• State of New Hampshire vs. Jermiah Hayes, May 1860

    By Published On: August 21st, 2025Categories: Surname: Hayes

    The following is a court indictment from New Hampshire dated May Term 1860 against Jeremiah Hayes of Manchester, Hillsborough County. Hayes was accused of illegally keeping and selling a large quantity of intoxicating liquors (about 100 gallons)without being authorized as an agent under state law. The law in question was the 1855 Act for the

  • The Challenges of Tracing the Parentage of Nathaniel Cutler (b. 1808): A Case Study in Genealogical Pitfalls

    By Published On: August 21st, 2025Categories: General News

    The search for the true parentage of Nathaniel Cutler, born in 1808 in Westchester County, New York, highlights the difficulties faced when researchers rely too heavily on compiled genealogies and derivative sources. Over the past two days, close examination of both 19th- and early 20th-century genealogical works has revealed a troubling pattern of duplication, speculation,

  • “Born at Peekskill”: Nathan Cutler’s Road to a Revolutionary War Pension

    By Published On: August 20th, 2025Categories: American Revolution, Surname: Cutler

    In the late summer of 1832, nearly fifty years after he first hauled barracks timber on the Hudson, Nathan Cutler of Lodi, Seneca County, New York appeared before Judge Levi Whedon to claim a pension under the Act of June 7, 1832. He was about seventy-four. His memory, he admitted, was “worn by old age,”

  • A Hudson River Soldier Speaks—Quotes from Nathan Cutler’s 1832 Declaration

    By Published On: August 20th, 2025Categories: American Revolution, Surname: Cutler

    Here are firsthand voices from our Nathan Cutler’s Revolutionary War pension file (S12642)—his own 1832 sworn declaration, plus affidavits from his brother-in-law Isaac Travis, his probable son Abraham Cutler, and neighbors and clergy in Seneca County. Together they place Nathan as born at Peekskill in 1758, serving along the Hudson Highlands(Fishkill, Fort Montgomery, Peekskill, West

  • Nathan Cutler (b. 1758, Peekskill, NY) — Militia service along the Hudson, 1775–1780

    By Published On: August 20th, 2025Categories: American Revolution, Surname: Cutler

    The following summarizes Nathan Cutler’s own words in his request for a U.S. pension as recorded in pension file S12643. When the Revolution broke out, Nathan was living in the Nine Partners tract of Dutchess County. In October 1775 he answered an early call-up under Captain Isaac Bloom and spent about six weeks hauling lumber

  • Mail Steamer at the Crossroads of War

    By Published On: August 13th, 2025Categories: Civil War, Surname: Lewis, Uncategorized

    Henry Lewis, the Nashville, the First Naval Shot, and the Opening of the Civil War In the spring of 1861, the U.S. Mail Steamer Nashville was exactly what her name and registry claimed her to be — a civilian “packet” steamer, meaning a privately owned vessel that ran on a fixed schedule under contract to

  • Of Fire and Killarney: The Story Behind the Hayes Name

    By Published On: August 7th, 2025Categories: Surname: Hayes, Uncategorized

    My name is Philip Hayes. I was born in the United States, as was my father—but according to the deep dive I’ve taken into our genealogy, we are unmistakably, undeniably, 100% Irish up to my father.  My father is a third-generation American, yet the Hayes line remained pure up to him. Our family roots trace

  • The Yerks Family: Colonial Tenants Turned Patriots of Mount Pleasant

    By Published On: August 7th, 2025Categories: Surname: Yerks

    Long before the first Dutch and English settlers arrived, the region that would become Mount Pleasant, New York, was a vibrant homeland to the Weckquaeskeck, a branch of the Wappinger Confederacy within the Algonquin nation. These Indigenous people lived along the Saw Mill River, relying on its fish-rich waters, fertile floodplains, and connecting trails for

  • Philipsburg Manor… Walk in the Footsteps of Your Ancestors

    By Published On: August 7th, 2025Categories: Surname: Yerks

    A Visit to Philipsburg Manor, Sleepy Hollow, NY If you're part of the extended Yerks family — or descended from any of the tenant farmers who once lived and worked in colonial Westchester County — then Philipsburg Manor isn’t just a historical site. It’s a living connection to your past. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA