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Just wondering if anyone else out there have been able to find (Proof) that you have a direct connection to our countries beginnings?
Just recently I found that I am a direct descendent (Four Great Grand Father) of Capt Ralph Stewart on my fathers mothers side of the family. He fought alongside General George Washington as a trusted Cabinet Member and was present at Yorktown when Cornwallis surrendered. And was chosen by Gen. Washington to be part of the Regiment to guard over the surrendered British Commander. It was also noted that Capt Ralph Stewart had servived a direct hit on the arm from the sword of the British Cavalry Officer know as (The Butcher) and continued to fight till the end of the battle (what Grit). The Butcher was portrayed in the Bruce Willis movie "The Patriot" as the one who burned the people in the church alive.
What an awsome family I come from . Now tell us about yours.
Traces by two different agencies both turned up a revolutionary war ancestor on my father's side. The first of his line came to America in the 1750's after deserting from a British warship. He settled in Connecticut and started a family, but at some point he was caught, forced back into the service and he drops from sight after that. One of his sons enlisted in the Continental Army and served for seven years. For reasons unknown, he was denied a pension.
After that the family moved to North Carolina, then Missouri and there is a series of cattle thieves, claim jumpers and general scapegraces until just before the Civil War when they suddenly got respectable and started producing doctors and merchants. Then finally I came along, a throwback to the scapegrace era.
My sister and cousin have been working on the families ancestory for sometime. They recently made headway back to who would have been my 10th great grandfather, Henrie Huyck. Henrie was a Dutch merchant living in Nymegen in 1616. He had a son Jan/John that sailed on the "Sea Gull" with Peter Minuit in 1617 to New Amsterdam. John served as a deacon in the church and filled the role of the colonies storekeeper. John's son Andries became an influential landowner in the Albany area in the early 1700's and it is from his numerous children and their tie-ins with the Conkling and Niles families that my family is descended. I have not seen the official tree they have on Ancestory.com yet, but am interested to follow it back. So, at least as far as they have gotten our family has roots to some of the earliest settlers in America.
It was kind of surprising as our family name is solidly English and the family middle name is taken from a last name in the line that was solidly Welsh. We also know there is a good deal of Irish and one cofirmed full blooded Lenni Lenape Indian (my father's grandmother). My mother's side is Norwegian (her mother) and English (her father) and they were more recent immigrants and knew the line going back to when they arrived in the US post Civil War. What was surpirsing was to find the Dutch roots and not just any random ones at that.
It was also noted that Capt Ralph Stewart had servived a direct hit on the arm from the sword of the British Cavalry Officer know as (The Butcher) and continued to fight till the end of the battle (what Grit). The Butcher was portrayed in the Bruce Willis movie "The Patriot" as the one who burned the people in the church alive.
What an awsome family I come from . Now tell us about yours.
Just recently I found that I am a direct descendent (Four Great Grand Father) of Capt Ralph Stewart on my fathers mothers side of the family. He fought alongside General George Washington as a trusted Cabinet Member and was present at Yorktown when Cornwallis surrendered. And was chosen by Gen. Washington to be part of the Regiment to guard over the surrendered British Commander.
I don't believe he was a cabinet member. He was captain of a VA militia unit, which isn't quite the same thing as being captain in the continental army. Most of the guys in those units were volunteer frontiersmen and farmers who were recruited from their settlements to serve with their neighbors. Not to burst your bubble but thousands (including one of my VA milita ancestors) fought alongside GW if you consider he normally travelled with pretty large armies.
I don't believe he was a cabinet member. He was captain of a VA militia unit, which isn't quite the same thing as being captain in the continental army. Most of the guys in those units were volunteer frontiersmen and farmers who were recruited from their settlements to serve with their neighbors. Not to burst your bubble but thousands (including one of my VA milita ancestors) fought alongside GW if you consider he normally travelled with pretty large armies.
You don't Know, or you don't believe?
I'm still learning about these things and all that my ancestor was into. I do know that his father Capt. James Stewart was captured and burned at the stake by the Pawnee indians infront of him and his brother when they were children.
He was given his commission by Lord Dunmore. And I was informed by a freind who is knowleged in the ways of the Mason's that both Cornwallis and Washhington were both Mason's and Washington would had never placed anyone else but a fellow Mason to guard over Cornwallis.
I read his bio and have found no evidence he was a cabinet member. I have relatives who served in similar roles in the VA militia including in Lord Dunmore's War. They acheived greater stature after moving West (there's a County in MO named after one of them) and were also Masons.
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and continued to fight till the end of the battle (what Grit). The Butcher was portrayed in the Bruce Willis movie "The Patriot" as the one who burned the people in the church alive.
. Now tell us about yours. 
