James Endicott
James Endicott
Birth 1888-04-13 Death 1947-08-08
(1739 - April 4, 1799)His name is listed in some sources as James Endicutt. He was the grandson of Gilbert Endicott who may have been a half-nephew of Governor Jo...
Branches & Units
Burials (0)
No burials linked.
Wars
Battles
Awards
Medals
Service
Categories
Categories
Categories
Notes
Show / hide narrative
(1739 - April 4, 1799)
His name is listed in some sources as James Endicutt. He was the grandson of Gilbert Endicott who may have been a half-nephew of Governor John Endecott, and a veteran of King Philip’s War (see above). He came from Stoughton (now Canton), Massachusetts and was a Captain in several different units during the war:
• A company in Col. Lemuel Robinson's regiment, which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775 (the day of the battles of Concord and Lexington, the first battles of the Revolution); his service at that time was 13 days. “A Timeline of Stoughton” found at http://www.stoughtonhistory.com/chronology.htm says “1775 (April 19 Battle of Lexington - 148 Minute Men from Stoughton answer the call. Capt. James Endicott in charge.”
• Col. Benjamin Gill's regiment. James’sservice in this instance was 5 days. The company marched from Stoughton to assist the army in fortifying Dorchester Heights March 4, 1776. This was a decisive action early in the American Revolutionary War that precipitated the end of the siege of Boston and the evacuation of British troops from that city.
• Captain, 3d Co. (North co. of 1st Parish in Stoughton), Col. Benjamin Gill's (3d Suffolk Co.) regiment of the Massachusetts militia. He is on a list of officers to be commissioned dated Stoughton, March 22, 1776; it was ordered in Council on March 25, 1776, that the commissions be issued.
• Captain, Col. Gill's regiment.; service, 3 days; company marched to Moon Island (an island in Boston harbor) on June 13, 1776, when the British fleet was driven out of Boston harbor.
• Captain, Col. Ephraim Wheelock's regiment.; regimental returns dated Ticonderoga, Sept. 11, Sept. 14, and Oct. 12, 1776;
• Captain, Col. William McIntosh's regiment.; entered service March 20, 1778; discharged April 5, 1778; service, 18 days; company marched to Roxbury; roll dated Stoughton.
The 666-page “History of the Town of Canton, Norfolk County, Massachusetts” by Daniel Thomas Vose Huntoon, Jr, , gives this account of James’s service and life after the Revolution, plus the service of his 16-year old son in assisting with provisions for the war effort:
The first notice that the people of ancient Stoughton received that hostilities had actually begun between the king's troops and the patriots, was on the afternoon of 19th of April 1775. It was lecture-day, and Parson Dunbar was exhorting his people and preparing them for the next Sunday's service, when suddenly the door was thrown open and Henry Bailey marched up the broad aisle and said was an alarm. In an instant all was confusion. A small boy, Lemuel Bent, seized the bell-rope, and soon the jangle reached the ears of the neighboring farmers. Israel Bailey conversed for a moment with Captain James Endicott, and then the captain said, "Take my colt that is fastened outside, ride through the town, an warn the company to meet at May's tavern with arms and ammunition ready to march toward Boston at a moment's notice." Captain Endicott returned his home, obtained his accoutrements, and started down the road toward Boston, leaving his company to follow as they could be collected.
And so from the towns which composed ancient Stoughton, stalwart men, with sturdy sons, left their homes at sharp clang of the alarm-bell, or the hurried words of the orderly, "To arms! To arms! The war has begun," hastened to the rallying-place. These minutemen directly to the coast, and their fellow-townsmen followed with provisions and supplies. Abel Puffer, Roger, John, and Isaac Billings, Ebenezer and William Shaller, Abner Crane, Jonathan Kenney, Israel Bailey, and Lemuel Davenport all they could to make them comfortable.
James Endicott, captain of one of the companies that marched from Stoughton at the first alarm, was born in Stoughton in 1739 and died in Canton April 4, 1799. He was the son of James and grandson of Gilbert Endicott, one the first settlers. March 5, 1761 he was married by Reverend Samuel Dunbar to Abigail Puffer. During the war, Captain Endicott was several times called into active service; on the afternoon of the 4th of March 1776, he went to the assistance the Continental troops when they fortified Dorchester Heights. They made a lodgement on the ground unmolested, but were drenched with a most dreadful storm of rain. Endicott led his company to Ticonderoga, and in 1778 was again in the service at Roxbury, nor were his patriotic services confined to the field only. In 1778 he made frequent journeys to Boston to enlist and muster soldiers into the Continental army. By order of the town, he employed Hannah Endicott to weave thirty-seven yards of blanketing and to spin thirty-two skeins of yarn. Mrs Lemuel Stone, Mary Goodwin, and Mrs Deborah Patrick were also employed in making the soldiers comfortable. In 1780 Mr Endicott was chosen Representative to the General Court, but refused to serve, although he accepted the trust during the years 1784, 1785, 1786, and 1790. He served the town as its treasurer two years before his death. From ancient documents in the possession of his descendants, it would appear that he was commissioned by John Hancock, February 11, 1785, as justice of the peace for the county of Suffolk, and on September 24, 1793, as one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas for the county of Norfolk. He was a very prominent man in town affairs, and was universally respected. He occupied a house which formerly stood on the spot where the Endicott homestead now stands, but which was destroyed by fire, October 29, 1806.
When the captain, afterward known as Judge Endicott, left his home to join his company at the time of the Lexington alarm, his son John, born February 4, 1764, died January 31, 1857, was in his twelfth year. The following day, this lad started with a supply of food for the support of the company, all the able-bodied men being in service. In time, he reached Roxbury with his load of provisions; meanwhile his father had been ordered in the direction of Cambridge. Not discouraged, the lad proceeded after him, and delivered the provisions at the encampment at Prospect Hill. So successful was this enterprise that in after years, during the continuance of the war, he was sent on expeditions to a greater distance, to Hartford and Norwich in Connecticut, and othe places. In the winter of 1780, when John Endicott was only sixteen, the roads being obstructed by snow and the cold intense, he started for Boston with an ox-team loaded with wood, and entering on the Neponset, which was hard frozen, at Milton Mills, he followed the course of the stream down, and crossing over the harbor near William Castle, now Fort Independence, entered the town near the point where Craigie's Bridge was afterward erected. Discharging his wood, he thence crossed over to Cambridge and took a load of damaged gunpowder, which he was to carry to Canton, to be worked over at the powder mill then in operation here. On his return over the Neck, such was the condition of the road that he repeatedly overset, --- four times, he said, --- and was obliged to reload. He reached Roxbury near midnight where he stayed until next morning.
His name is listed in some sources as James Endicutt. He was the grandson of Gilbert Endicott who may have been a half-nephew of Governor John Endecott, and a veteran of King Philip’s War (see above). He came from Stoughton (now Canton), Massachusetts and was a Captain in several different units during the war:
• A company in Col. Lemuel Robinson's regiment, which marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775 (the day of the battles of Concord and Lexington, the first battles of the Revolution); his service at that time was 13 days. “A Timeline of Stoughton” found at http://www.stoughtonhistory.com/chronology.htm says “1775 (April 19 Battle of Lexington - 148 Minute Men from Stoughton answer the call. Capt. James Endicott in charge.”
• Col. Benjamin Gill's regiment. James’sservice in this instance was 5 days. The company marched from Stoughton to assist the army in fortifying Dorchester Heights March 4, 1776. This was a decisive action early in the American Revolutionary War that precipitated the end of the siege of Boston and the evacuation of British troops from that city.
• Captain, 3d Co. (North co. of 1st Parish in Stoughton), Col. Benjamin Gill's (3d Suffolk Co.) regiment of the Massachusetts militia. He is on a list of officers to be commissioned dated Stoughton, March 22, 1776; it was ordered in Council on March 25, 1776, that the commissions be issued.
• Captain, Col. Gill's regiment.; service, 3 days; company marched to Moon Island (an island in Boston harbor) on June 13, 1776, when the British fleet was driven out of Boston harbor.
• Captain, Col. Ephraim Wheelock's regiment.; regimental returns dated Ticonderoga, Sept. 11, Sept. 14, and Oct. 12, 1776;
• Captain, Col. William McIntosh's regiment.; entered service March 20, 1778; discharged April 5, 1778; service, 18 days; company marched to Roxbury; roll dated Stoughton.
The 666-page “History of the Town of Canton, Norfolk County, Massachusetts” by Daniel Thomas Vose Huntoon, Jr, , gives this account of James’s service and life after the Revolution, plus the service of his 16-year old son in assisting with provisions for the war effort:
The first notice that the people of ancient Stoughton received that hostilities had actually begun between the king's troops and the patriots, was on the afternoon of 19th of April 1775. It was lecture-day, and Parson Dunbar was exhorting his people and preparing them for the next Sunday's service, when suddenly the door was thrown open and Henry Bailey marched up the broad aisle and said was an alarm. In an instant all was confusion. A small boy, Lemuel Bent, seized the bell-rope, and soon the jangle reached the ears of the neighboring farmers. Israel Bailey conversed for a moment with Captain James Endicott, and then the captain said, "Take my colt that is fastened outside, ride through the town, an warn the company to meet at May's tavern with arms and ammunition ready to march toward Boston at a moment's notice." Captain Endicott returned his home, obtained his accoutrements, and started down the road toward Boston, leaving his company to follow as they could be collected.
And so from the towns which composed ancient Stoughton, stalwart men, with sturdy sons, left their homes at sharp clang of the alarm-bell, or the hurried words of the orderly, "To arms! To arms! The war has begun," hastened to the rallying-place. These minutemen directly to the coast, and their fellow-townsmen followed with provisions and supplies. Abel Puffer, Roger, John, and Isaac Billings, Ebenezer and William Shaller, Abner Crane, Jonathan Kenney, Israel Bailey, and Lemuel Davenport all they could to make them comfortable.
James Endicott, captain of one of the companies that marched from Stoughton at the first alarm, was born in Stoughton in 1739 and died in Canton April 4, 1799. He was the son of James and grandson of Gilbert Endicott, one the first settlers. March 5, 1761 he was married by Reverend Samuel Dunbar to Abigail Puffer. During the war, Captain Endicott was several times called into active service; on the afternoon of the 4th of March 1776, he went to the assistance the Continental troops when they fortified Dorchester Heights. They made a lodgement on the ground unmolested, but were drenched with a most dreadful storm of rain. Endicott led his company to Ticonderoga, and in 1778 was again in the service at Roxbury, nor were his patriotic services confined to the field only. In 1778 he made frequent journeys to Boston to enlist and muster soldiers into the Continental army. By order of the town, he employed Hannah Endicott to weave thirty-seven yards of blanketing and to spin thirty-two skeins of yarn. Mrs Lemuel Stone, Mary Goodwin, and Mrs Deborah Patrick were also employed in making the soldiers comfortable. In 1780 Mr Endicott was chosen Representative to the General Court, but refused to serve, although he accepted the trust during the years 1784, 1785, 1786, and 1790. He served the town as its treasurer two years before his death. From ancient documents in the possession of his descendants, it would appear that he was commissioned by John Hancock, February 11, 1785, as justice of the peace for the county of Suffolk, and on September 24, 1793, as one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas for the county of Norfolk. He was a very prominent man in town affairs, and was universally respected. He occupied a house which formerly stood on the spot where the Endicott homestead now stands, but which was destroyed by fire, October 29, 1806.
When the captain, afterward known as Judge Endicott, left his home to join his company at the time of the Lexington alarm, his son John, born February 4, 1764, died January 31, 1857, was in his twelfth year. The following day, this lad started with a supply of food for the support of the company, all the able-bodied men being in service. In time, he reached Roxbury with his load of provisions; meanwhile his father had been ordered in the direction of Cambridge. Not discouraged, the lad proceeded after him, and delivered the provisions at the encampment at Prospect Hill. So successful was this enterprise that in after years, during the continuance of the war, he was sent on expeditions to a greater distance, to Hartford and Norwich in Connecticut, and othe places. In the winter of 1780, when John Endicott was only sixteen, the roads being obstructed by snow and the cold intense, he started for Boston with an ox-team loaded with wood, and entering on the Neponset, which was hard frozen, at Milton Mills, he followed the course of the stream down, and crossing over the harbor near William Castle, now Fort Independence, entered the town near the point where Craigie's Bridge was afterward erected. Discharging his wood, he thence crossed over to Cambridge and took a load of damaged gunpowder, which he was to carry to Canton, to be worked over at the powder mill then in operation here. On his return over the Neck, such was the condition of the road that he repeatedly overset, --- four times, he said, --- and was obliged to reload. He reached Roxbury near midnight where he stayed until next morning.