Hard Choices

I grew up in West Virginia, which owes its birth to the schism of the Civil War.  Folks in western Virginia were isolated from the east by the mountains and fortunately lacked an agricultural base reliant on slaves.  As a result, they had little in common with their parent state, the heart of the Confederacy.   In order to remain loyal to the Union (and using some Constitutional sleight of hand), West Virginia petitioned the Congress to become a separate, free state.  The petition was granted and West Virginia entered the Union in 1863.  The first governor called West Virginia "a child of the rebellion."  (http://www.wvculture.org/history/statehood/statehood16.html).  No description could have been more apt.

Regardless of the majority of its citizens who wanted to remain in the Union, West Virginia was a border state.  I grew up on old stories about families ripped apart by disagreements between parents and children, brother and brother, even husband and wife.  I recall the movie Shenandoah, which told the vivid story of one such family.  Yankee or Confederate was a very real and often painful choice for many families.

We don't think much about how the American Revolution might have had similar effects on families.  Our history doesn't teach us about it, and I don't know of a single movie to deal with the subject.  Yet, those wrenching choices must have occurred and, apparently, my ancestors were more than a little affected.

To date, I have uncovered two official Sons of the American Revolution and three confirmed United Empire Loyalists among my ancestors.  The Sons fought for the "patriots" against the British; the Loyalists fought (or, in one case, fifed) with the British.  It is plausible that they fought each other.

Peter is one of the best known of the Loyalists.  Although he started out as a member of a committee of correspondence in Albany, New York, he argued for conciliation and neutrality.  Ultimately, he was labelled a Tory and jailed, and his property, including his house and at least 600 acres, was confiscated.  Once his choice was made, Peter served with Burgoyne (helping evacuate the wounded to Canada after the loss at Saratoga), Sir Henry Clinton, and Abraham Cuyler's Corps on Long Island.  After the British surrender in 1783, Peter led a band of more than 180 men, women, and children to Quebec, and he is recognized among the pioneer founders of Adolphustown, which is now in Ontario.

Abraham is a Son of the American Revolution, who held the rank of Colonel in the 7th Regiment of the Albany County Militia.

William is a Son of the American Revolution who served as a private in the 8th Regiment of the Albany County Militia.

Jacobus (James) and his wife Lydia are also Loyalists from New York.  He served with the British, and his teenage son Lambert was a fifer.

The fathers of Abraham and Peter were brothers.

The grandfathers of Peter, Abraham, William, and Jacobus were all brothers.

They all shared the same great grandfather.


Peter <== Alexander (Sander) <== Abraham Janse <== Jan Martense

Abraham <== Isaac <== Abraham Janse <== Jan Martense

William <== Thomas <== Lambert Janse <== Jan Martense

Jacobus <== Lammert <== Isaac Janse <== Jan Martense


Today, I wonder:  What must those choices have been like?  Regardless of the side they finally chose, what losses did they incur?

Peter's wife died that first year after arriving in Canada.  Jacobus died before the war was even over.  What was it like for Peter and Lydia to face starting over again, each with their several children, but this time without their spouses and in a wilderness?

A footnote:  Jan Martense, Abraham Janse, and Lambert Janse were all immigrants.  Jan Martense chose to resettle his family from the Netherlands to New Amsterdam in the 1650s.  Perhaps this "starting over" thing also lives in our DNA.

History from a Different Perspective

Identity. For some, the concept is simple. For me, because of the accident of my birth, identity has long been complex and circuitous.

Judy Ball, daughter of Clyde and Nellie. Judy Ball, descendant of Shirley, daughter of Dorothy and John.

Clyde and Nellie, you see, adopted me.  At birth.  Brought me home from the hospital.  My mother, who had not one sentimental bone, kept the hospital bill and payment receipts.  I have never had a single question about who my parents were:  Clyde and Nellie.

But ancestors are another thing entirely.  My concept of ancestors does not track with the ancestors of Clyde and Nellie.  Perhaps this is because of their lack of connection to families of origin.  Perhaps there is some other reason.

As a child, I had a difficult time sorting out whether I was American or Canadian.  My birth mother, Shirley, was Canadian.  Why wasn't I Canadian, I would ask?  No one ever gave me the legal answer: you are American because you were born in the USA.  On my first visit to Canada (I was in my thirties), I had an unusual sense of coming home.

Now, thanks to the miracles of Internet technology, DNA testing, an LDS family history center, and genealogical websites such as ancestry.com, I have been able to take a self indulgent virtual journey to meet my ancestors.

I have learned that my DNA reads plain vanilla, 58% western Europe (the boundaries have changed too often over time to be more specific) and 39% Irish.  Western Europe, in my case, is the Netherlands.  I've found ancestors all the way back to the 16th century in the Netherlands, and then they emigrated to New Amsterdam or New York.  How cool is that?

I have also found proof among my own ancestors of how history is indeed written by the victors.

American history teaches us about revolutionary "patriots" who fought for "liberty" and "freedom" while "tories" remained loyal to a tyrannical king.

There is a different story to be told.

My ancestors include "loyalists" who had their property seized (without due process), were tormented and jailed because of their beliefs (no free expression permitted), and ultimately were forced to flee their homes in New York in search of sanctuary in Canada.  Loyalty and dedication to principle runs deeply in my DNA.  This makes me proud.

The loyalists formed a large and important core of pioneers that founded what is now southern Ontario and Quebec.  Their ethos, which favored evolution over revolution, helped make Canada the largely admirable nation it is today.

The US, on the other hand, was born in war:  civil war, if you call a spade a spade.  It tried and failed to resolve its internal differences, which led inevitably to another civil war.  And now the US continues to be divided, largely over the same issues, and violence is as much a part of US culture as hot dogs and baseball.  Even our national anthem is a paean about war.

Isn't it interesting to look at history from a different perspective?