Introduction: America 250 Celebration – Melissa Davenport Berry writes about Revolutionary War soldiers’ children who were still alive in 1911 to tell their fathers’ stories! Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

To mark the Fourth of July, I searched GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives and uncovered genealogical treasures honoring the patriots – and their children – who helped secure our nation’s freedom.

This year is especially meaningful, as it marks the historic 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Illustration credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html

I found this newsclip from 1911 featuring the children of patriots who were still around to share their fathers’ glorious history. Some of them submitted their portraits for the article entitled, “Patriots’ Children Who Are Still Living.”

These are the stories of the “Actual Sons and Real Daughters,” part one.

Oldest Daughter Alive

Iley (Lawson) Hill (1808-1913), daughter of patriot James L. Lawson and Sophia (Johnston) Lawson, married Joseph Hill and left descendants.

The Oregonian article reports:

The oldest living child of a Revolutionary patriot is, according to these records, Mrs. Iley Lawson Hill, of Lakeport, Cal., who is over 103, having been born in Adams County, [Oregon], May 5, 1808. Her patriot father, James Lawson, born in 1760, was 17 when he enlisted in the War for Independence, and after that struggle was over he fought in the Indian wars.

On her 100th birthday Mrs. Hill’s home in California was decorated with flags, bunting and flowers, and she presided at the dinner table wearing her grandmother’s cap, which was over 160 years old. A hundred neighbors, who called to offer their congratulations, formally presented her with a platter on which lay 100 silver dollars.

Daughter of Washington’s Bodyguard

Samantha (Stanton) Nellis (1810-1919), daughter of patriot Elijah Stanton and Lucy (Goodell) Stanton, married John Dietz Nellis and left descendants. She was a member of the DAR Astenrogen Chapter, Little Falls, New York.

The Oregonian article reports:

One citizen of this venerable category, who can perhaps boast of being the surviving link nearest to George Washington, is the next oldest “Real Child,” Mrs. Samantha Stanton Nellis, of Naples, N. Y., whose father, Elijah Stanton, was one of the great General’s bodyguards. She also traces her descent directly from Thorfin, the Dane, who is in the celebrated Domesday Book. The 101st anniversary of her birth occurred January 5 last.

The inscription on his gravestone reads:

Elijah Stanton. A Revolutionary Soldier. Died May 21, 1849, aged 94 years, 6 mo. & 8 days.

A Son and Grandson of the Revolution

Edward Joslin, son of David Joslin and Rebecca (Richardson) Joslin, married Sarah Hale Thayer and left descendants. [Edward was the youngest of a family of 14 children.]

The Oregonian article reports:

The oldest “Actual Son” of the Revolution not yet canceled from the rolls is Edward Joslin, of Keene, N. H., born in the town of Stoddard, that state, April 14, 1810, and therefore over 101. [Note: Edward Joslin actually died on 21 November 1901 at the age of 91.]

His father [David Joslin] was a corporal and his grandfather [John Joslin Jr.] was a captain in the Continental Army.

Read more at the DAR Capt. John Joslin Jr. Chapter, Leominster, Mass. Here is a photo of John Joslin Jr.’s gravestone.

I have this next photo, which belonged to my grandmother and is entitled “Five Old Ones – Elders.” They are relatives of Edward Joslin through his mother’s line, and all descend from patriots. In this photo we see (from left to right): Malachi Richardson and his wife Tamisin (Greenwood) Richardson; Lucy Brewer (Pratt) Richardson, daughter of John Pratt and Rebecca (Derby) Pratt and widow of Luke Richardson (brother of Malachi); and Lucy’s sister Rebecca (Pratt) Eaton with her husband Moses Eaton Jr., son of Moses Eaton and Esther (Ware) Eaton.

Father Born 158 Years Back

Beriah Safford Rathbun (1819-1913), son of patriot Dr. Nathan Rathbun and Sarah P. (Bliven) Rathbun, married Phebe Coburn, 2nd Martha D. Coburn, and 3rd Eliza Ann Thompson, and left descendants.

This is the gravestone of Nathan Rathbun, located in the Sheffield-Rathbun Lot in Exeter, Rhode Island. He served as a private with the Rhode Island troops during the Revolutionary War.

The Oregonian article reports:

Not many men now alive can boast that their fathers were born as many as 158 years ago, but such can be proved in the family records by Beriah Safford Rathbun of Norwich, Conn., another “Actual Son” who has favored us with his portrait. The elder Rathbun was a mature man of twenty-three when Philadelphia’s old statehouse bell “proclaimed liberty throughout the land,” and he lived to be eighty-eight, but his son has already beaten his record by three years, for he will reach his ninety-second birthday this Fall.

An Indian Patriarch

Sopiel Selmore (1814-1903) was a Passamaquoddy chief and a member of the Maine Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Sopiel married Mary Mitchell, aka the “Queen of the Passamaquoddy.”

The Oregonian article reports:

Doubly entitled to call himself American, because his veins hold the blood both of our empire’s aboriginal owners and of its liberators, is the next most ancient link, Sopiel Selmore, son of a Passamaquoddy brave, Selmore Soctomah, who, besides rendering various services to the cause of the colonies, distinguished himself in the Revolution as an Indian scout and captain in the marine service. Sopiel, his son by his squaw Dennis Molly Selmore, entered his ninety-eighth year March 1, and may well look forward to a century span, for his father, the good Soctomah, was considerably over 100 years old at the time of his death, upon the eve of our Civil War, when Sopiel was a middle-aged man of 46.

Capt. Selmore Soctomah served as a soldier and scout under Col. John Allan at Potato Point, in Machias, Maine, and served in the War of 1812.

To be continued…

Happy 4th Peeps!

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Note on the header image: America’s 250th Anniversary. Credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html

Related Articles:

• Soldiers of the American Revolutionary War (part 1)
• Soldiers of the American Revolutionary War (part 2)
• Soldiers of the American Revolutionary War (part 3)
• Soldiers of the American Revolutionary War (part 4)
• Deborah Sampson: Revolutionary War Soldier Disguised as a Man
• Patriot James Lemmon Honored on the Fourth of July