Captain Richard Beers (1607-1675) (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 18) Theme: "Where There's A Will"

My 10X great grandfather Richard Beers was born 1 May 1607 in Gravesend, Kent, England to John and Mary (Selby) Beers (sometimes spelled "Beeres" or "Beres").

Milton Chantry built c.1320 in Gravesend Kent
Image courtesy Agw19666
his file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

He emigrated from Gravesend to New England in 1635 with his orphan nephews, Anthony and James (sons of his brother James). They settled in Watertown, MA., where he remained for the rest of his life. Richard was made a freeman of Watertown in 1637, was a Selectman in the government there for 31 years and served as a Representative to the General Court for thirteen years. Clearly, he was a  respected man of influence in his community.

Richard was active in the military, taking part in the Pequot War of 1636; this was a trade war between the English Colonists on one side and the Pequot tribe and Dutch settlers on the other. Many years later, on 24 October 1665 he petitioned for some land to add to the 1 1/2 acres he had been given as support resulting from his participation in the War and was granted several hundred acres in response.

He married a woman named Elizabeth, generally believed to have been Elizabeth Furman (1615-1706). She had immigrated to Massachusetts Bay from Nayland, Suffolk, England with her parents in the Winthrop Fleet of 1630. Their oldest child Sarah Beers, my 9X great grandmother, was born in 1639, followed by others between 1642 and 1662.

In 1654, Richard was granted a license to keep an ordinary (inn) in Watertown, which he operated for the rest of his life. I always think that is a perfect occupation for a man named Beers!

Friendship between the colonists and the local Native Americans in early Plymouth Colony continued throughout much of Richard's life. Massasoit, Chief of the Wampanoags, was a friend and ally to the early colonists and is often credited with saving them from almost certain starvation when they first landed. All went well until after his death upon the succession in 1662 by his second son Metacom (who often went by his English name Philip).  Philip was less favorably inclined toward the colonists, probably for good reason. More and more English settlers continued to arrive and occupy traditional Wampanoag territory.  Bad treatment by some of the colonists and, in particular, the execution of three of Philip's warriors in response to their killing of John Sassomon, a Harvard-educated Native American convert to Puritanism, led to the eruption of all-out war in the latter half of 1675. The conflict, known as "King Philip's War", the "Great Narragansett War" or the  "First Indian War", was one of the worst ever waged on American soil.

Captain Richard Beers at age 68 surely knew the danger he would be facing when he left the safety and comfort of his inn to lead his men the 60 miles to Brookfield on 6 August 1675 in the early days of King Philip's War. He had the foresight to make his will the day he left, leaving his estate to wife Elizabeth and his 8 surviving children. As it turned out, Captain Richard Beers indeed had a short military history in King Philip's War and his will would, sadly, soon be put to use.

Yellow pins mark significant locations from Richard Beer's home in Watertown
through Brookfield and Springfield to the Beer's Ambush site at Northfield, Massachusetts

A detailed description of the campaign can be found in Soldiers of King Philip's War. Captain Beers and his men had marched some 35 miles to Springfield by 15 August; there they were joined by others including the Connecticut Indians and spent several days searching the area unsuccessfully for the enemy. They returned to Brookfield where there was a council meeting of leaders to determine the course of action. The idea was to disarm Philip's men at their fort on the west side of the river, but by the time they got there, no one was to be found. In hot pursuit, Beers and his group came upon the enemy unexpectedly and a skirmish at Sugar Loaf Hill left several men dead. Once again, the enemy escaped. Meanwhile on 1 September Philip's men had attacked Northfield, burning houses and killing several of the residents there. Unaware of these developments, Beers arrived near Northfield on the evening of 3 September with about 3 dozen mounted men and an ox team bearing stores and ammunition for the protection of Northfield. Early the next morning Captain Beers and his 36 men proceeded into Northfield but were ambushed by 150 enemy fighters under the direction of Monoco, the Nashaway sachem. Fighting went on for some time but eventually Beers and his men were backed into a ravine south of a hill that later became known as "Beer's Hill" since it was there that Captain Beers and nineteen of his soldiers were killed.

Public Domain Image
From Findagrave.com website for Richard Beers

Richard Beers was buried along with the men who fell with him at the Beer's Ambush Gravesite in Northfield, Hampshire, MA.

Some Resources:

Find a Grave Memorial 39677250 for Richard Beers located at Find a Grave.

Bodge, George M., Soldiers in King Philip's War 1675-1677, Boston: Printed for the Author, 1891, available online at Internet Archive.

Van Wagenen, Mrs. Avis Stearns, Genealogy and Memoirs of Isaac Stearns and his Descendants, Syracuse, N.Y.: Courier Printing Co., 1901, available online at Internet Archive, p.26