Posts Tagged ‘Revolutionary War’

As Pownal is very close to my favorite research area of the Old Cambridge District in Washington County, NY I am pleased to pass this announcement to the readers of the Upstate New York Genealogy Blog.

My name is Julie Bright (jbright@capecod.net) 30 Weathervane Lane, East Sandwich, MA 02537
Phone 774-413-9567

Would it be possible for you to post the following information on an upcoming DOWNER-DUNHAM REUNION, Descendants of John DOWNER (1744-1815) of Pownal and his wife Lydia DUNHAM (1785-1861). They are both buried in Morgan-Towslee

We would love to have one or more descendants of their children attend:

Announcement from Leslie Potter, Battle of Saratoga historian”

As part of its annual teachers’ conference, The Institute for
Archaeology, History and Education is presenting an historical program
on the Battle of Saratoga at the Saratoga Springs Visitor’s Center, in
Saratoga Springs, NY on the morning of Saturday, May 31, 2008. This
program is open to the public. The schedule that the Institute of
History, Archaeology, and Education, sent me is at follows:

Saturday, May 31, 2008 (9:00 — 11:30 a.m.) at the Saratoga Springs
Visitor Center

9:00 Welcome and Introductions

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”?

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We have discussed Google Books before on this website.

One of my new found relatives was discussing some Revolutionary War ancestors that she had in Onondaga County and so I looked them up in my own copy of Rev. William Beauchamp’s, “Revolutionary Soldiers Resident or Dying in Onondaga County, N.Y.” - 1913 – Onondaga Historical Association, Syracuse, NY

I had paid over $100 for this gem several years ago. So I went on Google Books, did a search, and sure enough they had a copy digitized online and available as a free download.

This is a Review, and an Advertisement.

About a year ago I heard of a new company that was offering digital images of genealogical and historical interest on-line. So my first thought was something like “Oh brother, not another one.” Well after I looked into it and subscribed I started to get real excited! An old time car advertisement slogan came to mind, “This is NOT your Father’s Buick!” This company, Footnote.com, was building a gigantic collection of digitized copies of original historical documents that were like none we had ever seen before. They became early partners with the National Archives (NARA) and commenced digitizing many of the millions of rolls of microfilm that are at NARA, and that even though they might have been available before on film, they were difficult to search for, due to NARA’s extremely complicated cataloging system. Hey it’s the government, what do you expect?

(The following transcribed newspaper article is dated: 28 JUN 1931.)

“Marking of Revolutionary War Graves By D.A.R. Signals Start of Campaign to Identify 595 in Onondaga County.”

[two ladies photos,]

“Mrs. W. L. POTTER, left, and Mrs. Leon E. BUSHNELL, regents, of General Asa DANFORTH, and To-whan-to-qua Chapters, Daughters of American Revolution, who are in charge of a co-operative program having for its aim the marking of all graves of Revolutionary soldiers buried in Onondaga County.

Co-operative Program to Designate Heroes’ Resting Places With Bronze Tablets Containing Records Is Begun.