Hi Jeannie, It is not surprising to me that someone who had served in the local militia, albeit long before the war, would be first in line to join the Colonials at the first call to arms, regardless of his age. It is telling that he achieved the rank of Captain in the militia, yet was a mere Private in Capt. Dimon's company (according to Mrs. Ellis' DAR entry). That tells me that he probably had not been active in the militia for quite some time, and the fact that he was allowed to enlist was possibly a way of bestowing a token honor on a man who had long served his community. If he were not in the best of health, it would not have been wise to have given him a rank any greater than private. The higher the rank, the more energetic one would need to be, both physically and mentally. There should be war records somewhere (National Archives?) that would show when he was mustered out of service. My guess is he would have been mustered out very shortly after he enlisted, within a year or six months. You may want to consult with a Revolutionary War historian on this, but I believe there was some precedence for allowing elderly patriots to enlist, but then mustering them out as quickly as possible, to allow the hale and hearty to do the fighting and the leading of men. I do have a note (lacking source citations) that his son, John, was an officer in the Revolution. I have it that he was a Lt. in the North Fairfield and North Stratford Companies, in Oct. 1773; and later was a Capt. of the 12th Co, 4th Regiment, in May 1775. If this can be proved, then you will know that the DAR references that you cited have not confused John, Sr., with John, Jr. Kind Regards, Geoff Geoffrey Sherwood demidave@juno.com Towaco, NJ, USA ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.