This week we're following on of my Revolutionary War ancestors and the very one that got me into the DAR! He was a special challenge for me that I'll always remember because I researched his life in depth back when I had very few skills, so you might say that my 5th great grandfather taught me a lot;)
His saga came to the family because of a little book his grandson, Thomas F. Myers, had printed. If not for that book we might know little or nothing. As it is, the book provided only clues to his life and the rest was left to us to discover. His early life in England and his family there remaind a mystery. But then you have to leave some mysterys around to be solved later, don't you?
So here we go, looking at the life and times of Nehemiah Newins/Newans/Newin/ (you make up the rest) and his descendants! I'll be using that surname in the form it appears most often in records for the person under discussion.
By the way, we're into the 3rd great grandmothers here with the grandfathers and earlier grandmothers covered in earlier posts. To see those, just find the search box there on the right and type in "Surname Saturday" and the name you want.
1. Diane Kelly Weintraub
2. Francis Patrick " Pat" Kelly (1916 - 2007)
3. Virginia Williams, that's Mom, living and loving it!
4. John Lee "Lee" Kelly (1892 - 1969)
5. Helen Gertrude Zeller (1894 - 1985)
8. Francis Patrick Kelly (1854 - 1923)
9. Christiana Eckhart (1861 - 1932)
9. Christiana Eckhart (1861 - 1932)
18. John Eckhart (1831 - 1917)
19. Mary Myers (1837 - 1909)38. Jacob Myers (1789 - 1852)
39. Christiana Newans (1811 - 1865)
They had these children:
Margaret Myers (1835 - ????)
19. Mary Myers Eckhart (1837 - 1909)
Chrissie Myers ( about 1840 - ????)
Thomas F. Myers (1841 - before 1920)
Laura Myers (1845 - ????)
Thomas F. Myers most likely wrote himself and had published a small book, The Ancestral History of Thomas F. Myers, which you can see by clicking on the tab above. (Thomas was the younger brother of Mary Myers Eckhart.) This little book has been proven to have errors but those mistakes were not known to Thomas F. Myers at the time he had it printed, and that said, it's been a valuable starting point in researching his great grandfather, Nehemuiah Newins.
78. Thomas Newins (1780 - 1825)
79. Mary Knauff (1780 - 1841)
Thomas and Mary died before the juicy census were taken. Bummer.
They had the following children:
39. Christiana Newans (1811 - 1865)
John Thomas Newins (1808 - ????)
156. Nehemiah Newins (about 1840 - 1820)
157. Catherine Kepplinger (dates unknown)
The Thomas F. Myers book says that Nehemiah was born in Darbyshire, England to a father, Thomas, and two brothers, Thomas and James. We've looked but not found this family group. The book also says that Nehemiah wanted to be a "stone cutter" but his parents thought it "beneath the dignity of the family" and bought him a commission in the army. His father was a surgeon in the army, his brother also a surgeon, and other brother a "lawyer", whatever that meant to the writer.
As the story in the book goes, Nehemiah served with General Braddock. Then afterward was in York, Pennsylvania, and married Catherine Kepplinger. I must say that the dates and years don't quite work out for that tale, the Braddock campaign being too early in the timeline.
Anyhoo, he did serve in the Revolutionary War, which was verified from his service record and Bounty Land Grant, and pension application. I'll not dig real deep here abpout his life and if you're curious just click on the tab at the top of this page for Nehemiah Newins to find a fairly comprehensive timeline. And, yes I do know that the source citings are a real newbie mess and it's on my list of stuff to do, so plesae keep the grief to yourself:) Thank you very much.
After the war Nehemiah Newins vanished. He married in York, PA, and had a son. Then he disappeared... for a while, and until I found him in records. Here's the short version of the story. He went to Northumberland County, PA, and started, it seems, a new life where he did become a stone mason. He got his land grant which was way at the other end of the state on the frontier and most likely sold it to speculators, but we have no solid proof of that sale thought it might be had if we looked hard enough. From there he moves north to the Finger Lakes area of New York state and establishes a business as stone mason, hiring workers, and getting a new wife. The locals call him Major.
He had only the one son that we know of, although his will mentions a Elijah Thompson as a son. Go figgure.
78. Thomas Newins (1780 - 1825)
Friends, that's all for now. I have a nasty cold and my internet Time-Warner cable connection is wacky, and to top it off the Blogger spell check isn't working. Maybe I'll come back and add more later. I find Nehemiah Newins to be an interesting guy.
Pension application letter for Nehemiah Newins, dated 7 April, 1818.
The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/05/surname-saturday-newins-or-newans-it.html
