Early American Documents

[Bear]

I need some help finding some information on an American Revolutionary Officer. All I have on Edward Proctor is that he was appointed First Major of the Boston regiment on July 18, 1777 which was under the command of Col. Jabez Hatch. I'm hoping he was in some famous battles.

thanks,

barry

Edited August 10, 2007 by Bear

[Bear]

I have found some info on a Col. Edward Proctor, but I'm not sure if he is the same person. I'm hoping he is....

Boston Tea Party Participants

http://members.aol.com/massdar/Massachusetts_DAR/tp_hist.htm

Court Martial of Paul Revere

Col. Edward Proctor mentioned in the last three paragraphs

http://www.earlyamerica.com/lives/revere/chapt5/

thanks,

barry

Edited July 19, 2006 by Bear

[Guest Rick Research]

I'll see if that volume of "Massachusetts Soldiers in the Revolution" is fungoid-free when I next go to the library. The huge old volumes were stored too long in the wet basement and have three dimensional "growth" that would have interested the Hussein regime. Costs a fortune to clean so they're doing one voplume at a time.

If nobody hears back from me, send in the Environmental Police!

[Bear]

Thanks Rick,

The library here is rather small. I have Edward Proctor's 1777 appointment to first major document. Here is a list of those who have signed it. I have info on them.

Members of the Massachusetts Executive Council

Jedediah Powell

Artemas Ward

jedediah Preble

Thomas Cushing

Joseph Palmer

John Whitcomb

Jabez ????

Moses Gill

Henry Gardiner

Hopkins

Benjamin Austin

Samuel Holton

Timothy Edwards

Nathaniel Cushing

Oliver Prescott

John Avery Jr.

thanks,

barry

[Guest Rick Research]

Well, I have survived my brush (yeeewwwwwww) with the Volume Of Living Roquefort Cheese Dressing.

Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolutionary War, Vol. XII has

1st Major, Henry Bromsfield's Boston Regiment Massachusetts Militia (no dates)

1st Major Colonel Jabez Hatch's ditto ditto

Lieutenant Colonel of the Boston Rgt by ballot of Mass. House of Representatives October 9, 1778

Colonel of same by ditto March 21, 1780.

Edward Proctor (and there must be 300 of them in this family--must have saved re-monogramming the silverware! ) was born in Boston August 28, 1733. On February 26, 1754 he married there Judith Clark (1732-1790) another native Bostonian, and they had 3 sons and 3 saughters.

He was appointed one of the 12 Captains of the newly created Boston Regiment on April 1, 1772. This was a BIG mistake by the Royal Governor, since by the Boston Tea Party they had gone over to the other side, and Proctor was on the night shift preventing unloading of the East India Company's wares.

He died in Boston November 1, 1811 and was buried the next day.

Here is an image from the city death register. I do not believe this is viewable by non-members on the NEHGS website.

[attachmentid=47394]

I'm not good on Massachusetts-- by this period, my Bay State ancestors had all departed (in an unseemly scrabble immediately following the Unpleasantness in Salem ) for the sunnier climes of Connecticut.

[Bear]

Thanks Rick,

I guess my document of Maj. Edward Proctor is in fact soon to be Col. Edward Proctor.

I'll will try and post the document tomorrow in Collector's Showcase.

here

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=9746

many thanks,

barry

Did your family leave Salem because of the witch hunt.

Edited July 20, 2006 by Bear

[Guest Rick Research]

Yup. Ironic considering my only ancestral fatalities due to that were in Connecticut more than 40 years before the "famous" madness. That and the "Tory Nathan Hale" in the Revolution makes THREE people (so far ) in my family hanged on Hartford green. Not anyplace to take the dog for walkies or kids picnicking, for my bunch.

[Bear]

I want to thank Rick Research for helping me with this document.

State of the Massachusetts-Bay

This document from the American Revolution dated July 18, 1777 is appointing Edward Proctor as First Major of the Boston regiment commanded by Col. Jabez Hatch. The document is also signed by 15 members of the Massachusetts Executive Council.

Participants of the Boston Tea Party

http://members.aol.com/massdar/Massachusetts_DAR/tp_hist.htm

Listed: Edward Proctor (Col.)

List of Signers

Jedediah Powell

Artemas Ward

Jedediah Preble

Thomas Cushing

Joseph Palmer

John Whitcomb

Jabez ????

Moses Gill

Henry Gardiner

???? D. Hopkins

Benjamin Austin

Samuel Holton

Timothy Edwards

Nathaniel Cushing

Oliver Prescott

[Bear]

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[Bear]

last pic...

[Guest Rick Research]

For more on Colonel Proctor, see:

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=9845

That's Jabez Fisher.

Artemus Ward (1727-1800) was a general and held in such high local esteem that a town was named after him. His home in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts is still a museum. During the 19th century an eponymous pseudonym kept his name alive as a writer of Yankee wit and wisdom of a Baron M?nchhausen type which was very popular on both sides of the Atlantic. The REAL author was Charles Farrer Browne (1834-1867) Indicative of the affection felt for him to be so remembered as a "character," I think. (The town of Ward renamed itself to something meaninglessly Victorian in the last century as memories faded, alas. )

D (I think) Hopkins would be a descendant of the Mayflower passenger of that family. The rest are a sample of local Bostonian elites-- Prescott, the Cushings et al-- in the days before nouveaux riches like the Kennedys and Kerrys appeared. Edwards, if a stray from the bulk of the same family in my Connecticut and New Jersey side, would be the Inevitable Ricky Cousin here. Fisher probably would be too-- these aren't people I've ever noted before.

Attested by John Avery "Dpy Secy" of the Council-- I like that bit about the "majority" approving him, and how he was to obey the instructions of the "majority," implying there was a minority with some unspecified Other Agenda. Plus ?a change....

[Guest Rick Research]

OK, note some corrections to the names--

John Avery, Deputy Secretary = apparently a "mere employee" and not a member of the Council himself.

Jeremiah Powell = b. Boston 1720, d. No. Yarmouth (now Maine) 1783. Council 1766-72, 1774, 1776-79, 1781-83. President of the Council 1776-79. Senate 1780. Lt.Col. 1762

Artemas Ward = as above already. NOT on the Council and apparently signing off in his military capacity.

Jedidiah Preble = b York (now Maine) 1707, d. Falmouth (now Maine) 1784. Innkeeper. Council 1772-73, 1777-78, Senate 17881-82. Captain 1746, Colonel 1758, Brigadier General 1759

Thomas Cushing III = b. Boston 1725, died Boston 1788. Third generation and 3rd of name serving in teh Council after his father and grandfather. Council 1775-78, Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts 1779-88 and Acting Governor 1785.

Joseph Palmer = b. Higher Abbotsrow, Devon, d. Roxbury 1788. The only English-born member here. Emigrated 1746. Manufacturer of (gruseome combination if ingredients mixed! ) glass, salt, chocolate, and candles. Fought on Bunker Hill. Colonel 1776, Brigadier General 1776. NOT on the the Council, so his signature is a mystery too!

John Whitcomb = b. Lancaster 1713, d. Bolton 1785. Farmer. Council 1776-79. Colonel and Major General of unspecified dates (obviously politicians then as now were big on bestowing grandiose titles on each other)

Jabez Fisher = b. Wrentham (so yes indeed a Ricky Cousin) 1717, d. Franklin 1806: on Council 1775-80, State Senator 1782-83

Moses Gill = b. Charlestown 1734, d. Boston 1800. On Council 1775-83. Acting Governor of Massachusetts 1800 (enough to kill anybody--look at all the careers sunk subsequently by holders of that office )

Henry Gardner = b. Stow 1731, d. Boston 1782. Farmer. Council 1776-80 and simultaneously State Treasurer 1775-82.

Daniel Hopkins = born Waterbury, CT 1734, d. Salem, MA 1814. Minister. Council 1776-78.

Benjamin Austin = b. Charlestown 1717, d. Boston 1806. Merchant shipper. Council 1776-78 & 1780

Samuel Holten = b. Salem 1738, d. Danvers 1816. Major of unspecified date. On Council only 1775-76 so what HE is doing signing on here (like Ward) is now mysterious. Senate 1780-82.

Timothy Edwards = b. Northampton 1738, d. Stockbridge 1813. Trader-- the Revolution bankrupted him. (Western and central Massachusetts wholeheartedly supported Shay's Rebellion in 1787, while the fat cats of Boston who had profited BEFORE the war and profiteered DURING the war cashed in by hard currency tax demands AFTER the war. Plus ?a change....) Council 1777-79.

Nathaniel Cushing = b. Scituate 1742 (we can tell Outlanders by how badly they mangle pronounciation of this town), d. Scituate 1812. Council 1777-81 and 1785-89, 1801-2, 1804, and 1806. Senate 1782. Judge of the Superior Court 1789-1801 back when Certain Personal Behavior was not only criminal, but capital (take THAT robed tyrants of the 21st century). One of the founders of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Oliver Prescott = b. Groton, MA 1731, d. Groton, MA 1804. Physician. Justice of the Peace/Probate Judge 1775-1804, Council 1776-83, holding nominal military ranks Colonel 1775, Brigadier 1777, Major General 1778. I believe he fought at Bunker Hill, but that may have been his brother, killed there I am thinking of.

From "Legislators of the Massachusetts General Court, 1691-1780" mostly. I've left off service in the colonial House of Representatives since that was sporadic and part time. Note that Maine was the "upper peninsula" of Massachusetts until splitting off in 1820.

[Bear]

Keep it going Rick.... I'm taking notes.....

I just found this site and it has some of the members listed.

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodi...l?index=W000127

Artemas Ward: President of the Massachusetts Executive Council in 1777.

Holton Holten

thanks,

barry

[Ulsterman]

That my friend, is one rare, rare document.

[Chris Boonzaier]

very interesting indeed. When exactly did the "tea party" take place?

[Scott Powell]

very interesting indeed. When exactly did the "tea party" take place?

here is some info MR B

Victory in the French and Indian War was costly for the British. At the war's

conclusion in 1763, King George III and his government looked to taxing the American colonies as a way of recouping their war costs. They were also looking for ways to reestablish control over the colonial governments that had become increasingly independent while the Crown was distracted by the war. Royal ineptitude compounded the problem. A series of actions including the Stamp Act (1765), the Townsend Acts (1767) and the Boston Massacre (1770) agitated the colonists, straining relations with the mother country. But it was the Crown's attempt to tax tea that spurred the colonists to action and laid the groundwork for the American Revolution.

The colonies refused to pay the levies required by the Townsend Acts claiming they had no obligation to pay taxes imposed by a Parliament in which they had no representation. In response, Parliament retracted the taxes with the exception of a duty on tea - a demonstration of Parliament's ability and right to tax the colonies. In May of 1773 Parliament concocted a clever plan. They gave the struggling East India Company a monopoly on the importation of tea to America. Additionally, Parliament reduced the duty the colonies would have to pay for the imported tea. The Americans would now get their tea at a cheaper price than ever before.

However, if the colonies paid the duty tax on the imported tea they would be acknowledging Parliament's right to tax them. Tea was a staple of colonial life - it was assumed that the colonists would rather pay the tax than deny themselves the pleasure of a cup of tea.

The colonists were not fooled by Parliament's ploy. When the East India Company sent shipments of tea to Philadelphia and New York the ships were not allowed to land. In Charleston the tea-laden ships were permitted to dock but their cargo was consigned to a warehouse where it remained for three years until it was sold by patriots in order to help finance the revolution.

In Boston, the arrival of three tea ships ignited a furious reaction. The crisis came to a head on December 16, 1773 when as many as 7,000 agitated locals milled about the wharf where the ships were docked. A mass meeting at the Old South Meeting House that morning resolved that the tea ships should leave the harbor without payment of any duty. A committee was selected to take this message to the Customs House to force release of the ships out of the harbor. The Collector of Customs refused to allow the ships to leave without payment of the duty. Stalemate. The committee reported back to the mass meeting and a howl erupted from the meeting hall. It was now early evening and a group of about 200 men disguised as Indians assembled on a near-by hill. Whopping war chants, the crowd marched two-by-two to the wharf, descended upon the three ships and dumped their offending cargos of tea into the harbor waters.

Most colonists applauded the action while the reaction in London was swift and vehement. In March 1774 Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts which among other measures closed the Port of Boston. The fuse that led directly to the explosion of American independence was lit.

[Bear]

Hello,

Connecticut Officer's Appointment

2nd Lt. Daniel Dunham

5th Battalion

Dated 1778

I'm still searching for more info...

The Lexington Alarm

April - May 1775

From Town of Lebannon

Service 3 Days

The Hosford Regiment marched by order to East Chester to join Gen. Washington's Army.

12th Regiment Col. Obadiah Hosford

Militia Regiments 1776

Capt. James Pineo's Company

Ensn. Daniel Dunham

5th Battalion

2nd Lt. Daniel Dunham

1778

Edited August 10, 2007 by Bear

[Bear]

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Edited February 13, 2007 by Bear

[Bear]

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[Bear]

Seal

[hunyadi]

WOW - very nice! That paper just breaths history!

[Paul R]

Absolutely incredible!