--WebTV-Mail-26787-11289 Content-Type: Text/Plain; Charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit --WebTV-Mail-26787-11289 Content-Disposition: Inline Content-Type: Message/RFC822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit Received: from mailsorter-102-1.iap.bryant.webtv.net (209.240.198.98) by postoffice-153.iap.bryant.webtv.net with WTV-SMTP; Sun, 4 Jul 1999 05:18:24 -0700 (PDT) Return-Path: <BlackSheep-L-request@rootsweb.com> Received: from bl-14.rootsweb.com (bl-14.rootsweb.com [204.212.38.30]) by mailsorter-102-1.iap.bryant.webtv.net (8.8.8/ms.graham.14Aug97) with ESMTP id FAA18695; Sun, 4 Jul 1999 05:18:20 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from slist@localhost) by bl-14.rootsweb.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) id FAA13811; Sun, 4 Jul 1999 05:16:12 -0700 (PDT) Resent-Date: Sun, 4 Jul 1999 05:16:12 -0700 (PDT) From: "Lisa" <byington@stny.lrun.com> Old-To: "Black Sheep" <BlackSheep-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Sun, 4 Jul 1999 08:11:19 -0400 Message-ID: <01bec616$52bf4700$8d245e18@default.stny.rr.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.71.1712.3 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.71.1712.3 Subject: [BlackSheep-L] Fw: 56 Men who signed the Declaration of Independence Resent-Message-ID: <0L0Fd.A.PXD.LC1f3@bl-14.rootsweb.com> To: BlackSheep-L@rootsweb.com Resent-From: BlackSheep-L@rootsweb.com X-Mailing-List: <BlackSheep-L@rootsweb.com> archive/latest/19316 X-Loop: BlackSheep-L@rootsweb.com Precedence: list Resent-Sender: BlackSheep-L-request@rootsweb.com I borrowed this from another list....Lisa B P.S. Have a happy and safe 4th of July! -----Original Message----- From: Susan Bedson <sbedson@worldnet.att.net> To: NYULSTER-L@rootsweb.com <NYULSTER-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Sunday, July 04, 1999 7:07 AM Subject: 56 Men who signed the Declaration of Independence >Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the > Declaration of Independence? > > Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, > >and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and > >burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, >another >had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or >hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged >their >lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men >were >they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were >merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, > >well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence >knowing >full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured. > Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his >ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and >properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. > Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to >move >his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, >and >his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, >and >poverty was his reward. > Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, > >Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. > At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the >British >General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his >headquarters. >He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home >was >destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt. Francis Lewis had his home and >properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a >few >months. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was >dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and >his >gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests > >and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children >vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a >broken >heart. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. > Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. >These >were not wild eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken >men >of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty >more. >Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the >support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of >the >divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, >our >fortunes, and our sacred honor." > They gave you and me a free and independent America. > The history books never told you a lot of what happened in the >Revolutionary War. We didn't just fight the British. We were >British >subjects at that time and we fought our own government! >Some of us take these liberties so much for granted... We shouldn't. > So, take a couple of minutes while enjoying your 4th of July >holiday and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to >ask >for the price they paid.............. > > ==== BlackSheep Mailing List ==== --- The 1998 winners of the BoPeep award for finding lost sheep are: Julie Hesson, IBSSG Charter Member Cyndi Howell, of Cyndi's list Dr. Brian Leverich, Karen Isaacson, Rootsweb OWNERS Genny Sharrah and Gary Marshall (Boone Society) 1999 Winners are: Minniesoda (Our webmistress) Nan (Our Solace Ewe/TLC coordinator) Tim Pierce (Rootsweb System manager) Myra Vanderpool Gormley (Genealogy Columnist) Julia Case (Genealogy columnist/ newsletter editor) --WebTV-Mail-26787-11289--