Charles Bemis Fessenden

Notes:

Ref: "Lexington, Mass. Munroes", 2nd ed. by R. S. Munro - 13-31-22-6

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Birth:
Charles' place of birth has not been verified.

Notes:

On 22 Aug 1851, a tornado struck the towns of Medford, West cambridge and Waltham in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. In the list of damages is found Fessenden and Whittemore, $1000, the largest loss listed, the total for all being $23,606.

Philip was a member of the Unitarian (?) Church of Arlington, Massachusetts. He helped his father run the mill in West Cambridge and he eventually ran it on his own, probably with the help of his brother, Ichabod.

Philip's wife, Rebecca, was the daughter of Rebecca Cutler of Lexington. Rebecca was previously married to Tufts. She was a grinder of spices, medicines and dye stuffs.

Ref: "Lexington, Mass. Munroes", 2nd ed. by R. S. Munro - 13-31-22
Clan Munro files - Coutant, Martha

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Philip married Rebecca Cutler on 31 Aug 1820 in Arlington, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, USA. Rebecca was born on 7 May 1799 in Prob., Lexington, Massachusetts; died on 2 Sep 1887 in Arlington, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Notes:

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Ichabod married Rebecca Munroe on 7 Jun 1795 in Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, USA. Rebecca (daughter of Capt. Edmund Munroe and Rebecca Harrington) was born on 27 Jun 1771 in Lexington, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, USA; died on 15 Apr 1848 in Arlington, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Rebecca's husband was a miller by trade. "Stephen Cutter, miller, sold a certain grist mill in Cambridge with all and singular the dam, flooms, mill pond, etc., together with all other property to Ichabod Fessenden in 1795, specifying a house, barn and gristmill, dams, flooms, etc. (Middlesex Registry, cxxv 27, 28). This property was sold by Ichabod Fessenden to John Perry and Stephen Locke, millers, in 1809."

Ichabod is also listed as having paid $139 for pew No. 73 in the meeting house, Second Precinct, Cambridge, and as having been one of the assessors in 1803 and 1804.

He was a member of the Northeast parish of Cambridge Singing Society, serving as treasurer in 1805 and 1806. It became the West Cambridge Musical Society in October 1807 and Ichabod Fessenden (with clarinet) was one of the subscribers to the constitution.

In 1816 he built a mill at the J.C. Hobbs privilege as it was still called in 1907, though Deacon Hobbs had been dead several years. Another enterprise strikingly different was the making of machine knives which made Ichabod famous was carried on at the brick factory he erected on the Hobbs property.

Ref: "Lexington, Mass. Munroes", 2nd ed. by R. S. Munroe - 13-31-2
Clan Munro files - Coutant, Martha

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Notes:

Edmund was distinguished as a military man. He entered the provincial service at an early age, was promoted to an ensign in a corps of Major Rogers Rangers, and saw service in the French War. He was acting adjutant in Colonel Hoar's regiment at Crown Point in 1761, received a commission from Governor Bernard in 1762, and as lieutenant in His Majesty's service, he continued with the troops at Crown Point, Ticonderoga, and vicinity until the peace of 1763.

Besides serving in the French and Indian war, he was enrolled in the company of the Lexington minute men and was with them on the 19th of April. He further served in the Revolution with Rogers Rangers under Rogers and Hoar.

He was commissioned lieutenant 12 Jul 1776 in Captain Mile's company and Colonel Reed's regiment. The 16th of the same month he was made quartermaster and destined to the northern frontier. In a letter to his wife, of 5 Aug 1776 from Charlestown, New Hampshire, he says, "We shall march from this place for Ticonderoga this day."

On 1 Jan 1777 he received his commission of Captain in Colonel Bigelow's regiment. He was in the northern army under Gates, at Stillwater, Saratoga and Benington; and so distinguished himself that after the capture of Burgoyne he was presented by his superior officers with pair of candle-sticks, that were a part of General Burgoyne's traveling equipment or tent ornaments.

After the capture of Burgoyne, Captain Munroe went to the Jerseys, and joined the army under Washington. On 28 Jun 1778 he was slain on the field of Freehold, more commonly called the Battle of Monmouth. The same cannon ball that killed him also took the life of his kinsman George Munroe [3033], and maimed Joseph Cox of Lexington for the rest of his life. The candle-sticks mentioned above, a sword, a curious beaded Indian powder horn, several head belts, pistols and so forth used by Captain Munroe in the French war, were left by his widow, in 1834 to her son Edmund.

One of his original papers left in the family is the oath of office, bearing his signature and that of Baron de Kalb. It reads as follows:

"I, Edmund Munroe, Captain in Colonel Bigelow's regiment, do acknowledge the United States of America to be free, Independent, and Sovereign States, and declare that the people thereof owe no allegiance to George, the Third, King of Great Britain; and I renounce and abjure any allegiance or obedience to him; and I do swear that I will to the utmost of my power to support, maintain, and defend the said United States against the said King George the Third, his heirs and successors, and his or their abettors, assistants, and adherents; and will serve the said United States in the office of Captain, which I now hold, with fidelity, according to the best of my ability, skill and understanding.
(signed) Edmund Munro Capt.
Sworn to, camp at Valley Forge, 18 May 1778.
(signed) The Baron de Kalb Major General

Captain Munroe was very brave, and without enthusiasm. Some of his letters show this coolness. In a letter to his wife from Valley Forge, 17 May 1778, he says, "I am going on command tomorrow morning down to the enemy lines. There are two thousand going on the command. I am of the mind, we will have a dispute with them before we return."

Edmund was killed at the Battle of Monmouth by a cannon ball which also killed his relative, George Munro and maimed for life his fellow townsman, Joseph Cox of Lexington, Massachusetts.

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Edmund married Rebecca Harrington on 31 Aug 1768. Rebecca (daughter of Jonathan Harrington) was born on 17 Feb 1751; died on 6 Mar 1834 in Arlington, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Rebecca was the daughter of Jonathan and Abigail Harrington, and the sister of Jonathan Harrington, who died in 1854, the last survivor of the battle of Lexington.

When her husband was killed at the Battle of Monmouth in 1778, she was just 27 years old with four children ages nine to three years old. The young fatherless family moved to West Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Honorable mention was made of her in an obituary notice in the Boston Daily Advertiser of 11 Apr 1834, a part of which reads as follows: "The worthy lady who is the subject of this notice, with other families in Lexington, fled on the 19th of April, 1775 with their children, to the woods, while their husbands were engaged with the enemy, and their houses were sacked or involved in flames. Her husband was killed at Monmouth in New Jersey, 28 Jun 1778. On his bereaved partner, in the midst of discouragement, sorrows, and the privations of the times, devolved the task of rearing an infant family. The long life of this venerable lady was a pattern of domestic duties and virtue."

Although entitled to a pension, Rebecca refused it saying that her husband only did his duty.

References:

(1) "History and Genealogy of the Lexington, Mass. Munroes" by R. S. Munroe,
2nd ed. - Florence, Massachusetts (1986) - 13-31 - p. 46, 48

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA