USA > Ohio > Ohio early state and local history > Part 16
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Ebenezer Locke's service in the Revolution was first as private in Captain John Wood's Company, Colonel Baldwin's
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38th Regiment, August 1775. As he did not join the regiment until four months after its formation, he probably went from his home to camp and enlisted there. The regiment was stationed a greater portion of the time at Chelsea.
At the expiration of its first service, the regiment was re- enlisted for twelve months to January 1, 1777. On the pay abstract of 1776 of Captain Wood's Company, he is reported as discharged, 320 miles from home, with travel allowances. He again re-enlisted, April 1, 1777, for three years, in Captain Munro's Company, Colonel Bigelow's 15th Regiment, Massa- chusetts line, where on the pay-roll he is reported to have served as private and as corporal for three months in Captain Bow- man's Company. In 1786 he was pensioned because of a wound in the thigh, received while in service in the Massa- chusetts line.
Nathaniel Richmond, Jr., enlisted in June 1779, in the Second Massachusetts Regiment of the Continental Army, at the age of sixteen; and was discharged at Newburgh, New York, by General Washington, June 10, 1783, after four years service.
He was engaged in the battles of White Plains and Valen- tine's Mill.
His service was rendered under Captain Abner Haywood's Company, Colonel John Bailey's Regiment; and under Captain Bradford, Colonel Ebenezer Sprout's Regiment. His residence at the time of his enlistment was Pelham, Mass.
Nathaniel Richmond, Jr., was also a soldier in the War of 1812.
Nathaniel Richmond, father of Nathaniel, Jr., served as a private in Captain Abner Haywood's Company, Second Massachusetts Regiment, commanded successively by Colonel John Bailey, and Lieutenant Colonel Ebenezer Sprout.
He enlisted August 1779 for nine months; re-enlisted Octo- ber 30, 1779 for the war. He was transferred July 20, 1780, to the Colonel's Company in the same Regiment. His name is last found on the Company muster-roll for April 1781. His residence at the time of his enlistment was Middleborough, Mass.
John Richmond, the first emigrant and American ancestor, was born at the Manor of Ashton-Keynes, Wiltshire, England,
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in 1594, and came first to Saco, in the Province of Maine, under Captain William Gorges, about 1635. A year or two later he removed to Taunton, Mass., where he was one of the original purchasers. He was a colonel in the civil war of Eng- land, where he spent the years from 1643 to 1655.
His son John married Abigal Rogers, daughter of John Rogers of Duxbury, who, with his father Thomas, had come to America in the Mayflower. Thomas died during that first terrible winter. John was twice a member of committees of the town of Taunton, 1672 and 1675, for the purchase of tracts of land from the Sachem, King Philip, and his headmen. In 1677 he was distributor of £10, which was the township's ap- portionment of a fund of £363, 3s, called the "Irish Charity," sent from Dublin, in 1676, to distressed sufferers," in King Philip's War, and apportioned among the people of forty-seven towns.
Jonathan Abbott, born in Salem, Mass., April 1, 1723, and died in West Brookfield, January 26, 1805, was an Ensign in Captain Aaron Rice's Company of Colonel Browns' Regiment in the Crown Point Expedition, from September 15 to Decem- ber 12, 1755. It is believed that he was a member and clerk of Captain Jacob Abbott's Company in the Fort William Henry Expedition of 1757. He was a member of Captain Asa Dan- forth's Company of Volunteers that marched from Brookfield, September 23, 1777, to join General Gates' Army, and was in the Battle of Saratoga, October 7, 1777.
Jonathan Abbott was of the fifth generation of Abbotts in America, George Abbott, who was born in England, having settled at Rowley, Essex County, Massachusetts in 1642.
The Abbott family were conspicuous in the early wars and during the Revolution-Captain Moses Abbott, brother of Jonathan, commanding after the death of Captain Wilson, that company of Minute Men who fought at Concord Bridge, and to which is given the honor of having carried the only banner or flag known to have been carried in the Battle of Lexington. This banner now belongs to the Town of Bedford, Massachusetts, and is carefully preserved under glass in the village library.
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The compiler of the Abbott history, says: "It is of heavy, durable, crimson silk, but little faded by age, the device an armored arm, the hand grasping a sword, exquisitely painted a soft steel gray, in oil, the Latin motto on the flag translated, 'Conquer or die.'" "It is," says Major Abbott, "one of the handsomest banners ever seen by the writer, after the ex- perience of a lifetime as a professional soldier, the art, taste in combination and fabric, being superior to anything in its line of the present day." The "belte, boote, and swible" are gone, and the silver fringe. Said a lady of Bedford, past ninety years of age: "I took that silver fringe from that flag when I was a giddy girl, and trimmed a dress for a military ball. I was never more sorry for anything than that which resulted in the loss of the fringe." Thus we can see how little past generations valued that which our Nation today and our organization especially are endeavoring to preserve.
It is a well founded tradition in the family that Jonathan was with his brother Moses in this company of Bedford Minute Men.
Moses Abbott, son of Jonathan, the Revolutionary soldier, emigrated from Massachusetts about 1814, first moving to Oneida County, New York, and in 1823 coming to Seneca County, and settling near Tiffin.
We have admitted into our Chapter, eleven descendants of Jonathan Abbott.
Thomas Wellington (also spelled Willington), was born in Waltham, Mass., 1714, thus being over sixty years of age at the outbreak of the War. He however, loyal to the Colonies, served on the Massachusetts Committee of Safety. He died in Watertown, November 4th, 1783.
The earliest record of the Spooners in America, shows that William I, who died in 1684, arrived at New Plymouth in 1637. His son, William II, served as a Lieutenant in the Colonial Wars, and married for his wife, Alice Warren, grand-daughter of Richard Warren, who came over in the Mayflower. Her mother, Sarah Walker Warren, was the ancestress of General U. S. Grant of the Civil War, and President of the United States from 1869 to 1877.
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Benjamin, the son of William II, was a man of culture and influence, moving to Middleborough about 1720. There he purchased a large tract of land on Elder's Pond, in the town- ship now called Lakeville. Here was born, October 23, 1743, a son, also called Benjamin, who inherited his father's farm. He was a soldier in the French and Indian War, and also in the Revolution, serving a long time. He was Sergeant in Captain Washburn's Company. He died in 1827, leaving a son William, who married Abigail Bennett, a lineal descend- ant of Rev. John Cook, the latest male survivor of the May- flower.
Russell Green, who is said to have been a nephew of General Nathaniel Green, was born in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, December 27, 1760. At the time of his enlistment, he was a resident of Hancock, Mass., at which place he died in 1833. He served under Captain David Wheeler, and in 1780 marched to West Point, where he joined Captain Luke Hitchcock's Company in Colonel Ebenezer Sprout's 12th Massachusetts Regiment. He also served at Saratoga under Captains Doug- las and Clark.
To the member of our Chapter who enters on this line, attaches a most interesting ancestry on her mother's line; and as she is the fourth of our Chapter who descends from John Alden and his wife Priscilla Mullens, it may prove interesting to quote somewhat from Rev. J. D. Hammond, who has been kind enough to out-line the genealogy for us:
"Elizabeth, daughter of John and Priscilla Alden, was the first white woman to be born in New England, Peregrine White being the first child born in New England. In 1644 Elizabeth Alden married William Pabodie, who lived near her parents in Duxbury, Mass. About 1681, William Pabodie and his family moved to Little Compton, Rhode Island, where he died in 1707, at the age of eighty-seven. His wife Elizabeth, surviv- ed him for ten years. The quaint old blue slate stone in Little Compton cemetery says:
Here lieth the body of Elizabeth Pabodie who died May ye 31st, 1717, and in the 94th year of her age.
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The Boston News Letter of June 17, 1717, has this item:
"Little Compton, 31st of May.
"This morning died here Mrs. Elizabeth Paybody, late wife of Mr. Wm. Paybody, in the 93rd year of her age. She was the daughter of John Alden and Priscilla his wife, daughter of Mr. William Mullins. She was exemplary, virtuous, and pious and her memory is blessed. Her grand-daughter is a grand-mother." This old couplet was said of her:
"Rise daughter, to thy daughter run,
Her daughter's daughter hath a son."
Elizabeth Pabodie, great grand-daughter of the Elizabeth just mentioned, was married in 1769 to Nathaniel Hammond, who descended from William and Elizabeth Hammond of London, England, this Elizabeth being a sister of Sir William Penn, Admiral, and Aunt of William the Quaker.
From Nathaniel Hammond and his wife Elizabeth, descends our Chapter member, Mrs. Anna Ruth Hammond Epley.
Josiah Rawson, of Massachusetts, served his country in its struggle for Independence. He was born January 31, 1727, and in 1750 married Hannah Bass, also a lineal descendant of John and Priscilla (Mullins) Alden. The early history of the Rawson family shows them to be people of great ability and distinction. In English heraldry, they are authentically traced back to 1380.
Edward Rawson, who came to New England in 1636, was born in Dorsetshire, England, in 1615. Before coming to America he married Rachel Perne, grand-daughter of that John Hooker, whose wife was a Grindall, sister of Edmund Grindall, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and of whom it was said, "His book was his bride, his study his bride-chamber."
The narrative of the career of Edward Rawson in his New England home is a most interesting one, but lack of space pre- vents giving it here. He held numerous offices of trust, the most important being that of Secretary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which he held from 1650 to 1686.
The great grand-son of Edward, was Josiah, who served in the Revolution, with rank of private, in Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Williams' Regiment, in Captain Benton Ritty's Com-
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pany, and from whom descends the present generations of Rawsons in Tiffin, Mrs. Don R. Gibson, being the only repre- sentative in our Chapter.
Another patriot to serve his country was Ezra Jennings, who was Sergeant in Captain Sullivan's Company, Colonel Whiting's Regiment, commanded by Lieut -. Col. Jonathan Dimon, from October 5th to 30th, 1777. This regiment was stationed at Peekskill, New York.
We have on our Honor Roll from Massachusetts, two more soldiers, father and son, who served the land of their fathers with unflinching loyalty. They came from sturdy New Eng- land stock, John Wheeler and his wife Ann, coming from Eng- land on the ship "Mary and John," in 1634. They settled in Massachusetts, John Wheeler dying at Newbury in 1670. The great grand-son of John, Colonel Philip Wheeler, served in the militia during the Colonial period. Aaron, the son of Colonel Philip, was born in Rehoboth, January 1722, and was a private in the Revolutionary War. He marched on alarm from Rehoboth, Mass., to Tiverton, Rhode Island, in Lieut. Dryer's Company, Col. Carpenter's Regiment. His son, Aaron, Jr., served as Lieut. in the Company of Samuel Bliss, Regi- ment of Col. Williams. The Rev. John Wheeler, son of Aaron, Jr., served in the War of 1812, from York State. His wife was Mary Franklin, who, family tradition says, was a great niece of Benjamin Franklin. They moved to Ohio about 1818 or 1820, bringing some of their family with them; others were born in Ohio. John Wheeler was a Baptist minister, and well known for some distance from his home at Steuben, Ohio. He died at the age of ninety-one, having raised a family of seven sons and one daughter.
Josiah Haskell was another patriot who served his country well in the War for Independence. He enlisted in January, 1781, as a private in Captain Thorpe's Company, Colonel John Brooks' 7th Massachusetts Regiment, and served later under Captain Coburn, until June, 1783. He took part in the Battle of Yorktown, when Cornwallis surrendered.
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Massachusetts Honor Roll and Descendant Chapter Members.
ABBOTT, ENSIGN JONATHAN:
Abbott, Anna E. (Miss);
Abbott, Leota B. (Miss);
Abbott, Rena Marie (Miss); Crider, Ida Abbott (Mrs. John H.);
Crider, Frances Eugenia (Miss);
Crum, Elvira Abbott (Mrs. Rolland);
Gooding, Gertrude Umsted (Mrs. H. B.);
Lott, Louise Abbott (Mrs. John L.);
Michaels, Ola B. (Miss);
Michaels, Corine Derr (Miss);
Vickery, Rena Abbott (Mrs. J. D.).
BROWN, CAPTAIN BENJAMIN:
Gibson, Lucy McNeal (Mrs. Don R.); Weirick, Florence Bagby (Mrs. Upton L.).
GREEN, RUSSELL: Epley, Anna Ruth Hammond (Mrs. Henry C.).
HASKELL, JOSIAH:
Dudrow, Adelle Crockett (Mrs. William);
Rule, Mary Dudrow (Mrs. Marcus).
JENNINGS, SERGEANT EZRA: Jennings, Grace Wheeler (Miss).
LOCKE, EBENEZER:
Wilcox, Calista Kittie Richmond (Mrs. Edward).
LOCKE, JOHN:
Hazlett, Sallie Locke (Mrs. A. J.); Locke, Carrie Marie (Miss).
RAWSON, JOSIAH: Gibson, Lucy McNeal (Mrs. Don R.);
RICHMOND, NATHANIEL, SR .:
RICHMOND, NATHANIEL, JR .: Hepburn, Alice Richmond (Miss); Wilcox, Calista Kittie Richmond (Mrs. Edward).
RUSSELL, CAPTAIN JAMES: Dresbach, Mary Virginia (Miss); Dresbach, Maria Louise (Miss); Kaup, Clara Dresbach (Mrs. Benjamin F.). SPOONER, BENJAMIN: Ink, Sibyl (Miss).
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WELLINGTON, THOMAS: Spofford, Grace Harriet (Miss). WHEELER, AARON, SR .: WHEELER, AARON, JR .: Kenney, Emma V. Smith (Mrs. Melvin P.); Van Tine, Orvilla Susan (Miss).
CONNECTICUT.
None of the Colonies were more ready and willing to give their all to the cause of Liberty than Connecticut. It is said that 32,000 of the 40,000 male inhabitants, a larger proportion than of any other Colony, served in the War for Independence.
The closing of the Port of Boston and the arrival of armed ships, aroused the indignation of the people here as elsewhere, and long before the Governor called for troops, Connecticut's sons were gathering men in squads and drilling them in prep- aration for the coming conflict. When the call came, it found them ready and eager for the fray.
With the news of the Lexington Alarm in April 1775, the Connecticut troops were prepared to march to the scene of action. Among these was Jabez Parsons, who was born at Enfield, Conn., July 15, 1754, thus being not quite twenty-one years of age when he entered the Army. He served as a private at the Battle of Lexington and from December 1775 to March, 1776. He was Sergeant in Col. Wolcott's Regiment. Sep- tember 1777, he was promoted to Quartermaster of the 2d Connecticut. In 1778 he was made Regimental Quartermaster, and again promoted in 1779 to a First Lieutenantcy. He resigned in May, 1781, having been in active service six years.
After the close of the war Jabez Parsons took up his home in New Hampshire, engaging in commercial ventures, and en- joyed prosperous returns until the passage of the Embargo act. As a result of that measure, he lost his property. He then moved to the State of New York, living in Albany, Utica, and Rochester, and finally moving to Erie County, Ohio, where
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several of his children had previously settled. He died in Huron, Ohio, December 24, 1836, and is buried in Scott ceme- tery near that village.
From Canterbury, Conn., there were two soldiers whose names are on our Honor Roll.
Asa Daius, who was in actual service for fifteen months, under Captain Cady, in Colonel Chapman's Regiment. Asa Daius received a pension for his services, and after his death, which occurred in Meigs County, Ohio, in 1842, his wife Jane, was granted a widow's pension.
Dr. Silas Allen, born in Canterbury, Conn., February 9th, 1754, was appointed Surgeon to the Connecticut troops in July, 1780. A grand-daughter of his, living in 1910 in Delaware, Ohio, who was then ninety-five years of age, remembered him well, and spoke of his reputation as a man of endurance and bravery.
The member of our Chapter (Mrs. William H. Hopple) who is a descendant of Dr. Allen, and also of John and Priscilla Alden, has kindly furnished us the following sketch of her line:
"My grand-mother, Rachel Allen, was a lineal descendant through the male line for seven generations from the first Samuel Allen, who came to Massachusetts, from Brigdewater, Somerset county, England, in 1620.
This Allen family gave over forty sons to the Revolution, of whom one was Ethan Allen. The wives of these generations of Allens all came from famous New England families. The wife of Dr. Silas Allen, the Revolutionary Surgeon, was Mary Cleveland, a lineal descendant in the fifth generation from Moses Cleveland, who came from Ipswich, England, in 1635 and settled in Woburn, Mass. Her father fought in the Revo- lution, and this family produced General Moses Cleveland, the founder of the City of Cleveland, Ohio; and also in the eighth generation, Grover Cleveland, Ex-President of the United States.
The mother of Dr. Silas Allen was Elizabeth Fuller, of the famous New England Fuller family. The grand-mother of Dr. Allen came also of the same Fuller family, being Rebecca, daughter of Preston Fuller. These women were both descend-
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ants of John and Priscilla Alden; Dr. Silas Allen's great-grand- mother being the wife of Samuel Allen III, and daughter of Joseph, son of John and Priscilla Alden. This makes the writer a descendant of John and Priscilla through two lines.
Mary Alden's brother Joseph, also married Mehitable Allen, sister of Samuel III, thus making three marriages between the Alden and Allen families of early Colonial history.
Sarah, the sister of Samuel Allen II, father of Samuel III, married Lieut. Joseph Standish, son of General Myles Standish, and became the ancestor of the writer's great grand-mother, Sarah Bull Howard, thus making her also a lineal descendant of Myles Standish."
It might perhaps be of interest to many in these days to know just how a commission of 1777 read. The following is an exact copy of the original commission of Moses Warren, of Lyme, Conn .:
JONATHAN TRUMBULL. ESQUIRE, Captain General and Commander in Chief of the State of Connecticut in America.
To Moses Warren, Esquire, Greeting:
You being by the Governor and Council of the State, accepted and appointed to be Captain of the Second Company in Lyme of the Alarm List in the Third Regiment of Militia in said State; reposing special trust and confidence in your Fidelity, Courage, and good Conduct, I do, by virtue of the Laws of this State, me thereunto enabling, appoint and em- power you, the said Moses Warren, to be Captain of said Company; you are therefore carefully and diligently to discharge the Duty of a Captain in Leading, Ordering, and Exercising the said Company in Arms, both inferior officers and soldiers, and to keep them in good order, and see that they are armed and equipped according to Law for Military Service, hereby commanding them to obey you as their Captain and yourself to observe and follow such Orders and Instructions as you shall from time to time receive from me or the Commander in Chief of this State for the time being, or other your superior officer, according to Rules and Discipline of War, ordained and established by the Laws of this State aforesaid, pursuant to the Trust hereby reposed in you.
Given under my Hand and Seal at Arms at Lebanon on the 21st day of March, Anno Domini 1777.
Jonth Trumbull.
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Joshua R. Warren, the father of Moses, was one of the early settlers of Massachusetts Colony. He married Elizabeth Harris and to them was born in 1724 a son, whom they called Moses. He married Judette Bailey of Rhode Island, and settled at Lyme, Conn., dying there in 1805. It has been said of him that "his long life was one of usefulness and honor in the service of his town and his country."
Nathaniel Harris, who was born in Colchester (now Salem), Conn., in 1743, and died there in 1812, also served his country during the Revolution as a Captain of Militia.
All through the long years of suffering and danger during the war, the Connecticut patriots nobly bore their share of the hardships and in 1781, the troops were ordered home to defend the Port of New London. Col. William Ledyard was in command of New London, Groton, and Stonington, with Capt. William Latham commanding the guns at Groton, the present location of Fort Griswold.
At the close of the Summer of 1781, there was a general rejoicing over Washington's out-generaling of Sir Henry Clin- ton; and while the people knew that the British had long looked with envious eyes upon the Port of New London, there was a greater feeling of safety than there had previously been.
There was, too, good reason for feeling more secure, because so many of the soldiers were home-some on furlough-but the greater number discharged. Among those killed in Fort Griswold the following morning, were fourteen who bore the rank of Captain, as did also three who were wounded.
What reason the British had for making this attack, will probably never be definitely known; but as has been said- "Arnold was at this time idle and impatient"-and he was chosen to command the expedition.
A wise choice for the British, as Arnold had been born at Norwich and was familiar with the country. No doubt here were men who had gallantly followed Arnold in the Cana- dian Expedition, and were to witness the spectacle of seeing him take up arms against his old friends and neighbors-not in honorable able warfare, but in brutal massacre and holo- caust. On the morning of that beautiful 6th of September,
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there came the alarm that an English Fleet had been sighted near the harbor. At three in the morning the word came to Capt. Latham, and, accompanied by his ten year old son, he hurried to the fort. The signal for alarm, to the citizens, was two guns fired in quick succession, for rejoicing three. As soon as Col. Ledyard, for whom the Captain immediately sent, arrived, he ordered the guns to be fired for help. Arnold knowing the signals, had a third gun fired in quick succession, thus keeping many away from the defense of the Fort, under the impression that good news had been received. There were only about 160 men to oppose the attacking force of 800 or 900. What a day of sadness was that, not only for the men, but for their families. Early in the day the brave fellows decided, that whatever the consequences, they would not give up the Fort. Here were gathered not one but all the men from a family-there were nine Averys, and from the Perkins family there were, to my knowledge, seven, and perhaps more.
Elnathan Perkins, with his four sons, Obadiah, Elisha, Asa, and Luke, went into the Fort in the morning of that disastrous day, and when the toll of the dead was taken, Obadiah alone lived, stabbed with three bayonet wounds, being one of the men placed in a cart and rolled down the steep embankment by the British. It was Luke Perkins who, when the flag was shot away and the British cheered, instantly raised it on a pike-pole; and Obadiah who, when Colonel Ledyard fell, immediately sprang to avenge him. The fall of Colonel Ledyard made him second in command.
As the horrible massacre continued, a British officer cried, Stop! Stop! In the name of Heaven, Stop. My soul cannot bear it."
When it was over there came the holocaust, and while across the river New London was burning, there might have been seen the solitary figure of Benedict Arnold-a second Nero- watching the ruined fort and the burning city.
I heartily agree with the Connecticut woman who said "She could never embrace the faith of the Universalists, for she knew there must be a hell for Benedict Arnold."
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Squire Luke Perkins, the father and grand-father of the Perkins of our Honor Roll, was a notable man of his day, a man of wealth and prominence. He was a member of the Gen- eral Assembly of his State from 1736 to 1776, and was one of the first judges appointed under the new government. The Journal of American History says of him:
"That he lived in luxurious appointments. He always had a large silver tankard of cider or sherry on his side-board, with refreshments for all as was the custom in those days. He always wore blue broad-cloth, with small clothes adorned with knee-buckles, and great shining silver buckles graced his shoes. His generosity with his wealth, is well demonstrated in the fact that he gave each of his five sons a farm, well stock- ed." He died January 8th, 1777, in the eighty-first year of his life and only four years previous to the battle that cut off so many of his progeny.
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