Display Patriot - P-345842

Freeman PARKER

SAR Patriot #: P-345842

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: Adjutant / Patriotic Service

DAR #: A087447

Birth: 15 Oct 1749 Barnstable / Barnstable / MA
Death: 18 Sep 1776 Barnstable / Barnstable / MA

Qualifying Service Description:

Ensign, Capt Micah Hamlin's co., Col Joseph Otis, marched from Barnstable on the alarm at Marshfield, April 19, 1775
Corporal, Capt Micah Hamlin's co., Col Simeon Cary's regt., enlisted Feb 2, 1776, service 6 days
Commissioned May 8, 1776 Adjutant, 1st Barnstable County regiment of Mass. militia
Signed letter of Protest, Barnstable Town Meeting June 25, 1776, and for "Cause of Liberty"

Additional References:

MA Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution, Vol 11, pg 849, 857
D.G. Trayser, Three Centuries of a Cape Cod Town, pg 125-127
Muster/Payrolls of the Rev War (MA & RI)
- Vol 12, pg 117
- Vol 20, pg 69
- Vol 26, pg 399

Spouse: Desire Davis
Children: Freeman;

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:

West Barnstable Cemetery_(C-0372602)

Location:

West Barnstable / Barnstable / MA / USA

Find A Grave Cemetery #:

245129

Grave Plot #:

Grave GPS Coordinates:

41.707862 / -70.372866

Find A Grave Memorial #:

5763109

Marker Type:

SAR Grave Dedication Date:

Comments:

Image taken and provided with permission of compatriot David C Shafer member 159259

Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:

From US Rte 6 on Cape Cod take the Rte 149 exit. Go north about 1.1 mile toward intersection of Rte 6A in Barnstable. Cemetery is on the left 500 feet before intersection with Rte 6A
From the Rte. 149 cemetery entrance walk northerly 72 yards parallel to Rt. 149. The grave site of Freeman Parker is 15 feet back from the cemetery stone wall

Photo: 1 of 1

Author: David Crandall Schafer

Freeman Parker was born on 15 October 1749, in Barnstable, Massachusetts, son of Samuel and Desire (Freeman) Parker. His siblings were Temperance, Hannah, Desire, Patience, Samuel, Abigail, and Rebecca.¹

At the age of twenty-four, Freeman was married on 2 December 1773, at Barnstableto, to Desire Davis, the daughter of Daniel and Mehitable (Lothrop) Davis. Together they had one known child, Freeman, born on 13 July 1776 in Barnstable.

On 19 April 1775, the alarm at Lexington and Concord brought the first battles of the American Revolution. On the same day, an alarm at Marshfield called on militia companies from Plymouth and Barnstable to arms against the one hundred British troops stationed at Marshfield to defend its Tory Citizenry. Captain Micah Hamlin’s 65-man company payroll of the men who went from Barnstable under the command of Colonel Joseph Otis on the alarm at Marshfield on 19 April 1775 includes Ensign Freeman Parker with service of two days and wages of seven shillings, eight pence.² On 2 February 1776, he reenlisted with Captain Micah Hamlin’s company as Corporal and service “to time of marching” of six days.³

With the recommendation of Colonel Nathaniel Freeman dated 7 May 1776, the Massachusetts House of Representatives made the choice of Adjutants to the County Regiments of Militia on 8 May 1776, naming Freeman Parker to the First Regiment in the County of Barnstable.⁴

In June 1776, the resolve of the Massachusetts House of Representatives asked each town to instruct its representative, “Whether, should the honorable Congress, for the Safety of the said Colonies, declare them Independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, they the said Inhabitants will solemnly engage, with their Lives and Fortunes, to support them in the Measure.” On 25 June 1776, the Tory influence at the Barnstable Town meeting resulted in a majority vote “Not to give any instructions to the Representative with Respect to Independence.” In protest, 23 of Barnstable’s citizens, led by Joseph Otis, published a document in the Boston Gazette declaring their objection to the indignity of this vote to the Cause of Liberty, including Freeman Parker.⁵

On 18 September 1776, at the age of 27, Freeman Parker died and was buried at the West Barnstable cemetery. Mrs. Desire (Davis) Parker, age 75 years, died on 10 December 1825 in Barnstable and was buried at the West Barnstable cemetery.

Sources:

Town Clerks Office, Barnstable Town Records, 1713-1781, Vol. 2, page 312
Massachusetts Secretary of State. Muster/Payrolls, and Various Papers (1763-1808) of the Revolutionary War [Massachusetts and Rhode Island], Micropublication FHC: Vol. 12. Washington: National Archives, page 117 (image 188)
Ibid, Volume 20, page 69 (image 172)
Ibid, Volume 26, page 399 (image 321)
Trayser, Donald Grant, Barnstable, Three Centuries of a Cape Cod Town, Massachusetts. Hyannis: F.B. & F.P. Goss, 1939, pages 125-127

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