EFFIGIES and MARKERS

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Revolutionary War ancestors



Revolutionary War ancestors, who are 5th great-grandfathers, or 7 generations removed.

Happy Independence Day, brought to you by men and women who paid for our liberties with blood and all the horrors of war. These are some of my Revolutionary War ancestors. I'm trying to add women to the lists. Though they obviously held no rank, they lost husbands, sons, and "collateral damage" young children. They moved away from homes and farms to escape certain death, and sometimes met death anyway. They supported large families of children by themselves, and were probably significant suppliers of woven cloth and food for soldiers.

The research is ongoing, and I add new bits and pieces to the blog article every year.

Paternal ancestors:
Capt. Jared Robinson, 1740-1826, 6th Regiment, Connecticut Line. He served in the French and Indian War, 1759; Continental Army 1775 and 1776; commissioned as a Commander of a ship 1779 and 1781. He and his wife, Mary Thompson, had at least 11 children, born in several locations in Connecticut, so she may have been moving the children around for safety.
Corp. Joseph Howe, 1746-1807, Connecticut 1st Regiment, served 8-month levies until 1782. 
Lt. Asa Stevens, 1734-1778, died in Massacre of Wyoming, Pennsylvania. Hacked to death and scalped by indigenous warriors allied to British troops, who paid bounties for scalps. For a post on Asa's Patriot wife, Sarah Adams Stevens, see this article
Daniel Downing, 1739-1813, Connecticut, Capt. Branch’s Company, Jan. 10, 1778. He was related by marriage to Sarah Adams Stevens, above. He was a private in the French-Indian War in 1759. He also served between 1775 and 1782 with the 3rd  and the 1st New Hampshire Regiment, which saw action at the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Battles of Saratoga, and the Battle of Newtown. In addition, the regiment participated in or was present at the Siege of Boston, the Invasion of CanadaValley Forge, and Sullivan's Expedition.
Pvt. James Hamner, 1725-1792, Mecklenburg, Virginia. 
Pvt. Hugh McDonald, 1757-1828, of South Carolina. Enlisted 1775, 1778, 1780. Fought British in several actions including Sullivan's Island; taken POW in 1779 for 332 days, during which he had smallpox on the prison ship. Wife Rebecca Rogers visited him (probably nursed him) when he was so ill that he was sent ashore. He was released in Fairfield, Virginia, and Rebecca was there with him, 500 miles from home. After his recovery, he volunteered again, as a foot soldier. 
Sgt. William Page, a doctor, served in Amherst, Virginia, beginning in 1777.   
Pvt. John McFatridge, enlisted Feb. 3, 1776. 
Thomas Graham's (1735-1810) name appears on a cenotaph in Shelbyville, Kentucky, with other officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary War.
Pvt. John Grist, 1734-1882, of Connecticut, served in Schenectady, New York, in 1778. 
Pvt. Henry Hamner, 1759-1844 Mecklenburg, Virginia/Kentucky.  In 1778, he guarded an ammunition magazine on the Roanoke River.
Pvt. Charles Carter, 1743-1781, Virginia. Died in service to the Continental Army. 
Pvt. Martin Carter, 1763-1842, Mercer County, Kentucky. He was only 15 years old when he enlisted in the Virginia Militia. 
 

 

 
 
Dr. James Osborne, b. 1748 in Orange, New York, died 1820 Tunkhannock, Penn. He was a surgeon in the Continental Army.   
Pvt. James Trapp, 1760-1832, Ulster, New York, Fourth Regiment -- (Hardenburgh's) Rank Enlisted Men. The regiment would see action in the New York Campaign, Battle of Saratoga, Battle of Monmouth and the Sullivan Expedition.  
Corp. James Westervelt (Westerfield), 1755-1826, New York. (His father, Jacobus Westervelt, age 42, was killed and scalped in the 1780 Westervelt Massacre in Kentucky, moving four families away from British troops. The Dutch-American families were fleeing British occupation, and were slain by English-allied indigenous people on a wilderness road. The husband, Jacobus, only 42, was hacked to death and scalped (the English paid bounties on scalps). One of his sons died. The wife, Mary Demarest Westervelt, hid with three daughters in a sinkhole, and another daughter, Deborah, and niece Polly were abducted to Canada. The natives stole their horses and plundered their goods. When Mary recovered, she went in search of her daughter, but her horse was shot from under her and she was also abducted. She was moved to Fort Detroit, where an English officer released her. The daughter and niece eventually found their own way home from Quebec. Her son James, my 4th-great-grandfather, was not in the massacre because he was away fighting with the Continental Army.)

The British Army paid a bounty on the scalps of the men of the American Continental Army. Some of my ancestors were killed and scalped because of this barbarian practice.

Maternal ancestors:
Capt. James McClure, 1739-1798, 2nd Artillery Regiment, Virginia

Society of the Cincinnati,
Capt. Edward Slocum, founding member

Capt. Edward Slocum, 1748-1822, 1st Continental Battalion, Rhode Island.
Lieutenant, 3rd Rhode Island Regiment, June 1775.
Taken prisoner at Quebec, December 31, 1775, released in 1776.
1st Lieutenant in Continental Army, January 1, 1777.
Captain in Continental Army, May 26, 1777.
Charter member of the Society of the Cincinnati as is shown by the following writing to which his name was subscribed :— "Cantonment of American Army on Hudson's River, May 10th, 1783.   
Capt. Jonathan Proctor II, 1739-1808. Already a veteran of the French and Indian War of the 1750s when he was just 20 years old, he now joined the Continental Army and was promoted to Captain. 
Corp. John Felton, 1741-1820, Served, 1777, as a corporal in Capt. James Lewis' company, Col. Daniel Moore's New Hampshire regiment. 
Ensign Caleb Fowler, 1755-1822, Connecticut.  

 
Pvt. Joseph Scott, 1745-1800, New York. He was a private serving in New York in 1777, 1779, and taken prisoner by British--he was carried to Canada and remained a prisoner of war between May and November 28, 1780.
Corp. Jesse Rowley, 1752-1804, Connecticut.   
James Wallace, 1731-1819, served in New Hampshire's Bellow's Regiment of Militia. 
          Sgt. William Page, 1743-1815, member of Amherst County militia, Virginia





*****
Christy K Robinson is author of these books:
Mary Dyer Illuminated Vol. 1 (2013)  
Effigy Hunter (2015)  

And of these sites:  
Discovering Love  (inspiration and service)
Rooting for Ancestors  (history and genealogy)
William and Mary Barrett Dyer (17th century culture and history of England and New England)
Editornado [ed•i•tohr•NAY•doh] (Words. Communications. Book reviews. Cartoons.)