247th of U.S.

TL;DR -- With the approaching 250th of the United States and the time of the year, the focus is on Patriots and their times as well as their progeny since then to now. This year is the 247th of the start of the revolutionary activity that was public. There had been prior activity that was taken by the ardent though at considerable risk to themselves and their families. 

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In the colonies, here, there were stirrings earlier, but it was in July of 1776 when those there got to the notion of independence, what it might mean, and started the process. This was the time of the remaining of the 4th generation, the majority of the 5th generation, and the starting of the 6th generation. 

As we have noted, it was the 5th that bore the responsibility of establishing the United States. 

Today, we gather research material, such as Dr. Frank's writings to support future research work with regard to the three generations. Below, we provide information from the 1907 edition. The 1933 edition is about the family of George Gardner, who as a 2nd generation son of Thomas Gardner and Margaret Fryer. 

We point to The Massachusetts Magazine in which Dr. Frank wrote, for each issue, about the regiments that served at Bunker Hill. Works of Dr. Frank include the following:

1907 edition, 

1933 edition

The Massachusetts Magazine

In the 1907 book of Dr. Frank, the 5th generation starts with #87 Habakkuk Gardner (1707-1763) who died before the start of the Revolution. Next was #90 Capt. John Gardner (1706-1784) who served both in the French-Indian conflict as well as supported the Revolution. The last person in this generation in the book was #137 Samuel Gardner (1763-1796). 

Before we sample some of the Patriots from the 5th generation, let's look at other resources. Some of these will be by region, such as the original colonies that became States. Researching the Revolution brings one into contact with lots of information. Some States made an effort early to gather data from records with regard to their citizens. This list is from Massachusetts. There are seventeen volumes. Below we will be looking one of these, Volume 6 (Fr - Gy), where we will find information on the Gardners. 

Index to on-line volumes (thanks to archive.org - seventeen volumes)

Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the War of the Revolution

       v1 (A - Ber), v2 (Bes - Byx), v3 (C - Cor), v4 (Cos - Dry), v5 (Du - Foy),

       v6 (Fr - Gy), v7 (Ha - Hix), v8 (Hm - Jy), v9 (Ka - Lsu), v10 (Lua - Mop),

       v11 (Mor - Paz), v12 (Pea - Raz), v13 (Rea - Sey), v14 (Sha - Sth),

       v15 (Sti - Toz), v16 (Tra - Whe), v17 (Whi - Z)

First, though, let's point to two other resources. The Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) and the Sons of the American Revolution (S.A.R.) both accept applications from descendants of Patriots. One of the contributions of these groups is that they help verify lineage. Right now, we are talking over 12 generations for many of the older folks up to 17 generations for the younger set. For the latter, D.A.R. has an organization called Children of the American Revolution. 

These are the research facilities offered by both groups which we will use below. 

• https://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/Search/ - one can search for Ancestors or Members. A Descendants search allows one to query intervening generations about their pedigree information. 
• https://sarpatriots.sar.org/patriot/search/ - S.A.R. has a similar search strategy. For those Patriots in both databases, the S.A.R. report has a link to the D.A.R. record. 

Now, using generation five, let's look at those whose service was mentioned in Dr. Frank and link to the on-line information about descendants. Both groups will show lineage details except for the last three generations. 

Though both the fourth and the sixth generation have Patriots who supported the Revolution, our current study focus is on the fifth. 

• #121 Lt. Thomas Gardner (1731-1788) - pg. 189; MS&S Vol 6, pg. 281; DAR - A043895; SAR - none. 
• #123 Ebenezer Gardner (1737-1832 - pg. 191; MS&S Vol 6, pg. 264; DAR - A043683; SAR - P-164034. We wrote of Ebenezer earlier.  
• #129 Simon Stacey Gardner (1743-1787) - pg. 195; MS&S Vol 6, pg. 278; DAR - A043882; SAR - P-164145. 

We have used one book and have included only Patriots that are in the MS&S and the DAR database which means that a female descendant has applied successfully. In our research, we have found many Patriots who are not documented in the normal fashion. Then, some did not have descendants, or the descendants have not applied successfully. 

Using the 1933 book, we can add a few more Patriots. These follow the descendants of the daughters. In this case, we use information from Dr. Frank and MS&S and/or DAR and/or SAR. 

• #26 Elizabeth Gardner - her son, Jonathan Gardner (1728-1791), pg. 76; MS&S Vol 6, pg 272; DAR - ; SAR - . We wrote of Elizabeth (Gardner) Gardner earlier. 
• #26 Elizabeth Gardner - her son, John Gardner (1736-1816), pg. 77; MS&S Vol 6, pg 270; DAR -__ ; SAR- P-164077. 
• #30 Hannah Gardner - her son, Samuel Holton, pg. 78; MS&S Vol 7, pg. __; DAR - A057441; SAR - P-184238. 

For this month, we will look more at Patriots after having a post that gathers all of the material about the Revolution that we had had so far in our thirteen years of work. 

Too, we will be looking at earlier incidents. We already have looked at the Crown's training of the officers via their involvement in the French-Indian conflict. But, some events like the Boston Tea Party are of interest. There is now an effort by the NEHGS to find descendants of the participants. 

Remarks: Modified: 08/26/2023

08/26/2023 --