Wife, son and I were given information including GPS coordinates about several family farms, graves, and a fort. It made for an interesting five-day camping trip.
The headstone on the right belongs to one of the wife's great great great great great (5 greats) grandfathers. John Jacob Hill was a shoemaker who enlisted in the 5th Regiment of the Continental Line and campaigned until the Revolution of 1776 ended 8 years later. The winter at Valley Forge, crossing the Delaware to attack the Hessians on Christmas eve, the whole bit.
After the revolution, he went back to making shoes and threw in with Christina Gortner, whose headstone is on the left. Her family emigrated from Germany after the Thirty Years War and got here just in time for the French and Indian war, which her father did not survive. He was ambushed, scalped and mutilated in his wheat field by indians hiding under a stream bank. He was buried about where he fell, in an unmarked grave. We searched for the spot, which is pretty well described in three historical accounts, but as far as we can tell it's now a shopping mall.
None of this is old by English standards, but by American standards, it's ancient history. At any rate, it was a good excuse to pitch a tent by the Susquehanna river and contemplate things. Hopefully our boy will appreciate it some day, at the time of the picture he was sulking because he wanted to play video games instead of run around outdoors.
The headstone on the right belongs to one of the wife's great great great great great (5 greats) grandfathers. John Jacob Hill was a shoemaker who enlisted in the 5th Regiment of the Continental Line and campaigned until the Revolution of 1776 ended 8 years later. The winter at Valley Forge, crossing the Delaware to attack the Hessians on Christmas eve, the whole bit.
After the revolution, he went back to making shoes and threw in with Christina Gortner, whose headstone is on the left. Her family emigrated from Germany after the Thirty Years War and got here just in time for the French and Indian war, which her father did not survive. He was ambushed, scalped and mutilated in his wheat field by indians hiding under a stream bank. He was buried about where he fell, in an unmarked grave. We searched for the spot, which is pretty well described in three historical accounts, but as far as we can tell it's now a shopping mall.
None of this is old by English standards, but by American standards, it's ancient history. At any rate, it was a good excuse to pitch a tent by the Susquehanna river and contemplate things. Hopefully our boy will appreciate it some day, at the time of the picture he was sulking because he wanted to play video games instead of run around outdoors.
