Cols. Joseph Hodgkins, Nathaniel Wade

TL;DR -- After reading of the Society of Cincinnati, it seemed apropos to find a case close to home with respect to finding some to add to the prospectii list. In one case, only the daughter had children some of whom have descendants alive today. The other has male descendants bearing the name. In the first case, there is another organization that may offer memberhip. In the other case, a little more research work is required.   

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The subject matter of this post deals with close relatives and demonstrates various types of studies that can be done to find interesting stories. We begin with the story of one book that led to a TV series. 

Part of this motivation was the prior post on the Society of the Cincinnati which organization allows one member (male) per each Patriot that is qualified. The qualification, briefly, is being an officer for the Continental Army. There are additional requirements, one of which is having served to three years. At the same time, the daughters have their own organization but allow multiple members for each Patriot. Our interests, in part, deal with the time and conflict, in general, the unfolding of the U.S. from them to now (we're talking 247 years), the movement of families, and historic/genealogical studies and consequence of these research, such as related memberships.  

So, it didn't take long to pull this example which deals with our favorite town, Ipswich MA, after Salem, of course. The post looks at two families who are related, but there are many others involved. 

• Let's start with the book, 1776, David McCullough, which deals with the times and letters of Col. Joseph Hodgkins (WikiTree) and his wife Sarah Perkins. Hodgkins served under Col. Nathaniel Wade (WikiTree). They were both at Bunker Hill and served for more than three more years. Joseph and Sarah had children, however only one daughter had children who grew to adulthood. She married the son of Col. Wade, and they had children with descendants who are alive now. 
• Society of the Cincinnati membership claims comes down through the sons. So, that would not be a sustainable claim. On the other hand, female descendants of Joseph and Sarah would be eligible for the Daughters of the Cincinnati should they be able to prove their lineage. Our  hope will be find an extant male descendant of an officer who meets the prospectii requirements. 
• The blog, Historic Ipswich, provides commentary and a copy of some of the letters. We have had used this blog as a resource several times. Our last post was on the founding of Ohio by a team of veterans from Ipswich. But, the Smithsonian Museum of American History displays a house that was taken from Ipswich. 
• Taking this a little further, we can look at the D.A.R. and S.A.R. databases. Col. Joseph Hodgkins is not in the D.A.R. database, but Col. Nathaniel Wade is there with several applications being done by his descendants including through his son, Nathaniel who married Hannah Hodgkins. For the S.A.R. database, Joseph Hodgkins has a record but no applications. S.A.R. has been trying to identify all Patriots. The Col. Nathanial Wade record shows no applicants with the Wade name. 

This is an example of how families were involved in the Revolution. The two Patriots were from the same town and served together. Their children married. There were many cases like this. So the families kept an association through the years. D.A.R. allows supplemental applications after a primary one is verified and one becomes a member. 

One motivation can be membership approval. However, the larger picture related to history is very much tied into the families who were there. That type of research will be better served with the improvements in technology than we had before where paper chasing was the theme. But, the larger problem was figuring out where to find the paper as well has hoping that such might exist and actually be of use. 

Now? One of our interests is technology for reasons that John has dealt with that for decades. STEM is pushing this type of thinking without any regard for other issues. Such as? Take philosophy which was thrown to the background (for reason that can be discussed). See the Knowbility post. It's a beginning. Briefly, one problem is that assumption computing have no basis. Oh sure, these issues can supposedly be overcome through demonstration. But, rationalaity is going to have to be deconstructed and put back on its pedastal. That work has been waiting in the wing for several decades now. 

Remarks: Modified: 08/12/2023

08/12/2023 --