Amaziah Jocelin (1744 - 1805)

Born 1 Sep 1744 in Branford, New Haven, Connecticut

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Stevens) Jocelin — married 25 Oct 1763 in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut Colony

Died 24 Mar 1805 at age 60 in Wilmington, New Hanover, North Carolina, United States

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Biography

Amaziah Jocelin (1744-1805)

Amaziah Jocelin, the son of Nathaniel Jocelin and Ann Wade, was born in Branford, Connecticut, on 1 September 1744.^[1] He married Elizabeth Stevens in Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut, on 25 October 1763.^[2] He died in Wilmington, North Carolina, on 24 March 1805.^[3]

Amaziah was a privateer during the Revolutionary war. In 1778, he shipped as a prize master aboard the Ship ‘Putnam,’ a privateer out of New London, Connecticut, and was given command of one of six prizes taken by the Putnam. His instructions when he reached Maine were to sell the ship and cargo and “as to the prisoners you brot into port you may dispose of them as you please, but take care you bring no Penalty on yourself by not complying with the laws of the State you are in.”^[4]

In 1779, he was given command of the brigantine Firebrand, a privateer of 16 guns and a crew of 60. Thomas Painter, one of the crew, wrote, "While going down the Sound and out through the Race in the night (the British fleet was lying in Gardiner’s Bay), and having got out by Montauk Point near daylight, we discovered an enemy’s frigate just ahead and partly under the lee. We immediately hove about to the northward with a wind at northwest and found that our vessel could look up for the east end of Fisher’s Island. At the same time the frigate hove about also, which kept her close under our own lee and prevented us from running into Stonington. We therefore had it tack and tack, with our enemy within point blank shot of us, until we could weather the west end of Fisher’s Island, and so escaped into New London. There we lay until an opportunity offered for us to slip out quietly in the night, which we did and made our passage safe to Grenada."^[5]

After the war, Amaziah ran a retail and wholesale store in Wilmington, North Carolina.^[6]

Capt. Jocelin of New Haven, Connecticut, arrived at the island of Martinique in 1784 escorting another vessel. "There were only three persons on board, viz. the owner, his daughter, and a negro. She was bound from the West-Indies to Nova Scotia, with a family of Refugees, all of whom, excepting the above, with the crew, were washed overboard in a violent storm." ^[7]

In 1798, the Secretary of the Navy authorized Amaziah Jocelin to build two galleys in Wilmington. He later became captain of one of them, the Governor Williams.^[8][9]

The Connecticut Journal (New Haven, CT), 18 April 1805: "Died at Wilmington, North Carolina, on the 24th ult. after an illness of several months, Capt. Amaziah Jocelin, formerly of this city, in the 61st year of his age. – A Gentleman much beloved and respected."

Amaziah and Elizabeth had seven children, all born in Guilford, CT, except Henry who was born in New Haven:

Samuel Russell Jocelyn, born October 19, 1764.

Elizabeth Jocelyn, born August 16, 1766.

Henrietta Jocelyn, born February 28, 1768, died October 26, 1768 at 8 months.

Nancy Jocelyn, born February 13, 1770.

Clarissa Jocelyn, born June 3, 1772.

Frederick Jared Jocelyn, born September 10, 1779, died 1802.

Henry Jocelyn, born March 20, 1782.

Census

1790 US Census - New Hanover County, North Carolina:

Amasiah Joslin

Free White Males 16+: 2 <Amaziah 46, Samuel 25>

Free White Males 0-15: 2 <Frederick 10, Henry 8>

Free White Females: 3 <Elizabeth 47, Nancy 20, Clarissa 8>

Slaves: 6

1800 US Census - Wilmington District, New Hanover County, North Carolina:

Am. Jocelin

Free White Males

0-9: 1

45+: 1

Free White Females

26-44: 1

45+: 1

Slaves: 2

Sources

1. ↑ The Barbour Collection: Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870. Ancestry.com.
2. ↑ The Barbour Collection: Connecticut Town Marriage Records, pre-1870. Ancestry.com.
3. ↑ Connecticut, Hale Cemetery Inscriptions and Newspaper Notices, 1629-1934. Ancestry.com
4. ↑ Connecticut's Naval Office at New London During the War of the American Revolution, by Ernest E. Rogers, 1933.
5. ↑ “Personal Reminiscences of the Revolutionary War, by the Late Thomas Painter, of West Haven,” published in the Papers of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, vol. 4, page 247
6. ↑ Alan D. Watson, “Wilmington, North Carolina, to 1861,” 2003
7. ↑ The Connecticut Courant (Hartford, Connecticut), 9 March 1784, page 3. Newspapers.com
8. ↑ Robert Deveraux, ‘The First American Fleet: The Sailing Warships of the Quasi-War, 1798-1801,’ published in the Western Illinois Historical Review, Vol. II, Spring 2010.
9. ↑ Naval Documents Relating to the Quasi-War Between the United States and France

• The Josselyn Family In America, 1635-2009: Abraham Josselyn and Beatrice Hampson and their Descendants, Volume 1, by Edith S. Wessler and Anne Carolyn Treadway, 2009.
• The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records (NEHGS, Boston, 2011) Vol. Branford, Page 102. Birth record.