Diaries, 1760-1799.

ArchivalResource

Sayward, Jonathan, 1713-1797. Diaries, 1760-1799.

Diaries, 1760-1799.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/191259781

Sayward's diaries are interleaved in various almanacs published in Boston and Maine. He routinely commenced the diaries with a list of the property he owned, brief financial statements, and mortgages he held. They also contain shipping records and local and family news of births, deaths, and marriages. From 1765 through the years of the Revolution Sayward's diaries are particularly substantive. He openly condemned unconstitutional acts and despaired over the "madmen and hot-heads" in Boston who mobbed Gov. Hutchinson's home, enacted the Boston Tea Party, etc. He suffered threats of mob violence, was ousted from political offices and confined to town limits; he was examined by committees, forced to disclose correspondence with Hutchinson, and compelled to sign the Test Act in 1776 (disclaiming loyalty to the king). The diaries contain comments concerning several of these developments as well as news of events of the war, observations of naval activity from York and political evaluations reflecting his pessimism over the future of American independence. Sayward suffered financial and political losses due to his Tory convictions, though he remained active in town affairs. He continued to enter in his diaries business statements and local and family news. In 1779 he remarried (his first wife died in 1775) and often commented on his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. He became increasingly preoccupied with his health and local deaths, and from 1785 he annually listed York residents who were seventy years of age and older. The 1798 and 1799 diaries were recorded after Sayward's death, probably by a family member. They contain brief entries which reported numerous ship departures and records of men hired, presumably to work on the ships.

40 v. ; octavo.

American Antiquarian Society