Author Tells Story of Medfield's Daughter of Liberty, Miss Mercy Scollay

The Medfield Historical Society will present the second of its spring programs, “Dr. Major General Joseph Warren and Medfield's Own Daughter of Liberty - Miss Mercy Scollay,” taking place at the at 26 North St. in Medfield on March 5 at 7:30 p.m.

Samuel Forman, author of the newly published "Dr. Joseph Warren: The Boston Tea Party, Bunker Hill, and the Birth of American Liberty," will share new discoveries about Miss Scollay, a most distinguished and unrecognized Medfield resident.

Joseph Warren, a pioneering doctor who quickly became the most prominent physician in Boston, played a leading role in the early Revolutionary period. He was author of The Suffolk Resolves, the person who sent Paul Revere on that famous ride and a hero of the Battle of Bunker Hill, where he was killed.

Next to the Adamses, Warren was the most influential leader of the Whig faction in Massachusetts. His tragic death strengthened their zeal for the popular cause and helped to prepare the way for the acceptance of the Declaration of Independence. Warren had married Elizabeth Hooton in 1764, but Elizabeth died in 1773 at the age of 26, leaving Joseph the parent of four children under the age of 10. In 1774 Warren met Medfield’s Mercy Scollay, a schoolmistress and a Daughter of Liberty herself. Their engagement would be cut short by his death in 1775.

From the time of his death until early the following year, Warren's children stayed with Mercy Scollay. During the Siege of Boston, a smallpox epidemic ravaged the city and the children were moved to safety at their uncle Ebenezer's home in Worcester. In 1777, the children returned to Scollay's home in Boston, as Samuel Adams and their uncle Dr. John Warren "thought it best that the children should be kept together."

Learn about this tragic romance, Miss Mercy's patriotic poetry, her interactions with leading Patriots and her long life as an unofficial widow.

Copies of Sam Forman's highly-reviewed book will be available for sale at the meeting, and the author will sign them if requested.

Admission is free and open to the public, although donations to offset program costs are always appreciated. Refreshments will be served after the program.