This is #1 in a series of posts I intend to write this year for the 250th Anniversary of the USA.
Colonel Joshua Burnham, my 5th great grandfather, was born on 26 January 1754 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, the son of Stephen Burnham (1715 - 1790) and Mary Andrews (b. 1712) of the Chebacco Parish of Ipswich, Massachusetts. Many of his 12 siblings removed away from Massachusetts, just like he did. Joshua died in Milford, New Hampshire on 7 June 1835, and his brother Stephen died in Lyndeborough, New Hampshire. His brother Caleb died in Lake George, New York, and brothers David and Jonathan died in Vermont.
Joshua was a founder of the town of Milford when it became a separate town from Amherst in 1794. He had served in the Revolution as a private from New Hampshire enlisting in April 1775 after the Lexington Alarm under Captain Josiah Crosby for 8 months, and at the end of that term he re-enlisted under Captain Jones of the same regiment for one year. He was at Bunker Hill, New York, Philadelphia, and was discharged at Aesopus (formerly Kingston), New York.
Returning to Milford, he married Jemima Wyman on 21 January 1779 at Wilton, New Hampshire, a contiguous town. She was the daughter of Increase Wyman and Catherine Unknown, born 10 February 1757 in Billerica, Massachusetts, and died on 6 September 1843 at the home of her daughter Jemima Burnham, who lived in South Boston (my 4th great grandmother). In the Milford town records Joshua was on the committee to build a town pound in 1797, and was listed as a taxpayer in 1830.
Joshua Burnham lived on the road to Lyndeborough, New Hampshire, now known as River Road, in a fine house that is still standing about two miles from the center of Milford. It was known as Colonel Burham's Tavern. He sold this farm in 1822 to Jesse Hutchinson, the leader of the famous Hutchinson Family Singers, and they lived there for many years. Jesse and Polly raised 13 of their 16 children there, of whom half were part of the singing group. The Hutchinson family entertained many important historical figures there, including Fredrick Douglass, General Tom Thumb, and P.T. Barnum. The house remained in the Hutchinson family until 1949.
In the biography of the Hutchinson family on pages 8 to 10, see below, is this passage:
"Right in the vicinity of these premises was Colonel Burnham, living in the little red house on the hill, which had been selected by his children as a home for his declining years, and situated where he could overlook the surrounding landscape, including a good view of the farm that was once the home of his family and which he had lost by unpaid debts. He was a frequent visitor to the place; and when the fruits were ripe, he would have free access offered by my father and the privilege of obtaining what fruit he desired. There was one very favorite apple, the flavor of which was delicious; and when the apples were ripe, this honorable old gentleman would be seen going and coming with his pockets full, and they were pockets! They were like bags, and he could carry almost half a peck in each one. He would come over, fill his pockets, and then trudge along towards home. He was occasionally visited by officers of the armies of the Revolution; and it was said that one of the staff of Washington was among them. My parents honored him by naming Joshua after him. He would frequently show his regard for his namesake by some token, and before passing into his dotage he called him to his house and presented him with a sash worn by him on parade while he was under George Washington's command. This article was carefully preserved, and is still, after the decease of both giver and receiver, an heirloom in the family.
In those early days among the pioneers, education was sometimes neglected. The colonel, though passing through seven years of renown as a discreet officer, could not write his own name, and while in business kept his accounts by characters. For instance, having sold cheese to a person, he would make a mark of that portion of cheese that that man received. His funeral was the first that I had ever witnessed, and the impression was depressingly suggestive."
Joshua Burnham came upon hard times and lived in poverty in his older years. He applied for a military pension in 1818. The application papers for his pension outlined his service, his life, family members and friends from the war. They also described his poor health and need for a military pension. He died on 7 June 1835 in Milford at age 93, and was buried in the small burial ground about a quarter mile from his tavern house, and buried in a plot near his friend Jesse Hutchinson. His epitaph read "Soldier of the Revolution, zealous in his country's cause, Faithful to the constitution and obedient to it's laws". His wife Jemima applied for, and received, a Revolutionary War Widow's pension in 1838, and she died in 1843.
For the truly curious:
Tombstone Tuesday - Joshua Burnham's gravestone: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/10/tombstone-tuesday-col-joshua-burnham.html
2010 blog post "The Illiterate Colonel" (I have since discovered he was quite literate and signed many documents) https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/01/illiterate-colonel.html
2017 blog post "Joshua Burnham Proves His Military Service" https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/06/joshua-burnham-proves-his-military.html
2017 blog post "Jemima (Wyman) Burnham applies for a Revolutionary War Widow's Pension" https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/06/jemima-wyman-burnham-applies-for.html
2014 blog post showing my BURNHAM lineage: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/05/surname-saturday-burnham-of-chebacco.html
and in books:
A manuscript Old Houses of Milford, compiled in a notebook for Wadleigh Memorial Library, Milford, New Hampshire
The Story of the Hutchinsons by John Wallace Hutchinson, 1896 (see pages 8 -10 for the information on Colonel Joshua Burnham and his house he sold to Jesse Hutchinson of the Hutchinson family singers).
The History of Milford, by George A. Ramsdell, Rumford Press, Concord, New Hampshire, 1901, see page 783.
-----------------------------
To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "My Revolutionary War Patriots, Colonel Joshua Burnham of Milford, New Hampshire", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 15, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/02/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-colonel.html: accessed [access date]).
