The Barclay Collection : Papers of the St. Croix Commission and Commissions Following the Treaty of Ghent Appointed to Agree on a Canadian-American Border Between Passamaquoddy Bay and the Great Lakes : 1764 - 1827.
Call Number: | HIL-MICL FC LSC .U5M3B3C6 |
Category: | Special Collections |
Creator: | Maine Historical Society. |
Description: | 11 microfilm textual records (14 boxes) ; 35 mm |
Background: | Thomas Barclay (1753-1830) was born in New York City, the son of Rev. Henry Barclay, rector of Trinity (Anglican) Church, and his wife, Mary Rutgers. He was educated at Kings College (now Columbia University), graduating in 1772, and studied law in the office of John Jay. In 1775, he was called to the bar and in the same year married Susanna DeLancey, the daughter of Peter DeLancey and his wife Elizabeth, the daughter of Cadwallader Colden. Thomas Barclay's sister, Cordelia, married Lieutenant Colonel Stephen DeLancey, and his sister, Anna Dorothea, was the wife of Colonel Beverley Robinson of the Loyal American Regiment. Marriages between these and other prominent New York families formed bonds of loyalty to Great Britain which were an important factor in the American Revolution. In 1776, Thomas Barclay joined the British forces, and in 1777 he was commissioned a captain in the Loyal American Regiment. Later, he was promoted to the rank of major and served throughout the war in New York, New Jersey, and in the Southern Campaign in the Carolinas. Because he was a Loyalist, all his property in New York was confiscated and sold, and the money from the sale deposited in the state treasury. In fact, it is thought that his property was the first confiscated by the state. In 1779, he was named in the Act of Attainder passed by the New York legislature, and at the end of the war, with thousands of other Loyalists and their families, he was forced to join the refugee migration to Nova Scotia. He received land in Wilmot Township, Nova Scotia, but later moved to Annapolis Royal where he re-established his law practice and immediately became active in the political life of the colony. In 1785, he was elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly and in 1793 became Speaker of the Assembly. In the same year, he was named lieutenant-colonel of the Royal Nova Scotia Regiment and adjutant-general of the militia. |
Contents: | The Barclay Collection contains a wealth of documentary material for the St. Croix Commission and the Commissions following the Treaty of Ghent. The principal authors are Thomas Barclay and his son Anthony Barclay, along with the records of several surveyors, explorers, and others. A significant number of Ward Chipman papers have been integrated into the Barclay Collection. |
Originals: |
The original records are held by the Maine Historical Society, Portland, Maine.The greater part of the Collection was donated to the Society by George L. Rives,a grandson of Thomas Barclay, in 1894. The Chipman Papers integrated into the Collection were donated by William H. Kilby, c. 1900. |
Archival Ref. No.: | Me Hist Soc Spec Coll, Coll. 26 |
Finding Aids: |
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Electronic Finding Aid Record: |
Maine Historical Society Barclay Collection Document List.pdf Contents_.Barclay-Collection_Maine-Historical-Society.pdf |
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