Tag Archives: Revolutionary War

Nathaniel Bonnell III

04 Thursday Jun 2020

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Nathaniel Bonnell III was born on June 3, 1756 in Passaic County, New Jersey to Captain Nathaniel Bonnell II and Elizabeth Allen. The younger Nathaniel had seven siblings…Abigail, Caleb, Phebe, Jane, Jonathan, Jacob and Elizabeth. After his mother died in 1774, his father remarried and five more children were added to the family…William (who died in infancy), Nancy, Chloe, William II, and Enoch.

Nathaniel was a young man when the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired and like many of his family, he took up arms on behalf of the Colonies. serving under Captain Abraham Lyons in the Continental Army. After the War, Nathaniel married Martha Crane in 1783. Together they had eight children…Philemon, Huldah, Johnathan C., Mary, Jane, Elizabeth, Sarah and Maline.

The Bonnell family was one of the founding families of New Jersey and were instrumental in the development and growth of the area. Nathaniel was a part of that as owner of the sawmill in New Providence. He lived to the age of fifty-seven, perishing on April 15, 1814. He is buried in New Providence, New Jersey.

Nathaniel Bonnell III was my 1st cousin, 8x removed on my dad’s side.

REFERENCES

  • Family Records or Genealogies of the first settlers of the Passaic Valley, New Jersey, John Littell, 1852.
  • New Jersey Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index
  • New Jersey Wills and Probate Records
  • Find a Grave website
  • Headstone Applications for Military Veterans

Phillip Catt

25 Monday May 2020

Posted by in Genealogy, Revolutionary War

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On May 25, 1750, Phillip Catt was born to Michael Katz and Anna Maria Mohr. He was born in the colony of Virginia, near present day Hardy County, West Virginia. Five siblings have been identified in the records to this day: Ludwig, George, Michael, Anna Maria and John. Documentation indicates around 1770 the family crossed the mountains and settled along the southern branch of the Potomac River in what is now Fayette County, Pennsylvania.

Migration of Phillip Catt

At the time the Revolutionary War broke out, the area where the Catts resided was under a jurisdictional dispute as to which colony it belonged to–Virginia or Pennsylvania. When news of Lexington and Concord reached this frontier area, the border dispute faded into the background and residents came together in the fight against the British. This area was referred to as “old Monongalia County, Virginia”. The four Catt brothers (George, Michael, John and Phillip) all served in the War in regiments from this area. Phillip, specifically, was in the Monongalia Militia. He served in several regiments under the direction of Captains John Whitesell, Kincaid, Wilson, Morgan and Jacob Tevebaugh, as well as Colonels Brodhead and Crawford on multiple campaigns.

About 1775, Phillip married Mary Magdalan ? and started a family, despite the War. Their first four children, Mary, Elizabeth, Phillip Jr, and Sebastian were born in Pennsylvania. In May 1785, they relocated westward and settled in Knox County, Indiana. Mary and Phillip added five more children to their family: John , Rebecca, Susannah, Daniel and Eutha Melinda.

Phillip’s wife Mary died between 1815 and 1820. He remarried to Sally Kimmons on November 14, 1820 and they continued to live in Johnson Township in Knox County until Phillip’s death on September 4, 1844.

Phillip Catt was my 7th great uncle on my mom’s side.

REFERENCES

  • United States Census: 1820, 1830, 1840
  • Find A Grave website
  • United States Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files
  • United States Revolutionary War Pensioners
  • Indiana Marriage Index
  • The Catt Family in America, Dr. W Cary Anderson, 1989.

Jean Baptiste Cardinal

19 Tuesday May 2020

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Jean Baptiste Cardinal was born on May 19, 1728 to Jeanne Duguay and Jacques Jean-Baptiste Cardinal,  and was baptized at the Basilique Notre-Dame in Montreal. He was one of nine children which included two sisters named Jeanne, and brothers named Jacques, Joseph, Nicolas, Jean-Baptiste, Pierre and Charles.

On April 8, 1755 in Detroit, Jean Baptiste married Marie-Anne Maillet.  Their first two children, Jeanne-Marie and Marie-Anne, are believed to have been born in Canada.  At some point between 1758 and 1761, the family migrated southward and settled at Fort Vincennes.  Four more children were born to the couple over the next decade: Jacques, Genevieve, Jean-Baptiste, and Celeste.

Fort Vincennes played a pivotal part in the battles on the western front of the Revolutionary War.  The fort changed hands several times between the British forces, which were based in Detroit, and the American forces who made allies of the French Canadians who lived in the area.  Jean Baptiste supported the cause against the British by signing the Oath of Allegiance to Vincennes in 1778 and fighting in the militia under George Rogers Clark.  In 1780,  it is believed that Jean Baptiste marched with Augustin de la Balme in an attempt to take Detroit.  Along the way, La Balme took an unoccupied British and Indian trading post near present day Fort Wayne, Indiana.  When his expected reinforcements did not show up, he took some of his men to capture another post along the Eel River.  The local Indians were unhappy with the outsiders intruding and attacked.  After a lengthy battle, most of the men, include Jean Baptiste Cardinal, perished along the Eel River.

 

Jean Baptiste Cardinal was my 7th great-uncle on my mom’s side.

REFERENCES

  • Canadian Genealogy Index
  • Quebec Vital Church Records (Drouin Collection)
  • Quebec, Genealogical Dictionary of Canadian Families (Tanguay Collection)
  • “De La Balme’s Defeat” – Revolutionary War and Beyond website

Barbe Bonneau

19 Sunday Apr 2020

Posted by in Genealogy

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Barbe Bonneau was born April 19, 1756 at Fort Vincennes to Charles Baptist Bonneau and Genevieve Charlotte Dudevoir.  She had at least seven siblings–Charles, Genevieve, Jean Baptiste, Marie Josephe, Pierre, Angelique, and Anne Jeannette.  The family name has taken on several different spellings including Bono and Bonneaux, with either one or two “n’s”.

Barbe married Michel Brouillette in the early 1770s at Fort Vincennes.  Michel was at least ten years older than Barbe and had established himself as a trader in the Wabash River Valley.  In 1773, as the story goes, he purchased an unfinished house on First Street in Vincennes from Barbe’s father and this is where they started their family.  Over the next twenty years, Barbe would give birth to at least eight children through the height of the Revolutionary War.  During this time, her husband was captured by the Indians working with the English and changed his allegiance between the English and the American cause more than once.  Barbe and Michel’s children included Michel Jr, Laurent, Barbe, Marie Louise, Pierre, Genevieve, Ursula (who died in infancy), and Lorant (who did not reach his majority).

After the War, Michel continued trading goods and headed up the local militia.  He passed away in 1797 at Vincennes.  Barbe continued to raise their children in Vincennes until her death in 1802.

Barbe Bonneau

While not a lot is known about Barbe, her family has made a definite impact on the history of Vincennes.  The “Old French House” is touted as the only French Creole style house left in Indiana.  Michel Jr built the house in 1809.  It was restored and opened as a museum in 1976.  It sits near the corner of First Street and Seminary Street.  Barbe’s great-grandson Thomas started TA Brouillette & Son in 1866, a family-owned and operated company that lasted 135 years serving the Vincennes area.

 

Barbe was my 2nd cousin 7x removed on my mother’s side.

 

REFERENCES

  • Find-A-Grave website
  • Terre Haute Tribune-Star – April 4, 2009
  • Vincennes Sun-Commercial – October 28, 2001, August 2, 2015