Display Patriot - P-111710

Lemuel BEARSE

SAR Patriot #: P-111710

The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.

State of Service: MA Qualifying Service: Private

Birth: 03 May 1731 Barnstable / Barnstable / MA
Death: 25 Apr 1799 Barnstable / Barnstable / MA

Qualifying Service Description:

Lemuel Bearse was a private in Captain Jacob Lovell's Company, Colonel Freeman's Regiment; with service of 6 days, in September 1778 on an alarm at Bedford, Dartmouth and Falmouth

Additional References:

56th-77th Annual Reports DAR. Senate documents (United States Congress, Senate). Government Printing Office: Washington, DC

MA Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution, Volume 1, pg 874 (mis-identified as Samuel Bearse)

MA muster and payrolls (1763-1808) in the Rev War, Volume 35, pg 238 (image 555)

Barnstable Church Records, pg 291

Spouse: Patience Phinney
Children: Abigail; Isaac; James; Lemuel;

Members Who Share This Ancestor
None^*

^*This means that the NSSAR has no applications for this Patriot on file.
Instead the information provided is best effort, and from volunteers who have either researched grave sites, service records, or something similar.
There is no documentation available at NSSAR HQ to order.

Burial:

Centerville Ancient Cemetery_(C-0075258)

Location:

Centerville / Barnstable / MA / USA

Find A Grave Cemetery #:

2130820

Grave Plot #:

Grave GPS Coordinates:

41.654751 / -70.343093

Find A Grave Memorial #:

44592731

Marker Type:

SAR Grave Dedication Date:

Comments:

The gravestone of Lemuel Bearse is made of slate. It measures 24" wide, 31" tall and is 2.25" thick. It is in good condition and has at the top a carving of an angel. The gravestone of his wife Patience, also made of slate, is immediately to the right of Lemuel's gravestone. It appears to have been broken at one time but has been repaired and set in a base of concrete

Photos displayed courtesy of David Schrader, MASSAR

Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:

The Ancient Cemetery of Centerville is located on Phinney's Lane one-fifth of a mile south of Route 28. It is a relatively small cemetery consisting of .73 acres of sloping ground. It has about 180 gravestones with the earliest being for Jonathan Hamblen, dated June 22, 1743. It has an average elevation of 44 feet above sea level and has a split rail fence on the street side with no other fencing. It is owned and managed by the Town of Barnstable and is an inactive cemetery

Photo: 1 of 2

Photo: 2 of 2

Author: David Crandall Schafer

Lemuel Bearse was the son of James Bearse and Thankful Linnell, born May 3, 1731 at the Town of Barnstable. He had one half-brother, Jabez (1720-1810), one full brother, James, who died at a young age and one sister, Thankful.

Lemuel’s father James Bearse died October 11, 1758 in his 65th year, and in his will named his son Lemuel as the sole executor of his last will and testament. Also leaving to Lemuel “...all my cattle and sheep and horses, except one cow, and one half of my wearing apparel, and all debts due me, and all the grain in the barn and on the ground and my gun and all my husbandry tools and my cart and plows, and also one bed and all the bedding belonging to it that is in the bedroom with one quarter part of the indoor movables.”

In 1761, at the age of 29, Lemuel was married to Patience Phinney, daughter of Thomas Phinney and Reliance Goodspeed, by Rev. Joseph Green, April 30, at the Town of Barnstable. Children born to this marriage were – Thankful, Abigail, Isaac, James, and Lemuel Jr. His wife Patience died March 9, 1777 at the age of 41, and was buried at the Centerville Ancient Cemetery.

In 1778, Lemuel was a private in Captain Jacob Lovell’s militia company of 43 men from Barnstable. In September 1778, the British fleet attacked what is now New Bedford for supplies needed at the Newport and New York garrisons. Expecting the British fleet to attack Falmouth next, General Joseph Otis called for militias from across the Cape to defend the coastal community including Captain Lovell’s company with Lemuel Bearse serving six days. Falmouth was spared when the British moved on to Martha’s Vineyard before returning to Newport.

Lemuel Bearse was an active member of his community being selected one of 12 as “Sheep yarders” for the town in September 1762. At the town meeting of March 7, 1769, he was chosen to serve as one of two town Constables for one year. In March 1778, he was selected one of five town “Fence Viewers,” and in 1787 served as a Petit Juror. At a town meeting, October 14, 1789, Lemuel was chosen to serve on the committee to settle accounts “...owth the Precinct Treasurer.”

The 1790 U. S. Census shows the household of Lemuel Bearse with four males over age 16 years and one female. The first Meeting House in Centerville was built in 1796 to serve members of the East Precinct living considerable distance from the Meeting House on Cobb’s Hill, and Lemuel Bearse was one of three men of the community to guarantee the cost of its construction, and being completed in December. The 1798 property tax assessments show Lemuel Bearse owned more than 200 acres valued at over $1500.

Lemuel died April 25, 1799, at the age of 68 years and was buried next to his wife, Patience, in the Centerville Ancient Cemetery.

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