Richard Falley, Jr.

Besides General Shepard, Westfield had other sons in the Revolution. When " that shot which was heard around the world " was fired at Lexington, Captain Warham Parks, Lieutenant John Shepard, Ensign Richard Falley and seventy men immediately started for Boston and Adjutant Russell Dewey served throughout the war, except for a brief period when he was ill. Captain Parks was promoted to a captaincy.

There was no more ardent patriot in New England than Richard Falley. The family originated on the Island of Guernsey and the name was originally spelled Faille. The first American ancestor was Richard Falley who was kidnapped from his home in Guernsey and taken to Nova Scotia. From there he went to the then " District of Maine " and married Ann Lamb, and sometime before 1756, they moved to Westfield. Richard Falley, Jr., the soldier of the Revolution, was born in George's River, Maine, on January 31, 1740. His courage and patriotism, for which he was notable, was shown early in life. When but sixteen years old he enlisted in the Provincial army. At the surrender of Fort Edward he was captured by Indians and taken to Montreal by a Chief, who adopted him into the Tribe. Sometime later, he was ransomed by a lady, the price paid being sixteen gallons of rum. After his ransom, Richard immediately returned to Westfield.

After the battle of Lexington, he went with Captain Park's company to Roxbury, as ensign of that company, and in the Battle of Bunker Hill he commanded a company. His fourteen-year-old son, Frederick, was with his father at Bunker Hill in the capacity of drummer. The little fellow possessed his father's patriotic spirit and as the only thing he could do in that historic fight was to drum, drum he did so long as the fight lasted. The little drummer later became a major. In the Revolution Mr. Falley made guns for the Patriot army in Montgomery, Massachusetts. The site of the armory was a deep glen through which a small stream ran, at the foot of Mt. Tekoa. This place was chosen because its seclusion made it nearly impossible for the British to know anything about it. Mr. Falley's house — still

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standing and occupied by Mr. J. J. La Valley, the Springfield artist, as a summer home — was situated on a tiny plateau jutting out from the foot of Mt. Tekoa. His workmen lived at Pochassic on the flats along the Westfield River, in the town of Westfield. Richard Falley died on September 3,1808, and was buried in West-field. Richard Falley, Jr., was the maternal grandfather of the Hon. Grover Cleveland, formerly president of the United States.