Last month, I had a post about researching my FILÛªs ancestry to make an application for him the Sons of the American Revolution. A few years ago, I did my own ancestry search on my paternal side for a curiosity. I was taken aback with the info that I found at the time. I managed to document back to late 1600Ûªs to Kilspandie, Scotland that ended with a surprising result. It was done with the 14 day free trial at ancestry .com and other free sources.
So I thought that I would do the free trial again to help out my FIL. Besides Ancestrycom, I found that Familysearch, Wikitree, MyHeritage and various state archives sites were very helpful. It was also helpful that a prominent War for Independence battle occurred on his 7th GGF farm in South Carolina so there were Revolutionary internet sites, books and articles to reference.
I found that his 7th GGF was born in Belfast of Scot-Irish descent. Somehow, he arrived in Cumberland County, PA in the late 1730s. Marries there in 1745 and makes his way down to SC via a stop in NC. Arrives in SC about the 1748 and sets up a trading post along a Cherokee trail and river and starts growing tobacco too. Has a bunch of kids. Not much info to the WarÛ?It seems that he coexisted peacefully with the indigenous and everyone else except the Tories. There are multiple accounts of the local Tories coming to his house and bludgeoned him with an axe on his porch. Somehow, he survived the attack. There are later accounts of his sons seeing the scars in his later years too. That didnÛªt seem to hurt his resolve as a patriot. At one point, he sailed from Charleston to St. Eustatius, a small island in the West Indies as a gun runner purchasing from the French. He was labelled as an American Whig. (Soon in the next century, the whole families were Whigs and anti- Jackson in Northern Alabama).
So the 7th GGF and his two sons were in the SC Militia in different outfits during the war. Ironically, they were all of the family estate on duty elsewhere when the battle took place between Gen. SumnerÛªs aka Û÷The Fighting GamecockÛ militia vs the dreaded Brit Banastre TarltonÛªs fierce dragoon brigade. Tarlton gave Sumner his nickname and also gave Francis Marion the name ÛÏThe Swamp FoxÛ.
Both sons went onto fight in the war of 1812 also. I am connecting my FIL to the son as the primary connection. The fater was buried on the estate. There were 10 pits dug after the battle for the Brits to be buried.9 to a pit.
So we will lift a cold brew to those forgotten family patriots tomorrow evening. Maybe his grandchildren or great grand kids will be interested in their ancestry one day and how a piece of it is tied to the American revolution.
I highly recommend to all if you are interested in your family history to use the free trial to chart your ancestry and then follow up with our sources.
I found so much info with backup documentation to my surprise.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blackstoc k's_Farm
http://www.myrevolutionarywar.com/battles/801120-blackstocks-plantation/
My American immigrant ancestors were two young Scottish boys ages 12 & 13 that sailed from Glasgow about 1838 to Paterson NJ. where they became machinists. They were accompanied by an aunt/stepmom or older sister at the time.
This, to me, is true history. You can sink your teeth into it and chew on it to get even more flavor.
There are so many questions that can be asked that there is virtually no way to answer them all. That makes finding answers to any of them all the better. Answering one question leads to other questions. The challenge is only limited by the researcher's time and interest.
A standard question that generally is difficult to answer is why did someone move to the specific location that is of the time frame being researched. A personal example is my grandfather's immediate family leaving huge extended families in Ohio and moving to the middle of the boondocks in Southeast Kansas about 1881. I know of no other family members who had moved to the same area prior to that time or at the same time. So, why stop where they did? Although my great-grandfather had served in the Civil War he purchased land outright rather than utilizing some military-related benefit. Perhaps he had applied that benefit somehow in Ohio, sold the land and took the cash to buy land elsewhere. Who knows? He was a farmer so it had no connection to following a specific trade, such as railroad work or mining work or something similar. These type of questions are super challenging so the few you can answer, the more special they become.
As for the Revolutionary War, that is a subject I have not explored nearly as much as I should. I have one line that definitely fought in it. I have other lines where I know they were in what we know as the eastern US at that time, so most likely were directly involved. I have one line that was definitely in England at the time, so they may have been fighting for that side. If I live to be 150 I might get around to finding out.
Holy Cow, post: 379886, member: 50 wrote: This, to me, is true history....As for the Revolutionary War, that is a subject I have not explored nearly as much as I should..
I was fortunate to have stumbled into someone (my maternal grandmother's cousin actually) that had been blessed with and put together a tremendous amount of family info from the early days before records were actually well maintained. Although she has since passed, her daughter and grand daughter have picked up the torch.My 5th GGF fought in the Revolutionary War and his grandson fought for the Confederacy in the War of Northern Aggression. Cousins of these folks fought for the Union in the same war.
I have often sat and pondered the "why" when folks picked up and moved; sometimes in a manner contrary to what we would think prudent.
My paternal G-Great Grandmother "Christina" left Indiana in the late 1870s and brought two young boys to Protection, Ks. at a time that traveling down here wasn't really that safe..and traveling alone with small children was probably crazy. She had no particular skills, was young and recently widowed. She left family and safety in Illinois. I had just resolved myself to the belief she either had a friend, acquaintance or promise of employment out here on the "frontier".
I have a cousin that turned up some interesting correspondence a couple of years ago. "Christina" had found employment as a domestic servant after her husband was killed in a railroad accident. The employment was with a fancy well-to-do family from back east named Studebaker. A couple of the Studebaker children were tight with some railroad folks and fancied themselves land barons; apparently investing in some large tracts of land in and around the Kansas and Oklahoma Territories. There is a good indication she traveled down here as a domestic servant. I have tried to find records of where these Studebakers eventually settled but have been less than successful. Christina passed away before 1900 in Freedom, Oklahoma.
So finding out the "why" actually opened up many more questions than answers. Maybe someday I'll know. But wondering is sure fun.
Holy Cow, post: 379886, member: 50 wrote: This, to me, is true history. You can sink your teeth into it and chew on it to get even more flavor.
There are so many questions that can be asked that there is virtually no way to answer them all. That makes finding answers to any of them all the better. Answering one question leads to other questions. The challenge is only limited by the researcher's time and interest.
A standard question that generally is difficult to answer is why did someone move to the specific location that is of the time frame being researched. A personal example is my grandfather's immediate family leaving huge extended families in Ohio and moving to the middle of the boondocks in Southeast Kansas about 1881. I know of no other family members who had moved to the same area prior to that time or at the same time. So, why stop where they did? Although my great-grandfather had served in the Civil War he purchased land outright rather than utilizing some military-related benefit. Perhaps he had applied that benefit somehow in Ohio, sold the land and took the cash to buy land elsewhere. Who knows? He was a farmer so it had no connection to following a specific trade, such as railroad work or mining work or something similar. These type of questions are super challenging so the few you can answer, the more special they become.
As for the Revolutionary War, that is a subject I have not explored nearly as much as I should. I have one line that definitely fought in it. I have other lines where I know they were in what we know as the eastern US at that time, so most likely were directly involved. I have one line that was definitely in England at the time, so they may have been fighting for that side. If I live to be 150 I might get around to finding out.
Yes, I would like to know about the story about the two boys who came to America and the women who accompanied them. I would like to go to Paterson NJ someday and research various available archives for info.
But it may not happen.
The odd thing about my FIL ancestry is that it has been difficult to establish or attain a birth records for him. He was a Depression baby and was born in 1930 in Knightstown, NC.
His parents moved there from GA to work on a dairy farm where he was born.
I do have census records for him.
"We will travel as far as we can, but we cannot in one lifetime see all that we would like to see or to learn all that we hunger to know."
ÛÓ Loren Eiseley
Many small town newspapers would contain every kind of local news imaginable. The birth of a baby to someone in that community would definitely be newsworthy. It's not the same as a birth certificate but it would provide assurance that Mr. and Mrs. Whomever were blessed with the arrival of a bouncing baby boy on the previous Tuesday and the birth was attended by (someone).
Small town news items are amazing. An example: On Tuesday Mr. and Mrs. John Jones and children, Frank, Bobby, Sue and Betty entertained the following guests in their home: Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Owen, Marie and Ethel; Mr. and Mrs. Jewel Clements, Richard and Esther; Mr. and Mrs. George Simmons, Susan and Joe. Little Frank played a trumpet solo he had received a Blue Ribbon for at the Regional Grade School Music Festival.
Holy Cow, post: 379938, member: 50 wrote: Many small town newspapers would contain every kind of local news imaginable...
I have a link to searchable records of the local 'Territorial Newspapers' that kept us informed before Statehood. One item on the "Society" page announced "Mrs. Joe Smith was feeling better after a trip to visiting her sister. She had been stricken by an intestinal illness for the last week since her return."
Newsworthy indeed.....
Holy Cow, post: 379938, member: 50 wrote: Many small town newspapers would contain every kind of local news imaginable. The birth of a baby to someone in that community would definitely be newsworthy. It's not the same as a birth certificate but it would provide assurance that Mr. and Mrs. Whomever were blessed with the arrival of a bouncing baby boy on the previous Tuesday and the birth was attended by (someone).
Small town news items are amazing. An example: On Tuesday Mr. and Mrs. John Jones and children, Frank, Bobby, Sue and Betty entertained the following guests in their home: Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Owen, Marie and Ethel; Mr. and Mrs. Jewel Clements, Richard and Esther; Mr. and Mrs. George Simmons, Susan and Joe. Little Frank played a trumpet solo he had received a Blue Ribbon for at the Regional Grade School Music Festival.
We have a small town newspaper hat has been publishing weekly since 1874 called the St. Tammany Farmer. Every week they have a small section of news blurbs from the past. It is quite entertaining. Here is a screen shot of this weekÛªs items. The night the slots vanished in Slidell in 1941 is interesting.
In the larger New Orleans paper ( Times- Picayune), there is a women who writes a weekly column about local cultural and artsy stuff. She is on my top ten list of people that I would like to throw a pie in their face.
Recently she wrote a column about some ancestors from about 100 years ago. She had a antique silver loving cup that was presented to her ancestors.. She went on blah blah blah about how it was a big mystery to her and needed to find out information about it. It was posted also on the on-line edition.
A few readers researched the little Farmer paper archives and found out the five WÛªs about the loving cup. There was a article about her ancestorÛªs party and who was invited ,who came from New Orleans via boat/train, what was on the menu to extreme description, what the weather was like, what gifts were presented and by whom, what the decorations were etc etc etc.. There was way too much information.
It made her column look sort of self-serving and foolish along with her replies
. 
My great, great, great, great, great, great granddaddy, Elijah Harbour, joined the Kentucky militia for 1 month in 1780. For this service, his grave in south central Tennessee now has a tombstone from the VA.
Here's a great site to search old newspapers. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
