Genealogy Story – Serving Their Country

I’ve seen a number of genealogy shows where they make somewhat of a big deal over finding ancestors who served our country in the military. One show made a point of listing eight ancestors of Ben Affleck who served in the Revolutionary War. But something I had never done was go through my own family tree and find direct ancestors who had served. These are direct ancestors, not uncles, cousins, and the like. Here is what I found:

French and Indian War – In the period 1754-1763, the British Americans fought against the French and Indians for control of portions of the “New World”. It was also called the Seven-Years War.  My ancestors who served in this war included:

·       Titus Beecher

·       Samuel Canfield (note that he also served in the Revolutionary War a few years later)

·       Joseph Talmadge

American Revolutionary War – By the time you expand your family tree back to the 1770s you will be at the great*5 or great*6 grandparents and there will be many more of them. Also, even though my ancestry goes back that far in this country, some of the branches were immigrants after that time. Nonetheless, I have located 9 ancestors who had service in the War of Independence:

·       Josiah Starr (Colonel) – his commission was signed by John Hancock. In 1777 his unit joined General George Washington’s Army and he was part of the group who wintered over at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-1778.

·       Samuel Canfield (Lt. Colonel)

·       Isaac Blakeslee (Lieutenant)

·       Jesse Beecher (Lieutenant)

·       Abraham Tyler (Colonel) – also spent the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge.

·       Reuben Frisbie (Private) – served along the Hudson River, including wintering over at West Point, then White Plains, then Morristown, NJ

·       Jared Hill (Lieutenant)

·       Samuel Blackman (Lieutenant) – served in northern NY in Lake George, Lake Champlain, and as far as Montreal.

·       Riverius Russell (Private)

Civil War – Of my eight great-great-grandfathers, three of them served in the Civil War. These were:

·       Stephen Talmadge (Private)

·       Nathan Merrill

·       Lawrence Northrop

I know nothing about their service except that they were given a pension for their service. However, I also had a great*3 uncle, Stephen Simmons, who died in his service. I have told his story before (http://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2015/03/genealogy-story-stephen-simmons-civil.html).

World War I – Since this war was only 100 years ago, the ancestors who would have been eligible to serve would be my grandfathers. But neither of them were part of it. I did however have a great-uncle who served, who was gassed in France, and who spent the remainder of his life in a mental institution due to this. I’ve told his story before (http://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2017/05/memorial-day-tribute-linus-walter.html).

World War II – This war was fought by my parent’s generation. My father and nearly all of my uncles served. I’ve told my father’s story before (http://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2017/01/war-story-vernon-russell.html).