Person:Amos Botsford (1)

Dexter's Sketch of Amos Botsford (Yale, 1763)

Amos Botsford, the son of Gideon Botsford, a respectable farmer of Newtown, Fairfield County, Connecticut, was born in that village on January 31, 1744.

He graduated with the rank of a Berkeley Scholar, and remained in New Haven for the study and practice of the law. In the meantime he served as Tutor for the College year 1768-69. Soon after this date he married Sarah, second daughter of Joshua Chandler (Yale 1747), of New Haven, and he pursued successfully the uneventful practice of his profession here until the Revolution. His conscience then led him to adhere to the crown, and it is perhaps not without significance that as late as November, 1778, though holding these avowed principles, he was still acting as attorney for General Benedict Arnold in the management of his New Haven property.

On the occasion of the British invasion of New Haven, in July, 1779, Mr. Botsford and his family, in company with his father-in-law, left town for New York City, where they remained until September, 1782, when Mr. Botsford was appointed by Sir Guy Carleton, the British commander-in-chief, an agent of the government in connection with the transfer of loyalists to Nova Scotia. He arrived at Annapolis with the earliest relay of such immigrants in October of that year.

When New Brunswick was set off in 1784, he settled in Westmoreland, the easternmost county of that province, which he represented in the first House of Assembly (in 1786), of which House he was elected Speaker. He was re-elected to the latter office by each successive House until his death, making a term of service of twenty-six years; he also filled the office of Register of Deeds for the county. At the time of his death he was the senior barrister-at-law in the Province.

He died in St. Johns, New Brunswick, on September 14, 1812, in his 69th year.

The property which he left behind him in New Haven was confiscated by a decree of the Probate Court two months after his flight, but exceeded in value the amount of his unpaid debts by only about £400. In May, 1782, his attorney, the Hon. William Samuel Johnson (Yale 1744), entered an appeal to the Superior Court for a reversal of the decree of confiscation, and this was finally carried in February, 1786. The General Assembly allowed him, in October, 1784, to collect the debts due him within the Colony, for use in the education of his children. He also petitioned the English government in 1786 for compensation, estimating his losses at upwards of £4,000; he was finally allowed £700, and an annual pension of £225, that being about his average annual clear income from his profession before his flight. His family consisted of two daughters and one son (Yale 1792). The daughters married two brothers, one of whom, the Rev. John Millidge, was a clergyman of the Church of England in Annapolis."^[3]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} 308. Gideon⁵ Botsford, in Mathews, Barbara Jean; Donna Holt Siemiatkoski; Kathryn Smith Black; and Nancy Pexa. The Descendants of Gov. Thomas Welles of Connecticut and His Wife Alice Tomes. (Wethersfield, Conn.: Welles Family Association, 2015)
   2:151.

   "1232 … Amos⁶ (Botsford), b. (Newtown) 19 Jan 1743/4; d. 14 Sep 1812, in his 69th year, in St. John's, New Brunswick; m. aft. 1769 Sarah Chandler, daughter of Joshua Chandler, with whom he fled to Canada at the end of the Revolution. He graduated from Yale College in 1763 (Yale Bios. 3:9-10, all data)."

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Botsford, in Jacobus, Donald Lines. Families of Ancient New Haven. (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1974)
   2:236.

   "Botsford, Amos, of NH; B. A. (Yale, 1763); loyalist, rem. to Nova Scotia; m Sarah da. Joshua & Sarah (Miles) Chandler, b 29 Mar 1762 (New Haven Vital Records)."

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8} Biographical Sketches, 1763, in Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College With Annals of the College History. (New York / New Haven: Holt / Yale University Press, 1885-1912)
   3:9:10.
4. ↑ Newtown Vital Records [NEHGS], in Connecticut, United States. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records
   27.

   "Botsford, … Amos, s. [Gideon & Bethiah], b. Jan. 19, 1743/4 [1:87]"

5. ↑ Volume 080 Newtown, in Connecticut, United States. Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1920. (Ancestry.com (database on-line), 2013)
   20.

   "Botsford, … Amos, child of Gideon, bp. Mar. 11, 1743 [5:11]"

6. ↑ Amos Botsford, in Find A Grave.