Shaky Leaves

Freewrite - May 6, 2015

Having very little to go on in the relationship between 1. Isaac Holmes and 2. Nathaniel Holmes and 3. Samuel Holmes Sr, I thought of an idea. Whether it will bear any fruit or not, I do not know.

We tie these three men together with the 1760 Muster Roll of New York Volunteers for the Seven Years War. Nathaniel (son of Isaac, proven) of Bedford (yes) appears on the Muster Roll with Samuel. N is 37; S is 16. Both are from Bedford. This is the only link we have. Its not a whole lot of proof.

My idea is this. I have a list of men who were mustered from March to May, 1760, with William Gillchrist as their Captain. I will enter each man in ancestry, see if they have a shaky leaf, and see if any who do have a story as to what happened to them.

I would really like to know what their company accomplished, if anything, but google is barren on Captain William Gillchrist.

Let us see. I shall try to remember to report back.

Reporting back: I have been working on the list. It's not as helpful as I hoped. In fact, my only hope is to keep on going.

War and Peace

Freewrite - May 5, 2015

This could almost be a war and peace story. Nathaniel and Samuel Sr in the Seven Years' War - Samuel Sr in the Revolutionary War and forced to go to Canada as a Loyalist - the sons of Samuel Jr and Betty in the Civil War (and if I remember correctly, some grandsons). Probably could fast forward to the Great War if I want to go that far with it. Unless - - it might make a good conclusion if I could find a descendant or two who were killed in the Great War. I'm just meandering - but, I might have a theme here.

The only one who did not serve in a war was the protagonist, Sam. He was too young to have remembered much about his father serving in the RW, and died before the CW began. I think. (No date of death for Samuel and Betty - but no mention of them in the 1850 census. If he was alive he would have been in his eighties.)

That reminds me - no email from the Brownville Church either. After all this time, I'm probably not going to get one.

The Seven Years' War and the Fall of Montreal

Freewrite - May 3, 2015

I guess it's never to late to study American History. AH 101, here I come. French and Indian aka Seven Years' War 1756 - 1763. My alleged GGGGG and my GGGG Grandfathers volunteered for this war and were mustered in New York in 1760. Why alleged? This is the weak link in our Holmes genealogy and the only connection we have found that ties them together. The place is right and their ages are realistic for father and son. However, there were a lot of Nathaniels and Samuels - do we have the correct link back to Francis? Montreal fell to the English in September, 1760. Were Nate and Sam Sr involved in that battle, I wonder?