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Historical Sites related to the Life and Career of Benedict Arnold


  1. Friends of Benedict Arnold

Mercy Scollay Grave

Vine Lake Cemetery, 25 Main St, Medfield, MA

Mercy Scollay is mentioned in most biographies of Benedict Arnold. She was the fiancée of Gen. Dr. Joseph Warren, a patriot political and military leader in the early days of the Revolution. He was killed in the Battle of Bunker Hill, leaving four young children whose mother had died previously. Mercy made it her mission to care for those children. Although Warren's brother John stepped in and adopted them, Mercy remained a big part of their life, at times taking them into her care. As noted in my gallery on Gen. Warren (q.v.), the Massachusetts Provincial Congress was slow to appropriate funds for the family of the slain general, so Benedict Arnold stepped in to lobby the congress on their behalf, and to send his own funds to help in the meantime. Most of the biographies mention this to demonstrate that Arnold had a generous, and not a greedy, heart. Christian DiSpigna's 2018 biography of Warren, "Founding Martyr," says that recent research has found that Arnold was even more generous with his own funds than previously known. He cites a letter from Mercy to Arnold (footnote for p.205, on p. 286.) The amount Arnold had sent by July of 1780 was nearly 3000 pounds for the children's boarding, clothing and education.

Mercy never married, and was considered Warren's unofficial widow. She later moved to Medfield and helped with the children of her sister Mary, who had married Rev. Thomas Prentiss. Mary named a daughter Mercy Scollay Prentiss in 1800, when her sister was 59 years of age.
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The grave of Mercy Scollay Prentiss Davis, the niece of Mercy Scollay.
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The grave of Mercy Scollay Prentiss Davis, the niece of Mercy Scollay.

  • The Prentiss family plot, with the grave of Mercy Scollay at the left in this photo, three stones to the left of the large white monument to her sister and brother-in-law (Rev. Thomas and Mary Scollay Prentiss.) To locate this plot, enter the cemetery from the gate on Main St closest to Causeway St. Drive straight in passing the first road on the left and going about halfway to the next left. Look for the Prentiss monument two rows from the road, on your left.
  • Gravestone of Mercy Scollay
  • Untitled photo
  • Upper part of the inscription
  • Lower part of the inscription
  • Inscription on the front of the Prentiss monument, in honor of Mercy's brother-in-law
  • Inscription on the side of the Prentiss monument, in honor of Mercy's sister Mary.
  • Note the gravestone in the foreground, second from the right, in the row along the road in front of the Prentiss monument. It marks the grave of a daughter of Mercy Scollay's sister, Mary Prentiss, born when Mercy was 59, and named after her.
  • The grave of Mercy Scollay Prentiss Davis, the niece of Mercy Scollay.
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