July 11, 1780

Suffolk Ss. To the Honorable the Justices of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, holden at Boston in and for the County of Suffolk on the first second Tuesday of July Anno Domini, One Thousand seven Hundred and Eighty

Be it remembered, That Robert Treat Paine Esqr. Attorney General for the Government & People of the Massachusetts Bay in New-England and in their behalf complains1 of Fredrick William Geyer2 late of Boston in the County of Suffolk Merchant and gives the Court here to understand and be informed, that the said Fredrick William Geyer since the nineteenth Day of April, Anno Domini, One Thousand seven Hundred and Seventy-five, viz. on the twentieth Day of the same April, being an Inhabitant and Member of the late Province, now State of Massachusetts-Bay, levied War, and conspired to levy War against the Government and People of this Province, Colony and State; and then and there adhered to the King of Great-Britain, his Fleets and Armies, Enemies of the said Province, Colony and State; and then and there did give to them Aid and Comfort, and that the Said blank before the said nineteenth Day of April, Anno Domini, One Thousand seven Hundred and Seventy-five, and after the arrival of Thomas Gage, Esq; late Commander in Chief of all his Britannic Majesty’s Forces in North America at Boston, the Metropolis of this State, viz. on the blank Anno Domini, One Thousand seven Hundred and Seventy- blank did withdraw from blank his usual Place of Habitation within this State, into the said Town of Boston, with an intention to seek and obtain the Protection of the said Thomas Gage, and of the said Forces then and there being under his Command. And that the said Fredrick William Geyer since the said nineteenth Day of the same April, viz. on the thirtieth day of March Anno Domini, One Thousand seven Hundred and Seventy six without the Permission of the Legislative or Executive Authority of this or any other of the United States of America, did withdraw himself from this Province, Colony and State, into Parts and Places under the acknowledged Authority and Dominion of the said King of Great-Britain, and into Parts and Places within the Limits of some of the said Provinces, Colonies and United States, being in the actual Possession, and under the Power of the Fleets and Armies of the said King, viz. to Halifax, in the Province of Nova-Scotia, and to New-York, in the Province, Colony and State of New-York, blank and that the said Fredrick William 122 Geyer hath not since returned into any of the said United States and been received as a Subject: And that the said Fredrick William Geyer by Means of all and singular the Offences aforesaid, hath freely renounced all Civil and Political Relation to each and every of the said United States, and hath become an Alein: And the said Attorney General further alledges, that the said Fredrick William Geyer since the said nineteenth Day of April aforesaid, viz. on the twentieth Day of the same April, was seized and possessed of, and intituled to be seized and possessed of, and to have and demand to his own Use the following Messuages Lands and appurtenances, Scituate in said Boston in the County of Suffolk aforsaid vizt. one Messuage & Land bounded in the Front by Seven Star Lane or Seven Summer Street there measuring sixty eight feet & on the Southerly side by Land belonging to the first Church in Boston two hundred & sixty eight feet: on the Rear or Southwesterly and by Land belonging to John Rowe Esqr. Sixty seven feet, Northwesterly partly on the Land of the heirs of Samuel Sewall Esqr. partly by Land of Benjamin Church and partly by Land of Thomas Fayerweather two hundred & sixty eight feet, and its appurtenances to him the said Fredrick William Geyer and his heirs: Also a certain peice or parcel of Land on Wheeler’s point so called with the buildings thereon, bounded southerly & westerly on the Water or Dock Northerly and Easterly on the passage way leading on to Hatch’s Wharf so called, and its appurtenances to him the said Fredrick William Geyer & his heirs: Also a certain peice of Land scituate in the Westerly part of Boston bounded southerly on Green Lane there measuring forty six feet, Westerly on Land formerly of Edmund Quincy, eighty Eight feet Northerly on Land formerly of said Quincy forty six feet & easterly on a Lane leading from said Green Lane to the . . . Mill Pond eighty eight feet with its appurtenances to him the said Fredrick William Geyer & his heirs: Also another peice of Land scituate in the Westerly part of Boston bounded Southerly on Green Lane, forty six feet Westerly on Land of John Welch one hundred & ten feet Northerly on Land formerly of John Gerrish one hundred & twelve feet Easterly on a Lane leading from said Green’s Lane to the Mill Pond twenty two feet Southerly on Land of the heirs of Paul Richards forty six feet Easterly on Land of said Richards heirs eighty eight feet & all its appurtenances to him to said Fredrick William Geyer & his heirs. Also another peice of Land Scituate at the Westerly end of said Boston bounded Southwesterly on Green Lane forty six feet eight inches SouthEasterly on Land of John Welch ninety six feet four Inches, Southwesterly on said Welch’s Land twenty seven feet five Inches, 123 southEasterly on Land of John Gooch & the Heirs or Assigns of Edward Tottle, Edward Vail & Francis Warden deceased on a bending line as the fence stands two hundred thirty seven feet six Inches, then North Easterly on Land of James Gooch Esqr. one hundrred & seventy eight feet, North Westerly on Land of the said James Gooch on a Sloping line fifty six feet six Inches, then Southwesterly on Land of John Gooch Esqr. on a Sloping line forty seven feet, then Northwesterdly again on Land of the said John Gooch one hundred & sixty one feet, then South westerly on Land of the said James Gooch and others one hundred & three feet nine Inches with the buildings thereon and appurtenances to him the said Fredrick William Geyer and his Heirs.3 and the said Attorney General further alledges, that by force of the Premises, and of the Law of this State, intituled, “An Act for confiscating the Estates of certain Persons commonly called Absentees,” the above described Messuages Lands and Appurtenances ought to Escheat, Enure and Accrue to the sole Use and Benefit of the Government and People aforesaid, and they accordingly ought to be in the possession thereof: Wherefore the said Attorney General in behalf of the Government and People aforesaid, prays the advice of the Court here in the Premises and due Process in this behalf to be made.

Rob Treat Paine

MS (Washburn Collection, MHS); printed document (in bold) completed in manuscript; endorsed: “Gov. & People vs. Fred. William Geyer 57. Filed Aug 19. 1780 ordered that Notifications issue Facs. habs. Possn. Issd. March 7, 1781”; brackets indicate damage to the edge of the page.

1.

On Feb. 5, 1780, RTP noted in his diary: “Infr. Ct. Boston sat in adjormt. I filed a No. of Information agt. Estates of Absentees.” A number of these have survived in various collections: Martin Gay (New York State Library, Albany, N.Y.); Edward Foster (New York Public Library); Edward Lyde (Pierpont Morgan Library); William Brattle (Collection of C. W. Eliot Paine, Mentor, Ohio); Edward Stow (Amherst College Special Collections); Henry Caner (Rosenbach Museum & Library, Philadelphia); William Bowes (Haverford College Library, Haverford, Penna.); William Walter (offered at auction, Harmers of New York, Inc., June 12, 1990); and Adino Paddock (Conarroe Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia).

2.

Frederick William Geyer (d. 1803) was a major merchant in Boston. He was named in the Banishment Act and fled but eventually returned to Massachusetts, was naturalized in 1789, and resumed business (Jones, Loyalists of Massachusetts, 143–144).

3.

The major Geyer property was the mansion house on Summer Street. Perez Morton, as agent for the estate, deeded it and one of the Green Street properties to Nathan Frazier, Apr. 15, 1780, as settlement for an outstanding commitment of the former partnership of Geyer and Frazier (Suffolk Deeds, 131:143). Frazier, whose daughter Marianne later married Frederick William Geyer, Jr., deeded both pieces of property back to Morton on Oct. 21, 1780 (Suffolk Deeds, 132:65), and the Summer Street estate remained in his possession until May 17, 1791, when he released it back to Geyer (Suffolk Deeds, 169:212). The property on Green Street was sold to John Boit, Aug. 13, 1782 (Suffolk Deeds, 135:194).