Daniel Sargent

Daniel Sargent (January 15, 1764 – April 2, 1842)^[1] Born in Gloucester, Massachusetts to Daniel Sargent Sr (1730–1806) and Mary Turner Sargent (1743–1813). Daniel Sr. was a successful merchant, who was referred to as the "merchant prince".^[2] Mary was daughter of John Turner of the House of the Seven Gables.^[3] Daniel is the brother of artist Henry Sargent and Lucius Manlius Sargent, first cousin of the early advocate of women's equality Judith Sargent Murray and her brother Gov Winthrop Sargent and the nephew of American Revolutionary War soldier Paul Dudley Sargent.

He was a successful merchant in Gloucester and later in Boston; he was a director of the Boston Bank from its incorporation in 1802.^[4] He was the director and later President of the Boston Marine Insurance Company,^[5] A member of the first Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts General Hospital, 1813–21,^[6]

He was the Treasurer and Receiver-General of Massachusetts 1817-22. He represented Boston in the Legislature from 1805 to 1810 and in 1813, and was a State Senator in 1812 and 1814.

Like most of the successful merchants of his time, Daniel Sargent was a Federalist and a strong and active opponent of Jefferson's Embargo. In 1798 he was chosen the first Captain of the then newly organized Boston Light Infantry, an office which he filled for five^[7]

Family

In 1794 he had a child out of wedlock, Anne Sargent Gage (1794–1876), née Nancy Brown, was born and her birth "...was a Boston Society scandal of the last decade of the 18th century." Both Daniel and her mother Hepzibah Atkins Brown ( -1800)were from prominent Boston families. Hepzibah was the daughter of Henry Atkings, also a distinguished Boston merchant, and the widow of James Brown ( - ), whom she married in 1788, but who died shortly thereafter. She married, in 1796, James Durfee ( - ), with whom she had a daughter, Mary.^[8][9]

For the first two years of her life, "Nancy" was raised by her mother. In 1796, her father placed her in the care of the family of a Mr. John Hall of Dorchester, Mass. There she remained until 1808 when it was decided that she disappear from Boston society. She was sent to live with Rev. Lincoln Ripley (1761–1858) and Phebe Emerson Ripley (1772- ), sister of Rev. William Emerson (1769–1811) and aunt of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), in Waterford, Me. Also at that time her name was changed to Anne Brewer. She had no further contact with her father, though he provided for her financially. Around the time of her marriage she wrote her father telling him she wanted to be married with the name Anne Sargent. He never responded, either agreeing or disagreeing with the request, and Anne went ahead and did so. Anne married Dr. Leander Gage (1792-1842), and had eight children.^[10][11]

In 1802 Daniel married Mary Frasier and had one child Maria Osborne in 1803, his wife Maria died in 1804. His daughter Maria married Thomas Buckminster Curtis. They had two children Mary Fraiser Curtis and Daniel Sargent Curtis.^[12] Daniel was a successful merchant in Boston retiring to Venice and buying the Palazzi Barbaro^[13][14]

Palazzo Barbaro became the hub of American life in Venice with visits from John Singer Sargent, Henry James, Whistler, Robert Browning and Claude Monet. Other members of the “Barbaro Circle” included Bernard Berenson, William Merritt Chase, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Edith Wharton.[20] Another supporter of the “Barbaro Circle” was Charles Eliot Norton.[21]

Daniel was a close friend of John Quincy Adams, since childhood.^[15]

References

1. ↑ Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John, eds. (1900). "Sargent, Paul Dudley". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
2. ↑ Sweetser, Moses Foster (1889-01-01). King's Handbook of Newton, Massachusetts. Moses King Corporation. 
3. ↑ http://salemwomenshistory.com/The_Gables.html
4. ↑ "Browsing 1802 by Issue Date". archives.lib.state.ma.us. Retrieved 2016-04-09. 
5. ↑ "Boston Marine Insurance Company Records, 1797-1839". www.masshist.org. Retrieved 2016-04-09. 
6. ↑ "Full text of "A manual for the use of the General Court"". archive.org. Retrieved 2016-04-09. 
7. ↑

   //archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Massachusetts.%20Adjutant%20General%27s%20Office%22&page=2

8. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?
9. ↑ id=SMv2JDZIPLIC&pg=PA190&lpg=PA190&dq=lucius+manlius+sargent+ann+gage&source=bl&ots=cSdJ8vSBZG&sig=aRH7uRss7eRILMQBRgUedWwgMgU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DoMbU7GkBYjtkQen1IDQDA&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=lucius%20manlius%20sargent%20ann%20gage&f=false http://www.massmayflower.org/publications/md/md45/MD45-001-008.pdf
10. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?
11. ↑ id=3whjh8ChFAUC&pg=PA153&lpg=PA153
12. ↑ Emma Worcester Sargent and Charles Sprague Sargent. Epes Sargent of Gloucester and His Descendants. Boston,
13. ↑ Venice Directions, Jonathan Buckley, Rough Guides, 2004, pg.136
14. ↑ “Paradise of Cities: Venice in the Nineteenth Century”, John Julius Norwich, New York : Vintage Books, 2004, pg. 5 [14] ISBN 1-4000-3237-7
15. ↑ Nagel, Paul C. (1999-01-01). John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674479401.