Epes Sargent, Jr.

Epes Sargent (1748-1822) was a merchant and first collector of the port of Gloucester, Mass., appointed by George Washington in 1789. He moved to New Hampshire in 1794 to pursue his interests in botany, science, and the classics. He returned to Boston in 1802 and was president of the Suffolk Institution Company (marine insurance), among other organizations. (2)

• 1. Epes Sargent (1748–1822), the son of a Gloucester, Mass., shipowner, graduated from Harvard in the same class as Goodhue in 1766. During the Revolution Sargent engaged in a number of successful privateering ventures with his father’s ships. In 1818 Sargent moved from Gloucester to Roxbury, opened a mercantile business in Boston, and served as president of the Suffolk Insurance Company. In August 1789 GW appointed him collector for the port of Gloucester and on 30 Sept. Sargent wrote:
• * “The appointment I had the honour to receive from you, requires more than the acknowledgement of office; the confidence you repose in me more flattering than the largest emoluments, I trust will ever keep my attention alive to the obedience of your commands. . . . In the loud acclaim of millions, permitt the feeble voice of an obscure individual to join in hailing you Deliverer of your Country: to the glory that encircles you as her defender in war, you add the more arduous exertions to improve that Country in the arts of peace, in mild and equal laws and polished manners” (DNA:PCC, item 78). (3)

In 1772, he married Dorcas Babson (1749-1836), and their children were:

1. Catherine Sargent (1774-1852), an abolitionist and reformer;
2. Esther Sargent (1776-1865), who married Dr. John Dixwell (formerly Samuel Hunt--see Dixwell family) in 1805;
3. Charles Lennox Sargent (1778-1820);
4. Arria Sargent (1779-1805);
5. John James Sargent (1781-1801);
6. Anna Sargent (1782-1873), who married John Parker (1783-1844);
7. Henrietta Sargent (1785-1871), an abolitionist and reformer;
8. Dorcas Sargent (1787-1837), who married Abiel Chandler in 1828;
9. and Epes Sargent (1789-1815).

Notes

• Bookplate by Paul Revere, 1764, Boston Museum of Fine Arts 10 h: 3½", w: 2¾". Charged in Revere's account book under 27 September 1764: Mr Epes Sargent Junr Dr. To Engraving Your Arms on a Copper Plate -- £0/12/0. to 150 Prints at 4/ pr Hund -- 0/06/0 (4)

Sources

1. Vital Records of Gloucester MA - Births Epes, s. Capt. Epes [jr.%C2%A0CR1] and Catharine (Osborne), Nov. 2, 1748.
2. Massachusetts Historical Society - Wigglesworth Family Papers (1682-1966) Guide to the Collection
3. “To George Washington from Benjamin Goodhue, 2 June 1789,” Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-02-02-0316, ver. 2013-06-26). Source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 2, 1 April 1789 – 15 June 1789, ed. Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1987, pp. 431–432.
4. Silversmiths

Links

• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=gramgault...
• http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~bmuwgw/brownesgen.htm