Jesse Story Jr
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Jesse Story Jr (bef. 1756 - 1775)

Jesse Story Jr
Born before in Ipswich, Essex County, Province of Massachusetts Baymap
Ancestors ancestors
Died after age 18 in Charlestown, Suffolk County, Province of Massachusetts Baymap
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Profile last modified | Created 28 Mar 2017
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Contents

Biography

Roll of Honor
Private Jesse Story Jr was Killed in Action at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolution.
This profile is part of the Chebacco Parish, Massachusetts One Place Study.

Jesse Story, Jr., was baptized at the Chebacco Parish Church on 15 Aug 1756. He was the son of Jesse Story and Ruhamah Burnam.[1]

According to the records of the Chebacco Parish Church, Jesse died at the age of 18, on 17 Jun 1775, during the Battle of Bunker Hill. The modern transcript of the record includes a note that this is the only known Ipswich death as a result of that action.[2]

Military Service: The American Revolution

1776 Project
Private Jesse Story Jr served with 24th Massachusetts Bay Provincial Regiment (1775), Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Jesse Story, Jr., and his father, Jesse Story, Sr., were privates in Captain Jonathan Cogswell, Jr.'s militia company, which marched out of Chebacco Parish in Ipswich in response to the alarm of April 19, 1775, sounded when British troops left Boston en route to Lexington and Concord. It is doubtful that this unit could have reached the vicinity of Boston in time to take part in that running battle, but both father and son were credited for three days of service.[3]

Jesse's father returned to Ipswich, but Jesse, Jr. stayed behind and, two weeks later, joined the siege of Boston, enlisting on 3 May 1775, with Captain Abraham Dodge's company in the 24th Massachusetts Bay Provincial Regiment, under Colonel Moses Little.[4] His company was stationed at Cambridge as of 15 Jun 1775.[5] According to the report of the battle given by Francis Burnham (another man from Chebacco Parish in Ipswich who had enlisted in that unit) Jesse was among those who spent the night before the battle trying to fortify Bunker Hill. Once the British had landed troops below Bunker Hill, the defenders were initially successful in driving them back. Then, In Francis's words:[6]

A portion of them [the British] took a circuitous route to the south side of our hill, and soon scaled our works. We were now attacked on both sides, and the contest became very hot. Story and I were side by side, when a ball struck his head, his brains flew into my face and he fell back into the ditch, which ran along behind the fence.

Jesse Story, Jr., served for six weeks and four days, until his death at the Battle of Bunker Hill on 17 Jun 1775.[7]

In the aftermath of that battle, the House of Representatives of Massachusetts passed a resolution:[8]

Resolved that there be paid out of the public Treasury of this State to Jesse Story of Chebacco in Ipswich (father of Jesse Story, Jr., under 21 years of age) the sum of £5. 15s. in full for the loss he sustained in arms, ammunition and wearing apparel by the death of his said son who was killed at the battle of Bunker's Hill, as will appear in the account and certificate.

Research Notes

  • Was Jesse's company comprised of volunteers from Essex County or from Ipswich? Find other Ipswich participants in the battle.
  • Track down the actual resolution in the General Court records regarding Jesse Story - need citation information, possible wording of certificate.

Sources

  1. "Story, Jesse, s. Jesse and Ruhamah, bp. Aug. 15, 1756:" Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, p. 358. Also available online at ma-vitalrecords.org.
  2. "Story, Jesse, jr., 'killed in the Bunker's hill fight,' June 17, 1775," citing Chebacco Parish Church records: Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts, Volume II: Marriages and Deaths, p. 688; also available online at ma-vitalrecords.org.
  3. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors,vol. 15 (1907), p. 138, "STORY, Jesse, Ipswich" and "STORY, Jesse, Jr., Ipswich."
  4. Citing a muster roll dated 1 Aug 1775, and a company return endorsed on 9 Oct 1775: Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors, Volume 15, p. 138, "STORY, Jesse, Jr., Ipswich". This source states that Jesse served under Col. Little in the 17th Regiment, although, prior to August of 1775, Col. Little led the 24th Massachusetts Bay Provincial Regiment. It would have been the 24th which fought at Bunker Hill.
  5. Citing a return of officers of that date, signed by Col. Moses Little: Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors, Volume 4, p. 814, "DODGE, Abraham (also given Abram), of Ipswich."
  6. Francis Burnham's full account is quoted in Crowell, History of the Town of Essex, pp. 207-208; for this quotation, see p. 208.
  7. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors, Volume 15, p. 138, "STORY, Jesse, Jr., Ipswich."
  8. Quoted from the Records of the General Court, in Crowell, History of the Town of Essex, fn., p. 206.
  • Crowell, Robert. History of the Town of Essex: from 1634 to 1868, with Sketches of the Soldiers of the War of the Rebellion by Hon. David Choate, Springfield, MA: Published by the Town, Press of Samuel Bowles & Co.,1868.
  • Ipswich Antiquarian Papers (Ipswich, Mass., Oct. 1879) Volume 1, no. 3, Page 12.
  • Massachusetts, Secretary of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War. A Compilation from the Archives, Volume 4, Boston, Wright & Potter Printing Co., State Printers, 1898.
  • Massachusetts, Office of the Secretary of State, Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War. A Compilation from the Archives, Volume 15, Boston, Wright and Potter Printing Co., State Printers, 1907.
  • Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, Volume I: Births, Published by The Essex Institute, Salem, MA: Newcomb & Gauss, Printers, 1910.
  • Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, Volume II: Marriages and Deaths, Published by The Essex Institute, Salem, MA: Newcomb & Gauss, Printers, 1910.




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