American Revolutionary War Privateer Essex

Date: 1781 [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surname/tag: 1776

The Essex was a privateering ship from Salem, Massachusetts, that was captured in the English Channel in 1781. The ship left Massachusetts on 22 April 1781^[1] and was captured in June. Men on the ship were held in prison in Plymouth, England. After sending numerous letters, they (some or all?) were released through the intervention of John Adams.

Men, mostly from Braintree and Milton, Massachusetts, who were held in the English prison are:

1. Job Field
2. Briant Newcombe
3. Samuel Curtis (1759-bef.1798)
4. Jeriah Bass (1759-abt.1813)
5. Edward Savil (1759-)
6. Nathaniel Beale - Probably Nathaniel Beale (1753-1832)
7. another unnamed Beale
8. Gregory Clark
9. Lemuel Clark
10. Lewis Glover (1763-1787)
11. William Horton
12. Thomas Vinton.

Notes on men without profiles yet

From Sprague, Waldo Chamberlain. Genealogies of the Families of Braintree, MA. 1640-1850. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001.

Job Field: [1673] JOB FIELD, (Joseph4, William3-2, Robert1), bapt. Jan. 27, 1760 (No. Parish), died 1801 (Field Gen.). Married Sep. 27, 1786 at Boston, Elizabeth Vose, born ____, died ____, dau. of ____. Revolutionary Soldier on Privateer Essex, captured and in British jail 1781. Released by John Adams and returned to Braintree Oct. 16, 1782. N. P. Jonathan Baxter appointed guardian of Job Field Jr. of Quincy May 12, 1801. Child of Job & - born at Braintree: i. Job, bapt. Jul. 20, 1788 (No. Parish).

Job's father: [1661R] JOSEPH4 FIELD, (William3-2, Robert1), born Jan. 29, 1719/20, died about Nov. 1776. Married Apr. 12, 1744 (Ch. Rec.) (Middle Parish), Abigail Newcomb, born Nov. 11, 1723, died about May-1798, dau. of Ebenezer & Sarah (Wild) Newcomb. Abigail Adams in a letter Jun. 4, 1798 pays a very high praise to her friend and neighbor, Mrs. Field. He was elected hogreave 1746, fenceviewer 1751, surveyor of highways 1753, 1759, 1762, sealer of leather 1757, 1764, constable 1760 but was excused, warden 1773. Bought the Belcher homestead in 1759 on Franklin St. Quincy, S. of Independence Ave. where his descendants lived until 1940. "Harvey Field place". Children of Joseph & Abigail born at Braintree: i. Susanna, Jun. 10, 1744 (not 1741 as published), bapt. Oct. 7, 1744 (Middle Parish), m. Oct. 16, 1768 (Ch. Rec.), Jonathan Baxter. ii. Abigail, Jan. 2, 1745/6 (bp. Jan. 12, 1745/6, No. Parish) iii. Martha, Nov. 25, 1747, single in 1778. + iv. Joseph, Nov. 29, 1749. v. Betty, Feb. 10, 1752, single in 1778. vi. Mary, Feb. 27, 1754, m. Jun. 8, 1775 (Quincy Ch. Rec.), James Faxon Jr. vii. Rhoda, bapt. Feb. 1, 1756, m. Dec. 2, 1781 (Ch. Rec.), Edward Willard Baxter. viii. Lydia, bapt. Jan. 15, 1758, m. int. Aug. 30, 1777, Benjamin Pray. + ix. Job, bapt. Jan. 27, 1760. x. Elijah, bapt. Feb. 28, 1762, m. Feb. 9, 1784, Mary Gridley. Resided in Roxbury. (cont. over) [1661] xi. Esther, bapt. Oct. 7, 1764. Accompanied Mrs. Abigail Adams to Europe as a servant; m. John Briesler of Quincy who also went to Europe with Mrs. Adams. xii. Lucy, bapt. Nov. 15, 1767, m. Jan. 24, 1796 at Quincy, George Mears as 2nd wife. She also worked for Mrs. Adams in N.Y. in 1790. S. D. 124:45: Sells to brother William his interest in estate of father William Field May 13, 1773. S. P. 75:338, Nov. 11, 1776, Joseph Field of Braintree, cordwainer, administrator of Joseph Field, cordwainer deceased & bonded with Seth Baxter & Jonathan Baxter. 76:305, Distribution: To widow £38/2/10 - Aug. 22, 1777; To Joseph eldest son 12/14/3/2; To Susanna, Patty, Betsey, Rhoda, Lydia, Job, Elijah, Esther, Lucy, or their legal representatives £6/7/1/4. 77:241: Real estate settled on Joseph & he to pay Job, Elijah, Martha, Betsey, Rhoda, Esther, Lucy Field, Lydia Pray, Polly Faxon, & Susanna Baxter or legal representatives after widow's dower, Oct. 16, 1778.

Thomas Vinton [5260] Children of Thomas Vinton & Jemima Mills born at Braintree:

i. Thomas, Sep. 14, 1761, died single about 1787. Revolutionary Soldier 1780, and in April 1781 was on the privateer "Essex" of Salem, captured June 10, in the English Channel and jailed at Plymouth, England one of the twelve men on the ship. They were exchanged in 1782. After his return he was thrown from a horse and had to have a leg amputated.

Gregory and Lemuel Clark

These are likely to be the sons of [1024] Capt. JAMES3 CLARK, (Benjamin2Joseph1), who was born Jan. 28, 1729, died Nov. 3, 1799 a. 71, GS., Hancock Cem., Quincy.

James Clark married Sep. 1753 (Ch. Rec.), Mary Baxter, born Oct. 19, 1733, died Mar. 1, 1822 a. 89 at Quincy, dau. of Gregory & Mary (Wilson) Baxter. He was elected hogreave 1753, fenceviewer several times between 1755-90, surveyor of highways often, on many committees, including the committee of Safety in Rev. War. He lived on part of his wife's inheritance from the Wilson Farm in Quincy on present West Squantum St. In 1773 a way was laid out "from the Milton line near William and Ebenezer Glover's was to be widened" on the northerly side of the way from the bars where proprietors of the salt marsh cart through near the house of Mr. James Clark." [1025] Children of Capt. James & Mary born at Braintree (Quincy): i. James, Sep. 17, 1755, m. int. Nov. 27, 1783, Rhoda (sic) Billings, (m. Dec. 23, 1783(Ch. Rec.). Theodora Billings, born Feb. 1, 1763, died Aug. 9, 1835 (GS.), dau. of Col. Edmund & Theodora (Dyer) Billings. + ii. Lemuel, May 12, 1756. iii. Peter, Apr. 29, 1758. iv. Gregory, Apr. 3, 1760, m. Mar. 25, 1784 (Ch. Rec.), Elizabeth Bass, bapt. Oct. 24, 1762 (No. Parish), dau. of Samuel & Abigail (Crosby) (Turner) Bass. Rev. Soldier. Had a son, Edmund.

Sources

1. ↑ Date from letter to John Adams, dated 8 September 1781, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-11-02-0356

• “To John Adams from Job Field and Others, 8 September 1781,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-11-02-0356. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 11, January–September 1781, ed. Gregg L. Lint, Richard Alan Ryerson, Anne Decker Cecere, Celeste Walker, Jennifer Shea, and C. James Taylor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003, p. 483.]