Capt Joshua Gray-Jonathan Hatch Chapter, NSDAR
Welcome! to the Capt Joshua Gray-Jonathan Hatch Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) chartered on Cape Cod, Massachusetts which serves the Upper Cape, Mid-Cape, and Lower & Outer Cape. We are a nonprofit, nonpolitical active 120+ member chapter of women volunteers working together in service to fulfill the organization's three Service to America goals: Historic Preservation, Promotion of Education, and Patriotism.
Our Chapter History
The Jonathan Hatch Chapter, NSDAR, joined with the Captain Joshua Gray Chapter, NSDAR, in 2009 and is now known as the Capt Joshua Gray-Jonathan Hatch Chapter, NSDAR.
Who was Captain Joshua Gray?
The Captain Joshua Gray Chapter, NSDAR, was organized July 24, 1962, with Alice M. Sperl as the organizing Regent. The chapter was named after Captain Joshua Gray who was born in 1743 and was a prominent figure in Yarmouth during the American Revolution. The official military record of Joshua Gray says that he was captain of a company of minutemen who marched April 20, 1775, in response to the alarm of April 19. Joshua married Mary Hedge in 1766 and had ten known children. Joshua Gray died on March 31, 1791, at the age of 47, and he is buried alongside his wife in the Ancient Cemetery in Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts.
Who was Private Jonathan Hatch?
The Jonathan Hatch Chapter, NSDAR, was organized February 10, 1934, with Adelaide Rand Howe as the organizing Regent. Since 1934, there were 26 Regents. The chapter was named after Jonathan Hatch, a private in Col. Nathaniel Freeman's regiment. Jonathan married Anna Davis in 1767 and had five known children. He died on July 28, 1796 and is buried in the East End Burial Ground in East Falmouth, Massachusetts.
Remembering Cape Cod Patriots Who Sacrificed their Lives
In 1780, at the age of 27, Lt. Isaac Bangs of Harwich, Massachusetts was killed in the Revolutionary War in Virginia. Isaac was born in 1752, the second son to Benjamin and Desire (Dillingham) Bangs. Why does history remember him so well? Isaac kept an extensive first-person journal of his time in the war, which has been preserved.
“Isaac Bangs of Brewster was so much taken up with the Patriot cause that the young Harvard College graduate left a medical practice to join the fight on land and sea. In 1776 he was present at two of the most significant moments of the War for Independence: the British forces evacuation of Boston and the Continental Army’s escape from New York City.” [1]
Two of Isaac Bangs journal entries:
“Achievements were performed and great Glory added to the Arms of the Americans by the expulsion of the Ministerial Army from their Strong Holds in Boston, in which according to my Station I did my proportion of the fatigueing Duty…April 1st, 1776.” [2]
Isaac boarded a ship and arrived in Manhattan on April 17. “Gen’l Washington with several other Generals marched by us, the Officers Saluted, & our Reg’t received the Particular thanks of the Gen’l for their good conduct” [3]
References from "The Revolutionary War of Cape Cod and the Islands", published by Cape and Islands Historians Committee: [1] page 143, [2] page 143, [3] page 145
Learn more about Isaac and other Cape Cod Patriots in "The Revolutionary War of Cape Cod and the Islands." Click here to purchase the book on our America 250! page.
Image courtesy of "The Revolutionary War on Cape Cod and the Islands, page 144.
Revolutionary War Patriot Marker Project across Cape Cod
These three Patriots are located in the Winthrop Street Cemetery, Provincetown, Massachusetts. Photos courtesy of our Chapter Registrar.
Massachusetts DAR Revolutionary War Patriots Marker Dedication in the Dennis Village Cemetery, Dennis, Massachusetts. Also pictured, Chapter Member Capt. Lucy Young (Ret) presiding at Veterans Day Ceremony 2025. Photos courtesy of chapter members.