Last Muster Archives - Maureen Taylor

Episode 159: The Shot Heard Round the World at the Concord Museum

Maureen Taylor — Sun, 19 Dec 2021 05:01:00 +0000

This week, I take a look back on my most popular podcast episode from the past year. I’m joined by David Wood, the curator of the Concord Museum in Concord Massachusetts since 1985.

David and I talk about the exhibits from the museum, and how some leave lasting impressions, not only on the community but in the history that it’s taken part in telling. We also discuss what it means to see history, not only as an adult, but also as a child, and how understanding how we look at history can help foster a deeper love in the exhibits we see and also show to our audiences.

It’s a fascinating look at curation, history exploration, and understanding how moments in history can continue to affect us, even after they’ve long since happened.

It doesn’t take hindsight to realize you’re living in historic times. This last year has taught us that. This week’s guest, David Wood, told me that residents of Lexington and Concord immediately recognized the significance of April 19, 1775, and saved pieces to document that day. A few years ago, the Concord Museum in Concord, Massachusetts assembled a temporary exhibit called The Shot Heard Round the World. It was an amazing display of ordinary and extraordinary bits of history. Now they’ve created a permanent exhibit of the same name. It’s one of my favorite museums but don’t worry if you can’t travel to see it. Their website is worth exploring. Concord Museum was the first cultural institution to be officially recognized by the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission for this “Shot Heard Round the World” microsite. We’ve plenty of time before the 250th celebration in 2026.

Episode 49: Women Patriots with Mary Tedesco

Episode 79: The American Revolution and Abraham Lincoln

About My Guest:

David F. Wood has been Curator at the Concord Museum since 1985. He has published The Concord Museum: Decorative Arts from a New England Collection and An Observant Eye: The Thoreau Collection at the Concord Museum, which won the American Association of State and Local History Leadership in History Award and the Historic New England Honor Book award for 2007. He has also published a variety of other articles regarding cabinetmaking and clock-making in Concord, Massachusetts

About Maureen Taylor:

Maureen is a frequent keynote speaker on photo identification, photograph preservation, and family history at historical and genealogical societies, museums, conferences, libraries, and other organizations across the U.S., London and Canada. She’s the author of several books and hundreds of articles and her television appearances include The View and The Today Show (where she researched and presented a complete family tree for host Meredith Vieira). She’s been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, The Boston Globe, Martha Stewart Living, Germany’s top newspaper Der Spiegel, American Spirit, and The New York Times. Maureen was recently a spokesperson and photograph expert for MyHeritage.com, an internationally known family history website and also writes guidebooks, scholarly articles and online columns for such media as Smithsonian.com. Learn more at Maureentaylor.com

Did you enjoy this episode? Please leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

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Old Maumer, 107 yrs.

Maureen Taylor — Wed, 30 Jan 2019 17:53:23 +0000

Several years ago I purchased this image at a photo show. It called to me from a case. “Find my story.” “Name me.” So I bought the image intrigued by the research possibilities. She’s in my book, The Last Muster: Faces of the Revolution. Here’s what I wrote.

At some point in the late 1860s, photographer George N. Barnard took this stereograph picture of an elderly former slave. He posed her with her basket of wares and titled it, “ Old Maumer, aged 107 years, Charleston, S.C..” It is number seventy one in a series of stereo views of the city and surrounding area. Number 72 in the series depicts a different woman and is titled “Old Maumer selling groundnut Candy in the Streets of Charleston, S.C.”

The term “Old Maumer” refers to an elderly African American woman who may have had child rearing responsibilities at some point. Barnard is also known for his truthful images of the African American community in Charleston.

Barnard was a well-known photographer during the Civil War, taking pictures of Sherman’s campaign. He published the scenes of destruction in Atlanta and Georgia in his Photographic Views of Sherman’s Campaign (1866) and after the war worked in Chicago and Charleston. After the fiery destruction of his Chicago studio he concentrated his work in Charleston from 1873 to 1880.

The yellow cardstock used for this stereo card was popular during the late 1860s and early 1870s. A stereo photograph was taken with a special two lens camera that photographed the same scene with slight differences so that when a person used a stereopticon viewer the scene appeared three-dimensional.

If Barnard took this image in circa 1873 and the age of the woman is correct then this woman was born in approximately 1766. It’s also possible that she wasn’t aware of her age and that this is an exaggeration. Nineteenth century individuals didn’t always know their correct age. However, a search of the 1870 Federal Census for Charleston County, South Carolina yields four women born between circa 1762 and 1764. Sue Alston (born about 1764) lived in Charleston’s 1^st ward, Betty Frazer (born about 1765) lived in Saint Andrews, Maria Jefferson (born about 1762) lived in St. James Goose Creek and Dianah Vanderhorst (about 1764) lived in Saint James Santee. It’s possible that the Old Maumer in scene 71, is one of these women. A positive identification relies on the discovery of another identified image of the woman.

Image identification relies on peeling back the layers of time, place and person. In this case, the place was plainly printed on the stereoview. Clues in the photo format and the photographer’s work dates revealed a time frame. What still isn’t known is her name.

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Always Soldiers: A Few Last Men of the Revolution

Maureen Taylor — Tue, 04 Sep 2018 20:32:13 +0000

DAR Library Acquisition Assistant Andrew Boisvert is one crafty genealogist/historian. Years before we worked together on Rhode Island research projects. I’m well aware of his research skills.

A few weeks ago he thought, “What would happen if I searched for soldiers in the 1860 Federal Census?”

He used the parameters born in 1756 with soldier as an occupation.

To his amazement and mine he found several. These were elderly men born in the mid-eighteenth century who claimed to be soldiers. I wasn’t surprised by their birth year. Many members of the Revolutionary War generation lived past the mid-nineteenth century. The shock was that these men still thought of themselves as soldiers almost a century later.

Andrew found seven men.

Four of them are already in the DAR Patriot system. You can search for your Revolutionary War Ancestor, too. Bear in mind that not everyone is in the database.

· John Spurlock (born North Carolina)

· Cornelius Clemons (born Georgia) DAR as Cornelius Clement

· Ralph Farnham (born Massachusetts) DAR as Ralph Farnum

· Rowland Ware (born North Carolina) DAR

· Mathew Seav (born Virginia)

· Joseph Welb (born Virginia)

· Israel McBee (born Virginia)DAR

In the mid-nineteenth century, there was a renewed interest in these last men. Many received pensions to help them in their later years. More than a few posed for pictures too. These images are a testament to their age and service. Their likenesses were sold and collected.

Here’s the thing. The only one I have a picture of is Farnham. He’s in The Last Muster: Images of the Revolutionary War Generation (Kent State University Press, 2010).

You know what this means. I’ve started looking for pictures of them in earnest.

Where to start?

The census of course because that’s where Andrew found them. I wonder if they referred to themselves as soldiers or if that was a designation given by the enumerator? That’s unknown.

Here are the other 6 with a few details from the 1860 Federal Census.

John Spurlock (born 1756) lived in Eastern Division Barbar Alabama. He called himself a Revolutionary soldier.

Rowland Ware (born 1759) was designated, “Soldier of 1776.” The enumerator put a flourish underneath that occupation for extra emphasis. Ware lived in District 11 McMinn, Tennessee near the Athens P.O. with his wife Elizabeth.

Mathew Seay (born 1760) and his 98 year old wife Betsy claimed residence in Martinsville, Henry, VA. I’ll be looking for her picture as well.

Joseph Welb (born 1760) was a pioneer in the Kansas territory, Atchison.

Israel McBee (born 1760) was pretty specific about his age as being 99 ½ . The enumerator saw him in District 3 Union Tennessee Haynes P.O.

Cornelius Clemons (born 1757) resided in Camp Creek, Rutherford, North Carolina. The enumerator visited him on June 26, 1860. A month later, he wrote in the margin: “C. Clemons was born May 20th 1759. Served one year in the Revolution War, was in the Battle of “Kings Mountain.” He died July 28th 1860 being 103 years 2 months & 8 days old.”

To find their pictures, I’ll follow a set of research steps. They might lead me to other avenues to explore:

Pension applications for these men might contain more clues. Pension applications are available on Ancestry.com and on Fold3.

Use Google Images to see if any pictures of them are online.

Reach out to descendants through the major genealogy companies.

Search local historical societies for images too.

Look at local news stories. Sometimes they include references to pictures. Really!

These men could be your ancestors. You might have a picture of them in your family collection or have seen one in the local historical society. If so, please let me know.

The truth is I’m not optimistic about this search. The men listed here all lived in areas where there were few photographers.

Andrew knows ( and I do too) that thousands of the men and women of the Revolution lived into the age of photography. These 7 are only a few. The fact that they still called themselves soldiers is unusual. It makes me want to know more about their narrative.

What do you know about your Revolutionary War ancestor?

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Reliving the Revolution: An Image at a Time

Maureen Taylor — Sat, 23 Jun 2018 18:09:30 +0000

After being lucky enough to snag the last two tickets for a London performance of Hamilton, I feel fired up to work on volume 3 of my Last Muster series of books that features images of men and women who lived during the revolution and into the age of photography. For the past fifteen years, I’ve been accumulating photographs of America’s first generation.

You can help!

Do you have mid-19th-century photographs among your collection that portray older men and women?

Early on, I decided to expand my search from just images of soldiers to include a broader view of Revolutionary times. I thought, “What would happen if I told the story of the American Revolution through pictures of a variety of its participants: veterans, loyalists, and wives? Could we through photographic and documentary evidence recreate the United States’ first generation –those men and women bound together by living during Revolutionary times? “

If an image in your photo collection fits the criteria listed below, it might qualify for further investigation and inclusion in my book on the Revolutionary War generation. Contributors will be given full credit in the book, as well as any additional information that is discovered during research. I begin by verifying that an image depicts an individual with links to the project criteria then document each one by examining details in the pictures and citing supplementary evidence such as pension files, personal papers, local histories, newspapers and personal reminiscences.

To learn more about this project, visit the project page on my website.

The Subjects

Patriots, soldiers and loyalist adults: I’ve identified over a thousand men who lived after 1839 and into the age of photography. Anyone who was a young adult during the American Revolution would have been at least 80 years old by the advent of photography. Several veterans appeared in Reverend Elias Hillard’s Last Men of the Revolution in the 1860s, but thousands of men applied for pensions after the War. Hillard sought out the last men and compiled their stories in his book. There were only seven left by the time that he began his project. He described his task as a preservation effort, “Our own are the last eyes that will look on men who looked on Washington; our ears the last that will hear the living voices of those who heard his words. Henceforth the American Revolution will be known among men by the silent record of history alone.”

Let’s not leave out the women:

Wives and widows: As surprising as it may seem, the last surviving widow of a Revolutionary soldier died in 1906! Esther Sumner married Noah Damon when she was 21 and he was 75. Finding pictures of wives and widows means looking at pictures taken anywhere from 1840 to the early 1900s. The birth dates of these women range from the 1760s into the early 1800s, depending on their age when they married the veteran.

Ideally, I’d still like to include pictures of men and women from each of the original thirteen colonies, officers and enlisted men, as well as the brave women who kept the home front functioning in their husband’s absence.

Types of Photographs

Since my search covers a wide range of time, I’m looking for a variety of photographs from the earliest daguerreotypes to paper photos. These descriptions will help you identify the type of picture in your collection.

Daguerreotypes (1839 to 1860s): The first photographs, daguerreotypes have reflective surfaces; you must hold the photos at an angle to see their images. Daguerreotypes are often found in cases.
Ambrotypes (patented in 1854): Often placed in cases because of their fragility, these glass images are backed with dark material.
Tintypes or ferrotypes (patented in 1856): This third type of cased image is produced on thin sheets of iron.
Carte des visite (CDVs) (introduced in 1854): Inspired by 19th-century visiting cards, these small paper prints usually measured 2×4 inches.

If you have an image to contribute to the project please email me details about the person and the image using the subject line: Revolutionary War Generation. My submission guidelines are as follows:

300 dpi tiff color images scanned at 100% scale
Email images for consideration to photodetective@maureentaylor.com.

You can purchase the first two volumes of this series in my bookstore.

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Revolutionary War Roots on Ancestry.com

Maureen Taylor — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 11:26:36 +0000

About 6 in 10 of us have a family member who lived during that period of American history while only 1 in 40 have ancestors that participated in the war. Finding the documentation for those war-time ancestors is easier than you might think. Take a look at the Ancestry.com military records page for the Revolutionary War and view the types of resources you can search That’s a lot of Revolutionary War related links Here are a few records to whet your appetite for more information on those revolutionary folks.

Pension Records

Want to know more about your Revolutionary War ancestor, then search for a pension record. These documents are chock-full of personal details such as names of family members and financial status. Friends and neighbors also testified on behalf of applicants providing you with insights into their social circle. The veterans gave testimony of their service, battles they participated in and the names of men they served with. For instance, William Hutchings of Maine didn’t apply for a pension until 1832 and his father vouched for his service. The documents in his record include the amount of pension he received ($21.66 per year) and that he received an increase under a Special Act of Congress in 1865. You can read his personal declaration in support of his pension application which outlines his life during and after the war. Hutchings lived until 1866.
If your ancestor lived until 1840 and applied for a pension for military service up to that point then it’s likely they appear in the 1840 Census of Pensioners . You’ll find the name of the person collecting the pension, their age and where they live. If they lived after 1840 then there is a chance these individuals posed for a photographic portrait. Shiny, reflective daguerreotypes were introduced to the United States in 1839.

Service Details

Not everyone applied for a pension. Look for service details of your patriot ancestor by searching the U.S. Compiled Revolutionary War Military Service Records, 1775-1783 or the U.S. Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 . These muster rolls are indexed and you can view the original images on digital copies of the National Archives microfilm.

When you finish searching the bountiful resources available for the Revolutionary War period, you’ll know a lot more about your family that lived during those tumultuous years. Let me know what you’ve found. I love hearing success stories!

The Last Muster

The odds of you actually having a photograph or other image of that Revolutionary War period ancestor hasn’t been calculated because no one knows how many of the men and women who lived during that period actually sat for a portrait—photographic or painted. I’ve found more than two hundred photos or artwork based on images and the search continues. You can participate too. See my Last Muster Project page for details.

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