General Notes

REFN: 1938AN
REFN: P1938
Commander of Continental Army at the battle of Bunker Hill.
He wa s a member of the Sons of Liberty and a selectman. Upon receiving
the news of the Battle of Lexington, he mounted his horse and roDe to
Cambridge (MA). Fr om that time until the Battle of Bunker Hill, he was
(as Brigadier-General) a ctively engaged. He was in command at Bunker
Hill. When Washington took comma nd of the army in July he was made
Major-General, and was near the Commander -In-Chief during all the
investment and siege of Boston. His service from tha t time is the
familiar record of history in full command of New York, the Bat tle of
Long Island, the movements above the Hudson, building of West Point, e tc.
In 1779 he was struck by paralysis and compelled to leave the army. He
retired to Pomfret, CT, where he lived quietly, strong in life, but
stricken in body until his death. Reference: Heirman's Register page 338.
Distinguished Revolutionary Officer.
General Israel Putnam, who excelled both in war and pe ace, will ever live
in the history of this nation, and his memory is especial ly dear to the
people of Connecticut, where his active life was passed.
From a multituDe of New England ancestors he inherited those qualities
which made him preeminent; qualities which made the New Englander
preeminent in the set tlement and development of the United States;
qualities which have establishe d everywhere the school, the church and
the printing press, the leading instr uments in the progress of
civilization.
The ancestry of the American family of Putnam has been traced to a very
remote period in England, the first being Simon de'Puttenham, who lived
in 1199 and was probably a lineal descendant o f Roger, the manor of
Puttenham under Bishop of Baieux. The parish of Puttenh am is in
Hertfordshire, close to the border of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshi re.
The first American ancestor, John Putnam, of the seventeenth generation
was baptized at Wingrove, County Bucks, January 17, 1579. He was an early
set tler at Salem, Massachusetts, and in that vicinity the family has been
conspi cuous down to the present day.
His son, Lieutenant Thomas Putnam, baptized in England, 1615, resided in
Salem Village, now Danvers, and was father of Josep h Putnam, born there.
His opposition to the witchcraft trials of Salem indica tes the sound
sense of the latter. This was a source of peril to him, and for six
months one of his fleetest horses was kept saddled, ready at a moment's
notice to bear him from the wrath of his contemporaries. He married
Elizabe th Porter, and Israel Putnam was their fourth son, born January 7,
1718, in D anvers. He died after an illness of two days in Brooklyn,
Connecticut, May 29 , 1790. The house in which he was born was built by
his grandfather, and is s till standing.
Israel Putnam had a rather meager education in the common schoo ls of his
native town, and he was very early accustomed to the arduous labors of
the farm. When he attained his majority, a portion of the paternal farm
was set off to him, and on it he built a small house, but soon after
removed to Pomfret, Connecticut, where, in association with his
brother-in-law, John Pope, he purchased a tract of five hundred acres of
land. He became sole own er of this in 1741, and there he built as his
second residence, a large frame house, which is still standing, and one
of the points of interest to all tou rists and patriotic Americans. This
was in the district known as Mortlake Man or, which was incorporated as
the town of Brooklyn in 1786. He cleared his fa rm of the native forest
and planted fine orchards; the great shaDe trees of B rooklyn were planted
largely through his initiative and influence. He was not only a thrifty
and prosperous farmer, but from first to last an earnest and helpful
friend of the town and colony in which he lived. The story of his kil ling
of the wolf, which had annoyed the neighbo