A couple of additional points: First, in Pennsylvania, each township had one or more companies in the militia, each company organized by the "neighborhood" where one lived. Second, one did not need to sign up for the militia as every adult male through age 53 was automatically listed in his local militia. Being on the local militia list served as a census of the neighborhood, much like the local tax list. There was no "signing up." One had no choice. If one didn't want to attend musters, he had the choice of finding a substitute and/or paying fines. In the Pennsylvania Archives are pages and pages of militia men who paid fines instead of participating. Many if not most of the Lancaster County Brethren were on these lists of men who paid fines for missing musters. These are men whom historically have been granted patriot status by the DAR. I have cousins who are members of the DAR whose "patriot" ancestors never attended a single muster, let alone fire a shot. They were Brethren farmers who paid their fines. Dwayne Wrightsman ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill & Lynn Sewell" <lbsewell@frontiernet.net> To: <brethren@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 8:37 AM Subject: Re: [BRE] DAR/Anabaptists >From a historical view point, many Brethren were in the militias not >because they supported the war, but to protect their land during the Am. Revolution. Also Pa had fines for those who did not sign up for the militias. Each county had its own militia. Most Germans already had long rifles, which were used for hunting game. They did not have uniforms which as pictured in so many books and many did not even fire a shot during the Rev. Lynn Hilty Sewell

Dwayne, Right On!! Emmert ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dwayne Wrightsman" <dwayne55@comcast.net> To: <brethren@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 9:34 AM Subject: Re: [BRE] DAR/Anabaptists >A couple of additional points: First, in Pennsylvania, each township had > one or more companies in the militia, each company organized by the > "neighborhood" where one lived. Second, one did not need to sign up for > the > militia as every adult male through age 53 was automatically listed in his > local militia. Being on the local militia list served as a census of the > neighborhood, much like the local tax list. There was no "signing up." > One > had no choice. If one didn't want to attend musters, he had the choice of > finding a substitute and/or paying fines. In the Pennsylvania Archives > are > pages and pages of militia men who paid fines instead of participating. > Many if not most of the Lancaster County Brethren were on these lists of > men > who paid fines for missing musters. These are men whom historically have > been granted patriot status by the DAR. I have cousins who are members of > the DAR whose "patriot" ancestors never attended a single muster, let > alone > fire a shot. They were Brethren farmers who paid their fines. > > Dwayne Wrightsman > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Bill & Lynn Sewell" <lbsewell@frontiernet.net> > To: <brethren@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 8:37 AM > Subject: Re: [BRE] DAR/Anabaptists > > >>From a historical view point, many Brethren were in the militias not >>because > they supported the war, but to protect their land during the Am. > Revolution. > Also Pa had fines for those who did not sign up for the militias. Each > county had its own militia. Most Germans already had long rifles, which > were used for hunting game. They did not have uniforms which as pictured > in > so many books and many did not even fire a shot during the Rev. Lynn > Hilty > Sewell > > > ------------------------ > Search the Archives at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/BRETHREN > ------------------------ > Support Our Sponsoring Agency > The Fellowship Of Brethren Genealogists (FOBG) > For further information contact Ron McAdams mailto:McAdamsr@hotmail.com > ------------------------ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > BRETHREN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message