Born in Weston, Massachusetts, Samuel Hobbs was a journeyman tanner for Simeon Pratt in 1773 when he allegedly threw tea into Boston Harbor.
Hobbs is mentioned as having repeatedly said that the tea chests “were rather heavy to lift.” Following the Boston Tea Party and the start of the Revolutionary War, Samuel Hobbs established himself as a tanner in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, in the late 1770s. Rather than serve in the militia or Continental Army during the war, Hobbs “found it more convenient to hire a substitute, for active service in the field.” He was apparently “officially concerned in municipal affairs.” Hobbs was described as “six feet, three inches; broad shoulders…and of a dignified appearance.”
Samuel Hobbs died in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, on May 11, 1823. He is buried in the Old Burying Ground in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.
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