IT WAS THE SHOT HEARD ROUND THE WORLD — AND THESE WOMEN WERE THERE TO HEAR IT

How women nurtured the American Revolution.

By MARY FUHRER 5/23/2022


A militiaman busses his wife before running to the scene of the fighting on April 19, 1775. (Felix Darley)

In the wee hours of April 19, 1775, long before dawn’s first glimmer, Jonathan Harrington of Lexington, Massachusetts, woke suddenly at his mother’s insistence. “Jonathan, Jonathan,” Abigail Harrington cried, rousting her 16-year-old. “The reg’lars are coming and something must be done!”

“I dressed quickly, slung my light gun over my shoulder, took my fife from a chair, and hurried to the parade near the meeting house, where about 50 men had gathered,” the grown Jonathan said years later. “Others were arriving every minute.”

Decades on, famous as the last survivor of the American Revolution’s opening battle, Jonathan Harrington often heard requests to recount the day’s events. What he recalled was his impassioned mother, urging her husband and first-born son to battle. To his dying day Harrington praised his mother as “one of the most patriotic women who ever lived.”

The resolution and bravery the Lexington militia showed on the town green that morning against veteran units of the world’s most powerful army are well enshrined. But Jonathan Harrington had in mind something more: the role of Lexington’s women. Long before sending their men into combat that April 19, the town’s wives and sisters and mothers had been protesting actively against Crown infringements on colonial rights.

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Jonathan Harrington III
A Brief Biography
By Bill Poole

Jonathan Harrington III was descended, as were all the other Harringtons of Lexington, from Robert Harrington — the first of the Harringtons to come to Massachusetts. Robert settled in Watertown in 1642 where he married Susanna George on October 1, 1649. Susanna predeceased Robert on July 6, 1694, and he died May 17, 1707.1 Their gravestones can be seen in the Old Burying Ground in Watertown.2 Robert and Susanna had thirteen children, all born in Watertown, the fifth of whom was Daniel, born November 1, 1657, died April 19, 1728 in Waltham, MA3 He married in Watertown on October 18, 1681, Sarah Whitney, born March 17, 1653-54, died June 8, 1720.4 They lived in that part of Watertown that became Waltham and are buried in Grove Hill Cemetery in Waltham.5 Daniel and Sarah had six children, the second of whom was Robert, born Jul 2, 1685, died February 3, 1774.6 He married in Watertown on November 15, 1711, Anna Harrington, daughter of Samuel and Grace Livingston Harrington.7

Since Anna’s father, Samuel, was another son of Robert and Susannah George Harrington, Anna and Robert were thus, first cousins. They removed to Lexington before 1712. He was a blacksmith, which occupation would be carried on by numerous members of the Harrington family for generations. Robert and Anna had six children all born in Lexington.8 There fifth child was Jonathan, known as Sr., born on March 21, 1722-23, died September 14, 1809. He was a Selectman for several years and was on the Committee of Correspondence in 1778.9


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