List of People From Uxbridge, Massachusetts - 18th Century

18th Century

• Captain James Buxton, 1745–1817, Smithfield, Providence County, Rhode Island Colony, was an American Revolutionary War Captain from the border of the towns of Smithfield in Rhode Island, and Uxbridge, Massachusetts. James Buxton was a commissioned military officer who attained the rank of captain in the American War for Independence. He served in Benjamin Tupper's 11th Massachusetts Regiment, 1777-1779 at Valley Forge and the Battles of Saratoga; He also served in the 10th Massachusetts Regiment and the 15th Massachusetts Regiment. He commanded a company of men at West Point, and the Hudson River Chain. He was promoted to the rank of Captain on March 16, 1781, in the Continental Army, and the order was signed by John Hancock; He was discharged in 1782 and held the ranks of Ensign, Second Lieutenant, Lieutenant, and Captain during this period. He is listed as having signed an oath of allegiance at Valley Forge in 1778 in Colonel Tupper's regiment. John Hancock granted James Buxton 300 acres in South Uxbridge for Service in the American Revolution. Modern Uxbridge has named a well known Fife and Drum Corps in honor of Captain James Buxton.
• Robert Taft II, was on the founding Board of Selectmen in 1727. It appears he was among the first of the Taft family dynasty to be elected to political office. His descendants included a Governor of Rhode Island, A U.S. Senator from Ohio, and a U.S. Secretary of Agriculture among others. The first Uxbridge town meeting was at Coronet John Farnum Jr House in the center of Town.
• John Farnum John Farnum was a Cornet, or Constable, whose house in the center of town, built circa 1710, was used for the first Uxbridge Town meeting in 1727. See Coronet John Farnum, Jr., House listed under Registered Historic Places in Uxbridge Massachusetts. The grandson of Ralph the immigrant of England, and Ipswich, Massachusetts, was a second, and later John Farnum, also of Uxbridge, who moved to Georgiaville, Rhode Island in 1755, and became the first Rhode Island Farnum (see Herbert Cyrus Farnum). The Farnum family became widespread. Another example was E. B. Farnum who was among the first settlers in Deadwood, South Dakota. The farm of Moses Farnum, Cornet John's brother, in south Uxbridge, became the site of the first Friends Meeting House in Uxbridge in 1770, a second key, local, historic site, where fiery abolitionist Abby Kelley was a member.
• Benjamin Taft; Benjamin Taft established one of the first iron forges in Uxbridge in 1734, in the Ironstone section of town. The first Uxbridge forge was recorded even earlier, the year the town was founded in 1727, at the south Northbridge section. The Ironstone forge started by Benjamin Taft, had "good quality bog iron ore", and a triphammer was latter added by Caleb Handy for making scythes and guns. This was believed to be the beginnings of industrialization in Uxbridge. The Blackstone Valley was a major contributor to America's Industrial Revolution with Slater Mill at Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 1793. Uxbridge had evidence of large scale industrialization by 1775 which included forges, sawmills, water works, distilleries and other industries.
• Nicholas Baylies was a native of England who settled in Uxbridge. He represented this town in the Colonial Massachusetts General Court as early as 1758. He and his sons were active in working in the iron industry here. His son William became a physician and is mentioned below. His grandsons served as U.S. Congressman from Dighton, Massachusetts and Taunton, Massachusetts where the family later relocated.,ref>
• Captain Josiah Taft, son of Daniel Taft, grandson of Robert Taft, Sr., served in the French and Indian Wars and in the Colonial Legislature, the Massachusetts General Court, was town moderator, and died in 1756 at the age of 47. Lydia and Josiah were among the wealthiest families in Uxbridge. Josiah's untimely death opened the door for his widow to become America's first legal, colonial woman voter in 1756.
• Lydia Chapin Taft, Josiah's widow, became America's first woman voter, in 1756. She voted to support funding and resources for the French and Indian Wars, and voted in at least three Uxbridge town meetings until at least 1765. She died at Uxbridge, as an American citizen, after Colonial America, had become the United States, in 1778.
• Baxter Hall was a drummer in the Fife and Drum Corps in 1775. He served at Lexington and Concord, and Bunker Hill, under Captain Wyman, and in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. The majority of the Company of 51 men, were from Uxbridge. Many officers and soldiers fought in the revolutionary war from Uxbridge. Later, Captain Baxter Hall served in the Continental Army under General Benedict Arnold.
• Seth Read; Seth Read was born in Uxbridge in 1746. He became a physician, soldier, legislator and an early American pioneer to the Great Lakes. According to the US Treasury, Colonel Seth Reed, also spelled "Read" of Uxbridge, Massachusetts, (who commanded a regiment at Bunker Hill and was a friend of President George Washington), was reported to have been instrumental in placing E Pluribus Unum on U.S. coins. Colonel Reed and his brother Joseph, had been major holders of Uxbridge and Northbridge, Massachusetts real estate. Colonel Reed ran a tavern, served in various town offices, and was appointed to serve Uxbridge in 1777, by being in charge of dealing with "traitors" treason and sedition. Seth Reed went on to serve in the Constitutional Convention, the Massachusetts state legislature and applied for a franchise to mint coins, ("Massachusetts coppers"). He later moved, became a pioneer in Geneva, New York, and then he and his family were the first European settlers of Erie, Pennsylvania. The phrase "E Pluribus Unum", "From Many, One" is considered "the traditional motto" of the United States. "In God We Trust" was then added in 1956.
• Colonel Joseph Read - Colonel Read's brother, Colonel Joseph Read, was also a Colonel in the Continental Army, and commanded the 20th Massachusetts Regiment.
• "Robert Shurtlieff", a Continental Army soldier, claimed to be from Uxbridge, but was really Deborah Sampson, "America's first woman soldier".
• Samuel Spring of Uxbridge, born 1746, was a Revolutionary War Chaplain sho served in the Siege of Boston, and the Invasion of Canada (1775), who later founded the Massachusetts Missionary Society and the Andover Theological Seminary. Spring has many published sermons and works to his credit. He was considered a Congreationalist fundamentalist. He had trained under the Rev. Nathan Webb, also mentioned below as the first pastor at Uxbridge's Congregational church, the colony's first Congregational church, which was started during the Great Awakening period of Jonathan Edwards.
• Samuel Taft was a revolutionary war soldier from Uxbridge. There were at least 12 Tafts from Uxbridge who served in the Revolutionary War. In 1789, Samuel Taft would entertain his commander in chief, President George Washington, during his inaugural trip through Uxbridge, and his overnight stay at the Samuel Taft tavern.
• Dr. Samuel Willard; Dr. Samuel Willard was one of the town's first physicians. Uxbridge Center was home to the 'lunatic asylum' run by Dr. Samuel Willard who fought in Shays' Rebellion. Shays' Rebellion may have had its "opening salvos" in an Uxbridge riot in 1783. Governor John Hancock had to suppress rioters in Uxbridge. Dr Willard had his own eccentricities. Dr. Willard, a Harvard University. grad., was "particularly distinguished" for his treatment of mental health disorders, according to the archives of Worcester County's university graduates. Local history indicates that his treatments consisted of "Dunking in the mineral spring pond behind the old inn" which was deemed to be an 'effective treatment for insanity', as was working on the good doctor’s farm. This pond (Shuttle Shop Pond) was a favorite ice skating spot for children for years until it was filled in by the town after the shop burned down in 1963. The Hotel Wilson (now known as the Uxbridge Inn) welcomed travelers to the town who came to enjoy the same healing waters that “treated” Dr. Willard’s patients. Dr. Willard represented Uxbridge in the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention which ratified the U.S. Constitution. Dr. Willard reportedly held slavers, prior to 1783. Massachusetts was the first state to abolish slavery, also in 1783.
• Lieutenant Simeon Wheelock Lt. Simeon Wheelock fought in the American Revolutionary War. He was an officer in Shays' Rebellion. He was killed in the line of duty in Springfield. during Shays' Rebellion. His son Jerry was famous in the early textile industry of Uxbridge. The Stanley Woolen Mill and Berroco Yarns are related to this same family.
• Peter Rawson Taft I, President William Howard Taft's grandfather, was born in Uxbridge in 1785, and lived here until the beginning of the 19th century. He became a Vermont State legislator and died in Hamilton County, Ohio. A Taft family story is told how Peter walked a cow all the way from Uxbridge to Townshend, Vermont. His son, Alphonso Taft, founded Skull and Bones at Yale, and was the father of President William Howard Taft. Alphonso and his son William Howard came to Uxbridge for family reunions at Elmshade.
• Richard Mowry, An Uxbridge farmer by the name of Richard Mowry successfully built and marketed the equipment needed to manufacture woolen, linen or cotton cloth at the time of the American Revolution. Mowry built wagons and apple presses in addition to the textile equipment. He was particularly proficient with large wooden screws.
• Nathan Webb, an early American Congregational Church minister, was born on April 9, 1705, at Braintree, Norfolk County, Massachusetts. He died on March 17, 1772 at Uxbridge, Worcester County, Massachusetts The Reverend Nathan Webb was the first called minister of the new Congregational Church in the newly incorporated (1727) Town of Uxbridge. Reverend Webb was called on January 6, 1731. This church was the first new Congregational Church in Massachusetts in the Great Awakening period, and first to be mentioned in a list of 45 new Congregational churches in New England which were started in the decade beginning in 1731. The churches of this period were attributed to the Great Awakening, an early American historical religious movement led by ministers such as Jonathan Edwards, another Congregational minister. Reverend Webb spent his entire career in the ministry at Uxbridge, spanning over 41 years. His Congreation included America's first woman voter, Lydia Taft and Lt. Col. Seth Read, who fought at Bunker Hill, was instrumental in adding E Pluribus Unum to US coins, and founded Erie, Pennsylvania. Many members of the early American Taft family were members of Webb's Congregation. Peter Rawson Taft's son, Alfonso, started the Ohio family branch which rose to prominence in American politics. Nehemiah Hall and his wife, Sarah (Hayward) had nine children. Their son Baxter Hall drummed the first musters in the American Revolution. Another son, Nehemiah Hall, Jr. married Hannah White, a Taft Family descendent. The entire Hall Family were members of Webb's congregation. Webb mentored Young Samuel Spring who became a Revolutionary War Chaplain, founded the Andover Theological Seminary, and the Massachusetts Missionary Society. .A sermon delivered at Uxbridge, April 19, 1772, occasioned by the death of the late Reverend Nathan Webb, Pastor of said church and people: containing a summary of his character. : And now published, at the desire of many of the hearers, to revive and perpetuate the memory of their said pastor. exactly three years before the battle of Lexington and Concord.
• William Baylies, M.D. (1743–1826), was born here and was a noted physician, and his two sons William Baylies and Francis Baylies were Members of Congress, from Dighton, Massachusetts. 1805-1809 and 1821–1829; Nicholas Baylies (1772–1846), was a judge and author; and