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COLONEL SAMUEL MARTIN, of
whom Miss Schaw gives an engaging account, was well called the "Father
of Antigua," for he was born on the island in the last decade of the
seventeenth century, and except for three trips to England, covering
probably less than ten years in all, lived continuously there until the
very eve of the Revolution. Thus his long life of more than eighty years
was coincident with the most important period in the history of the
colony, and touched at many points its industrial, social, and political
development.
The Martins came
originally from Ireland, some of its members migrating early to Surinam
and the West Indies, and settling finally, in the seventeenth century,
in Antigua. Many of the later members returned to England, and as
officials under government or officers in the army and navy rose to
eminence in their professions, a few attaining the honors of knighthood.
Others went to the American continent, to Boston, New York, and North
Carolina, becoming representative men of their communities, and
acquiring, as a rule, ample wealth, wherewith to maintain social
positions commensurate with their prominence. The family as a whole got
widely scattered during the colonial period, but its members never lost
their regard for Antigua, retaining property there, and manifesting
interest in its welfare and a desire to be of service to its people
whenever the occasion arose. In England the most prominent Sons of the
family dwelt in or near London, in Surrey, Dorset, Herts, and Berks,
where, supported in part from the income of their Antigua plantations,
they possessed country seats and lived the lives of country gentlemen.
'Wherever Martins resided, whether at "Green Castle" in Antigua, "Rockhall"
in Long Island, or in England at Ashtead in Surrey, Great Canford in
Dorset, or "White Knights" near Reading, they were of more than ordinary
influence and importance. Some of them rose to positions of high
distinction, particularly in the navy.
Because of the meagre
records of the time, the various members of the family are not always
easy to identify, and, in consequence, much confusion has resulted among
those who have endeavored to deal with the family genealogy. In three
generations there were five Josiahs, and in four generations, six
Samuels; and in addition there were others bearing the same names, who
do not appear to have belonged to this particular Martin line at all.
Even with all the available evidence before us, there are still some
difficulties that cannot be surmounted.
Colonel Martin's father,
also a Samuel, was the son of Samuel Martin of Dublin county, Ireland,
fourth in descent from a Josiah Martin of the same place (Debrett,
Baronetage, ed. 1840, p. 374). He was probably born in Surinam, but
appears in Antigua as early as 1678. He soon became one of the
conspicuous men of the island, an ensign and major in the militia, a
member of the assembly, of which he was speaker in 1689, a councillor,
treasurer and collector of imposts, and, toward the end of his life,
member of a committee to com- pile a body of laws. In 1699 he is spoken
of as "of great estate, good sence, and repute." That he lacked the
urbanity and instinctive kindliness of nature which Miss Schaw noted in
his son, appears from the severity of his attitude toward his slaves, by
whom he was murdered on Christmas Day, 1701. "We have lost a very useful
man in Major Martin," wrote Governor Codrington. "I am afraid he was
guilty of some unusual act of severity or rather some indignity toward
the Coromantes, the best and most faithful of our slaves." Though the
young Samuel was but a child when this tragic event took place, he must
have been deeply impressed by its significance, for Miss Schaw presents
a pleasing picture of the large troop of healthy negroes upon the "Green
Castle" plantation—numbering about three hundred at this time—cheerfully
performing the tasks imposed by a kind and beneficent master, a prince
of subjects rather than an owner of slaves. Many of them had been freed,
as Miss Schaw says, and others were freed later by Martin in his will.
Of Colonel Martin's life
we have but a slender outline. He was born about 1690—the exact date
being uncertain, because statements differ as to the age at which he
died—and he died in Antigua in November, 1776, a little less than two
years after Miss Schaw's visit. His early career is obscure, owing to
the presence of more than one Samuel Martin on the island, but he seems
to have been the Samuel of "Five Islands" plantation, who was major of
militia in 1707 and of the troop of mounted horse or carabineers in
1712. In 1716 he was elected to the assembly and, except for a trip to
England in 1716-1717, continued to serve either as deputy or speaker
until he again left the colony in 1729. He married, before 1714, Frances
Yeamans, daughter of John Yeamans, the deputy governor (1693-1711), but
she died and he married, as his second wife, Sarah Wyke, the daughter of
Edward Wyke, deputy governor of Montserrat, and widow of William Irish
of the same island. His fourth child, Henry, the second son by his
second wife, was born in Dorset, England. in 1733, so he probably
remained in England on his second visit for a number of years. Soon
after his return he must have been commissioned a colonel of militia,
for Miss Schaw tells us that in 1772 he had been head of the militia
"upwards of forty years." In 1750 he was again elected to the assembly
and chosen speaker at its first session. From this time forward, living
on his "Green Castle" plantation in New Division, which was
picturesquely located in Bermudian Valley under Windmill Hill (Davy's
West Indies, p. 408), he led an increasingly peaceful and prosperous
life, resigning his place as speaker in 1763, and his seat in the
assembly in 1768. At the urgent request of his children, three of whom,
Samuel, Jr., Henry, and William Bvam, had been living there for a number
of years (a nephew, William, was a business man in London), he went to
England, when nearly eighty years of age, doubtless with the expectation
of spending his declining years there. But as he told Miss Schaw, he
could not stand "the dreary climate." lie spent his time partly in
Surrey and partly in Dorset, and at the former place, August 13, 1773,
made his will, adding codicils and generally settling his affairs. He
must have returned to Antigua soon afterwards, glad to get back, as he
himself said, to the "warm sunshine" of his semitropical island. He died
on the island, where he had been born, and where he had spent more than
three score and ten of the more than four score years of his life. His
only venture into the field of authorship, as far as we know, is a
pamphlet entitled An Essay upon Planters/zip, humbly inscribed to his
Excellency George Thomas, Esq., Chief Governor of All the Leeward
Islands, As a Monument to Ancient Friendship, which was written in
Antigua and first published there about 1755. A third edition was issued
in London in 1763, and a fourth, a work of sixty-two pages, in 1765. The
treatise shows Colonel Martin to have been a model planter and a
high-minded, considerate master.
Colonel Martin, according
to his own statement, had twenty-three children, but of this number it
is impossible to give the [lames of more than seven: Samuel, Jr., and
Henrietta, children by his first wife, and George, Henry, Josiah,
William Bvam, and Fanny, children by his second wife. That many of his
children died young is probable, and that others may be found among the
many Martins whose names appear in the records of Antigua and
neighboring islands, is equally likely.
Samuel, Jr., his eldest
son, was born in Antigua, September 1, 1714. He went to England when but
a lad, possibly accompanying his father on the latter's second trip in
1729, in order to be educated, as there were no educational facilities
in Antigua. He was entered at the Inner Temple about 1740, and became a
bencher in 1747, continuing in residence until 1761. From 1742 to 1744
he served as deputy agent for the colony, while his cousin, John Yeamans,
appointed agent in 1727, was absent on leave in Antigua; and in 1744 he
was recommended by Yeamans as his successor, but the recommendation was
not acted on by the colony. He became a member of parliament from the
borough of Camelford in Cornwall, 1747-1768, and from the Cinque Port
Hastings, 1768-1774, both controlled boroughs, and lie took some part in
parliamentary business. His most important post was that of first
secretary to the Treasury Board, to which he was appointed in 1756,
Serving until 1762, and in which he must have had a great deal to do
with the distribution of the money approprinted by parliament to
recompense the continental colonies for their services and expenditures
in the French and Indian War.* He became treasurer to the Princess
Dowager of Wales, possibly after the death of the prince in igi, and
continued to serve in that capacity until the death of the princess in
1772, "a long service," he calls it in his will. In the latter year,
possibly to compensate for the loss of his office, he was granted an
annuity of £iaoo out of the four and a half per cent duty, until a grant
in reversion of the office of usher of H. M. Exchequer, a post paying
about £4000 a year, should take place. But he died before he could
profit from the emoluments of the office, which had been enjoyed since
1738 by Horace Walpole, the wit and letter writer, who survived him by
nine years. He does not appear to have held any government position
during the years after 1772; but we occasionally get glimpses of various
business activities, by means of which he mav have added to an income
already large. He had a small estate, "Marshalswyck," near St. Albans,
Flerts, where he was living in retirement in 1780, when sixty-six years
of age; and another in Dorset, possibly near Great Canford, about two
miles southeast from Wimborne minster on the south side of the river
Stour. While in London, after 1761, he lived in Queen Street,
Westminster, until 1777, and afterwards at 84 P,-Ill Mall. He died
November 20, 1788, and was buried in Great Canford churchyard, where
there is a tablet of white marble, placed by his executors, his brothers
Henry and William Bvain, and his intimate friend Ralph Willet of Merly,
with the inscription, we "loved him when living and lament him now dead"
(Hutchins, Dorset, III, 310).
When Colonel Martin, the
father, said to Miss Schaw, "my eldest son you know by character at
least," and Miss Schaw in reply expressed her admiration for that
character, both were probably referring to Samuel's chief claims to the
remembrance of posterity—his duel with John Wilkes and his friendship
for Hogarth, who painted his portrait. Though Hogarth's biographers
mention the portrait, none of them have identified Martin or have been
able to give any of the circumstances under which it was painted.
Flogarth retained the portrait during his lifetime, and left it to
Martin in his will, and Martin in turn left it to his brother, William
Byam. The date when it was painted is uncertain and its present
whereabouts are unknown. It is probable that the duel with Wilkes grew
in some way out of Martin's acquaintance with Hogarth and the latter's
quarrel with Wilkes and Churchill, 1762-1764, for it took place at the
same time, although its immediate cause was Wilkes's attack upon Martin
in the MortIz Briton (March, 1763), in which he stigmatized him as "a
mean, abject, low-lived, and dirty fellow" (Bleackley's Life of Wilkes,
pp. 132-133, and for the duel, pp. 135-137).
During the period after
1772, Martin performed a number of set- vices for his Antiguan and North
Carolinian friends and was useful in furthering the claims of some of
the Loyalists before the commission. Thomas Macknight applied to him
with letters from his brother, Governor Josiah Martin (Dartmouth Papers,
letter of July 24, 1781), and there is a paper in the Public Record
Office bearing Samuel's comments on Josiah's own claims for compensation
and a pension. In these comments, Martin suggested that the Treasury
grant Josiah a post in the recently organized government of Bengal.
Though nothing came of the suggestion, it is interesting to note that
Josiah's son, Josiah, born in North Carolina in 1772, was afterwards
appointed register of the court of appeals at Benares, a post that he
was filling at the time of his death in 1799 (Gentleman's Magazine,
1799, p. 1087).
Samuel's half-brother
Henry, second son of Colonel Samuel by his second wife and the
progenitor of the present English line, was born in England in 1733, and
as far as we know never visited Antigua. He early rose to prominence in
naval circles, being for many years naval commissioner at Portsmouth. In
1790 he was appointed comptroller of the navy, one of the four principal
officers of the Navy Board, an office which he retained until his death.
He was knighted July 28, 1791, and died August I, 1794. He lived in
Harley Street, London, but died apparently in Dorset, possibly at Great
Canford. He inherited "Green Castle" from his father, and had lands also
in Ireland and England. He had four Sons and four daughters: the eldest
son, Samuel, died in 1782; his second, Sir Henry, who attained no
special distinction, died in 1842; his third, Josiah, was collector of
customs in Antigua, succeeding the "Young Martin," mentioned in the
text, and died in 1849; his fourth, Thomas Byam, afterwards Sir Thomas,
who became an admiral in the navy and whose biography is given in the
Dictionary of National Biography, died in 1854. The members of this
family in no way concern us here.
Colonel Samuel's fourth
son was Josiah, the governor of North Carolina, who played an important
part in the events leading to the Revolution, and is mentioned a number
of times in Miss Schaw's narrative, though it is doubtful if she ever
met him personally. To North Carolina historians he has been but a
fleeting figure, and they have been but little concerned to find out
whence he came or whither he went after he left the colony. It is worth
while, therefore, to give a sketch of his life, as far as the details
can be recovered.
Josiah was born in
Antigua in 1737 and was probably named for his uncle, whose daughter he
afterwards married. He joined the local militia in 1754, at the age of
seventeen, but in 1757 entered the regu- lar army as ensign of the 4th
Foot. In November, 1758, he was commissioned lieutenant and on August
11, 1761, was bracketed with Charles Lee, of unsavory reputation, as
major in the 103d or Volunteer Hunters. The next year, 1762, he was
commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 22d Foot, afterwards Gage's
regiment, but in 1764 was transferred to the 68th, which was located in
Antigua from 1764 to 1772. On account of ill health, he sold his
commission in 1769 and retired from active military service. Just where
he was stationed during these years is not easy to ascertain, but he
must have spent part of his time in Long Island, where he married his
wife; part in London, where Miers, a London jeweller and portrait
painter, painted his portrait (a miniature); and part in Antigua,
whither he went in 1764. There he was appointed by Governor Thomas a
member of the council, in place of Arthur Freeman, whom Thomas had
suspended for running away with his daughter, and he retained that
position, nominally at least, until Freeman's return from England in
1771. In 1761 he married his cousin Elizabeth (apparently five years his
senior), the daughter of his uncle Josiah by his first wife, a Mrs.
Chester, and probably both before and after that event lived at "Rockhall,"
Josiah's countryseat in Long Island. He must have resided there again
after resigning his commission in 1769, perhaps for two years. On
December 14, 1770, he was named governor of North Carolina, through the
influence of Governor Trvon, and on May 1, 1771, received his commission
and instructions from England, through Lord Dunmore. He was delayed in
Long Island by continued ill health and did not reach the province until
July ii of that year, holding the first meeting of his council on August
12. Samuel Johnston of North Carolina wrote to Thomas Barker, June 10,
1771, "We are in daily expectation of Mr. Martin our new Govt, and as we
hear a very amiable character of him are not uneasy at the approaching
change" (Letter in North Carolina Historical Commission files).
Josiah was resident
governor of North Carolina until 1776. He made a tour of the colony with
his family and retinue in 1772, reaching Hillsboro in July, and although
he endeavored to adjust the difficulties arising out of the Regulators'
War, he was only moderately successful. Temperamentally he was not well
fitted to deal with the unrest of the period, and has always been
harshly judged, not only by North Carolina historians, but also by all
whose sympathies are with the revolutionary party. He was energetic,
conscientious, and loyal to the cause which he upheld, but he lacked
wisdom and the spirit of compromise, and saw in the colonial movement,
as did Miss Schaw herself, only an exhibition of contumacy and sedition.
His letters are long and his style is turgid and tiresome. He adhered
inflexibly to the constitutional rights of the prerogative, and,
believing that force was the only remedy to apply in the case, lie
suffered the fate of those who endeavor to coerce rather than to control
an uprising based on legitimate grievances. He showed unquestioned
ability and laid his plans with shrewdness and ski]], but the breaks in
the game went against him. When his first efforts to obtain military
assistance failed, he fled before the rising storm, and somewhat to the
discredit of his valor, if not of his discretion, escaped from New Bern
on May 2J., 1775, and took refuge, first at Fort Johnston (June 2), and
then on board the Cruizer in the Cape Fear River (June 18 or 19). He
remained in the province (on the ships of war) "for the sake of
correspondence with the friends of government," and not only organized a
corps of Highlanders for an attack upon Wilmington (N. C. R. XXII,
616-617), but also formulated elaborate plans, which in the autumn of
1775 he sent to Lord Dartmouth in England, by Miss Schaw's brother,
Alexander—plans providing for a combined attack of land and sea forces
for the purpose of reducing to subjection the Southern colonies. On
January 10, 1776, he removed from the Cruizer to the Scorpion, and from
that vantage point inaugurated the highland campaign, which ended in the
defeat of the Highlanders at Moore's Creek bridge on February 27, 1776.
In March he changed to the transport Peggy, and when Sir Henry Clinton
and Admiral Warren, who arrived during the spring, decided that further
effort was useless, he accompanied them to Charles Town and remained
there on the transport during June and most of July. With his departure
from the province his governorship came to an actual, though not a
legal, end. In his memorial presented to the Loyalist Claims Commission,
he said that he never acted as governor after his flight from New Bern;
but we know that he issued a proclamation from Charlotte in October,
1780, when he was with Lord Cornwallis's army (Connor, history of North
Carolina, I, 469) and that he continued to receive his salary until
October, 1783 (The Royal Commission on the Losses and Services of the
American Loyalists, Roxburghe Club, p. 290).
Toward the end of July,
1776, anxious to see his family, and knowing that for the time being
there was nothing more for him to do in the South, Martin went to New
York on the Sovereign and "for the sake of rendering immediate service"
remained there for nearly three years, living with the family at "Rockhall."
During this time his property in North Carolina, real and personal, was
sold by order of the congress at New Bern, February 6, 1777. What his
employments were during this period we do not know. He Was certainly not
the "Lt. Col. Martin" who presided at a court-martial in New York, March
27, 1778 (Order Book of the Three Battalions of Loyalists commanded by
Oliver DeLancey, 1776-1778), for he was no longer of military rank; but
he was the "Josiah Martin" appointed a member of the Board of Associated
Loyalists in October, 1780 (American Manuscripts in the Royal
Institution, II, 198), though he can have had little or nothing to do
with the work of that board. In the autumn of 1779, he accompanied
Clinton on the latter's second expedition to South Carolina ("at the
desire of Sir Hy Clinton, who proposed to make him governor of S.
Carolina when conquered but found his commission did not enable him to
do so," Public Record Office, C. O. 318) and the next year (August,
1780) he joined Cornwallis's army and served as a volunteer until April,
1781. He made a number of efforts to return to military command, but
without success. Those of his former highland regiment who served under
Cornwallis endeavored to raise a regiment of their countrymen, of which
Martin was to be colonel, but the results were unsatisfactory, as only
about a hundred men returned to the colors, and these, in two companies,
under Captain Forbes at Charles Town in 1781, and Captain McArthur at
Fort Arbuthnot in 1782, were compelled to remain on guard duty (Ross,
Cornwallis Correspondence, 1, 54; Loyalist Muster Rolls, MSS.,
)777-1783).
Cornwallis thought well
of Martin and spoke highly of his services. "In opening up channels of
correspondence with our friends in North Carolina," he wrote to Lord
George Germain, "I have been greatly assisted by Gov. Martin, from whose
abilities and zeal for the service I have on many occasions derived
great advantage" (August 20, 1780). "Gov. Martin became again a military
man," he wrote to the same after the battle of Camden, "and behaved with
the spirits of a young volunteer" (August 21, 1780). "I have constantly
received the most zealous assistance from Gov. Martin during my command
in the southern districts," he again wrote (March 17, 1780. "Hoping that
his presence would tend to incite the loyal subjects of this province to
take an active part with us, he has cheerfully submitted to the fatigue
and dangers of our campaigns; but his delicate constitution has suffered
by his public spirit, for, by the advice of the physician, he is now
obliged to return to England for the recovery of his health" (Ross,
Cornwallis Correspondence, I, 489, 494,509).
In April, 1781, after the
battle of Guilford, Martin, suffering from increasing ill health, left
Cornwallis's army and returned to his family at "Rockhall." There he
spent a part of the summer, after which, with his wife, a son, and three
daughters, he set sail for England. In London he presented his claims to
the American Loyalist Claims Commission, and in memorials—one of which
was supported by the "observations" of his brother Samuel, and in
evidence given personally in the presence of the board, he made
statements of his losses. His salary, he said, with the perquisites of
the governor's office, was worth from £1700 to £i800 a year; his
furniture he valued at £2400 to £2500, his books at £oo to £600; and his
horses, two carriages, and the lands which he as governor had granted to
himself and his children (io,000 acres) were worth altogether £3500. The
Treasury had been paying him his salary of Lioco since July, 1775, and a
temporary pension of £500, but the board decided that as long as the
salary was paid the allowance should cease. Until October, 1783,
therefore, Martin had his salary, but after that date the £500 allowance
seems to have been his only payment from the British Exchequer, except
the compensation for losses, which was placed at £2100. In 1785, Martin
reported that he had received only £840 of that amount (Audit Office
Papers).
There is nothing to show
that Martin engaged in any occupation under government or in any way
concerned himself with public affairs after he returned to England.
Probably his health forbade active work. He performed useful services in
behalf of members of the highland regiment that he had raised in
1775-1776, and he wrote recommendations and appeared before the board
personally in behalf of their claims. In 1782 he was living in South
Molton Street (off Oxford Street) and later resided at 56 James Street
and in New Norfolk Street (Grosvenor Square). lie died intestate* at the
latter place in March, 1786, at the age of fort-nine, and was buried in
St. George's, Hanover Square. Miers, as has been noted, painted his
miniature some time before 1771, for which Martin said that he sat fifty
times (Copley-Pel/zarn Letters, p. 128). It cost him thirty guineas, and
Coplev, who saw it, told Henry l'clharn that he thought it well worth
the money. Copley himself in 1771, going from New York to "Rockliall"
specially for the purpose, painted a portrait of Mary Elizabeth,
Martin's eldest daughter, at that time eight or nine years old, with a
dog, a picture that is not included in Bayley's list of Copley
paintings. This portrait was originally painted on canvas and set in the
chimney piece over the mantel in the back parlor, but Mr. Hewlett, who
bought "Rockhall" in 1824, had it taken out and framed lest it be
injured by damp and mould (letter from Mr. Hewlett's granddaughter,
Louise Hewlett Patterson). All together Martin had eight children, Mary
Elizabeth, born in Long Island, 1762, two daughters born either in Long
Island or in Antigua between 1762 and 1769, Sarah, born in Antigua about
1769, Alice, born in Long Island about 1770, Samuel, born in Long
Island, 1771, Josiah, born in North Carolina, 1772, and Augusta, born in
Long Island, 1775. Little Sammy and two unnamed daughters died in North
Carolina, and Augusta died in England before 1788. The others were all
living in 1795, Josiah dying unmarried in 1799. Of the mother's death we
know certainly but little. Payson says that she died at the age of
forty-four, in October, 1778, a month before her father (Oliver,
Antigua, III, 441; New England Historical and Genealogical Register,
Jan., 1900).
Colonel Samuel's next
younger brother, Josiah, the uncle of Governor Josiah, with whom he has
frequently been confounded, was born in Antigua in 1699. He lived in the
island during his earlier years and from his rank in the militia was
often known as Major Martin. If, as the records of St. George's parish,
Hempstead, seem to show, his daughter Elizabeth was born in Long Island
in 1732, two facts, not otherwise known, come to light. First, that
Elizabeth was the daughter of his first wife and so half-sister to his
other children and second that Josiah himself must have gone with his
wife to Long Island as early as 1730-1732. If he was present in Long
Island before 1732, he must have returned soon to Antigua, for his
marriage to his second wife, Mary Yeamans, a niece of his brother's
first wife, on May 8, 1735, is to be found in the register of St. Paul's
parish, and in the same year he was appointed a member of the council
there. He must have acquired land in Long Island early, for "Major
Martin's lands" are mentioned in the Hempstead Records in 1742. He was a
justice of the peace and notary public in Antigua in 1741 and president
of the council from 1743 to 1746. In 1749 he was given twelve months'
leave of absence, and at that time must have made up his mind to leave
the island permanently. His name appears in the Hempstead records in
1751, as subscribing £20 for erecting a gallery in the parish church (Onderdonk,
Antiquities of the Parish Church, Hempstead, p. i; Annals of Hempstead,
p. 76). He purchased land in 1761 at the head of Cow Bay (Far Rockaway)
and there must have erected his mansion, "Rockhall," soon after. In
1755, He was recorded as possessing six slaves, the largest number but
one in a list of that date, and it is probable that he was a man of
wealth, though holding no remunerative official post or engaging, as far
as we know, in any business other than that of a country gentleman.
In the very few
biographical statements that have been made regarding Josiah Martin the
elder, we are told that he was aide-de- camp to Lieutenant Governor
DeLancey in 1757, but that is wholly unlikely, as he was fifty-eight
years old at the time, and the reference must be to Josiah Martin the
younger. We are also told that he was on the council of the governor of
the province of New York from 1759 to 1764, and that statement is
probably correct, for he is called "Hon." in the notice of his death, a
title indicating membership in the council, and in the legislative
journal the name is entered followed by "Esq.," a style that would
hardly have been used had the Josiah Martin in question been an officer
in the regular army. Yet the matter is made perplexing by the fact that
in the Privy Council Register he is spoken of as no longer of the
council because he had "settled at Antigua" (Acts of the Privy Council,
Colonial, IV, 493), and it was the nephew, not the uncle, who went, to
Antigua in 1764. Whichever it was, this particular Josiah Martin was not
of much use as a councillor, for he was present at but five meetings of
the council in five years (Journal of the Legislative Council, II, 1371,
1372, 1402, 1417, 1428). He died, November 21, 1778, at "Rockhall" and
was buried in the chancel of St. George's Church, of which he was long a
member. His will mentions six children, Samuel, Charles Yeamans,
William, Elizabeth, Alice, and Rachel, and we know that he had one other
son, Josiah, who died in 1762, after graduating at the College of
Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania), A.B. 1757, A.M. 1760, and
after he had been entered at the Inner Temple, London. His wife died in
1825, having lived during her later years in a house left her by her son
in his will and which stood on the site of the Astor House in New York.
The eldest surviving son
of Josiah the elder was Samuel, born in 1740 (baptized, October 14, in
St. George's Church, Hempstead), who became a doctor, but from what
medical school he obtained his diploma we do not know. He was a loyalist
and in 1776 was implicated in a plot to overthrow the revolutionary
government in New York. On February 17, 1776, he was compelled to give a
bond of £500 to behave peaceably and refrain from harboring Tories in
his house. Later his name was placed on the list of suspects, and in
June lie was summoned before the committee for hearing and trying
disaffected persons. When interrogated be said that he had never done
anything against the country and was not an enemy to America; that he
always meant to remain as peaceable and inactive as he could. On being
asked whether the British parliament had a right to tax America, he
replied that in his opinion it had no right to levy internal taxes on
the colonies. On being further asked what lie meant by an internal tax,
he answered a land tax, not a personal tax, which was not
unconstitutional if for the regulation of trade, but, he added, he was
not a politician and had confined his studies to his profession. Asked
if he would give security, said that he would and named his father
living on Long Island. The committee resolved unanimously that Samuel
Martin was not a friend to the American cause, but after a further
interrogation on June 26 accepted his parole and did not molest him
during the war (Force, American Arc/jives, VI, 1776, if. 1153, 1160,
1175, 1176).
Martin continued to live
at "Rockhall," serving for many years as vestryman of St. George's
Church, and exercising considerable local influence. In 1773 he was
recommended by the Royal Society "to make researches and collections in
the branches of Natural History in America" (home Office Papers,
1773-1775, §127) and so must have acquired something of a reputation in
England. He never married. His death took place on April 19, 1806, and
he was buried under the chancel of the old St. George's Church. When the
first church was burned and its successor placed on a slightly different
site his grave remained unmarked. At his death Samuel left instructions
that all the family papers should be sent to his brother Charles in
England. Whether or not they are still in existence we do not know. |
