Military

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        About 7 years ago, I came to realize that we had a few Revolutionary War veterans in our family’s history. This discovery started with Samuel Harley, who I have previously mentioned in other posts. When I visited his grave site in Harleysville, PA, there was a Revolutionary War stake by his headstone. Then the  next person I found was Henry Hunsicker, while I was visiting his grave site on that same trip. This got me to thinking. I wondered how many direct ancestors we actually had that fought in the Revolutionary War? I had never really considered that before, so I started down that path to find out.


grave marker for revolutionary war vets
A typical grave marker for Revolutionary War Soldiers

        And the answer (so far) is 12 !!! I find this incredible. There could be more that I haven’t identified yet, along with the War of 1812 and the Civil War too. My plan is to do a more thorough write-up about all of them in book form, and I sure do hope to do that “someday.” But for right now, since the topic this week is MILITARY, and it is Memorial Day, I wanted to honor them and provide you with their names and some very basic information about them. I would not be sitting here today writing this if it wasn’t for them. 

Thurman SAR event
Charles Thurman wreath dedication May 2021 ***

As a interesting side note, how many 4th great grandparents does a person have? The answer is 64. With each generation the number doubles: 


2 parents,  

4 - grandparents,

8 - great grandparents, 

16 - 2x great grandparents, 

32 - 3x great grandparents, and so on.



John Alderfer veteran burial record
John (Johanes) Alderfer Veteran Burial Record

    Each person listed below shows their name, birth and death year, as well as the places lived, and each one's relation to me.


                    Mom’s side (Dorothy Harley)      

Alderfer, John Detweiler 1745- 1820  Pennsylvania   5th greatgrandfather


Beidler, John Meyer 1747 - 1823 Pennsylvania   4th great-grandfather

Harley, Samuel 1758 - 1839  Pennsylvania   4th great-grandfather

    

Hunsicker, Henry Kolb 1752 - 1836  Pennsylvania   4th great-grandfather


Kolb, Jacob Sr. 1739 - 1818  Pennsylvania    5th great-grandfather


Landis, Jacob 1749 - 1834. Pennsylvania    4th great-grandfather


Schumacher, Michael Ziegler1742 - 1836  Pennsylvania       5th great-grandfather


Dad’s side (Roscoe Hinch)


Hinch, John*       1745 - 1836.   Kentucky / TN 5th great-grandfather


Sherrill, George Davidson** 1762 - 1840    North Carolina / TN 3rd great-grandfather


Sherrill, Samuel Wilson**     1725 - 1800    North Carolina / TN 4th great-grandfather


Thurman, Charles***      1760 - 1848     Virginia / TN 4th great-grandfather


Wilson, Greenberry Sr.      1755 - 1812    North Carolina / TN     4th great-grandfather



*I am still researching John Hinch.

** father and son - they both fought in the famous Battle of King's Mountain in South Carolina in 1780.

*** I attended a TN Sons of the American Revolution (the SAR TN John Sevier Chapter) grave marker celebration in honor of Charles Thurman on May 21, 2021 at the Old Lone Cedar Cemetery in Bledsoe County TN, which is on the property of my 3rd cousin Peggy Thurman, who I met for the first time that day. 


Note: John Sevier was the first governor of Tennessee. His 2nd wife, “Bonnie Kate” Catherine Sherrill was sister to George Davidson Sherrill. So she was our 3rd great aunt. John Sevier and Bonnie Kate Sherrill Sevier are interred on the Tennessee state capital grounds in Knoxville, TN.