A Search for Descendants of the Men featured on the America's Tapestry New Hampshire

 The needleworkers who created the America's Tapestry panel for the colony of New Hampshire for the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War want me to share this exciting news!  They are searching for descendants of the patriots depicted on their tapestry. These men are John Langdon, Steven Batson,  Samuel Cutts, Henry Langmead, Jude Hall, John Sullivan, and Alexander Scammell.  If you are a descendant please email the Millyard Museum in Manchester, New Hampshire.  They are organizing a Descendant's Day in the spring of 2027 and would love you to participate! 

I previously blogged about this New Hampshire panel and the America's Tapestry project at this link HERE.  A group of local embroiderers and needle workers created this over several months this winter and spring.  Similar groups met in all the former 13 colonies that participated in the American Revolution.  All thirteen panels were mounted at the Smithsonian Museum and will travel to all 13 states starting this winter.  In the spring this amazing display will be at the Millyard Museum in Manchester, New Hampshire.  I can't wait to see all the tapestries displayed together.

Here are the patriots featured on the New Hampshire tapestry.  If your ancestor was one of the patriots featured here, or another patriot in some of the revolutionary events pictured (The raid on Fort William and Mary in Portsmouth Harbor), please contact the Manchester Historic Association and Millyard Museum.  

Thank you to the Millyard Museum and to the America's Tapestry museum for allowing me to photograph the panel and the needle workers in the spring of 2026, and thank you to the America's Tapestry New Hampshire Facebook group for the close up images of the patriots depicted in the panels.

For the truly curious:

The Millyard Museum at 200 Bedford Street (corner of Commerical and Pleasant Streets), Suite 103,  in Manchester, New Hampshire

    phone 603-622-7531     email  history@manchesterhistoric.org  

    Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/MillyardMuseum  

The America's Tapestry Project website:    https://www.americastapestry.com/  

My blog post from March 2026:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/02/americas-tapestry-project-in-new.html   

 ---------------------------

To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Search for Descendants of the Men featured on the America's Tapestry New Hampshire", Nutfield Genealogy, posted Ocotber 22, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/10/a-search-for-descendants-of-men.html: accessed [access date]). 

The Myles Standish Homestead in Duxbury, Massachusetts

SITE OF THE

HOMESTEAD OF

CAPTAIN

MYLES STANDISH

THE

MILITARY LEADER

OF 

PLYMOUTH COLONY

HERE STOOD THE

HOUSE WHERE

CAPTAIN

MYLES STANDISH

LIVED AND DIED

On the peninsula called "The Nook" in Duxbury, Massachusetts, on Mayflower Drive, is a small one acre property that looks like an empty lot over looking Duxbury Bay and Plymouth Harbor.  At one time most of this peninsula was owned by the Standish family.  This is the site of the original home Captain Myles Standish built in 1632.  He died here in 1656, and his home burned to the ground around 1665.  You can still see the cellar hole, marked by granite posts, with several commemorative markers.  This property was deeded to the town of Duxbury around 1930.  

There have been several archaeological digs here at this site, the first in 1832 by Rev. Benjamin Kent, and more in recent years. The artifacts that were found in an 1856 excavation by James Hall are now in the collections of Pilgrim Hall Museum.

Myles Standish was born about 1584 at an unknown location in England.  He was married first to Rose (maiden name unknown), and then married second to Barbara (also maiden name unknown) who was the mother of seven children.  He died on 3 October 1656 in Duxbury, and she died some time after 6 October 1659.  Myles was the Captain and the leader of the Plymouth Colony military forces until his death.  He also served in several civic leadership positions in the colony, such as assistant to the governor on 1 January 1632/3, treasurer in 1644, and deputy governor in 1653.  He was considered the first English person to settle in what is now the town of Duxbury. 

Captain Standish was buried nearby in the Myles Standish Burial Ground also known as the Old Burying Ground, which also the final resting place of several other Mayflower passengers (George Soule, John Alden and Priscilla Mullins).  Also on this peninsula is the Myles Standish Monument State Park, which a tower topped with a statue of Captain Standish. For a very interesting side trip, consider going to the nearby town of Halifax to see "Myles Standish's Boots", which were the only survivors of the granite statue of Captain Standish when his statue was hit by lightning in the 1800s (see the link HERE). 

 

For the truly curious:

Myles Standish Park at Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myles_Standish_Park   

"Myles Standish House Archeology", Pilgrim Hall Museum:  https://www.pilgrimhall.org/standish-archeology/  

My STANDISH lineage:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/09/surname-saturday-standish-of-mayflower.html   

Myles Standish Monument:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/05/not-so-wordless-wednesday-myles.html    

Myles Standish Burying Ground:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/04/tombstone-tuesday-myles-standish.html    

A recent visit to see Myles Standish's boots in Halifax, Massachusetts!   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/10/myles-standishs-boots-very-weird.html  

-----------------------------

To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Myles Standish Homestead in Duxbury, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 20, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/10/the-myles-standish-homestead-in-duxbury.html: accessed [access date]).  

A Sailing Ship for Weathervane Wednesday

 This unique weathervane was photographed in Duxbury, Massachusetts

Whilst wandering around Duxbury, Massachusetts to visit the historical sites associated with Captain Myles Standish of the Mayflower we saw several very interesting weathervanes on homes.  This one caught our eye because of the colors and the intricate masts and rigging.

Duxbury is a sea side town, and Myles Standish lived on The Nook peninsula, overlooking Duxbury and Kingston Bay.  There are some lovely homes here, all traditional New England style.  This weathervane was installed above a cupola over a detached garage.  The weathervane features a three dimensional ship with a gilded hull.  There are three masts and a bowsprit, all decorated with rigging, colorful flags, and one sail. It's a very appropriate weathervane for the neighborhood! 

For the truly curious:

My lineage from Capt. Myles Standish of the Mayflower:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/09/surname-saturday-standish-of-mayflower.html  

Click here to see over 550 more weathervanes featured here on Weathervane Wednesday:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday  

-----------------------

To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Sailing Ship for Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 14, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/10/a-sailing-ship-for-weathervane-wednesday.html, accessed [access date]). 

Myles Standish's boots - A very weird roadside attraction

 

On a clear day with blue skies on 26 August 1922, lightning struck the statue of Captain Myles Standish on the tower in Myles Standish Monument State Reservation in Duxbury, Massachusetts.  The strange phenomenon destroyed the top half of the statue, and the arm holding his sword. Native Americans in the area considered this retribution, and gather at the site of the legs annually. 

70 years after the freak storm, in the 1990s, the legs of this statue were discovered cast aside in a granite quarry in Quincy, Massachusetts.  You can see these seven foot boots at 20 Dwight Street in Halifax, Massachusetts.  This strange landmark is located in front of the residence of Marc Valentine, a local artist, near the Monponsett Lake where Sachem Massasoit (Ousamequin) had his hunting lodge on White Island. Halifax was in the center of many of the conflicts during King Philip's War.  

One of the catalysts for King Philip's War might have been when the English at Plymouth worried that Wamsutta, Ousamequin's son, was planning an attack.  Josias Winslow went to the lodge on White Island and arrested Wamsutta.  But after a few days in custody, Wamsutta fell sick and died.  Wamsutta's brother, Metacoment (King Philip) thought he had been poisoned by Winslow.  This event was end of five decades of peace between the English and the Wampanoag peoples, drawn up by one of Ousamequin's treaties.  The resulting war (1675-1676) was one of the most deadly and destructive wars in American History. 

Captain Myles Standish

Here stand the legs of Captain Myles Standish

first military leader of the Plymouth Colony 1620 - 1642

... from atop Captains Hill in Duxbury, Struck down 

and destroyed by a "Violent Lightning Bolt"...

...taking his sword, the Charter... and his head,

August 26, 1922... known by many then and today

as a Powerful and Significant Event.

Myles Standish also owned property here in town,

the land where the Halifax Elementary School

now stands.

A 400th anniversary Salute

Monponsett

7,000 years ago, at the time

of the Great Pyramids, early

Indians camped here along the 

northern shore of the lake.

... but it wasn't until May 20, 1927

that Charles A. Lindbergh got

a "birds eye" view when he flew

directly over the town of Halifax,

and this neighborhood at 100 ft on his

historic first solo flight across the 

Atlantic.  Even today planes flying 

the North Atlantic routes to Europe

pass over head "Bearing NNE". 

The original 14 foot Myles Standish monument in Duxbury was build between 1872 and 1898, on land that was once Captain Standish's farmland.  After the 1922 lightning strike, it was replaced with an entirely new statue in 1930, carved by sculptor John Horrigan. The monument is still standing on top of a 116 foot tower in Duxbury.  Visitors can climb the 125 steps to a viewing platform on top with views of Duxbury Beach, Plymouth Harbor and the Blue Hills.  Captain Standish is buried nearby at the Myles Standish Burial Ground. 

For the truly curious:

My lineage from Myles Standish of the Mayflower:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/09/surname-saturday-standish-of-mayflower.html   

The Myles Standish Burial Ground, Duxbury, Massachusetts:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/04/tombstone-tuesday-myles-standish.html  

"How Myles Standish Lost His Head", Drew Archival Library, March 6, 2013,  https://drewarchives.org/2013/03/06/how-myles-standish-lost-his-head/  

"A New Head and Shoulders for Miles Standish Statue", The Duxbury Rural and Historical Society,  https://duxburyhistory.org/pilgrim-history-duxbury-massachusetts/coming-to-a-pilgrim-town/a-new-head-and-shoulders-for-miles-standish-statue/ 

Myles Standish Monument website:   https://www.mass.gov/locations/myles-standish-monument-state-reservation  

"The Suspicious Death of Wamsutta: Prelude to War", from the official website of the Pokanoket Tribe, https://www.pokanokettribe.org/articles/suspicious-death-of-wamsutta   

-------------------

To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Myles Standish's boots - A very weird roadside attraction", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 6, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/10/myles-standishs-boots-very-weird.html: accessed [access date]). 

A Visit to Saratoga National Historical Park

 

The Visitor Center for Saratoga National Historic Park

Last month we wandered over to New York state to visit Fort Ticonderoga and the Saratoga National Historic Park.  I had ancestors fight in both locations in the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars.  In preparation of the trip I had already researched these ancestors, and I had placed queries with the historians at both parks.  See below for how to contact the historican at Saratoga.

During the American Revolution, in 1777, the British forces tried to separate New England from the southern colonies with a series of attacks in the Champlain and Hudson River Valleys. British, Canadian and German armies met up with the American forces at Saratoga.  There were two important battles here and a three day seige.  Finally British General John Burgoyne was forced to surrender.  It was a pivotal moment in the Revolutionary War, and it was the first ever surrender of the British Army.  The Battles of Saratoga changed the world forever. 

You can begin your visit at the Visitor Center, where I met up with the historian who I had communicated with earlier about my ancestors.  One fought on the American side, and the other was a Hessian soldier (a doctor and surgeon)  the British side. He recommended we take the park map, which led to a ten mile driving audio tour you can follow with an app.  We also watched an orientation film at the Visitor Center, and toured the museum.  

The email I received from the Saratoga National Historical Park Ranger and Military Historian:  "Your ancestor was the Compagnie Feldscher - Company Surgeon - of Captain Julius von Poellnitz's company of the Braunschweig Infantry Regiment von Riedesel. As you say, he served in Burgoyne army in the Northern Campaign of 1777. Given the regiment he served in, he probably cared for the wounded in the aftermath of the Battle of Hubbardton (fought July 7, 1777) and the Battle of Freeman's Farm (fought September 19, 1777)."  Of course, sitting with him and watching him mark up my park map with all the places where my Hessian soldier was quartered, was injured, and where he served in the British hospital and prisoner of war camp was a highlight of the trip.  If your ancestors or relatives were at Saratoga, it is well worth the trip! 

The audio tour can take up to three or four or more hours, especially if you get out at every stop, walk the trails, take photos, and read all the signage and monuments.  There are ten stops on the audio tour inside the National Park. The tour leaves the park and ends a few miles north at Schuylerville, where the surrender site and the Saratoga Monument are located near Victory Woods.  The park is dog friendly, there are picnic sites and restrooms along the way, and also horse and bike trails. There is also a Wilkinson National Recreation Trail through parts of the battlefields and other natural areas. 

A display about the Hessian soldiers who fought at the Battles of Saratoga

Each stop on the audio tour had a three dimensional map and information

The Neilson House, headquarters for Benedict Arnold and Enoch Poor's brigade

A monument to the unknown soldiers at Saratoga Battlefield

A monument to Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Polish officer and military architect at Saratoga 

The famous "Boot Monument" 

Benedict Arnold is not named on this monument at all

Erected 1887 by

JOHN WATTS de PEYSTER

Bev: Maj. Gen: SNY

2nd V. Pres't Saratoga Mon't Ass't'n

In memory of 

the "most brilliant soldier" of the 

Continental Army

who was desperately wounded

on this spot by the sally port of

BURGOYNES GREAT (WESTERN) REDOUBT

7th October 1777

winning for his countrymen

the decisive battle of the American Revolution

and for himself the rank of

Major General

A view of the Hudson River Valley from Bemis Heights, Saratoga National Historical Park

We enjoyed our stay in Saratoga and also saw the Saratoga Spa State Park and toured the Automobile museum.  We ate dinner at the lovely Old Bryan Inn, built in 1773 and probably hosted some of the characters that made the nearby battles so famous.  There are also the historic Saratoga Springs Racetrack and the nearby mineral springs and spas to visit.  

Inside the Old Bryan Inn

For the truly curious:

The official Saratoga National Historical Park website:   https://www.nps.gov/sara/index.htm  

Queries to the historian at Saratoga NHP:  https://www.nps.gov/sara/contacts.htm    

Johann Daniel Bollman, my Hessian ancestor: 

The Boot Monument (Benedict Arnold) at Wikipedia:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_Monument

The Olde Bryan Inn:  https://www.oldebryaninn.com/   

Saratoga Spa State Park:    https://parks.ny.gov/visit/state-parks/saratoga-spa-state-park   

----------------------

To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo "A Visit to Saratoga National Historic Park", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 22, 2016, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/09/a-visit-to-saratoga-national-historical.html: accessed [access date]). 

My Loyalist Ancestors - Benjamin Thompson AKA Count Rumford

 

The Count Rumford birthplace in Woburn, Massachusetts

This is the second blog post on a Loyalist ancestor I have written this year for the 250th anniversary of the United States.  Benjamin Thompson is my first cousin, six generations removed.  His mother, Ruth Simonds (b. 1730) is the sister of my 5th great grandfather, Caleb Simonds (1720 - 1811).  Benjamin Thompson was born 26 March 1753 in Woburn, Massachusetts in the house of his grandfather, Captain Ebenezer Thompson.  He attended the local schools until he was eleven years old, when he was sent (along with his young friend and neighbor Loammi Baldwin) to Medford to study mathematics, astronomy and science.  

At age 13 he was bound as an apprentice to a Salem merchant, John Appleton.  Thompson went home to Woburn soon after because Appleton lost his business when the relations between the colonies and England became strained. Then he taught school in Wilmington in 1768 and 1769.  Later in 1769 he again studied science (anatomy and physiology) under Dr. John Hay, a doctor in Woburn. In 1770 he studied at Harvard with his friend Loammi Baldwin.  In 1772 he began to teach school in Rumford (now Concord, New Hampshire). 

By 1772 he married Sarah Walker, the widow of Benjamin Rolfe, and daughter of Rev. Timothy Walker of Rumford. She was a very wealthy woman, age 33, and Benjamin Thompson was only 19 years old. He joined the New Hampshire regiment, and had to chose sides to be an American or a Loyalist.  When he was denied a commission to be an officer in the Continental army he joined the British. Benjamin and Sarah had one daughter, Sarah, born 18 October 1774. 

When the British evacuated Boston on 17 March 1776 he fled to England and left his wife in New Hampshire. He was elected to the Royal Society of Science in 1779, returned to America as an officer in 1781 - 1782, and was knighted in 1784.  Then he left England for Germany, where he served the Prince of Bavaria for 18 years, where he was made a count of the Holy Roman Empire. He chose to be named Count Rumford, after the town in New Hampshire.

In 1803 he settled in France where he remarried to the widow of the French chemist Lavoisier.  His new wife was Anne Marie Pierette Paulze. While in France he invented a calorimeter, a photomete, and a drip coffee maker.  His studies of heat lead him to be the first to understand that heat was a form of motion.

He endowed the Rumford Medals at the Royal Society, and the Rumford Medals at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Rumfor chair of science at Harvard College (now Harvard University). He, along with Sir Joseph Banks, founded the Royal Institution of Great Britain.  He also made some practical inventions such as central heating, the smokeless chimney, the kitchen oven, the first pressure cooker, and other. His name lives on for the invention of the Rumford Fireplace, which reflected more heat back into the room than previous versions of fireplaces. 

As Count Rumford in Europe, he had several love affairs, including a woman Victoire Lafevre (his housekeeper) who bore him a son,  and the Countess Baumgarten with whom he had another daughter named Sophia, born in 1798.  Count Rumford also had an affair with her sister, the Countess Nogarola.  

Benjamin Thompson, AKA Count Rumford, died 21 August 1814 in Auteil, France and is buried there. His epitaph reads "Benjamin Thompson, Conte De Rumford. The celebrated physicist and enlightened philanthropist, whose discoveries on light and heat made his name illustrious and whose work to help the poor will always be dear to the friends of humanity."

President Franklin D. Roosevelt said that Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, was "one of the three greatest minds America has produced" (the others were Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson).  

By Thomas Gainsborough - Corel Photo CD, MASTERS I, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9516763

For the truly curious:

Previous blog posts on Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford:

"Two Cousins", 17 May 2012:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/05/two-cousins.html   

"The Count Rumford House", 14 May 2012:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/05/count-rumford-house.html   

"Colonel Loammi Baldwin", 24 October 2013:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/10/colonel-loammi-baldwin.html  

Memoir of Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, with notices of his daughter, (with an edition of Rumford's complete works) by George E. Ellis, published by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston, 1875. 

Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford and the Royal Instituation, by the Royal Society, 1999. 

White Knight, Red Heat: The many lives of Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, by John and Mary Gribbin, 20023

Benjamin Thompson at Wikipedia:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Thompson 

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "My Loyalist Ancestors - Benjamin Thompson AKA Count Rumford", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 15, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/09/my-loyalist-ancestors-benjamin-thompson.html: accessed [access date]). 

A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga

 

Last month we drove over to Fort Ticonderoga, taking the ferry from Vermont.  I had contacted the museum archives about an ancestor who had served there during the French and Indian War, and I received a prompt reply only a few hours later.  We decided to go see this fort, which had seen action in both the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War, as well as several other conflicts.  

Fort Ticonderoga was built by the French between 1755 and 1757.  It looks very similar to fortifications seen in Quebec City and Louisburg, Nova Scotia.  It was an important military location for conflicts between England and France, and later between England the the American colonies. It is located between Lake Champlain and Lake George, on a trade route in the Hudson Valley.  During the Revolutionary War it was a strategic location in the British attempt to cut off New England from the southern colonies during their Northern Campaign. 

If you had ancestors who fought here during any conflict, the museum at Fort Ticonderoga has an extensive archive. This year they launched a searchable data base online for researchers. There is also an extensive data base of Ticonderoga material online at the American Ancestors (New England Historic Genealogical Society) website.  See below for more information and links. 

In honor of the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War and the birthday of the United States, Fort Ticonderoga is hosting many events for the public.  See their website for more information (the link is listed below).  

The ferry from Larrabee's Point, Vermont to Ticonderoga, New York

For the truly curious:

Fort Ticonderoga:   https://fortticonderoga.org/  

The Fort Ticonderoga Soldiers Project (genealogy):   https://fortticonderoga.org/learn-and-explore/collections/genealogy/   

For inquiries to the archives:   archives@fort-ticonderoga.org   

New England Historic Genealogical Society (American Ancestors) has a searchable data base for men who were engaged in military events at For Ticonderoga.  A membership is required.    https://dbnews.americanancestors.org/2026/06/17/new-database-new-york-fort-ticonderoga/   

A previous 2011 blog post about Fort Ticonderoga:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/12/fort-ticonderoga.html  

A blog post on the tombstone of Hannah Choate Burnham, buried in Dunbarton, New Hampshire, the widow of my great uncle many generations removed, who was killed at Ticonderoga in 1758.   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/07/hannah-choate-burnham-died-1805.html  

A blog post about a father and son killed at Ticonderoga, buried at Goffstown, New Hampshire:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/04/tombstone-tuesday-scots-irish-settler.html  

---------------------

To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Visit to Fort Ticonderoga", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 8, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/09/a-visit-to-fort-ticonderoga.html: accessed [access date]).