Tag Archives: War of 1812

Finding my family’s version of “Little House in the Big Woods”

Quite often, I find myself thinking things like, “If not for this one thing having happened, I likely wouldn’t be where I am today.” I wonder, for instance, if my father hadn’t gotten into an accident that kept him from shipping off for Vietnam, how my life might have turned out differently. Or I start […]

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It looks as though my great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Clark Wise, may have been with Washington at Valley Forge

While I’m tempted to make the case that my family’s Wise line goes all the way back to Colonel John Wise (1617-1695), who is thought to have arrived in the Virginia Colony from England in 1635, I think it’s probably more likely that the first Wise in my family to step foot in America was […]

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Daniel Avery, the War of 1812, and the Illinois land bounty that brought my family west

OK, as long as we’re talking about David Avery’s service during the Revolutionary War military under Colonel William Prescott, I should probably mention that he wasn’t the only one of my ancestors to fight against the British. His son, Daniel Avery, fought them again in the War of 1812, and, ultimately, that’s what brought this […]

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The Untold History of Ypsilanti: Our Native American Past

As I mentioned a few days ago, two articles were recently brought to my attention (one from 1901, and the other from 1914) about the discovery of what appeared to be Native American remains on the property in downtown Ypsilanti we today call Water Street. Well, I followed up with the fellow who sent these […]

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Working way too hard on a post about Fort Pulaski that no one will care about

As I mentioned a few days ago, in my “9 Lessons Learned in Savannah” post, I spent some time earlier this month exploring the barrier islands off the coast of Georgia… chasing dolphins, swatting mosquitos, and soaking up gin and history. In that post, as I recall, I noted that I visited Fort Pulaski – […]

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