Selected Excerpts from Embree Remembered

From the Introduction:

Page 1. This is the story of two of my ancestors, Robert and Effingham Embree. Robert was born somewhere in England, probably in the early 1600s, lived in New Haven, Connecticut, from about 1642 to about 1651, and died in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1656. Effingham was born in 1759 in Flushing, Long Island, New York, and lived much of his adult life in lower Manhattan, where, among many other activities he made superb clocks. A tall case clock bearing his name is in the Diplomatic Reception Room in the White House. He died in Flushing in 1817.

From Chapter 1, To Readers of This Book:

Page 5. There is much in this book regarding John and Margery Bassett and their children Robert and Mary. This is because their story is in many ways Robert Embree’s story. Robert married John and Margery’s daughter Mary, probably in New Haven around 1643 or 1644..... They all lived in New Haven at the same time and moved down to Stamford at about the same time where they owned home lots next to each other....

From Chapter 3, The Robert Embree Story:

Page 13. On March 24, 1603, Queen Elizabeth died in her sleep in her palace at Richmond and her extraordinary forty-five year reign came to an end. Her cousin, James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, was crowned James I of England. From that point until the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II in 1660, England went through a period of intense political, economic, and religious strife. One consequence was the emigration to New England during the period 1629 to 1640 of about 20,000 Puritans including Robert Embree and John and Margery Bassett and their children. Their daughter Mary Bassett was to become Robert Embree’s wife....

Page 19. However, the colonists were men and women and not angels. The colony records contain references to pre-marital sex, known as “filthy dalliance,” drunkenness, stealing, fighting, and individuals who disagreed with Congregational orthodoxy. There are also references to repentance and remorse and promises to keep the word of God. We can empathize with these ancestors across the 350 years that separate us.

Page 33. As usual, the [Colonial] record reports without comment what was said. Among the memorable remarks are several by Mrs. Brewster, who was an earthy character right out of Chaucer. When listening to one of Mr. Davenport’s sermons with which see disagreed (he claimed that to have salvation it was necessary to join the church), she said “her stomacke wombled as when she bredd child.” She allegedly added that she was “sermon sicke” and that the notes of Mr. Davenport’s sermon should be made into waste paper. The record quotes Mrs. Brewster:...

Page 52. There is an irresistible story of Robert Bassett, the rebel of Stamford, spread over a number of pages in the Jurisdiction Records. The Reverend Huntington in his History of Stamford retells the story in a graphic and colorful way. Using recorded facts and adding some imaginative touches, he reports as follows:...

“Immediately after the meeting had been opened, Basset, readiest speaker of the disaffected party springs to the floor and with great excitement demands to know what this meeting means....

“But not yet had the radical and revolutionary leader exhausted his resources against the hated power. Rising to his utmost height, wielding his most significant menaces in tone and looks and gestures, he burst forth in an uncontrolled and uncontrollable torrent of passionate abuse.”

Page 54. In 1651 Robert and Mary Bassett Embree and John, Margery, and Robert Bassett were very probably living in Stamford having just moved there from New Haven. In that year Goodwife or Goody Bassett was hanged for witchcraft in Stratford, which was about twenty miles up the coast from Stamford and part of the Connecticut Colony. The event must have been of great interest to Robert and Mary and the Bassetts and probably caused them considerable agitation....

Page 57. The final reference to Robert Embree is in the Stamford Town Meeting Records.

Ambrey, Robert dyed ye 21 July 1656

We do not know the cause of death or where he is buried. He probably was in his middle or late thirties based on the guess that he was born during the years 1615 to 1623.... The saga of Robert Embree in Puritan New England thus came to an end. Within a year his widow had remarried and moved to Hempstead, Long Island, with her children and new husband. Other than a few isolated comments in the records to activities of his children, there are no further references that can be tied to Robert. His numerous descendants should not forget him.

From Chapter 4, The Effingham Embree Story:

Page 60. Effingham was born a subject of King George III. Colonial status and loyalty to the king were accepted by virtually everyone. The Quaker community in Flushing into which Effingham was born was quietly carrying on its special way of life as it had been doing for over one hundred years. However, the efforts of the king to control and tax his American colonies soon began to alarm and agitate the colonists. Within a short twenty-five years this colonial world would be turned upside down and Effingham would be a citizen of the United States of America.

Page 61. Promptly at eleven o’clock in the morning on July 10, 1976, three ladies presented themselves at the visitor’s entrance to the White House. They were the delegates of the National Society of The Colonial Dames of America come to officially convey the bicentennial gift of the society to the country, a tall case clock bearing the name Effingham Embree of New York....

Page 62. Who made Effingham Embree tall case clocks? The answer to the question of who ‘made’ the tall case clocks that were constructed in New York during the period 1790-1796, when Effingham Embree was active as an individual clock maker, is not simple. The dial and case were usually acquired from other craftsmen. The name on the dial is traditionally understood to be the name of the maker of the movement. However, the question remains, what exactly did the clock maker make?...

Pages 66/67. Effingham was surely raised and educated within the Flushing Quaker community. Effingham’s mother, Elizabeth Lawrence, was a birthright Quaker. We know his father was a Quaker as the Flushing Monthly Meeting minutes refer to his appointment to various committees. Effingham’s brothers, Lawrence and George, became members of the Flushing Monthly Meeting. Effingham did not become a member of a monthly meeting until the last years of his life. The long delay was undoubtedly because of his marriage to his first cousin, Mary Lawrence. Quaker discipline forbade such marriages.

Page 72. In 1774 Effingham was fifteen years old and probably already an apprentice. It is easy to imagine Sarah Pearsall Embree recommending Effingham to her brother Thomas. Effingham was an apt pupil. A few years thereafter, he and Thomas Pearsall were conducting a watch making business as partners. The following ad appeared in the Royal Gazette for March 28, 1781: Pearsall and Embree, Watchmakers....

Page 95. Mary survived Effingham by fourteen years. She and several of the children remained for several years on the family farm in Flushing. In 1828 the property was sold to William R. Prince, a well known horticulturist, and for many years thereafter the property was known as the Prince homestead. In 1829 Mary moved back to Manhattan. Her death on September 16, 1831, was reported by The New York Evening Post. The Long Island Star for September 21, 1831, had the following:

Mary, widow of Effingham Embree, interred at Flushing.

One likes to think that Effingham and Mary are interred together in the Friends burial ground that adjoins the Friends meeting house in Flushing.

This information was prepared by Mary Ellen Embree LeBien.