Ebenezer Battelle

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Ebenezer Battelle (1754–1815) was an American Revolutionary War veteran, a bookseller in Boston, Massachusetts, and a settler of Marietta, Ohio, in the late 18th century.

Life in Dedham[edit]

Battelle was born in 1754 in Dedham, Massachusetts, to Ebenezer Battle (d.1776) and Prudence Draper.[1][2] He attended Harvard College (class of 1775); schoolmates included Fisher Ames[3] and Benjamin Bourne.[4] He was a member of the Sons of Liberty and the Free Brothers in Dedham.[5]

He was also town clerk for a total of two years, having first been elected in 1778,[6] and selectman for two terms, with his first election the same year.[7]

He was one of three, along with Nathaniel Ames and Abijah Draper who erected the Pillar of Liberty in Dedham in 1766 to commemorate the repeal of the Stamp Act.[8]

Military[edit]

He "was a volunteer at the battle of Lexington. ... [In 1776, he] served nineteen days at Castle Island, Dec. 11 to Dec. 30, 1776; went on the expedition to Providence, R.I., May 8 to July 8, 1777; re-enlisted, and served from March 23 to April 5, 1778, and was commissioned captain of the Eighth Company in the Suffolk Regiment, July 2, 1778. He was promoted to be major, April 1, 1780, and became colonel of the Boston regiment in 1784." He joined the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts in 1786.[1]

Bookseller[edit]

After the war Battelle sold and published books[9] from his shop in Boston on State Street (ca.1783-1785)[10] and Marlboro Street (1785-ca.1787).[11][12] In addition to books imported from London, he stocked American publications such as Isaiah Thomas' Almanack[13] and Noah Webster's Grammatical Institutes.

Personal life[edit]

Portrait of Anna Durant, wife of Ebenezer Battelle; by Gilbert Stuart, 1810 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

Battelle married Anna Durant; children included Ebenezer Battelle (b.1778) and Thomas Battelle (b.1781).[1] Battelle and his family settled in Marietta, Ohio, around 1789.[14]

On July 26, 1783, Henry Belcher of Boston wrote to Battelle asking to be paid $8 for a beaver skin hat that Belcher sold to Battelle but for which he had not yet received payment.[15]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Roberts. History of the Military company of the Massachusetts, now called the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. 1637-1888, Volume 2. A. Mudge & son, printers, 1897.
  2. ^ Hildreth, Samuel Prescott (1852). Biographical and Historical Memoirs of the Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio: With Narratives of Incidents and Occurrences in 1775. H. W. Derby. pp. 349–353. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  3. ^ Letter from Fisher Ames to Rufus Putman, 1791. Memoirs of Rufus Putnam and certain official papers and correspondence. Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1903.
  4. ^ Quinquennial catalogue of the officers and graduates of Harvard University, 1636-1915. Harvard University Press, 1915
  5. ^ Hanson 1976, p. 141.
  6. ^ Worthington 1827, p. 79.
  7. ^ Worthington 1827, p. 79-81.
  8. ^ Cutter, William Richard (1913). New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. pp. 323–324. Retrieved April 26, 2021.
  9. ^ WorldCat. Battelle, Ebenezer 1754-1818
  10. ^ Boston Evening Post, Sept. 13, 1783
  11. ^ Massachusetts Centinel, Feb. 2, 1785
  12. ^ Massachusetts Spy, April 12, 1787
  13. ^ Massachusetts Spy, Nov. 6, 1783
  14. ^ An oration, delivered at Marietta, April 7, 1789, in commemoration of the commencement of the settlement formed by the Ohio Company. By Solomon Drown, Esq. M.B. / Early American Imprints, Series 1, no. 21802
  15. ^ Clarke 1903, p. 11.

Works cited[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ebenezer Battelle (1754-1815).
  • Battelle family. In: History of Ohio: the rise and progress of an American state, Volume 6. Century History Co., 1912.
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