Background
Francis Dewing was born about 1716.
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Francis Dewing
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Dewing sailed from London in the Jolhf Galley commanded by Capt. John Aram and arrived in Boston on July 12, 1716. On July 30 he advertised in a local newspaper: “Lately arrived from London, Francis Dewing who Engraveth and Printeth Copper Plates, Likewise Coats of Arms and cyphers in Silver Plate. He Likewise Cuts Neatly in wood and Printeth Callicoes, etc. Lodging at Mrs. Hawksworths against the Bunch of Grapes in King Street. ”
When the Massachusetts Bay Colony first issued a paper currency in 1690 it was counterfeited so quickly and successfully that the treasury officials had difficulty in identifying their own currency: all engravers were suspect. The Town Clerk had carefully noted Dewing’s arrival. On July 9, 1718, Gov. Shute issued a warrant for his arrest as Francis Doing, for “being suspected to be concerned in Counterfeiting the Bills of Credit of this Province, and searching his chamber and seizing any tools and materials that probably have been employed. ” He was probably cleared of the charge and on the following January 7 Sheriff Edward Winslow was paid £4-10 for his expenses in making the arrest.
He engraved Southack’s “Sea Coast of English America and the French New Settlements” in 1716, Southack’s “Canso Harbour” and his “Casco Bay” in 1720, and possibly the first issue of his “New York to Cape Breton” in the same year. His most important work was Capt. John Bonner’s “The Town of Boston, ” which he engraved on copper in 1722. Authorities have thought that Dewing either died of the smallpox in Boston in 1723 or that he emigrated to St. Lucia in that year. In 1743, however, he was again in England and engraved a view of the East front of the New Organ in Salisbury Cathedral.
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Dewing married Katherin Hart on December 8, 1719.
