The Shoemakers: The Locke Family

Sitting at the corner of the road leading to Winchester, today called Forest Street, stood the home of local shoemaker, Abel Locke. Researching Menotomy’s history in 1864, Reverend Samuel Abbot Smith interviewed a descendent of the Whittemore family. Mrs. Elizabeth Whittemore was married to Henry Whittemore, grandson of Samuel Whittemore. Mrs. Whittemore recounted that in the early morning hours of April 18, 1775, the British troops spotted a light shining in the window of the home, and stopped to inquire as to why the residents were awake at such an early hour. Mrs. Locke replied that her husband was sick and she was making him tea. Satisfied with the response, the British soldiers left the family and continued on their march towards Lexington. What the shoemaker’s wife was really cooking, however, were musket balls.1 Pewter plates were commonly melted down to make ammunition during the early years of the American Revolution, especially as supplies were short. 

Furthermore, the Committee of Supplies had most recently met in Menotomy only hours earlier. The Committee of Supplies made clear, among their twenty-one votes that day, that supplies were of grave concern among the organized opposition.3 While colonial militia had worked to secure as much ammunition as possible during the Siege of Boston, growing concerns about a possible conflict likely rallied Patriots to create more with the materials at hand. Women had become politically mobilized early on during the Stamp Act crisis, demonstrating their political allegiance in numbers of ways, including creating and wearing homespun. It would not seem far fetched to see Mrs. Locke demonstrating her patriotism by melting down pewter plates into musket balls. While the story is not corroborated by any contemporary sources at the time of American Revolutionary War, it still serves as a reminder of the patriotism and efforts put forth by ordinary people as they confronted the emergence of a war on their doorsteps. The British troops would continue their march, departing Menotomy and arriving in Lexington just before dawn. For the Locke family and Menotomy, however, the battle had yet to begin.