Joseph Jackson

• Death Notes
  • In Newry [Maine], on the 5th alt; Joseph Jackson, a Hero of the Revolution, aged 83.  Among the brave he was the bravest.  He began his military career at Lexington -- He was at Bunker Hill, at the battle of the White plains [in New York State], and in all the engagements with the enemy of his country in those parts, during the war.  The invincible defender of his country's rights both by sea and land.  He captured several of the enemies ships and carried them into a port in France.--After the war, he retired to Newry, to enjoy the peace his valor had won.  He was a firm uncompromising friend to his country, always jealously supporting the cause of Democracy.

• General Notes
  • by Susan M. Grady
    
    Most Recent Information on Jackson Family
    July 19, 2003
    
    Joseph Jackson was born around 1754 in Durham, New Hampshire, northwest of Portsmouth.    In 1633 people came from Bristol, England with Captain Thomas Wiggin to Dover Neck, New Hampshire which they named Bristol after Bristol, England.  In the 1630's they went from Bristol, New Hampshire to Durham.
    
    I found the Revolutionary War pension record of Joseph Jackson.  He applied for this pension on April 24. 1818 when he was living in Newry, Maine. He was granted a pension. (On March 15, 1820 Maine became the 23rd State of the United States.  Before that time it was part of Massachusetts.)   In 1820 he and his wife Mercy Jackson (Her maiden name is unknown.) were living in Portland, Maine.  He said that he had no income and that his wife was crippled.  He said that he had no family except for his wife. He said that all that he owned was one old horse and that his friends were helping to take care of him and his wife.  He said he was a hatter, a person who made hats, but that he had not been able to do this work for a long time.  He and his wife had four children:  Joseph (born 1786 Newry, Maine; died 1875), Nancy (She married Henry Goodenow.), Moses, and Willard (He was the father of Willard Cross Jackson.).
    
    Joseph Jackson joined the Continental Army (Army of the United States of America on the continental establishment) at Cambridge, Massachusetts (near Boston) on April 19, 1775, the day after the Battles of Concord and Lexington.  He was listed as living in Andover, Massachusetts.   Joseph Jackson served first eight months in Captain John Davis' Company, Colonel James Frye's Regiment.  His rank was a private.  He served in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  After this he enlisted in the army again for one year as a private in Captain James Keith's Company, Colonel Sargeant's Regiment and Colonel Nixon's Brigade.  He principally served in New York State.  He was discharged at Fishkill, New York.
    
    On May 1, 1777 he entered on board the continental Frigate Raleigh at Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  He was living in Nottingham, New Hampshire then. He was a marine under the command of Captain Thompson and he served for eleven months.  He was discharged in Boston, Massachusetts.  In June 1778 he again entered the army.  This time he enlisted at Andover, Massachusetts, where he was living.  He was a private.  He served for nine months in Captain Daniel Shays' Company, Colonel Israel Putnam's Regiment.  He served in New York State.  He was discharged at Peekskill, New York.  (From 1786 - 1787 Daniel Shays led a rebellion in western Massachusetts.  It was called Shay's Rebellion and it was caused because the people were unhappy for several reasons, among them being:  the wastefulness in the costs of lawsuits, the high salaries received by public officials, and exorbitant land taxes. President George Washington had the governor of Massachusetts raise an army that put down the rebellion.)  All of Joseph Jackson's Revolutionary War army service was in Massachusetts regiments because at that time Maine was a part of Massachusetts.  Maine became a state in the United States in 1820.
    
    From 1780 to April 1784 he was living in Canterbury, New Hampshire.
    
    He came to live in Newry, Maine in May 1784.  On May 30, 1787 Joseph Jackson and nine other men signed a petition and then sent it to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts asking that the land they were occupying be granted to them.  They said they had been living on and working this land for the past seven years.  In 1790 when the first United States Census was taken, Newry had twelve families and fifty inhabitants, one of whom was Joseph Jackson.   The town of Newry, Maine was incorporated in 1805.  In January 1805 Joseph Jackson was one of the persons who signed a petition given to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in Boston asking for Newry to be incorporated.  It was named after Newry, Ireland.  James Beatty was born in Newry, Ireland.  He owned and operated a plant that distilled whiskey from potatoes.  He offered to give to the town's residents a certain quantity of whiskey for free if they would name the town 'Newry' after his birthplace.   In 1805 Joseph Jackson was a Highway Surveyor in Newry.   Joseph Jackson moved from Newry to Gorham, New Hampshire in 1807, but he did not stay there long.  He built the first log house in Gorham and went to another town and bought apple and pear trees and brought them back to Gorham and planted them next to his cabin.  He went back to Newry. In 1808 he was again living in Newry.  In 1820 he and his wife were living in Portland, Maine.  He died in Newry September 5, 1835, but the town clerk has no official record of his death.  He is buried in the Sunday River Cemetery in Newry.