Gridley, Richard (03 January 1711–21 June 1796), artilleryman, military engineer, and entrepreneur, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Captain Richard Gridley and his third wife, Rebecca, whose maiden name is uncertain. His father, a currier by trade and an active militia officer, died when young Richard was only three years old. In 1719 his widowed mother married Benjamin Landon, a Boston shopkeeper. After grammar school, Richard was apprenticed to a merchant. In 1731 he married Hannah Deming; they had nine children....
