Nielsen Hayden genealogy

Gen. Joseph Cilley

Male 1734 - 1799  (65 years)


Personal Information    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    All

  • Name Joseph Cilley 
    Prefix Gen. 
    Birth 1734  Nottingham, Rockingham, New Hampshire Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2
    Gender Male 
    Death 25 Aug 1799  Nottingham, Rockingham, New Hampshire Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2
    Burial Gen. Joseph Cilley Cemetery, Nottingham, Rockingham, New Hampshire Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Person ID I35334  Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others
    Last Modified 22 Mar 2023 

    Father Capt. Joseph Ceilley,   b. 6 Oct 1701, Hampton, Rockingham, New Hampshire Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1786, Nottingham, Rockingham, New Hampshire Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 84 years) 
    Mother Alice "Else" Rawlins,   b. 1701, of Exeter, Rockingham, New Hampshire Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1801 (Age 100 years) 
    Marriage Between 1724 and 1725  Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 3, 4
    Family ID F20675  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Sarah Longfellow,   b. 17 Nov 1739, Hampton Falls, Rockingham, New Hampshire Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 23 May 1811, Nottingham, Rockingham, New Hampshire Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 71 years) 
    Marriage 4 Nov 1756  Nottingham, Rockingham, New Hampshire Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 5
    Children 
    +1. Maj. Greenleaf Cilley,   b. 1 Mar 1767, Nottingham, Rockingham, New Hampshire Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 24 Feb 1808, Nottingham, Rockingham, New Hampshire Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 40 years)
    Family ID F20756  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 22 Mar 2023 

  • Notes 
    • From Wikipedia (accessed 19 May 2021):

      Joseph Cilley (1734 – August 25, 1799) was a New Hampshire state senator and general.

      Cilley was born in 1734 at Nottingham, Province of New Hampshire, to Captain J. Cilley of the Isles of Shoals and his wife Alice Rawlings. In 1758 he joined Rogers' Rangers and served in northern New York and Canada. On December 15, 1774 he was with John Langdon and John Sullivan in the raid on Fort William and Mary at New Castle, New Hampshire.

      At the start of the American Revolutionary War, Cilley was appointed major of the 2nd New Hampshire Regiment. After the Siege of Boston, he was promoted to Lt. Col. in the 1st New Hampshire Regiment, and he and the regiment were sent to reinforce the Continental Army in Canada fighting at the Battle of Trois-Rivières. With the defeat of the Continental Army in Canada the 1st New Hampshire was sent to New Jersey and Gen. George Washington's main army. Cilley took part in the Battle of Trenton and the Battle of Princeton. With the resignation of John Stark, Cilley took command of the 1st New Hampshire and led them during the Saratoga Campaign of 1777, and the Battle of Monmouth and the Battle of Stony Point in 1778. Henry Dearborn was among the officers under his command. In 1779, Cilley and the 1st New Hampshire were with Gen. Sullivan in his campaign against the Iroquois and Loyalists in western New York.

      On March 19, 1779, the New Hampshire Assembly voted unanimously, "that the worthy Col. Jos. Cilley be presented with a pair of pistols as a token of this State's good intention to reward merit in a brave officer." These pistols are now housed at the Museum of New Hampshire History in Concord, New Hampshire. Cilley retired from the Continental Army on January 1, 1781.

      After the war, he was appointed major general of the 1st Division of New Hampshire Militia, June 22, 1786. Later that year, he commanded troops who put down the Paper Money Riot. Cilley was elected to the New Hampshire Senate and Treasurer, Vice President and President of the Society of the Cincinnati in New Hampshire. Cilley died on August 25, 1799, at his home in Nottingham.

      Cilley married Sarah Longfellow on November 4, 1756. They had ten children, including Greenleaf Cilley, whose sons Joseph Cilley and Jonathan Cilley would become a U. S. Senator and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, respectively.

      Mount Cilley in the White Mountains is named for him.

  • Sources 
    1. [S5807] The Cilley Pages by Mark Cilley, at cilley.net, via the Wayback Machine at archive.org.

    2. [S6858] Priscilla Eaton, "Daughters of Liberty in 1774 Nottingham, New Hampshire." The Genealogist 37:117, Spring 2023.

    3. [S5808] Cilley Family by J. P. Cilley. Augusta, Maine, 1877., date only.

    4. [S6858] Priscilla Eaton, "Daughters of Liberty in 1774 Nottingham, New Hampshire." The Genealogist 37:117, Spring 2023., years only.

    5. [S5807] The Cilley Pages by Mark Cilley, at cilley.net, via the Wayback Machine at archive.org., date only.