Commissioners established by the British Government at Boston, which had charge of the officers of the Customs and the Revenue in New England. The office of the Collector was kept on Falmouth Neck. George Lynde was the last Collector under the British authority. In 1770 Thomas Oxnard was appointed his Deputy, and continued the Deputy Collector until the breaking out of the Revolution. He fled from the country after the burning of Falmouth, and remaining loyal to the King and Crown, was proscribed by the Act of 1778.

In 1782 he was at Castine, then in possession of the British troops, and sent for his wife. The application was presented to the Provincial Congress, which passed a resolve permitting her to go to him at Penobscot "with her two servant maids, and such part of her household goods as the selectmen of the town of Falmouth shall admit." property was confiscated under the absentee act in 1782.

His

They both returned to Portland after the war, where on his arrival he was arrested under the law against absentees, and taken (1784) before Samuel Freeman, Esq., on a complaint made by Woodbury Storer, Esq., for returning from banishment. He was tried before Enoch Freeman, Samuel Freeman and Peter Noyes, Esquires, Justices, and on conviction was committed to Jail to remain until delivered by order of the Governor. Theophilus Parsons advised him, prepared a writ of habeas corpus for him, and argued that by the Treaty of Peace he was allowed to return, notwithstanding the State law.

He was permitted by Gov. Hancock to go to Boston, and remain until the session of the legislature, with the expectation that the law would be repealed; on being relieved from further trouble, he returned to Portland, where he and his brother Edward re-commenced trade.

In 1787, the Episcopal Church being destitute of a preacher, he officiated as its reader, with a view of taking orders in that Church. But in the pursuit of professional studies his religious opinions underwent an entire change, chiefly from reading the writings of Mr. Lindsey and Mr. Belsham of England, and his correspondence with the Rev. Doctor Freeman, of the Stone Chapel, Boston; so he abandoned the Episcopal Society, but continued to officiate to a few of his former hearers who had become Unitarians, or were inclined that way. He preached not only discourses written by himself, but read printed sermons prepared by others. His meetings were held in the old North Schoolhouse, which stood at the foot of Middle Street, Portland.

He was a man of general intelligence, a constant reader, and of unimpeachable honor and virtue. He was tall in person, thin and of a good presence, different from his brother Edward, who, although tall, was quite corpulent. lie was more fond of study and meditation than action; the latter was even irksome to him.

He was buried in the Eastern Cemetery or old burial place on Munjoy's hill, Portland, where plain simple head stones of slate mark the last resting places of himself and of his widow.

THE CHILDREN OF MARTHA PREBLE AND THOMAS OXNARD
(All born in Portland) :-

1. Thomas, b. April 3, 1775; mar. Clarice De Grand, of Marseilles, July 19, 1810. He commanded the celebrated Privateer, "True Blooded Yankee," in the war of 1812-15, which created such havoc among the merchantmen in the British Channel, that the British Government offered a reward for her capture.

The True Blooded Yankee" carried eighteen guns and one hundred and sixty men, and was owned by Henry Preble, a son of the Brigadier, who then resided at Paris. She was first commanded by

Hailey, and subsequently by Thomas Oxnard.* She had an American commission, and sailed under the American flag, but always fitted and sailed from French ports, viz., Brest, L'Orient and Morleaux. She was very successful, cruising the greater part of the war in the British and Irish Channels, and making a number of rich prizes. These she generally sent into French ports; a few, however, were sent to the United States. One ship sent into Brest was said to be worth $500,000; one laden with dry goods and Irish linens was ordered to the United States; and the ship Industry was sent to Bergen, Norway, and there sold.

When The True Blooded Yankee" arrived in France she was laden with the following spoils: 18 bales of Turkey carpets, 43 bales of raw silk weighing 12000 pounds, 20 boxes of gums, 46 packs of the best skins, 24 packs of beaver skins, 160 dozen of swan skins, 190 hides, copper, &c. &c.

In 1813, during a cruise of thirty-seven days at sea, she captured twenty-seven vessels and made two hundred and seventy prisoners ; and also took possession of an island on the coast of Ireland and held it six days. She also took a town in Scotland and burned seven vessels in the harbor. She was soon after fitted out to make another cruise in company with the Bunker Hill of fourteen guns and one hundred and forty men. Refitted for sea, and, manned with a crew of two hundred men, she sailed again for Brest the 21st of November, 1814, for the purpose of cruising in the British Channel, with

Cog. Hist. of Am. Privateers, and Clark's Naval Hist. of the United States.

orders to divest her prizes of their valuable articles, and to sink, burn and destroy, but not to capture with the intention of sending them into port.

Thomas Oxnard settled in France, and engaged in mercantile pursuits both there and at Gibraltar. He died at Marseilles, June 16, 1840. On his death-bed he requested that his body might be shrouded in the American Flag, which was accordingly done. He had three sons and one daughter.

2. Edward, b. Sept. 13, 1777; mar. Rebecca Thompson; was lost in the Privateer Dash, which foundered at sea in the war of 1812-15, leaving no descendants.

3. Ebenezer Preble, b. June 12, 1782; died unmar. at Demerara, Oct. 22, 1800.

4. John, b. Mch. 16, 1783; died at sea, unmarried, Dec. 20, 1802,

aged 19 years.

5. Martha, born April 17, 1786; mar. her cousin, Edward Oxnard,* July 26, 1819. Died Jan. 30, 1860. She had three sons and two daughters.

6. Mary, born March 5, 1787; died unmarried, Jan. 7, 1796. 7. Henry, born Jan. 6, 1789; mar. Charlotte Farnham, May 5, 1819; died at his residence, No. 4 Mt. Vernon Street, Boston, Dec. 15, 1843, leaving two sons and one daughter. An obituary notice, published in the Boston Daily Advertiser of Dec. 18, 1843, says:

"At the decease of his father, Henry Oxnard was but ten years old, and in the fifteenth year of his age he commenced the arduous and perilous life of a mariner. From his vigorous constitution, daring enterprise, intelligence, and rectitude of conduct, he became a commander almost simultaneously with his arriving at the period of manhood,

Edward and William Oxnard, who married Martha and Mehitable Oxnard, were sons of Edward Oxnard, born in Boston 1746, who graduated at Harvard College in 1767. Removed to Portland, and was married, Oct. 11, 1774, by Dr. Haven, of Portsmouth, to Mary, daughter of Jabez Fox, a descendant of John Fox, author of the "Book of Martyrs," by whom he had :-Mary-Ann, b. Jan. 31, 1787; m. Ebenezer Moseley, of Newburyport. William, b. Feb. 11, 1789; m. Mehitable Oxnard. Edward, b. July 13, 1791; m. Martha Oxnard. Lucy I., b. June 9, 1793; m. John Fox. John, b. March 26, 1795; m. Catharine Stewart. All the sons and Mrs. Fox are living (1869), aged respectively 80, 78, 76 and 74, and have families.

Edward Oxnard, Sen. was a loyalist. After the burning of Falmouth he left the country, went to London, and continued absent throughout the war. He was a member of the celebrated "New England Club," composed of prominent refugees, who had a weekly dinner at the Adelphi tavern, where they mourned over the privations and distresses which their exile had brought upon them. Returning to Falmouth after the war, he became a commission merchant and auctioneer. At the time of his death, he was building a large three-story house upon an estate inherited by his wife from her mother. He died July 2, 1803, aged 57. His widow died Aug. 22, 1835, aged 81.

and soon afterwards was either interested in the ship or cargo, and in the double capacity of master and supercargo made numerous voyages to most of the chief commercial emporiums of Europe and South America, Hindostan, China and the Islands of the Eastern Archipelago.

"Having thus laid the foundation of a fortune by an uninterrupted and adventurous career on the deep, he established himself as a merchant at Boston, where, as a large ship-owner, he soon became conspicuous for his talents, and remarkable energy in the various branches of commerce, and as an extensive ship builder of vessels of the largest class, either for prosecuting voyages to ports beyond the Cape of Good Hope, or for the carrying trade between New Orleans, Mobile, Charleston and Savannah, and those of England, France and Ireland.

"In all his vast and complicated transactions he had acquired such an exalted reputation for integrity, such a faithful adherence to all those high principles on which the institutions of society are founded and depend for their stability, as to have secured that public confidence and respect which are the most precious rewards that man can hope to receive.

"For benevolence and enlarged views of his duties as a patriot, a philanthropist and Christian, he merited and received the gratitude and commendation of all classes of his fellow citizens. His heart was never appealed to by the unfortunate or the distressed from sickness or poverty, without affording such an illustration of his deep sympathy for their afflictions, as that they went away with gratitude and joy. His private charities were as extensive as was his public munificence in whatever might tend to the advancement and prosperity of all branches of industry and the public welfare.

"In the midst of his usefulness this excellent man has been suddenly stricken down by death; but his afflicted family and mourning relatives have the soothing consolation that he left not only numerous personal friends, but a whole community who appreciated his worth and deplore his loss as one of the benefactors and ornaments of society. "His whole life presents an admirable example for youthful emulation; for it discloses how much success and an honorable reputation depend upon individual virtues and exertion-that in fact advancement in all the pursuits of man, is almost exclusively the result of the conception, will, determination and untiring perseverance of each individual, and that reliance is to be reposed upon, and desired objects attained, by personal determined action, rather than all the other means of aid which can be afforded by the whole world besides. Thus it may be considered as an established law of the human race, that the chief if not the only elements for progression in the physical and intellectual condition of man, are truth, justice, fidelity, honor, and a

firm reliance on the power, beneficence and mercy of God; and the glorious reward, here and hereafter, is the commendation and respect of mankind and eternal happiness beyond the sky.

"His death was occasioned by an affection of the kidneys known as Bright's disease '-named from its discoverer, who is said also to have died of it." He is buried in Mt. Auburn Cemetery, near Boston.

Mr. Oxnard was for many years the agent at New Orleans of the Lowell factories for the purchase of cotton.

8. Mehitable, b. May 6, 1791; mar. her cousin William Oxnard, Nov. 13, 1817. Living at Portland, Me., in 1869. She has had four sons and two daughters.

9. Enoch, b. Jau. 28, 1793; died unmar. Lost in the Privateer Dash, which foundered at sea in the war 1812–15.

10. Stephen Deblois, born April 11, 1795; mar. Anna Maria Gracie, Oct. 9, 1821; died at Portland, Me., May, 1836, leaving one son and five daughters. He was a Captain of merchantmen sailing out of Portland, for many years and up to his death, and his only son followed the same profession.

THE GRANDCHILDREN OF MARTHA PREBLE AND THOMAS OXNARD.

The children of THOMAS OXNARD and CLARICE DE GRAND
(All born at Marseilles, France) :—

1. Thomas, b. July 3, 1811; m. at New Orleans to Louisa Adeline Brown, Feb. 23, 1839. Was several years a sugar planter in Louisiana, and established and was the original proprietor of the Oxnard Sugar Refinery, 103 Purchase Street, Boston. Residing (1869) at 404 Lexington Avenue, New York. Has four sons and three daughters.

2. Henry Alexander, b. Aug. 11, 1812; m. at Leghorn, Italy, to Marie Claire Bartolomei, Feb. 28, 1836. Residing at Marseilles, 1869. Has three daughters.

3. Fanny, b. Oct., 1818; m. Diego Guerrero, of Adra, Province of Almera, Spain, Jan. 9, 1836, where she was living a widow. in 1869, without children.

4. Edward, b. April 16, 1822; m. at New Orleans to Palmyre. Marie Brown, Jan. 17, 1816, and living at Pittsburg in 1869. Has three sons and a daughter.

5. John James, b. Jan. 18, 1827.