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In 1775, April 19th, was a Wednesday, and compared to what was already happening in Lexington and Concord, the day broke routinely quiet in West Needham, the earlier name for what is now Wellesley. But quiet as it may have been, with the regular mid-week tasks before the farmers and merchants in this small town, it was not an ordinary day by any measure. Pre-war tensions had been growing in the colonies for months and no town in Massachusetts was immune from the pressure of differences between local political leadership and the British crown. For weeks, a skirmish had been predicted and families felt growing fear that the organized militias would finally be drawn into an outright gun battle. It all turned out to be true, as many historians have written about that period.

In the graveyard right outside Village Church (Village Common), lie the remains of sixteen Revolutionary War soldiers who lived in West Needham. Their names are listed on a tablet dedicated last fall.  All but a few were actually engaged in battle at Concord, and only a few were what could be called “career soldiers”. They were ordinary folks, young men living with their parents, others with wives and children. Well known by their learning and work, they were also church-goers, every one of them, and perhaps not least because Sunday worship was expected for every adult, as well as their children. They were neighbors with each other, friends even, and the paragraphs which follow convey some background about each of them.

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Born in 1707, Josiah Ware was the oldest in the group honored on the tablet, and as a farmer he had long experienced the annoyances of colonial rule. He joined the Needham Minutemen, fought in Lexington and Concord and was a private in the Army. He outlived 4 wives, and son Daniel, also named on the tablet, was born to Mehitabel, Josiah’s third wife, who herself had previously become a widow.

Ephraim Bullard Sr. also older and wiser to the trouble caused by the British Crown was a hogreave, a fence viewer, a constable and a Needham Selectman. Since many farms and homesteads had livestock – pigs and chickens and cows – a hogreave was the town official whose job it was to wrangle the animals back home when they got loose.  Bullard was also a member of the committee to build a new meetinghouse, which by the way, actually stood where Village Church is today. He also kept a tavern on land that is now part of Wellesley College. He was among the first to receive the alarm for what was to occur at Lexington.

Sgt. Ephraim Stevens, of the Minutemen, who then served during the following siege at Boston, was married to Sybel Gay. Together they raised 11 children in a time when nearly half the children born did not live beyond age 15. Sgt. Stevens was a member of the First Church in Needham and then, this church when it was organized in 1798.

On the Wednesday of the Lexington alarm, Captain Aaron Smith was the Commander of the West Needham Militia. When not in uniform, he was a hogreave, a deer reave, a surveyor of highways, a fence viewer, selectman, and a school committee man. In the 18th century, all of Needham, which then extended west to Natick, had fewer than 2000 inhabitants. It was common for a well-respected citizen to have several official responsibilities. A deer reave then would be a game warden today.

Joseph Daniell(s), at age 39, a Sargent in the West Company, filled most days as a field driver and a surveyor. 1775, for him, was marked by the fighting in Lexington and Concord, as well as the deaths of his wife and 6 of their 7 children. He became a single parent and a widower whose grief was stiffened by the reality that infectious disease was a silent threat to every growing family.

Ephraim Bullard Jr. probably made his father proud when he joined the Militia as a drummer, though it’s possible he was simply following his mother’s orders, which they have a natural right to give to their sons. Ephraim requited both his parents when he rose to the rank of Captain. He then served education; tasked to recruit teachers, and build and repair school houses. He became a selectman, and finally, a tax collector.

By being 26, Samuel Pratt was at the high end of the average age of those in the west militia. He knew everyone one in the company by name. Once done with his active military service, he served as a church deacon and a school committee man. And, having married Hepzibeth Gay, they birthed 8 children. One died in infancy, and their last child lived only to age 20.

Timothy Hunting was born in 1753, so he was 22 when he signed on to the west company. And he became corporal after “doing his turn” at Lexington. Little is recorded about his occupation following the war, but he was known for his honesty, his industry and his benevolence. Corporal Pratt lived to see George Washington become President in 1783.

Jacob Lyon became a leather worker, except for interruptions with several terms as a career soldier. He served at the siege of Boston, Bunker Hill, Springfield and then Bedford, New York.

On April 19th, Daniel Ware was 20 years old. The son of Josiah who I mentioned earlier, Daniel certainly had an example to follow, and he joined Captain Aaron Smith’s company at Lexington, then a year later at York. He held civic positions as hog reave, constable, and Town Clerk. He also served a term as fence viewer, a position that still exists today in many rural communities. When fences separating pastures become broken, the fence viewer monitors the discussion about which landowner is responsible for repairing the fence. Always respected, the fence viewer is often a peace maker. Daniel’s reputation was such that he became a Justice of the Peace, and therefore was allowed to use the title, “Esquire”.

Another Justice of the Peace, after serving in his father’s militia company, was Aaron Smith Jr. joining at age 19. Later on, he was also the Town Moderator and a grocer who grew wealthy, as the historic notes indicate. In 1820, Aaron was a delegate to the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention.

Of all those named on the marker, Ebenezer Huntting was the only one to give up his life in battle. Right after Lexington and Concord, he was engaged in the siege at Boston, followed by Ticonderoga and York. He then enlisted in Canada, where he died from musket fire at age 22.

When he was 15, Benoni Muzzey became a private in the West Company, and as a civilian later on was a field driver. He married Lucy Lewis, and they were parents of 5 children, 3 of whom were lost to infectious disease, most likely tuberculosis, within a span of ten days. Elizabeth was an infant. Childhood mortality was one reason why babies were often baptized at home soon after being born.

Because he was 12 years old on the day of the fighting in Lexington and Concord, the active role played by Samuel Greenwood is not clear, beyond the fact that he was part of the Minutemen. Since a typical musket was longer than a young boy was tall, he could have been a messenger, a role critical to the success of any military action. Samuel later became a field driver and a fence viewer, and he was known throughout Needham as a faithful church member.

Also 12 years of age on Wednesday, April 19th, was Thomas Eustice; likely a drummer or a water carrier. Later he was a deacon in the West Needham church and he lived until 1809, well after the 13 colonies had become the original United States.

Captain Abel Stevens was born in 1769.  Since he was only 6 years old when the British marched on Lexington, his joining the West company of the militia occurred in 1787. In civilian life he became the owner of land in both Needham and Natick. Abel and his wife Hadassah had one child, baptized with his name, who died at age 3.

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Easter in 1775, fell on April 16th, just three days before the eruption of open gunfire in Lexington and Concord. One can wonder how worship on that Sunday held the minds and hearts of these soldiers and their families as they heard the scriptural promise of hope and resurrection in a time of anxiety and dread. For some, the fighting would continue for years. For everyone, the disruption of one kind or another would last a long time.

The popular reason given for the organization of the church in West Needham holds that the citizens had grown tired of the long trip to church in the center of Needham to attend worship. True as that may have been, there is more to the story.

In June of 1774, nearly a year before the war broke out, and after the church in Needham center burned down, eighty-three residents of West Needham “agreed to building a meetinghouse for themselves”. An ambitious project in itself, it meant choosing to leave the church community they had been part of for years. It was a decision with its own anxiety in a time when attending church was a civic duty. Unstable currency made paying for building materials difficult to assess, and the British Crown was raising and changing tariffs with impunity. Moreover, some people still felt an allegiance to their ancestral land. In the context of everything going on — the confusion, the uncertainty and the likelihood of war which then occurred — building a new church could have been deemed a foolish venture. Twenty-four years passed to completion.

The monument in the graveyard honors the uniformed action of sixteen soldiers for the sake of national liberty and independence which we all cherish. Beyond that, to one degree or another, their lives were an expression of great faith, a spiritual tonic flowing through many generations which have followed and blessed Village Church to this day.

~Bradford Harding, Village Church Historian

Sources:

Bowden, Addison, Cemetery Documents – A Service Project for the Rank of Eagle Scout, Boy Scouts of America, 2016, Village Church Archives.

Chandler, Edward Herrick, The Wellesley Congregational Church: 1798 – 1898, Sanborn & Co. Boston, 1898

(Fact: Easter has fallen on April 19th eight times since 1775)