On this Memorial Day, I keep thinking about this quote. It deeply informs my current project researching Bethlehem's Revolutionary War veterans. So, as a break from me complaining about The List, please take a moment to remember your ancestors, those of recent generations and those from the deep past. You wouldn't be here if it weren't for them.
Today I am remembering my great great great great grandparents Lucy Richardson and Stephen Shattuck. Stephen, born 1760 in Pepperell, Mass. served with the Continental Army out of Massachusetts for three years and received a pension. On April 26, 1781 he and Lucy married in Pepperell . By 1798 the couple had made their way to Francestown, New Hampshire settling "upon the place lately occupied by Mrs. George Whitfield near Shattuck Pond in the northern part of town."* They had eleven children together. The youngest was Fanny, born in 1806, my 3rd great grandmother.
Above top right is a picture of Fanny's daughter Martha Dean (1833-1904) her husband David Todd and their children Hattie and Charles.
Above is a portion of Stephen's pension application, with his signature and dated April 30, 1818, which reads:
This with my labor enabled me to live comfortably heretofore; but will not be sufficient for that purpose hereafter in consequences of my age and infirmities. From my reduced circumstances therefor I need assistance from my country for support.
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*This from a book called The History of Francestown from its earliest settlement April 1758 to Janaury 1, 1891 with a brief genealogical recor
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