Archive:The Descendants of John Whitney, page 42
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The Descendants of John Whitney, Who Came from London, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1635, by Frederick Clifton Pierce (Chicago: 1895)
Transcribed by the Whitney Research Group, 1999.
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| 42 | WHITNEY GENEALOGY. |
son of Randall BIGELOW, of Wrentham, county of Suffolk, Eng- land. This John was in Watertown as early as 1636, and married, 1642, Mary WARREN, also born in England. Col. Bigelow was one of the prime movers in the provincial cause in the Revolutionary war, being associated with WARREN, OTIS, and other leading spirits. In March, 1773, he was elected a member of the local Committee of Correspondence, and con- tinued a member until called into active service in April, 1775. He was active in the organization of the American Political Society in Dec., 1773, comprising the leading patriots of the town, and meetings of the society were frequently held at his house. He was an influential member of many revolutionary committees. Was a delegate from this town at the first and second sessions of the Provincial Congress in 1774 and 1775. In the spring of 1775, Mr. Isaiah THOMAS, the publisher of the Massachusetts Spy, printed in Boston, was placed by the British authorities on the list of suspicious persons, and his paper was proscribed. Joseph WARREN and Timothy BIGELOW advised his removal with his press and types to Worcester. Although an affair of some difficulty and requiring great caution, Capt. BIGELOW undertook the task, and, selecting a dark night, he with others succeeded in conveying the press and types to Barton's Point, and ferrying them to Charlestown, and from thence transporting them to Worcester to the basement of his own house, where the press was set up ready for use. He organized and commanded the company of minute men which marched from Worcester on the alarm at Lexington, Apr. 19, 1775, and on the organization of the army at Cambridge was appointed major in the regiment of which Jonathan WARD was colonel. He took part in the ill-fated expedition against Quebec in the fall of 1775, was taken prisoner and confined nearly a year, when he was paroled and afterward exchanged, and was soon in active service as Lieut.-Colonel. Feb. 8, 1777, he received a commission as colonel, and was appointed to the command of the 15th Massachusetts regiment in the Continental army then forming principally of men from Worcester county. On the completion of the regimental organization, he marched with his command to join the northern army under Gen. SCHUYLER, arriving in season to assist in the capture of BURGOYNE by Gen. GATES at Saratoga. He was also in service in Rhode Island, Verplanck's Point, Robinson's Farms, N. J., Peekskill, Monmouth, Valley Forge, West Point, and Yorktown. At the close of the war he was stationed for a time at West Point, and afterward assigned to the command of the arsenal at Spring- field. On relinquishing his military duties, he returned to Worcester and engaged in his old occupation as a blacksmith. In 1780, he with others obtained a grant of 23,040 acres of land in Vermont, upon which he founded a town, giving it the name of Montpelier, now the capital of the state. He is described as having been a man of fine personal appearance, tall and erect, and possessed of a martial bearing. He married Anna ANDREWS, July 7, 1762. In 1861 the remains of Col. BIGELOW were exhumed, incased in a metallic casket and placed in a receptacle beneath the base of the monument erected by his great-grandson, Col. Timothy Bigelow LAWRENCE, of Boston. (See Lincoln's History of Worcester; Silence [NOTE], b. Jan. 29, 1742; m. Jonathan GLEASON, of Worcester. ) 268. v. JONAS, b. Dec., 1703 [NOTE]. 269. vi. JAMES, b. Mar. 2, 1704 [NOTE]. 270. vi 1/2. ISRAEL, b. abt. 1710; m. Hannah ----- [NOTE]. 271. vii. SUSANNA, bap. June 17, 1711 [NOTE]; May 31, 1736, Abraham GREGORY, b. Aug. 24, 1704. Ch.: Susanna, b. Oct. 13, 1736; m. May 18, 1758, Jonas BOWMAN; Elijah, b. Feb. 27, 1738; Abigail [NOTE], b. June 1, 1740;
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