New monument honors Westborough’s Revolutionary War militia

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New monument honors Westborough’s Revolutionary War militia
Jimmy Carmody, left, and Mike Joyce from Expose Signs & Graphics in Hopedale size up the marker at Minuteman Park honoring 119 members of the Westborough militia who took part in the battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775. (Photo/Maureen Sullivan)

WESTBOROUGH – According to family lore, Daniel Nurse fought in the Revolutionary War.

However, his name was not part of the Revolutionary War monument at Minuteman Park.

Thanks to his descendent, David Nourse, Nurse – along with 118 other Revolutionary War veterans from Westborough – have been honored with their own monument nearby.

Just before Veterans Day, a crew from Expose Signs & Graphics in Hopedale installed the new plaque.

Nourse said a formal dedication is being planned.

The quest for a new monument began a few years ago, when Nourse and his family began to wonder about their ancestor.

“The family knew Daniel had been involved … were we wrong?” said David Nourse of his ancestor’s omission. 

The original monument was erected in 1976 by the Westborough Bicentennial Commission.

New monument honors Westborough’s Revolutionary War militia
This monument at Minuteman Park honors members of one Westborough militia, and it was dedicated in 1976. Behind, is the rock that now has the names of the other two Westborough militia companies that served in the Revolutionary War. (Photo/Maureen Sullivan)

Nourse discovered otherwise while researching through “Massachusetts Militia Companies and Officers in the Lexington Alarm” by Charles E. Hambrick-Stowe and Donna D. Smerlas, published in 1976; along with “Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolutionary War.”

In these records, Nourse came across the muster rolls for all three companies from Westborough.

Somehow, the committee that oversaw the original monument, which honors the members of the militia company captained by Edward Brigham, missed Nurse and the members of the other two companies from Westborough who had answered the call to serve.

Daniel Nurse

According to a display at the Nourse Farm’s store, Daniel Nurse was the son of William and Rebecca Fay Nurse, and was the second owner of the farm. 

A member of the Westborough militia, Nurse was 45-years-old on April 19, 1775, when news of the British Army’s march on Concord and Lexington reached town. He marched with Capt. Seth Morse’s company. Too late to join in the fighting in Lexington, the company marched to Cambridge, joining more than 20,000 militia members from across the state.

According to payroll records, Nurse served 14 days on that occasion, and he would serve twice more – in 1777, as part of the force that stopped the British in upstate New York, near Saratoga, and in 1779, guarding British soldiers who had surrendered at Saratoga.

New monument honors Westborough’s Revolutionary War militia
David Nourse shows the names of the two “missing” companies of Westborough militia that are now part of a new veterans’ monument at Minuteman Park. (Photo/Maureen Sullivan)

Nourse believes the list for the original monument came from “The History of Westborough, Massachusetts, Part 1. The Early Years” by Heman Packard DeForest that was published by the town in 1891.

“The 55 men of the other two companies, commanded by Captain Seth Morse and Captain George Baker, were overlooked and have been forgotten,” said Nourse in a letter to Westborough Select Board member Shelby Marshall in April 2021.

In June 2021, the Select Board approved Nourse’s proposal for a new monument and referred the matter to the town’s Trustees of Soldiers’ Memorials.

Once Nourse compiled the initial list, the town wanted to have these names verified. This was accomplished thanks to two historians retained by the town Alexander Cain and J.L. Bell.

There were some tweaks – a George Baker who also could have been Joseph Baker, a William Woods who marched, and a James Miller Jr. who apparently didn’t – but over a process that began in 2019, Nourse managed to finalize the lists.

“It’s a public record that needs to be corrected,” said Nourse.

The new monument

The rock where the plaque has been placed was part of one of the walls at Nourse Farm. According to Nourse, it weighs 5 tons.

“It’s not pretty, but it has character,” he said.

After it was removed from the farm, it was placed at the park, just a few yards from the original monument.

Funding for the monument came from the Westborough Civic Club, the Westborough Historical Society and the Rotary Club. Expose Signs and Graphics worked on the plaque itself.

Now that it has been installed, the new monument will be overseen by the Trustees of Soldiers’ Memorials.

New monument honors Westborough’s Revolutionary War militia
Jimmy Carmody, left, and Mike Joyce from Expose Signs & Graphics in Hopedale prepare to install the new marker at Minuteman Park honoring 119 members of the Westborough militia who took part in the battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775. (Photo/Maureen Sullivan)

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