Oath of AbjurationDavid Rouset (Rosette) 1690-1742, the first of our line of Rosettes to come to America, was the Gr-Gr Grandfather of Charles W. Rosette 1818-1876 (who, in turn, is our Gr-Gr Grandfather), and immigrated to the US in 1715 from Europe. He was a French Huguenot, who by virtue of King Loius XIV's persecution of protestants, his family was forced to flee France. Immigrants to the US at that time were required to pledge allegiance to King George by signing the Oath of Abjuration within nine months of arriving and in the presence of the mayor of New York City. A copy of that original oath is available to view here. We are told that it is rare to find intact originals. It seems that a common practice of the time was for the new owners to burn them right after being made to sign them ! (Again, courtesy of Robert W.) (Cotham-Kagay-Rosette lineage)

Thomas Cotham, Sr. in the French and Indian War, too? Until recently, our knowledge of Thomas Cotham Sr., 1734*/1750-1808, has been limited to that which came from some land documents, early census data, and a document requesting payment for revolutionary service. A Hearne family researcher in NC recently sent me a link to an online book entitled Virginia's Colonial Soldiers, because there was an entry for a Thomas Cotham in it. In 1757 it seems, a Thomas Cotham was listed in the roles of a Capt. Thomas Waggener's company at Fort Holland in the South Branch. (South Branch of the Potomac River near Cumberland, Maryland) This was during the French and Indian War, and these forts were built to protect settlers and strategically guard the frontier.

The French and Indian War muster roles were unique in that they gave extended descriptions of the soldiers, as I understand it, "in case they got lost" (on purpose). Thomas' listing: "Thomas Cotham, Frederick (Co., VA), 23, 5'-10", brown (complexion - from sun exposure, no doubt), Virginia (country of origin), planter (note: not farmer)." So, we have a tall for the times (most were 5'6" or under, I didn't see any 6 footers) planter in Frederick County, Virginia who was born in 1734. Is it our Thomas? Or his father? Or a relative?

More ammunition - Waggener's companies were directly under George Washington, and it is known that Washington sent some of his regiments from these forts to Charleston, SC in 1757 to meet arriving British soldiers and help with the Cherokee War in South Carolina. Is this how our Thomas came to be living in Cheraws District, SC just before the revolution? Intriguing new questions!

If this is "him", then his life span would have been 1734-1808, 74 years, and his last child, Moses Payne, was born in 1793 at the age of 59. A stretch, but doable, if his wife Elizabeth was much younger (perhaps by almost 20 years). If it is "our" Thomas Sr., I am starting to see some parallels to the story line of the movie "The Patriot".(planter, SC, service in both wars, fought Banastre Tarleton) A very interesting new research direction for this line. Comments?
(Cotham lineage)

"Involved" Great Grandmothers In the same May 1885 Harper's Monthly article detailing the Anneke Jans NYC land claims are a couple of short references to the contribution of Anneke's daughter, Sara Roeloff Kierstede 1621-1693, to the settling of New Amsterdam/New York City. Too often in researching family history, details of the wive's and daughter's lives are few and far in between. This article gives us some interesting info concerning Sara's interests/abilities: "Sara Roeloffsen, the daughter who married Surgeon Hans Kierstede, lived on the present northeast corner of Pearl and Whitehall Streets... ...She was a great proficient in the Indian languages, and acted as interpreter between Stuyvesant and the Esopus and the Wappingers, the Agh-in-sack, the Long Island, and the Staten Island Indians, when their treaty was made with Stuyvesant in the spring of 1664." (Cotham-Kagay-Rosette-Kip-Kierstede-Roeloffsen lineage)

Similarly, I ran across some details of another active "Grandmother's" involvement in a much different time and place. The time was the 1860's and the place was the deep south, Tennessee. Mary Ann Moore Crump (1842-1918), later of Menard, Texas, or "Gun-runner Annie" as her antagonists called her - no just kidding, kind of. Actually, she ran medicines through the lines to CSA troops. The medicines were sewed into her hoop skirts. "Steve Davidson relates a family story told by his Grandmother of Mary Ann throwing boiling water on Yankee troops as they attempted to apprehend Joseph (her first husband) at the farm while he was home (in Tennessee) on furlough." A woman of strong convictions, and she survived them!
(Gibbs-Kilpatrick-Crump-Moore lineage)

Mason-Dixon Line Two of the family have been directly involved in events that led up to the creation of the Mason-Dixon Line. This section of the Kagy History book illustrates the Kagay/Patterson link to Cresap's War in Pennsylvania (see map), and the family tree (below in the next article) for William Hearne (b. abt 1660) indicates that his family first moved to and settled in Maryland in 1681 but ended up in Delaware after the new bounderies were set. The boundary issue started the very year that William arrived, but the actual line was not surveyed until the 1760's.
(Cotham-Kagay, and Cotham-Hudson-Fooks-Hearne lineages)

Civil War uniform buttons In a number of family lines, I see where multiple brothers of one family marry multiple sisters of the other. It is evident in the Stuart-Beery lines, the Cotham-Holligan lines, and in the Kagay-Stuart lines, among others. In the latter case, our Gr-Greatfather John Kagay (1835-1904) married Christina Stuart, and John's younger brother Christian (1837-1897) married Christina's younger sister Mary. John, with a budding young family at the outbreak of hostilities, stayed in Ohio and tended the farm, while Christian enlisted in the Ohio 62nd volunteers, and then later in the 159th. He was wounded and lost a leg, and almost died in a battle in Winchester VA, and yet still continued in the service as a skillful mechanic. These uniform buttons (and a stray political button) were passed down to us through Imogene Rosette Kagay, married to John's son Raymond. Rosette Uncles Frank and James also served (above Lincoln-Rosette article), but these most likely saw battle (excepting a few post war buttons in the group) while attached to Christian Kagay's uniform.
(Christian Kagay, Cotham-Kagay lineage)