Timothy Hall of Medford

FindaGrave, as of the date of this posting, has a memorial for Timothy Hall of Medford that has numerous likely unintentional errors that could confuse researchers.

Timothy Hall was born 13 Mary 1726 in Medford, Middlesex county, Massachusetts, to Capt. John Hall and his wife Elizabeth Walker. Not 13 May as shown on FindaGrave and some other secondary sources. I believe that the date should be properly 13 Mar 1725/26 but even when looking at an image of the original source, that is not clear.

Timothy married Mary Cutter (11 Mar 1727/8 – 30 Aug 1775) on 29 June 1749 in Medford. She is buried in the Salem Street Burying Ground in Medford and her headstone is pictured on FindaGrave.

Medford records document the births of several children of Timothy and Mary; including a Timothy (born 12 Dec 1751 and died 21 January 1753); another Timothy born 24 October 1753; Ammi Rhuhami born 27 August 1758; and a John born 19 February 1763.

Yet FindaGrave’s memorial, and many secondary sources, give Timothy’s death as 1755 with a burial in Salem Street Burying Ground (with no headstone pictured). Obviously, this cannot be true. Could the burial be for the second Timothy son? or could the have been a misreading of some now lost headstone for his son?

There was a serious clue about Timothy’s death when reading the inscription on his wife’s headstone:

Here lies Buried
the Body of
Mrs.MARY HALL wife
to Mr TIMOTHY HALL
who departed this Life
August ye 30th 1775
Aged 48 Years

The inscription says “wife” not “widow” of Timothy implying usually that Timothy was still living.

Looking further I went to FamilySearch. On FamilySearch I found a record that could seem more reasonable. That source gave his death as 18 September 1776 at Ticonderoga in New York during the Revolution.

One of the sources given for the 1776 sate was from Vol. 7, p. 114 of Massachusetts Soldier and Sailors series.

“HALL, TIMOTHY (also given TIMOTHY Jr.), Medford. Drummer, Capt. Isaac Hall’s co., (late) Col. Thomas Gardner’s regt., which assembled April 19, 1775; service, 5 days; also, (late) Capt. Isaac Hall’s co., Lieut. Col. William Bond’s (late Col. Gardner’s) 37th regt.; company return dated Prospect Hill, Oct. 6, 1775; also, Capt. Caleb Brooks’s (late Capt. Isaac Hall’s) co., Col. William Bond’s regt.; order for bounty coat or its equivalent in money dated Medford, Jan. 3, 1776; also, Capt. Warren’s co.; list of men belonging to Col. Ephraim Wheelock’s regt. who died between time of arrival “at this place” [probably Ticonderoga] and last of Nov. 1776; reported died Sept. 18, 1776.”

This would seemingly settle it except for a few factors. Why would that entry suggest that it might be Timothy Hall Jr.? Would you expect a 50 year old man, just losing his wife to be a drummer, heading off to war. After all, we did not find any death record for the second son named Timothy who would be in 1775 be a 22 year old man and in the prime age to be going off to War.

Looking at the 1790 census, I do not see any evidence that either Timothy or Timothy Jr. were living then. Whichever Timothy died at Ticonderoga, it is very unlikely that his body would have been returned to Medford for burial. Any marker might be a Cenotaph.

I welcome comments. For now, I am going to assume that the soldier who died at Ticonderoga was Timothy Jr.