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Pvt John Damon Veteran

Birth
Wakefield, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
Death
1783 (aged 73–74)
Warren, Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA
Burial
Burial Details Unknown Add to Map
Memorial ID
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This page contains biographies for John Damon, his father Thomas Damon, II, and his grandfather Thomas Damon I.

John was the son of Thomas Damon and Lucy Ann Emerson, the daughter of Joseph Emerson and Elizabeth Bulkeley, and great-granddaughter of Peter Bulkeley who founded Concord, Mass. The Bulkeley genealogy reaches back to Henry II of England and his mistress Rosamund.

Born: 22 May 1709, South Reading (now Wakefield), Mass.
Died: 1783 Western (now Warren), Worcester County, Mass.

Married: Hannah Gleason (said to have been born in Wakefield 19 June 1709 and died 1758).

Children:
- Edmond (see below),
- Peter (b. ca,. 1740),
- Jude (b. ca. 1744/5),
- Catherine, John (b. 1752),
- Hannah (ca. 1756 – 1842).

John was a minor when his father died (about age 15) and as such his father's will puts him under the guardianship of Thomas Poole (1673-1732) for male guidance. Poole was indirectly related to the Damons since his sister Rebecca had married Peter Emerson. Poole was also trusted by the community since in 1721 the Reading community vote him to a committee of three that would oversee a loan fund from money provided to various towns by the Massachusetts General Court to stimulate growth. Individuals could borrow from 5 to 20 pounds. His brother-in-law Peter Emerson was also on this committee. John's 12 year old sister Abigail was placed under the guardianship of her mother Lucy Ann.

As an adult and one of the younger sons, John seems to have left his home town looking for greener pastures and opportunities where things were not so settled. He moved toward the interior of Massachusetts and settled in Brookfield in Worcester County, and then purchased land in nearby Western by 1745.

Despite his 65 years, and like his brother Thomas, John heeded the call of the "Shot heard round the world" when hostilities broke out with the Battle of Concord and Lexington on 19 April 1775. He enlisted (or perhaps had already trained) as a private in the Captain Josiah Putnam's company in Col. Jedediah Foster's regiment which marched to Roxbury at Boston when the first alarm was raised. His son Peter was a corporal in this same company, which was led by his father-in-law (Peter had married Lydia Putnam, and his brother Jude married Ruth Putnam, both the nieces of General Israel Putnam).

A John Damon is named in the the fourth school district for Western in 1779 when it was divided into six districts. There are 14 other families in this district including Peter Demon (Damon) who is John's son and Isaac Gleason who must be a relative of John's wife Hannah Gleason. In district 4 there are also five Bliss families (Aaron, Edward, Isaac, Moses, and Solomon) and others as well( Reuben in #2, and Samuel in #3) who are likely relatives of John's daughter-in-law Esther Hubbard whose mother was Hannah Bliss. Other Gleasons in the town include John (district 1) and Joseph (district 5). So it would appear that these families stayed close to each other as a social network for mutual support.

Sources report his death for 1783, but the place of his burial is not recorded.

-----------------------------

Biography of John's father Thomas Damon, II

Birth: Jan. 13, 1658
Reading
Middlesex County
Massachusetts, USA
Death: Oct. 20, 1723
Reading
Middlesex County
Massachusetts, USA [Edit Dates]

Thomas Damon was the son of Rachel and Thomas Damon, I. The alternate "Daman" was also a common spelling.

Birth: 31 Jan. 1658/9, Reading, Mass.
Died: 20 Oct. 1723, Reading, Mass.

Marriage: Lucy Ann Emerson 15 May 1683, Reading, Mass. She was the 16 year old daughter of Joseph Emerson and Elizabeth Bulkeley, and the great-granddaughter of Peter Bulkeley, the founder of Concord, Massachusetts. The Bulkeley genealogy reaches all the way back to Henry II of England and his mistress Rosamond. Lucy was also the great, great-grandaunt of the famed American author Ralph Waldo Emerson

Children:
- Lucy Ann (1684-1759);
- Joseph (b. 1686; he was a Reading town official in 1738 and '48);
- Ebenezer (b. 1687/8; he was a Reading town official in 1731)
- Elizabeth b. 1693);
- Hannah (1695-1715);
- Susannah (b. 1697);
- Mehitable (b. 1699);
- Mary (b. 1701);
- Captain Thomas (III) of Sudbury/Wayland, Mass (b. 1703);
- Edward (b. 17060;
- John (see below),
- Abigail (b. 1713).

Thomas seems to have lived his entire life in Reading, within a mile of where his father's home. One Reading land record shows he bought 8 ½ acres from William Hooper on 23 March 1695. However, the birth site for his son John is sometimes given as Wakefield, which is the name given to South Reading.

The book "Genealogy of the Philadelphia branch of the Damon family of Massachusetts" provides some information about Thomas:

"A later seach of the Reading records reveals the following: 'Thomas Damon, son of Thomas, was born 11, 31, 1658,' which goes to prove he was born in this county, although no further mention of his father's name has been found.

"The next entry under the name is 4, 11, 1679 when Thomas damon must have paid his first modest tax of sixpence 'for powder, bullets, and flints'.

"On the 30th of November, the following year, his tax for the minister (Mr. Brock) was eight schillings eightpence,and at the same time was paid another of a like amount for the meeting house.

"In April 1681, there is a tax of ninepence, which was the earliest record of Thomas Damon discovered by the Rev. David Damon...."

Early research by the Rev. Damon is quoted at length in the book:

"His tax that year is quite small, but rapidly increased every year after, till he became what I should judge to be a man of middling interest for the time and the place. After that amount of tax was nearly the same from year to year till his death, May 15, 1683 (sic). He lived in South Reading, now Wakefield, a mile or more west of the meeting-house and common, and less that a mile from Stoneham line and near the head of a meadow (still sometimes called Damon's meadow), which meadow makes up from the northward among the hills in a hilly high range, formerly called Bear Hill, and now frequently called Cowdrey's Hill. There is a spring and willow-tree by the side of the meadow near the place where the house stood, and two good sized red cedar-trees are now growing in the cellar-hole. From the top of Bear or Cowdrey's Hill near the place is a fine view, spread out like a map below you of the large and beautiful South Reading pond, which is the source of the Saugus River. Remains of the road which once led by the house are easily traced for some distance both ways. Perhaps in former days it was the road of South Reading to Woburn. Most of the land near is rude and rough and comparatively barren. My grandfather used to say his father told him that his brothers, or his brothers' sons, sold the place because it was so hard to work on and get a living from it...."

It seems that Rev. Damon has confused his data in this paragraph (or it was incorrectly copied form the source) since it is Thomas II he is discussing, not the father. He makes this clear later when he gives the correct date of death:

"This Thomas Damon, whose former mundane locality I have been so long in fixing, died October 20, 1723, while several of his children were minors."

Thomas I did die in 1683, and so perhaps he has confused information about the father and son, but the usual date given for this is Dec 7, not May 15.

One other note about Thomas provided in the text is from Mr. Samuel G. Damon: "I have seen East Cambridge deeds of land, or copies of deeds made by Thomas and Lucy Ann his wife, and deed to him."

Thomas' will shows his oldest son Joseph was the administrator of the estate, and the second oldest son Ebenezer was a blacksmith (in Ebenezer's own will he bequeaths land to his son Thomas which had belonged to his "beloved father"). Thomas Jr., who later lived in Sudbury and was styled "a gentleman," was 21, (he would later gain the rank of captain for the town militia in Sudbury), Edward was 17, and John was 15, but due to his young age, Thomas Poole was appointed his guardian. Of his adult daughters, Lucy was married to Kendall Boutwell, Elizabeth to Benjamin Gary, Susan to Nathaniel Townsend, and Mehitable to Nathaniel Cowdrey. Mary was an adult and unmarried at the time, but she later wed John Holden. Abigail was 12 with her mother as her guardian, and she eventually wed Robert Thompson.

In the actions of a person's children we might see a reflection of the parents values, and thus it is important to note Thomas' extended family supported the Revolution. His son John and grandson Peter served at Roxbury (see John below). His son Thomas, III was a militia captain by 1757 for the "Alarm List" at Sudbury during the French and Indian War, and his own sons Thomas, IV and Isaac served with him as a corporal and private respectively. In 1773 at age 70 when the Revolution was brewing, Thomas III was a member of the "Reading Training Band" and then, when the war broke, he served as a private in Ward's Company, Green's Regiment (a Plymouth County unit) which was numbered among the Rhode Island regiments. Enlistment age usually cut off at age 60, but time, circumstances and previous military experience might had led to the authorities waiving the regulation. "Captain" Thomas earned 20 pounds for his service before his discharge at age 75 on 13 Sept. 1778, and his own son Thomas, IV saw even more action and received 57 pounds of pay. Many other grandsons and great-grandsons, including Jason Damon, also enlisted in the Continental forces.

Thomas' wife Lucy Ann died Jan. 17, 1740

See the link below for the page of Thomas Damon, II showing his headstone.

-------------------------------------

Thomas Damon, I is likely the Thomas Damon baptized 28, Oct. 1627, at Faversham, Kent County, England. The alternate "Daman" was also a common spelling.

Died: 7 Dec. 1683, Reading, Massachusetts.

Child:
Thomas Damon, II (Jan., 31, 1658/9 - Oct., 20 1723)

There was also a John Damon who was a Reading town official in 1672, '75, '81 and '86. He was certainly a relative, but if he older brother or uncle of Thomas, II is unclear.

Records for Thomas are minimal. Thomas arrived in New England in 1650 and lived in the area now called Stoneham in Charlestown near the South Reading line on Cowdrey's Hill. No marriage record has been found nor the name of his wife. The location of Thomas' grave in Reading is not recorded, but it was likely in the cemetery called "The Old Burial Ground.".

----

Below is information for likely parents of Thomas Damon, I.

Thomas and Susan Damon.

Baptized: 30 May 1596, Oare, Kent, Eng.
Died: ca. 1564, Oare.

Married: 1st, Rachel (buried 17 Feb. 1628/9, Davington); 2nd, 17 May 1632, Susan Philips (dau. of John Philips, clerk and vicar of Faversham).

Children with Rachel:
- Rachel (bap. 1621);
- Marie (1623/4);
- Ann (1626);
- Thomas (bap. 28 Oct. 1627. Faversham),

Children with Susan:
- Susan (bap. 1632);
- Henry (1636-1639);
- Philip (bap. 1639);
- Philip (bap. 1640/1).

The adult Thomas in England was a churchwarden in Oare and owned land there as well as in Davington. His will was proved 4 May 1654 and refers to his wife Susan, and living children Rachel, Mary, Thomas, Susan, and Philip. The will required his wife to ensure his body would "be buried in the churche yard of Ore on the south side of the saide churche against the Pulpitt close under the wall amongst the Familie of my father's House."
This page contains biographies for John Damon, his father Thomas Damon, II, and his grandfather Thomas Damon I.

John was the son of Thomas Damon and Lucy Ann Emerson, the daughter of Joseph Emerson and Elizabeth Bulkeley, and great-granddaughter of Peter Bulkeley who founded Concord, Mass. The Bulkeley genealogy reaches back to Henry II of England and his mistress Rosamund.

Born: 22 May 1709, South Reading (now Wakefield), Mass.
Died: 1783 Western (now Warren), Worcester County, Mass.

Married: Hannah Gleason (said to have been born in Wakefield 19 June 1709 and died 1758).

Children:
- Edmond (see below),
- Peter (b. ca,. 1740),
- Jude (b. ca. 1744/5),
- Catherine, John (b. 1752),
- Hannah (ca. 1756 – 1842).

John was a minor when his father died (about age 15) and as such his father's will puts him under the guardianship of Thomas Poole (1673-1732) for male guidance. Poole was indirectly related to the Damons since his sister Rebecca had married Peter Emerson. Poole was also trusted by the community since in 1721 the Reading community vote him to a committee of three that would oversee a loan fund from money provided to various towns by the Massachusetts General Court to stimulate growth. Individuals could borrow from 5 to 20 pounds. His brother-in-law Peter Emerson was also on this committee. John's 12 year old sister Abigail was placed under the guardianship of her mother Lucy Ann.

As an adult and one of the younger sons, John seems to have left his home town looking for greener pastures and opportunities where things were not so settled. He moved toward the interior of Massachusetts and settled in Brookfield in Worcester County, and then purchased land in nearby Western by 1745.

Despite his 65 years, and like his brother Thomas, John heeded the call of the "Shot heard round the world" when hostilities broke out with the Battle of Concord and Lexington on 19 April 1775. He enlisted (or perhaps had already trained) as a private in the Captain Josiah Putnam's company in Col. Jedediah Foster's regiment which marched to Roxbury at Boston when the first alarm was raised. His son Peter was a corporal in this same company, which was led by his father-in-law (Peter had married Lydia Putnam, and his brother Jude married Ruth Putnam, both the nieces of General Israel Putnam).

A John Damon is named in the the fourth school district for Western in 1779 when it was divided into six districts. There are 14 other families in this district including Peter Demon (Damon) who is John's son and Isaac Gleason who must be a relative of John's wife Hannah Gleason. In district 4 there are also five Bliss families (Aaron, Edward, Isaac, Moses, and Solomon) and others as well( Reuben in #2, and Samuel in #3) who are likely relatives of John's daughter-in-law Esther Hubbard whose mother was Hannah Bliss. Other Gleasons in the town include John (district 1) and Joseph (district 5). So it would appear that these families stayed close to each other as a social network for mutual support.

Sources report his death for 1783, but the place of his burial is not recorded.

-----------------------------

Biography of John's father Thomas Damon, II

Birth: Jan. 13, 1658
Reading
Middlesex County
Massachusetts, USA
Death: Oct. 20, 1723
Reading
Middlesex County
Massachusetts, USA [Edit Dates]

Thomas Damon was the son of Rachel and Thomas Damon, I. The alternate "Daman" was also a common spelling.

Birth: 31 Jan. 1658/9, Reading, Mass.
Died: 20 Oct. 1723, Reading, Mass.

Marriage: Lucy Ann Emerson 15 May 1683, Reading, Mass. She was the 16 year old daughter of Joseph Emerson and Elizabeth Bulkeley, and the great-granddaughter of Peter Bulkeley, the founder of Concord, Massachusetts. The Bulkeley genealogy reaches all the way back to Henry II of England and his mistress Rosamond. Lucy was also the great, great-grandaunt of the famed American author Ralph Waldo Emerson

Children:
- Lucy Ann (1684-1759);
- Joseph (b. 1686; he was a Reading town official in 1738 and '48);
- Ebenezer (b. 1687/8; he was a Reading town official in 1731)
- Elizabeth b. 1693);
- Hannah (1695-1715);
- Susannah (b. 1697);
- Mehitable (b. 1699);
- Mary (b. 1701);
- Captain Thomas (III) of Sudbury/Wayland, Mass (b. 1703);
- Edward (b. 17060;
- John (see below),
- Abigail (b. 1713).

Thomas seems to have lived his entire life in Reading, within a mile of where his father's home. One Reading land record shows he bought 8 ½ acres from William Hooper on 23 March 1695. However, the birth site for his son John is sometimes given as Wakefield, which is the name given to South Reading.

The book "Genealogy of the Philadelphia branch of the Damon family of Massachusetts" provides some information about Thomas:

"A later seach of the Reading records reveals the following: 'Thomas Damon, son of Thomas, was born 11, 31, 1658,' which goes to prove he was born in this county, although no further mention of his father's name has been found.

"The next entry under the name is 4, 11, 1679 when Thomas damon must have paid his first modest tax of sixpence 'for powder, bullets, and flints'.

"On the 30th of November, the following year, his tax for the minister (Mr. Brock) was eight schillings eightpence,and at the same time was paid another of a like amount for the meeting house.

"In April 1681, there is a tax of ninepence, which was the earliest record of Thomas Damon discovered by the Rev. David Damon...."

Early research by the Rev. Damon is quoted at length in the book:

"His tax that year is quite small, but rapidly increased every year after, till he became what I should judge to be a man of middling interest for the time and the place. After that amount of tax was nearly the same from year to year till his death, May 15, 1683 (sic). He lived in South Reading, now Wakefield, a mile or more west of the meeting-house and common, and less that a mile from Stoneham line and near the head of a meadow (still sometimes called Damon's meadow), which meadow makes up from the northward among the hills in a hilly high range, formerly called Bear Hill, and now frequently called Cowdrey's Hill. There is a spring and willow-tree by the side of the meadow near the place where the house stood, and two good sized red cedar-trees are now growing in the cellar-hole. From the top of Bear or Cowdrey's Hill near the place is a fine view, spread out like a map below you of the large and beautiful South Reading pond, which is the source of the Saugus River. Remains of the road which once led by the house are easily traced for some distance both ways. Perhaps in former days it was the road of South Reading to Woburn. Most of the land near is rude and rough and comparatively barren. My grandfather used to say his father told him that his brothers, or his brothers' sons, sold the place because it was so hard to work on and get a living from it...."

It seems that Rev. Damon has confused his data in this paragraph (or it was incorrectly copied form the source) since it is Thomas II he is discussing, not the father. He makes this clear later when he gives the correct date of death:

"This Thomas Damon, whose former mundane locality I have been so long in fixing, died October 20, 1723, while several of his children were minors."

Thomas I did die in 1683, and so perhaps he has confused information about the father and son, but the usual date given for this is Dec 7, not May 15.

One other note about Thomas provided in the text is from Mr. Samuel G. Damon: "I have seen East Cambridge deeds of land, or copies of deeds made by Thomas and Lucy Ann his wife, and deed to him."

Thomas' will shows his oldest son Joseph was the administrator of the estate, and the second oldest son Ebenezer was a blacksmith (in Ebenezer's own will he bequeaths land to his son Thomas which had belonged to his "beloved father"). Thomas Jr., who later lived in Sudbury and was styled "a gentleman," was 21, (he would later gain the rank of captain for the town militia in Sudbury), Edward was 17, and John was 15, but due to his young age, Thomas Poole was appointed his guardian. Of his adult daughters, Lucy was married to Kendall Boutwell, Elizabeth to Benjamin Gary, Susan to Nathaniel Townsend, and Mehitable to Nathaniel Cowdrey. Mary was an adult and unmarried at the time, but she later wed John Holden. Abigail was 12 with her mother as her guardian, and she eventually wed Robert Thompson.

In the actions of a person's children we might see a reflection of the parents values, and thus it is important to note Thomas' extended family supported the Revolution. His son John and grandson Peter served at Roxbury (see John below). His son Thomas, III was a militia captain by 1757 for the "Alarm List" at Sudbury during the French and Indian War, and his own sons Thomas, IV and Isaac served with him as a corporal and private respectively. In 1773 at age 70 when the Revolution was brewing, Thomas III was a member of the "Reading Training Band" and then, when the war broke, he served as a private in Ward's Company, Green's Regiment (a Plymouth County unit) which was numbered among the Rhode Island regiments. Enlistment age usually cut off at age 60, but time, circumstances and previous military experience might had led to the authorities waiving the regulation. "Captain" Thomas earned 20 pounds for his service before his discharge at age 75 on 13 Sept. 1778, and his own son Thomas, IV saw even more action and received 57 pounds of pay. Many other grandsons and great-grandsons, including Jason Damon, also enlisted in the Continental forces.

Thomas' wife Lucy Ann died Jan. 17, 1740

See the link below for the page of Thomas Damon, II showing his headstone.

-------------------------------------

Thomas Damon, I is likely the Thomas Damon baptized 28, Oct. 1627, at Faversham, Kent County, England. The alternate "Daman" was also a common spelling.

Died: 7 Dec. 1683, Reading, Massachusetts.

Child:
Thomas Damon, II (Jan., 31, 1658/9 - Oct., 20 1723)

There was also a John Damon who was a Reading town official in 1672, '75, '81 and '86. He was certainly a relative, but if he older brother or uncle of Thomas, II is unclear.

Records for Thomas are minimal. Thomas arrived in New England in 1650 and lived in the area now called Stoneham in Charlestown near the South Reading line on Cowdrey's Hill. No marriage record has been found nor the name of his wife. The location of Thomas' grave in Reading is not recorded, but it was likely in the cemetery called "The Old Burial Ground.".

----

Below is information for likely parents of Thomas Damon, I.

Thomas and Susan Damon.

Baptized: 30 May 1596, Oare, Kent, Eng.
Died: ca. 1564, Oare.

Married: 1st, Rachel (buried 17 Feb. 1628/9, Davington); 2nd, 17 May 1632, Susan Philips (dau. of John Philips, clerk and vicar of Faversham).

Children with Rachel:
- Rachel (bap. 1621);
- Marie (1623/4);
- Ann (1626);
- Thomas (bap. 28 Oct. 1627. Faversham),

Children with Susan:
- Susan (bap. 1632);
- Henry (1636-1639);
- Philip (bap. 1639);
- Philip (bap. 1640/1).

The adult Thomas in England was a churchwarden in Oare and owned land there as well as in Davington. His will was proved 4 May 1654 and refers to his wife Susan, and living children Rachel, Mary, Thomas, Susan, and Philip. The will required his wife to ensure his body would "be buried in the churche yard of Ore on the south side of the saide churche against the Pulpitt close under the wall amongst the Familie of my father's House."


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