Counterfeiting a quarter-million in Colonial Massachusetts

As I put off a final shopping trip on the eve of Christmas Eve, I think about all the money we spend on the holidays and how I wish I could borrow a little cash from my cousin Mary. Problem is Mary has been dead more than 240 years now, and the cash she had turned out to be counterfeit bills she produced.

Mary (Peck) Butterworth was a colonial era counterfeiter, the first major counterfeiter in America's history. She is my 1st cousin 9x removed — her grandfather, Nicholas Peck (1630-1710), is my 9th great-grandfather through my maternal grandmother's line.

Mary was born on July 27, 1686, in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, some 40 miles south of Boston. Her father, my 9th great-uncle, was Joseph Peck, born October 27, 1650. According to Kenneth Scott's Counterfeiting in Colonial America, Joseph was the innkeeper at the "Inn at the Sign of the Black Horse," a tavern in Rehoboth. In his book Early Rehoboth, local historian Richard LeBaron Bowen affirms that "Mary was the daughter of one of the most important and influential pioneer families in Rehoboth and was related to most of the other first families; all of the important town and colony officers were relatives." All in all, she was well-positioned to live a pretty comfortable life by colonial standards.

In 1710, 24-year-old Mary married John Butterworth, Jr., a pretty successful housewright — someone who built homes. John was well known and made good money as a housewright, resulting in the couple having "a better income than most people of the time," according to Bowen. Both Scott and Bowen note that despite his success and the societal norms of the day, John was generally known as "Mary's husband."

So what led Mary, who was quite financially secure and well-connected to the movers and shakers of the area, to the crime of counterfeiting as early as the summer of 1716? Her exact motivation is unknown, but it would seem that it was a matter of greed and convenience. "Mary was an ambitious and aggressive business woman, ruling her house and apparently everyone she met. She was passionately fond of money," Bowen notes in Early Rehoboth. "The taverns seemed to be easy places for passing counterfeit bills."

According to Scott, Mary "made and sold more than £1,000 of forged bills over a period of seven years." Accounting for inflation, that's in the neighborhood of $250,000 today. Bowen notes that she "was probably the biggest single counterfeiter in New England."

She didn't do this all on her own, however. Mary employed her brothers and a sister-in-law in the production of these phony bills. "Besides being an inventor, a skillfull workwoman and a clever saleswoman, she was also a superior organizer, developing a tight little kitchen printery employing her three brothers Nicholas, Israel, and Stephen, and the wife of Nicholas, Hannah Peck, who was also a cousin, all strictly a family affair ... over which Mary, the master craftswoman, ruled supreme," Bowen affirms. There is further evidence that Daniel Smith, Rehoboth's town clerk and a justice of the Bristol County Court of General Sessions, aided in disseminating the counterfeit bills. Smith's involvement ceased when a sheriff searched his home after tips from suspicious colleagues.

Many colonial era counterfeiters would be done in by their own operations as the copper printing plates commonly used were often the chief piece of evidence to arrest and punish these deviants. Mary's counterfeiting kitchen-based operation was simple and did not rely on the copper plates, thus different and more difficult to trace and prove. According to Scott's Counterfeiting in Colonial America, Mary's process began by "placing a damp starched muslin on top of the bill she intended to imitate and then lightly ran a hot flatiron over the cloth, causing the material to pick up the printing from the money; next she would iron the muslin hard to transfer the pattern to a blank piece of paper which was to be the counterfeit bill. The cloth, having served its purpose, was immediately thrown into the fireplace and consumed to ashes, so that no plate was left to be seized and used in court as damaging evidence ... As her next step, she would with a fine crow quill pen trace over the impression on her new bill and after that go over letters to reproduce the exact thickness of the letters on the true bill." 

The counterfeit bills produced, Scott writes, included Rhode Island bills of £5, £3, 20s., and 10s., Connecticut bills of £5, and Massachusetts bills of £5, £3, and 40s. Mary personally never passed the counterfeits, instead she used her familial network to do the dirty work, selling the fake money at half their face value.

The counterfeiting scheme began to unravel in 1722, about six years after it began. Bowen claims authorities became suspicious after Mary and John "purchased a large, expensive new home for the family." The following year, in Newport, Rhode Island, the first of Mary's associates was pinched by authorities. Arthur Noble was at an event in Newport when he came upon three young women from Rehoboth, and he wished to treat them for the evening. He passed along one of the counterfeit £5 bills, but it was quickly identified as suspect and Noble was arrested. Nicholas Peck, one of Mary's brothers and conspirators, would be arrested that summer, also in Newport, for passing a counterfeit £5 bill, and Nicholas Campe confessed what he knew to authorities. Campe's exact role in the operation isn't clear to this author, though he was likely among those used to simply pass along the counterfeit bills.

On August 15, 1723, a trio of deputy sheriffs came with warrants to apprehend John Butterworth, Jr., Mary (Peck) Butterworth, Israel Peck, Nicholas Peck, Hannah Peck, and two others. The suspects were placed in jail to await their day in court, but each was soon acquitted and released due to a lack of evidence — though a brother and Hannah did testify against Mary in court. Mary was fortunate to escape conviction, as punishment for counterfeiting could be quite severe. According to Rhode Island Historical Tracts, Rhode Island state law called for a counterfeiter to have their ears cropped (cut off), to be whipped, or fined, while being imprisoned "as the nature of the offense requires," and to also "pay double damage to the persons defrauded." If a counterfeiter could not uphold the fiscal reparations, Rhode Island law demanded "he should be set to work, or sold for any term of years which the discretion of the judges considered satisfactory."

Once acquitted of her crimes, all records and accounts suggest she gave up her counterfeiting ring and became a housewife, living the norms of a married woman in the colonial period. She and John would raise even children together before each died in old age. Mary was 88-years-old when she died in Bristol County on February 7, 1775.

Great-Great-Grandfather Timothy P. Moriarty

For me, my genealogical research is a matter of two pursuits that are really the same in many ways: Who were my ancestors?

In the basic sense, that means their names, where they were from, the dates of the births and deaths, their spouses, and their children, and their parents. However, this is simply not enough. I also want to know WHO my ancestors were. What did they do for a living? What did they look like? How did they die?

We are, after all, not simply abstract numbers. We're people with all kinds of emotions, interests, flaws, skills and abilities, personality traits, and so much more. This is why one of my favorite primary source records is the obituary. Often, they prove to be a treasure trove of little details and tidbits that help to paint a picture of who these people were.

Though not a recent find, one of my favorite records is an obituary of my great-great-grandfather, Timothy P. Moriarty. The basic version of who he was is the son of Patrick & Mary (Sullivan) Moriarty, born in the village of Alohart in Beautfort, County Kerry, Ireland, on Wednesday, February 11, 1824. He married Catherine Murphy in 1857 or 1858, in Ireland, came to the United States in 1884, and passed away in Southbridge, Massachusetts on Friday, May 13, 1892. However, that doesn't tell me WHO he was.

He was born the day after Simon Bolivar was proclaimed dictator of Peru, several weeks before Tallahassee, Florida, was settled and constructed, and several months before John Quincy Adams defeated Andrew Jackson in the U.S. Presidential election, with a little help from Henry Clay's "Corrupt Bargain." He was born a few days before Civil War Union General Winfield Scott Hancock.

Timothy was raised about 25 miles northeast of Cahersiveen, the hometown of famed Irish freedom fighter Daniel O'Connell. It was in Timothy's youth that O'Connell took his fight to Parliament after moving to Dublin. At the time, rural farmers — such as the Moriarty family — were quite dependent on the potato. With grain costly and Catholic Ireland struggling under punitive actions of the British, many rural Irish would have potato as a major part of two or three meals each and every day.

Thus far in my research, Timothy was the first-born, with six siblings born over the next 18 years. In his pre-teen years, southern Ireland struggles under laws that require the poor to pay noticeably more, leading to what became known as a Tithe War. When Timothy is 14, the British Poor Law is enacted in Ireland, installing Dickensian workhouses that essentially took the poor from their land and split up families.

As Timothy reached adulthood, many of the more revolutionary Irish began to view O'Connell — the famed emancipator and liberator — as a sell-out who had become part of the machinery. As the Young Ireland movement took hold, soon something far more dramatic also took hold — phytophthora infestans, the mold that led to a potato blight and, ultimately, the Great Hunger or Potato Famine. County Kerry was among the hardest hit during the potato famine, so presumably Timothy experienced some dire times.

During the famine, an estimated 1 million Irish died, while another million boarded ships heading to the golden shores of the United States. In all, as much as one-quarter of Ireland's population was gone — either due to death or migration. Timothy survived and remained.

In his early 30s, Timothy married Catherine Murphy, 16 years his junior. She had been born in Ireland in 1840 to John & Julia (McGillicuddy) Murphy. Together, they would have eight children from 1859 through 1880. The children were all born in County Kerry, with some listed as coming into the world in Alohart, and others in Killorglin. Alohart and Killorglin are less than 10 miles apart, with the latter being home to the famed Puck Festival. That, perhaps, is a story for another day.

The Moriarty family remained on their farm in Alohart until 1884, when they boarded the S.S. Cephalonia to come to America. It was Saturday, June 21, 1884, that the ship — including the entire Moriarty family — arrived in the Port of Boston. They came to a country that wouldn't so much as see the cornerstone of the Statue of Liberty being laid until later that summer, and Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer had yet to be published.

Arriving in Boston, the family settled in the town of Southbridge, just about 60 miles southwest of the city. There were already a small Moriarty presence in town. Now, 134 years later, a number of descendants still call Southbridge home.

Timothy called Southbridge home for just eight years, though he has been buried here for more than 125 years. He died on Friday, May 13, 1892, at the age of 68. An anonymous relative penned an obituary that survives to this day.

"Timothy Moriarty, who died at his home on Pleasant Street on Friday of last week, had been a resident of Southbridge eight years. During that time he cultivated a wide acquaintance and made a host of friends. His sickness dates from April 1, when he had an attack of the grip, which finally developed into pneumonia, from which he died. He was born in Kerry, Ireland, in 1822, and spent his life, until coming to Southbridge in his native place. He was married 34 years ago. He reared a family of seven sons and two daughters, all of whom are living, and who are highly respected members of the community. Mr. Moriarty was a thrifty and industrious man who, as the head of a dutiful and respectful household, surrounded himself with the comforts of a prosperous home. He bought the William Boak place on Pleasant street soon after coming home, and immediately proceeded to improve and beautify it, laying out several hundred dollars for that purpose. By the united assistance of his family, he accumulated other valuable property. He took an interest in the welfare of the town and was always pleased to see improvements going on. The large number of people who attended his funeral, which was held at 2:30 p.m. on last Sunday, attested the high regard in which he was held. Six sons acted as pall bearers. Among those who were present from out of town were: Jeremiah Gallivan and Misses Mary, Nellie and Honora Gallivan, John Sullivan, James Grady, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Sweeney, Daniel Sweeney and Miss Kate Sweeney, all of Holyoke; Daniel Fogarty and Miss Kate Fogarty, James Hartnett and Miss Nellie Hartnett, of Three Rivers; Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Lyons and Miss Nellie Coffey of Thorndike; the Misses Sullivan of Northampton; Timothy Sullivan and Miss Bridget Sullivan of Boston; Philip Scully of Worcester."

Timothy's widow, Catherine, survived another quarter-century, passing in Southbridge on April 19, 1916 — just less than one week before the famed Easter Rising back in her native country of Ireland.

Great-Great-Grandmother's line in Lancashire

In Lancashire, England, sits the town of Accrington, about 20 miles north of Manchester. According to the 2011 United Kingdom Census, "Accy" is home to 35,456 Brits — and the hometown of musician Andy Kanavan, formerly of the Dire Straits. Accrington is also, as it turns out, the home of my great-great-grandmother.

Elizabeth Ann Hodgson was born in Accrington on 12 July 1862 to Adam Hodgson and his wife. Mrs. Hodgson is still a bit of a enigma for me at this point, having seen her listed as being named Ann and as Elizabeth. I assume, like her daughter, she is probably bearing both names. There are Ancestry.com family trees that assert one name or another, but I have not yet independently verified this information.

The Hodgson line was not something I had previously been aware of in my initial genealogical work on the maternal side of my family. That original work, conducted years ago and much more reliant on the trees created by other amateur genealogists, proved to be plagued with errors and has been part of a targeted overhaul and correction on my part. It was through that overhaul that I came across my great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth.

She came to the United States in 1869, aged 7, according to the 1900 U.S. Census. At some point, she met Frank M. Ellis, my great-great-grandfather. Frank had been born in central Massachusetts, in the town of Oxford, in November 1852. Current research indicates he was one of eight children bore to George and Caroline Ellis between 1849 and 1865.

Elizabeth and Frank were married in Worcester, Massachusetts, 11 December 1883. She was 21-years-old while he was 31. Together, they had six children in the 1880s and 1890s, raising them in Worcester. Their first-born was Frank Lucy Ellis, born 21 November 1884. He was followed by Frederick W. (1888), William H. (1890), Charles Cleveland (1891), Elizabeth (1893), and Esther (date of birth currently unknown).

In the 1900 U.S. Census, the family was residing at 106 Lafayette Street, Worcester, just a few blocks north of Crompton Park. It wasn't long before they moved about a half-mile north to Beacon Street, where my grandfather, Charles Cleveland Ellis, and his lineage lived for several decades.

Elizabeth was just 45-years-old when she passed away at the Worcester City Hospital, due to pulmonary tuberculosis. She died on 24 January 1908, leaving behind teenage children and some who were in their early 20's. Currently, Frank's date of death has not yet been uncovered. He was still alive when Elizabeth passed away, but has not yet been positively identified in the 1910 U.S. Census or beyond.

Finding my fourth great-grandparents on the Drake line

It wasn't long ago that the genealogical information for my maternal great-grandmother's family line was identified as erroneous. There had been a number of red flags, and a clean slate was presented to rework this line. At last update on the Drake family line, I had tracked down my second great-grandfather, George R. Drake. I didn't know much other than he came from Nova Scotia, Canada.

Since then, there has been some modest progress.

George was born in Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, in September 1861. He was a child when the family immigrated to the United States at some point between 1867-1871, according to conflicting information in U.S. Census data. The family had settled in Boston, Massachusetts, and 22-year-old George married a local woman, Elizabeth Lawson, the daughter of a Thomas & Elizabeth (Dowler) Lawson. Like George, Elizabeth appears to have been born in September 1861. She would pass way at some point before 1930, while George dies at some point after the 1930 Census was taken.

According to primary sources, George held a number of jobs over his life: a mason in 1885, a sawyer in 1890, a freight handler in 1899, a day laborer in 1900, an armorer at a gun factory in 1903 and 1910, and finally an operator in a woolen mill in 1920.

George was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and later resided in and married in Boston, before moving to Worcester, Massachusetts, at some point in the 1890s, and for the remaining 40 or so years of his life.

George and Elizabeth had at least six children together: Arthur Drake (1885-1976), John Head Drake (born 1890), Frank Drake (born 1897), Fred S. Drake (1899-1993), Charles O. Drake (born 1903), and my great-grandmother Sarah E. Drake (1894-1965).

Through U.S. Census reports, marriage records, and various other vital records and primary sources, it became clear that George was one of at least six children bore to John Head Drake and Elisabeth Ann Gould. John was born 10 January 1822 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada; months before the births of historical figures like Harriet Tubman, Ulysses S. Grant, and Rutherford B. Hayes. At the age of 5, John was baptized in Prince Edward Island on 22 January 1827.

Elisabeth, 14 years John's junior, was born 13 May 1836 in Lisbon, a town in southeastern Maine. Her father was a man named Charles H. Gould of Maine, and a woman whose first name appears to be Bertha, or some close derivative thereof. According to Massachusetts marriage records, John and Elisabeth were married on 20 September 1853 in Beverly, a city on the Commonwealth's "North Shore."

Massachusetts marriage records showing John Head Drake and Elisabeth Ann Gould's wedding in 1853.

Though the couple is married in Massachusetts, records indicate that the first four of their six known children are born Canada, with the two youngest later born in Massachusetts. The 1880 U.S. Census shows the Drake family residing in Boston, apparently at 27 Newman. There is no clarification of the street extension, which leaves us currently speculating as to where specifically the family resided. There is no Newman Street, Newman Road, or Newman Avenue in Boston itself, though there is a Newman Place; which is essentially a parking lot for the Newman School, a private high school in the Back Bay.

John passed away on 12 December 1883 at home as a result of pneumonia. By 1900, Elisabeth appeared to have moved in with her daughter Mary, now married to a John D. Walker in Worcester, Massachusetts. By 1910, Elisabeth is no longer living with the Walkers, instead residing at 61 Prospect Street in Worcester with her sons Arthur and Francis, as a well as an apparent grandson named Roland Lund. On 13 May 1916, apparently now residing at 65 Pilgrim Avenue in Worcester, Elisabeth passed away as the result of acute bronchitis with arterio sclerosis as a contributing factor.

Continuing the drive back through time and the Drake line, we reach a point where further research is needed. According to Massachusetts marriage and death records, it appears that John's parents were a Francis and Sarah (Head) Drake. Francis and Sarah are my fourth great-grandparents.

Further primary source documentation is necessary to substantiate the family trees assembled by other individuals. Currently, the extent of information beyond Francis and Sarah's names is that Francis was born in England, according to John's death records. This does not necessarily mean Francis was born in England itself, as this designation also may refer to English-controlled Canada.