” You wonder how many Freepers have family members that had close brushes with history makers. “
Have an ancestor who was in the first House of Burgesses.. arrived in 1609 so he could have known most of the characters we read about in early Virginia history.
Another who was in a business deal with a Thomas Jefferson.. the grandfather of the one we know... a four person partnership that ended with them suing each other, the only reason that I know about it.
A NC ancestor named Robert Lee (no relation to the Virginia Lees that I know of) who lived in the county along the Yadkin River where Daniel Boone also lived at that time.
Another ancestor who was an officer in the Revolution... I think in the 2nd Virginia Regiment... it appears that he left Valley Forge to be a militia officer instead. Was at Yorktown. Could well have well have known people whose names we all know.
Oddly enough while I have a dozen or so ancestors who fought in the Revolution, the great majority as militia, I have only one close ancestor who fought in the Civil War. And he was the elder brother of my great grandfather. A private in the 13th Mississippi, part of Longstreet’s division, he was killed at Gettysburg during Barksdale’s charge. There is at least one freeper who I know has a connection to Barksdale.
On my mother’s side an ancestor who was an “entrepreneur” working with one Jean Lafitte (pirates). He showed up at the Battle of New Orleans with Lafitte as part of the cannon crew- sometimes it pays to have heavily armed pirates on your side.
Amazing! Your clan seemed to be in the thick of a lot of things that were key points in our history.
It angers me so much when when radical leftists try to persuade us to “sell” our noble national birthright of freedom, bought and paid for with the blood of our forefathers,just for the pittance of a few shallow socialist programs that are doomed to fail, and guaranteed to take away our liberty. A few of these leftists are just stupid; far to many are evil.