Veterans Day, 2011

Caption for photo to left: Human Statue of Liberty. 18,000 Officers and Men at Camp Dodge, Des Moines, Iowa. Colonel William Newman, Commanding. Colonel Rush S. Wells, Directing. Mole & Thomas, 09/1918. (source)

In honor of Veterans Day and Remembrance Day, below are the names of ancestors, and their siblings, who I know served their nation's military, either in a time of war, or in a time of peace. 

I am including my Loyalist ancestors; their nation was Great Britain. I am including my Confederate ancestors too, despite their desire to form a separate nation.




Fifth Great Grandfathers
McGregory Van Every (1723-1786) Loyalist/Butler's Rangers
Michael Showers (1733-1796) Loyalist/Butler's Rangers

Fourth Great Grandfather
David Van Every (1757-1820) Loyalist/Butler's Rangers (served briefly as a Patriot in the NY militia)

Fifth Great Uncle
Benjamin Van Every (1759-1795) Loyalist/Butler's Rangers(served briefly as a Patriot in the NY militia)
William Van Every (1765-1832) Loyalist/Butler's Rangers
Peter Van Every (1771-bef 1816) Loyalist/Fifth Lincoln and Second York regiments (War of 1812)

Fourth Great Uncles
David Van Every Jr. (1782-1847) Loyalist/Second York regiment (War of 1812)
Michael Van Every (1790-?) Loyalist/Fifth Lincoln and Second York regiments (War of 1812)

Second Great Grandfather
Ebenezer Denyer (1828-1872) (Confederate Army)

Third Great Uncles
Samuel Jennings Denyer (1822-1861) (Gonzales County Minute Men - Republic of Texas -1841)
Samuel T Hartley (1830-1920) (Confederate Army)

Great Grandfather
Samuel Deutsch (1861-1938) (Franz Josef's Austro-Hungarian Army)

Grandfathers
Melvin L Newmark (1912-1992), WWII
Martin J Deutsch (1907-1991), WWII

Great Uncles
Jerry Deutsch (1909-1950), WWII
Allen Deutsch (1914-1988), WWII
Harold Newmark (1915-2003), WWII
Mandell Newmark (1923-1945), WWII (Killed in Action)
Bernard Feinstin (1913-1968), WWII
Seymour Feinstein (1917-1999), WWII

Uncle
Stevan J Newmark (1942-1997) Army Reserves

Photographs of those who served in World War II

My grandfathers Melvin Newmark (1912-1992) and Martin Deutsch (1907-1991)


Allen Deutsch (1914-1988) and Maurice "Jerry" Deutsch (1909-1950).


Harold Newmark (1915-2003) and Mandell Newmark (1923-1945).


Bernard "Benny" Feinstein (1913-1968) and Seymour "Babe" Feinstein (1917-1999)

Veterans Day, 2010

Caption for photo to left: Human Statue of Liberty. 18,000 Officers and Men at Camp Dodge, Des Moines, Iowa. Colonel William Newman, Commanding. Colonel Rush S. Wells, Directing. Mole & Thomas, 09/1918. (source)

In honor of Veterans Day/Remembrance Day, below are the names of ancestors, and their siblings, who I know served their nation's military, either in a time of war, or in a time of peace.  Several have been added to the list from last year.

I am including my Loyalist ancestors; their nation was Great Britain. I am including my Confederate ancestors too, despite their desire to form a separate nation.




Fifth Great Grandfathers
McGregory Van Every (1723-1786) Loyalist/Butler's Rangers
Michael Showers (1733-1796) Loyalist/Butler's Rangers

Fourth Great Grandfather
David Van Every (1757-1820) Loyalist/Butler's Rangers (served briefly as a Patriot in the NY militia)

Fifth Great Uncle
Benjamin Van Every (1759-1795) Loyalist/Butler's Rangers(served briefly as a Patriot in the NY militia)
William Van Every (1765-1832) Loyalist/Butler's Rangers
Peter Van Every (1771-bef 1816) Loyalist/Fifth Lincoln and Second York regiments (War of 1812)

Fourth Great Uncles
David Van Every Jr. (1782-1847) Loyalist/Second York regiment (War of 1812)
Michael Van Every (1790-?) Loyalist/Fifth Lincoln and Second York regiments (War of 1812)

Second Great Grandfather
Ebenezer Denyer (1828-1872) (Confederate Army)

Third Great Uncles
Samuel Jennings Denyer (1822-1861) (Gonzales County Minute Men - Republic of Texas -1841)
Samuel T Hartley (1830-1920) (Confederate Army)

Great Grandfather
Samuel Deutsch (1861-1938) (Franz Josef's Austro-Hungarian Army)

Grandfathers
Melvin L Newmark (1912-1992), WWII
Martin J Deutsch (1907-1991), WWII

Great Uncles
Jerry Deutsch (1909-1950), WWII
Allen Deutsch (1914-1988), WWII
Harold Newmark (1915-2003), WWII
Mandell Newmark (1923-1945), WWII
Bernard Feinstin (1913-1968), WWII
Seymour Feinstein (1917-1999), WWII

Uncle
Stevan J Newmark (1942-1997) Army Reserves

A Toast to the First and the Fourth of July

The poem below was written and posted last year at this time


A Toast to the First and the Fourth of July
for David Van Every (1757-1820)
©July 2009 - John Newmark

For two years my fourth great fought
for the creation of our nation
then in seventeen seventy seven
he deemed his disloyalty a disservice
and joined the other side.
Finally, he and his family fled to Canada.

His motivations are unrecorded.
Beyond his appearance on muster rolls,
a few brief mentions elsewhere,
we have nothing. No inkling
of the wherefores behind his decision
either in seventy five, or seventy seven.

In July’s opening barrage
of national celebrations
I honor both of his decisions -
whatever the reasons, and his willingness
to fight for what he believed
even when those beliefs changed.

---

This poem was based on information I'd found on the web, citing The Records of the Van Every Family, by Mary Blackadar Piersol, 1947.

After writing this poem, I discovered the muster rolls for David Van Every on Footnote.com that put the information somewhat in doubt.

The link above is to the records on Footnote.  Their Revolutionary War records are FREE access through July 7th.

The muster rolls suggest he enlisted on July 4, 1775, and deserted on Sept 12 (or Sept / 2) 1775.  And re-enlisted on May 23, 1777, and redeserted in June of 1777.  So in total it would have been for three months, not two years.

Also, since writing the poem, I obtained a copy of The Records of the Van Every Family, by Mary Blackadar Piersol.  She only mentions David joining and deserting in 1777.  So she didn't know about the 1775 muster roll.  Somebody else must have found documentation that he joined in 1775, and an incorrect interpretation was made that he remained in service between 1775 and 1777.

It's impossible to assign motivation to the enlistments and desertions.  David was 18 and 20 years old in 1775 and 1777.  He may have just been a very confused young man.  The first line of the poem might not be accurate, but the gist of the poem still is.

SNGF: Degrees of Separation

This week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun over at Genea-Musings looked fun, but was slightly depressing.

1) Find an ancestral line that stretches back to the time of the US Revolutionary War (1775-1783), about 230 years. Define your person-to-person connection (the person actually met the next person on the list) back to a historical figure from that time.

Since the challenge only specified time, and not location, I actually considered seeing what I could do with my father's chart. The earliest ancestor I have is a Meer Kruvond born "before 1795." I can definitely imagine parents, but I have no idea who they would have come in contact with in Cekiske, Kaunas, Lithuania. I remember my great grandmother, Bertha (Cruvant) Newmark, quite well, so I could get off to a very good start on that chain.

So I turned my attention to my mother's side, and that's when I realized how few generations I was able to skip in the process.

1) I know my mother.
2) My mother knew her mother, Myrtle (Van Every) Deutsch (1900-1951).
3) Myrtle Van Every knew her father, Melvin Van Every (1863-1929)
4) Melvin Van Every knew his grandfather, Andrew Van Every (1798-1873). (In a letter Melvin wrote Myrtle, he recalls receiving a half-dime from his grandfather.)
5) Andrew Van Every knew his father, David Van Every (1757-1820)

David Van Every, a loyalist from Poughkeepsie, NY, served under the leadership of Colonel John Butler, in Butler's Rangers. David also served very briefly in the New York militia, before joining the Loyalist side...I'm not sure who he met while there.

Or I could take a slight detour

4) Melvin Van Every knew his mother, Abigail Stuart (1825-1866), albeit only for three years.
5) Abigail most likely knew her grandfather, Israel Swayze, Jr (1753-1844)

Israel Swayze, Jr was a loyalist from Hope, New Jersey. I'm not sure where he served, but once he migrated to Niagara, he himself became quite prominent locally.

THE BEAVERDAMS CHURCH 1832: Early in the 1790's a group of settlers in this area had been converted to Methodism and formed a Class with in 1795, was included in the newly-established Niagara Circuit. Services were held in the home of a prominent local settler, Israel Swayze, and camp meetings took place on his property. - Beaverdams Church Historical Plaque

Town meetings were also held in his home between 1806 and 1809.

Note: Israel Jr's grandfather, Judge Samuel Swayze, is my shared ancestor with the late actor.

The Records of the Van Every Family

For the past couple years, in my genealogical travels around the web, and in surname messageboards on various genealogy sites, I’ve seen references to the following Family History:

The records of the Van Every family: United Empire Loyalists, New York State, 1653-1784, Canada, 1784-1947, by Mary Blackadar Piersol, T.H. Best (Toronto), 1947.

It’s been on my list of resources to find, though it’s out of print. I may have been able to retrieve a copy through Inter-Library Loan, but I wanted my own personal copy, and every place I found references to it said there were no copies available.

A week ago, Randy Seaver at Genea-Musings wrote about the GenalogyToday, GenWeekly and LiveRoots trio of sites.

I started browsing around, searching for surnames, and discovered they were selling copies of the book for a reasonable price.

I put an order in immediately. The site said there could be a 6-8 week wait, so I knew not to expect it in my mailbox the next day. I also didn’t expect it to appear in my mailbox 7 days later. But boy was I happy to see it there last night.

I had lots of fun browsing through it. I found some interesting information about the Van Every immigrant forebears, my 8th great grandfather, Myndert Fredericksen, and his brother, Carsten.¹

Some of this information will appear in later entries, but Piersol fortunately included a good number of footnotes, so I am going to see how many of the original sources I can find.

The existence of this reprint got me thinking. The reprint appears to be 'print-on-demand' with 8.5 * 11 pages, softcover, fastback tape binding. I'm interested in the content, so this didn't bother me. However, the publisher, Higginson Books, focuses on reprinting out-of-print local histories and genealogies. I wondered if the book was no longer under copyright. Because if it were still under copyright, I would watch how much of it I quoted in any post I wrote. Otherwise, not so much.

It was published originally (in 1947) in Canada, which became a full signatory to the Berne Convention in the 1920s. Therefore, copyrights in Canada last at least the life of the author, plus fifty years. I'm not sure when (or if) Mary Blackadar Piersol died, but unless it was before 1960, the book is still under copyright . I expect Higginson Books went through official channels to republish the work.

So I won't quote in detail, but as I said, Piersol does include footnotes, so perhaps I'll be able to quote from her sources.

Note 1: There are two traditional Dutch naming patterns, one based on the father’s name, and one based on locality. The former is similar to traditional Hebrew naming patterns in that children only get one name, and their surname is derived from their father’s name. Myndert and Carsten’s surname was Frederickse or Fredericksen, because their father was Frederick Van Iveren. Frederick's surname was derived in the second fashion, from a town, possibly Everinge or Evere. Myndert and Carsten’s descendants reverted to that surname, and it mutated to either Van Every or Van Avery, depending upon the branch.

Not The First

Apparently there are some today celebrating the 225th Anniversary of the "First landing of the United Empire Loyalists."

Like many in attendance at the Adolphustown event, Brock Dittrick can trace his family tree back to one of the first Loyalists to settle in Canada in 1784, Jacob Dittrick, who landed near St. Catharines.

...

More than 300 people took part in a re-enactment of the first landing of the Loyalists at Adolphustown following the American Revolution.

Both of these quotes may be accurate. He may have been the first to land at Adolphustown, and "one of the first" overall. However, throughout the rest of the article the modifier is dropped and it is implied he was the first Loyalist to settle in Canada.

Michael Showers was reported to have settled in Niagara on May 30, 1781. And "A survey of the Settlement at Niagara, 25th Aug. 1782" listed Michael Showers, McGregor Van Every, and both of their families (2 wives and 6 kids) for a total of 10 settlers.

I don't know if Michael Showers and McGregor Van Every were the first, but those dates predate 1784. I am descended from both of them through their children Sarah Showers and David Van Every - who were married in Niagara, Ontario in 1782. (I don't know if that was the first Loyalist marriage in Canada or not.) (see comments)