Part 5: Tate Family Epilogue
Discussed in this post:
What happened to the Tates
The despoiling of the Maine Woods
The Tate’s neutral stance was destroyed with the town center of Falmouth in Mowatt’s bombardment on October 18, 1775.
Robert had marched with a company of Minutemen to Lexington in April. Samuel took his family to London and continued in the mast trade. William and old George remained at Tate House. George continued to by and sell land. Robert invested in a ship, the 104-ton sloop Dispatch, probably engaged in privateering. He built a farm not far from his father’s home, but continued to sail as a ship captain for the rest of his life.
After the war Samuel returned from England and partnered with William in a store that the latter operated. They revived the mast trade, but at lower volume and profitability.
Young George II left Maine before the Revolution. In 1770 he was a lieutenant in the British clique of the Russian Navy. In 1790 he distinguished himself in action against the Ottoman Turks. In 1794 he was a rear admiral. In 1796 he commanded twelve ships of the line operating in cooperation with the Royal Navy.
George Sr. died in the summer of 1794.
Robert Tate died on a voyage to British Guiana in 1804.
Samuel died in Portland in 1814.
Admiral George Tate II died in St. Petersburg in 1821.
William Tate was a notable victim of the financial collapse that was not instituted, but completed, by Jefferson’s Embargo Act in 1807. He fled to England in 1803 to avoid debtors’ jail, leaving his wife and children. Aided by Samuel in England he succeeded as a land speculator and developer. He never brought his family there, but supported them financially. He died in 1833.
And a last note about mast pines
As stated earlier, and made clear by the wasteful harvesting practices employed, settlers in Maine viewed the woods as an inexhaustible supply of timbers. However, by the middle of the 1800’s when Thoreau visited the Maine woods, he noted that the timber pioneers were scouting areas they had previously not bothered with, and there was much burned-over land. On our visit to the Maine Maritime Museum, we found it striking that the big schooners built at the Percy and Small Shipyard from 1894 to 1920 got their masts from Georgia or the Pacific Northwest.
For More Information:
Albion, Robert. Forests and Sea Power: The Timber Problem of the Royal Navy, 1652-1862. Accessed at archive.org.
Barry, William David, with Frances W. Peabody. Tate House: Crown of the Maine Mast Trade. Colonial Dames of America. Portland, 1982.
Manning, Samuel F. New England Masts and The King’s Broad Arrow. 1979.
Rowe, William Hutchison. The Maritime History of Maine.
https://allthingsliberty.com/2013/02/the-pine-tree-riot/
http://histsociety.blogspot.com/2011/07/new-englands-maruellous-pine-trees.html
https://www.mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/283/page/546/display