John Gammell

(1751 – February 10, 1828) 

John Gammell was a 22-year-old carpenter living in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1773 and was involved in other important events prior to the “destruction of the tea.”

According to historian Francis S. Drake in his 1884 book Tea Leaves, Gammell participated in the Stamp Act Riots of 1765. On December 16, 1773, he made his way to Griffin’s Wharf with his new father-in-law, Thomas Urann, and would share the story of the evening on each anniversary year after year with his children and grandchildren for the remainder of his life. His daughter, Sarah Gammell, documented the names her father mentioned in a list that was preserved at Houghton Library at Harvard University. In the letter, Sarah writes, “I’ve heard mother tell of her anxiety on that night, and how she went to her mother’s home to await the return of her husband on that dreadful night, and they knew not if any would return alive.”  

John Gammell died in Boston, Massachusetts, on February 10, 1828. He is buried in Boston’s Central Burying Ground.