Jonathan Stickney

Jonathan Stickney (1736 to 1802) was a Billerica soldier of the French and Indian War and the Revolution who commanded the town's company in the redoubt at Bunker Hill, and was later a selectman and major of the Billerica artillery. He was born on August 17, 1736, the son of Capt. Daniel Stickney and Mary (Hill) Stickney, and a nephew of Deacon William Stickney. He married Silence, whose maiden name Hazen does not give, and their daughter Silence, born on August 13, 1758, married Benjamin Bowers in 1784.

As a young man he enlisted for the war against Canada, and Hazen's list of Billerica soldiers from the Massachusetts Archives puts him among the men in service toward Crown Point and Lake Champlain in 1758 and 1759, the campaigns of Abercrombie and Amherst. In March 1775 the town voted to raise a company of minute-men, and the committee chose Ebenezer Bridge as captain, with Jonathan Stickney and James Lewis as lieutenants. Hazen notes that Lieutenant Stickney lived in the southeast part of the village, near Colonel William Tompson, and would have had early word of the alarm on April 19. At Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, the Billerica company served in the redoubt under Prescott; its former captain was now Colonel Bridge, and Lieutenant Stickney was in command. On March 10, 1777, as Captain Jonathan Stickney, he was one of a committee of five chosen to enlist men for the Continental service, and that year he was elected a selectman.

His father's will of 1765 made him the sole executor and left him the homestead and house lot after his mother's life, with most of the remaining lands and the duty of paying his sisters' legacies; Captain Daniel Stickney died in 1788. Jonathan was a selectman again in 1787. Hazen records that during Shays' Rebellion, "as Major, he led the Billerica Artillery in a snow-storm to Cambridge to guard the Supreme Judicial Court."

Major Jonathan Stickney died on April 30, 1802, and was buried in the Old South Burying Ground, where his gravestone gives his age as 67. His daughter Silence Bowers died in October 1803, and his widow Silence on March 23, 1807, aged 69. A grandson, Jonathan Stickney Bowers, born in 1787, carried his name.

References

1. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register p. 146, STICKNEY 7
2. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 149: list of soldiers in the public service, 1745-62, Stickney, Jonathan, d (key on p. 150: service towards Crown Point and Lake Champlain, 1758-9)
3. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 234: officers of the minute-men, March 1775, Captain Ebenezer Bridge, Lieuts. Jonathan Stickney and James Lewis
4. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 235: the alarm of April 19, 1775; Lieutenant Stickney living in the southeast part of the village
5. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 238: at Bunker Hill the Billerica company served in the redoubt under Prescott, Lieut. Jonathan Stickney in command
6. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 239: March 10, 1777, committee to enlist men for the Continental service, including Capt. Jonathan Stickney
7. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 306, list of selectmen: Jonathan Stickney, 1777, 1787 (2 years)
8. Vital Records of Billerica (1908), births p. 186: Jonathan, s. Daniel and Mary [Stickney], Aug. 17, 1736
9. Vital Records of Billerica (1908), deaths p. 398: Jonathan [h. Silence], Apr. 30, 1802, Maj. Jonathan, a. 67, g.r.1; Silence, w. Maj. Jonathan, Mar. 23, 1807, a. 69
10. Vital Records of Billerica (1908), deaths p. 345: Silence [Bowers], w. Benjamin, Oct. 16, 1803, d. Maj. Jonathan Stickney, a. 45, g.r.1
11. Middlesex County Probate File Papers, case 21449: will of Daniel Stickney of Billerica, Gentleman, dated Oct. 31, 1765, proved September 1788; son Jonathan sole executor and heir of the homestead