Introduction: America 250 Celebration – Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series exploring the lives and service of Revolutionary War patriots. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

Illustration credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html

Elijah Sanderson

Today I continue with my series “Soldiers of the American Revolutionary War,” focusing on the deposition of cabinetmaker Elijah Sanderson (1751-1825), who served in Captain John Parker’s militia of Minutemen at the Battle of Lexington on 19 April 1775.

Elijah Sanderson is the son of Jonathan Sanderson and Mary (Bemis) Sanderson. Elijah and his family of joiners and craftsmen were living in Lexington at the time of the battle.

His narrative was part of a memoir published and prepared by a committee of the inhabitants of Lexington under the direction of Elias Phinney, Esq., in 1825. At that time Elijah was 73 years old.

The Boston Patriot published two depositions from Phinney’s 40-page pamphlet, including Elijah’s recollection of that memorable day when the “shot heard round the world” sounded the opening note of the American Revolutionary War.

That article was reprinted in the Hancock Gazette, including this introduction by the Boston Patriot editors.

Here is the beginning of Elijah Sanderson’s deposition.

Sanderson declares:

“I, Elijah Sanderson, of Salem, in the county of Essex, cabinet maker, aged seventy-three years, on oath depose as follows:

“In the spring of 1775, I resided at Lexington, and had resided there then more than a year. In the spring of that year, the officers of the British regular troops in Boston were frequently making excursions, in small parties, into the country, and often, in the early part of the day, in pleasant weather, passed through Lexington, and usually were seen returning before evening. I lived then on the main road about three quarters of a mile east of the meeting-house.”

Here is a photo of the Sanderson House, located at 1314 Massachusetts Avenue in Lexington, Massachusetts. According to the Lexington Historical Society, it was here in the cellar that Minuteman Sam Sanderson, a joiner, made the coffins to give a proper burial to his eight townsmen whose lives were taken on April 19.

“On the evening of the 18th of April, 1775, we saw a party of officers pass up from Boston, all dressed in blue wrappers. The unusually late hour of their passing excited the attention of the citizens. I took my gun and cartridge box, and, thinking something must be going on more than common, walked up to John Buckman’s tavern, near the meeting-house.”

“After some conversation among the citizens assembled there, an old gentleman advised that someone should follow those officers, and endeavor to ascertain their object. I then observed, that, if anyone would let me have a horse, I would go in pursuit. Thaddeus Harrington told me I might take his, which was there. I took his, and Solomon Brown proposed to accompany me on his own horse. Jonathan Loring also went with us. We started, probably, about nine o’clock; and we agreed, if we could find the officers, we would return and give information, as the fears were that their object was to come back in the night, and seize Hancock and Adams, and carry them into Boston.”

Here are portraits of: John Hancock (1737-1798), first signer of the Declaration of Independence in 1776; and Rev. Jonas Clarke (1730-1805), pastor of Lexington and known as the pastor who fired the shot heard around the world. Hancock was a cousin of Rev. Clarke’s wife Lucy (Bowes) Clarke.

“It had been rumoured, that the British officers had threatened that Hancock and Adams should not stay at Lexington. They had been boarding some time at Parson Clark[e]’s.”

More from Elijah’s narrative coming soon!

This is a photo of the Hancock-Clarke House in Lexington, Massachusetts, the boyhood home of John Hancock. It was originally built in 1698 by his grandfather, the Reverend John Hancock, who lived in the house for 55 years. His successor, the Reverend Jonas Clarke, lived there for 50 years.

Below is an advertisement published in the Salem Gazette announcing the dissolution of the cabinetmaking business operated by Elijah Sanderson and his brother Jacob Sanderson (1757-1810) in Salem. The brothers worked together for 20 years under the name E. & J. Sanderson Company. The account and business books of this enterprise are housed at the Phillips Library PEM.

One of their cabinets, a Federal String-Inlaid Mahagony Secretary Bookcase, is part of the collection of the Diplomatic Reception Rooms  of the U.S. Department of State.

The provenance cited:

Clarence Rich Diffenderffer until 1976; to the Fine Arts Committee through purchase. Inscriptions Label reads, “MADE BY/ E. & [J.] Sanderson./ CABINET AND CHAIR-MAKERS,/ In Federal Street./SALEM./ MASSACHUSETTS”

Elijah married on 2 January 1781 Mary Mulliken, daughter of Nathaniel Mulliken and Lydia (Stone) Mulliken, and left descendants. He died of pneumonia in Salem on 13 February 1825 at age 73.

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Note on the header image: “The Spirit of ’76,” by Archibald Willard. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Related Articles:

• Soldiers of the American Revolutionary War (part 1)
• ‘Patriot to Passenger’: Revolutionary War Vet to Mayflower Passenger (part 1)
• ‘Patriot to Passenger’: Revolutionary War Vet to Mayflower Passenger (part 2)
• ‘Patriot to Passenger’: Revolutionary War Vet to Mayflower Passenger (part 3)
• Unsung Revolutionary War Heroes: The Corps of Artificers (part 1)
• Unsung Revolutionary War Heroes: The Corps of Artificers (part 2)