Josiah Yale

He became an early settler and pioneer of Lee, Massachusetts, and was made Justice of the Peace and Minister Treasurer.

He also fought in the Stillwater Alarms of the Saratoga Campaign during the American War of Independence, and was a deputy in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, serving under Gov.

[1] In 1774, Yale bought 50 acres of land from William Andrus of Lenox in the northwest part of Lee, which became part of the estate of Senator Elizur Smith, uncle of paper manufacturer Wellington Smith, Yale's great-grandson.

Yale married to Ruth Tracy on December 26, 1774, in Lee, Massachusetts, one year before the incorporation of the town, and were the first couple recorded in its history.

[4][2] Yale was among the early settlers and pioneers of Lee, Massachusetts, along with Cornelius Bassett, Jesse Gifford, William Ingersoll, Samuel Stanley, and others.

[5][3] The Battle of Lexington, the first military campaign of the American War of Independence, was fought about two years and a half before the incorporation of the town.

[3] On January 4, 1780, Yale was put in charge, with the selectmen of the city, of the payments of 11 soldiers for 6 months of service.

[3] Yale's company during the revolution was part of General David Rosseter's regiment, and saw action at the Stillwater Alarms of the Saratoga Campaign.

[3] At the time, the town of Lee was not yet incorporated, being a wild wilderness, and needed small farms and log houses to sustain its population.

[9] Yale representend the town in the Massachusetts House of Representatives for numbers of years, but lost, along with Colonel Porter, to Capt.

[9] In 1800, he cofounded and assisted in the construction of the first Congregational Church in the city, and stayed involved in the public sphere for much of his life.

[11][3][2] On June 10, 1819, Yale, with Deacon David Ingersoll and others, organized at a town meeting the creation of the Lee Congregational Sunday-School with Dr. Hyde, and was made a member of its committee.

[1] His son, Josiah Yale Jr., became the grandfather of millionaire Wellington Smith, the largest paper manufacturer in America.

Josiah Yale's cousin, Fanny Alsmena Yale of New York, became the mother of Clarissa Hills, who married to Supreme Court Judge Alanson H. Barnes, Associate Justice of Dakota and namesake of Barnes County.