Thomas Henry Barclay (1753-1830)

He was born in New York City and graduated from King's (Columbia) College (1772). He studied law under John Jay and was called to the Bar in 1775. He was resident in the Wallkill Valley, Ulster County, when Revolution erupted the following year and "found it highly expedient" to move to Flushing on Long Island to be closer to his family. In 1777, he was commissioned as a Captain into Beverley Robinson's Loyal American Regiment and was promoted to Major within the same year. He served in New York and South Carolina until the British defeat and was evacuated to Nova Scotia in 1783. His property in New York having been confiscated in 1779, he settled at Annapolis. In 1785, he was elected to the General Assembly of Nova Scotia and in 1793 he was commissioned Lt.-Colonel in the Militia and appointed Speaker of the House of Assembly.

In 1796, he re-entered New York on business connected to his mother's estate during which time he was appointed British Commissioner to settle the boundary between the United States and Canada. In 1799, he resigned as Speaker of the House to take up his new appointment as British Consul-General at New York, returning permanently to his native city. In 1775, he married Susan, daughter of Peter DeLancey of West Farms, Westchester. They had 12-children, ten of whom (listed above) reached adulthood. Their two youngest children (Clement Horton Barclay and Cornelia Elizabeth Stewart Barclay) died in infancy.