Potential Revolutionary War Soldiers

The following names and descriptions are of potential Revolutionary War Veterans on my side of the family.  These are from my notes. I failed to use proper citations in my notes.  Most of the information I gathered was from online family trees.  Even though I have been researching for years,  I still make mistakes and am always learning.    

I have one of these men in mind as the one I can easily connect to that already has been proven and I can hitch up to one of my cousins that have already submitted an application. 

Revolutionary War:

John Nighswanger *6th Great Grandfather (Virginia, Continental Troops) Sgt

Richard D.Tennant II, *6th Great Grandfather, (Virginia) Drummer, Capt Parsons, McIntosh’s    

          Company

Jacob Deem SR, *5th Great Grandfather **Rejected pension due to Indian wars on the frontiers.

Michael Cox, *5th Great Grandfather, Private, Pennsylvania

Thomas Forshey, *6th Great Grandfather (PA) 1775-recruiting officer.  1776 Ensign in 8th Pa. 

              Rel. commanded by Col. Enos McCoy, and in the company commanded by Capt. John

             Wilson.  

Richard Wells, *6th Great Grandfather (PA) **application for pension/bounty land warrant?

Henry Wells, *6th Great Granduncle (VA) Sgt in Col. Burgess Ball’s Co, 1st Virginia Regulars 

             Commanded by Richard Parker

Alexander Wells, *7th Great Grandfather (MD) appointed Captain of MD Militia June 6, 1776

Samuel Whatley, 5th Great Grandfather, wounded at Long Cane, S.C. Dec 10, 1781

              Served under Capt. Macajah Williamson in company of mounted militia under
              Elijah Clarke.  Taken prisoner by the British. Siege of Augusta. Shot in left arm.``Twice

               Frozen, once perished & drowned, once hung and twice shot for his unflinching zeal in

               The defense of Liberty and American Independence.”

Martin Dial, 6th Great Grandfather (SC).  Per SOAR application:  Private soldier in Col Hays 

              Regiment of SC, also Capt. Kilgore’s SC Regiment.  He served several months in

              Capt. John Ridgeway’s SC Co.  He was w Capt Ridgeway when “Bloody Bill 

              Cunningham’s tory Gang” attacked them at a place on the Saluda River, now known as   “Cane- Brake Massacre by the Cunningham tory Gangy”  Martin Dial was one of the few soldiers who escaped.  Martin Dial was taken prisoner on two occasions by the British Army.  His brother, Hastings Dial, an officer of some rank in the British Army effected his release. Granted   326 acres of land in the 96th Dist of Laurens county SC.  Pension-R*13777

John Ephriam Mayo, *6th Great grandfather NC. Received a pension and land.

Benjamin Thrower, *6th Great grandfather, NC , Private, received a pension.

John Patrick McMullin *5th Great grandfather, rumored to have made the first suit that George 

           Washington wore it after becoming General or something like that.  No evidence.

Johannes “John” Dingler, 7th Great Grandfather, Dragoons US Army Revolutionary War, Continental Troops

Samuel Paschall, 8th Great Grandfather, Mar 1779, Continental Troops, Artillery in the Battalion, Bombardier

#26 of 52...Richard Tennant

This marks the halfway point of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.  Today I'm going to talk about one of my 6th Great Grandfathers Richard Tennant.

Richard D.Tennant II was born sometime between 1739 and 1744 in Glasgow, Scotland to Richard Tennant Sr and Janet Wark. I have not found documentation of other siblings.  When Richard was about 16 years old he immigrated to Virginia with his parents.  The following is an account by Richard D. Tennant II's son Joesph taken from the book, "West Virginians in the American Revolutions" accessed from Ancestry.com.

West Virginians in the American Revolution [database on-line].

Richard D. Tennant II married Elizabeth Haught, daughter of Peter Haught Sr, in 1769 in Mooresfield, Hardy County, Virginia.  Elizabeth is thought to have been born in Holland.

Richard served in the Revolutionary War as a drummer, as per this snippet from the same book as above.

Richard and Elizabeth had the following known children.

1). Mary "Polly" Tennant (1770-1824)  **my 5th great grandmother

2). Peter Tennant (1773-1847) 

3). Elizabeth Tennant (1775-1860)  This findagrave.com memorial has a different birth date. 

4). Richard Tennat III (1777-1824) 

5). William Tennant (1778-1869) 

6). Alexander Tennant (1780-1869)

7). Joseph Tennant (1782-1872)

8.) John Tennant (1783-unknown)

9.) Adam Tennant (1784-1878) 

10. Abraham Tennant (1786-1875)

11. Margaret Ann Tennant (1788-1857)

12. Sarah Catherine "Kate" Tennant (1790-1863)

13. Jacob Aaron Tennant (1792-1874)

Richard passed away 18 Dec 1822. 

#17 of 52...Martin Dial...Oldest direct male ancestor...

I wrote about the oldest direct female ancestor in the previous post. Now we are going to talk about the oldest male.  I found Martin Dial, my 6th great grandfather and he lived to be 98 years 11 months and 27 days old; almost 99 years old.  

Martin Dial was born 30 Dec 1744 in North Carolina (though some stories say it was England) to Henry Arthur Dial and Isabella May Hastings.  Henry and Isabella had the following known children.

1) Hastings Dial (1732-1809)
2) James Dial (1734-unknown)
3) Martin Dial (1744-1843)

There are ten years between Martin and his next oldest sibling, which usually indicates that there were other children born.  I have not seen any information regarding other siblings, though I would not be surprised if there certainly were more, sisters even.

It is said that Martin Dial served in the Revolutionary War for America while his brothers were indeed Torries.  There have been many stories written about Martin Dial and genealogical books such as "Martin Dial and Related Families" by Hastings Harrison.

Martin married Chrystie Abercrombie in 1775.  They had the following children that I've found.  I am missing many dates for these children.

1) John Hastings Dial (abt 1882-aft 1860)
2)Isaac Dial (1791-1864) ***my 5th great grandfather
3) Jonathan Dial
4) Martin Dial Jr
5) James Dial
6) Hannah Dial
7) William Dial
8) Colvill Dial

There are many, many Dial descendants. Martin passed away in Gray Court, Laurens County, South Carolina on 26 Dec 1843.
Almost 99 years old!

Veteran's Day...Remembering the Veterans in our Family Tree.

I'm proud of the long history of military service that my family contains.  I'm listing below the direct line members of my combined tree that I have discovered that served in the military.  There are likely many more that I am not aware of as well as uncles and cousins.  As I learn more I will add their names here.

I'm starting first with recent service since I have photos of these.  Then starting with the Revolutionary War and working forward.  Thank you for all your hard work and sacrifice!

Presently in the Military

LT Cody Schaal, US Navy,  my husband
formerly US Air Force

Elmer Jack Laycox, US Army and then US Air Force; Cody's grandfather

John C Schaal, US Army (my father-in-law)

Donald V. Curran, US Army (my grandfather)

Revolutionary War

James Todd Livingston (1754-1812) 5th Great Grandfather

Samuel Whatley (1762-1826) 5th Great Grandfather

John Niswanger  (1729-1788) 6th Great Grandfather

Richard Tennant (1744-1823) 6th Great Grandfather

Peter Haught SR (circa 1720-post 1810) 7th Great Grandfather

Thomas Forshey (circa 1751-1836) 6th Great Grandfather

Martin Dial (1744-1844) 6th Great Grandfather

John Ephriam Mayo (1759-1842) 6th Great Grandfather

Civil War

David R. Laycock (1826-) Husband's 3rd Great Grandfather {TN}

Philip Schaal (1825-1866) Husband's 3rd Great Grandfather {Missouri, USA} 

Levi (Doc) Marlow (1830-1907) 3rd Great Grandfather (VA)

Thomas J Bussey (1818-1908) 3rd Great Grandfather (GA)

William Lewis Thomason (1835-1912) 3rd Great Grandfather (GA)

John Fields Chapman (abt 1841-1905) 3rd Great Grandfather (GA)

John Edgar Allen (abt 1833-?) 3rd Great Grandfather (GA)

World War 1

John Colvin Bussey (1892-1976) Great Grandfather