Posts Tagged ‘Loyalist’

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Peter Force was a 19th-century politician, newspaper editor, archivist, and historian.

Born near the Passaic Falls in New Jersey, to William and Sarah (Ferguson) Force.

His greatest achievement came as a collector and editor of historical documents. He published Tracts and Other Papers, Relating Principally to the Origin, Settlement, and Progress of the Colonies in North America.

His American Archives was a collection of the most important documents of the American Revolution, 1774–1776. 9 volumes were published between 1837 and 1853. Force’s lifelong desire to establish an American national library finally came to fruition in 1867 when Congress purchased his own collection of original documents for $100,000 to found the Library of Congress.

Was your Revolutionary War Ancestor a Patriot or Loyalist?

Up until now it has been my opinion that most men of fighting age during the Revolutionary War took one side or the other. Of course I would have presumed that there might be a few exceptions, but I’m talking about the masses here.

Well to my amazement I came across a posting on the New Jersey rootsweb mail list, of a message that was posted by a very nice lady in Delaware regarding this subject. OK – so you are thinking “What does this have to do with Upstate New York Genealogy”?