Memoir of Robert Bowne Minturn

' - r' ^7 AjR QR I Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Getty Research Institute https://archive.org/details/memoirofrobertboOOmint MEMOIR OF ROBERT BOWNE MINTURN. PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION. NEW YORK. ANSON D, F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1871, by ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, TO THE CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN OF JlOBERT j30WNE jlllNTURN, ^hi$ Volume IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. PREFACE. At the urgent request of many friends, it was intended, a long time since, to prepare this work for publication. Illness, and many other circumstances, hitherto prevented and it is doubtful have ; whether the task would ever have been ac- complished but for the assistance of a friend, Miss Caroline May, whose ready pen and genial sympathy have materially aided in its completion. The work was finally undertaken wdth great hesitation. To procure a successful portrait of a face we love is most difficult how much ; 6 PREFACE. more difficult to convey in writing a just idea of a character made up of so many delicate traits as was that of the subject of this memoir. To do this, as far as possible, we have given a short sketch of Mr. Minturn’s life, with an- ecdotes, remembered words and selections from his own notes, letters and journals. We are most grateful to those friends who have sent us the sketches drawn from their personal recollections and these will ; be found among the most interesting portions of this work. We have not asked for Mr. Minturn’s letters from those with whom he corresponded on almost all subjects connected with the wel- fare of the human family, as the addition of these letters would have involved the neces- sity of a much larger volume. We hope that we have been able, from the PREFACE. 7 material in our possession, to accomplish our aims in the preparation of this work, viz., to provide a pleasant memorial of one who will always be remembered with affection by those who knew him, and to convey some idea of his character to those who were too young to know or appreciate him in his life- time. That his memory may serve as an example, is the earnest prayer of The Compiler. - \i iv - , ' ’ . * A MEMORIAL OF ROBERT BOWNE MINTURN. CHAPTER I. The memory of such men as Robert Bowne M inturn, who was distinguished for his large philanthropy, and loved for his universal goodness, should be known and cherished by a wider circle than his immediate family and friends. And for this purpose, facts touching his useful life have been collected. But first it will be right to give some ac- count of his ancestry, for on both father’s and mother’s side the best claim to respect- ability was found, in that virtue, integrity, and honour which constitute nature’s noble- men. ( 9 ) IO A MEMORIAL OF Jonas M inturn, the great-grandfather of Robert, owned and lived on a farm in Nar- ragansett in 1732. The records of Long Island shew that a Richard Minthorne lived in South-Hampton in 1672, who may probably have been an ancestor of the M inturn family, as they were known to have emigrated from England to Long Island. Jonas married Penelope Browne, and had two sons and a daughter. One son died early the other, William, became a ; wealthy merchant in Newport, where he was esteemed for his benevolence and pub- lic spirit. His success as a merchant was in great part owing to a remarkable decision and promptitude of character, as an instance of which we give the following anecdote. When quite a youth his desire to visit for- eign countries was so strong, as to induce him to enter a merchant ship as second mate. The vessel was bound for England, during the war of 1763 between England and France, and captured by the French, ROBERT BOWNE MINTURN. II who would not yield it without a high ransom. The captain was utterly destitute of means to regain his vessel, but young M inturn, seeing the dilemma, stepped forward and assured the perplexed captain and crew that, if they would put him on shore in England, he would proceed to London and represent the facts to a mercantile house there in such a light as to win success. They consented, and in his sailors dress he went on foot to London, placed himself before the heads of the house, and stated the case so forcibly, as to obtain a favourable answer to all his demands. He returned triumphantly with the ransom of the ship, which was set free and sailed back in safety to Newport; and its owners were so pleased with this act of heroism that they made him commander. This step led on to another, and he soon became a ship-owner. In 1788, he, (in conjunction with other gentlemen of Rhode Island,) founded the city of Hudson and, viewing its situation ; as 12 A MEMORIAL OF particularly favourable for both agriculture and navigation, did all in his power to ad- vance its shipping interests. In 1791, he removed to New York, and died eight years afterwards, having displayed in every relation of life, a character marked by justice, firmness, and charity. He left a widow and ten children. His widow, whose maiden name was Penelope Greene, (a cousin of General Nathaniel Greene of revolutionary memory,) died in 1821. She must have possessed some determi- nation and force of character, as we find that during the war, she travelled all the way from Narragansett to Hudson on horse- back, carrying her wardrobe upon her per- son, that it might not be taken from her. The father of this Penelope Greene left an inheritance of virtue to his descendants. Obituary notices are not always safe guides to truth, but we must not pass over the words of an estimable Christian lady, who, at the advanced age of ninety-five, wrote — ROBERT BOWNE MINTURN. 13 beneath the record* of her father in the family Bible the following lines,—“ I wish to leave this true testimony to my father, for his grand-children and great-grand-children to the third and fourth generation, that they may strive to follow his bright example nor these written by his grand-daughter, Mary Min turn Post, in connection with the above, “ Earnestly, my dear children, do I respond to this desire, and seeing you are blessed with so good an inheritance, may we not trust that it will descend unsullied to unborn generations” William Minturn, the father of Robert the subject of our memoir, was born at Newport, 1 776; married Sarah, daughter of Robert Bowne, of New York, and died at Islip, Suffolk County, Long Island, in 1818. Besides these dates, we find little of importance concerning him, except that he was a man of unusual refinement and extreme sensibility. His uncle, Thomas Greene, writes of him 14 A MEMORIAL OF from Newport, January 14, 1791: “We were greatly rejoiced in seeing your son William, attended by your faithful servant Nero he has grown tall, but has the ; same sedate countenance he always had.” This faithful Nero was always remembered in the letters that William M inturn wrote, during an absence of two or three years in China, to his family at home. When he returned, he brought with him many articles of beauty and value, then more rare than at the present time. His life was cut short when scarcely past its prime, and his son left to the care of a widowed mother. But the promises of God to be a father to the fatherless, were especially fulfilled in this case. The ancestors of his wife deserve notice. The first of whom we hear, John Bowne, was a native of Matlock, in Eng- land, and there, in the records of the parish • church, is registered his baptism, on the 29th of March, 1627. He emigrated to America and settled in Flushing, Long Island, in ROBERT BOWNE MINTURN. 15 1656, where he erected a dwelling about six years afterward. Shaded by grand old trees, whose heavy, far-spreading boughs seem to love the abode they shelter—this ancient English - looking homestead may yet be seen, still complete and pleasant, containing many relics of the family, and documents relating to the Society of Friends, of which John Bowne became a member. He was a man of firm principle and moral courage. Being arrested for his religious opinions by the agents of the Government of the Netherlands, and sent to Holland, he boldly testified to his con- scientious belief by submitting to detention there, rather than yield what he thought right and true. He was sent back, however, with a reproof to those who had arrested him. His son and namesake was a man of extreme delicacy and sensitiveness of mind and body. His death was caused by having accidentally witnessed the cruel corporal punishment of a deserter during the revolu- 1 6 A MEMORIAL OF tionary war in November, 1757. This bar- barism so wrought upon his feelings as to bring on a convulsion fit, from which he died the same day. Robert, the grandson of John Bowne, was widely known in the city of New York, being foremost in all the charitable efforts of the day. De Witt Clinton, in a speech before some political committee, in April, 1824, refers in these words to Robert Bowne as Canal Commissioner : “ Let me on this occasion discharge a debt of gratitude and of justice to the late Robert Bowne.

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