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The firmness with which he adhered to the cause of royalty during the struggles of the Revolution, subjected him, as has been shown, to many annoyances and losses, and led him to engage privately in attempts to advance the interests of the mother country. Still he was an intelligent, wealthy, and influential gentleman, and was much esteemed and beloved in his private character. Three years after the peace of '83, he died in Brattleborough. A plain, white marble head-stone in the old burying ground, marks the spot where his mortal remains repose, and bears the following inscription:

In

Memory of Col° Samuel Wells of this town, a Judge of Cumberland County Court, and a Member of the Affembly of the Province of New York, who departed this life the 6th of Aug 1786, the 55th year of his age.

His friends, the ftranger and the poor have loft

A kind companion and a generous hoft:

When he fell-the statesman fell,

And left the world his worth to tell.

DANIEL WHIPPLE.

DANIEL WHIPPLE of Brattleborough was appointed on the 17th of April, 1770, by commission from the colonial government of New York, to the shrievalty of Cumberland county, in the place of John Arms resigned, and held that position until the latter part of the year 1772. Of his honesty and ability different views were entertained by the judges presiding in the courts within his bailiwick. In a letter to Governor Tryon, dated the 6th of February, 1772, Judge Thomas Chandler stated that Whipple's conduct in striving to apprehend a party of rioters who had created much disturbance at Windsor, had led "His late Excellency the Earl of Dunmore, and the Honorable His Majesty's Council," to grant him a township of land as a reward for his services. Whipple presented this communication to Governor Tryon, but it does not appear that his application for

1782, p. 10. Journal Council N. J., 1782, p. 7. MS. Letter from Rev. Canon Micajah Townsend, dated July 1st, 1856. See ante, pp. 485, 503, 504.

a patent of the grant was allowed. On the 10th of October following, Samuel Wells and Noah Sabin, associate judges with Chandler, represented to Governor Tryon the unfitness of Whipple for his place. They accused him of charging and receiving mileage fees, when by law he was entitled to none; of remissness and negligence in the execution of his office, manifested by committing "almost the whole care thereof" to deputies ill-chosen and unfit for the trust; of exacting exorbitant and unlawful fees; and of refusing to receive prisoners into custody who had been taken on execution. Conduct like this they declared to be "totally subversive of the authority of the civil magistracy" in the county, and "highly prejudicial and displeasing to the well disposed inhabitants" therein residing. These statements were confirmed by Crean Brush, clerk of the county, and Whipple was soon after dismissed from office. He was succeeded by William Paterson, who was afterwards conspicuous at the "Westminster Massacre." The time of his death is not known, but the letters of administration taken out by Mary Whipple, administratrix upon his estate, were dated at New York on the 15th of April, 1775.*

JOSIAH WILLARD.

COL. JOSIAH WILLARD, the commander at Fort Dummer from 1740 to 1750, was the son of Henry Willard, who married Dorcas Cutler of Lancaster, Massachusetts. At this place he was born about the year 1693, and here he married Hannah Wilder. He was among the first settlers-a founder in fact-of Lunenburgh, in the present county of Worcester, Massachusetts, for a long time a frontier town. His grandfather Major Simon Willard, who came to this country as early as 1655, was one of the first settlers of Concord, Massachusetts, and was "highly distinguished both as a civil and military character." His uncle, the Rev. Samuel Willard, was for a time vice-president of Harvard College. Colonel Willard died on the 8th of December, 1750. He bore the character of a faithful and intelligent public officer, and was without reproach in the relations of private and domestic life.

* N. Y. Colonial MSS., in office Sec. State N. Y., vol. xcix.

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JOSIAH WILLARD JR., a son of the former, was born in January, 1716, and married Hannah Hubbard of Groton. For several years he was intrusted with the charge of a garrison at Ashuelot (now Keene), New Hampshire, and in 1749 removed to Winchester in that province. On the death of his father he was promoted to the station he had held. Notice of this appointment was conveyed to the son by another Josiah Willard, a cousin, who for thirty-nine years was secretary of the province of Massachusetts by a royal commission. "I heartily join with you and your family," wrote the secretary in his letter dated the 18th of December, 1750, "in your Mourning for the Death of your Father, esteeming it a great publick loss. His Honor, the Lieutenant-Governor, has been pleased to appoint you to succeed him in the command of Fort Dummer, as will appear by the enclosed commission." With the office he also received the title which his father had borne. He was a member of the Assembly of the province of New Hampshire, and possessed great influence among the inhabitants on the "Grants." He died at Winchester in 1786, at which place the death of his widow occurred in August, 1791. The following notice of his death appeared in one of the gazettes of that period:-"Winchester, November 19th, 1786. This day departed this life, in sure hope of a glorious immortality, in the seventysecond year of his age, to the great loss of his family and friends, as well as the public in general, Josiah Willard, Esqr., an affectionate husband, a tender parent, a faithful friend, and a generous benefactor."*

*N. Y. Colonial MSS., Dunmore, Tryon, in office Sec. State N. Y., January 30th, 1771, vol. xcvii. Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv. 675. MS. Letter from Joseph Willard, Esq., of Boston. Worcester Magazine, 1786.

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chusetts, with his family, and settled in the town of Marlborough, Vermont. He was very active in promoting the interests of the new settlement, and through his instrumentality Capt. Nathaniel Whitney and his brothers, Samuel and Jonas from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, were induced to visit the place. Pleased with the locality, they purchased lands, became residents, and were always regarded as the most useful and influential citizens of Marlborough. To Capt. Williams is ascribed the credit of having erected the first framed building in the town. It was a barn, and was built on the farm subsequently owned by Simeon Adams.

Previous to his removal to Vermont, Capt. Williams had been engaged in the service of the colonies in the war which terminated with the peace of Paris, signed on the 10th of February, 1763. At the commencement of the war of the Revolution he early became interested in behalf of the American cause, and acknowledging the jurisdiction of New York over the New Hampshire Grants, was elected a delegate to the first Provincial Congress of that state, which commenced its session on the 22d of May, 1775. He was returned to the same position during the sessions which commenced on the 6th of December, 1775, and on the 14th of May, 1776. Desirous of aiding in the cause which he had embraced, he, on the 9th of June, 1775, in connection with Benjamin Wait and Joab Hoisington, offered his services to the Provincial Congress, promising, in case they should be accepted, to use his utmost endeavors to "raise a regiment of good, active, enterprising soldiers." The object of these patriots, as stated by themselves, was to form in Cumberland county a body of minute-men, who would be" duly prepared at the least notice. ... to keep under proper subjection, regulars, Roman Catholics, and the savages at the northward; as also, to be ready at all times, to defend our rights and privileges against ministerial tyranny and oppression."

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Of the appreciation in which he was held as a soldier, an opinion may be formed from the following passage, taken from a letter written by Ethan Allen and Seth Warner to Eliphalet Dyer and Silas Dean, dated at Philadelphia, July 4th, 1775. Capt. William Williams, who served in that rank in the ranging service with honour during the last war, and since has been a major of militia in Cumberland county, is desirous to join the battalion of Green Mountain Boys in rank of major, and complete a full regiment; and though the Green Mountain Boys are fully satisfied by the present arrangement, nevertheless, if the exigency of war shall render it expedient to make us a complete regiment, this gentleman will on notice, be at your Honours' service. His connections with many old rangers and marksmen, with his military abilities in such a department, would render him conspicuous, and very agreeable to our corps."

At the commencement of the campaign of 1777, efforts were made to place the northern frontier in a state of defence, and to accomplish in part this purpose, General Schuyler was em powered, by a resolution of the New York Provincial Congress, to dispatch one-fifth part of the militia of Cumberland county to reinforce the garrison at Ticonderoga. In reply to the requisition made upon Colonel Williams, in consequence of this resolve, he stated, in a letter dated the 13th of April, 1777, that the inhabitants were unwilling to serve in the battalions of the state of New York, but were ready to act as the militia of the New Hampshire Grants, or of a new state. Although it does not appear that he was present at the evacuation of Ticonderoga, which soon after took place, yet he distinguished himself at the head of a regiment in the battle of Bennington, on the 16th of August following, and shared in the glory of the victory which crowned the efforts of that day.

He did not long continue a resident of Marlborough. In 1777 he was a citizen of Wilmington, and during the years that followed, frequently changed the place of his abode. Having at last settled in the province of Lower Canada, he continued to reside there until the time of his decease, in 1823, the same year in which occurred the death of his wife. As an officer, he was brave, energetic, skilful, and humane: as a citizen, enterprising, active, and progressive: as a neighbor, kind, polite, and attentive. The elegance and symmetry of his form were as perfect as his manners were agreeable. He was held in

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