Samuel Vetch
Samuel Vetch | |
---|---|
Royal Governor of Nova Scotia | |
In office 1715–1717 | |
Preceded by | Thomas Caulfeild |
Succeeded by | Richard Philipps |
In office 1715–1715 | |
Preceded by | Francis Nicholson |
Succeeded by | Thomas Caulfeild |
In office 1710–1712 | |
Preceded by | Created |
Succeeded by | Francis Nicholson |
Personal details | |
Born | Edinburgh, Scotland | 9 December 1668
Died | 30 April 1732 King's Bench Prison, Southwark, London, England | (aged 63)
Spouse |
Margaret Livingston
(after 1700) |
Parent(s) | Battle of Steinkirk |
Samuel Vetch (9 December 1668, Edinburgh, Scotland – 30 April 1732) was a Scottish soldier and colonial governor of Nova Scotia. He was a leading figure in the Darien scheme, a failed Scottish attempt to colonise the Isthmus of Panama in the late 1690s. During the War of the Spanish Succession he was an early proponent of the idea that Great Britain should take New France, proposing in 1708 that it be conquered and that the residents of Acadia be deported. (The latter idea would acted on during the Seven Years' War of the 1750s.) He was the grandfather of Samuel Bayard.
Early life
Samuel Vetch was born in
Career
He was then commissioned a
Colonial ventures and business
In 1698 Vetch and his brother William joined a Scottish attempt spearheaded by William Paterson to establish a colony on the Isthmus of Panama. The "Darien scheme" failed due to political infighting in the colony, diseases, lack of support, and Spanish hostility.[6][7] Vetch was elected to the colonial council, and was one of the survivors (many of the 1,200 colonists sent to Central America, including William Vetch, succumbed to disease) to make his way to New York City in August 1699.[6][8]
Vetch formed connections with the politically powerful Livingston family, marrying Margaret, the daughter of Robert Livingston.[9] With the Livingstons Vetch then established a highly profitable but illegal trade with New France, and eventually settled in Boston, capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.[6][10] Although he curtailed his trading activities when Queen Anne's War began in 1702, he was given a renewed opportunity for trade after Massachusetts Governor Joseph Dudley sent him on a diplomatic mission to Quebec in 1705 as part of an embassy to recover prisoners taken in a 1704 raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts. The embassy was a success, and Dudley permitted Vetch to make a trading voyage to New France in 1705. He was spotted upon his return, and the outcry compelled Dudley to have him put on trial and convicted in 1706 for trading with the enemy. He then sailed to England to appeal his conviction, and to lobby for military action against New France.[10]
Using his knowledge of New France, Vetch proposed to
Governor of Nova Scotia
The 1710 expedition
Later years
Vetch then returned to England to recover his reputation and his lost funds. With the accession of George I to the throne, he succeeded, and was reappointed governor in 1715. However, he never returned to North America, as he was called on to advise on matters of North American trade and politics. He was formally replaced as governor in 1717 by Richard Philipps, and spent his remaining years in unsuccessful attempts to recoup his expenses and acquire other colonial postings.
Personal life
In 1700, Vetch married Margaret Livingston (1681–1758), the daughter of Robert Livingston and Alida Schuyler Van Rensselaer.[9] Together, they had:
- Alida Vetch (b. 1705), who married Stephen Bayard (1700–1757), scion of another prominent New York family.[12]
He died in
Descendants
His descendants included William Bayard (1729–1804), Samuel Bayard and Harriet Elizabeth Bayard Van Rensselaer (1799–1875).
Honors
There is a memorial plaque to Vetch at the Fort Anne National Historic Site in Annapolis Royal.[14]
Notes
- ^ Waller, pp. 4–7
- ^ Waller, pp. 7–8
- ^ Waller, p. 9
- ^ Waller, pp. 11–12
- ^ Waller, p. 12
- ^ a b c Vetch, Robert Hamilton (1899). . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 58. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ Plank, p. 42
- ^ Brown, pp. 26–27
- ^ a b Hess, p. 84
- ^ a b Plank, p. 44
- ^ Grenier, pp. 17–18
- ^ Hess, pp. 91, 274, 625
- ^ Waller, G. M. (1979) [1969]. "Vetch, Samuel". In Hayne, David (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. II (1701–1740) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
- ^ "Samuel Vetch". Parks Canada. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2011.
References
- Brown, Peter Hume (1911). History of Scotland: From the Revolution of 1689 to the Disruption, 1843. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 26. OCLC 4215251.
- Grenier, John (2008). The Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia, 1710–1760. Norman, Oklahoma: Oklahoma University Press. OCLC 159919395.
- Hess, Stephen (1997). America's Political Dynasties. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. OCLC 34663122.
- Plank, Geoffrey (2001). An Unsettled Conquest. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. OCLC 424128960.
- Waller, George (1960). Samuel Vetch, Colonial Enterpriser. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. OCLC 480181.