Done Looking For Nehemiah, I Think

Have spent the better part of the last year looking for traces of my Revolutionary War ancestor and 5th GGF, Nehemiah Newens (or Newin, Newan/s, Newens, or maybe even Newing or Nuens. Take your pick.) All of the collected records are in a big blue binder and in a data file of which I have numerous back-ups both on line and off. Now I'm thinking that I'm done with this project and here's my reasoning on the matter.

See, here's why I love my blog: reason number six (see below.) My blog keeps my thinking as lucid as possible. If I can explain it clearly and concisely to you then it keeps me on track to the best of my ability:)

So back to why I'm feeling done with my search for Nehemiah. I've answered all the major questions from the start of the project that I can. And here they are.

Where did he come from? Most likely the Derbyshire area of England and quite possibly he was a country boy, not a city boy. City boys don't aspire to stone masonry.

Did he serve with General Braddock in the French and Indian War? Maybe but maybe not. If he did he was very young and most likely just a lad. But I find no record of his service as a commissioned officer. Doesn't mean that there are records still to be found but I've looked under ever rock short of going to London and looking in the British Archive... and who knows, I might just do that some day. But for now the indication from records is that he was really too young to have been an officer in the F&I War.

How did he get to York PA? I'm clueless. But he wasn't an indentured servant as far as I can tell. He married into a very prosperous family and if he was an indentured servant, well that's not a conclusion I draw. The most obvious path is that he knew his wife's uncle, Colonel Corry, who did serve in the F&I War and followed him to York.

Did he die in the Battle of Yorktown? No. For whatever reasons he didn't return home to his wife and son in York PA, but moved around to Northumberland and then Upstate New York. He received his Bounty Land Grant from the state of PA while he was in Northumberland County, and filed his pension application from Canandaigue NY.

Why did he end up in Canandaigue, NY? The most likely conclusion is that he knew the area, which was the frontier, because he served in the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign. The officer names from his pension application match up with the S-C Campaign.

Who is Elias Thompson named as his son in Nehemiah's will? It might be that Elias replied to an ad Nehemiah ran for stone masons. Elias came from Pennsylvania but didn't appear in Canandaigue until after Nehemiah has been there about 10 years. Was he the faithful apprentice that took the role of a son? Maybe. Nehemiah thought enough of him to name him in the will.

What was Nehemaih's wife's given name?  He had two wives. The first was Cathrine Kepplinger, referred to in the Myers book as Miss Kepplinger. Her widow's pension application is signed Cathrine Newans. That said, Nehemiah's will drafted in 1820 names his wife, Mary, his sole beneficiary for the rest of her life (and then the remainder to sons Thomas Newans and Elias Thompson.)

What of the little book, "Ancestral History of Thomas F. Myers"? I believe it was written by Myers and printed by a printer just down the street from where Myers had his prosperous grocery store. The book served as evidence backing up Myers Bounty Land Grant claim in Ohio on behalf of his sister Christiana. The claim was never resolved in their favor.

How sure am I about the above information. Not too sure. You know data... it drifts. And so much of this is simply my conclusions based on what I know of the family and facts strung together. Not great genealogy, I admit. In my own defense, I really do believe that most frequently the most accurate conclusion is the most obvious, baring new information.

That said, I'll organize my big blue binder, making notes where needed so that I can remember what I did. Then I'll write up a short version of the Nehemiah Newans story so that others can share in the search if they wish... and I truly hope someone does!

Really Making Me Nuts Today!

Mama warned me that in life, some days you get the bear and some days the bear gets you. Bear got me.

I am looking hard as I can for the arrival of my 5th GGF in the Colonies and no luck. Have checked British Army Officer listings... nothing. Have checked ships lists... nada. Have checked indentured servants lists... zip. Did this man simply telaport to the Colonies around 1750 - 1760?

Maybe I'll never find him. That's a dismal thought but I guess it's time to set this mystery aside and move down the road a bit. Am now trying to find any trace of him in York, Pennsylvania.

Puzzle Pieces all Asunder

OK, so here's information pertinent to filling in puzzle pieces of the life of my 5th GGF, Nehemiah Newans, as concerns his first wife Miss Kepplinger, that I've gleaned from the Myers book (see tab at top for full contents.)

Thomas F. Myers was the great grandson of Nehemiah Newans. Newans married Miss Kepplinger. (Her given name, as per her widows pension application, was Catharine.) Her mother was sister to Colonel Corry of the French and Indian War. (Therefore might we consider that Catharine Kepplinger's mother's maiden name was Corry?)

Catharine was sister to Mrs. Macelvaine. No given name.

Catharine's uncle was Mr. Koontz who owned the Colonial Hotel of York PA. The Myers book reports that the Continental Congress assembled there while it was vacated from Philladelphia. Can we assume that Catherine had then two sisters, a Mrs. Koontz and a Mrs. Macelvaine... therefore can we assume that there were at least three sisters in the family?

Miss Kepplinger's father ground wheat for the soldiers at Valley Forge. He had seven indentured service and paid for their work for seven years. He was partners in a salt works on the Patapsco River where Baltimore is now located, called Beason, Kepplinger and Magoun. This firm conveyed salt to Beasontown, now Uniontown, PA.

The best I can think to do now is to Google all this mess and see if I can make the puzzle pieces grow a bit... maybe grow enough so that they fit together.