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Captain John Vicary, the seafaring father of Captain William Vicary (the builder of the Vicary Mansion in Freedom, PA), has a past perhaps even more remarkable than his son's.

It all began on August 8, 1742

John Vicary was born in the parish of Wolborough & Newton Abbott in Devon, Southern England. John had three sisters and three brothers of which he was the second son born. Their father, Robert Vicary, ran a wool and tanning business that he founded in 1747 and handed down through the family until business declined and the works eventually closed down in 1972. Prior to Robert founding his business, it is believed that the Vicary family was engaged in the wool and related trades as early as the 16th century.1

In any event, John left England, most likely as a merchant seaman. His home was not far from the port of Plymouth, and he lived in an area that was famous for producing sailors. Quite possibly, John went to sea because he was not the eldest son and would not inherit the family wool and tanning business. Ironically, upon the death of his father, Robert, in 1786, the family business was inherited by John's younger brother Moses.2

Eventually, John ended up in Philadelphia where he married Mary Harvey in 1769, at Christ Church.3 The union would prove to be a fruitful one as the couple gave birth to their first child, William Vicary, the builder of the Vicary Mansion of Freedom, on November 17, 1771. Over the next seven years, the Vicarys would celebrate the births of four daughters: Sarah, Mary, Rebecca and Hannah.

John also began investing his earnings in land. In 1774, we find records of his purchasing 300 acres in the Wyoming Valley from a consortium led by Benjamin Chew, who, 4 prior to the Revolution, was the Chief Justice of the Colonial Pennsylvania Supreme Court and a good friend of the Penn family. During the Revolution, as the British occupied Philadelphia, his daughter became a good friend of British Major John Andre and loyalist Peggy Shippen. Both were to become infamous in American history when Peggy Shippen married General Benedict Arnold and convinced him to enter into a treasonous plot with Major Andre against the Patriot cause. Andre was captured and hanged by the Americans as a spy; and Arnold, whose name will forever be synonymous with treason, fled with his wife to the British side.

While there is no record that Vicary ever lived there, the Wyoming valley became famous during the Revolution when it was ravaged repeatedly by the British and their Indian allies. His land purchases also included several plots within the City of Philadelphia.

During this time period, we find that Vicary was very active as a merchant sea captain in command of the ship Bissett. We don't know much about his earlier voyages, but we can assume that they were successful merchant ventures.

The dawn of the Revolutionary War found John Vicary on the side of the rebellious colonies and an enemy to his native country. On December 22, 1776, off the Delaware River while he was sailing the merchant ship Two Friends from Cuba, disaster was to visit Captain Vicary in the form of the British 44-gun frigate, Roebuck. Carrying a cargo of muskets, gunpowder, brimstone, molasses, dry goods, and rum, the Two Friends was seized as a prize of war. The captain of the Roebuck, Sir Andrew Snape Hamond, placed a crew aboard the captured ship, and sent it to New York harbor, the closest British held port.5 Taken before an Admiralty Court, the Two Friends was declared an enemy vessel and was ordered to be sold along with its cargo and all of the possessions of the sailors on board. The money made from the sale was to be distributed to the officers and crew of the Roebuck, with a percentage going to the King of England. John Vicary and his crew were probably placed aboard a prison ship in New York and exchanged at a later time for some British prisoners. Prison ships were generally old transports or other vessels that were in such bad condition that sailing them was a dangerous proposition. Therefore, they were anchored in New York's Wallabout Bay in the East River and were used as prisons for captured patriot soldiers and sailors.

As for Vicary's ship, according to the Minutes of the Supreme Executive Council of September 30, 1780, the Two Friends remained in the hands of the British and was being used to transport exchanged American and British prisoners between Philadelphia and New York.6 It is entirely possible that Vicary was transported to freedom aboard his own captured ship.

An interesting coincidence also occurred during the time of Vicary's seizure: Philip Gossler, an infantry private, was captured with his unit at the fall of Fort Washington in November of 1776. He also was taken to New York and held aboard a prison ship until he was released several months later.7

Many years after, Gossler would make his fortune in business, and his daughter, Anna Maria (Mary) would become the wife of John Vicary's son, William.

Undeterred by his misfortune aboard the Two Friends, we know that John made several other voyages, one in 1778 in the schooner Oxford and another in 1779 aboard the Mary & Eliza. 8

John's voyage aboard the brig General Galvez in 1781 was more successful and perhaps more personally rewarding. This time he took on an added responsibility to the United States. Severely lacking in navy ships, at a time when the British fleet was trying to strangle American commerce on the high seas, the Continental Congress countered by opening up the war to private industry and began commissioning private vessels as privateers as early as 1776. A privateer received a "Letter of Marque" from his government allowing him to prey on enemy commercial shipping, provided the capture was handled according to maritime law and that the vessel, goods and captives were brought before an American Admiralty Court. Should a captain choose to molest shipping belonging to any neutral country, or disobey any of the strict rules of behavior for a privateer, he lost all protection afforded him by his "Letter of Marque" and risked being hung as a pirate. Throughout the Revolutionary War, the individual states as well as Congress unleashed almost 2,000 privateer vessels on the British lines of commerce.

Sensing an opportunity to make money as well as serve his new country, John Vicary was given a "Letter of Marque" by the Continental Congress, to act as a privateer aboard his merchant ship. In addition, he was required to post a bond of 20,000 Spanish milled silver dollars, to guarantee his good conduct and that of his crew. Armed with his "Letter of Marque," he was now legally entitled to seize smaller British merchant ships while performing his regular trading duties. Interestingly, his commission also included a short description of John as "5' 6" tall with black hair and fresh complexion," We find no record of his success or failure as a privateer on this voyage, but we can assume that he had a safe and successful trading voyage to the West Indies.9

Before his next voyage, John composed his last will and testament. His wife, Mary had passed away in November of 1781, so it is very likely that he wanted to insure that his remaining four children would be provided for should anything happen to him. It is not known how John's wife died, but we have a record that shows John paid for a nurse, leading us to believe that she had suffered from an illness of some kind that eventually led to her death.

His next voyage, aboard the schooner Eliza, resulted in a second British capture, again off the Delaware River on April 21, 1782. The Eliza acted as a privateer vessel carrying six cannon and twenty men, along with its trading cargo of 750 barrels of flour bound for Havana, Cuba. The British Captain, Sir George Montague, made the capture aboard the 32-gun frigate Pearl.10

In another of those interesting historical footnotes, the two British Captains that captured John, (Sir Andrew Snape Hamond in 1776 and Sir George Montague in 1782), both served on the court martial board of the mutineers from the Bounty in 1790. The reader may recall the famous story often told on television and movies about the mutiny that occurred on the British ship Bounty against the infamous Captain Bligh.

Once again, a prize crew was placed aboard the Eliza and the ship and the crew were sent to New York to appear before an Admiralty Court. As a result, John and his crew were sent to the infamous prison ship Jersey in New York harbor, known for its harsh treatment of captives. On the Jersey, there was an average of ten deaths per night. 11 The conditions were so severe that the British Provost Marshall, William Cunningham, attempted to destroy his books to ensure that no written records would be found. Generally speaking, the death toll throughout the war aboard all prison ships in New York was 11,500.12

Author Danske Dandridge in his book, American Prisoners of the Revolution, gives us a glimpse of the life aboard a prison ship: "The dead were carried ashore and thrown into shallow graves or trenches of sand and these conditions of horror continued from the beginning of the war until after peace was declared. Few prisoners escaped and not many were exchanged, for their conditions were such that commanding officers hesitated to exchange healthy British prisoners in fine condition for the wasted, worn-out, human wrecks from the prison ships. A very large proportion of the total number of these prisoners perished. Of the survivors, many never fully recovered from their sufferings." 13

Apparently, Vicary and a group of other captains were released on parole to return to Philadelphia in order to petition Congress for the exchange or relief of American seamen being held aboard the British prison ships. In this age of gentlemanly warfare, prisoners of the upper classes were often released from prison and allowed to roam freely after having given their "Word of Honor" that they would not escape. In this case, the British actually allowed Vicary and the others to return to American held territory with the understanding that they would return to captivity once their parole had expired.

John Vicary wallet from 1717.

Knowing firsthand the conditions on the prison ships, he and twenty other captains petitioned Congress twice that summer for the exchange and relief of prisoners being held in New York.14 By the fall of 1782, the petition was approved and Congress outfitted a ship with food and clothing for Pennsylvanians on board the prison ships. After his mission was accomplished, John returned faithfully to his imprisonment, having given his word of honor.

Following the end of the war in 1783, John was released and resumed his career as a merchant sailor who had experienced much financial loss. John sailed the ship King George to Bermuda and there, took command of the Diligent bound for Haiti, on what would be his final voyage. Apparently he fell sick after trading in Leogane, Haiti, and a French captain was assigned to take over his ship. John proceeded on a stormy last sail to Paimboeuf, France, a small port south of Nantes, where he died in December of that same year.15 We can only speculate as to the cause of his illness and death, but perhaps he was still suffering from effects of the poor living conditions he experienced on the Jersey. It was at this time also that John's brother Moses, writing from his home in England, sent John a letter that was never received. Sadly, it was most likely the first communication from the English side of his family since the beginning of the Revolution. In it, Moses consoles his brother on the loss of his wife Mary almost a year earlier.16

Unbeknownst to Moses, as his letter was making the long voyage to Philadelphia, his brother lay dying in a French port within easy traveling distance of England. This was a vivid example of how slow the mails moved in those days.
John Vicary was buried in Paimbeof in December of 1783.

Upon his death, John had 51 pounds and 6 shillings in his pockets, which were sent along with his clothes, books, and other items to Philadelphia. John's will helps to shed light on his outstanding social status.17 The will left a sizeable sum of over £900 plus several properties and a house for the use of his children. The care of his children (William, then age thirteen, and the girls) was entrusted to Samuel Coates, a prominent Quaker merchant. Another interesting gentleman who signed as a witness to the will was John Todd, Jr.. Todd was an attorney and a Quaker by faith, but he is best known as the first husband of Dolly Payne Todd. Following Todd's death in a yellow fever epidemic, Dolly would marry James Madison, who would later become the fourth President of the United States.

Fortunately for John's children, their guardian, Samuel Coates, proved to be a competent and honest administrator, who even won a lawsuit against the owners of the Diligent in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to recover 300 pounds that was owned them from their father's last voyage.18 Under Coates' honest and caring hand, the children were well taken care of,,educated and eventually received shares of their father's estate.

There are still many things about the life and accomplishments of John Vicary that will be forever shrouded by the mists of time, but this quick glimpse at his life securely cements his place in our nation's history. As for his role in Beaver County's history, we are thankful that John Vicary's foresight enabled his son, William, to follow in his footsteps as a successful merchant sea captain and eventually build the historic Vicary Mansion in what is now Freedom, Pennsylvania..