“Conflict” brings to mind my ongoing search for a grandparent who served in either the Revolutionary War or the Civil War. I think I may have found a candidate! Capt. Elisha Smith, my 4th great-grandfather, was born January 2, 1755 in Brentwood, New Hampshire. That would make him 20 years old in 1775 when the quest for independence was heating up.
Elisha was a soldier recorded in Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors, in Revolution, Vol. 14, page 390. He was a private for 8 months in Col. Jonathaon Chases’s Regiment. Then in September 1777, he went to Saratoga and was discharged in October 1777, 135 miles from home.
Here’s a link to an extensive bio on Elisha: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Smith-16425
Elisha served 2 years and 15 days. He may have been in Trenton during the winter of 76-77. His first child, a son named Elisha, was born in May of 1776. He and his wife Sarah had 11 children.
I am descended from Elisha Smith as follows: Elisha was the father of Mary “Molly” Smith who was the mother of Lavinia Sawyer who was the mother of James Gardner McDearmid who was the father of Gardner Clark McDearmid who was the father of James Gardner McDearmid who was the father of me, Joan Carolyn McDearmid!
Memories & Musings 