Medford Historical Society Papers, Volume 8.

Captain Isaac Hall.

by Hall Gleason.

ISAAC Hall, son of Andrew and Abigail (Walker) Hall, was born at Medford, January 24, 1739, in the house now standing at the corner of High street and Bradlee road.

His father died when he was eleven years of age, and he continued to live there with his mother, who took the estate as part of her dower. The estate is described as bounded southerly by the country road, westerly on Henry Fowle's land, easterly on land of Thomas Seacomb and Joseph Thompson. Thompson was a royalist at the time of the revolution and his estate was confiscated by the state and sold to Thomas Patten. The dower estate is also described in a later deed from Benjamin Hall, who acquired the property, to Ebenezer Hall, his brother, who bought of him the estate lately owned by Mrs. Thomas S. Harlow. In this deed the five foot passageway between the houses, as it now exists, is described.

Isaac was employed by his brother, Benjamin Hall, a distiller, until January 27, 1775, when he was taken into partnership, and we find a record of the purchase of a distillery from Jno. Dexter by the firm.

October 8, 1761, Isaac was married to Abigail, daughter of Ebenezer and Sarah (Cutter) Cutter of Medford, and he and his bride lived with the widowed mother until her death in 1785, in the dower house, and here eight children were born to them. In the administration of the widow's estate are these items.

‘With rent of her dower 21 years recd of Isaac Hall £ 544-17-0.’ and

‘Pd. Isaac Hall for boarding widow 21 years, and nursing, and repairs on house, being the whole time of her widowhood, £ 649-17-2.’ [p. 101]

Isaac was the captain of the Medford Minute Men; and when the storm of war which had been gathering broke at last, the men of Medford were among the first to respond and perform their share in the War for Independence. Paul Revere in his personal narrative tells how he had crossed the river, passing the British man-of-war Somerset; had mounted Deacon Larkin's horse and started on his ride, intending to pass over Charlestown Neck and over through Cambridge. Near what is now Sullivan Square he met two British officers who tried to stop him. He turned and pushed for the Medford road, and got clear of them. He says, ‘I went through Medford over the bridge and up to Menotomy. In Medford I waked the Captain of the Minute Men, and after that, I alarmed almost every house till I got to Lexington.’

Miss Helen T. Wild in her History of Medford in the Revolution says, ‘Captn Hall and his company marched to Lexington and there joined Captn John Brooks and his Reading company . . . . The combined companies met the British at Merriam's Corner and followed them to Charlestown Ferry, continuing their fire until the last of the troops had embarked.’ The Medford company was in the 37th Mass. Regiment, commanded by Col. Thos. Gardner. In the account of the Battle of Bunker Hill in his Siege of Boston, Frothingham says, ‘After the British landed, this regiment (Gardner's) was stationed in the road leading to Lechmere's Point, and late in the day was ordered to Charlestown. On arriving at Bunker Hill, General Putnam ordered part of it to assist in throwing up defences commenced at this place. One company (Harris') went to the rail fence. The greater part under the lead of their colonel on the third attack advanced towards the redoubt. On the way, Colonel Gardner was struck by a ball, which inflicted a mortal wound.’ The loss of the regiment in this battle was six killed, seven wounded.

September 1, 1775, Isaac Hall was discharged to organize [p. 102] another company of men from Medford, Stoneham and other adjoining towns. With this company he marched to Dorchester Heights in March, 1776. During 1775 and 1776 he acted as commissary for the troops that were quartered here. His business affairs had evidently suffered from his absence on military duties. He and his brothers also lost large sums from furnishing the government with rum and other medical and military supplies, and receiving payment in a constantly depreciating currency. In 1778 he was assessed for a tax of about £ 30 in gold. In 1789, the year of his death, his tax had decreased to £ 4 in currency. In 1787 he sold his distillery to his brother Ebenr, and all that was not conveyed to him he sold to J. C. Jones. In August, 1789, he disposed of the remainder of his property to Ebenr.

He took an active part in town affairs, and served as a town officer in different capacities from 1765 to 1789, the year of his death. He held, at different times, the office of engine-man, wood corder, salt-measurer, assessor, and fire-warden. At a town meeting held in May, 1789, it was ‘voted to petition the General Court for a lottery, to widen the bridge and pave the market place, so called.’ Isaac Hall was appointed a member of the committee.

Among his friends was Col. Isaac Royal, who ‘halted between two opinions respecting the revolution, until the cannonading at Lexington drove him to Newburyport and then to Halifax.’ In Brooks' history of Medford is an account of an examination respecting the political behavior of Colonel Royal. Among the persons examined was Captain Isaac Hall, who declared: ‘That the winter before said battle (Lexington) he went to settle accounts with said Royal at his house; and that said Royal showed him his arms and accoutrements (which were in very good order), and told him that he determined to stand for his country,’ etc.

Isaac Hall died November 24, 1789. A sword, said [p. 103] to be the one he carried at Lexington and Bunker Hill, is in the possession of Jas. L. Hall of Kingston, Mass. It was left him by Mrs. Susan M. Fitch, who received it from her grandfather, Ebenr Hall, a brother of Isaac.

The tablet is not intended to perpetuate any remarkable military achievements of valor of Captain Isaac Hall, though he performed his part in those heroic contests which gave confidence to the colonists in their resistance to oppression. It is more that Medford desires to honor all the men who helped her to take so important share in the early battles of the war which gave birth to the nation, and which has meant freedom for the whole English speaking race.