Portrait of Apthorp byRobert Feke,c. 1748Coat of Arms of Charles Apthorp
Charles Apthorp (March 1697 – November 1758) was an English-born merchant and slave trader inBoston,Massachusetts. Apthorp managed his import business fromMerchants Row, and "in his day he was called the richest man in Boston." He also served in the employ of the British government for various schemes it attempted to implement in North America.[1][2]
Charles Apthorp emigrated with his parents toNew England some time after 1698. In 1713 his father died inBoston. In the city, he served as acommissary andpaymaster for theBritish Army and established a mercantile business.[3][4][5] Apthorp was a successful, wealthy man, with "imperial trading connections".[3][6]
Among the goods imported and/or sold through Apthorp on Merchants Row in Boston were "choice madera wines, ... a parcel of Russiaduck and several sorts of European goods";[7] "British duck of all sorts";[8] "choice good sea coal, ... several second hand cables, little the worse for wear, and anchors suitable, with window glass of most sorts, and a parcel of lead and shot";[9] "a good newstill andworm of about 600 gallons";[10] salt;[11] "a parcel of guns, 4-pounders, with carriages and shott, also a parcel ofswivel-guns with shott suitable;"[12] a "well fitted" 50-ton sloop";[13] and "abrigantine about 90 tuns, and three years old, now lying at theLong Wharfe".[14]
Apthorp was a "venerable slave importer and one of the richest men in Boston" by 1746. At that time, slave advertisements regularly appeared in the weeklyBoston Gazette. Between 1719 and 1781, there were about 2,300 slave advertisements for about 2,000 enslaved individuals.[15] In the 1730s and 1740s he traded in slaves, posting advertisements inBoston Gazette, with one stating that he had "a parcel of likely negros just imported".[16][full citation needed][17]
In 1733 Apthorp acted as agent for a man seeking his enslaved servant, Hannah Smyth, who hadrun away with a stolen diamond "and has lately been seen here in Boston."[18][full citation needed] He performed a similar role in 1742, authorized to furnish "five pounds reward" for the return of a "negro man named Jack about 35 years old" to his enslaver, Stephen Eastwick.[19][full citation needed] In 1756 Apthorp & Son served as agent for someone looking for an anchor lost on Cape Cod "with two iron clasps on one of the flukes, a solid pine buoy, and buoy-rope."[20][full citation needed]
Along withThomas Hancock, Apthorp represented the British government in its efforts to recruit personnel toNova Scotia—ship pilots, bricklayers, carpenters, settlers, etc.[21][22][23][24][full citation needed] He also served as "paymaster and commissary under the British Government of the land and naval forces quartered in Boston".[4]
Apthorp and Hancock also supplied many of the ships used during theforced removal of theAcadians from Nova Scotia. The two merchants also lent money to finance the operation, and the poor quality of ships supplied by Apthorp and Hancock led to instances of malnutrition, disease and death among the Acadians on board.[25]
Apthorp married Grizzel Eastwicke on 13 January 1726. She was born inJamaica to Griselda Lloyd and John Eastwicke.[4][26][nb 1] A descendant of the couple, great-grandson Joseph Coolidge, stated that: "Her portrait, painted by Sir Peter Lely, and showing her to have been remarkably beautiful, remains in the family."[26] She was said to have "rare qualities of person and character."[3]
Mrs. Charles Apthorp (Grizzel Eastwick Apthorp) by Robert FekePortrait of Charles' daughter, Susan Apthorp, 1757
Apthorp and his wife had eighteen children, three of whom died before him.[4] The children included:[nb 2]
Charles Ward Apthorp (later ofApthorp Farm).[28] Charles married Mary McEvers.[5] His granddaughter was Maria Eliza Van Den Heuvel, who marriedJohn Church Hamilton. His great granddaughter, Charlotte Augusta Gibbes, marriedJohn Jacob Astor III.
Susan married Thomas Bulfinch on 8 October 1754. He was warden of the King's Chapel church after theRevolutionary War.[5] They were the parents of architectCharles Bulfinch.
John married 1st Alica Mann, sister ofHorace Mann, 2nd Hannah Greenleaf daughter of Stephen Greenleaf, granddaughter ofThomas Loring. He was member of the house of Thomlinson and Trecothink. On a voyage toCharleston, South Carolina, they were lost at sea. Their children survived them, ColonelJohn T. Apthorp, Hannah who marriedCharles Bulfinch, and Frances who married Charles Vaughn.[5]
James was born 17 November 1731 and married Sarah Wentworth. Her family owned Wentworth Manor in Yorkshire.[5]
East, who became a minister.[5][28] East Apthorp built in 1761 a mansion designed byPeter Harrison; it is now part of the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[29]
Ann, born 18 January 1735 – 1736. She married Nathaniel Wheelwright.[5]
Elizabeth born 28 May 1740. She was married twice to men from New York: James McEvers (her eldest brother's brother-in-law), and her brother-in-law Robert Bayard, after her sister Rebecca's death.[5]
Thomas born 19 October 1741. After his father's death and until 1776, Thomas was made paymaster to British forces. He went to England, married in Lisbon and died in Ludlow, Wales.[5]
Rebecca born 20 June 1746. She married Robert Bayard from New York.[5]
William born 26 February 1749. He married Mary Thompson.[5]
There were also three children born between 1742 and 1745 who died as young children: Catherine, George, and Robert. A second daughter Catherine was born in 1750; She died on the date of her birth.[5]
He was a churchwarden at theKing's Chapel inBoston,[4] starting in 1731 when he and other churchwardens met weekly and conducted affairs for the church, including hiring, assigningpews in the church, managing finances and interacting with members about church operations. Apthorp, "of the old tenor, contributed £200 towards the cost of a new church building; If sufficient funds were not raised within the church congregation, he agreed to pay an additional £1,000. He was elected to manage treasury of the new building funds.[4][30]
He was a leading, "noteworthy" member of the church who was: "Warden in 1731-1732, 1743-1744, treasurer of the Building Committee, and a generous subscriber to the new church.[26][31]
His large family filled two family pews in the church.[5]
Among the Apthorp's personal possessions were "a set of eight chairs ... probably purchased from the chairmaker and upholsterer Samuel Grant, [with] carving ... attributed to John Welch."[32]
Apthorp died suddenly in November 1758; he complained "of a slight cold a few minutes before he expired."[4][5][38] A New England newspaper described him as "the greatest and most noble merchant on this continent." Twelve days after his death, his funeral was held atKing's Chapel.[4] It was "attended by very many gentlemen of distinction and principal inhabitants of the town. The streets and windows of the houses, as the solemnity passed along, were thronged with spectators. ... [At King's Chapel] the Reverend Mr. Caner preached a suitable sermon to a crowded audience."[39]
A wall monument sculpted byHenry Cheere and shipped from England, memorializes Apthorp inside King's Chapel; it "is crowned by a cherub weeping over a cinerary urn."[40][41]
In a book written in 1910, Apthorp left a fortune equal to $150,000.[3]
After her husband died Grizzel lived near the Central House on Brattle Square [Dock Square atBrattle Street].[3] She died at 88 years of age in 1796 in the home of her son, John in Quincy. A notice of her death described her as virtuous, amiable, charitable and well-regarded.[42]
^Blackburn represented "Mr. and Mrs. Apthorp, in 1758, in the habit as they lived, -- an 'elderly gentleman, dressed in red broadcloth, with black silk stockings, sitting in his garden in Quincy, looking toward his house, and in the background a view of the old Adams mansion'." His wife was "a lady, dressed in a changeable salmon and green silk robe, cut square in the neck, the sleeves trimmed with lace."[5]
^Ann Smart Martin, Elvehjem Museum of Art. Makers and users: American decorative arts, 1630–1820, from the Chipstone collection.Chazen Museum of Art, 1999
^abAnnual report of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. 1903.
^"Portrait of Charles Apthorp by Robert Feke. Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art".6 (5). June 1919.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)
Henry Caner. The nature & necessity, of an habitual preparation for death & judgment. A sermon preach'd at King's-Chapel in Boston, 21 November. 1758. Upon occasion of the death of Charles Apthorp, esq. Boston: New-England: Printed by John Draper, 1758.
Foote.Annals of King's Chapel. Boston: Little, Brown, 1896. (Includes reproductions of portraits of Charles and Grizzell)
John A. Schutz. Succession Politics in Massachusetts, 1730–1741. William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 15, No. 4 (October 1958), pp. 508–520.
Newberry Library, Chicago. Charles Apthorp's outgoing correspondence to London merchant, John Thomlinson, dated from April 1738 to April 1739 and August 1751.
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