Joseph Sargent

     Joseph Sargent was born on 6 July 1716, in Malden, MA.¹ Joseph lived in Leicester, MA, Joseph moved from Malden to Leicester a little earlier than 1741 - the husband of his sister Mary (who married her first cousin, Nathan Sargent) moved to Leicester first. Leicester was settled in the early part of the 18th century largely by people from Malden, MA. Nathan purchased for £200, 100 acres for a farm on Chestnut Hill in the eastern part of Leicester on the Worcester edge of town. Joseph's 40 acres adjoined Nathan's on the west. Joseph's house was razed in 1831 after the death of his 2 unmarried daughters who continued to live there after their father's death. The Joseph Sargent farm was purchased by descendants of Nathan. In an article by C. C. Denny in 1893 "An Ancient Road, and Reminiscences of Some Families who dwelt on It" - "A few rods down the hill from the old Nathan Sargent place and on the westerly part of the Nathan Sargent farm stood a house built by Joseph Sargent in 1746. It was built on a high bank with a carriage road running up close to the front door, two stories in front and one story in the rear."George Washington passed on the road, a post road, on 1 July 1775, on his way to Cambridge to take command of the army and again as President on 22 Oct. 1789. Tradition says that he rested under the shade of a large sycamore tree opposite the Nathan Sargent house. He married Hannah Whittemore, daughter of Daniel Whittemore and Mary Chamberlin, on Friday, 20 January 1746/47 in Malden, MA. Joseph Sargent was a farmer. He married Mary Groat in 1758. During the Revolution Joseph Sargent was a prominent patriot of Leicester. This qualifies descendants for membership in the DAR.² Joseph Sargent died on 26 March 1802 in Leicester, MA, at age 85.