Tombstone Tuesday ~ David Gregg, died 1831, Windham, NH. Revolutionary War Veteran

This tombstone was photographed at the Cemetery on the Plain in Windham, New Hampshire.

LIEUT.

DAVID GREGG

BORN 1750

DIED 1831

A SOLDIER IN THE BATTLE

OF BENNINGTON

IN 1777

From page 550 of The History of Windham in New Hampshire, by Leonard Morrison:

“41.  Lieut. David 5 (William4, David3, John2, David1), b. Oct. 4, 1750 O. S.; m. Feb 12, 1784, Jane, dau. Of Capt. David and Ann (Clyde) Gregg.  She was b. Oct. 10, 1759.  He was in the Revolutionary war; was in the battle of Bennington, and had his thumb shot off. When the battle was raging he felt a stinging sensation in his thumb., and the smoke was so thick he could hardly see; he put his thumb to his mouth, and found it hanging by a piece of skin; he bit it off, and kept on fighting with a determination to come off victorious or die upon the field “with his face to his foe”.  He was afterwards offered a captaincy, but declined it.  He received his commission as lieutenant after the war.  He lived in a house that stood over the old cellar opposite C. E. Buttrick’s.  This was part of the original grant, and he was the first occupant.  He was selectman in 1778, ’94 and ’95.  He took care of his parents in their old age; was made an elder in the church.  He was a good man, but was unfortunate in the later years of his life, lost his property, and in his old age was dependent upon the charity of his friends and the town.  His wife d. April 12, 1812.  He m. 2d. Sally Clyde, Aug. 4, 1814.

Children: -

42.  Thomas, b. Oct. 28, 1784; d. Aug. 28, 1812, unm.

43.  Nancy, b. July 23, 1786; d. Dec. 29, 1869.  She m. (2d wife) June 11, 1818, John, son of Col. Robert Wilson of Londonderry.  He was b. Sept. 25, 1785; d. March 19, 1872.  No ch….

44.  John, b. Nov. 12, 1788; m. Nov. 26, 1816. Hannah Giles, b. Oct. 22, 1795, in Dorchester, NH.  He owned the Asa Buttrick farm, which he sold, and rem. to Amesbury, Mass., in 1829, and worked in a woolen mill.  His wife d. Nov. 2, 1853.  He d. March 15, 1873, ae. 84 yrs.  4 mos. 3 days.  [six children listed next]”

On page 545 it lists David Gregg’s parents as:

“9.  William4 (David3, John2, David1).  He was b. in Ireland in 1705; emigrated to Watertown, Mass., in 1712, and to Windham in 1721.  He m. Elizabeth Kyle, of Argylshire, Scotland, then a resident of Haverhill, Mass.  She was b. Jan. 17, 1720.  She is described as possessing an uncommon share of personal beauty, having dark hair and eyes, with a delicate white complexion, and fine person; her disposition was amiable, and she died at an advanced age, shortly before her husband.”

On page 546 it describes William, David Gregg's father:

"Although he left Ireland in his eighth year, everything was fresh in his recollection.  He could describe with great minuteness the old city of Londonderry, with its walls and fortifications; how the streets ran, and he saw them in his boyhood; and would relate what he then and there heard and saw of the extreme distress growing out of the celebrated siege and defence of the city, so long continued the rats, even, were food, and had a marked price, and in the dire famine old leather of shoes was eaten to stay the gnawings of hunger, and how terrible was the famine, and how deadly the pestilence which followed.  He d. in Windham, in 1797, in his 92d year."

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ David Gregg, died 1831, Windham, NH. Revolutionary War Veteran", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 7, 2017,  (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/02/tombstone-tuesday-david-gregg-died-1831.html:  accessed [access date]).