Simon Willard (first generation)

Simon Willard was born at Horsmonden, County Kent, England, in 1605; he was baptized in this same town on 7 April 1605. He moved from England to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1634. At the time he was a major in the English army. Simon Willard is considered a key historical figure in the history of Concord, Massachusetts:  He was a founder of the town, and served it as clerk from 1635 to 1653. He represented it in the Massachusetts General Court from 1636 to 1654, and was assistant and councillor from 1654 to 1676.

He moved to Lancaster in 1660, and in 1672 moved to Groton. On the dispersion of the inhabitants of Groton by King Philip's War (1676), in which he served as major of militia, he settled in Salem. During the war, he was the commanding officer in Middlesex County, Massachusetts and repelled a Nipmuc force that had laid siege to Brookfield. He became a magistrate, and died at an age of 71 years, on 24 April 1676, in Charlestown, Massachusetts, while holding court there.

He was one of the thirteen heads of families in Concord that signed Reverend Peter Bulkeley's 1643 petition to Governor John Endecott in support of Ambrose Martin. One of his seventeen children was Reverend Samuel Willard, minister of the Old South Meetinghouse in Boston and acting president of Harvard College One of Simon Willard's descendants was the celebrated U.S. clockmaker Simon Willard.

The Willard Elementary School in Concord, MA is named after Simon Willard.