Military Monday. Capt John Hillhouse, part 2

Continuing on my quest to explore new resources about Revolutionary War veterans, this week I've use several other resources suggested by Dr. Debbie Duay on her website as well as checking for books mentioning Capt. John.  Her section on Revolutionary Service resources contains a number of links organized by states.  Her South Carolina links led me to issues of the South Carolina History and Genealogy Magazine and a number of South Carolina History books.  Even though I did not find Capt. John mentioned in any of them, her list is one I will return to in the future when researching other ancestors and relatives.

The Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army During the War of the Revolution was no longer available as an ebook through Google books, but I found it through Hathi Trust Digital Library and added the title to my list of genealogy resources.  Once again I was not able to locate Capt. John in this register.  Under the South Carolina listing, however, is a note stating that few South Carolina records were found, suggesting that most were lost during the skirmishes.(1)  

HathiTrust also had several other books with information about Capt. John, including copies of the Acts and Joint Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina.  In the 1826 volume, I found information concerning a war pension for John Hillhouse.  In December of 1826 both the South Carolina House of Representatives and Senate approved John Hillhouse being adding to the [war] pension list. (2)

Acts and Join Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina, 1826.

Hillhouse Kinship by Billy K. Hillhouse is a self-published web book that also proved helpful in learning more about Capt. John.  In the chapter about Hillhouse family members who served in the Revolutionary War, mention is made of how John Hillhouse, during the Battle of Sumter's Defeat, "lost a rifle, saddle bags, coat, and other items". (3)  Another tidbit that helped history to come alive.

Previously I had found Capt. John listed in the 1800 census for Pendleton, Anderson County, South Carolina.  Another book accessed through HaitiTrust provided some additional information about his personal life.  Traditions and History of Anderson County by Louise Ayer Vandiver contained the histories of several old churches.  The section about an early church in Pendleton listed John Hillhouse among the original elders, and his brother, the Rev. Joseph Hillhouse, had been one of the church’s ministers. (4)

Another insight into Capt. John's life was finding his grave listed in findagravecom.  According to findagrave, Capt. John Hillhouse is buried at the Orr Mill Cemetery in Anderson, South Carolina. (5)  The memorial page lists his birth date as 15 May 1744 with an unknown death date.  There is not a photo of his grave marker.  

The Historical Marker database provided some interesting information about the Orr Mill Cemetery.  The cemetery is the final resting place for some Orr Mill employees and family members dating to the 1800s.  Numerous graves are here, marked and unmarked, including infants. (6)  This lead to another question about Capt. John.  The findagrave memorial page mentioned that he was a weaver.  Was his weaving area the start of the Orr Mill?  Also, how did he come to be buried at this particular cemetery?  What about burial at the church cemetery (assuming it had a cemetery) where he had been an elder and his brother the minister?

Orr Mill Cemetery, photo by Brian Scott

Once again, new answers lead to new questions, even for Capt. John Hillhouse.  It has proved to be an interesting week of research, especially taking the time to explore new online resources.

(1) Heitman, Francis Bernard.  Historical register of officers of the continental army during the war of the revolution, April, 1775, to December, 1783.  Washington Press of Nichols, Killam & Maffitt, 1893.

(2) Acts and Joint Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina, 1826.  Columbia,SC:  Digital images.  Haiti Trust Digital Library. www.haititrust.org : 2013.

(3) Hillhouse, Billy K. Hillhouse Kinship.  http://www.cinetropic.com/hillhouse/kinship : 2013.

(4) Vandiver, Louise Ayer.  Traditions and History of Anderson County.  Atlanta, GA: Ruralist Press, 1928.  Digital images.  Haiti Trust Digital Library. www.haititrust.org : 2013.

(5) Find a Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 27 Jul 2013), memorial page for Capt John Hillhouse(1744 - ?), Find a Grave memorial no.84332659, citing Orr Mill Cemetery, Anderson County, South Carolina.

(6) "Orr Mill Cemetery". The Historical Marker Database, database and images.  http://www.hmdb.org : 2013.

Opening a Door to More State Resources

Open Door by Richard Croft
Wikimedia Commons

Earlier this week, a Library of Congress blog posted a list of 71 Digital Portals to various online state resources.  I appreciate Dick Eastman mentioning this list in his online genealogy newsletter.

The list was compiled by Ingrid Jermudd, an intern with the National Data Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program.  If you do not already have a list of state resources you are using, this would be a helpful list to bookmark.  One new feature in this list is the inclusion of several regional web sites, not just states.  It is also worth looking at the comments section to see other sites suggested by readers.  There are already plans to update this list with additional state and regional resource web sites.

Check it out and perhaps suggest a favorite resource that you consider to be essential for researching a certain state.

Military Monday: Capt. John Hillhouse, part 1

As I have been researching my husband's Hillhouse ancestors, I continue to come across references to his 4th Great Grandfather, Capt. John Hillhouse.  That is the way he was usually named, "Capt. John, a Revolutionary War patriot".  I wanted to learn more about his military service, plus this might prove to be a good chance to improve my skills in researching this time period.

My first step in learning more about Capt. John was to consult the DAR Genealogical Research System, a free online database provided by the Daughters of the American Revolution.   He was listed in their database as DAR Ancestor #A056215.  His birth date, 15 May 1744 in South Carolina, and his wife, Margaret Chambers, corresponded with information I had already found about Capt. John.  The names mention in subsequent membership applications were also of other relatives, Elijah Hillhouse (2nd Great Grandfather) and Samuel Hillhouse (3rd Great Grandfather), so I knew I had located Capt. John.  From the DAR information, I learned that Capt. John had served with Col. W. Bratton.

DAR Genealogy Research System, entry for John Hillhouse

Looking to learn more about Col. Bratton, I stumbled upon the Carolana.com website and found an interesting article about the Battle of Huck's Defeat where members of the New Acquisition District Militia soundly defeated British and Loyalist forces.  A link lead to the militia's list of members, and there was more information about John Hillhouse.  Here I learned that he served as a Captain in the New Acquisition District Militia from 1780-1782 and participated in the Battle of Fishing Creek on 18 Aug 1870.  The story of this battle made for interesting reading, and I saw Capt. John listed as one of the ten company commanders serving under Lt. Col. William Bratton and Maj. John Wallace.  This website by J. D. Lewis turned out to be a treasure trove of information for early history for both North and South Carolina.

Caralana.com, entry for John Hillhouse

Dr. Debbie Duay has a helpful website about Researching Your Patriot Ancestor, full of tips for gathering the appropriate information to support an application for DAR membership.  Even if you are not intending to pursue membership in the DAR, SAR, or other patriot ancestor organizations, she provides a number of research tips in her learning modules, especially in her listing of Sources for Revolutionary War Service.

Using Duay's links, I used the FamilySearch.org database, United States Revolutionary War Compiled Service Records, 1775-1783.  The John Hillhouse I found there was from New York and not our Capt John.  Searching just for "Hillhouse", I found two references to Fold3.com records for William Hillis, a variation of the family name, who was a member of the South Carolina Fifth Regiment.  Capt. John had a brother William who also served in the Revolutionary War so this is information I will use later when I focus on researching William.  I was not concerned that John was not listed in this database since FarmilySearch states that "most of the records of the American Army from the Revolutionary War era that were in the custody of the War Department were destroyed by fire in 1800 or in 1814. (1)

This week I'll be following more of Duay's links plus using some of the websites I have bookmarked in my "Military Records" folder.  It is interesting to be learning more about the Revolutionary War through the eyes of my husband's ancestor.  As a former school library media specialist, I must admit that I'm also really enjoying the process of exploring some new resources.

(1) "United States Revolutionary War Compiled Service Records, 1775-1783." Index. FamilySearch. http://familysearch.org : accessed 2013.

Good Bye to a Good Book

"Book on Monitor" by Anna Call
OpenClipArt.org

Today was a sad day, time to "return" my digital download of The John Pickens Family.  Over the past two weeks, I have browsed its pages daily, taken lots of notes, and learned so much about my husband's family.  As I mentioned previously, this book is a notch above many family histories I have looked at.  Now, I have a dilemma.  Do I want to spend the money to purchase my own copy, perhaps ask for a copy as a gift from my husband, or just move on?  Decisions, decisions.  Meanwhile, I'll continue to be thankful that the digital download was available.