♂Adam Blanchard

Adam Blanchard (17 June 1740 – 18 March 1807) was a Weymouth man who, as a private in Capt. Thomas Nash’s company, marched on 4 March 1776 to take possession of Dorchester Heights^W, the hills from which the Continental Army forced the British out of Boston. He was the fifth great-grand-uncle of Nancy Jane Blanchard (1929–2006), the brother of Nicholas Blanchard (1736–1801), Nancy Jane’s fifth great-grandfather.

Early life and service

Adam was born at Weymouth, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, on 17 June 1740, the son of John Blanchard (1691–1752) and Elizabeth Gross. He was the ninth of their eleven children. His father died when he was eleven. The town clerk’s entries of the family name vary, Blancher among them, and the published roll of Massachusetts soldiers enters him as “Blancher, Adam, Weymouth”.

He served as a private in Capt. Thomas Nash’s company of Col. Solomon Lovell’s regiment, which marched to Dorchester Heights on 4 March 1776 for four days; it was then paid for two more days of service after 10 March. The fortifying of the Heights was a move in the Siege of Boston, and the British evacuated the town later that month. In August 1777 he served three days at Hull with Capt. Nash’s company, now in Col. David Cushing’s regiment. A Weymouth man named Daniel Blanchard, probably his brother of that name, appears in the same company’s rolls for the days after 10 March.

Marriage and family

Adam married Huldah Pain at Abington on 11 December 1766; the Abington record calls him “of Weymouth”. He died at Abington on 18 March 1807, aged 66. The town record and two private records give the date as 18 March, and the church record gives 8 March. The Abington death entry also names three sons, Adam Jr., Elihu of Bridgewater and Oliver.

Notes

The Abington death entry (printed Abington vital records, vol. II, p. 253, citing a private record) names three sons. A patriot index kept by the Sons of the American Revolution lists four children, Eli, Adam, Oliver and Elizabeth, which disagrees with the three sons of the death entry; whether Eli is the Elihu of Bridgewater is open. A Revolutionary War burial index and Find a Grave place his grave in Mount Vernon Cemetery, Abington. The roll of Massachusetts soldiers prints his entry under the spelling “Blancher” (vol. II, p. 158).