John Flagg

John was born in Shrewsbury, MA on December 21, 1760 to Stephen and Judith (Taylor) Flagg. He was the fifth of their eight children.

During the Revolutionary War John served as a Private in one of the local militia companies. After the War he attended Harvard College (now Harvard University).

He married Mary Wilkins of Carlisle, MA on February 7, 1782. A year later they welcomed daughter Susanna into the world.

Sadly he died not long after graduating on January 30th, 1785. His death is recorded in both Shrewsbury and Boylston—Boylston was the north parish of Shrewsbury from 1743 until 1786 when it became its own town.

Mary died in Concord, MA in 1787, only a few years after her husband. Little Susannah died a year later in 1788 aged 5.

John Flagg’s very verbacious gravestone reads:

Hoc monumentum inter multos gemitus,

multasque lachrymas, instauratur, in

memoria Johannis Flagg, nuper Collegii

Harvardini, Cantabrigiensis Nov=Ang=:

Qui vita defunctus Shrewsburiensis, triginta

die, Jan ii AD=1785, AEtat: annos viginta,

quatuor, diebus triginta nono, et natus

suit, Stephani Flagg et Judith sibiuxor

Juvenis, qui in vita, prestanti ingenio, in

Studiis, et Laboribus indefatigatus, in Religione

rationalis, fide Christiana validus,

Cognatus, et Cognatibus, magnopere

dilectus, In morte jure Divino

resigmatus, et Super omnes calamitates

Vitee, terrores lethi, et horrores

Sepulchri triumphans Superstes ad

Sedes Beati eum Sequntur, virtutibus

ejus imituntur et mori memento.

He rests for eternity in the Old Burial Ground in Boylston, MA.