LowellDeeds

July 4th makes me reflect on the many men in the Merrimack Valley that were involved in the early history of our country. Captain John Trull of Tewksbury fired his musket from his bedroom window, warning citizens in Dracut that the British were marching to Concord. Captain John Harden of Wilmington marched a company of men to Concord to fight. Westford’s Col John Robinson led the assembled minuteman across the North Bridge on April 19, 1775. Copies of land records of these Patriots and their family’s can be found in old books in the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds. After Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, it was Boston’s John Adams that convinced the Colonies to accept it. Adams argued that while Congress sat in Virginia “discussing” freedom, Massachusetts Patriots had already begun “fighting” for it. It is truly exciting to think that within a twenty-five mile radius of this registry America began its fight for Freedom. A monument honoring Captain Trull sits across the street from my home in Tewksbury. He trained his minuteman in the field which is now part of my back yard. I love to brag about it. Sometimes I look out across that field in awe. This vast Nation began it’s fight for “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” right here in Massachusetts. And many of those that first raised arms to secure the liberties that Jefferson so eloquently articulated were from the Merrimack Valley. Records of other patriotic notables are here in Middlesex North also: Asa Parlin of Carlisle, John Minot of Chelmsford, Joseph Varnum of Dracut and William Thompson of Billerica. All these men were delegates to the Massachusetts State Convention to adopt the federal constitution in 1788.
Have a happy, safe July 4th. Can you tell it’s my favorite holiday?