[tucker] vicissitudes OF A LOYALIST CLERGYMAN 109 



of the Presbytery of Boston until 1775, when it was formed into the 

 Synod of New England, he was then allotted to the Presbytery of 

 Palmer, in which he retained his membership until the dissolution of 

 the Synod, September 12, 1782. After this daté, the Synod was known 

 as the Presbytery of Salem, and Mr. Gillmore's name remained on its 

 roll until October 1, 1789, at which time the Presbytery met at Winth- 

 rop, Maine. On this date the minutes record; "As the Rev. George 

 Gilmore has been long absent from this body and we not knowing where 

 he is, the Presbytery conclude to drop him out of their list. " 



There are many entries in the minutes of the several New England 

 Presbyteries, recording Mr. Gillmore as being absent from their meet- 

 ings. These entries begin about 1775. His brethren in the Presby- 

 terian ministry, with the exception of a Mr. Drummond, seem to have 

 been ardent in their support of the Rebellion, for at the first meeting 

 of the Synod of New England, held at Londonderry, N.H., September 

 4, 1776, the question was put "whether any suspected to be inimical 

 to the liberties of the Independent States of America, which they are 

 now contending for, and refuses to declare his attachment for the 

 same, should have a seat in this Judicature? Voted they should not. " 

 Inasmuch as Mr. Gillmore was not deprived of his seat until 1789, and 

 then only for lack of knowledge as to his whereabouts, it may safely 

 be inferred that he was not then known to his associates as a Tory. 



It was, no doubt, while on trips to the places meniuoned in the 

 preceding paragraphs, that he preached to the inhabitants of Derry- 

 field (now Manchester), N.H. Here he was so well liked that the town 

 voted in December, 1773, to give him a call to settle among them and 

 become their permanent preacher, which ministry they voted should 

 carry with it a settlement of "£30 in cash and £60 in labor" and a 

 yearly salary of £30. A committee of four took the matter up with 

 him, but he thought best not to accept their call, the reason being, no 

 doubt, that his income at Voluntown was £50 annually. Another 

 fact may also have been a contributing cause, namely, that at this time 

 the townspeople of Derryfield were divided in opinion as to where a 

 new Meeting House should be built. The question, indeed, became so 

 bitterly contested that the inhabitants were at sword's points with 

 each other. For Mr. Gillmore's occasional services during 1773 and 

 1774 (at which time Derryfield consisted of but 279 persons) the town 

 paid him the sum of £5.14.0. 



Mr. Gillmore's congregation at Voluntown, though small, supported 

 him and his family with "a comfortable subsistence", giving him about 

 £50 per annum. His parishioners also supplied him with a farm, 

 rent free, where he lived with his wife and six childi-on "in love and 

 amity" until the outbreak of the Revolution. It was while at Volun- 



Sec. II, 1913—7 



