A Question... (French & Indian War)

[johnbryan]

More information pertaining to their American counterparts:

http://www.revwar75.com/library/rees/wnumb1.htm

[Siolastre]

First let me state categorically and for the record...

You guys are awesome!

I have been giving some thought to the fact that for my purposes, I don't think his wife would be a a Brit female and a member of his 'class' but rather someone he met and married in the colonies. Not a common practice, but for a younger son not perhaps all that uncommon either, particularly if her daddy was both wealthy and a part of the colonial ruling class.

I considered and rejected having his wife be an Indian, even though Brit officers married Indians.

I also considered and am still toying with her being of French extraction.

Regardless, you're right, she can't be the girl from home, following the drum.

Somewhere and I can't remember or back track to where, I read about whites being 'embedded' as it were into Indian tribes sort of like a liaison/expert/person who kept them in the fold so to speak.

So...off to track down the references and suggestions ya'll provided. I'll definitely keep you posted. And acknowledged if it ever sees publication.

I can't thank you guys enough for help and interest.

Sharon

[HiredGoon]

Originally Posted by Siolastre

Somewhere and I can't remember or back track to where, I read about whites being 'embedded' as it were into Indian tribes sort of like a liaison/expert/person who kept them in the fold so to speak.

That would probably be the interpreters and officers of the various Indian Departments.

This is a website of some very good historical reenactors who portray officers of Indian Department during the Rev. War: http://www.csmid.com/indiandepartment.html

This website has a lot of info on the Loyalists and conflicts involved in the Rev. War on the frontier of NY: http://www.nyhistory.net/~drums/

[Paul Burns]

Another excellent reference on the British Army during the Seven Years' War which I should have mentioned earlier, but had forgot about until I got it off my bookshelf yesterday to check some thing is:
Stephen Brumwell, Redcoats. The British Soldier and the War in the Americas, 1755-1763, Cambridge University Press, New York, 2002.
(I got it in an Aussie bookshop in an Australian university town, but I'm sure you can get it on line.

Good luck with your book, Siolastre.

[Lance Williams]

Siolastre,

Well it looks like the guys pulled up enough data to give you a historical backbone to weave at least a three continent yarn. Let us know how your story is progressing.

[Admiral]

HAR...

I knew from the moment this thread was posted that such a response would be forthcoming!

Most especially from this particular crowd!

Cheers all...

And Good Luck, Sharon!

[Siolastre]

Again...to all of you, my thanks and appreciation. If you ever need need any help suppliable by an aspiring romance author, let me know. It's yours for the asking.

Sharon

[Admiral]

Well... just cuzz yer writtin a book is no reason to run off, Lass!

Best Of Luck!

Wes

[johnbryan]

Originally Posted by Siolastre

First let me state categorically and for the record...

You guys are awesome!

I have been giving some thought to the fact that for my purposes, I don't think his wife would be a a Brit female and a member of his 'class' but rather someone he met and married in the colonies. Not a common practice, but for a younger son not perhaps all that uncommon either, particularly if her daddy was both wealthy and a part of the colonial ruling class.

I considered and rejected having his wife be an Indian, even though Brit officers married Indians.

I also considered and am still toying with her being of French extraction.

Regardless, you're right, she can't be the girl from home, following the drum.

Somewhere and I can't remember or back track to where, I read about whites being 'embedded' as it were into Indian tribes sort of like a liaison/expert/person who kept them in the fold so to speak.

So...off to track down the references and suggestions ya'll provided. I'll definitely keep you posted. And acknowledged if it ever sees publication.

I can't thank you guys enough for help and interest.

Sharon

Keep in mind that Jane McCray was a White woman, engaged to a British Officer when she was murdered by British allied, Indians during the British Saratoga Campaign in upper New York State. A tragic friendly fire incident.

[cmcginc]

Originally Posted by Jannie

A True Story

A man named Timothy McGinnis (an Irish immigrant) came to America as an indentured servant. When he gained his freedom he became an Indian Trader on the NY frontier. He knew Sir William Johnson well. He fell in love with Sarah Kast, whose father was a trader in German Flats, NY. She knew the Indians well and spoke their language.

Captain Timothy or Teady McGinnis was wounded at the Battle of Bloody Pond in 1755, near Lake George and died a couple of days later.

Sarah and he had at least 8 children during their approximately 22 years of marriage. She remained a widow after his death. When the American Revolution began, Sarah Kast McGinnis refused to sign the “Association” paper and was branded as a Tory. After all, her husband had died for the British.

Her property was confiscated, her house burned with a son in it. She and other female members of her family were thrown into prison and a granddaughter died there. Finally she fled to Canada.

The British sent to her for her aid in keeping the Mohawks on their side and she and a son walked through the forests of Canada and NY in the dead of winter to the tribal area and persuaded them to go to Canada and not to help the Americans.

There are some of her descendants that say that she was adopted at an early age into the Mohawks and that they trusted her and honored her when she showed up that long ago winter day.

Run a google search on "Sarah Kast"+"Timothy McGinnis" and see what you come up with. It is quite a tale, with some of the elements that you are looking for.

My husband is descended from a sister of Sarah Kast, Anna Elisabetha Kast, who married Nicholas Mattice. The famous Adam Helmer, who ran 24 miles with Brant’s Mohawks on his heels, to warn German Flats and Fort Herkimer that the Indians were coming, was a nephew of Sarah Kast McGinnis.

This whole area of New York was horribly torn by the Revolution with brother fighting brother and sister against sister.

Appologies as this may not fit the thread appropriately.. and PMs and emails are not permitted until there are a minimum number of posts made... this being my first......

Thank you Jannie for your post! I am very interested in the information on Timothy McGinnis and Sarah Kast. Both their story, as well as any information on Timothy prior to his arrival in New York.
Timothy is my paternal 7th great grandfather.

[Sparlingo]

Another suggestion would be to build a Romance around the expulsion of the French Acadiens ( in 1755 re of Longfellows poem Evangelein and Gabrieal fame). The three way relationship with French, British, and natives during the settlement of Acadia (Nova Scotia) is fertile ground for inter-racial romance.

Here is an illustrative quote from a Native historian talking about Acadien-Native relations as the contrasted with British-Native relations

The underlying reason for this reversal of fortunes was the inability of the English gentry of the time to treat and co-exist with other races of people as equals, especially peoples of colour. This was exactly the opposite of what the French were able to do.

During their rule in Acadia, French authorities established an alliance with the Mi'kmaq which perplexed the English. This is because the English could not appreciate that the French approach to setting up colonies in the Americas did not ignore or exclude the Mi'kmaq and other First Nations peoples from the new order of things.

In plain words, the French included the Mi'kmaq and other First Nations in their councils and did not view them as inferior people who had to be subservient to the will of the whites in all matters. In later years, the English tried to adopt a similar approach, but they could never establish the same rapport with the First Nations that the French had.

During their early occupation of the land of the Mi'kmaq, the English were so paranoid about the cordial relationship between the Acadians and the Mi'kmaq that one British Governor, Richard Philipp, issued a proclamation, on August 1, 1722, making it illegal for Acadians to entertain a Mi'kmaq in any manner. Minutes of a meeting held three years later, on May 22, 1725, illustrates just how strictly the proclamation was enforced.

http://www.danielnpaul.com/Col/1997/...espectful.html

[whiskey-galore]

This doesn't precisely fit your criteria but...a settler named Hugh McGary in Kentucky lost his step-son to an Indian raid. The next day he left the fort to hunt for the perpetrator which led him to find an Indian wearing the boy's hunting shirt. McGary then killed the Indian, (literally) butchered his body, and fed it to the dogs who lived at his settlement.