Rufus Harry Darling Revisited: New Discoveries in 2026

Posted on July 9, 2026 by Don Taylor

New (2026) Research: Darling Line
by Don Taylor

Introduction

Photo of Rufus Harry Darling
Rufus Harry Darling

This is a follow-up on Rufus Harry Darling, revisiting his story to see what new records have surfaced since he was last researched in 2014. I have made considerable progress on the Darling line in the intervening years, including learning the name of Rufus’s wife, Ida Ready, whom he married in June 1889, as well as many smaller details of his life. One recurring challenge has been keeping Rufus separate from two other men who share his name:

  • Rufus H. Darling, born in Canada about 1867, who married Florence Buck and had a son, Rufus W. Darling. The 1910 Census shows this Rufus Darling was a switchman living in Cook County, Illinois.
  • Rufus Darling, a brakeman for the Michigan Railroad, who broke his shoulder falling from an engine on March 5, 1887.

Background: What Earlier Research Established

Photo of the marker of Rufus H Darling (1858-1917)
Marker Rufus H Darling

Rufus Harry Darling was profiled as part of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks series in 2014, and family legend held that he was a riverboat man. Subsequent research, drawn from census and directory records, instead identified him as a railroad man who moved frequently. Besides Kalamazoo, Michigan, he is documented as having lived in Chicago, Kansas City, and the Pittsburgh area.

He and his wife, Hannah McAllister (married name Anna Darling), had two children — Elizabeth Grace Darling, born in 1906, and Robert Harry Darling, born August 18, 1907, in the Pittsburgh area. Rufus and Anna appear to have separated shortly after Robert’s birth. Anna died in 1913, when Robert was only five. Rufus himself died in 1917 and is interred at Mountain Home Cemetery in Kalamazoo.

The new research summarized below builds on that foundation and adds several previously unknown details about Rufus’s marriages, residences, and possible additional children.

New Findings (2026)

1. The 1880 Kalamazoo City Directory

The 1880 Kalamazoo City Directory lists Rufus H. Darling as an abstract clerk for the M.C.R.R. (Michigan Central Railroad), residing at 117 E. South Street.[1]

2. Marriage to Ida Ready and Their 1902 Divorce

Rufus married Ida Ready in June 1889. The couple divorced on September 8, 1902, in Kalamazoo, Michigan.[2]

3. A Kansas City Probate Record — Ethel M. Darling

A probate record was filed in Jackson County, Missouri (Kansas City), by Ethel M. Darling, identified as the widow of Rufus H. Darling. His listed assets included a Bible and commissions owed from S. F. Bowser & Co. of Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the amount of $254.57 ($6,665.02 in today’s dollars).

  • Missouri recognized common-law marriage at the time, so Ethel could have been a common-law wife; I have not yet found a formal marriage record for Rufus and Ethel.
  • Rufus is documented living in Kansas City in 1891, 1896, and 1898, so a wife there is plausible.

4. A Possible Previously Unknown Son — Arthur H. Darling

An Arthur H. Darling married Ethel Swan Joyce in 1913 at age 26. His marriage record lists his father as Rufus Darling (born in Michigan) and his mother as Anna Ritter. If accurate, this would make Arthur a previously unknown half-brother to Robert Harry and Elizabeth Grace Darling.

  • Arthur was born about 1887 in Ohio. Between 1887 and 1894, Rufus is documented living in Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, and Texas, so his residence was quite fluid during this period. It is plausible that Ohio should be added to that list of residences, placing Rufus there around the time of Arthur’s conception.

Working Assessment

Taken together, these findings suggest a tentative sequence to Rufus’s personal life: a possible relationship producing Arthur (Ohio, c. 1886), followed by his marriage to Ida Ready (1889–1902), a period with Anna/Hannah McAllister that produced Elizabeth Grace (1906) and Robert Harry (1907), and finally a relationship with Ethel M. Darling by the time of his death in 1917. This sequence is not yet confirmed. As the original research notes, it is plausible that Rufus fathered a son with another woman before marrying Ida, but this remains to be proven with additional records.

Related Posts

His Children

Rufus and His Wife Anna (Hannah)

His Parents

Research To Do

  1. Search for a formal marriage record between Rufus and Ethel M. Darling in Missouri or elsewhere to confirm or rule out common-law status.
  2. Trace Ethel M. Darling in the 1900, 1910, and 1920 censuses to learn her origins and what became of her after Rufus’s death.
  3. Locate S. F. Bowser & Co. employment or commission records to help pin down Rufus’s residence dates and job history.
  4. Find Arthur H. Darling’s birth record or an affidavit from Ohio, c. 1887, naming his parents.
  5. Investigate Anna Ritter, named as Arthur’s mother, and determine whether any record ties her to Rufus’s known residences at that time.
  6. Search 1887–1894 city directories and census substitutes for Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, and Texas to trace Rufus’s movements, and check for any Ohio residence.
  7. Clarify whether “Anna Ritter” and “Anna/Hannah McAllister” are two different women, given the shared first name.
  8. Look for newspaper coverage of the 1902 Kalamazoo divorce between Rufus and Ida Ready for additional detail.
  9. Obtain the full Jackson County, Missouri probate case file to see how Ethel’s claim was resolved.
  10. Search for a marriage record, descendants, or DNA matches connected to Arthur H. Darling and Ethel Swan Joyce to corroborate the family connection.
  11. Determine whether Ida Ready remarried after the 1902 divorce and trace her subsequent life.
  12. Look for additional M.C.R.R. (Michigan Central Railroad) employment records for Rufus beyond the 1880 abstract clerk listing.
Researched by the author, organized with the assistance of Claude.ai; Claude.ai also assisted in developing my research to-do list. The article was edited with the help of Grammarly.

Endnotes

[1]Kalamazoo Directory (Holland’s), 1880 — Page 55 — Darling.
[2]Michigan, U.S., Divorce Records, 1897–1952, Ancestry.com, 1897–1923 > 1901 Marquette–1903 Gratiot — Page 263 — Circuit Court, Kalamazoo County, Record 52-10.

Posted in Darling-Huber | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

LDC-Stills, Part 2: Shirley Temple, Sylvia Sidney, and More Faces of 1930s Hollywood

Posted on July 7, 2026 by Don Taylor

By Don Taylor

This week, I continue with a box of 1930s movie stills from the Linwood Dyer Collection. Fascinating pictures of a bygone era portraying some very glamorous people. A few of the images have some identification on the front; others provide only the copyright information (year & studio), but most have no identifying information. None of these five has anything written or printed on the back. Today, I look at five of them, one from Paramount Pictures, two from RKO, and two unidentified. All appear to be original vintage photos, not reproductions.

Shirley Temple (1928-2014), 1935

Photo of Shirley Temple, 1935.
Shirley Temple, 1935

This adorable vintage 1935 photo of Shirley Temple is so recognizable her name on the bottom was unnecessary. It features Shirley wearing her famous “duck dress” from her 1935 hit film, Curly Top.

Wikipedia reports that Shirley Temple[i] was:

  • Born Shirley Jane Temple on April 23, 1928, in Santa Monica, California, to George Francis and Gertrude Amelia (née Krieger) Temple.
  • She married John Agar in 1945.
  • She gave birth to Linda Susan Agar in 1948.
  • She divorced John Agar in 1950 on the grounds of mental cruelty.
  • She married Charles Alden Black in 1950.
  • She had two children with Charles, Charles Alden Black, Jr., and a daughter, Lorie Black, in 1954.
  • A Republican, she was appointed a delegate to the UN by Richard Nixon, Ambassador to Ghana by Gerald Ford, and Ambassador to Czechoslovakia by George H. W. Bush.
  • Shirley died on February 10, 2014, at the age of 85.
  • Buried in Alta Mesa Memorial Park, Palo Alto, CA.

Sylvia Sidney (1910-1999), 1935

Photo of Sylvia Sidney wearing a Peter Pan Hat, 1935.
Sylvia Sidney, 1935

This image shows Sylvia Sidney wearing a stylish “Pied Piper” from a fashion promotion showcasing a “Spring Wardrobe” of smart hat styles for women.

Sylvia was a prolific actress known for over 100 roles[ii]. I remember her from her role of Juno in Beetlejuice (for which she won a Saturn Award) and her appearance in many episodes of Fantasy Island.

Wikipedia Reports that Sylvia Sydney:[iii]

  • Born Sophia Koskow on August 8, 1910 in Bronx, New York, to Victor and Rebecca (née Saperstein) Koskow.
  • Married Bennett Cerf in 1935 and divorced in 1936.
  • Married Luther Adler in 1938 and had one child, Jacob, who was born in 1940. She and Luther divorced in 1946.
  • Married Carleton Alsop in 1947 and divorced in 1951.
  • She died on July 1, 1999, at the age of 88.

Movie: On Such a Night

Photo still from "On Such a Night"
Still from “On Such a Night” Roscoe Karns (left), Grant Richards, and Karen Morley

This photograph features Roscoe Karns (left), Grant Richards, and Karen Morley from the 1937 Paramount Pictures production, “On Such a Night.” The film centers around a Mississippi River flood that intertwines the lives of a wrongfully accused man, his wife, and the killer a gangster who threatens the Karen Morley character’s life.

Roscoe Karns (1891-1970) was a prolific actor who appeared in nearly 150 films.[iv]

Wikipedia reports Rosco Kerns[v]:

  • Was born on September 7, 1891, in San Bernardino, CA.
  • Married Mary Frass in 1920 and had two children Mary Karns (later Hart) and Rosco Todd Kerns, Jr.
  • Died on February 6, 1970, in Los Angeles, CA.

Grant Richards (1911-1963) performed in 18 films between 1936 and 1961. Wikipedia reports Grant Richards[vi]:

  • Was born Irwin Jaffe on December 21, 1911.
  • Married actress Joan Valerie in the 1940s, with whom he had a daughter. The marriage ended in divorce.
  • Also married Jean Stevens with whom the marriage ended in divorce.
  • Died on July 4, 1963, in Los Angeles, CA.

Karen Morley (1909-2003) signed with MGM which led to roles with them from 1931 until 1933. She left them in 1934. Wikipedia reports Karen Morley[vii]:

  • Was born Mildred Linton on December 12, 1909 in Ottumwa, Iowa.
  • Moved to Hollywood when 12 years old.
  • Married director Charles Vidor in November 1932, had a son, Michael Karoly Vidor, with him. They were divorced on March 2, 1943.
  • Married actor Lloyd Gough in 1943.
  • Was blacklisted in 1947 after refusing to answer questions about her alleged American Communist Party Membership.
  • Died of pneumonia on March 8, 2003, at the age of 93 in Woodland Hills, CA.

Movie: Conspiracy (1939)

Still photo from Conspiracy, 1939.

This photo is from the 1939 RKO Radio Pictures political thriller, Conspiracy, set on the brink of World War II, staring Allan Lane and Linda Hayes.

Allan Lane (1909-1973), 1939. Wikipedia Reports Allan Lane[viii]:

  • Was born Harry Leonard Albershardt on September 22, 1908, in Mishawaka, Indiana.
  • Is best known for over 30 westerns he made as “Rocky” Lane and his faithful horse “Black Jack,” from 1947 to 1953 and as the Voice of Mister Ed in the 1960s.
  • Died on October 27, 1973, in Woodland Hills, CA.
  • Was interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, CA.

Linda Hayes (1918-1995), 1939. Wikipedia reports that Linda Hayes[ix]

  • Was born Rachel Fern Mendenhall on October 11, 1918, in Sac City, Iowa, the daughter of Cox Mendenhall.
  • Married Lou Crosby in 1941; They had three children:
    • Linda Lou Crosby in 1943
    • Kathy Lee Crosby in 1944
    • Lucinda Crosby in 1952
  • Her husband Lou died in 1984.
  • Married Frank W. Walker in 1984; Frank died in 1986.
  • Died in December 1995 in Palm Desert, CA.

Movie: M’Liss (1936)

Still photo from movie M'Liss, 1936.
M’Liss staring John Beal, Barbara Pepper, and Anne Shirley, 1936

This RKO Radio Pictures promotional still is from the 1936 Western film M’Liss.The photo features John Beal, Barbara Pepper, and (behind the counter) Anne Shirley in the title role.

John Beal (1909-1997)[x]

  • Was born James Alexander Bliedung on August 13, 1909, in Joplin, Missouri.
  • Married Helen Craig on July 13, 1934, and remained married for 52 years until Helen’s death in 1986. They had two daughters.
  • He served in the US Air Force during World War II.
  • Died on April 26, 1997, in Santa Cruz, CA

Barbara Pepper (1915-1969)[xi] was:

  • Born Marion Barbara Pepper on May 31, 1915, in New York City, NY.
  • She married Leon Janney in 1937; they divorced in 1939.
  • She married actor Craig Reynolds (aka Harold Hugh Enfield) in 1943; they had two sons, Dennis Michael Pepper and John Hugh Enfield Pepper. Craig died in 1949.
  • Died July 18, 1969, in Panorama City, CA, at the age of 54.

Anne Shirley (1918-1993)[xii] was:

  • Born Dawn Evelyeen Paris on April 17, 1918, in New York City.
  • As a child she went by several stage names, including Lenn Fondre, Lindley Dawn, and Dawn O’Day.
  • Her first film was as a four-year-old child in the 1922 film The Hidden Woman.
  • She married John Payne in 1937; they had one child, Julie Payne. They divorced in 1943.
  • Although she had 67 credits to her name, she left acting in 1944, at the age of 26.
  • She married Adrian Scott in 1945, had one child, Michael Scott, with him. They divorced in 1948
  • She married Charles Lederer in 1948, he died in 1976
  • Died July 4, 1993, Los Angeles

Conclusion

These five stills offer a wonderful glimpse into the glamour of 1930s Hollywood, spotlighting both household names and faces time has mostly forgotten. From Shirley Temple’s unmistakable curls to the quiet drama unfolding in On Such a Night and Conspiracy, each photograph captures a small piece of the era’s craft and personality.

The original vintage prints featured above are available for purchase — $25 each, or all five for $100. If you’re interested in adding a piece of Hollywood history to your own collection, feel free to reach out. Stay tuned for Part 3 as I continue working through more stills from the period.

Endnotes

[i] Wikipedia – Shirley Temple – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Temple
[ii] IMDb – Sylvia Sidney – https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0796662/
[iii] Wikipedia – Sylvia Sidney – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Sidney
[iv] IMDB – Roscoe Karns – https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0439850/
[v] Wikipedia – Rosco Kerns – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roscoe_Karns
[vi] Wikipedia – Grant Richards – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Richards_(actor)
[vii] Wikipedia – Karen Morley – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Morley
[viii] Wikipedia – Allan Lane – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Lane
[ix] Wikipedia – Linda Hayes (actress) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Hayes_(actress)
[x] IMDB – John Beal – https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0063619/
[xi] IMDB – Barbara Pepper – https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0672571/
[xii] IMDB – Anne Shirley – https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0794297

Disclosure: This post was written and researched by the author. It was drafted with the assistance of Claude.ai and edited with Grammarly
Posted in Vintage Photos, Linwood Dyer Collection | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

James Walter and a Look Back: Ten Patriots Across Four Family Lines

Posted on July 4, 2026 by Don Taylor

By Don Taylor

This is the fourth and last stop in the project that the Find a Grave 1776 Badge email started a few weeks ago — and since it lands on the Fourth of July, it felt like the right moment to close the loop on the whole series with one more patriot, plus a full accounting of everyone the search turned up.

This last one comes from my wife’s maternal Darling-Huber line, where there’s only a single confirmed Revolutionary War patriot: James Walter.

James Walter (1752–1838)

James Walter was born in Maryland in mid-February 1752 — the 16th or 17th, by most reckonings, though that date is calculated from his age at death rather than a contemporary record. He was the eldest of six children of John Walter and Ann Parker.

His military record is one of the more varied of the ten patriots in this series. Around 1777, in Virginia, he served as a Sergeant, for which he later received land. By the winter of 1782 he’d been reassigned south: muster records place him in an artillery detachment under Capt. Lt. Booker, 1st Regiment, at a camp near Bacon Bridge, South Carolina, with service recorded for January, February, and March of that year. At some point during his service he was also commissioned a Captain. For his various roles he was known, distinctively, as “Forage Master” — the officer responsible for keeping an army’s horses and draft animals fed, a job that mattered just as much as anything done on a battlefield.

In November 1783, he received a warrant for 400 acres of bounty land in Virginia for his service. He married Margaret Ann Swan after April 19, 1783 — “after the war,” as one family account puts it — and the couple settled in Frederick County, Virginia, where they raised at least seven children.

One detail stands out from later in his life: sometime before 1838, while still in Frederick County, James Walter freed the people he had enslaved. He eventually moved to Fairfield County, Ohio, and died on May 10, 1838, at the Lancaster-area home of his oldest daughter. He was originally buried at the old Lancaster City Graveyard, which is now defunct, and was later reinterred in Lancaster’s city burial plot — his Find a Grave memorial notes that the original marker no longer exists. He’s a recognized DAR patriot ancestor (A120153).

One of his daughters, Catherine Ann Dent Walter, married David Swayze and is herself #51 on the Darling-Huber ahnentafel — the link that carries James Walter’s line down through the Swayzes and into the Darling family, and eventually to my wife.

James Walter has actually had his own dedicated posts on this blog before — James Walter buried in Ohio and James Walter & Ohio’s Revolutionary War Roster both go into more depth on his burial and military record. This post just folds him into the four-line roundup.

Ten Patriots, Four Lines, One Fourth of July

That Find a Grave email about the 1776 Badge sent me through all four of my and my wife’s family lines, and the running total came out to an even ten confirmed Revolutionary War patriots:

Brown-Montran (my maternal line)

  • Maj. Samuel Wolcott (1736–1802) — Massachusetts militia
  • Lieut. John Parsons Sr. (c. 1736–1821) — Massachusetts militia; served under Wolcott, whose daughter later married his son
  • Grover Buel (1732–1818) — New York militia
  • Wicks Weeks Rowley (1760–1826) — New York militia; married Buel’s daughter
  • John B Maben (1753–1813) — New York militia; Irish immigrant patriot

Roberts-Barnes (my paternal line)

  • Silas Taft (1744–1813) — Massachusetts militia, marched to Tiverton, RI
  • Reuben C. Sutherland (before 1755–1799) — New York militia; his daughter married Taft’s son

Howell-Hobbs (my wife’s paternal line)

  • William Rose Sr. (1733–1785) — North Carolina militia, Wagon Master
  • William Rose Jr. (1759–1801) — North Carolina militia; Sr.’s son

Darling-Huber (my wife’s maternal line)

  • James Walter (1752–1838) — Virginia and South Carolina; Sergeant, Forage Master, and eventually Captain

Looking back at all ten together, a few things stand out. Half of them served in some kind of support or logistics role — wagon master, forage master, militia pay — rather than in a famous battle, which is a good reminder of how much of the Revolution ran on unglamorous, essential work. And in three of the four family lines, the patriots turned out to be connected to each other by marriage within a generation or two, often without my having noticed the connection before pulling them together for this series.

Ten patriots is a good number to sit with on the Fourth of July. There are certainly more out there in collateral lines I haven’t chased down yet — but for now, these are the ten Find a Grave’s anniversary email sent me looking for.

This article was researched by me and drafted with the assistance of Claude.ai, with editing support from Grammarly.
Posted in Ancestor Sketch, Darling-Huber, Revolutionary War | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Father and Son Patriots: William Rose Sr. & Jr. of Halifax County, NC

Posted on July 3, 2026 by Don Taylor

Continuing the project that the Find a Grave 1776 Badge email set off, I’m crossing into my wife’s Howell-Hobbs line for this installment, where two more confirmed Revolutionary War patriots turn up: William Rose Sr. and his son, William Rose Jr., of Halifax County, North Carolina. They’re #148 and #74 on my Howell-Hobbs Ahnentafel chart, respectively — and unlike the patriot pairs in my last two posts, this one isn’t two families joined by marriage. It’s the same family, two generations deep, both of whom answered the call.

This actually isn’t new territory for the blog. Back in November 2019, I wrote about the Rose family of Halifax County while trying to sort out the parentage of Elizabeth (Rose) Vincent, one of my wife’s third great-grandmothers. At the time, I narrowed seven or more Revolutionary-War-era Halifax Roses down to two who actually held confirmed DAR Patriot status — this same father and son. The new documentation I’ve since pulled together fills in their service records more fully, so it felt like the right time to give them their own dedicated profile.

William Rose Sr. (1733–1785)

William Rose Sr. was born around 1733. On January 27, 1758, he married Mary, whose maiden name hasn’t been identified. The couple had two known sons: William Jr. and Elisha, who died in Halifax County in 1795.

Rose’s Revolutionary War service is recorded as that of a Wagon Master, for which he received a pay voucher in 1781 — a role that mattered as much to keeping an army moving as any combat assignment. The 1784 Halifax County tax list shows him with 230 acres and, like a number of his propertied neighbors, one enslaved person recorded on the rolls as a taxable “poll.” He died in 1785 and is recognized by the DAR as Patriot Ancestor #A206765.

William Rose Jr. (1759–1801)

William Rose Jr. was Sr.’s eldest son, born in 1759. By 1784, in his mid-twenties, he was already a property owner in his own right — the same Halifax tax list that shows his father’s 230 acres lists “Wm. Rose Junr.” with 248 acres. He served in 1781, paid for his services per a North Carolina Revolutionary War pay voucher, and is recognized separately from his father as DAR Patriot Ancestor #A206187.

He married Sarah Crawley, and the couple’s children included Edmund, Wormley, Littleberry Rowan, Jesse — and, per most family trees, a daughter named Elizabeth, born in June 1785. William Rose Jr. died February 14, 1801, in Warren County, Georgia, having moved south sometime after his Halifax County years.

A Father and Son, and a Lingering Question

What makes the Roses different from the patriot pairs in my last two posts is that there’s no marriage connecting them — they’re directly father and son, both serving in the same county in the same war, and both managing to clear the DAR’s bar for proof of service when several other Halifax Roses (Amos, Ann, Samuel, Thomas — none with confirmed DAR status) didn’t.

Where things get less certain is one step further down the tree. That daughter, Elizabeth Rose, is the presumed mother-line connection to my wife — she went on to marry Burkett Vincent, and from there the line runs down through the Vinson/Vincent family into the Howells. But as I noted back in 2019, the parentage of Elizabeth herself isn’t nailed down by a primary source. Most researchers’ trees point to William Rose Jr. and Sarah Crawley as her parents, with smaller minorities favoring an Elisha Rose instead. I still haven’t found the document that closes that question, so for now William Rose Sr. and Jr. stand as the leading — but not yet proven — candidates for two more rungs on my wife’s ancestral ladder.

Nine Patriots and Counting

That brings the running tally to nine confirmed Revolutionary War patriots found across three family lines so far — Brown-Montran, Roberts-Barnes, and now Howell-Hobbs. Resolving Elizabeth Rose’s parentage is still on my research list; if I ever crack that brick wall, this post will be the first to get an update.

This article was researched by me and drafted with the assistance of Claude.ai, with editing support from Grammarly.

Posted in Ancestor Sketch, Howell-Hobbs, Revolutionary War | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Two More Patriot Ancestors — Now in My Roberts-Barnes Line

Posted on July 1, 2026 by Don Taylor

A couple of days ago I went through my Brown-Montran family line and turned up five confirmed Revolutionary War patriots — two branches that, conveniently, had already married into each other before I ever drew the connection on paper. Since that Find a Grave anniversary email got me looking, I kept going, and this time I crossed over to my paternal Roberts-Barnes line, where two more patriots were waiting: Silas Taft and Reuben C. Sutherland.

As it turns out, they’re connected to each other too — and in much the same way as last time.

Silas Taft (1744–1813)

Silas Taft was born July 10, 1744, in Uxbridge, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, the first of nine children of Stephen Taft and Mary Lewis. He married Elizabeth Cruff on December 4, 1768, at Uxbridge.

His Revolutionary War service came later than most — in the summer of 1780, when Rhode Island’s coastline came under renewed threat from British forces. Taft, by then in his mid-thirties, was called up as a Private in Capt. Bezaleel Taft’s 9th Company, under Col. Nathan Tyler’s 3rd Worcester County Regiment. He marched to Tiverton, Newport County, Rhode Island, and was discharged after fourteen days, including three days’ travel home.

He later moved to Oneida County, New York, where he died on August 7, 1813. He’s buried at Lee Valley Cemetery in Lee, New York, and is a recognized DAR patriot ancestor (A112392). Find a Grave memorial

Several of Silas’s children, including his son Asa Taft, eventually settled in Triangle, Broome County, New York — which is exactly where this next connection picks up.

Reuben C. Sutherland (before 1755–1799)

Reuben C. Sutherland was born before 1755 in Horseneck, New York — territory that’s now Greenwich, in Fairfield County, Connecticut, a reminder of just how unsettled the New York–Connecticut border was in the colonial period. He was the eldest of eleven children of William J. Sutherland and Hannah Avery.

Sutherland served as a militiaman in the 6th Regiment of the Dutchess County, New York militia between April 1776 and January 1777, and again in Dover, Dutchess County, between August 1781 and January 1782. He later drew a federal pension for his service (pension numbers 13,693 and 42,531). In 1788 he married Mary Lewis at the First Stanford Baptist Church in Bangall, Dutchess County. He died September 10, 1799, in Broome County, New York, and is a recognized DAR patriot ancestor (A111154). Find a Grave memorial

The Connection: Triangle, Broome County, New York

Just like Wolcott and Parsons, and Buel, Rowley, and Maben before them, the Taft and Sutherland families ended up joined by marriage. Reuben Sutherland’s daughter, Tamise “Fanny” Sutherland, married Joel Cruff Taft — a son of Silas Taft — around 1819 in Triangle, Broome County, New York, the same town where Silas’s son Asa had already settled. Joel Cruff Taft later became a member of the Sons of the American Revolution on the strength of his father’s service.

Fanny outlived Joel and remarried in 1856 in Sullivan County, Indiana, where she died in 1864 — one more small reminder of how far these families spread west in the decades after the war.

Seven Patriots and Counting

That brings my running total to seven confirmed Revolutionary War ancestors across two family lines — and, so far, a perfect record of patriot families finding each other through marriage within a generation or two of the war itself. I don’t know yet whether that’s coincidence or just how small these rural communities really were, but it’s becoming a pattern worth watching for as I keep working through the tree.

This article was researched by me and drafted with the assistance of Claude.ai, with editing support from Grammarly.

Posted in Ancestor Sketch, Roberts-Barnes, Revolutionary War | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment