Narramores in the Saratoga Campaign - Part 1

In the summer of 1777, a large British invasion force led by General "Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne moved southward from Canada through the Champlain Valley, heading for Albany.  There, they expected to be joined by two other forces, one coming north up the Hudson from New York, and a smaller one coming eastwards from Lake Ontario through the Mohawk Valley.  With the Hudson-Champlain corridor under British control, New England would be cut off from the rest of the colonies and caught in a stranglehold.

Standing in Burgoyne's way was the fort at Ticonderoga, sometimes called the "Gibraltar of North America".  Located on the western side of the narrows of Lake Champlain, it dominated the choke point of access to nearby Lake George and, from there, to the Hudson.  Burgoyne knew that in order to reach Albany he would have to go through Ticonderoga.

The Americans knew this as well and had been hard at work strengthening the defenses, which included building a whole new set of fortifications on the opposite shore of Lake Champlain, on heights that were now, in keeping with the spirit of the day, called Mount Independence.  The two fortifications were joined by a floating bridge, with a log-and-chain boom thrown across the lake to prevent British ships from passing.  In the minds of the American political and military classes, and in the mind of the American public at large, it was inconceivable that Ticonderoga could fall.

But there were chinks - gaping holes, in fact - in the defensive armor, and General Arthur St. Clair, who arrived to take command of the fort in mid-June (at just about the same time as Burgoyne was setting out from Canada) was acutely aware of them.  "If the enemy intend to attack us", he wrote to General Philip Schuyler from Ticonderoga on June 13th, "we are very ill-prepared to receive them".  He was referring to the number of troops (less than 2,500 fit for duty where it was estimated that 10,000 were required to adequately man both forts), their quality (his disdain for the militia units - "who go off whenever they please" - was quite evident and, as matters turned out, well-justified) and the lack of adequate equipment and supplies.

And yet, despite all of these weaknesses, the Americans might have been able to check Burgoyne's advance at Ticonderoga had it not been for the one fatal flaw that everyone - well, almost everyone - had overlooked.  When Colonel John Trumbull had made an examination of the site in 1776, he noticed that the entire position was dominated by a lofty eminence, Mount Defiance, at its center.  As with the site's former French and English commanders, the current American command gave it no thought, believing that it was too distant as well as being unscalable, but Trumbull was able to demonstrate otherwise.  Nevertheless, his warnings went unheeded, and Mount Defiance was left unoccupied.

When Burgoyne's brigadier general Simon Fraser arrived on the scene in early July of 1777, he likewise quickly realized the mountain's strategic importance and, unaware of Trumbull's previous recommendation, wondered why, considering all the battles that had previously been fought at Ticonderoga, "it never occurred to any person to occupy it".  It wasn't easy - it took a detachment of axemen and a work party of some four hundred men to clear a way to the top - but it was done.  By July 5th a battery of twelve-pound cannon was established on Mount Defiance.  Overnight, the American position had become untenable, and St. Clair gave the order to retreat.

Among the American defenders stationed at Mount Independence that day were two regiments of Hampshire County Massachusetts militia:  Colonel Leonard's regiment, led by its lieutenant colonel, Jonathan Hale, and Colonel Wells' regiment, led by its lieutenant colonel, Ezra May.  The Mays and the Narramores had been neighbors going back some twenty years, first in Woodstock, Connecticut, and now in Goshen, Massachusetts, and the connection between the two families would be further strengthened in 1789, when Nathaniel Naramore married Ezra May's daughter, Molly.  But all that was far in the future in July 1777, when nineteen year-old Nathaniel was getting his first taste of military experience under the command of his future father-in-law.  In a strange twist, however, it was not the first time that a young Narramore was in military service at Ticonderoga:  nineteen years earlier, almost to the day, Nathaniel's uncle, Joseph Narramore, had taken part in the disastrous British assault on Ticonderoga as a private in the Third Connecticut Regiment of colonial militia under General James Abercrombie.

Looking back, it is all too easy to gloss over the rough patches and idealize our Revolutionary War forbears, but whatever Nathaniel's own motivations and actions may have been (and in point of fact, we know absolutely nothing about either), there was nothing special in general about the militia units that Massachusetts had sent to the defense of Ticonderoga.  As with any group of men, some were brave, and some not so.  Some, no doubt, had joined out of a sense of patriotism and for the love and defense of their country, but others joined because they needed the money, or because they were compelled to do so (alhough it doesn't figure prominently in the history books, in the alarms attending Burgoyne's advance, the Massachusetts General Court imposed drafts, which had legal teeth to them).  As a whole, the militia's behavior at Ticonderoga, and during the retreat that followed, was, to be frank, something less than stellar.

On the evening of July 5th, with Burgoyne at the doorstep and in a spectacular instance of lousy timing, the two lieutenant colonels of the Massachusetts militia took the opportunity to inform General St. Clair that their units considered their terms of enlistment to be up - although, for a small bounty, the men might be induced to stay.  The units had been raised in early May for a term of two months, but St. Clair had insisted that the clock started with their arrival for duty, and not when they marched from home.  The militia insisted otherwise.  St. Clair managed to put them off for the time being, but it was to be only a short delay.

On the retreat along the military road to Castleton on July 6th, the two militia units were in constant disorder.  They had had enough of the army, and wanted to go home.  At one point, things got so bad with Lt. Col. Hale and his men that General Poor had to order forty of his Continentals to make ready to fire on them if they would not get back in the line of march.  In Castleton on July 7th, St. Clair had had enough:  he paraded the two Massachusetts regiments and, in an emotional address, shamed them into staying with the army "as long as there was any prospect of immediate danger from the enemy".  But again, it was only a short reprieve, and by the time the army reached Manchester, St. Clair dismissed them in disgrace.

And so ended, rather ignominiously, Nathaniel Naramore's first term of service in the Massachusetts militia.  But a second chance was not long in coming - and this time, the militia would do much better.

• Thomas (ca. 1640 - ca. 1690) -> Samuel (ca. 1680 - ca. 1754) -> Samuel (1706 - 1789) -> Samuel (1730 - 1777) -> Nathaniel (1757 - 1809)

Articles of Agreement (1746)

(For more information on this Samuel Narramore and his family, see this post).

Samuel Narramore was born about 1680, probably at Boston, although no birth record exists.  He was the son of Thomas and Hannah Narramore, as evidenced by records of Boston's Second Church, which show his baptism there on May 29, 1681, the same day on which his mother Hannah became a member of the church.  He joined the church himself in January 1703 and in 1705 intentions of marriage were filed at Lynn, Massachusetts between Samuel, then "of Charlestown" and Rachel Paul, daughter of John and Lydia (Jenkins) Paul.  John Paul was a former Scots prisoner of war, who had been captured at the Battle of Dunbar and transported to indentured servitude in the Massachusetts colony, which needed laborers for its economic projects, most notably the Saugus iron works.  Samuel and Rachel settled on land that Rachel had inherited from her parents, land that is now in Saugus but at the time straddled the Lynn/Boston line. 

In 1725, Samuel was received into fellowship in the church at Killingly, Connecticut.  His move was part of a "mini-mass migration" from the Malden, Massachusetts area into what was then an undeveloped wilderness in the northeastern corner of Connecticut.  Both familial and "Dunbar POWs" connections played a part in the migration.  James Coates, husband of Rachel's niece Martha, was also an earlier settler of Killingly, and the nearby town of Danielson was founded by former Dunbar prisoner James Danielson.  In 1729, Samuel purchased land in Killingly from Philip McIntyre, whose father of the same name had likewise been one of the Dunbar transportees.
  
The couple's two oldest daughters, Hannah and Sarah, remained behind, with Hannah marrying Joseph Downing (grandson of yet another Dunbar POW) at Lynn in 1738 and Sarah marrying a former neighbor of the Narramores, Samuel Breeden, in 1730.  The road on which they lived still bears the family's name - Breedens Lane, in the town of Revere - and three generations of their descendants, the last of whom died in 1877, bore the name Samuel Narramore Breeden.

The oldest son, also named Samuel, soon followed his parents to Killingly, after first marrying Lydia Davis in Boston in 1727.  Samuel and Rachel had four younger children, the last (John) born in 1722, but only two of them are known to have survived to adulthood:  Lydia and Mary, who were both admitted to fellowship in 1738 in the Congregational Church that their father had helped to organize in Killingly's North Society (later to become the town of Thompson) in 1730.  This is the last known record of Lydia, but Mary married James Dike, of neighboring Dudley, Massachusetts, in 1741.

Getting on in years, Samuel and Rachel made an agreement in 1746 with their new son-in-law to rent him their house and farm, and to give him all their personal property at their deaths, on the condition that he would care for them at their home for the remainder of their lives.  Samuel, his signature noticeably shakier than in 1746, sold his land to James Dike in December of 1750; there is no mention of Rachel, who had likely pre-deceased him by this point.  A note on the deed indicates that it was received for record on February 9, 1751, but was "to be keept on file till ye Grantors Deseas".  On October 15, 1754, the deed was officially recorded.  According to Dike family tradition, Samuel and Rachel were buried in the little family burying ground on the farm, although the earliest burials were marked only by rough fieldstones.  The cemetery today is at the intersection of Gawron and Brandy Hill Roads in Thompson, and is well kept, with a gated fieldstone wall surrounding it.

The former Narramore farm remained in the Dike family for several generations.  The original document by which Samuel and Rachel rented their property to James Dike in return for his promise of care and maintenance was preserved among the Dike family papers, and the text of it is reproduced below.

Artakels of a Greement and a Covenant made and agreed apon by and with Samuel Narrowmore of Killingsley in the Count(y) of Windham In the Colloney of Connectticut In New England Weaver and Rachal his wife and James Dick of said Killingsley husbandman do by these presents agree and  Covenant togather to wet the sd Samuel Narrowmore Douth Let farme Let and Demise and Devise unto the said James Dick his house and all his Lands In the sd Killingsley with all the preveledges and appurtainances thereto belonging for the full time that is of his natuerel Life here apon Earth and the Life of Rachale his wife Even tel it shall please God to Take them Both out of the Land of the Liveing to have and to hold the same free and Clereley so Long with all the Benefets thereof and the sd Samuell Narrowmore Douth and Rachal his wife Douth agree and Covenant with the said James Dick he being thare Loveing Son In Law that marid there daughter Mary that he the said James Dick shall have all his Moveable Estate that he the sd Samuel Narrowmore now hath and Rachal his wife at there Decease that is to Say one feather Bed and all the Bed Close with all the furnetuer thereto Belonging tow plain Chestes and an Iron pot and hucks that hold about two pails full two Sider Barels a fier Lice and tongs a Lombe and all the weaveing gears a Cow and a Calfe a mare and Colt and five sheep and what So Ever other Estate that the said Samuel Narrowmor hath that is moveable then or now In possession or Revartion or Rachel his wife to be the said James Dicks and his heires forever and the sd James Dick to have the use of all the moveables for the maintainance of the sd Samuel Narrowmore and Rachel his wife as here after mentioned and the sd James Dick to have all the In Crese of the stock he keeping them winter and sumer and furtheare more the sd James Dick Douth In Consideration for the Rent of the sd house and Lande and the moveables above mentioned Douth agree and Covenant by these presents to and with the sd Samuel Narrowmore and Rachel his wife his Honoured Fathare and Mothere In law to Maintaine them Dureing there naturel Lives with meet Drink washing and Loging and all Close and all Nessasaris of Life he the sd Samuel Narrowmore Remaining In the House with the said James Dick seutable a Cording to there age and Degree and to the fullfilment of the above written agreement and Covenant the sd James Dick Douth In gage and promise him selfe and heires Executors and administrators by these presents to fullfil. In Confarmation of this agreement and Covenant made by these presents and in witness hereof the sd Samuell Narrowmore and Rachel Narrowmore his wife and the sd James Dick have set to our hands and seales this fifth Day of November anno Dom:  1746

Samuell Neremoer

Rachel her x mark Narrowmore

James Dike

Signed sealed and Delivered
In presents of us witnesses

Henery Pollok

Joseph Cady

The Scattering of the Family

Samuel and Lydia (Davis) Naramore, who had come from Boston to what is now the town of Thompson in northeastern Connecticut, were the parents of six children (five survived to adulthood) who were born there between 1730 and 1744.  None of them remained in Connecticut.  One son, Joseph, settled in New Hampshire, while the remaining children - Samuel, John, Joshua and Mehitable - set off one by one for western Massachusetts.  By the time of Samuel's death in 1789, his grandchildren were in four states (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and what would soon become Vermont) and were poised to take their part in the great westward migrations that were about to be unleashed by the opening up of the frontiers.

John (b. 1735) was the first to leave the nest, followed closely by his younger brother Joshua (b. 1743), the two of them playing a sort of game of leapfrog through the Connecticut River Valley and the Berkshires.  Although listed as being "of Woodstock" at the time of his marriage in 1760, John was in Northampton the following year and in what would later become the town of Goshen by 1764.  By this time, it seems, younger brother Joshua was in Pittsfield, although he had probably spent some time in Northampton as well, since records of the First Church in Northampton show that returned there to marry Hannah Bridgman in March of 1765.  In any event, the brothers were soon reunited:  after a short stopover in Lanesboro, John purchased land adjacent to his brother's in Pittsfield in 1772.  Their sister Mehitable was there also, although it is uncertain whether she had come with her brother Joshua or had joined him there later.  In fact, it is uncertain whether she was still alive in 1772, since there is no known record of her after intentions of marriage between her and Joseph Wright were published in Pittsfield in 1769.

The two oldest children, Samuel (b. 1730) and Joseph (b. ca. 1732) remained in Connecticut the longest.  Joseph purchased a farm of fifty-seven acres in Winchester, New Hampshire in 1772, although evidently not moving there right away, since his last child was born in Pomfret, Connecticut in 1773.  Samuel, meanwhile, had purchased land in what would become the town of Goshen, Massachusetts as early as 1765, but was likewise slow in leaving Connecticut.  He was put in charge of the roads in West Woodstock in 1773, and an early 1775 deed in which he purchased additional land in Goshen still shows him as being "of Woodstock".  He was clearly in Goshen by 1777, however, since it is from there that he enlisted in the Massachusetts militia as part of the Saratoga campaign.

As the Revolutionary War drew to a close, there were thus three vibrant new colonies of Naramores:  at Winchester, New Hampshire, and at Goshen and Pittsfield in Massachusetts.  The Pittsfield colony would soon dissipate, however, as most of John Naramore's family had crossed over the border into Columbia County, New York by 1784 (as has been recounted elsewhere, John's oldest son Asa settled in Charlotte, Vermont at aboout the same time).  Meanwhile, Joshua Naramore was killed in 1784 while cutting timber and his oldest two sons, Joel and Justin, soon headed north, first to Hampton, New York, and then from there into Vermont, Joel to Benson in Rutland County and Justin to Underhill in Chittenden County.  In the very early years of the new century, his third and last son, Elias, left Pittsfield for Chenango County, New York.  By 1805, the Naramore family had left Pittsfield.

The Goshen settlement thrived until brought to a sudden and tragic end in 1854.  Although Samuel's oldest son, Nathaniel, soon left for Vermont and then for the Genesee Country in western New York, his three younger sons, Thaddeus, Alpheus and Joseph all remained and raised large families.  But emigration and early mortality eventually whittled the Naramores in Goshen down to a single family, that of Alpheus' son, Franklin Naramore.  Still, it was a large family and he was a leading citizen of the town, and in 1850 it would have seemed to all observers that the Naramores had a long and prosperous future ahead of them in Goshen.  But it was not to be.  Within the space of a few weeks, Franklin and four of his children were wiped out by dysentery.

• Note:  there are several websites that incorrectly list the elder Samuel's deathdate as 1773, possibly through confusing him with his son of the same name and because the last known record of the younger Samuel in Connecticut was of his being put in charge of the roads in West Woodstock in 1773.  But the Killingly and Thompson Town Records (Thompson was officially set off from Killingly in 1785) tell the true story.  Although exact death dates are not given, the records show that Samuel and Lydia Narramore became wards of the town in 1778, and the last record of money paid "for keeping Samuel Naramore & wife" ends at January 8, 1781, which is then followed by a record of payment "for making a coffin for Samuel Narramore's wife".  Similarly, a record of payment "for keeping Samuel Naramore to 1st of Jan. 1789" is followed by one "for keeping Samuel Naramore 5 weeks - funeral charges also".