Nan Quick pointed out that yesterday's piece, "Reflection for the 4th of July", wasn't historically verifyable. *sad face* I guess I goofed: since it was 'historical', it never occurred to me that it might be an Urban legend.
Taken from http://blacksheep.amity.org/price.htm.
This analysis by Jim Elbrecht, indicates many misconceptions included in the essay entitled "The Price They Paid". His analysis follows:
I'd like to address this 'Price They Paid' essay. [Similar essays have been posted to the Libertarian party, John Birch Society, Pat Buchanan's and SAR sites. Also the city of Annapolis site, and even the DAR magazine carried one as an editorial-- with no comment on how far off the mark it was]
Before anyone passes it on, or posts it to their website, please do your own research.
I have spent 100's of hours in the past year chasing down the source of several similarly worded, and equally erroneous essays that have made the rounds each summer for a few yrs. Most of what I've uncovered can be found with a Deja-News search of soc.history.war.us-revolution. Look for 'signer' in the subject.
This particular one appears to be what I call 'The Hildreth' version. It is nearly verbatim from Paul Harvey's 1956 essay. [Harvey's work has been re-copyrighted twice since then with no change in any of the inaccuracies] Gary Hildreth is credited with in some places on the web-- but mostly it is repeated as 'anonymous'.
Some collections of bios are better than others, but in general, I'd stay away from them altogether and read about the signer's individually. If you must read a collection, I'd recommend PJ Scudierre's _NewYork's Signers of the Declaration of Independence_, for the NY'ers and Dumas Malone's _The Story of The Declaration of Independence_ for an overview of the whole shebang. Both are historians who specialize in Revolutionary history.
To address as briefly as I am able a few of the errors in that essay;
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died.
Only one was captured because he was a signer. None died in captivity. There is no record of any being singled out for 'torture'. Prisons were hell on both sides.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.
More than that-- but it doesn't appear they were destroyed because they were signers. There was a war going on and troops needed to eat. [ if they were looted because they were signers, then why were Sam Adams', John Hancock's, Benjamin Franklin's,Thomas Jefferson's, James Wilson's, Benjamin Rush's, Robert Morris' homes spared when the British occupied their towns?]
Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured.
This one is interesting. I haven't been able to find the second son who was killed. James Witherspoon is one son. The 'second son' is mentioned in a few of these essays. In his preface, Meldrim Thomson's book says one of Francis Lewis' sons was killed by the British. In the text he correctly writes that Lewis lived with his two sons after the war. Lewis only had 2 sons & a daughter that survived childhood.
Perhaps someone wrote somewhere that Lewis had a child 'claimed by the British, never to be seen by him again'? That would be an accurate description of Lewis' daughter who married a British officer, was disowned by her father, and never seen again. [She and their children did quite well in England, however]
Abraham Clark had two [maybe 3] son's captured. Given the number of sons who served, I'll bet a lot more were captured during the Revolution. There is little written of the children in the bios and biographies that I've read.
Also, a little noted side-note. Ben Franklin's son spent more time in prison than any of the signers -- and with similar treatment that they got. But Ben's son was a Loyalist and was held in 'rebel' prisons.
Nine of the fifty-six fought and died from wounds or the hardship of the Revolutionary War.
Nine Signers did die during the Revolution. *None* in/at the hands of the British. Only one from wounds. [sustained in a duel with a fellow officer]
What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners, all men of means, well educated.
I'd love to know the source of 24-11-9. It's been repeated elsewhere with some variation and I tried to count them myself. Most of these men wore more than one hat, so these numbers don't add up to 56-- but here's what I got last yr; [As of Aug 14, 1999] 31 'public service' prior to 1770 22 lawyers 11 Judges and Justices [28 were either lawyers or Judges or Justices before they signed] 18 merchants 16 planters, farmers, agriculturists 6 academics 5 authors 4 surveyors 3 doctors 3 ministers. 2 "gentlemen" There was also a brewer, a cooper, a couple inventors, a musician, a poet, a printer, a publicist, a couple scientists, a seaman, a shoemaker, and a [land?] speculator.
Carter Braxton ....... died in rags.
After remaking, and re-losing his fortune.
Thomas McKeam,..... and poverty was his reward.
He also rebuilt his fortune, and died a wealthy man surrounded by his family.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr. noted that the British General Cornwallis, had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. The owner quietly urged General George Washington to open fire, which was done. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
This one I love. My most recent biographies that I've read were about Thomas Nelson. [_Thomas Nelson of Yorktown, Revolutionary Virginian_ by Emory G Evans; and _Thomas Nelson, Patriot above Profit_, Nell Moore Lee; both excellent and well footnoted]
1. It was the French artillery that was firing on that part of Yorktown.
2. The home that was destroyed in Yorktown was Thomas The Signer's uncle's home. The signer's home was damaged, but repaired & is a National park service site today.
3. When Nelson died he was 'cash poor', but among the 10 largest landholders in VA. After his debts were paid, his *several* plantations were distributed amongst his children and wife.
John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives.
An excellent reference site for John Hart is in the Link above. This will show fallacies included in the above statement.In 1778 his 13 children were aged from 36 to 13-- only 3 of them were under 20. Mrs. Hart died a month before the British invaded NJ.
May 19,1779 The NJ GAZETTE said: On Tuesday the 11 th instant, departed this life at his seat in Hopewell, JOHN HART, Esq. the Representative in General Assembly for the county of Hunterdon, and late Speaker of that House. He had served in the Assembly for many years under the former government, taken an early and active part in the present revolution, and continued to the day he was seized with his last illness to discharge the duties of a faithful and upright patriot in the service of his country in general and the county he represented in particular. The universal approbation of his character and conduct among all ranks of people, is the best testimony of his worth, and as it must make his death regretted and lamented, will ensure lasting respect to his memory.
John and Deborah Hart had 12 children: Sarah, Jesse, Martha, Nathaniel, John, Susannah, Mary, Abagail, Edward, Scudder, Daniel and Deborah. Only Daniel and Deborah were still minor children during the war and at his death.(end Obituary)
John Hart died owing money, and due to the shortage of hard money, depreciation of colonial money, and a glut of land on the market as Loyalist land was confiscated and sold, most of his property was sold for a pittance. His sons later moved to the frontiers, his daughters married area men.
I haven't finished the genealogy on his family, and there might have been 13 kids at the house when the British marched through on their way to Philadelphia, but some would have been grandkids. Most importantly, though,they didn't go out of their way to 'get him'-- his house was in the line of march.Morris and Livingston suffered similar fates.
Similar in that they had the misfortune of holding land in an area that the British were occupying. There were two Morris's, of course. The NY'er, Lewis Morris did have to leave his estate in Westchester Co., [though he rebuilt it after the war]. Philip Livingston died before the British left, but he had written a recent will leaving his substantial estate to his family.
The other Morris, Robert, not only *didn't* have his property confiscated, he and two other signers lived in Philadelphia while it was occupied by the British and were not bothered by the British or Loyalists.
If you've gotten this far, you must have more than a passing interest in the signers, so I'll end with some of the sources for the NY/NJ folks that I've read & can recommend;
George Washington Letters in the Library of Congress Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789 [Both from http://www.loc.gov]
Boyd, George Adams; _Elias Boudinot, Patriot and Statesman_ Princeton University Press, 1952 [he was Stockton's brother in law and the first Commissary of Prisons]
Delafield, Julia Livingston 1801-1882; _Biographies of Francis Lewis and Morgan Lewis_,Pub. 1877. [Delafield is Francis Lewis' gr-granddaughter -- This is in the NYS Archives in Albany-- I don't know where else]
DeWan, George; _They Signed for Independence William Floyd and Francis Lewis, the two Long Islanders who took a stand for freedom_ http://www.lihistory.com/4/hs426a.htm
Ferris, Robert G., ed; _Signers of the Declaration: Historic Places Commemorating the Signing of the Declaration of Independence_ Publisher: Washington, DC: National Park Service, 1973 LOC Card # 73-600028 Sup. of Doc's USGPO # 2405-00496 [Good- repeats a couple legends, but identifies most as such]
Goodrich, Rev. Charles A.; _Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence_ ; 1829 [on Colonial Hall Site- http://www.colonialhall.org a few legends, but a fair 'starter' ]
Krout, John A.; _Dictionary of American Biography, Vol XII_ [this one has some legends repeated as fact-- use caution]
Malone, Dumas; _THE STORY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE_ NY: Oxford University Press, 1954. 250 pictures, prints and photographs from museums and private collections. A pictorial biography of events, people and stories surrounding the Declaration of Independence. 282 pages, index [Excellent- easy read, lots of illustrations and photographs; Malone was a Colombia Univ. professor of history. The background of the Declaration is excellent. The bios accurate, if brief. Many legends are repeated *and identified as legends*]
Della Gray Barthelmas _ The Signers of The Declaration of Independence; A Biographical and Genealogical Reference_ McFarland & Co, North Carolina and London;1997 [this one is real tempting, but has quite a few transcription errors and I suspect that much of her genealogy comes from unreliable sources. Still a good starting point, as few of the others even look at children or parents]
Sanderson, John; _Lives of the Signers_ Apr 28, 1820, Pennsylvania; 9 Volumes [subject to a few legends repeated as facts]
Scudiere, Paul J.; _New York's signers of the Declaration of Independence_ Publisher : Albany : New York State American Revolution Bicentennial Commission,[1975] [Only about 30 pages, but accurate as far as I can tell and should be easy to find via ILL]
Thanks,
Jim Elbrecht