American Revolution - Chance Encounters

Colonial Williamsburg, VA

Two hundred fifty years ago American Colonist began the struggle for self-determination that had been forged in the spirit of independence that had brought so many to the colonies to begin with. 

I have been highlighting various patriots that are believed to be ancestors of either me or my wife. These are, for the most part, people you won't find in the history books when you read or study the American Revolution. Nonetheless, they like over 200,000 people took up arms against the British serving in the Army or in State militias. 

A couple of my ancestors that moved to Ohio from Virginia in the early 1800s have deep roots in coastal Virginia and participated in the revolution there. James Terry my third great grandfather was from Amherst, VA. While I don't have anything in my possession that I know belonged to him. I do have an original receipt dated 1882 signed by James' son-in-law and my 2nd great-grandfather, Monroe McCown for an appraisement of James' estate following his death. Consequently, I have something of a tangible connection to him.

Monroe's wife, Henrietta, was the daughter of James' first wife, Sarah Robinson. James had come to Ohio sometime, but not long, after Sarah had died. Both James' father and Sarah's father had served in Virginia. James' father, Thomas, had served as a private in the Albemarle Guards Regiment. This unit was responsible for guarding the British and German prisoners of war near Charlottesville, VA beginning in January of 1779. He served as a guard for two years and afterwards was drafted into the Virginia militia where he participated in the siege of Yorktown and witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis.

Sarah's father, William, was a Lieutenant and also at Albemarle and at the siege of Yorktown based upon the testimony of pension request for Thomas Vines. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) simply list him as a soldier in the militia. 

Now, I don't know for certain what brought Thomas Terry and William Robinson together, but I know Thomas moved to Amherst where the Robinson family lived.  At least three of Thomas' children, Thomas, William, and James married daughters of William Robinson.

Given the connection to the Albemarle Guards and the proximity, Thomas may have demonstrated capacities as a guard under William's watch. As a landowner and a slaveholder, William needed someone he believed was capable. Unfortunately, it probably also meant that Thomas was managing William's slave labor.  There is only circumstantial evidence of this - but it is pretty compelling.

- Thomas was a guard

- Thomas and Lucy moved to Amherst before 1810

- Thomas was accused of killing a slave in 1818 and acquitted

- There is no evidence Thomas owned slaves himself.

- James, Thomas' son, is reported to have helped manage slaves at Jenkins Plantation at Green Bottom, VA just before the Civil War.

It seems, Thomas, a commoner, had skills and sons and from that he managed to insert his family into a prominent family in the region. William, conversely, had only one son, Simeon. William had served as an officer in the Revolutionary War.  His father, John, is recognized by the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) as having paid a tax towards the war effort. William's grandfather, William, is also recognized as a patriot. He is described as having been a Colonel (by SAR) and as performing patriotic services (by DAR and SAR).  Given that William was born in 1709, his service as Colonel was most likely from early pre-war militia service. William's father is memorialized on a Middlesex County, VA historical marker. His father had been a representative in the House of Burgess and served as a founding trustee of the College of William and Mary.

What does all that have to do with the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution? Well, seemingly, because of an encounter between two individuals during the course of the war - a relationship was born.  From that relationship between my third great grandparents was forged.  It is simply an observation about the happy interactions that random events played and play in the unknown future.

 

American Revolution and Heritage

Valley Forge Encampment (Replica Structures)

CAVEAT:  This blog, like all of my blogs, includes links so you can discover more about the subject.  Please do not consider any link to any source here (or in any other blog post I have written) an endorsement of everything written in the link or by the referenced author.

In my yearlong recognition of the 250th Anniversary of the founding of the United States - I am now

looking at the ancestors of my wife's family and their contributions to the Revolution.

There has been some political talk about Heritage Americans recently. The linked article by Ben Crenshaw in 2024 appears to be the first or one of the first to try to define the moniker.  It is a bit better articulated than J.D. Vance's statement in July 2025 at the Claremont Institute that described them as having ancestors that fought in the Civil War.

Mr. Vance may have been thinking about his 3rd Great Grandfather, Robert Sturgis Bowman who fought for the Union in Kentucky's 14th Regiment.

In any case, it is clear from Crenshaw's description of Heritage Americans as being united by language, religion, government, liberty, land, and law and the genealogical research I have been doing our families (my wife and mine) can easily be placed into that cultural box. Among our ancestors I have identified over forty participants in the American Revolution and ancestors that were on the Mayflower and part of the early Jamestown settlement.

One of Tammy's revolutionary ancestors was William Lancaster. William was from Henrico, VA and joined the 1st Virginia. William enlisted in April 1776. The unit fought in the earliest battles of the American Revolution and William was available for duty during engagements at New York, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown. Following Germantown William wintered with his unit at Valley Forge. William died in May of 1778 before the unit engaged at Monmouth in June. 

The army at Valley Forge was ravaged by Smallpox, Typhoid, Dysentery, and Pneumonia during the late winter and early spring.  The circumstances of his death are not precisely known, but disease is very likely the cause.  It is unlikely that William was sent home to Virginia where he later died, but rather he is probably buried in a cemetery at Valley Forge.

William wasn't a young man in this war.  He died at the age of forty-six.  He left a wife, Judith, and four children under the age of ten. His wife died only five years later. At least three of his children accompanied an aunt and uncle to an area in North Carolina that became Smith County, TN. My wife has many memories (some of which we shared) of time on a 100 plus acre property along the Cumberland River that was a small part of the acreages that William's brother and children came to own there, starting as early as 1790.

I don't know what real value there is in being a "Heritage American". Sure, the idea could give me roots.  It gives me a story.  It gives me a cultural foundation. It even explains the way I think about some things. It also has been used and can be used to divide instead of uniting the nation. We are a nation that set a beacon in its harbor to welcome the "tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to be free."  We have over time become a nation of many peoples and in many ways we are unique in the world.  

William, like many ancestors I have looked at, fought for freedom to decide his own destiny.  That destiny, for him was death, but for his children it was property and opportunity in Tennessee for generations. Those who have come to call America their home in the intervening years, for the most part, had the same dream, "freedom to decide their destiny." Maybe that is really what a "Heritage American" is. Sure, it is an elusive bluebird - but we have believed it from our founding when we stated it this way in our Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."