The Lexington Alarm

Today is April 19.  245 years ago today the Battle of Concord and Lexington began the American Revolution.  A newspaper article written in 1902 about my family said that one of my ancestors fought in those battles.  Did he?

Family member name: William Morris
Tree branch: Pearson
Lifetime: 1740 - died sometime after 1794
Relation: My 5x great-grandfather (my dad's dad's mom's mom's mom's dad's dad)

See my previous blog post with a full transcription of the article. The article stated,

"Mrs. Titus, too, seems to have come from a family as patriotic as that of her husband, for her paternal grandfather, William Morris, was in the battle of Concord and Lexington and rose in the service until he became a first lieutenant."

Wow! Imagine that, what are the odds?!  Upon reading it, my emotions went from awe to disbelief in about one minute.  (But it was a fun minute!)  I had to investigate this William Morris person.

William Morris was born and lived in Woodstock, Connecticut, not to be confused with Woodstock, New York of music festival fame.  Woodstock is 68 miles from Lexington, Massachusetts.  In April 1775, William could not have fought in the Battle of Concord and Lexington because those battles were fought by Minutemen who lived in those towns and who mustered to Lexington Green in a minute after being awakened by Paul Revere.  Grandpa Morris was simply not there.  The article was incorrect.

However, here is the excerpt from William Morris' military service which may be the cause of the confusion.

"William was clerk of the company which marched from Woodstock in response to the Lexington Alarm."

What is the Lexington Alarm? Once Paul Revere stopped riding, other messengers got on their horses to pick up where he left off.  They rode to other towns to give them the news about Lexington and Concord.  Town militias had already been organized all over New England and the other colonies.  When these volunteer soldiers heard of the fighting, they marched "for the Relief of Boston," including 34-year-old William.  The Lexington Alarm began with Paul Revere's ride and continued with the colonies' response to the beginning of the war.  The Lexington Alarm is not the name of the battle on April 19.  (See timeline on nps.gov)

About 10,000 men marched for days to help defend Boston from the British.  Besides the Rhode Island volunteers, who were somewhat equipped and organized, the rest of the men could hardly be described as "in the military." After reading firsthand accounts of the situation, the camps in the fields and meadows around Boston can only be described as makeshift shelters full of filthy, drunk men. (OK, now you can think about Woodstock the music festival, but with no women or music.)

Since Grandpa Morris only served six days in the Lexington Alarm, they probably marched to Boston, saw they were not needed, then went home to Connecticut. He later served in other regiments.

Here is the link to his page on the Daughters of the American Revolution website: Ancestor #A080956

Researching family history in Woodstock, Connecticut, 2016.

The other respiratory illness

While the world is gripped with the Coronavirus, here is a post about another respiratory illness that one of my family members lived through, tuberculosis.

Family member name: Eleanor Webber
Tree branch: Webber
Lifetime: 1921-2010
Relation: My great-aunt (my father's father's sister)

Unfortunately I never spoke with Auntie Eleanor about her ordeal with tuberculosis.  All I know is a couple stories from my dad and some entries from Eleanor's mother's diary.

Eleanor's mother (my great grandmother), Mattie, kept a little diary of important events in her life. One was November 16, 1942: "E. goes to Channing Home"

Mattie's diary

Channing Home was originally named Channing Street Home for Sick and Destitute Women.  (Source: Brigham and Women's Hospital) Founded in 1857 as a refuge for poor women, it later became a nationally known center for the treatment of women with tuberculosis.  As my father recalls, Eleanor spent years (perhaps seven years!) in an institution for her treatment of TB.  Perhaps Channing Home was that institution.

The treatment for TB involved complete and horizontal bed rest and, believe it or not, social distancing and separation from family, especially children.  

A screen shot from Google Maps of the address of Channing Home.

Also from Mattie's diary: "April 30, 1946 - Dr. Overholt at Deaconess removes E's lung.  Successful. Oxygen tent."

Who was Dr. Overholt? In the 1930's he performed the first successful removal of a right lung on a cancer patient.  Eleanor had one of the best doctors in the country.  Here is the link to his obituary in The New York Times.

Poor Eleanor.  She perhaps started her treatment at age 21 and had her lung removed at age 25.  Basically her 20's were gone.  How sad to spend some of the prime years of your life in a hospital, and some in an oxygen tent. Thankfully, she recovered and lived a long life.  She was a sweet, beloved piano teacher in her hometown, Needham, Massachusetts.  She passed away just one week short of her 89th birthday.

Mattie and Eleanor Webber