THE MARLBORO ELM 



of anyone who could possibly make harder 

 the struggle of a feeble province, almost 

 without arms and ammunition of war against 

 the then most powerful nation of the earth. 

 The bullets fired lodged in a beam, and 

 were extracted and preserved by Mr. Samuel 

 Gibbon. Rev. Smith, becoming less popular, 

 and because oj impaired voice resigned the 

 ministry here and in 1778 removed to Way- 

 land where he died three years later. In 

 1784, Mr. Samuel Gibbon came with his wife 

 from Dedham and bought this old house, im- 

 proving it in many ways. He was a trader, a 

 prominent citizen and many years a Justice of 

 the Peace. He also represented the town in 

 the Legislature. Samuel Gibbon willed the 

 old homestead to his son who cared for his 

 father to his death. The property eventually 

 passed into the hands of William Gibbon's 

 daughter Mary, who married Frank Howe, 

 and, in 1903, the place was purchased by Dr. 

 Ralph E. Stevens who with his family resides 

 in this, one of Marlboro's oldest landmarks." ' 



1 Ella A. Bigelow, "Historical Reminiscences of Marlboro," 

 Chap. 2. 



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