In what way did he serve to earn the title Lieutenant?

Question

I have seen the grave of Thomas Garfield (or Gearfeld) Sr. (12-12-1680 to 2-4-1752), and many online records and they all say the same thing, that he is a Lieutenant, but none of them verify or even suggest any sort of military or militia service.  Has anyone found this service?

Answer 1

According to the Genalogy of the John Bridge family in America (published 1924) which cites Bond's History of Watertown as an authority; Thomas Garfield's father, Captain Benjamin Garfield, was captain of the militia at Watertown, and so I would expect his son to have served as an officer in the town militia under him.

Most able bodied men, (less clergy and a few others) served in some capacity in the town militias of the period. They prepared to defend against the French and the Indians (and the Dutch prior to 1634), These militia would also sometimes serve as a posse to hunt fugitives, and as a bucket brigade to fight fires, or even maintaining town roads and communal buildings.

Also in case you are interested the book I looked at http://archive.org/stream/genealogyofjohnb00brid#page/n559/mode/2up/search/garfield has the 8 siblings and half siblings for Thomas Garfield as well as his other 11 children.