Joseph and Elizabeth Munroe

Around 1734, while in his late forties, “Corporal Joe” Munroe moved his wife and eleven children from Lexington to West Billerica (now Carlisle), and built this house. He sold it to his son Joshua in 1753, who deeded it to his son Jonas in 1775 (when Jonas’ brother Thaddeus moved to Hillsborough). Corporal Joe returned to Lexington in 1760, where he died in 1787, aged 100. The house was demolished in 1872 (Lapham/Carlisle: Composite Community, p. 56)

The Carlisle section in this hypertext collection presents a great deal more on Joseph’s story. The most amusing episode (a spurious one, alas) belongs in the context of the monumental events of Lexington and Concord, and so it follows, on the next two pages.