52 Ancestors: Week 10: Changed My Thinking - Tracing My Revolutionary Roots

In light of the 250th anniversary of our independence from Great Britain, I was asked by a former student to give a presentation for her library on researching one's ancestors during the turbulent years of the American Revolution. 

For the past 12 years, I have been a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), a lineage society that requires members to prove direct descent from someone who supported the American cause during the Revolution. So I have known for a long time now that I have patriots in my family tree. 

Funny things is that those men (yes, I have two of my fifth great-grandfathers that were patriots) are on my mother’s paternal side, the branch of my family that I think of as Canadian. My grandpa Gardner's mother was born in Quebec, Canada, as were his paternal grandparents. Typically it was those with loyalty to the British Crown who left the U.S. after the Revolution and settled in Canada, then a British colony, not patriots. How is it that my patriots are there?

Well, back in 2012, I uncovered my Revolutionary patriots with what can only be described as a last-ditch, “Hail Mary” Google search. That search led me to a digitized copy of The History of Bedford, New Hampshire, 1737–1900, published in 1903 to commemorate the town’s 150th anniversary. There, on page 995, I found a Moore family genealogy that named my known third great-grandmother, Annie Moore-Sharp (about 1785 - January 14, 1868)

It read:

“IV. Ann, dau. of William (3), b. 1785; m. Peter Sharp; res. in Kingsey, P.Q. Had two ch.: Daniel (5) and Christopher (5).”

Following the lineage back through the entries, I discovered that Annie’s father, William Moore (about 1763 - July 1817), was the son of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Moore (May 22, 1724 - October 25, 1778) of Londonderry, New Hampshire. Her mother, Eleanor Moore (about 1767 - October 19, 1836), was the daughter of Colonel Daniel Moore (February 11, 1730 - April 13, 1811), also from New Hamsphire. Yes, Annie’s parents were first cousins. And yes, both of her grandfathers had served on the American side during the Revolution. I had not one, but two patriots.

It was Annie's parents who later moved the family to Quebec for land, not her patriot grandparents. It was Annie's granddaughter, my great grandmother, who was born in Quebec but moved to the U.S. around WWI.

As I prepared for this upcoming library presentation, I wondered what other men in my family tree were living in the American colonies during the Revolution. Since I already knew that my great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth “Mayme” Sharp-Gardner (October 2, 1891 – January 25, 1961), the one descended from those Moores, was from a family that was established here before the war, I decided to take a closer look at Mayme's branch to see if any additional men might have served; so I traced back further on her mother's side.

To have served in the American Revolution, a man would typically have been between about 15 and 45 years old during the war which lasted from 1775 to 1783. That means potential soldiers were likely born between 1730 and 1768.

Mayme's mother, Lydia Marie McLean-Sharp (September 15, 1868 - sometime between 1911 and 1916) was born and raised in Quebec. She was the great granddaughter of a man whose headstone records him as Lieut. Donald McLean. Lieutenant of what? 

Um, Lieutenant of the 74th Regiment of Foot, also known as the Argyle Highlanders, of course. (As if I know what that means yet.) As his title suggests though, Donald was a commissioned British officer. He appears to have taken part in the Penobscot Expedition, an event I’m only beginning to research. During the Revolution, he was stationed in Castine, Maine, then still part of Massachusetts, where he married his wife, Susannah Haney.

There is a historical fiction novel based on the events at Fort George in Castine, Maine during the Revolution called The Fort by Bernard Cornwell. While it is fiction, I find novels can be a more engaging way to gain basic understanding of a historical event before diving deeper into primary sources.

It was through another book, a published family history, where I learned more about Donald McLean; The Clan Gillean by Alexander MacLean Sinclair published in 1899. From that compiled family history I was able to track down the most amazing primary sources, including a land petition granting him 1,200 acres on the St. Francis River, in Quebec, around what I guess is now Drummondville, Quebec. 

Donald's wife's obituary is fascinating. Susannah Haney-McLean lived to be 108 years-old. The obituary tells a great deal about their movement around the U.S. and Quebec. Transcription below this image, in case you can't read the image:

Transcription: 

Mrs. Susannah McLean

On the 1st of May, at the residence of her son in the township of Durham, in the 109th year of her age, Mrs. Susannah McLean, widow of the late Donald McLean, lieutenant in the 74th regiment of foot.

Mrs. McLean was born in the Town of Castine, Me., U.S., on the 28th December, 1759. Near the close of the Revolutionary war she was married to her said late husband, who was then stationed with his regiment at Fort George. After the close of the war they removed to New Brunswick, residing there a few years, when they returned to the United States and took up their residence in the town of Milton, Vt. They lived there twelve years, after which they went to Danville, Vt., and from thence to the to the township of Durham, Lower Canada, in 1813, where they resided until their decease.

Mrs. McLean was the mother of nine children, eight of who are living, the eldest being 83 years of age and the youngest 64. She was a truly pious woman, and greatly esteemed by all who knew her, and lived to see the fourth generation. She retained her faculties until 100 years of age, after which they began to fail and at last she became as a child. 

The obituary clearly states they lived in Durham at the end of their lives but the land grant states their land was along the St. Francis River. I can't find a Durham, Quebec so I am going to assume that they lived close to where they are interred in a town called L'Avenir, maybe that was once known as Durham. I am not sure but I find it fascinating that more than 2 centuries later, the DNA of patriots and a British officer meet in me. Just proof that history is far more tangled than any textbook ever suggested. Genealogy is really full of some astounding plot twists.