Gee, Sue, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I've read that Joseph Brant was NOT at the Wyoming Massacre. Due to his fearsome reputation among the Americans, he was thought to be everywhere at once. The WM was not the barbaric scene that some contemporaneous Americans described. Only combatants were injured and killed, not non-combatants, women, and children. It was used as fearful (and effective) propaganda. http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Wyoming_Valley_massacre http://www.galafilm.com/chiefs/htmlen/mohawk/ev_wyoming.html There's a somewhat similar story told about Joseph Brant rescuing a fellow Mason: "...Lt. Col. William Stacy of the Continental Army was the highest ranking officer captured during the Cherry Valley massacre. Several accounts indicate that during the fighting, or shortly thereafter, Col. Stacy was stripped naked, tied to a stake, and was about to be tortured and killed, but was spared by Brant. Like Brant, Stacy was a Freemason. Stacy was reported to have made an appeal as one Freemason to another, and Brant intervened. (Allan W. Eckert, a modern-day historian, speculates that the Stacy incident is “more romance than fact”, though he provides little basis for his speculation.)" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Brant Don't feel badly, Sue - I got interested in the Brants and William Johnson because family legend said we descended from Johnson via his children with Molly, but no dice. (My brother is still holding out for "Cousin" Walter Johnson, the famous baseball pitcher, though.) I recommend: * Isabel Thompson Kelsay's "Joseph Brant, 1743–1807, Man of Two Worlds." There are older public domain biographies available for download online which are fine, but none have the scholarship and depth of Kelsay. As a sort of trilogy, these books will add to a well-rounded view of important events that took place in pre-Revolutionary & Revolutionary New York and surrounding areas. These three allied people were extremely influential in shaping the history of the Revolution and the emerging nation: Molly Brant, Joseph Brant, and Sir William Johnson - * Earle Thomas: "The Three Faces of Molly Brant: A Biography". There are also online webpages and essays available about Molly. * Fintan O'Toole: "White Savage: William Johnson and the Invention of America". Likewise, there are public domain works available online. I'm currently reading: * Alan Taylor's "The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Boderland of the American Revolution", so I guess that would make my recommendations a 'quadology' .^_^. Taylor examines Joseph Brant's outlook on the ownership of lands by the Iroquois juxtaposed with that of his old schoolmate, Samuel Kirkland. The land issue was a big reason that the Americans rebelled (stamp acts, taxes, and non-representation were not the whole picture). They longed for that Iroquois homeland in a manifest destiny kind of way while the British attempted to keep it intact for the Indians. Molly Brant is given her due for the role she played as Iroquois matriarch in the British and Iroquois side of the war. And don't get me started about the Connecticut Yankees that forced their way into the Wyoming Valley and the Delaware Valley, claiming them for CT! That's one of the reasons the Iroquois were upset with the settlers. Can you tell that I find this era interesting? Because if not, I could go on... --- On Fri, 6/11/10, Goldsage@aol.com <Goldsage@aol.com> wrote: ...He was spared during the  Wyoming Massacre, and in fact, was informed the night before by Chief Joseph  Brant, to leave his new church or perish. Both men were Free  Masons, so this may have had something to do with their relationship...

Julia, Can you recommend any reading in particular on those Ct Yankees and the Wyoming Valley? Jenny ----- Original Message ----- From: "juliasgenes" <juliasgenes@yahoo.com> To: <nyorange@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, June 12, 2010 12:13 AM Subject: Re: [NYORANGE] Orange Co. Baptists & Joseph Brant > Gee, Sue, I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I've read that Joseph Brant > was NOT at the Wyoming Massacre. Due to his fearsome reputation among the > Americans, he was thought to be everywhere at once. The WM was not the > barbaric scene that some contemporaneous Americans described. Only > combatants were injured and killed, not non-combatants, women, and > children. It was used as fearful (and effective) propaganda. > http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Wyoming_Valley_massacre > http://www.galafilm.com/chiefs/htmlen/mohawk/ev_wyoming.html > > There's a somewhat similar story told about Joseph Brant rescuing a fellow > Mason: > > "...Lt. Col. William Stacy of the Continental Army was the highest ranking > officer captured during the Cherry Valley massacre. Several accounts > indicate that during the fighting, or shortly thereafter, Col. Stacy was > stripped naked, tied to a stake, and was about to be tortured and killed, > but was spared by Brant. Like Brant, Stacy was a Freemason. Stacy was > reported to have made an appeal as one Freemason to another, and Brant > intervened. (Allan W. Eckert, a modern-day historian, speculates that the > Stacy incident is “more romance than fact”, though he provides little > basis for his speculation.)" > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Brant > > Don't feel badly, Sue - I got interested in the Brants and William Johnson > because family legend said we descended from Johnson via his children with > Molly, but no dice. (My brother is still holding out for "Cousin" Walter > Johnson, the famous baseball pitcher, though.) > > I recommend: > > * Isabel Thompson Kelsay's "Joseph Brant, 1743–1807, Man of Two Worlds." > There are older public domain biographies available for download online > which are fine, but none have the scholarship and depth of Kelsay. > > As a sort of trilogy, these books will add to a well-rounded view of > important events that took place in pre-Revolutionary & Revolutionary New > York and surrounding areas. These three allied people were extremely > influential in shaping the history of the Revolution and the emerging > nation: Molly Brant, Joseph Brant, and Sir William Johnson - > > * Earle Thomas: "The Three Faces of Molly Brant: A Biography". There are > also online webpages and essays available about Molly. > > * Fintan O'Toole: "White Savage: William Johnson and the Invention of > America". Likewise, there are public domain works available online. > > I'm currently reading: > > * Alan Taylor's "The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern > Boderland of the American Revolution", so I guess that would make my > recommendations a 'quadology' .^_^. > > Taylor examines Joseph Brant's outlook on the ownership of lands by the > Iroquois juxtaposed with that of his old schoolmate, Samuel Kirkland. The > land issue was a big reason that the Americans rebelled (stamp acts, > taxes, and non-representation were not the whole picture). They longed for > that Iroquois homeland in a manifest destiny kind of way while the British > attempted to keep it intact for the Indians. Molly Brant is given her due > for the role she played as Iroquois matriarch in the British and Iroquois > side of the war. > > And don't get me started about the Connecticut Yankees that forced their > way into the Wyoming Valley and the Delaware Valley, claiming them for CT! > That's one of the reasons the Iroquois were upset with the settlers. Can > you tell that I find this era interesting? Because if not, I could go > on... > > > --- On Fri, 6/11/10, Goldsage@aol.com <Goldsage@aol.com> wrote: > > ...He was spared during the Wyoming Massacre, and in fact, was informed > the night before by Chief Joseph Brant, to leave his new church or perish. > Both men were Free Masons, so this may have had something to do with their > relationship... > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NYORANGE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message