Patriot Sleuth Genealogy

11/10/2025

The Colonial Society is honored and delighted to be publishing the Papers of John Hancock--the first time his writings have been collected, edited, and published! Thanks to editor Jeffrey Griffiths, we look forward to making Hancock's writings available to scholars, students, and the wider public! Here is John Hancock, standing in front of the City Hall in his home town of Quincy, Massachusetts!

11/06/2025

252 Years Ago on November 3rd, 1773 at 12 o’clock noon:
Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Dr. Joseph Warren, William Molineux, and roughly 500 citizens gather at the Liberty Tree to await the arrival of the East India Company Tea Consignees, who received summons to appear and resign their commissions. Meanwhile, the Consignees have gathered at merchant Richard Clarke’s warehouse at the foot of King Street at Long Wharf, no doubt discussing the demand of the Sons of Liberty. When the Consignees defiantly do not show, and refuse to parley with a delegation of men led by Mr. Molineux, the scene turns violent as a mob storms the building! They wrench the doors off the hinges, fling stones and mud, and charge through the doorway, driving the Consignees and their colleagues up to the second floor counting-room, where they manage to barricade themselves and remain for an hour and a half before the crowd finally disperses.
It’s been a tense couple of days as the Sons of Liberty aggressively pursue the tea Consignees. Stay tuned to find out what happens next!

11/01/2025

For those of you researching your Scottish ancestry , here’s an insightful article from Emma Maxwell.

Recently, I have been investigating irregular marriages in Scotland. I came across some interesting insights from the early 1900s. These show the scale of the 'problem' of unregistered irregular marriages and may explain why some post-1855 Scottish marriages can't be found. Read my article for more....

10/28/2025

The further back you research your ancestors, the greater the likelihood of common ancestors.

10/21/2025

Inflatable dummy tanks played an important role during World War II.

When the Allies chose Normandy as the landing site for the invasion of Europe, they created a “Ghost army” to fool the Germans.

This “Ghost Army” was made up of two divisions designed to look like 30,000 troops with tanks, jeeps, artillery, and planes. In reality, it had only 82 officers and 1,023 men and all the material was inflatable.

To sell the illusion, the Allies sent fake radio messages, blasted pre-recorded sounds of military drills, and used double agents to feed false intel to the Germans.

The deception worked so well that even a month after D-Day, the Germans still believed another invasion was coming. They were sure it would happen at Pas-de-Calais instead of Normandy.

During the Allied liberation of France and the rest of Europe, the Ghost Army kept up its clever tricks, confusing German intelligence again and again.

Hollywood artists, set designers, photographers, and engineers all helped create this illusion.

Famous members included fashion designer Bill Blass, painter and sculptor Ellsworth Kelly, and photographer Art Kane.

After the war, the members of the “Ghost army” were sworn to secrecy. Its existence stayed classified for 40 years and was only revealed in the mid-1990s.

It was the first mobile, multimedia, tactical deception unit in U.S. Army history - and it’s believed to have saved thousands of Allied lives.

In 2024, the unit finally received the Congressional Gold Medal.

Sources:

“Ghost Army: The Combat Con Artists of World War II.” The National WWII Museum, accessed October 20, 2025.

“The ‘Ghost Army’: World War II’s Secret Weapon.” National Veterans Memorial & Museum, July 18, 2024.

Gormly, Kellie B. “How the Ghost Army of WWII Used Art to Deceive the Nazis.” Smithsonian Magazine, July 5, 2022.

“‘Ghost Army’ Veterans to Receive Congressional Gold Medal.” , March 21, 2024.

10/17/2025

Update on the Tuam Mother and Baby Home Excavation 💔

Many of you have been asking what’s happening at the Tuam site, where so many mothers and children suffered in silence for decades. Here’s what we know so far.

The full forensic excavation of the Tuam Mother and Baby Home began in July 2025 and is expected to take about two years. This is a deeply emotional and historic effort — one that seeks truth, dignity, and peace for the hundreds of children who were never given proper burials.

So far, archaeologists have uncovered:
• A small number of human remains, including an adult tooth and five sets of skeletal remains believed to date back to the earlier Workhouse period (1840s–1910s).
• Personal and medical items from the Mother and Baby Home era (1925–1961) — such as baby bottles, tiny shoes, spectacles, and fragments of household objects — reminders of the lives that once passed through this place.

Earlier investigations (in 2016–2017) had already revealed that a large number of infants and young children were buried in underground chambers, part of what was once a disused sewage system. Historian Catherine Corless’ tireless research showed that 796 children died at Tuam between 1925 and 1961 — yet there are no proper burial records for them.

The ongoing excavation is trying to find and respectfully recover as many of these children as possible. DNA testing is being offered to families who believe they may be connected. While it’s still too early to know how many remains will be found or identified, every discovery brings us closer to giving these children the dignity they were denied in life.

This work is a solemn act of remembrance and truth. Each find — no matter how small — speaks for hundreds of voices that were silenced.

May they all finally rest in peace, and may Ireland never forget. 💔🕯️

10/16/2025

Don't forget to sign up for your spot at the presentation. Join via Facebook Event or email info@westernrihistory.org. There is no charge but we appreciate knowing how many are coming.

10/15/2025

⚔️ On This Day at the Shore — October 15, 1778
The Little Egg Harbor Massacre

In the autumn of 1778, the salt marshes around Little Egg Harbor were quiet and wind-tangled — cedar, pine, and tidewater blending into a maze of reeds. But that calm hid danger. The Revolution had reached the Jersey Shore.

Just days earlier, British and Loyalist troops had raided and burned Chestnut Neck, a small river port on the Mullica River where American privateers sold captured British cargo to help fund the patriot cause. Their next objective lay just to the north — to strike the Continental outpost guarding the coast.

Before dawn on October 15, 1778, about 250 Loyalist soldiers under Captain Patrick Ferguson landed near Osborn Island after rowing ashore from British warships. Their target was a forward detachment of Brig. Gen. Count Casimir Pulaski’s Legion, roughly 50 men — a mix of Polish, French, and American soldiers under the command of Lt. Col. Baron De Bose encamped near the forks of the Bass River.

The night was fog-heavy and still. Pulaski’s men slept in tents, their muskets stacked outside. Moving silently through the marsh, Ferguson’s troops advanced with fixed bayonets. Within minutes the camp was overrun.

Contemporary accounts say 30 to 45 Legion soldiers were killed, most before they could reach their weapons. A few escaped into the cedar woods; several were taken prisoner. Ferguson’s force withdrew before Pulaski arrived with reinforcements later that morning.

Pulaski buried his fallen men and condemned the surprise attack as a “massacre.” Patriot newspapers in Philadelphia called it “a scene of inhuman barbarity.” British reports defended it as a justified strike against what they considered pirates and privateers along the coast.

For the people of coastal New Jersey, the event was a grim reminder that the war’s violence reached even here — into the quiet back bays and tidal creeks far from the main armies.

Today, the site of the 1778 engagement lies in Little Egg Harbor Township, much of which has been developed over the old colonial farmland. Meanwhile, a Pulaski Monument stands on South Pulaski Boulevard in the Mystic Island area as a memorial to the Legion who fought and died there.

Stand there on an October morning, and the air still carries salt and cedar — the same breeze that once mixed with musket smoke and the shouts of men in the fog.

📖 October 15, 1778 — when the marshlands of the Jersey Shore became a battlefield for independence

10/03/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17LZtaaRLN/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The 10th anniversary edition of The Great Migration Directory is here! This edition contains 82 new immigrants, for a total of 5,700 sketches. Many new English or European origins have been discovered, sketches have been greatly expanded by research published in the last 10 years, and any errors from the 1st edition have been corrected. This new volume also includes an appendix of eleven 1st-edition sketches retired by the author and his reason for doing so. Learn more: https://hubs.ly/Q03KP73z0

10/01/2025

New research and reading materials.

09/13/2025

https://scitechdaily.com/the-da-vinci-bloodline-living-descendants-provide-clues-to-the-geniuss-genetic-secrets/?fbclid=IwZnRzaAMyTO1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHsEXZscd_m74yFXcGtXgzILAFXWQXMck1P1vqk-ugRuxvsTgPt-_CB6fprQX_aem_IZkAoLdA_WfObABCKXRlBw

Scientists confirmed genetic continuity in Leonardo da Vinci’s male descendants. Work is underway to compare ancient remains and possibly recover his DNA. For more than five hundred years, Leonardo da Vinci has been admired as a brilliant artist, scientist, and inventor, celebrated for his unmatc