Week 27:
We are now in the second half of the year! Can you believe it?! In the U.S., we'll be celebrating Independence Day on Thursday, so it seems appropriate to have the theme of "Independent." You could feature a Revolutionary War veteran, an ancestor who had an independent streak, or an ancestor of independent means. Be creative!
The second half of #52Ancestors begins this week with a look at the 4th of July. This is a time to go to barbecues and pop in that timeless '90s classic called "Independence Day" into your dvd/blu-ray player. Or watch it on various channels this week. It is everywhere! Who doesn't love that movie? It's pretty quotable. But, I don't think I have the time to go into just how quotable that movie is and how much I'm not really a fan of its sequel.
Today, we're going to go back further than the 1996 Will Smith movie. We're even going further back than that musical starring William Daniels as John Adams! Remember that one? I saw it in history class many, many years ago. It was so weird seeing the voice of K.I.T.T. be the voice of reason in that musical. I digress! We're going back to the actual American Revolution from 1765-1783!
When it comes to the American Revolution, I have eleven soldiers in my tree. I'll be discussing the first one I discovered. His name was Amos Sargent and he was my 6th great-grandfather.
Amos was born on November 23rd, 1758 in Malden, Massachusetts when Massachusetts was known as the Massachusetts Bay Colony. His parents were Silas Sargent and Mary Winslow. He was one of nine children. He married Alice Bucknam on November 18th, 1782 and had seven children with her including my 5th great-grandmother, Sarah. He passed away on August 12th, 1836 in Malden well after the nation was born.
I know his WikiTree profile looks a little sparse.I haven't had the time to fill it all in. I'll get there some day! Somehow. I promise! =)
He was the first of the soldiers of the Revolution I found back in 2006 thanks to some research on Ancestry.com. I found him along with a guy named Joseph Fisher. He was the one my grandmother, Natalie, told me about. His family was also from Malden and it's interesting to note that Sarah married Joseph's son, Lewis. But, we're not here to talk about Joseph even if he is kind of cool and all. No. Let's talk about Amos because a lot went on in his seventy-eight year lifespan. I really wish my grandmother told me about this guy! Joseph is cool. Don't get me wrong. But, there's something really, really amazing about Amos.
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| As seen on Ancestry.com |
Present day Malden, Massachusetts borders the city of Lynn and there is a small tributary there connecting the town to the ocean. Because of this, it stands to reason that many men from Malden and the surrounding coastal counties like Essex and Middlesex were called in to protect the nearby ports of Boston, Portsmouth and other New England cities at all costs.
The men were commissioned by the governments of the colonies and serve as a pre-US Coast Guard for lack of a better word. They'd defend the shores from invaders and according to my research many of the soldiers in my tree were involved in the Navy in one way or another. Some served a few days. Some, like Amos, served for a LOT longer than a couple days. They were all from New England (except Charles Mathieu) and were pretty much my New England Patriots.
Amos captivates my imagination because I've grown up around boats. My parents have a boat on the Merrimack river and every summer around the 4th of July we'd see a tall ship dock across the river in Newburyport. These ships, naturally, were replicas of the ones that served during the war. One year we actually went aboard a replica privateer vessel and it was amazing. If only the ship was named Enterprise. Ah well.
Amos's life is very fascinating because I picture acts of daring do on the ocean. Picture all the action he's seen. Sure it's romanticized a bit. But, it's still cool to think of. At the end of the day, he was a naval hero who played his part in safeguarding the colony of Massachusetts.
Apparently his family was well established as there is a genealogy book about the Sargents. It's called Sargent genealogy : Hugh Sargent, of Courteenhall, Northamptonshire and his descendants in England
That book, like many other genealogy books, has been very helpful in helping me find various information about the Sargents. However, you always need to be careful when dealing with those books. Like I've said before. They can be full of errors. I lucked out as I've found that the information in a few books clearly match the records I've found elsewhere. Records for Massachusetts are REALLY good and really easy to come by. If you have ancestors in Massachusetts, you will find a LOT of information.
You just need to make sure that the information in the genealogy book matches up with the info you find.
As for Amos Sargent? Well, he'll continue to spark my imagination. That's for sure. His legacy endured to the present as he is on the Daughters of the American Revolution database. His descendants thrive to this day and I'll more than likely keep thinking about awesome adventures on the high seas. His role in the American Revolution may have been small in comparison to the likes of George Washington. But, like the Doctor once said....
"Not important? I've never met anyone who wasn't important."
See you next time!
Addendum: Fold3 had a free weekend and I've just downloaded the pension for Amos Sargent. This is going to take some time to analyze. Talk about coincidences!
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