Stampless folded envelope from Halifax to Liverpool, Nova Scotia. Addressed to Joseph Freeman, Esq., Liverpool. Hand stamp Halifax, N.S. 7 (or 17) DE 1836. Manuscript "9" on front.
Joseph Freeman Jr. received this letter from Halifax a few months before he died at age 71. He was a privateer seaman, merchant and political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented the Liverpool Township from 1811 to 1820 and Queens County from 1820 to 1837 in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. He was the son of Joseph Freeman, Sr. who came to Nova Scotia from New England. Freeman commanded a number of British vessels during wars with France and Spain, as well as during the War of 1812. As a merchant, he was involved in the fishing trade and trade with the West Indies. Freeman also served as a justice in the Inferior Court of Common Pleas for Queen's County. His son Snow P. Freeman also served in the provincial assembly. His daughter Elizabeth married James Ratchford DeWolf.
The Freemans of Liverpool
Joseph, Jr.'s grandfather, Samuel Freeman was born August 8th, 1715, the son of Thomas Freeman and Mary Smith of Harwich, Barnstable County, Massachusetts. In 1732, Stephen Sparrow of Eastham was appointed guardian of Samuel, a minor of Provincetown, son of Thomas. Around 1735, Samuel married Margaret Smith, and had seven children, including
Joseph Freeman, who was born Nov. 5, 1745, in Harwich. Samuel's wife Magaret died and on October 27th, 1755, he married Mary Mayo, the daughter of Judah Mayo and Mary Hamilton, and widow of Joseph Doane in Newport, Rhode Island. They also had seven children. Samuel Freeman immigrated to Liverpool, Nova Scotia about 1760, and served as a magistrate or provost marshal, as early as October 26th, 1773. He died 4 Apr 1783 in Liverpool, Nova Scotia
Joseph, Jr.'s father, Joseph Freeman Sr. immigrated with his father to Liverpool, Nova Scotia and in 1764, he married Rebecca Nickerson. They had ten children, including Joseph, Jr. born Nov. 29, 1765, in Liverpool. Joseph, Sr. was Deputy Provost Marshal in 1780, and afterwards was the sheriff of Queens County. He died December 29th, 1786, in Liverpool.
Joseph Freeman, Jr. was married four times. He married first, Elizabeth McLearn, daughter of James and Isabella McLarren, on January 27, 1788, in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. They had one child. He married second, Margaret McIntire, daughter of John McIntire and Hannah Smith, on July 4, 1790, Liverpool, Nova Scotia. They had one child. He married third, Experience Parker, daughter of Snow Parker and Martha Knowles, on August 18, 1803, in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. To this union two children were born. He married fourth, Ann Rogers, daughter of James Rogers, on October 20, 1811, in Liverpool, Nova Scotia. They had no children.
Joseph, Jr. was a colonel in the Queen's County militia, and after this war was a member of Parliament for twenty-five years. He had commanded the Liverpool privateers Charles Mary Wentworth, Nymph, and Duke of Kent in the French wars, between 1798 and 1805. The War of 1812 found him prospering as a mariner and merchant, forty-four years of age, keen, seasoned, ripe in experience. He was a strict disciplinarian, and kept his privateer in the same state of efficiency as if she had flown the whiplash pendant of the Royal Navy. Every Sunday morning the hands were turned up and he read them the articles of war. His command was the ex-American privateer Thorn, which had been captured by the British frigate Tenedos, October 31st, 1812, and sold in Halifax as a prize ... Renamed the Sir John Sherbrooke by her purchasers, in compliment to the governor of Nova Scotia. The following is a list of Joseph Freeman, Jr.'s commands.
captain, Charles Mary Wentworth 1798-1799
captain, Duke of Kent 1800
captain, Nymph 1800
captain, Duke of Kent 1805
captain, Sir John Sherbrooke 1813.
Charles Mary Wentworth was bigger than most colonial privateer schooners, although still a relatively small warship at only 130 tons. However she was heavily armed with 16 carriage guns, and carried a crew of 80 men provisioned for up to six months of cruising.
Captain Joseph Freeman commanded her on her first cruise; his three officers were Thomas Parker, Joseph Barss Jr., and Enos Collins. Charles Mary Wentworth sailed on 15 August 1798 with a crew of 67 men and four boys. She headed southward to the West Indies pursuing French and Spanish vessels. On this cruise they were able to take two prizes from a Spanish brigantine, Santisima del Carmen. The Spanish brigantine was carrying cocoa, cotton, and sugar when she was captured on 4 September. She arrived in Liverpool on 11 September. The cargo was auctioned off for £7,460 while the ship was auctioned for £871.10. The other prize was the American brig Morning Star, recaptured from the French.
A second cruise began on 3 February 1799. Fly and Victory joined Wentworth to cruise to the West Indies. The Spanish brig Nostra Seignora del Carmen was steered into Liverpool with a cargo valued at over £10,000. The Royal Gazette reported that on May 21, 1799 Wentworth returned to Liverpool with four Spanish vessels following. The Royal Gazette says that the reported prizes were a "brig of 14 guns, and 140 tones of burthen, laden with Wine, Brandy and Flour', a copper-bottomed schooner of 140 tons burthen, mounting 6 guns, laden with Cocoa, a schooner of 60 tons, and another 40 tons, coasters, laden with dry goods and sundry other valuable articles." The value of the cargo was £16,000.
Wentworth's success led within a few months to the commissioning of six other privateer vessels at Liverpool as well as one from nearby Shelburne, and four more from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Several of these new Nova Scotian privateers were in fact French and Spanish prizes to Wentworth that were now turned against their former owners. Men who first served as officers aboard Wentworth such as Joseph Freeman, Joseph Barss, and Enos Collins would go on to lead many privateers in the War of 1812, aboard such vessels such as the schooner Liverpool Packet.
Privateering
War dominated much of Nova Scotia's early history. For thirty-seven of the sixty-five years between 1750 and 1815 the colony's settlers were in conflict with the forces of imperial France, rebellious America, revolutionary and Napoleonic France and finally, the United States. Outstanding among the host of both villains and heroes found in that violent era were Nova Scotia's privateers. These wooden-hulled and sail-powered vessels, owned and crewed by civilians, went to sea in search of enemy merchant craft which, when caught, were brought back to home ports as prizes and there sold, with the proceeds going to the captors. A controversial business, said by its critics to be little better than legalized piracy, privateering has defenders who point out that this enterprise, sanctioned by the standards of the day, generated important income while also protecting the colony from danger. The following links lead to articles which provide ample information about Nova Scotian privateers.
Notes on Nova Scotian Privateers, by George E. E. Nichols
A Private War in the Caribbean: Nova Scotia Privateering, 1793-1805, by Dan Conlin
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