The Fessendens of Lexington, MA: Minutemen, Wheelwrights, and Witness to the First Shot Fired

Patriots Day has once again come and gone, and still while I live within a few miles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, I have yet to attend the reenactments and festivities that take place.  Maybe next year.  I have every reason to attend - not only due to the proximity of the historic sites - but given that my ancestor and four times great grandfather Nathan Fessenden was enrolled in Captain Parker's Company of Minutemen and was at the Battle of Lexington in 1775.   

On one of my off season jaunts to Lexington, I visited the Old Burying Ground in the town center and came across several graves of ancestors, including those for Thomas and Hannah Fessenden -- my five times great grandparents. [1] 

                                       

                                           Memento mori                                            Memento mori      

                                      Here lies the remains                                         Here lies the
                                  of Mrs Hannah Fessenden                       Remains of Thomas Fessenden 
                                        wife of the late Mr                                           who departed
                                        Thomas Fessenden                                       This Life July 22d
                                         who departed this                                                   1768
                                    Life October 22d 1768                                         In the 59 Year
                                           in the 52d Year                                                 of his Age
                                            of her Age                                                         

Thomas Fessenden, a wheelwright, was born at Lexington on 9 December 1709 to Thomas (b. 1684) and Abigail (Poulter) Fessenden.[2] Thomas (b.1709) had several full siblings - Samuel, Amity, Abigail and Mary- as well as half siblings after his father's second marriage to Abigail Locke.  He married Hannah Prentice of Cambridge on 13 June 1735.[3]  Hannah was probably the daughter of Nathaniel and Hannah (Wyeth) Prentice born 16 December 1716.  She died 22 October 1768 at age 52 just a few months after her husband who died intestate on 22 July 1768.  An interesting side note is that Benjamin Fessenden (b.1701), a brother to Thomas Fessenden (b. 1684) graduated from Harvard College and was ordained at Sandwich, Massachusetts on 12 September 1722.  His son Benjamin, also a grad of Harvard, was an innkeeper at Sandwich, and one of his daughters married Gideon Hawley at Mashpee. 


The Middlesex County Probate Records[4] show that eldest son Thomas Fessenden (b.1741), also a Wheelwright of Lexington, was appointed as an Administrator to his father's estate on 7 September 1768.  An inventory of assets on 20 December 1768 revealed a very large family estate that included a mansion house and barn, several small buildings, and approximately 140 acres at Lexington, plus several additional parcels.  It appears that part of the farm owned by Thomas Fessenden (b.1709) had been inherited from his father. 

                                        

The probate documents identify widow Hannah, and several heirs -- daughter Hannah Farmer (who had already received her portion in money), Nathaniel Farmer, sons Nathaniel and Nathan, as well as eldest son Thomas (estate administrator, b. 1741).  Not mentioned here but identified in probate court order is another son Aaron. Accounting identified many debts owing from the estate, and also included cost of Hannah's mourning clothes, and ultimately the charges for her funeral.  As mentioned above she died only several months after her husband.  A payment was made to a "Negro woman named Luce" for attending the deceased during his sickness.  The estate however did not document any servants indentured or otherwise. The court ordered that the whole of the real estate and premises be assigned to Thomas (b.1741) as eldest son, and allowed for payment of his expenses incurred in administrating the estate.  It was also ordered that payment of shares of remaining monies be paid out to his brothers and sisters to include: Nathaniel, Nathan, Aaron, Sarah, and excluded Hannah in the final division as she had already received her portion. Robert Harrington was appointed guardian to daughter Sarah Fessenden who was a minor aged 17. 

                                         

                                           


Children of Thomas (b.1709) and Hannah (Prentice) Fesseden:

Hannah, b. 9 August 1736; m. 20 May 1775 to Nathaniel Farmer; d. 20 December 1782;
Abigail, b. 7 September 1738; d. 13 July 1741;
Thomas, b. 10 July 1741; m. Elizabeth Apthorp, and 2nd Lucy Lee; d. 1804;
Aaron, b. 30 December 1744, m. Sarah Locke; d. 1809;
Nathaniel, b. 7 June 1746, m. Lydia Bemis, 2nd Elizabeth Webb; d. 1790
Nathan, b. 10 April 1749, m. Sarah Winship 17 October 1771, d. 1797;
Sarah, b. 9 August 1753, m. Isaac Winship brother of Sarah Winship, d. 1834;
Isaac, b. 23 October 1757, d.  1759.

                                       


Nathan Fessenden

According to the Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolutionary War, 1775-1801,  Nathan Fessenden (my fourth great grandfather) was a private in Captain John Parker's company at Lexington.  He served between May 6 and May 10, 1775, with one day at Cambridge by order of the Committee of Safety; and also served with the same company from June 17 to June 18, 1775, two days at Cambridge.[4]

Nathan Fessenden was born 10 April 1749 at Lexington, Massachusetts, he died 24 April 1797.  Nathan married Sarah Winship, also of Lexington, on 17 October 1771.  Sarah, the daughter of Isaac and Hannah (Durant) Winship, was born on 13 May 1753.  Nathan is enumerated in 1790 at Lexington with a household consisting of two males over the age of 16, three males under 16, and two white females.

                                          

Nathan and Sarah had the following children:

Nathan, b. 25 April 1772, m. Jane Goodrich;
Isaac, b. 12. April 1776;
Jonathan, b. 18 May 1779, r. in Portland, m. Betsey Drinkwater;
Lydia, b. 28 May 1782, m. Elisha Tainter;
John, b. 25 December 1784, r. in Portland, d. 7 Aug 1849;
Sally, b. 13 Octtober 1788, m. William Lovejoy of NH;
Nathaniel, b. 6 Jan 1791, d. 1821 unmarried;

According to a Sotheby's catalogue note viewed on Sothebys.com (Auction Catalogue, Important Americana, Item #581), the chair depicted below belonged to Nathan Fessenden, who had entered a claim for damages and loss of property in the Battle of Lexington.  I continue to search for a copy of this claim, but have found a record of claim submitted by his brother Thomas (b. 1741).  This brother Thomas also served in Captain Parker's company as well as other battles, earning the rank of Lieutenant.  Please see below about Thomas.





Testimony of Thomas Fessenden About the Battle of Lexington

Thomas Fessenden (b. 1741) also served in Captain Parker's Company at Lexington.  Thomas was one of several individuals who provided testimony as to the events of April 17 and 18 1775. 


                       




Additionally, an account of damages as reported by Thomas Fessenden was included in a report to the Provincial Congress estimating damages done at Cambridge, Lexington and Concord by the King's troops on the 19th of April 1775. Ultimately this Thomas Fessenden (b. 1741) was one of the wealthiest men at Lexington according to tax records.  As noted above he was administrator to, and recipient of, his father's estate.  According to an Historical Narrative researched and written by Kathryn Grover for the Lexington Historical Commission, the Bowman Tavern at 837 Massachusetts Avenue in Lexington was originally built for Thomas Fessenden (b. 1741) about the time he married Elizabeth Apthorp in 1770; the building was sold by a Fessenden heir to Francis Bowman in 1822 for $4,000. 

Ultimately, my Fessenden branch of the family tree leads with Jonathan Fessenden to Maine, and from there to Cape Cod.


Sources:

[1] Find a Grave Memorial ID 16639476 and 16639474, Old Burying Ground, Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA; Maintained by Bill Boyington (contributor 46800933), Find A Grave database and images.

[2] Genealogical Register of Lexington Families, from the first settlement of the town, Hudson, Charles 1795-1881, Boston, Wiggin & Lunt, 1868, a second part of the History of Lexington, Library of Congress. 

[3] North American Family Histories, the History and Genealogy of the Prentice or Prentiss Family in New England, Ancestry.com.

[4] Massachusetts, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1735-1991, Thomas Fessenden, Middlesex, Probate Papers, No. 7477-7587, Image 162, Ancestry.com.

Lexingtonminutemen.com.

U.S., Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolutionary War, 1775-1801, Volume 5, Page 4681, accessed on fold3.com.

Hudson, Charles, 1795-1881, and Lexington Historical Society (Mass.). History of the Town of Lexington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, From Its First Settlement to 1868. [Bi-centenary ed.] Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin company, 1913.  A separate publication from the History of the Town ..., Image 76 of the Genealogical register of Lexington families, from the first settlement of town. Library of Congress.  https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search?searchCode=LCCN&searchArg=07014895&searchType=1&permalink=y

Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention.

National Archives Identifier: 6883160

Deposition #12 of Thomas Fessenden Regarding the Events of April 18 and 19, 1775 at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts Bay Colony; 4/23/1775; Massachusetts State Papers; Papers of the Continental Congress, 1774 - 1789; Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention, Record Group 360; National Archives Building, Washington, DC. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/deposition-12-thomas-fessenden, April 7, 2024].


Massachusetts, Provincial Congress, Boston, The journals of each Provincial congress of Massachusetts in 1774 and 1775, and of the Committee of safety, with an appendix, containing the proceedings of the county conventions-narratives of the events of the nineteenth of April, 1775-papers relating to Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and other documents, illustrative of the early history of the American revolution, Dutton and Wentworth, Printers to the state 1838, p. 688, accessed on Internet Archive.


A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S.Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875, Journals of the Continental Congress, Volume 2, Page 35 of 256, The Library of Congress, memory.loc.gov.

Lexington, MA, Public Records Portal, Published-Public Documents, Minutes, Reports, Committees Archive, Planning Board, 1984-07-16, lexingtonma.gov. 

Massachusetts Historical Commission, Inventory Form B, Building, Historical Narrative, researched and written by Kathryn Grover, Architectural Description, Records, Lexington, MA, https://records.lexingtonma.gov/WebLink/ElectronicFile.aspx?docid=2496982&dbid=0

Coburn, Frank Warren, and Lexington Historical Society, The battle of Lexington Common, Lexington, MA, the author, 1921, Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/21006227/>.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/49742/49742-h/49742-h.htm

Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Marriage Records, familysearch.org.


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