Week 27 of the #52Ancestors Challenge - "Independence"

​On the 14th of March, 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution, recommending that all persons "​who are notoriously disaffected to the Cause of AMERICA, Or who have not associated, and refuse to associate, to defend by ARMS, the United Colonies, against the Hostile Attempts of the British Fleets and Armies." be disarmed.

In response to this, the Committee of Safety in New Hampshire passed a resolution on 12 April, 1776, requiring the selectmen of each town to gather signatures from all males above 21 years of age, excepting "Lunaticks, Idiots and Negroes", and to report to the Committee or the General Assembly all those who refused to sign. Those opposing this ASSOCIATION TEST were not necessarily pro-British, but included ministers and Quakers whose religious beliefs were anti-war. Some men who were currently serving in the army may have been missed as well, and the reports for some towns are fragmentary or missing (or never turned in).

Below are the names of my ancestors found in these Association Test lists. Some were already veterans of the war, and others would later enlist. A lack of information and/or common names will prevent me from knowing what, if any, service, the others may have been involved in.
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BARRINGTON - John Blake (1716-1816), my 7th Great-Grandfather

BRENTWOOD - Samuel Lock (Locke), my 6th Great Grandfather (1740-1818)

HAMPTON - John Taylor (1711-1796)

NEW CASTLE 
Christopher Amazeen, 5th Great Grandfather (1737-1823)
David Mitchal (Mitchell) Jr, 5th Great Grandfather [a "Jr", but his father David isn't seen on the list]
Isaac Pridham, 5th Great Grandfather (1746- )
Benjamin Yeaten (Yeaton), 5th Great Grandfather (ca 1724-1785)
Richard Yeaton and son Richard Junr (under list of refused, but he was serving in the army at the time)
[Missing from the list are 6th Great-Grandfather Henry Tredick, and 5th GGF Joseph Amazeen (ca 1736-1825)]

NORTH HAMPTON - "Frances" (Francis) Page, 6th Great Grandfather (1724-1802). Son Coffin Page would have aged 21 at this time, so should have been a signer. He had already served in the army, and would reenlist.

NORTHWOOD - William Blaake (Blake), 6th Great Grandfather, and son of John Blake (on Barrington list above)

PORTSMOUTH - Nathaniel Lear

WAKEFIELD - Only one "Joseph Leavitt" was found on the list of this town, so the other one (either the father or son) was probably still in Exeter (listing for this town not complete), or was serving in the army.

Sources:
New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers, Volume 30 [on archive.org]
Wilson, Emily S. Inhabitants of New Hampshire, 1776. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1993 [on Ancestry.com, this is same data as above NH State Papers, but listed in alphabetical order by surname]

In memory of my Great-Grandmother, DOROTHY MELOON YEATON, who was born in New Castle, New Hampshire on 11 Jan 1870, the daughter of Nathaniel B and Louisa M (Meloon) Yeaton. She died in Portsmouth, NH on 2 Dec 1927, and was buried in Riverside Cemetery, New Castle.
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She was married, in Portsmouth, NH on 14 Sept 1889, to JOHN TAYLOR DOW, the son of John T.H. and Mary A (Riley) Dow.  They had seven sons and two daughters while they lived in New Castle and Portsmouth.

The above photo was taken at Harold Dow's house in South Eliot, with Dorothy and John T Dow in the background. Three of their sons are in front, along with Harold's wife Lora.

An earlier blog entry on this family can be seen here: John T Dow of Portsmouth, NH

As the old family photo albums that once belonged to my grandparents contained several pictures of my Great-Uncle Lawrence T. Dow, I thought I'd write a blog post about him on this Veterans Day (not finished until Jan '18)

LAWRENCE TAYLOR DOW, the son of John Taylor and Dorothy Meloon (Yeaton) Dow, was born in New Castle, New Hampshire on 8 July 1896. He moved with his parents to Portsmouth, NH a few years later.

On 22 March 1917, he enlisted with the army, and was a private in the Coast Artillery Corps (CAC), stationed at Fort Constitution in New Castle. The following year, the government began sending companies of CAC over to Europe. Lawrence departed New York on 17 Sept 1918, but was only overseas a few months, as he left Saint Nazarre, France on the USS Antigone on 21 Dec 1918. The US Army Transport Service Records listed him as being a private in Battery B, 52nd Artillery (CAC). His obit said he was a corporal, so his promotion must have been received following his return to the States. He was discharged from the army on 24 Jan 1919. When the Emerson Hovey VFW Post was organized in Portsmouth that year, Lawrence was a charter (and life) member.

On 21 June 1919, in Portsmouth, he would marry Isabel (or Isabelle) Goggins, and they had a daughter Dorothy. He worked as a shipfitter/shipwright at the navy yard in the early 1920's, was a manager of the Arcade Bowling Alleys on Daniel Street circa 1926, and would become a Portsmouth police officer by 1928. He served the city until 1945, when he resigned from the police force. By then, he and Isabel had divorced, and he remarried in 1942, to Marguerite Monroe. He had a daughter Susan with his 2nd wife.

He returned to the navy yard by 1952, and was listed as retired in the 1961 city directory. He died on 2 Apr 1976 in Portsmouth, and was buried in St Mary's Cemetery in Dover, NH.

See also blog posts for:
John T Dow of Portsmouth, NH
In Memory of...Dorothy M (Yeaton) Dow

I have four ancestors, two each from my paternal and maternal sides, who served during the Civil War.

ISAAC CHARLES HAVEN PRIDHAM, born in New Castle, NH on 11 Sept 1847; died on 16 Apr 1924 in Brighton, MA. He was buried in Riverside Cemetery, New Castle.

Isaac enlisted for two years into the US Navy at Portsmouth, NH on 23 Sept 1864, and served for 20 months on board the Receiving Ship USS Vandalia, in Portsmouth Harbor. He worked as a landsman from Sept '64 to 1 Jan '65, as an ord. seaman to 31 Jan, and as a lamp cleaner to 18 May 1866, when he was discharged.

When he applied for a pension in 1892, he claimed he was born in Sept 1844, to correspond with the age of "20" he gave when he had enlisted back in 1864, when he had actually been only 17 years old. When he needed to send in a birth record to the pension dep't to verify his identity, he had to admit to falsifying his birth date. He still received a pension. 

See also: my blog page on the Pridham family:
http://www.mynewenglandancestors.com/1/post/2014/03/the-pridhams-of-puddle-dock-portsmouth-nh.html

JAMES WILLIAM BROWN was born 28 Dec 1841 in Kittery, Maine; died there on 5 May 1923. He was buried in Orchard Grove Cemetery, Kittery.

He served as a private in Company G, 27th Maine Infantry, enlisting at Kittery on 10 Sept 1862. He was mustered into US service at Portland, Maine on 30 Sept 1862, and served until 17 July 1863, when the regiment was mustered out at Portland.

(at right) James W Brown at his home in Locke's Cove, Kittery, on his way to a GAR convention in Washington, DC, likely the one in 1915 (the 49th Annual Encampment).

For more on the 27th Maine Infantry, please see my website:
www.the27thMaine.com 

THOMAS STEWARD (aka Stewart, Stuart), born abt 1838 in Skowhegan, Maine; died 22 Oct 1897 in Embden, Maine. He is buried in Sunset Cemetery, North Anson, Maine. 

He was drafted on 15 July 1863 at Skowhegan, ME, to serve in Co F, 7th Maine Infantry, but did not report for duty. He was arrested on 27 Jan 1864 and brought to camp, only for him to return home the next day. They arrested him again on 3 Feb. It is not clear in the records whether the recruits were still in Maine, but Private Steward deserted on 12 July '64, and was again arrested, on 23 July. He deserted a third time in August and was arrested a week later, this time being shipped to Carlisle, PA. By this time, the 7th Maine had been mustered out of service, except for later recruits and those who chose to re-enlist, and were transferred to the 1st Maine Veteran Infantry. The monthly muster rolls after this date would show him "absent, sick", right up to the muster out roll of the regiment on 28 June 1865. An affidavit in his pension file claims he suffered from scurvy, chronic diarrhea, piles and a trouble in the head, spending the entire winter quarters at Petersburg in the hospital. In the spring of 1865, he was transported to City Point Hospital. In the 1865 Maine Adjutant Report, it shows him being discharged on 2 July '65.