Many of you are aware of Michael Bellesiles book, which supposedly found that gun ownership in Colonial America was very low, based on their seldom appearing in wills. Well, there is now a controversy over his accuracy. But I have yet to find a single gun mentioned in any of my ancestral wills. How about y'all? Yet we know many if not most male Colonists belonged to the militia and probably hunted game for the pot. And they lived near Indians who sometimes were hostile (Pequot War; King Philip's War). Any ideas about this? Best regards, Warren ============================================================== Warren WETMORE Hazel Crest, Cook Co., Illinois USA -------------------------------------------------------------- Researching ... WETMORE and WHITMORE : especially CT+NY+NB ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .APPLETON(Co.Suffolk) .FLETCHER:MA+ME+CT) .LESTER:LI+NY .ATKINSON:NB+NS .FLINT/FLYNT:MA .LONG:RI .BEDELL:LI .FOX:NJ(+PA?) .LOTT:RI .BONNELL:NJ+NY+NS(CT?).GILDERSLEEVE:CT+LI .McALLEN/ALLEN:NB .CARTON/CARTEN:NS+MA .GOODWIN:CRV* .MOTT:MA+RI+LI .CHAPMAN:NS+NB .HALL:CT-Middletown .PARTRIDGE:CRV* .CLEMENT:RI+NY .HAVILAND:RI+LI .PETERS:LI+NB .COLLINS:NS+NB .HEWLETT:NJ+LI .SMITH:CRV*;NB;LI .CROW:CRV* .HICKS:RI+LI;NB .STOW(E):MA+CT .DEVENNEY:NS+MA .HOAR(E):MA .TAIT:NB .DWIGHT:MA+CT .KELLEY:NS+MA .WHITE:CRV* .WILLIAMS:LI *CRV=Conn. River Valley, CT & MA; LI=Long Island, NY Co. Suffolk = County Suffolk, England Note: The various HICKS and SMITH lines are UNrelated. CHIGNECTO Isthmus, NB/NS: TAIT & ALLEN/McALLEN; ATKINSON, CHAPMAN, SMITH & HICKS. (Last four are Yorkshire planters) -------------------------------------------------------------- Some English maternal lines that may have come to colonial New Eng: BIGG(E) and MARTIN from Kent; HENCHMAN/HINKESMAN from Gloucestershire; WOOD from Derbyshire. -------------------------------------------------------------- Looking for **WHITMORE / WETMORE** ca 1585-1640 in the City of Bristol - Somersetshire - the West of England - Wales; DWIGHT, GOODWIN & WHITE in Essex; HAVILAND in Salisbury, Wilts.; Poole, Dorset; DE HAVILLAND in Guernsey, Channel Is.; FLYNT in Derbyshire; STOW & HALL in Kent; HOAR in Gloucs; PARTRIDGE in Northumb. -------------------------------------------------------------- She had southern roots, as many Washington cave dwellers do. Her father could bore a man to death at a hundred yards tracing his family tree back to the Precambrian era. -- Christopher Buckley, _Little Green Men_, p. 13 ==============================================================