Abijah Willard

Abijah Willard (27 July 1724 at Lancaster, Massachusetts – 28 May 1789 in Saint John, New Brunswick) was a soldier during the French and Indian War who wrote a journal during the Expulsion of the Acadians.[1][2] During King George's War, he fought in the Siege of Louisbourg (1745).[3] During the French and Indian War, he fought in the Battle of Fort Beauséjour.

On the eve the American Revolution, Willard was imprisoned in Connecticut. He went with the Loyalists in Boston and left for Halifax, Nova Scotia. He returned to New York but was again evacuated to Nova Scotia, this time in present-day New Brunswick.[4]

He died in Saint John, New Brunswick. He married 2 Dec. 1747 Elizabeth Prescott of Groton, secondly in 1752 Anna Prentice of Lancaster, and thirdly in 1772 Mary, widow of John McKown of Boston. Elizabeth Prescott Willard was a sister of Col. William Prescott, comnmander at Breed's Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Col. Prescott also shared a kinship with Lt. Col. Moses Parker, who was mortally wounded during the Battle of Bunker Hill. Lt. Col. Moses Parker, married his cousin Sarah Parker Parker, a descendant of Jacob Parker (b. 1626). Jacob Parker was a 2x great grandfather of Pres. Franklin Pierce. Franklin Pierce was a law partner of Arthur Eddy, sister of Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Christian Science Church and the Christian Science Monitor newspaper. A monument of Mary Baker Eddy was erected in Mount Auburn Cemetery, near the old Sir Richard Saltonstall Plantation in Watertown, Massachusetts. The Saltonstall Plantation Landing is now known as the Oliver, Gerry and Lowell Landing, which is on the north side of the Charles River, across the river from Soldier's Field. Sir Richard Saltonstall was a passenger on the Susan and Ellen, along with Dea. Thomas Parker (b. 1609), brother of Jacob Parker (b. 1626).