of Charles River Bridge: These corps are to be relieved as soon as possible by the regiment in this town. The Company of Artillery will take post with them at the Bridge; the corps relieved will advance to Charlestown neck. The Horse are to be in advance, one division of them is to take post on the road leading from Cambridge to Medford. The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company will take post at the fortification."

On Saturday, Dec. 2, 1786, it was announced in the Boston press that the corps of Volunteer horse, under the command of Col. Hitchborn, had safely returned, after having achieved the object of their expedition by the capture of Shattuck, Parker, and Page, "who have been indefatigable fomenters of sedition in the county of Middlesex." The members of the Artillery Company recruited in 1786 were: John Avery, Jr., Jonathan Balch, Ebenezer Battelle, William Bordman, Jr., Joseph Coffin Boyd, John Brazer, John Brooks, William Brown, Thomas Clark, John Coolidge, Andrew Cunningham, William Cunningham, Edward Curtis, Isaac Davenport, Amasa Davis, Caleb Davis, Robert Davis, Samuel Emery, Joshua Farrington, Joseph Ford, Richard Gardner, Samuel Gore, Francis Green, Samuel Greenough, Samuel Hastings, Zechariah Hicks, Alexander Hodgdon, John Johnston, James Lanman, Benjamin Lincoln, John Lucas, John May, Jonas Clark Minot, Thomas Newell, Jr., Andrew Oliver, Turner Phillips, Henry Prentiss, Russell Sturgis, Samuel Todd, Pepperell Tyler, Thomas Wells, John Winslow.

John Avery, Jr. (1786), of Boston, son of John and Mary Avery, was born Sept. 2, 1739. His father was a justice in Boston. John, Jr. (1786), graduated at Harvard College in 1759. He was published to marry (1) Miss Mary Cushing, March 23, 1769, and (2) Harriet Williams, March 21, 1799. He was a member of the West Church, and held the office of deacon. Oct. 25, 1774, he was one of the ten persons added to the committee "to consider of Ways & Means for employing the poor Sufferers by the operation of the Boston Port Bill, so called." In 1780, he succeeded Samuel Adams as secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and held that office until his decease. He was also secretary of the Massachusetts Humane Society, and was buried on the day of its semi-annual meeting. Their orator, in the midst of his discourse, alluded to the funeral knell which called them to pay their respects to their worthy officer, "an early, active, and important member of the society." Sept. 21, 1793, he was recording secretary of the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture. He resided on Newbury Street, corner Sheaf's lane," now corner Washington and Avery streets. died at Boston, June 7, 1806, aged sixty-seven years.

He

"Died on Saturday last, John Avery Esq. [1786] Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts aged 67 years.

"The two Houses of the Legislature, after an expression of their grief for the loss which the public has sustained in the recent demise of the late Secretary of the Commonwealth, Voted unanimously to attend his funeral and to invite Gov. Strong, Lieut Gov. Robbins and the Honorable Council to attend the same."

The formation of the funeral procession is then given in detail, and the article concludes as follows:

"In all the political changes which have taken place in Massachusetts since the adoption of the present constitution in 1780, such has been the sense of all parties of the rectitude and ability with which Mr. Avery [1786] has discharged all the duties of Secre

John Avery, Jr. (1786). AUTHORITY: Boston Records.

tary of State that, if our memory serves us, in all that period he has been annually unanimously elected to that office. In all the social and domestic duties, he was a man of superior excellence." 1

He " was the

Jonathan Balch (1786) was a pump and block maker in Boston. proprietor of a large establishment, as pump and block maker, at the head of Balch's Wharf, at the north part of the town. For a long time he stood at the head of all that followed the same business. He was a man of considerable wealth, and (what was rare for a mechanic of those days) owned and occasionally occupied a mansion-house and garden in the country. [This estate was in Dorchester, and was afterward owned by Mr. Marshall P. Wilder (1828).] He was one of the most substantial of citizens and maintained through life a character for honesty and integrity. He lived liberally, and contributed much to the elevation and standing of the mechanics by his promptness in business and gentlemanly deportment."

His place of business was on Balch's Wharf, and he lived in Hawkins Street. A Jonathan Balch joined the Old South Church April 7, 1765; Jonathan (1786) was second sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1792.

Ebenezer Battelle (1786),—the name is spelled Battle in the early Dedham records, of Dedham, son of Col. Ebenezer and Prudence (Draper) Battelle, was born in that town, Feb. 4, 1754, and was baptized "in private, the child being sick," in the First Church, by Rev. Samuel Dexter, Feb. 15 next following. Dec. 25, 1774, it is recorded in the admissions to that church, "Ebenezer Battle, Jr., student of Harvard College." He graduated from that institution in 1775, and married Anna Durant, of Boston. "Ebenezer, son of Ebenezer Battle, Esq. [1786], and Anna his wife," was born in Dedham, Aug. 9, 1778, nearly two years after the death of Col. Ebenezer Battelle. At that time, though but twenty-four years of age, Ebenezer Battelle (1786) must have been a man of prominence and ability to have been called "Esquire" in the town records. The father and son served in the Revolutionary War. Ebenezer, Sr., was captain of a Dedham company which marched in answer to the alarm of April 19, 1775, and Ebenezer, Jr. (1786), was a volunteer at the battle of Lexington. Subsequent to the death of the father, Nov. 6, 1776, Ebenezer, Jr. (1786), served nineteen days at Castle Island, Dec. 11 to Dec. 30, 1776; went on the expedition to Providence, R. I., May 8 to July 8, 1777; re-enlisted, and served from March 23 to April 5, 1778, and was commissioned captain of the Eighth Company in the Suffolk Regiment, July 2, 1778. He was promoted to be major, April 1, 1780, and became colonel of the Boston regiment in 1784.

The time of his removal to Boston is unknown. Feb. 1, 1785, it is announced in the Columbian Centinel that "Ebenezer Battelle [1786] has removed his book-store from State Street to No. 10 Marlborough Street," and March 9, 1785, that newspaper advertises, "Now selling at the Boston book-store, opposite the southeast corner of the State House, from where E. Battelle, Esq. [1786], has lately removed, an assortment of books," etc. He probably removed to Boston soon after the birth of his son Thomas, March 18, 1781, as the birth-dates of his children born afterward are not recorded in Dedham.

Jonathan Balch (1786). AUTHORITIES: Boston Records; Annals of Mass. Char. Mech. Association.

Ebenezer Battelle (1786). AUTHORITIES: Boston Records; Mass. Rev. Archives; Battelle Gen. Record, 1889.

1 Columbian Centinel, June 11, 1806.

The following receipt, on file in Boston, is printed in the Record Commissioner's Report, No. 25:— "BOSTON Sept. 18. 1781. "Received of the Selectmen of Boston four hundred & forty Shirts, 440 pr Hose, 440 pr. Shoes 220 Blankets on behalf of said Town, agreable to a Resolve of the General Court passed June 22, 1781. EBENEZER BATTELLE,' Agent."

Jan. 10, 1786, Gens. Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper issued a public notice in the Boston press, for the formation of "The Ohio Company," and in that year Gen. Putnam made the first survey of lands northwest of the Ohio River. In November, 1787, he was appointed superintendent of the affairs of the Ohio Company, and active measures were taken for the settlement of these distant lands. In April, 1788, the westward movement began, when, under the direction of the Ohio Company, a party of forty emigrants, with their families, chiefly from Massachusetts, established the first permanent white settlement in Ohio. Col. Ebenezer Battelle (1786), a member of the Ohio Company, and family, were of this pioneer party, and were among the founders of Marietta in May, 1788. He died at Newport, Ohio, in 1815, at the home of his son Ebenezer. His remains were buried in the village churchyard, at Newport, where lie the remains of many of his descendants of three generations. Anna (Durant) Battelle was buried at sea.

William Bordman, Jr. (1786), merchant, of Boston, son of Capt. William Bordman (1758) and Susanna, his wife, was born May 1, 1760. He married, June 2, 1785, Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Caleb Davis (1786). She died Dec. 14, 1790. In 1789, his store was on the north side of the market, and he lived on Sudbury Street; in 1796, he was in business on Merchants Row, and he lived on Hanover Street. He also was identified with the militia, and rose to the grade of captain in the Boston regiment in 1784. His brother, Thomas Stoddard Bordman, joined the Artillery Company in 1774. Capt. Bordman (1786) became a member of the Massachusetts Lodge, A. F. and A. M., of Boston, Feb. 8, 1790.

Joseph Coffin Boyd (1786), merchant, of Boston, was captain of a company in the Boston regiment in 1791. He removed to Portland, where he became captain of a company of volunteers, and died in May, 1823, aged sixty-three years, while holding the office of treasurer of the State of Maine.

Mr. Boyd (1786) was admitted a member of Portland Lodge, A. F. and A. M., of Portland, Feb. 10, 1795, at the time of its reorganization. He was then elected secretary, and served until Jan. 20, 1802, when a memorandum on the records states "the secretary will be absent for awhile." He was present, however, March 17, 1802, and very soon after sailed for France.

John Brazer (1786), shopkeeper, of Boston, son of Benjamin and Alice (Phillips) Brazer, was born in Charlestown, April 8, 1753. He married (published Sept. 20, 1774) Mary Grubb. In early life he learned the trade of ship carpentry, but after the Revolu

William Bordman, Jr. (1786). AUTHORITY: Boston Records.

John Brazer (1786). AUTHORITIES: Wyman's Charlestown Genealogies and Estates; Whitman's Hist. A. and H. A. Company; Early Masonic Records.

'Mr. Whitman (1810), in his history of the

Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, gives this name as Ebenezer Brattle. It has occasioned great inconvenience and misunderstanding. In the original record book of the Artillery Company for 1786 may be seen the autographs of those persons who joined the Company that year, and among them is plainly written, "Ebent Battelle."

tion he kept store. From 1775 until the close of the war he resided in Cambridge; afterward in Boston. His place of business was, in 1789 at No. 3, and in 1796 at No. 1, Dock Square. He lived over the last-named store. He was third sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1789, ensign in 1794, the third captain of the Independent Fusileers, serving in 1797-9, also in 1802-3, and was captain of the sublegion of light infantry in 1800, 1804, and 1805. "He was an eccentric character, a violent partisan, wealthy, and a great patron of the drama." He was the principal originator of the Second Universalist Church in Boston, which was incorporated Dec. 13, 1816, and held its first public meeting Jan. 25, 1817. In the latter year, a meeting house was erected by it in School Street, where the School Street Block now stands, nearly opposite City Hall Capt. Brazer (1786) was identified with the church until his decease, which occurred May 7, 1828, aged seventy-five years. He was a member of the Masonic Fraternity. Jan. 8, 1784, he attended the constitution of King Solomon's Lodge, A. F. and A. M., at Charlestown, and June 2, 1791, he is given, in the return of officers of Rising States Lodge, as treasurer of that Lodge. His son-in-law, Lieut. Ezra Davis, joined the Artillery Company in 1801, and his grandson, John Brazer Davis, in 1821.

John Brooks (1786), physician, of Medford, son of Caleb and Ruth (Albree) Brooks, was born in Medford in May, 1752. He married, in 1774, Lucy Smith, of Reading, who died Sept. 26, 1791, aged thirty-eight years. He died March 1, 1825. They had three children, two of whom were boys, viz., Alexander S, born Oct. 19, 1781, who was killed by the explosion of a steamboat in 1836, and John, born May 20, 1783, who fell at the battle of Lake Erie, Sept. 10, 1813.

John Brooks (1786), son of a farmer, attended the town school, and such was his proficiency that Dr. Simon Tufts, a practitioner in Medford, took him, at the age of fourteen years, into his family, to educate him for the medical profession. He continued until he was twenty-one years old under the tuition of Dr. Tufts, showing meantime a a taste for military exercises, with a disposition remarkably gentle and attractive.

In 1772-3, he settled in the town of Reading, and began the practice of medicine. He was married soon after, and set out in life surrounded by flattering circumstances. Nevertheless he was quick to hear the mutterings of the approaching storm. A company of minute-men was raised in Reading, and he was chosen to command it. On the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, Rev. Mr. Foster asked Capt. Brooks (1786), "at sunrise," if he were going to Concord, and when. "Immediately," was the answer. He ordered out his company, proceeded to Concord, and, arriving there, met the British on their retreat. He hung on their rear and flanks, and followed them until their arrival at Charlestown. Col. Phinney says, the British, "a little to the eastward of the village, received a heavy fire from the Reading minute-men, under Capt. John Brooks [1786].” June 16, 1775, he was active during the night in throwing up entrenchments, and on the morrow he was absent from the battle, having been sent, on foot, as a horse could not be had,— by Col. Prescott, to inform Gen. Ward of the expected movement, and the need of reinforcements. "The corps he commanded were distinguished during the whole war for the superiority of their discipline, evinced by their gallant conduct in

John Brooks (1786). AUTHORITIES: Columbian Centinel, March 5, 1825; Quarterly Review, Vol. XIV., 1842; New Eng. Ilist. and Gen. Reg., 1865; Hists. of Medford, by Mr. Charles Brooks

and Mr. Usher; Memorials of the Mass. Society of the Cincinnati; Whitman's Hist. A. and H. A. Company, Ed. 1842.

battle, and by their regular movements in retreat. He was second only to the celebrated Baron Steuben in his knowledge of tactics. After this officer joined our army, and was appointed inspector-general, we find that Gen. Brooks [1786] was associated with him in the arduous duty of introducing a uniform system of exercise and manœuvres into the army." After the battle of Lexington, he was appointed major in a regiment of minute-men, and at the age of twenty-two, a field officer in the Continental line, and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. At the close of the war he was discharged with the brevet commission of colonel. The regiment was first called "Jackson's Regiment," after its colonel, and gained the camp name of the "Bloody Eighth, the first in, and the last out, of battle." This regiment took a distinguished part in the battle of Saratoga, and was then, and during most of the war, commanded by Col. Brooks (1786). On the surrender of Burgoyne, Col. Brooks (1786) joined the army under Gen. Washington, and suffered all the privations and hardships of Valley Forge. He was actively engaged in the battle of White Plains, and, in the memorable battle of Monmouth, he was adjutant-general of the advanced column of the army. At the termination of the war, Col. Brooks (1786) returned to private life, rich in honor and glory, and universally respected and loved.

Col. Brooks (1786) was a member of the Masonic Fraternity. He was present at the quarterly communication of the Massachusetts Grand Lodge, at Freemason's Hall, in Boston, March 2, 1781, when he "laid before the Grand Lodge a List of the Officers and Members of Washington Lodge for this Year." In that list Col. John Brooks (1786) is recorded as master. Washington Lodge was in the American army during the Revolution, and was, therefore, what is termed "a Travelling Lodge." That Lodge was chartered Oct. 6, 1779, and Gen. William Hull (1788) was its first junior warden. It was borne upon the Grand Lodge roll until Dec. 8, 1785, when it was reported as extinct. In 1780, Col. Brooks (1786) delivered a Masonic oration at West Point, in the presence of Gen. Washington, who, with many officers of the army, were members of the Fraternity.

Upon the organization of the militia, after the war, he was appointed major-general of the Middlesex Division, which office he held during ten years. He was the successor of Gen. Hull (1788) in the command of that division, a great number of the companies of which he assembled on Cambridge Common to be reviewed by the President of the United States in 1789. Gen. Washington, after passing the line, and observing their military conduct and appearance, made the complimentary remark to Gen. Brooks (1786), in allusion to our final success in the Revolutionary War, "Ah! General, if we had had such troops as these, we should have made short work of it."

In the suppression of Shays' Rebellion he was actively engaged. During the War of 1812-4, Gen. Brooks (1786) sustained the arduous and important office of adjutant-general of Massachusetts, which office he held until 1816, when he was elected governor of Massachusetts. Seven years, successively, he filled this honorable office with dignity, impartiality, and energy, at the end of which time he voluntarily declined another

term.

Soon after his return from the Revolutionary War, he recommenced the practice of medicine in Medford and the adjoining towns. He became interested in the Massachusetts Medical Society in the year 1803, when he was elected counsellor, and in 1808 he delivered an anniversary discourse before that society. After his service as governor of this commonwealth, he was elected president of the Massachusetts Medical Society. He