Woolsey's Father: William Light?

If one were to make a highly educated guess, one would have to say that Woolsey's father was William Light.

This is in part because of naming patterns, and also because a William Light lived nearby and served with our Woolsey in the NY Militia: Second (Brinckerhoff's) Regiment.

What's In A Name?
Woolsey's first son was named William b 1785, as Major Harvey explained in the Moses Light book. See the previous post for excerpts from that book. It was very common back in the day to name firstborn children after the paternal grandparents, and second after maternal grandparents, so Woolsey's choices are telling; William was his 1st son and Joseph was the 2nd. We're pretty sure that Woolsey's wife Judith (or Julia) Horton's father was Captain Joseph Horton. Did Woolsey name his first son William after his own father?

NY Milia: Brinckerhoff's Regiment
Revolutionary War
Woolsey and William Light are found together in every list of soldiers you'll find for the NY 2nd Regiment. I found the compiled service records for Woolsey and William and they have the same service dates of 1779-1780 making Woolsey about 17 years old at time of enlistment. Both only have 3 records (Receipt Roll, Account, and Order) all with practically identical information which is very little other than some names and dates and payment information. This is disappointing because often compiled service records will have more than 3 records and contain some genealogical information, but of course not for my men of interest! I have searched for pension records both federal and state, as well as bounty land grants to come up empty-handed. However, it appears that Woolsey purchased his property through the Commissioners of Forfeiture in 1783 and prior to that was a tenant farmer (Search-Light V14#1). Who knows what happened with William but I'm guessing he was fine with whatever land he had in Fishkill.

1790 Census

Possibly the biggest clue comes from the 1790 census in Dutchess County, New York where Woolsey and William appear in towns only miles apart. They both appear with the last name spelled Laight which admittedly is probably just a census taker error.
Philipstown
Laight, Woolsey 1 1 4
Fishkill Town
Laight, William 1 2 5

Woolsey's household consisted of:
1 free white male 10+ (himself being approximately 28 years old)
1 free white male under 10 (William b 1785 from first marriage)
4 free white females (wife Judith b about 1760 and first 3 daughters: Elizabeth b 1783 from first marriage, Fanny b 1787 daughter with 2nd wife Judith, Sarah b 1788.)

These names and dates, along with the rest of Woolsey's children, are found in the Moses Light book in Major Harvey's letter.

William's household consisted of:
1 free white male 10+ (himself, and probably in his 50s or thereabouts)
2 free white males under 10 (Woolsey's younger brothers? Large age gap - half brothers maybe?)
5 free white females (William's wife and 4 daughters)

I am starting to wonder if Woolsey's mother died young and William remarried a Dutch woman for a second wife. There seems to be a large gap in age between Woolsey and the children noted for William in the 1790 census, unless we have 2 Williams in the area but for now let's assume 1. See next section for interesting Dutch church records.

Other interesting Lights appear in the Dutchess County census records for 1790, also with the last name spelled Laight. We have John Laight in Clinton. Based on military records, I believe this is the same John Light who later settled and died in Portland, Chautauqua County, NY.  The John Light in Clinton in 1790 had a similar family makeup as Woolsey (1 1 4) and could be a brother or cousin. Interestingly, the Rochester book quoted in the previous post said that a relative was present at the surrender of Cornwallis, and according to his pension application this John Light was!

The other Laight in the 1790 census is Henry Laight, who seems to be either the Henry Light who arrived with his father Ludwig in 1710 or that Henry's son also named Henry. Are these 4 heads of household in Dutchess County in 1790 related? It would seem so, until we remember the Maine link...

William Light in Dutch Church Records of Fishkill
The other day I was browsing Records of the Dutch Reformed Church of Fishkill on Ancestry.com and found some Light references of interest. Source details below. McNeil, referenced in the previous post, believes that the William Light of Fishkill in the 1790 census is in fact the one we find at the Fishkill Dutch church who is married to Lena/Helene (Dutch name Leentie) Miller or Muller. I kind of agree.

Below are the curious finds in the Dutch church records:
8 Jan 1786 baptism of Cathrina Light and Jacob Stymus child Abraham born 6 Dec 1785
17 Apr 1791 baptism of William Light and Leentie Miller child John born 3 Dec 1790
4 Aug 1793 baptism of William Light and Helena Miller child William born 19 May 1793
20 Aug 1800 Catharine Light married Joseph Churchill
24 Feb 1803 Elizabeth Light married John Churchwell
10 Mar 1810 Mary Light married Aaron Shute
7 Jul 1810 John Light married Elizabeth Graham
23 Feb 1845 Caroline Light married John Southard witnessed by William Light

McNeil says William died 10 Dec 1811 and cites a will naming John Light his son and John Churchill (see above married to Elizabeth) his son-in-law, and states that he left 5 living children. Is that 5 in addition to John and Elizabeth? Remember that in the 1790 census he had 2 boys under 10 and 4 daughters but the Dutch church records for William begin after 1790. He seems to have fathered a lot of children!

Woolsey could easily fit into this family particularly under a 1st marriage scenario, until we remember what Major Harvey said to Moses Light, "my great-grandfather marrying an English woman for his second wife, thus leaving my father of German-English extraction." Woolsey was Harvey's grandfather, so Woolsey's mother, his father's second wife, must have been English but we see above that this William is married to a Dutch woman. Is it a case where William married 3 times and "Leentie" was wife #3? If William did marry a Dutch woman "Leentie" perhaps there are additional church records not included in the source I browsed.

Of course, this is all assuming that William is the father of Woolsey.

_______
Source Information

Ancestry.com. Records of the Dutch Reformed Church of Fishkill [database on-line]. Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2004.  Original data: Records of the Dutch Reformed Church of Fishkill : Dutchess County, N.Y., 1731-1850.. unknown, 1989.

Search-light: Newsletter. Carmel, N.Y: Betty M. Light Behr, 1979. Print.

The Legend Says Germany Through England

Major Harvey left some clues about our heritage in a couple of books, and they both cite a 1719 emigration from Germany and a stop in England:

1. The Light Genealogy in America, by Moses Light and Betty M. Light Behr
2. History of Rochester and Monroe County, New York, by William F. Peck

This post will be on the long side because I want to quote word for word the best leads in existence. In the Moses Light book, Major Harvey's letter is provided near the end. Below are the relevant excerpts with added emphasis:

The reader of this little book will notice, on the first page, that three of the Lights from the Old
Country started for America, but one (whom I cannot name) stopped in England. One named H. E. Light, of Utica, New York, corresponding for years, found one of these Lights in England ; the above H.E. Light now lives at Saginaw, E. S., Michigan, and he, by corresponding, found that the Lights of New York State came from the State of Maine, and they originated from England. I received a letter from this H. E. Light, of which I will give a correct copy to the reader, as follows :

Your esteemed favor of Sept. 7, was duly received, and, being quite busy, neglected answering at the time. In the year 1892 and early pare of 1893 I followed matters up quite closely as to the antecedent condition of the Light families, , and located large numbers in most of the states, in some much more numerous than in others, and quite a variety of condition derived; but in Maine, where the origin is developed, they are of German descent. A family in Maine that represented they were of English extraction, as I followed the correspondence I finally located a German Bible with family record within.

The family, which had made its circuit around through England and into the State of Maine, also on my father's side, I finally obtained the data as to his antecedents by transcript from a German Bible, leaving no doubt in my mind that they were originally of German descent; my great-grandfather marrying an English woman for his second wife, thus leaving my father of German-English extraction, and he in turn married a Holland woman, my mother.... I have not been able to obtain the name of my great-grandfather or his immediate location. As to the family, his children were scattered, and my father moving from the country while we were young and dying in middle life, those conditions have not permitted my tracing back to my grandfather... The particular data as to brothers and sisters, and antecedents is:

My grandfather, Wolsey Light,
b. July 7, 1762,
d. Apr. 11, 1828
aged 65 yr. 9 mo. 4 days
By trade a wheel and millright. In his later life lived on a farm near Shenandoah, 17 miles from Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

...I have sometimes thought that my father might be a descendant of the brother of John Light, who landed in Baltimore, or maybe of the Light that originally came to Maine.

In the History of Rochester book, a biography of Major Harvey is given with the following details on his ancestry:

MAJOR HARVEY E LIGHT
A well developed and highly improved farm in Pittsford township, Monroe county, is the property of Major Harvey E Light who has spent the greater part of his life in the Empire state. He was born in Dutchess county, New York, September 19 1834, being the eldest of a family of nine children of whom four sons and a daughter are yet living. The parents were James and Mariah M Divine Light, the former born in Columbia county in 1806, and the latter in Dutchess county in 1810. The father was of Revolutionary antecedents, his father serving with the Dutchess county militia. Another relative was in several battles and present at the surrender of Cornwallis. His mother was the daughter of General Horton, an English loyalist, who served on our side and when the British occupied New York and Washington, retired up the Hudson to Newburgh. His family escaped up the Hudson and General Horton afterward settled in Putnam county. Later the mother died at Shenandoah, Dutchess county, at ninety six years of age. The name Light was formerly Licht of German origin, attached to three brothers who left Germany in 1719 for this country. Arriving at Manchester, England, one of them decided to remain in England but the other two came here landing in Baltimore. They all with their descendants assumed the name of Light, which has the same signification as Licht in German. Sons of the brother settling in England emigrated to this country settling in Maine, and James Light on his paternal side was a descendant. His wife Mariah M was of Holland antecedents, and on the mothers side of the name of Rosecrans, relatives of Major General Rosecrans.

Let's examine what doesn't add up.

Problem #1
I've looked into most of the Light families of New York and Maine for the time period Woolsey was alive (mid- to late-1700s). None seem to fit this profile of coming from England, and the dates don't match either.

The Maine Lights from Waldoboro (Broad Bay) emigrated directly from Germany around 1753. I currently have on inter-library loan the book Broad Bay Pioneers by Whitaker and Horlacher which has much detail about the lineage of these immigrants but the names and dates don't fit the profile.  The Waldoboro Lights descend from Johann Georg Leicht b. 1713 and his son of the same name b. 1742 from Oschelbronn, Germany. No way could this George have been one of 3 brothers who set out in 1719 when he would have been 6, never mind the fact that the Broad Bay book puts the emigration year at 1753.  Not surprisingly, there's no Woolsey or William (his suspected father's name) in the Broad Bay book.  I am copying this information anyway for future reference.

New York Lights in Woolsey's area seem to descend from the immigrant George Ludwig Light b. 1666 in Bernsfeld, Germany and his son Johann Henrich "Henry" Light b. 1687. They arrived in 1710 in New York City with a number of other Palatine Germans as part of a British plan to replenish naval stores and populate the colonies. M.W. McNeil wrote a paper in 2007 titled The Light Family of New York and Southwest Virginia which goes into great detail about Ludwig (or Lodowick) and Henry's descendants near the Hudson River in and around Westchester and Dutchess Counties in New York. After researching available marriage, baptismal, and land records, he believes Ludwig and Henry to have fathered all the Light names encountered in Dutchess and Westchester County. Too bad none of this jives with the England/Maine tale! Also, the year is off. 1719 is the date cited by Moses Light and the Rochester book. Ludwig above left Germany in 1709 but the one digit that's off does give me pause. Ludwig's story is a fascinating one, however. I recommend reading Early Eighteenth Century Palatine Emigration by Walter Knittle a free book on archive.org. You can download the PDF to your tablet or e-reader!

Problem #2

If Maine Lights who came from England existed, they aren't well-documented.

The Rochester book says three brothers emigrated in 1719, arriving at Manchester, England with one staying and the other two moving on to Baltimore. Now there's a lead or two I haven't followed! Manchester and Baltimore... It goes on to say that sons of the brother who stayed settled in Maine.

Search-Light, the Light and variant family newsletter edited and published by Betty M Light Behr from 1979-1995, says, "The Maine Lights he (Major Harvey) contacted vociferously denied that they were of German extraction, and were of English ancestry. However, the bibles he was privileged to see were all early German, with family pages in German in most cases." V3#3.  I'm not sure where this comes from as it's a little different than the text of Major Harvey's lettter in the Moses Light book, it looks to be written by Betty and could have come from information she had access to as an editor to said book.

Remember these English Lights who corresponded with Major Harvey could not have been the Waldoboro Lights descended from George Light b 1713 who emigrated from Germany in 1753 not stopping in England.

Thankfully a crumb of a lead caught my attention in another issue of Search-Light which reads, "Light - It is important to remember that there was an English family of this name in NH from the late 1600s, and not much later in ME; not all Lights, therefore belong to the Waldoboro clan." V14#3. So other Lights, besides the Germans in Broad Bay were of English origin living in Maine in that period. That brings to mind another lead to check census records in Maine outside Waldoboro and its county Lincoln.Those in censuses outside Lincoln Co. could be cousins of Woolsey's, and ancestors of those who corresponded with Major Harvey representing they were of English extraction as he wrote in the Moses Light book.

Speaking of England, I have started to doubt Major Harvey's tale of Lights coming through Maine as it seems much more likely Woolsey would be related to Ludwig and Henry above. Henry had land in the very same Highlands where Woolsey settled, according to M.W. McNeil. However, I've rediscovered where Moses Light said that Major Harvey had a great deal of correspondence from his research to back his conclusions. I still can't quite understand how he would be so certain of the England story yet not even know his grandfather Woolsey's father's name. However I mentioned in the previous post that new information has come to light about some Welsh extraction in the Light family line, and that supports Harvey's England claims. I believe my mother's words were, "He (Sid) always said there was German and Welsh in us. I assumed he meant on the Light side." I looked it up the other day, and gee Wales is pretty close to Manchester, England where the 3 brothers apparently landed in 1719.

Problem #3

The year 1719 as stated in Moses Light's book.

Moses details this on the first page of his book, and states that one stopped in England and one stopped in Baltimore. Who and where was brother #3? The Baltimore brother is named by Moses as John Light who settled in Lebanon, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and built the pseudo-infamous Light's Fort. The only problem is this John Light arrived in 1737, or 1738 depending on the source, according to my online travels (he is well-documented). That puts John's arrival 20 years later than what Moses and Major Harvey have said, and it's not a 20-year boat ride across the Atlantic! The biggest hangup I have with this book is in Major Harvey's letter where he closes with, "I have sometimes thought that my father might be a descendant of the brother of John Light, who landed in Baltimore, or may be of the Light that originally came to Maine." Oh like the John Light who arrived in Baltimore 20 years later than the book says, the one who was supposed to have gone right through and not stayed in England?

I'm confused enough for one day and if I haven't lost you then my hat is off! So what do you think? Where should I look next? Please leave a comment. I recognize it's never a good idea to skip generations and try to work back, but at this point I feel it may help to understand which Lights existed in 18th century New York and Maine in order to help identify Woolsey's ancestors. But the fact remains that I won't be able to solve this mystery without some supporting documentation showing Woolsey's father's name...

Greetings, Friends!

I read a tip recently that having a blog might be a good way to advance genealogical research. It is my hope that this blog might either A) help me organize my thoughts and determine where the gaps are or B) put me in touch with a knowledgeable reader.

At present I am obsessed with Woolsey Light b. 1762 in New York. No one on earth, it seems, has found out who his parents were.  Woolsey was the grandfather of Civil War Major Harvey Everett Light, who we affectionally refer to as Major Harvey. Major Harvey was my great great great grandfather and possibly my favorite ancestor:
http://sites.google.com/site/lightfamilyhistory/

Major Harvey was a heck of an entrepreneur and a patriot. I had the privilege of visiting his grave site in Pittsford, NY last summer with historian Vicki Profitt, author of the Illuminated History blog.

It only strengthened my determination to push farther back in time and investigate old family tales of German and Welsh ancestry on the Light side. Welsh is new information from my mother last month, she said her father Sid Light spoke of it. Well this is fascinating because the story Major Harvey recounts involves 3 brothers arriving from Germany in Manchester, England (near Wales) before coming to America. One stayed, the other 2 went on to Baltimore.

We're pretty much stuck at Woolsey, however. No one's entirely sure where he was born or who his parents were. Many records that would have shed light either were not kept or were destroyed by fire. I am aware of a prominent researcher on the Lights by the name of Betty M. Light Behr. For a number of years she edited and published a newsletter called Search-Light where a good deal of information about my branch of the Lights is to be found. In fact, Betty also descends from Woolsey. I was able to view most of her work in the newsletter, until she handed over editorship to Christopher Light of Indiana, and sadly it did not reveal too much more than I already knew about Woolsey. I reached out to Betty last month, still living in Carmel, NY, thinking if anyone was able to solve the mystery after all these years it'd be her. Sadly she has had no better luck, and given her close proximity to where our ancestors lived and access to those records, it would seem my prospects aren't so good being I'm in Michigan.

Still, I am determined. My current strategy is to learn as much as possible about the types of records that exist, watching webinars, reading wikis, etc. The LDS site familysearch.org has a wealth of information! I now have a really good understanding about Revolutionary War records, but sadly my Woolsey is not well-documented. There's only one place that may still have information, and I doubt I'll be in the National Archives any time soon. But there is still hope! I may yet gain access to old newspapers or church records that could reveal additional information about Woolsey's birth and parents.  Next time I'll present the legends we know from Major Harvey, and compare with the factual data uncovered thus far.