Sunday Search: Virginia Versus New Jersey

While searching through the pages and pages of Revolutionary War documents I happened to stumble across a very familiar name, Jacob Dufford. While we have been aware for some time of our immigrant ancestor providing supplies to the Continental Army on 17 December 1780, this document was completely different. This document which caught my attention was the “Names and ranks of those killed or taken on Long Island the 27^th day August 1776.” The second name on that list, clearly printed, is Jacob Dufford. While an exciting find to be sure, it was quickly tempered, as I am familiar with the various Dufford families in the colonies at the time which begged the question, is this the same Jacob Dufford?

First, let’s consider the candidates…

Given the death of their original immigrant in 1767, the New Jersey line of the Dufford family has one possibility, Jacob Dufford from Morris County who was born in 1745 and died in 1822. Note that Morris County is immediate west of Northampton County, Pennsylvania. When conducting a further search into records, no other reference could be found regarding this Jacob Dufford and the Revolutionary War. In the Virginia Dufford tree, given the fact that the second generation Jacob was only 12 at the time, there really is only one possibility being that of our original immigrant, Jacob Dufford who was born in Alsace Lorraine on 12 January 1734, arrived in Philadelphia on 27 October 1764, and died in Augusta County on 12 April 1800. At the time, Augusta County extended well beyond its current boundaries all the way to Pennsylvania. Those are the two possibilities, the only two names that match.

Second, let’s consider the service document…   

The document which I discovered listed Jacob Dufford as having been killed or captured during the Battle of Long Island on the 27^th day of August 1776. It also notes his enlistment date being 13 July 1776 and his discharge date being 1 December 1776 (the date on which the Flying Camps were disbanded). This information was confirmed when I was able to find his official service record. Despite his length of service being recorded as 1 month and 15 days, this second document, the only other document I could find and produced in November 1776 in Elizabethtown, provided me with some further details regarding the service of Jacob Dufford. As it turns out, he was a part of the Pennsylvania Infantry serving in Captain John Arndt’s Company of Colonel Baxter’s Battalion of Northampton County in the State of Pennsylvania of the Flying Camp… the Spartans of Long Island. While Baxter’s Batallion later fought at Fort Washington, it is doubtful that Jacob Dufford was present and/or able to fight as the prisoners taken by the British at Long Island were kept in inhumane conditions and nearly starved to death during their incarceration.

While this initial reading of the documentation suggests, based on county proximity, that this was a member of the New Jersey Duffords, I had to be sure and decided to look more closely into the history of the Flying Camps since I was unfamiliar with that term. Among the various writings on this obscure organization of militia forces during the Revolution, John Allen Miller’s article “The Flying Camp Batallion”, published on the Emmitsburg Area Historical Society webpage, proved to have the most complete history. In this article, Miller writes on the formation of the “Flying Camps”:

On June 3, 1776, the Continental Congress resolved "that a flying camp be immediately established in the middle colonies." For its part, Pennsylvania was called upon to provide a force of some 6,000 men. Delegations of one officer and two enlisted men from each of Pennsylvania's fifty-three associated battalions met in Lancaster, on July 4, 1776, for the purpose of selecting this force. Then, on July 10, 1776, the Bucks County Committee of Safety, citing "the Resolve of the late Provincial Conference for embodying four hundred of the Associates of this County," appointed the following officers to command. (Pennsylvania Archives, 5th Series, Vol. V; History of Bucks County, Davis)

The flying camp received little support from New Jersey. Pennsylvania sent some 2,000 associates, many of who were quickly drafted into service by Gen. Washington in New York. More men soon arrived from Maryland and Delaware, but despite the best efforts of Gen. Mercer the flying camp was fraught with difficulties almost from its inception, and never realizing its full potential was disbanded by the end of November, shortly after the fall of Fort Washington. (Pennsylvania Archives, 5th Series, Vol. V; History of Bucks County, Davis)

There was little mention of Virginia which seemed to strengthen the possibility of this being part of the New Jersey Dufford family history. And then I came across this paragraph later in the article which once again had me questioning which Jacob Dufford fought at Long Island:

A (Flying Camp) Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment was authorized June 17, 1776 in the Continental Army and was assigned to the Main Army. The Regiment was organized June 27, 1776 to consist of the three existing companies two from Maryland and one from Virginia, plus two new companies to be raised in Maryland, and four new companies to be raised in Virginia. The regimental organization was disbanded with the surviving Virginia portion being transferred on February 3, 1777 to the 11th Virginia Regiment and the Maryland portion provisionally reorganized in November 1776 as a single company under Captain Alexander Lawson Smith and attached to the 4th Maryland Regiment.

Taking all the evidence into consideration…

Given the later enlistment date of 13 July 1776 and the fact that few from New Jersey volunteered for service in the “Flying Camps” (and those who did volunteer would have likely done so in June and the early part of July, it is possible that the Jacob Dufford mentioned in this service record is, in reality, my immigrant ancestor. Of course, it would be nice to have additional evidence, even circumstantial, to now tilt the needle in one direction or another. While there seems to be little information about the Jacob Dufford from New Jersey (there is no service marker on his grave), there are a number of interesting facts regarding my Virginia ancestor that have swayed my opinion.

First, in looking at the family tree, there are no children conceived or born during the year 1776. Following his arrival through the Port of Philadelphia in 1764, he married his wife Christineh in Pennsylvania in the 1760’s and had his first child in the commonwealth as well. His subsequent children, Jacob and Johann (John), were born in Virginia and Maryland respectively. Later, the first mention of him owning land was when he purchased 268 acres in the newly formed Shenandoah County in 1778. He would later purchase 200, 205, 323 acre lots in Augusta County Virginia in 1780, 1788, and 1794 respectively. At the time of his death, according to the entry in the deed book on 29 October 1801, Jacob Teaford (Dufford) owned approximately 882 acres at the time of his death.

All of these things wouldn’t necessarily equate to anything except for the fact that when Jacob Dufford first arrived in the colonies he did so as a poor farmer. Somehow, over time, he amassed hundreds of acres by the time of this death. While much of this can be a testament of his work ethic, it is also logical to assume that some of this land acquired was from his service during the Revolution (not just a donation to the cause). This is why when considering both the hard evidence and the circumstantial facts surrounding the life of Jacob Dufford of Virginia, I believe that, despite his age at the time, he is the one who served in the Flying Camp as a member of Baxter’s Battalion and was captured at the Battle of Long Island.   

Thy Will Be Done!

Before our son was born my wife and I had the conversation that we should really consider getting a basic will put together. It is a subject that has come up from time over the past year but there was always something that would come up to take our attention away from what needed to be done. Finally, at the last stated meeting, I was able to pull one of the brothers aside, who happens to be an estate attorney, and got his contact information. Again, it was a very simple will that we were looking for but something that we now, finally, had the time and opportunity to complete.

The impetus for getting this done really had nothing to do with our financial situation or the possibility of us owning a home in the near future. The motivation was much simpler, we want to make sure, should anything happen to us, that our son would be taken care of by those people that we believe would raise him right and would have his best interests in mind. That is really what we wanted to legally put in place leaving no question as to where he would go and who would take care of him.

The process was actually much easier than we were anticipating as my masonic brother was able to pull everything together in less than a week following my email to him with all the information (names, addresses, special requests, etc.) that were required for these basic drafts. Actually, we had two wills drawn up, one for me and one for my wife. Each mirrored the other as we have been in agreement ass to the contents from the beginning. The only difference being that, motivated by previous discussions at the lodge, I specifically requested a masonic service.

Given how easy it was, the fantastic rate which we were charged, and the simple fact that this brother will go above and beyond to assist us and offer us advice, I have already recommended is services many times over to both friends and family. So now the next stop is to the safe deposit box so that we will not have to worry about misplacing the originals. And I must say that it feels great to have this important document now completed and the worry about what we hope will never happen has now substantially subsided. We are now at ease knowing that, should something happen, our son will be taken care of and will be raised the right way.

Considering The Inevitable Future

With the baby on the way and everything else that has been going on my wife and I have been thinking about preparing for the future. While there have been many happy moments and times of celebration, there are a few realities that we must address in order for us to not have to think about certain things and unpleasant possibilities. It is with this in mind that we have started discussing putting a will together.

This is a conversation that we had when we first got married and we simply put it aside for a number of years. It wasn’t something that we would think about on a regular basis so it was simply forgotten about. Lately, it has been a thought permeating our minds and we have had to give serious consideration to many of the details.

There is nothing that has officially be done at this point… it has merely been discussion and the floating of ideas and scenarios. And while we don’t have much it would be nice to get some of the broad strokes out of the way before this important project is put off again. While I don’t see us forgetting about it like we previously did, we would both rather have it done now while we are motivated to do so and while we have a small measure of time to commit to this undertaking.

We have both seen and read a few wills in our lives but we never sat down to write one ourselves. But it is not just about us anymore, we want to make sure that our son (and any future children) are not left with a cluster when we are no longer around whether that is five or fifty years from now. It is also an opportunity to decide what will happen if we were to become ill toward the end and what needs to be done while we are still ‘alive’.

How will the minimalistic ‘estate’ be handled? Who would care for our kid(s) if it, G-d forbid, happens sooner rather than later? What happens to all of our crap? What are our last wishes? What life saving measures, if any, should be taken? Where will we be planted?

Those are just some of the basic questions that we have been asking ourselves and while we don’t have any definitive answers we are working things through and doing our best to write them down. While this attempt will be a broad one at best (we are doing this ourselves) it will be the basis for when we sit down with a lawyer in the future and pull everything together as it should be. We are going to take care of the basics now and work out many of the details over time. But, it is nice to know that something is getting recorded and that things will, for the most part, be taken care of and we generally know what will happen when that day comes.

Questioning Punctuation And Interpretations

It happens all the time. You write an email, letter, or even some sort of business document and think that everything is done but when you look it over again you realize that you missed something. Nothing that impacts the content as all of the information is there but there is a single seemingly insignificant dot or subtle line that has been either added or not included that completely changes how it is read. Sometimes the most brilliant piece of writing can be derailed by punctuation. This is the exact point (no pun intended) that is currently being debated as either a period is missing or has been added to one of this county’s founding documents, The Declaration of Independence. The full research paper can be read here.

An opinion that I have seen bandied about since the release of this research leaves one with a weighty sense of suspicion as there are rarely moments of coincidence when it comes to politics and that is exactly what we find ourselves looking at in this particular instance. Basically, what this individual surmises, without the period, is that this cornerstone document grants increased power to the government over the people and their rights. In an era when the central figures in Washington are leveraging ever mode and means to secure more and more power, the motivations behind such a ‘revelation’ are suspect at a minimum and at worst liberal propaganda. Many critics of the research are leaning toward the latter as the supposition made by this scholar completely flies in the face of both what we fought against to gain our independence and what the founding fathers have expounded upon in their own writings. Sometimes there is no error in the faded pages of time, occasionally there is an error in the records kept, sometimes a period is nothing more than an un-cleaned spec on a pair of glasses.

However, there is another side to this whole argument which it the one to which I subscribe. Given that there seems to be rather convincing evidence that the period that we have all generally accepted in the transcript is indeed an error, the continuation of the thought outlined in the paragraph is what we must focus on. While some, on both sides of the political spectrum, have concluded that the absence of the period grants additional power to the government. However, I believe this is an overreaching statement made in error. The rights of the people are still the central focus and the role of government is to ensure that the rights of the people are not infringed. Basically, it is a reinforcement of the rights of the people and that the primary role of government is to protect those rights NOT restrict, limit, or strip them away.

There are too many possibilities that could be the culprit to this punctuation error theory that are too quickly glossed over and the intentions of the words and the spirit of the declaration is completely dismissed in the hypothesis. Brave actions and the intentions behind them are what secured our freedom from an oppressive and negligent government and there is no possible reason for the founders of this country to dismiss those sacrifices in order to empower the few over the many in determining rights. While I don’t anticipate that fact to resonate with the current administration, it is a large part of what has proven to be the catalyst in the success of this democratic republic and government should support the rights of the people to ensure that the tree of liberty remains healthy and vibrant.

We are a nation of individuals endowed with inalienable rights along with rights that ensure our freedom and liberty even under the rule of an oppressive government. While many may not exercise those rights or even take the time to fully understand them, they are there for our safety and for us to protect ourselves and protect us from being ruled rather than served. We were not founded on the notion of an expansive government, we were founded on the necessity of a strong people to oppose an overreaching government. The government needs to focus on protecting our rights so that we can protect ourselves. And while we will most likely never return to those ideals, it is our duty to find balance in this country and to protect ourselves from views and interpretations that fly in the face of our individual rights, liberty, and freedom.     

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."