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My Name Is Capt. Samuel Payson, and I Fought at the Battle of Lexington

Thomas Jay Kemp Thomas Jay Kemp
Painting: "Washington Crossing the Delaware," by Emanuel Leutze. Credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Wikimedia Commons.

You probably don’t know me – but “on the memorable 19th April, 1775, [I] was at [my] plough, in Sharon [Massachusetts], when [I] received the intelligence of the slaughter at Lexington… [I] immediately took [my] horse from the plough and proceeded to muster the minute men [I] commanded, and marched to drive in the enemy.”

My story is told in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives.

obituary for Samuel Payson, Hampden Federalist newspaper article 21 July 1819
Hampden Federalist (Springfield, Massachusetts), 21 July 1819, page 3

Earlier, as a young man, I fought in three campaigns in the French & Indian War – and along with my two sons, fought in the American Revolutionary War.

I was so dedicated to the Revolution that I “sold [my] farm [and] loaned the money to the town to pay her quota [to finance] soldiers.”

There are more details of my story in this article.

obituary for Samuel Payson, Franklin Gazette newspaper article 22 July 1819
Franklin Gazette (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 22 July 1819, page 2

And in this article.

obituary for Samuel Payson, Hallowell Gazette newspaper article 21 July 1819
Hallowell Gazette (Hallowell, Maine), 21 July 1819, page 4

Later in life I lived in Hope, Maine, and died there in 1819, at age 85.

Did your ancestors fight at the Battle of Lexington?
Find their stories in GenealogyBank.

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