Gaspee
Virtual Archives
Research
Notes on Hezekiah Kinnicutt (1743-1828)
The Gaspee Days Committee at www.gaspee.COM
is a civic-minded nonprofit organization that operates many community
events
in and around Pawtuxet Village, including the famous Gaspee Days Parade
each June. These events are all designed to commemorate the burning of
the hated British revenue schooner, HMS Gaspee, by Rhode Island
patriots in 1772 as America's 'First Blow for Freedom'®. Our
historical research center, the Gaspee Virtual Archives at www.gaspee.ORG
, has presented these research notes as an attempt to gather further
information
on one who has been suspected of being associated with the the burning
of the Gaspee. Please e-mail your comments or further questions
to webmaster@gaspee.org.
This web page presents research notes only on one of the known
Gaspee
Raiders, Nathaniel Easterbrooks.
While blissfully preparing for Christmas 2005, we were
presented with the following surprise e-mail from Pam R. Thompson who was doing
some genealogical research of her own.
I found the
following curious entry in the Revolutionary War Pension File, #S21404,
for Ezra Ormsbee, born 30 March 1751 in
Warren, RI, son of Ebenezer
Ormsbee (sometimes spelled Ormsby) and Hannah Cole (Benjamin3,
Hugh2, James1) Ezra applied for his pension
in Warren, RI, on 24 August 1833.
". In
June 1772 when the English Revenue Cutter Gaspee was burnt in
Providence River, I was one that went from this town and helped do it.
Capt John Greenwood, James
Smith, Abner Luther, Abel Easterbrooks,
Nathaniel Easterbrooks,
Hezekiah Kinnicut and myself
went together in a
whale boat and we helped burn her. I mention this merely as a
revolutionary incident and not as connected with my pension claim. All
the above named persons who were with me in burning the Gaspee have a
long time now decd."
I do not find any of
these names on your lists of participants.
We have long known that people
from the Bristol and Warren, RI area participated in the attack, but we
have only known of the names of Simeon Potter, and possibly Thomas
Swan. In fact, we only know the names of about half of the 64 men
alleged to have participated in the attack on the Gaspee. This gives us
a first hand list of an additional seven men to investigate to be
patriots of the forthcoming American Revolution.
Biographical
notes and random musings
Lydia Kinnicutt, Hezekiah Kinnicutt's widow's applied for pension
(W26716) for his Revolutionary War service under the Act of 1836, and
is on-line at HeritageQuest through NEHGS. The name is spelled
Kinnicutt with two Ts, and was applied for from Bristol, RI..
Hezekiah Kinnicutt was a Private in the Rhode Island Militia. The
pension was granted in Nov, 1836 and sent to an W. Alfred Bosworth of
Warren, RI. When Lydia (v. Leydia) Kinnicutt applied for the pension
benefit in 1836 she was aged 82, making her birth year c1754. She was
married to Hezekiah on 23December1773, and her maiden name was Luther.
She states that before the Revolution, Hezekiah resided in Barrington,
RI and entered the Militia under Captain Viall Allen's Company,
Lieutenant Daniel Kinnicutt, in November 1775, and was assigned to
guard the shore of Barrington.through November 1779. The troops
were involved in the Battle of Bristol, RI in 1778. Hezekiah died in
April 1828, afterwhich Lydia remained a widow and was considered infirm
at the time of the pension application in 1836. Documentary evidence
accompanying the pension application included a notation of the
marriage performed by Charles Thompson, pastor, in 1773. No
mention is made of Hezekiah's participation in the Gaspee raid.
From A History of Barrington, Rhode Island
by Thomas W. Bicknell, (Providence: Snow &
Farnham, 1898), p317 a
tavern in Barrington recorded a 1777 bill on account of Dr. Hezekiah
Kinnicutt for rental of a sleigh to attend to the funeral of his
nephew, the son of Shubael Kinnicutt. In this same reference (p343), we
find an Alarm order from Warren, RI of June 1777 from Colonel Nathan
Miller to Captain Samuel Bosworth to send a detachment of militia to
guard Rumstick, and on which Hezekiah Kinnicutt was named as one of the
detachment. We also (p371) seem him on a 1775 roll call as a
Private
in Captain Thomas Allin's Company of Colonel Smith's Regiment, and note
that one Daniel Kinnicutt was Ensign. In a 1780 roll call (p374)
of
Captain Viall Allen's Company we see both Hezekiah and Edward
Kinnicutt's names listed.This Hezekiah would be of
the right age and location to be our guy.
We also get a the vital
records of adjoining Swansea, MA (Warren in 1743 was actually part of
Bristol County, Massachusetts) Here we get an Hezekiah Kinnicut, son of
John and Hannah Kinnicut, born 24April1743 A RIRootsWeb
thread tells of a land deed recorded for the Cole family in 1765
with John Kinnicut as Justice of the Peace, and which was witnessed by
Hezekiah Kinnicut. Hezekiah also shows up as able bodied in the
1777 Military Census of Barrington, RI, which adjoins his hometown of
Warren.
We note from the RI
Historical Cemeteries Database, that over 80% of people buried with
this surname spelt it with two 'T"s, hence we'll regularize on that
spelling of Kinnicutt. Sadly, there is no Hezekial Kinnicutt
listed, nor is there an Amos, Edward, or Joseph of either spelling with
the correct dates. Interestingly though, a ping on the NEHGS
website does give us inscriptions from the Kickemuit Cemetery in
Warren, RI, which contains many of the Kinnicut name, one of which one
reads:
In memory of Polly Kinnicutt,
Daughter of Hezekiah & Lydia Kinnicutt, she died August 12, 1813.
In the 22nd Year of her Age.
Poor Polly would've been born c1791.
The Hezekiah Kinnicutt family shows up in the 1800 Federal census from
Bristol, RI with a total of 3 family members, which would account for
Hezekiah, Lydia, and Polly. Interestingly, their immediate
neighbors were gaggles of Kinnicutts headed by Shubael, Thomas and
Hannah; and of Luthers headed by James, Martin, Barnaba, Ebeneezer Jr.,
Jonathan, John, James, Frederick, Martin Sr., Frederick Jr., Lydia,
Ebeneezer, Benjamin, and Jabez.
Hezekiah Kinnicut is not found in the LDS
site. Whipple.org does
give a Joseph Kinnicutt that married a Naomi Dexter born in 1736. From a search of our own siite,
we find that an Amos, Joseph, and Edward Kinnicut were each listed as
homeowners in the 1770 Providence Tax
Assessment. On the detail map we find a Mrs. Kinnicut living
almost at the prestigious Town parade at the Great Bridge. J.
Kinnicut lived just to the west of the Bridge, on Weybosset Street, and
just a little farther down this street was A. Kinnicutt. All of these
people lived realatively close to the rebellious goings-on of June 9th,
1772. Edward Kinnicutt was a prominent Providence merchant
according to Edward Field, State
of Rhode
Island and Providence Plantations at the End of the Century: A
History. Boston, Mason Publishing Co. 1902.
The Gaspee Days Committee proudly recognizes Hezekiah Kinnicutt as
a Gaspee
raider, and as a soldier in the American Revolution one of the select
group of true American patriots.
That's all the evidence we have for now folks. If you
know more, please e-mail us at webmaster@gaspee.org.
Thanks!
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Originally Posted to Gaspee
Virtual
Archives 1/2006 Last Revised 1/2006
HezekiahKinnicut..html