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Major Aaron Guild (1728-1818)
Sarah Coney Guild (1733-1755)
Anna Coney Guild (1728-1776)
Sarah Blackman Guild (1734-1812)
Aaron Guild, born on April 5, 1728, the youngest son of Nathaniel and Mehitable Hartshorn Guild of Dedham, and a fourth-generation descendant of Dedham proprietor John Guild. As he matured, Guild became a farmer; his homestead stood on Walpole Street, then known as the Wrentham Road. His fields were across the way.
Aaron Guild married Sarah Coney Guild, who was born on April 18, 1733, on January 1, 1751. The young couple had two children: Aaron Jr. (1753-1832) and Oliver (1755-1814). Within two weeks of Oliver’s baptism, Sarah died on February 18, 1755 just shy of her 22nd birthday.
Aaron Guild next married Annah Coney (Sarah’s aunt) sometime in 1756. Annah was born on September 23, 1728. In 1758, Guild was commissioned into the military. Serving in Captain Eliphalet Fales’ company, he participated in the Lake George Expedition during the French and Indian War. Annah Guild kept the farm going during his absence and together they had eight children: Sarah, Jacob, Anna, Joel, Abner, Priscilla, John, and Nathaniel. Anna Coney Guild died on August 24, 1776 at 47, leaving her husband with children whose ages ranged from Sarah, at 19, down to 1-year-old Nathaniel. And, a Revolutionary War was ongoing.
Aaron Guild was a loyal militia man and, in 1771, had been promoted to Captain; he had become a member of the local Committee of Safety in 1774, and was prepared to serve when the call came from Lexington and Concord a year later. During the war that followed, Guild spent a few days at Dorchester Heights in March of 1776 and, later that year, he served a total of four months with his company, guarding Hull harbor, eventually rising to the rank of Major.
On December 11, 1777, Aaron Guild married Sarah Blackman of Stoughton. Sarah had been born on September 17, 1734. Aaron and Sarah grew old together. She died on June 6, 1812 at the age of 78. Major Aaron Guild died on February 3, 1818, having lived through, but not participated in, yet another conflict.
During Norwood’s Old-Home Week celebration in 1902, Aaron Guild was chosen as a representative figure from among the Revolutionary War veterans of South Dedham. A commemorative stone was placed in front of the Morrill Memorial Library, on land that had once belonged to Guild. It reads:
Near this spot
Capt. Aaron Guild
on April 19, 1775
left plow in furrow and oxen standing,
and departing for Lexington,
arrived in time to fire upon
the retreating British.
Five years later, in 1907, following a contest sponsored by the Norwood Business Association, a depiction of the rugged farmer shouldering his rifle and leaving his oxen behind, drawn by George L. Boyden, was selected as the official town seal.