Among the Goldthwaites who remained loyal to the crown, Major Joseph was one of the strongest. He was an Addresser of Hutchinson in 1775, and during the siege he passed the winter in Boston. At the evacuation he accompanied the British army to Halifax, and thence to Quebec. Nine days before his departure from Boston he wrote a letter to his uncle Ezekiel Goldthwaite, Esq., of Boston, acquainting him with his property and the household goods he had left behind. "In short, I leave behind me at least three thousand pounds sterling. You give the enclosed to my wife, if you can meet her. When I shall see her God only knows. Don't let her want for anything."[228]
Some experiences of Major Joseph's wife, Mrs. Hannah, while her husband was shut up in Boston with the British army, appear in the Journal of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.[229]
August 4, 1775, Mrs. Goldthwaite with her sister-in-law and a Mrs. Chamberlain, left Boston with a horse and chaise and crossed the Winnisimmet Ferry. She was arrested and taken under guard to the general court at Watertown. It appeared on her examination that her health was impaired, and an order was passed to allow her to visit Stafford for the benefit of the waters there, but under the care of the Selectmen, and afterwards to retire to the house of her brother Joseph Bridgham at Rehoboth, and to be under the committee of correspondence. It was Colonel Loammi Baldwin who had them arrested and taken to Watertown and according to his account, it was an act on their part which must have required considerable courage "no such instance having happened before," the city being then closely besieged.
Mrs. Goldthwaite petitioned the court to allow her to use the waters in Newton instead of at Stafford, her health being very delicate, and the petition was accompanied by her physician's certificate. This was granted to her and she probably remained through the siege at Newton where the family of Mr. Benjamin Goldthwaite had also taken refuge. After the siege she returned to Boston where she died, probably never seeing her husband again.
Major Goldthwaite from Quebec, went to New York, and his death occurred there October 3, 1779. He had been proscribed and banished in 1778. It was at this time he drew up his will, which is at Somerset House, London, dated Feb. 11, 1778. As he died childless, he bequeathed his property to his brother's and sister's children "provided that none of them are Rebels, and have borne arms against their King, otherwise to go to the next eldest son of the same family who is loyal, and true to his King, and country." Of the several Goldthwaite Loyalists, Major Joseph was one of the most uncompromising in his devotion to his King and country.
Captain Philip Goldthwaite, (fifth generation), brother to Major Joseph Goldthwaite, was born in Boston, March 27th, 1733. He was a member of the Boston Latin School in 1741. He married June 7, 1756, Mary Jordan of Biddeford. His title of captain seems to have come from his command of vessels, and it is interesting to note that in every generation of his descendants to the present day there have been more or less who have chosen the same occupation.
Captain Philip was an officer of the Customs at Winter Harbor, and remained loyal when the war broke out. Sabin says he was one of the two persons of Saco and Biddeford dealt with by the Revolutionists of that section for their loyal principles and that as soon as the war commenced he placed himself under British protection at Boston. An earlier record in regard to him says: "Captain Philip Goldthwaite was brought before the New Hampshire Committee of Safety at Portsmouth, Nov. 23, 1775, on suspicion of being unfriendly to the liberties of America. Upon examination nothing appearing against him, ordered that he be dismissed."
There can be no doubt however, as to Captain Philip's real sentiments. The atmosphere in which he was living must soon have become unendurable to one holding his opinions, and therefore we soon find him in England, where he appears as early as 1780, at that date taking out his brother's administration papers. He bought an annuity in the king's household and became one of the Gentlemen of the bed chamber. In October, 1786, it appears from the probate records at Boston, that he had died probably at sea, for Edward Daws of Boston, trader, is administrator of the estate of Philip Goldthwait, late of Boston, mariner. His inventory contained clothes, a quadrant, books and chest, and amounted to £7, 10 s. He left several sons and daughters, whose descendants are now quite numerous.
Samuel Goldthwaite, (fifth generation), brother of the aforesaid Philip, was born in Boston, March 20th, 1735, and married Amy Borden of Newport, R. I., where he became a prominent merchant. He very early came under suspicion as having loyalist sentiments. After the death of his brother, Major Joseph, in New York, October, 1779, he petitioned the Rhode Island General Assembly representing that his brother had lately died in New York, leaving a large estate there in the hands of persons who were wasting it, also that he had been authorized to settle it if he could obtain permission to go to New York, asking to be allowed to do so, and to return with the effects when obtained, which petition the Council, after consideration, granted.
He did not, however, return, and in July 1780, an act was passed by the Rhode Island Assembly, proscribing persons that had left the state and joined the enemy, ordered if they returned they should be apprehended, and imprisoned or transported. "Samuel Goldthwaite, merchant, late of Newport," was included in the list. Orders were also given under the same date that such property as he left in Newport should be inventoried and taken into possession of the Sheriff. About this time Samuel had gone to England on business connected with the settlement of his father's and brother's estates, for in the same year he was administrator on them in London. One year later he had returned to his wife Amy, at that time preferring a petition to the Rhode Island Assembly, stating that her husband was then in New York, and had requested her, with her family, to come to him, and praying the Assembly to permit her with her family, furniture, and effects, to go to him there by the first opportunity. The petition was granted and she went in a cartel vessel under the direction of William Taggart. The family settled in Baltimore after the Revolution, and have left many descendants there.