Treasure Thursday---Patriot's Day 2012 -- my Patriots

Well, the theme is Treasure today, and since it falls on Patriot's Day, it seems fitting to acknowledge the treasure of my Patriot ancestors.

Started in 1969, this day ( known as Patriots' Day in Massachusetts) was formed as a civic holiday in Massachusetts and Maine (it's a school holiday in Wisconsin), celebrated on the third Monday in April.  It commemorates the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord ( April 19, 1775), the acknowledged first battles of the Revolutionary War.  So this year the holiday didn't fall on the actual day.... but I believe in celebrating the actual day, which is the 237th anniversary!

It is always a reminder and great wonder, that although three of my four grandparents were 20th century (1905, 1913) immigrants, I have one lone American grandparent, through whom I have managed to find 2 Civil War heroes, at least 6 Revolutionary War heroes (including a Minuteman!), and Mayflower ancestry.

I will list all the known ( in alphabetical order) and the possible Revolutionary War heroes and patriots, especially the one ancestor who actually responded to the alarms of Lexington and Concord. If you are descended from any of them please contact me!!!

Isaiah Burton
The only mention of Isaiah Burton's service is found in the Cattaraugus County NY History biography of his son, where it states "...his father, Isaiah, a native of Hopkington, R.I. was a Revolutionary soldier."  I have been trying to find the proof for almost 30 years, but since he named the son Varnum after a revolutionary war general, and was living with the son in 1850 as a 89 year old RI native, I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this day.

 Jonathan Haynes
Jonathan Haynes appears on a notice for Captain Robinson's Company of Vermont Militia to appear on Nov 1, 1775.   No pension or other data found so far. 

Squire/Squier Ide
Squire Ide from Rehoboth, Massachusetts enlisted April 28th 1775 in Capt. Samuel Bliss' company, Col. Timothy Walker's (22d) regiment. service 3 months, 11 days, appears on a muster roll dated Aug 1 1775, reported discharged Sept 25, 1775, also received an order for a bounty coat or its equivalent in money dated Roxbury, Oct 26, 1775. He served 2 days at Tiverton, R.I. in Capt. Sylvanus Martin's co., Col Williams regiment from Oct 7, 1777 to Oct 9, 1777. He then served in Capt. Ichabod Wade's (light Infantry) Col. George Williams regiment immediately thereafter for 21 days.  Later he served 12 days as a private in Capt. Jonathan Woodbury's co., Col. Jacob Davis' regiment enlisting July 30, 1780, discharged 7 Aug 1780 at Rhode Island at an alarm including 4 days travel home.


Daniel Robinson 
Daniel did not fight. Instead, he manufactured saltpeter for a powder mill in Windham, CT.  His son Jonathan served( see below).  Maybe they used his ammo at the battles of Lexington and Concord ?
 
Jonathan Robinson  pension S18182
Jonathan Robinson, Daniel's son,  served 2 months as draftee in Capt Hezekiah Bissel's and Lt. Nehemiah Tinker's Company in Nov 1776 (at age 16), marched to R.I.  On the 10 Apr 1777 he spent 2 months service as draftee under Cap. Nehemiah Tinker in Col Tyler's regiment Connecticut Militia, and was at Fort Griswold, Groton, CT.  In April 1778 he enlisted for term of 1 year in Capt Abner Robinson's Co, Col. Samuel McLellan's Regiment, Connecticut State troops, to be available as minuteman. He marched to White Plains in June of 1778, then marched to West Point 40 rods from Fort Clinton, remaining there until mid September. A few days after returning to Windham, they were called to New London,  and remained near Fort Trumbull until the end of January 1779.

Jabez Rouse
enlisted /appointed Sergeant in Capt. Vine Elderkin, later Thomas Converse's Company, Col. Heman Swift's Battalion  7th CT troops, on Feb 17, 1777 for a term of three years, discharged Feb 17, 1780.  During those three years, the 7th Ct fought in the Battle of Brandywine, the Battle of Germantown, and the Battle of Monmouth.  The 7th Ct is listed as one of the regiments at Valley Forge!


Thomas Mix Sr.  or Thomas Mix Jr.
There were three Thomas Mixes in Wallingford CT at the time of the Revolution... One, known as Thomas Mix 2nd drew a pension, and is a cousin to my Thomas Mix Jr.  Either Sr. Or Jr. signed an Oath of Fidelity, and perhaps the younger fought if the service is not all Thomas Mix the 2nd.  I haven't looked into this line well at all....


James Wadsworth
James was a true Patriot Day Minuteman. He served in Capt. Abraham Sedgwick's company for the Lexington and Concord alarms!


and now the possibles, namely any male in my tree alive past  April 1775... (and unfortunately at this point I'm only considering male ancestors, until I have a lot more info on the wives).... These were alive during the Revolutionary War:

Whiting Backus 1747-1775:  He dies in 1775 at age 27 in Windham, CT  but no date or reason ... still searching for answers.
Henry Brace 2nd  1713-1787. The service is given to his son, Henry (3rd?) b. 1844. Still haven't found if the father fought or provided other services.
Samuel Flint1712-1802: He seems to be the lone possible Tory of the group, but still looking for an Oath of Fidelity or other service.
Israel Robinson 1696-Jan 1776:  was old, but perhaps gave money? His son & grandson were definitely patriots.
John Rouse 1717-1779: Generally a wanderlust guy, was divorced by wife citing abandonment.... haven't found much on him at all.
Elisha Wadsworth is most probably a Tory. He appears to have come to the aid of a convicted Tory....
Ichabod Wadsworth, father of Elisha and grandfather of James was  old, but alive until 1778... not much research time has been spent on him....

So there they all are... except maybe the next time, I'll show all the women of my pedigree, who ran the homes and farms while these guys went off to war... Happy Patriot's Day!


 

Random Research Items

Well, rather than creating a Surname Saturday regular post, I spent this evening doing some random research into several branches.  I then of course became entangled with one of my biggest genealogical pet peeves, the unsubstantiated public trees on ancestry.com....( followed closely by the peeve of finding the place names of say "Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States of America"  for a date in the 1600s!... sigh)

The furthest back I have gotten in the Mix line is Daniel Meekes and his wife, always listed as "Mrs. Daniel Meekes"  so I backed up one generation to Thomas Mix married to Rebecca Turner, and decided to look for her parents.  Her father is Nathaniel Turner. so I started to look.  The first source was of course NEHGS "Great Migration" database... where I found him, with of course Origin: unknown... and wife as _____ ______ .  For curiosity, I decided to look at ancestry, just to see what trees people have listed....
and there I find several with a wife listed as Margaret Leachland, but no sourcing.  Then of course there are those trees  (a lot of them!!!)  who wrongly list Nathaniel as the son of Humphrey Turner and Julia Gamer.... but the son Nathaniel of Humphrey was born in about 1624 which makes it impossible for Nathaniel to have a daughter Rebecca born in about 1629 married in 1649...   and of course those are the "hints" that I should merge with my tree! Not likely!    I keep my tree private on ancestry to keep that from happening!
Anyway, the only interesting fact I gathered was that from all the data in NEHGS was that Nathaniel Turner died at sea in 1645/6  and that Rebecca and Thomas Meekes (later Mix) were in court in July 1649 "to answer to their sinful miscarriage in  matter of fornication, with sundry lies added thereto by them both in a gross and heinous manner" and were married by September 4th of that year!  And that from all the offices in the colonies that Nathaniel held, and all the property, he must have been highly educated, was a great military talent, and could accrue wealth in the early colonial period! So I have a great ancestor!
Perhaps I'll find more data later...

On to the next blank on the pedigree, and perhaps a better find!

New Year Resolutions

I hate New Year's Resolutions... it seems that growing up, they were always thrust upon me by parents or teachers.... and what should they be but ... do better in school ( I was already doing very well Thank you!) , or to pick up my room more often, obey parents better,  and later, lose weight, etc. And I always failed because I was making resolutions to do things I hated in the first place, and not of my own volition, and many that would be impossible to meet.  Because I am a perfectionist, and because I can't be perfect, I procrastinate at anything I didn't like, or couldn't do perfectly! So left on my own, I wouldn't make any. But there is ALWAYS room for improvement, so I  now make smaller goals that can be achieved as a subset of a large single goal!
Even in the one thing I love, Genealogy, I hate to make the resolutions, but recognize that I need to state some goals, or I'll never accomplish much... I started doing genealogy in 1974, before the age of computers and internet, and so accumulated a lot of paper, along with tons of very interesting information.  And as most of my friends know, I am a great researcher, and can find any information you need fairly quickly!!!

I switched to computers very early on, as they were necessary in my work field, and  changed programs to get the best way to prepare pedigrees and family group sheets, rather than rewriting them.... But then the problem entered...... Given the limited time available for genealogy, did I want to spend a couple of hours entering (or now, scanning),  or doing research.... Guess what!  New research always wins!!!!!  And there are always ne lines and new cousins to locate! But now I have accumulated so much data that even with my somewhat properly organized filing, I can't always find quickly what I want.... and the amount of stuff needing to be entered is overwhelming!!!

Retiring this year, I jumped at what we all wish for, the time to do more genealogy. So guess what, the hours spent flitting form one line to the other is now amounting to perhaps an entire day of uninterrupted research,  and tons more info... some of which I know I must have already found........ sigh!

So rather than state the obvious and totally unreachable goal such as: I will scan in all the old family pictures, or that I will make sure that I file all of the accumulated paper that has recently piled up.... I will attack this the way I did any project for work, setting smaller goals that fit well within the scope of the larger project, which is of course to convert all the paper and information to electronic an then published format....  so here goes
In 2012 I resolve to:
1. Spend the first hour of the day entering data from a notebook or file  into a program, WITHOUT Opening E-mail, or surfing the web
2. Spend the next half hour scanning in  pictures, then allow myself free rein to  research....

Even if I don't fully meet them, any time I spend is getting rid of the paper and pile, and with my looking at the data as I enter it, new insights may occur!  I will keep a pad to jot that idea down, but I will not open my Internet window until that  1 1/2 hours has passed!!!

Who knows, maybe I'll actually achieve the largest old goal of all the pictures scanned this year!
Happy New Year!!!