Bottony Cross Chapter, NSDAR

Our Patriots

We invite you to take a look at the names of  the patriots belonging to our chapter members. Do you see a familiar name? If not, you may be able to find your own patriot by perusing the DAR Genealogical Research System.

Samuel Atkins, VIRGINIA

James Blair, SOUTH CAROLINA

Charles Blount, NORTH CAROLINA

William Bratton, SOUTH CAROLINA

Ebenezer Buck, MASSACHUSETTS

Levi Brown, MASSACHUSETTS

James Buckley, Sr., VIRGINIA

Henry Cadmus, NEW JERSEY

Robert Caldwell, PENNSYLVANIA

Jacob Cale, NORTH CAROLINA

Jonathan Chapin, MASSACHUSETTS

Elijah Chism, NORTH CAROLINA

Anthony Collamore, Sr., MASSACHUSETTS

Peter Daniels, VIRGINIA

Elijah Dee, CONNECTICUT

Edward Epes, VIRGINIA

Rebecca Gibbons, VIRGINIA

Thomas Gibbons, NORTH CAROLINA

Spence Grayson, VIRGINIA

Samuel Gregg, VIRGINIA

John Hartsfield, NORTH CAROLINA

John Harvey, VIRGINIA

William Higgins, MASSACHUSETTS
Joseph Hoar, Sr., MASSACHUSETTS

John Howe, MARYLAND

Joshua Howell, VIRGINIA

Simeon Keep, MASSACHUSETTS

William Leftwich, VIRGINIA

Daniel Littlefield, MASSACHUSETTS

Solomon Lockwood, CONNECTICUT

Benjamin Longley, MARYLAND

Christopher Mcmamus, NEW JERSEY

Jehu Meader, VIRGINIA

Andrew Moore, PENNSYLVANIA

George Morton, VIRGINIA

Stephen Norwood, MASSACHUSETTS

Eliphalet Parker, MASSACHUSETTS

John Perry, MASSACHUSETTS

William Plummer, VIRGINIA

James Ransom, VIRGINIA

John Reed, VIRGINIA

Reuben Reynolds, CONNECTICUT

Edward Robinson, Sr., VIRGINIA

Edward Robinson, Jr., VIRGINIA

Robert Sampson, MASSACHUSETTS

George Frederick Shall, PENNSYLVANIA /MARYLAND

Jeremiah Shaw, NEW YORK

John Shields, PENNSYLVANIA

Jedediah Sleeper, NEW HAMPSHIRE

John Wheeler, NEW JERSEY

James Wright, MAEYLAND

BOTTONY CROSS CHAPTER, NSDAR, PATRIOT SPOTLIGHTS

      Elijah Dee, fought in the Revolutionary War in Connecticut in the regiment of Col. Erastus Wolcott.  Elijah appears on the muster roll at New London, Connecticut on February 28, 1777.  By the time of the war there were  numerous Wolcotts in Connecticut descended from the immigrant, Henry Wolcott, who arrived and settled in Windsor in 1635.  Having the typical very large families of the time, by the 1770s Wolcotts were thick on the ground in the state.  

      Fast forward to farm country in Iowa in 1893.  Located between Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Sheridan Township was settled by farmers attracted to the rich Iowa soil.  On September 20th of that year Elijah Dee’s great-grandson, Harry Wilroy Dee, married Evalina Wolcott.  Evalina was the sixth generation descendant of Henry Wolcott, grandson of the immigrant.  Circling back to where we started, this Henry was the first cousin of Col. Erastus Wolcott who commanded Elijah Dee in the Revolutionary War.  Harry Dee and Evalina Wolcott. My great-grandparents, thus cemented the Dee-Wolcott relationship forever. 

Robert Caldwell - Frontiersman, Revolutionary War Soldier and Pioneer. 

Robert Caldwell was born in 1757, near the western frontier of Pennsylvania during the time of the French and Indian Wars.  He grew up learning how to hunt and forage for food along with other skills necessary to survive in the wilderness.  He was the son of William Caldwell and Mary McClellan and was part of a large family with at least three brothers and six sisters. 

He was 19 years old in July of 1776, when he enlisted as a Private in the 8th PA Regiment in the town of Greensburg, Westmoreland County, PA for a term of three years.  This Regiment was formed to defend the western border of the state from Native American Tribes allied with the British.  However, General George Washington needed men, and the regiment was transferred to the main army in November of 1776.  They endured a mid-winter 300-mile march across the Allegheny Mountains to New Jersey without proper equipment or supplies.  Casualties from the march were high, but the men were soon called into action defending Philadelphia and New York City.  Robert Caldwell was with a detached body of riflemen sent to fight in the Battles of Saratoga which resulted in the capture of the British General Burgoyne.  After completing his term, he was regularly discharged at Pittsburgh, PA in 1779. 

When Robert Caldwell returned home to Westmoreland County, PA, it was time for him to make a life for himself.  He married Sarah Ann Fryer on 18 April 1782, and they began having children together.  In 1784, he applied for and received a warrant from the state of Pennsylvania to purchase 400 acres at a discounted rate designed to compensate veterans of the War, but he did not complete the process to receive a patent that would have given him ownership of that land. 

Many members of his large extended family of siblings, in-laws, nieces, nephews and cousins were migrating westward.  Relatives would send letters from the various locations where they settled, describing their experiences and sometimes persuading the folks back home to come join them.  In April 1785, Robert Caldwell sold the 140-acre tract of land that he lived on in Derry Township, Westmoreland County, PA for 60 pounds.   He took his wife and children and went to Nicholas County, Kentucky.  They arrived during a period of significant tension between the settlers and the Native American population and initially had to live in a block house.  The area was gradually civilized, and Robert would stay in Kentucky for the next 50 years of his life.

On the 5th of April 1821 when Robert was 64 years of age, he appeared in the Circuit Court of Nicholas County, KY to testify in support of his application for a Revolutionary War pension.  He made a declaration of his service which was supported by the deposition of Capt. John Finley.  His assets were listed as: 2 horses, $35.00 each; 5 cattle, $7.00 each; 10 sheep, $10.00 each; 5 hogs $5.00 each; old wagon, $40.00; for a total of $175.00.  He also had debts which he owed for care of his 57-year-old wife, who had dropsy and didn’t live with him, couldn’t work and keep herself.  They lived off the bounty of their children.  He received his pension number S35814, on January 29, 1822, with an annual allowance of $96.00.  He received a certificate but lost it near Carlisle, Kentucky, so he sent to John Caldwell Calhoun, Secretary of War for another, on May 24, 1824, from Nicholas Co., KY. 

Robert’s first wife must have died sometime before February 12, 1829, because that is when he married for a second time, to the widow, Mrs. Sarah McVey.  He might have spent the rest of his life in Kentucky, but both his and her children had grown and moved away.  On May 30, 1835, he made an application from Marion County, Indiana to have his pension transferred.  He had come to Indiana to visit but decided to stay as he needed assistance from his children in his old age.  The 1840 US Census shows Robert Caldwell living in Wayne Township, Marion County, IN where he owned tracts of land.  As Robert Caldwell’s health continued to decline due to old age, he went to Rush County, IN to stay with his oldest son, Reverend William Caldwell, founder of the Concord Christian Church in Rush County.  Robert Caldwell died on July 31, 1845, and he was laid to rest in the graveyard on the grounds of the church founded by his son.