Monday, April 20, 2020

Military Monday - Remembering my Minutemen

This past weekend marked the 245th anniversary of the Lexington Alarm.  This was the "Shot Heard Round the World" during the battles of Lexington and Concord and the first military engagements of the Revolutionary War.

File:Lexington Concord-5c.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
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I am proud to claim three ancestors who responded to Paul Revere's call that "The British Are Coming" and marched to fight.

Ithamar Clark served as a Private in Captain Jonathan Allen's Company, General Pomeroy's Regiment during the Lexington alarm and served for about a month.  Two years later he served in Captain Jonathan Stearn's company of Colonel Dickinson's Regiment during the alarm at Ticonderoga.

Ithamar was born in 1716 in Northampton, MA, the son of John and Elizabeth (Cook) Clark.  He was married four times - First to Martha Alexander in 1738.  Second to Elizabeth Alvord in 1744. Third to Sarah Jones (widow of Moses Parsons) in 1753 and finally in 1775 to Mary, widow of John Brown.  Altogether he had 9 children with his first 3 wives, although many did not survive childhood.  He died on 7 Jan 1802 in Easthampton, MA.

One of the children of Ithamar and Sarah was my 5th great-grandfather Oliver Clark who also served in the Revolutionary War during 1777-78.


My second MinuteMan was Noah Parsons.  He served in the same company as Ithamar Clark during both the Lexington alarm and the Ticonderoga alarm. 

Noah was born 6 February 1731 in Northampton, MA and married Phebe Bartlett on 9 Jan 1755 in Northampton.  He died in Northampton on 11 January 1814. Noah and Phebe had twelve children including my 5th great-grandmother Phebe Parsons who married Oliver Clark.


My third MinuteMan was Abraham Day, Jr., another 5th great-grandfather.  He served under Colonel Ruggles in response to the Lexington Alarm, and also joined Col. Dickinson as a Sergeant later in the war.

Abraham was born on 20 September 1747 in Colchester, CT. On 16 October 1769 he married Irene Jackson.  They had 11 children including my ancestor Rachel Day.  He died on 9 Sept. 1797 in Chester, MA.

Thanks to these three men, along with many others for helping to establish our country.





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