SAMUEL GOLDSBURY

Samuel Goldsbury was born in Wrentham to John and Eunice (Pond) Goldsbury on August 14 1743 and married Rhoda Partridge on May 30 1764.  Sam taught school for twelve weeks in 1771 and again for eight weeks in 1772.  He was listed on the 1771 tax list but had no agricultural property.  Rhoda and Sam had four daughters and five sons between 1766 and 1788 and two children, who were buried without names, according to the Second Church of Christ (Congregational) in  what is now Franklin.  Samuel was a loyalist from the outbreak of the rebellion and as a result his property in Wrentham was seized.  He was reportedly the victim of mobs in Boston in 1772 and 1774  and later acted as a lieutenant in a company of loyalists raised in Boston. He went to Halifax, Nova Scotia with the Royal Army on March 17, 1776, which is celebrated annually in Massachusetts as Evacuation Day.  In 1776 he moved to New York, where he served as a volunteer in the Battle of Brooklyn Heights. He also raised a company in Colonel Fanning's Regiment and served at Newport, Rhode Island and became part of the garrison at Lloyd's Neck, Long Island, New York. Sam also served on the sloop Savage with a party of Loyalists under his command on an expedition to Martha's Vineyard.  Upon the evacuation he went to Nova Scotia, where he was granted a plantation. Samuel spent several years in England appealing for additional funds and reparations for his losses as a result of the war.  By 1790 Samuel had returned to Boston, where he lived with his family until his death on August 20 1815. Researched and photo sent by Judy Bingham of Fullerton, California. This picture of  Sam may be the oldest of  any Wrentham resident. JJM