This post will serve as a record of my direct ancestors who served during the American Revolution. Considering the scarcity of some original sources, verifying the service of many of my relatives proves quite difficult. I'm sure this list will be amended as other names are found.

WILLIAM BLAKE (1740-1825)
Sergeant in Capt David Gilman's 

JOSEPH LEAVITT (1751-1801)
of Exeter and Wakefield, NH
Capt Moody's Company, Col Badger's Reg't
​
COFFIN PAGE (1755-1801)
of North Hill (North Hampton), New Hampshire
Served in the 3rd NH Regiment (Capt. Richard Weare's Co., Col Scammel's Reg't)
Mustered in 7 May 1777, served for 8 months

ISAAC PRIDHAM
Born: 1 Sept 1746, New Castle, NH; Died: 16 Jan 1847, New Castle, NH
Private, Capt Caleb Hodgdon (later Abraham Perkins)'s Company,
Col Pierce Long's Regiment (1st NH Battalion)
enl 9/19/1776, serv 2 mos, 18 das; serv 12/7/76-1/7/77
1/7/77-2/7/77 (part of Capt Perkins Co. fit for march to Ticonderoga)

DANIEL STEWARD
Born: 21 Nov 1734, Salem, MA; Died: 2 June 1802, Fitchburg, MA
Buried: South Street Cemetery, Fitchburg (Find a Grave entry)
Served as private, Capt Aaron Guild's Company, Col Josiah Whitney'd Reg't
13 July 1776 - 5 Dec 1776 (stationed at Hull, MA)

THOMAS WHITCOMB
Born: 4 Oct 1736, Littleton, MA; Died: 21 June 1824, Norridgewock, ME
Served in Capt Hinds Company, Col Timothy Bedel (Beddle)'s Regiment
Enl: 10 Mar 1776, serv 10 mos; Captured at the Cedars in Canada
and held prisoner for about a month

​HENRY WYMAN
1762 - 1837
Buried: Jewett Cemetery, Madison, Maine

RICHARD YEATON​
​

"Another Language" is the #52Ancestors challenge for Week 20. For me, searching through the Irish Catholic Parish records, LATIN is that other language. 

One of my Irish ancestors, JOHN CONDON, was born in County Waterford in March 1834, according to his own statement on his naturalization application [Rockingham County Sup Jud Crt, Oct 1866]. With that information, along with the names of his parents (Pat. and Hanora on 1st marr rec; Patrick Condon and Hannah Helant, on his 2nd marr rec; death rec says Patrick and Hannora Helar), it was off to search the Parish Registers!

With the records written in Latin, normal name searches didn't work well, but luckily, surnames aren't latinized, so a broad search could still be done. The above image was found in the Parish records of Cappoquin, in the Diocese of "Waterford and Lismore". It is a baptism for "Joannem" (John) on 23 Martii (March) 1833. Though a year off from his own stated birth date, the parents names of Patritii (Patrick) and Honorae (Honora) are a match, and the mother's surname of Hyland can certainly be misconstrued as Helar or Helant.

​I know that John had at least two sisters, Ellen (b. ca 1832) and Hannah (b. ca 1838-1842), based on Lowell, MA VR. I have yet to find either in the same parish registers for Cappoquin. I did find an Ellen baptised in 1830, but her parents were listed as Patrick and Honora Flynn. Nothing for Hannah has been found yet. There may also be a sister "Mariam", who was baptised in 1828, her mother shown as Honora Heelan (indexed as Keelan, though there are other Heelan names mentioned in same community).

No marriage records for a Patrick Condon and a Honora Hyland (Helar, Helant) has been located. 

Below are two records showing the spelling variations of Hannora's maiden name.

​Links:
National Library of Ireland: Catholic Parish Registers
NLI: Diocese of Waterford and Lismore: Cappoquin
​Other blog entries on the Condon family:
Family of Patrick Condon
Condons of Creek Street, Portsmouth, NH 

Wishing all a Happy Mother's Day! 

The following are photos I have of my direct ancestor females, with links to blog pages I have written about them in the past.

Her daughter, Emily Jane Brown (center photo), my 2nd G-Grandmother, married John Kramer of Colchester, CT, but she lived most of her life in Kittery. At right is my Great-Grandmother, Martha (Kramer) Leavitt, Emily's daughter, with myself and siblings.

More about their families here:
Brown - Locke's Cove, Kittery, Maine
Emily Augusta (Waitt) Brown
My Waitt (Waite) Family from Malden, MA
Emily Jane (Brown) Kramer
​

My maternal line continues..

My Great-Grandmother, Annie (Knight) Smith (pictured here on porch with her sister Abbie). Her daughter, Alice (photo on right), is my gram (with me helping her at church bake sale...nice batch of brownies there!)

My paternal line:

My Pridham relatives here, including my grandmother Alice (Pridham) Dow, and her mother, my Great-Grandmother Louise (Condon) Pridham.

More about this family is written here:
​The Pridhams of Puddle Dock (Portsmouth, NH)

In November 2017, Prince Harry chose an American for his bride-to-be, and the media coverage over this announcement was, of course, overwhelming. What sparked my interest in this news story were the local (New Hampshire) newspapers (and other media outlets) reporting that Meghan Markle had ancestral ties to some early Hampton, NH settlers. Myself having numerous ancestors from there, I took a look at her family tree (one was posted on the American Ancestors website), and compared it with mine. While I don't have a (known) blood connection to Christopher Hussey, an ancestor of Meghan's who was the main focus in the news articles (see: http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20171130/future-british-princess-meghan-markle-has-ancestral-ties-to-hampton), there were numerous others I was linked to. I ran with a couple of surnames we had in common, to calculate our MRCA (most recent common ancestor). Here are a few families that I charted out:

Through the ROBERT PAGE family (I descend from 4 of his children!), and the Capt. HENRY DOW line, I am 10th cousins to Thomas Markle. 

Through the line of MORRIS HOBBS, I am a 10th cousin, 1x removed, from Meghan.

Here is my connection with the ANTHONY TAYLOR common ancestor. Again, on the 10th cousin line.

I know I also have a common ancestor with the Rev. STEPHEN BACHILOR, but with him being probably the most well known of all the early Hampton names, I chose instead a few other lines. Perhaps I'll chart out my connections to all of his famous descendants (see his Wikipedia page) in another blog entry!