Of the loyalists before named, Judge Danforth retired soon after the outbreak in Sept., 1774, to the house of his son in Boston, where he died Oct. 27, 1777, aged about 81. Judge Lee is said to have dwelt in Boston during the siege, after which he returned to his estate, which he enjoyed unmolested until his death Dec. 5, 1802, at the age of 93. Capt. Ruggles sold his estate, Oct. 31, 1774, to Thomas Fayerweather, and removed from Cambridge; his subsequent history is unknown to me. All the others were regarded as enemies to the movement in behalf of liberty; they became “absentees,” and their estates, together with the estates of Ralph Inman, Esq.1 and Edward Stow, a mariner,2 were seized for the public use, and were leased by the Committee of Correspondence. Their account current with said estates for the year 1776 is preserved in a manuscript now in my possession. I copy a specimen:—[169] and the dance—living in prosperity, united and happy, until, alas! this ruinous war severed them, and left all their houses desolate, except two, the proprietors of which were also soon obliged to flee.
Letters, Munsell's Ed., 1867, p. 140.
Dr. The estate of Thomas Oliver Esq. late of Cambridge, Absentee, to the Committee of Correspondence of the town, for the year 1776.Similar charges are made for services, and credits given for rent, in regard to the estates of John Borland, Esq., deceased, £ 27 rent;3 Richard Lechmere, Esq., £ 36 rent, and £ 6 for wood and brush which was taken off said estate;4 Jonathan Sewall, Esq., £ 26 13 4;5 John Vassall, Esq., £ 100; Widow Penelope Vassall, £ 15; William Brattle, Esq., £ 29; Ralph Inman, Esq.,
For taking into possession and leasing out said estate, the sum of £ 2. Also for supporting a negro man belonging to said estate, £ 3. 12 For collecting the personal estate, £ 3. —— Cr. By cash received as rent, £ 69.
