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| Block Island, RI |
Mercy Sands is the 4th great-grandmother of Belle Champlin (Mercy Sands, Elizabeth Raymond, Edward Champlin, John Champlin, Erastus Champlin, Henry Charles Champlin, Birdie Belle Champlin).
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| Block Island |
Mercy Sands was born in 1665, daughter of Captain James Sands and Sarah Walker. She died in 1741. Mercy Sands married Joshua Raymond, son of Deacon Joshua Raymond. They had a daughter; Elizabeth.
"It was of her brother Joshua Raymond's wife, Mercy Sands--a woman of great thrift and energy--that the following story (a mixture of truth and fable) is told: Captain Kidd, the noted pirate, made the little harbor on Block Island where Joshua Raymond and his wife Mercy Sands lived, his anchorage ground, alternating with Gardiner's Bay--and she feasted him, supplied him with provisions, and boarded a strange lady, whom he called his wife, a considerable time. When he was ready to depart, he bade her hold out her apron, which she did, and he threw in handsful of gold, jewels, and other precious commodities, until it was full, as the wages of her hospitality. "Hence the source of pleasantry and gossip among the acquaintances of the family; and hence they were popularly said to have been enriched by the apron."
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| Captain Kidd filling the apron of Mercy Sands |
An accounting of Captain Kidd's treasure buried on Gardiner's Island upon his return to New England (days before his arrest and eventual execution), wherein the Sands family is mentioned; Edward Sands being the brother of Mercy Sands:
"Kidd sailed back out to his rendezvous point, off Block Island. He stopped briefly close to shore to land two small cannon (weighing 300 pounds each) and ammunition, to be cared for by his friend Edward Sands. Kidd, trying to cover every possibility, was preparing just in case he needed to make a rushed getaway in some other ship and needed to retrieve extra firepower. His wife might be staying soon on Block Island: he wanteted to protect her. "
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| Champlin farm on Block Island |
"Sarah Kidd reached Block Island and stayed at Newshorum at the house of family friends, the Sands, where Captain Kiddd had already dropped off two cannon. This June 25 day, Sarah prepared to see her husband. If she followed the latest fashions, the dress she was wearing skimmed the floor, flounced out by petticoats; her waist was cinched in by a stiff bodice, accentuation her breats.. Derriere, she might have followed la mode by sporting a small bustle. Sarah Kidd wanted company at the reunion, and invited along Mary Sands (whom court recods later described a "27 years or upwards") and her husband, Edward, 30. Kidd anchored at the east end of Block Island and the men rowed out Sarah and little Sarah, and Mary and Edward Sands.
The smell of roast lamb, spiced with nutmeg and cloves, floated in the spring breezes; some of the men had actually bathed and put on clean clothes bought from Gardiner and the Rhode Island sloop men. Even rogue Gilliam, ever fond of the ladies, had scrubbed a bit; the deck of the St Antonio was finally cleaned of pig shit and straw.
Kidd himself was resplendent in a waistcoat, which he had pampered in a trunk for most of his voyage. His new wig, parted in the middle, rich brown, hung to his shoulders. Kidd looked down from the rail and drank in the sight of his wife and daughter approaching the St. Antonio. The boat pulled to the side of the small ship. Sarah stood and handed up their daughter. Kidd reached down and scooped up little Sarah. Then his wife was lifted aboard.
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| Aboard with Kidd |
Sarah gave her husband a welcome home befitting a man who had risked his life to return to her. Three years of stories must have burst from her, three years of queestions. In a million lifetimes, she never expected her husband to turn pirate. Little Sarah no doubt explored her father's face, touching the contours of this strange man. Most likely, both Sarahs cried. Did tears well the the eyes of the relentless captain? Kidd must have marveled at his daughter. Hours later, after much cider, he and Sarah descended to the scant privacy of the captain's cabin aboard the sloop.
The only eyewitness to the reunion, who left an account, was Mary Sands, and she unfortunately chose to dwell on her meeting with "Cap'n Gilliam," that fifty-ish leather-faced, scarred old pirate. Mary said Gilliam told her that he was very eager to get to Rhode Island, where he had a friend who had promised to protect him."...
..."Gilliam soon found out the truth from one of Gardiner's hired men that Gardiner had delivered Gilliam's booty to Boston. At that moment, Gilliam cursed and mutted that he was only a passenger on Kidd's ship, according to boatman Edward Sands, who was ferrying Gilliam around the Sound. Sands then heard Gilliam vow: "I will be the downfall of Gardiner and his family if it take twenty years: I will not spare man, woman or child, I will fire all his houses and barns and kill all his cattle and sheep."
-The Pirate Hunter, The True Story of Captain Kidd, Richard Zacks
Another account of the legend can be found here:
