In a message dated 7/6/00 9:51:03 PM Pacific Daylight Time, Wayne L II writes: << In a message dated 7/6/00 8:12:32 AM Pacific Daylight Time, owensj@epix.net writes: << There are some typos in the names presented. McKeam should be M'Kean as he signed it, or McKean as sometimes seen in various references. Dillery should be Ellery. Norris should be Morris This piece has been widely circulated on the internet, not just at this Independence Day, but for some time, and portions, or similar pieces found on various web sites. While the tone is generally honorable and honest it has some exaggerations and errors. I wouldn't call it propaganda for the reason that it is honorable in presenting the spirit of our democracy's beginning, but from a genealogical viewpoint it is a poor representation of facts. Mr. M'Kean, for instance, was, after the Rev. War, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and later the Governor of PA. His life may have had some hardships during the war, but he did not die in poverty. Carter Braxton, while he lost most of his fortune, it was a result of poor business decisions after the war, not his support of the war which caused his problems. These claims for the patriots who risked everything have somehow been distorted for reasons unknown by author(s) anonymous. I have seen the thorough debunking of this piece previously, but did not retain it. My two examples cited are from a few quick checks of autobiographical info found on various web sites. And while some of the hardships indicated were suffered by many of the signers, and many other patriots, they were later compensated for some of their loses by government grants and payments. While the piece is dramatic in content, my wish is that it should fade into oblivion, and be replaced with a true account which I'm sure is just as dramatic, but would be as completely factual as records might allow. Jeff Owens >> Jeff and others on Thomas McKean, I have done a lot of research on Thomas McKean and a lot of what Jeff says is true, but he suffered a lot during the War and after the War. He lost his brother, William, who was killed at sea during the Revolution and he also lost his brother, Dr. Robert McKean, who died shortly after his marriage to the daughter of the Governor of New Jersey. Thomas McKean's father was a tavern keeper. I believe his grandmother had a great influence on him. She was a widow who raised her children by herself as her husband died on the way over from Ireland about 1725. Thomas lost several of his children and after the death of Dorothy (I believe) he writes about his lost of his family. He speaks of not have close kin and goes on to say that some of them have been dead close to 50 years. It has been years since I have research this family but they have ties back to the MacIains of Glencoe, Scotland and the Massacre of Glencoe in 1692. A student back in 1915 did his Thesis on The life of Thomas McKean and did a good job. Thomas McKean had quite a busy political life. And I might say a stormy one at that. No, he never died poor, but he was hounded although the War. Wayne McKean, Seattle, WA