The Revolutionary War began at the Battle of Lexington and Concord with the “shot heard around the world,” on April 19th, 1775. Patriots’ Day in Massachusetts acknowledges and celebrates this historic event. Soule Homestead Education Center would like to highlight some local history which includes members of the Soule family, as well as other community members who took part in the fight for independence that led to the Revolutionary War.
Middleborough historian Thomas Weston suggests that it was largely assumed that the town would remain loyal to the Crown in the lead up to the eventual outbreak of war between the colonies and England.1 But the people of Middleborough, when facing down those dressed in red who attempted to bring “tyranny to their doors,” fought back. There were a number of descendants of George Soule living in Middleborough when war broke out in the colony, who were members of “minute men” militias:
– First Company of Minute Men, John Soule, corporal2 and Private John Soule, 2d.3
– Third Company of Minute Men, Private James Soule.4
– First Company of Infantry, Private Isaac Soule, Private Jacob Soule, Private John Soule, Private James Soule, and Private William Soule.5
Similarly, there were other George Soule decedents living outside of Middleborough who also participated in military service during the Revolutionary War. Located just down the road from Soule Homestead Education Center is the Soule Street Cemetery, the resting place for members of the Soule neighborhood who succumbed to smallpox during an outbreak in the area in late 1777. William Soule, mentioned above, contracted smallpox, as did his son John, age 2. Both died of the disease in mid-December 1777 and were buried in the cemetery.6 7 8
Other notable Middleborough Revolutionary War figures who are also buried there are Reverend Sylvanus Conant and Zachariah Eddy (of the Eddy family, whose family homestead is located just up the road from Soule Homestead.) Weston argued that Rev. Conant, who was a graduate of Harvard College, was an “ardent” patriot alongside neighbor Zachariah Eddy. He contends:
From the beginning of the oppressive legislation [with England], Mr. Conant was bold and fearless in his utter- ance in the pulpit and elsewhere against the injustice of the mother country. He not only went as a chaplain in one of the regiments, but, owing to his earnest words, thirty-five of the members of his church enlisted, and Captain Joshua Eddy raised a company for service during the war.9
Rev. Conant, Weston explains, “died of smallpox in the height of his usefulness as a minister of the gospel, a patriotic citizen, and a devout lover of his country, inspired with the belief that she would yet become a free, great, and mighty nation of the world.”10 An inspiring Patriot from the town, it seems, had his life cut short as a result of the contagious disease.
- Weston, Thomas. History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts. Houghton, Mifflin, 1906, p 314. ↩︎
- Ibid, 119. ↩︎
- Ibid, 120. ↩︎
- Ibid, 123. ↩︎
- Ibid, 126. ↩︎
- Writer, Staff. “The Stories in the Stones: The Soule Street Smallpox Cemetery.” New Bedford Standard-Times, Standard-Times, 16 Aug. 2012, www.southcoasttoday.com/story/news/local/the-gazette/2012/08/16/the-stories-in-stones-soule/49463296007/. Accessed 18 Apr. 2025. ↩︎
- “William Soule (1739-1777) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree.” Wikitree.com, 26 Apr. 2024, www.wikitree.com/wiki/Soule-736#_note-230_349. Accessed 18 Apr. 2025. ↩︎
- “DAR Genealogical Research Databases.” Dar.org, 2025, services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/?action=full&p_id=A107277. Accessed 19 Apr. 2025. ↩︎
- Weston, Thomas. History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts. Houghton, Mifflin, 1906, p 314. ↩︎
- Ibid, 315. ↩︎