Dealings with the Dead, Volume 2 (of 2)Sargent, Lucius M. (Lucius Manlius)
History
Dealings with the Dead, Volume 2 (of 2)
Sargent, Lucius M. (Lucius Manlius)
Death; Funeral rites and ceremonies; Funeral rites and ceremonies -- United States
Nothing could have been farther from the meaning of the amiable Mr. Gray,
than a design to cast a reproach, upon the unimpeachable pedigree of this
excellent lady. But Peter Faneuil was, unfortunately, never married. He
was a bachelor; and is styled "_Bachelour_," in the commission, from John,
Archbishop of Canterbury, to Judge Willard, to administer the oath to
Benjamin Faneuil, as administrator, on Peter's estate. Peter's estate was
divided, among his brother, Benjamin, and his four sisters, Anne
Davenport, Susanna Boutineau, Mary Phillips, and Mary Ann Jones. This fact
is established, by the original indenture of marriage settlement, now
before me, between John Jones and Mary Ann Faneuil, dated the very month
of Peter's decease. He had no daughter to inherit. Mrs. Susanna Pemberton
had not a drop of the Faneuil blood, in her veins. Her nearest
approximation consisted in the fact, that George Bethune, her own brother,
married, as I have already stated, Mary Faneuil, Peter's niece, and the
daughter of Benjamin. Benjamin occupied that cottage, before he removed to
Brighton. He had also a town residence, in rear of the Old Brick
Meeting-house, which stood where Joy's buildings now stand.
Thomas Kilby was the commercial agent of Peter Faneuil, at Canso, Nova
Scotia, in 1737, 8 and 9. He was a gentleman of education; graduated at
Harvard, in 1723, and died in 1740, and according to Pemberton, published
essays, in prose and verse. Not long ago, a gentleman inquired of me, if I
had ever heard, that Peter Faneuil had a wooden leg; and related the
following amusing story, which he received from his collateral ancestor,
John Page, who graduated at Harvard, in 1765, and died in 1825, aged 81.
Thomas Kilby was an unthrifty, and rather whimsical, gentleman. Being
without property and employment, he retired, either into Maine, or Nova
Scotia. There he made a will, for his amusement, having, in reality,
nothing to bequeath. He left liberal sums to a number of religious,
philanthropic, and literary institutions--his eyes, which were very good,
to a blind relative--his body to a surgeon of his acquaintance, "excepting
as hereinafter excepted"--his sins he bequeathed to a worthy clergyman, as
he appeared not to have any--and the choice of his legs to Peter Faneuil.
Upon inquiry of the oldest surviving relative of Peter, I found, that
nothing was known of the wooden leg.
A day or two after, a highly respectable and aged citizen, attracted by
the articles, in the Transcript, informed me, that his father, born in
1727, told him, that he had seen Peter Faneuil, in his garden, and that,
on one foot, he wore a very high-heeled shoe. This, probably, gave
occasion to the considerate bequest of Thomas Kilby.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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