Josiah Quincy II (1744-1775)

He was born at Boston, Massachusetts, and after graduating from Harvard (1763) became a lawyer. In the run-up to the Revolution, he was the principal spokesman for the Sons of Liberty at Boston. He acted as John Adams' co-counsel during the trials of Captain Thomas Preston and the soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre, facing his brother Samuel Quincy and Robert Treat Paine for the prosecution. In 1769, he married Abigail, daughter of William Phillips, of Boston, and sister of the 10th Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts. They were survived by a son.