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The Furniss and Furness Families
of Portsmouth and Durham, New
Hampshire
1. Robert1 Furniss (Furnace, Furnais, Furnass, Furness) He was born about 1732 (based on age reported at death) of unknown parents. He died at 68 years of age at Portsmouth, 1 July 1800 and is buried at St. Johns Church Cemetery, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.[1]
It is assumed that most of the records for Robert Furnass/Furness/Furniss for the mid-1700's in New Hampshire relate to this individual and that the records for Robert Firnace/Furnass/Furness/Furniss of Berwick, Maine, (see Robert Furness of Berwick, York Co., Maine, compiled by Sean Furniss) relate to another distinct and apparently unrelated family line. Over the course of his life Robert Furniss of Portsmouth appears to have worked as a mariner and merchant.
He received a land grant of 580 acres of land in the Conway Township of New Hampshire. The grant was issued on 7 June 1775 by John Wentworth the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of New Hampshire to reward Robert Furniss for his service in the French and Indian War (1754-1763, known as the Seven Year's War in Europe) as a mate in the Royal Navy. The land was granted to Robert Furness, his heirs and assigns forever subject to seven conditions. 1) A road four rods wide was to be cut clear. 2) One family was to be settled on the land within six years. 3) All white and other pine trees fit for masting the Royal Navy were to be preserved and could not be cut or felled without the king's special license. 4) The grantee was to pay on or before 1 January 1777 the rent of one ear of Indian corn. 5) The grantee was to pay yearly, every year forever, beginning eight years after 1 January 1777 the sum of one shilling for every hundred acres. 6) If the property appeared to be adapted for growing hemp and flax, ten of every hundred acres was to be used for that crop. 7) That this grant shall not interfere with any other grant. Evidence that he was the Robert Furness who received the land grant comes from the fact that 580 acres of land in the County of Grafton, adjoining Conway, was included in the inventory of his estate in 1800.[2]
Robert Furniss signed the Association Test of 1776 supporting the American revolution.[3] Evidence of Robert Furniss' business during the Revolutionary War is indicated by the following passage in the New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers.
"State of New Hampshire - In Committee of Safety, Feby 27th, 1777
To the Sheriff of the Rockingham County, relating to the seizure of Rum.
Greetings:
Whereas George Gains of Portsmouth, Esqr (who was employed by this Committee to procure Rum for the American Army) has inform'd the Committee that ... Robert Furnass, ...one of fifteen... merchants, each of them, have West India Rum in their possession more than sufficient for their own use and consumption, which they refuse to sell him for the use of the said American Army at a Reasonable rate: Therefore you are hereby required in the name of the Government & the people of the State of New Hampshire (taking with you sufficient assistance) to break open any stores, Warehouses, or other places, where such Rum may be deposited, belonging to the aboved named persons, or in their possession, and take from thence the following Quantities of Rum: viz from ... Robert Furnass, one Hogshead, ... and deliver the same to George Gains. You are also to cause all Rum taken as aforesaid to be Gaged by a sworn Gager & make return here of (as soon as may be) with your doing herein, to the Committee of Safety.
By order of the Committee of Safety
Ebenezer Thompson, Chn
Rockingham, SS. Mar. 1st, 1777. Pursuant to this Order, I have received from Messrs ... Robt Furnace one Hhd, ... & delivered the same with the contents thereof to George Gains, Esqr ...
Jno Parker, Sheriff"[4]
Robert Furniss was a co-signer of a 5 May 1777 petition requesting action against Tories who had remained in Portsmouth and had aided in the escape of the British officer Col. Stephen Holland.[5]
Robert Furniss participated in the Revolutionary War through the use of his monetary and physical resources. He was one of the bonders of the New Hampshire brigantine La Maria. The vessel was issued a Letter of Marque on 30 July 1777. The vessel carried 12 guns and a crew of 60. He was also listed as one of the owners of the New Hampshire brigantine McClary. The McClary was issued a Letter of Marque on 28 January 1778. The vessel carried 8 guns and a crew of 50.[6]
In reviewing the U.S. census records there was no indication of slave ownership. The only possible evidence of slave ownership by any of the Furniss family is the following news advertisement for 12 December 1774: "Port-Yoyal, Negro slave, age 41 - runaway from Robert Furniss, of New Castle."[7]
The death of Robert Furniss was noted in the following newspaper article. "Another Sudden Death! On Tuesday afternoon last, as Captain Robert Furnass was sitting in his chair by the window, he leaned his head back, and died without a struggle or groan, aged 68. He had been for sometime ailing, but was as well on that day as he had been for weeks past; and had within an hour of his death, walked out! Capt. Furnass has always supported the character of a good and peaceable citizen and neighbor, and was respected by all his acquaintance."[8]
He died intestate. A bond of $1,000 was filed by Margaret Furniss, widow, Joshua Brackett, Esquire, and Edward Parry, Merchant, all of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. A record of the inventory of his estate (Old Style No. 6719) was found in the Rockingham County records. The inventory was presented on 31 August 1800 by Joshua Brackett, Isaac Ringe and Edmund Sargent.[9]
| 6 Winsor Chairs $3. 1 Mahogany Square Table 1.50 | $4.50 |
| 2 Small Stands 75cts 1 Looking Glass $5. Shovel & Tongs 75cts | 6.50 |
| 2 Waiter (?) 25cts 6 Pictures $1. | 1.25 |
| 1 Looking glass 2.50. 6 Leather Bottom Hd Chairs 3. | 5.50 |
| 6 Mohair Bottom Chairs 2. 2 Mahogany Squar Tables 12. | 14.00 |
| 1 Card Table 3. 1 Stand 2. 1 Home made Carpet 1 | 6.00 |
| 1 Plated Tankard 3.50 a Parcell, China, Glass & Earthenware in Closet 3. | 6.50 |
| 1 Old round Black Walnut Table 50cts | .50 |
| 1 Old maple Desk 50cts 6 Old Chairs $1 | 1.50 |
| 1 Pine Chest w wearing apparell $6 | 6.00 |
| 1 Feather Bed Bolster and Pillows $10 | 10.00 |
| 1 Coverlet 75cts 1 Bed Quill 75cts 1 Bedsted Lacking Bottom 1.50 | 3.00 |
| 1 Maple Desk $2.50 1 Old Leather Trunk 50cts | 3.00 |
| 1 Old Bed Quill 75cts 1 Small pine Square Table 20cts | .95 |
| 1 Dressing Glass 50cts 6 Old Cane Chairs 60cts 1 Armed Chaired 40cts | 1.50 |
| 13 Old Bed blankets $5 14 Sheets $6 5 pairs Pillow cases $1.50 | 12.50 |
| 5 Damask w Diaper Table Cloths $1.60 6 Towels 90cts | 2.50 |
| 1 [unreadable] Old Furniture Chex Curtains $2 | 2.00 |
| 1 Easy & 6 Harateen Bottom Chairs $6.75 | 6.75 |
| 1 Old Black Walnut dressing Table $1.20 1 Looking Glass 2.75 | 3.95 |
| 1 Bed Bolster & Pillows $11 Green Curtains & Bed Quilt 4 | 15.00 |
| 1 High Post Corded Bedsted $1.50 Southwells Bible 3 | 4.50 |
| a Parcell of Old Books 50cts 1 Homemade Carpet $1 | 1.50 |
| 2 Old Maple Tables $1 2 Pine do. 50cts | 1.50 |
| 6 Dishes, 22 Plates, and 3 Basons, Peweter $7.50 | 7.50 |
| 3 Tin Pans 40cts 1 Copper Tea Kettle $3 2 Old Copper Do 80cts | 4.20 |
| 1 Copper Kettle $4 1 Do Cullender 50cts 6 Brass Candlesticks $1 | 5.50 |
| 3 Iron Candlesticks 30cts 7 flat Irons $2 1 pair Andirons $1.50 | 3.80 |
| 2 pair Dogs $1 a pair large & a pair Small Shovel & Tongs $1.25 | 2.25 |
| 1 pair old Bellows 25cts a parcell old earthen ware 50 cts | .75 |
| 6 Iron Pots & Kettles, Caking pan & Skillet $4.25 | 4.25 |
| 2 Iron Spoons & Skimer 25cts 1 Crosscut Saw 40cts | .65 |
| 1 Glass & Tin Lantern $1.20 6 Kitchen Chairs $1 | 2.20 |
| 1 Lignumvitee mortar & Pestle $1.50 Old Frying Pan 20cts | 1.70 |
| 2 Dozn Walkdem Ink Powder $1 a parcell earthen & Glass ware 3.10 | 4.10 |
| 1 Japaned Spitting pan 15cts 5 brass candlesticks $1 | 1.15 |
| a parcell plane irons, files & hinges $4 | 4.00 |
| 1 Small pine Table 20 cts 2 Copper [unreadable] pans $1.50 | 1.70 |
| 1 Iron Pot $1.50 2 Old Guns, 1 Pistol & 2 Cutlasses $3 | 4.50 |
| 1 Tea Canister 25cts Box with Money, Scales & Weights $1 | 1.25 |
| [unreadable] Steel yard $1.50 | 1.50 |
| 1 nail [unreadable] Knife, Saw & Centre Bitte $1.50 | 1.50 |
| 1 Stone [unreadable] Bottle 75cts | .75 |
| 4 pair old scales & weights $1.50 | 1.50 |
| 1 pair shop sheers 15cts | .15 |
| Silver Spoons and Sugar Tongs 6oz 12 D-- 8Gss $1 | 6.62 |
| 11 Broken part Candles, Shingles, say 2 Thousand $3 | 3.00 |
| 1 Single Jack Screw $1 | 1.00 |
| a Lot of Land & Dwelling House in said Portsmouth Bounded North Easterly by Market Street | 3000.00 |
| one other Lot of Land in s. Portsmouth, with two Barns on the same,
bounded Northerly, by a lane leading from Market Street, west Southerly, Commonly called Puzzle lane | 500.00 |
| Five feet of land fronting on Back (?) Street, in said Portsmouth, in
the occupation of Capt. William Edwards | 120.00 |
| a Lot of Land in Durham with a Small Dwelling House Thereon | 100.00 |
| One hundred and Twenty Acres, Land in [unreadable], Location, in the County of Grafton | 120.00 |
| A Location in the County of Grafton 580 acres, adjoining Conway | 580.00 |
| One Proprietors Share in Piscataqua Bridge | 90.00 _______ |
| $4697.62 |
The quit claim of Arthur Rogers and his wife Margaret (Furniss) Rogers to Margaret (Gardner) Furniss, the wife of Robert Furniss, lists the properties which he owned at his death. Robert Furniss owned a lot in Portsmouth which he purchased from Benjamin Mackey, a lot in Portsmouth which he purchased from Margaret Lannergan, a pew in the Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, Share No. 140 in the Piscataqua Bridge, a quarter acre of land in Durham purchased from Yere [Vern?] Boyce, and 580 acres of land in Strafford County known as the Furnasses Location. For the one-fifth share of Arthur Rogers and Margaret Rogers, Margaret Furnass paid $500 on May 31, 1805.[10]
He was married in November 1764 by Rev. Arthur Browne at Queen's Chapel Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Margaret Gardner. She was born about 1742 (based on age reported at death). She died at Portsmouth, age 92, on 26 May 1834 and is buried at St. Johns Church Cemetery, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.[11]
A query in the genealogy column of the Boston Transcript in 1904 suggested that Margaret Gardner's father was a man named Gardner who had runaway from home in Glasgow, Scotland in 1710, lived in Boston, Massachusetts, was married to Margaret Wyat/Wiath, and died in 1742, nine months after the birth of his daughter Margaret Gardner. The query also indicated that Margaret Gardner's mother had remarried to a man named Lanagan. That information was incorrect. I agree with Agnes Bartlett[12] that Margaret Gardner was the daughter of John Gardner and Elizabeth Perry and granddaughter of David Gardner and Margaret Cate (See Cate and Gardner Families of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, prepared by Sean Furniss).
The 1790 census lists the residents of the Robert Furniss residence as being 3 white males, 16 years and upward (probably includes Robert Furniss, his son John Furniss, plus one unknown male), 2 free white males, under 16 (both unknown), and 7 free white females (probably includes Margaret Gardner, her daughters Mary, Margaret, Rebecca and Deborah, plus two unknown females). No other free persons or slaves were recorded in 1790. The 1800 census lists the residents of the Robert Furniss residence as being 1 male under 10 (probably William P. Furniss), 1 male over 45 (probably Robert Furniss), 1 female between 10 and 16 (probably Deborah Furniss) and 1 female over 45 (probably Margaret Gardner).[13]
| + | 3. | i | Mary2 (Polly) Furniss born 22 July 1766 at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, baptized 27 July 1766. |
| + | 4. | ii | Margaret Furniss born 2 July 1770 at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, baptized 8 July 1770. |
| + | 5. | iii | John Furniss born 16 December 1772 at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, died 6 January 1799, on the British gun vessel Wolverine off Bologne, France. |
| + | 6. | iv | Rebecca (Rebekah) Furniss |
| 7. | v | Deborah Furniss born 22 May 1779, listed as a child of Robert Furniss in the probate records for the administration of his estate. She was listed as being Deborah Blackledge living in Basse Terre, Guadelope, in 1804. In 1805, a Benjamin Blackledge [presumed to be the husband of Deborah Furniss] of Basse Terre, Guadelope, merchant was noted as being a party involved in the estate settlement of Robert Furniss. She died prior to 14 October 1808, when her mother sold Deborah Blackledge's interest in the estate of her father. Deborah Blackledge was listed as a widow, deceased late of Neuburn [New Bern], North Carolina.[14] | |
| + | 8. | vi | William Ponsonby Furniss born 16 July 1790 at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, died 29 October 1871 at New York, New York. |
2. [-?-]1 Furness The existence of this individual is known only through the land records of Grafton County, New Hampshire. On 15 July 1775, Robert Furniss recorded a land transaction where he noted that "...Patrick Furnis of said Portsmouth Mariner, my Brother's son..."[15] This is the only reference which has been found relating these two families together.
| + | 9. | i | Patrick2 Furness died 9 November 1814 at Durham, New Hampshire |
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[1] New Hampshire Gazette
(Portsmouth, NH) 8 July 1800, p. 3, col. 4, Dartmouth University Library,
Hanover, NH; Arthur H. Locke, Portsmouth and Newcastle New Hampshire
Cemetery Inscriptions (place, publisher, 1907), p. 17, Library of the
Daughters of the American Revolution, Washington, DC.
[2] Albert Stillman Batchleor, ed., New
Hampshire Town Charters Volume 1 (place, publisher, 1894), pp. 431-435,
Library of Congress, Washington, DC, includes a map of the tract of land
granted to Robert Furniss; Probate Record for Robert Furness, Old Stlye No.
6719, photocopied from the microfilm records of the Church of the Latter Day
Saints in Salt Lake City.
[3] Albert Tillman Batchellor,
Miscellaneous Revolutionary Documents of New Hampshire, Vol. 30, State
Papers Series (Manchester, NH: 1910), p. 116, Library of the Daughters of the
American Revolution, Washington, DC.
[4] Nathaniel Bouton, comp. & ed.,
Ddocuments and Records relating to the State of New Hampshire, Volume 8,
1776 to 1783 (Concord, NH: 1874), p. 500, Library of Congress, Washington,
DC.
[5] Issac W. Hammond, Rolls and Documents
relating to Soldiers in the Revolutionary War, Vol 4 of the War Rolls
(Manchester, NH: 1889), p. 139; Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
[6] Charles W. Tibbetts, ed., "American
Revolutionary Naval Service New Hampshire Privateers," The New Hampshire
Genealogical Record, V, (Oct. 1908), pp. 166-167, Library of Congress,
Washington, DC.
[7] New York Gazette and Weekly
Mercury (New York, NY) 12 December 1774, in Kenneth Scott, Genealogical
Data from Colonial New York Newspapers (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical
Publishing Co., 1982), p. 192, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
[8] New Hampshire Gazette 8 July
1800, p. 3, col. 4.
[9] Probate Record for Robert Furness, Old
Stlye No. 6719, seen at the Rockingham County Courthouse, photocopied from the
microfilm records of the Church of the Latter Day Saints in Salt Lake City.
[10] Quit Claim to Margaret Furniss,
Rockingham Co. Records, Vol. 171, Entry 402, copy obtained by Carol Connell, in
possession of writer. Arthur and Margaret Rogers gave up their interest in the
real estate of Robert Furniss.
[11] Priscilla Hammond,Vital Records
from the Parish Register of Queen's Chapel (typescript, 1939), p. 48;
Library of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Washington, DC; (note: the
minister's grandson Arthur Rogers married Robert Furniss' daughter Margaret);
New Hampshire Gazette 27 May 1834, p. 3, col. 4; Locke, Portsmouth
and Newcastle, New Hampshire Cemetery Inscriptions, p. 17.
[12] Boston Transcript (Boston, MA)
1 Aug. 1904, genealogy column, item 5357, part 8, Library of Congress,
Washington, DC; Agnes Bartlett, Portsmouth Families, mss., located at
the N.H. Historical Society, also LDS microfilm 0,016,188.
[13] 1790 U.S. Census, New
Hampshire; 1800 U.S. Census, New Hampshire
[14] Priscilla Hammond, Additions and
Corrections to the Records of Queen's Chapel, Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
typescript, 1940, notes date of birth and lists Deborah as the daugther of
Robt. Furnace by Mar. Gardner (wife), photocopy provided by Carol Connell in
possession of writer; Carl W. Barge to author, 29 Oct 1991, letter references
the administration of the estate of Robert Furniss #6719 O.S., where Deborah
Furness is mentioned as his daughter. Letter in possession of writer; Quit
Claim to Margaret Furniss, Rockingham Co. Records, Vol. 170, Entry 320, copy
obtained by Carol Connell, in possession of writer. Nathan Tilton on behalf of
himself, his wife Mary, Arthur Rogers and his wife Margaret, Moses Beaujean and
his wife Rebekah, Deborah Blackledge and William Furniss, gave up all rights
and title to four fifths of the Dower of Elizabeth Markey (Mackey?) to Margaret
Furniss for $150; Quit Claim from Moses Beaujean and his wife Rebecka to Nathan
Tilton, Arthur Rogers, Benjamin Blackledge and William Furniss, NH Deeds, NH
Archives, Records Management, Vol. 170, p. 322-323, copy obtained by Carol
Connell, in possession of writer; Quit Claim to Samuel Elliot from Margaret
Furniss, adminstrator of the estate of Deborah Blackledge, NH Deeds, NH
Archives, Records Managment, Concord, NH, Vol. 186, p. 26-27, copied by Carol
Connell, copy in possession of the writer.
[15] Warranty Robert Furnis to Patrick
Furnis, Grafton County land records, typed transcription of the original
record, New Hampshire Archives, Records Management, Concord, New Hampshire,
copied by Carol Connell, copy in possession of writer.
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