Henry Hatevil Fall was born on 14 January 1750 in what is now Damariscotta, Lincoln County, Maine; at the time of his birth, Damariscotta was in York County, District of Maine, Massachusetts. Henry often used his middle name, Hatevil, as his first name. His parents were Zebedee and Tristram Fall; his mother's maiden name is unknown.⁷

In 1778, during his war service, he married Sarah Brace Durham, with whom he had about thirteen children. 

Revolutionary War records show Henry served six years in the Massachusetts Line of the Continental Army. He enlisted initially as a Private, then rose to the rank of Sergeant in his second year of service, and reverted to Private for the four remaining years of his service. He was wounded at least once and hospitalized at least twice. He was personally promoted to Sergeant or discharged by General George Washington. Henry participated in the Invasion of Quebec and the Siege of Boston campaign and fought at the Battles of Valcour Bay, Trenton, Princeton, and Saratoga.  

He started his service during the Revolutionary War when he enlisted as a Private on 7 October 1775 and served in Capt. Benjamin Bowne's Company of Lieutenant-Colonel William Bond's 37th Massachusetts Line Regiment of the Continental Army.^1,2 Henry was on a list of sick and wounded in the general hospital (convalescence house) from 25 November to 2 December 1775,³ where "disorder convalescence" is mentioned, so this does not appear to be battle-related. Artifacts mention an epidemic of sickness in the Army at this time during Benedict Arnold's failed Invasion of Quebec campaign (June 1775-October 1776), which was the leadup to the Battle of Quebec, which was fought on 31 December 1775;⁴ Henry was discharged on 18 December 1775 after serving six months, so it appears that he may miss the final battle. Historical Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) publications indicate that Henry was a soldier during the Siege of Boston (19 April 1775 to 17 March 1776). These dates also fit with his unit and enlistment term at this time. 

In 1776, Henry again enlisted as a Private for one year and served in Captain Cook's Company of Colonel William Bond's 25th Massachusetts Line Regiment of the Continental Army.² Based on Henry's pension documents, he was still infirmed into the 1800s from a wound ("breach") he received when onboard the galley (or gundalow, which is a low, flat boat) "USS Spitfire." Undoubtedly, this occurred during the Naval Battle at Valcour Bay or Island, on the western side of Lake Champlain between the present-day states of Vermont and New York, on 11 October 1776. Brigadier General Benedict Arnold was the commander in the field, and Henry's boat appeared to have been sunk during battle. Still, it is unclear if his or other similar boats were purposely destroyed to prevent their use by advancing British forces. In 1997, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum's Lake Survey team discovered the intact and upright Benedict Arnold's 1776 gunboat, USS Spitfire, on the bottom of Lake Champlain.⁵ USS Spitfire was the last unaccounted-for vessel of the Battle of Valcour Bay.

On 1 January 1777, apparently recuperated from his USS Spitfire wounds, Henry enlisted again in Captain Samuel Foster's Company F of Colonel John Greaton's 3rd Massachusetts Line Regiment of the Continental Army, where he is listed with the rank of Sergeant for the first time, and the enlistment duration shown is "war," meaning he was to serve for the duration of the war;³ another document states the duration of his enlistment was three years at this time.¹ Colonel Greaton's regiment would spend the winter of 1776-1777 at Morristown, New Jersey, starting in January 1777. Since Colonel Greaton's regiment participated in the Battle of Trenton on 26 December 1776 and the Battle of Princeton on 3 January 1777,¹⁶ it appears from Henry's 1 January 1777 enlistment date that he at least participated in the Princeton event and probably the Trenton event as well. Another significant engagement that saw the participation of Colonel Greaton's Regiment at this time was the Battle of Saratoga (19 September to 7 October 1777), and Henry probably participated.  

In 1778, Henry was again shown as attached to Colonel John Greaton's 3rd Massachusetts Regiment at White Plains, New York,³ serving in the companies of Lieutenant James Tisdale and Captain Samuel Foster. One payroll document shows the date of 9 September 1778. Since the "Battle of White Plains" occurred in 1776, it is assumed that Henry did not participate in that battle. 

Based on a pension record affidavit by his brother-in-law Stephen Durham (also serving in the Continental Army and for the entire term of the war) states that Henry was a Sergeant in the winter of 1778 and was in command of a unit that guarded public stores which were warehoused at Kinderhook (near Hudson), New York.² undoubtedly, he met his wife, Sarah Brace Durham, and they were married in the nearby town of Claverack on 10 February 1778.

Henry received an honorable discharge from one of his enlistment terms by General George Washington at Morristown, New Jersey, and/or was promoted to Sergeant by the same. These events seem conflated due to pension document ambiguities. One payroll record shows the date of 9 September 1778, but it makes sense that the General Washington discharge event happened later in 1782. Pension documents mention the Washington reference,² but it is not definitive, and the handwriting needs to be clarified. Also, in the same continuous narrative, the pension documents state that "…he continued in four years of subsequent service in the Continental Army against the common enemy. He served in the capacity of a private soldier". Thus, it appears to be a total of six years in the Continental Army, and at some time during his remaining four years, he reverted to the rank of Private. During these final four years, Henry is shown in the service of Lieutenant James Tissdale' Company in Colonel John Greaton's 3rd Massachusetts Regiment, where Henry's final known enlistment ended on 18 August 1782.³

Because Henry's war service included many enlistments and a variety of units, there are many historical lores regarding his participation in historical events. There is no proof to support Henry as a participant in the Encampment at Valley Forge during the Winter of 1777-1778. Henry's daughter Elizabeth "Betsey" Fall Holley, a celebrated "Real Daughter" of the American Revolution by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), was quoted in an 1896 newspaper article when she was 92 years of age, saying that "…Her father, Henry Hatevil Fall, was a revolutionary patriot, who served under Washington and was with his army at Valley Forge…"¹⁴ However, his war documents do not support this assertion. A remote possibility is that he may have been with the Army encamped at Morristown, New Jersey, during the winter of 1779-1780, called "The Hard Winter." The weather there was worse than the Valley Forge winter. 

Another unproven lore is that Henry was a bodyguard of General Washington. While it was not out of bounds to say that maybe his unit guarded his headquarters and his unit's incidental existence "guarded" General Washington, no proof can be found to support this. Henry mentions the attention of General Washington in his pension document, where Henry is quoted as saying "Sergeant by General Washington," and this word "by" could be misinterpreted to mean "by his side" and therefore "guarding" the General or promoted to Sergeant for his service as one of his bodyguards. Another possibility is that he was promoted to Sergeant by General Washington or discharged by the same. One war service document for Henry lists his height as 5 feet, 7 inches,³ and the requirements for serving as a General Washington Life Guardsman was to have a height of between 5 feet 8 inches and 5 feet 10 inches to somewhat match the general's stature;6) and this would have excluded Henry from this service. 

Although not unusual, Henry is listed as deserted from the 3rd Massachusetts Regiment in February 1778³ and on 22 December 1778,¹ with Feb 1778 being the month of his marriage to Sarah Brace Durham and his documented assignment to guarding warehouses in Kinderhook. Henry was also reduced in rank 1 August 1778,³ and this may or may not have anything to do with the desertion. Yet, another document entitled "Account of monies due the dead, deserted and absentees" shows that Henry was paid 13 dollars (Continental currency) for his desertion,³ so it may have been tagged as "desertion" for administrative reasons, and the term "deserted" here is not used for pejorative purposes. Perhaps "absentee" fits his situation more as he appears to have been dispatched (today called temporary duty) to the warehouse in Kinderhook. 

Regardless, Henry continued with the 3rd Massachusetts Regiment until his discharge on 18 August 1782, so it appears he was not out of favor with his unit. It does not appear that there was anything negative related to this deserted designation, and it was not an impediment to his successful pension application and that of his wife's widow's pension. The desertion issue related to Henry is not mentioned in pension documents. These pension documents also omit his service with the 3rd Massachusetts Regiment, which is known to account for the later part of his six years of service during the war; the omission of his service with the 3rd Massachusetts Regiment, expedient for pension approval, also meant the omission of his participation in the major battles with his unit at Trenton, Princeton, and Saratoga (but they are found elsewhere). 

An analysis of Henry's Revolutionary War records in the Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (MSSR) document shows the potential for another(s) Henry or Hatevil Fall's service records, with this other Henry of Boston serving in Colonel Benjamin Gill' 3rd Suffolk County Militia Regiment of Massachusetts in 1777; and Henry of Bristol in the Colonel William Jones's 3rd Lincoln County Militia Regiment of Massachusetts in the same year.¹ Both militia regiments were reinforcements during the Saratoga Campaign of 1777. While it is not out of bounds that he moved around a lot during the chaotic early years of the war or that Henry was loaned out to these regiments, his pension documents omitted any mention of service to the Massachusetts Militia in 1777, so it is assumed that these service references are a mistake as Henry is accounted for in 1777 with Colonel John Greaton's 3rd Massachusetts Line Regiment of the Continental Army. The conflation or mixing of the Fall personas most likely occurred when the MSSR document was compiled in about 1896. 

On 10 February 1778, at Claverack, New York, he married Sarah Brace Durham, the daughter of James and Eleanor (Pattison) Durham. Henry and Sarah were the parents of the following known children: 

• Polly was born about 1780 and married Mr. Chamberlin^2,7,9
• Eleanor was born in 1782 and married (Henry) Gott Witt^2,7,8,12
• John H. was born in 1784 and married Mary Polly Townsend^7,8,10
• James was born about 1785 and married Irene Lemmon/Lumnon^7,8,12
• Henry Hatevil Jr. was born in 1786 and married¹ Lavina [surname unknown];⁹ and second to Amy Bailey^7,9
• Dorcas was born about 1788 and married Mr. Wells^7,9
• Sarah was born about 1788 and married Mr. Avery⁷
• Sally was born about 1793 and married Mr. Rose⁹
• Ann was born about 1795 and married Mr. Sturtevant or Stuyvesant^7,9
• Hannah was born in 1798 and married Abel S. Scott^7,8,12
• Abby M. or Abigail, was born in 1800 and married Anson Potter^{2,7,8,10,11,12}
• Isaac was born about 1802 and married Abigail Elizabeth Guernsey^2,7,9
• Elizabeth or Betsey was born in 1803 and married Numon Monroe Holley^2,7,8,11,12

The youngest daughter, Elizabeth (Fall) Holley ("Holly"), was a distinguished member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), where a brief 1896 biographical newspaper article recognizes her as the ninth Real Daughter of the American Revolution.^13,14 The "ninth" distinction identified is unclear about whether this is for the Le Ray De Chaumont of Watertown, New York, the New York State Society, or the national society. The Real Daughter was a distinct privilege that celebrated immediate female children of Revolutionary War soldiers and patriots who were also members of the DAR, which was founded in 1890. In the early years of the National Society of the DAR, immediately after 1890 in 1896, a DAR chapter that could name one or more of the 767 Real Daughters among its members was extremely proud of this living link to the American Revolution.¹⁵

Like many other Revolutionary War veterans, Henry moved his family often after the war and was often a farmer pioneer settler wherever he ended up. We find Henry living in Columbia County, New York, in 1790, where his first ten children, or so, were born. Then, in 1798, he was seen in Oswego County, New York. He spent a few years in Herkimer County, New York, in the very early 1800s and then is shown in Lewis County, New York, in 1810. Starting in 1811, he settled in nearby Jefferson County, New York, and remained there, in the various towns of Hounsfield, Rutland, Ellisburg, and Chaumont, until his death about 35 years later. A county boundary line change likely moved Henry's property into Jefferson County from adjoining Lewis County around 1810. 

The Patriot died on 19 July 1845 in Chaumont, Jefferson, New York. Some sources state that he died in Lyme, Jefferson, New York, which is somewhat correct, as Charmont is a settlement within the Town of Lyme. The burial location for Henry and his wife Sarah is uncertain. The Historical Association of South Jefferson [NY] stated in a writeup on county pioneers that Henry was "…buried in a now-abandoned cemetery between Dexter and Limerick, NY…" Also, the Town Clerk of Brownville, New York (office located in Dexter, New York) states that via their knowledge of the Bartletts Cemetery Project, Henry's son Henry Hatevil Fall Jr. (1786–1831 and a War of 1812 Veteran), is interred at Limerick Cemetery, Brownville, Jefferson.

A personal inspection of that small cemetery (with about 30 stones) revealed unreadable gravestones but that a regentrification project was underway to restore parts of the cemetery, thereby making it no longer "abandoned." This Limerick Cemetery does fit the description of "between Dexter and Limerick…" stated earlier, and it makes sense that he would be buried near his namesake son, who pre-deceased him. When viewing the road and landscape that now runs between Dexter and Limerick, few spots are cultivated farmland that would hide another abandoned cemetery.

Sources: 

1. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War. A compilation from the archives by Massachusetts. Office of the Secretary of State, Vol. 5, Published 1896, pages 483, 484
2. US Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900, image viewer pages 106-116 of 1288 pages
3. US Compiled Revolutionary War Military Service Records, 1775-1783
4. American Invasion of Quebec, World History Encyclopedia, article by Harrison W. Markby, published on 19 January 2024
5. Revolutionary War Gunboat Spitfire. Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. Source within website: Sabick, C., A. Lessman, and S. McLaughlin, Lake Champlain Underwater Cultural Resources Survey, Volume II: 1997 Results and Volume III: 1998 Results. Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, 2000
6. General George Washington's Body Guard & Life Guardsmen. Revolutionary War Journal. 5 November, 2013. Biographical, Life & Times, Organization, Strictly Military, Harry Schenawolf
7. The Descendants of John Fall of Berwick Maine, by Dana Abbott Batchelder, 2004, pages 35, 36
8. Jefferson County NYGenWeb, Jefferson County, New York Pioneers, Pioneer Family Henry Hatevil Fall
9. Iowa, Death Records, 1904-1951 for Martha Jane (Fall) Hull shows father as John H. Fall and mother as Polly Townsend
10. Genealogies of the Potter families and their descendants in America to the present generation, by Charles Edward Potter, Charles, 1888, part 1, page 3
11. Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) membership applications
12. Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) membership applications
13. Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) website, under Patriot Henry Hatevil Fall, identifies Elizabeth Holly as a Real Daughter
14. The Argus, Albany, New York, newspaper, article, 1 November 1896, page 14
15. Daughters of the American Revolution website, The Real Daughters of the American Revolution
16. Biography of Gen. John Greaton (1741–1783), Encyclopedia.com