Paul Revere: What You Didn’t Know About This American Hero

By | September 21, 2018

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American silversmith, engraver, and Revolutionary patriot, Paul Revere (1735-1818), on his famous ride spreading the alarm that the Royal troops were advancing by boat. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Most of what we know, or think we know, about the Revolutionary War hero, Paul Revere, probably comes from either vague memories of Second Grade history lessons or from the famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Paul Revere’s Ride”. Yes, it is true that he rode his horse through Boston and into some surrounding small towns late one night to warn the residents that the British were on their way. And, yes, he was an accomplished silversmith, famed for his ‘Revere Ware”. But there was much more to Paul Revere than that. Here’s what you didn’t know about the American Patriot. 

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Paul Revere was Named After His Father…But His Father Wasn’t Born as Paul Revere

It is true. Paul Revere was named after his father. But it is a bit more complicated than that. His father, who was born in France in 1702, was given the name Apollos Rivoire at birth. He actually fled to the New World to avoid religious persecution, settled in Boston and married a girl from a prominent, old Boston family. She encouraged him to Anglicize his first name from Apollos to Paul. He, himself, decided to adopt an English spelling of his last name because, he once wrote, “the Bumpkins could pronounce it easier.” When he and his wife had a son, he was named Paul Revere.