#15 February 1764

[rabbitcruiser]

The city of St. Louis is established in Spanish Louisiana (now in Missouri, USA) on February 15, 1764.  

[whencyclopedia]

Banastre Tarleton

Banastre Tarleton (1754-1833) was a British military officer and politician, most famous for his role in the southern campaigns of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). In command of an elite unit of Loyalists called the British Legion, Tarleton gained a reputation for aggression and cruelty, with Patriots even coining the phrase 'Tarleton's Quarter' to refer to his mercilessness.

Tarleton joined the British Army in April 1775 at age 20 after blowing through his inheritance. Sent overseas to fight the American rebels, he soon became one of the most infamous British officers of the conflict. Called 'Bloody Ban' after his men massacred surrendering American soldiers at the Battle of Waxhaws, Tarleton led his British Legion on raids throughout the American South, their plumed leather helmets and green jackets striking fear into the hearts of many Patriots. Defeated by Daniel Morgan at the Battle of Cowpens (17 January 1781), Tarleton nevertheless managed to return to England after the war with his reputation intact. He began a long political career in Parliament, in which he notably defended the slave trade, before his death on 15 January 1833 at the age of 78. He is best remembered today for his ruthlessness during the war, although many tales of his cruelty have been exaggerated.

Early Life

Banastre Tarleton was born in Liverpool, England, on 21 August 1754, the third of seven children born to John Tarleton and his wife Jane Parker. John Tarleton was a successful businessman involved in the Caribbean sugar trade and owned plantations in Jamaica, Curaçao, and several other islands in the West Indies. By the 1760s, the elder Tarleton owned three ships that were primarily used to deliver enslaved Africans to Jamaica; indeed, much of the Tarleton family's wealth was derived from the slave trade. In 1764, John Tarleton (or 'Great T' as he was called by his constituents) was elected mayor of Liverpool and served a single one-year term. In 1768, the elder Tarleton tried to stand for election to Parliament, but a mob of whalers prevented him from running.

Banastre (or Ban, as he preferred to be called) attended school in Liverpool. Intelligent, handsome, and charming, he was not a diligent student, preferring to spend his time playing cricket; despite his small physique, he was surprisingly strong and enjoyed many other athletic activities like boxing, horseback riding, and tennis. In the autumn of 1771, Ban and his older brother Thomas were sent to Oxford to study at University College. Tarleton remained there until 6 September 1773, when his father unexpectedly died, leaving him an inheritance of £5,000. With this small fortune, Tarleton headed to London to begin studying law at the Middle Temple. His studiousness had not much improved, however, as Tarleton often neglected his studies in favor of attending the theatre or drinking and gambling at the fashionable Cocoa Tree club. It was not long before he had nearly exhausted his inheritance, forcing him to drop out of law school.

During this period of adolescent partying, the wayward Tarleton befriended several British army officers, who likely helped put his thoughts on a military path. On 20 April 1775, the 20-year-old Tarleton purchased a cornet's commission in the King's Dragoon Guards, one of the most prestigious regiments in the entire army. It was an interesting time to enter military service, as only the day before, the Battles of Lexington and Concord had been fought on the other side of the Atlantic in the British colony of Massachusetts, sparking the American Revolution. After several months of intensive training, Cornet Tarleton was finally sent to North America in February 1776, setting sail from Cork, Ireland, under the command of Lord Charles Cornwallis. Little did Tarleton know that by the time his service in the New World was over, he would be regarded as one of the most infamous men in America.

Continue reading...

[josefavomjaaga]

Napoleonic birthday calendar

A quick first attempt at a combined calender; I hope I have not accidentally dropped somebody on the way [searches floor]. Whom or what else should we add? I’ve already taken the liberty to add Junot and Duroc.

And just for the record: All the work was done by @northernmariette, I’m just posting on her behalf due to technical problems.

January

3 Jan 1777: Elisa Bonaparte-Baciocchi

7 Jan 1768: Joseph Bonaparte

🎖 10 Jan 1769: Marshal Ney

🎖 26 Jan 1763: Marshal Bernadotte

February

🎖 13 Feb 1768: Marshal Mortier

March

🎖 2 Mar 1770: Marshal Suchet

🎖 13 Mar 1763: Marshal Brune

20 Mar 1822: Napoléon II,

25 Mar 1782: Caroline Bonaparte-Murat

🎖 25 Mar 1767: Marshal Murat

27 Mar 1746: Charles (Carlo) Bonaparte

🎖 29 Mar 1769: Marshal Soult

April

10 Apr 1783: Hortense de Beauharnais-Bonaparte

🎖 10 Apr 1769: Marshal Lannes

🎖 13 Apr 1764: Marshal Gouvion Saint-Cyr

🎖 25 Apr 1767: Marshal Oudinot

🎖 29 Apr 1762: Marshal Jourdan

May

🎖 6 May 1758: Marshal Masséna

🎖 7 May 1763: Marshal Poniatowsky

🎖 10 May 1770: Marshal Davout

21 May 1775: Lucien Bonaparte

🎖 28 May 1735: Marshal Kellerman

🎖 31 May 1754: Marshal Pérignon

June

23 June 1763: Joséphine Bonaparte

July

🎖 20 Jul 1774: Marshal Marmont

🎖 31 Jul 1754: Marshal Moncey

August

🎖 6 Aug 1768: Marshal Bessières

15 Aug 1769: Napoléon Bonaparte

24 Aug 1750: Laetitia Ramolino-Bonaparte

September

2 Sept 1778: Louis Bonaparte

3 Sept 1781: Eugène de Beauharnais

24 Sept 1771: Junot

October

20 Oct 1780: Pauline Bonaparte

🎖 21 Oct 1759: Marshal Augereau

🎖 23 Oct 1766: Marshal Grouchy

🎖 25 Oct 1755: Marshal Lefebvre

25 Oct 1772: Duroc

November

15 Nov 1784: Jérôme Bonaparte

🎖 17 Nov 1765: Marshal Macdonald

🎖 20 Nov 1753: Marshal Berthier

December

🎖 7 Dec 1764: Marshal Victor

🎖 8 Dec 1742: Marshal Serurier

12 Dec 1791: Marie-Louise Bonaparte

[ciceroprofacto]

Okay- as to the possibility of John Laurens meeting Peter Lavien, this is super messy and it’s impossible to prove without a primary source explicitly stating that they interacted, but I can put the timeline together for you that explains how they would’ve been in the same area at the same time.

The summary is this:

- Sometime between 1764 and 1766, Peter Lavien settled in Beaufort, SC, and became a partner with Captain Samuel Grove, running his shop in downtown Beaufort along with an apprentice/clerk named John Kean. They became one of the most successful import/export houses in the area during an indigo boom.

- When the Revolution started stirring up trade restrictions, Lavien took to smuggling and, in 1776, he had a ship detained in Savannah with its cargo. He appealed to the South Carolina Council of Safety which was chaired by Henry Laurens at the time. His son in law, John Charles Lucena, had connections to a merchant in Savannah that was able to vouch for his ship and get it released.

- In 1777, Peter Lavien moved his family to Savannah for business and to avoid patches of violence that broke out around the lowcountry. He left his properties in Beaufort to be managed by John Kean in his absence.

- Fast forward to 1779, Laurens joined up with the southern army at Tillifiny Hill in May and volunteered to escort General Moultrie’s rear guard across the Coosawatchie River. He engaged the enemy in an ill-advised assault and was routed back across the river. If you’re interested in the archeological effort to pinpoint the exact location of the engagement.

- The nearest major town was Beaufort, about 15 miles away where John Kean was incidentally still located, serving as deputy paymaster of the South Carolina Militia.

- Peter Lavien’s name would’ve been well-known in the area and his move to Savannah would’ve been common local knowledge. Laurens would have likely interacted with John Kean at some point while commanding a militia battalion, and it’s possible that Kean would have known that Lavien was Hamilton’s older brother if Lavien ever spoke about it to him. So, there’s a possibility that Laurens learned Kean’s former-employer’s relationship to Alexander Hamilton and knew that he’d moved to Savannah. 

- Whether Laurens made the effort or had the time to seek Peter Lavien out while he was in the vicinity of Savannah that autumn is entirely speculation. But, we do know that Lavien left a small sum of money to his brothers in his will before he died just a year later. 

Extended timeline details and sources under the cut.

These points are all from: 1. Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton 2. Greg Massey’s John Laurens and the American Revolution 3. Rowland, Moore, and Rogers’ History of Beaufort County V.1

“In 1745, the ill-fated wedding [between Rachel Faucette and Johann Lavien took place at the Grange. The newlyweds set up house on their own modest plantation, which was named, with macabre irony, Contentment. The following year, the teenage bride gave birth to a son, Peter, destined to be her one legitimate child.” (1. pg 11)

In 1750, Johann Michael Lavien, Peter’s father, had Rachel imprisoned for adultery and no longer residing with him. She was sent to Christiansvaern, the local fort and imprisoned for 3-5 months. She left Christensted when she got out, leaving Johann and Peter behind and going to St. Kitts where she started living with James Hamilton. (1. pg 11-12)

On February 26, 1759, Johann Lavien sent Rachel an official divorce summons for absenting herself which she attended and they were officially divorced on June 25th. Johann was allowed to remarry and Rachel strictly prohibited, denying her any of the property he’d mostly gained in marrying her, and preventing her “whore-children” from getting any in the event of his death. Peter would’ve been 13, James 6, and Alexander either 2 or 4. (1. pg 20)

Early 1760s, Johann and Peter moved to Frederiksted on the far side of St Croix. (1. pg 21)

April 1765, James Hamilton, Rachel and their kids moved to Christiansted where James was working as a clerk for Archibald Ingram of St Kitts, the son of a Glasgow “tobacco lord”- a family connection, tasked to collect a debt from a man named Alexander Moir. The case lasted until January 1766, then James pulled anchor and disappeared around Alex’s 11th birthday. (1. pg 21)

Between 1764 and 1766, Peter settled in Beaufort, SC, and became the shop manager of a store owned by Captain Samuel Grove in Beaufort bay on Tradd Street selling rum, sugar, chocolate, coffee, tea, and wine, all imported on his schooner Hannah and Betsy. John Kean was his apprentice. (3. pg 244)

“November 1769...Peter returned to St Croix to take possession of his small inheritance- an injustice that rankled Alexander for many years. Peter had fared sufficiently well in Beaufort, South Carolina- named a church warden- the chief financial and administrative officer- in St Helena’s Parish the previous year, yet he couldn’t spare a penny for the two destitute half brothers orphaned by his mothers death.” (1. pg 25)

Early 1770s, Peter Lavien and Samuel Grove were considered the largest indigo shippers in the Beaufort District. The Revolution disrupted the firm’s trade and Samuel Grove died at sea in 1775. (3. pg 244)

On 30 January 1776, one of Peter Lavien’s partner ships the William was detained in Savannah for smuggling. Lavien appealed to the South Carolina Council of Safety (chaired by Henry Laurens) to release the brigantine with 122 casks of indigo and 100 barrels of rice on board. The Council of Safety refused and ordered the cargo detained in Beaufort. On February 1, 1776, Quinton Pooler, a Savannah merchant who Peter’s son-in-law, John Charles Lucena had connections to, claimed the cargo belonged to him, and the captain of the William produced authorization for departure from the Georgia Council of Safety. The vessel sailed and a frustrated Henry Laurens, obviously not convinced, warned the Georgia council that they should “obey the laws of Congress”. (3. pg 206-207)

“Family business connections, and political hostility, forced Lavien to move to Savannah in 1777.  There he lived with his daughter Joanna, and his son-in-law, John Charles Lucena, until his death in 1781.” (3. pg 244)

“Lavien left his Beaufort property in the hands of his former partner’s stepson, John Kean, who was a consistent patriot and a member of Beaufort’s local committee.  Lavien’s will divided his large estate between the Lucenas of Savannah and John Kean of Beaufort. The Lucenas remained loyal to the crown, and most of their Georgia property was confiscated; Kean served as deputy paymaster of the South Carolina militia, along with John Mark Verdier. Both served under Daniel DeSaussure, who was paymaster general of the South Carolina Militia. (3. pg 244)

May 1, 1779- Laurens arrived in General Moultrie’s camp at Tullifiny Hill.  On May 3rd, he volunteered to take 250 militia troops to escort Moultrie’s rear guard back to the army at Tullifiny Hill and instead tried to lead an assault across the Coosawhatchie River, failing and risking about a third of Moultrie’s force. (2. pg 135)

[legends-of-time]

The Strength of a High and Noble Hill (Outlander Story) Timeline - 17th and 18th Centuries

Thought I would a timeline here as my timeline is a mix of my own stuff and the show/books. This will be getting updated as I go along. This is also for our own sanity to look back at. Advice is not to read if not up to date with current story as spoilers. Been split into two.

Masterlist

(19th and 20th Centuries)

23 December 1688 - James VII and II is deposed in the Glorious Revolution and is succeeded by his daughter Mary II as Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland along with her husband and co-ruler King William III and II

March 1689 to February 1692 - First Jacobite rising

1691 - Brian Robert David Fraser is born (Lovat/Davina)

1695 - Ellen Catriona Sileas Mackenzie is born (Jacob/Anne)

8 March 1702 - Anne becomes Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland then Queen of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 May 1707

1 August 1714 - Queen Anne I dies and is succeeded by George I, King of Great Britain and Ireland

September 1715 to February 1716 - Second Jacobite rising

1716 - Brian and Ellen marry and William Simon Murtagh Mackenzie Fraser is born (Brian/Ellen)

1719 - Janet (Jenny) Flora Arabella Fraser is born (Brian/Ellen)

5 June 1719 - Battle of Glen Shiel (third Jacobite attempt)

May 1720 - Ian Murray is born

1 May 1721 - James (Jamie) Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser is born (Brian/Ellen)

1726 - Laoghaire MacKenzie is born

1727 - King George I dies and his son succeeds him as George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland and Jamie’s brother William dies of smallpox

1729 - Lord John Grey is born and Ellen Fraser dies giving birth to Robert Brian Gordon Mackenzie Fraser (Brian/Ellen) who dies as well

1 May 1733 - Gillian Edgars/Geillis Duncan arrives through the stones from 1968

1735 - Fergus Claudel Fraser is born

1739 - Geneva Dunsany Ransom is born

October 1740 - Jamie is captured by Captain Jack Randall, Brian Fraser dies of a stroke and Jamie flees to France

1740 - Jenny marries Ian Murray

1741 - James (Young Jamie) Alexander Gordon Fraser Murray is born (Jenny/Ian)

2 May 1743 - Claire arrives through the stones at Craigh na Dun and meets Jamie who's returned to Scotland

June 1743 - Claire and Jamie get married

November 1743 - Margaret (Maggie) Ellen Fraser Murray is born (Jenny/Ian)

January 1744 - William Buccleigh Mackenzie is born (Dougal/Geillis)

February 1744 - Claire and Jamie leave for France

12 May 1744 - Brian Ian Fraser is born in Paris

August 1744 - Jamie returns from the Bastille

September 1744 - Arrive at Lallybroch

February 1745 - Katherine (Kitty) Mary Fraser Murray born (Jenny/Ian)

July 1745 - Battles begin (fourth and final Jacobite rising)

17 September 1745 - The Jacobites take Edinburgh

September 1745 - Lord John and Brian meet

21 September 1745 - Jacobite victory at Prestonpans

December 1745 - The Jacobites take Derby few hundred miles from London then retreat north

17 January 1746 - Last Jacobite victory at Falkirk

March 1746 - Mary Hawkins marries Jack Randall

16 April 1746 - The Culloden near Inverness defeat and Brian almost 2 sent to future through the stones at Craigh na Dun with Claire (2 months pregnant) and appear mid April 1948

1748 - Michael and Janet Fraser Murray born (Jenny/Ian)

December 1749 - Caitlin Fraser Murray born and died (Jenny/Ian)

1751 - Marsali Jane MacKimmie is born (Simon/Loaghaire)

15 November 1752 - Young Ian James Fitzgibbons Fraser Murray born (Jenny/Ian)

February 1753 - Fergus loses his hand to a British soldier

16 May 1753 - Jamie enters Ardsmuir Prison

1755 - Lizzie Wemyss born (Joseph)

1756 - Josiah Beardsley and Keziah Beardsley are born

September 1756 - Jamie arrives at Helwater

9 January 1758 - William (Willie) Clarence Henry George Ransom is born (Geneva/Jamie) and Geneva Dunsany Ransom dies

1760 - Rachel Hunter is born

25 October 1760 - King George II dies and his grandson succeeds him as George III, King of Great Britain and Ireland

26 April 1764 - William Tryon becomes Governor of North Carolina

July 1764 - Jamie leaves Helwater

Early 1765 - Jamie marries Laoghaire but soon moves to Edinburgh

1766 - Rollo is born

November 1766 - Claire comes through stones at Craigh na Dun from 1968 leading to Jamie’s annulment to Laoghaire

Spring 1767 - Fergus and Marsali marry

September 1767 - Jamie and Claire settling on newly established Fraser's Ridge

December 1767 - Germain Alexander Claudel Mackenzie Fraser is born (Fergus/Marsali)

May 1769 - Brian and Ellen come through the stones at Craigh na Dun

June 1769 - Meet the Murray's

July 1769 - Brian and Ellen meet Lizzie Wemyss and travel to the US

September 1769 - Meet with Roger in US, Bonnet’s attack then find reunite with family

November 1769 - It’s revealed Ellen is pregnant and Roger is sold to the Mohawks

December 1769 - Move to River Run as Claire, Jamie and Ian look for Roger

5 March 1770 - Boston Massacre

March 1770 - Re-meet Lord John

April 1770 - Fergus and Marsali arrive at River Run on their way to Frasers’ Ridge

May 1770 - Claire and Jamie return (Ian has been adopted by Kanyen’kehaka) and Jeremiah (Jem or Jemmy) Alexander Ian Fraser MacKenzie is born (Ellen/Roger)

June 1770 - Roger returns to Fraser’s Ridge

September 1770 - Joan Laoghaire Claire Fraser is born (Fergus/Marsali) and Hillsborough Riot

October 1770 - Ellen and Roger's wedding, the Gathering at Mount Helicon and Lord John comes with news of Bonnet then Fiery Cross and Brian meets Brynmor

December 1770 - Building a Militia to hunt regulators (Beardsley's and Brownsville) then orders to dismantle then Lieutenant Knox’s death

March 1771 - Jocasta's wedding to Duncan Innes at River Run

[nobility-art]

Madame de Pompadour

Artist: François Boucher (1703 - 1770)

Date: 1779

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Collection: Wallace Collection, London

Portrait of Madame de Pompadour is a 1759 oil-on-canvas painting by the French Rococo artist François Boucher, now in the Wallace Collection in London. It was the last of a series of seven portraits by the artist of Madame de Pompadour. It was first exhibited at the Château de Versailles before passing to the subject's brother.

Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and remained influential as court favourite until her death.

Pompadour took charge of the king's schedule and was a valued aide and advisor, despite her frail health and many political enemies. She secured titles of nobility for herself and her relatives, and built a network of clients and supporters. She was particularly careful not to alienate the popular Queen, Marie Leszczyńska. On 8 February 1756, the Marquise de Pompadour was named as the thirteenth lady-in-waiting to the queen, a position considered the most prestigious at the court, which accorded her with honors.

Pompadour was a major patron of architecture and decorative arts, especially porcelain. She was a patron of the philosophes of the Enlightenment, including Voltaire.

[brookston]

Holidays 2.15

Holidays

Agriculture Day (Canada)

Angelman Syndrome Day

Annoy Squidward Day (SpongeBob Squarepants)

Battleship Day

Broken Hearts Day

Clifford the Big Red Dog Day

Commonwealth Day (Gibraltar)

Court of International Justice Day

Day of Ashakalia (Kosovo)

Day of the Mexican Woman (Mexico)

Decimal Day (UK)

Digital Learning Day

ENIAC Day (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

European Perioperative Nursing Day (EU)

Flag Day (Canada)

Galileo Day [also 2.29]

Hazel Day (French Republic)

Hazrat Alis Day (Uttar Pradesh, India)

International Angolan Day

International Bottom Appreciation Day

International Childhood Cancer Awareness Day

International Duties Memorial Day (Russia)

International Fanworks Day

International Green Wall Day

International Male Chastity Day

John Frum Day (Vanuatu)

Love Reset Day

Lui-Ngai-Ni (Manipur, India)

Memorial Day of Warriors—Intrnationalists

National Bad Breath Day

National Black Girl Magic Day

National Clementine Day

National Friendzone Day

National Hippo Day

National Marcus Day

National Plan B Day

National School Resource Officer Appreciation Day

National Side Chicks Day

National Wisconsin Day

National Write Your Book in a Weekend Weekends

Plastic Pollution Awareness Day (Georgia)

Remember the Maine Day

Sandlasting Day

Singles Awareness Day

Slap Day

Sretenje (Serbia)

Sticky Stamp Day

Stop and Smell Your Compost Pile Day

St. Skeletor’s Day

Susan B. Anthony Day

Total Defense Day (Singapore)

World Cholangiocarcinoma Day

World Hippo Day

YouTube Launch Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Burger Lover's Day

Cherry Garcia Day

Florida Craft Beer Day

Mustard Day

National Cheap Chocolate Day

National Chewing Gum Day

National Gumdrop Day

National I Want Butterscotch Day

National Lamb Day (New Zealand)

3rd Thursday in February

Energy Saving Day (Italy) [3rd Thursday]

Global Information Governance Day [3rd Thursday]

National Conductive Education Day [3rd Thursday]

Switch Off Thursday (UK) [Thursday of Go Green Week]

World Anthropology Day [3rd Thursday]

World Cholanglocarcinoma Day [3rd Thursday]

Weekly Holidays beginning February 15

American Association for the Advancement of Science Week [thru 2.17]

Independence & Related Days

Barbettia (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Dadingisila (Declared; 2010) [unrecognized]

Establishment Day (St. Louis, Missouri; 1764)

Liberation Day (Afghanistan)

Iustus (Declared; 2018) [unrecognized]

Serbia (from the Ottoman Empire, 1804)

Festivals Beginning February 15, 2024

Arizona Beer Week (Arizona) [thru 2.25]

Berlin International Film Festival (Berlin, Germany) [thru 2.25]

Carnival of Bern [Bärner Fasnacht] (Bern, Switzerland) [thru 2.17]

Cribbagepalooza (Colorado Springs, Colorado)

Great British Beer Festival Winter (Burton upon Trent, Great Britain) [thru 2.17]

Havana International Book Fair (Havana, Cuba) [thru 2.25]

Iowa Meat Processors Show (Ames, Iowa) [thru 2.17]

Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association Conference (Newark, Ohio) [thru 2.17]

Palatka Bluegrass Festival (Palatka, Florida) [thru 2.17]

Simplot Games (Boise, Idaho) [thru 2.17]

Takeuchi Festival (Rouge, Japan)

Feast Days

Agape (Christian; Virgin Martyr)

Art Spiegelman (Animeism)

Candlemas (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Charles-André van Loo (Artology)

Charles-François Daubigny (Artology)

Chongwoldaeboreum (Korean Folk Festival)

Claude de la Colombière (Christian; Saint)

Douglas Hofstadter (Writerism)

Drink More Wine Day (Pastafarian)

Faunus (celebrates animals helping humans)

Faustinus and Jovita (Christian; Martyrs)

Februata — Day of Juno Febuata (Pagan)

Festival of Naked Pan (Ancient Rome)

Festival of the Wolves (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Galileo (Humanism; Saint)

Grigori Rasputin Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Guardian Angel Day (Celtic Book of Days)

Kamakura Matsuri (Snow Cave Festival; Japan)

Lupercalia (Festival of Lupercus; Festival of purification honoring Lycaen Pan or Faunusl Ancient Roman god of flocks and fertility)

Matt Groening (Artology)

Michał Sopoćko (Christian; Blessed)

Nirvana Day (Buddhist; Jain; Sikh)

Oswiu (Christian; Saint)

Parinirvana Day (Mahayana Buddhism)

Phaedrus (Positivist; Saint)

Quinidius (Christian; Saint)

The Raggmopps (Muppetism)

Sigfried of Sweden (Christian; Saint)

Sigfrid’s Day

Susan B. Anthony (Feminism; Saint)

Tales of Kelp-Koli (Shamanism)

Tanco (Christian; Martyr)

Thomas Bray (Anglican & Episcopal Church)

Walfrid (Christian; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Uncyclopedia Bad to Be Born Today (because so many reasons carrying on from the night before.)

Premieres

Alice Solves the Puzzle (Disney Cartoon; 1925)

Angel and the Badman (Film; 1947)

Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion (Animated Film; 2019)

Autumn (Disney Cartoon; 1930)

The Bears and the Bees (Disney Silly Symphony Cartoon; 1932)

The Blue Danube, by Johann Strauss II (Waltz; 1867)

The Breakfast Club (Film; 1985)

Blue Moon, recorded by The Marcels (Song; 1961)

Broad City (TV Series; 2010)

Bugs Bunny’s Wild World of Sports (WB Animated TV Special; 1989)

Burn, by Deep Purple (Album; 1974)

Burr Gore, by Vidal (Historical Novel; 1973)

Cinderella (Animated Disney Cartoon; 1950)

Clifford the Big Red Dog, by Norman Bridwell (Children’s Book; 1963)

Corregidora, by Gayl Jones (Novel; 1975)

The Crystal Maze (UK TV game Show; 1990)

Doom Patrol (TV Series; 2019)

Eastbound & Down (TV Series; 2009)

Eight Days a Week, by The Beatles (Song; 1965)

Elegy Written in. A Country Churchyard, by Thomas Gray (Poem; 1751)

11.23.63 (TV Series; 2016)

Escape from Planet Earth (Animated Film; 2013)

Fly by Night, by Rush (Album; 1975)

Get Happy!!, by Elvis Costello (Album; 1980)

Lifehouse, by The Who (Rock Opera; 1971)

Marlowe (Film; 2023)

Mechanical Man (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1932)

Orphan’s Picnic (Disney Cartoon; 1936)

Red Dwarf (UK TV Series; 1988)

Return to Never Land (Disney Film; 2002)

Robin Hoody Woody (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1963)

The Screwball (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1943)

Shake, Rattle and Roll, recorded by Big Joe Turner (Song; 1954)

The Stars, Like Dust, byIsaac Asimov (Novel; 1951) [Galactic Empire #1]

Super Troopers (Film; 2002)

Take the A Train, recorded by Duke Ellington (Song; 1941)

A Tuba to Cuba (Documentary Film; 2019)

The Umbrella Academy (TV Series; 2019)

Vision Quit (Film; 1985)

YouTube (Video Sharing Website; 2005)

Today’s Name Days

Georgia, Siegfried (Austria)

Faustin, Onezim, Vitomir (Croatia)

Jiřina (Czech Republic)

Faustinus (Denmark)

Neidi, Tiina (Estonia)

Sipi, Sippo (Finland)

Claude, Georgina, Jordan (France)

Georgia, Jovita, Siegfried (Germany)

Evsevios (Greece)

Julianna, Lilla (Hungary)

Giuliana (Italy)

Džuljeta, Juliāna, Jūlija, Smuidra (Latvia)

Julijona, Julijonas, Tautvydas (Lithuania)

Jill, Julian, Juliane (Norway)

Bernard, Dan, Danisz, Danuta, Julianna, Symeon (Poland)

Pamfil, Valentin (Romania)

Anna (Russia)

Ida (Slovakia)

Juliana (Spain)

Julia, Julius (Sweden)

Cliff, Clifford, Clifton, Jeremiah, Jeremy, Sonnie, Sonny, Sunny (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 46 of 2024; 320 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 7 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Luis (Rowan) [Day 26 of 28]

Chinese: Month 1 (Bing-Yin), Day 6 (Ji-You)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025)

Hebrew: 6 Adair I 5784

Islamic: 5 Sha’ban 1445

J Cal: 16 Grey; Twosday [16 of 30]

Julian: 1 February 2024

Moon: 40%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 18 Homer (2nd Month) [Phaedrus]

Runic Half Month: Sigel (Sun) [Day 7 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 57 of 89)

Week: 2nd Week of February

Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 25 of 28)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 2.15

Holidays

Agriculture Day (Canada)

Angelman Syndrome Day

Annoy Squidward Day (SpongeBob Squarepants)

Battleship Day

Broken Hearts Day

Clifford the Big Red Dog Day

Commonwealth Day (Gibraltar)

Court of International Justice Day

Day of Ashakalia (Kosovo)

Day of the Mexican Woman (Mexico)

Decimal Day (UK)

Digital Learning Day

ENIAC Day (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

European Perioperative Nursing Day (EU)

Flag Day (Canada)

Galileo Day [also 2.29]

Hazel Day (French Republic)

Hazrat Alis Day (Uttar Pradesh, India)

International Angolan Day

International Bottom Appreciation Day

International Childhood Cancer Awareness Day

International Duties Memorial Day (Russia)

International Fanworks Day

International Green Wall Day

International Male Chastity Day

John Frum Day (Vanuatu)

Love Reset Day

Lui-Ngai-Ni (Manipur, India)

Memorial Day of Warriors—Intrnationalists

National Bad Breath Day

National Black Girl Magic Day

National Clementine Day

National Friendzone Day

National Hippo Day

National Marcus Day

National Plan B Day

National School Resource Officer Appreciation Day

National Side Chicks Day

National Wisconsin Day

National Write Your Book in a Weekend Weekends

Plastic Pollution Awareness Day (Georgia)

Remember the Maine Day

Sandlasting Day

Singles Awareness Day

Slap Day

Sretenje (Serbia)

Sticky Stamp Day

Stop and Smell Your Compost Pile Day

St. Skeletor’s Day

Susan B. Anthony Day

Total Defense Day (Singapore)

World Cholangiocarcinoma Day

World Hippo Day

YouTube Launch Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Burger Lover's Day

Cherry Garcia Day

Florida Craft Beer Day

Mustard Day

National Cheap Chocolate Day

National Chewing Gum Day

National Gumdrop Day

National I Want Butterscotch Day

National Lamb Day (New Zealand)

3rd Thursday in February

Energy Saving Day (Italy) [3rd Thursday]

Global Information Governance Day [3rd Thursday]

National Conductive Education Day [3rd Thursday]

Switch Off Thursday (UK) [Thursday of Go Green Week]

World Anthropology Day [3rd Thursday]

World Cholanglocarcinoma Day [3rd Thursday]

Weekly Holidays beginning February 15

American Association for the Advancement of Science Week [thru 2.17]

Independence & Related Days

Barbettia (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Dadingisila (Declared; 2010) [unrecognized]

Establishment Day (St. Louis, Missouri; 1764)

Liberation Day (Afghanistan)

Iustus (Declared; 2018) [unrecognized]

Serbia (from the Ottoman Empire, 1804)

Festivals Beginning February 15, 2024

Arizona Beer Week (Arizona) [thru 2.25]

Berlin International Film Festival (Berlin, Germany) [thru 2.25]

Carnival of Bern [Bärner Fasnacht] (Bern, Switzerland) [thru 2.17]

Cribbagepalooza (Colorado Springs, Colorado)

Great British Beer Festival Winter (Burton upon Trent, Great Britain) [thru 2.17]

Havana International Book Fair (Havana, Cuba) [thru 2.25]

Iowa Meat Processors Show (Ames, Iowa) [thru 2.17]

Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association Conference (Newark, Ohio) [thru 2.17]

Palatka Bluegrass Festival (Palatka, Florida) [thru 2.17]

Simplot Games (Boise, Idaho) [thru 2.17]

Takeuchi Festival (Rouge, Japan)

Feast Days

Agape (Christian; Virgin Martyr)

Art Spiegelman (Animeism)

Candlemas (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Charles-André van Loo (Artology)

Charles-François Daubigny (Artology)

Chongwoldaeboreum (Korean Folk Festival)

Claude de la Colombière (Christian; Saint)

Douglas Hofstadter (Writerism)

Drink More Wine Day (Pastafarian)

Faunus (celebrates animals helping humans)

Faustinus and Jovita (Christian; Martyrs)

Februata — Day of Juno Febuata (Pagan)

Festival of Naked Pan (Ancient Rome)

Festival of the Wolves (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Galileo (Humanism; Saint)

Grigori Rasputin Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Guardian Angel Day (Celtic Book of Days)

Kamakura Matsuri (Snow Cave Festival; Japan)

Lupercalia (Festival of Lupercus; Festival of purification honoring Lycaen Pan or Faunusl Ancient Roman god of flocks and fertility)

Matt Groening (Artology)

Michał Sopoćko (Christian; Blessed)

Nirvana Day (Buddhist; Jain; Sikh)

Oswiu (Christian; Saint)

Parinirvana Day (Mahayana Buddhism)

Phaedrus (Positivist; Saint)

Quinidius (Christian; Saint)

The Raggmopps (Muppetism)

Sigfried of Sweden (Christian; Saint)

Sigfrid’s Day

Susan B. Anthony (Feminism; Saint)

Tales of Kelp-Koli (Shamanism)

Tanco (Christian; Martyr)

Thomas Bray (Anglican & Episcopal Church)

Walfrid (Christian; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Uncyclopedia Bad to Be Born Today (because so many reasons carrying on from the night before.)

Premieres

Alice Solves the Puzzle (Disney Cartoon; 1925)

Angel and the Badman (Film; 1947)

Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion (Animated Film; 2019)

Autumn (Disney Cartoon; 1930)

The Bears and the Bees (Disney Silly Symphony Cartoon; 1932)

The Blue Danube, by Johann Strauss II (Waltz; 1867)

The Breakfast Club (Film; 1985)

Blue Moon, recorded by The Marcels (Song; 1961)

Broad City (TV Series; 2010)

Bugs Bunny’s Wild World of Sports (WB Animated TV Special; 1989)

Burn, by Deep Purple (Album; 1974)

Burr Gore, by Vidal (Historical Novel; 1973)

Cinderella (Animated Disney Cartoon; 1950)

Clifford the Big Red Dog, by Norman Bridwell (Children’s Book; 1963)

Corregidora, by Gayl Jones (Novel; 1975)

The Crystal Maze (UK TV game Show; 1990)

Doom Patrol (TV Series; 2019)

Eastbound & Down (TV Series; 2009)

Eight Days a Week, by The Beatles (Song; 1965)

Elegy Written in. A Country Churchyard, by Thomas Gray (Poem; 1751)

11.23.63 (TV Series; 2016)

Escape from Planet Earth (Animated Film; 2013)

Fly by Night, by Rush (Album; 1975)

Get Happy!!, by Elvis Costello (Album; 1980)

Lifehouse, by The Who (Rock Opera; 1971)

Marlowe (Film; 2023)

Mechanical Man (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1932)

Orphan’s Picnic (Disney Cartoon; 1936)

Red Dwarf (UK TV Series; 1988)

Return to Never Land (Disney Film; 2002)

Robin Hoody Woody (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1963)

The Screwball (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1943)

Shake, Rattle and Roll, recorded by Big Joe Turner (Song; 1954)

The Stars, Like Dust, byIsaac Asimov (Novel; 1951) [Galactic Empire #1]

Super Troopers (Film; 2002)

Take the A Train, recorded by Duke Ellington (Song; 1941)

A Tuba to Cuba (Documentary Film; 2019)

The Umbrella Academy (TV Series; 2019)

Vision Quit (Film; 1985)

YouTube (Video Sharing Website; 2005)

Today’s Name Days

Georgia, Siegfried (Austria)

Faustin, Onezim, Vitomir (Croatia)

Jiřina (Czech Republic)

Faustinus (Denmark)

Neidi, Tiina (Estonia)

Sipi, Sippo (Finland)

Claude, Georgina, Jordan (France)

Georgia, Jovita, Siegfried (Germany)

Evsevios (Greece)

Julianna, Lilla (Hungary)

Giuliana (Italy)

Džuljeta, Juliāna, Jūlija, Smuidra (Latvia)

Julijona, Julijonas, Tautvydas (Lithuania)

Jill, Julian, Juliane (Norway)

Bernard, Dan, Danisz, Danuta, Julianna, Symeon (Poland)

Pamfil, Valentin (Romania)

Anna (Russia)

Ida (Slovakia)

Juliana (Spain)

Julia, Julius (Sweden)

Cliff, Clifford, Clifton, Jeremiah, Jeremy, Sonnie, Sonny, Sunny (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 46 of 2024; 320 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 7 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Luis (Rowan) [Day 26 of 28]

Chinese: Month 1 (Bing-Yin), Day 6 (Ji-You)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025)

Hebrew: 6 Adair I 5784

Islamic: 5 Sha’ban 1445

J Cal: 16 Grey; Twosday [16 of 30]

Julian: 1 February 2024

Moon: 40%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 18 Homer (2nd Month) [Phaedrus]

Runic Half Month: Sigel (Sun) [Day 7 of 15]

Season: Winter (Day 57 of 89)

Week: 2nd Week of February

Zodiac: Capricorn (Day 25 of 28)

[bnnbharat]

15 फरवरी का इतिहास : आज का इतिहास : Today in History

आज यानी 15 फरवरी की ऐतिहासिक घटनाये इस प्रकार हैं। 15 फरवरी की ऐतिहासिक घटनाये : History of 15 February 1690 – मोल्दाविया के राजकुमार कॉन्सटैंटिन कैन्तेमिर और पवित्र रोमन साम्राज्य सिबियु में एक गुप्त संधि पर हस्ताक्षर करते हुए मोल्डाविया ऑट्टोमन साम्राज्य के खिलाफ हाउस ऑफ हैबसबर्ग के नेतृत्व में कार्रवाई का समर्थन किया था. 1764 – सेंट लुईस के शहर स्पेनिश लुइसियाना के स्थापना हुई थी. 1835 –…

[trekkiewatt]

Rutherford Family updated

This will combine recent posts.

Robertus Dominus DeRodyrforde

1120

Unknown

Gregory Dominus deRodyrforde

1160-1214

Unknown

Baron Hugo DeRodirforde

1190-1252

(Died in England)

Unknown

Nichol Sir deRuthirforde

1211-1283

Unknown

Nichol “Sir��� de Ruthirforde

1230 West Linton, Peeblesshire, Scotland

Death 1296 Roxburghshire,Scotland

Marjorie Halliday

1240

Sir Richard D DeRuthirfurde

1270 Scotland

Death 1338 West Linton, Peeblesshire, Scotland

Married 1285 Gloucestershire,England to

Johanna De Heaton

William DeRutherfurde

1300 West Linton,Peeblesshire, Scotland

Death 1338 Roxburghshire,Scotland

Jean Douglas

Sir Knight Richard DeRutherford

1333 Roxburghshire,Scotland

Death West Linton, Peeblesshire, Scotland

June Jean Douglas

Robert O Rutherford

1362 Chatto, Roxburghshire, Scotland

Death 1436 Kelso, Roxburghshire, Scotland

Margaret Glendowlyn

1366-1450

Sir George O. Of Chatto Rutherford

1390 Chatto,Roxburghshire, Scotland

Death 6 February 1429

West Linton,Peeblesshire, Scotland

Janet Rutherfurd

1414-1432

George Rutherford

1420 Melrose,Roxburghshire, Scotland

Death 16 February 1499

Spouse Lady Catherine Lyle

1426-1498

Patrick Rutherford

1440 Lang Newton, Roxburghshire, Scotland

Death Nisbet, Roxburghshire, Scotland

Spouse Elizabeth DeHalswicle

1440-1498

John Rutherford

1480 Nisbet, Roxburghshire, Scotland

Death 1567 Nisbet, Roxburghshire, Scotland

Spouse Elizabeth Cairncross

1482-1560

John Rutherford

1530 Nisbet, Roxburghshire, Scotland

Death 1600 Nisbet, Roxburghshire, Scotland

Spouse Isabel Davidson

1540

William Rutherford

1570 Nisbet, Roxburghshire, Scotland

Death 1638 Nisbet, Roxburghshire, Scotland

Spouse Mary Jane Gibson

1576 - 1640

James Rutherford Captain (Brother of Dr. Samuel Rutherford)

1604 Nisbet, Roxburghshire, Scotland

Death 9 March 1668 Utrecht, Netherlands

Spouse Margaret Gledstaines

1600 - 1675

Samuel Rutherford Reverend (Nephew of Dr. Samuel Rutherford)

1655 Teviodale, Roxburghshire, Scotland

Death County Monaghan, Ireland

Spouse Mary

Banished from Scotland arrived in Ireland in 1689 (County Monaghan, Ireland)

John Aaron Rutherford Reverend

1690 County Monaghan, Ireland

Death 1790 Newbliss, County Monaghan, Ireland

Spouse Elizabeth Griffith

Samuel Rutherford Reverend (Ebenezer Rutherford’s Father)

1740 (some have 1730) Tullycorbet (Ballybay), County Monaghan, Ireland

Death 1801 Newbliss, County Monaghan, Ireland

Spouse Elizabeth (Elinor)

Death 1809

Rutherford

1772

Rutherford

1774

John Rutherford Reverend (Brother)

1776 (1760) Newbliss, County Monaghan, Ireland

Death 29 December 1846

Ballydown, County Down, Ireland

Samuel Rutherford (brother)

1764

Died 24 March 1804 Newbliss, Monaghan, Ireland.

Ebenezer Rutherford

Birth 1789 Tullyard, Killeevan, Monaghan, Ireland

Ebenezer was the tenant of the Garrison and a meadow in the townland of Ellinure, civil parish of Killeevan, County Monaghan, a total of 30 acres, between 7 March 1809 and 31 October 1816, at a rent of £ 32 16s 10d. Source: rent roll, Foster Estate.

Ebenezer was the tenant of the Garrison and a meadow in the townland of Ellinure, civil parish of Killeevan, County Monaghan, a total of about 30 acres, between 7 March 1809 and 31 October 1816, at a rent of £32 16s 10d. Source: rent roll, Foster Estate.

Tithe Appellants for Tullyard, in name of Eben Rutherford and brothers. Holder of 21 acres, 15 3rd class, 6 4th class. Other appellants on the same page include many McConkeys.

Listed as 3rd Lieutenant Ebenezer Rutherford in the 1820 War Office list of officers & volunteers in the militia and yeomanry. Date of appointment: 24 March 1804.

Dismissal from the Newbliss Yeomanry, rank Lieutenant. His offence was participation in the 1831 July 12 Orange Day procession; dismissal was regarded to act as an example to others in government employ.

Spouse Elizabeth Campbell

1794

Helena Rutherford

1788(1790) (sister of Ebenezer)

Here is the updated sibling list.

Samuel Rutherford born 1740 died 1801

Married Elizabeth children

Samuel Rutherford born 1764

Reverend John Rutherford born 1766 d 1846

Ebenezer Rutherford (we are related) born 1789

Helena Rutherford born 1790 Newbliss, County Monaghan.

[rabbitcruiser]

The city of St. Louis was established in Spanish Louisiana (now in Missouri) on February 15, 1764.  

[packedwithpackards]

Chapter VIII: Barnabas and Sarah’s family

By June 3, 1738, when his father, John, died, Barnabas Packard I was only a baby. As discussed in the previous chapter, he was the sixth child born in Bridgewater to John and Lydia. If he was born on March 3, as some sources indicate, he would have been three months old when his father died. Hence, even if this birth date is wrong, the fact is that he never would have known his father. In order to continue this story, it is worth telling the story of Barnabas Packard I, his would-be wife named Sarah Ford, and their children who lived in Cummington, Massachusetts.

John was the youngest child of John and Lydia, and that he married a 21-year-old woman named Sarah Ford, daughter of Jacob Ford and Sarah Pool, on November 27, 1760. He was age 22, as his gravestone proves, and making it clear it had been 22 years since his father had passed away. [170]

Barnabas Packard I and Sarah Ford had seven children. One of their children reportedly died at the age of one month. Their first child was Barnabas Packard II, born May 19, 1764 in Bridgewater. He would later marry a woman named Mary Nash and have at least three children as noted in the next chapter. [171] Their second child was Polly (or Polley), born in 1766. Before her death on Mar. 15, 1846, Polly would marry Benjamin Gloyd (1756-1833) and would have two children with him: Benjamin Gloyd (1803-1872) and Sarah Gloyd (1808-1872). Barnabas and Sarah’s third child was Pollicarpus/Pollycarpus “Carpus” Packard, born in 1767 or 1768, possibly on January 26. He would marry a woman named Ruth Nash on February 16, 1795, six years after his brother Barnabas married a woman named Mary Nash. [172] Before his death on October 6, 1836, Carpus would have four children with Ruth Nash. They would be Nancy, Mehitable, Joel, and Clarissa.

There were three other children of Barnabas and Sarah. Their fifth child was Cyrus Packard, the last one of their children born in Bridgewater, with the others born in Cummington. Born in 1771, possibly on February 26, he and his brothers Bartimeus and John Ford Packard migrated to New York State in 1792 to the 640 acres of land that their father, Barnabas, had bought in Macedon the year before. By 1800, Cyrus was farming east of Macedon. 7 years later he opened a popular tavern in the hamlet of Egypt along the stagecoach route between Canadaigua and Rochester, becoming one of the biggest landowners. He took a leading role in local politics, becoming assessor of highways and assessor. Before his death on July 9, 1825, in Perinton, New York, he would marry Sally Pullin, and later Leah Beal, having eight or nine children with her. [174]

John Ford Packard, the 6th child of Barnabas and Sarah, was born in Cummington, Massachusetts in 1776. He would live until September 26, 1849, dying in Lenawee County, Michigan. He married Amity Braley (1st) and Mariah P. Compton (2nd), reportedly having twelve children. [175] The last child born to Barnabas and Sarah was Philander Packard. Born in 1778, reportedly on January 26, he died on April 24, 1861 at the age of 83. [176] He was married to Mary Polly Hill, who died on May 31, 1826 at age 46. They had one child named Royal (1804-1884). While some are right when they say, “with a name like that, he was likely to marry at all!,” it is worth noting that Philander lived without marrying for 35 years, much of his adult life, which is a bit unusual. Barnabas and Sarah may have had another daughter named Silivia (1774-1840) who died in Lenawee County, Michigan. [177]

While the lives of Barnabas and Sarah’s children are varied, the story of Barnabas is abundantly clear. With new records, we can add, and enhance the existing narrative. For one, a fence viewer was a political job for the moderately well off, in places such as Boston, and elsewhere in Massachusetts. [178] Adding to this is the description of the civil position itself. A fence viewer is a person “responsible for inspecting each resident's allotted portion of the common fence and any particular [individual] plots to see that regulations were followed” but not a surveyor or concerned with location of a property line. Hence, they try to resolve neighborly disputes within a jurisdiction.

Barnabas’s civil service is why he is a DAR “Patriot” but there there is more than just that. [179] For one, he was a moderator of a town meeting in Cummington in October 1772 (then two times in November 1773). This means he would settle within Cummington that year or the previous year. [180] Meetings continued to be held in houses of Packards through the years, including his brother Abel, and within his own dwelling. This showed that the Packard family was active in local government. He even served as a moderator of town meetings off and on from 1775 to 1780. [181] Later, he would be chosen as town clerk in 1779, when he was called a Deacon (the reason for which is not known), elected as a selectman, serving from May 1780 until March 1786, almost without interruption, and joining the committee, also in 1780. He is also given the “liberty” to sell a forge at meetings in April and May 1783. It would be at the March 10, 1783 meeting of the town in which Barnabas Packard and Benjamin Town (died in 1811) would be chosen as fence viewers. [182]

Based on records of other meetings, it does not seem that he held this position for a very long time, instead becoming a “warden” which was explained in the previous chapter. At later meetings he would decide where a town bridge would be placed, become an assessor, be part of the committee to tax, be the sealer of weights and measures, tithingsman, and surveyor of highways, along with other civil duties. [183] As discussed in the last chapter, a tithingsman seized unlicensed liquor, and recorded those who engaged in activities which manifested “debauchery, irrelgion, prophaness, & atheisme...or idleness...or rude practises of any sort.” So, this position enforced the existing social order in the town as a whole.

The later years of Barnabas’s life are not clear. There is a man of the same name who married Sarah Hewlett on May 8, 1787, within Bristol, Massachusetts, but this is not him, as he was living in Cummington in 1790, and years before. [184] Little about his life from 1790 to 1824 is known. There are two land agreements involving a Barnabas Packard of Bridgewater. It cannot be determined whether this is referring to Barnabas Packard I or his son of the same name. [185] However, there are land agreements which relate to him. One, in 1765, is between varying Packards and the Edson family,describing Barnabas as a miller, as one of three people (Abel and John Packard as the other two) to gain the estate of John Packard which was released from other Packards and related families. [186] The same year, Barnabas made a number of agreements, indicating that he lived in a corn house, and bought lands from three other Packards (John, James, and Abel), including but not limited to lands on Salisbury Plains and near the Salisbury Plains River, which abutted his grist mill.

It seems abundantly clear that none of that family were supporters of the British crown. [187] Hence, these Packards, and their extended families were supportive of the revolutionary cause. It is hard to say if this was the case of other Packard families in other parts of the state. On May 11, 1813, nine years before his death, he wrote his will, describing himself as a Christian and yeoman, saying his son Barnabas will be paid $100 dollars within a year, that his daughter Molly/Polly (married into Floyd family) will get his household furniture and great bible, and gives his son Philander all his building stock and outdoor movables, while making him the executor of the estate. [188] It would not be until May 4, 1824, about two months after his death, that Barnabas Packard I’s estate would be settled, with people trusting Philander to administer the estate. There is more than his estate. Barnabas was among those who voted in 1797 and owned a $44.50 pew. [189]

The Packards who lived in Cummington lived in a unique place. The small “farming and grazing town,” situated at the foothills of the Berkshires, is at the Western end of Hampshire County, with the affairs of the town and church “handled together at town meetings” originally, with “thriving industrial growth due to the rivers and the streams which furnished water power” in the 1800s, along with churches of varied denominations. [190] By 1830, the town’s population was only 1,200 people! To this day, the a “Packard tavern room” at the Cummington Historical Museum (within Kingman Tavern) shows that Barnabas, Adam, and Abel came there in 1772. The room has photos of William H. and Ruth Snow, described later in this book, and the Packard family crest.

One Packard, William, son of Adam (son of Abel Packard and Esther Porter), was a staunch abolitionist. During his life (1791-1870), he organized a petition asking the United States Congress to abolish slavery and the slave trade in DC. He also attended several abolition meetings in Northampton in the 1830s an 1840s, and likely helped start the Cummington abolitionist society.  "Abolition sentiment was strong in the Packard family. His uncle, Rev. Theophilus Packard (son of Abel Packard and Esther Porter), was vice president of the antislavery society in Massachusetts, in the 1830s, while William served for 44 years as “town treasurer and as clerk, and treasurer of the First Congregational society.” [191] He was a farmer barely making by, but was one of the “Cummington male citizens who influenced some of their peers to support the abolitionis[m].” To this day, the Cummington Historical Commission has contributions from William (among others) to the Boston Vigilance Committee, a letter from Jacob Norton Porter to William in 1869, and a “pocket Book belonging to William Packard.” [192] A letter to William from Jacob shows that William may have held similar sentiments:

Then to believe it was called fanaticism and to preach it was a crime to be punished with rotten eggs, tar and feather, and sometimes the halter??? What has become of all those clergymen who a few years ago were such zealous advocates of the Patriarchal institution [the slavery of Black people]?...

This sentiment for abolitionism is a breath of fresh air considering the slaveowning Packards in the past (Zachariah Packard, his wife, and children) as discussed before. Years later, Tom Packard, who would help found the Plainfield Historical Society in 1966, received a letter from Ralph Waldo Ellison and his wife Fanny on December 1, 1967, which included Ralph’s thoughts on the Black experience in America and his own beliefs. [193] This shows a connection across the generations.

Notes

[170] Gravestone of Barnabas Packard I; Gravestone of Sarah Ford Packard; gravestone of Jacob Ford; gravestone of Sarah Pool Ford. Jacob died in 1794, fighting as a private in the revolutionary war, and his wife, Sarah Pool, died in 1788.

[171] Gravestone of Barnabas Packard II; William W. Streeter and Daphne H. Morris, The Vital Records of Cummington, Massachusetts 1762-1900 (Cummington, MA: William W. Streeter, 1979), 139. Gravestones of Polley Packard Gloyd (also called Molly as some records indicate), Benjamin Gloyd, Benjamin Gloyd (son), and Sarah Gloyd Crosby.

[172] The Find A Grave entries of Ruth Nash Packard, Mary Nash Packard and Carpus Packard; William W. Streeter and Daphne H. Morris, The Vital Records of Cummington, Massachusetts 1762-1900 (Cummington, MA: William W. Streeter, 1979), 141. The entry for Ruth says the following: “Ruth was the daughter of Solomon Nash Sr. and Martha Patty Hawes.” Solomon Nash was likely this man who died in 1801.

[173] Gravestones for Nancy Packard, Mehitable Packard, Joel Packard, and Clarissa Packard; Find A Grave entries for Bartimeus Packard and Nabby Abigail Packard; William W. Streeter and Daphne H. Morris, The Vital Records of Cummington, Massachusetts 1762-1900 (Cummington, MA: William W. Streeter, 1979), 139. Entries for Hervey, Philander, Ira, Sally, Rhoda, Norton, George, Norton, Bartimeus, and Adoniram Juidson, all with the last name of Packard. Also see “Some Interesting Moments About the Pioneers of Perinton.”

[174] The information for this paragraph comes from Cyrus Packard’s Find A Grave entry, two articles attached to that entry titled “Cyrus Packard was Egypt’s “Mr. Everything”” and “Our First Supervisor Was A Tavern Keeper,” likely both within the Fairport Herald-Mail, the entry for Lucretia Packard Hannan, “Egypt Historic District,” “Egypt Historic District – The Early Years,” “Bought Land In Perinton At 20c Per Acre,” and “Fairport is 100 Years Old, Records Show.” Also see book 85, p. 210-211 within Massachusetts Land Records 1620-1686 for a land record involving him. Perinton was a town that was created in 1820 and expanding its jurisdiction. There also varied cards within this set which relate to Cyrus Packard. Cyrus was recorded in the New York, Tax Assessment Rolls of Real Personal Estates, 1799 to 1804, like his son of the same name.

[175] Gravestone and entry for John Ford Packard, Sr.

[176] Gravestones of Philander Packard, Royal L. Packard, and Mary Polly Hill Packard. Some say that Philander died on May 31, 1826, but this again was a mix-up as Philander’s wife, Mary, died on that day, not Philander.

[177] Gravestone of Silvia Packard Smith. Tried to request management rights of this entry and was denied.

[178] Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States 1492 – Present (New York: HarperCollins, 2005, Fifth Edition), 57. Full quote is “James Henretta has shown that while the rich ruled Boston, there were political jobs for the moderately well-off, as “cullers of stoves,” “measurer of coal baskets” and “fence viewer” and cites Henretta, James. “Economic Development and Social Structure of Colonial Boston,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Series, Vol. 22, Jan. 1965.

[179] Also see Family Data Collection - Births which says he was born in 1737. Family Data Collection - Individual Records notes his birth year, his parents, and birth place. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 notes his marriage to Sarah Ford on November 27, 1760. Within the Cummington Historical Museum is a framed deed involving Barnabas Packard! I tried to take a picture of this, but like other pictures I took in that room, they didn’t turn out.

[180] Town Records, Hampshire, Cummington, Massachusetts, Town Clerk and Vital Records, p. 26-29, images 21, 22, 162. These records are courtesy of Family Search.

[181] Town Records, Hampshire, Cummington, Massachusetts, Town Clerk and Vital Records, p. 32-37, 40-45, 48-53, 56-71, images 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 of 162. There are a slight periods when he is not a selectman, and some other periods, but it is mostly a constant.

[182] Town Records 1762-1860, Hampshire, Cummington, Massachusetts Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, p. 68, 72, images 42 and 44 of 162; grave of Benjamin Town. He would be chosen as a selectman.

[183] Town Records 1762-1860, Hampshire, Cummington, Massachusetts Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, p. 76-93, 96-97, 114-115, images 46, 47, 58, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 56, 65 of 162.

[184] Births, marriages, deaths, Bristol, Easton, Massachusetts Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, p. 165, image 102 of 222; RootsWeb, “Cummington, Hampshire County, MA 1790 Census Sorted By Head of Household,” accessed July 9, 2017.

[185] The first agreement is in May 1794, which entails the buying of land in Bridgewater’s South Parish. The second is an agreement between a Barnabas Packard and Jonas Leonard in March 1799.

[186] Land transaction between Jesse Edson, Lydia Edson, 1765, Edward Southworth, Abiah Southworth, Abigail Spinster, Abigail Packard Spinster, Massachusetts Land Records, Plymouth, Deeds vol 50-51, p. 183, images 483, 484 of 576; Agreement between John, Abel, and Barnabas Packard, p. 259-260, images 559, 560, 561 of 576. The first agreement could be used to “prove” that Abiah is a female and a Packard, but this does not confirm that Abiah Southworth is the same as Abiah Packard. Find A Grave does not help solve this either. More research would be needed to figure out Abiah’s gender.

[187] This is indicated by the HTML version of “The Loyalists of Massachusetts and the Other Side of the American Revolution” which does not list them (nor does this), Christopher Minty’s "“A List of Persons on Long Island”: Biography, Voluntarism, and Suffolk County’s 1778 Oath of Allegiance" in the Long Island History Journal , Charles Evans’s “Oaths of Allegiance in Colonial New England,” or varied other resources here and here.

[188] Will of Barnabas Packard I and after death, May 11, 1813 and then 1824, Probate Records Vol. 1822-1824, p. 654-657, images 351 and 352 of 393; William W. Streeter and Daphne H. Morris, The Vital Records of Cummington, Massachusetts 1762-1900 (Cummington, MA: William W. Streeter, 1979), 214, 216. He also gives to his son Polycarpus one hundred dollars to be distributed within 2 years of his death. Does the same for Bartimeas, but within 3 years. He also does this for Cyrus but within 4 years. The same goes for John Ford Packard but within 5 years.

[189] Town Records, Hampshire, Cummington, Massachusetts Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, p. 297-298 images 156 and 157 of 162, to name a few sources.

[190] “History,” Town of Cummington, 2017. Plainfield is to the north of the town and the area itself is “nearly 23 square miles, the assessed land being 13,600 acres.” As W.B. Gay writes in Part First. Gazetter of Hampshire County, Mass., 1654-1887 (Syracuse, NY: W.B. Gay & Co., 1887), Barnabas Packard was the first clerk in Cummington in 1779 (p. 223), Adam Packard opened "public house" (tavern) on Cummington Hill in 1785 (p. 228, also asserted in Only One Cummington, p. 342), with Packards living in Goshen for generations (since Joshua Packard was an early settler in Goshen in 1770), even creating a mill, and descendants still live there as 1887 (p. 225, 256, 257, 259, 262), also a Philip, John and Noah Packard are noted as living in Plainfield (p. 398, 403), and “the present farm of W. H. Packard” is mentioned (p. 406).

[191] “Four Cummington Abolitionists,” Cummington Historical Museum, accessed August 12, 2017.

[192] Within Cummington Historical Commissions's “Finding Aid for Documents, Artifacts, and Landmarks Relating to The Antislavery Movement in Cummington, MA 1764-1865,” Cummington Historical Museum, accessed August 12, 2017. It was not until 2016 that William’s “survey journal” was acquired by the Cummington Historical Museum after the town bought it, likely at an auction.

[193] Plainfield Historical Society, “Plainfield Massachusetts Historical Society 1961 Charter,” accessed August 12, 2017. The part relating to Ralph Ellison comes from p. 535 of Ralph Ellison by Arnold Rampersad. The "Tribute to Thomas Theodore Packard" within the Packard family file notes that he organized the Plainfield Historical Society in 1966.

Note: This was originally posted on August 24, 2018 on the main Packed with Packards WordPress blog (it can also be found on the Wayback Machine here). My research is still ongoing, so some conclusions in this piece may change in the future.

© 2018-2022 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[orthodoxydaily]

Saints&Reading: Tuesday, October 11, 2022

october 11_september28

THE SOBOR (ASSEMBLAGE) OF MONASTIC FATHERS, VENERATED IN THE NEARER KIEV CAVES (OF THE MONK ANTONY)

Most Holy and venerated monastic Fathers pray to God for us!

The Synaxis of Monastic Fathers who are venerated in the Near Caves of Saint Anthony, is now celebrated on September 28. This general commemoration was originally on the first Saturday after the Leave-taking of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (i.e. after September 21).

The general commemoration of the monastic Fathers of the Near Caves of Saint Anthony on the Saturday after the Leave-taking of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Venerable Cross dates to the year 1670. During the restoration of the Caves, which had been damaged by an earthquake, some of the relics of the ancient ascetics were uncovered and a church was built in honor of the Exaltation of the Venerable Cross.

In 1760 a stone church in honor of the Exaltation of the Venerable Cross was built over the Caves. In 1886, under Metropolitan Platon of Kiev, the Synaxis of the Fathers of the Near Caves was moved to September 28 because of the celebration of the Synaxis of the Saints of the Far Caves on August 28.

There are two Canons to the Monastic Fathers of the Near Caves. The first was compiled by the hieromonk Meletius the Orphan (inscribed in the Kiev Akathistnik of 1764). The second, found in the services in honor of the Fathers of the Kiev Caves, was compiled by Saint Demetrius of Rostov.

Among the Monastic Fathers of the Near Caves are:

Monk Anthony the First-Founder (July 10) Monk Abramius the Lover of Labor (August 21) Monk Abramius the Recluse (October 29) Monk Agapitus, Unmercenary Physician (June 1) Monk Alexis the Recluse (April 24) Monk Alypius the Iconographer (August 17) Martyr Anastasius the Deacon (January 22) Monk Anatolius the Recluse (July 3) Monk Arethas the Recluse (October 24) Monk Athanasius the Recluse (December 2) Igumen Barlaam (November 19) Hosiomartyrs Basil and Theodore (August 11) Venerable Chariton of Senyazemsk (no information) Hieromonk Damian the Healer (October 5) Monk Elias of Murom (December 19) Bishop Ephraim of Pereyaslavl (January 28) Monk Erasmus the Black-Robed (February 24) Martyr Eustratius (March 28) Monk Gregory the Iconographer (August 8) Martyr Gregory the Wonderworker (January 8) Monk Helladius the Recluse (October 4) Monk Isaac the Recluse (February 14) Monk Isaiah the Wonderworker (May 15) Monk Jeremiah the Clairvoyant (October 5) Monk John the Faster (December 7) John the God-pleasing (December 29) Martyr John the Infant (December 29) (commemorated with the 14,000 Infants killed at Bethlehem by Herod) Monk John the Long-Suffering (July 18) Nun Juliana, Princess of Olshansk (July 6) Hieromartyr Kuksha, Enlightener of the Vyati (August 27) Bishop Laurence the Recluse of Turov (January 29) Monk Luke the Steward (November 6) Monk Macarius (January 19) Monk Mark the Grave-digger (December 29) Monk Matthew the Clairvoyant (October 5) Venerable Menignus the Steward of the Caves (no information) Bishop Mercurius of Smolensk (August 7) Martyr Moses the Hungarian (July 26) Monk Nectarius the Obedient (November 29) Monk Nestor the Chronicler (October 27) Monk Nicholas Svyatosha, Prince of Chernigov (October 14) Monk Νikόdēmos the Prosphora-baker (October 31) Igumen Nikon (March 23) Monk Nikon the Shriveled (December 11) Bishop Niphon of Novgorod (April 8) Monk Onesimus the Recluse (October 4 and July 21) Monk Onesiphorus the Confessor (November 9) Monk Onuphrius the Silent (July 21) Monk Pimen the Faster (August 27) Monk Pimen the Much-Ailing (August 7) Archmandrite Polycarp (July 24) Monk Prochorus the Orach-eater (February 10) Monk Savva the God-pleasing (April 24) Monk Sergius the Obedient (October 7) Monk Simon, Bishop of Suzdal (May 10) Monk Sisoes the Recluse (October 24) Monk Spyridon the Prosphora-baker (October 31) Monk Sylvester the Wonderworker (January 2) Monk Theophanes the Faster (October 11) Monks Theophilus the Mourner (December 29) Monk Theophilus the Recluse (October 24) Hieromonk Titus (February 27) Twelve Master Architects of Constantinople who painted the monastery church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos (February 14)

Besides these Saints, there are thirty other Saints among the monks of the Kiev Caves, whose myrrh-producing heads were preserved. In the Service to the Monastic Fathers of the Near Caves on September 28 Saint Ephraim the Priest is mentioned (Ode 9). The hieromonk Athanasius Kalpophyisky wrote in 1638, that his incorrupt body, clothed in priestly vestments, lay opposite the relics of Saint Elias of Murom. Hieromonk Athanasius also mentions Saint Eustathius, (Ode 8), who was a goldsmith before he came to the monastery.

In the Canon of Meletius the Orphan, Saint Dionysius, Archbishop of Suzdal (June 26 and also October 15) is also mentioned. The holy hierarch was detained by the Lithuanian prince at Kiev after his consecration as Metropolitan of Moscow by the Patriarch of Constantinople. He died on October 15, 1384 and was buried in the Antoniev Cave.

Besides the monks mentioned in the Services, the hieromonk Athanasius Kalpophyisky in his Manuscript of 1638 indicated even more Saints, whose uncovered relics they venerated: Saint Hieronymos, Recluse and Wonderworker; Saint Meladius, holy Elder and Wonderworker; Saint Pergius, holy Elder; Saint Paul, a monk of remarkable obedience.

The names of the priests Saint Meletius, Saint Serapion, Saint Philaretos, Saint Peter are preserved in the old manuscript Calendars.

On May 24,1853, in one of the branches of the Near Caves, an inscription was discovered on an eleventh century crypt: “Lord, preserve Thy servants Theodosius and Theophilus. Many Years.” “The Grave of the Cave-Dweller John. Here John the sinner lived and is now.” On an oak board: “John the Cave-Dweller.” Thus the names of the new Kiev Caves Fathers: Theophilus, Theodosius and John were revealed.

There is also a general commemoration of the Monks of the Near Caves together with the Monks of the Far Caves on the second Sunday of Great Lent, when the Synaxis of all the Monastic Fathers of Kiev Caves is celebrated. The Canon of the Hieromonk Meletius the Orphan enters into the Service of that feastday (the Service to the Kiev Caves Monastic Fathers, and to all the Saints who shone forth in Little Russia, inscribed from Akathists with a Canon). The service was printed by the Kiev Caves Dormition Lavra in 1866.

Without doubt, not all the names of the Fathers of the Kiev Caves are known. In the Synaxis, all the Fathers illumined by ascetic deeds in the Caves are glorified. In the Oikos of the Service of September 28 we sing: “Who can praise Your Saints, O Good One? I try to count their number, but they are multiplied more than the sands of the sea. O Master Christ, Who have numbered the stars and named them all, grant their petitions for us...”

LUKE 5:12:16

12 And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." 13 Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And He charged him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded." 15 However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. 16 So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.

EPHESIANS 5:20-26

20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of God. 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,

[didanawisgi]

This article was published online on February 10, 2021.

“Massachusetts abolished enslavement before the Treaty of Paris brought an end to the American Revolution, in 1783. The state constitution, adopted in 1780 and drafted by John Adams, follows the Declaration of Independence in proclaiming that all “men are born free and equal.” In this statement Adams followed not only the Declaration but also a 1764 pamphlet by the Boston lawyer James Otis, who theorized about and popularized the familiar idea of “no taxation without representation” and also unequivocally asserted human equality. “The Colonists,” he wrote, “are by the law of nature free born, as indeed all men are, white or black.” In 1783, on the basis of the “free and equal” clause in the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution, the state’s chief justice, William Cushing, ruled enslavement unconstitutional in a case that one Quock Walker had brought against his enslaver, Nathaniel Jennison.

Many of us who live in Massachusetts know the basic outlines of this story and the early role the state played in standing against enslavement. But told in this traditional way, the story leaves out another transformative figure: Prince Hall, a free African American and a contemporary of John Adams. From his formal acquisition of freedom, in 1770, until his death, in 1807, Hall helped forge an activist Black community in Boston while elevating the cause of abolition to new prominence. Hall was the first American to publicly use the language of the Declaration of Independence for a political purpose other than justifying war against Britain. In January 1777, just six months after the promulgation of the Declaration and nearly three years before Adams drafted the state constitution, Hall submitted a petition to the Massachusetts legislature (or General Court, as it is styled) requesting emancipation, invoking the resonant phrases and founding truths of the Declaration itself.

Here is what he wrote (I’ve put the echoes of the Declaration of Independence in italics):

The petition of A Great Number of Blackes detained in a State of Slavery in the Bowels of a free & christian Country Humbly shuwith that your Petitioners Apprehend that Thay have in Common with all other men a Natural and Unaliable Right to that freedom which the Grat — Parent of the Unavese hath Bestowed equalley on all menkind and which they have Never forfuted by Any Compact or Agreement whatever — but thay wher Unjustly Dragged by the hand of cruel Power from their Derest frinds and sum of them Even torn from the Embraces of their tender Parents — from A popolous Plasant And plentiful cuntry And in Violation of Laws of Nature and off NationsAnd in defiance of all the tender feelings of humanity Brough hear Either to Be sold Like Beast of Burthen & Like them Condemnd to Slavery for Life.

In this passage, Hall invokes the core concepts of social-contract theory, which grounded the American Revolution, to argue for an extension of the claim to equal rights to those who were enslaved. He acknowledged and adopted the intellectual framework of the new political arrangements, but also pointedly called out the original sin of enslavement itself.

Hall’s memory was vigorously kept alive by members and archivists of the Masonic lodge he founded, and his name can be found in historical references. But his life has attracted fresh attention in recent years from scholars and community leaders, both because he deserves to be widely known and celebrated and because inserting his story into the tale of the country’s founding exemplifies the promise of an integrated way of studying and teaching history. It’s hard enough to shine new light on an African American figure who has been long in the shadows, one who in important ways should be considered an American Founder. It can prove far more difficult to trace an individual’s “relationship tree” and come to understand that person, in a granular and even cinematic way, in the full context of his or her own society: family, school, church, civic organizations, commerce, government. Doing so—especially for figures and communities that have been overlooked—gives us a chance to tell a whole story, to weave together multiple perspectives on the events of our political founding into a single, joined tale. It also provides an opportunity to draw out and emphasize the agency of people who experienced oppression and domination. In the case of Prince Hall, the process of historical reconstruction is still under way.

When I was a girl, I used to ask what there was to know about the experience of being enslaved—and was told by kind and well-meaning teachers that, sadly, the lack of records made the question impossible to answer. In fact, the records were there; we just hadn’t found them yet. Historical evidence often turns up only when one starts to look for it. And history won’t answer questions until one thinks to ask them.

John Adams and Prince Hall would have passed each other on the streets of Boston. They almost certainly were aware of each other. Hall was no minor figure, though his early days and family life are shrouded in some mystery. Probably he was born in Boston in 1735 (not in England or Barbados, as some have suggested). It is possible that he lived for a period as a freeman before he was formally emancipated. He may have been one of the thousands of African Americans who fought in the Continental Army; his son, Primus, certainly was. As a freeman, Hall became for a time a leatherworker, passed through a period of poverty, and then ultimately ran a shop, from which he sold, among other things, his own writings advocating for African American causes. Probably he was not married to every one of the five women in Boston who were married to someone named Prince Hall in the years between 1763 and 1804, but he may have been. Whether he was married to Primus’s mother, a woman named Delia, is also unclear. Between 1780 and 1801, the city’s tax collectors found their way to some 1,184 different Black taxpayers. Prince Hall and his son appear in those tax records for 15 of those 21 years, giving them the longest period of recorded residence in the city of any Black person we know about in that era. The DePaul University historian Chernoh M. Sesay Jr.’s excellent dissertation, completed in 2006, provides the most thorough and rigorously analyzed academic review of Hall’s biography that is currently available. (The dissertation, which I have drawn on here, has not yet been published in full, but I hope it will be.)

Hall was a relentless petitioner, undaunted by setbacks. When Hall submitted his 1777 petition, co-signed by seven other free Black men, to the Massachusetts legislature, he was building on the efforts of other African Americans in the state to abolish enslavement. In 1773 and 1774, African Americans from Bristol and Worcester Counties as well as Boston and its neighboring towns put forward six known petitions and likely more to this end. Hall led the formation of the first Black Masonic lodge in the Americas, and possibly in the world. The purpose of forming the lodge was to provide mutual aid and support and to create an infrastructure for advocacy. Fourteen men joined Hall’s lodge almost surely in 1775, and in the years from then until 1784, records reveal that 51 Black men participated in the lodge. Through the lodge’s history, one can trace a fascinating story of the life of Boston’s free Black community in the final decades of the 18th century.

Why did Hall choose Freemasonry as one of his life’s passions? Alonza Tehuti Evans, a former historian and archivist of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, took up that question in a 2017 lecture. Hall and his fellow lodge members, he explained, recognized that many of the influential people in Boston—and throughout the colonies—were deeply involved in Freemasonry. George Washington is a prominent example, and symbolism that resonates with Masonic meaning adorns the $1 bill to this day. Hall saw entrance into Freemasonry as a pathway to securing influence and a network of supporters.

Hall submitted a petition to the Massachusetts legislature requesting emancipation, invoking the resonant phrases and founding truths of the Declaration of Independence.

In a world without stable passports or identification documents, participation in the order could provide proof of status as a free person. It offered both leverage and legitimacy—as when Prince Hall and members of his lodge, in 1786, offered to raise troops to support the commonwealth in putting down Shays’s Rebellion.

In the winter and spring of 1788, Hall was leading a charge in Boston against enslavers who made a practice of using deception or other means to kidnap free Black people, take them shipboard, and remove them to distant locations, where they would be sold into enslavement. He submitted a petition to the Massachusetts legislature seeking aid—asking legislators to “do us that justice that our present condition requires”—and publicized his petition in newspapers in Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.

In the summer of that year, a newspaper circulated an extract of a letter from a prominent white Bostonian who had assisted Hall on this very matter. The unnamed author of the letter reports that he had been visited by a group of free Black men who had been kidnapped in Boston and had recently been emancipated and returned to the city. They were escorted to his house by Hall, and they told the story of their emancipation. One of the men who had been kidnapped was a member of Hall’s Masonic lodge. Carried off to the Caribbean and put on the auction block, the kidnapped men found that the merchant to whom they were being offered was himself a Mason. Mutual recognition of a shared participation in Freemasonry put an end to the transaction and gave them the chance to recover their freedom.

Prince Hall’s work on abolition and its enforcement was just the beginning of a lifetime of advocacy. Disillusioned by how hard it was to secure equal rights for free Black men and women in Boston, he submitted a petition to the Massachusetts legislature seeking funds to assist him and other free Blacks in emigrating to Africa. That same year, he also turned his energies to advocating for resources for public education. Through it all, his Masonic membership proved both instrumental and spiritually valuable.

Founding the lodge had not been easy. Although Hall and his fellows were most likely inducted into Freemasonry in 1775, they were never able to secure a formal charter for their lodge from the other lodges in Massachusetts: Prejudice ran strong. Hall and his fellows had in fact probably been inducted by members of an Irish military lodge, planted in Boston with the British army, who had proved willing to introduce them to the mysteries of the order. Hall’s lodge functioned as an unofficial Masonic society—African Lodge No. 1—but received a formal charter only after a request was sent to England for a warrant. The granting of a charter by the Grand Lodge of England finally arrived in 1787.

In seeking this charter, Hall had written to Masons in England, lamenting that lodges in Boston had not permitted him and his fellows a full charter but had granted a permit only to “walk on St John’s Day and Bury our dead in form which we now enjoy.” Hall wanted full privileges, not momentary sufferance. In this small detail, though, we gain a window into just how important even the first steps toward Masonic privileges were. In the years before 1783 and full abolition of enslavement in Massachusetts, Black people in the state were subjected to intensive surveillance and policing, as enslavers sought to keep their human property from slipping away into the world of free Blacks. Membership in the Masons was like a hall pass—an opportunity to have a parade as a community, to come out and step high, without harassment. That’s what it meant to walk on Saint John’s Day—June 24—and to hold funeral parades for the dead.

Whether that stepping-out day remained June 24 is unclear. As Sesay writes, “Boston blacks, including Prince Hall, first applied to use Faneuil Hall in 1789 to hear an ‘African preacher.’ On February 25, 1789, the Selectmen accepted the application of blacks to use Faneuil Hall for ‘public worship.’ ” By 1820, the walk on Saint John’s Day appears to have become African Independence Day and was celebrated on July 14, Bastille Day, much to the displeasure of at least one newspaper. An unattributed column in the New-England Galaxy and Masonic Magazine complained about the annual parade in recognizably racist tones (the mention of “Wilberforce” at the end is a reference to William Wilberforce, the British campaigner against enslavement):

This is the day on which, for unaccountable reasons or for no reasons at all, the Selectmen of Boston, permit the town to be annually disturbed by a mob of negroes … The streets through which this sable procession passes are a scene of noise and confusion, and always will be as long as the thing is tolerated. Quietness and order can hardly be expected, when five or six hundred negroes, with a band of music, pikes, swords, epaulettes, sashes, cocked hats, and standards, are marching through the principal streets. To crown this scene of farce and mummery, a clergyman is mounted in their pulpit to harangue them on the blessings of independence, and to hold up for their admiration the characters of “Masser Wilberforce and Prince Hall.”

Well after Hall’s death, the days for stepping out continued in Boston—an expression of freedom and the claiming of a rightful place in the polity. The lodge that Hall founded continued too. It is the oldest continuously active African American association in the U.S., with chapters now spread around the country. Its work in support of public education has endured. In the 20th century the Prince Hall Freemasons made significant contributions to the NAACP, in many places hosting the first branches of the organization. In the 1950s alone, the group donated more than $400,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (equivalent to millions of dollars today). Thurgood Marshall was a member.

for all of what we now know to be Prince Hall’s importance, I learned of him only recently. In 2015 the National Archives held a conference about the Declaration of Independence, inspired by my own research on the document. At the conference, another colleague presented a paper on how abolitionists had been the first people to make use of the Declaration for political projects other than the Revolution itself. A few months earlier I had come across the passage from Hall’s 1777 petition that I shared above, and that so beautifully resonates with the Declaration; at that conference, I suddenly learned the important political context in which it fit. I had published a book on the Declaration of Independence—Our Declaration—in 2014, but until the spring of 2015, I had never heard of Hall.

Yet I have been studying African American history since childhood. When I was in high school, my school didn’t do anything to celebrate Black History Month. My father encouraged me to take matters into my own hands and propose to the school that I might curate a weekly exhibit on one of the school’s bulletin boards. The school was obliging. It offered me the one available bulletin board—in a dark corner in the farthest remove of the school’s quads. This was not the result of malice, just of a lack of attention to the stakes. But I was glad to have access to that bulletin board, and I dutifully filled it with pictures of people like Carter G. Woodson and Mary McLeod Bethune and Thurgood Marshall, and with excerpts from their writings.

I am deeply aware of how much historical treasure about Black America is hidden, and have been actively trying to seek it out. While I was on the faculty of the University of Chicago, I helped found the Black Metropolis Research Consortium, a network of archival organizations in Chicago dedicated to connecting “all who seek to document, share, understand and preserve Black experiences.” And while I was at Chicago—somewhat in the spirit of that old bulletin board—I curated an exhibit for the special-collections department of the campus library on the 45 African Americans who’d earned a doctorate at the university prior to 1940—the largest number of doctorates awarded to African Americans up to that time by any institution in the world. Even so, I had not known about Prince Hall.

Having discovered Hall at the ridiculous age of 43, I have since made it a mission to teach others about him. At Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, we have undertaken a major initiative to develop civic-education curricula and resources. Among the largest projects is a year-long eighth-grade course called “Civic Engagement in Our Democracy.” One of the units in that course is centered on Hall’s life. Through him and his exploration of the meaning of social contracts and natural rights, and of opportunity and equality, we teach the philosophical foundations of democracy, reaching through Hall to texts that he also drew on, and whose authors are required reading for eighth graders in Massachusetts—for instance, Aristotle, Locke, and Montesquieu. These writers and thinkers were important figures to Freemasons in Hall’s time.

Too much treasure remains buried, living mainly in oral histories, not yet integrated into our full shared history of record. That history can strike home in unexpected ways. Not long ago, I was talking with my father about Prince Hall and the curriculum we were developing. His ears pricked up. Only then did I learn that my grandfather, too, had been a member of the Prince Hall Freemasons.”

This article appears in the March 2021 print edition with the headline “A Forgotten Founder.”

DANIELLE ALLEN is a political philosopher and the James Bryant Conant University Professor at Harvard. She is the author of Talking to Strangers, Our Declaration, and Cuz.

[europeanamericans]

Daguerreotypes of American Revolutionary soldiers and others. 

From top down:

Samuel Downing

In 1780, at the age of 15, Samuel Downing joined the Continental Army. He served with the 2nd New Hampshire Regiment guarding forts on the New York frontier. (November 30, 1761 - February 18, 1867)

Lemuel Cook

Veteran of the American Revolution, oldest survivor at the time of his death at 106 years, and candidate for consideration as the last surviving veteran of the conflict. Cook was also one of eleven select few survivors to have his documented image preserved through photographic means. His Revolutionary War service is proved through original pension roll documentation. At the age of sixteen, he enlisted in the Continental Army and fought in the Virginia Campaign against Cornwallis. He served as a Private in the 2nd Light Dragoons Connecticut Regiment. On June 12, 1784, he received an Honorable Discharge which was signed by George Washington. (September 10, 1759 - May 20, 1866)

Alexander Millener Enlisted as a drummer boy who served in Gen. Washington’s Life Guard unit. He was a favorite of Washington’s, often playing at his personal request. Was at the British surrender at Yorktown: 'The British soldiers looked down-hearted. When the order came to "ground arms," one of them exclaimed, with an oath, "You are not going to have my gun!" and threw it violently on the ground, and smashed it.' (March 14, 1760 - March 13, 1865)

Ralph Farnham

102 years old when photographed, Farnham was a farmer from Maine who joined the Revolution in 1775. He was supposed to be at the Battle of Bunker Hill, but his colonel misunderstood the orders so Farnham and his compatriots arrived when the fighting was over and Americans were in retreat. (July 7, 1756 - December 9, 1860)

Albert Gallatin

Born in Geneva, Switzerland, Gallatin served as a volunteer under Col. John Allan, commander of the fort of Machias in Maine, according to his obituary. He later served three terms in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He also became the Secretary of the Treasury, served as the U.S. Minister to France and helped to established New York University. (January 29, 1761 - August 12, 1849)

John Jay

Born near George Washington’s estate at Mount Vernon, Gray joined the army at 17 and served at the Battle of Yorktown. According to his biographer, Gray claimed that he was one of Washington’s favorite soldiers. (January 6, 1764 - March 29, 1868)

Noah Callender

Callender didn’t serve in the military, but as a child, he accompanied his father Amos Callender during an attack on Ticonderoga on May 10, 1775. (Feb 1768 - August 19, 1851) Aged 83 years and 6 months.

Abraham Wheelwright

In 1776, Wheelwright joined an infantry regiment and helped fortify Dorchester Heights. He crossed the Delaware River and fought at the Battle of Trenton and later at Princeton, finally wintering at Morristown before his discharge in 1777. (July 26, 1757 - October 14, 1850)

Jabez Ellis

Jabez Ellis served as a private from his home colony in Connecticut. He later became a prosperous businessman and philanthropist. He also served in the Vermont Legislature in 1815 and 1817.

Adam Link:

Adam Link enlisted in 1777 at the age of 16, serving in a variety of Pennsylvania units. He later became a farmer and died at the age of 102. (November 14, 1761 - August 15, 1864 (aged 102)

[ltwilliammowett]

Admiral Francis Holburne (1704–1771), and his Son, Sir Francis (1752–1820), 4th Baronet by Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792)

Admiral Francis Holburne was the second son of Sir James Holburne of Menstrie, entered the navy in 1720 as a volunteer on board the St. Albans; passed his examination on 28 Jan. 1725/ 6; on 12 Dec. 1727 was promoted to be lieutenant, and took post from 14 July 1739. In 1740 he commanded the Dolphin frigate in the Channel and North Sea. In 1745/6 he commanded the Argyle in the West Indies, and in December 1747 was appointed to the Kent in the Channel and the Bay of Biscay. In September 1748 he exchanged into the Bristol, but was almost immediately afterwards moved into the Tavistock, a worn-out 50-gun ship, in which he was sent to the Leeward Islands as commodore and commander-in-chief. His principal work was diplomatic rather than naval. By the terms of the treaty of 1684 Tobago was neutralised; but early in 1749 it came to Holburne's knowledge that M. de Caylus, the governor of Martinique, had established a fortified post there. As his whole squadron consisted of one rotten ship of 50 guns and two equally rotten 20-gun frigates, it was impossible for him to prevent this by force. He knew that de Caylus, who was a naval officer, was aware of this; but upon Holburne's remonstrances the fortifications were dismantled and the garrison withdrawn. Holburne returned to England in 1752. On 5 Feb. 1755 he was promoted to be rear-admiral of the blue, and in the following May, with his flag in the Terrible, he sailed with a strong squadron to reinforce Boscawen, whom he met off Louisbourg on 21 June, and with whom he returned to England in November. In 1756, with his flag still in the Terrible, he commanded in the third post in the fleet under Hawke or Boscawen off Brest and in the Bay of Biscay, and in the following January sat as a member of the court-martial on Admiral Byng. On 24 Feb. 1757 he was promoted to be vice-admiral of the blue, and after many delays sailed from Cork on 7 May with a fleet of ships of war and transports intended for the reduction of Louisbourg, which had been restored to the French by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. It was not, however, till 9 July that the expedition reached Halifax; the French had taken advantage of the delay to strengthen the garrison and collect a numerous fleet, and Holburne, in consultation with the general, the Earl of Loudoun, decided that nothing could be done without more force. As the season, however, wore on, he determined to parade his fleet before Louisbourg, possibly in the hope that the French would accept his challenge. Their effective strength, however, was terribly reduced by a pestilence, and they remained in port; but while Holburne waited on the coast his fleet was caught on the night of 24 Sept. by a violent storm, which drove some of the ships on shore, and wholly or in part dismasted almost all. After such refit as was possible Holburne returned to England, where he arrived in the beginning of December. A few days later he was appointed to the command in chief at Portsmouth, a charge which he held, either continuously or more probably with a break, for the very unusual term of eight years, the latter part of the time being enlivened by a curious inquiry into an alleged plot in November 1764 to set fire to all the dockyards. The several commanders-in-chief and resident commissioners were ordered to investigate the matter; but this was done with the utmost secrecy, and the report cannot now be found. On 5 Aug. 1767 Holburne attained the rank of admiral of the blue, and of admiral of the white on 28 Oct. 1770; about the same time he was appointed rear-admiral of Great Britain. He was one of the lords of the admiralty from February 1770 to January 1771, when he accepted the post of governor of Greenwich Hospital, in which he died 15 July 1771.

His Son here in a Midshipman Uniform, joined the army in 1809, was commissioned in the 3rd Foot Guards, fought under Wellington through the Peninsular Campaign and died of wounds after a skirmish near Bayonne 1814.