Timothy Bigelow (soldier)

Timothy Bigelow (August 2, 1739 in Worcester, Massachusetts – March 31, 1790 in Worcester) fought as a Patriot in the American revolution.

Timothy Bigelow was born on 2 August 1739 in a part of Worcester known as Pakachoag or College Hill, located in Worcester County, Massachusetts, US. Son of Daniel Bigelow and Elizabeth Whitney. Timothy Bigelow's father was a farmer, the owner of 100 acres of land on "Little Packachoag Hill". Timothy and his brothers grew up in the ways and manners of the times: chores, assisting their father, and in "off hours" the boys enjoyed swimming and fishing in the summertime, ice-fishing in the winter, because a stream, called the French River, divided the northerly section of the farm.

He was early apprenticed to the blacksmith trade, and carried on that occupation most of his life. He was self-educated, and as a young man was widely-read, became a fluent speaker, and accumulated a little library. Future President John Adams was Timothy's teacher. He was known locally for his prowess at debating. In the rear of the Andrews home Tim Bigelow had a blacksmith's shop where he blew the bellows, heated and hammered the iron, and shod the horses and oxen and mended the plows and chains for the farmers of the country about him. As described in the history books, Tim was as bright as a button, more than six feet high, straight and handsome, and walked upon the earth with a natural air and grace that was quite captivating. Up to that time that Timothy Bigelow forsook the anvil and forge for the musket and sword, his life had been tinged with romance, – a bright background for the dark shadows that were to gather and culminate in tragedy at twoscore years and ten. He fell in love with pretty Anna Andrews, an heiress, whose guardian refused consent to her marriage with a humble blacksmith. Then it was that the spirit later to burst forth into full flame, when fanned by the winds of the Revolution, inspired young Bigelow; and, engaging the fleetest horses obtainable, he and his betrothed dashed to Hampton, New Hampshire, where they were married. They returned Mr & Mrs Timothy Bigelow and eventually had 6 children together. In the house built by his father-in-law, Samuel Andrews, at the corner of Main Street and Lincoln Square, which stood until 1824, Timothy Bigelow gathered an extensive library, and when not engaged at his forge, took every opportunity to perfect his oratorical gifts that during the Revolution served him so well. It was there he lived when he became one of the Patriot leaders in Worcester, one of the chief promoters of the Sons of Liberty, the organizer of the American Political Society, a member of the Committee of Correspondence, and a delegate to Provincial Congress, It was also where he lived when news of the Boston tea party reached him; and, dropping his hammer, he hastened to his house, where he took from his closet a canister of tea, and burned both container and contents in the fireplace, and afterward covered the remains with red-hot coals. With no explanation to his family he then returned to his forge.

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Wikipedia