ANCESTRY 3 



ciety, he was no favorite with his serious-minded father, 

 who gave him his patrimony and despatched him to the 

 island of Grenada in the British West Indies, where he be- 

 came a prosperous planter. He married, however, a Bosto- 

 nian, Sarah Gray, the daughter of the Reverend Ellis Gray, 

 and after eighteen years in Grenada, they felt New England 

 tugging at their heart-strings, and believing that they had 

 means sufficient to bring up their large family of children as 

 they desired, they returned in 1790 to the "Retreat." But 

 four years later, during political disturbances in Grenada, 

 Samuel Gary lost his entire fortune and was reduced to the 

 resources of the Chelsea farm for the support of his house- 

 hold. His prosperity proved a valuable school for adversity, 

 and the fortitude with which he and Mrs. Cary met the sit- 

 uation admirably illustrates the moral calibre under the in- 

 fluence of which their children were brought up. A pictur- 

 esque description of the family life in Chelsea has been left 

 by Mrs. Agassiz in a brief manuscript memoir of her father, 

 Thomas Graves Cary, who was only four years old at the 

 time of his father's reverses : 



Under the changed aspect of affairs the family life 

 was restricted within the closest possible limits, and 

 these conditions were never essentially changed until 

 the children had grown up and entered the world to 

 fight its battles for themselves. And yet to those who 

 know the records of this life it was not wanting in 

 the elegance and refinement which cultivated tastes 

 and dignity of character may give to the narrowest 

 circumstances. One hears, for instance, of the oldest 

 daughter, who had already received her education at 

 an expensive school in England, turning the dining- 



