This is #4 in my series of blog posts about my ancestors who served in the American Revolution.
Daniel Glover is my 6th great grandfather, the son of Jonathan Glover, Jr. and Tabitha Bacon, born in January 1734/35 in Salem, Massachusetts. He married Hannah Jillings on 1 December 1757 in Newbury, Massachusetts and had four children. She was the daughter of Thomas Jillings and Hannah Mirick of Newbury.
Daniel's father died when he was very young, about four years old, leaving his mother a widow with four young boys. Tabitha Bacon Glover was very resourceful, but left destitute. Her husband left no will so she applied for the guardianship of her sons - twins Jonathan and Samuel, John, and the youngest, Daniel, my ancestor. John would become the very famous Brigadier General John Glover of the American Revolutionary War, and his brothers all were members of his Marblehead regiment. Tabitha left Salem with her children to live with her sister in Marblehead, where she raised her family. Twenty years later, when her sons were grown, Tabitha remarried to Daniel's father-in-law, Thomas Jillings.
Daniel became a blockmaker by trade, who crafted wooden pieces for ship builders, including the "block" or pulleys used in the rigging. He was also the captain of several of his brother's ships. His two brothers Jonathan (hatmaker) and John (cordwainer or shoemaker) were successful in their businesses and invested in ships sailing out of Salem. He captained the family owned schooner "Three Brothers" according to the Salem Gazette in 1768. Many newspaper accounts in Salem mention a Captain Glover in their shipping news, but not all give a first name or name Daniel. He is known to have commanded the brigantines "Ranger" and "Benjamin".
During the American Revolution, Daniel's brother John Glover formed the 14th Massachusetts Regiment, which formed up under the new Continental Army in Boston. General Washington ordered Glover to take his ship "Hannah" (named for his wife Hannah Gale) as a privateer to plunder British shipping off the New England coast. Washington was impressed, and this is considered the birth of the United States Navy. George Washington asked Glover's regiment to join him as mariners for the Battle of Brooklyn in New York, the Battle of Pell's Point, and for rowing Washington and his troops across the Delaware River for the Battle of Trenton. All the Glover brothers participated in these events of the Revolutionary War. The story of Glover's Regiment was covered recently in Ken Burns new documentary about the Revolutionary War, and in the books I list below.
Daniel came home from the Revolutionary War to live in Beverly and Marblehead. He had two sons and two daughters - Jonathan, Hannah, Tabitha and John. I descend from his daughter Tabitha, born in 1765, who married Thomas Homan in Marblehead on 28 November 1782 and had seven children.
Despite belonging to this famous family of mariners and patriots, there are very few records on Daniel Glover. He is an enigma. Daniel died sometime before 1790 when his wife Hannah was listed in the first federal census as a widow. His burial place is unknown. Hannah, his widow, died in Salem on 4 October 1810. The Salem and Marblehead records do not list his death record. He left no probate records or will. His house survives in Marblehead at 11 Mechanic Court and is known locally as "The Old Hammond House".
For the truly curious:
My other patriot blog posts in this series:
#1 Colonel Joshua Burnham, Milford, New Hampshire: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/02/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-colonel.html
#2 Major Andrew Munroe, Lexington and Danvers (now Peabody), Massachusetts: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/03/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-major.html
#3 Jonathan Flint, Reading, Massachusetts: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/03/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-jonathan.html
My Glover lineage: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/09/surname-saturday-glover-of-salem-and.html
Books about General John Glover and his regiment:
The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier Mariners who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware, by Patrick K. O'Donnell, 2022, Atlantic Monthly Press.
Saving Washington's Army: The Brilliant Last Stand of Genral John Glover at the Battle of Pell's Point, New York, October 18, 1776, by Phillip Thomas Tucker, 2022, Skyhorse Publishing.
General John Glover and his Marblehead Mariners, by George A. Brillias, 1960, Henry Holt and Company.
General John Glover and his Marblehead Regiment in the Revolutionary War: A Paper Read Before the Marblehead Historical Society, May 14, 1903, by Nathan P. Sanborn and C. H. B. Quennell, published in 2021 by Barakaldo Books.
The image above is the painting Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, 1851, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "My Revolutionary War Patriots, Daniel Glover, Marblehead, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 7, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/04/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-daniel.html: accessed [access date]).
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