I have found lots of Revolutionary Soldiers in my family tree. They’ve fought for NY, and fought for Ct, and fought for NJ and fought for MA – but I never expected to find one that fought for both sides. However, with the help of a cousin in California (Peter Fagan) I have discovered a new ancestor – a Hessian Soldier that also fought for CT.
I’ve been stuck on my Osborn line for a long time. The furthest back I could get was John Osborn who died March 4th 1848 and His wife Elizabeth _____ who died March 27th 1847. Getting that far back took help from a cousin in NY (Don Osborne) and some research as well. John and Elizabeth are buried in the Pierce Buring Ground, west of Pawling, NY. However I could find no clue as to the father of John nor any information on Elizabeth’s family.
After talking with Pete, I know now Elizabeth’s last name is Rhinevault. Her father William Rhinevault fought in the Revolutionary War. He filed for a pension after the war and I have obtained part of the pension file. This gives me all kinds of information including a family record of births, marriages and deaths for John Osborn’s family.
William Rhinevault states in his pension he was a Hessian soldier in Burgoyne’s army and was captured at Saratoga. This group of about 5,900 soldiers were supposed to be shipped back to Britain, but the colonists realized sending them back would make it possible for the British to send new troops in return. As a result, this group of soldiers were kept prisoner here for the duration of the war and came to be known as the ‘Convention Army’.
The Convention Army was marched through Massachusetts to Boston, and then through Ct, NY, PA, and other points south on their way to Virginia. The pension file does not say if William Rhinevault was one of many soldiers to disappear into the local population along the way, or if he was one of the ones offered his freedom if he fought with the colonists. He came to enlist one way or another in CT in the spring of 1780 as a private in Capt. Ten Eyck’s company, Colonel Webb’s CT Regiment, and after about a year, was transferred to Capt. Timothy Taylor’s company in Colonel Heman Swift’s CT Regiment, and there served until the spring of 1783.
Further Research into other records reveals William Rhinevault is most probably Wilhelm Reinwald, a soldier of the Brunswick troops, Regiment van Rhetz, Company van Ehrenkrook, born at Frankfurt/Main, age 19 years, 6 month (this record most likely recorded sometime in middle of 1779, which would make his year of birth appr. 1760) Religion: Evangelical, was at that time single, size 5' 2 3/4", He deserted on 24. July 1778 from the Winter Hill Barracks near Boston. This information seems to indicate he was from the Hesse-Hanua area which is where the description “Hessians” come from.
William Rhinevault married Mary Spencer, April 11, 1782 in Fredericks, Dutchess County, NY. This location is now known as Patterson, Putnam County, NY. I have no further information on Mary Spencer’s family. She and William later settled in New Fairfield, Fairfield County, CT. William’s Daughter, Elizabeth (Betsey) married John Osborn Nov 21 1804, the same day as Susanna Rhinevault married Ebenezer Osborn according the Fairfield County Marriage records.
The Pension file names John and; Elizabeth’s children: Sally, Mary, Phebe, Benjamin, Northrup, Daniel, George W, John, Abby Jane, and William. It lists their death dates which match the tombstones in Pawling, and also says John is the son of Benjamin Osborne and Sally _____. Although it gives Sally’s birthday of 13 Dec 1765, it doesn’t give any clues as to her last name. So although I’ve gained some generations on this family I have some new mysteries to solve as well.
The Hessian Soldier is related to me this way:
William Rhinevault, father of
Elizabeth Rhinevault Osborn, mother of
George Washington Osborne, father of
James Paulding Osborn, father of
Isabel Osborn Ryea, my great-grandmother.
He is my Great, great, great, great, great-grandfather.
Sources:
Pension File for William Rhinevault
Abstracts of Rev. War Pension Files
Family Record collection of Don Osborne
Personal Records of Peter Fagan
Hessian Records of J. H. Mertz
A short history of the Slocums, Slocumbs and Slocombs of America by CE Slocum
Old gravestones of Dutchess County by JW Poucher
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Friday, April 19, 2013
The Shot Heard Around the World
April 19th, two hundred and thirty eight years ago today, there was a confrontation on Lexington Green.
Paul Revere had been up all night riding the countryside letting communities know that the "Regulars are coming!" We were all British then, the Regulars were the soldiers, so he wouldn’t have said “the British were coming!” Paul had no guarantee he would succeed. People could have been arrested. Arms could have been confiscated. Ammunition could have been taken away. They had no right to gather together, no right to say whatever they wanted, no right to do as they pleased. Paul’s news was an alert, that the soldiers were coming and they could do whatever they wished in the name of the King.
As I think back to what that must have been like for the folks who lived in Massachusetts Colony, I can't help but wonder, how would I have felt? What was this like for my ancestors? What kind of upheaval did it mean to them? Where was my family? How did they hear the news? What did they do? Did they realize how big the effects would be of this small confrontation on the green? Were they there?
I know I had ancestors who served in the American War for Independence. But instead of looking after the fact, Is there any way to find out what brought them to that decision? To leave home, family, the farm, and actually engage in battle with the strongest army in the world at the time? What kind of belief they must have had in liberty to turn their back on the only system of law they had ever seen.
The people who decided 238 years ago that they had had enough, they took the chance that there was something else, something better out there then living under a king, a regime that had no regard for the citizens of the colonies. They choose the uncertainty and were willing to give it all up so that their children, grand children, great grandchildren and descendants would have a better life.
So when you hear about the small ragtag militia that stood their ground on the green that day, the small group of settlers that took on the British Army (their army!) and defied the government (their government!)- realize this isn't some vague group of people who knew what the outcome would be.
Be very aware that someone walked away from everything they knew, and threw it away so you could have a better life. And that act of defiance became clear on April 19th, 1775, the date most people think of as the start of the American Revolution. Today.
Paul Revere had been up all night riding the countryside letting communities know that the "Regulars are coming!" We were all British then, the Regulars were the soldiers, so he wouldn’t have said “the British were coming!” Paul had no guarantee he would succeed. People could have been arrested. Arms could have been confiscated. Ammunition could have been taken away. They had no right to gather together, no right to say whatever they wanted, no right to do as they pleased. Paul’s news was an alert, that the soldiers were coming and they could do whatever they wished in the name of the King.
As I think back to what that must have been like for the folks who lived in Massachusetts Colony, I can't help but wonder, how would I have felt? What was this like for my ancestors? What kind of upheaval did it mean to them? Where was my family? How did they hear the news? What did they do? Did they realize how big the effects would be of this small confrontation on the green? Were they there?
I know I had ancestors who served in the American War for Independence. But instead of looking after the fact, Is there any way to find out what brought them to that decision? To leave home, family, the farm, and actually engage in battle with the strongest army in the world at the time? What kind of belief they must have had in liberty to turn their back on the only system of law they had ever seen.
The people who decided 238 years ago that they had had enough, they took the chance that there was something else, something better out there then living under a king, a regime that had no regard for the citizens of the colonies. They choose the uncertainty and were willing to give it all up so that their children, grand children, great grandchildren and descendants would have a better life.
So when you hear about the small ragtag militia that stood their ground on the green that day, the small group of settlers that took on the British Army (their army!) and defied the government (their government!)- realize this isn't some vague group of people who knew what the outcome would be.
Be very aware that someone walked away from everything they knew, and threw it away so you could have a better life. And that act of defiance became clear on April 19th, 1775, the date most people think of as the start of the American Revolution. Today.
Monday, March 11, 2013
William Nelson Dykman
William was one of three children: his brother Henry Trowbridge Dykman was born in 1856 and his sister Elizabeth was born in 1859.
William went to West Point Academy starting on 1 Sept 1871 and graduated in 1875. He graduated a Second Lietenant in the 22nd Infantry, and served until October of 1876. One of his last posts was at Fort Porter, in Buffalo NY. He is often listed in the Newspapers as Colonel William N Dykman, but that doesn't seem to be reflected in the military Records.
William married Isabelle Annan in June of 1885, daughter to Edward Annan. William and Belle had a son, Jackson Annan Dykman on July 11 1887. Jackson married Susan B Merrick on 3 Feb 1915 in New Orleans.
William Dykman died July 20 in 1937, and his wife Belle died March 31 1941.
Sources include:
New York and Ohio Newspapers
Johannes Dyckman of Fort Orange, Vol 2
The Trowbridge Genealogy
West Point Military Records
Federal Census Records
NY & UK Passenger Lists
US Passport Applications
Union University Record
Cemetery Records
Sunday, December 9, 2012
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