America 250

Here lies ye Body of the Widow LYDIA DYAR of Boston; the Place of her Nativity, where She left a good Estate & came into ye Country May 22d, 1775; to escape ye abuce of ye Ministeral Troops sent by GEORGE ye 3d, to subject North America to Slavery. She died July 28th, 1776. Aged 80 Years.

Jacob was baptized on November 29, 1719 in Ipswich, MA. He was the eldest son of Deacon Jacob and Rebecca (Lull) Caldwell. He married Anna Hastings on September 28, 1742. They were married by Joseph Mason, Justice of the Peace. Both were "of Watertown", so Jacob must have moved there at some point before his marriage and long enough to establish residency. Jacob and Anna had nine children. John in 1743, Rebecca in 1744, Anna in 1746, Jacob in 1748, Sarah in 1750, and Enoch

The gravestone of Mr. Daniel Baird Daniel was born in Leicester, MA on November 13, 1742 to Thomas and Elizabeth Beard--spelling during the Colonial Era was not standardized, so "Baird" also appears as "Beard". He was the third of their five children. The Beards came to Leicester from Mendon around 1735, and remained there until 1745 when they moved to the southern part of Worcester in what is now Auburn. On December 2, 1767 he published his intentions to marry Jane Smith of

The gravestone of Rev. Thomas Jones Rev. Jones was born in Dorchester, MA on April 20, 1721, the son of Ebenezer and Waitstill (Davenport) Jones. He went to Harvard College and graduated in 1741. Rev. Jones was installed as the Minister of the Second Parish of Woburn in 1751. Very shortly after, a dozen people left his church to become members of the Church of England. It is said that while his sermons were not very exciting he was a practical and faithful minister to his pa

Abel was born in Middleton, MA on April 4, 1743 to John and Elizabeth Nichols. He was their second child and only son. His other sibling was a sister named Mary who was born two years earlier in 1741. On December 5/6, 1766 he published his intentions to marry Elisabeth Preston. Both of them were residents of Danvers, MA. I can’t find any record of them having children. During the American Revolution Abel served as a Sergeant in Captain Samuel Flint’s Company of Minutemen and

250 years ago Gen. Benedict Arnold led an expedition north from Massachusetts to Quebec in an attampt to capture the town. They left at the end of September 1775 and arrived in Canada in December. The battle, which took place in the middle of a snowstorm on December 31, was a disaster for Arnold's forces; every member either was either killed, taken prisoner, or deserted. Worcester lost three men: Captain Jonas Hubbard, Sergeant Silas Wesson, and Private Timothy Rice.

Capt. John Williams, Patriot, Mason, and charter member of the Order of the Cincinnati.

Moses was born to Moses and Mary (Pierce) Harrington on November 8, 1759. Though his birth was recorded in Grafton, MA the church record states he was born in Watertown, MA. He was their second child and second son. In 1776 aged only 17 Moses served during the Revolutionary War as a Private in Capt. Manasseh Sawyer’s Company in Col. Nicholas Dike’s Regiment. They were stationed at Dorchester Heights, and he was given an allowance for the two days it would take him to walk hom

Peter Willard (c. 1754-1819) Patriot of Color Revolutionary War Veteran

A Modern "Portrait" of Col. Bigelow Timothy Bigelow was born on Pakachoag Hill in Worcester, MA (now Auburn) on August 2, 1739 to Daniel and Elizabeth (Whitney) Bigelow. He was the fifth of their six children. Timothy grew up on the family farm. Timothy was a blacksmith. In 1762 he eloped to marry Anna Andrews, a wealthy (for the area) orphan who was raised by her maternal grandparents. After their marriage they lived in a house built by her father in Lincoln Square, opposite