Cady served during the war for independence until its close with Company C., 2nd Battalion, Rhode Island Militia.
His headstone application shows his dates of service as May 1, 1775 through February 1, 1783. Most of the vital records regarding Cady were burned in a fire in Rhode Island; his pension was granted while living in Utica, New York.
Cady married Olive Baker in Providence, Rhode Island, and six children were born to them: Seth B., Rhoda, Mary, Sarah, Philinda and Elias. They resided in New York until Olive’s death in 1838. Cady and his oldest son, Seth, made their way to Holly, Michigan, in late 1838, where he resided until his death March 31, 1853. He is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Holly, Michigan. Elias Cady still has descendants living in the Holly area.
On October 3, 1959, a monument to Elias Cady, a veteran of the Revolutionary War and one of Holly’s first settlers, was unveiled at his gravesite in a special ceremony. He was a veteran of the Battle of Bunker Hill, and because of his heroic action, Elias became General George Washington’s lifeguard.
The National Society Children of the American Revolution have a society named after Elias Cady; the society welcomes children in the Oakland County area where Cady first settled in Michigan.