Samuel Hitchcock, Revolutionary War Soldier

Samuel Hitchcock was born in New Milford, Litchfield County, Connecticut on February 28, 1731. I have the birth record. His parents were Samuel and Deborah Mallory and he was the eldest of 12 children. This much of the research had been done early on and I can still remember the phone call I made to the Town Clerk in New Milford, asking if she had birth records for the year of 1731. She asked his name and when I thought he was born. She said just a minute, put the phone down, came back and said she had the book of births from that year and would look it up. The book of records for that year - 1731. What a thrill. Don't you wish you had ancestors from CT?

Samuel was descended (and therefore I am) from Luke Hitchcock and Elizabeth Gibbons, from England. They were here by 1641 when they got married in Wethersfield, CT, in Hartford County. That is where their four children were born. There is a great deal written on the early Hitchcock family, both in the NEGHS Register and many other sources. It seems to get cloudy just before and after the Revolutionary War, at least for my Samuel.

The rest of Samuel's life - and death - is conjecture and is the basis of one of my BRICK WALLS. I wrote the following about this man and his family/life/death and have posted it on my website in hopes that others also searching might help. To date, even though I have corresponded with other descendants of Samuel's (b. 1731), we can not truly get documentation of his marriages/births of his four children or his death. The BRICK WALL (as it appears on my website):

Samuel Hitchcock - b. 28 Feb 1730/31 in New Milford, Litchfield, CT, d. 19 Feb 1801 in Sheffield, Berkshire, MA. He leaves no will/no grave/no evidence of actual death date.

Marriage1 -  Abt. 1766 in Middletown, Middlesex, MA, Sarah Sears - b. Abt. 1746 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, MA and d. Aft. 1771 in New Marlborough, Berkshire, MA. No real evidence of Sarah’s birth (although she is listed in the S.P. May book, the Sears Genealogy)/marriage/death/burial or births of children:

Ebenezer Hitchcock (b. 1767)
Reuben Hitchcock (b. 1769)
Jerusha Hitchcock (b. 1771)**     (my ancestor)

Marriage2 – Abt. 1773 in New Marlborough, Berkshire, MA, Elizabeth "Betsey" Sears (b. 19 Jun 1738 Yarmouth, Barnstable, MA and died abt 1809, probably in NY - and sister of Sarah). Child:

Silas Hitchcock (b. 1779)

The ONLY record I find for Sarah Sears is a Sarah listed in the family of Joshua and Rebecca (Mayo) Sears in the above book by Samuel P. May and reads: “married to a _____ Hitchcock.”  I believe this is my Sarah.  Her sister, Betsey Sears is also in this book and reads: “m. Samuel Hitchcock.”
Samuel May leaves no sources that I can find.


  1790 and 1800 Sheffield, MA Censuses show Samuel Hitchcock and family (but Sheffield can find NO  death record or grave for Samuel).
 
Samuel was a Rev. War Soldier from MA and his record shows Betsey as his widow.  Samuel served as a Private in Capt. Peter Ingersol's Company, Col. John Brown's Berkshire, MA Regiment. He is one of the supplementals I still need to prove for NSDAR. He has been approved in the past.

Rev. War Soldier - Robert FitzRandolph

Saturday was our Christmas luncheon for the Paradise Valley NSDAR Chapter I attend here in the Phoenix area. I am an Associate member, as I am still a member in the Alamo Chapter in San Antonio, Texas. I need to switch, but I just hate breaking more ties to San Antonio.

We were asked to talk about our NSDAR soldier, or another ancestor of interest. I think Robert FitzRandolph sounds like a rather interesting ancestor, so I went with him. He was my original DAR soldier. He was born December 14, 1741 in Woodbridge, New Jersey, in Middlesex County. His parents were Robert and Catherine Taylor FitzRandolph. They were Quakers. Robert and Catherine were first cousins and because of this, they were disowned by the Quakers for marrying. I don't know if they ever were accepted back into the Quaker Society.

Much has been written about the beginnings of the FitzRandolphs. In a nutshell, the family descended from a Norman line who accompanied William the Conqueror in 1066. They became prominent landowners in Yorkshire, England. Eventually, the original immigrant, Edward FitzRandolph, settled in Massachusetts (Cape Cod area) about 1630. He came without his parents. His father died before 27 Oct 1647 in Kneesall, Notinghamshire, England. In his will, he left his son, Edward, 10 pounds "if he cum to demand it."  They were Baptists and were threatened with banishment and so several of his children became settlers in Piscataway, New Jersey. Another member of the family (Nathaniel) was instrumental in establishing Princeton University, in 1753 he gave "four acres and a half of land to set the college on." In 1676, the FitzRandolphs were established at what became the Village of Randolphville, NJ. My cousin Rebekah Fleury is responsible for gathering much of this information for us.

Eventually, Robert and others settled in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, in Meadville. Robert died at his farm south of Meadville on July 16, 1830. He was 89 years old.

The following comes from "The History of Crawford County,"  1885. It is not quoted as I reworded some of it:
He married, Sarah Taylor, when he was quite young [abt. 1767] and in 1771 moved with his family to Northampton, (now Lehigh County, PA) and in 1773 he moved to Northumberland County, the the western frontier of the State. In 1776, the Indians swooped down upon the settlers of that locality, killing many and driving the balance from their homes. He then fled with his family to Berks County, PA. The following year he returned to his deserted home, and soon after joined Col. William Crook's regiment and fought in the battle of Germantown on October 3, 1777. He served only a brief period when he was discharged and returned to his home on the Susquehanna River. Another raid was made upon the settlement by the cruel and unrelenting savages, who murdered and pillaged along the whole frontier. Finding no prospect of peace or safety for his family, he went back to his native state where they would at least be secure from the errors of the scalping-knife. He then re-entered the army and served until the close of the war. Upon the dawn of a glorious peace, in 1783, Mr. FitzRandolph returned to Northumberland County, PA and settled on Shamokin Creek, where he resided until 1789, when he came with his family to the valley of French Creek, arriving at the site of Meadville (PA) on the 6th of July. His son, James, was one of the nine who came in 1788, and upon the land selected by James, some two miles south of the site of Meadville, in what is now Mead Township, his father settled and resided until his death.

When Robert was in his seventy-second year, the War of 1812 broke out, on the first call for volunteers he started out for Erie, with four of his sons and two grandsons to offer his services to his country. Upon arriving, he was persuaded by some friends to return home, nevertheless the prompt action demonstrates the fiery patriotism with which this old pioneer was imbued.  They also stated that he "was a man who mingled little in the controversies and cares of public life. He cultivated by precept, as well as by example peace on earth and good will toward men. The friend who visited his home was sure to receive a cordial welcome, while the stranger or unfortunate were never sent away empty-handed. Old and full of days he went down to the grave without leaving behind him a single enemy."

What flowery language and great fun to read. He sounds like quite the man. Wouldn't you love to talk to him today?  There is much, much more written about the FitzRandolphs. It is a rich history we have descended from with this family. Some of the FitzRandolphs dropped the Fitz, and just go by the Randolph name.
Anna Elizabeth FitzRandolph married Mark Beckington in 1869. Her family had moved from Meadville to the Boone County area of Illinois about 1844.

As time permits, I will write about some of our other soldiers. Joseph Hazeltine(ton) and John Noyes have already been accepted. I am now working on supplements for: John Chapman, David Rhoads, Samuel Hitchcock and Roswell Lane. Mary Ella Hazelton Childs also was accepted under all these soldiers in the early 1900s.

GenieGirls meet again.

We had a great third meeting of the GenieGirls on Wednesday, our new genealogy study group. There are nine of us, with eight in attendance this month. It was another great meeting. There was a lot of enthusiasm and excitement in the room. Everyone is eager to learn and contribute. We heard from those who accomplished more on the goals they set early on and fielded questions in a number of other areas we have discussed.

We talked further about our research trip to the Mesa Library for our February meeting, going over the LDS website (www.familysearch.org) and how to search for microfilms and books that might be available at the library for each member's area of interest. They will bring a list of films that they find are not available in Mesa to order from Salt Lake City. We will order them in January. We are also arranging a tour of the Library to begin our day.

I am now contemplating what we will do during future meetings. Susan suggested taking a member's individual project, maybe one that has some "problems" attached to it,  and spending a meeting going through the process of actual research. It would be interesting and educational for us all. What are the first steps when starting a particular research question? How does each person approach it and what steps do they take? I think that is an exciting possibility. But I need to think about how much can be accomplished in two hours (or do we need to expand to two meetings, plus some homework) and exactly how do we organize each person's contribution to get the most out of our time and extract the most information for the project.

I will talk to Kristin about whether she would be interested is using her "mysterious" grandmother for our first project.

Janet