Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/17

2 As I was born in one of the first houses, I must belong to one of the first families. My father was of Scotch descent. My ancestors came over about the time Miles Standish did. Our family motto is, "We add honor to that of our ancestors." I never saw my father  until I was over thirty years old, as the sequel will show. My mother was a Sturtevant, of Dutch descent. Ours was a very patriotic family, and fought both in the Revolution and the War of 1812. My mother’s brother, Major Thomas Sturtevant, with General Dearborn, Colonel Spooner, and Colonel Wyman, received President  Monroe in 1817, and General Lafayette in 1824, on  their arrival in the old stage-coach at Taft’s Tavern,  near the toll-gate at Brush Hill Turnpike. On each occasion my mother served lunch on their arrival at the  line, after which the latter, Lafayette, was escorted to  the house of Governor Eustis, near the Dorchester line. I have in my possession four of six vases which President Monroe sent to my mother soon after his arrival in Washington.

I was christened in the old wooden meeting-house on the hill opposite the Norfolk House, by Dr. Eliphalet  Porter, and was named for an old gray-headed negro  who did chores for the folks about town, and went by  the name of "Clever Charlie." My father was a well-to-do currier, and possessed some considerable  property; but the drawing of a large prize in a lottery  ruined him. He became addicted to drink, neglected his business, and finally left for parts unknown.

I was the youngest of five children. When I was quite small, my mother moved to Cambridge, and thence to