Dr. Erastus Sergeant

Dr. Erastus Sergeant, Sr. (1746 - 1814) was the surgeon for the Continental forces at the (Revolutionary War) Battle of Ticonderoga. Dr. Erastus Sergeant, Sr. commanded a company in Col. Benjamin Simond’s Berkshire County regiment and was major in the Burgoyne campaign.

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In the Sergeant family, the name is pronounced SR-jnt.

Dr. Erastus Sergeant [Sr.] was born July 17, 1743, Stockbridge, MA.

Died Nov. 14, 1814, Stockbridge, MA, at 68 [another source says 72] years.

Dr. Erastus Sergeant [Sr.]’s father was Reverend John Sergeant, about whom read more below. Dr. Erastus Sergeant [Sr.]’s maternal uncle, Capt. Ephraim Williams, Jr. (1715-1755), founded Williams College [not his maternal grandfather, Colonel Ephraim Williams (1691-1754)].

Erastus was the first boy of European ancestry to be born in Stockbridge. He attended the College of New Jersey, which later became Princeton University. He was apprenticed to his uncle (his mother’s brother), Dr. Thomas Williams, a graduate of Yale, who settled in Deerfield, Massachusetts, known as the father of Berkshire medicine. On becoming a physician, Erastus [Sr.] set up his practice in Stockbridge in 1765 on the site of the Red Lion Inn (redlioninn.com), a landmark in Stockbridge for over a hundred years.

In 1769 Erastus married Elizabeth Partridge of Hatfield, with whom he had twelve children. One of those was Erastus Jr., who followed his father into the medical profession.

In the Revolutionary War, Dr. Erastus Sergeant [Sr.] is credited with having been the surgeon at the Battle of Ticonderoga. (There were four battles there. Fort Ticonderoga was the center of attack by great nations as many as six times, four times during the American Revolution — once in 1775, again in 1776, and twice in 1777. In which was Erastus [Sr.] involved?)

Erastus Sergeant [during the American Revolution] commanded a company in Col. Benjamin Simond’s Berkshire County regiment and was major in the Burgoyne campaign. [In an article about Erastus Sergeant Sr's great-granddaughter, Miss Helen C. Sergeant's ancestry, in "Lineage Book," Volume 13, Northampton, MA, published in 1893/1901 by The Daughters of the American Revolution, Harrisburg, PA: Harrisburg Publishing Company, as downloaded in 2010 from a scan by Google.]

Dr. Sergeant [Sr.] was considered the most skilled surgeon in the Berkshires and was said to have often rode 50(?) miles to see a patient (Berkshire Evening Eagle, Pittsfield, Oct 16, 1950, p. 11).

Dr. Sergeant was also a deacon in his church. (Genealogical notes, or contributions to the family history of some of the first settlers of Connecticut and Massachusetts, by Nathaniel Goodwin, Hartford, CT, 1856, page 132, http://books.google.com/books?id=BTI6rl97_pcC&printsec=frontcover#v...)

In the winter of 1786, Daniel Shays led a group of more than 100 local farmers and citizens in a protest of oppressive actions of the state government. Stockbridge was the center of what became known as "Shays' Rebellion," with sentinels standing guard, and patrolling the streets. "In Stockbridge their victims included Elijah Williams (whom they physically attacked), Erastus Sergeant [Sr], Timothy Edwards, and Jahleel Woodbridge. Edwards and Woodbridge had been despised before and during the Revolution by many Berkshire County radicals, both because of their wealth and because they were judges in the hated courts, which seemed always to oppress debtors. When the rebels were finished they had damaged and robbed the homes of about thirty Stockbridge merchants and professionals and captured more than twenty of the ruling gentry" [Frazier, p. 243; David P. Szatmary, Shays' Rebellion, 1980, pp. 33-36, 108-114]. A battle fought near Stockbridge between Shays' rebels and government troops resulted in 35 casualties, mostly to the rebels. Some authorities consider this the last battle of America’s Revolutionary War.

Erastus [Sr.] was joined in his Stockbridge practice by his brother-in-law, Dr. Oliver Partridge. These two, both fellows of the Massachusetts Medical Society, were appointed to organize a Berkshire branch and at the first meeting called in 1787 at the Red Lion Inn. Fourteen physicians were present.

When one of his daughters turned sixteen, she was dispatched to a female academy in Newark, NJ, where he wrote her a letter advising her to, "apply your mind to those branches of knowledge which you need most, writing, spelling, and geography — and perhaps arithmetic and grammar for the next term — in the female department, you may take your own fancy and learn what you think will be most useful to you. You must be careful how you lay out your money and keep a regular account of it. If the gentlemen who instruct the dancing school are men of character, I shall have no objection to your attending a quarter. Don't forget to read your bible and attend the worship of God on Sundays." (from Sergeant summary, Beineke Library, Yale University)

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[The following was printed in "National Huguenot Society Bible Records: Abstracted from the Files of the Society" ed. by Arthur Louis Finnell, 1996, p. 190-2]

The Sergeant Bible was a gift to Erastus Sergeant, Sr., from his uncle and aunt, Josiah Williams and Elizabeth Sergeant Williams. It contains a record of family members, their marriages, etc. The following is from "a notarized transcript, No Title page or date listed. Copied 1897 in Boston."

The RECORD

Erastus SERGEANT, b. 217 Jul 1743, O.S.

Elizabeth PARTRIDGE, B.15 Mar 1744, O.S. they married 19 Oct 1769, N.S.

Their CHILDREN

John, d.26 Mar 1781, m.8 Jun 1797 to Doc. James B. ROOT

Betsy d. 26 May 1837

Sophia, d.24 Jan 1846

Nancy, d.1 Mar 1797

Oliver Partridge, d.1 Oct 1849

Eunice SERGEANT, b.15 Jan 1782; m.16 Jul 1812, Middlebury, VY to Peter STARR

John SERGEANT, d.24 May 1839; m.6 Dec 1824 to Miss Cynthia WEST

Emily, d.25 Apr 1814

Sewall, d. Aug 1858; 27 Feb 1816 to Clarissa PARTRIDGE

George, d.15 May 1825

Doc. Erastus SERGEANT, d.14 Nov 1814, aged 72yrs 3mos 7days

Mrs Elizabeth Partridge SERGEANT, d.18 Dec 1815, aged 71yrs 8mos 22dys

Mrs Margaret Keeler SERGEANT, d.31 Oct 1837, Peru, IN

Dr Erastus SERGEANT m. to Elizabeth PARTRIDGE, 19 Oct 1769

John, son of Erastus & Elizabeth SERGEANT, b.29 Aug 1770

Dr Erastus, Jr, b.18 Mar 1772; d.20 May 1832, Lee, MA; m. 17 Jun 1802 to Margaret KEELER

Martha, b.7 Dec 1773; m.8 Jun 1797 to Dr James B. ROOT

Elizabeth & Sophie, b.17 Dec 1775

Anna, b.10 Sep 1777; d.1 Mar 1797; aged 20 yrs

Olvier PARTRIDGE, b.7 Aug 1779

Eunice, b.15 Jan 1782; m. 16 Jul 1812 to Peter STARR

John, b.12 Feb 1784

Emily, b.13 Jun 1787; d.25 Apr 1814, Aged 23yrs

Sewall, b.20 Sep 1789

George, b.19 Mar 1792, d.15 May 1825

         ________

Stephen W. Williams, b.30 Jun 1769; d.12 Jan 1790

Mrs Abigail WILLIAMS SERGEANT DWIGHT; d.15 Feb 1791, aged 70 wanting 2 months

Mrs Judith THAYER, sister of Abigail Williams S. DWIGHT, d.5 Apr 1801, aged 80yrs 1mo

Mrs Anna Williams PARTRIDGE, wife of Col Oliver PARTRIDGE, d.21 Dec 1802. aged 85yrs 3mos 4dys

Mrs Eunice STODDARD, wife of Maj Israel STODDARD, d.27 Mar 1807, aged 65 yrs

Mrs Elizabeth JAMES, d.20 Oct 1809, aged 95yrs

Mrs Sarah Gray, d.27 Oct 1809, aged 73yrs

Doc. James B. ROOT, d.28 Feb 1813

Sewall SERGEANT of Stockbridge married to Clarissa PARTRIDGE of Hatfield on 27 Feb 1816

 Their CHILDREN

Catherine Sedgwick, b.19 Apr 1817; d.2 Apr 1896, Lakewood, NJ; m. 6 Aug 1840 to Henry A. De FOREST

an anonymous son, b.30 Jan 1819; d. within half an hour

George, b.19 Feb 1820; d.3 Feb 1875, Northampton, MA; m. 24 Aug 1847 to Lydia A. CLARK of Northampton, MA

Mrs Lydia SERGEANT, d.17 Dec 1862

Caroline Elizabeth, b.26 Jun 1822; m.29 Jul 1846 to George F. De FOREST

Susan, b.3 Feb 1825; d.22 May 1827; aged 2yrs 3mos

Sewall, b.21 May 1827; d.22 Nov 1890, m. to Alma MERCIEN

Clarissa Partridge, b.24 Sep 1829; d.1 Oct 1846; aged 17yrs

Susan Emily, b.29 Mar 1832; m.17 Jun 1857 to Alfred H. DASHIELL, Jr

John Elliot, b.18 Aug 1835; d.26Jan 1895; m.10 Jun 1872 to Caroline H. MATTHEWS

Anna Williams, b.15 Aug 1838; m. to George F. De FOREST

Sewall SERGEANT, b.20 Sep 1789; d.3 Aug 1858

Clarissa PARTRIDGE, b.15 Jan 1793; d.31 Jan 1860

(Copied by Jesse de Forest)

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