Category Archives: American History

General Henry Knox – Revolutionary War Hero

As a member of the Sons of the American Revolution (Pomeroy Chapter – Western Massachusetts), I use my reasonable and maybe even above average knowledge of history to help with my work as the Chapter’s Registrar assisting the folks applying for membership. Having grown up in Springfield, Massachusetts, I’m familiar with General Knox as we lived just a few blocks away from the Springfield Armory. There’s is a marker on the east side of the intersection of Federal and State Streets in Springfield very near the Armory indicating that this was a part of Knox Trail, the roads used by Knox to deliver 59 cannon and other supplies to General Washington during the seige of Boston. Yes, we routed the British in January of 1776.

Typical marker found throughout the route taken by Knox on his way from Ticonderoga New York to Boston Massachusetts.

Knox was a 25 year old book binder who literally taught himself history and military science. He participated in the Seige of Boston and was selected by General George Washington to head up to the recently captured Fort Ticonderoga. The American victory there allowed Knox to simply take possession of the artillery. That was the easy part. It was November of 1775 and Knox expected to get back to Boston in a few weeks. It took 3 months of slogging through the frigid wilderness of upstate New York, sailing down Lake George with the equipment on barges, crossing the Hudson into the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts and finally along the Boston Post Road. But he made it and in January of 1776, Washington had his artillery. No ammunition per se, but the Americans were able to surround the British with an array of cannon which was enough to chase the British out of Boston. Needless to say, this amazing feat in the dead of winter sparked the beginning of Henry Knox’s brilliant career.

But let’s talk about the armory for a minute. It was Knox who persuaded Washington to site the first arsenal on the hills of Springfield overlooking the Connecticut River. That location proved to be a very strategic spot to locate what became the Springfield Armory. There’s a great deal of history to recount here including the events of Shays’ Rebellion, the supply of arms to the armed forces from the late 18th century up until its closure by Seretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1968. During those years, a great deal of history was made: standardized manufacturing, invention of numerous armaments, and employment for thousands of residents including women. Today, what is now known as the Springfield Armory National Historic Site allows an in depth view of the history of the Springfield Armory’s many contributions to the defenses of the United States of America.

The Springfield Armory National Historic Site

Click here to take a tour with the Armory’s Curator, Alex McKenzie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIfyzai6Uzk.

Here’s the point I’m trying to make about General Henry Knox. Karen and I took a vacation up to Edgecomb, Maine. During the week, Karen found a mumber of places for us to go, mostly visiting a variety of lighthouses, historic sites, some ancient cemeteries (Karen knows that’s a MUST on my itinerary!), and of course, restaurants and other tours. The best of those tours was a 1 and a half hour ferry ride from Boothbay Harbor to Monhegan Island. Other than one thunder storm, the weather couldn’t have been better! We even had time to stand in line for about an hour to get the famous “Red’s Eats” lobster roll. A little over a pound of lobster in a hot dog roll. Only $23.75! Last season, Red’s went through 14.5 TONS of lobster meat! That’s 14.5 TONS!! Click here to read about them: https://www.redseatsmaine.com/.

One of our side trips was to the Maine State Penitentiary Gift Shop. Prisoners are encouraged to develop their talents in carving, furniture creation, model ship building, and dozens of other unique items. Karen found a handmade birdhouse that we’ll be putting up in the back yard. What I found was a 2-page handout about the General Henry Knox Museum. The General Henry Knox Museum??? Well, it was just up the road from the gift shop, so off we went.

After General Henry Knox’s brilliant career, he retired to Thomaston, Maine. Although he grew up in virtual poverty, he married let’s just say, he married well. Lucy Flucker was from a wealthy New England family. With his marriage to Lucy, Knox became the owner of an enormous amount of land in Thomaston which was in Massachusetts at the time. Maine was not created until the Missouri Compromise in 1820 but that’s another story! The Knox’s built what was contemporaneously described as the most beautiful home in New England. They called it “Montpelier.” Sadly, the building deteriorated to the point where demolition was the only solution in the late 19th century. Now comes the DAR to the rescue. During the height of the Great Depression, they were able to raise the funds to rebuild an exact duplicate of the original down to every last detail. This was made possible due to the prolific writing of General Knox describing what he wanted built and how to go about building it! Sizes, colors, wallpaper, the layour of the grounds, every detail was meticulously recorded allowing for the details that were built into the new building. The project obviously provided much needed work and the new home was opened to the public in 1931. Click here for their website: http://knoxmuseum.org/ .

Montpelier – A recreation of the original Montpelier, home of Henry and Lucy Knox

The docent who brought us through all 3 floors of the building offered a great deal of information about Henry and Lucy Knox. Of 13 children, for example, only 3 survived to adulthood. The museum is chock full of Knox memorabilia with furniture, writings, portraits, books, and household goods. The Knox’s are buried in the Village Cemtery about a mile from the museum.

The graves of General Henry Knox and family in the Village Cemetery, Thomaston, Maine

The lesson here, as I’ve said before, is you don’t know what you don’t know. I was delighted that Karen found the Maine State Prison Gift Shop. I was delighted that I just happened to find the little handout about the Hentry Knox Museum!

The Sons of the American Revolution – Induction

After 15 plus years of working on and off on an application to join the SAR, I happened across a registrar from the DAR. We were at a taping of the PBS program “Genealogy Road Show” in Providence, Rhode Island. My true motivation in attending the taping was to meet with one of the hosts, Kenyatta Berry, and ask that she sign on as featured speaker for the New England Regional Genealogy Consortium’s 2017 conference in Springfield, Massachusetts.  The good news is I meet with her and she graciously accepted the invitation. Thank you Kenyatta!

The DAR member’s name is Kathy Kaldis and after speaking with her for a few minutes, she offered to complete the work that I had started and stopped so many times. But, I can’t join the DAR for obvious reasons so Kathy put together a successful application for my daughter’s induction into the DAR. If you know how a legacy society works, if my daughter is a proven descendant of a Revolutionary War Patriot, than I also qualify.

The problem for me initially is my family, believe it or not. I have at least 22 age appropriate direct ancestors who may have served. The problem is digging up (no pun intended) enough proof of the lineage and the patriot’s service. I had been able to partly prove 18 of the 22. Kathy and I found one, Timothy Blodgett (1740-1831), who is a direct ancestor and enough documentation was available to prove the relationship. Timothy answered the Lexington call, was a minuteman and participated in the battle at Lexington. Years later he had moved to Deerfield Massachusetts where he and his family are buried. You can find the memorial at Find-A-Grave and at Billion Graves.

The point of all this is to talk about the induction. I will be formally inducted on 22 October 2016 in Quincy Massachusetts at a day long event that will include a grave marking ceremony in the Hancock Cemetery marking the grave of Thomas Newcomb. Then we’ll visit the crypts of 2 presidents, John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams. We’ll also be touring the Adams Mansion thanks to the National Park Service. Lunch at noon and finally the induction ceremony itself. Should be a great day and I have to admit that I’m proud to have been accepted into an organization that carries with it a heritage dating back to the Revolutionary War, almost 250 years ago!

Heritage Quest – The New Version

English: Seal of the United States Census Bure...

English: Seal of the United States Census Bureau. The blazon is defined here as: On a shield an open book beneath which is a lamp of knowledge emitting rays above in base two crossed quills. Around the whole a wreath of single leaves, surrounded by an outer band bearing between two stars the words “U.S. Department of Commerce” in the upper portion and “Bureau of the Census” in the lower portion, the lettering concentric with an inner beaded rim and an outer dentilated rim. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ll readily admit that I have not been a regular user of Heritage Quest.  As a matter of fact, I would avoid it.  Probably because I didn’t know how best to take advantage of it.  When I did go there, it was usually at the library where I volunteer and occasionally teach or lecture on genealogy research principles.Today, however, I watched a video that introduced me to the new version that has just been released.  I think they hit a home run with this one.  Maybe a grand slam!

The style echos what will be the newest version of Ancestry.com once they release the beta version which some of us have been able to “get friendly with” and provide feedback to Ancestry.  More on that in another post another day.  For now, I just want to encourage everyone to take a look at Heritage Quest and see all the new features.

First, it’s a little more pleasant of an atmosphere.  Maybe, for me, it’s just that it’s a refreshed website.  But the real meat of the upgrade is the collections that you will find there.

Brief rundown: The original 6 data sets are still available but PERSI and the US Serial Set will, for now, redirect you back to the original site.  Census records are now available to 1940 given the collaboration with Ancestry.com.  The census records and other sets will now display images in 256 grey scale or color rather than “bi-tonal” making them easier to read.  You will also be able to save them, download them or e-mail them in a image format.

In addition to US Census Population Schedules, images for US Territories, Military and Naval Forces records, US Indian Census Rolls 1885-1940, Mortality Schedules from 1850 to 1880, the 1880 schedules of Dependent, Delinquent and Defective classes and select Non-Population schedules from 1850 to 1880.

English: A collage of American Revolutionary W...

English: A collage of American Revolutionary War public domain images. Clockwise from top left: Battle of Bunker Hill, Death of Montgomery at Quebec, Battle of Cowpens, “Moonlight Battle”. Interlingua: Un collage de imagines in dominio public super le Guerra de Independentia del Statos Unite. Ab sinistra superior in senso horologic: Battalia de Bunker Hill, morte de Montgomery a Quebec, Battalia de Cowpens, Battalia de Capo St. Vincente. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The complete NARA M804 Revolutionary War pension and bounty land applications with “every name index” of pension apps and applicants. All NARA pension apps are included regardless of page count or genealogical value.

The image viewer appears in either basic of advanced view without the need for any special plug-ins.  Boolean operators are not allowed (AND, OR, AND NOT, etc.) but truncation and wildcards are (Eli?abeth or Sam*).  An exact match option appears when typing begins. You are also allowed to add life events or other family members to refine your search and use double quotation marks for specific phrases (“first edition”),

All documents are downloadable in PDF format.  The site includes several pages of tips and tricks for researchers.

Map of campaigns in the Revolutionary War

Map of campaigns in the Revolutionary War (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Map Guide to the US Census” has been moved to the new interactive MAPS

English: Map of US Census Bureau's geographica...

English: Map of US Census Bureau’s geographical regions Category:Census Bureau images (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

section.  The maps have their own tabs, can be saved, printed or e-mailed using a right click for the option menu.

“The Census Book” by William Dollarhide is included in the MAPS section and includes blank census forms. You may be interested in other William Dollarhide books which include “American Migration Routes 1735-1815,” “New  York State Census & Substitutes,” or “Managing a Genealogical Project” among others.  They’re all available at Amazon.com.

 

I’m not familiar enough just yet to expound on the new features or any of the improvements to what has been available for a while.  But it’s certainly worth a look!

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