John, born in 1722, was the 5th child of Edward Twiss and Hannah Aborne. At 21 (1743) he married Sarah Patton and had at least 2 children, John and Edward. Sarah died in 1760 when she and John were both 38 years old.

At 39, John remarrried, HIs second wife was Sarah Hopkins, and together, they had 8 children. Benjamin, our ancestor, was their 5th child, born in 1766.

In 1772, John moved northward with his family, to a 95 acre farm near the Massachusetts border.

John was a Minuteman in the Battle of Lexington in 1775.

John lived to the age of 74, surviviing his wife by 2 years, and was buried in Chelmsford, Massachusetts.