Godfrey Malbone oath (RLC.Ms.552)

Biographical note

Godfrey Malbone (1724-1785) was born on September 3, 1724, in Newport, Rhode Island, and was the son of Godfrey Malbone, Sr. (1695-1769), who was at one time one of the wealthiest men in Newport due to his involvement in privateering and the triangle trade. As an investment, Godfey’s father purchased over three thousand acres of land in the towns of Pomfret and Brooklyn, Connecticut. When his businesses began to dwindle, Godfrey, Sr. mortgaged the property to Charles Paxton (1707-1788), a Loyalist in Boston, and signed a bond for the payment of the debts with his sons Godfrey and John (1735-1795). In 1766, Godfrey, Sr. relinquished his claim on the land to his sons and Godfrey, Jr. moved to Pomfret to live and help sell other Malbone land holdings. During the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), the land mortgaged to Paxton was confiscated by the state of Connecticut due to his Loyalist inclinations. As a result, the Malbones and others, to whom he had sold land, lost their title to the land, since the mortgage had not been paid. Godfrey and John petitioned the General Assembly of Connecticut and ultimately the land was signed back to the Malbones. Godfrey Malbone died on November 12, 1785, in Pomfret and was buried in the Old Trinity Cemetery in Brooklyn, Connecticut.