William S. Sheaffe, of Charlestown, was born in 1649, and married in 1672 Ruth Woods. He was a mariner, and they had three sons and three daughters. His son William, born 1683, married Mary Longfellow, a widow, in 1704. He died in 1718, and his widow in 1720. They had five sons and two daughters. His eldest son William Sheaffe, Jr., was born 13 Jan., 1705. He graduated at Harvard College in 1723, and married Susanna Child, Oct. 1st, 1752.[260]
William Sheaffe was Deputy Collector of Customs of Boston. He frequently acted as Collector in the absence of Sir Henry Frankland, who held that office in 1759, and when the Baronet was removed for inattention to his duties, he was appointed to fill the vacant place, and issued the celebrated "Writs of Assistance," giving the Revenue officers the right to search for smuggled goods. Roger Hale succeeded as Collector in 1672, when Sheaffe was again Deputy. He continued in that office under Joseph Harrison, who was the last Royal Collector of the port. Mr. Sheaffe died in 1771, leaving a large family in poverty. There is ample evidence that Mrs. Sheaffe was an intelligent, excellent woman, and bore many trials with pious resignation, and that the Sheaffe's were a loving and happy family. Mrs. Sheaffe died in 1811.
Susanna, Mr. Sheaffe's eldest daughter, who died in 1834, married Captain Ponsonby Molesworth, a nephew of Lord Ponsonby. The family account is that on the day of the landing of the British troops in Boston, a regiment halted in Queen (Court) street, opposite Mr. Sheaffe's house, that, Susanna attracted by the music, accompanied by her younger sisters, went upon the balcony, that Captain Molesworth saw her, was struck with her great beauty, gazed upon her intently, and at last, said to a brother officer, who like himself was leaning against a fence, "That girl seals my fate." An introduction, and a visit followed, and the maiden's heart rapidly won, but then came sorrow, for Susanna was barely fifteen, and parental consent to her marriage was refused. Her governess, to whom she entrusted her grief, espoused her cause, and favored immediate union, and the result accordingly was, the flight of the three to Rhode Island, where the loving pair were married. Molesworth sold his commission in 1776, and in December of that year was in England with his wife. Their married life proved uncommonly happy; and they lived to see their children's children.
Another daughter, Helen, of remarkable beauty, married a revolutionist, James Lovell, who became Naval Officer of Boston. Their grandson, Mansfield Lovell, was a General in the Confederate service, and was in command at New Orleans, when it was captured by the Union forces. The General was true to the disunion instincts of his grandfather.
Sir Roger Hale Sheaffe, Baronet, the subject of this sketch, was son of William Sheaffe. Born in Boston in 1763. His mother, after the death of his father, removed to a wooden house which was standing till recently on the corner of Essex and Columbia (formerly Auchmuty street) which was owned by her father. Lord Percy, afterward, Duke of Northumberland hired quarters there, soon became attached to Roger, and assumed the care of him. It would seem that the original intention of his Lordship was to provide for the boy in the Navy, for Mrs. Sheaffe wrote, in December 1776, she was told "Earl Percy had taken my son Roger from the Admiral's ship, given him a commission in the Army (which I must not say that I am sorry for), and sent him to England to an academy for education under his patronage." In 1778 Roger was dangerously ill, and on becoming convalescent, passed two months in Devonshire, with his sister, Mrs. Molesworth. In a letter dated at the Academy, Little Chelsea, early in 1779, he said, Lord Percy is as good as ever. He has given me a commission in his own regiment, the Fifth, now in the West Indies. I shall not join it for a year.
My love to my dear sister and brother. Remember me kindly to all my friends in Boston. You may be sure that I shall follow your advice strictly, that I may be all that you wish, shall be the endeavor of your most dutiful and affectionate son.
In 1786 Captain Molesworth said in a letter to his mother-in-law, Mrs. Sheaffe, The Duke of Northumberland has lodged money to buy Roger a Company, which, when he is in possession of, he will have it in his power more fully to manifest his affection for so good a mother. Roger's sister, Mrs. Molesworth, at the same period wrote her mother, "He is as good a young man as ever lived. Lord Percy continues his kindness to him. He improves very much, and is a great favorite with all his masters." Again, "Roger behaves remarkably well, is much liked in the Regiment; he is tall, well made, and reckoned handsome, very lively, yet prudent and steady in matters of consequence. He wishes, as much as we do, to go to Boston."
In 1791 Lieutenant Sheaffe was at Detroit, which post was still held by England, on account of the non-fulfillment of some of the terms of the treaty of peace. In 1794, before the surrender of the "Western Posts" as they were called, Lieutenant Sheaffe delivered a letter to Capt. Williamson, which was unequivocally of a military and hostile nature.
"I am commanded to declare that during the inexecution of the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States, and until the existing differences respecting it, shall be mutually and finally adjusted, the taking possession of any part of the Indian territory, either for purposes of war or sovereignty, is held to be a direct violation of his Britannic Majesty's rights, as they unquestionably existed before the treaty, and has an immediate tendency to interrupt, and in its progress destroy, that good understanding which has hitherto subsisted between his Britannic Majesty and the United States of America. I, therefore require you to desist from any such aggression. R. H. Sheaffe, Lieut. 5th Reg't. and Qr. M'r. Gen. Dept. of his Britannic Majesty's service."
In 1801 he was in service in the attack on Copenhagen under Lord Nelson; and though poor, just one-half of his prize money was sent to his mother in Boston.