mr. Hopkins, by 
 whom can send a line every day, an open letter to be 
 at Mr. Gary's about the hour you mentioned. I am 
 not able to give you any advice, for if you cannot 
 be benefited by the Farm it will not be worth while 
 to be at any more expense about it. Let it take its 
 chance with the rest ; the delicasys of its produce 
 will be worth the attention of some care to those 
 that reaps the fruits of it so as not to destroy it. 
 Could not you send me one load of the most unneces- 
 sary articles, . . . and give a day or twos notice, 
 that a permitt may be got. The Ladies are well 
 and got pretty well composed. Adieu. 
 
 Lemenstone I take to be in this Province about 
 20 miles wide of Mulborough, but if it should be 
 in the other Provinces I cannot give my opinion ; 
 you must act your own judgement. 
 
 Yet another scheme formed itseK in Mrs. Inman's 
 brain. Mrs. Forbes was taking upon her shoulders 
 the care of the Brush Hill farm, that it might at 
 least yield them food and some support. But Mrs. 
 Inman could not bear with equanimity the thought 
 of a continued separation. Had the plan of a re- 
 moval to St. Johns, spoken of in the two letters 
 given below, been carried out, Mr. Murray would 
 have had his daughters and sister with him for the 
 remainder of his life. 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 199 
 
 DOROTHY FORBES TO JAMES MURRAY. 
 
 May 20th, 1775. 
 
 My Dear Papa, — I was at Brush-hill yesterday, 
 found the Account Book you mentioned and send 
 it by Mrs. Head. My Aunt thinks if she goes to 
 B-hill it will not. do for Crane and her Servants to 
 be there together, and indeed there will not be room 
 for them all. She has told Crane he must get a 
 place, and that [she] will employ him whenever there 
 is any work for him. Please to send his Account 
 and let us know what agreement you have made 
 with Badcock and if it would not be best to let him 
 plant potatoes and corn by the halves. The hay, 
 should we stay, we can take care of ourselves. My 
 Aunt's sheep are gone to the farm, and we propose 
 having them and yours washed and shear'd next 
 week ; after which they are to be sent to Stoughton, 
 and Fesendon is to go up and see that there is good 
 pasture for them. I am very anxious to know how 
 you keep your health. I fear salt provision will 
 not agree with you. Wish it was in my power to 
 send you some fresh, but find it will not do to at- 
 tempt it. 
 
 Mrs. Head returns on Tuesday — pray write by 
 her. Be very particular about yourself, as perhaps 
 it may be the last time we can hear from you. Our 
 friendly Colonel ^ wishes much Mr. Inman and you 
 were with us to enjoy the Country air — says he 
 would do everything in his power to make you 
 happy, but that 's a pleasure we cannot expect to 
 
 1 Colonel Sargent. 
 
200 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 enjoy at present. Please to send us by Mrs. Head 
 some paper, pens, sealing wax, and the key of your 
 little trunk. 
 
 The Boys are in good health and spirits — are 
 constantly out with the men. Please make my 
 duty, love and compliments where due, and believe 
 me to be 
 
 Your dutiful & affectionate Daughter, 
 
 D. Forbes. 
 
 P. S. — I shall go next week to take an account 
 of the tools and grain on the farm. 
 
 My Aunt has just been writing a new plan to 
 Mr. Inman, which, if you and he approve of, we 
 think we could have it more in our power to assist 
 you, and she says it signifies nothing Hving unless 
 we can find some way to support you in a more 
 agreeable manner than you are at present. You 
 may imagine that affairs will be shortly settled, but 
 it appears very different to us here ; and we think, 
 were we to go to St. Johns, we might have it in our 
 power to see you more frequently. However you 
 know best. Should you approve, would it not be 
 Best to Leave the farm in the same hands Mr. Inman 
 does his? 
 
 My Aunt begs Mr. Inman and you would con- 
 sider of this and send her an answer by Mrs. Head, 
 as she is anxious to know what she is to do. 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 201 
 
 ELIZABETH INMAN TO RALPH INMAN. 
 
 Cambridge, May 20th, 1775. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I have thought of many different 
 plans. To be settled in a family way again would 
 be better than this. Perhaps you will imagine all 
 will be peace and quietness soon & we may settle at 
 our own home. I know too much to think so, and will 
 give you my opinion and beg the favor of you to 
 think seriously of it. It is to take the land that 
 Mr. Rowe has at St. Johns or any ones that you 
 can buy or hire there. I can move bag and bag- 
 gage and meet you at any port you chuse to sail 
 from. From there we could send off what stock, 
 where and when we pleased and have the necessa- 
 ries of life. Job ^ has rendered this place useless to 
 you and very disagreeable for any of your family to 
 live at. It will take much more than the profits of 
 it to keep the people tolerably civil, and when tax- 
 ing comes in fashion it will take it root and branch 
 unless you can leave it in the hands of some person 
 that is not suspected as you now are. I think if 
 you was to leave Mr. Fesenden, his wife and chil- 
 dren, Titus, Bill, Jack Marlebro' to take the hay 
 and all the crop of the ground under the direction 
 of Jack Clark, he would sell or export it to you. If 
 you like the Island Mr. Henshaw or the one that 
 Mr. Lloyd lived on better than anything I have pro- 
 posed, I beg you will do as you please. You very 
 wisely say it is terrible to live in Boston with so 
 large a family in these times when they can be sup- 
 1 Mr. Inman's negro man. 
 
202 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 ported with little more than the stock and produce 
 of the farm, which stock and produce they must en- 
 tirely lose if some method is not taken. There is 
 no help for your horses being pressed. I wish you 
 would say what must be done with them. 
 
 Mrs. Head who is the bearer of this will return 
 here on Monday or Tuesday. I earnestly entreat 
 you to consider what is to be done, as there is no 
 time to lose. By your letter I shall be determined 
 and act immediately upon it. 
 
 My compliments to Mr. Barnes. Tell him it is 
 not in my power to see or hear from Mrs. Barnes 
 unless I go up, which I will do, or send Mr. Put- 
 nam, if he has any particular business. 
 
 Adieu Dear Sir. 
 
 From this Island we could come and go where 
 we chose and return here at our leisure. . . . 
 
 Unconvinced, Mr. Murray still recommended 
 Brush Hill. The British reinforcements were 
 within two days of Boston when he wrote, " The 
 business of clearing the Neighborhood of this town 
 will not be so tedious." He anticipated the shelling 
 of the town, but was, as ever, " tranquil," and " at 
 ease." 
 
 JAMES MURKAY TO ELIZABETH INMAN. 
 
 Boston, May 23d, 1775. 
 
 Dear Sister, — I received Dolly's affectionate 
 letter by Mrs. Head, and shall not fail to avail 
 myself of the opportunity of her return to speak my 
 mind, as you both wish and expect. 
 
A TORY m REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 203 
 
 Of all your Plans, that of St. Johns is the most out 
 of the way and improper. The business of clearing 
 the Neigfhborhood of this town will not be so 
 tedious. ... I should think it could be done in two 
 or three Weeks. The greater the numbers on your 
 side, without experienced Generals, as they are, the 
 greater will be the Confusion and the more total the 
 rout. One good Effect of your Army's making a 
 Stand and taking their fate on the Spot may be to 
 prevent a general Devastation of the Country, which 
 both sides ought to deplore and wish to avoid. 
 
 Mr. Inman has show'd me what he writes you. 
 He leans to Point Shirley and thinks you may save 
 your Stock by driving it to Chelsea. I imagine that 
 will be out of your power, that as soon as any 
 attempt is perceived to save your Stock by putting it 
 out of the way of your Army or its Friends, so soon 
 will it be driven off or destroyed. Things are now 
 come to such extremity, the stock of both farms is 
 scarcely an object of attention. It is still my 
 opinion you will be most comfortable at Brush-hill 
 and as safe there as any where, even as safe as in 
 town, in case any shells are to be thrown upon us or 
 if we are to be set on fire by the Whigs within, 
 which many suspect. For my own part, I am as 
 tranquil, as much at my ease as ever you knew me, 
 from an entire Resignation to Providence and a firm 
 persuasion that all will end for the General good. I 
 have taken possession of Betsey's Chamber, laid my 
 bed on the floor ; my books, my old and (except 
 you and two or three more) the best friends now 
 
204 JAJ^IES IVIURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 left to me, are ranged about the room ; my South 
 window has a fine prospect of Beacon-hill, Box's 
 rope Walks, the place destined for the Cavalry and 
 the 4th Reg-t Camp. 
 
 Salt provisions, to which we are not altogether 
 confined, agree better with me, eating a Quantity of 
 Rice, pudding or greens with it, than a hearty meal 
 of fresh victuals. I mention this because Dolly 
 pities us on that Score. 
 
 Having taken some pains to solicit passes for 
 some of my Acquaintance and for several poor 
 people who would not have got them so readily 
 without me, I came to be noticed by my Friends, 
 the Tories, who raised a Clamour against me, par- 
 ticularly for interfering in the ease of Mr. Boies, 
 who notwithstanding our Difference in poHtics, has 
 always been a good Neighbor to me. . . . 
 
 All this family make no complaints of their fare, 
 think themselves very safe, and would be happier 
 were you and Dolly in a Situation as much to your 
 liking as this is to us. . . . 
 
 I think myself much obliged to your good Colonel 
 for his kind offers of protection and good entertain- 
 ment for your Husband and your Brother. In our 
 situation it would be highly improper to give him 
 trouble about us. I shall be happy, if, in the vicis- 
 situde of human Affairs, it may be in my power to 
 render him any Service. . . . 
 
 I told Crane to carry three barrels of Cider, a 
 present to Gen^ Thomas at Roxbury, who has been 
 very poHte to me and my people. This I wrote the 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 205 
 
 Gen* of and desired his acceptance. Let Dolly see 
 that it be sent. 
 
 Between this and you at Brush-hill, the commu- 
 nication by boys will be easy, as I wrote you before, 
 as also for teams when wanted. 
 
 I have written to Lady Don, to Brother John and 
 Mr. Pringle by Callahan, who is still detained by 
 the Weather. 
 
 I send by Mrs. Head paper, pens and wax as Dolly 
 desired. 
 
 Adieu, may God bless, direct and preserve you 
 and yours. 
 
 In obedience to the advice she received, Mrs. 
 Inman began the slow process of removing her goods 
 and servants from Cambridge to Brush Hill. 
 
 ELIZABETH INMAN TO KALPH INMAN. 
 
 Cambridge, May 29 & 30th, 1775. 
 
 Dear Sir, — To satisfy my friends I am about a 
 most disagreeable task, that of moving from a once 
 dehghtful home to wander God knows where. I 
 think it necessary to leave Fesenden, Titus and Bill, 
 the young Fesenden must go with us, he is too 
 young to leave among so much company. 
 
 Harry is anxious to go to town, I have told him he 
 wants so much nursing, milk, broth, greens &c that 
 you could not have him with you. He has desired 
 his foules and ducks may go with him and his trunk 
 &c; if so he thinks he can be very happy where 
 I go. Bella Flue moves first. I went to Brush- 
 
206 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 hill this morning. Crane is to move his family to 
 some part of Stoughton to-morrow. With Mr. 
 Boises advice I hired him at the same rates you 
 give Fesenden to assist in getting the hay and 
 crop. I intend he shall sleep in one end garret and 
 Fesenden in the other. 
 
 Col. Sargent is not at home. When he returns I 
 shall offer him what part of the house he chuses. 
 I have thought very seriously of these matters ; I 
 hope the part I have acted will be agreeable to you. 
 Bill is to be Cook, Gardener and Housekeeper. 
 
 What is become of Judge Denforth and daugh- 
 ter? I fear they have been frighted. 
 
 Dear Sir/ — My aunt has been so busy in send- 
 ing off the goods to Brush-hill that she has not 
 time to finish her letter, desires me to let you know 
 she has sent Bill to return with the chaise carriao^e 
 that Jack went down with. He takes Jacks clothes 
 with him, who she does not expect to return to her 
 again. 
 
 I know it will be a satisfaction to hear we have 
 begun to move and I hope we shall soon have it in 
 our power to acquaint you We are settled at 
 Brush-hill^ altho' I assure you it is with great reluc- 
 tance we leave this agreeable place. I wish it may 
 make you and the rest of our friends easy. 
 
 May 31st.^ — You was to have had this but Bill 
 brought it back again. Mr. & Mrs. Bacon carrys 
 this to the ferry and stay for letters from Mr. 
 Goldthwait. 
 
 ^ Here Dorothy Forbes continues the letter. 
 2 Here Mrs. Inman resumes. 
 
A TORY m REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 207 
 
 Pray write how you are. Have you shirts and 
 linen according to memorandum. Adieu. 
 
 The next letter is too complicated in its bearings 
 for any attempt at explanation. Its effect upon 
 Mr. Inman was disastrous. 
 
 ELIZABETH INMAN TO RALPH INDIAN. 
 
 Cambridge, June 12tli, 75. 
 
 Dear Sir, — On Thursday I received your kind 
 letter with the note inclosed for C. and N. Every 
 day convinces me more and more that you were in 
 the right not to mind my apprehensions when I 
 wrote to you to meet me at Mr. Russles.^ That 
 time I told you this would not do for a home for 
 me, four days after you sent me word you could not 
 meet me and advised me by all means to stay here. 
 This I own I thought cruel, and determined from 
 that moment to run all risks rather than come to 
 town, and as soon as I could I wrote for Dolly and 
 her children. 
 
 Told you complaining was not a crime of mine, 
 but here I could not sleep, promised to attend in the 
 day as often as possible, after that Jobs affair hap- 
 pened and Brush-hill was robb'd at that time. I 
 should certainly have stept into Boston if I had not 
 been denied that privilege, at a time when Judge 
 Denforth was to leave me alone amono^ numbers 
 whose persons and manners I was entirely unac- 
 quainted with. The day after the good man left me 
 1 See letter of May 6, p. 193. 
 
208 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 had like to have proved fatal, and if I had not been 
 roused beyond reason to have acted an uncommon 
 part, I mean calling gentlemen to turn away men 
 who had done nothing but their duty considering 
 the story Job told them/ do you imagine, desgusted 
 as I was- at my setuation, I would have made Col. 
 Sargent a promise of staying here if he would pro- 
 tect me. No Sir that night you would have seen 
 me. Intrest would have been no concern of mine. 
 Since that I have been more calm. Rather than ap- 
 pear dull, I throw my anxiety off with a laugh, go 
 about and order things as if I was to stay here for 
 years, and at the same time I believe a few months 
 will deprive me the pleasure of giving you an 
 account of what your servants have done. Be that 
 as it will, I have done my best for your and your 
 familys intrest. I would leave this place directly, 
 but I hear our neighbor's Hay and crops are to be 
 taken in by those in power, therefore I am glad 
 Mrs. Sargent is coming down, it will be expensive, 
 but our creatures will starve if we do not save as 
 much as we can. You mention the hay, I have 
 thought a great deal of and think it will be prudent 
 to carry it to Brush-hill if I am allowed. 
 
 Do not be uneasy about me. Am glad you are 
 in town. Adieu. 
 
 1 See letter of May 6, p. 193. 
 
A TORY IX REYOLUTIONARY BOSTON 209 
 
 RALPH INMAN TO ELIZABETH INMAN. 
 
 Tuesday Morn, 13th June, 1775. 
 
 Dear Madam, — How unhappy was I in the mis- 
 take I made in the pass to meet you at Mr. Russels. 
 It being directed for you instead of me was the rea- 
 son you did not see me, as none of my friends were 
 Knowing to it, neither did I pay any Regard on that 
 account. I keep it by me to show you when we 
 meet, which I hope in God will be soon, being too 
 much distrest to Continue any longer absent. It 
 never was my Inclination to be separated for a mo- 
 ment, unless it was your own choice. What I have 
 said or done has been to Comply with what I thought 
 would be agreeable to you, for I assure you that my 
 Situation has wore me down, and I cannot continue 
 long to be so much distrest as I have Experienc't 
 since your Absence. The Course of my Life is to 
 get up in the Morning to Breakfast and do what 
 necessary Business I can (which is but small), get 
 done and about ten O'Clock at night I goe to 
 Bed. No more of the Family do I see till next Morn- 
 ing. ... 
 
 ... It is Necessary you should be in Town. . . . 
 I have wrote you, and now do from my Soul request, 
 that you will come to Town, and leave your affairs in 
 the best Situation you can. I claim no Advantage. 
 My interest I give up. If you can't dispose of your 
 Servants to your mind, bring them to Town. Let 
 us take the Chance with our Neighbours. I will 
 bear any hardship to have you with me. My spiritts 
 wiU be insupportable to live the Life I do. I have 
 
210 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 gone through many tryalls, which I thought would 
 have Overcome me, but I hope they are Over and 
 will be a Comfort to me in my distress. Pray leave 
 the Farm to take its Chance. Your Creatures are 
 of no consequence, your Hay the same. Carry none 
 to Brush Hill, but hasten your way to Boston, where 
 we shall be as happy as those about us ; and if we 
 cannot remain Quiet here, I will goe where ever you 
 please. I know we shall meet with friends in any 
 part of the Globe, for I can clap my hand to my 
 Breast and say that I have injured no Man, nor 
 given cause to make myself an Enemy. We have 
 both gone through many tryalls in Life, and all that 
 I aim at now is to make my latter days Easy, which 
 a httle matter will do after going thro' the Bustle 
 and cares of high Life. I assure you I can content 
 myself in any little Hovell that will afford me a 
 Bare Sustinence, to have you with me. Dont think 
 of removing anywhere but to Town. Quit every 
 thought of Prosecuting any other scheme. You 
 need only come to the Lines and make enquiry for 
 Mr. B. Davis or Capt. Bowen and they will conduct 
 you safe to Town, or send me a line that I may at- 
 tend you. . . . 
 
 I am forever yours. Adieu 
 
 Ralph Inman. 
 P. S. This is my Only and Last Request that you 
 will come to Town, with your Family and Servants, 
 for I cannot live in my present Situation. Mr. & 
 Mrs. Rowe urge it, and all your friends desire to 
 have you in Town, It was always mine, had I not 
 
A TORY m REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 211 
 
 mistook your meaning. Be at no more Expense on 
 the farm. Let those take it that will Reap the Crop, 
 and send me word and I '11 secure a pass for all. 
 It is not Time to deliberate. Jack M., too, I can pro- 
 vide for. Would not Shed take some of the other 
 Servants to board ? Act yourself by them, but Bill 
 must come with you, for nothing can be done with- 
 out his help in Town. I should be glad of a line 
 by the first Opportunity over the Ferry to know 
 my Fate, for your letter Yesterday has distres'd me 
 above measure. . . . 
 
 To this Mrs. Inman replied : — 
 
 ELIZABETH INMAN TO RALPH INMAN. 
 
 June 14th, 1775. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Your very affectionate letter I re- 
 ceived yesterday by Mrs. Cordis, am much obliged 
 to you for setting this matter to rights. I freely 
 own it made me very inattentive to myself. When 
 they used to tell me I was in a place of great danger 
 I told them with a cheerful countenance we could 
 die but once, and I was a predestinarian, therefore 
 had no personal fear, not even when I stood before 
 a Company that made a prisoner of me in a formal 
 manner. The day and evening the Girls were here, 
 notwithstanding my carelessness about myself, be 
 assured. Dear Sir, I did not neglect what I thought 
 would be most for your intrest. I have carefully 
 studied it, and if I have erred it is in Judgement ; 
 and if I did not see a fare prospect of saving your 
 
212 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 crop, stock &c &c, I would immediately go to town 
 and convince you how ready I was to obey. Indeed, 
 it is my inclination, but you wisely observe your in- 
 come is only seventy pound sterling a year. In that 
 case your servants could not be mentain'd in town. 
 It would certainly take more than that sum to buy 
 only them the worst of provisions. Therefore I '11 
 give you my opinion, it is for me to sleep at Brush- 
 hill and come here in the day, till we get our hay 
 and crops removed ; then leave this place to the 
 care of Col. Sargent & Lady, with one or two ser- 
 vants to prevent the house and farm being hurt or 
 crowded ; to leave the other servants with Badcock 
 at Brush-hill ; to sell as much of the produce and 
 stock as possible, or leave at Brush-hill as you think 
 proper. As we have sown it is a pitty not to reap. 
 ... I am sorry my letter gave you so much uneasy- 
 ness. I thought, as times were, it was necessary to 
 speak my mind. When I have done that my heart 
 is at ease. I hope and pray yours may be the same, 
 and when an opportunity offers I beg you will write 
 as freely to me as I have done to you. The conse- 
 quence of my going to Town now is an entire loss of 
 your stock, and this year's produce. I have gone 
 throw some difficulty to preserve it, and I think a 
 little while longer may accomplish my design. I 
 would have you consider of this affair seriously and 
 let me know your determination. 
 
 Adieu, Dear Sir. 
 
 Three days after the date of the last letter came 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 213 
 
 the battle o£ Bunker Hill. Cambridge was at the 
 highest pitch of excitement, — the camp there was 
 a scene of confusion, the townspeople stricken with 
 terror. For, should the British succeed at those 
 frail outworks, there was nothing to prevent them 
 from attacking the American army at its headquar- 
 ters. But what sensations the moving troops, the 
 sound of battle, and the smoke of the burning 
 houses of Charlestown aroused in the Murrays in 
 Boston or in Mrs. Inman in Cambridge can only be 
 conjectured, for no family letter touching on the 
 battle is extant. 
 
 One such letter did exist, but it has vanished. It 
 was from Mrs. Forbes, and in it she related that she 
 was in Cambridge on the morning of the seven- 
 teenth, but that, unable to endure her fright, she 
 made a fifteen-year-old boy harness a horse to her 
 Aunt Inman's chaise and drive her to Brush Hill, 
 the noise of the firing causing her to stop her ears 
 all the way. 
 
 Mrs. Inman, with the rest of her servants, also 
 fled during the day, but how or with whom is not 
 known. 
 
 Family tradition, borne out by anecdotes of the 
 time, relates that General Putnam's son, who was in 
 the habit of guarding the Inman house by sleeping 
 there at night, was instructed by his father to remain 
 with Mrs. Inman on the 17th, and, if she left the 
 town, to escort her to a place of safety. It is to be 
 presumed that he obeyed the charge. 
 
 The blank in the correspondence after the date of 
 
214 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 the battle is broken by the following formal com- 
 munication from Mr. Murray : — 
 
 M'" Murray presents his Affectionate Compliments 
 to his Sister Inman & his Daughter Forbes. He has 
 obtained Leave from the Commander in Chief to see 
 them or either of them, with General Howe's con- 
 sent, at the advanced posts of Charlestown on Satur- 
 day next. He proposes this Interview to be between 
 the hours of Eleven & one O'Clock. Betsey is 
 named in the Permit & purposes to be of the party. 
 M" Inman's old Acquaintance Colin Campbell, now 
 a Captain in the 35*^ Reg*, intends to escorte us, if 
 he shall be on duty, we shall bring some other offi- 
 cer to be Eye & Ear Witness of all that passes. 
 And the Ladies are desired to use the same precau- 
 tion, on their side : the Times require it. 
 
 M'' Lloyd has likewise got Permission to see, on 
 the same day, his Mother & Sister Lisle & to bring 
 them in, if they choose. 
 
 Boston July 26''' Wednesday 1775. 
 
 The next letter from Mrs. Inman is from Brush 
 Hill. 
 
 The Mrs. Hooper, to whom it refers, is WilHam 
 Hooper's mother. During the siege she and her 
 son were tenderly cared for by the Murray family in 
 Boston, and afterward at Brush Hill. That the let- 
 ter in its caustic dealing with Mr. Inman should 
 have thrown that gentleman into a second tremor of 
 agitation can scarcely be wondered at. 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 215 
 
 ELIZABETH INMAN TO RALPH INMAN. 
 
 Brush-hill, July 30th, 1775. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I had the pleasure of yours at the 
 lines yesterday with a note wherein you say you did 
 not deliver Mrs. Hooper's letter. The day Mrs. 
 Forbes was at the Lines with it she expected to 
 meet Anne and had a message for her for a key to 
 that letter, but she was disappointed in not seeing 
 her. The message she will write you. 
 
 In my last I told you I was planing night and 
 day. These plans were well meant and not selfish. 
 However, as they do not suit you, I rest satisfied. 
 If you had given Mrs. Hooper the letter and told 
 her you would be glad if she would stay in town till 
 I could come in, she would certainly have done it, 
 and according to my desire she might have sent for 
 fresh meat. I am sure it would have been granted, 
 as G. Washington says he will do every thing in his 
 Power to serve her. 
 
 Words cannot describe my astonishment when I 
 received your message ; it was if Mrs. Hooper came 
 out of town you would go to London with Mr. & 
 Mrs. Rowe. If this is a return for the many 
 anxious and fatigueing days I have had, I leave it 
 to your better Judgement, and will endeavor to sub- 
 mit. To save you from every anxiety that is in my 
 power to prevent, I enclose your order on Clark & 
 Nightengale, as you say in your note " R. I. has 
 received but Httle money since he came to town. 
 He has been obliged to draw for his own wants, 
 and waits to receive his account current from Lanes 
 
216 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 House to see if he is entitled to draw for the Provi- 
 dence sum, which he cannot do should his depend- 
 ance on a bill remitted be returned or any failure 
 in the house which he is anxious to hear from." 
 Now, Sir, you have received this valuable treasure 
 (an order for one hundred pound sterling), I beg 
 you '11 cast off your cares. Anxiety is very bad for 
 the health, which you '11 require a great share of, as 
 well as money and good spirits, in seeing and being 
 seen in England. 
 
 You have sent a List of debts with directions to 
 get Intrest but not principle. I hate to be insulted, 
 therefore cannot make any demand at present, nor 
 at any other time, without a power from you ; no 
 doubt you '11 leave one with some friend before you 
 sail. BeHeve me, Mr. Inman, I am not anxious 
 about a mentinence. Experience has taught me, 
 water-gruel and salt for supper and breakfast, with 
 a bit of meat, a few greens or roots, are enough for 
 me. No doubt you blame me to your numerous 
 acquaintance for not coming to Town. I think they 
 ought to hear my reasons before they condemn me. 
 In the first of the bussle you wrote to me that I was 
 better in the Country than in town, after that you 
 wrote to me you could not command but seventy 
 pound sterling a year, and provisions were very 
 dear and scarce. A few weeks after that, you in- 
 vited me and your large family into town, which 
 family, I mean those you had before I Hved at 
 Cambridge, spent three hundred and twenty pound 
 sterling a year, and the produce of the farm. This 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 217 
 
 invitation I thought very seriously of, and would 
 have accepted it with pleasure on my own account, 
 but was and am certain it would have been cruel on 
 theirs. Therefore I wrote to you that sum would 
 not buy them the worst of provisions in the cheap- 
 est times, and proposed my staying to assist them in 
 protecting and taking care of the crop that could be 
 saved, in order to maintain them, till they could 
 raise another in some quiet part of the country. 
 The hay we were obliged to move ; there was 
 twenty-five Ton of it. I paid three pound ten 
 shilling 0. T. a load for bringing it here. At that 
 time your carts and Brush-hill ones were employed 
 in bringing furniture &c. The rye turns out very 
 well, they are now thrashing it. There is but little 
 hay any where, the drought has been very severe. 
 I proposed, if I had disposed of the rest of the 
 crops, to have changed houses with Mrs. Hooper, 
 left the servants here, — Mrs. Hooper and John to 
 have paid Mrs. Forbes enough for their board to 
 have bought cash articles with, the produce of this 
 
 farm to have been an equivalent for Mrs. F , 
 
 Betzy and the children. 
 
 As to the aspersion of this being G. Lee's head- 
 quarters, I cannot imagine how it arose. I never 
 saw him till Saturday at the Lines. None of the 
 gentlemen have been here but Mr. Sargent once to 
 wait on his lady. As to having letters directed 
 to my care, I could not deny that privilege to those 
 that asked me. They knew Mr. Sargent lived in 
 your house, who went to head quarters every day, 
 
218 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 and had an opportunity to take them up and send 
 them here. I beg to know what else I am accused 
 of. Be assured, Dear Sir, I will with pleasure 
 account for every action that I remember since the 
 year seventeen hundred and twenty-six (the year of 
 my birth). 
 
 I have not had the manners to return one of the 
 visits the Ladies paid me on my arrival here. 
 
 Adieu Dear Sir. 
 
 Parts of the following letter from Mr. Murray to 
 Mrs. Forbes were evidently written in reply to the 
 letter from Mrs. Inman to her husband, and were 
 intended for her eye. They still have the authori- 
 tative tone of the elder brother. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO DOROTHY FORBES. 
 
 Boston, September 10th, 1775. 
 
 Dear Dolly, — I am now to answer at more 
 length and more ease than I did yesterday through 
 the Lines, several letters which have been lately re- 
 ceived by Mr. Walkers, Uncle and myself. He is 
 so deranged by the tenor of one of his that he can- 
 not yet be composed enough to reply. 
 
 I said yesterday and said truly that the giving no 
 power to receive principal sums was of my Sugges- 
 tion, that the Attorney might not be compelled to 
 take such disagreeable payment as might in these 
 days of confusion be tendered. As to Mrs. H[ooper] 
 I had before the Receipt of the letter to her pro- 
 posed her going to the Country before I thought of 
 
A TORY m REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 219 
 
 consulting Mr. I. She did not seem to relish it, 
 yet acquiesced, but the Son absolutely refused to 
 leave the Town. Add to this Mr. Inman's desire 
 to have them in the house as some Company to him, 
 
 for A was none. It was also by my advice that 
 
 the Letter to her was kept back. We could not 
 divine the scheme that has since opened about a 
 change of houses, which would have been highly 
 pleasing to him and me, but not so, I fancy, to any 
 of the Ladies within or without. 
 
 One would think 1726 was at distance enough to 
 learn to make allowance for the vexation the times 
 give to one put quite out of his usual mode of life 
 and hampered in business. On the other hand, if we 
 consider seriously what vast alteration both with 
 regard to Life and property a little time may soon 
 produce, we shall not be apt to take Exceptions 
 to the conduct of our nearest and best friends, but 
 put the most favourable Construction upon it. Nor 
 shall we despond under the troubles of the Time if 
 we can persuade ourselves, as we ought, that Pro- 
 vidence will bring much good out of them. 
 
 I understood by Annie's letter that she would 
 have leave on your Side to come through the Lines, 
 therefore applied for leave here, which I obtained 
 after calling for it three or four times, but with this 
 mortifying restraint, that I was not to pass the Lines 
 or have any Conference with a friend without, while 
 that privilege was allowed that day to the Rev. Mr. 
 Walter.^ You see in what a State of Diffidence and 
 
 ^ " Rev. Nathaniel Walter, son of Rev. Nehemiah Walter, of the 
 
220 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 Suspicion I stand in here by my family being able 
 to make their Quarters good in the Country. This 
 I am quite unconcerned about, because time and 
 Opportunity will exculpate me to the World in that 
 respect, as much as I am now before God and Con- 
 science. 
 
 Mr. Inman desires me to inclose with this his 
 power to Mrs. Inman. She will consider how far it 
 may be proper to publish it, for the Reasons before 
 mentioned. 
 
 I send you also Mr Forbes' letter as you say this 
 sent by way of Newport will not be opened. 
 
 The June packet arrived yesterday, but no Letters 
 for any of us. 
 
 Mary Murray had, in 1774, gone to England to 
 visit her parents, leaving her millinery wares and 
 customers in the hands of her sister Anne. Of 
 Anne's affairs Mr. Murray speaks in the ensuing 
 letter. She had been sent to Brush Hill for a di- 
 version, not so much from the cares of business 
 as from the vicinity of a youth who was yet a 
 student and without any means of support except 
 what his father supplied. He was William Dummer 
 Powell, son of John Powell, a stanch loyalist. 
 
 First Church. He was born in Roxbury August 15, 1711, graduated 
 at Harvard College in 1729, was ordained over the Second Church 
 July 10, 1734, and died March 11, 1776. He was a chaplain in the 
 Louisburg expedition, and acted as interpreter for General Pepperell. 
 Mem. Hist. Bost. vol. ii. p. 346. 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONAEY BOSTON 221 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO ELIZABETH INMAN. 
 
 Boston, August 28, 1775. 
 
 Dear Sister, — As I am like to have few Oppor- 
 tunities like this, it would be unpardonable not to 
 write you freely. 
 
 I hesitate much about sending out Betsey, who 
 now seems anxious to go. It is thought very odd 
 that, while other Tories are loudly complaining of 
 the restraints and hardships their families suffer in 
 the Country, I should voluntarily throw my Daugh- 
 ter into the same Snare, where if she fare better than 
 others, the Inference wiU not be to my advantage. 
 I wish for your advice before she be sent out, but 
 that I know not how you can send, all communica- 
 tion at the Lines being cut off, unless you can get a 
 safe hand to deliver your letter to Mr. Ross, the man 
 of Mr. Tarbett's boat, who transports the Emigrants 
 to Winnisimet. 
 
 I wrote you last week that it is impracticable at 
 this time to dispose of Anny's goods by wholesale, 
 they would not fetch ten shillings on the pound. 
 In winter, if we continue here, it will be necessary 
 for her to come in for a while at least, for I cannot 
 make up the Accounts without her, and then goods 
 of her sort will be scarcer and of course more sale- 
 able. My wife proposes that she should stay with 
 us and tend her Shop in the day only. This might 
 help to check some improper danghng. 
 
 I have said, if we continue here, for it is a fa- 
 vourite scheme of many Officers of the Army, I do 
 not say of the General, to lay this town in Ashes and 
 
222 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 to decamp with the Tories toward New York, where 
 there will be more elbow Room and more of the 
 Country people to countenance and assist the King's 
 Army. It is said this scheme has been much incul- 
 cated by Letters from hence, and orders are by some 
 expected in Consequence. 
 
 A Man of War arrived on Saturday mth dis- 
 patches for the General, which left Plymouth the 
 21st June, but nothing by that ship Transpires. 
 A Victualing ship arrived last week which brings a 
 Letter of the 15th June from Mr. Blowers to Mr. 
 Rogers, Amory's partner, saying that the General's 
 account of the 19th April by Capt. Brown had ar- 
 rived only two days before, that it had not at all 
 affected the stocks, that the Ministry had the enthe 
 confidence of the Nation, and that the present con- 
 duct of the Americans would increase the number, 
 not of their friends, but of their enemies at home. 
 These articles I had from Mr. Rogers hunself . . . . 
 
 The Town has been very sickly, but this family 
 and the Sugar house have escaped. 
 
 As the time of Gage's departure for England 
 drew near, the regulations affecting intercourse 
 between Boston and the country grew somewhat 
 slack. Communication between Milton and Boston 
 was carried on by vessels sailing up the Neponset. 
 Mrs. Inman journeyed back and forth between the 
 two places, and even went to the Inman house in 
 Cambridge ; Mr. and Mrs. Murray visited Brush 
 Hill, Annie Murray returned to town, where her 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 223 
 
 betrothal and marriage to William Powell occurred ; 
 and Elizabeth, after spending a few weeks at the 
 farm, danced unchallenged in Boston at a Tory 
 ball. It was rather remarkable that the family 
 could stand, even temporarily, in such high favor 
 with both sides. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO DOROTHY FORBES AND ELIZABETH 
 MURRAY. 
 
 Boston, October 2d, 1775. 
 
 My dear Friends, — I had the pleasure to re- 
 ceive your Letter of the 23d by your Aunt, who 
 came upon us as unexpectedly as agreeably and who 
 will find it necessary to stay here for some time to 
 expedite her Niece Anne, who goes for England, 
 fellow passenger with Mrs. Comm-r. Robinson,^ Mr., 
 Mrs. and Miss Burch and General Jones's Daugh- 
 ter. Mrs. Gordon^ has defer'd her voyage till the" 
 Spring. Baillie A. goes home next month on a very 
 advantageous prospect. He has received your 
 Cheese and returns his thanks. Padre's ^ patron to 
 whom you sent another has been to see your Aunt 
 this morning — says you ought certainly to remain 
 where you are this Winter, and is very glad to hear 
 of your and the boys health. Your Sister, who 
 went out of town against my inclination, tho' with 
 my Consent, must not think of quitting you till your 
 Aunt's return, if then. 
 
 1 Wife of Mr. Robinson of James Otis fame. 
 
 2 Mrs. Murray's sister. 
 2 Mr. Forbes. 
 
224 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 Our accounts from home by the Cerberus are very 
 agreeable in every Respect. One I may mention to 
 you is that both the army and Inhabitants here are 
 to be plentifully supplied with every Necessary dur- 
 ing the Winter. I hope you will be satisfied with 
 minding your farm and seeing your friends, without 
 being inquisitive about the Transactions of the 
 Army in your Neighbourhood. Instead of hunting 
 after News where I may have it daily, of some sort, 
 on the Exchange, I consult my peace and health by 
 labouring in my Garden, leaving the affairs of State 
 to whom they belong. 
 
 Padre's letter to me shall be sent you by next 
 Opportunity. Poor man ! he seems still to be trou- 
 bled with the heart burn. You mistake it much, if 
 you imagine any charge about you has been or will 
 be painful to me — quite the reverse. No other 
 expense gives me so much pleasure, and I hope we 
 shall all agree in cutting our Coats according to our 
 Cloth. ... 
 
 Be cheerful and resigned. My love to the 
 Children. Yours most affectionately. 
 
 JAMES MURKAY TO DOROTHY FORBES AND ELIZABETH 
 MURRAY. 
 
 Boston, October 18th, 1775. 
 
 Dear Dolly and Betsey, — Having so good a 
 bearer as Mrs. Hooper, I shall write you all that 
 occurs, as far as may be proper in these times. 
 Knowing your affection for the bearer to be of long 
 standing, I need not recommend her to your and 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIOI^ARY BOSTOIST 225 
 
 Betsey's particular care and attention. Your Aunt 
 says she ought to sleep in the middle Room, and one 
 of you to sleep by her in a field bed to be moved 
 from the Entry, for which there are Curtains in the 
 linen press. If she does not carry curtains for her 
 bed, the green curtains must be put up. 
 
 Be careful to have the used Chimneys sweep'd 
 once a month by Titus or whom you can get, and 
 give him a Pistareen a time. 
 
 As your Ma has such an aversion to the Country 
 and fondness for the Town, it is my design to give 
 up the farm entirely to you two, and when I go out 
 to be as your Guest and Adviser, so it will behoove 
 you to manage with all the economy you can, as you 
 will have no other subsistence. . . . Remember 
 poor Juba ^ &c. 
 
 Annexed is an account of things sent out for 
 your family's use and chargd to you. I send your 
 Chest to the Sugar house, as also what things were 
 in the Bureau put in my portmanteau trunk, there 
 to remain under your Aunt's care till there be a 
 better opportunity than this of sending them out, 
 which is likely soon to happen. It is said there will 
 be ere long leave for a very general emigration of 
 the Inhabitants of the town. ... 
 
 ELIZABETH INMAN TO DOROTHT FOEBES. 
 
 Cambridge, Tuesday evening, Nov. 3d., 1775. 
 
 My dear Dolly, — Betsy is going to the Ball. 
 She begs you '11 send her stays, white satin ribbed 
 
 ^ The slave brought from St. Augustine. 
 
226 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 ones, best laced ruffles, tucker and some small 
 flowers and a large one. . . . She has to wear colored 
 clothes, therefore must have lace. If your papa and 
 mama are gone before Isaac gives you this, put the 
 things into a trunk and let him put it into the pan- 
 yerds and carry them directly to Betzy. If they 
 are not gone, let them be sent in the carriage. 
 Pray send her fan and a pocket handkerchief ; do 
 not omit any of the things. If the things go in the 
 carriage, send Isaac directly back with your pan- 
 yerds that was left there some time ago. 
 
 If you can go to the BaU, you may have my white 
 lutstring altered in an hour for you. I '11 carry it 
 to Town in the morning with your linen from the 
 wash. Adieu my Dear, 
 
 Yours most affectionately 
 
 E. I. 
 
 The small flowers are wanted very much, pray 
 send them all. 
 
 Enclosed is a letter that came for your papa last 
 winter which I forgot to give him. 
 
 Mrs. Forbes was still carrying on the farm with 
 good success, and as averse to moving to town as 
 was Mrs. Inman. " Should we quit the place," she 
 said, in a letter to her father, " it would soon be 
 filled, as Governor Hutchinson's and others are, 
 with all kinds of Babble, whoever the Committee 
 think fit. Our stock would be sold at Vendue, we 
 might expect everything to go to ruin." 
 
 Wood had been cut at Brush Hill in January, as 
 the following memorandum shows. 
 
A TORY m REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 227 
 
 Milton, Jan^ 6, 1775. 
 This may Certify to whom it may Consern that I 
 have with a party of Men from the American Army 
 Cut fifty three & an half Cords of wood on what is 
 Called the Murry Lott at Brush hill. 
 
 Wm. Cleveland, Lieut. 
 N. B one half Cord of the above wood was burnt 
 by the party. 
 
 It was not surprising that the wood had been 
 taken, as the towns around Cambridge were all 
 expected to furnish a quota of fuel for the army. 
 Milton, as part of Roxbury, was drawn upon, and 
 the best assistance which General Mifflin could give 
 to Mrs. Forbes was the advice in the following 
 friendly letter : — 
 
 GENERAL MIFFLIN TO MES. FOEBES. 
 
 Cambridge, 16 October, 1775 
 
 Dear M^^ Forbes, — I do not know of any 
 orders for cutting wood on your Farm. M"* Parke 
 my Assistant at Koxbury may possibly have thought 
 of it, but would not send out a party without con- 
 sulting me. 
 
 The Army is in want of wood and will I fear be 
 necessarily suppHed by Encroachments on private 
 Property. 
 
 If it should unfortunately be the hard Lot of M" 
 Forbes to posess wood in the Neighbourhood of 
 Roxbury, I give it as my most friendly Advice to 
 send immediately some careful person to agree with 
 
228 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 M"" Parke in Koxbury for the wood as it stands & to 
 assist in surveying it. He will give 20/ p'' Cord for 
 Wood delivered in Roxbury & a proportionate Price 
 for wood in Growth. 
 
 I will write to M'^ Parke & prevent any Injury 
 to the Farm. As to the Wood Cutters, if any 
 must be set to Work, you may depend upon their 
 good Behaviour. Any Complaint from you of ill 
 Treatment will be carefully attended to ; and Care 
 shall be taken to prevent their giving you any 
 Trouble. 
 
 You have Nothing to do with the Wood Cutters, — 
 they will be supplied with provisions from the Camp. 
 If they presume to take any thing without your 
 Consent they will be pimished for it. 
 
 If you find it necessary I desire you to show this 
 Letter to the Committee of the Town. 
 
 M"^ Lynch arrived last Night without his Lady. 
 If it should be in my power to ride to Milton this 
 Week I will attend M^^ MifBin. 
 
 I am with Compliments to Miss Murray, Madam, 
 
 Your obt Ser — 
 
 Tho Mifflin. 
 
 In November or December, regulations concern- 
 ing passes and interviews were again made strin- 
 gent, and Mrs. Inman's visits to Boston came near 
 causing the confiscation of some of her property. 
 The circumstances relating to this incident are set 
 forth in the following Memorial of Dorothy Forbes. 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 229 
 
 To THE Hon"- Council & House of Representatives 
 of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay in Water Town 
 assembled this 12th Day of December 1775. 
 
 The memorial of Dorothy Forbes of Milton in 
 the County of Sufolk most humbly sheweth, That 
 your memorialest now is and was left in possession 
 of a considerable part of the Effects of Elizabeth 
 Inman, wife of Ralph Inman of Cambridge, now 
 in Boston, that during the Troubles of last Summer 
 the said EHzabeth remained at Cambridge till such 
 time as the Danger became so eminent that she was 
 advised by General Putnam and Others to remove 
 to some more distant place for Safety, in consequence 
 of which the said Ehzabeth removed herself, Family 
 and what Effects that remained in her hands as per 
 Schedule annexed, to this Town. Since that time 
 the s"^ EHzabeth has been so unfortunate as to go 
 into Boston, altho' with a full intent to return with 
 Mr. Inman and Mrs. Hooper or either of them. 
 The latter of whom with her Son has come out and 
 now Hves with your memorialest, and your memorial- 
 est is credibly informed that General Howe will by 
 no means even permit the said Ehzabeth to have an 
 interview with her friends at the lines. The Com- 
 mittee of this Town now think themselves obliged 
 by the Resolve of Congress of June 21st last to take 
 the Effects out of the Custody of your memorialest, 
 but your memorialest thinks herself entitled to re- 
 main in possession of the above Effects agreeable to 
 the Explanation of the above resolve of July 8th, 
 which Says the care of the Committee does not ex- 
 
230 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 tend to any part of those estates where there is any 
 occupant or j^ossession. Your memorialest there- 
 fore prays that she may continue in possession of 
 the above Effects agreeable to the Explanation of the 
 above resolve ; as your memorialest has a very large 
 Fame and glory to maintain and is willing to be 
 accountable to the Hon! Court and also to pay her 
 taxes and her proportion of the Expenses which may 
 occur in these perplexing times, and as the Commit- 
 tee are in some Doubt about the above resolve your 
 memorialest prays a further Explanation of the Hon! 
 Court with which she will chearfully acquiesce, and 
 as your memorialest has conducted herself agreeable 
 to the Continental Congress she prays the prayer 
 of her petition may be granted. 
 
 The threatened danger was averted, but interviews 
 continued to be subject to restrictions which made 
 them less productive of pleasure than of pain. 
 Meantime the sugar house, after serving the King's 
 troops for barracks, had been converted into a hos- 
 pital for patients undergoing inoculation for the 
 small-pox. 
 
 JAMES MUERAY TO DOROTHY FORBES AND ELIZABETH 
 MURRAY. 
 
 Boston, December 15th, 1775. 
 
 My Dear Children, — I wrote you through the 
 Lines since our last Interview that it was so short, so 
 embarrassed, and to me so affecting, I should not 
 soon desire a Repetition of it, & that I expected 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 231 
 
 the Overture for the next meeting would come from 
 you. As this is not like to be the Case, and I am 
 anxious to see you once more before Winter sets in, 
 I have given Gen^ Howe the trouble of another ap- 
 pHcation for a Flag of Truce, and have the promise 
 of three days notice that I may warn you when it 
 may be granted. 
 
 Mr. Campbell and all the rest of your friends here 
 are well ; many of them happily and quickly over 
 the small-pox : none more so than Mrs. Barnes and 
 Crissy, who are in high Spirits, to embark for Lon- 
 don in a few days. Miss Cumming's Niece, Mrs. 
 Smith, gone home. Mrs. Gordon and her family 
 sail this day for Halifax. Mrs. Linzee's Children 
 under inoculation at the Sugar house doing well. 
 Our three Negroes are now in the 9th day of the 
 Eruption, walking about the Town. The Mother 
 had many out distinct and full, — her Children but 
 a few. It is supposed that above a thousand have 
 now had this Distemper by inoculation (Dr. Lloyd 
 340 to his own share), and scarcely one like to die 
 of it. Among other Subjects are old Mrs. Craddock, 
 Mrs. Harry Loyd and her Sisters. Every body of 
 our Acquaintance has had Resolution, except Dr. 
 Caner and Mrs. G. Deblois, who are imprisoned to- 
 gether in his house, while her younger Children are 
 inoculating at home. You will have time and leave, 
 I doubt not, to send in your boys for it in the 
 Spring. At present I hope you have reason to 
 think they are better in the Country upon Coun- 
 try fare. Mr. Anderson gone for England before 
 
232 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 he heard his Vessel from Glasgow was taken — a 
 Loss he will not regard when it meets him in the 
 Bustle of London, though it might have vexed him 
 on the passage in a North East Wind. . . . 
 
 I am Your most affectionate Father 
 
 Jai^ies Murray. 
 
 Ten o'clock. 
 
 I have just now obtained leave to see you on 
 Monday next at eleven o' Clock, if the weather will 
 permit ; if not, on the first fair day after that you 
 can travel. Yours, J. M. 
 
 Mrs. Fisher, with whom I write this postscript, is 
 anxious to hear of or from her father and mother in 
 your Neighbourhood. Bring word from them. 
 
 To Mrs. Forbes at Brush-bill, Milton, 
 
 to be left at tbe late Rev. Mr. Adams's 
 Minister of Roxbury. 
 
 Gage, recalled to England, had sailed away from 
 Boston, as the next letter from Mr. Murray relates, 
 on the 10th of October. Before he left, his friends 
 in Boston drew up an address, in which they ex- 
 pressed their confidence in him and their apprecia- 
 tion of his services. A like address had been pre- 
 sented to Hutchinson upon his departure in June, 
 1774. Thus " Addresser of Hutchinson " or " Ad- 
 dresser of Gage " came to be a descriptive term set 
 against certain names, in lists of the Tories. James 
 Murray was an "Addresser " of Gage,^ Gilbert 
 Deblois of Gage and Hutchinson, both. 
 
 * He would naturally have been among the addressers of Hutchin- 
 son also, though he is not so recorded by Sabine. 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 233 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO DOROTHY FORBES AND ELIZABETH 
 MURRAY. 
 
 Boston, January lOtb, 1776. 
 
 My Dear Children, — Betsey's letter to Mrs. 
 Butler of the . . . which came to hand yesterday, 
 giving such good Accounts of your and your fam- 
 ily's health and welfare, makes your friends in town 
 very happy. It makes some amends too for my dis- 
 appointment on that fine day, Thursday the 28th 
 past, when I went with Mr. Walter to your Koxbury 
 lines in hopes of seeing you and his Nieces. He 
 was also disappointed, and so was Mrs. Loring, 
 whose maternal fondness carried her to know from 
 you about her Child. It would be kind to write her 
 at times, for she is very anxious. And when you 
 can, without giving umbrage to your Protectors, or 
 Suspicion to your Neighbours, obtain leave for 
 another Interview, and can bring with you as 
 healthy and chearf ul Countenances as you did at oiu* 
 last, your very looks will be a feast to your old 
 Father, tho' not a Word pass. 
 
 All your Friends in town, without exception, are 
 well and would be glad to hear frequently from you, 
 if we cannot have the happiness to see you. We 
 congratulate you on your acquisition of so agreeable 
 a Companion as Miss G[oldthwaite]. Her philosoph- 
 ical and musical turn will help to soothe your Cares 
 and beguile the Winter. Mrs. Hooper will enter- 
 tain you with pleasant stories of the past, and your 
 Resignation and good Spirits may or ought to sup- 
 port your hopes of the future. 
 
234 JA]MES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 We join in wishing you, your family and the rest 
 of our ofood neiofhbours in Milton and Dorchester the 
 Compliments of the Season. May your horses be in 
 good plight to be social with them, while there is 
 fine Sleighing. No word yet of or from your Cousin 
 Anne, tho' she sail'd at the same time with General 
 Gage on the 10th October — no account of him 
 neither. 
 
 Gov-r. Wentworth's and the Lieut. Governor's 
 Ladies are going home with their famihes. 
 
 Inclosed is a letter from your Aunt Bennet. 
 There is also one from her Sister, but it is illegible, 
 I cannot send it. . . . 
 
 There are now letters in town from London as late 
 as the 26th November. Our friends were arrived. 
 
 The winter of 1775-6 dragged itself on while 
 Washington waited for ammunition. A few raids 
 here and there from the Americans kept the British 
 on the alert for an attack; yet a real attack, had 
 they known it, was the last thing they needed to fear. 
 But Knox's oxen were on the way. Into Cambridge 
 they plodded at last, with their procession of sledges, 
 a " noble train of ammunition," dragged through 
 snowy forests and over frozen rivers, and destined 
 to drive out of Boston not only Howe's detested 
 army, but also to render homeless many of the most 
 devoted citizens of the town. 
 
 The following letter, written less than three 
 weeks before the cannon were planted on Dorches- 
 ter Heights, is the last bearing the superscription 
 "Boston." 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 235 
 
 JAMES MUKRAY TO DOROTHY FORBES AND ELIZABETH 
 MURRAY. 
 
 Boston, Feb. 14th, 1776. 
 
 My Dear Children, — Finding I could not with 
 propriety ask leave to go to the Lines yesterday, as 
 I had been there on the Thursday before and as 
 there were so many of our Town folks on yester- 
 day's party, I wrote a few lines to send out, but 
 these through my Laziness happened not to be in 
 time. When I heard of your having been at the 
 Rendezvous, I was grieved for my having been so 
 much out of Luck. Your letter of the 13th, which 
 you prudently were prepared with, made me no 
 small amends for my Disappointment. I am 
 charmed that you have the happiness of getting 
 Madam and Mrs. Belcher under your Roof. You 
 now Hve to some purpose, indeed, when you have a 
 house and hearts for an Asylum to such merit in 
 Distress. If any Necessary is wanted for these 
 Ladies which this town can afford, I have authority 
 to say it will be permitted to be sent out. I shall not 
 be wanting in procuring it, and I know from your 
 Experience that there is politeness and humanity 
 enough, on your Side, to secure the safe deHvery. 
 
 I have some hopes of leave to be at your Ren- 
 dezvous at the usual hour on Monday next, if the 
 weather be toUerable ; if not, on the first toUerable 
 day, for we must not talk of fine and fair days at 
 this Season. . . . 
 
 If we do not meet on Monday or the first fair 
 day, be prepared, as you were last time and as I 
 
236 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 shall be if I go, with a letter about anything that 
 occurs, and let us submit them in time to inspec- 
 tion, that there be no room for Suspicion. . . . 
 
 The fortification of Dorchester Heights by Wash- 
 ington, while it was a surprise, did not destroy the 
 confidence of the Murrays and other Tories shut up 
 in Boston in the ability of the British army to take 
 care of them. When, therefore, the boats of the 
 British were scattered by the storm, the enemy's 
 works declared too strong to be carried, and the 
 evacuation of Boston pronounced a necessity, the 
 consternation was indescribable. 
 
 Men who had lived all their lives in Boston and 
 were part and parcel of it found themselves sud- 
 denly compelled to take leave of friends, old asso- 
 ciations, and property, and to fly with the army to 
 Nova Scotia. 
 
 The departure of Howe was hampered and delayed 
 by the necessity for removing these loyalists. All 
 the transports that were at hand, assisted by such 
 other vessels as could be procured, were inadequate 
 for the purpose. The refugees, on their part, were 
 in a state of distraction between the impossibility of 
 taking with them more than a small part of their 
 possessions, and the difficulty of getting that small 
 part carried to the wharves. Carts of all kinds 
 loaded with every description of household goods 
 hurried through the streets. At the same time sol- 
 diers who had plundered deserted mansions, Tory 
 or Patriot, bore off their booty by broad daylight 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTION-ART BOSTON 237 
 
 or left it to strew the streets. Everywhere the dis- 
 order was extreme. 
 
 Mr. Murray, Hke the rest, had no recourse but to 
 sail for Halifax with Howe. The Misses Cummings 
 and probably several others went under his protec- 
 tion ; seven persons are numbered as comprising 
 his fleeing family. His farewell letters, if he wrote 
 or could send any, have not been preserved. The 
 parting he must have believed to be only temporary, 
 but it was final. He never saw his sister or his 
 children again. 
 
 Soon after the evacuation, Mrs. Forbes received a 
 letter from William Hooper, asking for information 
 concerning the family. As Mr. Murray was his 
 uncle by marriage and had exerted himself to the 
 utmost in the care of Mrs. Hooper and her other 
 sons, the inquiry was but natural. 
 
 WILLIAM HOOPER TO DOROTHY FORBES. 
 
 This, My dear M"^^ Forbes, is addressed to you 
 from Baltimore, in Maryland, where I now am on 
 my return to Carolina, to my dear dear Annie & my 
 little Bantlings. Long e'er this had I wrote you, but 
 partly my ingagements in publick business, in a great 
 measure Indisposition, add to all a want of subject 
 worthy your Attention, conspired to prevent it, & for 
 your comfort have hitherto doomed me to Silence. 
 But I can no longer forbear, and tho' I have nothing 
 but the trouble of perusing it, you must, as you 
 have often done before, submit to my Impertinence. 
 This is a tax you must pay for that intimate friend- 
 
238 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 ship with which you have favoured me, & if I err 
 you must look for my Apology in the benevolence 
 of your own heart. 
 
 I am extremely anxious to know what change the 
 Alteration of the state of Boston has produced in 
 your Family and those Connections which Blood 
 Intimacy have nearly allied to both of us. Such 
 are the Miseries of Civil dissentions, they sever the 
 most intimate relations. Affections follow diversity 
 of Sentiments, & we hate the man because we disap- 
 prove his pohtical opinions. Oh, human Nature 
 what a motley machine art thou ! Heaven made thee 
 in thy original perfect, but left the use of thee to the 
 discretion of the Creature, and a pretty business he 
 makes of it. Were you and I to cast a look back 
 upon the happy days we once saw, & date from the 
 period of our Brush Hill festivity, should we not be 
 apt to call in question some part of the providential 
 Arrangement, & pronounce that so much Mischief 
 was not necessary to produce general good ? But I 
 am willing to submit hood winked, & wrapped in 
 the consciousness of divine wisdom judge of what 
 is mysterious from what I know, and appeal to 
 futurity for the conviction of the rectitude of the 
 whole. . . . 
 
 A Battle has been fought in Carohna. Success has 
 determined in favor of the American Cause, a Cause, 
 my dear M" Forbes, which I hold dear as my Reli- 
 gion, which I first undertook from principle & which 
 I have to this day persisted in from the most con- 
 vincing sense of the Justice of it. Should America 
 
A TORY m REVOLUTIONARY B0ST0:N" 239 
 
 be successful, my utmost wishes are answered. No 
 sacrifice that I can make can be too valuable a con- 
 sideration for such a purchase. My own personal 
 misfortunes, should they be hereafter crowded upon 
 me, & Heaven should mark the residue of my Cup 
 of life with extreme bitterness — all my misfortunes 
 would loose their pungency, if seasoned with the 
 Consolatory reflection that they were the consequence 
 of my Exertions in the cause of freedom. One pain- 
 ful Idea, however, will ever intrude itself upon me, 
 that if I am right, my friends, my Intimates, my 
 Relations are essentially wrong, & errors are this 
 day more than speculative, they extend to prac- 
 tice. . . . 
 
 Whatever may be your or my political Opinions, 
 Our friendship has had an origin & has been 
 cemented by offices of kindness which the capri- 
 ciousness of human fortune cannot shock or alter. 
 No, let the Wreck of time produce what it will, I 
 shall ever treasure you among my first, best & dear- 
 est friends. Blast the man that would sully the 
 Connection. I wish for peace, that we may once 
 more under our own Vines & Fig trees enjoy the 
 blessing of domestick peace, that I might enjoy in 
 my own Cabin, eat my Hogg & Hominee without 
 anything to make me afraid. 
 
 My Mother and Brother have my warmest Wishes 
 for their Health & Happiness. May the blessings 
 of Heaven faU on that Hand which has so often 
 administered to them comfort as you have done. 
 When I write you, I write them. I feel the same 
 
240 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 tender attachment to you & them. Mention me to 
 
 them most affectionately. 
 
 Judge of my anxiety for my Annie, Gov® Martin 
 
 lying with his Ships at Dubois's Mill, the battle 
 
 fought only 15 Miles from her. Maclaine, who 
 
 married Peggy Dubois, was in the engagement 
 
 & fled. He is taken before this. I feel for M" 
 
 Dubois. Pray offer my most affectionate regards to 
 
 your Sister. Eemember me to Miss Kent, to all 
 
 your & my friends who care any thing about me. 
 
 But I must end my Scrawl. I write in a Tavern 
 
 in a Croud, & long e're this have exhausted your 
 
 patience. Adieu, my dear Dolly, says 
 
 Your Sincere friend 
 
 W" Hooper. 
 Baltimore, April 2, 1776. 
 
 Write me under Cover to Joseph Hewes, esquire, 
 delegate for North CaroHna at Philadelphia.^ 
 
 After the evacuation Mrs. Inman remained in 
 Boston. Her estate in Cambridge, even then in a 
 ruinous condition, was confiscated. It was from 
 her house in town that Elizabeth wrote the following 
 letter. Fortunately the threat of putting it out of 
 sight, that it might not disgrace her memory at some 
 future day, was never carried out. 
 
 ^ William Hooper was also a delegate, and was a signer of the 
 Declaration of Independence. 
 
A TOEY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 241 
 
 ELIZABETH MURRAY TO DOROTHY FORBES. 
 
 Boston, Juue 11, 1776. Tuesday Afternoon, 
 5 o'clock, not Dressed. 
 
 Dear Sister — Fenwick carries you a Barrel of 
 Rum, which is 26/ the Gallon. Miss Goldthwaite 
 proposes being with you to-morrow or Thursday 
 morninof. She came to town last nio-ht. I would 
 wiUingly give you the Adventures of yesterday, if I 
 thought I should do them justice. The strong im- 
 pressions they have made upon me renders me in- 
 capable of it. In short nothing before or since the 
 Black Cat has ever thrown me into greater agitation 
 of Spirits than the scenes I passed through yester- 
 day ; and, as your curiosity may be a little icsited, 
 I will inform you that not many minutes after my 
 Aunt set out for B-Hill Prudence^ came running 
 upstairs and asked if I had resolution to see the 
 unhappy people you have heard of, to which I an- 
 swered in the affirmitive, and set out immediately 
 for Madam Apthorp's house, the Garden^ of which 
 looks into the jail yard. When we arrived there 
 Mrs. Snow conducted us to the fence, where we could 
 see them and hear them speak, but not converse with 
 them. We soon left her and went up toward the 
 common. A number of the Common Soldiers of 
 the Highlanders passed us with a gaurd. I re- 
 greted not speaking, so I turned about and persued 
 
 1 Prudence Middleton, one of Mr. Smith's nieces. The High- 
 landers, of whom she spoke, had recently been captured on board a 
 transport in Boston Harbor. 
 
 ^ This garden covered what is now Pemberton Square. — S. I. L. 
 
242 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 as fast as my feet in high heeled shoes would carry 
 me. Vain was the attempt, and we concluded it 
 was best to return in hopes of meeting more when 
 we turned about, and what was [our] surprize to see 
 four Officers with a gaurd. Prudence had told me 
 the Duchess of Gordon's Brother (whose name I 
 knew to be Maxwell) was a Prisoner. That, and the 
 great anxiety I was in for our Uncle, occasioned a 
 wish to speak to them. The first three I had not 
 resolution to stop, but went up to the last and asked 
 the favor of being answered one question, and with 
 a faultering Voice asked if the first Battalion was 
 come out to America. All the Gentlemen turned 
 round when I stopt the last. They informed [me] 
 that Kegiment was in England and to remain there. 
 Joyful sound it was to me. Still trembling so as 
 to be incapable of supporting myself without Pru- 
 dence's assistance, I asked if either of them Gen- 
 tlemen were Capt. Maxwell. A lovely Youth, who 
 appeared to be about twenty, Bowed an acknowledg- 
 ment of that name. I enquired for his Mother and 
 Sisters, who he told me he left well in Scotland 
 six weeks ago. Here my voice failed, and we all 
 remained in silence for the space of a minute and 
 parted without another word. 'T is in vain to 
 attempt a discription of my emotions, at that mo- 
 ment. We went on, and they went to the jail to 
 take leave of their Men, who are to be sent back into 
 the Country to work for their living and, it is ex- 
 pected, will join the American Army. This sepera- 
 tion they say is very painful to the men, who are 
 
A TORY m REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 243 
 
 still in this town . . . Prudence and I walked 
 through the different Streets in hopes of having one 
 more view of these unfortunate Youths (who are 
 none of them thirty years of age), when, in turning 
 up School street by the King's Chapel, we met some 
 of the Gaurded just come from the jail to bid their 
 Men Adieu. Distress appeared in their Counti- 
 nences. Prudence and I determined not to speak a 
 second time, but when we came up to them they all 
 stopt, and Maxwell drew near and enquired if I knew 
 his Mother and Sisters, to which I answered I had 
 been frequently in company with them in Eden- 
 borough. I asked him in return if he knew Lady 
 Don's family and if they were well, which he told 
 me they were. With almost my former agitation^ I 
 wished them health and Happiness, and they soon 
 after set out in Paddack's Coach and four for Con- 
 cord, where they are to stay. If you receive any 
 pleasure from this stupid incorrect scroll you de- 
 serve it for the trouble of decyphering it. As soon 
 as I get home I shall make it my business to search 
 for it and put it out of sight, that it may not dis- 
 grace my memory in some future day. I am certain 
 the account of my Uncle will make you happy, so 
 't is no matter if you are put to a little trouble in 
 perusing of it. Kiss Bennet for me, and tell hun I 
 do not forget that this is his Birthday, and shall say 
 quietly to myself in the first glass of wine I drink 
 at Dr. LovelFs this evening ^* God help him, and 
 
 1 They had agitations in those days, but were mercifully saved 
 from nervous prostration. — S. I. L. 
 
244 JAIVIES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 make him a Good Man, and Grant that he may never 
 be a Prisoner." 
 
 Some additional bits of information concerning 
 the changed aspect of the farm at Cambridge and 
 the dangers escaped by that of Brush Hill are fur- 
 nished by a niece of Mrs. Barnes whose initals, E. F., 
 do not further reveal her identity. 
 
 E. F. TO MRS. BARNES. 
 
 Cambridge, April 17th. 
 
 Now, my dearest Aunt, I take my pen with some 
 spirit, for certainly it cannot be long before I shall 
 not only have an opportunity of sending my letters, 
 but also hearing of you. 
 
 Such amazing overturnings have taken place since 
 I wrote the above, that I am at a loss how to express 
 my astonishment You will, no doubt, long before 
 this reaches you, hear that the King's troops have 
 [evacuated] the town. I have been twice there. 
 Good God ! What a scene — deserted by almost all 
 I ever loved or knew. Mrs. Inman still remains 
 among us, a public blessing. From her faithful 
 and friendly hands I received your watch, and guard 
 it as the relick of my Saint. Indeed I needed no- 
 thing to recal your dear idea. Every new scene too 
 fatally convinces me of the melancholy change one 
 twelve month has produced, not only in my present 
 situation, but further prospects, sad reverse, indeed ! 
 When will Peace with all her smiling train descend 
 and chase the savage passions from this wretched 
 country ? 
 
A TORY m REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 245 
 
 The wanton destruction that presents itself to my 
 view wherever I turn my eyes show in the most 
 lively colors of civil war ruin and desolation spread 
 through the peaceful vales of industry, and such 
 enmity planted between children of the same parents 
 as can never be got the better of, and will not yield 
 to time. You will see by the date of my letter where 
 I am, but you can form no idea of my situation. 
 Only imagine to yourself two unhappy females, from 
 some high misdemeanor driven from the Society of 
 the world and every social pleasure into a wilderness 
 surrounded not by wild beasts, but savage men, and 
 destitute of the conveniences of life. Do this, 
 and it will fall short in many respects of showing 
 our present situation, which is no more nor less than 
 this, that Miss Murray and I are in Mr. Inman's 
 house, just as it was left by the soldiery, without 
 any one necessary about us, except a bed to lodge 
 on & Patrick for a protector & servant, in constant 
 fear that some outrage will be committed if it is 
 once discovered that one of us is connected with 
 Mr. Inman, to prevent which everything is done in 
 my name, and as soon as it is convenient I am go- 
 ing to let the farm and take a family into one end of 
 the house. You would really be diverted, could you 
 give a peep when Mrs. Inman visits us (which is as 
 often as she possibly can), to see Betsey & I resign- 
 ing our broken chairs & teacups, and dipping the 
 water out of an iron skellet into the pot as cheerfully 
 as if we were using a silver urn. 
 
 I cannot tell what it is owing to, unless it is see- 
 
246 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 ing Mrs. I. in such charming spirits, that pre- 
 vents our being truly miserable. Tell her friends in 
 England not to lament her being in America at this 
 period, for she is now in her proper element, having 
 an opportunity of exerting her benevolence for those 
 who have neither Spirits or abihty to do for them- 
 selves. No (other) woman could do as she does 
 with impunity, for she is above the Httle fears and 
 weaknesses which are the inseparable companions of 
 most of our sex. One would imagine to see her 
 that all was peace and harmony. God grant it may 
 be. 
 
 Tell Mrs Powell (for we have fixed you at Nor- 
 wich) if she was with us, we might put into exe- 
 cution that plan of life we projected together, and 
 where it was wanting in reahty we could make up in 
 imagination. Oh ! that imagination could replace 
 the wood lot, the willows round the pond, the locust- 
 trees that so dehghtfully ornamented and shaded 
 the roads leading to this farm. I say, could imagi- 
 nation supply the place of those to the former pos- 
 sessor, how happy — but in vain to wish it, every 
 beauty of art or nature, every elegance which it cost 
 years of care and toil in bringing to perfection, is laid 
 low. It looks hke an unfrequented desert, and this 
 farm is an epitome of all Cambridge, the loveliest 
 village in America. 
 
 April 25th. 
 Mrs. Inman, who does every thing to render our 
 situation agreable to us, yesterday carried us abroad 
 to dine with a large company, that did us the honor 
 
A TORY m REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 247 
 
 to return and drink tea with us. Among the 
 number was Mrs. Temple and her three sweet 
 daughters, for the lovely Fanny is no more. I am 
 sure it would have grieved you to see her, and at 
 the same time to have recollected her station in life, 
 the distresses this war has involved her in, and the 
 fortitude with which she has borne them. Mr. 
 Temple absent, the farm, her only dependence I be- 
 Heve, almost entirely destroyed, and there was she 
 and the young ladies with all the innocent cheerful- 
 ness you can conceive of — 
 
 " Like the gay birds that sing them to repose 
 Content and careless of to-morrow's fate." 
 
 They sang ^' Plato's Advice," which was so appH- 
 cable to our situation, and indeed every one's at 
 present, that it seemed to diffuse the serenity they 
 enjoyed throughout the company, and I must say 
 for myself I never felt anything more sensibly in 
 my life. She has promised to send for us one day 
 next week to Ten Hills. I am sure it will be an 
 agreable day, and not without many moral lessons. 
 
 May 7th. 
 
 Since I wrote last Miss Betsey and I have walked 
 to Boston and brought Miss Middleton out with us, 
 who spent several days here, received a morning 
 visit from Mrs. Temple and her niece, and spent a 
 day at Ten Hills. Mrs. Fenton and her family are 
 all there, and Mr. William Temple, who is just ar- 
 rived from London. Mrs. Fenton gave me several 
 interesting particulars relative to your situation while 
 
248 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 in Boston, and likewise that she brought out a let- 
 ter for Mrs. Bridgen with one annexed for me. I 
 shall not be easy till I receive it, and intend going 
 to Boston for that purpose immediately. Indeed, 
 my dear Aunt, if you could imagine what pleasure 
 a letter from you inspires me with, you would write 
 even in London. If it were not for that I would 
 throw away my pen. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the calamities that surround 
 us, we have great reason to be thankful that the 
 seat of war is removed. God grant a speedy conclu- 
 sion ! Mr. Temple's opinion seems to favor my 
 wishes. The talking politicians this side the Hues 
 are struck dumb by this last mandate of Govern- 
 ment. But stop, my pen, nor dare to stray into a 
 subject which is surrounded with danger and diffi- 
 culty. No doubt you will hear poor Betsey LiddeU 
 is a widow. I have a thousand trifling afPairs to 
 inform you of, but fear swelling the size of my 
 letter too much, so will bid adieu for the present. 
 Affectionate regards to my little Chrissy. 
 
 Brush Hill, May 17. 
 My DEAREST Aunt, — This amiable family are 
 going to be involved in new troubles. Did I fear 
 for myself alone, I should be happy compared with 
 what I now suffer, for I have nothing to fear from 
 the malevolence of man, and Physical evils must be 
 patiently submitted to ; but when I see the few but 
 valuable friends I have remaining upon the point 
 of becoming destitute like myself, my heart sinks 
 
A TORY m REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 249 
 
 witliin me, and I cannot avoid exclaiming, Great 
 God ! surely for all these things the people shall 
 be brought to judgment. I am hunted from one 
 retreat to another, and since I left your Ark, like 
 Noah's Dove, can find no resting place. The Com- 
 mittee at Cambridge have let Mrs. Inman's farm in 
 spite of all her asseduity to prevent it, and the same 
 tribe of Demons have been to take this into posses- 
 sion dui*mg the life of Mr. Murray. How unhappy 
 would that goodman be if he had any knowledge of 
 it ! I hope he will remain in ignorance as long as it 
 conduces to his tranquiHty. When this affair will 
 end God knows ! At present the people succeed in 
 everything. I am sure Mrs. Inman's spirits will 
 forsake her when she finds this family is in so much 
 trouble. I have been disappointed in everything 
 since my last writing. Even the letter I was in 
 pursuit of Mrs. Bridgen never received, to her great 
 mortification. I hope, as it is missing, it is of no 
 great consequence. 
 
 Nature is all blooming and benevolent around us. 
 I wish to Heaven she could inspu-e the breasts of 
 this deluded people with the same affectionate glow 
 towards each other ! but every social vu-tue seems 
 to have taken flight with peace to happier regions, 
 and left us miserable mortals involved in clouds and 
 darkness, without one cheerful ray to point the way 
 to happiness. May eternal curses fall on the heads 
 of those who have been instrumental to this coun- 
 try's ruin. 
 
250 JAJVIES MURKAY, LOYALIST 
 
 Marlborough, June 9*^, 1776. 
 My dearest Aunt, — Business has made it ne- 
 cessary that I should once more visit a place to which 
 I thought I had bid a last adieu. It is now three 
 months since I have heard one word of Boyd, or 
 those effects deposited in his hands, & I made no 
 doubt in that time he had had frequent opportuni- 
 ties of conveying them either to me or Mr. Clark, 
 if he meant honestly. Whichever that is the case 
 or not. Heaven knows. He still refuses giving 
 them to me, declaring it is not in his power. Capt. 
 Davis is of a contrary opinion, but what can be said 
 or done in times like these, that authorize every 
 species of injustice? I told him I did not think 
 it would be in my power to take another journey, 
 and as Mr. Clark was my Uncle's attorney I would 
 advise him, when he could with convenience, to put 
 them in his possession, and he (Boyd) should be 
 rewarded for his trouble. He replied with an air 
 of indifference that he should like to give them to 
 the right owner, though he does not seem inclined 
 to take one step for that purpose, and I dare say 
 thinks he has as good a right to it as any one. I 
 have been here since Tuesday, and shall go to-mor- 
 row at sunrise, for you can easily imagine that there 
 is nothing in this place that can induce me to stay 
 a day longer than is absolutely necessary. Yester- 
 day I took a walk to the Distil house, which is now 
 turned into Salt Petre works, and from being the 
 Pool of Bethesda is made use of to manufacture a 
 commodity for the destruction of the human species. 
 
A TORY IN KEVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 251 
 
 All your furniture removed over to the shop cham- 
 ber, except the family pictures, which still hang in 
 the Blue Koom, & the Harpsichord that stands in 
 the passage way, to be abused by the children and 
 servants in passing through. Mr. Knox found it 
 inconvenient to be moving furniture, so has taken 
 nothing but the Linnen, which at this juncture is 
 by far the most valuable part. I find my fears 
 on that head were not groundless, & I suppose the 
 pretense of my Uncle's making an exchange was 
 a piece of chicanery in order to succeed without 
 opposition. Katy Keyes lives in Worcester, Lavinia 
 with her sister, and Daphney is to remain in Capt. 
 Davis' family till the town is entirely free from the 
 infection of the Small Pox. She appears 'very grate- 
 ful that her son is left behind, and intends keeping 
 house with him when she leaves this family. Adieu ! 
 May every present and future good be constant and 
 faithful attendants on you & my dear Uncle, and 
 sometimes think on your unhappy niece, who now 
 bids farewell to this place forever. 
 
 Brush Hill, June 16'". 
 
 Rejoice with me, my dear Aunt, this infernal 
 crew cannot succeed in taking the farm from this 
 amiable family. The Almighty Father of infinite 
 perfection will not permit them to prosper in all their 
 wickedness, but bounds their power, and shields 
 the virtuous from the threatened blow. May it be 
 so to the end, and may our rulers ever be able to 
 discriminate between those who have acted from a 
 
252 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 well meant but perhaps deluded & false notion of 
 serving their country and those who have nothing 
 further in view than to pull down all above them to 
 their own level. Oh Heavens ! how I msh for a 
 final period to this dreadful contest, and yet dread 
 the insolence of Victory. I insensibly wander into 
 a subject I ought to avoid, but you cannot wonder, 
 as it so nearly effects not only myself but every 
 individual this side the Atlantic. It is reported here 
 that Gen. Burgoyne is crossing the Lake with a vic- 
 torious army & that the poor remains of the Amer- 
 ican Army have retreated to Ticonderoga, after 
 having encountered dangers & difficulties that can 
 be only equalled by Hannibal passing the Alps. If 
 it might be productive of Peace I should rejoice. 
 The Small pox is again going through the town of 
 Boston, and people are as solicitous now to have as 
 formerly to fly from this dreadful distemper. You 
 vnW easily believe this when I tell you the three 
 Miss Barkers are now under inoculation. I hope 
 they will have more to show for it than you & 
 Chrissey, as I greatly fear, from the account Mrs. 
 Inman gives me, you will both run the risk of catch- 
 ing it in the natural way. All Capt. Davis' family 
 are in town, and Daphney among the rest. Mrs. 
 Forbes' little ones are at Mrs. Inman's, and Tom 
 Swan, Jr., with Miss Polly Speakman to take care 
 of him. You can have no idea of the melancholy 
 situation of Madam & Mrs. Belcher. They left 
 Brush Hill with a design of building immediately, 
 instead of which [no] materials nor workmen are to 
 
A TORY IN REVOLUTIONARY BOSTON 253 
 
 be procured, and they are under a necessity of 
 making use of their out houses to shelter them from 
 the weather ; the coach house is their dining room, 
 and Fowl house their bed-chamber, but the old lady 
 looks majestic even there, and dresses with as much 
 elegance as if she was in a palace. Mrs. Belcher has 
 all along supported her spirits to a marvel, but now 
 her health is so bad, her friends think her far gone 
 in a consumption ; but age has so far befriended the 
 old Lady that notwithstanding Mrs. Belcher has ever 
 shone in the character of a daughter, and been a 
 faithful prop to her declining years, she views her 
 approaching dissolution with less agitation than 
 she beheld the flames consuming her house. Miss 
 Winslow is with them still, and their distresses are 
 so great that they have disposed of their plate to 
 purchase necessaries. Adieu, my dear Aimt. I do 
 not intend to take my pen again till I have a pro- 
 spect of either hearing from you, or forwarding my 
 letters. 
 
 Sept. 25'^ 
 
 At length, my dearest Aunt, the long wished for 
 moment is arrived that presents an opportunity for 
 sending my letters. Mrs. Fenton is going home to 
 England in a vessel that has obtained leave from 
 those in power, and unless detained by the populace, 
 who are more variable than the winds, will sail in a 
 few days. There is very great news from New 
 York, which I imagine you have more authentic 
 accounts of than we have. Mr. Bob Temple is 
 expected in town in a few days, by whom I flatter 
 
254 JA]VIES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 myself I shall hear particularly from you, if I have 
 no letters. ... I have perused what I wrote at dif- 
 ferent times, and think I have been sufficiently cau- 
 tious, and as particular as I can be in everything I 
 thought you would wish to know, and when the 
 present distraction of the times is subsided I promise 
 myself the pleasure of a journal of all the maneu- 
 vers and occurrences, or if you think the request 
 too unreasonable make Christy your amanuensis. 
 It will be a high gratification to me, and I shall 
 endeavour by every method in my power to make 
 her some compensation for the trouble. . . . 
 
 Pray give my affectionate duty to my Uncle. 
 Love to Christy and all my American acquaintances 
 you may meet with on the other side of the water. 
 Miss Betsey Barker & her niece Sally have been 
 here for several days. The latter is writing to you 
 at the other end of the table, so it will be needless 
 for me to give you an account of their family, which 
 I dare say she intends doing herself. Mrs. Forbes & 
 Miss Murray join me in every tender wish for your 
 happiness, that you may again be restored to your 
 native country, to your friends, and above all to the 
 arms of your dutiful niece. 
 
 All friends well. 
 
 Jan. 1777. Your E. F. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 IN EXILE 
 1776-1781 
 
 Now began for James Murray the weary life 
 of banishment, the pathos of which was so many 
 times repeated in the history of the Revolutionary 
 exiles. 
 
 He went first to Halifax, then an extremely prim- 
 itive settlement, where he estabhshed his wife with 
 her sister, Mrs. Gordon, who had preceded them. 
 But he could not be content to stay so far from his 
 sister and children, and soon, as he puts it, he came 
 " creeping toward " them, hoping at least to be able 
 more easily to communicate with them and to serve 
 them by sending occasional supplies. He visited 
 Newport, New York, and Philadelphia. Evidently, 
 however, he found himself no nearer the accomplish- 
 ment of his wishes in New York than in Halifax, 
 and to Halifax in 1778, after some two years spent 
 in profitless wandering, he returned. There he re- 
 mained for the rest of his life. 
 
 His letter from New York is short and non-com- 
 mittal. 
 
256 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 JAMES ^lUKRAY TO ELIZABETH DTMAN, DOROTHY 
 FORBES, AND ELIZABETH MURRAY. 
 
 New York, November 7th, 1776. 
 
 My Dear Sister and Children, — ... I am 
 . . . glad of this opportunity to acquaint you of my 
 health and Welfare and of my Intention of creeping 
 toward you with the first fit Conveyance, which it is 
 still hoped will happen before Christmass. Some 
 Refugees of us have now fixt in Quarters about five 
 or six miles from New York, where we live very 
 quiet and retired, well supphed with the necessaries 
 of Life, much more comfortably than we could be at 
 Halifax. There your Sister and Servants remain in 
 her own house for the Winter. 
 
 The Capt., Mrs. Linzee and Children, lately re- 
 turned to this harbour, are all well, and so is George,^ 
 now an Ensign in the 17th Regiment much esteem'd 
 in the Army. 
 
 I had the happiness of hearing that Mr. Inman, 
 you Ladies and the boys were all well in September. 
 A Mr. Campbell, who came with Mr. Reid from 
 Boston, brought this word. 
 
 By the last Accounts from St. Augustine, Mr. 
 Forbes and Son were well. He is appointed Chief 
 Justice, for the time, in the room of Mr. Drayton, 
 whom the Governor has Suspended and who is gone 
 to England with Doctor Turnbull. Remember me 
 sincerely to Brother Inman and be assured that I am 
 Most affectionately yours. 
 
 1 George Inman, son of Ralph Inman. 
 
ELIZABETH MURRAY (MRS. ROF.RIXS) 
 
IX EXILE 257 
 
 From another exile, Thomas Hutchinson, then in 
 London, Mr. Murray had received an interesting 
 letter ^ which emphasizes Hutchinson's affection for 
 his country, as he always called America, and is, in 
 sentiment, quite indicative of Mr. Murray's own feel- 
 ings on the subject of the war. 
 
 THOMAS HUTCHINSON TO JAMES MURRAY. 
 
 London, New Bond Street, March 3, 1777. 
 Dear Sir, — I thank you for a very obliging 
 letter of the 12th January from Newport. It gave 
 me pleasure to reflect that I had wrote to you, some 
 weeks before the receipt of your letters, to New 
 York. I am glad to hear that you have met with 
 no more difficulties since you left Boston. I have 
 advantages here beyond most of the Americans, as 
 I have a very extensive acquaintance with the best 
 people ; but I prefer the 7iatale solum to all other : 
 and it will give me great pleasure to hear you are 
 peaceably settled at Brush-hill, and that I may settle 
 as peaceably on Unkity Hill. I hope to live to see 
 not only my Milton neighbors, but the people of the 
 Province in general, convinced that I have ever sin- 
 cerely aimed at their true interest ; and that, if they 
 had followed my advice, they would have been free 
 from all that distress and misery which the envious, 
 restless spirits of a few designing men have brought 
 upon them. 
 
 I have been charged in America with false and 
 unfavorable representations of the people there. I 
 1 Now printed in the Mass. Hist. Soc. Proc. vol. v. [1860-1862]. 
 
258 JA]VIES MUERAY, LOYALIST 
 
 am charged here with neglecting to give advice of 
 their intentions to revolt, and representing the body 
 of the people as disposed to live quietly under the 
 authority of Parliament, and to take no exception to 
 any other acts than those of taxation, which I ever 
 endeavored to discourage. . . . 
 
 I am obliged to you for inquiring into the State of 
 my farm on Conanicut. I had been improving it by 
 fencing, planting, &c, for near forty years ; but all 
 my labor is lost. And I fear my estate in Milton is 
 not in much better order. At least eleven hundred 
 pounds sterling was taken out of my house, and off 
 the farm, in movables. I know not how to obtain 
 redress. . . . 
 
 I say nothing about public affairs, nor do I con- 
 cern myself with them : nor am I ever inquired of 
 or consulted about them ; and I am glad I am not. 
 It is astonishing, considering the immense expense 
 of this war, and the stop put to the American trade, 
 that nobody seems to feel it. Every merchant and 
 manufacturer, except a few who were factors for 
 America, are as full of business as ever ; and, in 
 the manufacturing towns, they are fuller of business, 
 from the increase of demand in other branches, than 
 before the American War. With this amazing^ em- 
 pire it is the unhappy case of my poor country to 
 contend. May God Almighty, in mercy, put an 
 end to this contest ! Your brother's family is well. 
 Adieu ! I am y'" faithful, humble serv' 
 
 T. H. 
 
 James Murray, Esquire, of Milton, 
 in Mass. Bay. At Newport, R. I. 
 
IN EXILE 259 
 
 The Barneses, too, wrote to Mr. Murray. They 
 had fled to England and were among the notable 
 group of loyalists settled in Bristol.^ Their pro- 
 perty in Marlborough was confiscated, their house- 
 hold goods scattered. Limited in means, but still 
 possessed of irrepressibly cheerful spirits, Mrs. 
 Barnes continued at intervals to write to her friends 
 amusing accounts of her domestic doings and of the 
 society in which she moved.^ But, as her path was 
 
 ^ Their first home was in Cannon's Marsh, Bristol. Afterward 
 they removed to King Street, where they had a "grand old edifice," 
 from which could be seen " the Play House, the Assembly House, 
 the Merchants Hall and the Merchants Library." 
 
 2 On April 1st, 1786, she wrote to the Misses Barker : " Wee have 
 seventeen American familys in Bristol, very Genteel well bred Peo- 
 ple, all of one heart, and one mind. In this circle we are treeted 
 with Cordiality and respect, being quite upon a footing with them in 
 the stile of Yissiting which is no more than Tea and cards — a little 
 parade (to be sure) is nessisary upon these ocations in order to keep 
 up the Ball, but as it is not attended with much Expence we readily 
 consent to follow the Lead." One more extract may be given as an 
 aside. It is from a letter of hers written to the Misses Barker on 
 September 5th, 1786, some time after Mrs. Inman's death : " Spent 
 some part of yesterday in foolishly endeavoring to decorate my sweet 
 person, being engaged to a rout at Mrs. Maud's. Before this busi- 
 ness of importance was over, it began to rain ; this did not put a stop 
 to my proceeding, for as hackney coaches and chairs are always to be 
 had, it is not expected any weather will prevent your fullfilling your 
 ingagement, but this additional expence attending our tea vissits I 
 have ever carefully avoided, so, with my umbrella over my head, and 
 pattens on my feet at six o'clock I tript away like a fairy. I know you 
 will smile at the comparison, but I do assure you that a new pair of 
 stays has thrown me almost into the form of a milkmaid. My short 
 waist, which once caused your sister Sally to exclaim violently, is now 
 of a proportionable length. As I do not design to trouble you again 
 with an account of my dress and appearence I will now finish all I 
 have to say upon the subject. I wore on my head a new tate which 
 I purchased not from nessesity, for my hair is in much the same state 
 
260 JAMES MUKHAY, LOYALIST 
 
 now a widely divergent one, her letters must be passed 
 by, and we must take of her a reluctant farewell. 
 
 To add to Mrs. Inman's trials, when those she 
 loved were slipping from her and her worldly pos- 
 sessions also were taking wing, her nephew, John 
 Murray, announced his intention of quitting the 
 business house of Clark & Nightingale in Provi- 
 dence, where he was receiving a mercantile training, 
 and of joining the American army. His letter to 
 Mrs. Inman is not with the family papers, but her 
 protest to John Innes Clark and her cautious note 
 to the youth himself are as follows : — 
 
 ELIZABETH INMAN TO JOHN INNES CLARK. 
 
 Boston, January 4th, 1777. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Words are wanting to express my 
 surprise and concern at reading J. Murrays letter by 
 Mr. Sherry. I hope I never have nor never will 
 give so much pain to an enemy as this does to me 
 who has gloried in thinking I was his Aunt and 
 friend. I have ever been proud of your Candor, 
 generosity. Humanity, friendship and affection to 
 me. I now rely on these good qualities and your 
 promise. If your and Mr. Nightengale's authority 
 
 as formerly, but from a principle of frugality, & to save trouble. . . . 
 I have dismembered a pair of past earings to make handkerchiefe 
 and hair pins, which, with my good Uncle Perries watch by my side 
 gives me no contemptible figure. Have I done ? Why no I have 
 not; I ware in my shoes a pair of stone buckles presented to me by 
 my much lamented friend Mrs. Inman, and a ring upon my finger 
 sent to me from Norwich, as a mento of our mutual friendship, the 
 recolection of which thros a damp upon my spirits and obliges me 
 to put aside my scribbling." 
 
m EXILE 261 
 
 is not sufficient to Check this youth I beg you '11 
 make an errand for him to Boston. When I took 
 him from his Fathers House I looked on myself as 
 accountable to Him for the boy till he arrived at 
 the age of 21. At that time I intended to advise 
 him to visit his family and consult with them about 
 settling. If he determins on taking up arms 
 against them, farewell to his Fathers and Mothers 
 happiness. They will bid adieu to their eldest 
 darling Son and end their days in sorrow. Their 
 fondness for him made them expect he would be 
 the stay of the large family and the support of 
 their old age. How blasted then their hopes. 
 For God's sake let it not be. Assist me in Clearing 
 him. Consider you have children, tho' young ; you 
 do not like disabedience in them, how would oposi- 
 tion Hke this affect you. 
 
 My respects to your Ladys. I expected to see 
 them before Christenmas. Their company will give 
 me pleasure. Adieu. 
 
 ELIZABETH MURRAY TO JOHN MURRAY. 
 
 Boston, January 4th, 1777. 
 
 Dear Jack, — I received yours by Mr. Sherry. 
 I think you take leave in an easy manner. I ask'd 
 your Cousin to allow you to come here before 
 Christenmas. He used to take a jaunt from London 
 to Wells at that season. Are not you as much 
 attached to your friends as he was to his ? If you 
 
 are you will intercede with Messrs Clark and N 
 
 to visit me before you quit being a Merchant. 
 
262 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 Her nephew was, apparently, by her persuasions, 
 kept from carrying out his intentions. 
 
 In June, 1777, Mr. Murray was again in New 
 York, though he had previously spent some time in 
 Newport. His letter of that date is more communi- 
 cative than his last. 
 
 JAMES MUKKAY TO DOEOTHY FORBES AND ELIZABETH 
 MURRAY. 
 
 New York, June 19th, 1777. 
 
 Dear Children, — I have already wrote to you 
 since my return hither, by the Flag which brought 
 in Mr. Ben. Davis ; then I told you that my return 
 was occasioned by your Mamma ; the good people at 
 Halifax having persuaded her that Rhode Island 
 would certainly be retaken by the Provincials. Since 
 my arrival I have wrote to her inviting her and the 
 Miss Cumings to this place, when a safe conveyance 
 offers. 
 
 I have lodged three weeks with Mr. Macka}^, who 
 has sold out of the 52d and whose wife, with good 
 prospects, has commenced shop keeper. Yesterday I 
 came to lodge at Mr. Bamper's^ on Long Island, 
 opposite New York, a pleasant place, with the rivers, 
 
 1 The only Benjamin Davis mentioned by Sabine (vol. i. p. 359) 
 is the Addresser of Hutchinson and of Gage. He went first to Hal- 
 ifax, but afterwards set out for New York, and was captured on his way 
 and carried to Marblehead, and thence to Boston, where he was, in 
 October, 1776, imprisoned. If he is the Mr. Davis mentioned by 
 Mr. Murray, he must have been set at liberty and allowed to proceed 
 to New York early in the summer of 1777. 
 
 2 Mr. Bamper's was at what is now the corner of Willow and 
 Clark streets, Brooklyn. 
 
IN EXILE 263 
 
 the shipping and city under the eye, good gardens, 
 orchards and green fields under foot, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Mrs. Linzee, Mr. Ward, Col. Tyng^ 
 and Mr. Walter and their families. I could be 
 no where so agreeable from home ; so I have good 
 reason, having good health and spirits to relish all 
 this, to be thankful and to wait with patience and 
 resignation the issue of this dispute, especially as I 
 hear you pass your time more peaceably than many 
 others do. I shall not forget to be grateful, when 
 in my power, to those who treat you and Brother 
 and Sister Inman well. 
 
 Mr. Powell, as I wrote you, has made a genteel 
 settlement on his Son, to enable him to prosecute 
 his studies. The young family has taken a little 
 house at Lambeth and have a Son. . . . 
 
 Capt. Mulcaster, now one of Gen. Howe's Aid-de- 
 Camps, wishes to see Mrs. Forbes and her Boys, 
 says Mr. Forbes and Jammie were well by the last 
 accounts. That Mr. Drayton was reinstated as Chief 
 Justice, I have wrote to Mr. F. by a Vessel which 
 lately sailed for St. Augustine. . . . 
 
 Polly's Merchants have made her very genteel 
 ofPers. I have sent for the remainder of her goods 
 to come hither and to be insured. Goods find here 
 a good market and ready money .^ 
 
 ^ Probably William, son of Commodore Tyng. (See Sabine's 
 Loyalists of the Am. Rev. vol. ii. p. 369.) He went from Halifax to 
 New York when the royal troops entered that city. 
 
 2 Mary Murray's goods were given into the care of Mr. Thomas 
 Robie, a refugee settled in Halifax. 
 
264 JAIVIES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 I do not address this either to Brother or Sister 
 Inman, imagining they are not desirous of corre- 
 spondents, in these times. 
 
 Let your letters for me be directed to care of 
 Messrs. Coffins and Anderson, New York. Mr A. 
 gone to London to bring out another large assort- 
 ment. That house, very deservedly, has the ball at 
 foot ; the present gale is in their favour. 
 
 Captain Sainthill with whom I dined to-day at 
 Mrs. Linzee's gives us the latest and most particu- 
 lar accounts of our friends in Boston that we have 
 had for some time. 
 
 By the latest letters from the refugees at home, 
 many of them eagerly wish for an opening to re- 
 turn, notwithstanding the great attention paid to 
 them there. I have a letter from Mr. & Mrs. 
 Barnes of February 17th. They were well and 
 desirous to hear frequently from this side. I strive, 
 at times, to gratify them. The Doctor and his nu- 
 merous family were well in February, as his letter 
 to his Son says. I shall desire Jack, if at Provi- 
 dence, to peruse these letters and forward them to 
 you. Had my interview with your Cousin John 
 Innes Clark at Newport been as dehberate and free 
 as I wished, most of these letters would have been 
 sent by him ; as it was, they could not be deHvered 
 to him without giving much trouble to the Sec- 
 retary, with whom I was not acquainted. 
 
 When in a former letter I expressed my desire 
 to retiu-n to Brush-hill and to take that for my 
 prison, could you find no other motive for that than 
 
IN EXILE 265 
 
 necessity? Your apprehensions about my salary 
 being withheld are groundless. Government is dis- 
 posed rather to add than diminish at such a time as 
 this.' 
 
 God bless and preserve you all — that is 
 
 Adieu. 
 
 ^ Mr. Murray continued to receive some salary from England for 
 three or four years after leaving Boston. In 1777 his friend Charles 
 Stewart wrote that the sum of about £150 a year might be de- 
 pended on. Extracts from Mr. Stewart's letters are as follows : — 
 
 April 14, 1777. " If you dont think of coming home soon, it will 
 be better to send a letter of Attorney to some friend here to receive 
 from the Cashier ^ Paymaster of His Majesty's Customs in North 
 America the Salary that now is or shall hereafter become due unto you 
 as Inspector S^c. — and if you think proper to insert my name with 
 a power of substitution, I will substitute some person who may sign 
 the proper receipts for you here, and it shall be no expense to you ; 
 and if you find it necessary for your present support or Mrs. Mur- 
 ray's, you may draw on me for the remainder of your Salary as it 
 shall become due. I could have readily got your leave of absence re- 
 newed, but it is not worth while to put you to any expence about it. 
 
 " The power of our Board ceased upon their leaving America, but 
 the Treasury have granted Warrants on me for paying the salaries 
 from 5 July last as usual, also to all the Officers of the Outports now 
 in England and the Officers in the Colonies not in Rebellion. Most 
 of the Officers now at home, & those also of whose offices depended 
 chiefly on fees, receive also a further allowance from 30 to £100 a 
 year and other sufferers from 50 to £300 a year, for their present 
 subsistence." 
 
 August 28, 1777. " I desired you to send a letter of Attorney for 
 receiving your salary, or, if more agreeable, send a receipt for 
 £187-10- for your Salary as Inspector of Imports & Exports of the 
 Customs in North America from 5 July 1776 to 10 October 1777, 
 and send one quarterly afterwards for £37.10 — as the salary shall 
 become due. Without such receipts or an Attorney signing for you, 
 I cannot take credit for your Salary in my books. 
 
 " The late news from the Northern Army gives us great Spirits 
 & we will be daily looking out for further agreeable accounts from 
 both. 
 
266 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 June 2\sU 
 
 Yesternight I heard the following articles of in- 
 teUigence, which. may or may not be news to you. 
 W. H., afronted that Mr. Hughs, his Brother dele- 
 gate, was left out in election, resigned his seat in 
 Congress : Mr. Harnett chosen in his room. Mrs. 
 Cobham, Maurice Moore, General James Moore 
 dead. Billy Campbell succeeds to an estate of ten 
 thousand pounds by the Will of his Wife's Brother, 
 who died in Jamaica. Tedy Gregg and Burg win 
 still at homes, in England one, in Ireland another. 
 
 Billy and Sam C and Bob Schaw will be 
 
 obHged to leave Carolina for not taking the oaths to 
 the states, and so must several Scotch, for the Hke 
 crime. John Rowan still at Barbadoes. Several 
 Eefugees, to be out of the way, have gone to Hve at 
 Point Repose. Mr. Ancrum high Whig. Mr. 
 Rutherfurd not molested. Fanny well married at 
 home to a Mr. Menzie — his two sons under Ld. 
 Townsend's protection put to a free school in Eng- 
 land. L. 700 Ster. of Col. Innes estate, which had 
 been many years in Governor Dinwiddle's hands, 
 recovered for carrying on this education. This is 
 all I can recollect. 
 
 Yours affectionately. 
 
 A letter from EHzabeth Murray to her father 
 shows what trying times these were for the loyalists 
 remaining in Massachusetts. 
 
IN EXILE 267 
 
 ELIZABETH MURRAY TO JAMES MURRAY. 
 
 Brush-hill, Oct^ 29'" 1777. 
 
 Not having heard from you, my Dear Sir, since the 
 month of June, when we received your two very 
 pleasing letters of that month, accompanied by the 
 large packet from our Friends on the other side the 
 Atlantic, which gave us inexpressible pleasure, I am 
 again induced to take up the Pen in hopes of having 
 an answer by the return of the Cartel. You are too 
 well acquainted with our anxieties to deny us that 
 satisfaction if it is in your power to gratify us, there- 
 fore I will not trouble you with a repitition of the 
 pain your silence occasions, but proceed to a plain 
 state of facts which may be most interesting to you. 
 My Aunt, M' I, & all our other connexions enjoy 
 their usual good share of health. As to our spirits, 
 Sir, I leave you to judge of them from the late 
 event of a public Nature.^ Silence upon that sub- 
 ject is necessary, so I can only say that all your 
 friends are much in the same situation as when I 
 last wrote except our own family which has met with 
 a material . . . alteration which we have wished 
 much to have the melancholy conse- 
 quences of unha past been encreasing 
 
 the miseries of this once peaceful 
 
 Country. Exclusive of the anxiety we suffered in 
 being seperated from so many beloved Friends we 
 have not been exempt from the other inconveniences 
 arising from the Public calamity. Labour being at 
 such an exorbitant price, as well as every Necessary 
 
 1 Probably the surrender of Burgoyne. 
 
268 JAJVIES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 which the Farm did not produce, with the addition 
 of the most intolerable Taxes, presented the very dis- 
 agreeable prospect of hourly envolving ourselves in 
 debt, without a single expectation of being extri- 
 cated ; our Cousin, J. I. C.,^ upon a visit here in 
 the month of July, & having no settled place of 
 abode, we with my Aunt's consent made an offer of 
 the Farm to him for one Year, which he accepted, 
 & has been here for the last three Months with M" 
 C. and their only Child, a Boy of three years old. 
 My Sister & her youngest Son continue in their 
 family. Jack has been several Months in Town 
 with my Aunt attending school. I am sometimes in 
 Town, & sometimes here. M''^ H.^ & her Son upon 
 this new arrangement ... d to M"^^ Winslow's of 
 
 Braintree where we pay Nine m which 
 
 is now thought very moderate three 
 
 for the latter. M" H. is become as 
 
 good health as ever she was. As she has received 
 nothing from M'' Erving for two years & her ex- 
 pences are so great, she must soon draw upon him 
 for £100 ^*^. It would not be improper to have her 
 Son Tom ^ (who has lately been a favourite of For- 
 tune) informed particularly of her situation. I in- 
 close a letter from Miss G 1.* She desires her 
 
 respects may be offered to you, & begs the favour 
 of having the letter directed properly, & forwarded. 
 She will spend the Winter here I believe, in com- 
 pliance with the kind invitation of M' and M'" C, 
 
 1 John Innes Clark. 2 jyf pg. Hooper. 
 
 2 He was in North Carolina. * Miss Goldfchwaifce. 
 
IN EXILE 269 
 
 whose family will be large enough to form an agree- 
 able Fire Side for the ensuing Season. M' C has 
 Hired three Men to work upon the Farm, seems in- 
 cHned to make every improvement in his power, & 
 must certainly succeed in it better than we could. 
 
 The present circumscribed way of writing renders 
 it a disao-reeable task, which must be an excuse for 
 my not writing to my Friends on the other side the 
 Water. 
 
 ... I wrote to my Cousin Mary some Months 
 ago for some Shoes & a pair of Stays to be sent to 
 you with the Ace* of them, which I must ask the 
 favor of you to discharge, & keep the articles till a 
 favorable opportunity offers of sending them. We 
 begin to feel the want of wearing apparel so much 
 that we are under the necessity of requesting you 
 should there be any Person coming in the Cartel or 
 otherwise who may be confided in to send us 1 dozen 
 pair of Cotton Stock'% 1 doz: f or 1/2 doz: of 
 Rusel or everlasting Shoes, Mode or Sattin with 
 lace, lining, & all the materials for making a black 
 Cloak & Bonnet, these by no means to be sent but 
 by a person of known honor & honesty. . . . 
 
 JAMES MUKRAY TO MRS. FORBES AND E. MURRAY. 
 Philadelphia, February 11th, 1778. 
 
 My Dear Children, — On the Receipt of my 
 Betsey's Letter of the 29 Oct% I wrote the 24 Dec'' 
 to James Dall at Messrs Cof&n's and Andersons in 
 New York to send out by a safe hand the articles by 
 her desired. I have Mr. Dall's answer that he would 
 
270 JAMES MUERAY, LOYALIST 
 
 do SO and expect by the next Vessel his Account of 
 them. 
 
 The greatest Inconvenience of my Situation here 
 is that of being out of the way of hearing from my 
 Family and Friends so frequently as I wish. To 
 remedy this, I purpose to return, when the season 
 will permit, to Rhode Island. But whether I shall 
 first go to Halifax to fetch your Mamma and her 
 Servants or send for them thither, I have not yet 
 determined. This will depend on the Conveyance 
 that may offer, or on the public Movements that 
 may be like to take place. But I shall strive to 
 avoid such a tedious wandering as the last Summer 
 and Autumn gave me. One great Inducement to 
 be at Rhode Island, I shall be at hand to send you 
 some of the Necessaries you stand most in need of, 
 you concerting for their safety at and from Provi- 
 dence. Mr. Ed. Winslow is to supply his Father 
 that way. . . . 
 
 I was sorry to have missed the York Sloop, a Flag 
 which sail'd the other day for Boston before I was 
 apprised of it, but am happy to have the favour of 
 Mr. Clark to make me amends for that Loss. Capt. 
 Linzee and George^ will also write by him. All 
 your friends here are well and hearty, hopeing you 
 preserve spirits equally cheerful and good. Remem- 
 ber me affectionately to my Friends. I wrote to 
 Mr. Barnes and inclosed Miss G's Letter. No word 
 from St. Augustine. Adieu. 
 
 i. e. — May God preserve and support you in the 
 
 1 George Inman, 
 
IN EXILE 271 
 
 firm persuasion that Almighty Power will over-rule 
 and direct, not only the present little Contest, but 
 all Events in such Manner as to Infinite Wisdom 
 and Goodness seems fittest and best. 
 
 Mrs. Forbes and Miss Murray 
 At Brush-hill, Milton. Favoured by Mr. Clark. 
 
 [List of articles sent and directions as to their 
 transportation :] 
 
 6 y^ everlasting or Eusel for Shoes, 
 
 12 pair middling sized Mens Stock^% 
 
 Black Sattin or Mode for a Cloak & Bonnet, 
 
 Lining, Lace, Ribbon Sewing Silk for the same, 
 
 2 y"^^ white figured Gause, 
 
 3 y^ Black D^ 
 
 6 y*^^ Blond Lace, 
 
 6 y'^^ Black D^ 
 
 some narrow & wide Pink & white Ribbons. 
 
 If leave can be obtain'd for these articles to be 
 sent, think it the safest way to commit them to the 
 care of some of the Captains or other Gentlemen 
 that come round in the transports for Gen^ : B. 
 
 Army. If M' M. is not at New York would be 
 
 glad to have the Ace* sent with them & a Bill for 
 the Amount shall be sent by the first oppor^. 
 
 Whether or not he left Philadelphia before the 
 evacuation or again witnessed the abandonment of 
 an American city by the British troops, the letters 
 do not say. One disappointment after another dis- 
 couraged him, however, whenever he planned to 
 
272 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 reach his children, and in September, 1778, came 
 the Act of Banishment to make the separation more 
 complete. His name was on the list of those who 
 were forbidden to return to Massachusetts, and for 
 a time he did not dare even to write to his immedi- 
 ate family. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO JOHN INNES CLARK. 
 
 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Dec. 28, 1778. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Taking the Hint of a few lines 
 
 from Mrs. F to Captain Mul[caster], I carry on 
 
 my Correspondence with you in preference to my 
 nearer Connexions, in the belief that I shall thereby 
 give less perplexity to them and less Umbrage to 
 the executive Powers of your State. Let this suf- 
 fice for an Apology to you and them. 
 
 The last Cartel not returning hither has been a 
 great Disappointment to all of us who had Friends 
 and Relations with you from whom we were anxious 
 to hear. So desirous is your old Uncle to know 
 how his Family and friends fare and to afford the 
 means of Departure to such of them who choose it, 
 that he has had it in Contemplation to go a Passen- 
 ger in this Cartel, the Master of which (Dunlap) is 
 of his Acquaintance ; but his Friends tell him that 
 the Depth of Winter, joined to the Winter of his 
 Life, would be too severe for him on your Coast. 
 This added to the Anxiety of Mrs. M., who suffered 
 much in her health by his late two years Absence, 
 has postponed, not laid aside, the Intention of his 
 Voyage ; for he cannot entertain so mean an Opin- 
 
IN EXILE 273 
 
 ion of your Magistrates as to suspect that any of 
 them would vex or molest even a j^^oscrihed Refu- 
 gee, far j^cist his speed, for coming peaceably in a 
 Cartel to carry oJff any of his belongings which can 
 be of no use to them. With these dispositions you 
 may expect to see this same Uncle of yours, if any 
 opportunity like this offers in the Spring. He is 
 the more anxious to make this Visit, that he may 
 bring off what choose to come and take leave of 
 those that mean to stay, previous to the Voyage 
 which he and Mrs. M. purpose for England in the 
 Course of next Summer. He has been loth to quit 
 this Shore and will be Loth, while there is a glim- 
 mering of Hope of returning to his beloved abode 
 in Peace and credit. 
 
 We shall know early in the ensuing year whether 
 G. Britain means to exert herself to cut up Inde- 
 pendency by the Roots, or whether she intends to 
 consent or Connive to the Propagation of that 
 blessed Plant, with the fruits of which you expect 
 to be regaled and enriched. In the latter Case, we 
 Refugees must make the best Shift we can. They 
 will suffer most who have most to loose, who are 
 the most attached to their Wealth, and who have 
 many Days and a large family to enjoy it. [Your] 
 Uncle has but httle to lose, a few days to Hve, a 
 small family to subsist, and is as detached from the 
 world as most people. Therefore if America acts 
 — herself, he may not only be easy, but rejoice ; 
 but if she will only play the fool in quitting 
 the substance for the shadow, as many men of 
 
274 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 many minds have done before her — No more of 
 politics. 
 
 If my Children and Grand Children, all or any 
 of them, finding a proper Company, choose to come 
 with the Return of this Cartel, I have no objections ; 
 they shall meet with a hearty Welcome and the best 
 reception we are able to give. There will be no 
 Want of the Necessaries of Life, however short they 
 may be kept as to the Fineries of it. But if they 
 are not very uneasy in their present Circumstances, 
 I do not insist on their Company, till it can be had 
 with more convenience to all Parties. My Health 
 has not been better these several years, having but 
 a small and easy share of that Debility which at- 
 tends age. They may depend I will not leave this 
 side of the Atlantic without first seeing my Family 
 and dearest Friends. 
 
 We have advice of a few necessaries that were 
 sending by our Friend Mr. A. from New York in 
 a Cartel for the Convention Troops. Hope they 
 arrived safe. If any further supply is wanted you 
 or they will be pleased to let me know. 
 
 Wishing you all the compliments of the season 
 and an honourable peace in the course of the year 
 I am Dear Sir 
 
 Your affectionate Uncle. 
 
 Mrs. Murray was eager to go to England, but her 
 husband clung to the land which held his children. 
 " For your Pa's part," he wrote them, in April, 1780, 
 when he was almost persuaded to go, " it will be 
 
IN EXILE 275 
 
 with much reluctance that he will leave America, 
 where he has enjoyed so many happy years." Three 
 months later he had definitely decided to remain in 
 Hahfax, and Mrs. Murray, in spite of all her plans, 
 did not leave him. Some solace for being again 
 baffled in his efforts to visit Massachusetts he may 
 have foimd in purchasing the articles for " Mrs. 
 Inman, Daughter Forbes, E. M., and boys Jack and 
 Ralph," mentioned in the list appended to his 
 August letter. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO ELIZABETH IVIURRAY. 
 
 Halifax, August 2d, 1780. 
 
 My Dear Betsey, — As you the most frequently 
 favour me with yom* Correspondence, you are the 
 best entitled to Returns in kind : With the rest we 
 must be content to preserve and cultivate a Silent 
 regard and Affection, till times mend. 
 
 Annexed is a list of things sent you by Mr. 
 Bean's Cartel, which I hope you have by this Time 
 received safe. For the story of his detention here, I 
 refer to him. He, Mr. White, and other passengers 
 deterr'd me from sending you some pieces of Linen 
 by the last Cartel, assuring me it would be seized on 
 its arrival with you. I was afterwards laugh'd at, by 
 others for my Simplicity and Credulty, being assured 
 that your rulers had too much honour to seize a small 
 supply of Necessaries sent by a Refugee, for the use 
 of his family. Upon the strength of this, I now 
 send the Articles mentioned in the second Mem-o, 
 which I wish safe to you. One piece of the linen, 
 
276 JAMES MUERAY, LOYALIST 
 
 you'll observe is for Miss Peggy McNeill at Mr. 
 Jno. Boises, 25 yds. at 3/ L.3.15, and is in part of 
 LA,6A I received for her from Mr. Hill. For the 
 remaining 11/4 please to let her have the value in 
 everlasting and binding. 
 
 I proposed to have made you a Visit in this 
 Cartel, but was politely refused by our Lieu*. Gov% 
 whether in diffidence or in Compassion to me I know 
 not. I have not now, as formerly, the honour to be 
 acquainted with the Governors and Rulers in the 
 Land. 
 
 Since my last, which attended a Letter from your 
 Aunt Bennet to you and another from me to my 
 Boy Jack Forbes, I have received the inclosed for 
 you, forwarded by Mr. Deblois, and another from 
 him to his Mrs. Deblois. Letters also from the 
 Doctor and Polly, hers from Portsmouth so late as 
 6th May. She had been convoying her Sister 
 Powel, who was there to embark with one of her 
 three boys on board the Beaver, Capt Powel, to 
 join her Husband at Quebec. All our Friends at 
 home were well. 
 
 Since I cannot get to you, you shaU be welcome 
 here to me, provided you meet with good Company 
 for your Passage, and do not run the risk of being 
 carried to New York, by the Prisoners, as other 
 Cartels have been, and provided also you have your 
 Aunt's and Sisters Consent. I despair of this, and 
 on second thoughts contradict this paragraph. 
 
 More of the black lasting is sent, that you may 
 barter it for other necessaries. 
 
m EXILE 277 
 
 Your Mama has sold part of her and Mrs. Gor- 
 don's tenements here, purposes to sell the rest 
 beginning of next month, having got her Sisters 
 Power for that Purpose, and after that seems bent 
 to go and join her Sister in Edinburgh. I have not 
 the least desire to stir, but shall stay and take my 
 Chance, some where on this side of the water, but 
 not in this Expensive place, Halifax. Let this 
 explain the Contradiction of the foregoing para- 
 graph by 
 
 Your affectionate Father. 
 
 June ISth, 1780. 
 Account of articles sent by Mr. Beane's Cartel to IMiss Betsey- 
 Murray in Boston. — viz. — 
 
 Everlasting 4 yards, Binding 1 piece. Nankeen 
 4:| yds. Of Gingham, 2 gown patterns. 2 pair red 
 Shoes from M. Q} for the Boys Jack and Ralph, 
 a parcel from M, C. to Mrs. Brigden, 1 pair silk 
 shoes and some flowers from Mrs. Casey to E. M. 
 and D. P., 2 gauze handkerchiefs and 2 feathers by 
 J. M. as ordered, Gutheries Geographical Gram- 
 mar . . . , Lock on education, a parcel of dark 
 cotton for a gown A. E. C. to Mrs. Forbes, 1 pair 
 holl'd gloves, a muslin handkerchief and 1 pair 
 from Mrs. M. to Sister Inman. 
 
 4 muslin handker^ Mrs M. to D. F. & E. M. 
 21 p-s Wire and an old gown Mrs. M. to E. M., 
 
 5 childrens books Mrs M. for the boys Jack & . 
 
 1 A. & E. Cummings ? 
 
278 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 August 2d, 1780. 
 
 There are now sent in the Cartel with 5 pieces 
 of linen directed by my hand with ... on the linen, 
 
 and with pen and ink on the b ., 1 p's 25 
 
 yds. for Sister Inman, 1 p's 25 yds. at 3/ Cur- 
 rency for Miss Peggy McNeill, 2 p-s 48 yds. for 
 Daughters Forbes and E. M., 1 pr. 25 yds. for the 
 boys Ralph and Jack, 1 lb. thread, 1 p-s Everlast- 
 ing 30 yds., 2 p-s tape binding, 1 lb. white Nuns 
 thread, I lb. finer Ditto, 1 lb. black thread (not 
 sent). 
 
 His daughters' interests were ever uppermost in 
 his mind. In the upheaved state of the country 
 Mrs. Forbes' s return to St. Augustine was practi- 
 cally an impossibility, though the subject of the 
 journey was occasionally discussed, as in the next 
 letter from Mr. Murray. 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO DOROTHY FORBES AND ELIZABETH 
 MURRAY. 
 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Sept. 20th, 1780. 
 
 My Dear Children, — I had the pleasure two 
 days ago of recei\dng by the Cartel, which returns 
 with this my D. F.'s letters of the 15*^ and 24*^ past ; 
 but [neither] the Letter by Penobscot nor Mrs. 
 Powell's Letters have yet made their Appearance. I 
 had two Letters from Polly indeed, the latest of the 
 8th May at Portsmouth where she was attending her 
 Sister's Embarkation. These I mentioned in my last. 
 Anne's misfortune in being taken would be in a great 
 
IN EXILE 279 
 
 measure compensated to her by an Interview with her 
 friends in New England. But to turn to what now 
 concerns you more nearly, your Connexions in St. 
 Augustine. Of them we have very favourable Ac- 
 counts, both from Major Sheriff, whom we as well 
 
 as you have seen, and from Capt. Haw of the 
 
 Brig John and Mary, lately retaken and brought 
 
 hither, who left Mr. F and son well on the 10th 
 
 of last month. It might have been practicable for 
 him and me, had we been very desirous of keeping up 
 a Correspondence, to have exchanged some tho not 
 many Letters by way of New York and even by 
 London. For this omission your Pa, having had 
 the least to do, is the most to blame. He, J. F., per- 
 plexed with much Business and much Company, 
 may more readily be excused. In the scarcity of 
 your letters from him, the inclosed though of an old 
 date may not be unacceptable. I shall write him 
 soon by way of New York, and recommend it to the 
 care of Dr. Johnston in Georgia, in which channel 
 you may likewise send your Letters, or by Charles- 
 town from New York. What are my Sentimerbts of 
 his D. F.'s returning with her Sons soon to hun, it 
 is needless for me to say. Her feelings and of 
 course her view of men and things must necessarily 
 be different from those of an old man, who has seen 
 much of the World in several Climates, and upon 
 that Experience forms an Estimate of Life and of 
 the way of Life most likely to procure that health. 
 Tranquillity, Resignation and firmness of mind 
 which have the best chance for happiness or what 
 
280 JA]\IES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 comes nearest to it. Besides, lie is altogether a 
 stranger to the embarrassments and Difficulties of 
 her present Circumstances, and for that reason 
 also an improper Judge for her line of Conduct. 
 
 He does not however think with her that Peace is 
 very Distant. In hope of that he will remain here 
 this Winter at least, if not called off with a better 
 man (Gov^. H.^) to a better "World. Of such a sum- 
 mons his present good health and Spirits give no 
 other warning than what may be looked for at an 
 advanced Period of Life. 
 
 What would you think, should a Peace return 
 your Conductor from St. Augustine in such Strength 
 as to be able (for he would be very willing were it 
 your choice) to convoy you as far as Georgia in 
 your way back. There we could see our Friend 
 Philip and family and going or returning put into 
 Cape Fear to visit Relations and Estate there. 
 
 I rejoice to hear you got your paultry supply of 
 linen. If the thread missing was the black, that 
 was not sent. 
 
 If you could without much trouble get leave to 
 send us a Barrel of Apples and another to Miss 
 Cuming, they would be very acceptable. These 
 Ladies will tell you that they will be very happy to 
 execute [your] Commands, which they well know 
 are always for good. 
 
 Mrs. Mackay's heirs have sold as much of their 
 Estate here as amounts to L.600 Ster, and have left 
 three or four hundred more to dispose of ; a season- 
 
 ^ Governor Hutchinson died June 3, 1780. 
 
IN EXILE 281 
 
 able Supply, the income of which is to be sacredly 
 appropriated to their use. Will not this long Letter 
 and the Inclosed give a claim to Letters from you 
 both, as long and particular as you can with pro- 
 priety send. Nothing of your Politics is desired — 
 we have enough of that from other hands. . . . 
 
 I forgot to tell you that Maryanne, after a rest of 
 13 years, brought us a fine Mulatto Child (Daugh- 
 ter) last week. 
 
 I shall enclose this, your Husband's, and one to 
 Boy Jack, as you direct under cover to our J. I. C. 
 Adieu. 
 
 Three years later, to anticipate the due course of 
 events, Mr. Forbes died. Peace had just been de- 
 clared, and his fortunes were shattered. Hoping to 
 mend them he took passage with his son James for 
 London. While the vessel was detained at New 
 York he wrote to his wife the following letter in 
 explanation of the journey : — 
 
 REV. JOHN FORBES TO DOROTHY FORBES. 
 
 New York, 1783. 
 This morning I intended to have wrote you and, 
 being hurried earlier on board the Packet Duke of 
 Cumberland than I expected, I am disappointed in 
 the opportunity of writing so fully as I wished. I 
 have the pleasure this moment of receiving yours 
 inclosed by one from M" Inman. I am sorry my 
 letters have not reached you. I, no doubt, have 
 been remiss. I have been sick, lingering and unset- 
 
282 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 tied. I meant upon the peace to have paid you a 
 visit at Boston. ... I had one great stake fixed on 
 the fate of E. Florida ; thought my property there 
 secure and Capable of great improvement. Industry 
 and even economy and frugality were not wanting 
 on my part. I had retired to where M' Cumings 
 formerly lived, made it an elegant, beautiful and 
 convenient situation, & had just expectations, inde- 
 pendent of my friends, of providing for my family 
 and of placing the boys in a capacity of raising 
 themselves and giving scope to ambition, and from 
 a fitful provision I had the prospect of being worth 
 not less than 1000 . . . p'' Annum ; but this vanishes 
 to perhaps scarce bare subsistence. . . . Upon hear- 
 ing of the peace, having all my property in Florida, 
 I thought by going immediately to England I might 
 be of use to myself, either by giving a short repre- 
 sentation of the importance of retaining the pro- 
 vince under the Crown of Great Britain or in finding 
 early what hopes I might entertain of being in a 
 situation of remaining in England with my united 
 family, when the boys might be educated under my 
 eye. With this View I took passage on board this 
 ship for myself & son, and unexpectedly have been 
 long detained and am here by accident, the wind 
 answering for Captain Dashwood's coming here to 
 water, where we have staid a few days. You know 
 I do not hke to alter my plan. Had it been possi- 
 ble consistant with the great object I had in view to 
 have seen you, I would. James has lately lost much 
 by my want of health and hurry of business. . . . 
 
IN EXILE 283 
 
 I cannot tell you what he or I will do in England, 
 or where we may be fixed. My affairs in Florida I 
 left as if I had been going only 20 miles distance. 
 I could not sell my houses. I did not like to sell my 
 negroes. I cannot live idle, I must do some thing. 
 I hate the West Indies, and I wish to consult you. 
 
 I sent you a power of Atterney, and in case it has 
 not reached I will send another. I must soon return 
 to Florida to settle my affairs.^ My love to the 
 boys 
 
 On board the Duke of 
 Cumberland packet on the way to Sandy Hook. 
 
 One more gleam of hope shows itself in the fol- 
 lowing letter, the last to be printed here from Mr. 
 Murray's pen. He was ready, if by that means a 
 reunion of the family could be accomplished, to 
 begin life anew in His Majesty's Province of Maine. 
 One consideration only makes him pause, — his fear 
 of endangering the interests of his friends in Boston 
 by building up a rival town. 
 
 1 After Mr. Forbes's death, Mrs. Forbes, hoping to recover some- 
 thing from his estate as well as from her father's, made the expedi- 
 tion to Wilmington and St. Augustine spoken of in a previous chap- 
 ter. Her efforts were fruitless, but Mr. Forbes had owned lands in 
 Florida which had been given over to the Spaniards at the close of 
 the war, and for these lands she did receive compensation afterward 
 from the British government. Her son James finished his education 
 abroad. He afterward came to this country and married. John 
 died unmarried. Ralph Bennet Forbes married Margaret Perkins. 
 See John Murray Forbes, Life and Recollections, edited by Sarah 
 Forbes Hughes. 
 
284 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 JAMES MURRAY TO DOROTHY FORBES AND ELIZABETH 
 MURRAY. 
 
 Halifax, Feb^ 17th, 1781. 
 
 My Dear Children, — About a Week ago I 
 received by way of New York your Letters of the 
 14th and 15th Nov^ and Mr. Dowse's of the 8th 
 of that month. That you are all well gives us no 
 small Pleasure. Health, Patience and Resignation 
 will enable you, I hope, to endure with Firmness the 
 Remainder of your Difficulties from the War, which 
 by everything we hear seems to draw near a close. 
 In this View, therefore, I think it will be improper 
 to further teize Mr. E. for the interest due from 
 him. 
 
 Fifty pounds lawful money of the late Mr. Hoopers 
 Estate I paid to John Rowe the 25th July 1760, upon 
 his note of hand bearing interest, and that sum, 
 except what Interest he has paid, was left in his hand 
 when I left Boston. The Principal and Interest due 
 I think he might pay to you, giving him security to 
 indemnify him for his note and Mr. Dowse's order 
 joined to mine which shall be annexed to this, or 
 even mine alone may be sufficient. 
 
 The Rumour for some time here is that the Pro- 
 vince of Main is to be effectually settled under the 
 King's Protection early in the Summer, and that 
 the New England Refugees are to be invited thither. 
 If that is to be the Case, your old Father will, if 
 he Hves, make one. You know he delights in form- 
 ing New Settlements, where Improvements proceed 
 rapidly. Yet he confesses that, in regard to his 
 
m EXILE 285 
 
 Friends in and about Boston, whose Interest if that 
 settlement goes on vigorously will be much affected, 
 in Regard to them, he wishes to forgo that Plea- 
 sure, that Boston, after all it has done and suffered, 
 may yet hold up its head as a principal Town in 
 America. 
 
 In a former letter you were told that the Two 
 Sisters M. and G.^ had upon good terms, L.800 
 Ster., got quit of their landed Property here. All 
 (except the little Tenement about L.200 value in 
 which we live) the produce thereof has been remitted 
 in bills of exchange for their use. 
 
 By Several Letters which have come to light, it 
 appears that the Writers look upon the War as we 
 do, in a dying Condition. One instance of this is 
 the sending for your Cousin Polly, to whom I shall 
 not fail to give notice as early as I can of the Invi- 
 tation, of which I dare say she will readily accept, 
 having severely regretted or Cause to regret that 
 ever she left America. But who can f orsee events ? 
 
 You have no Cause to apprehend my crossing the 
 Atlantic, be Events as they will : My Ambition is 
 gone to Sleep before me. A Man near Seventy, if 
 in his Senses, can want hut little here helow, nor 
 want that little long. Therefore the withdrawing 
 my Salary for some time past gives me little con- 
 cern. . . . 
 
 Nothing can be done relative to T. H's note to 
 you, till a Peace, or until his Port be quite open. 
 But of this, more when we meet, which I hope will 
 
 * Mrs. Murray and Mrs. Gordon. 
 
286 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 be in a few months, either in the Province o£ Main 
 or at Boston. . . . 
 
 But the Maine scheme and all others for reunion 
 upon earth were to come to naught. Mr. Murray's 
 health had for some years been precarious. It now 
 failed rapidly, and in the latter part of the year 1781 
 he died. The following letter from Mrs. Inman, 
 dated Cambridge, July 22, 1782, contains all the 
 particulars that have been preserved : — 
 
 " Letters from Halifax to Mr. Greenleaf and Mrs. 
 Bridgen," she wrote to Dr. John Murray, [said] 
 " that my brother lay on his death-bed and [gave] the 
 particulars of his illness. This account I suppressed 
 and kept the young folks from Town, tho at a gay 
 season. I perswaded them to keep Thanksgiving, 
 Chrisen-Mass, and New Year here, making an ex- 
 cuse that Mrs. Belcher was not able to go abroad. 
 Letters never arrived from Mrs. Murray till February. 
 Happy for them it was near Spring, they were in 
 such a situation that I was afraid they would fall a 
 sacrifice to grief. We kept them moving from 
 place to place with some chearful sympathizing 
 friends. They are now better tho at times very 
 dull. They will ever regret being absent from their 
 Father." 
 
 Mrs. Inman survived her brother only a few years, 
 and these few were sad ones. Her friends were scat- 
 tered, her means reduced, and her health was under- 
 mined. At intervals she thought of repairing to 
 England. " My attachment to this country," she 
 
m EXILE 287 
 
 wrote, " has been violent, but these times and the 
 death of our much loved Brother has wean'd me in 
 such a measure that I am anxious for the sun to rise 
 and the wind to blow that shall clear me of this 
 once happy shore." 
 
 In another letter, written from Providence, Sep- 
 tember 18, 1783, she says : — 
 
 " Had not this cruel war taken place, it would 
 have been in my power to have put my Dear Polly 
 into a state of Independence : the ill consequences 
 of it we have felt in common with thousands on this 
 Continent ; from the most exact computation Mr. 
 
 I has lost five thousand pounds sterling and 
 
 lived a great part of the time in the sugar house 
 with only Jack Marlebor'h for a servant. As we 
 had only fifty pound a year, he was servant enough. 
 As I did not take paper, this was all we could com- 
 mand. As to Intrest, I have received none these 
 nine years, therefore I sold a house as soon as hard 
 money came in play, and remitted you the money. 
 As to my personal expenses they do not amount to 
 fifty pound sterling these nine years; dress I thought 
 needless, as I could neither entertain nor visit, so I 
 took the old method to Clout the auld as the new 
 was dear. . . . 
 
 "We are now upon a visit at Providence and 
 stay at Mr. & Mrs. Clark's, where we see your sons 
 every day ; ^ by their friendship and attention they 
 
 1 Anne Murray Powell resided in Canada after the Revolution. 
 Her sister Elizabeth, it seems from this letter, was to join her. How 
 many of Dr. John Murray's children were at that time in America 
 
288 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 make it an agreeable home to us all. Her Brother 
 is Lieut. Governor, and makes this place an agree- 
 able assylum to the distressed Refugees, where their 
 friends assemble from all quarters to see them. The 
 uncommon attention we meet from her connexions 
 convinces us of her attachment to our family. It 
 gives me pleasure to see John so happy. Your son 
 James is doing very well under the Parental care 
 of his Brother who is very fond of him. Robert, 
 who I am much pleased with, we left at Cambridge 
 under the care of Mrs. Forbes, as he had a slight 
 indisposition which rendered the journey improper. 
 We hear he is recovering. Offer my Love to my 
 sister and all the family at Wells and Norwich. Do 
 not be sm-prised if you see me attended by one of 
 your sons one of these days. I threaten it very 
 seriously ; they say I have lost my health and you 
 know I had rather change Climates than remain 
 what they call poorly. What say you my 
 Brother?" 
 
 Mrs. Inman never accomplished the projected 
 visit to her brother ; her strength was unequal to 
 the journey. On the 25th of May, 1785, with suf- 
 ficient warning of the end to enable her to close 
 gently her relations with the world, and to distribute 
 
 does not appear. James had joined John in Providence, as the next 
 paragraph of the letter indicates, and Robert apparently had lately 
 come over from England. Of the ten or more children six, viz., 
 John, Anne, Robert, Elizabeth, George, and James eventually set- 
 tled in America. Mary, Charlotte, Helen, and Charles remained in 
 England. Another son, Valentine, who died young, is mentioned in 
 Dr. John Murray's letters. 
 
IN EXILE 289 
 
 among tliose to whom she had always been a gener- 
 ous giver her last remembrance and farewells, she 
 died, to the passionate grief of her nieces and the 
 keen regret of her friends. 
 
 In the year 1783 the conclusion of peace brought 
 relief even to the Tories in America. Not so, in- 
 deed, to Dr. Murray, who had despairingly written 
 from England : " Poor Britain ! How much like 
 Babylon and Carthage in her fall, and how nearly 
 will she resemble them in her fate ! The nations 
 around already loll out the tongue, and the owl and 
 the bittern may soon take possession of her palaces." 
 
 Ehzabeth Murray, in 1785, married Mr. Edward 
 Hutchinson Robbins, who, in 1780, when he was but 
 twenty-two years of age, had been a member of the 
 convention which framed the Constitution of Massa- 
 chusetts, and who, as Representative and Speaker 
 of the House, as Lieutenant Governor, as member of 
 the Governor's Council, and as Judge of Probate, 
 continued to serve the State in of&ce and out of 
 office as long as he Hved. Elizabeth's children^ 
 were Eliza ; Sarah Lydia, who married Judge Howe ; 
 Anne Jean,^ who married Judge Lyman of North- 
 ampton ; Mary, who married Paul Joseph Warren 
 Revere, a son of Paul Revere ; Edward Hutchinson ; 
 James Murray, into whose hands Brush Hill after- 
 wards came ; and Catherine. 
 
 With the death of Dr. John Murray, in 1792, the 
 record of the elder generation closes. But his chil- 
 
 1 See Appendix. 
 
 ^ See Recollections of my Mother ^ by Susan I. Lesley. 
 
290 JAMES MURRAY, LOYALIST 
 
 dren across the sea and his brother's children 
 accepted philosophically, if not without reservation, 
 the new order, while the descendants comprising the 
 third generation were American to the core. Indeed, 
 two sons of Mary Robbins Revere, grandsons of 
 Paul Revere, and great-grandsons of James Murray, 
 fell on the battlefield in the war for the Union, giv- 
 ing to their country lives derived on the one hand 
 from the Patriot, and on the other from their Tory 
 ancestor. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
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REMARKS ON THE GENEALOGY OF HURRAYS 
 
 BY ARCHIBALD M. HOWE 
 
 The accompanying " Genealogy of Murrays " ^ conforms al- 
 most exactly to the lineage printed, under the title of " Murray 
 of Philiphaugh," in Burke's "Commoners," vol. iii. pp. 56-59, 
 and Burke's "Landed Gentry," vol. ii. of 1898, p. 1078. T. 
 Craig-Brown, under the same title, in " The History of Selkirk- 
 shire, or Chronicles of Ettrick Forest," vol. ii. p. 335, prints the 
 tree, which corresponds in many ways, but gives names of direct 
 line and of male issue only. One or two slight variations in the 
 table contained in the Appendix from Burke's list printed on 
 page 3 of this volume will be observed. 
 
 I have no doubt that the identification of John Murray of 
 Bowhill and his issue was made by a competent hand from fam- 
 ily manuscript in the possession of James Murray Bobbins. 
 
 II 
 
 GRANDCHILDREN OF JAMES MURRAY 
 
 A 
 
 Children of Dorothy Murray Forbes and John Forbes, mar- 
 ried February 2, 1769. 
 
 James Grant, born November 22, 1769. 
 John Murray, born August 13, 1771. 
 Ralph Bennet, born June 11, 1773. 
 
 1 See Table. 
 
APPENDIX 295 
 
 B 
 
 Children of Elizabeth Murray Robbins and Edward Hutch- 
 inson Bobbins, married November, 1785. 
 Eliza Robbins, born August 26, 1786. 
 Sarah Lydia, born December 16, 1787. 
 Anne Jean, born July 3, 1789. 
 Edward Hutchinson, born March 24, 1792. 
 Mary, born October 16, 1794. 
 James Murray, born June 30, 1796. 
 Catharine, born March 25, 1800. 
 
 Ill 
 
 THE MURRAY FAMILY 
 
 BY SARAH LYDIA HOWE 
 
 [This account of the early history of the Murray family, 
 Mrs. Howe, daughter of EHzabeth and Edward Hutchinson 
 Robbins, abridged, as her own explanation indicates, from 
 Scott's introduction to "The Sang of the Outlaw Murray." 
 The abridgment, interspersed by Mrs. Howe's comments, was 
 prepared as a convenient reference for her family, without any 
 expectation on her part that it would ever be printed. Mrs. 
 Howe died in 1862.] 
 
 It is well known that, from the conquest of England by the 
 Normans (1066) to the accession of James IV. of Scotland 
 (1603) to the united kingdoms, a perpetual discord was kept 
 up between the people of both countries respecting the lands 
 of each, and during a great part of nearly five centuries the 
 borderers lived in a fearful state of mutual enmity and aggres- 
 sion. It appears that the family of Murray of Philiphaugh 
 took an active part in these hostilities. 
 
 The song of the "Outlaw Murray" was found by Sir 
 Walter Scott among the papers of Mrs. Cockburn, of Edin- 
 burgh, a friend of Sir Walter's mother, and the author of that 
 beautiful song, " I 've seen the smiling of fortune beguiling." ^ 
 
 Sir Walter's prefatory remarks upon the ballad, and his 
 notices of our ancestors, form an admirable commencement of 
 
296 APPENDIX 
 
 that brief narrative in which the American branch of the old 
 border race are chronicled. The ballad commemorates a trans- 
 action supposed to have taken place betwixt a Scottish monarch 
 and an ancestor of the ancient family of Murray of Philip- 
 haugh in Selkirksliire. 
 
 " It is certain that during the civil wars between Bruce and 
 Baliol, the family of Philiphaugh existed and was powerful, for 
 their ancestor, Archibald de Moravia, subscribed the oath of 
 fealty to Edward I., 1296. It is, therefore, not unlikely that 
 residing in a wild and frontier country, they may have, at one 
 period or other during these commotions, refused allegiance 
 to the feeble monarch of the day, and thus have extorted from 
 him some grant of territory or jurisdiction. It is also certain 
 that by a charter from James IV. dated November 30, 1509, 
 John Murray is vested with the dignity of heritable sheriff of 
 Ettrick Forest, an office held by his descendants tiU the final 
 abolition of such jurisdiction, by 28*^^ Geo. II. cap. 23." 
 
 The name Moravia, first contracted to Moray, then altered to 
 Murray, was originally Norman, which accounts for the ready 
 allegiance to the English king. 
 
 The ballad connects the refusal of allegiance with the grant 
 of the sheriffalty, but Sir Walter supposes the former event to 
 have been considerably anterior to the latter ; but that the bard, 
 " willing to pay his court to the family," combined the two 
 as in direct connection. He also supposes that Murray of 
 1509 was a man of great energy of character, and that James 
 IV. was willing to conciliate him that he might engage his 
 services to keep peace on the border. James had married 
 the Princess Margaret, a daughter of Henry VII. of England. 
 Ettrick Forest was claimed by the Scottish monarch as part of 
 the crown lands, and given as part of her jointure to his queen. 
 He was, therefore, desirous that Murray should be engaged in 
 his interest as a defender of the family property. " In order to 
 accomplish this object it was natural for him, according to the 
 policy of his predecessors, to invest one great family with the 
 power of keeping order among the rest. It is even probable 
 that the Philiphaugh family may have had claims upon part 
 of the lordship of Ettrick Forest, which lay intermingled with 
 their own extensive possessions. . . • 
 
APPENDIX 297 
 
 " It is farther probable that the Murrays, like other border 
 clans, were in a very lawless state, and held their lands merely 
 by occupancy, without any feudal right [without any charter 
 from the king of either country]. Indeed, the lands of the vari- 
 ous proprietors in Ettrick Forest (being a royal demesne) were 
 held by the possessors, not in property, but as the . . . tenants of 
 the crown ; and it is only about one hundred and fifty years [this 
 written about 1800] since they obtained charters. This state 
 of possession naturally led to a confusion of rights and claims. 
 The kings of Scotland were often reduced to the humiliating 
 necessity of compromising such matters with their rebellious 
 subjects." 
 
 Sir Walter Scott supposes the scene of the ballad to have 
 been " Hangingshaw, the seat of the Pliiliphaugh family." 
 " The merit of this beautiful old tale," he says, " it is thought, 
 will be fully acknowledged. It has been for ages a popular 
 song in Selkirkshire." One of his friends, Mr. Plummer, the 
 sheriff-depute of Selkirkshire, assured him that he remembered 
 the insignia of the unicorns so often mentioned in the ballad 
 upon the old tower of Hangingshaw. This tower has been 
 demolished. " It stood in a romantic and solitary situation on 
 the classical banks of the Yarrow. When the mountains around 
 Hangingshaw were covered with the wild copse which consti- 
 tuted a Scottish forest, a more secure stronghold for an outlawed 
 baron can hardly be imagined." See in the ballad the line, 
 
 " ! gin it stands not pleasantlie ! " 
 
 The tradition of Ettrick Forest describes the outlaw Murray as 
 a man of prodigious strength, and that he was at length slain 
 by Buccleuch, or some of his clan, on a little mount covered 
 with fir-trees near Newark Castle. A varying tradition relates 
 that the fatal arrow was shot by Scott of Haining from a ruined 
 cottage on the opposite side of Yarrow. There were extant in 
 the latter part of the last century some verses on his death. 
 
 Sir Walter composed the ballad from various recitations, 
 and it is to me an affecting circumstance that two stanzas of it 
 were repeated to him by that ill-fated traveler Mungo Park, 
 from whose mind the legendary love of his country was never 
 
298 APPENDIX 
 
 eradicated. "The arms of the Philiphaugh family are said 
 to allude to their outlawed state. They are those of a hunts- 
 man, and are blazoned thus : Argent, a hunting horn sahle, 
 stringed and garnished gules, on a chief azure, three stars of the 
 first. Crest, a demi-f orester, winding his horn proper. Motto : 
 Hmc usque superna venaborJ" 
 
 These arms are engraved upon two pieces of plate formerly ^ 
 in possession of Mrs. S. L. Howe, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 
 This lady was lineally descended from the Philiphaugh family, 
 her great-grandfather, Mr. John Murray, having been a younger 
 brother of that house.'^ His son, James Murray, Esq., the grand- 
 father of Mrs. Howe, bequeathed the silver vessels to his daugh- 
 ter, the late Mrs. Elizabeth Bobbins. 
 
 IV 
 
 ROBERT RENNET 
 
 [From Jeffrey's History and Antiquities of Roxburghshire, 
 vol. ii. p. 366.] 
 
 Robert Bennet . . . was a remarkable man in his day. He was 
 a stern Presbyterian ; and for maintaining his principles was re- 
 peatedly fined and imprisoned. In 1662 he was forced to pay 
 1200 pounds before he could get the benefit of the act of in- 
 demnity. His offense was desertion of his parish church and 
 refusing to attend the conforming clergymen. In 1670 he at- 
 tended the open-air ministrations of John Blackadder and 
 others. In 1676 he was charged with being at a conventicle 
 held at Selkirk Common, and failing to appear before the Privy 
 Council he was outlawed and his goods confiscated. On his 
 being apprehended some time after and carried before the 
 Privy Council the charges were referred to his oath and on his 
 refusing to swear he was sentenced to be carried to the Bars 
 and imprisoned until further orders. He was, however, detained 
 in Edinburgh ToUbooth and again taken before the Council, 
 charged with attending field conventicles at which Welsh, 
 
 1 Now in possession of Archibald M. Howe and James Murray Howe. 
 
 2 There is a slight error here. It was the father of Mrs. Howe's great- 
 grandfather who was the younger brother of that house. 
 
APPENDIX 299 
 
 Blackadder, and others preached, and also harboring and reset- 
 ting in his own house Welsh and others. On being examined 
 he admitted the charges, but refused to refrain from attending 
 conventicles or to attend his own parish church. For his con- 
 tumacy he was fined in 4000 merks and ordained to be impris- 
 oned in the Bars till the fine was paid. In February, 1678, a 
 petition was presented by Mrs. Bennet praying that her hus- 
 band might be liberated from prison to attend ujDon her death- 
 bed. Interest having been made with the Duke of Lauderdale 
 and the Bishop, leave was granted him to go to Chesters till 
 18th of March following, on which day he was to reenter the 
 Bars under penalty of 4000 merks. In 1680 he was again 
 imprisoned in the Bars because he would not forbear attending 
 Covenanting preachers. After suffering imprisonment for 
 eleven months he was liberated upon paying 1000 merks. 
 Bennet was alive in 1701. His descendants continued to pos- 
 sess the manor for four succeeding generations.^ 
 
 DR. JOHN MURRAY OF NORWICH 
 
 [Extracts from "A General History of the County of Norfolk,'* 
 Norwich, 1829, vol. ii. p. 1204, et seq. Published anonymously, 
 but a note in the British Museum copy gives John Chambers as 
 author.^] 
 
 John Murray, M. D., the founder of the Scot's Society, etc. 
 in Norwich, resided for a few years in this parish (i. e. St. 
 Simon and Jude). This amicable philanthropist was a native 
 of Scotland, and born January 29, 1720, at Unthank, in Esk- 
 dale ; he served for many years as a surgeon in His Majesty's 
 Navy, but having received his diploma from Edinburgh, re- 
 tired from the service upon half pay, and in 1751 settled at 
 Wells in this county, where he practiced as a physician till 
 1768, when he removed to this city (Norwich). Here he dis- 
 tinguished himself by encouraging every charitable pursuit, and 
 was one of the first and most zealous promoters of the Norfolk 
 
 1 The extracts were made by F. B. Forbes, from the copy in the British 
 Museum, in 1885. 
 
300 APPEKDIX 
 
 and Norwich hospital, which he afterwards attended with the 
 utmost perseverance and assiduity, until within a short time of 
 his death, when increasing infirmities obliged him to relinquish 
 an employment so congenial to his humane and benevolent dis- 
 position. He also founded the Scot's Society in Norwich,^ to 
 assist those of his distressed countrymen who could claim no 
 parish relief, and as it flourished beyond his hopes, through the 
 patronage of the Earl of Rosebery, Sir William Jerningham, 
 and various other subscribers, he extended the benefit of the 
 society to foreigners of all nations. Dr. Murray died in the 
 parish of St. Andrew, September 26, 1792, and was buried in 
 Wells churchyard, where on a square column is the following 
 inscription : — 
 
 East Side : I. M. M. D. Hie situs est Pater, Filius, Frater, 
 omnium amicus. Hostes caetera dicant. 
 Love ye the stranger. 
 Be ye wise as Serpents and harmless as Doves. 
 
 West Side : John Murray, M. D., died September 26, 1792. 
 Aged 71 years : a man universally beloved, and eminently dis- 
 tinguished by his domestic virtues, unaffected piety, profes- 
 sional abilities, and entensive benevolence, to whose memory 
 this column is erected by his affectionate widow and children. 
 
 North Side : Sacred to the memory of Mary Murray aged 
 
 1 The Scot's Society in Norwich was founded November 30, 1775, in the 
 following manner. It had been customary for the natives of Scotland re- 
 siding in this city to celebrate the feast of St. Andrew with some degree 
 of cheerfulness : at the breaking up of one of these anniversary meetings, 
 the company being pretty large, an overplus of 8s/6d was found in the 
 hands of Dr. Murray, who collected the reckoning and who proposed mak- 
 ing it a fund for the purpose mentioned above : to this sum 10s were added, 
 being money put under a hat, as proposed by the collector, to relieve any 
 Scotchman who might come to Norwich in distress, and might need the 
 whole or any part of this small sum. The year passed without any claim 
 being made, and the same idea being pursued at the next anniversary, 
 1775, when the sum collected amounted to upwards of £3, the society was 
 regularly formed, and in 1784 altered its name to that of " The Society of 
 Universal Good Will." After the death of Dr. Murray the society gradu- 
 ally declined, and what remained of its funds was transferred with the 
 consent of its patrons to the Society of Friends of Foreigners in Distress 
 and other institutions of a similar nature in London. 
 
APPEOT)IX 301 
 
 eighty-eight. Widow of the late Dr. John Murray. After an 
 exemplary fulfillment of the various duties of a wife, a mother, 
 and of a pious Christian, her meek spirit was called to receive 
 the reward of the righteous, on the 7th March, 1819. 
 
 South Side : In the same grave with those of his father, are 
 deposited the remains of Thomas Archibald Murray, M. D., 
 late of London, who in all respects exemplified the character of 
 his revered parent. Cut off in the flower of his youth, he yet 
 fulfilled the duties of a long life. His task accompUshed, his 
 pure spirit was summoned home, to receive the reward of piety 
 and virtue, on the 16th day of March, 1802, in the 28th year of 
 his age. 
 
 Dr. Murray was the author of works on " The Gradual Abo- 
 lition of Slavery," on the " Medical Department of the Navy," 
 and " Tracts relating to the Scot's Society in Norwich," etc. 
 
 VI 
 
 LETTER FROM MARY MURRAY TO MRS. BARNES 
 
 Norwich, October 10th, 1792. 
 I will not tell you in the language of complaint that I have 
 lost the best and most indulgent of Fathers, the kindest and 
 most affectionate of Friends — let me rather endeavor to in- 
 form you my Dear Aunt, with the composure of a Christian 
 that my beloved Parent was released from his sufferings on the 
 26th of last month and I trust is in possession of that high re- 
 ward allotted to those who by patient continuance in well doing 
 seek for Glory and Honor, and Immortality — yet the weak- 
 ness of my nature strives with that firm faith which his saint 
 like spirit labored to implant in my mind and till this evening 
 I have felt myself unequal to the task of retracing scenes which 
 can never be blotted from my memory, and this is the first vol- 
 untary product of my pen since the miserable day on which I 
 last addressed you. Prepared as we ought to have been for the 
 event, I was harassed beyond description on its approach. The 
 night of the 24th I passed at the bed-side of my Father, whose 
 senses were then on the verge of departure, and till near two in 
 
302 APPENDIX 
 
 the morning he gave manifest tokens of pain ; a little interval 
 of ease was succeeded by total insensibility and in that state he 
 continued till between three and four the next morning when he 
 resigned his guileless spirit into the hands of his Creator with- 
 out a groan. My Dear Mother and all her Children took their 
 final leave some hours before : my Aunt and my beloved friend 
 supplied our place and Charles was called before the scene was 
 closed. I cannot regret my absence at the time — I had staid 
 by him to the last moment that it was possible to be of use or 
 comfort to him and the hour of trial was at hand which called 
 for a renovation of strength and spirits. My only Parent was 
 now to be comforted ; at first she shed no tears but the sight of 
 her children produced the salutary shower which relieved her and 
 I am truly thankful that I can now add that she is tolerably well, 
 since the last duties were performed and that the mournful pre- 
 paration for them seemed to excite her to exertions of which a less 
 perfect affection would have been incapable. It was my Father's 
 wish to be buried with his Children at Wells, and my Brothers 
 were earnest that aU his wishes should be fulfilled as far as 
 their power could extend. On the morning of the 30th the 
 whole family met at breakfast and after bidding my Mother a 
 solemn farewell we began our melancholy journey. My Aunt 
 whom my Father had requested to see him interred, my Sister 
 PoweU and Eliza, Charles, Tom and the first pledge of his love 
 as he used tenderly to call me, followed the Hearse in a Mourn- 
 ing Coach — James the 2d, Mr. Brownes William and Grant 
 on horseback. We passed through many ViUages where my 
 Father was known and loved, and the manners of the people 
 were in unison with our feelings, silent and dejected. About 
 three miles from Wells we were met by some friends and be- 
 fore we reached the Town, great part of its inhabitants joined 
 the mournful procession. We stopt at the Church gate about 
 5 o'clock — there my Uncle met us and the whole of the Cere- 
 mony was performed in a manner equal to our most sanguine 
 wishes. The blessings of the poor, and the affectionate respect 
 of his equals followed my dearest Father to his grave, while 
 the tear of sympathy alleviated the sorrow of his children and 
 friends. The next morning Mrs. Powell and myself paid our 
 
APPENDIX 303 
 
 last visit to the earthly repository of our Father and I hope 
 while I remain in this part of the world to be indulged with an 
 annual journey to the place of my nativity endeared to me by 
 the reflection that more than 20 years of absence had not de- 
 prived us of its esteem. On our return home we found my 
 Mother better than we could have supposed. Charlotte/ Helen 
 and our good friends the Miss Brittinghams had staid with her 
 in our absence by turns. My own feelings on this occasion I 
 cannot describe, nor do I wish you to conceive them. We are 
 yet busy and unsettled ; much is to be done, after all is over 
 little will remain but that little, I have reason to believe will be 
 wholly devoted to my Mother — at least it is my fervent wish 
 and earnest desire that it should he so, and I have not a doubt, 
 nay I am certain of the concurrence of all who have any right 
 to interfere in the business. My sister has been busied in fit- 
 ting her two eldest Boys for school ; they left us on Monday. 
 Helen goes in a few days. My Aunt has left us so we are on 
 the reduced or reducing system. Mrs. P. hopes you will excuse 
 her a little longer — for the reasons I have alledged and for the 
 present you must, my Dear Aunt, extend your indulgence to 
 me, for I am sensible this letter is too prolix, too particular — 
 yet as you have wandered with me in the labjTinth of perplexi- 
 ties for so long a time I could not avoid wishing for your so- 
 ciety a little longer, till we find the friendly clue which is to 
 conduct us to a peaceful Home. If you wish to have a tran- 
 script of my dear Fathers character from the Pubhc Papers, 
 my next letter shall inclose it to you and in this I must mention 
 that he has left no Will, but in his memorandum Book was 
 found a request that " as soon as might be convenient to the 
 Minister of the Parish, and his own family, he desired a Plain 
 Practical Sermon might be preached at the Parish Church 
 from the third verse of the 12th Chapter of Daniel " — fre- 
 quently would he have this chapter read to him, and with a 
 voice softened by humility would say " I hope I have turned 
 many to righteousness, and when the last comes shall be per- 
 mitted to stand in my place.'' A few days before my Father's 
 
 1 Dr. Murray's daughter, afterwards Mrs. Brown, and author of " Judah's 
 Lion," a religious work once widely read. 
 
304 APPEXDIX 
 
 departure, lie was sufficiently sensible to ask me to read and 
 pray by him. You will believe I was not slow to obey him, and 
 could you but have seen him at the moment when he closed his 
 expressive eyes and lifted his trembling hands to Heaven, you 
 would have acknowledged that he was fitted for the society of 
 just men made i:terfect. Oh, may the Almighty look down 
 with equal favor upon us to lead us in the path of everlasting 
 life there if needful to the perfection of happiness, we shall all 
 know each other, or find every human tie superceded by affec- 
 tion of a superior kind ! 
 
 \Octoher\ 11th. 
 My spirits were so exhausted last night that I quitted you, 
 my Dear Aunt, rather abruptly and even now cannot sufficiently 
 collect my ideas to enter upon less interesting subjects. Every 
 day seems to realize the frightful dream in which I have been 
 so long engaged, and even the hurry of business cannot divest 
 my mind of painful recollections, but a truce with complainings. 
 My next will I hope be less gloomy, for I shall continue these 
 narrations from time to time because you say they amuse you 
 and because I feel myself gratified by the tender interest you 
 take in what concerns us. James is a kind and attentive 
 Brother — he seems disposed to make us all comfortable and 
 my Mother feels infinite consolation in his presence. The chil- 
 dren engage her attention and are much attached to her, but 
 she has some complaints which make me fear her constitution 
 has received material injury and this is not a season for her to 
 try change of air and scene. Anne's health seems quite estab- 
 lished. Elizabeth's is not so good and poor Tom is just recover- 
 ing from the shock his Father's death occasioned. He was 
 drooping many days before but I hope a short time will restore 
 his pristine strength. We are going to send him into the 
 Country ; it is now too late for him to go to Edinburgh this 
 year. We have all had a loss but that he sustains is the most 
 serious and severe, however, I hope his Brothers will complete 
 his education according to the wishes of the best of Men and 
 Fathers. In speaking of the family I must not omit mention- 
 ing my chief comfort and support. He is well and always 
 a welcome guest among us ; perhaps Ann when she writes will 
 
APPENDIX 305 
 
 give you her opinion of him and if I may judge from her con- 
 duct, she feels prejudiced in his favor. He is quite charmed 
 with her graceful person and pleasing manners, and I look 
 forward to a less uncomfortable winter than my former fears 
 had anticipated. 
 
 God bless you my dear Friends. Accept the united regards, 
 of this family and beheve me, 
 
 Your dutiful and affectionate Niece 
 
 M. Murray. 
 
 VII 
 
 BONDS GIVEN BY MRS. INMAN TO JOHN AND RALPH 
 FORBES 
 
 To John Forbes, son of Dorothy Forbes, now resident in 
 Cambridge, in the County of Middlesex Greeting : as an encour- 
 agement to you, to induce on your part a due attention to your 
 studies during your continuance at Harvard Colledge, a proper 
 observance of the rules and regulations prescribed for the gov- 
 ernment of said Colledge, and to excite in you a suitable emula- 
 tion to such a universal deportment as well to the government 
 of said Colledge as to all to whom you shall in any relation stand- 
 as shall at all times be consonant to your rank and character, I, 
 EHzabeth Inman of Cambridge, in the County of Middlesex, 
 wife of Ralph Inman of the same Cambridge, Esquire, do 
 hereby on my part for myseK, my heirs executors and admin- 
 istrators promise and engage to and with you the said John 
 Forbes that if you shall during your continuance at and mem- 
 bership of said ^CoUedge conduct yourself in such manner as 
 to receive the honors of said CoUedge by having the degree of 
 Bachelor of arts confered on you and in every respect so as to 
 meet the approbation of your mother the said Dorothy Forbes 
 and of your aunt Miss Elizabeth Murray then and in such case 
 whensoever the said Dorothy and Elizabeth after your being so 
 graduated shall in any express manner signify their said appro- 
 bation of your conduct and deportment, immediately thereupon 
 I wiU pay or cause to be paid to you the said John Forbes 
 whether of full age or not the sum of one hundred and thirty- 
 three pounds and six shillings and eight pence lawful silver 
 
306 APPENDIX 
 
 money to your own absolute use the same not to be subject to 
 the controul or management of any one. 
 
 In witness whereof I the said Elizabeth have hereunto set 
 mine hand and seal this twelvth day of July in the year of our 
 lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three. 
 
 Eliz : Inman. 
 Signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of 
 Edward H. Robbins. 
 
 A second bond, in substantially the same terms, was given by 
 Mrs. Inman to Ralph Forbes. 
 
 VIII 
 
 DOROTHY FORBES 
 
 Although Mr. Murray speaks so disparagingly of his chil- 
 dren's and nieces' habits of industry and occupation, it is prob- 
 ably an exaggeration of the usual love of diversion which 
 possesses all young people, under twenty years of age, and 
 which it would be a pity to be without. Certainly it was not 
 true of Dorothy, who from her cliildhood was a most devoted 
 and disinterested worker and helper, equal to any emergency. 
 She was as industrious as she was vivacious. I recall the beau- 
 tiful recollections my mother and aunt gave of her after she 
 became an almost helpless invalid from rheumatic gout. They 
 were little girls, and for some three or four years were em- 
 ployed to carry her meals to her room, and sit by her while 
 she ate them. They described her cheerful spirit, in the midst 
 of pain — her love of the best books, from which she cuUed pas- 
 sages to read to them, and from which aU three gathered much 
 instruction, and discussed either with serious zest or with merri- 
 ment. In the book, " Recollections of my Mother," on the 
 438th page, is an extract from a letter which Mrs. Lyman wrote 
 to her daughter in China, in which is a paragraph on her Aunt 
 Forbes's fine influence on her nieces. S. I. L. 
 
APPENDIX 307 
 
 IX 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF HON. JAMES MURRAY 
 ROBBINS 
 
 BY HON. ROGER WOLCOTT 
 [Reprinted by permission of the Massacliusetts Historical Society] 
 
 James Murray Robbins was born and died in the town of 
 Milton. In him were united many strains of the old Puritan 
 blood of the early migrations to the Colony. It was perhaps 
 this inheritance which constrained him and many of his ances- 
 tors to be useful and prominent in town and state affairs, and 
 which tended also to make his mind conservative of the old 
 methods and ideas when called upon to meet new questions 
 which the later years brought for solution. 
 
 His first ancestor bearing the name of Robbins in America 
 was Richard, who, with his wife Rebecca, established himself 
 on the southerly side of Charles River, in Cambridge. 
 
 The third son of Richard was Nathaniel, — born, as was his 
 father, in Scotland, — who married Mary Brazier, and lies in 
 the Old Cambridge burying-ground. His oldest son, Nathan- 
 iel, was born Feb. 28, 1678, and married Hannah, daughter of 
 William Chandler, of Andover, and Mary Dane. 
 
 Their third son, born Aug. 11, 1703, was Thomas Rob- 
 bins, whose second son, by his first wife, Ruth Johnson, was 
 Nathaniel, born April 17, 1726 (H. U. 1747). After his grad- 
 uation he pursued at Cambridge the study of theology, and in 
 1751 was ordained minister of the church in Milton, in wliich 
 office he died May 19, 1795. During this long pastorate of 
 forty-four years, covering the period of the war of the Revolu- 
 tion, he performed his duties both as minister and as citizen 
 with zeal and self-devotion. His sympathy and support were 
 given to the popular cause, and in 1788 he represented the town 
 in the convention which adopted the Federal Constitution. A 
 good if not brilliant preacher, a healer of strife whether between 
 churches or individuals, a man of sagacity and penetration, pos- 
 sessed of " a very accurate acquaintance with human nature," 
 " he carried his amiable quality so far that even when those 
 
308 APPEI^DIX 
 
 were mentioned who were blasted and flagitious, it was his cus- 
 tom to suggest an extenuation if possible." From contemjDo- 
 rary evidence, too, we are assured that "in prayer he was 
 remarkable for copiousness and facility of expression, and at 
 funerals in particular he was admired for a variety of pathetic 
 sentiments pertinent to every person immediately concerned, 
 and to each incident that occurred." His wife was Elizabeth, 
 youngest child of the Hon. Edward Hutchinson, and Lydia, 
 daughter of the Hon. John Foster, who was a leading merchant 
 and for many years Councillor. 
 
 Edward Hutchinson came of a distinguished family, was for 
 many years Judge of Probate for Suffolk County, and was 
 Treasurer of Harvard College from 1726 until his death in 
 1752. He was uncle of Thomas Hutchinson, who has received 
 undeserved opprobrium as the last royal governor of the Pro- 
 vince. His father, Elisha Hutchinson, Representative, Assist- 
 ant, and Councillor, was the son of Colonel Edward Hutchin- 
 son, who met his death in an ambuscade in King PhiHp's War. 
 Colonel Hutchinson was the son of William Hutchinson and 
 his more famous wife, Ann Marbury, whose heretical theology 
 caused her banishment by the austere Puritanism of the Bay 
 Colony, and who finally fell a victim, as did her son, to the 
 tomahawk of the savage. 
 
 The oldest son of the Rev. Nathaniel and Elizabeth Robbins 
 was Edward Hutchinson Robbins, born Feb. 19, 1758 (H. U. 
 1775). After admission to the bar in 1779 he established 
 himself in Milton, and entered upon a long career of useful 
 and honorable service to his native town and to the State. 
 When only twenty-one years of age he was elected a delegate 
 to the convention which framed the Constitution of Massachu- 
 setts, being the youngest member of that distinguished body. 
 For fourteen years he represented the town of Milton in the 
 Legislature, and for nine years he occupied the Speaker's chair. 
 For the performance of the duties of this position he was ex- 
 ceptionally qualified both by temperament and attainments. In 
 1795 he was appointed chairman of a commission to buy the 
 necessary land and erect a new State House, the vote creating 
 the commission also authorizing the sale of the Province House 
 
APPENDIX 309 
 
 and the release to the town of Boston of the State's interest in 
 the Old State House. For ninety years the structure then 
 erected has well sustained the test of changing taste. In 1796 
 he was elected by the House of Representatives to the United 
 States Senate ; but in this choice the other branch of the Legis- 
 lature failed to concur, on the ground that the commercial inter- 
 ests of the State should be represented by a merchant rather 
 than by a lawyer, and Mr. Goodhue, of Salem, was finally 
 elected by the two Houses. For four years he filled the office 
 of Lieutenant-Governor during the official term of Governor 
 Strong. He was for seventeen years Judge of Probate for 
 Norfolk County, and throughout his long and useful life his ser- 
 vices were in constant requisition, both in public and private 
 station ; for his integrity and sound judgment rendered them of 
 great value. He early became deeply interested in the purchase 
 and settlement of the Commonwealth lands in Maine, and for 
 more than forty years made annual visits to the region near 
 Passamaquoddy. The profit from these investments did not 
 accrue in his lifetime ; but his name is perpetuated in the town 
 of Robbinston on the St. Croix River, which attained consider- 
 able importance as a shipbuilding and trading port, until the 
 decline of this industry checked the town's growth and con- 
 verted its population from a seafaring to an agricultural 
 community. 
 
 In November, 1785, he married Miss Elizabeth Murray, 
 daughter of the Hon. James Murray and Barbara Bennet. 
 Mr. Mm'ray emigrated from Philiphaugh, Scotland, where his 
 grandfather was hereditary sheriff of Selkirk, to North Caro- 
 lina, and established himself as a planter on the Cape Fear 
 River. He here became a member of the Council of that Pro- 
 vince ; but in 1765, having lost his wife and several children, 
 he removed to Boston with his two surviving daughters, who 
 afterwards became Mrs. John Forbes and Mrs. E. H. Robbins. 
 
 Mr. Murray's sister was the wife of James Smith, whose 
 sugar-house stood next below Brattle Street Church, and was 
 occupied as barracks by Colonel Dalrymple's regiment, whence 
 Captain Preston's company marched to the Boston Massacre. 
 After the death of Mr. Smith his widow gave to her two nieces 
 
310 APPENDIX 
 
 the estate on Brush Hill, in Milton, where, soon after 1734, Mr. 
 Smith had built the house in which the subject of this memoir 
 was to pass the greater part of his life. Edward Hutchinson 
 Robbins died in Boston, Dec. 29, 1829, and was deeply mourned 
 by his friends and neighbors. 
 
 James Murray Robbins, his sixth child, was born June 30, 
 1796, in the old Gooch house on Milton Hill. "When he was 
 nine years old his father removed from Milton HiU to Brush 
 Hill, within the same town, making his residence in the Smith 
 house, which had become the property of his wife ; and here, 
 eighty years later, the son died. He received his school educa- 
 tion at the Milton Academy, which his father had been largely 
 instrumental in founding, and of whose board of trustees the 
 father and son filled the office of president for seventy-six 
 years. At the age of fifteen he entered the counting-room of 
 the prominent Boston merchants, James and Thomas Handasyd 
 Perkins, and there acquired a thorough training in business 
 habits. 
 
 But the time was not propitious for commercial enterprise 
 or success ; the widespread stagnation of business, consequent 
 upon the blockade maintained by the British fleet, and the 
 hardly less oppressive acts of our own government, seemed to 
 bar the way to entering upon the career of a merchant. In 
 1814 his cousin, John Murray Forbes, who was consul-general 
 at Hamburg, invited him to accept official employment at the 
 consulate ; and it is not difficult to imagine how gladly the boy 
 of eighteen must have exchanged the round of dull and apa- 
 thetic duty in the counting-room for the excitement of the 
 voyage and of foreign travel. 
 
 Nor was his journey to Hamburg devoid of incident. Pas- 
 sage was taken in a Swedish brig to sail from New York ; and 
 Mr. Robbins reached that city by the way of Albany, passing 
 down the Hudson by steamer. While awaiting the sailing of 
 the brig, he gave two days of volunteer service in throwing 
 up intrenchments on Brooklyn Heights. The brig, after 
 many delays, put to sea, but when off Block Island was cap- 
 tured by a British cruiser, and taken to Gardiner's Bay, where 
 was the rendezvous of the squadron. On the ground that the 
 
APPENDIX 311 
 
 vessel was owned in Connecticut, the admiral adjudged her 
 to be lawful prize, and, placing her under command of a 
 prize-officer, ordered him to report at Plymouth, England. 
 Mr. Robbins was the only American on board, and was there- 
 fore, unlike the others, made prisoner of war. On reaching 
 the Enghsh port, however, his extreme youth, and, it is said, 
 the kindly interest of some ladies who had been his fellow- 
 passengers, interceded in his behalf, and he was released. It 
 must be admitted that a considerable experience had been 
 crowded into a brief time for the lad who had so recently left 
 the provincial and beleaguered town of Boston. 
 
 On reaching London, the anxiety and perhaps suffering of 
 the voyage were doubtless succeeded by admiration and wonder ; 
 for the great metropolis was celebrating with pageant and fete 
 and every demonstration of popular rejoicing the return of 
 European peace, and the relief which it brought from the intol- 
 erable burdens of almost universal war. 
 
 But the adventures which were to attend his journey to 
 Hamburg were not yet ended. The vessel in which he soon 
 again embarked in London for his destination went ashore in 
 a dense fog at the mouth of the Elbe. The wind was strong, 
 and the danger of the vessel going to pieces was great ; but 
 after several hours of exposure the passengers and crew suc- 
 ceeded in effecting a landing, saving, however, from the wreck 
 only the clothing they wore. They were upon an island, and 
 found shelter in the light-house, until, some days after, a boat 
 transported them to the mainland. After such adventures, 
 and in a destitute condition, did Mr. Robbins at length reach 
 Hamburg, where the warm greeting of his kinsman, Mr. 
 Forbes, must have been not unwelcome to him. He at once 
 set himself resolutely to learn the German language, entering 
 for this purpose the family of a country clergyman, and even- 
 tually acquired a rare accuracy and facility both of expression 
 and pronunciation. 
 
 In 1815 Mr. Forbes was summoned from his post of duty by 
 Mr. John Quincy Adams for conference in regard to the nego- 
 tiation of commercial treaties with foreign powers, and Mr. 
 Robbins was left in charge of the consulate with the title of 
 
312 APPENDIX 
 
 vice-consul. The peace was of short duration. The news of 
 Napoleon's escape from Elba electrified Eurojje, and the weeks 
 of fevered excitement which followed culminated at Waterloo. 
 Soon the streets of Hamburg echoed the tread of Blucher's vet- 
 erans ; and at a civic banquet given to the victor, to which the 
 representatives of all foreign governments were invited, the 
 boy of nineteen represented the United States. After Mr. 
 Forbes's return to Hamburg, Mr. Bobbins by his orders acted 
 for some time as consul at Elsinore, — a residence which could 
 not have been barren of vivid and lasting impressions. 
 
 Mr. Forbes was subsequently transferred to Rio Janeiro ; 
 and Mr. Robbins, then about twenty-one, returned to Boston. 
 In three years he had indeed seen much, had breathed the edu- 
 cating atmosphere of stirring events, and had learned the 
 important lesson of self-reliance. 
 
 For two years he made voyages as supercargo to the West 
 Indies and the Baltic in the interest of his old employers, and 
 then entered into a partnership with liis elder brother, Edward 
 Hutchinson Robbins, for the manufacture and sale of woolen 
 goods. In the commercial panic of 1829 the firm went down 
 in the prevalent ruin, and Mr. Robbins seems then to have re- 
 solved never to expose himself to a recurrence of like ill-fortune. 
 He did not again engage in business on his own account ; but 
 his peculiar fitness, acquired through the varied experience of 
 these past years, led to his appointment by some of the lead- 
 ing woolen manufacturers of New England as agent for the 
 purchase of wool in Germany. This transferred him again 
 to the scene of his former official duties ; and there he now 
 spent a year and a half, for which he was liberally compen- 
 sated. 
 
 Before his departure he had, with the help of a guide, 
 made a careful and extended survey of a large part of the 
 almost untrodden wilderness of Maine, led thereto by his 
 father's large interests in the pine forests of Passamaquoddy ; 
 and, impressed by the future importance of this product, he 
 had himself secured, by purchase from the Commonwealth of 
 Massachusetts, a tract of 20,000 acres near the Schoodic Lakes. 
 On his return from Germany in 1834, — although the days had 
 
APPENDIX 313 
 
 not yet come of the great speculation in Maine lands, which 
 was to prove so disastrous to many, — he was able to sell this 
 land at a very large advance upon the purchase money. 
 
 In the same year he married Frances Mary Harris, daughter 
 of Abel Harris, of Portsmouth, and Rooksby Coffin, daughter of 
 William Coffin, of Boston, a cousin of Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin. 
 They had no children ; but the marriage proved a most happy 
 one, and Mrs. Robbins's death in 1870 was a deep and enduring 
 grief to him. 
 
 The sale of his Maine estates was a most fortunate transac- 
 tion, for it furnished the means of realizing his long-cherished 
 wish of becoming the sole owner of the old homestead on 
 Brush HiU, where much of his boyhood had been passed, and 
 which was endeared to him not more by its rare beauty of 
 location than by the memory of the large family circle which 
 had gathered about its hearthstone, and of the long list of 
 guests — many of them the distinguished men of the time — 
 whom his father's almost lavish hospitality had there brought 
 together. This was his home during the remainder of his Hf e. 
 His love for it was a passion. It forbade change, which in his 
 eyes could never seem improvement. The old buildings, the 
 fences and walls, were to remain as they were in his boyhood. 
 The old trees, many of them imported elms, generously planted 
 by former generations, — nay, their very saplings, — should 
 be untouched by the axe so long as he should live ; and the 
 fine fringe of trees which everywhere skirts the lichen-covered 
 stone walls of the estate attests his vigilant guardianship. The 
 extensive view from the house, including the distant blue of 
 the harbor, the twin church spires, the wooded range of the 
 Blue HiUs, and the broad and verdant meadows, was always 
 a source of keen enjoyment to him. 
 
 Once, however, his treasured possessions were threatened 
 by a great danger, which roused him to the fullest activity in 
 their defense. The new and vigorous town of Hyde Park, 
 spreading with the rapid growth of a manufacturing commu- 
 nity, sought the authority of the Legislature to add to its terri- 
 tory by annexing a portion of Milton, including Mr. Robbins's 
 estate. His energetic opposition to this project and his untir- 
 
314 APPENDIX 
 
 ing efforts to defeat it were successful. In the town of Milton 
 he had been born, and in the town of Milton he would die. 
 
 This was not the only service he rendered to the town of 
 his birth, for which his affection was always so strong. In 
 1837 and again in 1861 he represented Milton in the General 
 Court, and in 1842 was one of the senators from Norfolk 
 County. He was frequently caUed to serve upon committees 
 whenever the interests of the town were involved or impor- 
 tant action was to be taken, and his judgment was always 
 considered to carry much weight and influence. Originally a 
 Whig, he joined the Republican party at its formation, and 
 thereafter consistently acted with it, although not without criti- 
 cism of some of its most important tendencies and measures. 
 His wife had long shared the opinions and counsels of the anti- 
 slavery leaders ; and in him was awakened a sense of indignant 
 resentment by the assault upon Charles Sumner in the Senate 
 chamber. In the demonstration made by the citizens of Bos- 
 ton upon Mr. Sumner's return, Mr. Robbins bore a prominent 
 part. 
 
 While a young man he developed a strong taste for histori- 
 cal and antiquarian research, and throughout life this taste 
 directed much of his reading and thought. He made a careful 
 and leisurely exploration of Dorsetshii'e, England, whence came 
 so many of the first settlers of Massachusetts Bay, and made 
 his mind a storehouse of accurate information touching the 
 families and events which had illustrated the early history of 
 the New England town of Dorchester. When this history was 
 written in 1859, he was the author of the first six chapters. In 
 1862 he accepted the invitation of the town of Milton to de- 
 liver the address at the celebration of its two hundredth year. 
 In this address he traces in much detail the lives of the promi- 
 nent early and later inhabitants of the town, giving abundant 
 proof of his wide information regarding family history, and of 
 his patience in research and exactness in statement. By vote 
 of the town in 1883 he was made chairman of a committee ap- 
 pointed to prepare a history of Milton, and to him were referred 
 the early pages of this work for correction and elucidation. In 
 spite of his great age at this time, his co-laborers in the work 
 
APPENDIX 315 
 
 bear willing testimony to the extreme value of the aid thus 
 rendered. In 1860 he was elected a Resident Member of the 
 Massachusetts Historical Society, and in this association he 
 found always much interest and enjoyment. 
 
 But as the years went on, the naturally conservative ten- 
 dency of Mr. E-obbins's mind led him to withdraw himself in 
 great measure from active participation in the affairs of men. 
 He praised the time that is past, and looked forward with 
 apprehension to the time that is to come. To borrow Mr. 
 Lowell's thought, evolution in his view too often took on its 
 lacking initial, and wore the threatening aspect of revolution. 
 He failed to perceive the logical necessity of social and politi- 
 cal change ; and as he looked forth upon the passing events of 
 the time, he deemed himself gazing upon the turbulence of the 
 rapids, just above the fateful plunge of the cataract. As he 
 could not stay the current, he sheltered himself more and more 
 within the seclusion of his beautiful estate, and with no trace 
 of bitterness or cynicism devoted himself to the life of a country 
 gentleman, finding pleasure in his acres and venerable trees, 
 reading and studying as his inclination directed, and living in 
 friendly and helpful intercourse with his neighbors. 
 
 His bearing and manner were dignified and genial. In his 
 old age his dress and appearance seemed to reflect the un- 
 changing stability and respectable antiquity of his opinions. 
 His figure was sturdy and erect, his features massive, and his 
 smile ready and pleasing. Through judicious management his 
 property was much increased, and he left a large estate. 
 
 Until within two years of his death, at the ripe age of 
 eighty-nine years and four months, he retained in a remark- 
 able degree his vigor both of body and mind. He died on 
 Monday, Nov. 2, 1885, in the home he had loved so well, and 
 was buried, as were his father and grandfather, in the ceme- 
 tery of the town which the three generations had served and 
 honored. With him disappeared the family name, which for 
 one hundred and thirty-five years had been held in respect and 
 affection by his fellow townsmen. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abolitionists, friends of Mr. and 
 Mrs. James Murray Robbiris, v., 
 vi. 
 
 Adams, Samuel, his action regard- 
 ing the Boston Massacre, 164. 
 
 Auchmuty, Judge, 108. 
 
 Banishment, Act of, 272. 
 
 Barker, Mrs., 104. 
 
 Barnes, Henry, his attitude in Revo- 
 lutionary matters, 174 ; injury of 
 his business and property, 175- 
 179 ; threats of the Committee of 
 Safety, 181 ; life in England, 259, 
 264. 
 
 Barnes, Mrs. Henry, letters from, 
 118-120, 141, 142; visits Cam- 
 bridge, 181, 182; letters regard- 
 ing Revolutionary affairs, 174- 
 179, 186-188 ; brief mention, 191, 
 202 ; letters to, from E. F., after 
 the evacuation of Boston, 244- 
 254; life in England, 259, 260, 
 264. 
 
 Belcher family, 252, 253. 
 
 Bennet, Andrew, uncle of Murray, 
 10 ; Murray's letters to, 10, 11, 
 14, 15, 17-19, 49-51 ; wiUs prop- 
 erty to Dorothy Forbes and Eliza- 
 beth Murray, 139. 
 
 Bennet, Mrs. Andrew, letters to, 
 from Murray, 46-49, 96; Mrs. 
 Smith visits her, 128. 
 
 Bennet, Anne, sister-in-law of Mur- 
 ray, 70 ; letters to, from Murray, 
 97, 110-112. 
 
 Bennet, Barbara. See Murray, Bar- 
 bara (Bennet). 
 
 Bennet, Jean, sister-in-law of Mur- 
 ray, 70 ; letters to, from Murray, 
 70-75, 97, 110-112; Mrs. Smith 
 visits her, 128 ; letter to, from 
 Elizabeth Murray, 134. 
 
 Bennet, Robert, grandfather of Mur- 
 ray, 8, 298, 299. 
 
 Bennet family, maternal relatives of 
 Murray, 8, 9. 
 
 Berkeley, Governor, his remark 
 about schools, etc., quoted, 65, 
 
 m. 
 
 Blank patents, use of, in North 
 Carolina, 31, 32, 53, 54. 
 
 Boston Massacre, Murray's account 
 of, 162-165. 
 
 Boutineau, James, 159 (note). 
 
 Braddock's defeat, 84, 85. 
 
 Brown, W. S., is involved in the 
 quarrel between James Otis and 
 John Robinson, 159-161. 
 
 Brunswick, North Carolina, rival of 
 New Town (afterward Wilming- 
 ton), 21 ; ceases to be the port of 
 entry, 51, 55-57. 
 
 Burgoyne's campaign, 252. 
 
 Campbell, Elizabeth Murray. See 
 Inman, Elizabeth (Murray). 
 
 Campbell, Thomas, husband of Eliz- 
 abeth Murray, 105 ; his death, 
 107. 
 
 Carolinas, the, conditions in, at time 
 of James Murray's going there, 
 
318 
 
 INDEX 
 
 16-35 ; business and finance, 37, 
 38, 53. 
 
 Chronicle, the, Tory newspaper, 168, 
 169. 
 
 Church services in North Carolina 
 in the eighteenth century, 26. 
 
 Clark, Annie. See Hooper, Annie 
 (Clark). 
 
 Clark, Barbara (Murray), sister of 
 James Murray, 12, 13 ; accom- 
 panies her brother to America, 
 16 ; is married to Thomas Clark, 
 38; letters to, from Murray, 13, 
 14 ; birth of her son James, 47 ; 
 son Thomas, 49, 76 ; letters to, 
 from Murray, 77, 78, 82, 83, 98, 
 99. 
 
 Clark, James, 47, 82, 98, 156 (note). 
 
 Clark, John Innes, 82, 98, 112, 132, 
 153, 156, 183, 192, 194 ; letter to, 
 from Elizabeth Inman, 260, 261 ; 
 from Murray, 272-274. 
 
 Clark, Thomas, husband of Barbara 
 Murray, letter to, from Murray, 
 39-42 ; intimate friend of Mur- 
 ray, 44; sherifp and collector of 
 the port, 49, 60 ; his death, 69. 
 
 Clark, Thomas, Jr., 49, 82, 98, 153, 
 156. 
 
 Concord, battle of, 182. 
 
 Covenanters, battle-g-round upon 
 which they checked Montrose, 7. 
 
 Dalrymple, Colonel, Murray's letter 
 to, concerning Captain Preston, 
 166, 167. 
 
 Danforth, Judge, 184 (note), 190, 
 206. 
 
 Davis, Benjamin, 262. 
 
 Deblois, Gilbert, anecdote of, 108 ; 
 defends Murray when attacked by 
 a mob, 161, 232. 
 
 Deblois, James Smith, anecdote con- 
 cerning his name, 108. 
 
 Dobbs, Governor, 80; friction be- 
 
 tween him and Murray, 85-91 ; 
 letter to the Board of Trade, 86, 
 87. 
 
 Don, Lady Mary, letter to, from 
 Murray, 84, 85. 
 
 Douglas, Lieutenant Archibald, 44, 
 47, 48, 50 ; letter to, from Mur- 
 ray, 82, 83. 
 
 Dunbar, William, Murray appren- 
 ticed to, 10. 
 
 Elliot, Mr., lawyer, 84. 
 
 Ellison, Wniiam, Jr., accompanies 
 
 Murray to America, 16, 24-26. 
 EUison, William, Sr., 17, 19, 24; 
 
 letter to, from Murray, 24-26. 
 Elms in Boston and vicinity, 107, 
 
 108. 
 Ettrick Forest, High SherifBship of, 
 
 in the Murray family, 5, 296. 
 
 F., E., letters from, to Mrs. Barnes, 
 after the evacuation of Boston, 
 244-254. 
 
 Flucker family, 183 (note). 
 
 Forbes, Dorothy (Murray), 69, 76, 
 77 ; lives with her aunt in Bos- 
 ton, 97-99, 104, 110, 111 ; corre- 
 spondence between her and her 
 father, 95, 96, 100, 101, 113 ; her 
 marriage to Rev. John Forbes, 
 117 ; letter to, from Mrs. Barnes, 
 118-120 ; from Mrs. Stenhouse, 
 134, 135 ; from her father, 136- 
 141 ; returns from the South to 
 New England, 146; letter from, 
 to Mrs. Inman, 147, 148 ; attempts 
 to recover her patrimony, 156 
 (note) ; in Boston at beginning 
 of the siege, 182, 192 ; joins Mrs. 
 Inman at Cambridge, 194 ; as- 
 sumes care of the farm at Brush 
 Hill, 198-200 ; letters from, 206, 
 213 ; letters to, from her father, 
 218-220,223-228; affairs at Brush 
 
INDEX 
 
 319 
 
 Hill, memorial in regard to tlireat- 
 ened confiscation of Mrs. Inman's 
 property, 228-230 ; letters to, from 
 her father, 230-236, 256, 257, 262- 
 260, 269-271, 275-281, 284-286; 
 from William Hooper, 237-240 ; 
 from Elizabeth Murray, 241-244 ; 
 from her husband,281-283; makes 
 journey to the South, 283 ; her 
 character, 306. 
 
 Forbes, James Grant, 146, 283, 294. 
 
 Forbes, John, Jr., 146, 283, 294; 
 bond given to him by Mrs. In- 
 man, 305, 306. 
 
 Forbes, Rev. John, husband of Doro- 
 thy Murray, 117, 223, 224, 256; 
 letter from, to his wife, 281-283. 
 
 Forbes, Ralph Bennet, 149, 283, 
 294 ; bond given by him to Mrs. 
 Inman, 306. 
 
 Frankland, Sir Charles Henry, 180. 
 
 Franklin, Benjamin, 83. 
 
 French and Indian War, 82, 83. 
 
 Gage, General, 174, 180, 189 (note), 
 222 ; leaves Boston, 232, 234. 
 
 Gordon, INIrs., sister-in-law of Mur- 
 ray, 112, 255, 277. 
 
 Gridley, John, 159. 
 
 Grimke, Mr., 20, 34. 
 
 HalloweU, Benjamin, 137. 
 
 Hallowell, Robert, 137. 
 
 Hancock, John, 169, 170. 
 
 Hazel, James, letter to, from Mur- 
 ray, 67-69. 
 
 Hooper, Annie (Clark), 99, 112, 114 ; 
 is married to William Hooper, 
 117. 
 
 Hooper, John, rector of Trinity 
 Church, 114 ; his death, 116. 
 
 Hooper, Mrs. John, her relations 
 with the Murray family, 214, 215, 
 217, 219, 224, 233. 
 
 Hooper, WiUiam, practices law in 
 
 Wilmington, North Carolina, 114 
 letter to, from Murray, 115, 116 
 marries Annie Clark, 114-117 
 letter from, to Mrs. Forbes, 237, 
 238. 
 
 Howe, General William, his depar- 
 ture from Boston, 236, 237. 
 
 Howe, Mrs. S. L., of Cambridge, 
 Mass., 298. 
 
 Howe, Sarah Lydia (Bobbins), 289, 
 295. 
 
 Hutchinson, Governor Thomas, 152, 
 153, 165, 232; letter from, to 
 Murray, 257, 258. 
 
 Hutchinson family, 308. 
 
 Immigrants exempted from taxa- 
 tion in North Carolina, 59. 
 
 Inman, Elizabeth Murray, sister of 
 James Murray, comes to America 
 and lives with her brother, 39, 
 47-49 ; goes with him to Scot- 
 land, 67 ; establishes herself in 
 business in Boston, 69, 103, 104; 
 is married to Thomas Campbell, 
 
 105 ; letter from, to her brother, 
 
 106 ; death of her husband, 107 ; 
 is married to James Smith, 107- 
 109 ; plans for her brother's re- 
 moval to Boston, 113, 114; her 
 distress in parting with her niece, 
 Dorothy, 117, 118; visits Mrs. 
 Barnes, 119, 120; death of her 
 husband, 120 ; goes to Scotland, 
 120 ; letters to, from Mrs. Barnes, 
 121, 122-124 ; journal of her jour- 
 ney to Scotland, 124-131 ; sends 
 her nephew and niece to New 
 England to engage in business, 
 131 ; letter to, from her brother 
 James, 132 ; from Elizabeth Mur- 
 ray, 133 ; from Mrs. Barnes, 141, 
 142 ; from her brother John, 143- 
 146 ; from her brother James, 
 146, 147 ; from Mrs. Forbes, 147, 
 
320 
 
 mDEX 
 
 148 ; from her brother James, 
 162, 165, 169, 170; from Mrs. 
 Barnes, giving" account of Revolu- 
 tionary troubles in Marlborough, 
 175-179 ; her return to Boston 
 and marriage to Ralph Inman, 
 141-143 ; settlement in Cam- 
 bridge, 179, 180 ; her defense of 
 the place during the opening of 
 the Revolution, 183-186, 189; 
 letters from, during this period, 
 183-180, 190-194, 201, 202, 205- 
 208, 211, 212 ; letters to, 186-190, 
 195-198, 202-205, 209-211; re- 
 moves to Brush Hill, 205, 206, 
 213 ; letter to, from her brother 
 James, 214 ; letter from, to Mrs. 
 Inman, 215-218 ; letter to, from 
 her brother James, 221, 222 ; re- 
 mains in Boston after the evacu- 
 ation, 240 ; confiscation of her 
 Cambridge estate, 240 ; her cheer- 
 fulness and courage, 244-249 ; 
 letter to, from her brother, 
 256 ; letters from, to Dr. John 
 Murray, 286-288; her death, 
 288, 289 ; bonds given to John 
 and Ralph Forbes by her, 305, 
 306. 
 
 Inman, Ralph, marries Elizabeth 
 (Murray) Smith, 142, 143; his 
 farm in Cambridge, 179, 180 ; is 
 in Boston when it is shut up by 
 the British, 182 ; letters to Mrs. 
 Inman, 189, 197, 198, 209-211; 
 letters from Mrs. Inman, 190-194, 
 201, 202, 205-208, 211, 212, 215- 
 218; mention by Murray, 219, 
 220. 
 
 Innes, James, settles in New Town, 
 North Carolina, 35, 36 ; joins 
 North Carolina troops in Spanish 
 war of 1739, 44 ; letter to, from 
 Murray, 45 ; mention of, 46 ; god- 
 father of James Clark, 47 ; com- 
 
 mander in the French and Indian 
 
 war, 82, 83. 
 Irish immigrants in North Carolina, 
 
 28, 31, 38. 
 
 Johnston, Gabriel, Governor of North 
 Carolina, 17 ; his relations with 
 Murray, 23, 30, 31, 52; conflict 
 with the '■ blank patent gintry," 
 32, 33 ; a faithful servant of the 
 king, 52 ; his decision in regard 
 to tie votes, 57, 58 ; his death, 85. 
 
 Kerr, Jean, cousin of James Murray, 
 
 16, 49. 
 Knox, General Henry, 183 (note). 
 Knox, Mrs. Henry, 183 (note). 
 
 Lexington, battle of, 182. 
 
 Linzee, Mrs. John, 189, 190, 256, 
 
 263. 
 Lyman, Anne Jean (Bobbins), 289, 
 
 295. 
 
 Mackay, General Alexander, 140, 
 158. 
 
 Mackay family, 104, 105. 
 
 Malcolm, Robert, 15 ; letter to, 
 from Murray, 15. 
 
 MaxweU, Captain, 242, 243. 
 
 McCuUoh, Henry, " His Majesty's 
 Surveyor . . . ," 28, 29; letters 
 to, from Murray, 30-36, 54, 55, 
 61-66 ; occupies Murray's house 
 in Wilmington, 49. 
 
 McNeil, BeU, 99. 
 
 Mein, John, attacked by mob, 168, 
 109 ; his establishment placed un- 
 der attachment, 169 ; letters from, 
 to Murray, 170-172 ; Murray's as- 
 sistance of, 173, 174. 
 
 Mifflin, General, 183 ; letter from, 
 to Mrs. Forbes, 227, 228. 
 
 Moore, Roger, his relations with 
 Murray, 22, 29 ; his attitiide to- 
 
INDEX 
 
 321 
 
 ; 
 
 wards immigration, 31 ; displea- 
 sure at removal of port of entry to 
 New Town, 51 ; disputes over land 
 patents, 55. 
 
 Moore family, of Brunswick, North 
 CaroHna, 21, 22, 32. 
 
 Moseley , Edward, of North Carolina, 
 22. 
 
 Miirray, Mrs., formerly Mrs. Thomp- 
 son, second wife of James Murray, 
 112, 113, 121, 122, 137, 140, 179. 
 
 Murray, Anne. See Powell, Anne 
 (Murray). 
 
 Murray, Anne (Bennet), mother of 
 James, 2, 3 ; removes with her 
 family to Hawick, 16 ; her death, 
 38. 
 
 Murray, Barbara. See Clark, Bar- 
 bara (Murray). 
 
 Murray, Barbara (Bennet), wife of 
 James, 9, 49, 51 ; her marriage, 
 67, 69 ; stays for a while in Bos- 
 ton with Elizabeth Murray, 69, 
 104 ; joins her husband in North 
 Carolina, 75 ; her health, 84, 94 ; 
 her death, 94-96. 
 
 Murray, Betsy, daughter of James. 
 See Bobbins, Elizabeth (Murray). 
 
 Murray, Dorotliy , daughter of James. 
 See Forbes, Dorothy (Murray). 
 
 Murray, Elizabeth, daughter of 
 James. See Bobbins, Elizabeth 
 (Murray). 
 
 Murray, Elizabeth, sister of James. 
 See Inraan, Elizabeth (Murray). 
 
 Murray, James, correspondence be- 
 tween him and his grandson, James 
 Murray Bobbins, preserved at Mil- 
 ton, Mass., vi., vii. ; portraits of, 
 mentioned, viii. ; birthplace and 
 early home of, 1, 2 ; his brothers 
 and sisters, 2 ; early life, 8, 9 ; ap- 
 prenticeship to William Dunbar, 
 10 ; his plans for his brothers and 
 sisters, 11-15 ; goes to America, 
 
 16-20; early experiences in the 
 Carolinas, 20-28 ; purchases laud 
 in New Town, North Carolina, 29 ; 
 is appointed collector of the port, 
 29, 31, 32, 33, 34 ; mercantUe busi- 
 ness, 33-35, 37, 38 ; makes journey 
 to Scotland to settle his mother's 
 estate, 39 ; brings with him to 
 America his brother William and 
 sister Elizabeth, 39 ; imports large 
 cargo of goods, 40, 41 ; goes again 
 to Scotland, 50 ; becomes engaged 
 to his cousin Barbara, 51 ; dis- 
 pleasure of Roger Moore and oth- 
 ers at his appointment as collector 
 of the port, 51, 52 ; is drawn into 
 political life, 52, 54 ; member of 
 the Board of Councillors, 52, 56 ; 
 although public-spirited, never a 
 true American, 65 ; interested in 
 establishment of schools, 65-67 ; 
 goes to Scotland in 1744, 67; is 
 married to Barbara Bennet, 69 ; 
 daughter Dorothy born in London, 
 69 ; returns to America in 1749, 
 69 ; leaves wife and child in Bos- 
 ton, 69 ; narrowly escapes ship- 
 wreck, 71-75 ; is joined by Mrs. 
 Murray, 75 ; settles upon a planta- 
 tion which he calls Point Repose, 
 75-77 ; names of his children, 77 ; 
 his views on industrial and finan- 
 cial conditions, 78-80 ; on union 
 of the colonies, 83 ; his disagree- 
 ment with Governor Dobbs and 
 suspension from office, reinstate- 
 ment, 85-94 ; death of his wife 
 and two children, 94-98 ; visits 
 Boston, 109-115 ; his opinion of 
 New England, 111 ; his marriage 
 to Mrs. Thompson, 112, 113 ; re- 
 moves to Boston, 114 ; his care for 
 the Hooper family, 116, 117; set- 
 tles at Brush Hill, 120 ; makes a 
 journey to England, 136-141 ; to 
 
322 
 
 INDEX 
 
 the South, 146, 147; his loyalist 
 principles, 150-153; ruin of his 
 sugar business, 153, 155 ; his atti- 
 tude on Revolutionary questions, 
 156-158, 162-170, 172-174 ; is at- 
 tacked by a mob, 158-161 ; is ap- 
 pointed inspector of the port of 
 Salem, 180 ; letter to, from his 
 daug-hter Dorothy, 199 ; sails for 
 Halifax with General Howe, 237 ; 
 life in exile, 255-286 ; letter from 
 Governor Hutchinson, 257, 258; 
 visits New York, Newport, and 
 Philadelphia, 255 ; plans for visit- 
 ing the South, 280 ; for beginning 
 life anew in His Majesty's Pro- 
 vince of Maine, 283 ; his death, 
 286. 
 
 Murray, Sir James, son of Sir John, 
 7. 
 
 Murray, Jean, daughter of James, 
 77, 95, 96. 
 
 Murray, John, brother of James, 
 plans for his education, 11, 12 ; 
 surgeon's mate on the TQbury, 44, 
 45 ; letters to, from his brother, 
 45, 46, 92, 93 ; brief mention, 50 ; 
 82; his circumstances, 99; his mar- 
 riage and residences, 101 ; letters 
 to, 101, 102, 105, 112 ; his business 
 and family, 139 ; letter from, to 
 Mrs. Inman, 143-146 ; letters to, 
 from his brother, 152-157 ; writes 
 pamphlet " On the Gradual Aboli- 
 tion of Slavery," 157 ; brief men- 
 tion, 264 ; his children in America, 
 287, 288 ; his opinion on English 
 affairs in 1783, 289 ; biographical 
 notice of, from History of Norfolk, 
 299-301 ; account of his death and 
 burial, by his daughter, 301-305. 
 
 Murray, John, cousin of James, let- 
 ter to, from James, 36-38. 
 
 Murray, John, father of James, 3, 7, 
 8,9. 
 
 Murray, John, nephew of James, goes 
 to America, 131, 132, 183 ; thinks 
 of joining the Anaerican army, 
 260, 262; letter to, from Eliza- 
 beth Inman, 261. 
 
 Murray, John, of Bowhill, 7. 
 
 Murray, John, of Falahill, "The 
 Outlaw," 4-7, 295-297. 
 
 Murray, Sir John, 2d, 7. 
 
 Murray, Sir John, the first desig- 
 nated as " of Philiphaugh," 7. 
 
 Murray, Sir John, of Philiphaugh, 
 uncle of James, 10 ; letters to, 
 from his nephew, 10, 75-77, 92- 
 94, 109, 110. 
 
 Murray, Mary, cousin of James, 9. 
 
 Murray, Mary, niece of James, goes 
 to America, 131, 132 ; returns to 
 England, 183, 220, 263, 285 ; let- 
 ter from, to Mrs. Barnes, 301-305. 
 
 Murray, Mary, wife of Dr. John, 
 300, 301. 
 
 Murray, Polly. See Murray, Mary, 
 niece of James. 
 
 Murray, Thomas Archibald, son of 
 Dr. John, 301. 
 
 Murray, William, brother of James, 
 comes to America, 39 ; enters mili- 
 tary life, 44, 45, 47, 48 ; brief men- 
 tion, 50, 139. 
 
 Murray family, ancestors of James 
 Murray, 3-7 ; genealogy, 292-298. 
 
 Murray's barracks, 158, 165, 166, 
 230. 
 
 Negroes in the Carolinas, 89, 41, 67- 
 69. 
 
 "New Liverpool," North Carolina. 
 See Wilmington. 
 
 New Town, North Carolina. See 
 Wilmington. 
 
 Newark Castle, 6. 
 
 North Carolina, land troubles, 32, 
 33 ; business and financial condi- 
 tions, 37, 38 ; quit-rent law, 52- 
 
INDEX 
 
 323 
 
 54 ; affairs in the Assembly, 58- 
 60. 
 
 Oglethorpe, General, his expedition 
 against St. Augustine, 44. 
 
 Oswald, Richard, & Co., letters to, 
 from Murray, 78-80, 81. 
 
 Otis, James, is assaulted by John 
 Robinson, 159, 160. 
 
 Paddock Elms, 108, 155. 
 
 Philiphaugh, description of, 6, 7. 
 
 Point Repose, Murray's North Caro- 
 lina plantation, 75, 156 (note). 
 
 Porter, John, letter to, from Mur- 
 ray, 42. 
 
 Powell, Anne (Murray), niece of 
 Murray, goes to America, 136, 183; 
 is married to William Dummer 
 Powell, 220-222, 223 ; returns to 
 England, 223, 234, 263 ; comes to 
 Canada, 276. 
 
 Preston, Captain, his part in the 
 Boston Massacre, 163-168, 178. 
 
 Pringle, Lieutenant William, 44, 47, 
 48, 50. 
 
 Putnam, General, 187. 
 
 Putnam, Daniel, son of General 
 Putnam, befriends Mrs. Barnes 
 and ]Mrs. Inman, 187, 188, 213. 
 
 Quincy, Edmund, 102, 103. 
 Quit-rent law in North Carolina, 
 52-55. 
 
 Revere, Mary (Robbms), 289, 290, 
 295. 
 
 Revolution, The American, early in- 
 dications of, 114, 122, 132, 137; 
 the Stamp Act, 150, 151 ; Mur- 
 ray's opinion on the situation, 
 156, 157 ; " Sam Adams's two 
 regiments," 158; the Boston Mas- 
 sacre, 162-168 ; mobs and confis- 
 cation of imported goods, 168-170, 
 
 175-179 conditions about Boston 
 and Cambridge, 180-212; battle 
 of Bunker Hill, 213 ; scheme for 
 burning Boston, 221, 222 ; senti- 
 ment in England, 222 ; Gage's 
 recall, 232 ; winter of 1775-76, 
 234 ; fortification of Dorchester 
 Heights and evacuation of Bos- 
 ton, 236, 237 ; conditions in Bos- 
 ton and vicinity after the evacua- 
 tion, 241-249. 
 
 Robbins, Anne Jean. See Lyman, 
 Anne Jean (Robbins). 
 
 Robbins, Catherine, 289, 295. 
 
 Robbins, Edward Hutchinson, hus- 
 band of Elizabeth Murray, 108, 
 289. 
 
 Robbins, Edward Hutchinson, Jr., 
 289, 295. 
 
 Robbins, Eliza, 289, 295. 
 
 Robbins, Elizabeth (Murray), 77, 97, 
 99, 106, 111, 112 ; accompanies her 
 aunt to Scotland, 120-131 ; at- 
 tends boarding-school in Edin- 
 burgh, 133; letters from, 133, 
 134, 183 ; life in Brush Hill and 
 Boston, 221, 223, 225, 226 ; let- 
 ters to, from her father, 223-225, 
 230-236; letter from, to Mrs. 
 Forbes, 241-244; at Cambridge 
 after evacuation of Boston, 245, 
 247; letters to, from her father, 
 256, 262-266, 269-271, 275-281, 
 284-286 ; letter to her father, 
 267-269 ; is married to Edward 
 Hutchinson Robbins, 289 ; her 
 children, 289, 295. 
 
 Robbins, Frances Mary (Harris), 
 wife of James Murray Robbins, 
 v., 313. 
 
 Robbins, James Murray, v., vi., 289, 
 294, 295 ; biographical notice of, 
 by Roger Wolcott, 307-315. 
 
 Robbins, Mary. See Revere, Mary 
 (Robbins), 289. 
 
324 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Robbins, Sarah Lydia. See Howe, 
 Sarah Lydia (Robbins). 
 
 Robbins family, 307-315. 
 
 Robinson, John, assaults James Otis, 
 159, 160. 
 
 Rugg-les, Timothy, 137. 
 
 Rutherford, James, letter to, from 
 Murray, 42-44. 
 
 Rutherford, John, settles in Amer- 
 ica, 42, 43, 49 ; makes journey to 
 Scotland with Murray, 50 ; is ap- 
 pointed receiver-general of North 
 Carolina, 76 ; letter to, from Mur- 
 ray, 83, 84 ; suspension from office 
 of receiver-general and reinstate- 
 ment, 85-92. 
 
 Sang, the, of the Outlaw Murray, 
 
 5, 6, 295-298. 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, his remarks upon 
 " the sang of the Outlaw Murray," 
 295-297. 
 
 Silk-making in North Carolina, 81. 
 
 Simpson, Sampson, letter to, from 
 Murray, 80, 81. 
 
 Slavery, sentiment against, in Mas- 
 sachusetts, 157, 158. 
 
 Small-pox in Boston, 230, 231, 252. 
 
 Smith, Elizabeth (Murray). See In- 
 man, Elizabeth (Murray). 
 
 Smith, James, sugar baker in Bos- 
 ton, 107; imports and sets out 
 Dutch elms, 107, 108; marries 
 Elizabeth (Murray) Campbell, 
 108, 109; Mrs. Barnes's prayer 
 for, 119 ; his death, 120. 
 
 Smith's barracks. See Murray's bar- 
 racks. 
 
 Sons of Liberty, 122, 132, 161, 162. 
 
 Spanish war of 1739, North Caro- 
 lina's participation in, 44. 
 
 Stamp Act, 115, 116, 150, 151, 154, 
 
 155. 
 .Stenhouse, Helen, letter from, to 
 
 Mrs. Forbes, 134, 135. 
 Stewart, Charles, letter to, from 
 
 Murray, 172-174 ; letters from, 
 
 265. 
 Swiss immigrants in North Carolina, 
 
 28, 34-36, 38. 
 
 Temple, Mr., letter to, from Mrs. 
 Inman, 185, 186. 
 
 Temple family, 247. 
 
 Thompson, Mrs. See Murray, Mrs., 
 second wife of James Murray. 
 
 Tories, reasons for their position, 
 152, 153. 
 
 Tullideph, David, 17, 19, 23, 31, let- 
 ters to, from Murray, 27-29. 
 
 Unthank, Roxburghshire, Scotland, 
 early home of Murray, 1, 2. 
 
 Wallace, John, letter to, from Mur- 
 ray, 81. 
 
 Walter, Nathaniel, 219, 220. 
 
 Washington, George, 215. 
 
 Whitefield, George, visits North 
 Carolina, 65 ; letter to, from Mur- 
 ray, 66. 
 
 Wigs, small demand for, in North 
 Carolina, 22, 23, 25. 
 
 Wilmington, North Carolina (first 
 called New Town), rival of Bruns- 
 wick, 21 ; is made the port of 
 entry, 51, 55-57. 
 
 Winslow, General, sets out for Crown 
 Point, 106. 
 
 Wolcott, Roger, his biographical 
 notice of James Murray Robbins, 
 307-315. 
 
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