In my previous Blog, I looked at 4 of my ancestral lines with potential Revolutionary War Soldiers. One who was Nathaniel Hatch from Falmouth, Massachusetts. He probably served the least time at 3 days, but those were important days, including April 19, 1775.
The Ancestors
- The younger Anthony Snell served. The elder Anthony died before the War
- Like Anthony, he was from Dighton, Massachusetts. He served locally and in Rhode Island. He also served 3 months in support of the Continental Army. The appears to be a younger Benjamin Luther from the same area who also served.
- William Parker had extensive service including fighting at Fort Ticonderoga. He got sick during the war and died not long after his service. I am not sure if his son Isaac served or not, there were a lot of Isaac Parkers from his area who apparently served. There appears to be an Isaac Parker of Barnstable and one of Falmouth, but I believe that my Isaac was living in Nantucket when the other two Isaac’s had legal papers filed for Pensions.
- Nathaniel Hatch was serving April 19, 1775. Perhaps he never went to Lexington or Concord but was there for backup.
Bradford
My ancestor Samuel Bradford of Plymouth, Massachusetts was born in 1755, so of an age where he could have been involved. However, my Bradford web pages have him born 1761, so the same age as Anthony Snell who served in the Revolutionary War from Dighton.
I see that in the definitive book on Bradford from the Mayflower Society, there is no birth date for Samuel, but he is listed between Josiah born in 1754 and Charles born 1756. If the birth order is correct, it is likely that he was indeed born in 1755. Unfortunately, the main line in the Mayflower Book stops with Samuel’s father Josiah who died in 1777.
Here is a guess:.
However, there are many Soldiers listed in the Massachusetts book of Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolutionary War. In addition, if my ancestor Samuel Bradford was born in 1755, he would have been 25 in 1780. Perhaps he was born in 1761, or that there was another Samuel Bradford born in 1761. I also note that Samuel’s father Josiah was listed as a mariner from Plymouth in 1770. Much earlier in his life, he was listed as a cordwainer.
I have looked through the Mayflower Families Bradford Book and did not see any obvious Samuel Bradford born around 1761 from Plymouth, so that is a bit confusing. The closest that I could find was a Samuel Bradford born 9 August 1761 in Duxbury and baptized at New North Church, Boston. His father was a Captain of a schooner. However, the Revolutionary War Soldiers and Sailors mentions that Samuel Bradford was from Plymouth. One possibility is that Samuel, son of Job went off to live on his own and moved to Plymouth. I am thinking that I assumed that he was the seaman listed above and that is where I got the birth date of 1761. Bottom line is that now I am not sure that this is our man or not.
Stephen Churchill Born 1743
This is likely my ancestor Stephen Churchill:
That first statement is quite interesting: “Lieutenant, in command of a company of Minutemen, which marched April 20, 1775, in response to the alarm of April 19, 1775, to Marshfield.” Based on a recent talk I heard at my local historical society, this is what happened. There were some loyalists in Marshfield and some British troops were sent there to protect them. A ton of American troops marched up to Marshfield and the greatly outnumbered British troops fled.
Here is an AI overview which is concise but clumsily worded in sections:
On April 20, 1775, one day after the battles of Lexington and Concord, British troops stationed in Marshfield, MA, evacuated by boat, avoiding an “almost-battle” with gathering local militia. Over 600 patriot militiamen from nearby towns had gathered to confront the ~100 British soldiers of the 4th Regiment (King’s Own) stationed to protect Loyalists.
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- The Evacuation: British troops, under Captain Balfour, had been in town for weeks. Knowing the patriots were mobilizing, they successfully escaped by boats up the Green Harbor River on April 20 to return to Boston, preventing a direct confrontation, say and.
- The Alarm: On April 20th, Patriot militia in Marshfield signaled a full-scale mobilization, with Capt. William Thomas firing a pre-arranged alarm gun three times.
- The Context: Marshfield was a Loyalist stronghold and one of the only towns other than Boston occupied by British forces.
- The Aftermath: By April 21, hundreds of Patriot militiamen from Plymouth County had taken control of the town, but the British were already gone, resulting in the “almost-battle” described by.
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I think that this is a different Stephen Churchill, but I am not sure:
I found this record:
This is confusing as I have Stephen born in Plymouth. Here is a different record or abstract:
David Hathaway Born 1744
Ancestry has a record for the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) for this David:
However, I think this is mistaken as the Soldiers and Sailors Book of the American Revolution has that David Hathaway as being from Dartmouth:
It is possible that my David Hathawy ancestor from Wareham could have been a Quaker. I do not see a military record for him from the Revolutionary War. I’ll remove the SAR reference from my Hathaway Ancestor.
Seth Cowing Born 1834 Rochester
Again, I have an SAR application record:
Here is another record:
This cemetery looks to be off the beaten path.
The Soliders and Sailors book seems to agree with the SAR application:
Summary and Conclusions
- Of the eight lines I looked at some Revolutionary War service was normal.
- The only line which apparently did not serve in my ancestry was Hathaway. This may have been due to religious beliefs.
- Some service was difficult to determine due to similar names living in similar areas.
- I would assume that those who served in the military were indeed convinced that they were doing the right thing.