Revolutionary Soldier - Torn on every side

Ninety-Six Battlefield, South Carolina

In commemorating the 250th anniversary of America's transformation from colony to republic, I’ve chosen to honor not just the celebrated patriots—but the forgotten ones, especially those whose choices challenge our grade-school narratives.

The teaching of this period of history in grade school is often painted with brushes of idealism and patriotism. The British were tyrants and bad! The Colonist were enlightened and good! The truth is much more complicated and nuanced. 

All of the ancestors I have discussed made choices based upon how they viewed their environments. Some, like Benjamin Brown and Edward Richardson, were motivated to defend the liberties of self-rule they and their ancestors had come to expect. Some, like Oliver Brown, were caught up in the revolutionary fever. Others, like Robert Goad and Francis Summers, simply chose to pay taxes. Southern soldiers, like Andrew Walker, were motivated because they associated the British with the Cherokee hostilities.

Naturally, when goals and motivations differ - decisions and choices differ. One discovered ancestor of mine made a decision that, in grade school, I would have been ashamed of.  He was a LOYALIST!  He supported the tyranny of King George! How could he make such an uninformed and unenlightened decision? 

That ancestor was Joseph Carmichael. Joseph was an ancestor that I knew nothing about.  I discovered him through Wikitree and the experience I have gained in searching records through my association with fellow genealogy enthusiasts I have encountered in that community. 

My maternal great-grandfather was adopted from his birth mother, Melinda Hamil. Melinda's maternal grandfather was Joseph Carmichael, the son of my loyalist ancestor. The exact place and time of Joseph the Loyalist's birth is uncertain.  His father, William, was born in Scotland and received a 300-acre land grant in 1762 in what is now Abbeville, South Carolina. Joseph was probably born in Scotland, but no record has been found.

Joseph found himself in a place of turmoil, the backcountry. This frontier of South Carolina was a law unto itself - blending the cultures of German, Scottish, and Irish settlers with native Cherokees. Lawlessness and vigilante behaviors were common - surviving meant picking the right sides at the right time. Loyalties were flexible.

Andrew Pickens is a notable revolutionary patriot soldier who lived in very close proximity to the Carmichaels at the time of the American Revolution. In fact, Joseph, served under Col. Richard King's Regiment, Long Cane Militia, Upper Ninety-Six Brigade - the same unit Pickens had commanded. It is possible he had served directly under Pickens before the militia unit was reorganized under Robert Cunningham.  

Andrew fought the Cherokee in the 1760s under British command. He led a decisive victory at Kettle Creek in 1779 defeating Loyalist forces and disrupting British recruitment, but after the fall of Charleston in 1780 - he surrendered to the British and pledged neutrality. Then Loyalist raided his plantation, and he abandoned his pledge playing a key role at the Battle of Cowpens in 1781.

All the while, his neighbor and my ancestor, Joseph Carmichael chose to remain attached to the British forces.  Afterall they would probably win. Charleston was taken. The market for his family's plantation was in Charleston. The British had repelled the patriot rebels at the fortifications at Ninety-six - right in his neighborhood. Betting on Britain was the logical choice. 

Joseph spent time at Ninety-six. Unfortunately, Joseph seems to have died of injuries associated with the Nathaniel Greene's initiatives or some retaliatory violence. His wife, Eleanor, was a refugee as a result of the violence and loss of her husband prior to 10 August 1782 when she is identified as a widow. Somehow she managed to keep the family going and get reintegrated into the community, at least for a time, after the war. Nonetheless, their son moved to Captain Walker's District of Morgan County, GA before 1820.

Conclusion

In the northern campaign and along the coasts of the colonies - the fighting was inspired by desire for liberty of trade, from perceived tyranny, or a desire for self-determination. But in the backcountry of South Carolina fighting was for survival yet choosing alliances was simultaneously critical and precarious.

In the backcountry, choosing sides was not about ideology—it was about survival. What do we make of ancestors who chose wrong for the right reasons, or right for the wrong ones? How do you choose sides when choosing is mandatory but both choices are wrong?

Revolution and Symbols

Sons of Freedom Pulling Down the Statue of King George III

Print from Steel Engraving, John C. McCrae (1859)

Growing up, it seemed every time I brought a history textbook home, my dad would turn to a page on American History and point to an image in the book much like the one above. Then he would say, "Your great-great-great granddad pulled that statue down." Of course, no school textbook, ever, said who pulled it down.  Most simply read, "A crowd of colonist gathered in New York City and pulled down a statue of King George to make bullets for the war."

In 2017 I was visiting New Orleans.  At the time there was great controversy in the nation about history, culture, and symbols of hate as many local governments began removing several statues that commemorated leaders of the Confederacy. While there were some exceptions most of these decisions were made and achieved peacefully.

In April 2003, images flooded the news medias as some Iraqi citizens attempted to bring down a statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square in Baghdad. When unsuccessful the US Marines from the 3rd Battalion assisted in the activity. 

These moments—New York in 1776, New Orleans in 2017, Baghdad in 2003—share a common thread: statues as symbols. Each represented a regime, a legacy, or a wound. King George was a symbol of the tyranny the colonist had begun to loathe. The confederate statues were both symbols of history and symbols of hate. Saddam was a symbol of an era the people believed was now gone. Each case marked an inflection point.

This grandfather was Oliver Brown. He was the Revolutionary war ancestor used by my father, grandfather, great-aunt, and great-grandmother to gain their memberships into the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) and Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), respectively. My great-great-grandfather was written up in a Lawrence County Ohio newspaper in the early 1900s discussing his encounters with his grandfather, Oliver Brown. 

The story of Oliver was etched in our family memories.

Captain Oliver Brown’s Revolutionary journey began even before its first battle at Lexington.  As a lad of twenty, he happened to be in Boston conducting business on behalf of his family, on the day of the Boston Tea Party.  There he witnessed the events of that day.

His father, Benjamin Brown, was a Selectman in Lexington and on the Committee of Correspondence; his father-in-law, Edward Richardson, was on the Committee of Correspondence in Watertown. His brother, Solomon Brown, fired some of the first shots of the American Revolution on the Green.

Oliver had been living with the family of Captain Thatcher  (and Thatcher's wife; Oliver's first cousin) in Cambridge since the early 1760s. Naturally, he became one of Thatcher's Woburn Minutemen that arrived to repel the British regulars along the Battle Road. He stood against the first British cannon fired on colonial forces that day. He was part of nearly every major turning point of the war’s northern theater. He fought at Bunker Hill, commanded artillery at Harlem Heights, and endured defeat at White Plains. 

He served under General Washington for four years, rising to captain-lieutenant in the Massachusetts artillery line. With the artillery he fought at Trenton and Princeton during the winter campaigns, manned defensive posts at Bound Brook, and engaged in the pivotal battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. His artillery, he recalled, “did much execution” and his company of thirty men and two field pieces was entrusted with “many small adventures”.

After Oliver's service he returned to Middlesex.  He purchased several pieces of property in and around Concord. He was owner/operator of Wright Tavern for about three years starting in 1786. During his management there in September 1786 some townspeople met there to draft up a petition to address concerns about unrest associated with Shay's Rebellion. Then by 1789, he was having difficulty generating enough revenue to cover his mortgage, so he moved west to the region that is now Wellsburg, WV.

Oliver lived and participated in a pivotal time and place in American history.  Granddad didn't show up in standard history textbooks - but he was there. The retelling of his story in our family concretely connected us to the transition from American colonies to these United States.  

Oliver expressed only one regret about his actions and adventures.  It was that he had disappointed General Washington by defacing the statue of King George. Yet, I wonder what he thought in the moment of the event.  Was he just caught up in the mobbish fervor? Did the reading of the Declaration of Independence that day move him toward celebration? Was he thinking about the scarcity of lead for bullets? Like the Marines in 2003, perhaps he was thinking: How can we do this safely and successfully? 

We know he wasn't thinking, "What will General Washington think about this?"

An aside:  In 2022 Smithsonian published an interesting article on the subject that referenced Oliver indirectly with a link to his biography.

 

Revolution and The Weight of Expectation

 

Independence Hall in Philidelphia

Caveat:  In this time of decreased unity in our Nation. Today's post could be seen as partisan.  That was not my intent. My intent is to remind us of the uniqueness and fragility of the Nation that has existed and prospered.  My intent is to inspire us to continue our quest for liberty and justice for all.

The American Revolution was not merely a break from monarchy—it was a leap into uncertainty. For those who lived it, the promise of liberty came with the burden of responsibility. And for their descendants (you and me), the Constitution became both a guide and a mirror: reflecting hopes, fears, and the evolving meaning of self-governance.

The Founders’ Dilemma 

The architects of the Constitution feared concentrated power, yet they knew that without executive authority, the republic might collapse. They designed a presidency with limited powers, assuming that Congress and the people would carry the weight of national direction. But history had other plans.

Crisis and Expansion 

From Washington’s neutrality to Lincoln’s wartime proclamations, from Roosevelt’s New Deal to modern executive orders, the power of the presidency has grown—often in response to war, crisis, and gridlock. Each expansion met a need but also stretched the bounds of original intent.

The Impossible Expectation 

Today, we elect presidents with the hope that they will fix what Congress cannot, unify what culture divides, and embody both strength and humility. It’s a paradox: we ask for restraint and results, vision and compromise, all within a system that was never designed for unilateral action.

Genealogy and Legacy 

In tracing the lives of some of my ancestors—like Andrew Walker, Ephriam Bates, Priscilla Stephens, or Benjamin Brown—we see how ordinary people navigated extraordinary change. Their choices, migrations, and civic roles remind us that history is never shaped solely by presidents, but by families, communities, and quiet acts of stewardship.

Reflection

As we mark 250 years, perhaps the most honest celebration is not triumphalism, but reflection. Do we as individuals and collectively as a nation value action over restrained power? Do we trust a system designed to reign in a weakness of mankind to seek and maintain power? Or do we trust in the goodness and wisdom of a single individual?

Our Constitution has not endured because it is perfect, but because generations have wrestled with its imperfections. And in that wrestling, we find both the revolution’s promise—and its weight.

Unsung Revolutionary Patriots: Quills and Taxes

Before muskets and rifles fired or drums beat across colonial fields - plans, presses, and quills were making ready for the storm that was brewing in Colonial America. When we consider patriots we look to Colonels, Generals, politicians, and midnight messengers. They certainly played their parts and those parts were important. But aside from the Divine Providence the Nation's founders rightly credited - it was the everyday efforts of thousands of people. 

For generations, colonists solved their own problems at the local level. They built assemblies, held town meetings, and organized militias—not out of rebellion, but necessity. Yet as time passed, the halls of their government lay increasingly in a Parliament building 3,600 miles away. This meant bureaucratic decisions were further delayed by a five-month round trip. To the colonists, this wasn’t just inefficient. It was intolerable.

Despite the increase in royal regulations, the colonist continued to make their own decisions - particularly at local levels. In today's blog I'm going to look at some of my ancestors that are considered by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) or Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) to be Patriots, but as far as we know they never fired a shot against the British. 

What they most certainly did, though, was participate in or support self-rule.

The first and easiest way to participate in self-rule was to submit to the colony or local taxes that supported the militias. In an era when there was no effective or standard enforcement of taxes - avoiding them would have been easy for many. Loyalist often chose to avoid the taxes.  A patriot may even give a little extra or provide supplies at a particular time as militia might be in need of it. 

I have identified three of my ancestors who paid taxes that supported the colonial cause. The first, on my mother's side, was John Dodson. John lived in Pennsylvania but is listed as having paid a supply tax in 1778 for Connecticut. The circumstances of him paying a supply tax for a different colony is unclear. His Wikitree profile says he was also an "honorable Revolutionary War veteran" - but this is unverified. He would have been 55 years old. He was in Chester County (Valley Forge is there) so maybe that’s why a Pennsylvania man is credited with paying a Connecticut supply tax.

The second, also on my mother's side, was Robert Goad. Robert paid a supply tax in 1783 in Bedford County, Virginia. Nothing much is known about Robert and what transpired in his life other than that he moved to Maury County, TN in the late 18th or early 19th Century.

The third, on my father's side, was Francis Summers.  Francis also paid the 1783 supply tax in Virginia.  He is also credited with being an Overseer of the Poor in Fairfax County, VA from 1777 to 1783 by SAR. This duty upheld the fragile civic fabric of a nation in a time of turmoil.

I also have three ancestors that held positions in local governments in a time when local governments were discouraged and even forbidden at times by the British authorities. These three were in the thick of the extended planning for defending the local population. They were there collecting, storing, and securing arms. They were executing local justice. 

All of these ancestors are through my father's side. The first, William Reed, was a Justice of the Peace in Lexington, MA. Captain Reed had been involved in the politics of Lexington for many years. He was already in his eighties when the Lexington alarm was heard. Several of his grandchildren gathered on the Lexington Green to defend their freedoms that day.

The second ancestor, Benjamin Brown, was William's son-in-law. Benjamin was on the Committee of Correspondence in Lexington. When Paul Revere rode into town, Benjamin saw both the substantiation of his fears and the fruit of his labor come to bear. The alarm system and the assembly of the militia had been enabled by his actions.  (The image of the letter at the top includes his name along with John Parker and Edmund Monro as Town Selectmen. The letter is on display at Buckman Tavern in Lexington.)

Like Benjamin, another ancestor through my father's side, Edward Richardson, served on the Committee of Correspondence in Watertown, MA.

There are many ways to participate in a cause. Some are heralded. Some are overlooked. But all the efforts came together to establish this nation.  It happened, like all other events of notable human achievement, because the people, by and large, agreed on a common idea. In this case the idea — we can and we will create and enforce the rules and liberties for our own communities. We won’t accept the rules of a government that is distant from us in time, place, or values. We know best!

Unsung Revolutionary War - Southern Soldier

The war for independence in the American British colonies and fledgling nation is defined as starting at Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775, but the battles raged across the colonies until it came to full stop (Do like the way I snuck in that British term?) formally at the signing of the Treaty of Paris on 3 September 1783.

Between those two dates there were battles and power plays across the colonies to achieve an upper hand in the control of the colonies.  In British style they sought to divide the nation between the northern and southern colonies. (The effect of their effort has probably, to some extent, continued through the American Civil War and even to today.)

The British hoping to keep the southern militias occupied enlisted help from the Cherokee Nation.  Individuals like, John Stuart, who was the Crown's Superintendent of Indian Affairs were presumed to have encouraged the belief within the Cherokee Nation that by aligning with the Crown they would retain autonomy and control of their ancestral lands - but if the Colonies became independent from the Crown the Cherokee Nation would lose that control.

Enter my sixth great grandfather, Andrew Walker. Andrew is a grandfather from my mother's side of the family. Growing up I didn't know any of the lineages of my mother's family beyond a couple great grandparents, but I have been able to solidly connect records back to Andrew Walker. 

Andrew immigrated from County Antrim, Ireland arriving in Charleston, SC in 1767 abord the Earl of Donegal. By the time the Revolutionary War began he was in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He volunteered early in the effort under Colonel Ezekiel Polk's regiment in July 1775 where he marched to Prince's Fort in Spartanburg - likely to reinforce defenses in case of Cherokee unrest. He was drafted then to serve under Robert Irwin in a campaign against the Cherokee Nation - which aligns with the timeline of the Snow Campaign intended to suppress Loyalist and Cherokees in the region. He continued with the southern campaign all the way to Fort Johnston in Wilmington, NC.

Andrew volunteered for service again in 1780 to reconnoiter British forces in Mecklenburg and Lancaster Districts of the Carolinas. He participated in the skirmish at Walkup's Mills during Cornwallis's campaign. His road to an officer began in his service to General William Lee Davidson as his Quartermaster where he was afterwards commissioned by Robert Irwin as a Captain where he commanded a company for twelve months across the Carolinas.

In the book Young Hickory: The making of Andrew Jackson, my sixth great-grandfather is given an honorable mention with regard to his assistance while he was a Captain. He helped obtain young Andrew Jackson's freedom from British arrest in Camden, SC.  

“ ... The following day...unexpected news of more direct interest came to Andy [Jackson] -- the possibility of freedom. Andy Walker, Tommy Walker's big brother, a captain of the Waxhaw Whigs, had managed to capture thirteen British soldiers at the battle, operating independently alongside Greene's army like many of Sumter's Waxhaw followers... Through his sister Jane, a sturdy, black-haired young woman who had already ridden once from Waxhaw Creek with provisions for her brother, he offered to swap his captives for his brother and the other Waxhaw boys. Jane Walker worked out the exchange with Lord Rawdon,” [She was accompanied by Mrs. Jackson “who, sick and tired of the Carolina Irish, stormed at her and drove a hard bargain: thirteen British for seven Waxhaw boys, Tommy Walker, and six others, Andy and Robin Jackson among them. The swap took place a day or two later, and Andy walked out of the stinking jail into his mother's arms.”

Looking back at this incident and the hostilities surrounding it, it is clear that it was a precursor to the Trail of Tears.  Andrew Jackson, angered in his formative years, was influenced to campaign for the Indian Removal Act of 1830 which led to the loss and grieving of a people and regret for a Nation.

Blame the Cherokees? Blame the British? Blame the Waxhaw Boys?  

No...Blame humanity!

Religious Geneaology

 Center Point Church, Scottown, OH

In this blog, I've explored my genealogy through the lenses of the Revolutionary War, slavery, and religious heritage. Along the way I encountered a story about religious roots that I am uncovering. As settlers moved from Virginia into Ohio and beyond they took with them their deep religious convictions. 

Where settlers went they established places of worship. The building pictured above is one my second Great Grandfather, Lewis Rose, helped construct. Another of my Great Grandfathers (4th), Timothy Bates, was partially responsible for the establishment of the Mount Ephraim Church. 

 The Mount Ephraim church building was built in 1839. It is currently a United Methodist church, but it started its life as a Christian church with the roots in the Restoration Movement led in part by Alexander Campbell.

Growing up worshipping at a church of Christ, I was familiar with religious leaders like Campbell. I remember at least one focused study on the topic of the Restoration Movement in a bible class. In my twenties, I discovered copies of The Christian Baptist. I read them with fascination, struck by both the similarities and differences between Campbell’s spiritual insights and the church fellowship that emerged from his influence. 

With that background the religious intersection of Timothy Bates and Alexander Campbell seeded my current diversion. 

Timothy came to the Guernsey/Noble region of Ohio with his father, Ephraim. Timothy was counted as residing in Guernsey, OH in the US Census from 1820 until 1850. Ephraim had been influenced by a Presbyterian minister named Jacob Green, in New Jersey.  That influence likely included Jacob's abolitionist views and may have influenced Ephraim to move to a free territory. (Some who were in that region of Ohio were involved in the Underground Railroad, but all of their identities and cooperative associations have been lost to time.)

Alexander Campbell spent most of his life in Brooke, Virginia (now WV). But sometime after he married his second wife in 1828 but before the 1840 Census he resided in Guernsey, OH. By the 1850 Census he was back in Brooke, Virginia. Around 1840 was right around the time the church building was being constructed in Mount Ephraim.

Given Alexander's association with the Restoration movement, the construction of the Mount Ephraim church structure in 1839, Timothy's association with the Christian church movement, and Timothy and Alexander both residing in Guernsey, OH in 1840 - it is reasonable to conclude they interacted considerably.

What interaction that must have included! It was enough to convict Timothy to align with the restoration cause. How did those conversations impact Alexander's views on slavery? Certainly, he had no slaves in 1840 while in Ohio - but in the 1860 census he owned a 9-year-old girl.  The circumstance of that ownership is not known. It may have been an undesirable situation for him that he found himself involved with. After all, in 1829 and 1830 he was recorded as advocating in the Virginia Constitutional Convention for gradual emancipation of slavery. Clearly, while seemingly simple to us today, it was complicated.

Slavery question aside, the likely association of Alexander Campbell with Timothy Bates provides an unbroken connection of a portion of my family from the Second Great Awakening down to Timothy's great granddaughter Wilma Moore Rose. 

My father talked of the significant influences of his grandmother, Wilma, on his spiritual journey.  He remembered fondly worshipping with his grandmother, Wilma, in a small building they called Wilma's Chapel, built for his great grandmother, Willamina Moore, by her sons in the hills surrounding Crown City, OH.

My father, in turn, influenced my brothers and me to continue in the restoration spirit to become independent thinking Bereans, that is, "receiving the word with all readiness of mind, and searching the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." My brother, today, serves as a minister of a church in Tuscaloosa, AL that still holds to the principles of continuous restoration. 

Though Paul was addressing a different context, his words beautifully capture the spirit of Continuous Restoration -

 “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14

Genealogy (and history, in general) reminds us so vividly if we listen that life is composed of individual journeys, interactions, decisions, and contradictions that affect others who are distant from us in space and time. Choices matter!  We seldom have the prescience to know exactly how. 

Genealogical Reckoning - The Final Reckoning

 The Final Reckoning

If you have followed the series of Genealogical Reckoning you know it has been a journey of discovery. It has held surprises both good and bad. This personal journey that I have shared is not particularly unique, though it isn't very prevalent - because it requires researching, knowing, and reflecting on things that are uncomfortable and inconvenient. 

Edward Ball is an exception as he has looked at his family's personal history as enslavers and published a book on the subject. Others like Rachel Swarns, have documented particular subsets of enslaved people and associated them with their enslavers. Some Universities, like Harvard and Princeton, have looked at their involvement and implemented scholarships or reparative efforts as part of their repentance.

Like so many moral errors of history - no one can truly make amends. Those directly affected by the original sins are no longer among the living. 

There are descendants of those who were enslaved who have overcome (often significantly) the disadvantages inflicted on their ancestors.  Likewise, others have continued to suffer multigenerational traumas that can be tied to an ancestor's experiences as a slave. 

There are also descendants of enslavers who are still benefitting from the prosperities enslaving brought them. And equally, there are descendants of enslavers whose ancestors suffered mightily from losses associated with the Civil War and have continued to suffer generationally.

So, what about me? “Certainly, the choices my ancestors made—and the situations that befell them—impacted my initial conditions. After that, like everyone else, it has been about my choices to seize or ignore opportunities that arose. My environment gave me more opportunities than some and less opportunities than others. As Solomon noted: "The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong... but time and chance happens to them all."

Review of my Ancestors

I looked at fourteen family names representing 2nd great grandparents and their ancestors. Of those, eight families owned one or more slaves; three of those families owned slaves quite extensively; one family was abolitionists in temperament; one family became abolitionists in 1776; and one family was immigrants.

Impact

I'm an American with deep ancestral roots in the country. With such deep roots it is impossible not to be impacted by the history of the nation.  This history includes things like harsh involvement with native Americans, slavery, Revolutionary War, industrial expansion, Civil War, and Reconstruction.

As I have looked, I have found uncles and ancestors that fought on opposite sides in battles on the frontier, in battles of the Revolutionary, and in the Civil War. I have ancestors who were enslavers and abolitionist. I have ancestors who lost much after the Civil War. I have family that prospered during the industrial revolution and others were displaced.

At the end the question is not, "who were my ancestor and what did they do?" but rather "who am I and what will I do?" 

Genealogical Reckoning - Anderson, Stansbury, and Cambell Ancestors

Anderson Ancestors

Looking back at ancestors and their association with slavery has included some surprises. But when it comes to the Anderson side of my family, there are no surprises at all. Oscar Anderson was one of my maternal great grandparents. He was born in Tanum, Sweden and did not arrive to the United States until around 1880 after slavery was abolished. It is certain that neither he nor his family participated in America's institution of slavery.  His father, Zacharias, was born Naverstad, Sweden and his mother, Beata, was born in Lur, Sweden. Both died in Tanum, Sweden. 

I have traced Oscar's line back only to his grandparents who were born in the late 1700s. Internal to the country, Sweden had effectively banned slavery in 1335. Some wealthy or seafaring Swedes participated briefly in the African slave trade - but no evidence of that has been discovered for my Anderson ancestors.

This family line, unlike some of the others, played out exactly as expected. No slave connections! I wish I could say that for my remaining maternal ancestors.

Stansbury Ancestors

The next set of maternal ancestors come from Louisiana, though they weren’t originally from there. My second great grandfather, David Stansbury, was born in Terrebonne, LA in 1847. He grew up in a household that owned slaves. His father, Charles, owned one 21-year-old male slave in 1850 and eight slaves in 1860, though the slave he owned in 1850 was not among that number.

Whether Charles' parents, Charles Gorsuch Stansbury and Gulselma owned slaves is unclear.  They arrived in Louisiana around 1815 having previously lived in Harford County, MD. Their reason for the move is a tale of desperation and fear following a bar brawl Charles was involved in that resulted in a death.

If Charles' middle name, "Gorsuch", sounds familiar, it is the same family as Supreme Court Justice, Niel Gorsuch. Charles' mother was Sarah Gorsuch of Baltimore. The Gorsuch and Stansbury families intermarried often during the 1700s.  In fact, Charles' father, Elijah, married Sarah's sister in 1783 after Sarah died. Justice Neil Gorsuch and I are descendants of Charles Gorsuch, Sr who came from Hertfordshire, England to the colonies in the mid-1600s.

Whether this first Charles owned slaves is uncertain. He held substantial land, but may have treated it more as investment than farmland. His son, Charles, Jr, did own two slaves at his death in 1747 and his grandson, David Gorsuch owned twelve slaves in 1783. Elijah Stansbury, who married David's daughter, Sarah, had five slaves in 1800.

The earliest Stansbury ancestor in Maryland, Detmar, arrived in 1658, settling in the region that would later become Baltimore. Given their land holdings and the prevalence of slavery in the area, it’s probable the Stansburys were involved in slavery from at least the late 1700s—possibly earlier.

Cambell Ancestors

David Stansbury married Maria Campbell.  Insufficient information has yet been discovered regarding the Campbells to establish their connection to the institution of slavery.

Summary: In today's blog I looked at four second great grandparents. Two, the parents of Oscar Anderson, were positively not associated with slavery. One, Maria Campbell, was a complete unknown. And one—through the Stansburys and Gorsuches—has deep roots in the institution of slavery, stretching back to colonial Maryland and into antebellum Louisiana.

The final post in this series on Genealogical Reckoning will offer a broader summary and some personal reflections on what this journey has revealed.

Genealogical Reckoning - Goad and Scott Ancestors

Goad Ancestors

My grandfather's maternal grandfather was William Ira Goad. William is my next 2nd Great Grandfather who was born before the start of the Civil War to look at for his family's involvement in the institution of slavery. William was born in Maury, TN in 1850. His father, James R. Goad, was in Company F, 3rd Tennessee Infantry, CSA. He joined in April and shortly afterward started training at Camp Cheatham. He never saw military action because he contracted an illness (probably measles) and died in September of the same year, when William was only 11 years old. 

There is no record showing that James or his wife, Mary, owned slaves themselves. However, Mary certainly, was raised in a household where slaves were present. 

James's father, Robert, is purported to have come to Maury County, TN from Virginia. He first appears Tennessee in the 1820 Census, where he and his wife seem to have six children under the age of 10.  In that year, he is not recorded as having any slaves. The 1860 slave schedule contains and R.M. Goad owning two slaves.  If R.M. Goad is Robert, then Robert obtained slaves after the 1850 census in his later years - over 70. 

Mary's parents were John and Catherine Toombs. John came with his parents to Tennessee from Virginia. Based upon census data from 1820 through 1860, John owned up to seven slaves. In 1860 he owned five female slaves aged: 48, 29, 10, 6, and 4 and he owned two male slaves aged 3 and less than 1.

Mary's mother's maiden name was Weems. She was descended from a line of Weems who had lived in Anne Arundel, Maryland for generations, when her ancestor David arrived from Scotland as a boy in the early 18th Century. His Will identified eight slaves by name. 

  -  Females: Bett, Beck, Rachel, Nell, Easter, Cate. 

  -  Males: Seymonant and Ned.

Mary's father, William, owned slaves named Linda Wright, Ann Blakard, and Isom (or Isham)

Conclusion: The Goad family’s ancestors participated in slavery in Maryland, Tennessee, and possibly Virginia, though not all branches were direct slaveholders.

Scott Ancestors

My grandfather's maternal grandmother was born Mary Scott in 1848. Her parents were Robert Scott and Sarah Walker.  They lived in Maury, TN. Robert began accumulating slaved after 1840.  He owned two female slaves (one 11 and the other 17) in 1850 and five slaves in 1860. In 1860 he had one 29-year-old male a 28-year-old female and three child slaves (ages 3, 2, and infant). 

Robert's father, Andrew, was also a slave owner. In 1820 he owned one female slave under 14 years old. By 1860 Andrew had acquired fourteen slaves. Andrew's wife's (Mary) maiden name is presumed to be Matthews. A John Matthews on the same 1860 slave schedule census page shows he owned four slaves.   Sarah's father, Andrew Walker, owned seven slaves in 1860. The Scott, Walker, Matthews families (assuming they had a close relation to Robert and Sarah Scott) that appear in Maury County, TN in 1860 combined owned nearly eighty slaves. (Twenty-three attributed to Matthews, Ten attributed to Walker, and forty-six attributed to Scott.)

Conclusion: Taken together, the Scott, Walker, and Matthews families accounted for nearly 80 enslaved individuals in Maury County by 1860—roughly 20% of the county’s enslaved population. The slave schedules, however, offer limited detail: no names, only age, gender, and owner initials, making identification difficult.

Summary: This particular blog about the Goads and Scotts contains little "interesting" tidbits.  It is simply, "They lived in the south."; "They were farmers and landowners."; and "They owned and used slaves." The most interesting thing about this family's history is that they moved to Maury from Waxhaw region of North Carolina and two of their ancestors, William McCain and Andrew Walker were closely associated and shared some adventures with a young man, Andrew Jackson, who would later become the nation's seventh president.

Genealogical Reckoning - Hamil Ancestors

Southern Ancestors

As I looked at my northern ancestors, I had expected to find little very slavery in their history.  Though I was able to find probable abolitionist and ancestorial lines that abandoned the practice early in those lines - I also found both slave owners and family that had probably involved themselves with the practice - even if they did not own slaves themselves. Now it is time to turn to my southern roots where I fully expect to see slave ownership or involvement.

My second great grandfather along my mother's maiden name is unknown...sort of.  I know that my great-grandfather was adopted - but I know nothing of his adoptive father's lineage.  Consequently, I cannot provide any discussion of his family's involvement in the practice of slavery.  I do know the birth mother of my great-grandfather. She was a single mother for both my great-grandfather and his sister. There is no evidence she was married before the birth of either of those children and the fact that her children retained her last name until they were adopted suggests that she was not. She was, Malinda Hamil. I first find her family in Henry, GA.  

Her father, Isaac, was not affluent enough to own slaves and no record of him has been found showing that he did.  In 1860 he had a personal estate of $3.00.  However, all is not well just because he was poor and not a slave owner. His occupation was listed as a Farm Overseer in the 1860 census and by the 1870 census his occupation had changed to a Wheelwright. A farm overseer in Georgia would probably have been ensuring that the slaves continued working to provide income for the landowner. History records some of those overseers as the most brutal of humanity in the time period.

Isaac had also volunteered to serve in 1863 with the 30th Georgia Regiment, Company Unit A for the Confederate Staes of America. His father, Bryant was one of the original settlers of Butts, GA and he was a charter member of the Towaliga Baptist Church. Unfortunately, Bryant also seemed to have had financial difficulties - though the reason for it is unknown.  No slave ownership has been discovered for him, either. 

Bryant inherited sixty acres from the estate of his father-in-law, Joseph Carmichael. Slaves are mentioned in Joseph's Will, but neither Bryant nor his wife came into possession of them. Rather the slaves Joseph left his wife were to be sold upon her death to compensate is daughter, Polly and his son-in-law, Bryant. Joseph had the following slaves at the time of his death: George, Mariah, Tener, David, Caroline, Tenese. 

Joseph's father, Joseph who lived and died in SC, also owned at least two slaves at his death in around 1785. (His death was as a Loyalist Private having served with the British securing Ninety-Six, SC.)  These slaves were not named.  His own father, William, came to the colonies from Scotland in 1762. He died after his son, Joseph. He had a slave named John Tidwell because in his Will of 1798 he states: 

"...if my wife (Sarah) should depart this life before John Tidwell is become of age that he should have his freedom." 

It is an odd line.  If William's wife died before John became of age, he would be a freed minor in South Carolina with little hope of continuing freedom.  He would have to trust the administers of Sarah's estate for the lawful execution of her husband's earlier request. If freed, the probability he would still be re-enslaved was high. If, on the other hand, he became an adult and Sarah was still living, then he was to remain her slave. Clearly, John really had little hope for freedom.

Final Thoughts: I expected to see slave ownership in the southern roots portion of my family. Indeed, my first look, that is what I find. The dichotomy of "charter member of a church" and "enslaver and enforcer of slavery" is hard to wrap my 21st Century mind around. Yet I know that slavery and religion (Christian and otherwise) have always existed. The Apostle Paul, using a bit of psychology, tried to convince a Christian slave owner, Philemon, to free and forgive his runaway slave, Onesimus. But Paul did not demand Onesimus's freedom as Philemon's Christian obligation. Sadly, I can see how humans' tendencies to justify actions forestalled the harder actions needed to fully achieve the nation's declared ideals that "all men" are really "created equal."  Hard actions are always required for higher morals.

Genealogical Reckoning - Moore Ancestry

Moore Ancestry

The next of my second great-grandparents to highlight in this journey of finding connections to America's history with slavery is Lafayette Moore. Lafayette was born in Noble, OH in 1842. Lafayette served with Union forces during the American Civil War, enlisting on August 2, 1862, and mustering out on June 14, 1865. He belonged to the 116th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, a regiment that saw extensive action in the Shenandoah Valley and beyond. Moore was captured at Winchester, Virginia, in June 1863 and imprisoned at Belle Isle before being released in July of that year. He sustained an injury on September 10, 1864—likely during one of the preliminary skirmishes leading up to the Battle of Opequon, a pivotal engagement fought later that month.

Lafayette lived in a free state and he volunteered to fight for the Union.  It may have been because he valued emancipation, preservation of the Union, or defense of Ohio. He also may have succumbed to peer pressure or the lure of income. But he did stay with it even after the imprisonment which leans more toward conviction.

There isn't enough solid understanding of his ancestry's relationship with slavery. The Moores (Lafayette's father and grandfather) had moved to Ohio from Pennsylvania by 1820. We can conclude they likely did not participate in slavery. No documentary evidence of their participation in the institution has been discovered at present.

Lafayette's maternal ancestor's' influences and actions suggests a moral purpose that resisted the institution of slavery. That moral compass may have been passed down to him. Lafayette had married Anna the daughter of a minister, Timothy Bates and one of the early settlers of Noble, OH. Timothy had come with his father, Ephraim, from Pennsylvania. But, more importantly, Ephriam had grown up under the influence of Jacob Green the pastor of the Hanover Presbyterian Church in New Jersey. Jacob was an early and outspoken advocate for the abolishment of slavery.

Conclusion:  Genealogy is riddled with heroes and villains. We like to tell the stories about the heroes in our ancestry. We often want to gloss over the moral flaws of the heroes and downplay the villains.  This is the family stories I want to tell.  These are heroes!  No doubt they have flaws. No one is perfect in all their actions. The apostle Paul noted: "None are righteous, no not one." But it is nice to find ancestors who had moral convictions that exceeded the convictions of society at the time.

Genealogical Reckoning - Rossiter Ancestors

 

Rossiter Ancestors

Lafayette Moore, one of my 2nd great-grandfathers married Willamina Rossiter, my 2nd great-grandmother, on 27 Oct 1867 in Noble, OH. The tale of the Rossiter ancestors and their relationship to slavery is another one that I want to tell. The Rossiter family was from Pennsylvania.  Specifically, they were from Philadelphia and then Chester, PA. According to the Northeast Slavery Records Index, none of them owned slaves at the time of the 1780 Gradual Abolition Act survey. It is possible they owned slaves before that time. Only one story related to slave ownership along this ancestral line survives and it is a story of a reluctant slave owner who thoughtfully freed his slave.

Willimina's great grandfather, Samuel Charlestown Rossiter, married Mary Stephens on 7 March 1780. Mary's father, Abijah Stephens, owned a slave named Phineas. Abijah was an active Quaker in the community of Valley Forge, PA.

Quakers at the start of the American Revolution took actions to end slavery among their numbers. On July 28, 1776, Abijah Stephens, signed the manumission of Phineas to be effective when he reached the age of twenty-one. While free, Phineas continued to reside and probably work with or for Abijah for a time. Abijah's grandson, Henry Woodman, recounts in his The History of Valley Forge, 

"Neither can I close this account without introducing to the notice of my readers, one, who at the time of the visit of the Hessians, rendered himself of some notoriety. I allude to a black man, a slave of my grandfather, named Phineas, generally called "Phin," for be it known that at the time slavery existed in Pennsylvania, and Friends, of whom my grandfather was one, as well as others, held them in unconditional servitude. Phin, seeing the Hessians coming, ran into the house, took down a long gun, which is still in possession of some of the family, and hastily seizing some of the ammunition, ran some distance to a sinking hole or cave, where he hid himself for several days, coming home at night for food; and, as he said, determined to defend himself from the enemy. The place of his retreat was afterwards called by my father, "Phin's Fort," a name it still retains and may possibly for some years to come."

Mr. Woodman did not have the details of when Phineas was freed, but even his story reveals that Phineas was either free or he had considerable liberty for a slave.

We don't know the circumstances of how or when Abijah obtained Phineas as his slave.  Did he inherit or purchase him? Given Abijah's religious convictions and his and his wife, Pricilla's behaviors during the encampment of the Colonial army at Valley Forge we conclude that he and his wife were full of compassion for their fellowman.  Abijah and Pricilla had a large tract of farmland, and they had only daughters until their only son, Stephen, was born in 1765. Phineas was 10 years older than Stephen. 

The records don't tell us what happened to Phineas. He remained nearby the Stephens until 1783 when he was recorded as being taxed in Upper Merion. After that he disappears.  Consequently, no relationships can be further traced to see if there remained a continuing bond with the Stephens family.

Questions: Did Abijah simply envisioned Phineas as someone who could help him accomplish his labors? Did he obtain him as a young boy and then he and Pricilla began to see him as a child of their own? Was freeing Phineas purely obedience to the pressures of his Quaker community? Did Abijah inspire and lead the movement within his fellowship?

Conclusion: This is a story of a family who had a change in conviction over time.  They participated in slavery and along the way they recognized the wrongness of it.  They did something about their moral convictions.  It is also a story some of us would like to romanticize and then claim it was some sort of benevolent enslavement. Is it possible that Abijah and Pricilla always behaved in a benevolent manner toward Phineas? Sure. But they would tell you the very nature of the institution was never benevolent. 

Note: Willimina's maternal side consisted of Bennetts and Slushers. Insufficient records have been found on them to establish any slave ownership connections. The Bennetts were from Harford, MD, but little is known about their ancestry.  While from Maryland, they were in Ohio by at least 1840. The Slushers (or Schlossers) moved from Lancaster, PA to Frederick, VA, and then to Washington, PA during the later part of the 18th century.  

Genealogical Reckoning - Rose and Hoskinson Ancestors

 

Rose Ancestors

Lewis Rose is the next 2nd Great Grandfather I examined for his family's participation in slavery. Lewis, himself, was born in Lawrence County, OH in 1818.  His father, William, had come to Ohio before 1811 when he married Mary Adkins in Gallia County, OH on 14 February 1811. The Rose ancestry before William is poorly documented.  No Wills or tax records have been discovered to suggest William was involved in slavery.  He was 21 or younger when he first arrived in the free State of Ohio. (Well, he considered Ohio his state—though the paperwork wouldn’t catch up until 1953.” Reference: Ohio History).

Lewis's maternal grandfather was Lewis Adkins. Extensive research has been done on Lewis but discovering his ancestry has proven elusive. Similarly, no evidence appears in his records showing any association with slave ownership and Lewis was in Gallia, OH by at least 1813.

Summary: The Rose Ancestors did not appear to have been involved in the institution of slavery.  They were in Ohio well before the Civil War and slavery had been forbidden in the Northwest Territories starting in 1787. A slavery connection may have existed in their deeper roots, but it has currently not been discovered.

Hoskinson Ancestors

Lewis Rose married Sarah Louisa Hoskinson (1839-1927) in Lawrence, OH on June 4, 1873. In the Hoskinson family line there were already some intriguing hints that they were involved in slavery. Sarah Skates Gorsuch in a family document she compiled in 1994 her aunt Janice had revealed stories from her grandmother Sarah. 

Here are portions of those stories Janice recalled and Sarah Gorsuch retold::

  "She (Sarah Hoskinson) came to our house when she was 88 or 89 and stayed until she went to Aunt Annie’s where she died in December of pneumonia. She was jolly, had lots of friends, and was always busy. She knitted - and told us things she wanted us to know. She said she was “Scotch-Irish” (or “Scotch and Irish” ... I don’t know which, but she said ‘Scotch-Irish’), Welsh and Touchibough (pronounced Tuck-e-hoe.)” This is an Indian tribe from Virginia. She also said that we sprang from royalty. Nobody asked her who the royalty was ... we just said, “We’re Americans!”

Another revelation from Janice’s work was this quote concerning what she thought she knew about Sarah Hoskinson's husband and her great-grandfather:

Born at what is now Huntington, WV, Sarah’s father, Johnny Hoskinson, had been from Hoskinsville, PA and came to the Huntington area to claim a section of land. He trusted someone else to take the deed to Richmond, VA, and when the paper never arrived there to be recorded, Johnny lost title to the land. Johnny and his wife, Nellie, were slave owners.

Family stories and recollections can be tainted and can fade with time. In 1994 when Sarah Gorsuch completed her compilation, Jancie had been dead two years at the age of 75. On top of that, Janice was recalling a story from the early 1920s from before she was 10 years of age.  This knowledge was relayed, apparently, in a lightheartedly but with an air of importance by her 88 year old grandmother who was relaying what she knew or thought she knew of her own grandparents. Those grandparents had both died before she was a year old.

So, taking what was said, documented, and passed down, what can we really discover about her?

Sarah's father, John, and grandfather, James, came to Ohio from Pennsylvania before 1830. I have found no clear ancestry prior to her grandfather. Pennsylvania had abolished slavery starting in 1780. It is very unlikely that John or James was ever involved in the practice. Janice or Sarah Gorsuch apparently confused "Johnny", as in Johnny Hoskinson with Jonathan "Nathan" Cardwell as he was married to an Eleanor for which "Nellie" is sometimes used as a nickname.

Sarah's maternal ancestors were slave owners. While Janice or Sarah Gorsuch was confused by the term Tuckahoe it does have a meaning that aligns well with her ancestral origins in America. Tuckahoe was a region and plantation in Goochland/Henrico, VA where Sarah Hoskinson's great-grandmother, Susannah Legrand Cardwell was born in 1721. The LeGrand and Cardwell families were well connected in this region and in possession of multiple and large tracts of land. This connects them to large slave operations in that community by association at a minimum. Susannah is specifically known to have owned slaves between 1782 and 1793 in Charlotte, VA based upon personal property tax records. Slave names identified included: Nancy, James, Hannah, Sam, Jude, Peter, and Susanna

Summary:  While the Hoskinson family was not associated with slavery, Sarah Hoskinson's maternal ancestors did come from a family that was heavily involved in the commerce of Goochland, VA in the early 18th century where slavery was used extensively.  

Unanswered Questions: What influenced these families to venture to Ohio in its earliest days of statehood, where slavery was not going to be part of their future? Was it their convictions? Were they just looking for an opportunity elsewhere? Had they already seen too much slavery?  Were they simply not given the opportunity to participate in the institution because of birth order, marriage choices, or other circumstances? 

One thing for certain, the choices they made as they moved to Ohio and the associated challenges they encountered with property titles were relayed in part as a story of lost wealth and privilege from Sarah Hoskinson Rose's perspective.  Janice’s father, Redmond, thought of the whole of it with moral clarity as he responded to Janice in this way, “One man is as good as another man if he is a good man.”

Genealogical Reckoning - Wylie and Blume Ancestors

 

Wylie Ancestors

The next 2nd great-grandparent that was born before the American Civil War and lived through that war, was Robert W. Wiley. Robert was born in Brooke, Virginia in 1839. That county later became West Virginia. His father died the same year a few months later. Sometime between 1857 and 1860, Robert moved to Ohio with his mother and sister. His father died without a Will. There have been no records found showing slave ownership or sales by Robert or his mother in Virginia. And of course, in Ohio they did not own slaves.

Little has been discovered with certainty about his Wylie ancestors. There is a letter written in 1840 by one of Robert's uncles in Scotland to Robert's grandfather in America that provides some family member names.  Unfortunately, there is also another family member that provided his assessment of Wylie ancestry that has some conflicting or additional information that has been difficult to parse confidently. Even so, none of the Wylie ancestors found show any evidence of slave ownership or association with the trade.

Robert's mother, Elizabeth, was also born in Brooke, VA. Her father, Oliver, was a Revolutionary War veteran that witnessed and participated in the earliest actions of the war. Oliver was from Massachusetts where slavery had been essentially abolished by 1783. 

So far, I have found no Wills or documents describing any slave ownership in that family which had stayed in the Massachusetts area from the earliest days of the colony. One of Robert's ancestors was Digory Priest, who came over on the Mayflower before his wife and daughter arrived in Plymouth 1623 on the Anne after Digory had already died in 1621.

I went on to review the Massachusetts's Slavery Database. I could only find one potential enslaver in Robert's ancestry. Joseph Brown, Robert's 4th great-grandfather was a Deacon and a Deacon Brown's slave died in 1733. From that one piece of evidence, I cannot determine whether this was Deacon Brown's only slave or not. Nor could I be certain that Deacon Brown was Joseph Brown - though it is likely.

Blume Ancestors

 Robert W. Wylie married Elizabeth Jane Blume on 1 Dec 1863 in Lawrence County, Oh.

I have not been able to trace her family lines any further than her grandparents. Her father, Philip, earned a living as a merchant, farmer, and saddler. He was originally from Woodstock, VA.  He seems to have moved around a little bit before settling in what is now West Virginia. He married Elizabeth Smith in Berkeley, VA in 1819.

Elizabeth's grandfather, Jacob Blume, married Margaret Hart in 1793, also in Berkeley, VA. This seems to indicate a possible relationship with the region despite over eighty miles away. He and his wife had property in New Market, VA that they sold in 1818. 

Jacob did possess a single male slave according to tax records of 1818, 1819, and 1820. Given he owned a carriage in 1820, he may have been a merchant providing or couriering supplies in the Shenandoah Valley. Jacob died shortly after 1820, whereupon Philip came into possession of the slave. There is no Will, but suddenly in the 1821 and 1822 tax records, Philip owns a slave. This slave was probably his father's slave. By 1824, he no longer possessed a slave and appears to have abandoned the practice entirely. Whether through sale or manumission, no record has been discovered to confirm how—or why—the change occurred.

Elizabeth's maternal grandfather was Jacob Smith. His estate settlement in 1829 lists his property and while extensive no slaves are mentioned. Jacob had married Margaret Low who was the daughter of a John Low - but at present there is little known about them, let alone whether they were enslavers.

Conclusion:

Robert Wylie's ancestors did not participate directly very much, if at all, in the American slave tradition. The ancestors of his wife, Elizabeth Blume, also appear to have participated very little in the enslaving practices of the 19th century. Neither of them participated in it after the American Revolution.

Observation:

A 21st Century American conscience has no problem understanding and communicating that slavery of any kind and of any magnitude is inhumane. 18th and 19th Century America was not moved by that conscience as a whole.  Nonetheless, as individuals experienced it, some chose to abandon its practice. Unless they tell us specifically, we don't know if their choice was based upon economics, conscience, or some unknown practicality. Our hearts want to say it was conscience, but our heads know that we don't really know.