PATRIOT WEEK! A Roundup Of Patriots

Finishing off Patriot Week 2016 with a roster of Patriots I have in my family tree. Most were included on the DAR register for Patriotic Service. I have a lot of Quakers in my ancestry, living in the Colonies during the Revolution. Some make the list for their aiding of the troops or providing supplies. None fought.  Other ancestors have only slight mention, being listed as nothing more than "Private", length of service and other information unknown. Still others are not recognized DAR or SAR patriots, but I have begun to find documentation that they participated.

As I bring my Finding Faulkner series to a close, a new area of research has opened up with so many founding families in my lineage. I will focus next on these men, their families, and lives. I hope to have new, exciting information for next year's Patriot Week!

Today, July 2, is the anniversary of the day the resolution to sever ties with Brittan was approved.

"Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."

John Adams imagined an America where this day would be celebrated forever more:

"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.—I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."

Well, we know that didn't happen - but to honor Mr. Adams vision, I will close with a roster of ordinary men, my ancestors, who participated in creating these united states we live in today; a democracy not a monarchy.

A Happy Independence Day to you all!

With thanks:

William Ashby (Maryland) 1744 - 1803

Samuel Beach (Connecticut) 1759 - UNK 

Oliver Burt (Massachusetts) 1738 - 1807

Samuel Faulkner (New York) 1740 - 1811

Jonathan Hays (Maryland) 1729 - 1793

Thomas Loveland (Connecticut) 1726 - 1811

Thomas Potwine Jr (Connecticut) 1756 - 1824

Thomas Terrell (Virginia) 1736 - 1804

Mathias Wisner (Maryland) 1745 - 1821

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Mathias Wisner: Of Maryland Not Of Pennsylvania (52 Ancestors #12)

Mathias Wisner was my fifth great grandfather. And another good mystery! There is a lot of information floating around about Mathias Wisner. A lot of confusing and contradictory information. Here is what I have been able to prove, and a bit of reasonable conclusion, I will leave the speculation to others.

Mathias first shows up in Baltimore MD in 1770 when he has a plot of land surveyed. He is mentioned in the book "The Wisner's in America" as the "progenitor of the Palatinate family." Settling in Baltimore County. By this I suspect that he immigrated from Germany as an adult, sometime prior to 1770. Mathias received his patent in October of 1774 for a piece of property known as Wisner's Prospect.

He married Sarah Mannon sometime before 1775. It is listed on Find A Grave, and other public places around the old genealogical 'hood, that their first child was born in 1775. I have found no documentation to support this and there is not an actual grave marker or cemetery listed on FAG, just a memorial page. I have treated this as a bit of information that requires further investigation.

I have found no evidence of Mathias' actual birth date or birth place, however it is reasonable to conclude that he was born sometime between 1740 and 1750. Certainly no later. His wife is said to have been born about 1748 by other researchers, I have found no proof of this to date.

There is a record of Mathias paying a supply tax in 1783, which has earned him a spot on the Daughters of the American Revolution's roster an a new patriot. (Ancestor #A210952). Curiously, he is listed as having an unknown wife prior to marrying Sarah (who has been recorded by the DAR as Mathias' second wife). The woman who submitted the initial information for Mathias did not supply this information, so currently it is a mystery as to where the DAR unearthed it.

Mathias shows up in the 1790, 1810 and 1820 Federal Census. I was very sad to read that in 1790 he had one slave in his household. Thankfully he came to his senses, as by 1810 he no longer was a slaveholder. This part of our history is just appalling to me.

In 1816 Mathias wrote his Last Will and Testament, which was presented for probate Feb 26, 1823.

Mathias' exact date of death is unknown, or at least unproved. There is a date floating around, but I have yet to discover it's accuracy.

It is said that he is buried in the family plot on Wisner's Prospect.

This Mathias Wisner is often confused with a Mathias Wisner who immigrated to Pennsylvania from Germany in 1752. The Pennsylvania Mathias Wisner has been well documented as living the remainder of his life in PA. There should be no confusion, but the rumor still persists.