Fast.
You know who had to be fast, as in quick?
Minutemen. It’s right there in the name.
According to Wikipedia:
Minutemen were members of the organized New England colonial militia companies trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for being ready at a minute’s notice, hence the name. Minutemen provided a highly mobile, rapidly deployed force that enabled the colonies to respond immediately to military threats. They were an evolution from the prior colonial rapid-response units.
And, once more, thanks to my third cousin, Judy, I now know that Lemuel Harlow, my 5x great-grandfather, was a Minuteman.
My family history just gets more and more interesting! When I was studiously doing my history homework all those years ago, I never once imagined that I might be related to any of the people in my textbooks. The reality is that my family was deeply involved in the history of the Early Colonial United States. I am pleased to have such deep roots here, but it is also sobering, knowing that the stated ideals of liberty for all and self-determination didn’t always translate well to those who were different. But, that’s too heavy of a subject for this little blog today.
So, let’s get on with tracing Lemuel’s branch of my tree, shall we?
- Lemuel Harlow, 1742-1812 (Mary/Molly Holmes, -1793)
- Lewis Harlow, 1771-1864 (Lydia Claflin, 1779-1846)
- Susan Harlow, 1807-1875, (Hawley Wells, 1808-1865)
- Matthias Wells, 1845-1924, (Alberta Pettingill, 1847-1924)
- Willis Wells, 1868-1960, (Theoline Soland, 1867-1953)
- Lawrence Wells, 1901-1963, (Vida Gard, 1896-1891)
- Bula Wells, 1921-2020, (Charles Keene, Jr., 1919-1976)
- Me
Lemuel Harlow was born 7 October 1742, Middleborough, Plymouth Colony, to his parents, Lemuel Harlow and Joanna Paddock. (Lemuel, Sr. and Joanna Paddock both had ancestors on the Mayflower; again, a subject for another day, perhaps.)
Below is the birth record for Lemuel Harlow, son of Lemuel and Joanna:
Lemuel’s father, Lemuel Sr., a cordwainer, died November 26, 1758, and his mother, Joanna, was granted guardianship. (It was not automatic that a widow would be given custody of her children.) From the probate record, it appears that both Lemuel, 16, and his brother Thomas, ~18, were of age and were able to chose their mother as guardian.
Lemuel married Joanna Holmes at Plymouth April 18, 1768. (Yes, another Lemuel and Joanna.) Joanna died only four years later, on January 17, 1770, aged 22. It appears that they had no children.
In less than a year, on November 3, 1770, Lemuel married the widow Mrs. Mary (Molly) Holmes, in Middleborough. Their son, my 4x great-grandfather Lewis Harlow, was born in September 1771. Lewis and Mary had at least five children: Lewis, Jerusha, Levi, Joanna, and Joseph. (Based on those named in his will.)
(And, once again, my ancestor was born of a second marriage. I see this repeatedly in my tree.)
When tensions between the Colonists and the English increased from saber rattling to warfare, , Lemuel was in the thick of things. Not only did he live in Massachusetts, in the heart of the action, but he was of military age.
Lemuel first served as a private in Captain Jesse Harlow’s (possibly a relative) company of Minutemen; this company, including Lemuel, marched on April 20, 1775 in response to the first shots of the Revolutionary War, fired to day before, on April 19, 1775. According to the US Park Service website, “The news of the bloodshed rockets along the eastern seaboard, and thousands of volunteers converge—called “Minute Men”—on Cambridge, Mass. These are the beginnings of the Continental Army.”
His service in this instance lasted seven days.
I imagine they were rather intense days, don’t you?
He served again from January 29, 1776 to November 18, 1776, nine months and 21 days. During this enlistment, he was stationed at Plymouth for the defense of the coast.
On September 6, 1778, Lemuel enlisted a third time, in Captain William Shaw’s 1st Middleborough Company of Minutemen. He served six days and was discharged September 12.
In 1779, Lemuel and Mary moved to Woodstock, Vermont, where they purchased a 50-acre farm. He and Mary joined the Congregational Church there on March 31, 1782. During the winter, when farming chores weren’t so pressing, Lemuel made shoes, sturdy ones for large working men with leather soles and wooden pegs to attach the soles.
Mary died September 28, 1793, and Lemuel on February 12, 1812. ( I found a marriage record for a Lemuel Harlow and Deborah Thompson, but it might be another Lemuel; there’s not enough information yet to determine if my Lemuel married a third time.)
After the death of Lemuel, his eldest son, Lewis, my 4x great-grandfather, took over the farm. He sold it to a John Bradley in 1822 and moved to Mansfield. Before he left, though, Lewis wrote this little poem to let his friends and neighbors know his intentions:
They said to me the other day,
You sold your farm to move away,
And if our books are just and true,
A little something is our due.
This is to let the people know
To Mansfield I intend to go;
the first of March next
is the time I have fixed.
All those I have to the luck to owe,
Please to call and tell me so;
Some I’ll secure, the rest I’ll pay,
It is not my intent to run away.
Woodstock, January 21, 1822, Lewis Harlow
In researching for this post, I discovered that there is a US National Park dedicated to the Minutemen, appropriately named Minute Man National Historic Park, in Massachusetts. Here’s a link to the park website with a video and information about the Minutemen.
‘Til next time.
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