Honoring a Revolutionary War Veteran

I think I have about 7 Revolutionary War Veterans among my ancestors.  While so many lines of my ancestors have been in the United States since the 1600s and 1700s it has made tracing them to their ‘home’ country towns a lot harder, but on the other hand it gives me great pride in knowing how many of them served in the founding of this great country.

Jacob Grantier (see post entitled Sunday Serendipity-Jacob Grantier) was my maternal 5th Great-Grandfather.  I found the following on the Tri-Counties Genealogy and History website about Jacob:

“Jacob Grantier (Granteer, Granadier), a native of the province of Lorraine, Germany, came to America about two years before the Revolutionary War, locating in Schoharie county, N.Y. Here he joined Morgan's famous riflemen and served until the close of the struggle for Independence.”

I decided to do some further research to see what I could find out about Jacob and Morgan’s famous riflemen and Jacob’s military service.

• The age of enrollment or enlistment during the Revolutionary War was 16 years of age.  They were able to serve until age 50.

Morgan’s Riflemen were an elite light infantry unit commanded by General Daniel Morgan in the American Revolutionary War.  They served a vital role because they were equipped with what was then the cutting-edge rifle instead of muskets, allowing superior accuracy up to ten times the distance of the typical troops of the day.  General George Washington, in his own words described them as "...chosen men, selected from the army at large, well acquainted with the use of rifles, and with that mode of fighting which is necessary to make them a good counterpoise to the Indian."  They were very skilled sharpshooters.  I was not able to find any verifying information yet that Jacob was part of this group, however, I have found information indicating this was true.  More research to be done in this area to confirm.
On Fold3 I was able to verify that Jacob was in the Revolutionary War and was in Colonel Peter Vroman’s Regiment of Albany County Militia (Fifteenth Regiment) which existed from about 1779-1783.  (click on images to enlarge)

Transcription:  Jacob x (his mark) Granetier four months 13 Dollars 3/4

Transcription:  Appears as shown below on a Receipt Roll under the following heading:  “We the Subscribers of Lieut. Dietz’s Company do acknowledge to have Received of Col. Peter Vroman of us the Sums affixed to our names as a Bounty Collected from Exampts in Schohary agreeable to an act passed by the Legislator for the Raising Seven hundred men.”  Roll dated, Schohary Jan. 27, 1779.

Jacob  X (his mark) Granetier four months 13 Dollars 3/4

I was able to also find the following listing of Jacob being paid for his service:

Transcription:  We the Subscribers for ourselfs or some other person for us Do acknowledge to have Received of Peter Vroman the Respective sums opposite to our names in Certificates Issued by Garard Banker Esq State Treasurer pursuant to an act of the Legislature passed the 27th April 1784 for Services performed in the Militia in the Late war-

Date     Persons names           No. of ceritifcates       Amount L   S   D           Signers names    Witnesses to persons making marks
1784  Nov 3   Jacob Kranatier  Pv     10                                  7  11  6 2/3      Jacob Granteer

                                                            7 Pounds- 11 Shillings - 6 2/3 Pence 

• 12 Pence/pennies per Shilling and 20 Shillings per pound.  As best as I can figure probably the equivalent of about $150 in today’s currency.
• I find it interesting the way the clerk wrote his name in the ledger and how, I am guessing, he signed his name on the right.

From New York State Legislative Records:

Transcription:  Certificates issued or to be issued by virtue of an act, entitled An act for the settlement of the pay of the levies and militia, for the services in the late war, and for other purposes therein mentioned, passed the 27th day of April, 1784.

I have not been able to determine what the certificates were ever worth to the soldiers, perhaps Land Warrants?

This is additional confirmation of Jacob's Military Service:

Transcription of gravestone:    Jacob Granteer      Vrooman’s N. Y. Mil. Rev. War

I so love it when all the pieces fit together so nicely and information from a variety of sources is consistent information.  I also find it interesting the many spellings of the name Grantier and Vroman.  I am guessing that the spelling of Jacob’s name may have changed since it looks like initially he was unable to write his name and then must have learned how and spelled it his way.

I am continually thank-full for the service of my ancestors and all Veterans in shaping this great country!


If you have any corrections or additions or stories to share I look forward to hearing them.

Enjoy the journey,
Debby

Veteran’s Day–Honoring My Hero

Today is our official day to thank the many men and women who have served, or currently serve, our country in the Armed Forces.  Veterans Day has been celebrated on November 11th to commemorate the day that World War I ended. Originally known as Armistice Day until being changed in 1954 to Veterans Day.  A day of honoring Americans veterans of all wars. 

So, today I would like to honor my hero, my Dad, who is a Veteran of the Korean War.  He served in the Army from 1954-1956. 

He was stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey and at Fort Richardson, Alaska (land of my birth).

  Serving in the Snow in Alaska

 

So, thank-you Dad for serving our Country and thank-you to all the men and women who have or are currently serving!

 

Enjoy the journey,

Debby

Southern California Genealogy Jamboree-What an end to Jamboree!

Yesterday was day 4 of the Southern California Genealogy Jamboree in Burbank, California.  This was the final day….until next year and what a great end it was for me.  I had 3 great classes and yet another wonderful surprise!

The day started with a class presented by Trevor Hammond entitled Getting to Know Fold3.  While I use Fold3 to look for my military ancestors’ records I know that I am not using all the features and search engines available.  Trevor was able to help us see many features and explain how Fold3 is constantly improving.  Now I also need to go in and complete memorial pages for my 2 known maternal Civil War Veterans-Joseph Cornell and Portis Coolbaugh (see previous blog posts).  If you have Military connections be sure to check out Fold3.  There are many pictures there from various wars and they are always looking for help in tagging people in the photos.  I also just had to ask Trevor about his Hammond line since that is one I research as well.  (We will need to correspond and see if he are related.  If we are, I will let you know in a future post.)

The second session of the day that I attended was presented by Kathy Warburton entitled Back Home in Ireland: Following the Trail to Patrick Murphy’s Origins.  Kathy had great reminders to gather all the information you can in the US first before going overseas.  (I have a Swedish ancestor Ebenezer Barry with a definite brick wall and this is a good reminder for me to look at neighbors in the area of Brooklyn he lived to try and find some other connections to Sweden.)  Kathy continued to give us tips and strategies for doing research like looking at name variations, coming forward in time to find ancestors children and grandchildren for information and to learn about the history of the country you are heading back to for information of the time your ancestor left.  She concluded by sharing a study she had done with very little basic information that showed how possible it was to find that elusive ancestor.  She gave me hope that I can find Patrick and Susan Hughes in Ireland one day….soon.

My third session of the day was presented again by Trevor Hammond entitled Finding Your Family on Newspapers.Com.  I have been thinking of getting a membership and after listening to all the great features on Newspapers.com and all the options to make researching easier like being able to save your clippings, being able to have a search tagged for following so that if anything new comes along you will be notified.

After lunch there was a drawing in the Exhibit Hall done by My Heritage.  The last number called happened to be mine and I won a deluxe subscription for a year!  How exciting!!  I already use My Heritage and I’m interested in seeing all the Deluxe addition features which I currently don’t have but should be very helpful.  Thank-you My Heritage for giving me a great ending to a wonderful weekend!!  I rarely win anything so this was some treat!


On the last day they asked us to wear T-shirts that commemorated our home towns.  Mine is a map of Long Island with the older lighthouses on it created by Don and Linda Lubov.
Fellow bloggers and friends, J. Paul Hawthorne and Diane Gould Hall, from The San Diego Genealogical Society compare their add ons to their name badges.  Also note the beads denoting that people are ‘Bloggers’.


I was glad to spend some time with big time blogger Randy Seaver also from San Diego.  Please check out Randy, Diane and Paul’s blogs for useful information for researching your ancestors.  Thank-you to Randy and Diane for mentioning my blog posts in their blogs.  I am so very new at this and enjoy learning from these 3 very talented people.  I am honored to call them my friends!


Something that always amazes me about Jamboree is how nice and helpful everyone is.  People came from all over.  I even met a couple from Anchorage (my birthplace) and we saw each other frequently during Jamboree.  Many friendships were made and so much information was learned.  Now to just have the time to put what I’ve learned to practice.  Stay tuned for future findings.
I hope you will be able to join us one day.

Would love to hear your comments and any information you’d like to share.

Enjoy the journey,
Debby

Civil War-Certificate of Disability for Discharge

So far, I know of 2 of my ancestors that served in the Civil War.  Knowing basically only their birth and death dates I am constantly trying to fill in more about their lives.  I recently sent for military records and this is what I found out about my maternal great-great grandfather Joseph Cornell of Alpine, New York.

 

This was one of several documents I received and here is what I was able to find out just from this document:

1.  My great-great Grandfather Joseph Cornell was a Private in the Union Army.

2.  Joseph was part of Company B of the 141st New York Regiment Volunteers.

3.  Joseph enlisted on the 22nd of August 1862 to serve for 3 years. 

4.  Joseph was born in Clinton, NY. (Interesting…my info says he was born across the state line in Clinton, Bradford County, PA)

5.  At the date of discharge Joseph was 26 years old, 5 feet 9 1/2 inches tall, with a dark completion, dark hair and dark eyes.

6.  When Joseph enlisted he was a ‘Sawyer’. (I did some research and found out that a ‘Sawyer’ generally ran the saw in a Mill and determined how to get the most wood/types of cut out of the log.)

7.  Joseph was discharged from the Army due to long standing chronic nephritis, contracted by injury and exposure while in the Service.  His degree of disability was 2/3rd.  He was Not Fit for Invalid Corps. 

These are the Battles of the 141st Regiment that Joseph probably took part in during his enlistment.

 

8.  Joseph was discharged on 2 January 1864 at the Convalescent Camp in Virginia. (When I did some research I found out that Camp Convalescent was near Alexandria, VA,  and was set up to house men not well enough to rejoin their regiments but not ill or wounded enough to take up a hospital bed.

(photo compliments of the Library of Congress)

 

9.  Joseph planned on returning to Trumbull’s Corner in Tompkins County, New York after discharge.

When I first looked at this document I really didn’t see the valuable information I had until I broke it down and made a list of what I saw within the document.  I also found great additional info on the internet about the Convalescent Camp and the 141st Regiment of NY that made this info even more interesting.  Now I wish I had a picture of Joseph in his uniform….

I would appreciate hearing any additional stories or information you might have to share.

Enjoy the journey,
Debby