Madison
County Genealogical Society
Minutes of the Meeting - March 10, 2016
The March 2016 meeting of the Madison County
Genealogical Society was held at the Edwardsville Public Library on Thursday,
March 10, at 7:00 pm.
President, Robert Ridenour, called the
meeting to order.
GIFT
MEMBERSHIPS AVAILABLE
Do you have a family member that is
interested in (or even obsessed with) genealogy? A membership in the Madison
County Genealogical Society would be a very thoughtful gift. A gift card will
be sent to the recipient of any gift membership.
The following memberships are available:
Individual/Family Annual Membership $20.00
Patron Annual Membership $30.00
Life Membership $250.00
Contact our Secretary, Petie Hunter, at petie8135@att.net, about a gift membership.
March
Meeting
On March 10, 2016, Milan Paddock
presented a program titled Sybil
Ludington: Heroine of the American Revolution. Milan has been doing
genealogy for over 50 years. He is a native Californian and worked for IBM from
college to retirement. IBM transferred him to St. Louis in 1971 and he has been
here ever since. Milan is past president of the St. Louis chapter of the Sons
of the American Revolution and was state historian for the Missouri State
Society of SAR. He has two sons and a daughter and is the grandfather of two.
[This is partly the story of Milan's ancestor and
partly that of Sybil Ludington.]
Seth Paddock, Sr. (ancestor of Milan Paddock) was born in 13 March 1707 in
Yarmouth, Massachusetts. He had a hard time with wives; his first, Mercy
Nickerson, was born in 1710, married Seth Sr. on 13 April 1727. She bore him a
son and a daughter. She died in October of 1735. His second, Zerviah Storrs, was born on the 27 August 1712. She married
Seth Sr. on 10 October 1735, (the same month of the death of his first wife). Zerviah bore Seth Sr. two daughters. She died 3 January
1738, five days after the birth of her youngest daughter. Seth Sr. then found
Ruth Arnold, born 16 November 1720, and married her on 5 April 1746. Against
all odds, Ruth bore Seth Sr. three sons: Seth Jr., Stephan, and Judah.
We need to understand the country in those days. The new Provincial Congress of
New York met in New York City Hall on 22 May 1775, and adopted the following
resolution: "that it is recommended to every inhabitant of this colony who
has neglected to sign the General Association to do it with all convenient
speed." This compelled every inhabitant to align themselves with the
colonists or with Britain. If he signed the General Association, the British
could hold him as a traitor; or if he sided with British, the colonists could
seize all his belongings.
Seth Paddock Sr. was a farmer. Sometime after 1753, he moved his family to
Fredericksburg, New York, from Connecticut. In 1776, when the American
Revolution broke out, Seth Sr. was 71 years old. The ages for Patriots called
up were between 16 and 60. So Seth Sr. had to stay behind and mind the farm.
His three sons aged 30, 26, and 23 were called up. All three were in Col.
Ludington's Regiment.
On the night of 25 April 1777, some 2,000 British regulars under command of
General Tryon landed from 20 transports and six warships at the mouth of the
Saugatuck River at Compo Beach, Westport, Connecticut, just east of the
present-day city of Norwalk. Their objective was the destruction of Patriot
supply houses at Danbury, about 22 miles inland. That night they camped at
Weston, eight miles inland, and the next morning marched northward through
Bethel doing little or no damage to private property en route, arriving in
Danbury about 3 P.M. The enemy objective was to capture or destroy the American
supplies that, for security reasons, had recently been transferred there from
Peekskill.
The poorly defended storehouses were filled with great quantities of salt,
flour, rice, molasses, coffee, meat, and grain, and also large stores of
quartermaster supplies: hay, tents, hospital cots, shoes and socks, uniforms,
powder, shot, and muskets, along with several-score hogsheads of rum. Rum was
classed in Colonial times as "medical supplies," and rum was exactly
what the British troops desired after their long march. The British soldiers
consumed the rum so enthusiastically that an all-time record for Danbury was
soon established. By four o'clock several army supply houses and three private
homes were in flames. The staggering soldier's drunken howls, army songs,
cursing, shouted insults, and random firing was heard on every hand, rising
above the roar of flames and the screams of the terrorized women and children.
On 26 April 1777, at 4 P.M., four Colonial messengers were hastily dispatched
from Danbury in differing directions: one to Benedict Arnold and General
Wooster in New Haven, one to General Stillwater, and one to Colonel Ludington
in New York, to warn them that the British were approaching.
Colonel Ludington was weary having just returned from a long and arduous trip
mustering supplies for his regiment and was looking forward to a comfortable
evening at home with his family. Around nine o'clock, a loud and persistent
pounding was heard at his door. Upon opening the door, he saw a breathless,
rain soaked, mud spattered messenger bearing news of the burning and sacking of
Danbury. It is reported that the Colonel was "fighting mad!"
A prompt decision and immediate action were critical. He must gather his
militiamen and prevent the enemy from passing through this territory to the
Hudson River. Danbury needed help at once. The local families also had to be
alerted to the danger of impending attack, so they would have time to abandon
their homes and flee northward. The families needed time for the women and
children to pack. Their clothing and bedding needed to be loaded into
horse-drawn wagons or ox carts.
The messenger and his horse were spent; they could go no further that night.
Who was there to ride to spread the alarm and to muster the 400 men of Colonel
Ludington's command? "I'll go, Daddy," spoke up Sybil, his 16
year-old daughter. We can only imagine what might have
gone on in the Colonel's head before he granted permission for his teen-aged
daughter to undertake this hazardous mission on such a dark and stormy night
through enemy infested territory. Some sources say that he "gave his
consent with great reluctance."
A large strapping yearling gelding, named Star, recently broken to bit and
saddle by Sybil, herself, (who it was said "was a bit of a tomboy"),
was led from his comfortable stall; a man's saddle was thrown on his back, and
Sybil, mounted astride, seized the rope rein and in one swift move horse and
rider vanished into the night.
As she left her home, Sybil went southward
along a trail paralleling the middle branch of Croton River. She then rode down
Horse Pound Road to Carmel where, upon her warning, "the village bell
pealed forth its muster call." Here, we are told, a horseback rider
offered to accompany her, but she asked him instead to spread the news eastward
(toward the present village of Brewster).
We can imagine the great joy-filled emotion that greeted her safe return. The
rain was slackening as a motley crowd of militiamen began gathering at the
Ludington farm, eventually becoming a force of 200 men. Many of the minutemen
were poorly clad and lacked weapons and ammunition, but all were determined to
avenge the fate of their stricken countrymen across the state border.
At dawn, Colonel Ludington was ready to lead his men through Franklin (now
Paterson), and out the Haviland Hollow Road into
Connecticut.
British General Tryon had planned to spend a restful Sabbath at the scene of
his arson and pillage. But soon after midnight, word came that an American
force of 700 men under General Wooster had gathered at Bethel.
Fearing attacks from the west and the east, the British soldiers resumed their
work of destroying Danbury before the troops' morning withdrawal. In all, 19
private homes, 20 stores and shops, a meeting house,
and several barns and other storage buildings were destroyed.
Outnumbered three to one, the gallant patriots, in true Minuteman style,
harassed the retreating British all the way back to their ships on Long Island
Sound, inflicting over 200 British casualties, more than twice as many as the
American Minutemen suffered.
After the close of the Revolution, Sybil Ludington married Edmund Ogden, a
lawyer from Catskill, New York, and bore him four sons and two daughters. One
of her sons, Major Edmund A. Ogden, born in 1810, went on to become a
distinguished military figure and the founder of Fort Riley in the mid 1800's.
Sybil Ludington died at 77 years, 10 months, and 13 days old on 26 February
1839, and is buried in the Paterson Presbyterian Church Cemetery, in Paterson,
New York.
In 1935, the New York State Education Department placed a series of roadside
markers along Sybil's route. On 8 June 1961, the Bethel County sculptor, Anne
Hyatt, of Huntington, presented a statue of Sybil Ludington riding her horse
Star, to the care of the Carmel (NY) chapter of the Daughters of the American
Revolution. This statue may be seen today on the shore of Lake Gleneida. On 25 March 1975 a postage stamp was issued by
the US Postal service commemorating Sybil's Ride for Independence.
Almost everyone knows about Paul Revere who rode 14 miles in two hours in good
weather; but most people do not know about young Sybil Ludington who rode 40 miles
in lousy weather.
This presentation was very well received and several questions were asked.