Ancestry Saturday: My Kids' Revolutionary War Patriots Bloodline Update

The plague on the south wall of the Highland County Courthouse in Hillsboro, Ohio has the names of two of my ancestors who were Revolutionary War patriots.  This is a source of pride, but those two are just a sampling of the full list.  With each passing generation of my family, the list will grow and grow.

My research, as of December 2013, showed 27 patriots in the direct blood line of my kids.  The list is now at 35 as of January 1, 2015.

Here's the updated list.

The 22 patriots from their Dad's side:

William Altman
Thomas Fleming Bernard
Charles Beaven Blandford
Elijah Charles
Joseph Conway
George Daubenspeck
John Jacob Daubenspeck
John Downing
Garrett Fiscus
William Fleming
Henry Guthrie
James Gutridge
Robert Jameson
Adam Crain Jones
John Foster Leaverton
John Jacob Muhleisen
Michael Reitenauer
Jeremiah Shontz
Daniel Smith
James Ebenezer Smith
Samuel Woodmansee
James Wygant


The 13 patriots from their Mom's side:

Thomas Adkins
Charles Booth
Zadock Bosworth
Ebenezer Cole, Jr.
Ebenezer Cole, Sr.
Samuel Ferguson
Ebenezer Gage
Charles Gatliff
James Felix McGuire
John Nay
Joshua Quance
Moses Searle
Daniel Walton

I've given my kids a head start.  I bet they can find more some day.

Ancestry Saturday: A Double Rare Find

A newspaper on microfilm dating back to 1841 is a find in its own right. Finding a marriage record for my third great grandparents makes it a rare find. I found a marriage notice in the March 25, 1841 edition of the Crawford Statesman for Laban Smith and Miranda Shontz.

The Crawford County Historical Society in Meadville, PA had an index card reference to make it easy, but it still gives you a thrill.

Amazingly, there were two. Not to be outdone, The Crawford Democrat published word on March 30, 1841.

Ancestry Saturday: A Most Memorable Jeremiah Shontz Twist

The last two weeks, I've written about Revolutionary War Patriot Jeremiah Shontz and the Albany, New York connection that my Dad never knew. If he knew, he would have said because the connection is quite memorable.

That's because Jeremiah's first cousin once removed would become President of the United States. 

The first U.S. President born on U.S. soil and, ironically, the only President for whom English was not his primary language was my dad's third cousin, four times removed. That's Martin Van Buren.

The Dutch-speaking, U.S.-born Van Buren was a one-term President from 1837-1841 after serving as Vice President and Secretary of State to Andrew Jackson, U.S. Senator from New York, and Governor of New York.

Here's how it connects. Jeremiah Shontz' mother was Catelyntje VanBuren Shontz.  Her father, Marten Cornelissen VanBuren, was the President's great great grandfather.  We know this because the late President wrote about his family history in his memoirs.

The Shontz great great grandmother that my Dad knew only by her surname, Miranda Shontz Smith, was third cousin to the President.

All these folks lived in the Albany, New York area where my dad lived for the last eight years of his life.  The VanBurens were among the early Dutch settlers of Fort Orange, predecessor to Albany.

If he had only known. . .

Ancestry Saturday: The Albany-to-Elsewhere-to-Albany Geographic Loop

As I wrote last week, my Dad never knew his family tree led to a Revolutionary War Patriot buried nearby his office in Albany, New York. 

The Jeremiah Shontz-to-John Platt story has ironic east-to-west-and-return twists that bring this family tree in a geographic full loop from Albany to elsewhere and back to Albany.

Jeremiah would have a son, John, who would end up further west in Crawford County, Pennsylvania where his daughter, Miranda, would live her whole life. Miranda would marry and have a daughter Mary Ann who would have a daughter Grace. Grace would migrate still further west.

Grace Smith Platt's son, Richard would end up as far west as California where he graduated from UCLA in 1936.

The return East began in 1937. Richard would have a son, John, in Ohio in 1943.

My Dad, that's John, would live 53 years in Ohio but end up spending the last eight years of his life back in the same Albany, New York area where that branch of the family had begun in this country almost 300 years earlier.

Ironic.

Ancestry Saturday: A Patriot Nearby

My Dad probably drove past this church and never knew. His office in Albany, New York from 1996 to 2003 was less than an 8-mile drive away.

My Dad never knew his fourth great grandfather was buried there at East Greenbush Cemetery, southeast of Albany. There's a Revolutionary War memorial marker there to mark his patriotic service.




I'm just starting to research Jeremiah Shontz, or Shants as the grave maker spelled it.

This much I know: The family was Dutch with the surname Schayaensch. Jeremiah's father, Christian, immigrated from the Netherlands in time to get married in Albany in 1719. Jeremiah was born, spent his life, and died in Albany.

My Dad's family history research papers show he knew he had a great great grandmother with the surname Shontz. But he never knew further back it led to a Revolutionary War Patriot nearby.