52 Ancestors - FREE: My Patriots

Independence Day always gets me thinking about my patriot ancestors. In 2015, my sister and I were able to join the Daughters of the American Revolution through William Jordan of Albemarle County, Virginia. He was a private in the Virginia Militia, and for a short while he was a sergeant. I wrote about his service HERE and HERE.

Just about this time last year, our Virtual District I Virginia meeting included a workshop on how to find our patriots. The presenter threw down a challenge: find at least 5 more patriots in our direct line and submit supplemental applications.

What does that mean? Everyone who joins DAR must prove her bloodline to just one patriot, male OR female, who helped achieve independence for America. After an applicant is verified, she may then submit “supplemental” applications for other direct line patriot ancestors. Finding those extra patriots does not make anyone a “super member” or afford any privileges. While claiming numerous patriots is a source of pride for the member herself, her research might help future applicants prove their own lineage.

Before the presentation, I had never been much interested in submitting supplementals. But I do love a challenge. I didn’t find 5. I found 7. Here they are:

Elizabeth Rennolds Rucker

Yes, a woman. A patriot was not necessarily a soldier. Female patriots were typically widows or single women who were head of a household, probably inherited from their father. DAR credits Elizabeth with Patriotic Service for supplying beef to the army. She was born in Essex County, Virginia about 1708. She married Thomas Rucker in 1726, and the two moved to Culpeper County. He died prior to the Revolutionary War, leaving Elizabeth to run the household, which is why her name is recorded as the donor of beef. She died in 1788.

Thomas Rucker

This is Elizabeth Rennolds Rucker’s son. Like his mother, Thomas supplied beef. He was born about 1739 and died in 1808.

Public Claims, Culpeper County (VA) Court Booklet 1, p 31
"Do" means "Ditto"

William Herndon

William Herndon (1764 – before 1847) married Mary Rucker (1763-1835), daughter of Thomas Rucker and granddaughter of Elizabeth Rennolds Rucker. I wrote about his service as a private in the Virginia Militia HERE. He had a rough time collecting a pension. 

Edward Herndon

Edward Herndon (1738 – 1831) is the father of William Herndon. Not only was he a soldier in the Culpeper Militia, but also he was credited with Patriotic Service for supplying beef. Edward was married to Mary Ann Gaines (1742-1829). They both died in Madison County, which was formed from Culpeper County in 1792.

James Gaines

James Gaines (1719-1786) is the father of Mary Ann Gaines and thus father-in-law of Edward Herndon and grandfather of William Herndon. He was too old to serve, but he was still a patriot who provided beef, hay, wheat, a gun, and transportation in a carriage. 

Culpeper Co Court Booklet 1, p 19

Culpeper Co Court Booklet 1, p 26

Culpeper Co Court Booklet 1, p 37

Leonard Davis

Leonard Davis was the patriot that my sister and I tried to join through, but we could not find appropriate documentation that would meet the DAR standards. Now that I have been my chapter’s registrar for several years, I have learned enough that I might be able to prove our lineage. He was just a teenager when he volunteered in the Virginia Militia. I wrote about his march to Jamestown and Hot Water HERE. An interesting side note is that his daughter-in-law Frances Wyant was the daughter of a Hessian soldier, Peter Wyant. Peter will never become a DAR patriot since he supported the other side, but he must have liked it in America. He bought land and settled in Albemarle County.

Peter Wyant's spring house Sep 2013
photo courtesy Jan Hensley

Samuel Hosier

So far, Samuel Hosier is the only patriot on my father’s side, and he is through Daddy's paternal grandmother. There are just too many problems in searching Daddy’s other lines, for now anyway. Samuel was born about 1755. He lived in both Nansemond County (now Suffolk) and Princess Anne County, Virginia, and he died before 1833. His application for a pension was rejected for failure to provide proof of service, but eventually his son or grandson was able to satisfy the War Board that Samuel had indeed been a private in the militia. Samuel’s heirs received bounty land. Samuel also paid the supply tax, so even without adequate proof of service, he still would have been deemed a patriot by the DAR.

So far I have submitted 2 supplemental applications, but I intend to send in others, a few at a time.  

Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”

Wendy

© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors - WITNESS TO HISTORY: 18th Century Happenings

People of my generation can relay in great detail where they were and what they were doing when President John Kennedy was assassinated. We also remember watching President Richard Nixon leaving office in disgrace following the Watergate scandal. We remember when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon. All of us – not just my generation – witnessed how the world changed when the Twin Towers were brought down on September 11, 2001.

Everyone is a witness to history, not just the BIG events like war or pandemics, but also the discoveries and inventions that changed how people lived and viewed their world. We remember party lines and black and white tv with only three channels. We laughed at the idea of being able to see people we talked to on the telephone until cell phones and the Internet made us believers.

If you could go back in time, what period would you like to experience? I often think the time of the American Revolution would be exciting. Witnessing the patriotic fervor that drove a group of loosely connected colonies to think they could break free from a world power like England had to have been inspiring.

My 4X great-grandfathers Leonard Davis and William Jordan were both Virginia militia. Both marched to Yorktown to meet up with Lafayette. I doubt they were aware of Lafayette’s reputation and surely could not imagine the place Lafayette holds in history today. No doubt they were aware of those big events like the Boston Tea Party and the burning of Norfolk, the convening of the first Continental Congress, the signing of the Declaration of Independence and ratification of the Constitution, as well as the plans to establish a capital in Washington. They witnessed the exploration of the frontier and expansion of America with the Louisiana Purchase. They lived through the War of 1812 and saw the beginnings of the American railroad. But what else might they have witnessed?

INVENTIONS:

1775 – submarine   

Turtle Submarine 1775

1777 – circular saw

1783 – Ben Franklin’s bifocals

Ben Franklin's bifocals
(from Wikimedia Commons)

1785 – parachute

1793 – Eli Whitney’s cotton gin

1797 – cast iron plow

1798 – vaccination

1804 – gas lighting

Gas Lights on Pall Mall in London
(from Wikimedia Commons)

1807 – steamboat

1810 – tin can  

from bbc.com

1817 – kaleidoscope

1819 – stethoscope

1819 – soda fountain

Had my ancestors heard of Lord Byron, William Wordsworth, the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen? When sitting around the fire on that march to Yorktown, did they hear anyone playing “Yankee Doodle”? Did they ever hear “The Star-Spangled Banner”?

Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”

Wendy

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors - DNA: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

DNA is the big topic among genealogists and family historians these days. Many of my colleagues spout words like “haplotype,” "downstream," and “centimorgans” without flinching. I, on the other hand, just hear Charlie Brown’s teacher - “wah waah, wah waah.”

GOOD

Admittedly, DNA solved one of the Jollett mysteries. Two Boyd researchers who met online compared notes and learned that both grew up hearing stories that their great-grandfather William Boyd had changed his name to avoid punishment for some unnamed crime. Some letters had been burned while preserving just enough to point the family to William’s identity as a Jollett while keeping the secret a secret.

William Boyd aka Jollett
and wife Hattie

A DNA test solved the mystery when our Boyd matched with a Jollett. Good news! It was time to celebrate because we no longer had to wonder. If you want to read the story, click HERE.

BAD

When we had Daddy’s DNA tested, we looked forward to being part of the Slade DNA group study. We were eager to learn more about the great-grandfather who came to Virginia from Florida as just a child with his widowed mother. We hoped to learn about the other Slades, where they were from, where they went. I did not understand the early reports of those we match. None of our chromosome numbers matched any of the seven main Slade branches. But I now understood one thing and one thing only. A genetic distance of “0” means an exact match, definitely related within four generations or closer.

Our exact matches are with the families of Calhoun. Even matches with a distance of 1 or 2 match Calhoun. Not a single Slade match.

OK, I can accept a “non-paternal event” as a fact of life. No problem. When that event occurred is still unclear. From correspondence with two of my matches, it seems likely that my great-grandfather’s father might have been the product of an affair. Read the story HERE.

UGLY

I have one more mystery that I would LOVE to solve through DNA since I do not think I will stumble upon a tell-all diary any time soon. Since there are people still living who will be impacted by this story, I am going to be vague on purpose.

I have a relative who was raised by an aunt and uncle but thought they were his natural parents. He learned the truth when he had to provide a birth certificate to join the Air Force. That is rather a long time to be sheltered from the truth and a hard way to learn it.

Two "mothers"

But his story gets worse. He was raised as a twin with the couple’s son who was actually half a year older. The boys started school together although my relative was not really old enough yet. Today we all are much more aware of how maturity and school-readiness affects children, but not so much in the 1930s. Maybe that is why this relative performed poorly, stayed in trouble, and dropped out of school in the tenth grade.

To make matters worse, NO ONE in the family would tell him who his real parents were. The birth certificate revealed that his beloved aunt, a sister to the woman he called “Mom,” was his real mother. He believed his father was the man he called “Dad,” that the two had had an affair. However, those in the know said absolutely not. Even today the truth is a carefully guarded secret. The one who holds the key says that descendants of his birth father are still here in our community and it is not clear whether they know their grandfather/great-grandfather played around with a 16-year old girl.

Today this relative is just an angry man who has run off two wonderful and devoted wives and alienated his children. Maybe his behavior is genetic. Maybe it is the consequence of a lifetime of being let down and lied to. A DNA test could at least answer his question if not solve his problems. A DNA test could also turn the world upside down for another family.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Someone once said that we all have 2 genealogies: a legal one and a biological one. As the registrar for my DAR chapter, it is my job to compile the legal paper trail leading from an applicant for membership to a patriot who aided in the cause for American freedom during the time of the Revolutionary War. Sometimes though the legal documents conflict with what a family knows or believes based on family lore and/or DNA. Currently DAR recognizes paternity tests and Y-DNA tests only in a quest to join.

My experience with DNA testing makes me wonder how many of us are not who we think we are. I have a trail of legal documents that PROVE William Jordan is my ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War. But I have to wonder if a DNA test would agree. After all, I have lots of paper proving I am a Slade with ancestors first appearing in Georgia in the late 1700s/early 1800s, but my DNA says otherwise. 

How will such knowledge affect lineage societies like DAR, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Mayflower Society, Colonial Dames, First Families, etc? At least in DAR, once a daughter, always a daughter. Anyone who learns today that they did not really descend from a verified patriot will not have to worry about being kicked out.

Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”

Wendy

© 2019, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors: Independence

The theme for this week’s 52 Ancestors challenge is appropriate: Independence. After all, the 4^th of July is one of the favorite patriotic holidays in the United States. Parades, fireworks, and family cookouts are happening in every community. Patriotic organizations like Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) honor their ancestors with wreath-laying ceremonies at national monuments and placing flags at graves of patriots.

I am proud to claim a number of patriots who helped America achieve independence. For over a year I had been trying unsuccessfully to join DAR through Leonard Davis of Rockingham County, Virginia when I received an email from a gentleman who was transcribing records for Albemarle County. As part of his project, he searched online for additional information relating to the documents he was working on. That is how he found my blog. He saw names on my blog that were also included in a chancery suit he was then transcribing. He offered me a copy. As I read it, I immediately saw my express ticket into DAR through my 4x great-grandfather William Jordan.

Service Record of William Jordan, a soldier from Virginia

Thanks to Fold3, I have a copy of William Jordan’s pension application containing many details about his early life and service to his country. Apparently his first attempt to secure a pension was denied for failure to provide actual PROOF of service. His discharge papers had been lost years before in a house fire. Subsequent hurdles to obtain a pension included several court appearances like this one:

 

Questions posed to William Jordan in court

Sworn to and Subscribed in open Court and thereupon the Court propounded to the applicant the following Interrogations.

1. Where and in what year were you born

A. I was born on the Schuylkel [sic.] river about six miles from Philadelphia the 20 Jany 1760

2. Have you any record of your age, and if so where is it?

A. I have none.

3. Where were you living when called into service? Where have you lived since the revolutionary war and where do you now live?

A. When called into service I lived in Augusta County Virginia. About the year 1783 or 4 I removed from the County of Augusta to Albemarle County and lived some years in the adjoining county Orange, but now live in Albemarle County Virginia.

4. How were you called into Service were you drafted did you volunteer or were you a substitute and if a substitute, for whom?

A. I was drafted as a militiaman

5. State the names of some of the regular officers who were with the troops where you served with Continental and Militia Regiments as you can recollect and the general circumstances of your service

A. In the first tour I was drafted and served under Capt. Wm Kincaid. In the second under Capt Patrick Buchanan Major ___ Brooks Col Howard & General Morgan. In the third under Cap Givens Major Boyce Col Cameron & Gen Campbell in the fourth under Capt Wm Findlay Major Wilson (he believes) & Col Vance

And the said Court do hereby declare their opinion after the investigation of the matter and after putting the interrogation prescribed by the war department that the above named applicant was a revolutionary soldier and served as he states

State of Virginia

I Ira Garrett clerk of the Court of Albemarle County do hereby certify that the foregoing contains the original proceedings of the said court in the matter of the application of William Jordan for a pension.

In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office this 15^th day of November 1832 in the 57^th year of the Commonwealth

Ira Garrett CAC

In May of the following year William Jordan tried again by offering further information. A. Broadhead, a Justice of the Peace for Albemarle County, submitted an affidavit in which he explained that “William Jordan . . .  by reason of old age and the consequent loss of memory . . . cannot swear positively as to the precise length of his service. . . .” However, William Jordan was positive he served as a private from May to October in 1779. He took part in an expedition against the Indians on the West Fork of the Monongahela River as a private in Capt William Kincaid’s company. Then from October 1780 until May 1781 he served again as a private.

Affidavit of William Brooks

An affidavit provided by William Brooks revealed more about their service together as militiamen. They marched from Albemarle under the command of Capt Patrick Buchanan and joined General Daniel Morgan at Six Mile Creek in North Carolina. They then were commanded by Col Howard from Maryland and General Morgan at the Battle of Cowpens (South Carolina), 17 January 1781. Using a little battlefield trickery, the American troops fooled the British into thinking they were retreating causing the British to run straight into concentrated rifle fire and cavalry charge. Due to heavy casualties inflicted on the British by American troops, the Battle of Cowpens is regarded as a major battle and a turning point in the war.

 

Painting by Don Troiani depicting the Battle of Cowpens
British Light Dragoons against General Morgan's cavalry
image from Wikimedia Commons

On a side note, the Battle of Cowpens was the inspiration for the final battle at the end of the film The Patriot starring Mel Gibson. Sweet Liberty, an earlier movie starring Alan Alda, parodies how film companies often take liberties with the depiction of the Battle of Cowpens.

Another affidavit provided by John Diddle said that William Jordan was at the Battle of Jamestown, the last major land battle in Virginia prior to the Siege of Yorktown. The American forces were ambushed near Green Spring plantation 6 July 1781 but did not fare very well in a battle that is thought to be one of the bloodiest and most intense of the war.  

Jordan was less certain about his final tour but remembered serving in Capt William Findlay’s company and Col Vance’s regiment before becoming ill following the march to the Siege of Yorktown, the battle that marked the end for England in the American colonies. It also marked the end of William Jordan’s service as he was furloughed and never able to return to service.

Pension card

William Jordan eventually received a pension of $33.77 per annum. According to one inflation calculator, that amount had the same buying power as $870 today.

In the beginning, the thirteen colonies did not have in mind becoming one big country. Rather they sought independence from England to become thirteen little countries, each with its own government and its own money. The leaders who framed the Declaration of Independence and later the Constitution looked into the future and saw that no new little “country” would be a match against possible future invasions by Spain, France, or England. Uniting would be the best course.

images from Wikimedia Commons

And my William Jordan at age 19 aided the cause marching to and fighting in three colonies; he was right there in the company of our heroes, men like Marquis de Lafayette, “Mad” Anthony Wayne, Nathanael Green, and “Old Wagoner” Daniel Morgan.

I wonder what he thought about that.

Wendy

© 2018, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

A Funny Thing Happened . . .

. . . on the way to the DAR. It’s been a couple years in the making, but we finally made it. On New Year’s Eve I received an email from Pam, the registrar of the Fort Nelson chapter of the DAR, saying “Verified Apps! You’re IN!” At last my mother’s dream to join this prestigious organization has come true through her daughters.

But getting here was not easy. In late summer 2015 we submitted our paperwork linking us to Leonard Davis, our 4X great-grandfather.  Our efforts were hampered by the difficulty of finding those required birth, marriage, and death records for the fifth and sixth generations. We thought surely an old, OLD family Bible belonging to Mitchell Davis, our 2X great-grandfather, would clinch the deal because it gave death dates for his father Leonard Jr. and grandfather Leonard Sr., the proven patriot.

However, DAR did not buy it. Nothing in the Bible stated precisely who they were. Deeds showing Mitchell and his mother selling their rights to Leonard’s estate did not convince the DAR either despite a detailed analysis of all the evidence penned by our capable registrar. The application came back with a laundry list of what we should do next.

Being the obedient child that I am, I launched in right away to find new documents and plan for a future research trip to obtain probate records that might be more convincing than the apparently “flimsy” evidence submitted earlier.

Then Mr. Sam Towler came along.  He is a volunteer with the Albemarle County Chancery Cases Preservation Project. In addition to transcribing and indexing the old documents, he scours the Internet for additional information about the people and places mentioned in each case so that he can include new findings in the case folder for the benefit of future researchers. While working on two related cases, Jarman vs Jordan and Shiflett vs Clayton, Mr. Towler found my blog featuring William Jordan which I had written as part of the 52 Ancestors project in 2014. He thought I might be interested.

Interested?! Heck yeah!

Among the documents Mr. Towler sent was a copy of William Jordan’s declaration as a patriot applying for a pension which conveniently named his wife and children. Witness accounts confirmed the same. Two lawsuits and receipts echoed those familiar names and – even better – the husband of Williams’ daughter Susan who was my 3X great-grandmother AND then her daughter and husband, my 2X great-grandparents. The big three documents – birth, marriage, death – for my great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents were already in my possession.

And that’s when the DAR goddesses looked down and smiled. I knew I had exactly what I needed for my sister and me to join through this line. All it took was a letter requesting a change of ancestor and copies of the NEW documents for generations 3 through 6. Easy Peasy.

Still, I was surprised to hear so quickly that my sister and I were IN without another do-over. Initially it looked as if it would take another month to get our national numbers, but they came early and we were invited to be inducted at the January meeting.

And that’s what we did. One day after Momma’s birthday, we joined the DAR, an organization she wanted to belong to. So this is for you, Momma. And Cheers to Mr. Towler.

© 2016, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.