BENJAMIN MARSTON.
The origin of the name Marston, is the English of Marsius (Lat.) Marson (Ger.) and signifies warrior, being derived from Mars, the god of war.
John Marston, the first of this name to come to America came from Ormsby, Norfolk, England, to Salem, in 1637, when he was 22 years of age. He married Alice, surname unknown, on Aug. 4, 1640, and on June 2, 1641 was admitted freeman. He had ten children between 1641 and 1661. His occupation was that of carpenter. He was diligent and prosperous in his business, and at his death bequeathed to his children "his house and land, and some money." His sons were influential in town matters, and three were chosen representatives to the general court.
He died Dec. 19, 1681, and was buried in the Old Salem Burying Ground.
Benjamin Marston, the first of this name and lineage, was the fourth son of the preceding John Marston, and was born in Salem, Jan. 9, 1651. He was an active and enterprising merchant and carried on for many years an extensive and profitable business with the West Indies, Spain, Nova Scotia, and Southern Colonies. He owned two warehouses, and the wharves on which they stood, several vessels, Brigantines, Ketches, Shallops and Sloops. In the year 1700 he built a large and handsome brick dwelling house, the first brick house in Salem. It was built by George Cabot, a mason from Boston. Its location was afterwards occupied by the Lee house on the corner of Essex and Crombie streets. Towards the close of his life, his estate suffered great losses, some of his vessels were lost at sea, some taken by the French and pirates, and others having lost all their crew by disease, or otherwise, "ye voiages were spiled." In June, 1719, he sailed with his son Benjamin, Jr., in "The good Briganteen Essex" from Salem to Ireland. His son wrote from Dublin, Nov. 6, 1719, to his mother announcing "the death of his father there, from the Small Pox, and that he was taken ill of the same distemper, the night he died, and that he had recovered and was not much marked."
Benjamin Marston, the second of this name, son of the preceding Benjamin Marston, was born in Salem, Feb. 24, 1697. He graduated from Harvard College in 1715. It appears after the death of his father he remained in Ireland, conducting all the business matters connected with the Essex, with a degree of energy and capacity not often found in a young man of 22 years of age. The voyage turned out to be much more profitable than was expected, and much of the property that had been sold or mortgaged by his father was redeemed.
He engaged in business at Salem as a merchant and gained a reputation among his fellow townsmen as a "man of honorable motives and strict integrity of character." He was chosen representative to the general court in 1727-28-29. Was High Sheriff of Essex till 1737, was Justice of General Session and Common Pleas Courts. In 1729 he married Elizabeth Winslow, daughter of Hon. Isaac Winslow of Marshfield. In 1740 he retired from business, and bought a large and valuable property at Manchester, known for many years as the Marston farm. Here he passed the remainder of his days, and died May 22, 1754, aged 57 years, leaving a large estate including the Great and Little Misery Islands, for which he had paid £516. 13.9. A part of the income of the island he left for the purpose of "Propagating the Gospel among the Indians."
Benjamin Marston, the third of this name, and family, and son of the preceding, was born in Salem, Sept. 30, 1730. He graduated at Harvard College in 1749. After leaving college he travelled in Europe and visited some other of the British colonies. He married Sarah Sweet, whose sister, Martha, married Col. Jeremiah Lee of Marblehead. After his marriage he "settled down" in Marblehead, where for many years he carried on a large and successful business as a merchant. He owned a store in King street, and other stores, and warehouses, and jointly with his partners, Jeremiah Lee and Robert Hooper, several large ships. He also owned a pleasant and commodious dwelling house, and much real estate, and other property in Marblehead and elsewhere. He was considered by his friends and neighbors as a man of pure life, and great integrity of character, active in business, energetic in public matters, hospitable and benevolent in private, a great reader and scholar, and fond of literary pursuits, always occupying one of the most respectable positions in society, and greatly esteemed by all who knew him. Here he continued to live for twenty years, actively engaged in business, and doing his duty towards his town. He was chosen selectman, and overseer of the poor, thirteen times in fifteen years, fireward twelve times in fourteen years, assessor in 1760, moderator of town meetings, fourteen times in eight years, and occupied many other important offices of trust. After 1768, however, when the troubles which preceded the Revolution began to increase the confidence of the people, that were influenced by the Revolutionists, appear to have been withheld. They still chose him moderator of all town meetings, but he was not again appointed on any important committees. He was known to be "an uncompromising adherent to the lawful government of the British Colonies," but as he had violated no agreements, and never attempted to counteract the plans of the conspirators, though frequently and openly expressing his disapprobation of their violent proceedings, he was for some time unmolested. At an early period, however, he discovered the storm brewing, and as if apprehensive of future difficulties he began "to sell off some of his property."
Benjamin Marston was one of the Addressers of Governor Hutchinson, and thus incurred the displeasure of the Revolutionists. After this he was harshly and brutally treated by the "Sons of Liberty." In the year 1775, his home was mobbed by a Marblehead Committee, who without any legal authority, entered his doors, broke open his desk, embezzled his money, and notes, and carried off his books and accounts. He made his escape from the town with difficulty, the turbulent "Sons of Despotism" would have probably tarred and feathered him if he had come within their reach. He remained concealed among his friends for some time, till he could reach Boston and place himself under the protection of the British. A letter from Hon. Wm. Brown, who also had sought shelter in Boston, to his friend Judge Curwen, a fellow Loyalist, said "About 2 months ago, Mr. Marston came here by night from Col. Fowle's farm. He knows nothing about Salem. His wife died last summer."
After the evacuation of Boston he went to St. John, N. B., and then to Windsor, N. S., finally settling down at Halifax, and there engaging in trade and venturing to sea, he was taken prisoner and carried into Plymouth, and remained in duress in Boston until he was exchanged, and then went to Halifax. He returned to Boston after the peace in 1787, in the spring of which year he visited his friends in Plymouth, for the last time, and soon after embarked for London. His after life is best described in a letter to his sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Watson, of Plymouth, wife of William Watson, Esq., under date of London, March 19, 1792. He says: "I now sit down and write to you with satisfaction, for I have at length fairly waded thro the Slough of Despond. I am now landed on the opposite side and shall go on my way rejoicing, having once more emerged into active life. In fact, I am engaged to go with a large Company, who are going to make a Settlement on the Island Bulama, on the coast of Africa, as their Land Surveyor General on a pretty good lay. No expedition could have hit my taste and humor more exactly than this one promises to do. It is so of the Robinson Crusoe kind, that I prefer it, vastly to any employment of equal emolument and of a more regular kind, that might have been offered to me in this country.
"You say you have mourned me as dead and buried. In truth, my dear Sister, I have been much worse off. I have for more than four years been buryed alive. As to gratifying your wish in making my native country the residence of the remainder of my days, it is not at present in my power to do, for want of means. There is not remaining in my mind the least resentment to the Country because the party whose side I took in the late great Revolution, did not succeed, for I am now fully convinced. It is better for the world that they have not. I don't mean by this to pay any complements to the first instigators of our American Revolution, although it has been of such advantage to mankind, I should as soon think of erecting monuments to Judas Iscariot, Pontius Pilate and the Jewish Sanhedrim for betraying and crucifying the Lord of Life, because that event was so importantly and universally beneficial."
The expedition to Africa resulted disastrously, and Benjamin Marston died on the Island of Bulama of the African fever, on the 10th of August, 1792.
From the scanty materials which have been here brought together, will be sufficient to convince the reader that it was no personal consideration, no expectation of honors and rewards, or desire of rank and distinction, but simply from a deep conviction of duty, a clear sense of loyalty to the British crown, that he gave up everything that was dear to him, his "pleasant and spacious dwelling" house, with its "fine old garden for morning exercise," his cherished library, his "much property," his well-earned reputation as a merchant, a magistrate and a citizen, his relatives, friends, and native country, and become a refugee and a wanderer on the face of the earth, "without a place that he could command to lay his head," and those that bore his name, were more proud of it than if he left rank and honor and large possessions to his representatives. There were very few of those who embraced the cause of the Mother Country, in those trying times, that were led by more honorable, or disinterested motives, or are more deserving of remembrance than Benjamin Marston of Marblehead.