Thomas Shubrick

SHUBRICK, THOMAS (Sr.) (1711-1779). Baptism: "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NPHB-M4W : 21 September 2020), Thomas Shubrick, 1710.

Father of RICHARD SHUBRICK and THOMAS SHUBRICK (1756--1810);

son-in-law of JACOB MOTTE (1700--1770);

father-in-law of NICHOLAS EVELEIGH, WILLlAM HEYWARD, THOMAS LYNCH, JR., and EDWARD RUTLEDGE (1749--1800);

brother-in-law of ISAAC M0TTE and JACOB MOTTE (1729--1780).

Thomas Shubrick, son of Jane and Thomas ( Richard) Shubrick, was a sea captain-merchant in the Carolina trade. He settled in Charleston by 1739 when, with his brother Richard and John Nickleson, he was a member of the firm of Nickleson, Shubrick & Company (1739-1749). Thomas Shubrick still commanded a merchantman in 1739, but by 1746 he had become a "wealthy and eminent merchant" in Charleston. During the 1750s the two Shubrick brothers in partnership with DANIEL CRAWFORD operated as the firm of Shubricks & Company. Both firms with which Thomas Shubrick was associated made an occasional essay into the slave and fur trades but dealt primarily in agricultural and forest products. He was the owner of four trading vessels and the co-owner of eight others. As he prospered, he bought Belvedere and Quenby, settled plantations on the Cooper River. He made Belvedere in St. Philip Parish his principal residence. At his death he was the master of 333 slaves. In 1777 Shubrick was a founder and first vice president of an insurance company.

Shubrick's public career began when he was elected Firemaster for Charleston (1748-1750). He won a special election in St. Philip Parish and qualified for the Twenty-third Royal Assembly (1760-1761) on 17 June 1761. Following the creation of St. Michael Parish, he was a member of its first delegation to the Twenty-fourth Royal Assembly (1761). On 29 May 1762 he was appointed Director for the Cherokee Trade, a position which disqualified him from membership in either the Commons House or Royal Council. He directed the trade for two years until June 1764 when he sailed for England. During the Revolution he represented St. Thomas & St. Dennis Parish in the Second Provincial Congress (1775-1776) and the First GeneraI AssembIy (1776). On 26 March 1776 he was elected to the Legislative Council by the First General Assembly. He was reelected to the Legislative Council for the Second General Assembly (1776- 1778 ) . Shubrick was Speaker of the Council for the second session of the First General Assembly. Among his other local offices were vestryman for St. Michael Parish (1761-1762); inspector, under the Hemp Act (1762); and commissioner to regulate the pilotage for Charleston (1762) . In Charleston Shubrick was a member of the Charleston Library Society (1750-1776) until he resigned in favor of his son.

On 8 May 1746 Shubrick married Sarah Motte, daughter of Jacob Motte and Elizabeth Martin. They had 10 children: Jane (m. 1st Henry Lane, 2d Rev. John Temple), Thomas (1748-1749), Elizabeth (m. Thomas Lynch, Jr.), Richard, Sarah (m. Robert Smith), Mary (m. 1st Nicholas Eveleigh, 2d Edward Rutledge), Thomas, Jacob, Hannah (m. William Heyward), and an unnamed child. Thomas Shubrick died in Charleston 14 August 1779.

Twenty-third Royal Assembly St. Philip 1761

Twenty-fourth Royal Assembly St. Michael 1761

Second Provincial Congress St. Thomas & St. Dennis 1775-1776

First General Assembly St. Thomas & St. Dennis 1776

SOURCES: Almanacs, 1762,1765. Aud. Accts., 6973. CLS Journal, pp. 37, 172-73. Grand Jury Lists, 1740, 1751, 1778. Indian Books, 3: 540--41,557-63. Inventories, A(1778-1787), 61-65. Henry Laurens, 1: 184n; 2, 211. Judgement Rolls, 1761-55A. Marriage Notices, pp. 19, 48, 50.

He owned Shubrick's Island now called Bull's Island. In CHARLESTON'S MARITIME HERITAGE by P. C. CokerIII a history of the shipping industry in Charleston it says that Thomas Shubrick was given the commission to provide the timber to build 2 battle ships for the US Navy in 1799. Diseased oak trees and an underestimate of the wood needed meant that Thomas paid out $22,000 and received $17,000 in return.

Children Jane, Thomas, Elizabeth, (married Thomas Lynch, Jr. who signed the Declaration of Independence) Richard, Sarah, Mary, (married 1st Nicholas Everleigh and then Edward Rutledge, who signed the Declaration of Independence) Thomas, Jacob, (died at 19 from hardships from the Revolutionary War) Hannah (married William Heyward, brother of the Signer)