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May 25, the company (the Fourth of the Sixth Connecticut Regiment, Col. Samuel Holden Parsons commanding) started for Boston, marching via Norwich, Sterling, and Providence. Eight of the companies remained on duty at New London till June 17, when they were ordered to Boston and posted at Roxbury. No entries are made in the orderly book between April 26 and June 1. Capt. Coit with his company marched from Cambridge to Bunker Hill while the battle was in progress, and aided the other troops from Connecticut in covering the retreat of the provincials. The last entry on the last page of the orderly book bears date "Roxbury 7th August, 1775," and at this point the record as preserved breaks off abruptly. On the 5th of October, 1775, the Continental Congress authorized Gen. Washington to employ two armed vessels to intercept British store-ships, and before the close of the month made provisions for four additional cruisers. Acting under a broad construction of his commission, the commander-in-chief had anticipated Congressional action. Capt. Coit was detailed from the army to take command of the armed schooner "Harrison," one of the first to be got ready for service. His instructions from Gen. Washington are dated Oct. 22, 1775, and are printed in this pamphlet. In brief, he is directed to seize supply ships bound to or from Boston; to send prizes to the nearest and safest port; to search diligently for papers tending to disclose the designs of the enemy; to treat prisoners kindly, allowing them to retain their money and apparel; to avoid any engagement with any vessel of equal or slightly inferior strength, "the design of this enterprise being to intercept the supplies of the enemy;" and to be extremely frugal of ammunition. During the war no more daring service was performed than by the sailors of the nascent republic. King George regarded them as pirates, while his cruisers seemed sufficiently numerous to seal up the ports of New England. In putting out to sea they took not merely the ordinary risks of war, but, as they had reason to expect, of ignominious death in case of capture. Capt. Coit claimed to be the first American "to turn His Majesty's bunting upside down." In January, 1776, the Council of Safety of Connecticut authorized the construction by Uriah Hayden, at his yard in Saybrook, of a war ship, "to be 80 feet keel, 27 feet beam, and 12 feet hold," and of about 260 tons. July 11 Wm. Coit was appointed captain of this craft, which had been christened the "Oliver Cromwell." Being in Lebanon the same day, Capt. Coit was called before the Council, when Gov. Trumbull with Homeric simplicity "gave him advice, instruction, and admonition as to his conduct, etc." , Early in August the masts were damaged by lightning; but on the 18th of the month she sailed out of the Connecticut River, and reached New London the 20th. On the 23d of October the Council ordered her to sail on a cruise of about two months, but she was not ready. Jan. 28, 1777, she was ordered to proceed to sea immediately, but the crew deserted. In March, Melally, the First Lieutenant, was dismissed, and Capt. Coit reported that he would sail as soon as supplies were received. As the result of various complications, however, he was retired from the State service April 14. Later he commanded the "America," and perhaps other privateers. When Benedict Arnold burned New London, Sept. 6, 1781, Capt. Coit was captured, and detained for a time on a prison ship near New York. Capt. Coit was tall, portly, soldierly in bearing, frank, jovial, somewhat eccentric, and very liberal. Among his peculiarities he wore a scarlet cloak, and hence was familiarly known as "The Great Red Dragon." Dec. 18, 1763, Capt. Coit married Sarah, daughter of Capt. John Prentiss, commander of the armed sloop "Defence," which convoyed five hundred Connecticut troops under Gen. Roger Wolcott from New London to Cape Breton in 1745. He died in London, England, in February, 1747. They had eight children,— three sons and five daughters; the latter celebrated for beauty. Samuel Waldo said that Esther (Mrs. Clapp) had the handsomest face he ever painted. The eldest, Sarah, born in 1764, married George Lillington of North Carolina, grandson of Col. Alexander Lillington of the British Army. Gen. Lillington distinguished himself at the battle of Moore's Creek, N. C, where in February, 1776, about one thousand militia routed over fifteen hundred Tories, composed in large part of Scotch Highlanders. Esther, born Jan. 3, 1767, married Samuel Clapp in March, 1792. They lived under the shadow of Trinity Church, New York city, and the remains of both rest in the adjoining cemetery. Ann, born March 30, 1770, died March 30, 1792, on the day fixed for her marriage to the eldest son of Bishop Seabury. Elizabeth, the youngest daughter, married Joseph Bocage, a French exile, to whom Louis Philippe paid a lengthy visit while in this country. Mr. Bocage died in St. Lucia, where he owned a large estate. His widow died in Pine Bluff, Ark., at the residence of her grandson, Hon. G. W. Bocage. Of the sons, Daniel died at sea and Leonidas in childhood. William, Jr., born Nov. 19, 1771, married in 1800 Frances Murdock, daughter of Rev. Jonathan Murdock (Yale College, 1766). He sailed out of New York as master for twenty-six years. During the war of 1812, at the solicitation of Commodore Decatur, he took command of the armed boats that watched the enemy from the mouth of the Thames. He advanced, too, a large sum to pay the bounties demanded by the sailors who enlisted to man the fleet of Commodore O. H. Perry on Lake Erie. His vouchers were destroyed by fire in 1818. As he had no duplicates, and as Commodores Perry and Decatur died in 1820, and the chaplain of the squadron about the same time,— the only officers having knowledge of the facts,— no part of the money was ever refunded either to him or to his heirs. In 1797, Capt. Wm. Coit, Sr., broken in health, left New London to visit his daughter in North Carolina, where he died in 1802. His dust rests in the family cemetery of the Lillingtons, on the banks of the Cape Fear river, thirty-five miles from Wilmington. His widow died in New York city in 1813, and was buried in Trinity churchyard beside her daughter, Mrs. Clapp. 18
Both father and son made generous sacrifices for their country. No descendant of theirs has ever received pension or bounty land, or asked for either. Note: The Orderly Book of Capt. Coit’s Company in not herein transcribed as there is little personal reference to him in it. ----- John Crane was Captain of Gridley's Regt. , Massachusetts Artillery, 3 May 1775 ; Major of Knox's Regt. Continental Artillery, 10 Dec 1775 ; wounded at Corlaer's Hook, 14 Sep 1776 ; Colonel Third Continental Artillery, 1 Jan 1777; transferred to corps of Artillery, 17 Jun 1783; Brevet Brigadier General, 30 Sep 1783; served to 3 Nov 1783. He was a member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati. He married 16 Dec 1766 Mehitable Wheeler, d/o of Samuel Wheeler and Mary How. http://boston1775.blogspot.com/2006/11/john-cranes-wounded-foot.html John Crane (1744-1805) was a house carpenter in Boston. In the early 1770s, he became a sergeant in the town's militia artillery company. Like several other men in that company, he participated in the Boston Tea Party, reportedly being knocked cold by accident and hidden in a pile of wood chips. Probably fearing arrest and seeking better business prospects, Crane and his friend Ebenezer Stevens left Boston for Providence a few weeks later. Crane returned to the Boston area in 1775 as a captain in the Rhode Island Artillery, stationed in Roxbury and then at a forward position on Boston Neck. He showed such skill in commanding his battery and aiming his guns that by the end of the year he was commissioned a major in the Continental Army's artillery regiment, much to Thomas Craft’s mortification. In the 1820s, William Eustis cited Crane as an example of an excellent officer who came from the ranks of craftsmen, not gentry. Eustis wrote: After the evacuation of Boston, he marched to New York. Whenever a British ship of war appeared in the East, or North river, or any firing was heard, Crane was on horseback, and galloped to the scene of action. Being reproached on an occasion when he exposed himself alone, riding through Greenwich street, under the constant broadsides of a passing ship, he replied, “The shot is not cast which is to kill me.” Not long after, a frigate run up the East river, and anchored on the Long Island side, near Corlaer’s hook [14 Sep 1776]. Four field pieces were ordered to annoy her. They were only six pounders. Crane, as usual, was present and pointed the pieces. His sight was remarkably true, his aim was sure. He had from habit and the acuteness of his vision, the faculty of seeing a cannon ball on its passage through the air. A falling shot from the ship he kenned in a direction to strike, as he thought, the lower part of his body, not having time to change his position in any other way, he whirled himself round on one foot, the ball struck the other foot while raised in the air, carrying away the great toe and ball of the foot. Thus ended his usefulness for the campaign. He was afterwards removed to New Jersey, and surviving the perils of a partial jaw lock, so far recovered as to go home on furlough. He returned to service under Gen. Henry Knox and ended the war as a colonel. At that time, Crane was among the Continental Army officers who were upset at Congress's slow pay—an effort that led them to create the Society of the Cincinnati. Crane also indignantly refused a disability pension at that time, declaring, "No, sir; they never shall say that I eat their bread when I have done serving them." He followed Knox and other artillery colleagues in becoming a landowner in the part of Massachusetts that became Maine. Crane's businesses didn't flourish, however, and his wounded foot became disabling. He tearfully accepted a federal pension a few months before he died. ----- http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/a/i/t/James-Aitcheson/GENE1-0017.html Dr Samuel Finley [Jr.]. (SAMUEL FINLEY 13 DD., LL.D., MICHAEL 12 FINLEY, ROBERT 11 , JOHN 10 , JAMES 9 , ANDREW 8 , JOHN 7 FINLAY, JOHN 6 , JOHN 5 , ANDREW 4 , WILLIAM 3 , ARCHIBALD FYNLAY 2 (FINLAY), FEARCHAR 1 MCFINLAY) b. 20 Oct 1748 in Nottingham, Cecil, MD; d. 18 Jun 1834 in Salem Co., NJ; m. Nancy Moore 1778, d/o John Moore. A.B., M.D., Princeton University [of which his father was President]; served as Surgeon in the 14th Massachusetts Regiment, 10 Apr 1778; the 7th Massachusetts Regiment, 1 Jan 1781 to 3 Jun 1783; entered the Regular U. S. Army, as Surgeon of 12th Infantry; resigned 1 Apr 1800, taking up the practice of medicine in Salem Co., NJ. Children: i. WILLIAM FINLEY, b. WFT Est. 1769-1798; d. WFT Est. 1775-1877. ii. NANCY FINLEY, b. WFT Est. 1769-1798; d. WFT Est. 1774-1880. iii. SARAH FINLEY, b. WFT Est. 1769-1798; d. WFT Est. 1785-1880; m. ARGUBRIGHT. iv. PRUDENCE FINLEY, b. WFT Est. 1769-1798; d. WFT Est. 1785-1880; m. YOUNG. v. SAMUEL FINLEY, b. 10 Apr 1786, Cecil County, Maryland; d. 30 Jun 1862, Miss. ----- Micajah Gleason, tavern keeper, b. 17 Oct 1740, Farmington, Middlesex, MA; d. 28 Oct 1776 , White Plains, NY; son of Ebenezer Gleason, Sr. and Thankful Johnson; m. 1762 Hannah Drury daughter of Josiah Drury. He commanded a company of minute men at the Lexington alarm which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775, to Concord. He was captain of the Fourth Continental Infantry 1776 and died on the battlefield at White Plains. Hannah m2. Gen. John Nixon. In 1758 he served on an expedition to Cape Breton. Children: 1.Betty GLEASON b. 2 Sep 1764 in Framingham, Middlesex, MA 2.Hannah GLEASON b. 5 Apr 1767 in Framingham, Middlesex, MA 19
Page 1 and 2: MEMBERSHIP IN AMERICAN UNION LODGE
Page 3 and 4: In order to support the Grand Lodge
Page 5 and 6: Fellow Craft Barnes, Capt. Thomas,
Page 7 and 8: ----- < Samuel Barker (1739-1807) c
Page 9 and 10: ----- http://homepages.rootsweb.anc
Page 11 and 12: As to present news, can inform you
Page 13 and 14: immediately put in motion. After pr
Page 15 and 16: his faculties unimpaired, and his n
Page 17: He was approached by the directors
Page 21 and 22: On the arrival of the American army
Page 23 and 24: HEART, Jonathan Yale B.A. 1768, M.A
Page 25 and 26: Washington to New York by way of Ne
Page 27 and 28: I the Subscriber Clerk of Orleans C
Page 29 and 30: Hyde Log Cabin (1783) - State Histo
Page 31 and 32: the Indians. But the sheen of its b
Page 33 and 34: and with the letters printed in the
Page 35 and 36: law, and was admitted to the Philad
Page 37 and 38: defence. His extreme exertion, in p
Page 39 and 40: Ferris Kurd's store on Water Street
Page 41 and 42: The General Parks mentioned in his
Page 43 and 44: In the winter of 1777-78, Parsons t
Page 45 and 46: half of 1801, and in 1804 and 1805.
Page 47 and 48: Near the end of his life he wrote a
Page 49 and 50: Born in 1742, Elisha Skinner crosse
Page 51 and 52: there tarried eight days for her to
Page 53 and 54: keep a Clever Fellow in good humour
Page 55 and 56: Otho Holland Williams was born on M
Page 57 and 58: The Brewster Genealogy, p. 89, says
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Page 61 and 62: ART. 20. The Treasurer shall keep f
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At an Entered Apprentice's Lodge, h
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tate on or about the 31st day of Au
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continental line; and that he conti
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STATE OF CONNECTICUT, Comptroller's
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1. The half-pay promised by resolut
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The present is a claim for the seve
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For the episode of Dr. Benjamin Chu
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1 Washington to the President of Co
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Docf Turner arrived here Yesterday
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intelligence that the Enemy were ma
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it is not done, nor will it be done
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1 The allusion is to Sir Henry Clin
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extant it would probably prove that
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