Founding Martyr (episode 103)

In this week’s show, we are talking about all things Joseph Warren. Author Christopher di Spigna joins us to discuss his book Founding Martyr: The Life and Death of Dr. Joseph Warren, the American Revolution’s Lost Hero, a new biography of our favorite patriot. We’ll start with his boyhood in a Roxbury filled with farms and apple orchards, then cover his education at Harvard, his rise in politics, his untimely death at the start of the revolution, and the recent discovery of living descendants.


Founding Martyr

Porringer Handle from John Adams to Joseph Warren made by Benjamin Burt and in possession of Joseph Warren’s direct descendants. (Photo courtesy of Christian Di Spigna)

Some more related reading:

 

Featured Historic Site

In 1848, the Roxbury city council authorized the purchase of two farms totaling up to 71 acres, and purchases in later years brought the parcel to 275 acres.  Inspired by Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Henry A. S. Dearborn designed a park-like setting to bury and remember family and friends.  Today, Forest Hills Cemetery is the final resting place of ee cummings, William Lloyd Garrison, Lucy Stone, and William Dawes – who not-so-famously journeyed to Lexington and Concord via the land route as Paul Revere rowed across the Charles and departed from Charlestown.  And, of course, our Joseph Warren.

Forest Hills is just a short walk from the Orange Line station of the same name.  

Upcoming Event

On November 1 at 6pm, author Stephanie Schorow will speak at the Charlestown branch of the BPL about her latest book Inside the Combat Zone: The Stripped Down Story of Boston’s Most Notorious Neighborhood.  Here’s the description from the BPL website:

The Friends of the Charlestown Branch of the Boston Public Library hosts a book presentation on Inside the Combat Zone: The Stripped Down Story of Boston’s Most Notorious Neighborhood by author and reporter Stephanie Schorow. In her provocative new book, Schorow recounts the stories that made the zone infamous and introduces the players and tragedies behind this audacious social experiment, heralded across the nation as the solution to the pornography epidemic. Free and open to all, including a book signing and reception.