USA > Massachusetts > History of the Military company of the Massachusetts, now called the Ancient and honorable artillery company of Massachusetts. 1637-1888, Vol. I > Part 31
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
There is a tradition that William died on the return voyage from the West Indies to Boston.
Thomas Snawsnell (1666) was a merchant in Boston in 1663, and is probably the " Mr. Thomas Snossall " who was elected constable for Boston, March 14, 1669-70. He was second sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1670.
Thomas Watkins (1666), of Boston, in a deed, October, 1653, is called a " tobacco maker." He became a freeman in 1660, and was clerk of the Artillery Company in 1668. He owned a plantation on the Kennebec, which he sold in 1669, and died Dec. 16, 1689.
Rev. Edmund Brown, of Sudbury, delivered the Artillery election sermon in 1666. He came over from England in 1637; was admitted a freeman May 13, 1640; was ordained the first minister of Sudbury in August, 1640, and continued as pastor until his decease, June 22, 1677. He married, about 1645, Anne, widow of John Loveren, of Watertown, but left no children.
Mr. Brown's real estate consisted of three hundred acres, besides a grant in Framing- ham from the General Court. He hunted and fished, and it is said was a good angler. He was a musician, and in his will speaks of his " Base Voyal," etc. He left fifty pounds to establish a grammar school in Sudbury, and one hundred pounds to Harvard College.
A portrait of Rev. Mr. Brown was owned by the late Henry A. Whitney, of Boston.
John Paine (1666). AUTHORITY: Savage's Gen. Dict.
William Sedgwick (1666). AUTHORITIES : Savage's Gen. Dict .; Wyman's Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown.
Thomas Watkins (1666). AUTHORITY : Sav- age's Gen. Dict.
Rev. Edmund Brown. AUTHORITIES: Math- er's Magnalia; Hudson's Hist. of Sudbury; Sav- age's Gen. Dict .; Sprague's Annals of American Pulpit.
209
1667-8]
HONORABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY.
1667-8. The officers elected were : Isaac Johnson (1645), captain ; John Richards (1644), lieutenant ; Richard Woodde (1642), ensign. Moses Paine (1644) was first sergeant; Laurence Hammond (1666), second sergeant ; Ephraim Turner (1663), clerk ; John Audlin (1638), armorer, and Joshua Hughes, drummer.
The new members recruited in 1667-8 were : Freegrace Bendall, Samuel Bosworth, George Broughton, William Kent, John Ratcliff, Nathaniel Williams.
Freegrace Bendall (1667) was the eldest son of Edward Bendall (1638), and was baptized July 5, 1635. March 11, 1666-7, he applied for a lot to build a house upon, and, Aug. 26, 1667, the selectmen reported that he had been accommodated "with a piece of ground on Fort Hill as appears by deeds [lease] of May 27, 1667," with the privilege to wharf out upon the flats. In 1668-9, he served the town as constable, and in 1670 was made clerk of the Superior Court. For some years prior to his death, the town allowed him and others to plant upon the unoccupied portion of Fort Hill.
He married Mary, daughter of Francis Lyall (1640), and, with her, was drowned, June 6, 1676, while returning from Noddles Island to town, by the overturning of his boat in a sudden squall. They left eight children, " five of which so small not able to shift for themselves "; whereupon the town, March 13, 1681-2, remitted the twenty shillings per annum required to be paid by the lease of Aug. 26, 1667, and the house and land were sold for the benefit of the children.
Freegrace Bendall (1667) was clerk of the Company from 1669 to 1672 inclusive, and ensign in 1676.
Samuel Bosworth (1667) was a son of Zacheus (1650), of Boston, and was born March 4, 1643. . He married Mercy, daughter of Thomas Bumstead (1647). "Widow Franke " was approved by the selectmen, April 23, 1677, to keep a house of entertainment " provided yt Samuell Bosworth [1667] keepe ye house or some other carefull & Suffitient man to manage it." In 1678, Clement Grosse was licensed, "provided yt Samuel Bosworth [1667] drawe the beere," to sell "beere & syder." He was employed by " Widow Franckes" in 1679, but in 1680 was himself licensed to sell beer and cider. In 1681, the license was granted to Widow Bosworth, implying the death of Samuel ( 1667) in the latter part of 1680.
George Broughton (1667) resided in Massachusetts in 1667, but was of Dover or Kittery in 1680. In 1670, he was at Berwick. Mr. Hubbard, in his Indian Wars, mentions George Broughton (1667) as of Salmon Falls in 1675. The same year, he had command of the forty men sent from Boston and Essex County for the better security of Dover. He was captain of a company at Kittery in 1682. He is mentioned in the Boston Town Records of Aug. 18, 1690. He had died May 1, 1691, as Widow Broughton is then named in the records. They had children born in Boston in 1667, 1670, 1672, 1673, and 1677.
Freegrace Bendall (1667). AUTHORITIES: Boston Records; Savage's Gen. Dict.
" [1676] Tuesday June 6. Mr Bendall, Mrs Bendall, Mr James Edmunds and a Quaker female were drowned; their boat (in which coming from Nodles Iland) being overset, and sinking by reason of ballast. Mr. Charles Lidget [1679] hardly es-
caped by the help of an oar." - Sewell's Diary, Vol. I., p. 13.
Samuel Bosworth (1667). AUTHORITIES: Boston Records; Savage's Gen. Dict.
George Broughton (1667). AUTHORITIES : Boston Records; Records of Mass. Bay.
210
HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND
[1667-8
William Kent (1667), of Boston in 1662, had permission of the selectmen, Nov. 27, 1665, " to keep a Cooke Shop," which was renewed April 27, 1668. He continued in this business, licensed annually, until April 25, 1681, when he was approved by the selectmen to keep a house for public entertainment. In 1677-8, he was clerk of the market. He is recorded as innholder May 1, 1691, but June 26, 1693, the license is given to Hannah Kent. William Kent (1667) was first sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1671 and ensign in 1673. He died July 9, 1691.
John Ratcliff (1667), of Boston, was a bookbinder. " An English binder, John Ratlife (or Ratcliffe), whom a prospect of work on the Indian Bible brought to New England, was employed by Mr. Usher [1638], and paid two and sixpence per Bible, he finding ' thread, glue, pasteboard, and leather claps,' for himself. In 1664, he addressed a memorial to the commissioners of the United Colonies, complaining of the insuffi- ciency of this pay. 'I finde by experience,' - he writes, from Boston, Aug. 30 [1663], - ' that in things belonging to my trade, I here pay 18s. for that which in England I could buy for four shillings, they being things not formerly much used in this country.' " 1
Nathaniel Williams (1667), of Boston, son of Nathaniel Williams (1644), was born in Boston, Sept. 25, 1642. He married (1) Mary, daughter of Peter Oliver (1643) and widow of Jonathan Shrimpton (1665). He was admitted a freeman in 1676 and had a grant of land in 1679. He, not his father (1644), was a commissary in King Philip's War. He was a member of the Old South Church, and was elected deacon Oct. 15, 1693. He was a constable of Boston in 1677-8; surveyor, 1684-5 ; the first named of the first board of overseers of the poor, chosen in the town of Boston March 9, 1690-1, and selectman in 1692-3. He was fourth sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1676, ensign in 1684, second sergeant in 1690, and lieutenant in 1693.
Rev. Samuel Danforth, of Roxbury, delivered the Artillery election sermon. He was born in Framingham, Suffolk County, England, September, 1626, and came over with his father, Nicholas, of Cambridge, in 1634. His mother died when he was about three years of age. Samuel graduated at Harvard College in 1643, was admitted a freeman in 1647, and attained some reputation as an astronomer and as a poet, publishing almanacs from 1646 to 1649 inclusive. On the 24th of September, 1650, he was ordained as colleague to the Rev. John Eliot, pastor of the First Church in Roxbury, and the so-called " Apostle to the Indians." He was married, Nov. 5, 1651, to Mary, daughter of the Rev. John Wilson, of Boston, brother-in-law of Capt. Robert Keayne (1637). He died Nov. 19, 1674, aged forty-eight years. His widow married Joseph Rock (1658), of Boston, and, surviving him, died Sept. 13, 1713, aged eighty- one years.
William Kent (1667). AUTHORITIES: Boston Records; see Records of Mass. Bay, Vol. IV., p. 302. Nathaniel Williams (1667). AUTHORITIES: Hist. of Old South Church; Boston Records.
" Lords Day Dec. 12, 1714: Neither Capt Bel- char nor Capt Williams abroad. . . . [Dec. 13] I visited Capt Williams [1667], who has been very sick since last Wednesday. Tells me he was 71 years old that day my son was ordain'd. Desires Prayers. . . . [Dec. 25] Shops open &c. as on other
days, very pleasant weather. Capt. Williams [1667] buried; Bearers, Col. Checkley, Capt IIill, Mr. Tay, &c." - Sewall Papers.
Rev. Samuel Danforth. AUTHORITIES : Am. Quarterly Register, VIII .; Drake's Hist. of Rox- bury; Sixth Report of Boston Rec. Com .; Sibley's Ilarv. Graduates; Mather's Magnalia; Sprague's Annals of American Pulpit.
1 Mem. IIist. of Boston, Vol. I., p. 469.
THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
211
HONORABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY.
1668-9. The officers elected were : Thomas Savage (1637), captain ; Richard Cooke (1643), lieutenant ; Moses Paine (1644), ensign. Tobias Davis (1666) was first sergeant; David Saywell (1664), second sergeant ; Thomas Watkins (1666), clerk ; John Audlin (1638), armorer, and Joshua Hughes, drummer.
The Third Congregational Church in Boston, now usually styled the Old South Church, was formed at Charlestown, on the 12th and 16th of the third month, i. c., of May, 1669, O. S. The original members or founders of this church were fifty-two in number ; twenty-nine were males and twenty-three females. Of the twenty-nine males, the following-named seventeen persons were members of the Military Company of the Massachusetts : --
Theodore Atkinson (1644).
Peter Oliver (1643).
Joseph Belknap (1658).
Seth Perry (1662).
Peter Brackett (1648). Thomas Brattle (1675).
Joseph Rock (1658).
Thomas Savage (1637).
Joseph Davis (1675).
Joshua Scottow (1645).
William Davis (1643).
Benjamin Thurston (1675).
Theophilus Frary (1666). John Hull (1660). John Morse (1671).
Hezekiah Usher (1638).
John Wing (1671).
The new members recruited in 1668-9 were : John Crafts, Thomas Foster, Joseph Lyall, Edward Tyng, Jr.
John Crafts (1668), of Roxbury, son of Griffin Crafts, of Roxbury, who came with Winthrop in 1630, was born in Roxbury July 10, 1630, the earliest born in town, according to town records. He married, (1) June 7, 1654, Mary Wheelock, who died in November, 1667, and, (2) March 30, 1669, Mary Hudson, of Lynn. He died Sept. 3, 1685.
Thomas Foster (1668), of Roxbury, son of Thomas Foster, of Weymouth and Braintree, and probably a nephew of Hopestill (1642), was born at Weymouth Aug. 18, 1640. He moved to Roxbury about 1662, and removed to Cambridge about 1672. He married, Oct. 15, 1662, Sarah Parker. On the court files of 1678, he is styled "physician." He died Sept. 16, 1679, according to the town record, - or Oct. 28, 1679, as inscribed on his headstone, - "aged 39 years."
Joseph Lyall (1668), of Boston, son of Francis Lyall ( 1640), was born in Boston, March 14, 1654. Mr. Farmer says that Joseph was a lawyer. He does not appear to be mentioned in the records of Boston.
Edward Tyng, Jr. (1668), son of Major-Gen. Edward Tyng (1642), was born in Boston, March 26, 1649. He was a lieutenant in Capt. Davenport's company during the Narraganset expedition. Mr. Drake, in the Old Indian Chronicle, says : " Before our
John Crafts (1668). AUTHORITIES : Savage's Gen. Dict .; New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg., 1880.
Thomas Foster (1668). AUTHORITY: New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg., 1872, P. 395.
Edward Tyng, Jr. (1668.) AUTHORITY : Sav- age's Gen. Dict.
1668-9]
212
HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND
[1 669-70
men came up to take possession of the Fort, the Indians shot three bullets through Capt Davenport [son of Richard (1639) ], whereupon he bled extreamely, and immediately called for his Lieutenant, Mr. Edward Tyng [1668], and committed the charge of the Company to him."
In 1680, Lieut. Tyng (1668) removed to Falmouth (Portland), and soon after married Elizabeth Clark. He was in command of Fort Loyal in 1680 and 1681 ; a councillor and magistrate under President Danforth; in 1686, was one of the council of his brother-in-law, Gov. Joseph Dudley (1677), and afterward under Andros, who made him lieutenant-colonel. He commanded in the province of Sagadahoc in 1688 . and 1689.
After Nova Scotia was conquered, he was made Governor of Annapolis, and on his voyage to that colony he was taken by the French, and carried to France, where he died. Administration on his estate was granted his brother, Jonathan, in April, 1701.
Rev. John Wilson, of Medfield, delivered the Artillery election sermon in 1668. He was a son of Rev. John Wilson, the first pastor of the First Church in Boston, and a nephew of Capt. Robert Keayne (1637). Rev. John, Jr., was born in England in September, 1621 ; graduated at Harvard College in its first graduated class, 1642 ; joined the First Church in Boston, March 3, 1644, and was ordained as colleague with Rev. Richard Mather, at Dorchester, in 1649. He settled at Medfield in 1651, and there preached until his decease, Aug. 23, 1691.
The officers elected were : Peter Oliver (1643), captain ; Richard
1669-70. Woodde (1642), lieutenant ; Richard Way (1642), ensign. Simon Lynde (1658) was first sergeant ; Ephraim Turner (1663), second sergeant ; Freegrace Bendall (1667), clerk ; John Audlin (1638), armorer, and Joshua Hughes, drummer.
March 14, 1669-70, Capt. Peter Oliver (1643) was chosen "sealer of waights & Measures," as appears by the Boston Town Records. April 16, 1670, it is recorded in them, that "vpon the decease of Capt Peter Olliuer [1643] Capt James Olliuer [1640] is chosen sealer of waights & measures."
He died while in command of the Artillery Company, - the second instance of the kind, the first being that of Major-Gen. Gibbons (1637), who died Dec. 9, 1654.
The new members recruited in 1669-70 were : James Russell and Edward Shippen.
James Russell (1669), of Charlestown, born Oct. 4, 1640, was the eldest son of Hon. Richard Russell (1644), who settled in Charlestown in 1640. James (1669) married (1) Mabel, daughter of Gov. Haynes (1639), of Connecticut, and (3) Mary, daughter of Henry Walcott. His fourth wife was Abigail (Hathorne) Curwin. He was admitted a freeman in 1668; was representative in 1679; treasurer of the colony, 1680
Rev. John Wilson. AUTHORITIES : Savage's Gen. Dict .; Sprague's Annals of American Pulpit; Tilden's Hist. of Medfield.
James Russell (1669). AUTHORITIES : Hurd's
JIist. of Middlesex Co .. Vol. I., pp. 28, 29; New Eng. Ilist. and Gen. Reg., 1875; Savage's Gen. Dict .; Frothingham's flist. of Charlestown.
213
HONORABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY.
1669-70]
to 1685 ; judge of probate, June 18, 1692 ; judge of the Court of Common Pleas, 1692 to 1707 ; one of the Governor's council, 1692 to 1708, and a member of the Council of Safety in 1689. He was first sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1672.
A slab in the burying-ground in Charlestown, still standing, has upon it this inscrip- tion : " Here lies interred the body of James Russell Esqr Son of Richard and Maud his wife, who was born in this town Oct. 4, 1640, and was elected Counsellor for the Colony in the year 1680. He was annually chosen saving those few years in the reign of King James when the people were deprived of that privilege. He also served God and his Country in many other eminent stations as a Treasurer, a Judge, and in other places of great trust, all which he discharged as becomes a faithful steward. He exchanged Earth for Heaven on Thursday April 28, 1709."
Edward Shippen (1669), the son of William Shippen, was born in England in 1639. He came to New England in 1668, and settled in Boston, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits with great success. He owned a house and two acres of ground, which included what is now Tremont Row, and a part of Scollay Square. He bought this property, previously owned by David Yale (1640), who purchased it of Edward Bendall (1638), in 1678, and sold it in 1702. He was a member of the church, and a popular citizen until 1671, when he married Elizabeth Lybrand, a Quakeress, and joined the Society of Friends. He became at once a mark for New England intolerance and fanaticism, and was forced to take his share of the "jailments" and scourgings which were visited upon his sect. In 1693, a meteor appeared in the Massachusetts atmos- phere, and was made the signal for a fresh persecution of Quakers and Baptists, during which Mr. Shippen (1669) was banished. He went to Philadelphia, bought a lot, built a house, and by the end of 1694 had closed up his business in Boston and removed his family and effects to the new city, having first erected a memorial "on the green," near a "pair of gallows, where several of our friends had suffered death for the truth and were thrown into a hole."
Mr. Shippen (1669) was a man of wealth, talents, and high character, and his mansion was a "princely place." He soon stepped to the front in the new community, and Penn lavished honors and offices upon him. He was early chosen to the assembly, and was its speaker in 1695 ; the first mayor of Philadelphia under the charter of 1701, and in 1702-4 president of the council after Andrew Hamilton's death, and ex-officio deputy-governor of the province until Penn seitt over his son, William, Jr., and John Evans, to supersede him.
In 1704, Mr. Shippen (1669) married his third wife, Elizabeth James, and as she was not a Quakeress he withdrew himself from the society, but continued on good terms with it, and prominent in public affairs, until his death, Oct. 2, 1712.
Rev. Samuel Torrey, of Weymouth, delivered the Artillery election sermon of 1669. He was a son of Capt. William Torrey (1641), who came over in 1640, bringing his son, Samuel. They came from Combe St. Nicholas, Somerset County, England, and settled in Weymouth. He entered Harvard College, but left at the expiration of three years. He continued his studies, however, and was ordained Feb. 14, 1665, to succeed
Edward Shippen (1669). AUTHORITIES : Sav- age's Gen. Dict .; Whitman's Hist. A. and Il. A. Company, Ed. 1842.
Rev. Samuel Torrey. AUTHORITIES : Sav- age's Gen. Dict .; Eliot's Biog. Dict.
214
HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND
[1670-1
Rev. Thomas Thacher at Weymouth. He preached the election sermon before the Legis- lature in 1674, 1683, and 1695, an honor conferred in no other instance in Massachu- setts. He was twice chosen president of Harvard College, but declined both elections.
He married, (1) May 15, 1657, Mary, daughter of Edward Rawson, and, (2) July 30, 1695, Mary, widow of William Symmes.
He was admitted a freeman in 1669, and, having preached more than fifty years, died April 21, 1707, aged seventy-five years.
The officers elected were : John Leverett (1639), captain ; John
1670-1. Richards (1644), lieutenant; Laurence Hammond (1666), ensign. Elisha Hutchinson (1670) was first sergeant ; Thomas Snawsnell (1666), second sergeant ; Freegrace Bendall (1667), clerk ; John Audlin (1638), armorer, and Joshua Hughes, drummer.
The new members recruited in 1670-I were : Elisha Hutchinson, Thomas Norman, Samuel Shrimpton, and Jonathan Tyng.
Elisha Hutchinson (1670), son of Capt. Edward (1638), was born in Boston, Nov. 16, 1641. He was admitted a freeman in 1666; represented Boston in the General Court from 1680 to 1683 ; was selectman from 1678 to 1687 inclusive, except 1681 ; assistant in 1684, 1685, and 1686; was one of the council in 1689, and under the new or provincial charter, in 1692, he was a councillor, and was continued in that office until his death, Dec. 10, 1717. He was a captain in the Boston militia, and sergeant-major of the regiment, succeeding John Richards (1644), and was the last person who held that office. On the reorganization of the militia, he was made major of the Suffolk Regiment under Col. Shrimpton (1670) ; in 1694 was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel, and in 1699 to be colonel, which office he held until 1703. In 1692, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces sent against the French and Indians, then in arms in the Province of Maine, and in 1702 was commander of the Castle. He was first sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1670, ensign in 1671, lieutenant in 1674, and its captain in 1676, 1684, 1690, and 1697. Mr. Whitman (1810) adds, Col. Hutchinson (1670) " continued a member through the troubles of Andros's admin- istration, and was [one of] the principal and leading characters who caused the resuscitation of the Company afterwards, being chosen in the autumn of 1690 to command a second [third] time, until the next anniversary election." He was a member of the Company for forty-seven years.
He married, (1) Nov. 19, 1665, Hannah, daughter of Capt. Thomas Hawkins (1638), who died Oct. 9, 1676, and, (2) Sept. 12, 1677, Elizabeth (Clarke) Freak, daughter of Major Thomas Clarke (1644). The store and property of Major Clarke (1644), an eminent merchant of Boston, at the North End, long continued in the
Elisha Hutchinson (1669). AUTHORITIES : New Eng. Ilist. and Gen. Reg., 1847, 300; 1865, 15; Report of Boston Rec. Com., 1634-1660, et seq .; Savage's Gen. Dict .; Mem. Ilist. of Boston, Vol. II., p. 462; Whitman's Hist. A. and H. A. Company. . " [1717] Dec. 13. Col Hutchinson is buried, the Regiment being in Arms. Bearers, Ilis Excel-
lency the Governor, Lt Gov. Dumer; Col Tailer; Sam'I Sewall, Col. Townsend, Simeon Stoddard, esq. Was buried in the South burying place, in Mr. Freaks Tomb, where his last wife was buried. Now I have been a Bearer to three of my Wives Bearers in less than two Moneths time." - Sewall Papers, Vol. III., p. 155.
215
HONORABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY.
1670-1]
family, and a part became afterward known as Hutchinson's Wharf. His house was in the North Square. "This part of the town, about his day, became the 'Court End,' where the heaviest shipping laded and unladed and the most extensive business was transacted." His son, Thomas, who was grandfather of Gov. Hutchinson of Revolution- ary fame, joined the Artillery Company in 1694.
In 1695-6, the General Court gave the monopoly of making salt " after the manner as it is made in France," for fourteen years, to Elisha Hutchinson (1670) and two other merchants of Boston. They set up their works on the marshes by the Neck, toward Roxbury. In 1716, they admitted to their number eleven associates, of whom eight were members of the Artillery Company.
He was in London in 1688, and joined in a remonstrance to King James II. He had been commander at Castle Island, and sustained that office when Dudley arrived, but was removed to make way for the new order of things, and was succeeded by Lieut .- Gov. Povey, after which, and until the Revolution, that office was a sinecure. He was one of the commissioners, with Col. Townsend (1674) and President Leverett (1704), son of Hudson Leverett (1658), to Port Royal, in 1707, and commander of the colonial forces when the new charter arrived.
Thomas Norman (1670), of Boston in 1670-4, probably removed to Topsfield, where he was living when made a freeman in 1681.
Samuel Shrimpton (1670), of Boston, son of Henry, of Boston, and cousin of Jonathan (1665), was born in Boston, May 31, 1643, and became a freeman in 1673. In March of the latter year, having been elected constable, he expressed his desire in public meeting to pay a fine of ten pounds rather than serve in that office, " which was accepted by the town." He was ensign of the Artillery Company in 1672, lieutenant in 1673, and its captain in 1694. He was very active in the revival of the Company after Andros's administration, and was made colonel of the Suffolk Regiment April 20, 1689 - being the first person who held that office after the abolition of the office of sergeant-major as the commander of a regiment. He died while holding the office of colonel, Feb. 9, 1698, aged fifty-five years.
Col. Shrimpton (1670) was a large landholder. In 1673, he purchased of John Turner a piece of land "on the way leading up from the training field to Centry hill," which is a part of the present State House estate. After John Turner's death, in 1681, Col. Shrimpton (1670) bought of his executors the remainder of the summit of Beacon Hill, reserving unto the town of Boston its "privileges and interest on the top of said hill and passage from the Common thereto." He also owned a piece of land in King Street, now occupied by the Union Bank building, and on account of this possession Exchange Street was for many years known as Shrimpton's Lane.
Thomas Norman (1670). AUTHORITY : Sav- age's Gen, Dict.
Samuel Shrimpton (1670). AUTHORITIES: Whitman's Hist. A. and H. A. Company; Savage's Gen. Dict .; Province Laws of Mass. Bay; New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg., 1854, 1861, 1889; Sumner's Ilist. of East Boston.
" [1697-8] Fourth day Fehr 9. Last night ahont nine of ye Clock, Col Shrimpton dyes of an Apoplexy. . . . Second day Febr 14. 1697/S. Col.
Sam! Shrimpton was buried with Arms: Ten Com- panies, 8 [Boston companies], Muddy River and Sconce : No Horse nor Trumpet : but a horse led - Mr. Dyers, the colonel's would not endure the cloathing : Mourning coach also and Horses in Mourning: Sentcheon on their sides and Death heads on their foreheads: Coach stood by the way here and there and mov'd solitarily. . . . Capt Clark fired twelve great guns at the Sconce." - Sewall Papers, pp. 470, 471.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.