The Earle family : Ralph Earle and his descendants

66 THE EARLE FAMILY. [Fifth
some one who heard its contents was not slow to carry the bad news
of his capture to his wife. But he took his ill-luck very philosophi-
cally. When the cruiser came alongside, after a long chase, the first
question he put was, ' How many feet keel is your brig? ' He didn't
mind being taken, but he hated to be beat. He was, for a long time
before he quit business, captain of a Long Island Sound packet, a
rakish-loooking craft now extinct. He was never known to sleep at
night going up or down Sound ; and in a thick fog he could tell
where he was by the lead alone. Sam. Walden, pilot of the Narragansett
steamer, was a boy with him, and he said that there are no
such pilots now."
In another letter written about the same time, it is stated that he
"was universally respected within his sphere of action, which was
principally Rhode Island and New York, and loved and admired by
all his friends. His sister Phebe [201-7], who was never married,
was an inmate of his family as long as he lived ; she was much like
her brother John, a kind, quiet, excellent woman, who had a care
for everybody in preference to herself."
The children of John and Dorcas (Barney) Earle were :
436-1. Dorcas Earle, b. April 14, 1767; m. Obadiah Williams,
Newport, R. I. ; d. 1806.
437-2. Abigail Earle, b. March 29, 1769; ra. Jonathan Greene.
438-3. John Earle, b. Jan. 15, 1771 ; m. Nov. 2, 1797, Elizabeth
(Betsey) Slocum ; d. without issue, Nov. 17, 1837, m
Newport, R. I.
439-4.
440-5.
441-6.
Eunice Earle, b. March 5, 1774; m. about 1810, Seth
Kelly, of Mendon, Mass. ; d. Oct. 1, 1857, without issue.
Sarah Earle, b. Sept. 9, 1775 ; m. 1828, Samuel Mott,
Brooklyn, N. Y. ; d. at Mendon, Mass., without issue.
Elizabeth Earle, b. May 30, 177S ; m. Nov. 2, 1797,
W. S. Burling, N. Y.
442-7. Jacob Barney Earle, b. Sept. 3, 1780; m. June 13, 1806,
Rhoda Cahoone ; no issue.
443-8. Phebe Earle, b. July 20, 1782; m. George Robinson,
Union Springs, N. Y.
"John Earle, Jr. [438-3], was a shipmaster, and then a merchant,
at Newport, R. I., until 1813, after which he lived a few
years at Union Springs, Cayuga Co., N. Y., and then in Brooklyn;
but he died at Newport, when on a visit, and was buried in Friends'
burying-ground. He was said to be one of the best sailor-merchants
of the age. He was, when in Brooklyn, agent for all the Boston
insurance offices, and inspector for the Pacific Insurance Co. of
N. Y. He exposed himself, getting off stranded vessels, to the lasting
injury of his health. He got a ship off Block Island, and took her
into Newport, where he might have got large salvage ; but his sense