Aquila Giles

In 1780, Giles was married to Elizabeth Shipton (1757–1822).^[1] Elizabeth was the niece,^[5] and adopted daughter, of British born William Axtell,^[a] a prominent West Indian merchant who had a country place called Melrose Hall in Flatbush in what was then Long Island (but today is Brooklyn).^[7] Axtell's holdings in America were confiscated in 1784 after he fled to England where he died at Beaumont Cottage in Surrey in 1795.^[7] Giles petitioned Governor George Clinton and the New York State Legislature to vest the confiscated estate to Giles and his wife.^[5] Through the assistance of Alexander Hamilton,^[10] Giles was allowed to purchase the estate for $4,500.^[11] Together, they were the parents of:^[2]

• William Axtell Giles (1781–1815)
• Jacob Edward Giles (1784–1813)
• St. Clair Giles (1787–1822)
• Mary Ann Baker Giles (1789–1815)
• Alexander Hamilton Giles (1791–1791), who died in infancy.
• Charles Augustus Giles (1792–1823)
• Helen Thorold Giles (b. 1793)
• Henry Theory Giles (1795–1877), who was a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and who married Maria Smither (1807–1865).^[6]
• George Washington Giles (1800–1840), an attorney who was admitted to the bar in 1824 and who married Elizabeth Ogden (1801–1880),^[1][2] the daughter of William Ogden and Susan Murray Ogden and niece of John and Hannah Murray of Murray Hill.^[12]
• Elizabeth Giles, who married Daniel Thorne (b. 1784).

Giles and his wife both died in 1822.^[1][4] Both Giles and his wife were buried at the Trinity Church Cemetery.^[3]

Notes

Sources

• Guide to the Giles Family Papers 1750–1851 at the New-York Historical Society.