Don't Give Up The Ship

Captain James Lawrence

These words, uttered by my 4th great grandfather, Captain James Lawrence, as he was carried below deck, mortally wounded during the battle between his ship, the USS Chesapeake and the HMS Shannon during the War of 1812, became a popular naval battle cry after his friend, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, used them on his personal battle flag.    

Born in 1781, James entered  the navy on the 4th of September, 1798, when he was not yet seventeen years of age. He became a lieutenant in 1802, a Master Commandant in November, 1810, and a Captain in March 1813. 

"His mother died when he was still an infant, and he was left to the care of his sisters, to whom he seems to have been greatly attached, especially to his half-sister Elizabeth (Mrs. Michael Kearney, aka Madame Scribblerus), and it is doubtless to their influence Lawrence owed the gentleness of his disposition, which was one of his distinguishing characteristics."+  

'My brave, brave Jim's a sailor Jack. Upon the treacherous sea — A sailor who loves poetry. All taught to him by me.' ~Madame Scribblerus+ 

James' rise to celebrity began in early 1813. During a cruise of one hundred and forty-five days he captured one ship, two brigs, one schooner and one man-of-war. "His fame passed far beyond description by empty phrases and colorless adjectives, and he became one of the heroes of the day".+ When he died, he had three funerals: one at Halifax, Canada, one at Salem, Massachusetts, and the last at New York, New York. "The whole city of New York was in mourning, the bells were tolled, minute guns fired and the vessels in the harbor half-masted their flags. Not since the funeral of Alexander Hamilton had there been such demonstration of public grief."+ 

Julia Montaudevert Lawrence

 "Julia Montaudevert, a lovely girl of nineteen, the daughter of a New York merchant, gave her hand at the altar of Trinity (June 28, 1809) to Lieutenant Lawrence, then twenty-seven, and reputed the handsomest officer in the American navy, as he certainly was one of the bravest of any navy. She lived opposite the Bowling Green, near by, then the most elegant, quiet, and fashionable quarter of New York.” *

When appointed to captain the Chesapeake, James unsuccessfully appealed to his superiors, "NEW YORK, May 10, 1813. SIR:— I was yesterday honored by the receipt of your letter of the 6th inst., revoking your order of the 4th and appointing me to the command of the Frigate "Chesapeake...When I requested permission to go out again in the "Hornet" I conceived that I could with propriety leave my family, but have since found that Mrs. Lawrence's health is so delicate and her situation at this time so very critical that I am induced to request your permission to remain until the "Constitution" is ready"...+

In fact, Julia was pregnant with their second child, and little daughter Mary had turned three on May 5. "Her health was so delicate at the time of her husband's death that the event was concealed from her, though with great precaution and difficulty. Lawrence died in June, and his wife knew it not until September. Meantime, having given birth to a son (who lived but fifteen months), she constantly inquired as to the whereabouts and welfare of her husband, wondering why he did not write, and asked constantly to have the news read to her.”# 

On the fateful day of his death, June 5, 1813, James and Julia were just three weeks shy of their fourth wedding anniversary and James had been away on duty most of that time.

Although James is famous as the author of the words, "Don't Give Up the Ship", Julia was the one who lived them. She gave birth to their son, James Montaudevert Lawrence on July 8, 1813, which must have brought her great solace. Yet, once more, she was dealt a cruel blow when little James died on September 19, 1814. 

"Her affections, thus rudely despoiled, were centered on her daughter, the pride and comfort of her bereaved life."#

Mary Neill Lawrence Griffin

That daughter, Mary Neill, grew to adulthood, and married William Preston Griffin, also a Navy Lieutenant, on May 7, 1838 at the same place her parents had married 28 years previously, Trinity Church in New York. Just five years later, tragedy struck the family again, when Mary died on September  3, 1843, just days after giving birth to her only child, a daughter, Mary Lawrence Griffin. "...spent the summer of 1843 in a villa outside the walls of Florence. It belonged to the Marquis d'Elci. In the end of the summer a dear friend of my mother's died there, in the apartment adjoining mine. She was the daughter of Captain James Lawrence...We met them on the way to ltaly, and persuaded them to go with us to Florence for the summer. She died in child-bed at the villa September 3. It was like the falling of a sudden night about our path."** 

Lt. William Preston Griffin

Evidently, Julia accompanied her daughter and son-in-law to Europe. But, she became ill, "a milder climate was recommended, and in a few weeks Mrs. Lawrence returned childless to the United States. It was while passing the Summer of that year at Newport that she determined to make it her home. She occupied a small but eligibly located cottage...many of the old residents remember her then, with her beautiful grandchild and handsome Italian nurse, a mourning but dignified and urbane lady, who soon endeared herself to the people among whom she thenceforth lived."#

Mary Lawrence Griffin 

Mary's father, Lt. Griffin, devastated by his loss, had no choice but to place her in Julia's care, so that he could continue with his naval career. In 1849 he married Christine A.W. Kean, but died in 1851, leaving Christine a young widow, and Mary an orphan at the age of eight. 

An interesting side note that demonstrates her ongoing care for her family, is the letter that Julia wrote to Abraham Lincoln on behalf of her nephew, Delaney M. Neill, who sought a commission in the Army during the Civil War. Because of his knowledge of American history and respect for Captain Lawrence, President Lincoln supported her request.

According to the 1850 and 1860 censuses, Julia's solicitude for others extended to her mother, Sarah, and her sister Mary, who lived with her in Newport.

Julia died on September 15, 1865, fifty-two years after James.  As her obituary stated, "Few women have passed through greater vicissitudes (a difficulty or hardship attendant on a way of life, a career, or a course of action and usually beyond one's control) of life. The death of one so connected and of such rare personal worth should not pass unnoticed...Her dark, expressive eye and thick, white hair, her agreeable manners and kindly self-respect, as well as the interest of her conversation, will not soon be forgotten by those who knew her in the prime of her old age, before infirmity had weakened her powers of mind and feeling of rare freshness and vigor."#

Truly, Julia never "gave up the ship", even though she became a widow at the age of 24, suffered the loss of her only son, raised her daughter, whom she outlived, took care of her granddaughter, her mother and her sister, and wrote a letter to the President on behalf of her nephew. 
  

* * * * * * * * * * 

References

+James Lawrence, captain, United States navy, commander of the "Chesapeake, (1904).Author:Gleaves, Albert, 1858-1937. 

*People's book of biography: or, Short lives of the most interesting persons of all ages and countries. By James Parton, Published by A.S. Hale, 1868

#Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 30,Number 4544, October 14, 1865

**Memoirs of John Adams Dix

Where Does the Time Go?

Kathleen and Preston

In my case, it's gone into planning and taking a trip to New York to hang out with my cousin Preston and to attend the Annual Owner's Meeting of the Marble Cemetery. It may sound a bit macabre, but if you consider that your ancestor's final resting place (in our case, Goold Hoyt, our 4th great grandfather) deserves respect, you may see it differently. One of the most surprising things I've learned since beginning to work on my family history is that cemeteries do not receive any funding from city, county or federal governments. Obviously, then, they rely on the descendants of the interred, and the public, for support. 

Newport

But that's not all that we did during my time as a New Yorker. We traveled to Newport, Rhode Island, where three generations of our family lived. The owners of their home on Kay Street, Pat and Mary Beth, kindly allowed us to tour this lovingly kept treasure, built in 1835. We felt honored to be sitting in the same rooms that our 4th great grandmother, Julia Montaudevert Lawrence, our great-great grandmother, Mary Lawrence Griffin Redmond, and our great-grandfather, William Preston Redmond, inhabited once upon a time. 

Entrance hallway with resident cats, Ricky and Lucy

New Jersey

Burlington

We also traveled to a few sites in New Jersey. We started out at the birthplace of our 4th great grandfather, Captain James Lawrence, in Burlington, where the Burlington County Historical Society's Education Director, Jeff Macechak, gave us a most informative tour. 

Captain James Lawrence display at the Burlington County Historical Society

Liberty Hall Museum

From there, we went to the Liberty Hall Museum at Kean University in Union. Primarily known as the home of New Jersey's first elected governor and signer of the Constitution, William Livingston, it was also where the second wife of our 3rd great grandfather, Christine Alexander William Kean Griffin, grew up. Bill Schroh, Jr, Director of Museum Operations, and his assistant, Kathy, gave us a personalized tour of this magnificent home and museum. 

One of the many beautiful rooms in the museum

South Orange

We ended our New Jersey day in South Orange, where the owners of a home purchased in 1850 by our 3rd great grandparents, William Sr and Sabina Hoyt Redmond, graciously gave us access so that we could see the original structure as well as the add-ons. According to the history of South Orange, this home, built in 1774, was part of the Squier Farm. We were happy to see it so well-loved and cared for. 

Renovated Squier Farm homestead. Original stone structure on bottom left.

Just down the street, we enjoyed a sunset dinner in the dining room of the Orange Lawn Tennis Club, established in 1880 in the brownstone building, "Hillside", that William Sr and Sabina built in 1848 as a home for their family of eleven children.

While we decried some of the architectural changes, I'm happy to know that Althea Gibson played her first important grass court tournament here. Other tennis greats listed as players include Arthur Ashe, Fred Perry, Rod Laver, Guillermo Vilas and John McEnroe.   

Orange Lawn Tennis Club, 2013

New York Historical Society

I spent a few hours one day at the New York Historical Society, taking photos of documents from the Eugene H. Poole Collection in the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library. Eugene Poole was a great-nephew of Captain James Lawrence who amassed a great deal of Lawrence memorabilia as a labor of love after the battle flag of Lawrence's ship, the U.S.S. Chesapeake, was given to England in 1908. Among this collection are documents and artifacts, some acquired after negotiation with my great grandfather in Wyoming. I was especially interested in James' letters to his family members, including the last letter he ever wrote, to his brother-in-law, James L. Montaudevert, asking him to look after his family. Unfortunately, James was "taken off" as he referred to in his letter.

Kearny Cottage Museum

On my last day as a New Yorker, I detoured to Perth Amboy, New Jersey, on the way to the airport. Here, I visited the Kearny Cottage Museum, once the home of Elizabeth Lawrence Kearny, aka Madame Scribblerus, and her husband, Michael Kearny. Elizabeth was James' half-sister, eldest of her father's family of eleven children. James was the youngest, and was raised by Elizabeth until he began a study of law. It is said that she passed on her love of poetry to him during this time. Michael and Elizabeth became the parents of eight sons, the youngest of whom, Commodore Lawrence Kearny was, like his uncle James, an officer in the U.S. Navy. He is famed for opening China to U.S. trade in the early 1840's. Curator Paul Wang generously opened the museum early, providing me with a very interesting tour. 

Serendipity

In the crowded airport gate waiting area, I sat next to Sam and Suchada Johnson and their adorable little daughter. Exchanging pleasantries, Sam offered the fact that he and his family live in Jackson, Wyoming, the town that was homesteaded by my great-great grandparents, John Porter and Margaret Sullivan Simpson. Sam invited me to their restaurant, Teton Thai, next time I'm in Jackson. Looking it up on the internet, I find that it has earned 4 stars on Yelp, and has lots of fantastic write-ups. Talk about the serendipity of travel!

Note to my readers: due to a technical glitch, I accidentally deleted my original post, forcing me to rewrite and re-post this synopsis of my trip to New York. It may differ slightly from the original, and I apologize for any inconvenience to you.

My French Connection

The Mystery

Julia Montaudevert

I remember asking my mother what nationality our family was when I was growing up. She replied that we were mostly Scotch and Irish, with a smidgen of English and French. "French?" I asked. "Yes," she replied, "Julia Montaudevert, the wife of Captain James Lawrence, was French, but that's all we know about her." 

By the time of her death in 2000, my mother had become an accomplished genealogist, but had never been able to discover anything more about Julia. Her ancestry remained a mystery. 

With the advent of the internet, I tried to find out more via Google. A search for Julia would result in accounts of her marriage to James Lawrence, with one sentence about her father. Never stating his name, some sources said that Julia was the daughter of a French sea captain who was lost off the Scilly Islands. Some said that she was the daughter of a respectable French merchant of New York City. What was his name, I wondered, and was he a merchant or a sea captain?

Clues

In the fall of 2012, I took a class about the internet resources now available for genealogy researchers and discovered Find A Grave. I searched it with the surname Montaudevert, and found Sarah Montaudevert, buried in Newport, Rhode Island. Knowing that Julia lived in Newport for many years after the death of her husband in the War of 1812, and reasoning that Montaudevert is not a very common name, it seemed logical to me that Sarah must be Julia's mother. So, as a first step, I requested the management of the memorial. In thanking the person who transferred it to me, I added a note asking if he knew anything about the family. He didn't, but our comments were preserved on my profile page. My next step was to request a photo of Sarah's gravestone. 

In the meantime, I began to search Genealogy Bank, another website I'd learned about in my class, that specializes in newspaper mentions. I found several ads in various New York City papers for James Montaudevert, who was selling luxury items from ships that had recently arrived at the city's ports. The ads started in 1785 and continued throughout 1786. Could this be Julia's father, the "respectable French merchant"?

Shortly after my Find A Grave post, I received an email from Antoine: "I'm writing to you from France. I saw the web-pages about Julia Montaudevert Lawrence (1788-1865) and her mother Sarah Montaudevert (1757-1851) on Find A Grave. These persons are linked with my family."

Amazed and elated, I emailed Antoine back, who generously shared a virtual gold mine with me: 

"I think that Sarah Montaudevert was born "Sarah Wilson" and she married, by 1784, in New-York, Jacques Marie RIPAUD de MONTAUDEVERT who:

 - was born on february 28th 1754 in Saffré (France),  

 - died in a shipwreck in Penzance Bay (England) on February 11th 1791 

They had 4 (or more) children:

 - Marie (born 1785) who married Edward Noël COX, 

 - Sara (born 1786),

 - Juliette (or Julia) (born 1788) who married James LAWRENCE ("Don't give up the ship !"),

 - Jacques Louis (born 1790) who was registered as dealer in New-York ; 105 Greenwich Street."

Jacques Marie Ripaud de Montaudevert?  Was he James Montaudevert? 

Google told me that the French Jacques is usually translated into English as James. And Antoine explained:

"Montaudevert comes from the name of a small place in the village of Lusanger in Brittany (France). His family was named RIPAUD until the 18th century, then the father of your Jacques added "de Montaudevert" to his family name to indicate where he was from ... and also to have a family name which looks like a noble's...So "Ripaud de Montaudevert" became his family name." 

So, yes, Jacques and James were the same person.

Street sign in the village of Lusanger, France

More Clues

Thanks to Antoine, I now knew the names of Julia's father and mother, as well as her father's ancestry. Because of the newspaper ad, I knew why some sources stated that James was a merchant. Per Antoine's information, he died in a shipwreck in the Bay of Penzance. Could this be why some sources say that he was lost off the Scilly Islands? And the reason why he's not buried with Sarah at Newport?

Again, I turned to Google, this time searching with first names. I found a tantalizing 'snippet' of a letter written by Sarah to "mon cher pere" in a French book from the archives of the island nation of Reunion. The names and birth dates of "mes enfants", or my children, matched what Antoine had sent me. What else could this letter tell me? Might it explain what happened to James?

Snippet from Google search

Some books found on Google are entirely online, but this one wasn't. I was able to request it from Duke University via an inter library loan with the help of Mary, the head librarian at the Moss Memorial Library in Hayesville, NC.

I received it a couple of months later, opening it with anticipation and finding that it contained the Feildel Archives: 32 documents  from the archives of James' great-uncle, Louis Feildel. All were letters written by James' brother, and Antoine's ancestor, Francois Fidele Ripaud de Montaudevert. The only exception was Sarah's letter. Using my iPhone app, Genius Scan, I scanned all the documents before returning the book to the library. 

Unable to read French, I asked my good friends Gill and Gigi, Quebec natives, for help. The combination of the archaic French and Francois' poor writing presented quite a challenge. But Gill was up to the task, and before long had translated all 32 documents into English. 

Answers

Indeed, Sarah's letter explained James' cruel fate in detail:

"New York, August 3, 1791

My dear and honored father,

It is with the most extreme sorrow and a heart oppressed by bitterness that I feel obliged to inform you of the irreparable loss that I and my poor children have suffered with the death of my lovable, tender and affectionate husband who was an indulgent father to our children...knowing the Spanish language resulted in a great advantage...therefore he formed a business plan with Mr. Camo (Camac in another letter), a Barcelona merchant whom he met during the course of his business. Consequently he had two ships built, loaded them and sent them to the consignment of the latter in Barcelona, who after being in possession of the two ships and their cargoes, held them without making any return...in such an embarrassing situation, we sent one of our friends, Mr. Divoux in Spain, to finish with Mr. Camo, who appealed to the tribunal of the Supreme Court of Madrid and put himself under the protection of a prominent of that Court and found a way to escape justice...so my husband sadly decided to go to Spain by himself to obtain justice and while passing by, to render his attachment, duties and gratitude to his beloved father in France.  John Wilson, my brother, having the commandment of a beautiful ship in destination for Hull offered him a passage, promising to drop him off when passing by Douvres (Dover). On January 8 they sailed, had extremely bad weather and were forced to throw overboard part of the cargo.  On February 11, they encountered a French ship and agreed to stay close together, but a short time later both of them got lost in the Bay of Penzance. By this accident I was afflicted by the most terrible blow that was ever brought to me. I cannot express my sense of annihilation...what supported me a little in my affliction, was to learn that my brother along with some part of the crew were saved with great difficulty, and that the body of my dear husband was found and honorably put down in a cemetery...My dear and honored father it is with the greatest regret that I reflect on the distance between us, as only your counsel could bring me some consolation. Your grandchildren… oh think of them, give them your counsel and your blessing...I am my dear father, your affectionate daughter. Sarah Montaudevert. The names and ages of my children are as follows: Marie, born June 30 1785; Sara, born November 1786; Juliette, born July 17 1788; Jacques-Louis, born April 18 1790." 

With a note from the "translator", Francois Martel. 

What I feared was now confirmed. James may not have been the captain, but he was lost off the Scilly Islands, which are in the Bay of Penzance. He wasn't buried with Sarah because he was buried in an unknown cemetery. 

The Rest of the Story

Adding to the tragedy is the fact that by the time that Sarah wrote her letter, her father-in-law, Jacques Louis Ripaud de Montaudevert, was also dead, having passed away on May 12, 1791. This was revealed in a letter that Francois wrote to one of his sisters in France: "We have learned by the letter of May twelve...the sad news of our dear father's death..."

Francois' letter to his sister. "Couetou" is an extension of Montaudevert

Sarah's tombstone

If she was 94 when she died in 1851, she must have been about 34 when James died in 1791, yet, her tombstone tells us that she kept his memory alive for 60 years. 

Note: the initials J.L.R. should be J.M.R., Jacques Marie Ripaud de Montaudevert

Julia's ancestry is no longer a mystery. Now I have new mysteries to solve: Sarah Wilson's ancestry, why James was considered a sea captain and the location of his grave. Such is the way of genealogy, I've found, solve one mystery, and another pops up in its place. But who doesn't love a good mystery?