Deborah Champion

Deborah Champion was born 3 May 1753 in Gilead, Tolland County, Connecticut. She was the daughter of Colonel Henry Champion (1723-1797) and the sister of General Epaphroditus Champion (1756-1834) and General Henry Champion (1751-1836). Deborah Champion married the Honorable Samuel Gilbert in Gilead, Connecticut, on 3 September 1775. She was his second wife; his first wife was Lydia Post (1734-1775), whom he married in 1760.

Deborah Champion's father was appointed as one of the three commissaries in charge of supplying the patriot forces under Washington during the American Revolution. According to legend, Deborah Champion was 22 when her father asked her to ride from the Westchester section of Colchester through British lines to Boston to deliver papers and paper money (Continental currency) to Washington. He and his soldiers were camped outside Boson, where the British had retreated after the battles of Lexington and Concord in April. The story goes that Deborah Champion pulled her hood over her face and the British soldier who stopped her mistook her for a old woman and let her proceed to Boston. She made her delivery and returned home safely. Deborah Champion Gilbert died in Gilead, Connecticut, on 20 November 1845.