Paul Revere was born on New Year's Day, 1735 in Boston, Massachusetts as the oldest of seven children. His mother was a native of Boston, while his father had immigrated from France alone at a very young age. After apprenticing for his father as an artisan, Revere took over the family business at age 19 after the untimely death of his father. He would then spend the next twenty years becoming one of the most notorious and talented goldsmith’s in America. Revere would eventually marry twice, having eight children with his first wife Sarah, who died after 16 years of marriage, and eight more with his second, Rachel.
Although Revere’s family business was successful, he sensed a troublesome time coming because of high tensions in the relationship between the colonies and the British. This lead him to take an active role in the revolution, where once his confidence grew in his ability to lead, his added responsibilities with the freemasons became more prominent. His early role in the revolution was working with Samuel Adams and predominantly being used to engrave propaganda pictures asking for independence from the British. The first major defiant act of Revere’s involvement was when he and others dumped tea into the Boston Harbor, becoming famously known as the Boston Tea Party.
Revere is most famously known for his ride on April 18, 1775. At the time, Revere was employed by the Boston Committee of Correspondence and the Massachusetts Committee of Safety as a rider used to carry news, messages and important documents in a swift manner. On this April night, he was in charge of providing the most important message of all: That the British were coming, and the Battle of Lexington would commence, leading to the beginning of the American Revolution. The message that Revere brought to Lexington was to be delivered to Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Although many points of the message were eventually found untrue (Specifically that Adams and Hancock were to be arrested), the main points were essential: The British were coming and a fight was to commence.
Throughout the Revolutionary War, he played a very minimal part as he was arrested for disobedience and therefore was unable to participate for the cause. Revere was however responsible for manufacturing gun powder and weaponry for the army, creating the nation’s first money, and was the lead commander at Castle William at the Boston Harbor. He will forever be remembered for his night time horse ride, which has made him a folklore hero of sorts. After the Revolution, Revere went back to his business ventures as a craftsman, and also became prominent in his roles as grand master of the Masonic Grand Lodge, as one of the organizer’s of an insurance company in Boston, a coroner, and as the first president of the Boston Board of Health, all while running his own personal hardware store. Revere would retire at the age of 76 in 1811, and would die in Boston on May 10, 1818.