Help us find and improve next week's Connection Finder profiles: Founders of the US

Question

With Independence Day in the US fast approaching, we're looking at the Founding Fathers and Mothers of the country in the Connection Finder next week, starting with Benjamin Franklin.

Here's who we're getting started on:

• Thomas Jefferson
• Abigail Adams
• Patrick Henry

Who else should we feature? We have room for eleven notables. We can't feature everyone who is nominated, but if we don't feature a profile you work on, we may use it sometime in the future. And, of course, all contributions help improve our shared tree.

Our choice of features will depend partly on the notable person's CC7, i.e. their connection count within seven degrees. The more connections they have, the more likely it is for all WikiTree members to find a close and interesting connection to them. So, if you nominate someone, please help grow their CC7.

We'll make a final decision on which ones to feature early next week.

Please reply here with what you're working on so that we don't duplicate our efforts. Thank you!

Take note that this is not the place to discuss why you think we shouldn't feature someone if those reasons are due to politics, actions, or opinions of those being suggested.  Mentioning things like their not being connected, their biography still needing work, erroneous information, etc. are all suitable for discussion here and an opportunity to correct those situations.

Help us plan Connection Finder themes for 2023 here.

Comments

Has there been a delay in updating this week's EPOW? The new connections usually are posted before this time on Tuesday.

Answer 1

Deborah Sampson is a Mayflower descendant on several of her lines. She dressed as a man and joined the Massachusetts Militia in the Revolutionary War where she fought in several battles. She is the official heroine of the State of Massachusetts. (CC7=46,788)

Comments

Thanks, Russell.

Answer 2

I think Josiah Bartlett would be a deserving choice. In addition to being a member of the Continental Congress, the 2nd Signer of the Declaration of Independence (and the first to vote for its approval), as well as the Governor of New Hampshire for multiple terms, he was also a prominent physician. His CC7 is over 45,000.

Comments

Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura (Kościuszko) Kościuszko h. Pierzchała (1746-1817) | WikiTree FREE Family 

 Paine (1737-1809) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

John (Paul) Jones (1747-1792) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

Abraham Alfonse Gallatin (1761-1849) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

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Although I am not related to Kosciuszko, I do have family members named after him. Now I know where that name came from. I wonder if I have a Kosciuszko Taliaferro Smith somewhere yet to be found?

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As a Navy veteran I second John Paul Jones, "Father of the U.S. Navy"!   The well-known  "I have not yet begun to fight" was his alleged reply when asked to surrender during a famous battle.  He has an absolutely amazing crypt open to visitors under the chapel of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.

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K.Smith- you mentioned Taliafero - My GGrandmother was a Taliafero- would love any insight on this hard to place ancestor...

Judith Lavezzi

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@ J- I sent you a PM

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Thanks, everyone!

Answer 3

What about John Blair Jnr. - WT Blair-1978, who participated in the American Revolution.

Comments

Thanks, Megan.

Answer 4

Mercy Otis Warren (Otis-42) and John Marshall (Marshall-228) get my votes to be added.

Comments

Thanks, Mack.

Answer 5

Ethan Allen of Vermont is a founding father who seems to capture many people's imaginations, based on the traffic his profile gets and the number of members who try to shoehorn their ancestors into his family tree. And his CC7 count is over 63,000 (possibly including relatives who don't actually belong, but got shoehorned in). [Added: He is supposedly a distant cousin to me (5C7R), and I see several questionable connections on the line that supposedly connects me to him.]

Roger Sherman crafted the significant compromise that led to approval of the U.S Constitution, and is the only signer of all four great state papers of the U.S.: the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. Additionally, his CC7 count is over 93,000!

Comments

Thanks, Ellen!

Answer 6

Thomas Paine, (1737 - 1809)

He wrote Age of Reason and Common sense.

He is connected - but his CC7 count is only 37

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Paine-1

Comments

That's criminal.

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Thanks, Robynne. Looks like we have some work to do!

Answer 7

Theater geeks sing along: “I say vote yes, vote yes, vote for independency!”

First up, Margaret Cochran Corbin, the first woman granted a military pension by Congress. She followed her husband into war as a nurse and took over firing his cannon when he was killed. [[Cochran-1847|Margaret (Cochran) Corbin (1751-abt.1800)]]

Our Colonial, Quaker, female James Bond, Lydia Barrington Darragh. [[Barrington-201|Lydia (Barrington) Darragh (1729-1789)]]

Was she or wasn’t she….our female, teenage Paul Revere, Sybil Ludington. [[Ludington-31|Sybil (Ludington) Ogden (1761-1839)]]

Our rebellious Frontierswoman, Nancy Morgan Hart. [[Morgan-1233|Nancy Ann (Morgan) Hart (1735-abt.1806)]]

The supposed Molly Pitcher, [[Ludwig-979|Mary (Ludwig) McCauley (abt.1750-1832)]]

Lots of interesting women patriots, I could have kept going but in the name of fairness here’s one of the lesser known fathers.

[[Jay-1|John Jay (1745-1829)]]

Comments

Thanks, Donna.

Answer 8

Let's get more southerners involved.  How about John Sevier (Sevier-7) who brought men over the mountains to help stop the British in North and South Carolina and send them on their way to Yorktown.

Comments

Thanks, Margaret.

Answer 9

Edmund Pendleton

Edmund Pendleton (September 9, 1721 – October 23, 1803) was an American planter, politician, lawyer, and judge. He served in the Virginia legislature before and during the American Revolutionary War, becoming the first speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates (which succeeded the House of Burgesses terminated by Virginia's last colonial Governor, Lord Dunmore). Pendleton attended the First Continental Congress as one of Virginia's delegates alongside George Washington and Patrick Henry, signed the Continental Association, and led the conventions both wherein Virginia declared independence (1776) and adopted the United States Constitution (1788)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Pendleton#Death_and_legacy

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pendleton-666

Comments

Abraham Clark - signer of the Declaration of Independence

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Thanks, Frank.

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Thanks, Carol.

Answer 10

How about US Black Heritage Notable London Atus? He was a slave when he fought in the Revolutionary War, serving in both the Army AND the Navy. Afterwards, he was able to buy his freedom and settled in Maine.  He has a 15,000+ CC7.

Comments

Thanks, Katie!

Answer 11

Two for one Colonial Fort E-46 Robert Taliaferro (1626-bef.1672) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree and Lawrence Smith (1629-abt.1700) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree

Comments

Thanks, K.

Answer 12

Nathanael Greene 42,202 connections

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Greene-872

Robert Morris (financier)

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Morris-1548

Answer 13

Magnifique ! Looking forward to collaborating !!  ..