1st Lt. Jeremiah Prichard, 1st Regiment N.H. Continental Line – Original Member
Jeremiah Prichard was born in Boxford, Massachusetts on September 24, 1754. He was the son of Paul and Hannah (Perley) Prichard. He removed with his father to New Ipswich in 1772, and they were identified there for a long period with the affairs of that town. During the revolution, his father Paul Pritchard was a leading citizen, often a selectman, and represented the town in the Legislature.
Jeremiah had just reached manhood at the beginning of the Revolutionary contest, but he was one of the first to take up arms for his country. He served in Captain Archelaus Towne’s company of the 1st New Hampshire Regiment at Bunker Hill. Afterwards, in 1776 at the Battle of White Plains, he was wounded but recovered and later drew a pension for this. In November 1776 he was commissioned as lieutenant in the 1st New Hampshire Regiment, and probably, like the other officers, spent the winter in enlisting men in the company he was assigned, and in the spring went with the Regiment to Ticonderoga. In July 1778 he was appointed Adjutant. In 1780 he resigned, possibly on account of his wound; but it is supposed he was afterwards in the Army again.
After the war he lived for a time in Hollis, but soon returned to New Ipswich and established the tanning industry long carried on near the foot of Meeting-house Hill. He built a home on the north side of School Street long occupied by John P. Clark and his family. He also built the house that afterward was the home of Dr. Stillman Gibson at the four corners, and about 1800 returned to the Center Village, where he had his home in the house nearest to the Barrett mansion on the south.
He was active in town matters, being elected six to eight times to each of the offices of town clerk, selectman, and representative. Through his efforts a company of cavalry was formed in New Ipswich and neighboring towns in 1796, and he was its first commander. Jeremiah died in 1813 at the age of 59.
His brother, William Prichard, enlisted under him, and faithfully served from January 1, 1777 to November 18, 1779. He was in the battles of that period with the 1st New Hampshire. He returned home and was a substantial citizen of New Ipswich. He succeeded his brother as Captain of the company of Cavalry formed. He was killed suddenly in 1835, by being thrown from his chaise. He was 75.
Jeremiah Prichard was an Original Member of the New Hampshire Society of the Cincinnati, joining on 5 February 1784.
Sources: Charles Henry Chandler, The History of New Ipswich, N.H. 1735-1914 (Fitchburg, 1914), 570-572; Frederic Kidder, History of the First New Hampshire Regiment in the War of the Revolution (Albany, 1868), 126-127, 152.
