The Loyalists of Massachusetts and the Other Side of the American RevolutionStark, James Henry
History
The Loyalists of Massachusetts and the Other Side of the American Revolution
Stark, James Henry
American loyalists -- Massachusetts; Massachusetts -- Politics and government -- 1775-1783
ANDREW OLIVER of Salem, son of Lieutenant Governor Oliver, graduated at
Harvard College in 1749. Studied law. Was often a representative to the
assembly and a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was one of the
founders of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of
the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia; he was considered
one of the best scholars of his day, and possessed fine talents. Judge
Oliver was never fond of public life, but ardently attached to his books
and friends. He was honored with a commission of mandamus councillor,
which he declined. He married Mary, daughter of Chief Justice Lynde, and
many of his descendants are now living here, for although Judge Oliver
was a loyalist, he was the only member of his family that was not driven
out of his country in consequence of the Revolution.
PETER OLIVER of Salem, the son of Lieutenant Governor Andrew Oliver, was
an Addresser of Gage in 1775 and was proscribed and banished in 1778. He
became a surgeon in the British Army, and died at London in April, 1795.
His widow afterwards married Admiral Sir John Knight, and died in 1839.
BRINLEY SYLVESTER OLIVER, another son of Andrew Oliver, graduated at
Harvard in 1774. Later became a surgeon in the British service; was also
purser on the Culloden at the battle of the Nile. He died in 1828.
[Illustration: SIR FRANCES BERNARD
Born in 1712 at Brightwell England. Governor of Massachusetts from 1760
to 1769. Died in England June 16, 1779. From Copley's painting in
Fiske's American Revolution.]
A third son, WILLIAM SANFORD OLIVER, in 1776 accompanied the Royal Army
to Halifax. He settled at St. John, New Brunswick, at the peace, and was
the first Sheriff of the county. His official papers are dated at Parr
or Parr-town, by which names St. John was then known. In 1792, he held
the office of Marshal of the Court of Vice-Admiralty of New Brunswick.
At the time of his death, he was Sheriff of the County of St. John, and
Treasurer of the Colony. He died at St. John in 1813, aged 62. His son,
William Sanford Oliver, was a grantee of St. John in 1783, but left New
Brunswick about 1806, and entered the Royal Navy. He rose to the
position of Captain and was married at Heavitree, in October, 1811, to
Mary Oliver Hutchinson, the daughter of Thomas Hutchinson, Jr., who
was brought to England in 1770 by her father and mother, when she was
but three years of age. He was put on the retired list in 1844, and died
in England the next year, aged 71.
SIR FRANCIS BERNARD.
GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS FROM 1760 TO 1769.
Sir Francis Bernard was descended from Godfrey Bernard of Wansford in
Yorkshire, who in the 13th century was a large landowner, whose clearly
defined armorial bearings were the first of the family entered in the
Heralds College.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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