Could be a CSGV Press Release

A little history this Thursday. Of course, CSGV are not nearly as eloquent as the Earl of Dunmore, but the whole treason against legitimate government, and woe be any who resist the iron will of the state it is alive and well in this proclamation:

As I have ever entertained Hopes that an Accommodation might have taken Place between Great Britain and this Colony, without being compelled, by my Duty, to this most disagreeable, but now absolutely necessary Step, rendered so by a Body of armed Men, unlawfully assembled, firing on his Majesty’s Tenders, and the Formation of an Army, and that Army now on their March to attack his Majesty’s Troops, and destroy the well-disposed Subjects of this Colony: To defeat such treasonable Purposes, and that all such Traitors, and their Abettors, may be brought to Justice, and that the Peace and good Order of this Colony may be again restored …

This day on 1775, John Dunmore’s Proclamation declaring martial law in Virginia and freeing the slaves to serve in the British Army. We’ve been looking in my family tree for ancestors who fought in the Revolution. So far I’ve found one possible veteran I am descended from. Unfortunately he forsook his Quaker peace testimony in order to enlist in the British Army, which is to say he really despised the American cause. After the war he and his family fled to Canada. A few generations later, my 2x great grandfather returned to the United States. Not quite the Revolutionary War connection I was hoping for, but you don’t get to pick your family. Rest assured if I ever develop a time machine, I will go back and hang my ancestor for treason, paradoxes be damned!

15 thoughts on “Could be a CSGV Press Release”

  1. I have a nearly identical connection to a Revolutionary War Soldier.

    My great grandfather Carey (Dad’s grandfather on his mom’s side) was the grandson of someone that got a land grant in Newfoundland from the British after fighting in the Revolutionary War.

  2. Sebastian,
    If you go back in time and hang your ancestor, you might set off a chain of different events and be a different person in this time!

    People had all kinds of different, and often very localized reasons for taking a particular side in the Revolution. I descend in part from from both Hessians and patriots. My wife is descended in part from big time southern slaveholders and had Nazi cousins in a more recent immigrant line. None define who we are. Also, in pre birth control days, illegitimacy was the majority of births in some places. Unless all our ancestors were very well behaved, and lived in an area that saw no war (with rape and pillage) None of us are exactly who the family tree says we are.

    Having said that, I have a long time fantasy to go back in time to hang Banastre Tarelton. If you ever get the time machine going, let me know.

    1. I am so jealous of you all! My dad’s line came over from Germany in 1867, and my mom’s family tree records back to a niece of Sam Houston but no further. I’m not Internet savvy so I haven’t tried to use modern tech to peer further back. I should hire a 10-year old to do that for me. ;-)

      1. A niece of Sam Houston is pretty good, I think. And part of my family came over from Germany around that time as well. It was a bad time for Germany and lot of them came over here. What a lot of people don’t realize about genealogy is how quickly it branches out. So you have two parents, 2 to the power of 1 generation back. You have four grandparents, 2 to the power of 2 generations back.

        So by the time you get to 4x great grandparents, you have 2^4 of them, which is 16. Go 8 generations back, you have 256. One more generation back from 8 and you’re up to 512 people who are your 9x great grandparents. That makes for a lot of possibilities!

        1. Wow! A fellow could spend a lifetime checking out his origins!!! Maybe I shall hire that 10-year-old! What’s minimum wage now, anyway??? ;-)

          1. If you tie into Sam Houston’s line, then there’s a good chance that his family tree is already well-documented. That means the “research” is easier. :) A quick Google search indicates that his line has been traced back to the immigrant ancestor from Ireland who was born cir. 1690. So that’s not too shabby!

            Given the famous tie to the line, you’d probably also find more information about the other branches that go out from the Sam Houston parents (the common ancestors in your connection), Samuel Houston and Elizabeth Paxton. Anything you find online, you’ll want to check their sources to verify, but it should be pretty easy to do so with such a famous family.

            1. You two are AMAZING!!!! Thank you!!!!

              Um…how much did you say you charge, again?

              Jk ;-)

              But seriously, thank you!!!!

              – Arnie

  3. Oh I love the history lesson, thank you!!! I especially love your Lord Dunmore tie-in to CSGV! Love it, love it, love it!!! I use the same ploy locally when folks here, both friends and antagonists, warn that keeping arms to resist federal tyranny “is treason.” From now on I’ll respond, “Really? Lord Dunmore couldn’t have said it better!” Then send them a copy of your excerpt; that should make them think! :-)

    Thanks, Sebastian!

    – Arnie

  4. Yeah, worked out real well for Dunmore, too. He holed up in Norfolk until the Virginia Militias broke through at Great Bridge. His tenure lasted less than 2 months. He left a present for the town of Norfolk on his way out, too. The British Navy shelled it on New Years Day 1776. St. Paul’s Church still has a cannonball from the festivities embedded in the brick wall. Somehow he never felt welcome to come back but I suspect his reception would have had at least as much warmth as his plan for those he called traitor.

  5. No need to worry about a paradox, just catch him the day after he knocks up great^(x)-grandma produces the heir that leads to your branch of the family tree…..

    Problem solved,

    Time travel, its all just a matter the timey-whimeyness of timing.

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