j. OUT TO SEA: GARRET IRONS et al. & THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
I joined The Sons Of The American Revolution in 1989 by descent from Garret Irons. It was the first major genealogical line I documented and still my favorite, a personal connection to the most important event in our nation’s history. I am a member-at-large of Missouri Society Sons of the American Revolution (MOSSAR). I support SAR to honor the memory of our ancestors who risked their lives to make real the democratic ideals by which we are still ruled today. SAR was granted a Congressional Charter on 9 June 1906 under Title 36 Part B Chapter 1533 United States Code. The act was signed by President Theodore Roosevelt, who was a member.
- Tory Hanging From Liberty Pole
The following story illustrates what a patriot militiaman might encounter in the ordinary circumstances of conflict:
“Garret Irons applied for a pension, 31 July 1832, and his wife Hester (sic) for a widow’s pension, 4 Jan. 1839. (N.J. #2377) These applications state that while residing in Dover Township Garret Irons volunteered at Toms River in the spring of 1776 and served as a private at various times in monthly tours in the N.J. Militia under Captains John Cook; Jenkins; Bigelow, and Tilton in Col. Samuel Forman’s Regiment. He was in several scouting parties, Monmouth Co. being infested with the British; was in a skirmish at Homerstown, and in a skirmish at Pennsylvania Salt Works while on guard there. He served until the end of the war.
“The Proceedings of New Jersey Historical Society, Vol. 14, p. 431, tells of a tradition to the effect that ‘Garrett Irons and Bart Applegate, two Toms River men who volunteered to help defend the Toms River Block House, 24 March 1782, were captured by the Tories who took them a mile or two to sea and set them adrift in a small boat without sail or oars. They tore the thwarts out of the boat and paddled ashore. Isaiah Weeks, who is buried in the old burying ground at Cedar Grove Church along with Applegate and Irons, killed the captain in the head boat of the attacking party.’
“Ocean County, then a part of Monmouth Co., suffered two attacks of note in the Revolutionary War. The Block House at Toms River above referred to was stormed by a band of Loyalists in April 1782. The garrison, under Captain Joshua Huddy, defended it until their ammunition was gone, then surrendered. The cannon of the block house was spiked and thrown into the river, the town and block house burned and Capt. Huddy taken away and eventually hanged by the Loyalists at Gravelly Point. The second engagement took place at Cedar Creek Bridge south of Toms River between the Burlington County Lighthorse [sic], under Captains Shreve and Bacon, and a band of Loyalists who escaped under the protection of local inhabitants. Capt. Bacon later died in an engagement at Egg Harbor.”
Hook, James W. (no pub. date) Smith, Grant and Irons Families Of New Jersey’s Shore Counties Including the Related Families of Willets and Birdsall. New Haven, Conn., pp. 221-223.
(I purchased this book on microfilm about 1988 from The Newberry Library, Chicago.)
Garret Irons m. Hester Applegate, daughter of Jacob Applegate. This charming old bird is their daughter Eleanor (Irons) Jeffery (1785-1856), my 4th great-grandmother:
[My great-grandparents: Earnest Ervin Jeffery (1882--1950) and Effie Viola Huffman (1881--1910), wedding photo 25 Dec 1901. Earnest Ervin Jeffery was the great-grandson of Eleanor (Irons) Jeffery. Effie was the daughter of Tyler and Mary Ann (Black) Huffman. Tyler Huffman served in the Union Army in the Civil War. Click on photo to enlarge it.]
[My maternal grandfather: Jesse Otto Jeffery Scarff (1904--1990), looking rakish in a wool cap. Taken ca. 1920. Son of Earnest Ervin and Effie Viola (Huffman) Jeffery. After the death of his mother in 1910, Jesse was adopted by Effie's sister Emma, who had married John Scarff. John and Emma Scarff changed Jesse's name, which greatly angered his father. I'm named after the Jeffery family. Click on image to enlarge it.]
Other ancestors who were patriots in the Revolutionary War:
(a) Abraham Fulkerson; soldier, fought at the Battle of King’s Mountain, S.C. (maternal; ancestor of Nancy Theodocia Wilcox).
(b) Samuel Mahurin; soldier, VA (maternal; grandfather of Thomas Scott Jr., settler of Miller Co., MO).
(c) Benjamin Standifer; orderly sergeant in the N.C. Militia. (paternal; father of William Chipman’s wife Milly Standifer).
(d) Benjamin Turman; Oath of Allegiance, VA. (paternal; ancestor of Mariah Caroline Riddle, mother of James Edward Chipman’s first wife, Allie Oxley).
Lines (a) through (d) are DAR/SAR acceptable; others are probable and may eventually be proved.
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Two recent histories of the Amercan Revolution bear mention:
Axelrod, Alan. (2007). The Real History Of The Amercian Revolution A New Look At The Past. New York: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
Middlekauff, Robert. (2005). The Glorious Cause The American Revolution, 1763-1789 Revised and Expanded Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.
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The link below will take you to NSDAR’s patriot lookup service. They can tell you if the individual is in their DAR Patriot Index, and if there are members on the line.
http://dar.org/natsociety/pi_lookup.cfm
