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IN MEMORY OF
MATTHEW BRIDGE, ESQ.
A PROMINENT AND HIGHLY RESPECTED CITIZEN,
AND A LEADING MEMBER OF THE CHURCH.
SECOND SON OF MATTHEW AND ANNA BRIDGE.
BORN AT CAMBRIDGE MAY 5, 1650.
DIED AT THIS PLACE MAY 29, 1738,
AGED 58 YEARS.

HE WAS THE FIRST OF THE LINE BORN IN AMERICA,
AND FROM HIM THE FAMILY HAVE ALL DESCENDED.
IN EARLY LIFE,
HE CAME WITH HIS FATHER TO THIS PLACE,
AND WITH HIM STRUGGLED TO ADVANCE ITS INTERESTS.
THE FIRST CHURCH,
ESTABLISHED HERE BY HIS AID,
WAS SUSTAINED DURING HIS LIFE,
AND REMEMBERED AT HIS DEATH.
HE SERVED IN KING PHILIP’S WAR IN 1675;
HE JOINED THE ILL-FATED EXPEDITION TO QUEBEC IN 1690.
AT THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWN IN 1712,
HE WAS CHOSEN FIRST SELECTMAN,
AND FOR MORE THAN FIVE YEARS
TREASURER OF THE TOWN OF LEXINGTON.
IN 1687,
HE MARRIED ABIGAIL,
DAUGHTER OF JOSEPH AND MARY RUSSELL
A WOMAN ESTEEMED FOR HER AMIABLE DISPOSITION
AND CHRISTIAN VIRTUES.
SHE DIED DECEMBER 14, 1722,
AGED 55 YEARS.
That pretty much says it all, except that Abigail’s father, our ten-greats uncle Joseph Russell (1636-1694) was the firstborn of our pioneer ten-greats-grandparents William Russell and Martha Davies, and the only big brother our Grandpa (9 greats) Benjamin Russell had. Her mother was Mary Belcher (1641-1591) of Marshfield, Plymouth County. Abigail’s younger sister Prudence married Nathaniel Hancock Jr., brother to the Reverend John Hancock. Prudence and Nathaniel are buried in the Old Burying Ground at Harvard Square.
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