Elder Lawrence Greatrake: Misc. Sources 1

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Lawrence Greatrake (1793-c.1840)
Miscellaneous Historical Sources 1

Various News Items (1813-1832) | Reminiscences of Wilmington (1851)

Autobiographical Recollections (1860) | Charles Willson Peale (1947)

"Gilpins Papermaking Machine" (1957) | Early Engineering Reminiscences (1965)

"Dickinson's Paper Machine" (1967) | Rockdale... (2005) | L.G. Sources Part 2

Charles R. Leslie
Autobiographical Recollections...
(Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1860)

Chapter 1

pp. 1-13

Transcriber's Comments

Greatrake mentions in text below: p. 2 p. 3 p. 6 p. 8-12 p. 12-13

[ 1 ]

AUTOBIOGRAPHY
OF
CHARLES ROBERT LESLIE.
________

CHAPTER I.

Voyage to America -- Engagement at sea -- French ship vanquished -- Youthful bravery -- The Newfoundland dog -- Residence at Lisbon -- Departure from Lisbon -- Arrival at Philadelphia.

In looking back on the opportunities my profession has given me of knowing many persons whose names will outlive the present age, I cannot doubt that much which has interested me will be read with interest by others. Without the hope that I can do justice, in my relation, to what I have seen and heard, I am yet tempted to commit to paper those of my recollections on which I dwell with the most interest, and to connect with them some account of my life.

My father, Robert Leslie, and my mother, Lydia Baker, were Americans, natives of Cecil county in the state of Maryland. Their forefathers had settled in that neighbourhood early in the last century as farmers; my father's ancestors being from Scotland, and my mother's from England.

My father was a man of extraordinary ingenuity in mechanics. He settled in Philadelphia in the year 1786, as a clock and watchmaker, having previously pursued that business at Elktown. He was a member of the Philosophical Society, and was known and respected by some of the most eminent scientific men in America, among whom I well recollect Latrobe, the architect of the Capitol at Washington. His business having become prosperous, he determined to extend it by taking a partner in Philadelphia,

2 MEMOIR OF C. R. LESLIE. [CHAP. I.

and by going himself to London to purchase the clocks and watches wanted for the establishment. This he did about the year 1793. He was accompanied by his family, which consisted of my mother and three young children (girls), and his sister, Margaret Leslie.

I was born in London on the 19th October, 1794, and my first recollections are of our living in a house in Portman Place, Edgeware Road, two doors from that which I occupied after an interval of thirty years. My brother, the youngest of my father's children, and about two years younger than myself, was also born in London. On the death of my father's partner, Mr. Price, he returned to America with his family.

Our voyage was a remarkable one; and, as my father kept a journal, and as I have been favoured, within these few years, with a sight of another kept by one of our fellow passengers, Mr. Lawrence Greatrakes, I am enabled to give some account of the principal events of it.

We sailed, on the 18th September, 1799, from Gravesend, in the ship Washington, 875 tons burthen, carrying sixteen 24-pounders (carronades), six long twelves, and two 6-pounders. She was an English-built East Indiaman, but when we sailed in her she was in the American merchant service, and armed in consequence of the war between the United States and France. She had a complement of sixty-two men and boys, and was commanded by Captain James Williamson, a Scotchman. Mr. Greatrakes remarks, that:

"Perhaps few instances ever occurred of a vessel suffering greater difficulties, and not being lost, in endeavouring to beat out of the Channel."

And my father says:

"We were only just clear of the land when we had been thirty-four days on board.

"On the 23rd October we passed through an English fleet from the Mediterranean, and were brought to by the largest of the ships the Majestic, 74. The gun she fired as a signal had, by the carelessness of the gunner, a ball in it, which came on board of us, and, passing very near the heads of two of our passengers, sunk into a spar on the deck.

"On Thursday, the 24th," continues my father, "we were called up by the mate and gunner, who informed us that there

CHAP. I.] VOYAGE TO AMERICA. 3

was a French ship in sight, and that we must prepare for an engagement. As soon as I got on deck, the captain requested me to get Mrs. Leslie and the children up and dressed, as he wished to have them ready to go below at a minute's warning. We were steering west, with the wind right aft, and the Frenchman following us at the distance of about four miles. It was, no doubt, a ship we had seen the evening before, dogging the fleet we had passed through, probably in the hope of cutting one or two of them off. He did not seem to be gaining on us, so that, at eight, we had breakfast as usual, soon after which we found that our enemy could keep up with us with less sail than we had, by which it was evident he could overtake us if he pleased. Our captain determined, therefore, to slacken sail, and have our fate decided while we had the day before us."

Mr. Greatrakes says:

"The orders to clear for action were productive of some droll scenes. Great was the confusion produced among the passengers some half-asleep, some only half-dressed, running every way but the right one, and carrying their moveables everywhere but where they should; bemoaning their unhappy lot in coming to sea in time of war; rolling up their bedding, and tumbling their trunks down the orlop deck stairs; and some of them tumbling themselves after them; inquiring of every one whom they judged in the least likely to know, whether it would be a hard fight; whether the French would take all the passengers' property; whether they should be put into prison; whether they should ever get home; &c., &c."

To return to my father's journal:

"At half-past nine we had everything in readiness, and every man to his station: the guns all primed, the matches lit, and all the women and children ordered down into the hold.... At a quarter before ten the Frenchman fired one gun, though at too great a distance to reach us. In five minutes more they were near enough, when our captain fired our first gun with his own hand, it being one that stood on the quarter-deck; the men gave three cheers, and the action commenced very briskly on both sides, the two ships being near enough to use muskets and have a distinct view of each other. The French ship appeared new, and in every respect like a frigate, except in size. Their musket-balls for a

4 MEMOIR OF C. R. LESLIE. [CHAP. I.

few minutes were sent so rapidly against the side of our ship, that the noise to us was like a hail-storm against a window, and yet we had not a man killed by them. One grazed our steward's neck, and another went through the fleshy part of a man's arm. No muskets were fired from our ship, except by some of the passengers, as our men were all required to work our heavy guns; in which we were, in one respect, very unfortunate, as almost every one of the 24-pounders that was fired tumbled over. I counted at one time five of them lying on their sides on the gun-deck. The carriages were made on a new patent plan, but so high and narrow that they could not bear the recoil. One of them in falling broke the leg of our carpenter. The two ships were but for a few minutes near enough to use muskets; after which some of the passengers who had been engaged with them went to assist in making wads and handing cartridges, and the rest went below. The action was now continued with the cannon on both sides; ours were pointed at the hull of the enemy, and we saw the effects of them in several places. They generally aimed at our rigging with double-headed shot, grape-shot, large spike nails, bars of iron from six to twelve inches long, and some of them an inch square, which did much damage to our sails and ropes. At eleven o'clock the privateer steered off, to our great joy, as almost all our cartridges were gone, most of our 24-pounders dismounted, and our crew much fatigued. We had lost, however, but one man, who was hit by a grape-shot through the head, and died instantly.

"It was the opinion of our captain, that the enemy had gone only to repair some of her damages, and meant to attack us again. After some grog, therefore, all hands went to work making cartridges, wads, &c., and getting the guns in their places; and rather before all was ready, we saw the Frenchman bearing down on us a second time, though not so fast but that we were enabled to be quite prepared before he came near.

"They began to fire at a great distance; but our captain ordered his men not to fire till they were close to us, and then as fast as possible with the 24-pounders. At a quarter past one we commenced the second action, with more vigour on our part than the first. The men were so eager to despatch the business,

CHAP. I.] FRENCH SHIP VANQUISHED. 5

that they charged the guns with a 24-pound ball and two double-headed shot. The French, as before, aimed at our rigging, and we at their hull, which our 24-pounders damaged very much; four of them were seen to go through her on one side below the wale, and another stove in the whole of her gangway. At a few minutes before two o'clock she sheered off, and did not return, leaving us with our rigging terribly damaged: our main-mast shot through in four places, the mizen top-sail yard in one, and the cross jack-yard cut in two in the middle; one ball through the fore-top mast, and nearly half the shrouds and stays of the ship cut away. Most of the braces were gone; and the mizen stay-sail, the smallest we had up, had thirty holes in it, the main-sail sixty-two, and the others in the same proportion: yet in the last action not a man was either killed or wounded.

"At three o'clock the French ship was so far off that we had no expectation of her return; when the captain told me I might get my family up from where they had been confined for more than five hours, with very little air, and the light of only one lanthorn. At four the privateer was nearly out of sight, and we sat down to dine on a large boiled ham, which the cook had got done for us, notwithstanding all the bustle. The men had at the same time their usual fare, to which the captain added two cheeses and an extra allowance of grog. Thus ended the busy part of the day; and, although we had beaten off our enemy, the evening prospect was but a gloomy one. Our deck was as black as the sides of the ship with the quantity of powder that had been burnt on it, and was covered with ropes, blocks, pieces of masts, yards, &c., balls, shot, and spike-nails. * We had only four rags of sails up, and were not able to manage them for want of braces. Night coming on, put it out of our power to do anything but let the ship drift before the wind, which was east.

"The evening was closed by bringing up on deck the man that had been killed, sewn up in canvas, with a cannon-ball at his feet. He was laid on the deck; the company stood round while one of the passengers read prayers over him, and he was then lowered gently into the sea. The name of this young man was

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* I remember hearing my father say, that he found the iron of an old patten sticking in the side of the ship

6 MEMOIR OF C. R. LESLIE. [CHAP. I.

Samuel Reed; he was a good sailor, and had been with Truxton when he took a French frigate, and afterwards in the ship Planta when she beat off a French privateer in the Channel in the early part of the summer."

Mr. Greatrakes says:

"During the action a circumstance occurred that showed the character of our captain. A wad from one of the Frenchman's 32-pound carronades struck the starboard quarter-rail and flew back, spinning round with great velocity. He instantly attempted to jump on it and stop it, almost pushing me down to get it. Then tearing and cutting it to pieces, he charged the larboard 6-pounder several times, and, stuffing the fragments of the wad into it, fired it back again at the Frenchman, swearing bitterly at the whole nation all the time. *

"Two boys, from thirteen to fifteen years of age, got a stroke or two from the first officer for dancing hornpipes on the main-deck during the heaviest part of both ships' fire. Another boy, in carrying forward a 24-pound cartridge, had it shot away from his hands. 'There,' said he, with an oath directed to the Frenchman, 'you _____, now I must go back for another.' In the early part of the action our colours were shot down, when our third mate, Mr. Thomas (an Irishman) and our little steward emulously contended for the honour of first mounting the poop, to nail them to the mizen-mast, in the midst of a most heavy fire of musketry. Thomas succeeded in getting the fallen colours and nailing them up, though they were shot through several times while he was doing it, and two geese were killed in the coop on which he stood. A young American gentleman, named Wallraven, distinguished himself by his gallantry, and was publicly thanked by the captain after the action."

Of such of the occurrences of this eventful day as were most calculated to make an impression on the mind of a child of five

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* Young as I was, I can recall to mind the figure of Captain Williamson. He was a well-formed, strong-made man, of a good height, but not tall. On this occasion he wore a kind of naval uniform, a hanger at his side, and a belt round his waist, in which were stuck a pair of pistols. From what will be related, he seemed (like Dr. Johnson), to consider one Englishman a match for four Frenchmen; and with Englishmen he no doubt classed Americans, as well as Scotchmen.

CHAP. I.] THE NEWFOUNDLAND DOG. 7

years of age, I have a tolerable recollection. I had often before looked with awe down the hatches into the gloomy region in which we were confined during the battle, and had seen indistinctly the upright post with notches in it for the feet, by which we children were carried down. My wonder and admiration were now excited by the steward, who seemed to me almost to fly up and down this post by the help of the hand-rope, his frequent visits having no other object than to see that we were as comfortable as circumstances permitted, to tell us all the best news from the decks, and to bring us reinforcements of ginger-bread, oranges, and wine.

All my notions of war were associated with the then popular piece of music, the "Battle of Prague," which I had heard my eldest sister play on the piano; and, accordingly, when I heard the groans of the poor man whose leg was crushed, and who was brought somewhere near us, I exclaimed, "There are the cries of the wounded" The burial of the man who was killed made a deep impression on me, for I saw his messmates carry him to the bow of the ship, and I could distinctly trace the human form through the white canvas in which it was tightly sewn up; and this to me, the first image of death, has never been effaced from my recollection.

Often as children are frightened without cause, they are as often in moments of real danger less alarmed than their elders; and I, though constitutionally timid, have no recollection of being terrified by what was going on, perhaps because I believed the hold to be a place of perfect safety. I remember that my brother and I amused ourselves for a great part of the time with playing at hide and seek among the water-casks, with some of the other children of the passengers. My brother, indeed, who was more heroic than I, wanted a little pistol, that he might go on deck and shoot the "naughty Frenchmen." My two elder sisters were of an age to understand and feel alarmed for our situation, and my youngest sister was dangerously ill with an attack of pleurisy, and in that state taken out of bed and carried below. What must my poor mother have suffered!

The captain had a very fine Newfoundland dog, named Nero, who was always greatly excited by the firing of guns. During

8 MEMOIR OF C. R. LESLIE. [CHAP. I.

the engagement, he was so much in the way of the sailors, running from one end of the ship to the other, jumping on the guns and barking, that either by chance or design he was thrown down a hatchway, and his leg broken by the fall. The poor animal became so restless, and his howls were so distressing, that my father, having fastened a rope to his collar, carried him to a part of the hold as far as possible from that which we occupied, and while endeavouring to find some means of securing him, he found one of the passengers sitting alone and quite in the dark. My father asked him to hold the dog, but receiving no answer, he placed the rope in his hand, but it was cold and trembling, and incapable of retaining it.

The broken leg was probably not the worst hurt poor Nero received by his fall, for he died a few days afterwards, greatly regretted by his master, who gratified him, in his last moments, by firing a pistol over him; a favour Nero acknowledged by slightly moving his tail, and making a faint attempt to bark.

Some of these particulars have probably remained with me from hearing my father and others of the family mention them after our arrival in America, rather than from my own recollection.

Mr. Greatrakes relates that

"As our damages were too great to be repaired at sea, and the wind was unfavourable either for England or Ireland, the captain determined to go to Lisbon to refit, from whence we were about 500 miles distant.

"On the 26th, another privateer, a brig, appeared in sight with all sails set to overtake us; probably supposing, from our shattered condition, she would find us an easy prey. She came up with us towards evening, and our captain determined to sink her, which his weight of metal enabled him to do. Luckily for her, however, a shot fired prematurely reached her, and she took French leave as quickly as possible.

"On the 30th we took a Lisbon pilot, who came on board with a cocked hat and a high plume of red feathers, laced ruffles to his shirt, and a sword by his side. *

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* The house in which we passed our "Winter in Lisbon," had been built purposely for the accommodation of lodgers. It was four stories high. On each story were two complete and distinct suites of rooms; each suite comprising

CHAP. I.] RESIDENCE AT LISBON. 9

"The repairs of the ship detained us at Lisbon five months and two days, though the carpenter had engaged to send us to

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a very large parlour or drawing-room, four chambers, and a kitchen. -- Our family occupied a set of apartments on the second story or first-floor. The adjoining set was rented by a Portuguese fidalyo who held a small place under the government, and with his wife, sister, and children, led a life of pretension and poverty, show and dirt. All the rooms, except the kitchens, were built entirely without fire-places, or any means of heating them except by the occasional introduction of a brazier of charcoal, in which case it was of course imperative to sit with a door or window open. And even then, the fumes produced such headaches that we thought it better to endure the cold. In the south of Europe, the lamentable scarcity of fuel is a serious drawback to any pleasure that may be derived from passing a winter in those countries. The houses are built as if for perpetual summer. Though during the whole winter there was no snow that lay on the ground, and no ice thicker than a shilling, we had several weeks of almost incessant rain, accompanied by cold, driving winds; and afterwards occasional rain-storms of three or four days. And such rains! a whole cloud seemed to descend at once. The streets (fortunately for them) were so flooded that at times they looked as if cataracts were rushing down between the two rows of houses. But it washed them clean. Our door-windows fitted so badly, that the rain poured in at them through all sorts of crevices and open places; so that, at each of the three, large tubs had to be placed to catch the water that would otherwise have deluged the floor. After the first rain, however, my father contrived means to stop up these cracks, so as to render the in-pouring less violent. But the dampness that pervaded the house, and all other houses in this fireless country, was without remedy. The shoes that we took off at night were frequently in the morning found covered with blue mould. So also were the surbases, and the frames of the chairs and tables. Our clothes became mouldy in the bureaus and presses; the covers and edges of our books were frequently coated with mould in a single night. To guard against the effects of this humid atmosphere, which there was no fire to counteract, we had recourse to many strange expedients. Every morning, on rising, we dressed ourselves as if we were going to spend the day in the street; putting on as many under garments as we could, and finishing with our pelisses or outside coats, and fur tippets. We wore our bonnets all day long; and my sisters and myself rejoiced in cottage beavers, tied in closely to our faces. My father (always in his great coat) likewise kept on his hat, and the two boys were made to keep on theirs. Several days were really so cold, as well as damp, that after breakfast we all went regularly to bed; remaining there the whole day, except at meal-times. This we found a tolerably good plan, and I liked it very well, as I could then give myself up entirely to reading. One of the amusements of the juvenile part of the family, when our parents were not present (with shame I speak of it), was to peep through the keyhole, with a desire to be enlightened as to the manners and customs of the Portuguese people who occupied the adjoining suite of apartments; a door, always locked, being between their drawing-room and ours. We would not have acted so dishonourably towards persons of our own country, or even to British neighbours; but we regarded the Portuguese as "no rule." We soon ascertained that

10 MEMOIR OF C. R. LESLIE. [CHAP. I.

sea in six weeks, or two months at the farthest. The expense was 12,000 sterling, with a deduction of 2000 for old materials.

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their general habiliments were old and slovenly, but that whenever a fine day tempted the lady-wife to walk out, she covered her dirty dark calico dress with an elegant blue satin cloak trimmed with ermine; and had a barber to come and dress her hair, and decorate it with embroidered ribbons; bonnets not yet being introduced into Portugal. Keeping no regular servant, she, for these occasions, hired, by the hour, two maids to walk after her. When any of her female friends came to visit our neighbour, they also brought their maids with them; and while the mistresses were conversing on the sofa, the maids sat flat on the floor in front of them, and kept up a whispering talk with each other. Among other items of keyhole knowledge, we discovered that every day, about dinner-time, our neighbours had a table set out in their parlour with clean damask cloth and napkins, pieces of bread, silver forks, spoons, castors, &c.; handsome wine-glasses, and goblets, and all the paraphernalia of a very genteel dinner equipage. The table stood thus during an hour or more; so that if visitors came in, they, might suppose that the family were preparing to sit down in style comme ilfaut. But to this table they never did sit down; for when the time of exhibition had elapsed, all the fine things were taken off and carefully put away for a similar show the next day, and the next. Meanwhile (as we found by reconnoitring through the kitchen keyhole) the Portuguese family all assembled in the place where their food was cooked; seated themselves on the floor round a large earthen pan filled with some sort of stew; and each dipped in a pewter spoon and fed out of that same pan. Our house was supplied with milk in the usual Portuguese fashion; the fashion at least of that time. A dirty ofd man with a red woollen cap on his head, and round his ragged jacket a red woollen sash, to which hung several tin cups of various measures, drove before him a cow, two she-asses, and three or four goats, stopping to milk them at the doors of his customers, who thus had their choice of cow's milk, ass's milk, or goat's milk. The two last milks are considered good for invalids; English people of that unfortunate class being then in the habit of resorting to Lisbon for the improvement of their health. They have grown wiser since the whole European continent has been opened to them. Our milkman, like all other Portuguese, took snuff a loutrance ; always stopping to regale himself with a pinch more than once during the process of milking into the tin mug, and when resuming with his snuffy fingers. A remonstrance from the person who stood at the door to take the milk so offended his Portuguese dignity, that he immediately drove off his beasts in high dudgeon, and there was no milk that day. Next morning, when he was caught with some difficulty as he passed grandly by, it required considerable coaxing and apologising, and many promises of future good behaviour, to prevail on him to stop, and supply milk as usual. The fashion of knee-breeches, cocked hats, and hair tied and powdered, was retained by the Portuguese long after that style became obsolete in all other parts of the world. With their long and ample cloaks, there was no need of wasting money on good clothes to wear underneath; and linen was rarely discerned about their necks, for very good reasons. A large house was building next door to ours. Immediately in front, the street was chiefly occupied

CHAP. I.] RESIDENCE AT LISBON. 11

"While we were at Lisbon we heard from the American consul at Corunna, of the privateer we had been engaged with.

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by a wide deep slough or mud-hole, where the paving-stones had sunk or died away; and the councilmen, or aldermen, or selectmen (if there are any such persons in Lisbon) had taken no account of it. When the weather was uncommonly bad, the carts that brought stone for the building generally stuck fast in this capacious hole. The Lisbon carts were of very primitive structure. They had no close sides; neither had they iron stanchions like those of drays to keep things from falling; there were only a few crooked sticks, stuck in here and there along the edges. Though wood is so scarce in Portugal, there was a great waste of it in the wheels, which had no spokes, but were solid and massy, like grindstones; and the axle-tree revolved with them, groaning, or rather, shrieking dismally all the time. These carts were drawn by a pair of oxen, which it always required two men to urge along. The dress of these carmen began by cocked hats, and powdered hair tastefully queued with blue or pink ribbons; cotton velvet jackets with tarnished, tinsel-looking ornaments; faded breeches open at the knees; and their bare Portuguese legs ended, as usual, in old shoes with large showy buckles. Each driver carried a goad, and when the cart-load of stone got into the slough, while one man goaded the oxen, shouting violently something that sounded like "shah!" the other went to their heads, and endeavoured to frighten the poor beasts out of the mud-hole by making ferocious faces at them, and shaking also in a loud voice, and brandishing his stick threateningly. The workmen came out of the house to assist in this enterprise of extricating the cart; and they always had to do at the end what they should have done at the Beginning, unload it of the slabs of stone; after which, the oxen and the empty cart were generally shahed out of the hole in less than half-an-hour. Among the sights of Lisbon streets, those that have a taste for such things may be treated daily with the gratuitous view of a pig-killing. If a man is driving a pig, and the animal seems to have more than his usual disinclination to "go a-head," the driver, to cut short all further argument, stops in the open street, takes out his knife, and deliberately kills the pig. Then, getting some dry furze from the nearest shop, he makes a fire in the street, singes and scrapes the animal, removes the inside, and carries the carcase home on his shoulder, all ready for selling or cooking. The Portuguese pork is the finest in the world: being fattened on chestnuts and sweet acorns. This food gives a peculiar sweetness and delicacy to the meat, the fat of which is as mild as cream. The beef is far from good; and there is a law against killing calves ; it being thought better they should live and grow up into larger and more profitable animals. Nevertheless, mysterious men came sometimes to our house, and with many and solemn injunctions to secrecy, produced from under their cloaks a piece of veal, for which they asked an enormous price as an indemnification to their consciences for having violated the law. Kids are much eaten in Portugal; but it is not altogether safe to venture on one, unless you are quite sure that it is not a cat. I am still uneasy with a misgiving, that, at a table not our own, I did eat a slice of grimalkin kid; and I can never be quite certain that I did not. I must say, however, that whether of the feline species or not, it looked and tasted well. Among the country people that came into market, were the wine-sellers,

12 MEMOIR OF C. R. LESLIE. [CHAP. I.

She was called La Bellone, of Bordeaux, a beautiful new ship, mounting twenty-six brass twelves and four thirty-two pound cannonades. She was a very swift sailer, and had, when she left port, 275 men; but when she engaged us her complement was 240, having put the others on board a British prize. We killed thirty-seven and wounded fifty-eight, and when she got to Corunna, she had four and a half feet water in the hold."

These particulars are confirmed by my father's journal, with the exception of the number of men killed, which he states at thirty. *

"On the 31st of March," says Mr. Greatrakes, "we left Lisbon, and the same day we carried away our new fore top-mast in a gale, and the next morning though the wind had subsided suddenly, it left such a deep trenching sea that the ship rolled in the most dreadful manner, and about 11 o'clock our new main top-mast was rolled over-board, with a man and a boy on it. The man was killed, but the boy saved himself by catching in the shrouds, though he was severely wounded.

"On the 3rd April, while all hands were busily employed in clearing the wreck of the two masts, at five, p. m., we saw a sail to windward, appearing like a ship of war. We could not make sail from her, if we would, and our captain now pronounced her a frigate, and declared his intention of fighting her, should she prove to be an enemy. We cleared for action, and at six we could see her hull, but no colours; at half-past six we were ready, and could now discern her hoisting colours, but it was too dark to see what they were. At seven she shot across our bows, within pistol-shot, matches lighted, and every gun with lanthorns, as were ours. At this moment a perfect silence reigned in both ships; not a whisper was to be heard in our own. We were incapable of preventing her from lying on us in any situation she might choose, and her taking this very formidable one of crossing our bows alarmed us much, as she might in passing, being higher than ourselves, have raked us

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each carrying on his back a borachio or goat-skin, distended with new wine, the forelegs being brought round the neck of the man and tied together in front. Such were the wine-skins that Don Quixote attacked with his sword, mistaking them for an army of soldiers. "Recollections of Lisbon" by Miss Leslie.

* The remainder of my father's journal has unfortunately been lost.

CHAP. I.] ARRIVAL AT PHILADELPHIA. 13

dreadfully. We now concluded she was an enemy, and respiration seemed almost to cease among us for a few seconds, expecting her fire. She, however, swiftly crossed our bows from starboard to larboard, and wearing round, as if animated by an instinctive spirit, laid herself alongside of us at about twenty yards' distance. In this manoeuvre was fully exhibited the great skill and discipline of British seamen, and all was done in profound silence. She hailed us in English, a language at this moment peculiarly musical to our ears, and she proved to be the Sea Horse, a 38-gun frigate, most gallantly manned and homeward-bound from a cruise. *

"On the llth May [1800] we arrived at Philadelphia, forty-two days from Lisbon, and seven months and twenty-six days from London."

My father now found himself obliged to engage in a lawsuit with the executors of his deceased partner, who had greatly mis-managed the business. The lawsuit turned out tedious and expensive, and before it was decided my father, whose health had been long declining, died, after a confinement to his room of one week.

This was in 1804. I was too young to feel how much we all lost in him. He was a most kind parent, and I cannot now recollect that I ever had an angry word from him, though I can remember many indulgences and gratifications which he afforded to my sisters, my brother, and myself, at an expense of time and trouble, of which we were then little aware. The retrospect convinces me that his chief happiness consisted in making his children happy, as well as his wife, between whom and himself I can remember nothing but entire harmony and affection. The only recollections of my father that are painful, are of his ill-health. I cannot recall to mind a single day in which he seemed quite well; and his disorders must have been greatly aggravated by his pecuniary embarrassments during the last years of his life.

Among his most intimate friends, I remember the leading physicians

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* It may seem incredible that the captain of our ship should have thought of fighting a frigate, disabled as he was; but he assuredly did so, for I distinctly remember, when we came up from the hold, seeing our sailors all ranged at their guns with lighted matches, and I can, therefore, vouch for the veracity of Greatrakes.

14 MEMOIR OF C. R. LESLIE. [CHAP. I.

of Philadelphia Doctors Rush, Barton, Whistar, Physick, and Mease. He had also known Franklin, and among his daily associates were Charles Wilson Peale, and Oliver Evans, two men of great ingenuity the first in many ways, the last as an engineer. That a man, without any advantages of education, should have lived constantly in such society, proves that he possessed no ordinary mind. His reading was, probably, not extensive; but I remember that, after Shakespeare, his favourite authors were Addison, Pope, Fielding, Sterne, and Goldsmith. He made a small collection of engravings in England, and "Hogarth's Apprentices " were among the number....

Note 1: Mr. Leslie's recollection of the immigration ship's name is confirmed by a 1911 genealogical query from E. Haviland Hillman: "...Lawrence [Greatrake] was a passenger on the American ship Washington, sailing from Lisbon in November, 1799. This Lawrence settled in America, and, I believe, owned and operated the first paper mills in that country, on the Brandywine, near Wilmington, Delaware." (Notes and Queries: For Literary Men, General Readers, etc., 11th series vol. 3, Jan., 1911, p.7)

Note 2: For more information on the long-forgotten military conflicts referenced in the above account, see Gardner W. Allen's 1909 book, Our Naval War with France. On page 67 he notes: "Several other vessels were built, or purchased and converted into vessels of war, under the acts of April 27 and June 30 [1798]. The more important of these were the General Greene, 28 [guns], Adams, 28 [guns], and the Portsmouth, Connecticut, Trumbull, Ganges, and George Washington, of twenty-four guns each. The two last were merchantmen purchased and converted to warlike use." On pp. 234-35 Allen reports the following communication: "A letter from William Smith, United States minister to Portugal, to the Secretary of State, dated Lisbon, November 2, 1799, says: 'Two days ago arrived here in distress the Washington, Capt. Williamson, bound from London to Philadelphia, with thirty-four passengers. She mounts 22 guns, has seventy men, and off Scilly fought two hours a large French privateer of 28 guns and beat her off. She had one killed and two wounded.'"

Note 3: The Port of Philadelphia passenger disembarkation lists show a "Laurence Greatrich" as one of eight cabin-accomodated passengers, arriving in that city aboard the Washington, from London, on May 19, 1800. The Leslie family is listed among the steerage passangers arriving on the same ship. Greatrake's family members were not with him -- they do not appear in the government records as U.S. citizens until 1813. They probably came on a different ship in 1800, without any record of their arrival in America having survived. They appear to be enumerated in the 1800 census for the "Christiana Hundred" (Wilmington) of New Castle Co., Delaware, under the household head "Laurence Greatrater," with two boys between the ages of 10 and 15, three young men between the ages of 16 and 25, and four men between the ages of 26 and 44. The household then included three girls between the ages of 10 and 15, along with four women between 16 and 44.

News Items (from various papers)

Am. Watchman: 06-20-1813
06-27-1813 06-04-1817 07-25-1817

Bal. Patriot: 05-14-1819

Nat. Messenger: 06-23-1820

Bal. Patriot: 04-18-1821 08-23-1821

Wil. Gazette: 02-26-1822

Bal. Patriot: 08-08-1822 08-12-1822
08-14-1822 08-19-1822 08-23-1822

A. Gen. Adv.: 04-30-1824

Am. D. Adv.: 04-05-1832

Additional Information

AMERICAN WATCHMAN AND DELAWARE REPUBLICAN.

No. 448. Wilmington, Saturday, June 20, 1813. Vol. V.

COMMUNICATION.

FOR THE WATCHMAN.
_____

Tigris agit rabida cum tigride pacem
Perpetuam, saevis inter se convenit ursis. SIR -- Events sometimes occur in life, which compel a man, in opposition to his inclination, habits, and opinions, to become an egotist. Such, sir, have recently occurred to me; and I feel myself compelled by duty to my family, in justice to myself, in honor to a society which has so kindly countenanced me, to tell a plain, unvarnished tale; to give a true exposition of my principles, and a brief account of the motives which brought me to AMERICA; a country of which I am now a lawful citizen.

Humble as I am situated in life, humbler still in abilities, and never in the least deserving public notice, yet the events of the past six months have occasioned my being a subject of some conversation, of considerable animadversion, and have made me known to the government of my now adopted country.

To you, sir, and to all my fellow citizens of the borough of Wilmington I have been known for thirteen years, and much longer have my family and myself been known to many of the most respectable native citizens of America: Thirteen years I have been settled among you, and have received so much friendship and hospitable treatment, have lived so excluded from all political public assemblages, never even being present at an election, devoting my whole time, thoughts and attention to the promotion of useful and valuable manufactories, that I could not possibly imagine I should be considered as a dangerous character, or that I should be particularly selected for banishment from all the other alien manufacturers on Brandywine creek; many of whom had never worn a pair of shoes out, on American soil. -- I, however, was so selected -- and on May 10, I received an order from the Marshal to depart my house for Reading, as did also my son George, a youth of only eighteen and an apprentice. -- We had then work doing for nine banking institutions, and were advised of five more coming on; on me lay the execution and responsibility: a heavy responsibility however honorable to me, it mught be -- all was stopped. -- My partner and myself waited on the marshal to obtain permission for my remaining till the end of the week that we might have time to arrange some means of orogressing, so as not wholly to [stop] the sundry banks; butthis boon we could not obtain, and on May 12, I left my family and my fortunes. The actual loss has been several thousand dollars, to us, and very serious loss and alarm to our employers, some of whom saw me at Reading, and others from the extremes of the South and North have been here; (their sentiments on the subject were unanimous;) and what, sir, must have been the consequences, had all the other alien manufacturers on Brandywine creek been banished? You may form some estimate of the injury it would have been to the borough of Washington only, when I inform you that I have paid in Wilmington 150,000 dollars, and never received for sales made there 3000 dollars.

Why I was particularly selected for banishment, I know not to this hour, except that I was known both here and in England as a most notorious WHIG, the son and grandson of most distinguished WHIGS: Men who possessed both fortune and abilities to support and defend their principles, who supported the revolutionary cause of AMERICA from its commencement to its termination, and the latter of whom spent 15,000 pounds sterling in the contest: and I, his grandson, shed my blood in the same cause, and have subsequently risked my life cheerfully in the defence of AMERICA'S free and noble flag; which flag may God and freemen continue to to protect and defend!

But a few minutes preceding my receiving the order of banishment, I had expressed a wish, that I had the timbers of all the British ships then on the coast to kindle our factory fires with; and in which wish my partner, Mr. Thomas Gilpin most heartily joined me. I learned from Washington that one of the charges alledged to criminate me was that of endeavoring to terrify the Messrs. DuPont's workmen from embodying and taking up arms, intimidating them by saying they would be hung up as rebels, were they taken in arms by the British! To Messrs. DuPonts I have never been, sir, these seven years: but two British subjects made the observation to me, that they were extremely embarrassed about bearing arms, for AMERICA could not claim them as subjects, were they taken, and wished me to advise them how to act. I simply told them to do as they judged best; but, as for myself, were my father's sons to invade my home or property, I should feel perfectly justified in rendering myself brotherless; and designed to keep myself and house completely armed, to act when necessity required. These circumstances I related in a store at Wilmington, and which were afterwards promulgated to my injury, by one fool,
Who lolled his tongue [---] at another
Shaking his empty [-----] at his brother. and were sent to Washington as a heavy charge against me, ommiting to mention that I had also encouraged all the hands at these factories to turn out and assist in building the fort; and which cost the paper mill alone 75 dollors, exclusive of all profits lost for the time.

I came not, sir, to America from necessity or by compulsion. No, sir, I came from a heartfelt preference I had for its kaws, its government, and its manners; and it is very probable, that with a wife and eight children, and myself verging on sixty years of age, I should be guilty of a dereliction of all my former principles, and turn traitor to America, to proimote the ruin and destruction of my family and of myself, to dishonor and discredit all my friends and connections! No, sir, I could not turn traitor to the French, were I a resident of France, and protected by its laws. And this the government no doubt believed; for on a very moderate representation of the hardships of my case, a letter of exemption was immediately ordered for me, and was on the point of being sent off to the marshal, when a certificate, with but three or four names subjoined, arrived at the office, representing me as a most dangerous character, and one who was likely to xorrespond with the enemy, if suffered to return. This, the certifiers did not believe; they could not believe it. No, I will not degrade their understandings so much as to suppose they could even think it;
But they who one thing think and another tell,
My heart detests them as the gates of hell. This certificate, however, delayed the just, yet generous intention of granting me a letter of full exemption, and I was only allowed to return, subjected to confinement, to the plantation on which the factories stand. It may be very fairly asked me; "Why were you not naturalized before?" I will again answer, as I have many times before, -- I am, sir, the claimant of property in England to a great amount now under litigation; and I was advised by those whose profession it is to advise right, not to be naturalized till that was determined, (but which it yet is not,) and my father's affairs were settled, who died soon after my coming here. Finding my restriction to be very injurious to the extensive business of the place, and not being able to obtain the least indulgence or relaxation from the marshal, I determined, at the risk of all my claims in our enemies' country, to be naturalized; and I was made a citizen of America, by the Supreme Court at New Castle, on Monday the 8th inst. On my return from thence through Wilmington, where I had not been for six months before, the marshal was kind enough to inform me that, he could have stopped me had he met me; * that he would carefully watch me, &c. &c. and honored me with the appellation of tory, scoundrel, &c. &c. This, sir, and all the details I have given of my family and self, will be fully and substantially proved. Now, fellow citizens, was there any thing in this proceeding unjust, or unlawful? Are there any of you whom I have robbed, swindled or injured? If there be such, I am willing and desirous of making every reparation in my power; and as to those who may imagine themselves injured or offended by me, I am (although an old man) willing to give them any kind of satisfaction, at any time, in any form, place or manner they may choose. I am always to be found. I am, and ever was, sir, a thorough going REPUBLICAN, though I acknowledge I have no taste for abusing men, and cutting their throats, for the mere accidental misfortune of their being born Kings and Princes.

By becoming in form, what I have been in heart these thirty five years, a citizen of the United States of America, I hope I am not unacquainted with the new duties devolved on me, and the new obligations by which I am bound; and should danger assail us, the only revenge I desire on those, who have so erroneously judged of me, is that they will follow where I will lead. That danger will assail us, real, trying danger, the next spring and summer, I most religiously believe; -- and, fellow citizen, permit an old man, although a young citizen, one not unversed in the world, and the men of the world to put you on your guard. Suffer not the present awfull calm to impress you with a belief that danger is past. Suffer me strongly to urge you to keep up a military spirit, a thorough union in your duty of vanquishing your enemy, and seriously to reflect that, whether we approve or disapprove of the war, that it was yourselves voted it, by a legal, constitutional majority, and we now ought to have no other thoughts, but how best to defend our country, and support our own majority.

Accuse me not, fellow citizens, of vanity or presumption, for thus obtruding on your attention for a moment, the concerns and affairs of so obscure and humble an individual as myself; but having been the object of much misrepresentation, and much persecution, and feeling how painful those sensations are, which arise from the apprehension of being unfavorably thought of, by those whom we have been accustimed to esteem; I could not remain silent under the accusation from a United States' officer, of being a tory scoundrel; for I do pledge my word and sacred honor, that even in our enemies' country, England, the appellation of tory, omitting the scroundrel, is considered so infamous and so degrading, that whoever uses it must venture his blood and his life, in support of his assertion.

Confined as I am by business, laboring to retrieve, in part, if I can, the sudden, unexpected crushing ruin which had so nearly overwhelmed my character, and with that, my fortunes; I had no other means of defence left. Almighty God! Am I at last, after all my sacrifices to the principles of liberty, with my head silvered over by age, to be appelated as a scroundrel, as a traitor, to the country of my choice, in which I have experienced an infinity of goodness and encouragement? Nay, to be even called a tory, is a trial to humanity, to which disolution is preferable.

I have now, my fellow citizens, given a true and faithful account of myself, and which has been proved since my banishment took place; and I hope you will not countenance me less than you formerly did, when I was a stranger and no citizen. I trust you will continue to find me, what I hope you have formerly found me, a mere, plain, downright, honest mechanic, pursuing my occupation, paying all just claims on me on demand, and hating no one, but loving many; and that, when business or inclination may lead me to walk the streets of your beautiful town, I may meet with the same countenance and protection I formerly met with, non obstante the threats of any individual.
L. GREATRAKE,
Brandywine Paper Mills,
Nov. 15, 1813.

__________
* I went under a written order from the judge, and had that failed, a Habeas Corpus was ready to bring me to court.

Note 1: The above address is one of the few extant documents which identifies Lawrence Greatrake, Sr. (c.1756-1817) as having been a former resident of Bristol, England. That was the same seaport from which Lawrence's relative, Osborne Greatrake, operated his maritime mercantile establishment during the mid-1700s. Lawrence was from the English Protestant settlers in Ireland, and evidently was born in or near Cork County. Possibly his father (Roger) or his grandfather (Lawrence) had some association with Osborne's trading company -- and that was the basis the 1813 claim: "for thirteen years, and much longer have my family and myself been known to many of the most respectable native citizens of America." Osborne Greatrake's ship Sampson was sailing between Bristol and the colonial American seaports as early as 1760, and it is possible that young Lawrence made his first journey to America on such a ship, prior to the American Revolutionary War. Lawrence Greatrake and his family immigrated to America "thirteen years" before he wrote his 1813 letter to the newspaper, he arriving (alone) on the ship Washington, at Philadelphia, on May 19, 1800, and recorded under the name "Laurence Greatrich." Whatever his connections with Orborne Greatrake may have been, the young Lawrence also apprenticed in the stationery and papermaking trade (along with John Dickinson, a noted paper-maker) and by the 1790s had become an employee (and likely manager) of the Apsley paper mill in Kings Langley parish, Hertfordshire

Note 2: See the 1813 New Castle court records for documentation of Lawrence's Irish birthplace (Record Group and series: 1217.35 Naturalizations - Petitions). The remaining male heir from the Cork County family of Greatrakes, still alive "thirteen years" prior to 1813, was Edward Greatrake, the younger brother of Osborne (and whose name was still being mentioned in the Irish newspapers as late as the 1790s, more than a decade after Osborne's demise). With Edward's death, Lawrence Greatrake may have envisioned a legal claim upon the Greatrake fortune and property remaining in Bristol and Ireland. If not, then the death of his own father (Roger) supplied Lawrence with a sizeable legacy of claims upon his late father's assets -- some of which were in Bristol (see the last will and testament of Roger Greatrake, probated Nov. 1804 at London).

Note 3: The following entry appears on page 344 of Daniel Preston's 2001 compilation, A Comprehensive Catalogue of the Correspondence and Papers of James Monroe: "Madison Caesar Rodney to J[ames] M[onroe] 11 May 1813 recommends that Lawrence Greatrake, a British subject, be allowed to remain in Wilmington, Delaware."

Note 4: In his Nov. 15, 1813 address, Lawrence Greatrake claims to have "a wife and eight children" living at Brandywine. The last page of the 1810 original, hand-written census tabulation for New Castle County's "Christianna Hundred" township shows Lawrence Greatrake as the head of a household comprised of 16 people: two boys under 10, three young men ages 16-25, two men ages 26-44, and one man over 45 -- the household also had three girls under 10, two girls ages 10-15, one young woman age 16-25, and two women between the ages of 26 and 45. If Lawrence's wife Eliza was born c. 1766, she was likely the eldest of the enumerated females

AMERICAN WATCHMAN AND DELAWARE REPUBLICAN.

No. 450. Wilmington, Saturday, June 27, 1813. Vol. V.

FOR THE WATCHMAN.

Mr. Wilson. -- I observe in your paper of the 20th inst. an address signed Lawrence Greatrake, evidently intended to prosuce a belief that he has been the innocent victim of unmerited oppression upon the part of the Marshal of this district, in having been sent into the interior, as an alien enemy. A regard to the dictates of truth, which have been egregriously violated in almost every line of this production, induces me to submit a brief explanation of the causes which led to that measure.

Had Lawrence Greatrake been actuated by worthy motives in becoming a citizen of this free country, he would have been content with the silent enjoyment of the privileges he has thereby obtained. But he could not resist the bent of his nature, to use his own words, he must turn egot, and let the good people of this country know what an amazing acquisition they had obtained in their new fellow citizen. Lawrence's aim is notoriety, and he must thank himself of he should eventually become more notorious than he originally expected or wished.

L. Greatrake has resided here, as he states, thirteen years, and has not thought proper until since the war, to avail himself of the opportunity of becoming naturalized. The reason assigned by him of a claim pending in England, is a mere pretext -- it is quite as likely that his great estates lay in the moon as in England. -- The true reason undoubtedly is, that he could not bear the idea of abjuring his allegiance to his sovereign lord the king. All Wilmington knows that he ever has been a full blooded Englishman in principle as well as birth -- a more noisy, boasting, vociferous son of John Bull, never left the barren shores of Albion, than Lawrence. He may tell the public, that he came not to America from necessity, but from a preference for her laws and government, and a thousand other fine things, but who that knows him will be imposed upon by such tales? Such an assertion is viewed as an unparalleled piece of effrontery by those, and there are many, who have heard him declaim for hours upon the superiority of British freedom and British excellence of every kind, and who have seen the jealous irritability of his manner when any reflection was cast upon the British character. The writer of this article recollects when the capture of the Guerriere was announced in a company where L. was present, he endeavored to undervalue the victory by asserting that he knew the Guerriere to be a small sloop of war, of 16 guns -- and when the Java was captured this same Lawrence declared it as a fact that one half of the crew of the Constitution were British seamen. A hundred incidents of this kind could be mentioned, all tending to shew his devoted attachment to the corrupt and perfidious government of England.

When war was declared prudence ought to have dictated the necessity of silence. But silence is a virtue which, with all his egotism, Lawrence, I imagine has never laid claim to. And it is a fact which fifty persons in Wilmington can testify to, that he has indulged himself frequently in most abusive and insolent language towards the government, and upon the subject of the war generally. The intemperance of his conduct, at length attracted the attention of the Marshal, who was himself several times a witness of it, and on one occasion forwarned him that if he did not abstain, he should be obliged to order him to the interior. It was not however till he was made acquainted with the machinations of Lawrence to deter the workmen of the Messrs. Duponts from joining their military association, by threatening them with the vengeance of the British government, that this measure was resorted to. This is a fact too which can be substantiated by satisfactory evidence. The Marshal did not refuse to indulge Lawrence with the time to adjust his business, as he falsely asserts; he gave him his own time for that purpose; in this, as in every other instance, he granted him every indulgence which was consistent with his duty. The permission to return from Reading was entirely an act of indulgence on the part of the Marshal, for the instructions from the government about which Lawrence and his friend Thomas Gilpin have made so much clamor, contained no order to that effect, but left it exclusively to the descretion of the Marshal, to permit his return or not, as he should deem it expedient. The principle condition required of Lawrence, and which he shamefully violated, by stealing privately to New Castle with his friend T. Gilpin, who was a party to the engagement. Scarcely had he been clothed with his newly acquired privileges before he returned to Washington, and with his friend in company, met the Marshal in the street, who accosted them with civility, notwithstanding the provocation their dishonorable conduct had justly given him, to which they replied with all the insolence & impertinence that malice could dictate -- A piece of conduct which proves Greatrake to be as unworthy, as his principles render him unfit to enjoy the privilege of a free born American.

To prove that he is a thorough going Republican, I suppose, Lawrence tells us, that he had expressed a wish to have all the British ships on the coast to kindle the factory fires with. In which wish his partner Mr. Thomas Gilpin most heartily joined him. Now Sir, without disputing this assertion, I will merely ask this thorough going republican, to remember that these are the same ships which he has at all times declared to be the only bulwork of American liberty against French ambition. The partial introduction which L. here gives of his friend Mr. Thomas Gilpin renders it meet and proper that I should bring that gentleman and his merits more fully to the acquaintance of your readers. Thomas Gilpin is like his friend L. one of your thorough going characters -- I will not say that he has shed as much blood and spent as much money for America as Lawrence and his progenitors have done; I don't know that his vocation lies that way -- but Thomas is a federalist of the true Boston patent stamp -- a man who is notorious in Wilmington for the eloquence of his lavectives against the government of his country; who has been heard in our streets to brand Congress with the appellation of a pack of scoundrels and other approbious epithets, and whose whole conversation upon political matters is of the same malignant and indecent tenor.

I will not trouble myself to enquire whether Lawrence was as he styles himself, a notorious whig in England; one thing is certain, that he has ever been a most notorious braggadocia here, and he is acting perfectly in this notorious character when he speaks of the 15,000 pounds ex[ended by his grandfather and of the blood he has shed for the American cause. I would recommend to Lawrence a perusal of the works of that celebrated traveller Baron Munchausen; the marvellous performances of that never to be sufficiently [rendered] hero may be of remarkable service to him in his future publications under this head. Probably the world never produced a more thorough going character than Baron Munchausen, not excepting Lawrence's two countrymen Captain Bobudil and honest Jack Falstaff.

An Englishman, Mr. Editor will always be an Englishman. You may as well attempt to make a negro white, by washing him in Lawrence's mill dam, as to convert a thorough going John Bull into an American, by the mere process of naturalization. It is, I presume upon this stubborn immutability they build their position, that an Englishman in China or in France is strictly bound by his allegiance as if he were in London. An Englishman whether in China, France or America bears with him the peculiar characteristics of his nation. He is in all countries a loud talker, a hard eater and a most egregious boaster; prodigal in professions but a niggard in performance. Believe him, & there is no danger however appalling that he will not face -- try him, bring him to the test, and the emptiness of his pretension is manifest. The character of this nation of gluttons and bullies is so well understood here, that Lawrence's hints about the satisfaction he tenders to those he has offended will be as little attended to as his tale of the 15,000 pounds and the blood he has shed for America, will be credited. Lawrence is now a naturalized citizen, and if he will take the advice of one who in this instance is willing to act the part of a friend, I would admonish him to enjoy his privilrges in silence, to shun the path of notoriety, which he appears to have marked out for himself and which can only eventuate in mortification and chagrin to his own feelings.
AN AMERICAN.

Notes: (forthcoming)

AMERICAN [ ] WATCHMAN.

Vol. IX. Wilmington, Del., Wednesday, June 4, 1817. No. 707.

DIED, at Brandywine Paper Mill, near Wilmington, on the 14th inst. of a short but severe illness, occasioned by an attack of the Gout in the Stomach -- LAWRENCE GREATRAKE. a native of Bristol, England; residence in this country seventeen years. He has left a wife and eight children to mourn his loss. --

His remains were interred in the burial ground of the Episcopal Church, attended by his friends and neighbors generally. --

Among the good qualities of the deceased, the rememberance of which will long be cherished by his acquaintance, he was distinguished by his liberality, and integrity, and correctness as a man of business, and his suavity in social intercourse.

Note 1: The following appears in an alphabetical list on page 46 of Raymond B. Clark's The Maryland and Delaware Genealogist: "Greatrake, Lawrence b. 1761; d. 1817; buried Old Swedes." The original Swedish church in Wilmington, Delaware had become an Episcopalian congregation, well before Lawrence's 1817 burial there. The church, by that time, was known as Holy Trinity Church.

Note 2: Lawrence left behind a "last will and testament," in New Castle Co., Delaware (as did his wife Eliza, who died in 1838).

AMERICAN WATCHMAN.

NS. Vol. I. Wilmington, Del., Wednesday, July 25, 1817. No. 2.

ALL PERSONS having any demands upon the estate of Lawrence Greatrake, of the Brandywine Paper Mill, lately deceased, are requested to produce their accounts for settlement, and those indebted to the same, are respectfully requested to make payment to George Greatrake, who is authorized to receive it. THOMAS GILPIN, Ex.

Brandywine Paper Mill, June 26, 1817.

Note: It is perhaps significant that the eldest son (Lawrence Greatrake, Jr.) is not mentioned in this notice. Lawrence, Jr. had, by this time, distanced himself from his Episcopalian parents, by converting to the Baptist faith, moving away to Baltimore, and going to work for a competing firm (the Franklin Paper Mill).