Cousin Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American lecturer, essayist, and poet, best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champion of individualism and a prescient critic of the countervailing pressures of society, and he disseminated his thought through dozens of published essays and more than 1,500 public lectures across the United States.

Ralph carried the mitochondrial DNA of Mayflower passenger Elizabeth Tilley. He was anti-slavery during the emotional times prior to, during and after the civil war. He was a friend to Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry David Thoreau.

For more about Ralph Waldo Emerson, see Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson

It turns out that Ralph Waldo Emerson is my 5th Cousin, 7 times removed. Ralph and I were both descended from Thomas Emerson, my 11th Great Grandfather.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

Rev. William Emerson Jr. (1769 - 1811)

Father of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Rev. William Emerson Sr. (1743 - 1776)

Father of Rev. William Emerson Jr.

Rev. Joseph Emerson (1700 - 1767)

Father of Rev. William Emerson Sr.

Deacon Edward Emerson (1670 - 1743)

Father of Rev. Joseph Emerson

Rev. Joseph Emerson (1620 - 1680)

Father of Deacon Edward Emerson

Thomas EMERSON (1584 - 1666)

Father of Rev. Joseph Emerson

Our Cousin, the Minuteman

Oliver Shed's family and friends had always known that he served in the Revolutionary War. Years after he died his widow applied for a pension for the time he served his country. And he served well during his 18 months service to the United States of America. We first know about his service because of the pension application. He must have felt no need for a pension from the government of this great nation, but his widow apparently disagreed. Nevertheless, there is no record that the pension was ever granted. However, it is tradition in the Shed family that Oliver did serve. And the pension application states that he was at Lexington Green on April 19, 1775, the day of the "Shot Heard Around the World." Oliver was my 1st Cousin, 8 times removed. He was born 11 February, 1739, and he died in 1791.

But Oliver wasn't the first of his family to be famous. His father, Jonathan Shed (1690-1746) was also mentioned in the pension application, and I'm sure he was well known in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. In his day the Indians were a threat to the settlers of New England, and there is no doubt that Jonathan would have been involved in this.

Oliver's grandfather, Samuel Shed (1660-1723), my 8th Great Grandfather, was the oldest son of Daniel Shed, the Immigrant Ancestor of the Shed family (1620-1708). Samuel was famous for having served as a Petit Juror to the Supreme Judicial Court at Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was there that he met and served on the jury with William Calder. William is famous as the highest ranking American military officer at the Battle of Bunker Hill, although he was killed there while serving his country. William was also Grand Master of the Masonic Lodge at the time he died.

These are the kind of people our ancestors associated with during their lives. And a more proud and worthy people would be very difficult to find. But back to cousin Oliver, the Minuteman. You see, Oliver survived at the battle of Lexington. If we do a little research we find that about 70 men, from teenagers to Geriatrics, assembled at Lexington on that fateful day. Oliver was 35 years old at the time. Some of the men assembled had muskets and powder, but no shot. Others had shot and no muskets. All were ordered to re-supply when they first met at 3AM, a few hours after Paul Revere made his famous ride. They didn't know at the time that there was an entire Regiment of British Regulars on the March, heading for Lexington. But how could they? The British had captured their scouts. But eventually, single riders came into town and announced that the Regulars were on their way.

Just as the Redcoats and dawn arrived, the Minutemen lined up in two rows on Lexington Green. They were told by Captain Parker "Do not fire on them unless they fire first, but if they want a war, let it begin here." He also told them "Do not run or you will be shot." The first order wasn't hard to follow, but many of the men had a hard time with the second. As soon as the Regulars arrived, many of the Minutemen drifted away. British Major Pitcairn arrived on horseback and ordered, "Lay down your arms, you damned Rebels!” A second mounted officer said, "Disperse ye Rebels!". A third cried out, “Damn them, we will have them!"At that point the British Soldiers formed 3 lines, and made ready for the battle. Imagine how the Minutemen felt at that point in time.


Somewhere in all of the confusion an unknown musket was fired. The trained Redcoats fired their first volley, which went high. However, most of the colonists began to disperse in earnest. Many had a very deep need to change their wardrobe and those who didn't were running as fast as they ever had. Even so, a few brave or maybe already disembodied souls stood their ground. Most would not see tomorrow. Those few Minutemen discharged their arms. Only one Regular had his thigh nicked and Pitcairn's Horse was creased. After this discharge almost every farmer/soldier turned to run. One, Jonas Parker, a Veteran of the French and Indian War and the Captain's Uncle, knelt calmly to reload his musket. Before the ball was rammed halfway home, he fell and was no more.

Seventy brave men turned out on that great green. Fifty-two fled unhurt. Ten more were wounded. Eight brave and yet free men while they breathed their last lay on the Lexington common, never to be counted as common men again.  We know that Oliver was not among the 8, but we don't know his actions that day. Since he served for many months after the Battle of Lexington, we can assume that he served honorably and returned home to his family.

We can all be proud of our ancestors, many of whom have served their country during the past two and a half centuries in one way or another. Had it not been for their heartfelt need for freedom, courage to fight for it, and the strength to continue to the end, we would not have the many gifts this country provides to us. We must always remember, freedom is not free. And I say, "Thank You, Oliver Shed."

"At sunrise on the Lexington Green the first shots exact a down payment in blood for the priceless gift of freedom's ring and the American Revolution began in earnest."

AGELESS ROMANCE

     This is the story of Sir Humphrey Radcliffe and his romantic courting of Isabel Harvey. For those interested, I have included my lineage back to Sir Humphrey at the end of this true story.

       King Henry VIII had announced his intention of being present at a tournament in the tilt-yard at Hampton, and great preparations had been made for the occasion. As the king rode along the way from London, the windows and the balconies about Kensington were all hung with colored cloths and silks. Among the crowd of spectators in the balconies was a plain citizen of London, Edmund Harvey, along with his wife and their daughter Isabel. The ladies in the neighboring windows thought the latter nice looking, and even pretty; but no one 'knew who she could be,' as the old folks were but commonplace in appearance, and clearly had not been brought up in the regions of courts and cities. The father, as may be imagined, pointed out the nobles as they passed by with their trains and retinues; but Isabel had no ears for her father, and her eyes scanned each new arrival for the face of a youth whom she had met on a chance occasion, and who had professed an attachment to her, in spite of the fact that she was not the daughter of a courtier or a noble.
      At length there rode along a body of knights, with their lances borne aloft and their colors flying in the wind; they were headed by the Earl of Sussex, who was attended by his son Humphrey, a fair and well-favored youth, who looked little more than twenty years of age. Isabel, however, had no difficulty in recognizing him and the black steed on which he sat, and which champed the bit and foamed beneath his rein.
    The truth is that they had met before at another tourney, when Sir Humphrey had incurred the scorn and displeasure of some of the king's courtiers because of a slight civility and courtesy which he had shown to herself, her father, and her mother, whom none of the gallants knew by sight or by name, their names not having been entered by the Heralds on the rolls of the  ‘College of Arms.' Eagerly did Isabel lean over the balcony in the hope of catching his eye, and grateful did she feel for a sudden halt, which was occasioned by the pressure of the crowd.
     The young knight, however, was too deeply engaged in thought to take notice of the gay and smiling occupants of the balconies above his head, for he little imagined that Isabel Harvey would be among the company. But as they moved on a few steps he was roused from his reverie by a start of his horse, caused by the fall of a glove from one of the balconies. Gallantry prompted him to pick up the glove and to return it to its fair owner. Upon looking up, his eyes met those of the fair Isabel; and as he returned to her the glove on the point of his lance, and she bowed her thanks, he felt that she was not insensible to his regard for her. He quietly watched his opportunity to fall back from the gay procession as it moved along, and guided his horse down a narrow side lane, where he remained till the pageant had passed by. His object in so doing was to prevent his father, the earl, from noticing Isabel; for he well knew the haughtiness of his temper, and his zeal for the dignity of his order, and his inflexible ambition to ally his son to the heiress of some noble house or other.
     Having emerged from his retreat, the young knight came again beneath the window, and, after bowing in a courtly manner, addressed the father of Isabel, who was just about to leave the balcony. On their descending into the street, the young knight dismounted, and accompanied them back to the city, leading his horse, and entertaining them, as they passed along the Strand and through Fleet Street, by his lively and elegant conversation. On reaching their home near Cheapside, Edmund Harvey pressed the knight to join them at their meal, and he gladly closed with the invitation. So well indeed did be succeed in gaining the confidence of his newly-found friend, that ere they parted the knight confessed to him his love for the fair Isabel, and received her father's permission to ask her hand, if she had no objection. 
     The rest of this story may be easily imagined. On the morrow the knight accompanied them back into the country, and, representing himself to be only one of the gentlemen of the earl's retinue, he espoused the fair Isabel a few days afterwards in the priory church of Elstow. For many months-indeed, it may have been years- -he did not disclose the full secret of his rank, nor did the fair Isabel know that she had a claim to be styled 'My Lady; The secret, however, oozed out at length ; and in due course of time their union was blessed by the birth of sons and daughters, the eldest daughter of whom became one of the special favorites of Queen Elizabeth.
     Immediately on the accession of `her highness' she made Humphrey Radcliffe a knight, and gave him a post at court near her person, and took his eldest daughter, Mary, as her 'Mayden of Honor and Gentelwoman of the Privie Chamber'--a post which she filled `honorably, virtuously, and faithfully for forty years,' as her monument tells us.
     It was in the year 1566, on the 13th day of August, that Sir Humphrey Radcliffe died at Elstow, and he was buried a week later in the chancel, as stated above, by the side of his affectionate and faithful wife Isabel, and soon afterwards one of his sons erected to their memory the memorial already mentioned.
     As for Mary Radcliffe, she suffered less than perhaps any other person about the Court from the whims and caprices of her royal mistress. Being possessed of great penetration and judgment, together with a high sense of honor and unshaken fidelity, she could not fail to command the esteem even of 'the Maiden Queen.' Although remarkable for her personal beauty, she was inaccessible to the flatteries of the fops and gallants by whom Elizabeth was surrounded, and many a smart repartee and rebuff was received by the courtiers who tried to turn the head and the heart of Mary Radcliffe. On one occasion, indeed, writes Sir Nicholas Le Strange in an anecdote communicated by Lady Hobart, ‘Mistress Radcliffe, an old courtier in Queen Elizabeth's time, told a lord whose conversation and discourse she did not like, that his wit was like a custard, having nothing good in it but the soppe, and, when that was eaten, you might throw away the rest.`
     Throughout the long period of her services at Court, Mistress Radcliffe bore a character unblemished by a spot of evil fame or reproach. She looked upon herself, she would say, as a New Year's gift, for it was on that day in 1561-2 that she was first presented by her father to the Queen's Majesty, and accepted by her ; and never afterwards, to the end of her days, did she fail to give the Queen--who loved all sorts of  presents, and did not think it ‘more blessed to give than to receive'--some kind of annual remembrance of that eventful morning.
      As she was still living to make her yearly present on the new year of 1600, Mistress Isabel Radcliffe might very justly be called an old courtier of the jealous Queen, who was not very firm in her friendships, or very scrupulous about discharging those who failed to please her. The actual date of her death is not recorded by 'the unlettered muse' of Elstow.
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The Genealogy of my 14th Great Grandfather Sir Humphrey Radcliffe is below:

Sir Humphrey RADCLIFFE (1509 - 1566) is your 14th great grandfather
Edward RADCLIFFE (1535 - 1643) Son of Sir Humphrey
Eleanor RADCLIFFE (1550 - 1628) Daughter of Edward
Alice WHITEBREAD (1578 - 1628) Daughter of Eleanor
Sargeant Thomas SPENCER (1607 - 1687) Son of Alice
Sarah SPENCER (1646 - 1712) Daughter of Sargeant Thomas
Elizabeth HUXLEY (1678 - 1745) Daughter of Sarah
Elizabeth KING (1699 - 1787) Daughter of Elizabeth
Elizabeth AUSTIN (1731 - 1788) Daughter of Elizabeth
Mary SHED (1740 - 1807) Daughter of Elizabeth
Hiram SPALDING (1764 - ) Son of Mary
Henry SPALDING (1801 - 1877) Son of Hiram
Eliza 'Lizzie' SPALDING (1830 - 1860) Daughter of Henry
Franklin B 'Frank' WILLIAMS (1859 - 1927) Son of Eliza 'Lizzie'
Charles Ernest WILLIAMS (1902 - 1982) Son of Franklin B 'Frank' my Grandfather.

5th Great Grand Uncle Zebulon Spalding

Zebulon Spalding is listed in the honor rolls of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Exactly how he served during the War is unknown except that we know he served as a private in Colonel John Brown's Regiment from 29 June to 28 July 1777. Zebulon was born  3 Sep 1753 in Dover, Dutchess County, New York, the son of Elijah and Elizabeth Spalding. His brother William was my 5th Great Grandfather and was about 20 years older than Zebulon.

But there are other reasons to honor Zebulon Spalding.  Zebulon may have been married to a first wife and may have had a daughter according to the 1790 Census. But we know for sure that he married the widow Rhoda Pope (Dewey). Rhoda had 4 children with another on the way when her husband William died in November 1799. Their son William was born on the 23rd of April, 1800. One year later, on William's first birthday, Rhoda married Zebulon Spalding. Zebulon was not a young man at the age of 47, and neither was Rhoda a young woman at 34. They had 5 children together also.

Zebulon and Rhoda lived in the town of Sheffield, in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, not too far north of where Zebulon was born in Dover, Dutchess County, New York. Rhoda was born and raised in Sheffield and lived there all her life. They raised their children, and made a living until Rhoda passed away in April of 1838 at the age of 71. Zebulon outlived her by 2 years and died at the age of 86 in 1840.

We don't know what Zebulon did for a living, although he was raised by a family of hard working farmers, and he had a large family to help support a farm. There were 4 girls and 6 boys among their chilren, and according to the 1820 Census,  the family was engaged in agriculture. In 1810 there were 8 children still living with them, and even in 1830 there were 4 boys and 2 girls still living at home.  So it appears that Zebulon lived a quiet existence in Berkshire County, Massachusetts.

Zebulon and Rhoda Spalding lived the American Dream. He served in the Continental Army to free his country from the Tyranny of the English King, he made a living the way he wanted to, and together they raised 10 children on the land that they owned and worked themselves. I am honored to be counted among the relatives of Zebulon and Rhoda. They are a good example of why we are Americans, and why we love our country and our families so much. Because of people like them, we also may be able to live our lives the way we want to, free from Tyranny, and free to raise our children in safety and health.

Cousins to William Penn, the Founder of Pennsylvania

William Penn was 2nd cousin to Christiana Penn, who is a direct ancestor to my mother.

William 'Founder of Pennsylvania' Penn (1644 - 1718)

is your 2nd cousin 10x removed

Admiral Sir William Penn (1621 - 1670)

Father of William 'Founder of Pennsylvania'

Giles Penn (1570 - 1641)

Father of Admiral Sir William

William PENN (1548 - 1609)

Father of Giles

George PENN (1571 - 1632)

Son of William

Christiana PENN (1613 - 1684)

Daughter of George

Benjamin EATON (1627 - 1711)

Son of Christiana

Sarah EATON (1672 - 1712)

Daughter of Benjamin

Judith RICKARD (1701 - 1745)

Daughter of Sarah

Phoebe WASHBURN (1738 - 1784)

Daughter of Judith

Reuben STOCKING (1777 - 1846)

Son of Phoebe

Lucy STOCKING (1801 - 1877)

Daughter of Reuben

Eliza 'Lizzie' SPALDING (1830 - 1860)

Daughter of Lucy

Franklin B 'Frank' WILLIAMS (1859 - 1927)

Son of Eliza 'Lizzie'

Charles Ernest WILLIAMS (1902 - 1982)

Son of Franklin B 'Frank'

Living WILLIAMS (1931 - )

Daughter of Charles Ernest

Shown above, my 10th Great-Grandfather, George Penn, was the brother of Giles Penn, who was a British Navy man with his own very interesting history. Giles was the father of Admiral Sir William Penn, who was Vice-Admiral of England, and the father of William Penn, Quaker, founder of Pennsylvania. The father of George and Giles was William Penn, born in 1548. George's grandfather, William Penn of Minety (d.1591), must have been quite an important figure for when he died in 1591 it is believed that he was buried in front of the alter at Saint Leonards Church, Minety. A plaque commemorating his life was erected in the church. All evidence of this was destroyed during repairs and alterations at the turn of the 19/20th centuries. But the records of Grandfather William Penn's life are in many places in English history.

 

Of course the history of William Penn, the founder is available in many places, so I won't go into that.

Once again, it is interesting to find out who our ancestors were, how they lived their lives, what they accomplished and how they obtained a special place in history. We as their descendants would benefit greatly by contemplating the hardships overcome by those who followed their hearts and did not follow the crowd, when it came time to make a decision that would affect the rest of their lives, and the lives of all who would come after them. We learn the benefits of standing up for our beliefs and standing up to those who would cause us harm.