Dr. Elisha Story: A Revolutionary Cousin with a Boston Tea Party History

by Janice Moerschel

In researching my family history, I often come across names that at first appear only as basic genealogical facts: dates, places, marriages, and family connections. Dr. Elisha Story, my third cousin seven times removed, caught my attention. He is one of those relatives whose record leads well beyond the family tree and into the history of Revolutionary Boston.

Elisha was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on 3 Dec 1743, into the Story family line that traces back to my immigrant ancestor, William Story, who arrived in New England in the seventeenth century. Like my direct Revolutionary ancestor Ebenezer Story (The Story Behind a Story: Ebenezer Story of Revolutionary Connecticut) Elisha belonged to a family whose roots were already deep in colonial Massachusetts by the time resistance to British rule began to intensify.

Massachusetts was one of the centers of colonial frustration, and Elisha came of age in a world charged with the issues surrounding taxation, representation, and rights. He joined the Sons of Liberty, the patriot network that included historical figures like Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Paul Revere. He was also known as a close friend of Dr. Joseph Warren, one of the most important patriot leaders in Boston before the Revolution.

On 16 Dec 1773, Elisha stepped into one of the defining acts of American resistance to the tax on tea. That night, men disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians and set off from Griffin’s Wharf into the Boston Harbor, where three ships carrying East India Company tea lay in waiting. Elisha was among the participants who boarded the vessels and threw the tea overboard. Some accounts describe him as a leader of the group, but historians do not all agree on the extent of his role. What is clear is that he was not merely sympathetic to the cause – he participated in it.

Elisha’s commitment continued during the Revolutionary War. As a physician and surgeon, he served during the Lexington and Concord alarm and fought briefly at Bunker Hill before tending to wounded soldiers. One especially tangible reminder of his service survives: his medical chest, reportedly used during the war and now preserved as part of Marblehead’s historical memory.

Dr. Story died 27 Aug 1805 at Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Medical chest of Elisha Story. Photo courtesy of the Museum of Marblehead (Mass.)

After the war, Elisha returned to Massachusetts, helped manage a serious smallpox outbreak around Marblehead, and settled there permanently. He had married Ruth Ruddick on 12 May 1767 in Boston, Massachusetts, with whom he had 11 children. After Ruth’s death, his second wife Mehitable Petrick raised those children. One of them was Joseph Story, who would become an influential Supreme Court Justice.

George Washington Really Slept Here

by Janice Moerschel

Jeremiah Jenckes, my four-times great grandfather, was born 22 Nov 1739 in Smithfield, Providence County, Rhode Island.

On 25 Feb 1776, Jeremiah married Lucy Whipple. Soon after, the newlyweds traveled on horseback to Newport, New Hampshire, with Lucy riding on a pillion behind him and carrying her wedding trousseau in the saddlebags. Family legend says that, as they rode through the woods, Jeremiah uprooted a small elm tree and gave it to Lucy for a riding whip. They planted it at their new home, where it flourished for many years.

That same year, Jeremiah signed the Association Test for the colony’s Committee of Safety. On 24 July 1776, he was chosen Lieutenant in the Newport Volunteers, and on 9 June 1777 he left to take part in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga.

While Jeremiah was away, “Madam Jenckes” (as Lucy was called) opened their old colonial home as a wayside tavern for the entertainment of “man and beast.” During the first year of his presidency, George Washington toured New Hampshire and spent a night at the Jenckes’s tavern. In the morning, he commented to her, “Madame, your bread is very beautiful.”

Image generated at Chat GPT of the tavern as it may have looked

Jeremiah was unusually tall for his time – over six feet – as were Lucy, three of their sons, and three of their daughters. Altogether, Jeremiah and Lucy had eight children.

Jeremiah died in Newport, New Hampshire, on 4 Jan 1810. Lucy Whipple Jenckes died on 14 May 1820.

Revolutionary War soldier, Lt. Hugh McManus, was an ancestor of Jan Wells. He served South Carolina. He served for 206 days as Private and 161 days as a Lieutenant in the Militia receiving 81 pounds, 3 shillings and six pence three farthings sterling. For a mare used in 1780 and 1781 for 193 days, he received 69 pounds and 15 shillings sterling on May 19^th, 1785.

He was born in 1747 in Northampton County, South Carolina to Capt. James M. McManus and Mary Frohock Rollins. He married Mary Elizabeth “Betsey” Campbell in 1770 in Chesterfield, SC. She was born in 1752.

Their children were John (married Rebecca Terrell), Nancy (married Henry Yater), Elizabeth, Jane, Robert Thomas (married Mary Polly Cain), Sarah Sally, Rebecca (married Albert Arthur Stacks), Tabitha Floyd (married Joseph York), Pleasant, and Samuel (married Martha A. Evans).

He died in 1831 in Chesterfield, SC and is buried in the Old Mount Olive Cemetery in Chesterfield county, SC.

Hugh’s DAR ancestor number is A078145. He has 12 female descendants who were DAR members.

Jan Wells is a member of the Mason County Genealogical Society

Revolutionary War soldier, William Tatum (Tatom)Sr., served Virginia in the war. He was in the 3^rd regiment of Capt. John Ashby’s company under Commander Col. Marshall and Lieut. John Tibbs. He was on the payroll for July 1777 as a private receiving 6 2/3 dollars for the month for pay. He received Bounty Land Grant No. 1472 for 274 acres in North Carolina on Dec. 17, 1802. His pension number was W2270.

He was born on January 11, 1760, in St. George Parish, Spotsylvania County, Virginia to Stephen Tatum and Mourning Melton. He married first Margaret Wright on December 29, 1781, in Granville, NC, and 2^nd wife was widow Mrs. Mary “Polly” Wright on October 27, 1813, in Dickson Co., TN.

His children were Richard (married Levina Hartley), William (married Elizabeth Rose Richardson), Nancy (married Thomas Griffin Dedmon), John C.(married Delila), Benjamin Marshall (married Sarah Dotson), James (married Ann Baker), Ann Shilby (married James A. Tatom), George William (married Sarah Logan), Genetta (married George L. Smith), and Thomas Richardson (married Martha Jane Hudson and Winnie Fredonia).

He died on September 24, 1847, at age 87 in “Tatom Hollow” in Dickson, Dickson County, TN. He was buried in the Tatum-Coleman Cemetery in Houston County (previously Dickson County), TN.

His DAR number is A208894. He has 4 female descendants who were DAR members.

Jan Wells is member of the Mason County Genealogical Society