FREDERICK WILLIAM GEYER.
The Gayers or Geyers as it was variously spelled, first settled at Nantucket. Some of the family came very early to Boston. The name is first mentioned in Boston Town Records 1690, when William Gayer married Maria Guard. In her will recorded with Suffolk Probate Records, Vol. 17, p. 80, 1710, she described herself as the wife of William Gayer, Mariner of Nantucket. In 1692 Damaris Gayer, the daughter of William Gayer, married Nathaniel Coffin. Their son William Coffin removed to Boston and was the ancestor of the Boston family of Coffins.
The Geyers were prominent merchants in Boston. They did not interest themselves in political matters or held office. The records mention that in 1765 Mr. Henry Christian Geyer was paid £173. 4. 1. for repairs done on Faneuil Hall.
At the outbreak of the Revolution, Frederick William Geyer was one of the principal merchants of Boston. He was proscribed and banished in 1778, but not being an Addresser, or having taken any active part in politics, he was allowed to come back in 1789 and was restored to citizenship by Act of the Legislature. He was in business with his son at No. 13 Union street, Boston, in 1794. Died at Walpole, N. H., in 1803. A daughter who died near London in 1855 at the age of 81, married Mr. Joseph Maryatt, a West Indian merchant. She was the mother of Captain Maryatt of the British Navy, the well known author of sea tales.
Mr. Geyer's estate was on Summer street, formerly Seven Star Lane, and was one of the finest in Boston. In the inventory of his estate made by the commissioner after his departure, the mansion house is valued at £6,000. It was confiscated and sold to Nathan Frazer, whose daughter afterwards married Frederick W. Geyer, Jr., and the property was once more restored to the family.
The estate once belonged to Leonard Vassall, and contained one of the best gardens in Boston. It was planted as early or before 1642 by Gamaliel Wayte, for we find by the Book of Possessions that this land is described as Wayte's Garden. Judge Sewall in his diary states that he lived to the age of 87, and not long before his death was blessed with several new teeth, which shows that he not only had the ability to plant, but to eat his fruits. Mrs. Maryatt, whose gardens at Wimbleton were at one time the finest in England, and we may reasonably conjecture that the taste and skill that produced such marvels, were nurtured and fostered in her younger days among the flower beds of Summer street. This garden occupied the site of the store of C. F. Hovey & Co., and as late as 1870 there was an old pear tree in the yard in a thrifty condition.
LEONARD VASSALL AND FREDERICK W. GEYER MANSION, SUMMER STREET. Site now occupied by C. F. Hovey & Co. The mother of Captain Marryatt was born in this house.
Nancy Geyer married Rufus Amory, February 13th, 1794. He was the second son of John Amory the Loyalist, and a very successful lawyer. The wedding is described as "a very gay and brilliant affair." It gained an unexpected distinction in consequence of a heavy snowstorm by which Prince Edward, afterward Duke of Kent and father of Queen Victoria, travelling from Canada to take command of the troops at Halifax, was just then detained at Boston. He accepted Mr. Geyer's invitation to the wedding, and came with his aides. "His Royal Highness" it is recorded, was complaisant and affable in his deportment, and claimed the customary privilege of kissing the bride, and bridesmaids. His host's son who was married the year before to Rebecca Frazer, the daughter of Nathan Frazer, who bought the Geyer mansion when it was confiscated, was an ardent sympathizer with revolutionary France, who disapproved of titles. He put their marriage notice in this form in the Boston Gazette of Jan. 21, 1793. "By Citizen Thatcher, Citizen Frederick W. Geyer, Jr., to Citess Rebecca, daughter to Citizen Nathan Frazer."[225]
LIST OF CONFISCATED ESTATES BELONGING TO FREDERICK WILLIAM GEYER IN SUFFOLK COUNTY AND TO WHOM SOLD.
To Nathan Frazier, May 12, 1780; Lib. 131, fol. 143; Land and house in Boston, Summer St., formerly Seven Star Lane, in front; land of First Church S.W.; John Rowe S.W.; Benjamin Church, Thomas Thayerweather and heirs of Samuel Sewall N.W.——Green Lane S.W.; John Welsh S.W. and S.W.; John Gooch and others S.E.; James Gooch N.E. and N.W.; John Gooch S.W. and N.W.; James Gooch and others S.W.——Green Lane S.; John Welsh W.; John Gerrish N.; lane from Green Lane to the Mill Pond E.