Remainder Of Justus Sherwood's Company Of Tories

At any rate, *[Colonel John] Peters tells Haldimand that in September he mustered 317 men at Saratoga; doubtless that number included the contingent brought in there by Gershom French, which was incorporated with Peter's corps. It probably also included whatever remained of Captain Justus Sherwood's company of Tories, for Sherwood, who had entered Canada in 1776, had raised a company and served under Peters throughout the campaign, returning to Canada immediately after the Convention. [Source]

*"A...corps that accompanied Burgoyne was that of John Peters, a colonel of militia and judge of the court of common pleas from Gloucester County, New York. As early as August, 1774, Peters had been 'mobbed and kept from his house'... .  In consequence he fled to Canada... .  On June 24, he received formal enlisting orders from General Carleton for his batallion, which was to be called the Queen's Loyal Rangers, and...was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the new corps." [Source]

See Problems With Justus Sherwood's Petition and Justus Sherwood, Thomas Sherwood And Gersham French at my In Deeds blog.

Source

Errands In Michigan

Judith Guest At The Oscoda Township (Michigan) Library

October 9, 1996
Oscoda Press

OSCODA--...There was standing room only left when author Judith Guest made a most impressive presentation Thursday at Robert J. Parks Public Library.

Best known for her novel, Ordinary People, which was made into an Oscar winning motion picture, Guest's third and latest book will be released in January.  The book is titled, Errands.

[snip]

The story tells of the family coming to Harrisville [Alcona County, Michigan] for summer vacation the year Guest's grandfather died leaving the wife to raise five young children.  Guest said her grandmother's sister [Jean] moved in with the family to help raise the children.

[snip]

Guest lived in Oscoda [Iosco County, Michigan] as a youngster and attended school there for a short time.

Note: The following Saturday, there was a book-signing with Judith Guest at a local bookstore. 

My Favorite Inscription!

After purchasing the book, Errands, by Judith Guest, I stood in line at the bookstore in Oscoda, to get the book signed by the author.

We had previously met at the local library when Ms. Guest was the invited speaker.  After her talk, I started to explain to Ms. Guest, picture in hand, that her mother and Jim's father [Richard S. Palm] were two of the [4?] children in the photograph, when her mother [Marion A. Nesbitt Guest] approached us and exclaimed, "That's Dick Palm, and that's ME!"  Turns out that the Nesbitts, Guests and Palms were close family friends and neighbors.

That's why this is my favorite inscription:

To The Palms

June 1997

From one who's known your name since I was born!

Best wishes

Judith Guest

James Nelson Barker, Artillerist And Playwright

Source

The Indian Princess... was written by author James Nelson Barker (1784-1858).  At the outbreak of the War of 1812, he received a commission, fighting mostly on the Canadian frontier, and winning distinction as a Captain of Artillery.

An excerpt from the play:

THE INDIAN PRINCESS
 ACT I.

 SCENE I.

Powhatan River; wild and picturesque. Ships appear. Barges approach the shore, from which land SMITH, ROLFE, PERCY, WALTER, LARRY, ROBIN, ALICE, &c.

Chorus.
 Jolly comrades, raise the glee,
 Chorus it right cheerily; For the tempest's roar is heard no more,
And gaily we tread the wish'd-for shore:
 Then raise the glee merrily, Chorus it cheerily,
For past are the perils of the blust'ring sea.

From the Theatre History website (link deliberately not included; may have a problem - link added to text was not from the Theatre History site):

James Nelson Barker...was mayor of Philadelphia in 1820. All his plays are on native themes. .... "The Indian Princess," the first of many plays having the Indian maiden Pocahontas for heroine, was produced at the Chestnut Street Theatre April 6, 1808.

Among the manuscripts in the Arthur C. Bining Collection at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania:

There are also folders of papers from individuals that are not associated with the Customs House, such as army officer James Barker, painter Abbott H. Thayer, and inventor August F. W. Partz.

More about James Nelson Barker's War of 1812 service from the Pennsylvania Center at PSU:

As a precautionary protection measure for Philadelphia in the War of 1812, Fort Mifflin was once again actively manned. Captain James Nelson Barker was appointed commander of the fort on July 16, 1812. Although the fort was prepared to defend Philadelphia, it saw no action during the War of 1812.

Henry Hamilton's Background

From Henry Hamilton and George Rogers Clark in the American Revolution, with the unpublished Journal of Henry Hamilton:

Source

First, he was a descendant of a noble Scottish family with a record of service in government and in the army which dates back to the time of Mary Queen of Scots. Secondly, he was an army man in the French and
Indian War.... . He was also an office-holder, for he served first as lieutenant-governor of Detroit and then of Quebec, and as governor of Bermuda and finally of Dominica.

If his family is traced back to the fifteenth century, a Sir James Hamilton is found, who was the husband of Mary, a sister of James III of Scotland and a great-great-aunt of Mary Queen of Scots.

The educational opportunities offered to Henry were those which might be expected in a family such as his. He wrote that his mother encouraged him to read works of travel, history, and literature; that a French teacher corrected his pronunciation; and that he spent his vacations in learning to fence, draw, and dance.
In school he was often flogged, and, although he was frank enough to say that he always deserved the punishment, he decided to join the forces rather than submit to continued embarrassment.

His army life began at the age of twenty-one when he received a commission as an ensign in the Fifteenth Regiment of Foot. As a young officer he traveled over Ireland, Wales, and England, and a little later in Canada and the American Colonies.


Harvard University holds some of Henry Hamilton's papers.

"Hamilton married Elizabeth Lee... . They had only one child, Mary Anne Pierpoint Hamilton, who died unmarried on 1871 Dec. 12. Hamilton died in 1796 at Antigua while still holding office."

Old King William County

Old King William Homes and Families...: By Peyton Neale Clarke:

The Library of Virginia's Out Of The Box blog has a post, KING WILLIAM CO. CHANCERY NOW ONLINE!:

Chancery Records Index
Locality Index Number Original Case Number
King William Co. 1886-015 14
ADMR OF JOHN LUCKHARD ETC
Surname(s) Coleman, Johnson, Lipscomb, Luckard, Luckhard, Lukhard, Neale, Smith

An excerpt:

Source

If You Want More About The French-Indian War

The Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh's bibliography for the French-Indian War (excerpted below):

Smolinski, Diane
Soldiers of the French and Indian War
PENNA q E199.S665 2003x

Stotz, Charles Morse
Outposts of the war for empire: the French and English in Western Pennsylvania: their armies, their forts, their people, 1749-1764
Pittsburgh: Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania: Distributed by University of Pittsburgh Press, 1985.
(r)qF152.S86 1985x

Stotz, Charles Morse.
Point of Empire: Conflict at the Forks of the Ohio
Pittsburgh, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, 1970.
rF159.P6 S82

Todish, Timothy J.
America's first first world war: the French & Indian War, 1755-1763; illustrated with photographs by the author and paintings by Gary S. Zaboly
Grand Rapids, MI: T.J. Todish, 1982.
rE199.T65 1982

Van Every, Dale.
Forth to the Wilderness: the first American frontier, 1754-1774
New York: Quill/Morrow, [1987], c1961.
E195.V3 1987

Springfield [MA] Library's Genealogy Fiction List

From a reading list for genealogical fiction (there's more at the site):

Guide To Family Manuscripts Guide Online At Clarke Historical Library

A GUIDE TO EDITING AND PUBLISHING FAMILY MANUSCRIPTS by Robert Root is online at the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University.

Mr. Root's guide evolved from his experience of editing a diary and the eventual realization that the diarist had been incorrectly identified.  The finished product is "Time by moments steals away": the 1848 journal of Ruth Douglass By Robert L. Root, Ruth Douglass.

Hemmingway Collection At The Clarke Historical Library

 The Clarke Historical Library has an online exhibit entitled "Hemmingway's Michigan Connections."

Ask A Librarian & See What Happens

While searching for Lt. John Clendenin, I got a "hit" in the book shown below. However, only a "snippet" view of the book was available online. It occurred to me to send an e-mail to the Library of Virginia (after checking to make sure that book was part of their inventory) and voila! A reference librarian sent a copy of the page that mentioned Lt. Clendenin to me.

[Click image(s) to enlarge]

The e-mail I sent:

I would like the information regarding Lt. John Clendenin
contained in this book:
The Orderly Book of Captain Benjamin Taliaferro, 2d Virginia
Detachment, Charleston, South Carolina, 1780:
2d Virginia Detachment Charleston, South Carolina, 1780.
By Virginia Infantry 2d Regt., 1776-1783, Benjamin Taliaferro,
Lee A. Wallace Published by Virginia State Library, 1979

According to GOOGLE, Clendenin is referred to on paged 47 & n. 21

The response I received via e-mail:
refdesk@lva.virginia.gov

Dear Mrs. Palm: Note 21 on page 47 states that "Captain James Powers and John Clendenin, a first lieutenant, were both of the 3d North Carolina." The information on page 47 consists mainly of a Barrack Order dated February 1, 1780. It is too lengthy to be emailed, but I will send you a copy of the page by "snail mail.".

D. F., Reference Librarian

Don't forget to ask a reference librarian for specific items. I've asked librarians to look in city directories for a specific name in a specific year and they have always come through for me. Reference Librarians are a tremendous resource.