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 Cary 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- 
