A Brief Biography by Bill Poole
Micah Hagar was born on June 8, 1755 and thus was just nineteen years old when he stood on the Common with Captain Parker’s small band of militia on April 19, 1775. Micah was born in Lincoln, MA and also died there. Then, why he mustered with Captain Parker’s Lexington Company is a good question. He might have been working or apprenticed in Lexington and living with his employer. His further service during the Revolutionary War is also credited to Lexington which gives credence to the idea that he was either employed or apprenticed in town.
Micah was the great, great grandson of William Hagar, born in England. Most genealogical sites say Dedham, Essex, England on October 5, 1620.1 Others claim there is no real evidence of his place of birth. William settled in Watertown, MA where he married March 20, 1644/5 Mary Bemis (born 1624 Dedham, Essex, England). He died on January 10, 1683/84 and Mary survived him dying December 3, 1695, both in Watertown.2 A copy of Williams will is appended below. His homestead and land consisted of 149 acres and was valued at 264£, and his entire estate at 353£ 14 shillings.3
William and Mary had ten children the seventh of whom was also named William, born in Watertown either 2 or 12 February 1658/59 (allowing for the conversion from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar)4. He married on March 30, 1687, Sarah Benjamin (born about 1663 presumably in Watertown). William died on May 8, 1731 and Sarah on October 22, 1745 at age 82 in that part of Watertown that became Waltham5. Sarah and William had eight children the first of whom was William born 1688, also in that part of Watertown that became Waltham.6 William married on December 13, 1711 Mary Flagg (born December 7, 1690 probably in Watertown). They had twelve children, the eighth of whom and their second son was Daniel, born October 23, 1726.7
Daniel married on September12, 1750 in Weston, MA which by this time also had been set off as a separate town from Watertown, Sarah Travers (born September 12, 1750 in Framingham, MA).
Records indicate they had at least four children, the first of whom, Sarah, was born July 29, 1752 in Weston, MA.8 However, sometime thereafter, Daniel and Sarah along with young Sarah moved to Lincoln, MA. There they had three additional children: the first of whom was Micah, born January 8, 1755, followed by two sisters, Phebe born May 21, 1758 and Mehitibel born September 7, 1766. Daniel died May 13, 1775 in Lincoln, but his wife Sarah survived him by thirty-six years dying in 1811.9
During the Revolutionary War, Micah (sometimes given as Michael) first enlisted in Captain Abijah Child’s Company of Lt. Colonel William Bond’s Regiment as a private on April 29, 1775. Captain Child was a Waltham man and why Mica chose to join this company is a question since he was listed as being from Lexington. The extent of this enlistment is not known, but was probably until the end of 1775 when the Massachusetts regiments were disbanded and then incorporated into the Continental service. At any rate, Micah was still listed with the company in October of 1775. Thereafter, Micah’s name does not appear in Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War until 1783. He is listed as serving in Captain Thomas Cushing’s Company raised for the defense of Castle and Governor’s Islands in Boston Harbor from January 25 to April 24, 1783; also from January 25 to April 24, 1784; from January 25, 1785 to February 18, 1795 and from July 25 to October 25, 1786, a total of nine months and 25 days.10
Micah’s father, Daniel, died just 24 days following the engagement on Lexington Common, and Micah
as the only son would have turned to supporting the family. His terms of service, with the exception of the last would have enabled him to make some extra money during the “off-season” when planting, cultivating and harvesting were over. It appears that Micah did not marry. Two of his sisters Sarah and Mehitabel did, leaving Micah his older sister Phebe and his mother Sarah to run the farm. Sarah died on December 19, 1811, and Micah three years later on December 10, 1814.11
Footnotes
1See for example the following: http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/37342891/person/19296148055?ssrc=&ftm=1
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/k/e/p/Diane-M-Kepus/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0827.htm
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/k/e/p/Diane-M-Kepus/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0859.html
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/k/e/p/Diane-M-Kepus/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0826.html
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/k/e/p/Diane-M-Kepus/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0829.html
http://bemislanding.tripod.com/mary1620.html
http://genealogy.gettheball.com/getperson.php?personID=I3072&tree=bratt01
2 Fred G. Barker, Watertown, Massachusetts, Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, 1630-1693, Historical Society of Watertown, MA, 1894; Henry Bond, Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, Little, Brown & Company, Boston, 1855, p. 264.
3
4Barker, p.265;
5Ibid.
6Ibid.
7Ibid., 266-7.
8Ibid.; Vital Records of Weston, MA, 1713-1849, on line at:
http://www.ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Middlesex/Weston/
9 Vital Records of Lincoln, Massachusetts. To the end of the year 1849, on line at:
http://www.ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Middlesex/Lincoln/
10 Massachusetts Office of the Secretary of State, Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the RevolutionaryWar, A Compilation from the Archives, Seventeen volumes, Wright and Potter Printing Company, Boston, 1896, vol. 7, p.27.
11 Vital Records of Lincoln.
The Will of William Hagar, Born circa 1625, Died January 10, 1683/84
“Dated 10 11 month 1683.
“I William Hager of Watertowne being sick in body, yet through God’s goodness sound in my memory, do declare this to be my last will & testament as followeth
“1. I give unto my loving wife Mary Hager seven pounds a year to be payd quarterly one third part in money & the other two in on halfe in Indian corn & the other in English grain to be payd yearly during the term of her annuall life. Also I give and bequeath unto my loving wife aforesd the east end of my dwelling house & cellar for her use during her lifetime. Also my will is that if my loving wife shall stand in need or more than the above sd seven pounds a year that then she shall have so much out of my estate payd by my executor as my loving wife shall stand in need off. Also I give unto my loving wife ten pounds to be payd in such necessary household stuff as my loving wife shall choose for her use and to dispose of at her death to whom shee will.
“2. I give unto my daughter Ruhama Waight two pounds to be payd within one year after my decease in corn & cattle.
“3. I give unto my daughter Hannah Priest five pounds to be paid within two years after my decease in corn & cattle.
“4. I give unto my daughter Susannah Grout fifty shillings to be paid within three years after my decease in country pay.
“5. I give unto my daughter Sarah Whitney five pounds to be paid within four years after my decease in corn & cattle.
“6. I give unto my daughter Rebecca Healy three pounds to be payd within five years after my decease in corn & cattle.
“7. I give unto my daughter Abigail Hager eight pounds one halfe to be payd at her marriage the other halfe to be paid within one year after in corn & cattle.
“8. I give unto Mehitabel Hager eight pounds one halfe to be payd at her marriage the other halfe to be payd within one yeare after in corn & cattle.
“9. Also I nominate & appoynt my loving sons Samuel Hager & William Hagar Executors to this my last Will to receive all due to me & to pay all my just debts & that my son Samuell shall have thirty pounds more in housing than my son William and then my whole estate both lands & moveables shall be equally divided between my two sons Samuel Hagar & William Hagar also my will is that my two sons pay all debts … legacys equally. Also I assigne my body to the dust from whence it was taken & my spirit to God that gave it, declaring this to be my last will & testament. In witness wherbe I sett to my hand
…………………………………………… William Hagar” (his mark)
“In ye prsnce of us
Robt Harrington
Benjamin Garfield
Richard Cutter”
A true inventory of the estate was taken 10 February 1683 by Robert Harrington, (an unreadable name) and Benjamin Garfield. It showed real estate valued at 264 pounds:
* A homestall contayning about eight acres with a dwelling house and outhouses belonging to it with a small orchard (100 pounds)
* Nineteen acres of upland on the little plaine (30 pounds)
* Twelve acres of upland on the great plaine (20 pounds)
* Seventy acres of upland called Dividend land (70 pounds)
* Eighteen acres of upland lying on Bungry hill (9 pounds)
* Twelve acres of upland lying near Edward Sanders’s (6 pounds)
* Three acres of meadow in … meadow (15 pounds)
* Seven acres of meadow in Thatcher’s meadow (14 pounds)
The personal estate totalled 89 pounds, 14 shillings, and the total estate was apprized at 353 pounds, and 14 shillings.
On 1 April 1684, Samuel Hagar and William Hagar took oath in court that this was a true inventory and if any more should appear they will cause it to be added hereto.