It's been 240 years, do you know who your 1776 Ancestor is?

Question

4 July 1776.  Thirteen American Colonies declared themselves free and independent of their British rulers but they had to win a war to make that declaration a reality.

4 July 2016 marks the 240th Anniversary of that declaration which impacted many thousands of lives that were American, British, Hessian, French and otherwise embroiled in settling that bold path to freedom.

This weekend, many of you will be seeking new ancestors or getting reacquainted with old favorites.  

No matter which side your ancestor participated on, the 1776 Project seeks to recognize those who participated in this great struggle that established the United States of America.

Have you found your American Revolutionary War Ancestor? 

Would you like to spend time helping us identify and honor these ancestors?

Yes!? Then celebrate this weekend by joining the 1776 Project and making a few new contributions.

Comments

While the Revolutionary War had begun three years earlier, my 4th-great-grandfather, American patriot Henry McDaniel Jr. (McDaniel-1056), enlisted for service as soon as he was able. The year was 1779 and some months before his 16th birthday. He stated in an 1832 affidavit : "Sometime in the latter part of spring, or beginning of summer in 1779, I enlisted in Bedford County, Virginia, in the company commanded by Capt. Thomas Arthur in the Regiment commanded by Col. Lynch commonly called Lynches Rangers, Lynches Light Horse. Our Lieutenant who died was Moses Green and his successor was George Turnbull. We were reviewed in New London (then Bedford Court House) from thence we were marched to Blackwater to rout the Tories which had then embodied, from thence we went into Carolina, May 21 from thence to a place called the Hawfields on the river Yadkin, when we put to flight another body of Tories and took several prisoners and some deserters. In the winter of 1780 we went to a place called Moravian Town in North Carolina and were there quartered during the cold weather in the winter. After the winter had broken we were continually scouring the country, some of the time on the Yadkin and sometimes on the head waters of New River. From thence we went to a place called King's Mountain where we had a severe skirmish with the Tories, in which I received a wound in my thigh. After this skirmish we were employed in scouting as heretofore until the Battle of Guilford when the company to which I was attached, was dispatched from Regiment to attend upon the sick and wounded soldiers. When our services were no longer required here, we were called back to our Regiment and employed as heretofore until the taking of Cornwallis which I think was in October, 1781. When I was discharged at Camden I returned to Greenbrier Co., Va., where my parents had moved after my enlistment. I was born in Pittsylvania Co., Va., in Nov., 1763 I have no record of my age. I continued to live in Greenbrier until 1810, when I removed to Walnut Township in the County of Gallia and State of Ohio, where I have ever since resided." The battle in which Henry was wounded is considered the turning point in the southern fighting of the American Revolution.

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Don't know about the rest of you guys out there,  But whenever I find a source, that has family members, other than the ONE that I am looking for I will add profiles for ALL the family members.  Just seems right ti fill in all the leaves on a tree.  Like the census, I will include all the names, not just the ONE guy that I am looking for.

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Yes, that was how I stumbled on to Captain John Peck Rathbun/Rathbone  http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Rathbone-407  He's a side line in my Rathbun line.

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I am related to William Henry Maxey who was a private in the Revolutionary war in 1779 under Capt. James Gunn.  Are there any others out there who might have more info on William (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Maxey-167) or any other Maxey's that fought in the Revolutionary War?

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Dear Kevin,

   The DAR recognizes 13 patriots with the surname MAXEY.  They all seem to be from either Virginia or Massachusetts.  Use this link and put in Maxey;  you will see the list.

http://services.dar.org/Public/DAR_Research/search_adb/default.cfm

Hope you find your people!  -NGP

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Thank you!

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I my lineage, I have John Apperson who in New Kent county during the Revolution, but was too young. Listed as John Apperson (Junior) in the 1782 Muster List, followed by owning property in York County later in 1784.

I am working on who his father maybe. There is a John Apperson (Senior) listed in the same Muster List. But there is a misunderstanding in a reference to Elizabeth Apperson who has John Apperson (Senior) the son of Samuel Apperson as passing away in 1768. In fact, the John Apperson Jr., who passes away was a resident of Halifax county and was the son of John Apperson Sr., who was living in Spotsylvania county.

In reference to Elizabeth Apperson, I have found that she was adopted by Samuel Appersson on July 4, 1764 in Charles City County

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I would like to point out this profile: Carroll-1582

John Carroll is the man who, while in battle against British dragoons in 1780 in York district SC, shot Capt. Christian Huck in the head and killed him. Huck was a Philadelphia lawyer and commander of British forces in the battle, and he was notorious for (among other things) holding a reaping hook to the throat of Martha Bratton while trying to force her to give up the location of her husband, Col. William Bratton.

By the way, Col. Bratton has a Wikitree profile: Bratton-30 but curiously his wife Martha does not. Martha not only refused to give up her husband, but when the British were attempting to seize a supply of gunpowder stashed in her home, she blew the gunpowder (and the house) sky-high.

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Found that as many as 12 of my ancestors contributed to  the American Revolution. Very important to me that I document their legacy.

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I hope everyone is joining the 1776 Project and putting the new project category on their profiles.  Nice finds folks!

Answer 1

Capt. Joshua Stone Jr was a Captain in the Southern Continental Army (1780), Justice of the Peace for Pittsylvania County, VA in 1783, as well as Sheriff for the same county in 1796. ("The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia”) (My 6^th Great Grandfather-Stone Side of Family)

 

Lt. John Winbourne was a Lieutenant in the Continental Army in Capt. Joseph Walker’s Company, Seventh Regiment of NC Troops from Hertford County, and was killed or died in the Revolutionary war. (State Rec. Vol. l 16, p. 1185) (My 6^th Great Grandfather-Stone Side of Family)

 

Pvt. Benjamin Stone I son of Capt. Joshua Stone Jr. enlisted July 20, 1778 and was commissioned to the 2nd Regiment North Carolina under Major Reading Blount for 9 months during the American Revolutionary War. (South Carolina Colonial Soldiers and Patriots)(My 5^th Great Grandfather-Stone Side of the Family)

 

Pvt. Francis Radford Epperson aka Apperson entered the service of the U.S. in 1778 as a volunteer in a company of militia commanded by Capt John Bluring? He remained in the army for three months during all of which time, he was under the command of Capt Bluring? He only volunteered for a tour of three months. He was living in Buckingham Co, Va. when he enlisted. From said company they marched to Albemarle, some of Burgoyne's men were stationed there and he and the company aforesaid consisted part of the guard. After his tree months he enlisted in a company of minute men in same county under command of Capt. Glover, until the month of Feb or March 1781, when he joined General Green's army, at Haw River, in N.C. As a minute man, his services were frequently required and always were given when required. In Feb or March 1781 he again volunteered for a tour of six months, in the company of Captain John Chambers, the field officers were General Robert Lawson, Col John Holbomb, Major Spencer, - this company marched from Buckingham and went to General Green's army at Haw River. He was in the battle at Guilford Court House between General Green and Cornwallis. He served this time for and during six months. (NSSAR Patriot & Grave Record)( My 5^th Great Grandfather-Stone Side of the Family)

 

Capt. Elisha Webb served in the 7th Regiment of the North Carolina Cavalry with an entry date of November 28, 1776. Females of the Webb lineage have applied for membership to the Daughters of The  American Revolution using Captain Elisha Webb as their direct ancestor for Genealogy purposes, and have been approved. (The Colonial Records of North Carolina, Volume X of 1776 indicate that on November 28, 1776 ) Elisha Webb was promoted to Ensign to serve in the Northampton District.)( My 5^th Great Grandfather-Stone Side of the Family)

 

Pvt. Jacob Dooley served in the Revolutionary War from Feb. 13, 1776 to Feb. 13, 1778. He joined when he was 21 years old. He served as an infantry soldier of the Virginia Line on Continental Establishment in the Rev. War. He served under Captain Gross Scruggs' company, in the 5th Virginia Regiment of Foot, Commanded by Col. Josiah Parker. He left sick at Yellow Springs, Va. ( Our Berry Family)(My 5th Great Grandfather-Eads Side of the Family)

Answer 2

John Scholl (Shull)

Peter Mock

Leonard Corle

George Imler

Michael Sill

Jacob Imler Reighard   

John Bowser (Bausser)

My children have a lot of American Revolutionary War Ancestors.

 

 

Answer 3

One of the big deals in my ancestry has been one who applied for a Revolutionary War pension, which apparently was used by the Sons of the American Revolution to give him a marker designating him as such; however,  when you look at the actual Revolutionary War records it shows he was denied the pension; he stated he helped service under his father, starting at age 15, who served as Captain under Isaac Shelby but none of that was able to be confirmed, so now not quite sure what to do; know there are others who did serve starting at that age, so think it is possible, just wondering if the younger ones weren't always documented

Comments

Yes!  My ancestor Lieutenant James Gould (Gould-311) served at the Battle of Saratoga with his son, James Gould, Jr., serving as a waiter.  JGJr applied for a pension in New Hampshire at age 66 and it was awarded to him. JG Jr was only 14 years old and did not bear arms.

His father, Lt. Gould, survived two British bullets and his son carried him home on a stretcher, along with other soldiers.  From Albany NY to Hebron, New Hampshire.  The paperwork for my "DAR supplemental" has already been submitted for review.

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what's DAR supplemental? is that like applying to be a member of the SAR? I think I've learned you should always at least try to save everything you find, except you can't print if your printer's out of ink, and all this techie stuff's been hard; I should have least tried to save the pic of the marker, since when I finally found again the place where I was able to contact the people about it the first time I learned they had indeed taken it down off their website and, great timing, they'd all just left to go to their annual big conference but are supposed to be back sometime this week and supposed to dig it back out and email it to me - ooh, which reminds, guess I am glad hub deleted all my emails, looked like I'd finally overwhelmed the system and it shut down on me, at least now, hopefully I will get it; didn't think about that when he said, guess had just thought I'd get back with him again; anyway, think they're also gonna try to put it back on their, also, new website, supposed they're just trying not to overwhelm it; anyway, not sure they require as much documentation as DAR, from what I somewhat got from somewhere along the way; anyway, in trying to do that, I was told and ended up contacting their national headquarters - though not where this conference is supposed to be, so guess they don't always have it at their headquarters - where I was told they don't actually have to be an actual soldier, just what they consider a "patriot", like your ancestor being a waiter, though not carrying arms; mine did supposedly take bedclothes or something like that (would need to look it up again) to his father's camp; so yours only served at the one battle? but like said no documentation re the battles he said he served at or even of the battles, not sure really pursue, since apparently, unless it was in error, and I guess might be some value in rectifiying it, but not like substantiating he should have gotten a pension would benefit him now, he didn't get it; he applied when he was 70; I think it's a time frame; according to something said you had to have served by 1783 and his actual service record - of only 3 mos. - has it in 1793 anyway, with him pretty much saying that most of the time before that he was at home, just trying to say he was doing his part on the home front, defending it from the Indians, but still trying to get a pension; I expect they just didn't feel that qualified - so more to it that his age, was more just trying to make the point, which you somewhat confirmed, that it wasn't unusual for teens at that time to go off and do something, but you also somewhat confirmed that it was more likely that they were serving with their fathers, just that someone seemed surprised at that; I think indicative of our times of not expecting anything of our teen-agers; an article in today's paper about that very thing about one of our military's teen-agers - a son - and how his mom doesn't want him to be "inconvenienced (though that may not be the exact word but you get the point)

Answer 4

I have quite a few ancestors in the Revolutionary war, including one that had circumstances been different would have been as famous as Paul Revere's ride. He rode behind enemy lines in 1775 and presented the North Carolina Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress a year before it was certified. There is documentation from the History of North Carolina, and the book issued by the Governor of North Carolina in 1800 detailing the investigation and litigation before Congress report on the same subject. His name is Capt. James Jack, also participating inthe war was, Capt. John Jack, Matthew Jack, Jeremiah Jack, Patrick Jack.

Answer 5

I have at least 4 of mine identified, would love to officially join the project.

My Revolutionary war Patriot Ancestors:
:[[Armistead-418|John Armistead, of VA]]
:[[Sawyer-2730|Thomas Sawyer, of MA]]
:[[Sibley-981|Jacob Sibley, of NH]]
:[[White-8746|Elisha White, of MA]]

Comments

Hi Linda,

I added the badge to your profile.  Exciting to see your additions.  Be sure to read the project page and ask any questions you may have.

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Found another [[Gregory-522|William Gregory]], There popping up every where.

Answer 6

I'm a bit late replying, and I have only one that I know of, but I'm pretty proud of him. Henry McDaniel of Pittsylvania County, VA was born in 1763 and enlisted in 1779 at the age of 16, which probably was as soon as he was able. He fought at the 1780 Battle of Kings Mountain, a turning point in the southern fighting of the Revolution, and was wounded in the thigh. Later, his company was detached and sent to care for sick and wounded, then returned to their regiment and engaged in scouting until the taking of Cornwallis in 1781.

Answer 7

I have three; John KLOCK AND HIS SON JOHN KLOCK SERVED IN THE TRYON VOLUNTEERS SAW ACTION IN THE BATTLE OF ORKISANY FALLS.

I HAVE ANOTHE JOHN WILCOX WHO SERVED IN THE RHODE ISLAND MILITIA.

Answer 8

I would love to help out

Comments

Hi Carolyn,

Once you finish your WikiTree registration you can visit the 1776 Project page and request to join.  We will then add your 1776 Badge and send you more information.  

Welcome to WikiTree!

Answer 9

One of my ancestors was Martin Burleson Maney 1752-1830. He was born in Ireland and came to America as an indentured servant. He fought in the Revolutionary War under John Servier..

There is a book written about him by one of his ancestors, Milus Bruce Maney. Plus there are a lot of other records about him, including military records. A family Bible also still exists. After the war he settled in North Carolina. I read that "just about all the Maneys in that area are his (and Keziahs) descendants"

Martin Maney married Keziah Vann, whose father was John Cherokee Vann. Those roots lead back to Chief Moytoy, "Pigeon of Tellico", who was an instrumental person in communicating with the early white settlers. It is ironic in a way that Martin married a N/A. He was a self-proclaimed "Indian Fighter" after the war.

Keziah was famous in her own right. There is much written about her because of trying to prove her heritage. It was only through court proceedings that her grandchildren finally won the battle. Some are listed on the "Cherokee Roles". (I have the book) Keziah's father was a Chief and he is also in the history books.

Martin and Keziah's daughter was Nancy Sarah Maney. She married my gr gr gr gr grandfather, Absalom Metalf.  This line is also listed in the Cherokee Rolls.

There are no doubt more of that line of ancestors  who fought in the Revolutionary War but I haven't researched it.  I am at a brick wall with one important line I'm looking for. He was born and lived in NC; his granddaughter married into the Metcalf line.. It would be his ancestors that fought that war, because records show that he fought in the Civil War.

Answer 10

• American Revolutionary War 1776:

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jones-19816

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Brown-47784

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Sparks-255

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hutchings-516

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Roberts-17618

Here are the 1776ers I know right now in my tree.

Gerald Jones

Answer 11

I would love to join project 1776. I have found two Ancestors Benjamin McDonald and Elisha Clayton who both served on the New Jersey Continental Lines.

I have created a free space One Surname Project for Benjamin McDonald and createad a 1776 Tag and Veterans Badge.

Can you help me for I was not able to receive SAR numbers for Benjamin McDonald source code. My Grandfather Orville McDonald became a member before 1940's

I look forward to helping and sharing information with wiki trees. Please let me know if there is anything else I need to do to join Project 1776.

Answer 12

My 5th Great Grandfather, Daniel Hemenway, served in battles prior to July 4, 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed:

Daniel Hemenway (1719-94) was a minute man at the Lexington Alarm and a delegate to the convention that framed the State Constitution. He was born in Framingham; died in Shrewsbury.
Also No. 54003.

He was born at Framingham and died at Shrewsbury.
Reference: Daughters of the American Revolution. p. 230 Mrs. Sarah Emily Wheeler Bunge, descendant.  

Daniel, was a soldier who fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill during the revolutionary war (HEMENWAY, Daniel of Framingham.
Listed under Non-Commissioned Officers & Privates. SOURCE: [8] A History of Framingham, Massachusetts, page 160).  
Also, Asa, one of Daniel's sons, was at Bunker Hill in 1775 as well.

Hemenway Soldiers in the American Revolution:

HEMENWAY, Daniel of Framingham. Listed under Non-Commissioned Officers & Privates. SOURCE: [8] A History of Framingham, Massachusetts, page 160.

Comments

My 3rd great grandfather, Daniel Gill, signed up for the British 54th Regiment of Foot in Newport, RI, in 1777.

Answer 13

My 3rd great grandfather, Prince Skiff, served in the American Revolutionary War as did all of his brothers:

Prince Skiff was a soldier in the Revolutionary War.  He first enlisted in Dukes County, MA, in Benjamin Smith's Company in 1776 as a private from June 1, 1776 to Sept. 1, 1776.  The company was stationed at Martha's Vineyard for defence of seacost; also, Corporal, same co.; service from Sept. 1, 1776 to Nov. 21, 1776; company stationed at Martha's Vineyard. In 1777 he moved to Williamsburg, MA where he enlisted in Samuel Fairfield's Company, June 1777. He held rank of Corporal and was engaged in the battles of Bennington and Saratoga.

Answer 14

I've found a few, mostly for the other side. My Patriot was John Perkins of Middleborough, Massachusetts.

My Loyalists were:

Duncan Robertson, served in 42nd Highland Regiment and settled in New Brunswick.

Richard Price, served in the 7th Regiment of Foot and settled in Prince Edward Island.

Jesse Strang, from Westchester County, New York and settled in Prince Edward Island.

William Wright, from Westchester County, New York and settled in Prince Edward Island.

I'm still looking for more but most of the rest of my lines were in Quebec.