HAS GOVERNOR LOVELACE OF NEW YORK BEEN PROPERLY IDENTIFIED?

I am not sufficiently acquainted with the details of historical investigation in New York to know whether there has ever been any doubt as to the identity (or rather the family) of Governor Lovelace; but I presume that the Dictionary of National Biography gives the generally accepted account when it states that he was the second son of Richard, first Baron Lovelace.

Recently the examination of some old documents has led me to the belief that the Governor of New York was of a much more distinguished kinship than that which has been usually assigned to him. To most of us the Lords Lovelace are only known by a passing reference in Macaulay; but the author of the two songs to Althea and Lucasta is one of the immortals.

In a volume in the Congressional Library, which was bought from President Jefferson and which contains copies of miscellaneous historical records relating to Virginia, are two documents signed by Francis Lovelace, Governor of New York.

The first of these is a letter evidently written to Governor Berkeley of Virginia. It is as follows:

“Deare Sir:

Since my last to you sent by M^r Machen in answere to yo^rs I received a letter from Mr. Tho: Todd of Mockjack bay who being appointed Guardian to the will Whitbey’s son by my neece M^rs Ruth Gorsuch he having hitherto taken great care and paines in the adjusting his interest in severall plantations being devolve to him by the death of his father M^r Tod desired me to signify to you that this lad I have brought over is the recitable child, and heare to M^r Whitby w^ch by these I declare to be soe and if you be satisfyed w^th this relacon w^ch I assure you upon the faith of a Xtian and Honor of a gentleman you may rest assured of it but if the Ceremony of an oath be requisite, I shalbe ready (if desired as necessary) to make my Deposicon of it, and I shall furt^r desire of you that when an application is made to you in his behalfe you would affourd him what favo^r and Countenance the Justness of his Cause & p^rtentions will beare he is now an orphant & I have been at considerable charge both to his transport education & clothing expecting noe other retorne but when he is in a capacity to make it onely to reimburse me with what I have expended for him, S^r I know his cause is safe in yo^r hands to whome I must refer him & the experience all that know you have of yo^r Justice & Compan * * [?] in p’tecting the fatherles shalbe argum^ts sufficient that I shall not miscarry in these my desires for him in gratitude of w^ch I can pay noe other returne but if you please to prepare any service for me you shall find me most ready to obey it when you reflect upon what I subscribe w^ch is

Yo^r most assured fathfull serv^t

Fran: Lovelace.

From y^e Barbadoes I hear yo^r Bro: Ld Berkeley is designed to be Governor but the truth I refer to your Consideracon. M^r Winthrop Newley sent me This newes w^ch here inclosed will kisse yo^r hands adue

Jeames ffort 6^th Decemb^r

1669 Rec^r p. Rich. Awborne

Jan: ye 7^th 1668”

Richard Awborne was clerk of the Virginia Council, and this letter was evidently recorded for young Whitby’s benefit.

The other paper is entitled “Resolutions for the settlem^t of Comerce to and from all his Maj^ties Plantations in America, and other places to the port of New York & the rest of his Royall Highnes his Territoryes not p’hibited by act of Parliam^t” and concludes “Given und^r my hand at ffort James in New York on Manhatans Island the 18^th day of November 1668

Fran: Lovelace”

This also had been copied into the Virginia records and attested by Awborne.

In the present discussion this last paper is valuable as proving that the writer of the letter to Berkeley was certainly Governor Lovelace of New York.

The chain of evidence which appears to contradict the commonly accepted statement in regard to Governor Lovelace’s family begins with the pedigree of a family of Gorsuch in the Visitation of London, 1633–4. (Harleian Society, p. 327.) In this pedigree it is stated that John Gorsuch, rector of Walkhome, Hertfordshire, 1633, married Anne, daughter of Sir William Lovelace, of Kent, Knight, and had the following children at the time of the visitation: 1. Daniel “about 4a^o 1633”; 2. John; 3. William; 4. Cathrin.

On April 1st, 1657, Richard, Robert and Charles Gorsuch, sons and co-heirs of John Gorsuch, “P’fessor in Divinity,” petitioned the Court of Lancaster County, Va., that their sister Katherine Whitby might be their guardian for “such estate as doth in any ways belong to them in England,” and that Francis Moryson [afterwards governor of Virginia] be their guardian for Virginia. Shortly afterwards all of these boys removed to the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The records of that colony not only make notice of them, but also show that they had another brother Lovelace Gorsuch, and a sister Anne, who married Thomas Todd, of Mockjack (now Mobjack) Bay, Gloucester County, Va.

The Quaker records of West River, Maryland, contain the records of the marriage, in 1690, of Charles Gorsuch, “son of John and Anne Gorsuch, of the Kingdom of England, deceased,” and Anne Hawkins. In 1669, Charles and Lovelace Gorsuch confirmed title to certain land which had been granted to Lovelace Gorsuch in 1661. On Jan. 13, 1676–7, Mrs. Anne Todd made a deed to her children and appointed her brother, Chas. Gorsuch, trustee. It seems certain that that John Gorsuch, the “P’fessor in Divinity,” was identical with Rev. John Gorsuch of Walkhome, who married Anne, daughter of Sir William Lovelace, of Kent, and that one of his daughters, Ruth, married William Whitby, of Virginia, while another, Anne, married Thomas Todd, of the same colony. This explains at once why Thomas Todd was appointed, as stated by Governor Lovelace, guardian to William Whitby, Jr. Young Whitby was the nephew of Todd’s wife.

When these facts are made clear the rest of the identification of Governor Lovelace seems easy. Sir William Lovelace, of Kent, the father of Mrs. Anne Gorsuch, was also the father of Richard Lovelace, the poet. The other sons of Sir William were “Col. Francis” (of “Lucasta”), Thomas and Dudley. The Dictionary of National Biography only knows of Col. Francis Lovelace, that he served the Royalist Cause in Wales and commanded Caermarthen from June, 1664, until it was captured by Langhorne in October, 1645. From Governor Lovelace’s friendship with Berkeley it seems very probable that it was indeed he (and not the son of Lord Lovelace as stated in the D. N. B.) who received license from the Council in 1650 to go to Virginia, and who in May, 1652, was sent by Berkeley to inform Charles II. of the surrender of Virginia to the Parliamentary forces.

Francis Lovelace and the members of the Gorsuch family evidently came in the large royalist emigration to Virginia during the Civil War.

In conclusion it may be worth while to trace Governor Lovelace’s kinsman and protégé, William Whitby.

William Whitby, the elder, the husband of Ruth Gorsuch, lived in Warwick County, Va., and was Speaker of the House of Burgesses in 1653. He received two considerable grants of land, one in Warwick, where he lived, and another on Potomac Creek.

The son resided in Middlesex County, Va., and appears to have led an uneventful life, and to have died unmarried. His will, as that of “William Whitby, of Pyanketank River in the County of Middlesex, planter,” was dated July, 1676, and proved July 23, 1677. He gave “to Major Robert Beverley £100, Mrs. Mary Kibble [Keeble] £100, and my brother, Joseph Summers £200, all out of a rent due me out of Kent in England”; John Cocking to have 700 acres, and John Wright 500, both on Moratico Creek; his land on Potomac Creek to be divided equally between his brother, Joseph Summers, and Mrs. Mary Kibble, and also makes a bequest to Thomas Todd. Summers and Beverly, executors.

The following chart shows the relationship which would seem from the records cited to be correct:

W. G. Stanard.

Richmond, Va.

Note—Since the above was written I have recalled the account of “The Interment of William Lovelace, N. Y., 1671.” This, in mentioning Thomas and Dudley Lovelace, as brothers of the Governor, corroborates the genealogy I have given.—W. G. S.