Happy Independence Day!

[Ripsnort]

Happy Independence Day! Our genealogy book (Thanks for keeping it updated Mom )shows that one of our distance relatives fought with George Washington's army. We are thankful for our relative William Thompson for assisting in ridding the British as he did not practice his 1st amendment rights but rather exercised his 2nd by shooting the British, with a gun. And we still have those guns today.

[Ripsnort]

(Yes, I know, the bill didn't pass until 1791 but it was based  partially on the right to keep and bear arms in English common-law and was influenced by the English Bill of Rights of 1689)

[RotBaron]

 

My mom is DAR, unfortunately we don't have records to that extent.

Or maybe we do, I should ask.

[jeep00]

He was a captain in 1776 and a private in 1777?
Nice to have history that far back though, cool stuff. And glad you corrected his defense of ammendments that did not exist to a document still unwritten. The best part of those ammendments is it showed hat our founding fathers, unlike so many today, knew they were not infallible and knew things may need to be added or clarified.

[zack1234]

You have 2 more days to come back.

You all know in the US you have a need for Queens

[SysError]

Happy Independence Day! Our genealogy book (Thanks for keeping it updated Mom )shows that one of our distance relatives fought with George Washington's army. We are thankful for our relative William Thompson for assisting in ridding the British as he did not practice his 1st amendment rights but rather exercised his 2nd by shooting the British, with a gun. And we still have those guns today.

(Image removed from quote.)

Happy 4th and all that.  (I really mean it). A great day to have fun with friends and family.  (This year we are in SC on a lake and saw a great fireworks show from our pontoon).  I suspect, however, that you might not have had to many credible historians join you in your past festivities. 

Of course, you know who you really need to play tribute to.

Any of these guys ring any bells? (just a sampling from an overwhelmingly long list)

Louis XVI
Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes
Marquis de Lafayette
Pierre Charles L'Enfant
Pierre Beaumarchais

Perhaps the words "Heureux le 4ème juillet" should be engraved on the flag poles of the Stars and Stripes for the day?

Again, I hope that everyone had an enjoyable and safe 4th.


 

[Randy1]

Our family fought on both sides.  If remember right there was an even split of 40% for 40% against and the rest undecided.

[Treize69]

I have one direct ancestor who fought for four years (1775-79) in Warner's Regiment and several of his in-laws were senior officers in the Massachusetts Line.

As my uncle in England said in an e-mail the morning of the 4th- "Happy Treason Day you ungrateful Colonials"!

[Ripsnort]

He was a captain in 1776 and a private in 1777?
Nice to have history that far back though, cool stuff. And glad you corrected his defense of ammendments that did not exist to a document still unwritten. The best part of those ammendments is it showed hat our founding fathers, unlike so many today, knew they were not infallible and knew things may need to be added or clarified.

I thought that odd too. Perhaps they got it switched around. Grandmothers, Great grandmothers, great great, great great great, etc. all kept this updated and passed it down. It traces the tree back to 1497.
What is neat is how thorough the research was done (as you can see below, to 1490) Some of the grandmothers wrote 1 page stories that they describe how their lives were in their times. For instance how Butter churns made their lives easier and of clearing trees in "The wild west" which was then- Ohio when they lived in PA. LOL!

[Ripsnort]

I have one direct ancestor who fought for four years (1775-79) in Warner's Regiment and several of his in-laws were senior officers in the Massachusetts Line.

As my uncle in England said in an e-mail the morning of the 4th- "Happy Treason Day you ungrateful Colonials"!

[Treize69]

It's not unheard of to drop and rise in rank suddenly in the Continental Army- officers were usually elected by the men or appointed by the states with no regard for seniority, so it's not unheard of for man to drop from officer to enlisted rank almost overnight. My ancestor was a Regimental Quartermaster in 1775, but when the unit was reorganized and made a regular Continental Regiment (rather than a militia or state unit) they resuffled the command structure and he ended up a sergeant (I think technically the Company First Sergeant, which wasn't an actual rank in a lot of units but an appointed position) for three years until he was allowed to go home at the end of the 1779 campaign season. Incidentally the man who organized the unit that his Regiment was formed out of was completely voted out of the unit in 1776- he was a Colonel at breakfast and a civilian by dinner.