James died 1853 in Glouchester County, NJ.
Hillman family history -
http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=heath-swanger&id=I1251
http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=laurieun&id=I14002
That's interesting, thanks for posting it.
I have a relative who compiled all my McCoy family history, many of whom eventually settled in Tennessee. She wanted me to join the Daughters of the Confederacy or something like that many years ago, and I never did.
She did provide me all her family history records, and it is similar to this. My ancestor fought in the Revolutionary War, and received a land grant in east Tennessee for his service. The first there were trappers, etc., some of the first to settle this new frontier (it was the frontier then).
They were here before the county and town they settled became such, in the mid 1700s.
I have copies of a will the Revolutionary soldier wrote with a quill pen and it is amazing to read. He willed cooking pots and some goats, so forth, to his wife. Then he stipulated she would be cared for and live on the property for the duration of her life.
He willed one son a lot of his land, and so forth.
He actually left a lot (for those days) of money to a grandaughter, named Rebecca. She comes up later in the family history. I often wonder what he thought, who she was, etc. I know what he became from family history, a squire (in those days the lawman, judge, jury, etc., and a prominent businessman).
I can go to one county here in Tennessee and on land donated by my ancestors for churches, schools, and graveyards, point out the graves of my relatives from the Revolutionary War all the way down to my maternal grandmother.
I have a real connection to that land (my Tara), and I'd love to be buried there myself, can't explain why, but I have been fascinated about that historical place that is my ancestor's original homeplace for many years -- it is surreal to visit there, and use my imagination combined with many family stories (I actually interviewed my great aunts and uncles once there)to reconstruct the lives of people who built this country and contributed to my genes.
Whew, our genes sure got watered down somehow along the way, but maybe that's why I am so fascinated by these accomplished ancestors (grin)