tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post7961450009423996524..comments2024-03-28T04:26:30.557-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: Who Identified Men at the Boston Tea Party?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-67998613772344266142019-10-02T15:06:05.092-05:002019-10-02T15:06:05.092-05:00For the folks asking each other about information ...For the folks asking each other about information on Timothy Guy, I think it's best to start with what information links him to the Tea Party. As far as I can tell from a quick search, the earliest mention of him in relationship to the event was in an 1897 Dover town history. That statement provided no supporting evidence and appeared more than a century after the tea was destroyed. <br /><br />Timothy Guy is definitely documented in Dedham and Dover town records, with military service in the preceding war. But as to whether he traveled miles into Boston on 16 Dec 1773 on the chance that the tea crisis was still brewing, and was there welcomed into the Boston radicals' top-secret operation, I think that demands more evidence than an unsourced claim from decades later.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-31827429620580105622019-09-27T22:56:59.801-05:002019-09-27T22:56:59.801-05:00I am a descendant of Timothy Guy on my maternal gr...I am a descendant of Timothy Guy on my maternal grandmother’s side. I have not been certain that my TG was also the Tea Party TG. <br /><br />PLEASE EMAIL ME DIRECTLY AT LaVerneMac@mac.com<br /><br />My TG was a descendant of William Guy as listed in a genealogy by Albert Guy. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-20297286446797079232012-11-12T23:46:05.006-05:002012-11-12T23:46:05.006-05:00I commented on the William Cushing article above, ...I commented on the William Cushing article above, noting it was published in 1865 and, alas, doesn’t contain any detail to back up the claim about Gideon French. (It also states that he was “one of the youngest” participants, not “the youngest.”) J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-46067350395419786842012-11-12T22:47:28.507-05:002012-11-12T22:47:28.507-05:00I'm a descendant of Gideon French Thayer (not ...I'm a descendant of Gideon French Thayer (not Gideon French as I'll explain). The careful accounts by both William Henry Thayer (Thayer's son) and Thomas Cushing (Thayer's associate at the school Thayer founded, Chauncy Hall) were both very clear on two points: First, Thayer was adopted very young by Mr. Gideon French and was therefore named for him. Second, the senior Gideon French (NOT Gideon French Thayer, my ancestor adopted by him) was listed by both William Henry Thayer and Thomas Cushing as 'a tallow chandler' well-known for being 'the youngest member of the Tea Party'. Wiiliam Henry Thayer's journal is offline, but here is a link to Thomas Cushing's journal: <br /><br />http://books.google.com/books?id=Z_wPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA149&dq=gideon+french+thayer&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tr-hUN-fCKPgiAKHlYHoBA&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false<br /><br />Abbott RF ThayerAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-24289733244960393512011-06-30T19:01:26.435-05:002011-06-30T19:01:26.435-05:00I am trying to find more information on Timothy Gu...I am trying to find more information on Timothy Guy. If anyone has anything to share about Captain Thompson's company that included his move to Guilford NY, I would love to know more about my great, great, great grandfather.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-42615933611182488692010-08-29T13:30:15.114-05:002010-08-29T13:30:15.114-05:00What is the date of this obituary? I suspect it’s ...What is the date of this obituary? I suspect it’s after 1835, when the Boston Tea Party became a celebrated event. <br /><br />I’ve seen a number of examples of individual or families who moved far away from greater Boston claiming in the mid-1800s to have participated, or had ancestors participate, in the tea destruction. In some cases these stories are impossible (Thomas Machin, David Kinnison), and in others unsubstantiated and unlikely (Joseph Smith)—and in just a few (George R. T. Hewes) the person’s participation in pre-Revolutionary Boston politics can be documented, making his participation more plausible.<br /><br />Away from Boston, there might have been no one nearby to challenge such a claim. The Tea Party was elevated above other pre-Revolutionary political actions in Boston, making participation in it almost <i>de rigueur</i> for families who claimed Patriot ancestors from Massachusetts.<br /><br />According to Daniels’s <i>History of the Town of Oxford</i>, Ezra Bowman bought a tavern in that town in November 1773. That was a big undertaking, at a significant distance from Boston. I suspect he had more to do than journey to Boston on the chance that the tea crisis hadn’t been resolved by the time he arrived. And it would be risky for the Boston Patriots to involve a stranger in a top-secret operation. <br /><br />Bowman might have been involved in anti-tea activities and other Patriot actions out in Oxford; that would be consistent with his military and political service during and after the war. As the family lore got passed down, some relatives might have come to understand he was at the Boston Tea Party because that was the event that American culture remembered.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-16508662144855788422010-08-29T12:26:35.697-05:002010-08-29T12:26:35.697-05:00In an obituaty of Chancellor L. Bowman, town of Bl...In an obituaty of Chancellor L. Bowman, town of Blooming Grove, Orange Co. NY by his neice, Caroline Bowman Thomas, it is stated that Ezra Bowman, then of Oxford MA (selectman)and later a member of the 1779 MA Constitu-tional Convention of 1779, was a partipant "Ezra Bowman was one of those actively involved in destroy-ing the offensive article." Mrs. Thomas was a grand-daughter of Ezra through her father, Rufus Bowman b. 1771. <br /><br />Gerry DobsonGerard R. Dobsonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-81461018444492494572009-11-23T20:48:39.010-05:002009-11-23T20:48:39.010-05:00When I was Googling for Gideon French, I kept comi...When I was Googling for Gideon French, I kept coming across Gideon French Thayer, so he was a prominent man. It’s notable that he kept the memory of his mentor alive.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-75135456729728956362009-11-23T19:29:36.830-05:002009-11-23T19:29:36.830-05:00The journal of my ancestor William Henry Thayer st...The journal of my ancestor William Henry Thayer states that his father Gideon French Thayer was "adopted" by Gideon French (a close friend of the family) when his (Thayer's) parents died young. William Henry referred to him as Uncle French and knew him personally. The journal does NOT mention the Tea Party but does mention Cushings memorial as a good source of information. In the article you mention there is reference to a benefactor named Gideon Thayer. William Henry says he visited Uncle French in 1835 when he (French) was "about 80 years old." All this doesn't mean Gideon French was a memeber of the Boston Tea Party but it does put him in the right place at the right time. His later active participation in the war as a patriot attest to his frame of mind. I'm still researching the connection.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00597381067169988539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-30584973871339757192009-11-16T16:43:20.558-05:002009-11-16T16:43:20.558-05:00Alas, that comment about Gideon French nearly a ce...Alas, that comment about Gideon French nearly a century after the Tea Party doesn’t offer any detail to confirm his participation. It doesn’t even say how old he was at the time.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.americaskitchens.org/resources/articles/pdf389.pdf" rel="nofollow">one article</a> I’ve found about French appeared in <i>Old-Time New England</i> in 1959. It’s based on his postwar business records, and begins by saying how little documentation there is about his life. <br /><br />So it’s possible that French was one of the young apprentices at the Tea Party. It’s also possible that he or his descendants merely said that he was. All we can be sure is that some of those descendants came to believe it.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-81797894930009079002009-11-16T16:05:16.642-05:002009-11-16T16:05:16.642-05:00A google of "Gideon French Boston Tea Party&q...A google of "Gideon French Boston Tea Party" finds a memoir of Gideon French Thayer. In the memoir (written in 1865 by Thomas Cushing) the author states that Gideon French was one of the youngest members of Boston Tea Party.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00597381067169988539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-87294008540818930512007-10-27T22:07:00.000-05:002007-10-27T22:07:00.000-05:00I have just skimmed the text of The Yankee Tea-Par...I have just skimmed the text of The Yankee Tea-Party. It appears to be an imaginative recreation of the fictitious war record of Chicago's most famous imposter. It is almost certainly based on the Lossing publication of this man's letter. John F.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14989544146198703020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-17947390399899453912007-10-27T19:59:00.000-05:002007-10-27T19:59:00.000-05:00I listed all the names from Traits of the Tea Part...I listed all the names from <I>Traits of the Tea Party</I> in <A HREF="http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2006/12/who-threw-tea-into-boston-harbor.html" REL="nofollow">this posting</A>, and that book did <I>not</I> include Kennison (or Kinnison). His name was linked to the Tea Party in a later book titled <I>The Yankee Tea-Party</I>. I agree that he was a fraud, and his name hasn’t appeared on <B>Boston 1775</B> before these comments. <BR/><BR/>Google Books offers a look at <A HREF="http://books.google.com/books?id=U6IEAAAAYAAJ" REL="nofollow"><I>Traits of the Tea Party</I></A>, including the 1835 date on the title page and its list of participants in the Tea Party (pp. 261-2). <BR/><BR/>Sadly, Google Books does not yet include full views of <I>A Retrospect of the Boston Tea-Party</I>, based on James Hawkes’s interviews with Hewes, published in 1834.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-70574287451106220082007-10-26T22:30:00.000-05:002007-10-26T22:30:00.000-05:00The David Kennison listed in the "THATCHER" book [...The David Kennison listed in the "THATCHER" book [actually pblished 1834] was not the peerson of that name who died in Chicago at purported age of 115. this man was an imposter, a proven by his Revolutionary War pension file. this man actually was 42 in 1814 when discharged after being wounded in War of 1812. There is an 81-page file to establish this. John F. Swenson, Glenview, IL www.earlychicago.comUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14989544146198703020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-9270919754612389072006-12-19T09:25:00.000-05:002006-12-19T09:25:00.000-05:00This is fascinating stuff. As a history buff, I lo...This is fascinating stuff. As a history buff, I love visiting Boston's past and the colonial re-enactment of Sturbridge Village. Thank you for sharing.Hepzibah The Watchmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17459404010681683434noreply@blogger.com