Lieutenant William Boden, Esq.

Lieutenant William Boden, Esq. (1735 - 1807) of English heritage, was 40 years old at the outbreak of the American Revolution. He owned a farm and served as Natick’s first English Justice of the Peace. Boden and his wife, Kezia, generously donated the land that became Boden Lane Cemetery where they are buried, along with at least a half dozen Revolutionary War soldiers.  (We have shown its location on the 1750 Livermore Map, although it was not established until 1815.)

Lt. Boden answered the alarm of April 19 in Lexington, enlisting the following week. Records indicate that he served at Fort George in New York in 1776, the site of the largest smallpox hospital for American soldiers. Many soldiers returning from the disastrous campaign to capture Quebec, led by Col. Benedict Arnold, were treated there.