Thomas Storrow

"Mr Storrow and Mr Butler left England with their respective families on the 1st May 1784 aboard the Vigilante captained by a PHILLIPS AMIEL, who had connections with the NEWTON Family of Halifax, and after a voyage of some three weeks arrived at Halifax. Also with them was their associate Mr John Fraser. Unable to find any suitable accommodation Mr Butlers wife and two children returned to England aboard the ARK captained by NOAH SQUIRES" That is what is written ?

"Nancy Storrow Thomas Storrows wife was upset at losing her aunt who had returned to England, but Thomas returned to New England and brought back her Sister Rebecca (She later married Barlow Brown) and they found such an agreeable society at Halifax with Gov Wentworths family, Mr Brinley's, Mr Mathews and many others who were living in great style."

"Early that winter (1784) Butler, Storrow and Fraser formed a partnership and the name of the company was John Fraser and Co. Mr Storrow left about that time to find suitable accommodation for their family's in St Andrews. He we unable to find the necessary tradesman to complete the task of building accommodation so it we some time before he was ready to receive them. In the middle of June 1784 Mrs Butler had returned from England and along with the Storrows and Mr Fraser set off for St Andrews aboard the schooner "Rebbeca" which Mr Butler had bought. The schooner was commanded by a PETER LITTLEJOHN."

"At this point Mr Butler had invested a large portion of his fortune in land on Campobello Island which was situated on the frontier and was well adapted for the purpose of trade. Mr Butler, Mr Storrow and their families moved to the Island and left Mr Fraser to run the lumber company in St Andrews. Mr Fraser's improvidence and dishonesty had wasted all the property entrusted to his management and want therefore began to stare Mr Storrow in the face."

" A friendship which was to prove invaluable to the Storrows was that of Mrs GOLDSMITH, the wife of HENRY, son of the Clergyman and nephew of OLIVER GOLDSMITH the poet. By his Uncle Olivers interest with the Earl of Clare HENRY obtained an Ensigncy in the 54th Regiment of foot, that regiment had been stationed at Newport R.I. in 1777 but was now (the summer of 1784) Stationed in St Johns."

"The land which Mr Storrow had purchased from Mr Butler had been cleared and was ready for cultivation, on this land was a small cottage having been built by Captain OSBORNE of the frigate Ariadne which had passed two winters on Station just off the island. The cottage was about a mile from the residence of the Butlers and the path between the two was well trodden. Officers of the ARIADNE, BRISK and WEASEL which were on station in succession, visited both families. Captains of the ships unloading in the harbour also visited and several Gentleman from St Johns and from the States made a point of calling on them. Among these was Mr Charles Storer"

"Having the presence to see that they would soon be evicted by DAVID OWEN Mrs Butler took her family to Rhode Island, Mrs Storrow, who was on her own as Thomas was away in Jamaica seeing his mother, decided to move to another island.This was Fredrick Island and Mr LEWIS DELESDERNIER the proprietor of the island made her welcome. Nancy decided to stay on the island until her husband returned but in the later part of January 1790 OWEN arrived on the island with the intention of seizing every article owned by the Storrow's. Mr DELESDERNIER defended his home from OWEN and he and his armed posse left empty handed but on their return to their boat seized a cow belonging to Nancy which was the chief dependence of the children's food, and took it back to Campobello."

"Nancy Forwarded to me (Henry Barlow Brown) Thomas's power of attorney to try and recover what I could from the debtors of John Fraser company. I also decided that she should be removed from the island and OWENS grasp to St Andrews. Mr COLIN CAMPBELL provided a vessel which we used to transport her to St Andrews where her friends the WYER,POTE,CAMPBELL, DUNN and MOWAT families assured her of their sincerity and strove to make her as comfortable as possible. During the 21 months Nancy and her children remained at St Andrews the kindness and affection of these families was unremitted."

"In November 1791 Nancy and her children embarked on a brig owned by Mr MURRAY a respectable merchant of Turks Island who had offered them free passage to Jamaica to join Thomas."

That was the last time The Storrows were in Canada but their son Samuel Appleton Storrow returned to live with the Browns in St Andrews as the climate in Jamaica did not suit him.

The autobiography details much the same as this and their is no additional information as far as I can see, it is 100 + pages, but if I spot anything I will let you know.

That is all I can find in the text with reference to Canada there are a number of names that might help someone with their research. It has been a truly fascinating story with a very sad ending, Thomas died from ill health in Dec 1794 and Nancy went on to open a boarding school in Vermont but her youngest daughter died six months after Thomas and that just did her in, so to speak and she fell ill and died in 1795. But their children went on to become quite famous and well travelled and of course their descendants were responsible for the development of Boston and the American railroad as well as being mayors of Boston. There is a route through Boston named in honour of James Jackson Storrow, Storrow Drive.

I know now that Thomas is not part of my tree but that has not stopped me from carrying on and I have now proved his connection to my Cumberland Storrow's and in fact Thomas's GG Grandfather was the brother of my 7/8 times G Grandfather. So a happy ending all round especially as the US Storrows had nothing on Thomas's family before 1762, they can now go back to at least 1540 when records were first kept in a tiny village in Yorkshire called Wensley.