Roger Hale Sheaffe - Early Life

Early Life

Roger Hale Sheaffe was born at Boston, Massachusetts, the third son and eighth child of William Sheaffe (1705-1771), a graduate of Harvard University who became Deputy Collector of Customs at Boston. His mother, Susannah Child (1730-1811), was the daughter of Thomas Child and Susannah Hatch. Her father was an Englishman of the same family as Richard Child, 1st Earl Tylney. He owned considerable property in his native Lincolnshire but emigrated to Boston where he co-founded Trinity Church, in 1733.

One of Roger's sisters, Margaret, married Robert Livingston, of Clermont Manor, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Another sister, Susanna, married Captain Ponsonby Molesworth, grandson of Robert Molesworth, 1st Viscount Molesworth. A third sister married Benjamin Clarke Cutler, brother of Mrs Samuel Ward.

Shaeffe was educated at the Boston Latin School with his cousin Sir Isaac Coffin, 1st Bt. His father died penniless in 1771 and his mother opened a boarding house to support her ten children. One of the residents there was Lord Percy, later the 2nd Duke of Northumberland, the leader of the British forces in Boston during the American War of Independence. Lord Percy greatly aided the family during the War and was so struck by the qualities and the leadership potential of Shaeffe that he sent him to a military academy in London. Lord Percy became Shaeffe's life-long friend and benefactor, purchasing his first commission as Ensign in 1778 in the 5th Regiment of Foot. He later purchased a Lieutenancy.