John Downs, who lived at 139 North Street, was a Connecticut Revolutionary War minuteman, a patriot who stood ready with the local militia to answer alarms quickly. Born in 1745 and dying in 1819, he kept a diary every day for 47 years, from 1763 to 1810, and recorded answering the call of duty several times during the war, including going to New Haven and Fairfield in 1779, to New London in 1778, and to New York on Captain Stow’s sloop on May 16, 1776, and with Captain Charles Pond on August 11, 1776. During the conflict in New York, under orders from General George Washington, he retreated with thousands of Patriots across the East River from Brooklyn before the defeat of British regulars at the Battle of Harlem Heights. While living in the house he built at 139 North Street, he taught during the winter months and wove clothing for most of Milford’s citizens. After Revolutionary War soldiers captured by the British were put ashore in Milford infected with smallpox, he traveled to Salem, NY, to become inoculated, presumably to assist the victims, and nearly died, writing on April 15, 1777, “I broke out by thousands…the pox heavy upon me.” His daily weather records are among the earliest in American history, and his other writings offer a rare glimpse into daily life in Colonial New England. He is buried in Milford Cemetery.