Since I sold my car and quit driving I have been spending a lot of time at home. As a result I spent the last 6 months cleaning, decluttering, and organizing my villa. That included organizing and decluttering my genealogy files and stuff! Finally with my newly organized villa I had hours of free time every day to devote to my lifelong habit -- family research!
And Then . . . . I finally did it. I submitted my application to the Daughters of the American Revolution. I chose the chapter where my aunt, who was responsible for my love of genealogy, was a charter member. That experience led me on an adventure into the time period where I thought family research was rather difficult. Would you believe it was not really that bad. Don't get me wrong, you will need some experience but the records are there. Yes I know the census is challenging but there are plenty of other records to help you work around it and with it.
Research into the 1700s requires one thing before you can starting hunting for your 4x great grandfather. You will need to learn the basics of an important part of American history -- The Revolutionary War. It influenced almost everyone's life and it will give you the who, what, where, when, and how that affected our ancestors' reactions to the world around them.
Of course since my application was going to the DAR it naturally followed that the Revolution would play a significant part in my research. I just never realized how large that part would be when it came to researching the lives of my ancestors in the 1700s.
When I started I had one ancestor that I would use for the application. My Aunt Daisy used him for her application back in the middle 1900s and all I had to do was prove my relationship to her. Unfortunately it wasn't that easy and I needed to do more research about Philip Russell Rice, my 4x great grandfather.
One effect of the war was loss. . . soldiers, civilians, property. Men born between 1726 and 1767 volunteered to fight; some never to return. Some people lost their homes and everything they owned. Philip Rice lost his ship when he ran into the British fleet near Yorktown. As a result, this energetic young Whig lost his source of income. After he married Martha Vaughn and with no reason to stay in Virginia, he and his family set out for Kentucky and the promise of a better life. Philip was an intelligent, feisty, humorous, well-liked, dirt poor old man who was also known as the town drunk. Fortunately Martha, like many other women during the war, learned she could handle the family farm or business by herself. Martha was industrious and she kept the home fires burning. From this story you can see the reactions that resulted from the actions that Philip faced as a result of the war.
I have to admit that I had a healthy dose of luck that led to a source of personal information about Philip. The source was a book with just a short paragraph about my ancestor, but is gave me the name of a place - Taylor's Ferry, a clue that led me to the House of Representatives. The new government reimbursed its citizens for losses during the war. I found a bill in the House that dealt with the claim Philip submitted for the loss of his ship. There were 12 depositions attached to the bill that told the story of Philip's life. Eventually his heirs were awarded $2,500 for the loss of the ship.
With a lot of research and a little luck I was able to put together the story of my 4x great grandfather's life. I felt like I knew him. But why did the family go to Kentucky? The new government had to pay its citizens who fought in the war and as a result designated land that would be available to veterans for their service. This action resulted in a westward movement away from the original colonies. But the westward movement of these new pioneers caused actions that affected both the new settlers and the Native Americans. Just take some time and think about how your ancestors might have reacted to everything that was happening in their new lives. Those are the things that will help you find them.
In the next post I will continue to look at the effect the American Revolution had on your ancestors. . . . .
