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The Mara Sargeant Grace Story ...May 1976
THE SETTLER A QUARTERLY MAGAZINE
or HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY
February, May, September, November
Published by the Bradford County
Historical Society, Towanda, Pennsylvania
Settler Staff
Mrs. A. Carlton Wilson, Editor
(Sylvia Wilson)
Andrew Johnson, Mrs. Lois Crandeli
Volume XIV No.2
Mara Sargeant Grace
"Revolutionary War Heroine"
May 1976
The Mara Sargeant Grace Story
Dorman J. Grace, Palmyra, Pa.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow might have written the poem, Miss Mara Sargeant at Bunker Hill, and might have made Mara as famous as Paul Revere. As a Harvard professor after 1834, Longfellow lived at Craigle House, Brattle Street, Cambridge, Mass., across the Charles River from Boston. The house still stands, a literary shrine, its rooms and furnishings as they were when Longfellow lived there with his second wife Fanny Appleton, who died in a fire in 1861.
Miss Mara Sargeant In 1775-76 was a frequent visitor at Craigle House. It was then the headquarters of General George Washington during his campaign to drive the British Army out of Boston. Enroute from Philadelphia to Boston to take command, Washington had met a Philadelphia-bound messenger who gave him the news of the Battle of Bunker Hill, fought June 17, 1775.
He exclaimed, "This country's liberties are safe!" He of course knew that Miss Mara who washed and ironed for Martha Washington was a heroine of the Battle of Bunker Mill. Mara made lace caps for Martha and knit silk stockings for the General, who gave her a keepsake coin to treasure.
Mara Sargeant drew faith and courage from her Puritan forebears. They included John Howland and Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland, both Mayflower passengers, as were Longfellow's ancestors, John Alden and Priscilla Mullens Her mother was Elizabeth (Upham) Sargeant, grand-daughter or Michael Wigglesworth, minster, physician and foremost early New England poet, author of the long religious poem, The Day of Doom annotated with scripture references and used by Puritan ministers as a supplement to the Bible. (Michaet Wigglesworth, 1632-1705)
Mara's father was James Sargeant, born 1727, a sailing ship captain,drowned at sea May 5, 1759, before Mara's birth, Oct 10, 1759. Her brother,Ebenezer, born June 4, 1751, married (1) Hulda Sargent, (2) Betsy Adams,born 1773, daughter of John Adams*. Mara's sister, Elizabeth, born August 7, 1754, married James Upham.
From the widow's walk of the Sargeant home in Medford, 15 year old Mara could see the Boston Harbor and across the Charles River, two lanterns in Old North Church's belfry, signaling the message Paul Revere would carry on his famous midnight ride as a prelude to the April 19, 1775 Lexington "shot heard round the world." Paul Revere passed through Medford at midnight on his famous ride.
At 4 a.m., June 17, 1775, British cannons on the H.M.S. Lively began to shell the fort. Some among the untrained American soldiers cut and ran but most remained. Mara and her girlfriend stayed, carried water for drinking,for cooling the answering American cannon and for the use of battlefield doctors ministering to the wounded. At 3 p.m., 2500 British troops ferried across the Charles River from Boston and made their first grim and painful advance in ordered ranks up Breed's Hill, firing at the entrenched Americans...
Years later Mara Sargeant Grace told the Bunker Hill Story to her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren gathered round her in the house belonging to her son, William Grace on Grace Road, Springfield, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, "...the bullets fell around us like hailstones!"
* probably not President John Adams
How Mara Sargeant Grace, in 1823, left the West Springfield, Mass. grave of her husband, Joseph Grace II, veteran of Bunker Hill and the Revolution, making the long journey by ox team as first settlers in the namesake wilderness community of Springfield in Penn’s Woods, is another story.
As a sidelight on the hardiness of our pioneer forefathers, Old Grace Family Journal notes a walk in 1814 by Mara's husband, Joseph Grace II, from their home in West Springfield, Mass., to visit their daughter Betsy GRACE Fanning, who was dying at Springfield, Pa. After her death, Joseph walked home to Springfield, Mass. Born April 8, 1756, he died at West Springfield, Mass., Sept. 7, 1823.
The life story of Mara Sargeant Grace ends Aug.30, 1844 in her son's home, the William Grace house on Grace Road, Springfield, Pa. The heroine of the Battle of Bunker Hill, Grandma Grace, age 84, unable to sleep in her bed,would often sit up in her chair late at night drinking tea. Reaching into the fireplace for her midnight teakettle, she fell into the fire and died from burns and shock.
In 1970, the Pennsylvania Poetry Society awarded a First Prize to Dorman Grace for his poem Miss Mara Sargeant at Bunker Hill.
Men say if girls want equal place
They ought to be prepared to
face
The shot and shell of combat
zone--
Not leave the boys to fight
alone.
Well, there was Breed's and Bunker
Hill
And Colonel Prescott's "Fire
at Will"
And Red Coat ranks in even rows
That fell like lines of dominoes.
Colonials were falling, too--
Our heroine, a young girl who
Was combat medic. (Where they
bled)
Our soldiers' coats were also
red.
She'd used up all her bandages,
Tore up her clothing, legend
says,
To bind the wounds of Prescott's
men
As Red Coats stormed Breed's
Hill again.
Our ammunition gone, retreat
Was ordered. It was part defeat,
Part victory, says history.
Miss Mara, dressed immodestly,
Explained to Mother at her door,
"I couldn't take off any more."
Her proper Boston mother cried,
"My soul and body! Get inside!"
Hon, A. C. Fanning
June 14, 1918
(On the occasion of the marking of the grave of Mara Sargeant Grace by the Os-Co-Hu Chapter D.A.R. at the upper Leona Cemetery (also known as Boone Cemetery), Judge Fanning added the following information to our saga of our heroine of the Revolutionary War.)
"Mara Sargeant Grace whose memory and devoted work in the cause of liberty,we honor today, was born in Boston, Mass., October 10th, 1759, She never saw her father a sea captain. A few days before her birth, his ship wentdown in a great storm that swept the Atlantic and all on board were lost.
The widowed mother upon whom devolved the nurture and training of the young girl, must have been a woman of worth as evidenced by the strength and character and loyalty which marked her daughter's life and conduct. As an illustration of her adherence to convictions of duty, though dispelling fond dreams of happiness, it may be related that when about seventeen years of age, she was engaged to the son of a wealthy ship-owner by the name of Winslow, and Christmas day was fixed for the nuptials, All was in readiness for the event. The groom-to-be had a long distance to travel to get through the snows of winter. Enroute, he stopped at a tavern to get warm and while there, was induced to imbibe quite freely of wine. After his arrival at the Sargeant home, the effects of his indulgence became manifest. Mara immediately left his presence and though persistently impertuned by friends, refused to consummate the marriage and declared the engagement broken. Winslow was later lost at sea but his family evidenced appreciation of Mara's fine qualities by many acts of kindness and the bestowment from time to time of valuable gifts."
"Her Young life was passed in the days of the 'great awakening' amid scenes that quickened the pulse beat. She doubtless heard the hasty tread of 'Minute Men', the clanging of the alarm bells, and the call to arms. The light that flashed from the belfry of the old South Church on that historic April night, the midnight ride of Paul Revere, the shots at Lexington doubtless thrilled her soul."
"On that eventful morning of June 17th, 1775, she took her station on one of the house tops In Boston. She looked out on the slopes of Bunker Hill where in the silent watches of the night, magic-like fortifications had arisen. She saw in the distance the resolute, hastily summoned Continental Army, the long line of thoroughly disciplined Red Coats from across the sea and the sunlight glinting on a forest of burnished steel."
"She heard the throbbing of war drums, the crackle of musketry and the defiant roar of freedom's guns. Her heart was on fire. Though barely fifteen, with another girl companion, a heroine whose name to us will remain unknown, she hastened to America's first great battlefield where Warren fell, a field where free men defied the domination of kingly authority, a field forever consecrated by the blood of patriots and there amid the hurtling missles of death and the roar of conflict, carried buckets of water to the smoke begrimed Continentals and later prepared bandages and supplies and until night fall, assisted the surgeon in caring for the wounded, even tearing her garments into strips to aid in meeting the emergency. To have been a participant in that eventful epoch-making day was an honor sufficient for a lifetime."
"It was Wendell Phillips, that great orator who in later years standing by the open grave of one whose sacrifices for the cause of human liberty were not at that time appreciated, referring to that memorable day in history exclaimed: "Men walked Boston streets when night fell on Bunker's Hill and pitied Warren, saying, 'Foolish man, threw away his life,' Now we see him standing collossal on that bloodstained sod and severing that day the tie that bound Boston to Great Britain."
"That night George the III ceased to rule in New England. Washington's attention was in some way attracted to the young girl and during the time his headquarters were near Boston, she was frequently with Mrs. Washington for whom she made lace caps and for the General knit a pair of silk stockings. For years she was the proud possessor of a sliver dollar given to her by General Washington."
"April 12, 1779, Mara Sargeant was united in marriage with Joseph Grace of Boston. He was a Revolutionary soldier as were his brothers Emanuel and Benjamin, men of fine physique above six feet in height and all of whom it is said were in the battle of Bunker Hill."
"Following their marriage Joseph Grace and his wife Mara, took up their residence in West Springfield, Mass. He was a man of influence, a Methodist Class Leader and prominent in public office. There they reared a family of five children, Joseph, George, William, Polly (who married Ebenezer Sargeant) and Betsy, the last named being my great-grandmother."
"Joseph, George and William Grace, shortly after the settlement of the Township, with others, came through the wilderness and made their home in this valley. (Wetona) Joseph erected his cabin at the foot of the hill on the Grace Road, George at the summit beyond the row of maples and William a little further north. They were followed in 1812 by their sister, Betsy who with her husband Elisha Fanning located on the present site of the James Kennedy residence. To this home during the last illness of his daughter, Betsy, came Joseph Grace who walked all the way from Springfield, Mass, He died at his home in Mass. on September 7th, 1823."
"His widow, Mara, thus left alone
came to this Township and resided with her son, William, in what for three
quarters of a century and more was known as the "Red House" on the Grace
Road. There she passed the remaining years of her life. She was a woman
of culture and an earnest Christian. Her bible now in the possession of
B.C. Grace, was her constant companion. Her excellent qualities of head
and heart were recognized and appreciated. She was an earnest and entertaining
conversationalist and her recital of the stirring scenes of her early life
attracted many to her side. The name and history of Grandmother Grace,
as she was called became known in every home
for miles around."
"August 30th, 1844, after a useful and honored career, life's work well done, she passed to her reward. Tenderly, she was placed by loving hands to her last resting place in a casket draped with that starry emblem, 'Flag of the free hearts hope and home,By angel hands to valor given.'which she had seen unfurled amid the tempest of war at our Nation's birth. Posterity will reverently wend its way In all the coming years to this sacred spot where sleeps one of the heroines of the American Revolution."
On this impressive occasion, services were conducted in the Spear Cemetery, Springfield, at the northern end of the Leona Road. A marker forRevolutionary War Soldier, David Brown was to be unveiled there and it seemed appropriate that this occasion be honored along with the marking of the Mara Sargeant Grace gravesite in the upper Leona Cemetery by the Os-Co-Mu Chapter of the D.A.R.
So it was that on June 14th, 1918, the Os-Oo-Hu Chapter of the D.A.R. opened the exercises in the Spear Cemetery with the singing of America. The ritual and response was given by the Regent, Mrs. R.E. Van Syckel. The prayer was given by the Chaplain, Mrs. Mary C. Long and this was followed by a salute to the flag.
Leon Ballard, who had accompanied his mother Mrs. Benjamin L. Ballard to the service and as a young boy had been given the honor of unveiling the memorial for David Brown in the Spear cemetery, still recalls that moment when his aunt, Grace Beal, steered him towards the marker to remove the cloth covering it.
Later the program at the Leone
Church followed:
Hymn
Prayer by Rev. Howard
Scripture reading of the 90th
Psalm from the Old Bible once owned by Mara Sargeant Grace, Heroine of
Bunker Hill. Salute to the flag
Flag drill by children of the
Sunday School
Solo "Joan of Arc" - Mrs. H.S.
Mitchell, accompanied by her son Oliver, on violin.
Address: Hon. A.C. Fanning,
Great-Grand Son of Mara Sargeant Grace
Song - Mrs. F. L. Ballard
Exercises by the Sunday School
Children
Song - America
The exercises at the Leona Cemetery
at the grave of Mara Sargeant Grace by the Os-Co-Hu Chapter of the D.A.R.
were as follows:
Remarks - Mrs. R.E. VanSyckel,
Regent
Prayer - Mrs. Mary C. Long,
Chaplain
Record and unveiling of marker
by Julia Johnson and Lawrence Keir,descendants.
Poem - Mrs. Maud Halpin
Ritual - Closing song "Tenting
Tonight"
Taps - James Robinson Pierce
William Sargeant, the first Sargeant to come to America, was born at Courteen Hall, Northampton, England on June 20, 1602. In 1638, he, with his third wife Sarah and his two small daughters emigrated to America and the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The church sanctuary in Courtenhall, Northamptonshire, England, where William Sargeant, the last member of three generations of Sargeants' did worship, 1602-1682. At Malden, Mass., he purchased a farm and with his wife Sarah, on the following year was admitted to the church there where he became a lay preacher, Two sons and a daughter were born to them and later they moved to Barnstable where William purchased more property. When he died in 1682, he bequeathed the farm in Malden to their son John and the one at Barnstable to their son Samuel.
John Sargeant, the older son, also married three times and was the father of fifteen children, His third wife was a daughter of Hope Howland who was the daughter of our Pilgrim ancestors, John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley who came over to Plymouth on the Mayflower in 1620, Mara's father, James Sargeant, a fifth generation of Sargeants in America, was born in 1727. He married Elizabeth Upham in 1749.
The Sargeant Family
William Sargeant b.June 20, 1602 d. Dec. 16, 1682
m. 1. Hannah d. 1632
m. 2. Marie d. 1637
m. 3. Sarah d. Jan. 12, 1688
John Sargeant b. Dec. - 1639 d. Sept. 9, 1716
m. 1. Deborah Hillier
b. Oct. 30, 1643
d. Apr. 20, 1669
m. 2. Mary Bense
b. -
d. Feb. - 1670
m, 3. Lydia Chipman
b. Dec. 25, 1654
d. Mar. 2, 1730
Jonathan Sargeant b. Apr. 12, 1677 d. Oct. 27, 1754
m. 1. Mary Lynde Mar. 13, 1699-1700
b. July 5, 1678
d. Nov. 19, 1716
m. 2. Mary Sprague
b. May 25, 1696
d. Mar. 1, 1787
Phineas Sargeant b. Sept. 21, 1702 d. Sept. 25, 1761
m. 1. Abigail Pratt Dec. 31. 1724
b. March 13, 1699
d. June 14, 1776
James Sargeant b. July 16, 1727 d. May 5, 1759
m. 1. Elizabeth Upham Apr. 25, 1749
b. 1727
MARA SARGEANT b. Oct. 10, 1759 d. Aug. 30, 1844
m. 1. JOSEPH GRACE April 12, 1779
b. April 8, 1756
d. Sept. 7, 1823
Elizabeth Upham was also a fifth generation of Uphams in America. John Upham and his wife, Elizabeth Webb sailed from Weymouth, England in 1635. They first lived in Weymouth, Mass. and then moved to Malden. Later on John Upham was one of the founders of Worcester. His qualities for leadership were noted in the towns where he had lived. In Worcester he is remembered as a moderator at town meetings, serving as commissioner six times and in his church served as a deacon for twenty four years.
Their son, Lieutenant Phineas Upham, died of wounds recelved in the King Phillips War in 1676.
The Upham Family
John Upham b. 1599-1600 d. - 1681
m. Elizabeth Webb
b. 1603
d. 1670
Lt. Phineas Upham b. 1635 d. Oct. - 1676
m. Ruth Wood
b. 1636-7
d. Jan. 18, 1696
Phineas Upham Jr. b. May 22, 1659 d. Oct. - 1720
m. Mary Mellins
James Upham b. 1687
m. Dorothy Wigglesworth June 2, 1709
b. Feb. 22, 1687
d. --
Elizabeth Upham b. 1727
m. James Sargeant Apr. 25, 1749
b. July 16, 1727
d. May 5, 1759
Another well known ancestor of Mara Sargeant was her mother's grandfather, Michael Wigglesworth. He came from Yorkshire, England to Boston in 1638 with his parents when he was seven years old. His parents later moved to New Haven where he studied medicine and theology at Harvard University and graduated in 1651 at the age of twenty. He preached and practiced medicine but he is best known for his poetry and his most famous poem "The Day of Doom". This particular poem consisted of 224 verses and was the third 'most read book' in New England for one hundred years. It was memorized - or portions of it - and quoted in sermons for all those years. Another poem, "Meat out of the Easter," is also remembered.
It is interesting at this point to recognize excerpts from the "History of Malden. Mass." 1633-1785 written by Deloralne Pendre Corey and published in 1899 by the University Press.
p.291 Cotton Mather says of him:
"It was a surprize unto us to see a Little Feeble Shadow of a Man, beyond Seventy, Preaching usually Twice or Thrice in a Week; Visiting and Comforting the Afflicted; Encouraging the Private Meetings; Catechizing the Children of the Flock, and managing the Government of the Church; and attending the Sick, not only as a Pastor, but as a Physician too; and this not only in his own rown, but also in all those of the Vicinity Thus he did unto the last; and was one Lord's Day taken off, before his Last."
This homely couplet is on the
mossy stone at the dead teacher's head:
HERE LIES INTERD IN SILENT GRAVE
BELOW - MAULDENS PHYSICIAN FOR
SOUL AND BODY TWO
p.304 - "29 people had been granted lots in Quansigamug, the first attempt to settle the town of Worcester. Among these was Phineas Upham. He was one of the actual settlers In the month of April, 1675 when the work was commenced with vigor and several houses were built. But the enterprise was of a short duration. On the 14th, July following, Matoonas, the Nipmuck chief who was afterward executed on Boston Common for his exploits, attacked the little settlement at Mendon in supposed revenge for the death of his son who had been hanged for the murder of a man in Dedham In 1671.
In the alarm which followed, the pioneers withdrew into the security of the older towns or took the field against the enemy. The deserted houses at Quansigamug were burned by the Indians, Dec. 2, 1675 and the land was not again occupied until 1684."
p * 320 footnote: "Phineas Upham married Ruth Wood, April 11, 1658. His seven children were probably born in Malden although the birth of but one is recorded. He was one of the grantees of Quansigamug in 1674 and an actual settler there in the following April. The sudden breaking out of the Indian War and his presence upon the frontier, brought him into active military service and some traits of character and habits may have insured his promotion."
After the defeat of Capt.Hutchlnson at Wickabaug Pond, he was sent as a Lieutenant with a force under Capt. John Corham, into Nipinuck country, but finding none of the enemy, he returned to Mendon where In Oct. 1, 1675, he wrote a report of the expedition which is preserved in Mass. Archives. Soon after, he proceeded towards Springfield with a company of recruits with orders to serve under Capt. John Wayte. A reorganization of the forces upon the Cona. having taken place, he was assigned to the company of Capt. Jonathan Poole and was probably at Springfield or Hadley at the time of the attack upon Hatfield. Returning to the eastward after the cessation of hostitilities upon the western frontier, he joined the little army which was marching into the Narragansett country and was attached to the company of Capt. Isaac Johnson of Roxbury.
Capt. Johnson was killed during the first assault and as the attacking party fell back, it is not unlikely that Lieutenant Upham was wounded before the fort was entered, or he may have rallied his men and led them in the final attack. During the night, in the face of a driving snow storm, the army marched eighteen miles with its dead and dying. Lieutenant Upham was taken to Rhode Island and after a while removed to Boston. His death is recorded upon the Malden records and it is probable that he died here. As to the place of his burial, the graves of his wife 16S6-7 and his little daughter Ruth, 1676, are marked by stones in the Bell Rock Cemetery. A search made, June 17, 1891. showed that a person of good height had been buried by the side of the wife and that a long period had elapsed since the interment as nothing was found in the grave but a little dark mould In which a few pins were imbedded and a slight discoloration caused by the decay of the wood of the coffin.
"Among the soldiers in King Philip's War were:
John Lynde, Impressed, Jan. 1675-6; hyres peinberton in his Stead; was with Maj. Willard in 1676."
'James Mudge, son of Thomas, was a teamster in the train convoyed by the 'Flower of Essex' under Capt. Lathrop, marching from Deerfield to Hadley Sept.18, 1675 on which day he was killed at Bloody Brook.
"John Mudge, his brother, was with Capt. Sill in 1675 with Capt. Mosley in Dec. 1675 and was the only Malden survivor of the Swamp Fight among the grantees of Narragansett No. 2."
"Thomas Mudge, their brother was in the garrison at Wading River in 1675; was with Capt. Mosley in 1675; and with Maj. Willard in 1676. He is supposed to have died in the service or soon after the war."
"John Pratt, was at Hadley and was at the Falls Fight May 19, 1676."
"John Sargeant was at Quabauge and with Maj. Savage in 1676.
John Upham, the fatherless lad from the Barbadoes was at Hadley with Capt. Turner In 1676."
There are references to the offices many held.
Phineas Upham II was treasurer once or twice, John Sargeant, Sen., was elected 'Clark of ye market' at the annual meeting In 1693-4 and several years after. In 1701-2, John Sargeant, his son was chosen 'Sealer of Waits and Clerk of Ye Market' and he appears to have been annually re-elected until 1712-13, when he was succeeded by his son Jonathan Sargeant. This officer apparently took cognizance of the prices of produce and other commodities which were frequently subject to fixed rates and considered and settled questions arising from their exchange.
p.360 - There are references to James Mellens who married Richard Dexter's daughter. John Brintnall married Deborah, a granddaughter of James Mellens.
Footnote p.368: "The house of Joseph Lynde was that which was built by his father, Thomas Lynde above Mount Prospect or Wayte's Mount. It passed from the Lynde Family to the Pratts"
In a chapter on poverty: In 1767, John Mudge, who had been a worthy citizen and a deacon of the South Church, appears in the following order as one who had become dependent upon the town. He had been living with Joseph Pratt who was paid for his board in March and died Nov.16, 1761, aged 71 yrs. He was the son of John Mudge who bought a tenement and farm of 65 acres at Turkey Hill. Deacon John inherited it but sold it in 1745 to Peter Edes his brother in law (sister Martha.)
The next excerpt appears to contradict the version of James Sargeant's death as a 'Sea Captain drowned at sea three months before the birth of his third child Mara, born Oct. 10th, 1759.'
For it says on p.432 of the excerpts from the History of Malden Mass.
1633-1785 --
"Men like Ebenezer Pratt of Moulton's Island and others who made boating a means of Livelihood, lived in the vicinity and their boats were used to transport produce, timber wood and supplies to and from landings continued to be used until the building of Malden Bridge and even after when the wharves gradually disappeared. A boat that tradition says was from the landing at Wormwood Point, met with a mishap which is thus recorded in the Malden record of births:
"John Rudge, James Sargeant and Nathan Burditt on the 5th day of May 1759 by the oversetting of a small boat in a high gall of wind were drowned between Boston and Winesimmit Providence, ordered it so that an aged woman mother to the said Burditt who over with him was saved alive by taking hold of an oar and a bag of bread."
Following the marriage of Mara Sargeant to Joseph Grace on April 12, 1779, they moved to West Springfield, Mass. There, they reared their five children who are as follows:
Elizabeth (Betsy) b. Dec. 15, 1780
m. Elisha Fanning Jan. 1800
d. June 25, 1814
Mary (Folly) b. March 26, 1782
m. Samuel Sargeant 1806
d. March31, 1841
Joseph Jr. (or 3rd) b. Nov. 26, 1783 d. Feb. 9, 1825
m. Deborah Leonard Nov. - 1803
b. July 2, 1784 --
George b. May 4, 1785 d. in Elmira 1852
m. Clarissa Williams June 6, 1805
William b. Sept. 30, 1787 d. May 25, 1S49
m. Hannah Salisbury Nov. 30, 1807
b. July 4. 1789 d. Feb.7, 1866
Joseph Grace Jr. III and his family moved from West Springfield, Mass. to Springfield, Penna. in 1807. They were preceded by Deborah's father, Austin Leonard and his brother Ezekiel and it is recorded that they settled in Springfield township in 1803. Joseph and his family also settled in the same township in the village of Leona. They came with an ox-team drawn wagon and a cow whose milk provided food for the children. Like all the other early settlers, Joseph had to build a primitive log house and battle the elements for sustenance. He died two years after his father's death.
The Children of Joseph Grace III and Deborah Leonard
Ambrose m. Adelia Griswold
James Upham Grace m. Charlotte A. Morley
Maria m. David M. Brooks
Betsy m. Chauncey Brooks
Jone m. Lewis Beach
Joseph Leonard Grace (no record of m.)
George Grace and his family and his sister Betsy Fanning with her husband and six small children made the 20 day trip to Leona in 1811. Each family had two yoke of oxen to pull their covered wagons and provide them with milk. When one realizes the hardship endured in settling a family in the wilderness of Pisgah Mountain, it becomes understandable that Betsy Fanning only lived three years after moving to Pennsylvania.
The Children of George and Clarissa Williams Grace
Josephine m, Dr. Whitman
Mary Ann m. Prentice Norman
Amorette m, 1. Joseph Bascom
2. Joralemon Wesley (?) said to have been killed by Indians.
Betsy and Elisha Fanning's Children
Armanda m. Stephen Mills
Eliza m. Ephram Sargeant
David Grace m. Antis Kennedy
Charlotte m. John Ward
William J.
Hiram.
In 1814, Joseph Grace at the age of 56, walked from his home in Springfield, Mass. to visit his three children near Leona,PA. He was with his daughter Betsy when she died. He returned.to Mass. where he remained until his death in 1823.
William Grace, in company with his brother George (who must have gone back to Mass. to visit his parents) walked to Pennsylvania in the spring of 1816. It took them 10 days according to William's account book. After buying land near his two brothers, he walked back to West Springfield, Mass. alone in another 10 days. On Sept. 18, 1816, William and Hannah, with their three small daughters left their home in Mass. and arrived in Leona on Oct. 13th. They built a log house on the same road as his brothers Joseph and George, known today as the Grace Road and later, built the first frame house in Springfield Township and painted it red. For many years It was known as the 'Red House.' William was noted as a singer of songs and his favorite is recalled as "The Age of Man", his Own composition.
It is not known when William returned to Mass. to bring his mother Mara Sargeant Grace to the 'Red House' in Wetona, Springfield, Pennsylvania to live with his family following the death of his father on Sept. 7th, 1823.
"She rode in an Ox drawn cart with a long pine chest as her seat and a chest of drawers at her back." *
Mara spent the last years of her life in the 'Red House' with her son William. She was a woman of culture and an earnest Christian. She belonged to the Methodist Church in Leona which still stands. Her eldest son, Joseph was one of its 8 original founders in 1813.
The 'Red House' had an especially large fireplace and chimney. It was large enough to hold an eight foot log. Mara's grandson Addison, son of William and Hannah S. Grace, born in 1830, often told his family about playing near the fireplace while his grandmother Mara dozed in her chair. When he got between her and the fire, blocking the heat, she would waken and scold him saying, "Git out of there you little Imp or I'l1 cane you good"
In her later years, Mara must have suffered from asthma for she spent her nights sitting in her chair in front of the fireplace, She always kept a pot of tea near the coals and poured herself a cup several times during the night. On August 30, 1844, when nearly 85 yrs. of age, she reached for her teapot and fell into the embers. Her screams brought her son William to her side. She died soon after from burns and shock suffered in he accident. She was laid to rest in the upper Leone Cemetery in an unmarked grave except for a fieldstone. *
*at the time of this article (1976) Dora Grace Donnocker great-great-grand-daughter of Mara Sargeant Grace is the proud owner of The blanket chest and her sister Ruth Grace Jones has the chest of drawers.
On June 27th, Sunday, the descendants of Mara Sargeant Grace will honor her memory at the gravesite when a suitable monument, purchased with their generous contributions, will be unveiled. The services planned will culminate with a genealogical attendance of family, friends, George Clymer and Os Co Hu D.A.R. Chapters, ** and Bradford County and State Historical Society Personnel. A song composed by Mara's son, William, who died May 25th, 1849, five years after the death of his mother, called "Memories of the Old Kitchen Floor" will also be a part of the memorial service. Hannah Salisbury Grace, wife of William died on Feb. 7th, 1866 at the home of herson, Addison.
*A D.A.R. Flag Holder was placed at the gravesite in the ceremony June 14,1918.
**The George Clymer and Os Co
Hu Chapters of D.A.R. donated the Bronze Plaque secured to the Granite
Memorial which reads: "Mara Sargeant -Patriot at Bunker Hill, Placed by
George Clymer Chapter D.A.R. , E. Balch Fund and Os Co Hu Chapter D.A.R."
Far back in my musings
My tho'ts have been cast
to the cot where the hours
of my childhbod were passed.
I loved ev'ry room
from the pantry to hall
but the blessed old Kitchen
was dearer than all.
Its chairs and its tables
none brighter could be
and all its surroundings
were sacred to me.
From the nails in the ceiling
to the latch on the door
and I loved every crack
in the old Kitchen floor!
The musical arrangement is the result of Dora Grace Donnocker's personal memory of the melody as it was sung by her father Ellsworth Grace. The base notes were supplied by Suzanne Klinedinst.
Harriet L. b. Oct. 25, 1810 m. (1)Guthrie (2) Spouse
d. April 3, 1900
Hannah b. Aug. 15, 1812 m. John Salisbury
Minerva b. Feb. 10, 1815 m. William Mills
Olive b. July 9, 1818 m. Eli Brooks
William
Salisbury b. Feb. 25, 1821 m. Jane Decker
Mara b. July 25, 1823 m. Jack Ross
Arotine L. b. June 3, 1827 m. Ulysses S. Moody
d. Jan, 3, 1892
Addison
Grace b. July 11, 1830 m. Dimmis Knapp
d. Mar. 1, 1916
Ruby b.Oct. 23,1835 d.Sept. 28,1844
In the year 1808, William Grace was recuperatlng from typhoid fever in a Boston hospital. He noticed the horn of a steer lying outside his window and asked a nurse to get it for him. Using a pocket knife, he carved scenes of the harbor, houses, several rabbits, deer and figures of Indians as well as "Joe Grace, his horn, March 18, 1809." In another section, "In the year 1807, the embargo was laid on our ships." In still another place. "Liberty and Equality" is carved.
Photo William Grace 1787-1849
Photo of Hannah Salisbury Grace, daughter of William Salisbury and Hannah
Brown Salisbury 1789-1866
Since Plymouth was the first permanent settlement made in America by whole families and the first religious settlement, the early history of this colony is of special interest to the Sargeant-Grace ancestry where whole families are interwoven with John Howland, John Tilley, his wife Bridget Tilley and their daughter Elizabeth, fourteen years of age who were among the first 102 brave Pilgrims to settle in America, Edward Tilley, an older brother of John, his wife Ann, two young cousins, Henry Sampson and Humility Cooper, also came on the Mayflower.
The three sources of information agree that John Howland was a servant of Governor John Carver and his age varies between twenty one to twenty eight. He was one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact. It is not known whether he was the son of one of the original English Pilgrims who fled to Holland or whether John Carver hired him when he was on one of his trips to London to make arrangements for the voyage to America. It is important to know that he received a fine commendation from William Bradford in the folLowing account of their stormy voyage:
"In sundry of these storms the winds were So fierce and the seas so high as they could not bear a knot of sail but were forced to lay-to for divers days together. And one of them as they lay at hull In a mighty storm, a lusty man, called John Howland, coming above the graitings was with a pitch of the ship thrown into the sea; but it pleased God that he caught hold of the topsail halyards which hung overboard which ran out at length. Yet he held his hold, though he was sundry fathoms under water, till he was hauled up by some rope to the brim of the water and then with a boat hook and other means got into the ship again and his life saved. And though he was something ill with it, yet he lived many years after and became a profitable member both in church and commonwealth."
*The three Sources were: (The Plymouth Adventure-Gebler's Book-Bradford's Passenger List and Log & Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, The Courtship of Miles Staridish.)
Only Carver, Brewster and Winslow received higher praise from Governor Bradford. It is to be regretted that Ernest Gebler omitted the above incident when he wrote the novel, The Plymouth Adventure. The writer of the screenplay did include the Incident but portrayed William Bradford as the one who was swept overboard and rescued.
There is a conflict in the four sources of information concerning two Tilley families and whether they came directly from London or from Leyden, Holland is uncertain. Gebler's book is the only one which states that the Tilleys were from London but he complicates this information by stating that Bridget, John's wife was a native of Leyden. Bradford's passenger list indicates they were among the Leyden congregation which is apparent when reading the names of the men who went on the third expedition of exploration.
Later, Bradford wrote:
"Being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, we fell upon our knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought us over the vast and furious ocean, and deilvered us from all the perils and miseries thereof."
"They had no friends to welcome them, nor Inns to entertain or refresh their weather beaten bodies; no houses or much less towns to repair to. And for the season, It was winter and subject to sharp, violent, fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search an unknown coast.
May not and ought not the children of the fathers rightly say 'Our Fathers were Englishmen who came over this great ocean and were ready to perish in this wilderness', but they cried unto the Lord and He heard their voice and looked on their adversity."
Before any of the Pilgrims went ashore, their chosen leaders of the Leyden congregation and the Londoners decided they needed a written contract to bind them and hold them together. The following Mayflower Compact was drawn up and signed by the forty adult men who wished to sign it.
"In the name of God. Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread soverein Lord, King James; by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France, Ireland king, Defender of the Faith. Having undetaken for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian Faith, the honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solomnly and mutually in the presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation; and by virtue thereof, to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws and ordinances from time to time as shall be thought most meet for the good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience."
"In witness whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names. Cape Cod, eleventh of November, In the year of the reign of our sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland Eighteen and of Scotland Fifty-four, Anno Domini Sixteen Hundred and Twenty."
John Carver, who had been chosen as governor, William Bradford, Elder Brewster, Edward Winslow, Edward and John Tilley, were among the first to sign the Mayflower Compact. Four servants or bondmen were among the signers, one of whom was John Howland, servant of Governor John Carver. The first exploring expedition on Cape Cod set out November 15th, consisting of sixteen well-armed men under the conduct of Captain Standish with William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins and Edward Tilley acting as a council of advisers. Apparently the names of the other twelve men were not recorded.
It was this expedition that discovered several bushels of corn which had been buried by Indians. They took all the corn they could carry and reburied the rest to be picked up later and this was later used for seed which saved them from starvation during their second winter.
It took nearly two weeks to put the knocked-down shallop into condition for saillng. John Alden was among the carpenters who did this work The second expedition which started out November 28th consisted of twenty-four Pilgrims and ten sailors with Captain Jones in charge of the shallop and long boat. They ran into stormy weather. Jones finally took the shallop with several of the sickest men, one was Edward Tilley, and the rest of the buried corn back to the Mayflower. The shallop returned the next day and took them farther along the shore but found no suitable site for a harbor or settlement so they returned to Cape Cod and the Mayflower.
About a week later when the weather permitted, a third expedition was taken and Bradford~s description follows:
"On Wednesday, December 6, they set out in their shallop with ten of their principle men who were of themselves willing to undertake it. Namely, Captain Standish, Governor Wllliam Carver, William Bradford, Edward Winslow John Tilley, Edward Tilley. John Howland and three of London: Richard Warren, Steven Hopkins and Edward Dotte and their two hired seamen, John Alderton and Thomas English. Of the ship's company there were two mastermates, Copin and Clark, the master gunner and three sailors.
The weather was very cold and the spray glazed their coats. They built a barricade of logs and boughs on shore with a fire inside to keep warm the first night. Early the next morning they had a skirmish with Indians but none were hurt. They gathered a bundle of arrows to send back to England.
Soon after getting into their shallop to sail westward along the bay, another freezing storm hit them. It nearly wrecked their shallop but they were finally able to land on what proved to be an island, Later named Clark Island.
It took them all Saturday and Sunday to dry out their clothes. They gave God thanks for His mercies and deliverances and on December 11th made the famous landing at Plymouth. They marched into the land and found cornfields and running water and decided it was a place fit for their settlement. They returned to the Mayflower with the good news. On December 15th, the Mayflower weighed anchor and sailed to the Plymouth Harbor but had to drop anchor about a mile from shore. It was not until December 25th, Christmas Day that they began to erect a common house for common use to receive them and their goods. Believing that Christmas was a man-made institution, nowhere decreed in the Scriptures, they held no holiday but made a start on temporary huts or turf, thatch and branches while others began to fell timber for permanent buildings.
In the accounts of the hardships endured during the explorations, it is not surprising to learn that thirty one of the fifty one men passengers died of colds, scurvey or consumption before summer arrived. They had to wade in icy water every time they went to and from the anchored Mayflower which continued to be their living quarters from November 11th until she sailed back to England on April 5th, 1621 when Bradford related the following:
"In time of most distress, there were but six or seven sound persons who totheir great commendation spared no pains night or day but with abundance of toil and hazard of their own health, fetched them wood, made them fires, dressed their meat, made their beds, washed their loathsome clothes, etc. and all this willingly and cheerfully showing herein their true love unto friends and brethern. Two of these seven men were Mr. William Brewster, their Reverend Elder and Miles Standish, the Captain unto whom myself, (Bradford) and many others were much beholden in our low and sick condition. And yet the Lord so upheld these persons in this generalcalamity that they were not at all infected with sickness or lameness."
Edward Tilley, his wife Ann and Bridget Tilley were dead by the middle of March according to rhe Plymouth Adventure John Tilley probably died after the return of the Mayflower. A larger percentage of the wives and mothers died that first winter, fourteen out of eighteen, leaving only four mothers and five single girls over fourteen years of age to do the cooking and caring for the children, ten of whom were orphans. The youngest of these girls was Elizabeth Tilley and like Priscilla Mullens who was eighteen, lost both her parents and shared in all the hardship of the first years in a strange, cold and rugged country. According to the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Priscilla Mullens married John Alden in his Courtship of Miles Standish and the earlier writings of Bradford submit the information that John Howland married Elizabeth Tilley, the daughter of John Tilley.
"They are both now living (the year 1650) and have ten children now all living and their eldest daughter hath four children; and their second daughter one, all living and other of their children marriagable. So fifteen are come of them."
At the same time he also recorded that "John and Priscilla Alden were both living having eleven children. Their eldest daughter was married and had five children so there were sixteen of them." John Alden lived till he was 89. Priscilla and Elizabeth both passed their 80th birthday.
Mayflower to Mara Sargeant Grace
John Howland m. Elizabeth Tilley
Hope Howland m, John Chipman
Lydia Chipman m. John Sargeant
Jonathan Sargeant m. Mary Lynde
Phineas Sargeant m. Abigail Pratt
James Sargeant m. Elizabeth Upham
Mara Sargeant m. Joseph Grace
The Chipman Family
Thomas Chipman, the father of John Chipman was born in Whitechurch near Dorchester about 1567. He died about 1623. He owned property in Whltechurch which yielded him about 50 pounds a year. He married about 1590 and the name of his wife is unknown. Their children were John, Hannor or Hannah, and Tumsum or Thomasine.
John Chipman was born about 1614 in Bryanspiddle near Dorchester and died April 73 1708. He and his two sisters were the children of Thomas Chipman.
There is no record of his mother but her name might have been Derby for he lived with an uncle Christopher Derby following the death of his father. In May 1631, John embarked for the Colonies aboard the ship Friendship which sailed from the port of Barnstable, Devonshire and arrived in Boston July 14, 1631. At that time, John was about 17 years of age and a ward of his cousin Richard Derby. They settled in Plymouth Colony and according to a later will, it is assumed that John served his apprentice ship as a carpenter. Apparently funds for John were paid to his cousin Richard by his uncle for a later record indicates a disagreement resulting from this arrangement.
In successive years, John Chipman was a selectman, a magistrate in Plymouth Colony, a Deputy to Court and with three assistants was designated to frequent early Quaker meetings and "endeavor to reduce them from the errors of their ways." On June 30th, 1653, he became a member of the church at Barnstable, Mass., and an elder in 1670.
In 1649, three years after Hope Howland and John Chipman were married, he purchased the homestead of Edward Fitz Randolph in Barnstable, Mass. It is believed that John and Hope lived there for ten years and their first four daughters were born there. About 1659, the Chipmans moved to his property located on what was then called the Great Marshes.
John and Hope Chipman had ten children, two sons and eight daughters who blessed them with 23 grandchildren. Hope died Jan. 8th, 1683 at the age of 54. She is buried in the Lothrop Hill cemetery at Barnstable, Mass. and her gravestone can still be seen.
In 1684, John Married Ruth Sargeant, Winslow, Bourne who was twice a widow. Her first husband was Jonathan Winslow of the Marshalfield Winslows and her second husband was Rev. Richard Bourne who died in 1682. John's gravestone, dated April 7, 1708, shows that he lies next to his second wife who died in 1713 in the Bourne family lot in the Sandwich Cemetery. His will indicates that he was prosperous and the legacy of his children shows that his acreage of land was extensive.
The Arms of the Chipman family
shows a white shield and a red shoulder belt running diagonally across
between six red stars while seated above the shield rests a white leopard
who wears a red mural crown upon his head.
The Association to perpetuate the memory of Mara Sargeant Grace was formed on Sunday, June 22, 1975, at the United Methodist Church In Leona, Pennsylvania. The articles of organlzation were presented and approved. A slate of officers was elected for a term of one year. Thus was launched an organization of direct descendants and friends determined to do all in their collective power to obtain recognition for the young girl who carried buckets of cool sprinqwater to those patriots who fought the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17 1775.
Two hundred years of American history have been written since that memorable day. rhe establishment of freedom and liberty In this land of ours introduced one of the great epochs of all history. The precious light of freedom continues to shine in the hearts and minds of every oppressed soul on this earth.
It is true that there are no war records that bear witness to the fact that" . . .bullets fell all around like hailstones." The accounts that have been handed down through many generations link dates and events in a most remarkable fashion.
Equally incredible is the fact that a common fieldstone should have stood sentinel for 130 years, preserving for posterity the burial place of 'A HEROINE OF THE RATTLE OF BUNKER HILL'.
George Arthur Lewis, great, great, great grandson of Mara Sargeant Grace attended the Salisbury-Grace family reunions in the Big Pond, Pa., Grove Park, Elmira New York and Macedonia, the old family homestead of his grand-father Addison Grace, whose 70th birthday started the annual ritual.
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