What is the American?

Back in December, I was reading a book review and noticed reference to 'martial law' being imposed in Virginia. The punishment was quite extreme, however we know that even the Puritans up north were well capable of meting out harsh treatment.

Recall that Virginia is New England (south) and is very much of interest. One might argue about different world views, however the same little island was the source for these people. Yes, we are talking the same people. And, they had the first Thanksgiving down there.

Too, there are lots of other parallels that we can look at. Northern families went south and west. The big conflict (still apropos, today) caught up many families and ought to be in our sight.

So, we have central themes to explore. As I have been reading The Massachusetts Magazine (have been through most of the issues - we will cover all articles and republish through time), themes/memes related to other issues came forth.

For instance, a 2011 book (Foster, Thomas A: New Men: Manliness in early America) quoted J.Hector St. John De Crevecoeur (who was written about by F.B. Sanborn):

• What then, is the American, this new man? He is an American, who, leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced.

Foster's book looks at both Virginia and the north. The former was military in scope from the beginning. We know of the Mayflower passenger and crew. Cape Ann was commercial. But, this is a topic that ought to, and will, get more attention.

BTW, Hector came over here as a young man, with introductions, and went to various locales during the time of the conflict with England. His essays are very much of interest.

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An example of an American would be F. B. Sanborn. He was remembered in The Massachusetts Magazine, Volume X, No. 4.

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There was never 'martial law' in the north that I have found. Rather, the north had the notion of liberty. In 1868, John Ward Dean published A Memoir of the Rev. Nathaniel Ward, A.M. He dedicated the book to Samuel Gardner Drake. Who was Nathaniel (besides a brother of an ancestor)? He wrote (compiled) The Body of Liberties (1641). This is a 'bill of rights' over 100 years prior to the Philly's crowd prancing around.

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In regard to the Memoir, who was John and Samuel? Samuel Gardner Drake was an antiquarian in Boston. Also, Samuel was one of the founders of the NEHGS. His parents were Simeon Drake and Love Muchamore Tuck. Where did Gardner come from? Love's brother, Samuel Jones Tuck (of Boston), married Judith Gardner (of Nantucket) daughter of Uriah Gardner (b 1716) and Judith Bunker (d 1789). So, Judith was a descendant of Thomas and Margaret.

John was of Maine (History of the Dudley family, Librarian of the New England Genealogical Library) and was a member of the NEHGS. John has an extensive list of books on-line (UPenn). John is a descendant of Nathaniel Ward through a granddaughter, Mary, who married Benjamin Woodbridge. Mary was daughter of son, John (1609-1693).

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This post was introductory covering a lot of territory. Before ending, here are a few items related to Samuel's namesakes. His first name came from his mother's brother. His middle name came from his uncle's wife.

Samuel's uncle: Samuel Jones Tuck - findagrave (we like this effort and try to support it); Tuck book, Love #100, Samuel #99.

Samuel's aunt: Judith Gardner's tree (Manning - we know, rootsweb had a major outage - months - so, how to correct for that?), notice major Nantucket, and Quaker, families 

I will experiment with this type of thing that would be a footnote for an ahnentafel (NEHGR reference - 2016). Over the past few years, I have collected thousands of these for the tree (with auxillary families) that I built by hand. Not only do they need to be organized to support other research, we need to check consistency twixt these things through time. Yes, lots of work.

Remarks: Modified: 01/06/2019

06/04/2018 -- Add in the remembrance of F.B. that was in TMM, Vol. X, No. 4.

06/06/2018 -- Need to prepare for 2023/4. Some, of literary inclinations, have looked back 200 years: American Jeremiad. But, we need to go back to the Cape Ann times and before.