Private Eliakim Morrill

Eliakim Morrill (1753 - 1824) of English heritage, was born in Wilmington, Massachusetts and responded to the alarm of 19 April in Lexington from there. He was married in Natick in 1781 and appeared on the Natick roll for the alarm to Rhode Island, serving ten days.

In 1782 he purchased two and a quarter acres of land in South Natick where he built the “Old Tavern” and ran it for 17 years.  After a long line of owners, the building was sold to Goin Bailey in 1849.  Although it burned in the 1872 fire, it was rebuilt as Bailey’s Hotel, on the site of today’s Shaw Park. Goin Bailey’s home, a Greek Revival mansion, built in 1839, remains today at 49 Eliot Street and is used as offices.

He is buried in the Old Village Cemetery in Dedham.