USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > Lynn in the Revolution, Part II > Part 20
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Corporal, Captain Ezra Newhall's Lynn company of minute-men which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775; service, fourteen days; also Captain Newhall's company, Colonel John Mansfield's regiment; order for advance pay signed by said Stocker and others, dated Cam- bridge, June 8, 1775; also corporal, same company and regiment; muster-roll dated August 1, 1775; enlisted May 3, 1775; service, three months, five days; also Captain Newhall's company, Colonel Mansfield's 19th regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Israel Hutchinson; company return dated October 6, 1775; also order for money in lieu of bounty coat dated camp at Winter Hill, November 4, 1775; also
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sergeant, Captain Newhall's (1st) company, 27th regiment; copy of a list of officers (year not given, probably 1776); also lieutenant, Colonel Greaton's regiment; Continental Army pay accounts for service from January 1, 1777, to December 31, 1780; also Lieutenant-Colonel Rufus Putnam's (5th) regiment; return of officers for clothing allowed by order of General Court of March 13, 1778; also second lieutenant, same regiment; return of officers for clothing dated Boston, June 17, 1778; also for clothing, November 24, 1778; also January 9, 1779; also lieu- tenant Captain James Tisdale's company, Colonel Greaton's 2d regi- ment; muster-roll for March, 1779, dated "Cortond Manner"; en- gaged January 1, 1777; also second lieutenant, Captain John Wil- liams's company, Colonel Putnam's (4th) regiment; return for gratuity raised by lottery dated April 22, 1779; also lieutenant, Captain Tis- dale's (8th) company, Colonel Greaton's regiment; muster-roll for April dated "Crompond," also June 29, "Constitution Island"; also July, 1779, Camp Highlands; also September, 1779, Camp Bedford; also lieutenant in Colonel Putnam's regiment; account rendered against the United States by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for amounts paid officers and men on account of depreciation of their wages for the first three years' service in the Continental Army from 1777 to 1780; also same regiment, list of officers promoted in the Con- tinental Army and for whom warrants were made out; also lieutenant, Major Robert Oliver's company, Colonel Greaton's regiment; muster- rolls for field, staff, and commissioned officers for August. September, and October, 1780; also return of officers belonging to (late) 3d Massa- chusetts regiment, commanded by Colonel Greaton, who were to con- tinue in the service, dated Boston, January 19, 1781 .- Mass. Rolls.
STOCKER, EBENEZER, Jr.,-may have been son of Ephraim and Lydia, born July 24, 1750. The following Revolutionary record is given :-
Captain Ezra Newhall's company, Colonel John Mansfield's regi- ment; order for advance pay signed by said Stocker and others, dated Cambridge, June 6, 1775; also private, same company and regiment: muster-roll dated August 1, 1775; enlisted May 4, 1775; service, three months, four days; also Captain Newhall's company, Colonel Mansfield's (19th) regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Israel Hutchinson; company return dated October 6, 1775; also order for money in lieu of bounty coat dated camp at Winter Hill, November 4, 1775 .- Mass. Rolls.
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STOCKER, ELIJAH,-son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Mansfield) Stocker, was born in Saugus, October 19, 1752. He served with his brother Thomas on the 19th of April, 1775, in Captain Parker's Saugus com- pany. When news reached Lynn that General Burgoyne was advanc- ing down the lakes from Canada, a considerable number of Lynn men enlisted to enter the campaign against him. Mr. Stocker was one of twenty-five Lynn men who enlisted in the company of Captain Zadock Buffinton, of Salem, and marched northward. He was present during the battles preceding the capture of the British general and his army, and marched back to Cambridge with the prisoners, where he was discharged November 30, 1777.
STOCKER, ENOCH,-is borne on the muster-rolls as seventeen years of age in 1777. Is in a list of men mustered from Plymouth County in Cap- tain Jacob Allen's company, Colonel Bailey's regiment, for the month of February, 1778, dated Valley Forge; also appears as a private in Captain Adam Bailey's company, Colonel John Bailey's 2d Massa- chusetts regiment; reported wounded; transferred to corps of invalids, October 25, 1779; service from January 1, 1779, to December 31, 1779.
He went to Wakefield from Lynn in 1787, and was married November 28, 1787, by Rev. Joseph Roby, to Hannah Berry, of Lynn. His wife was a very religious woman, though somewhat credulous and excitable. They had a daughter, Sally, and possibly other children. He was at the battle of Stony Point under General Wayne; was of a volunteer corps which made an assault upon the enemy's works, and, as he climbed to the top of the parapet, a British soldier ran a sword through his thigh. Stocker forthwith drew trigger, shot his foe, and fell inside the fort upon the dead body of his assailant. He lost part of one hand in battle and was lame from the wound in his thigh. He died June 1, 1821, aged sixty-five, and his wife, Hannah, died November 22, 1817. aged sixty-eight.
STOCKER, EPHRAIM,-son of John and Ruth (Breed) Stocker, was born in Lynn, January 7, 1756; married May 29, 1781, by Rev. Mr. Roby, to Rebecca Childs. He was a brother of Ebenezer, Sr., and was living in Saugus in 1790, according to the census of that year. The only Revolutionary service given is that as private in Captain Ezra New- hall's company of minute-men which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775.
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STOCKER, CAPTAIN JOSEPH,-son of Samuel, Jr., and Elizabeth (Griffin) Stocker, was born November 11, 1745; married December 14, 1780, by Rev. Mr. Treadwell, to Mehitable Norwood; children, Lydia and Zaccheus Norwood. He died March 8, 1795, aged fifty, and his wife, Mehitable, died June 9, 1793, aged thirty-eight. Both are buried in the old Western Burial Ground.
He was a private in Captain Ezra Newhall's Lynn company on the morning of April 19, 1775, and is credited with fifteen days' service. Through the remainder of the year 1775 he served as private in Colonel Mansfield's regiment, Captain Newhall's company; as sergeant on the main guard at Prospect Hill, under Lieutenant-Colonel L. Bald- win; also in Captain Newhall's company, Colonel Mansfield's regi- ment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Israel Hutchinson. He was also given an order for money in lieu of a bounty coat for eight months' service of that year. The next year, 1776, he was captain of the 4th company, 1st Essex County regiment of Massachusetts militia, com- missioned April 26, and also served during the latter part of the year as first lieutenant in Captain Joseph Rea's company, Colonel Timothy Pickering, Jr.'s, regiment, which marched to Danbury, Conn., January 15, 1777. His name appears as sergeant in Captain Stephen Wilkins's company, Colonel Wigglesworth's regiment, in a pay abstract for travel allowance from Albany home, 210 miles. During the time from No- vember 11, 1777, to July 3, 1778, he was in and about Cambridge, under Captains Greenwood and Brown, guarding the captured army of Burgoyne. In 1779 and 1780 he served for short periods as first lieu- tenant in Captain Addison Richardson's company, in Colonel Jacob Gerrish's and Colonel Wade's regiments, near West Point. Honorably discharged from the service October 10, 1780.
STOCKER, THOMAS,-son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Mansfield) Stocker, was born in Saugus, August 19, 1741; married April 14, 1763, by Rev. Mr. Treadwell, to Susanna Newhall, daughter of Moses and Susanna (Bowden) Newhall, born August 8, Thomas Stocker 1741. His children were Elizabeth, Susanna, Sarah, Mary, Polly, Thomas, Lucy, and Charlotte. He served with the Saugus company on the alarm of April 19, 1775. His home was on the old Boston road, very near the Newhall tavern, in a
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house still standing (1904), nearly opposite the road which leads to the great marshes. Upon the precipitous ledge back of the house his grandson, Elbridge Gerry Hawkes, built a house which has since been lowered to a place more convenient, near the road, and is now oc- cupied by Dudley B. Fisk. His brother Elijah was in the same com- pany, and he himself served later, 1778, on the Committee of Cor- respondence, Inspection, and Safety of the town of Lynn.
Letters of administration were granted on his estate June 26, 1798, his widow, Susanna, being appointed executrix. He was at that time described as a yeoman, and his estate, amounting to over $3,000, con- sisted in part of the "Dagyr Pasture," the "Rann Pasture," and the "Ballard Field." Susanna, his wife, died March 12, 1822.
SWAIN, JOHN (the John Swone of the muster-roll),-son of John and Sarah Swain, was born in Reading, May 2, 1751. His ancestral line was John5, John4, Dr Benjamin3, Major Jeremiah2, Jeremiah1, the emi- grant ancestor. Major Jeremiah Swain, his great-great-grandfather, born in Charlestown in 1643, was a distinguished officer in the Indian wars, and was in the Great Swamp John Swain. Fight in the Narragansett War. John, the subject of this sketch, was married November 24, 1774, by Rev. Caleb Prentice, to Lois Walton, of Reading, daughter of Jacob and Eunice (Hawkes) Walton, born March 15, 1752. His home was in the northerly part of Lynnfield, in an old house which was burned many years ago. He appears many times in the tax levy of the North Precinct, and is noted as "Deacon John Swain," although no record appears of his appointment to that office. Ile was a member of Captain Bancroft's company of minute-men, and marched with his neighbors to West Cam- bridge, where he joined in the fight of the afternoon of April 19, 1775. On April 20, 1776, he enlisted in Captain Ezra Newhall's company, Colonel Israel Hutchinson's 27th regiment, then doing guard duty in and around Boston. Ile is described as being at that time twenty-five years of age, 5 ft. 9 in. in height, of dark complexion, with gray eyes and brown hair. Inasmuch as the enlistments in this company were for three years, Swain undoubtedly accompanied his regiment on the march
- to New York, going by way of Norwich, Conu., and then by water. He was in the battles of Fort Washington and Fort Lee, crossed the Jerseys
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with General Washington, and was probably at the battle of Trenton. The muster-rolls of this period are incomplete, and it is impossible to give all of his military experience. Upon his return to Lynn he con- tinued upon his large farm the occupation of yeoman. His children were Oliver, Thomas, Joseph, Lois, Betsy, Nat, Mary, Sally, and Lucinda. His will on file in the probate records shows that his farm consisted of 128 acres of land, which, with buildings, amounted to $5,125. His daughters, Sally and Lucinda, were given $110 each, "with privilege of baking in kitchen oven, drawing water at well, and to pass and repass to cellar." He died August 24, 1815. His wife died Sep- tember 19, 1842, and both are buried in marked graves in the Riverside Cemetery, North Reading.
SWEETSER, PHINEAS,-birth unknown, married September 10, 1747, Mary Rhodes. He was a private in Captain William Farrington's (2d Lynn) company of militia, which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775, towards Concord; service, two days .- Mass. Rolls.
SWEETSER, SAMUEL,-was in the company of Captain David Parker, of Saugns, at the time of the alarm of April 19, 1775. A Samuel, son of Phineas and Mary (Rhodes) Sweetser, was born in Saugus, September 24, 1750. A Samnel, son of Samuel, and Lydia (Hawkes) Sweetser, was born in Saugus, March 4, 1758. Either of these young men was of the right age to have been in the Samuel Sweetger service, but no record has been handed down to show which is entitled to the honor. On May 5, 1785, one of them was married by Rev. Mr. Roby to Lydia Smith, and this one died in Saugus Angust 8, 1815. The wife, Lydia, died July 22, 1843, aged eighty-three. Both are buried in the old burial-ground at Saugus Centre, where their graves are suitably marked.
SYMMES, JOHN,-was a private in Captain Parker's Saugus company which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775. The only reference made to him in the Lynn records is in 1769, when he was elected hog-reeve. In the account book of Dr. James Gardner, under date of April 7, 1797, the town of Lynn is charged for medical attendance upon John Symmes, which might indicate that he was a charge of the town. Nothing is known of his birth or death. By the records of the Third Parish Church he appears to have been one of the fifteen original members when Rev.
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Joseph Roby was ordained. He was suspended from membership in 1758.
Ile saw active service in the French and Indian War, and was prob- ably too old to take part in the campaigns following the battle of Lex- ington. On April 2, 1748, he was one of eight men to be impressed into the service of King George II., and was sent to the eastern frontier for duty, marching with his company to York, Me. He enlisted March 30, 1758, as a private in Captain Simon Slocomb's company, Colonel Joseph Williams's regiment, raised by the Province of Massachusetts Bay for the total reduction of Canada. He served eight months and fifteen days, being discharged November 23, 1758. He re-enlisted March 19, 1760, in Captain Henry Young Brown's company, and served until November 20, 1760, being allowed pay for 120 miles' travel home. He again enlisted March 19, 1762, in Captain Moses Hart's company, and served until November 20, 1762.
TALBOT, AMBROSE,-was a member of Captain Farrington's company and the last man borne upon the roll. He was married November 24, 1768, by Rev. Mr. Treadwell, to Elizabeth Johnson, daughter of Edward and Bethia (Newhall) Johnson, born in Lynn, August 6, 1745. He had four children, Sarah, Ambrose, Enoch, and Bethia. He was a member of the First Church, owning the covenant November 21, 1773. He enlisted September 23, 1779, and served one month in Cap- tain George Rogers's company, Colonel Nathaniel Jordon's regiment. Beyond this nothing is known of him.
TARBOX, BAXTER,-son of Jacob and Abigail (Baxter) Tarbox, was born in Lynn, August 17, 1754. On the record of the First Church his name appears as having owned the covenant May 23, 1773. On his Revolu- tionary record he appears as having been in the company of Captain Asa Barnes, in Colonel Benjamin Simonds' regiment, which marched from Lanesboro, October 14, 1780; service, seven days. This was a Berkshire regiment. He also served at Concord battle and elsewhere. TARBOX, BENJAMIN .- A Benjamin, son of Benjamin and Anna, was born June 24, 1760, although it cannot be certain that he was the soldier whose Revolutionary record follows :-
Private, Captain Ezra Newhall's company, Colonel Mansfield's regiment; muster-roll August 1, 1775; enlisted May 6, 1775; service three months, two days; private, Captain Joseph Hiller's company,
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Colonel Jonathan Titcomb's regiment; service at Rhode Island on an alarm; service from May 5 to July 5, 1777, stationed at Providence; appears in a list of men enlisted into the Continental Army from Ist Essex County regiment, dated February 16, 1778; enlisted February 1, 1778, joined Captain Hoyt's company, Colonel Bradley's regiment; also list of men from Orderly Book of Colonel Hutchinson, reported taken prisoner, November 16, 1776, at Fort Washington; also signa- ture for advance pay as private, Captain Zadock Buffinton's company, Colonel Johnson's regiment; enlisted August 18, 1777; discharged November 30, 1777; service, three months, thirteen days, at the north- ward; discharged at Cambridge .- Mass. Rolls.
TARBOX, DANIEL,-private in Captain Rufus Mansfield's company which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775, towards Concord; service, two days, according to the Massachusetts rolls. According to Richard Pratt's list he was born in 1737, and died August 5, 1822, aged eighty- five, at Lynn Poorhouse.
A Daniel Tarbox came to Lynn from Pelham in May, 1764, and the marriage intentions of Daniel and Mary Tarbox were published April 4, 1765. The children of Daniel were Abigail, Anna, Daniel, and Jere- miah.
TARBOX, NATHANIEL,-son of Jacob and Abigail, was born in Lynn, Novem- ber 29, 1734; lived on Waterbill, and was the father of Nathaniel, Jr., called Captain Nathaniel. Nathaniel, Sr., was married by Rev. Simon Bradstreet, June 11, 1752, to Rebecca Pearce, of Marblehead, and he died in Lynn, March 25, 1785, aged fifty-two. His wife died of dropsy, December 23, 1802, aged sixty-nine. He was a private in Captain Rufus Mansfield's (4th) Lynn company of militia which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775, to Concord; service, two days; also list of men belonging to Captain Lindsey's company, who took the oath in Middlesex County, July 6, 1775, required by Con- gress to be taken by the Massachusetts army; also list dated Malden, August 3, 1775, of men belonging to Captain Eleazer Lindsey's com- pany, Colonel Samuel Gerrish's regiment, who are credited with hav- ing received sums of money, probably on account of advance pay; also sergeant, Captain Lindsey's company, commanded by Lieutenant Daniel Gallushee, Colonel Benjamin Ruggles Woodbridge's regiment; muster-roll dated August 1, 1775; engaged May 15, 1775; service,
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seventy-six days; also Captain Daniel Gallushee's 10th company, Colonel Woodbridge's regiment; company return (probably October. 1775); also order for money in lieu of bounty coat dated Malden. December 22, 1775 .- Mass. Rolls.
TARBOX, CAPTAIN NATHANIEL, Jr.,-son of Nathaniel and Rebecca Pearce, was born at Marblehead, November 3, 1752; married June 22, 1775. to Abigail, daughter of Thomas and Abigail Cox. He died in Lynn, December 13, 1831, at the age of seventy-nine. The home of Nathan- iel, Jr., was on Waterhill Street, in an old house next but one to May Street. A note-book in his handwriting has been preserved, which contains some notes of interest, among them the following :-
"Apral the 19 1775 the fight Begun at Concard with ous about twelve oClock in the fournoon and we all got home the next day except one that was kiled in Both our Compneys and Blesed be God for it.
"The God of marcy be adord who Calls our souls from death who saves By his Redeeming word and new Createn Breath."
Also :-
"Boston, July 14, 1776. Nathaniel Tarbox, Junior and wife, Fradrick Breed and wife, they all had the small pox and Got home well August the 6, 1776 and Blessed be God for it."
Frequent entries made during the Revolutionary period show him in account with Edward Johnson, Joel and Aaron Breed, Nathan Newhall, and Harris Chadwell, Josiah Breed, Captain James Robin- son, Amos Rhodes, Daniel A. B. and Charles Newhall. He evidently kept store for Mr. Joseph Ballard, also a soldier, for many entries indicate the fact. In a note at the end of the book we find: "The fol- lowing served in Captain Ezra Newhall's company in Colonel John Mansfield's regiment. Nath. Tarbox, Jr., Daniel Lindsey, Israel Cheever, John Baker and Abel Belknap." All of these names are borne out by the muster-rolls. He was evidently a thrifty man, for his accounts all balance, and the number of shoes sold indicates that he was busy. It would appear that many of his shoes were sold in Ports- mouth, N.H. Ile died at the home of his grand-daughter, Betsey
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Choate. His widow, Abigail, was pensioned at the rate of $33 per year. She died February 13, 1844, at the age of ninety. At the time application was made for a pension the son of Captain Nathaniel, George M. Tarbox, stated in his deposition that he had often heard his father say that during the battle of Bunker Hill he was within range of the firing, and that the bullets rattled like hailstones against an old house just behind him, and that one bullet struck a man beside him; that he felt that he would have gone into the battle cheerfully if his officers had led on their men. He had often also heen told by his father that the latter, while in the army, had at one time command of sixteen men, among whom was his own father, and that with said com- mand he had had charge of a magazine.
Betsey Choate, the grand-daughter, stated that she had had the care of her grandfather's papers for the last six or seven years of his life, and that she distinctly remembered burning his commissions as a lieu- tenant and captain of the militia, one of which was signed by John Hancock and the other by John Adams.
The Massachusetts rolls give the following record :-
Private, Captain Rufus Mansfield's (4th Lynn) company of militia which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775, to Concord; service, two days; also Captain Ezra Newhall's company, Colonel John Mans- field's regiment; order for advance pay signed by said Tarbox and others, dated Cambridge, June 8, 1775; also private, same company and regiment: muster-roll dated Angust 1, 1775; enlisted May 3, 1775; service, three months, five days; also corporal, Captain Newhall's company, Colonel Mansfield's regiment, commanded by Lieutenant- Colonel Israel Hutchinson; company return dated October 6, 1775; also order for money in lieu of a bounty coat dated camp at Winter Hill, November 4, 1775; also given as private in Captain Joseph Hiller's company, Colonel Jonathan Titcomb's regiment; arrived at destination June 17, 1777; roll dated camp at Providence, July 6, 1777; also detachment from Captain Hiller's company, which remained in camp under Lieutenant John Watts after Captain Hiller's roll was made up; service between June 11, 1777, and August 11, 1777, two months, two days, at Rhode Island, including travel home.
TARBOX, WILLIAM,-was born in Lynn in 1755, married September 23. 1779, to Lydia Attwill. His home was on the northwest corner of
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Bridge Street, in a house torn down about 1890. llis children were Lydia, Mary, William, Anna, John, and Samuel. Among the deaths in an old newspaper record is found the following: "Sept. 16, 1829, in Lynn, suddenly, Mr. William Tarbox, a Revolutionary soldier, aged 76." This would make the date of his birth 1753 instead of 1755, as recorded in the Lynn records. He is buried on the western side of the old Western Ground, beside his wife, who died January 29, 1828, at the age of seventy-three. An old pension certificate still in possession of his grand-daughter, Mrs. William Waitt, indicates that he was placed on the roll at the rate of $8 per month, from April 13, 1818, and that the money was payable semi-annually from the United States Branch Bank in Boston. The certificate was signed by John C. Cal- houn. The record at the Pension Office states that he was a private in Captain Ezra Newhall's company, Colonel Israel Hutchinson's regiment, service one year, and that he was honorably discharged in the State of New Jersey. At the time of his application his occupation was that of a laborer, and he worked out occasionally, although his annual income was not over $50 per year. It was also stated that he was weak and feeble. He was allowed $85.63 back pay, and before his death drew $1,093.86.
THOMPSON, LIEUTENANT EDWARD,-sergeant, ('aptain Ezra Newhall's company, Colonel John Mansfield's regiment, year not given, probably 1776; also return dated Boxford, December 8, 1779, of men mus- tered by John Cushing, muster-master for Essex County, to join the Continental Army for the term of nine months, agreeable to resolve of June 9, 1779; engaged for the town of Lynn.
Nothing further has been found concerning this man.
TOWNSEND, DANIEL .- private, son of Deacon Daniel and Lydia (Sawyer) Townsend, was born on the so-called "Needham Place" in Lynnfield Centre, December 26, 1738. In some respects his name is perhaps the best known of any connected with Lynn during the Revolutionary War. Ilis biography is one of the very few ever published, his service has been the subject of many patriotic allusions, and his grave has been pointed out for over one hundred and thirty years as that of a martyr in the cause of liberty.
Ile was one of a large family of children, among whom was Thomas with whom he was closely associated. lle was married in Reading,
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January 14, 1764, to Zerviah Upton, of Reading, born in 1744, daughter of John Upton. They began life in the house which stood at the junc- tion of the road below Pilling's Pond, about one mile south of Lynn- field Centre. This house was owned at the time by Samuel Orne, and stood until 1899, when it was struck by lightning and burned. June 30, 1771, he with his wife, Zerviah, owned the covenant and joined the Second Parish Church, and there his children were baptized: John, and Daniel, July 7, 1771; Jacob, August 4, 1771; Zerviah, August 29, 1773; and Lydia, January 15, 1775. Daniel Townsend took little part in town affairs, serving only as warden in 1771 and assessor in 1775. He early joined the minute-men of the parish, however, and with his brother Thomas, who was a lieutenant, marched to Menotomy, where they met the British on the retreat to Boston. The story of Mr. Town- send's tragic death has been told elsewhere. It is sufficient to say here that at five o'clock in the afternoon of April 19, 1775, he found him- self between the flank guard and main line of the British army, at the house of Jason Russell in Menotomy, and that he made a brave effort to escape, but fell, riddled with the bullets of the enemy. From the best information obtainable it appears that his neighbors carried his body home that night, arriving during the small hours of the morning. The unusual commotion in the road, the confused voices of men, and the moving about of their lanterns in the yard betokened to Mrs. Town- send that something unusual had taken place. The shock of the news was one from which she never recovered, and her own death followed that of her husband in October of the same year. Mr. Townsend's remains were laid in the best room of the old house, and a portion of his neighbors remained as a yeoman guard of honor. It is supposed that the funeral was held in the Second Parish Church, and that Rev. Benjamin Adams preached the funeral sermon, the entire town being in attendance. The church records bear this simple and quaint entry: "Ap. 19 1775 Died Dan'll Townsend in a Battle with the Regulars; he was shot down dead in a moment, in the 36th year of his age." The Essex Gazette of May 2, 1775, contained the following: "He was a con- stant and ready friend to the poor and afflicted; a good adviser in cases of difficulty; a mild and sincere reprover. In short, he was a friend to his country, a blessing to society and an ornament to the church of which he was a member."
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