Mystery Monday: Two Gula Brothers Marry the Same Woman - Mary Smey

Ok, ladies I have a question for you.  Would you ever marry your brother-in-law?  If you would, I suggest you not tell your husband.  It would likely start a nasty fight.

This is the story of two brothers:  Stefan "Steve" and "Nat" Gula and "their" wife, Maria "Mary" Smey.  These two brothers are my great grand uncles.  Steve and Nat were born in the small village of Wolowiec in present day southern Poland.  Records show that Steve was born on November 10, 1880 and that Nat was born about 1891.  Mary was born about 1883.  I am not sure where Mary was born, but likely she was Rusyn and was born close to where the Gula's originated.

Steve immigrated to the US in 1899.   His original destination was listed as Cleveland, OH.  Not clear how long he spent there, but he did eventually return to Wolowiec for a time.  He married Mary sometime prior to 1907 and returned from Wolowiec on August 14, 1907.  He and Mary lived for a time in Ansonia, Connecticut.  

Steve and Mary had 5 children:  John "Iwan", Peter, Joseph, Michael and Stephen.

In the 1920 US Census, Steve Gula is listed as an invalid.  He died on December 6, 1921.  In a death notice it states he was ill for 8 years prior to his death and died when only 42 years old.  

When Steve Gula died all of his children were all still quite young.  I am sure his death was a devastating blow to the family.  In the 1920's it would have been very difficult for a woman with small children to support the family.  Even prior to Steve's death things must have been tough financially.  Steve and Mary's oldest son, John, had been living in Wolowiec with an uncle (Teodor Smij) since he was an infant.  John would have never really known his father as he didn't return to the US until after his father died.  Also, since Steve had been unable to work they had taken on 4 or 5 boarders (according to the 1920 US Census).  

On Nov 24, 1923, Mary Smey Gula remarried Nat Gula.  There was obvious financial need for her to remarry and to do so quickly.  But did they fall in love?  Did Nat feel a responsibility to support his sister-in-law and nephews?  Was there some necessity?

Nat Gula and Mary had at least 4 children of their own:  William, George, Harry and Mary.

Mary died March 23, 1936 at only 53 years old.

Nat lived to be 71 years old and died October 27, 1962.

When I started my research into the Gula brothers which included my great grandfather, George Gula, I had no idea about the Steve and Nat "sharing" a wife.  When I found obituaries from Steve and Nat's children I was getting confused because they all mentioned Mary as their mother, but the names of the father would differ.   I had thought this was some sort of variance do the americanized name versus the Rusyn or original name.  I was quite shocked when a distant cousin corrected me and told me that the brothers had both married Mary.   I had never considered that possibility.

The realities are that even though the marrying a brother-in-law wasn't common, it may have been a financial and even cultural necessity in some cases.  This sort of marriage situation is even addressed in the Bible and is referred to as a Levirate Marriage.  This type of marriage is an obligation on a brother to marry his brother's widow.  It was seen as protection of the brother's widow and family and was common in tight, close ethnic groups.

Sentimental Sunday: Peter Bishop's First Wife - Elizabeth Godfrey?

My 5th great grandfather was Deacon Peter Bishop.  He was born in New London, CT on August 6, 1735.

Around 1755, he married David Godfrey's daughter in Connecticut.  We don't know much about Peter's first wife, we are not even sure of her name.  She is usually referred to as "daughter Godfrey" or "[blank] Godfrey".  My understanding is that the vital records from New London were lost in a fire during the American Revolutionary War.  So we may never know her true name.  Her grandmother's name was Elizabeth and it seems likely that she may have been named Elizabeth in honor of her mother.  I will refer to her as Elizabeth.

Peter and Elizabeth had at least 4 children all born in Connecticut:

• Simeon Bishop (1755-1756)
• Elizabeth Bishop (1757 - ?)
• Lemuel Bishop (1758-1759)
• William Bishop (1759-1833)

In the early 1760's Peter's father, John Bishop was awarded land in Horton, Nova Scotia.  He was to be one of the original "Planters" of Nova Scotia.  The English had pushed the French out of the area and they were looking to for new colonists to establish the Nova Scotia under British rule.  The call went out to the New England states looking for immigrants.  Many families from Connecticut took this opportunity to get free or inexpensive land including my ancestors:  The Godfrey's & The Fullers.

John Bishop came to Nova Scotia with his sons (John, Peter, William and Timothy) and their families.  Each was awarded a share of land in Horton equal to at least 500 acres.

It is believed that Elizabeth Godfrey arrived in Horton, but died soon after she moved to Canada.  I have not been able to find her exact date of death or where she is buried.

I am descended from Peter and Elizabeth's daughter, Elizabeth Bishop.  She married Noah Fuller.  It was important to me to dig into her history and find out as much as I could about her for many reasons, but the one that will resonate with many genealogical searchers is that Elizabeth Godfrey is my link to  Mayflower pilgrim, Stephen Hopkins.  More about that connection in future posts.

Of Peter and Elizabeth's children only Elizabeth Bishop Fuller and William Bishop had children and lived long enough to carry on the Hopkins lineage.

To see more about proving the existence of Elizabeth Godfrey and the connection to David Godfey, see my post David Godfrey's Will Proved

Peter Bishop remarried in 1763 to Phebe Hamilton.  Together they had 10-12 children.  Below is a the Horton Township record of Peter Bishop and Phebe's offspring.

Peter Bishop died April 8, 1825 and is buried in the Old Burying Ground in Wolfville, Nova Scotia (the modern name for Horton Township).

Will Wednesday - Andrew Simonton's Will (Died 1744)

Andrew Simonton was my 6th great grandfather.  He was believed to have been born in
Argyleshire, Scotland about 1663.

He came to the Portland, Maine area (at the time known as Falmouth) as part of the migration that took place in the 1820's.  I am not sure exactly when he arrived.  He died April 1744.

I am descended from his daughter, Christian Simonton, who married William White.  This Will is a great proof point that the Christian Simonton who married William White was Andrew's daughter.  Never hurts to have proof of family relationships.

Here are the details of Andrew Simonton's Will:

In the name of God, amen, I, Andrew Simonton, of Falmouth in the County of York New England - Yeoman, being weak of body, but of sound judgement blessed by God, considering the frailty of my nature, do make this my last Will & testament renouncing and making void heretofore made. 

Imprimis, I commit my soul to God which gave it hope at the Resurrection to receive immortal glory and my body to be buried in a descent manner at the discretion of my executrix hereafter named. 

Second, I give my dear and loving wife, Ann Simonton, my executrix & during her natural life, she shall have the improvement of all & singular of my estate.
Item, I give unto my well beloved son, William Simonton, my part or portion of all ye farm I now dwell on to him and his heirs forever.
Item, I give to my loving son, Walter Simonton, ten pounds old tenor.
Item, I give to my loving son, Andrew Simonton, ten pounds old tenor.
Item, I give to my loving daughter, Christian White, ten pounds old tenor.  I order my loving wife at her death to order & dispose of the rest of all my estate real & personal among my children to all above written.  I have hereunto signed, sealed published & declared this to be my last Will & testament witness this 25th day of April in the year of our sovereign King George annoq Domini 1744.   

Witnessed 

Archebal Dowglass
William Simonton
James Noble 

Probated 9 August 1744

Source:  Maine Wills: 1640-1760, Maine Historical Society, p. 490

Tech Tuesday - AncestryDNA Review

The Good, The Bad and the Frustrating.  My experience with AncestryDNA.

I was one of the early guinea pigs to pay to try Ancestry.com's latest DNA service, AncestryDNA.   The new offering really appealed to me for several reasons, but the most compelling was the ability to find male and female relatives through Ancestry.com's new process of being able to tell the degree of relationship between you and other people pursuing their family histories.  As anyone who has read my blog will notice, I have dug deep into my family history and continue to find great stories.   There is one line in my family which has been a total mystery to me, my father's father's family.  My father was adopted.  I have uncovered his mother and have been researching his mother's family.  However, there is no record of his father.  AncestryDNA may be the only chance I have to try to track down any connection to my dad's father's family.

So I do have high hopes for the results from AncestryDNA.

The Good

Taking the test is very easy.  They send you a kit with explicit instructions on how to provide a "sample" to send to them.   You collect saliva and gently drool or spit it into a vial that you send back to Ancestry.com.  It sounds a lot grosser than it is.  Then you wait.

It took a little over a month to get my results.  I think it may be faster now.  My results came back July 11, 2012.  I immediately followed the link to the results on Ancestry.com and linked my results to one of my several family trees.  

The results were interesting.  

They showed that my DNA indicated that I was 45% Eastern European, 40% Scandinavian and 15% Central European.  My research indicates that my mother's family was from present day Poland/Ukraine (which would count as Eastern European) and Germany (which would count as Central European).  The results seem to capture this part of my ancestry, but I am not sure I understand the percentages.  

But what about the 40% Scandinavian heritage?  The part of my father's family I am aware of is almost exclusively English, Scottish and Irish.  Not a 6'5" tall, blond anywhere to be found.  My DNA was telling me that I had no lineage from the British Isles.   Regardless of my research, I knew I had a British lineage.  My dad had very red hair and as as family, we don't tan very well.  Where else could we be from?  

As it turns out this is a common complaint about the AncestryDNA results.  There have been quite a number of people who have received their DNA results that believe them to be in error, because they know they have British heritage and the DNA results state Scandinavian.  

An interesting fact about the history of Great Britain is that it was invaded multiple times by the Vikings in 8th and 9th centuries.  The good folks at AncestryDNA use the instances of Viking influence in the British Isles to explain the results.  I guess I have to trust them on this, but it does sound unlikely.  I must have 100's or 1,000's of British ancestors and the fact that most or all of them were of Scandinavian descent seems unlikely.   Of course, I don't know about my dad's birth father, so that is a wildcard to my DNA.

Another good thing about the AncestryDNA results.......are they keep coming.  Almost daily, I can see that there are additional people that show up on Ancestry.com as being DNA relatives.  Since July 2012, close to 400 DNA matches have appeared.  

The Bad

AncestryDNA is supposed to help you connect with unknown relatives.  Ok.  Where are the close relatives?  

I don't expect a long lost brother to show up, but someone that I can connect to my family somehow.

Of those 400 DNA matches, about 120 were better than 8th cousins.  These matches are described as being "moderate confidence" of a match.  To put that in perspective, it would mean that as 5th cousins that we share a great-great-great-great grandparent.  

As it turns out most people haven't been able to complete their family trees to their great-great-great-great grandparents.  So it is very difficult to find how are families are connected.  I am sure I am not the only one to experience this.

My closest DNA match results are 4th cousins.  I have 8 of those matches.   We share a great-great-great grandparent.  Of those 8 "close" matches, I haven't been able to find any genealogy evidence of family connections.

Out of the 400 matches, I have found exactly ONE DNA match that I can connect to my family.  I share
Thomas Woodbury with that person, our 7th great grandfather.  

The Frustrating

I am disappointed with not finding any close relatives, but it is ongoing and I have hope that a breakthrough will come.  I will update this post when and if I find any great matches.

My frustration has more to do with how other Ancestry.com members "use" their AncestryDNA results.  

It seems reasonable to assume anyone who pays to get their DNA information will be interested with finding and potentially connecting with unknown relatives.  If so, they aren't making it easy.

Matches

• Private Family Trees - I see I have new DNA matches, but they have made their family trees private. Only the tree owner or people they invite to see their family trees can see them.  So I can't see how we are related.  I can send them a message and they may invite me to view their tree, but since most of the DNA results haven't had a known connection, I don't want to be sending 100 or so requests to strangers to see their trees.  It gets a bit unmanageable.  
• Small Family Trees - I have been seeing a lot of trees with DNA results with less than 12 people in them!!  With completed family trees this small you are only going to connect with people you know. Not sure the purpose of participating in AncestryDNA with a tree this small.  I have two 4th cousin matches where one tree has 4 people and another has 16 people.  I can suspect where we are related, but I almost feel compelled to do research for them to complete their family trees so we can prove some kinship.
• No Family Trees - Ok, having 4 people in a tree is not optimal, but some people have NO TREES!  Ugh!  Nothing attached to their DNA results.  One of my 4th cousins.....no tree.  Nothing.  Very frustrating.  In some cases, they have trees, but haven't associated the DNA results to any of their family trees.  
• No Response to Messages - Since I have about 400 DNA matches, I don't try to contact everyone. I try to target the ones that seem likely to be closely related.  I have contacted all of my 4th cousin matches.  Of those 8, I have received responses from 3.  Now, not everyone is as interested in connecting with relatives as I may be, but it does seem to be the reason why you would participate in AncestryDNA.  It is possible that many participants are only interested in connecting with 2nd or 3rd cousins and aren't interested in connecting with someone so distantly related.  Who knows.

Overall

My overall assessment is I am glad I am participating in AncestryDNA and that I expect that eventually an amazing match will emerge.  The one that will open up some incredible insights into the family history.

Everyone's results will vary, so your experience could be very different from mine.

AncestryDNA does have it drawbacks, but the offering is still fairly new and I have faith that the good folks at Ancestry.com will continue to improve and enhance it.

My suggestion to Ancestry.com would be to provide guidance to AncestryDNA participants about how to get the most out of their DNA results.  Everyone's DNA experience could be improved if they made their family trees public and they be open to connecting and corresponding to other DNA matches.

If you decided to take the DNA plunge, good luck!  

You never know, maybe we are related.

Mystery Monday - How are the Purcell's of Utica related to the McGraw's of Syracuse ?

This is a mystery I haven't solved, yet.

We know that Patrick Purcell arrived in Utica, NY about 1850 and lived their until his death.  When he arrived the family lore indicates that he lived with some relatives.  But who?

We know that at least three of his sisters also arrived from Ireland and lived in central NY, but I suspect they arrived a few years after he became established.

To be honest, I hadn't spent a lot of time contemplating this mystery until I came upon a newspaper that mentioned that Miss Margaret Purcell and Mrs John Lynch (Patrick's sister, Julia Purcell) attended the ordination of Reverend John McGrath of Syracuse in Troy in May, 1896.

This caught my attention.  Troy is about 90 miles from Utica and a multi-day journey by horse or possibly a half day by train (assuming there was a train that connected Utica and Troy).  My point being is that not a trip someone would undertake lightly.   Not likely you would make that kind of trip for a friend.  Most likely a relative...probably a first cousin at most.

I conducted some research on Rev John McGrath.  Nothing.

I tried to find the ordination class of Troy in 1896 and did uncover that the Utica NY paper had published the name incorrectly.  It wasn't Rev. John McGrath it was John McGraw.   It is my understanding that in Irish that McGrath is pronounced like McGraw and this may explain why John's family adopted the McGraw spelling.

I have been able to uncover a little bit about John McGraw's family, but not the connection between the two families.

John McGraw (1870-1935) was son of Philip McGraw (1844-1922) and Margaret (last name unknown).  Both Philip and Margaret were born in Ireland, so it seems likely that the Purcell family is related to Margaret's family.  Not only did John become a priest, but so did his brother, James (1876-1938).  In addition, John had two sisters:  Mary McGraw and Margaret McGraw.

Margaret died unmarried inn 1951.

Mary McGraw (1875 - 1941) married David Burke in 1895.  Together they had 11 children:  David, Thomas, Edward, Francis, Mary, Joseph, Ambrose, Alice, Vincent, Philip and Margaret.

Another indication of the relationship between the McGraws and the Purcells is from an Syracuse newspaper personal section which stated, "Miss Ellen Purcell (Patrick Purcell's daughter) of Utica is the guest of Miss Margaret McGraw".

My recent efforts to trace the Purcell family back to their roots in Tipperary, Ireland.  As you will note from previous posts on the Purcell family, they are said to be from Upperchurch, near Thurles in Tipperary.  However, when reaching out to genealogical resources in that area of Tipperary, they haven't had any luck finding any records for Patrick's family.  

I have turned some of my research efforts to find where Philip McGraw and his wife Margaret may be from in Ireland to see if this provides more hints of the origins of the Utica, NY Purcells.

If you have any information about the McGraw's of Syracuse, please email me.

The search continues....

Veteran's Day - James A Kurtz WWII Bombing Missions

My great uncle, James Albert Kurtz was 2^nd Lieutenant in the 57^th Bomb Wing, 310^th Bomber Group, 381^st squadron.  He flew in 27 missions before he died in a training flight over Tunisia, North Africa on November 4, 1943.  I was able to uncover the records of his missions, their targets and their results and I want to capture them here to honor his war service.

James Kurtz was born on September 5, 1918.  He enlisted in the Army Air Force on September 16, 1939 and graduated from the cadets at Maxwell Field, Alabama January 14, 1943, where he was commissioned as a 2^nd Lieutenant.  He was sent overseas in April 1943.   He was a co-pilot in B-25 bombers based in Oudna, Tunisia. 

Here is a listing of missions that he conducted (I am missing a few, but this is nearly comprehensive):

1.       Milis Airdrome, Sardinia 7-7-1943

18 B-25’s escorted by 36 P-38’s went on a bombing run over Sardinia, Italy.  There was heavy flak.  Most of the aircraft were hit.  One of the B-25’s engines caught fire, causing him to make a landing in the sea 15 minutes from the target.  Air-Sea Rescue Service was notified to save the crew.

2.       Biscari, Siciliy 7-6-1943

18 B-25’s escorted by 24 P-38’s went on a bombing run over Biscari, Sicily, Italy.  Due to low visibility and terrain difficulty for the navigators, the bombs for this mission struck all over the country-side. 

3.       Viba Valentia Airdrome, Italy 7-16-1943

36 B-25’s escorted by 24 P-38’s went on a bombing run over Vibo Valentia Airdome, Italy.  A six hour trip to the toe of Italy via the south coast of Malta, in order to avoid our shipping.  The mission paid big dividends, as all bombs hit in the target area, destroying many of the 50 or more aircraft parked on the airdrome.  Buildings and hangers were also hit, and several oil fires were started.

4.       Ciampino Airdrome, Rome, Italy 7-19-1943

72 B-25’s escorted by 36 P-38’s went on a bombing run over Ciampino Airdrome, Rome, Italy.  35 enemy aircraft were dispersed on this mission and 10 destroyed on the ground.  No bombs struck in the center of the city.

5.       Battipaglia, Italy 7-22-1943

24 B-25’s escorted by 26 P-38’s went on a bombing run over Battipaglia, Italy.  The marshaling yards were hit by only two strings of bombs.  The remainder hit wide, mostly in the small town.

6.       Practicia Di Mare Airdrome, Italy 7-30-1943

 36 B-25’s escorted by 24 P-38’s went on a bombing run over Practicia Di Mare Airdrome, Italy.   Apparently the enemy was taken by complete surprise, for in addition to the 80-100 large aircraft on the ground, 3 were in the process of landing when the bombs hit.

7.       Crotone Airdrome, Italy 8-7-1943

24 B-25’s escorted by 26 P-38’s went on a bombing run over Crotone Airdrome, Italy.  The bombing was only fair –several strings did strike in the center of the landing area, but others were short and to the sides.          

8.       Marina Di Catenzara Railroad Bridge, Italy – 8-8-1943

Bridge area covered, but direct hits observed due to dust and smoke.

9.       Littorio Railroad Yards, Rome, Italy  - 8-13-1943

36 B-25’s escorted by 24 P-38’s went on a bombing run over Littorio Railroad Yards, Rome.  This mission was part of another combined big push by the air force to tie up rail traffic to and from Rome.   All planes returned safely. 

10.   Road Curve Between Palermiti and Valepiorita, Italy  8-18-1943.

A “Milk Run”.  No Flak, no enemy fighters and no direct hits on the road.

11.   Salerno Marshaling Yards, Italy 8-19-1943

Only average bombing results.

12.   Benevento Marshaling Yards – 8-27-1943

No details

13.   Civitavecchia Marshaling Yards – 8-30-1943

Good bombing with no enemy aircraft interception.

14.   Capua Bridge, Italy – 9-21-1943

36 B-25’s took part in a bombing mission to destroy 2 road bridges.  These bridges had been damaged in a previous mission on 9-16-1943.  This mission completed the demolition of both bridges.  This was part of the stated strategy to destroy lines of communication of the Germans which were currently in Salerno, Italy.  He Co-piloted B-25 42-32333

15.   Flumeri Bridge, Italy 9-22-1943

36 B-25’s mission to block retreat of enemy motor convoys, however, the flak was so heavy and accurate that it prevented an accurate bombing run.  Five of the aircraft were damaged.

16.   Highway and Railroad Bridges Near Amorosi, 9-30-1943

Plan to block the enemies retreat.   Bombs dropped, but no confirmed hits on targets.

During October, James Kurtz was copilot on the B-25 designated 41-30386.  He had a consistent crew which included the following:

Pilot:  1^st Lt. Malcolm C. Hanna, 31 Elliot Place, Freeport, New York

Copilot:  2^nd Lt. James Albert Kurtz, RFD#1, Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania (Norvelt)

Bombardier:  S/Sgt  George R. Trevethan, 427 Lois Road, Rochester, Michigan

Radio-Gunner:  T/Sgt  John R. Pelkey,  2822 Grant Boulevard, Syracuse, New York

Gunner:   S/Sgt  Celest F. Camagna,  727 Warren Ave., Apolho, Pennsylvania

Turret Gunner:  Pfc. Robert E. Frazier, Grahn Kentucky

17.   Highway at Formia, Italy  - 10-5-1943

An outflanking movement by allied ground forces above Naples is causing the withdrawal of German forces along this main highway.  The results of this mission have been reported to be successful.  Although, it cannot be determined if the Formia Highway was rendered completely unserviceable, crews observed many strings of bombs landing toward the two aiming points.  No flak or enemy aircraft were experienced.    

18.   Sessa Aurunca Road Junction, Italy  10-13-1943

Many direct hits were reported in the center of the road junction.  A road junction one mile west of the target was cut by bomb hits, as well as another road junction just east of the target.

19.   Grosseta Railroad Bridget, Italy  10-14-1943

Complete weather coverage at the target caused the flight to return without dropping its bombs.

20.   Centivari Airdrome, Italy  10-20-1943

Bombs hit directly across the field and into hangers and buildings on its north side.  Several aircraft parked near the hangers were hit.  Bombs also struck in the dispersal areas, causing at least 6 planes to burst into flames.  One string of bombs which fell short of the target cut railroad tracks.  A submarine was sighted when flying to target.  It was headed toward Lido di Roma.

21.   Railroad Tracks 10 miles Southeast of Orbetello, Italy   10-21-1943

The railroad tracks were bombed between a road junction at 42 23’ N – 11 27’ E and a lake at 42 24’N – 11 23’ E.  The tracks were reportedly severed in three places.  At least three direct hits were made on the tracks just west of a road junction and 6 direct hits on the tracks just east of the lake.  Black smoke was seen coming from a bombed area on the tracks near the east end of the lake.  Many near misses were reported.

22.   Railroad Bridge 2 miles south of Grosseto, Italy   10-22-1943

Considerable dust and smoke covered the target area, making observations difficult.   Post mission photographic analysis, revealed three direct hits on the bridge and one hit each on the approaches to the bridge. 

23.   Undecipherable Railroad Bridge, Italy    10-23-1943

Bomb hits were concentrated around the bridge, with several strings cutting across it.  Other strings of bombs blasted the north and south approaches.

24.   Railroad Tracks 10 Miles South of Cecina, Italy 10-30-1943

Flight turned back due to unfavorable weather conditions in the target area.

Sadly, there were no bombing missions flown in November 1943, but they did do training flights.  It was on one of these training flights on November 4, 1943 that James Albert Kurtz was killed.

Here is what was entered into the daily log:

Thursday, 4 November 43

News was received today from Oudna of an airplane accident in which 2^nd Lt. James A. Kurtz and F/O Charles (NMI) Hudson Jr. were killed.  They were on a routine training flight , and had been flying formation over Tunis at 2000 feet with a pair of B-17’s, in the left wing position.  They pulled out of the formation and were flying straight and level when their B-25 suddenly went into a dive and then began to spin.  The plane crashed and burned about 5 miles NW of Oudna A/D #2.  No one else was in the plane.   They were buried at Tunis in the late afternoon.

WWII History

James Kurtz’s bombing missions coincided and supported the invasion of Italy and their surrender to allied forces.  Much of his mission activities were meant to limit German retreat from Italy and their supply lines.  These bombing missions were very successful and were important to the Allied troop’s success in Italy.

Here is a picture of James Kurtz and a flight crew.  I am not sure if this was taken in Tunisia or during his training in Alabama.     I suspect that this may have been taken during his training in Alabama.  The trees in the background look more like the southern United States vs. what I would expect would be a more arid environment in Tunisia.

Please let email me if you have any information about the men in this picture or the men that James Kurtz flew with.  It would be very interesting if they have any personal stories about serving with my great uncle.

The source of this bombing mission information was previously classified /secret mission logs which are posted on the following website.  I am thankful that they have published this information on the web for everyone to access.

http://57thbombwing.com/310thHistory.php

Wisdom Wednesday - "Facts are Stubborn Things" - My Family Connection to Two US Presidents

There is no question that George Washington was the true father of our country.  His tireless leadership in the American Revolution was critical to the successful forming of our country.

He is the only US President to ever be unanimously elected by the Electoral College (100% of the electoral vote).  He set precedence in almost every area of the office of President which every US President has followed since.   

What he did which was truly remarkable was that after two terms as President he stepped down and relinquished power.  He did not run for a 3rd term.  No revolution.  No coup.  No hand-picked successor.  Just an orderly transfer of power through popular election.  It is possible that this was the first time this had occurred since the pure democracies of ancient Greece.

His Vice President, John Adams, won the 2nd presidential election vs. Thomas Jefferson. John Adams was a revolutionary patriot, founding father and my distant cousin.

President John Adams and I share ancestors, Thomas Gardner and Lucy Smith.  Thomas Gardner and Lucy Smith were my 8th grandparents and President Adams' great-great grandparents.  This makes President Adams my 3rd cousin 6 times removed.  So not a close relative.

Here is the relationship in a little more detail.

President John Adam his parents were John Adams Sr. and Susanna Boylston

Susanna Boylston's parents were Peter Boylston and Ann White

Peter Boylston’s parents were Dr. Thomas Boylston and Mary Gardner

Mary Gardner's parents were Thomas Gardner and Lucy Smith

Mary Gardner's sister was Abigail Gardner.  Abigail married Rev. John Wise (Rev Wise has some good stories to tell which I will be detailing in future postings)

They had a daughter, Lucy Wise who married Rev John White

Their son, William White moved to Cape Elizabeth, Maine and married Christian Simonton

Their daughter, Anna White married Israel Woodbury

Their daughter, Betsey Woodbury married John Armstrong

I have covered the relationship to John Armstrong and Betsey Woodbury extensively in my blog.

Did I happen to mention that President Adams' son, John Quincy Adams went on to be our 6th President?

When you find you are related to someone (even distantly) it does increase your interest in that historical figure.  

One of John Adams earliest known impact on history involved a famous event, but his role in that event is not nearly as widely known.

The event was the Boston Massacre.  

On March 5, 1770, British soldiers stationed in Boston shot and killed 5 civilians and wounded 6 others.  British soldiers had been stationed in Boston due to increasing unrest in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.   As the name "British Massacre" would infer, there was widespread outrage over the killing of civilians by the soldiers and the populace of Boston wanted to see the offending men hanged.

The British soldiers maintained their innocence that they fired in self-defense.

There was little chance of them receiving a fair or unbiased trial in Boston.

No one wanted to defend the British soldiers at trial knowing that it could ruin their reputation and their livelihood.  Eventually, they found one lawyer who would defend them in the search of the truth and justice....John Adams

During the trial, the future Pesident was able to root out the actual series of events which led to the shooting.

The incident started when a group of men were harassing a British soldier named Private Hugh White standing guard duty outside the Custom House on King's Street.  The men and the private exchanged insults.  The private struck one of the men and a mob started to form.  Over 300-400 people of Boston started to hurl insults, snow and small objects at the soldier as other soldier arrived to support him.

The crowd taunted the soldiers.  It is even said that some of them shouted, "Fire!"  The soldiers stood their ground and waited for commands from Captain Thomas Preston (who stood in front of his line of men).  No command was given to fire.

An object struck Private Montgomery, knocking him to the ground.  It is stated that he got up and shouted, "Damn you, fire!" and shot into the crowd.  From there one of the civilians hit one of the soldiers with a club and it unraveled quickly.  Without orders some of the soldiers shot into the crowd.  The main issue to be decided was did Captain Preston order his men to fire on unarmed civilians as the people of Boston believed or was this a question of self-defense.

The trial began in November 1770 and John Adams was able to prove to the jury that they had to treat the British soldiers not as despised British, but as any men accused of such as crime.  He convinced the jury of the evidence that these men were threatened and if they were guilty of anything it would be manslaughter and not murder.

In the end, Adams prevailed and six of the soldiers were found innocent of any wrong doing and two others were found guilty of manslaughter.

As part of his defense he issued his famous quote:

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."

Try to think of the times and the quality of the man who was John Adams.  Revolutionary feelings were growing and the British were reviled in many parts of Boston.  It would have been easy to get caught up in the fervor of the times and wish ill on these men.  Watch innocent men hang.

Unlike when the revolutionary feelings and events were rushing toward a Declaration of Independence, at this time and in this event, John Adams stood alone to stand for truth and justice.  He showed a level of integrity which is always in short supply, whatever the time period.

It is heartening to know that a few of the genes that made him a man of such sterling integrity also are a part of my make-up.  Something to be proud of and something to remember when I am confronted with ethical problems and it is time for me to wonder, "What would John Adams do?"