The History of Privates Daniel Dodge, Robert Fitts & Abel Partridge

Just prior to the publication of a previous article on Col. Jonah Goulding a Minuteman Burial Marker was installed and dedicated to the four men who fought in the Revolutionary War for the town and are interred at the West Auburn Burial Ground. Jonah got most of the attention being an officer and an important family name in town, but the other Patriots were just as important to the war effort. Besides Jonah, Privates Daniel Dodge and Robert Fitts answered the alarm on April 19, 1775. Private Abel Partridge joined a few years later.

Daniel Dodge was born on December 14, 1760, in Dudley and died August 21, 1827, in (Ward) Auburn. He married Elizabeth Parsons on January 26, 1785  in Ward. Elizabeth was born in Palmer July 27, 1765. She died March 5, 1834  in Auburn. They had one child named Betsey who was born November 27, 1790 in Auburn. She married John Gates Barnard and had five children. Betsy died April 23, 1875 in Auburn. 

As for Dodge’s military record, he was listed in Capt. Peter Coburn’s Company and served with the 11th Massachusetts Bay Provincial Regiment (1775) for eight months. This regiment served in the Siege of Boston until it was disbanded.  Capt. Coburn commanded a Dracut Company and led them to Lexington on April 19, 1775. Dodgel subsequently enlisted on June 26, 1778, for one year starting January 1, in Capt. Samuel Lamb’s Company, under Col. Nathaniel Wade’s Regiment, and served in Rhode Island. 

In 1785 Dodge served the town as a hogreever; he answered calls about hogs that got into people’s gardens.  Dodge’s family descendants seemed to have remained in Auburn well into the 1920s. 

Robert Fitts was born in Sutton on March 27, 1757. According to the family story, he lived much of his early life with his uncle Abraham Fitts who was one of the founding families of this town.  When Robert Fitts was a teenager, he became his uncle’s substitute in the Revolutionary War. He was a private in Capt. John Crowl’s company of Minutemen who marched with Col. Ebenezer Learned’s regiment out of Oxford. He marched on the alarm of April 19, 1775, and served 10 days. It also seems that he appeared on a list of field officers on the return of Capt. William Campbell’s company dated Oct. 7, 1775.

When Fitts married Phebe Patch on August 25, 1778 in Oxford he had only the clothes on his back as the family story continues.  Phebe was born May 2, 1759 in Wenham and she died in 1842. Her parents were Andrew and Anna Dodge. Robert and Phebe reared 11 children. Robert died in 1831. His tombstone reads: “The sweet remembrance of the just, shall flourish when they sleep in the dust.”

Abel Partridge was born in 1765 in Medfield, the son of Abel and Hannah (Cheyney) Partridge. He died October 28, 1826, in Ward. In 1801, he married Sarah Stearnes of Medfield. They had two daughters, Betsey, who was born in 1802 and married Isaac Willard, and Polly, born in 1804. According to the 1810 census four people were living in his house, one adult female over 44 and two female children under 10 years. The family doesn’t seem to appear in the 1820 town census.

Private Partridge enlisted for the town of Ward, June 25, 1779, in Capt. Cole’s Company, Col. Denn’s regiment, for 9 months. From February 20 - December 31, 1780, he was part of Capt. Wade’s Company, Colonel Michael Jackson’s 8th regiment. Continental Army. In a descriptive list dated January. 7, 1781; Capt. Abner Wade’s company, Col. Michael Jackson’s 8th regiment roll listed Partiridge as 17 years old, 5 feet, 7inches. Complexion light, hair light, resident of Ward, enlisted February 20 by Lieut. Bancroft at West Point during the war. 

He participated in Shays’ Rebellion (1786-87) as a Lieutenant in Capt. Jonah Goulding’s company of Regulators. Though there was a warrant issued for him, Partridge somehow managed to avoid arrest until the collapse of the rebellion. In 1787, special town meetings were held to address the General Court, the Governor and Council and Major-General Lincoln of Worcester on the behalf of all the men convicted of treason and sentenced to hang for their part in the rebellion. Partridge did petition the General Court for a pardon on February 7, 1787, and was released on bail in March. Patridge had to pay a fine of 100 pounds to the state, and “recognize in 300 pounds to keep the peace for 5 years.”  So, he had to behave or lose his money. 

It also seemed that Partridge had his pension under an act of the House of Representatives on March 18, 1818, but it had been suspended in May of 1820. He had U.S. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams bring to the House of Representative a petition from Partridge for a continuation of the pension granted him under the act of the March 18, 1818. The petition was sent to the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions. His annual allowance was $96, and he had received $181 by 1820. No record was found as to whether he got his pension reinstated. Abel remained in Auburn until his death in 1826. 

Future articles will look at the Revolutionary War soldiers buried in the Center Burial Ground next to the First Congregational Church.

This article is made possible by the Auburn Historical Society & Museum, 41 South Street. The museum is open Tuesday and Saturday mornings 9:30-12:30 and may be reached at [email protected] or 508-832-6856 and auburnhistoricalmuseum.org   or follow us on Facebook at Auburn Historical.