The David Boyce House, at 7 Lynn Street in Salem, was built in 1782. As mentioned in “Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolution,” in The Essex Antiquarian, Vol. XI (1907),

David Boyce, cordwainer and shoemaker, lived in Salem as early as 1777; married Hannah Lang of Salem July 27, 1777; she was his wife in 1789, and was dead in 1825; he died in Salem Aug. 20, 1838, apparently leaving no issue.

He must have lived in Salem before then, because the sign on his house indicates that he participated in Leslie’s Retreat in 1775 and, according to Charles M. Endicott in his Account of Leslie’s Retreat at the North Bridge in Salem, on Sunday Feb’y 26, 1775 (1856), when the British regulars were approaching,

To remove as many of the guns as the time would permit beyond the reach of the troops, and to a place of safety, appeared the universal determination of the people. Mr. David Boyce, who lived in a house adjoining the North Church, is remembered to have been seen hurrying away with his team, and all the truckmen of the town were upon the spot without delay.