Samuel Beach

Abt 1752 - Abt 1829  (~ 77 years)

• Name	Samuel Beach  [1]
  Birth	Abt 1752	New Jersey   [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  Death	Abt 1829	Whiting, Addison Co, New Hampshire Grants   [1, 3]
  Person ID	I1870	Cooley Miller Sears Barnhouse
  Last Modified	8 Oct 2019

  
  

  Father	Gershom Beach,   b. 24 Sep 1729, Wallingford, New Haven Co, Connecticut d. Abt 1805, Vermont (Age 75 years)
  Mother	Mary Salter,   b. Abt 1733, Cheshire, New Haven Co, Connecticut d. Yes, date unknown
  Marriage	24 Apr 1751	Wallingford, New Haven Co, Connecticut   [4]
  Family ID	F353	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  The following is the real story of the supposed 64-mile trek of Gershom Beach Jr to rally volunteers for the assault on Ft Ticonderoga in May of 1775. It was really Gershom Beach's son Samuel and even then the 60 odd miles covered by foot in 24 hours is a gross exaggeration. From "Proceedings of the New York State Historical Association...The Ticonderoga Expedition Of 1775" pp 300-320: Major Samuel Beach of Whiting, Vt., was bom in New Jersey, his parents removing to Virginia and finally to Vermont prior to the Revolution. He was at Castleton with Allen and was sent to rally the Green Mountain Boys. He started on this mission at day-break, going from Castleton to Rutland, to Pittsford, Brandon, Leicester, Salisbury, Middlebury, Cornwall, Whiting, and Shoreham, a distance of 64 miles. Smith in his history says this was accomplished "between the rising and the setting of the Sun". Others say that the time occupied was 24 hours. Perhaps the expresssion "between the rising and the setting of the sun" might be considered a figurative one. Smith says, "The following day at early dawn he entered the fort by the side of Allen". His descendants still treasure the silk stockings worn by him on this march and the staff which he carried, and they likewise preserved a silk vest presented him by Washington, which has the general's profile woven in the silk in over 30 different places. He served throughout the revolution as a recruiting officer and in later years received a pension. Two daughters survive him. The monument marking his grave at Whiting village bears this inscription: "Major Samuel Beach, died April 10th, 1829, aged 77 years. An officer in the war of the Revolution and one of the few who under Allen surprised and took Ticonderoga. - Smith's History of Addison County, page 728. Statement E. N. Bissell, East Shoreham, Vt. From "Rutland Historical Society, Quarterly", Volume 39 No. 4 2009, Faces of the Past: A Calendar, Samuel Beach, 1752-1829: Though born in New Jersey, Samuel Beach had come to Rutland with his family by 1770. During the Revolution he distinguished himself by participating in a number of pivotal battles and events. His pension records state that he was with Ethan Allen at the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in May 1775, was with Montgomery at Quebec, fought in the Battle of Bennington, and was present at Burgoyne's surrender. Like his father, Gershom, Samuel was a blacksmith by trade. Surveying was another of his talents and he was appointed Rutland County's first surveyor in 1781. He had a farm on the north side of Main Street near Tenney Brook. He sold it in 1784 and moved with his extensive family to Whiting where in 1820 he had a farm of 37 acres.

  
  

• Sources

  [S475] Godfrey Memorial Library, AGBI. [S549] Ancestry submitters, Apocryphal, No primary source for this birth has been found. (Reliability: 3). [S661] Edited By H. P. Smith Syracuse, N. Y., Addison County Vt history, (D. Mason & Co., Publishers 1886; D. Mason & Co., Book And Job Printers, 63 West Water St., Syracuse, N. Y. ), p728; buried in Whiting Cemetery (Reliability: 3). [S654] Frederic W Bailey, editor, Conn early marriages, (The Price, Lee, and Adkins Co, New Haven, 1899), Fourth Book, Wallingford-Meriden p107 (Reliability: 3).