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.

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.