USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > Lynn in the Revolution, Part II > Part 21
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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
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In the precinct records of November 22, 1775, it is stated that William Richardson was chosen assessor in the place of Daniel Townsend. The grave of Mr. Townsend is appropriately marked by a black slate stone with the following inscription :-
"Sacred to the memory of Mr. Daniel Townsend, who was slain at the Battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775, aged 36."
"Lie, valient Townsend, in the peaceful shades; we trust, Immortal honors mingle with thy dust. What though thy body struggled in thy gore ? So did thy Saviour's body, long before; And as he raised his own, by power divine, So the same power shall also quicken thine, And in eternal glory mayst thou shine."
Mrs. Townsend's gravestone bears this inscription :-
"Sacred to the memory of Mrs. Zeruiah Townsend, relict of Mr. Daniel Townsend, who died Oct. 19 1775, aged 31.
"Death has now my life swept away To follow my companion dear; But Christ can bear my soul away, And land it on the heavenly shore."
Daniel Townsend has many descendants still living (1904) in Lynn, among them being three grandchildren, Mrs. Henry II. Breed, Mrs. Daniel Rich, and Mrs. Eliza M. Atkinson. The musket which he carried on the 19th of April is still in existence, in the possession of Mr. William H. Townsend, of Lynn.
TOWNSEND, THOMAS,-sergeant, son of Deacon Daniel and Lydia (Sawyer) Townsend, was born in Lynnfield, August 23, 1736. Ilis father was made a deacon of the Second Parish Church two years after. Thomas, as well as his brother, Daniel, who was killed on the 19th of April, was born on the old "Needham Place." Ile married, August 29, 1762, Susanna, daughter of William Thomas Townsend and Susanna Green, of Reading. His children were Thomas, Susanna, Dor- cas, Mehitable, Aaron, Sarah, and Ann. On October 30, 1763, he with his wife joined the Lynnfield church. In 1766 he was a tithing-man, and in 1770 clerk of the par-
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ish. He was one of a committee of three to care for the school in 1775. On the alarm of the battle of Lexington Thomas Townsend went with his company to Menotomy and he was present when his brother Daniel was killed, and was among those who brought the body home that night. October 30, 1776, Thomas was commissioned as first lieutenant of the 6th company, Colonel Timothy Pickering's regiment. During the year following he did guard duty in Boston. In 1782 he was one of the selectmen, this being his last public service in Lynnfield. July 2, 1792, the church at Lynnfield voted a transfer to him and his wife to the church in Reading, Vt., to which place he removed that year. Thomas Townsend died in Reading, Vt., July 27, 1814, and is buried in the cemetery at Bailey's Mills in that place. His wife died February 19, 1813, of spotted fever, and is buried at his side. The graves are marked by stones bearing suitable inscriptions. Descendants are still living in Reading, Vt.
TREADWELL, REV. JOHN,-was minister of the First Parish in Lynn. He was born in Ipswich, September 20, 1738, and was ordained at Lynn, March 2, 1763, where he preached for nineteen years. September 15, 1763, he was married by Rev. Mr. Emerson to Mrs. Mehitable Dexter, of Topsfield. Rev. John Treadwell was chosen a member of the Com- mittee of Safety on April 23, 1775, John. Treadwell. and was always foremost in patriotic proceedings. On Sundays, Mr. Lewis tells us, he appeared in the pulpit with his cartridge-box under one arm and his sermon under the other, and went into the pulpit with his musket loaded. In 1787 he removed to Salem. He was a representative of Ipswich and Salem, a senator of Essex County, and judge of the Court of Common Pleas. His Revo- lutionary king's arm musket, engraved with his initials, is in the Essex Institute at Salem. It is of brass, inlaid, and a fine gun for those days. All of his correspondence upon his resignation from the old First Church is filed in Salem at the same place. He died January 5, 1811, and his will on file in the probate records covers six closely written pages and is one of the finest to be found of the old wills. His wife at his decease was Hannah, indicating a second marriage. His son, John Dexter, was made executor. His only daughter, Mehitable Cleveland, of Charlestown, was mentioned, as well as his daughter-in-law, Dorothy,
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the wife of John Dexter. A large amount of property was listed. and the funeral charges amounted to $418.80.
TRENCH, WILLIAM,-married by Rev. Mr. Roby, May 15, 1778, to Mary Wait.
Private, Captain Ezra Newhall's company, Colonel Mansfield's regiment; order for advance pay signed by said Trench and others, dated Cambridge, June 8, 1775; also private, same company and regiment: mnster-roll dated August 1, 1775; enlisted May 1, 1775, service, one month, ten days; also Captain Newhall's company, Col- onel Mansfield's regiment, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Israel Ilutchinson; company return dated October 6. 1775; reported en- listed into the train June 8, 1775; also bombardier, Captain Edward Burbeck's company, Colonel Richard Gridley's regiment (artillery); muster-roll dated August 1, 1775; enlisted June 8, 1775; service, one month, twenty-five days; also company return dated October 7, 1775; also order for bounty coat dated Cambridge, December 22, 1775.
TUFTS, DAVID,-corporal, was born in 1763; married three times, first to Jane Massey, by Rev. Obadiah Parsons, May 18, 1788. She was the daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Ilart) Massey, born in Lynn, January 30, 1767. Their children were Jane, David, Samuel, and Sally. Jane, the mother, died November 16, 1795. He married, sec- David Tify ond, by Rev. Mr. Thatcher, December 25. 1796, Elizabeth Mansfield, danghter of Richard and Elizabeth (Whitte- more) Mansfield, born March 29, 1769. Their children were Richard, Eliza. She died August 22, 1801. He married, third, by Rev. Mr. Thatcher, January 16, 1803, Eunice Hart daughter of Sergeant Joseph and Eunice (Burrill) Hart, born November 8, 1770. Their children were Mary, Frances, Joseph Hart, William, Francis, Mary, Joseph Hart. The children are buried near him in the old Western Ground, as are also the first two wives. Eunice died June 20, 1854, in Connecticut. Ile died July 6, 1823, at the age of sixty. The home of David Tufts was an old house, which stood on the corner of Federal Street and Western Avenue, torn down many years ago. He kept one or two horses, and ran the first express busi- ness in Lynn. He died intestate, and the inventory of his property showed a dwelling-house, barn and buildings adjoining the Lynn Hotel, also eleven acres of land on Pine Hill. The pension records show that
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HOME OF DAVID TUFTS, CORNER OF FEDERAL STREET AND WESTERN AVENUE
Lynn in the Revolution
he enlisted in Billerica, and served his full time. When he made appli- cation for a pension, April 7, 1818, he stated that he was greatly reduced in circumstances. His discharge from the war was signed by General Henry Knox, commanding the forces on the Hudson, December 23, 1783. Pensioned from April 7, 1818, at $8 per month, with $39.46 back pay. Eunice, his wife, was pensioned at $80 per year from Feb- ruary 3, 1853.
TUFTS, GRIMES,-probably the Grimes who was married by Rev. John Treadwell, June 23, 1770, to Mary Witt. His children were Grimes twice, Ivory, Aaron, William, Mark, and Mary. His wife died Octo- ber 11, 1783, and he married, second, October 19, 1794, Mary Tur- rell, who died July 17, 1804. His own death occurred on the 23d of December, 1805. Letters testamentary were granted on his estate February 4, 1806, the inventory showing a house, barn, and five poles of land. He is supposed to be buried in the old Western Ground.
According to the Massachusetts rolls, Grimes Tufts was second lieu- tenant in Captain Ezra Newhall's company, Colonel John Mansfield's regiment; roll dated October 6, 1775; also sergeant, Captain Ezra Newhall's company of minute-men which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775; service, five days; enlisted as ensign in Captain New- hall's company, Colonel John Mansfield's regiment, April 24, 1775; commissioned ensign June 7, 1775; service, three months, fifteen days. TURNER, EDWARD,-private, Captain Rufus Mansfield's 4th Lynn com- pany which marched April 19, 1775; service, two days.
A man of this name also appears in Captain Joseph Morse's com- pany, Lieutenant-Colonel Putnam's regiment, January 1, 1777, to December 26, 1777, when he is reported to have died.
TUTTLE, EBENEZER,-private, Captain Zadock Buffinton's company, Colonel Samuel Johnson's regiment; enlisted August 15, 1777; service to Novem- ber 30, 1777; three months, sixteen days; discharged at Cambridge.
TUTTLE, EDWARD,-returned as a seaman in exchange for British prisoners sent to New York in the cartel brig " Favorite," exchanged for Timothy Drummond; perhaps also a private in Captain Stephen Wilkins's company, Colonel Wigglesworth's regiment; travel from Albany to Danvers sworn to January 15, 1777.
TUTTLE, JOHN,-third in line from Richard Tuttle, of Boston, who came here in the ship "Planter" in 1635. His grandmother was Mary,
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daughter of Edward Holyoke, of Lynn. John Tuttle was born October 16, 1728, in Rumney Marsh, now Chelsea, and inherited his father's estate. He was married December 14, 1752, by Rev. Mr. Hench- man, to Mary Burrill, daughter of Ebenezer Burrill, Esq. In 1772, with the consent of his wife, Mary, he sold his farm in Chelsea and came to Lynn. His sons, Ezra and John, were both in the Revolution, and Ezra, the younger, who died in 1854, at the age of ninety, remembered his father well and always spoke of him as a Revolutionary soldier. There are those now living who remember the statement of Ezra that his father came into the house and bade the family good-bye, saying, "The British are upon us," and, taking his gun, left never to return. The family tradition is that the father was killed in 1778. Mary Bur- rill, John's wife, is buried in the old Western Ground in a marked grave with the following inscription: "Here lies the body of Mrs. Mary Tuttle, wife of Mr. John Tuttle and daughter of Ebenezer Burrill, Esq. who died Aug. 6, 1778, in the 46th year of her age." As no stone appears to the memory of John, the tradition that he was killed and lost may be true, although from the record on the Masachusetts rolls it would appear that he was in the war through 1780.
TUTTLE, JOHN, Jr.,-son of John and Mary (Burrill) Tuttle, was born April 18, 1756. A pension of five dollars per month was paid to a John Tuttle, private in the Massachusetts troops, Revolutionary War, in 1801. This was last paid March 3, 1807, marked "dead." This is simply a record in an ancient book in Washington. An application is not on file, for the papers filed in the pension claims prior to 1814 were destroyed that year by fire.
TUTTLE, RICHARD,-born in 1755, married September 28, 1779, by Rev. Mr. Roby to Eunice Burrill. He was a private in Captain Addison Richardson's company, Colonel Jacob Gerrish's regiment of guards; enlisted October 18, 1779; discharged November 22, 1779; one monthı, sixteen days, service at Claverack. Another record gives the follow- ing: Enlisted last of December, 1775, to serve in the new army for one year; private, Captain Richard Dodge's company, Colonel Loammi Baldwin's regiment; age. twenty; residence, Lynn; enlistment dated December 8, 1775; also Zadock Buffinton's company, Colonel Sam- uel Johnson's regiment, August 20 to November 30, 1777, three months, eleven days; discharged at Cambridge. Appears on an order at
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Chelsea March 18, 1777. He made application for a pension March 31, 1818, at which time he was a resident of Chelsea. He died at Bur- lington, Mass., March 2, 1835, leaving three sons, Israel, of Saugus, Ebenezer, of Lynn, and Aaron, of Burlington.
TUTTLE, SAMUEL,-first child of John and Mary (Burrill) Tuttle, was born at Chelsea, Mass., on November 2, 1753. He emigrated to St. Stephen, N.B .. when his father sold his farm in 1772, and when he was about nineteen years old.
"And when in 1791 the island [Moose Island, now Eastport) was surveyed, by order of the General Court of Massachusetts, nearly all of them [meaning the claimants of land upon which they had previ- ously "squatted"] received grants of the lots which at first they occu- pied without title, or perhaps only claim of title, and among these were - and Tuttle, of St. Stephen. Grant No. 2 of 100 acres ran to Sam- uel Tuttle under claim of title so early as 1772. It is probable that before the war he visited this locality on a fishing exhibition, and then set up his claim, for he did not become a resident of the island till the fall of 1783."
But, when he learned that the gradual encroachments of the mother government upon the political rights of the colonists had provoked them to armed resistance, he hastened back to his native town of Chel- sea to lend such assistance to the movement as patriotism should direct. In pursuance of this resolution he is found serving in Captain Sam- uel Sprague's company on the "Alarm of April 19, 1775," otherwise known as the battle of Lexington.
In his application to the general government in 1832 for a pen- sion as a Revolutionary soldier it is learned he was engaged in the important battles of Bemis Heights, which occurred in September and October, 1777, and which resulted in the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga a few days later.
The following is a summary of Samuel Tuttle's application for a pension as a soldier of the Revolutionary War :-
He served six months in 1776 as sergeant in Captain Newhall's com- pany, Colonel Putnam's regiment, State of Massachusetts; eighteen months in 1777-78 as sergeant and lieutenant in Captains Gray and Williams's companies, Colonel Craft's and Greaton's regiments; took part in the battles of Bemis Heights; was a resident of Lynn,
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Mass., when he enlisted; was a resident of Washington County, Maine, when he applied for a pension, on September 28, 1832, at the age of seventy-eight years. His claim was allowed.
Sqmre Tuttle, as he was generally known throughout Washington County and the neighboring New Brunswick towns of St. Stephen and St. Andrews, was a man of great energy and industry, and his activities were to a considerable extent identified with the welfare and progress of the struggling town of Eastport in the first part of the last century. His attire up to the time of his death, April 27, 1845, was that of the old- time colonial gentleman,-knee breeches with buckles, long waistcoat, with capacious pockets, elaborately frilled shirt-bosom, and hair braided en queue.
His first wife was Lydia Meachem, and his second the widow Betsey Buxton. By his first wife he had nine children: Samuel, Lydia (Liver- more), Eben Burrill, Mary (Cutter), John, Absalom, Isaac, Jacob, and Edward.
TUTTLE, WILLIAM,-son of Joanna, baptized June 16, 1745; married by Abner Cheever May 25, 1788, to Elizabeth, daughter of David and Elizabeth Newman. June 20, 1820, he appeared before the Court of Common Pleas at Salem and made oath that he was worth $12, sixty-one years of age, laborer, lame in knee and very infirm, wife aged fifty-three and son William, aged eighteen. Served in Captain Grant's company, Colonel Glover's regiment, in 1776, and then three years in Captain Whipple's company, Colonel Putnam's regiment, and then enlisted to serve during the war in several compames. At the end of the war was in Captaiu Benson's company. He lived in Saugus; served six years; pensioned at the rate of $8.
Under list of soldiers who had land grants, he was given a claim for 100 acres, location unknown. He died September 14, 1828, at the age of eighty-three years.
TWIST, BENJAMIN,-private, was probably born in Danvers, son of Ben- jamin Twist, who was assessed in the North Parish first in 1760, and died November 16, 1761. Benjamin, Jr., was probably the soldier who served in the French and Indian War from March 19 to November 1, 1759, in the company of Captain Israel David, of Danvers. He was married by Rev. Mr. Adams, of Lynnfield, October 11, 1770, to Rebecca Gowing, daughter of Gideon, born October 12, 1747. Ile evidently
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moved to Saugus, for he appears on the roll of Captain Parker's com- pany. Nothing further is known of him.
TWIST, EPHRAIM,-was one of the companions of Henry Hallowell at Trenton when they fell sick and were carried to Philadelphia. He died there about January 1, 1777, as did also Mr. Newman and Mr. Ralph Lindsay. UPTON, ABRAHAM,-private, son of Abraham and Susanna (Upton) Upton, was born in North Reading, Mass., March 28, 1757. His father was a tailor, and lived in Lynnfield between 1760 and 1770. He moved back to Reading, however, where he died July 7, 1795, aged sixty-six. Abraham, the son, served in Captain Bancroft's company of minute- men at the Lexington alarm. After the battle of Lexington he enlisted in Captain John Baker's company, Colonel Israel Hutchinson's regi- ment, and served until the 1st of January, 1776, doing guard duty during the siege of Boston. Ile received an order for a bounty coat at Winter Hill, December 25, 1775. When the troops of General Bur- goyne arrived in Cambridge in the fall of 1778, he enlisted as private in Captain Miles Greenwood's company, Colonel Jacob Gerrish's regiment, and served from November 11, 1777, to April 3, 1778, guard- ing the captured British Army.
Either during or soon after the war he moved to Salem. He mar- ried Judith Bacheller, of Andover, April 27, 1794. After her death he married, second, December '31, 1800, Phœbe Howard, of Salem. They had one child, Judith. He died in Salem, August 29, 1818, aged sixty-one, and is buried in the Howard Street burial-ground. His grave is marked with a slate stone.
UPTON, JOHN,-private, does not appear upon precinct or church records in Lynnfield. It is quite probable that he was the son of John and John Uptom Susanna (Daggett) Upton, born in Danvers, November 9, 1746, and that he married Joanna Dodge, of Beverly, July 17, 1767. Their son John was born July 19, 1769. His only service was at the Lexington alarm. He died April 11, 1824, aged seventy-seven. His wife died May 1, 1821. Children, John, who married Mary Needham, Stephen, Daniel, Daniel, Hannah, Mary, Nathaniel, Ebenezer Sprague.
UPTON, LIEUTENANT JOHN,-Was the son of John and Tabitha Upton, born October 16, 1746, married, first, by Rev. Joseph Roby to Sally
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Pool, May 5, 1768. His wife, probably of Sangus, died March 26, 1799, aged fifty-one. They had one son, John. His second marriage was to Hannah Nichols, in November, 1800. She died September 17, 1837, aged eighty-nine. Lieutenant John Upton was the fifth John in the line from John who was born in 1620. His home was in Lynn- field, on the place now owned by Mr. Frank Hart, and the house still standing on Chestnut Street is one of the best specimens of the old houses in Lynnfield. Here he passed his long life, a cordwainer, like his father, though owning land and carrying on other business. He was a man of good mind and strong character, in personal appear- ance of medium height, portly, and dignified. In politics in the later years of his life, he was a Federalist, strongly opposed to the Jeffersonian school of Democrats. His military record given in the Massachusetts rolls is as follows :--
Ensign in Captain Ezra Newhall's company, April 19, 1775; ser- vice, five days; also lieutenant, muster-roll of Captain Ezra Newhall's company, Colonel Mansfield's regiment, dated Angust 1, 1775; enlisted April 24, 1775; service, three months, fifteen days; commissioned lieutenant June 7, 1775; also company return, same company, dated October 6, 1775.
In his application for a pension, August 11, 1832, at the age of eighty- five, application being made under the act of that year, his deposition states that after the battle of Lexington he was appointed as lieutenant in a company of infantry commanded by Captain Ezra Newhall, in the regiment of Colonel John Mansfield, in which he served eight months, from April, 1775, to January, 1776, at which time the regiment was disbanded at Cambridge. Ilis commission filed at Washington, with his application for a pension, is in superb shape, and is reproduced in this volume. John Winn, of Salem, made oath at the time that he was well acquainted with Upton, having known him for sixty years, and having lived in the house with him in 1775. Winn also distinctly remembered having visited him in camp at Cambridge. The declara- tion was made before Judge Cummings, Upton being too feeble to appear. He was pensioned at $106.47 per year from March 4, 1831, receiving $213.34 back pay.
Lieutenant Upton died in Lynnfield, April 30, 1838, and is buried in the old burying-ground in Lynnfield Centre, The gravestone has
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the droll inscription describing one wife "deposited on the right" and the other "deposited on the left."
VIALL, NATHANIEL,-son of Samuel and Mary (Tuttle) Viall, was born in the old Boynton house, Cliftondale, March 28, 1762. He married Betsey Clark, February 13, 1784. September 8, 1787, he moved to Jamaica, Vt., and in 1821 to Dorset, Vt., Of his fifteen children, twelve sons and three daughters, all lived to grow up. They were Sally, Nathaniel, Mary, Samuel, John, Ellis, Burrell, Bennett, James, Thomas Lee, Jasper, Asa B., Eliza, and Sullivan. The son, Samuel, who was born in Jamaica, Vt., May 24, 1789, died in Lynn, March 31, 1865, and is buried in Pine Grove Cemetery. He is noted as a soldier of the War of 1812. The Vialls were of Scotch descent and traceable to John Viall, born in 1611, who came to Boston. Nathaniel was a farmer, cleared up his own land in Vermont, and lived in a log house. Both he and his wife died in Dorset, Vt., where they were buried, a monument bearing the inscription, "A soldier of the Revolution." Nathaniel's death occurred October 6, 1846, and that of his wife, Betsey, October 1, 1849. Both were pensioners, he having enlisted in Feb- ruary, 1779, at Lynn, serving in Captain Nathan Sargent's company, of Malden, at Fort Hill, guarding troops. He was also a private in Captain Addison Richardson's company, Colonel Wade's regiment. from August 1 to December 1, 1781; also private in Captain Ralph Thompson's company, Lieutenant-Colonel Webb's regiment. He was at West Point at the time of Arnold's treason.
VIALL, SAMUEL,-son of Samuel and Mary (Tuttle) Viall and brother of Nathaniel, was born June 4, 1759, lived with his parents in the old Boynton House, Cliftondale, until after the Revolution, when he re- moved to Vermont. He was married by Rev. Mr. Roby, of Saugus. to Susanna Stocker, March 8, 1788. His son, Boynton Viall, was a famous maker of gravestones, and had a shop on Market Street, Lynn, near the present Harrison Court. His other children were Stocker and Sally. Den Niel He died in Manchester, Vt., December 22, 1851, aged ninety-two years, six months. His wife, Susanna, died March 7, 1838, aged seventy. He enlisted in the army from Lynn, March 1, 1777, and served six years as private, corporal, and sergeant, Colonel Greaton's regiment. He ap-
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pears with the rank of private on the Continental Army pay accounts from March 1, 1777, to December 1, 1780. From 1781 to 1783 as a sergeant. Ile was in several engagements and was at the capture of Burgoyne. Ile was granted a pension under the act of 1818 of $8 per month. During the latter part of his life, which was spent in Ver- mont, he at one time kept the toll-gate at the foot of the Green Mountains, near Manchester. In 1798 he broke his leg and was left a cripple. He died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Eli Thatcher.
WAITT, EZRA,-born in 1755, in Saugus, was the son of Ezra and Sarah (Hawkes) Waitt, who were married March 8, 1752, by Rev. Mr. Roby. Ezra, the son, was married by Rev. Mr. Roby to Sarah Hutchinson. May 15, 1778. Soon after his marriage he moved to East Malden. where he died July 2, 1831, at the age of seventy-six. He is buried in a marked grave in the Salem Street cemetery, Malden. ITis wife, Sarah, died in Malden, September 27. 1839, aged eighty-two. In the Essex probate records appears the following: "On Aug. 14, 1771, Ezra Waitt being a minor of fifteen, Joseph Edmunds was appointed his guardian, while Samuel Viall and Ephraim Brown appear as witnesses. He was the son of Ezra lately deceased." Ezra, senior, died in 1765, and the widow, Sarah, married John Adam Dagyr. Ezra, Jr., was hog- reeve in 1778. The latter appears in an order for a bounty coat or its equivalent in money, Captain Edward Burbeck's Company, Colonel Richard Gridley's regiment, January 6, 1776; also matross, Captain Burbeck's company, Colonel Gridley's artillery regiment; enlisted June 8, 1775; service, one month, twenty-fivedays; residence, Lynn: also appears on a transfer from Captain Ezra Newhall's company to Cap- tain Burbeck's company.
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