Great Grandpa's Ship

I've been trying to find evidence that my great grandfather William Henry Robinson immigrated through Ellis Island.  Today I found out why that has been so difficult, he did not go through Ellis Island.  He immigrated through Boston on the S.S. Arabic, leaving June 22, 1906 from Liverpool and arriving June 30, 1906. Below is a picture of the ship from around that time period, the page from the passenger manifest with William Henry and my great grandmother Annie Lomas, and a picture of the couple later in America. Each adult paid 15 pounds 15 shillings and 6 pence for travel and their one year old daughter paid 3 lbs 15 shillings. These prices make clear what I already assumed, that they traveled 3rd class.

The ship was owned by White Star Lines, the same as the Titanic, and was later sunk in 1915 by a German U-Boat.

John Watson's Will

I always assumed that there had to be a number of slaver owners somewhere in my North Carolina roots.  Today I found the first direct evidence of that through a will posted on ancestry.com written by my 6th Great Grandfather John Watson in 1802.  The will lists six slaves by name and bequeaths them to John Watson's wife and children.

The War of 1812

In January of 1815, Andrew Jackson led US forces to a remarkable victory at the Battle of New Orleans, making him a famous man and a national hero.  It was the last major battle of the war, fought, in fact, after the peace treaty had already been finalized in Europe.

Two month later, my fifth great grandparents William Gunter and Nancy Ann Williams named their new son Andrew Jackson Gunter, a clear ode to the famous general after his great victory.

This William Gunter may be, although I am not certain, the same listed in this document, granted a land warrant for 160 acres for his service in the 7th infantry regiment commanded by George Birch in the War of 1812.

William Gunter would have been an old private at 50 something, but there is another piece of evidence that supports the idea that he might be one and the same William Gunter.  The 7th infantry regiment served in the Battle of New Orleans.  Which would certainly explain why he felt strongly enough about Andrew Jackson to name his son after him. Alternately, he has a son named William Gunter, my fifth great uncle.  Maybe he named his new son Andrew Jackson after hearing about the battle from his older son.  It's also possible that there is no connection here, as I cannot find any confirmation that the 7th regiment took soldiers from Norther Carolina.  See a history of the regiment here. 

This is the first Civil War soldier I've found in my family tree for either North or South.  My third great grandfather George Marion Gunter seems to have been a sergeant in the Confederate Army.  He was part of a regiment with a lot of Cherokee Indian members called Thomas' Legion.  "George was a 4th Sgt.in the G,Infantry Regiment of the Thomas Legion during the Civil War,he enlisted on July 19,1862."-per this source.

For context on this regiment see:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas%27_Legion. Here's his tombstone, note the inscription "A Rebel Soldier."

Esther "Gantanaga" Black and Nathan "Dutch" Thompson

I had always been told that some of my ancestors were Cherokee.  One of the possible sources of that story is Esther "Gantanaga" Black, my sixth great grandmother.  A number of online sources quote family stories to the effect that she was Cherokee, that she lied about her heritage to avoid being relocating during the "trail of tears," and that she was refused burial in a Christian cemetery on the grounds of her "heathen" ancestry.  The multitude of such stories leads me to believe that there is something to it, but I haven't seen any original sources myself.  Examples of stories along these lines can be found in the following thread: http://www.saponitown.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-3588.html

Captain Robert Messer

My family has one or two lines come from the south, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and elsewhere.  I know relatively little about these lines, but after just a few minutes of searching today I happened upon the story of my 7th great grandfather Captain Robert Messer.  He was part of a group of rebels against the British in 1771 called the regulators (click here for some context).  After being defeated by the British he was hung for treason.  There is a nice account of this story on this blog:   http://kingdomtobackwoods.wordpress.com/#

This story draws together two parts of my ancestry about which I know very little, my ancestors role in the revolutionary struggle and my southern roots.