Ancestors- Newsletter- August 9, 2025

16 Aug Ancestors- Newsletter- August 9, 2025

ANCESTORS-GRANDPA AND THE GREAT CHAIN

My wife’s 4th Great-Grandfather, Haynes Bartlett, was born in Newburgh, Ulster County, New York, on March 4, 1757, when the village was mostly comprised of rail fences. He learned the blacksmith trade in his early days in Newburg. He lived in Cornwall, Orange County, NY, when he enlisted in the Revolutionary War for five of the seven years, with three terms of enlistment ranging from 1 to 9 months.

At one point, he served in the Dragoons. He was in New York City when the British captured it. After returning to Orange County, he helped in the forging of the great cable that spanned the Hudson River below Newburg, which was placed to prevent the British ships from ascending the river. This chain was known as the Great Chain. We saw the capstan at West Point (above) that displayed parts of the chain. Ancestors.

During the Revolutionary War, four chains were strung across the Hudson River to impede the British Navy’s movement up the Hudson; however, three of the chains failed, and the forts on the banks were captured. However, the Great Chain succeeded.

In the spring of 1778, the Great Chain, supported by huge log rafts, was stretched across the Hudson from West Point to Constitution Island to impede the movement of British ships north of West Point. A second log boom (resembling a ladder in construction) spanned the river about 100 yards downstream to absorb the impact of any ship attempting to breach the barrier.

The Hudson River’s changing tides, strong current, and frequently unfavorable winds created adverse sailing conditions at West Point. Compounding this, the river’s narrow width and sharp “S-Curve” there forced any large ship to tack to navigate it. Cannons were placed in forts and artillery batteries on both sides of the river to attack vessels when they were slowed to a halt by the Patriot barrier placed there.

The chain was constructed over six weeks at the Sterling Iron Works in Warwick, Orange County, of chain links from Long Pond Iron Works in Ringwood, New Jersey. When completed, the 600-yard chain consisted of iron links, each two feet in length, weighing 140 to 180 pounds. The links were transported to New Windsor, where they were assembled and floated down the river to West Point on logs in late April.

Including swivels, clevises, and anchors, the chain weighed 65 tons. For buoyancy, logs were cut into 16-foot lengths, waterproofed, and joined by fours into rafts fastened to one another with 12-foot timbers. Short sections of chain (10 links, a swivel, and a clevis) were attached across each raft, then joined to create a continuous boom of chains and rafts once afloat.

Captain Thomas Machin, the artillery officer and engineer who had previously installed the chain at Fort Montgomery, directed installation across the river on April 30, 1778. Both ends were anchored to log cribs filled with rocks, the southern at a small cove on the west bank and the northern at Constitution Island. The West Point side was protected by the Chain Battery and the Constitution Island side by the Marine Battery. A system of pulleys, rollers, ropes, and mid-stream anchors was used to adjust the chain’s tension, thereby overcoming the effects of the river current and changing tide. Until 1783, the chain was removed each winter and reinstalled each spring to avoid destruction by ice.

The British never attempted to run the chain, despite Benedict Arnold claiming in correspondence with them that “a well-loaded ship could break the chain.”

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ANCESTORS-THE HARPERS, SMITHERS, AND MERIWETHER LEWIS

Two editions ago, we shared the history of Captain John Harper, and in the last edition, it was revealed that his daughter, Rebecca, married Lt. Joseph Greenway. However, due to their early deaths, their children were raised at Locust Hill by their uncle, Charles Harper, and his second wife, Lucy Smither.

Lucy was the brother of John Smither of Huntsville, TX, covered in a previous edition, and the cousin of Lancelot Smither of Alamo fame, who is also featured in an early edition.

Charles was like his father at first, a merchant in Alexandria, VA, and then later an agriculturalist. They lived at Locust Hill in Albemarle, VA, the birthplace of Meriwether Lewis, of Lewis & Clark fame (recreated above in an artist’s rendering).

Locust Hill was acquired in 1730 by Meriwether’s grandfather, Colonel Robert Lewis. Meriwether lived there until the age of six, at which time his family moved to Georgia. Before joining the United States Army, Meriwether Lewis managed the Locust Hill estate and resided on the land for a second time during his adulthood.

Meriwether’s sister Jane married Edmund Anderson, and they had a son, Dr. Meriwether Lewis Anderson. He was also born at Locust Hill in 1805. He graduated from the University of Virginia and subsequently earned a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. After qualifying as a physician, he moved to Mississippi to begin his practice and take up farming. Anderson married Lucy Sydnor Harper (1811–1885) in 1831; the daughter of the above, Charles and Lucy Smither Harper.

Anderson returned to Virginia in 1837 upon inheriting Locust Hill from his grandmother, Lucy Meriwether Lewis, and became a well-known and respected physician in the Piedmont region. Anderson had spent time at Locust Hill, in part due to his father’s business inadequacies. Upon moving back to VA, the main house burned down, which he rebuilt; it is the house pictured below.

His prominence in Albemarle County resulted in his election to the Virginia Legislature in 1861. Anderson died several months after his election in 1862.

Locust Hill was inherited by his son Charles Harper Anderson, whose widow eventually sold the home to Mr. Small and an Englishman.

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ANCESTORS- MY MICKEY MOUSE CONNECTIONS

Many of us may have stories about why we are here, tracing back to the small events that led us to be on Earth. In my case, I have Walt Disney to thank.

My parents had only known each other for a month when they got stuck on the Santa Ana (5) Freeway on Disneyland’s opening day traffic, where some 28,000 people showed up. This meant that, if you figure, some 7,000 extra vehicles had to come by the only freeway that ran nearby. Ancestors.

They decided to head to Las Vegas (which involved taking Imperial Highway, as I-15 did not exist) and get married. They picked up my dad’s roommate and my aunt to serve as best man and maid of honor and ended up at the Little White Chapel in the Corner. No, Elvis didn’t officiate as he was on the cusp of fame at that time.

Ah, the romance of traffic, as their marriage lasted 65 years, until my dad’s passing.

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ANCESTORS- MY MEMORIES OF DRIVE-IN CHURCH

During the research for the Disneyland article, I discovered that the church I attended sporadically as a youth has been sold.

I believe my parents were attracted to the church because you could arrive in your car, and watch the service from the Orange Drive-In Theatre, where they would hook up the speaker to the window. That was much easier with three kids than heading into the sanctuary.

Later, I was active in the eighth-grade youth group, where we gathered in the Tower of Hope, pictured below, alongside the Crystal Cathedral.

Christ Cathedral, formerly known as the Crystal Cathedral, is a prominent American church building located in Garden Grove, California. Since 2019, it has served as the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange.

The reflective glass building, initially designed by Philip Johnson/John Burgee Architects, seats 2,248 people. After its completion in 1981, it was described as “the largest glass building in the world”. The building has one of the largest musical instruments in the world, the Hazel Wright Organ.

From its opening in 1981 until 2013, the building was home to Crystal Cathedral Ministries, a congregation of the Reformed Church in America that was founded in 1955 by Robert H. Schuller. The ministry’s weekly television program, Hour of Power, was broadcast from the church. After filing for bankruptcy protection, Crystal Cathedral Ministries sold the building and its adjacent campus to the Diocese of Orange in February 2012 for $57.5 million.

After a two-year renovation of the cathedral to accommodate the Catholic liturgy, the building was consecrated as Christ Cathedral—the seat of the Diocese of Orange—on July 17, 2019.

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ANCESTORS- THE MACLEODS OF SCOTLAND

In 2023, we visited Scotland. One of our stays was at the beautiful Viewfield House (pictured) in Portree. On our last morning, Lord Hugh MacDonald, the owner, visited us at breakfast.

Viewfield was built by an earlier Lord Macdonald, probably as the residence for his ‘chamberlain’ or factor, a position taken by Dr Alexander Macleod (known as ‘An Dotair Bhan’) in the early 19th century. An Dotair Bhan (Gaelic for ‘the fair doctor’) was a grandson of Donald Macleod of Bernera, known as ‘The Old Trojan’, who in turn was a grandson of Rory Mor, 13th Chief of the Macleods of Dunvegan.

Sir Rory Mor’s Horn is a drinking horn, one of several heirlooms of the MacLeods of Dunvegan, chiefs of Clan MacLeod. Clan custom is that each successive chief is to drink a full measure of the horn in wine to prove his manhood. The artwork on the horn has been dated to the 16th century, and by some as far back as the 10th century. The MacLeod chiefs have several other notable heirlooms stored at Dunvegan Castle, including the Fairy Flag and the Dunvegan Cup (pictured below). Ancestors.

In the middle of the 19th century, the Viewfield family was known in Skye as part of the ‘Bernera tribe’ after the Old Trojan who latterly lived at Unish on the point of Waternish. He, notwithstanding his exploits at the battle of Falkirk, married three times and had 29 children in all.

Alexander Macleod’s son-in-law, Harry Macdonald, was a Writer to the Signet and a man of some enterprise. He was the son of the cobbler in Dingwall and, as a young man, is reputed to have walked the 100 miles to Skye in search of work. He took up employment with ‘An Dotair Bhan’ and subsequently married his employer’s daughter, Johanna. He took on the lease of Viewfield in 1846 and founded the legal firm of Macdonald and Fraser in Portree.

From Harry Sr. came Harry Jr., then Jock, then Johnnie, and finally Hugh, so Hugh is the great-great-grandson of the original Macdonald who came to work for the MacLeods.

I saw that the president was visiting Scotland, the place of his mother’s birth, and that she was a MacLeod, and wondered if they were related.

The odds are good that they are very far back, as the MacLeods are believed to have inherited the Islands of Lewis, Harris, and part of Skye (see map below). Dunvegan, on Skye, was and still is the seat of the MacLeod Chief.

Later, the Clan split into two branches, the principal one being on Skye and the other on the Isle of Lewis, where, to this day, MacLeod/McLeod is still the most prevalent surname.

Mary was from the Lewis branch, whereas the Viewfield MacLeods are from Skye; so, while they are likely distantly related, the president will have to acquire another golf course to stay in the ancient lands of his mother’s MacLeods.

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ANCESTORS- SOLOMON’S FINAL APPEARANCE

When I read about Ozzie Osbourne’s send-off, I thought about my grandkids’ 3rd Great Grandfather, Solomon Bruner, who went out spectacularly when, during his funeral procession, the hearse was struck and knocked over by a touring car (jitney) that had been coming from nearby Fort Dix. This resulted in Solomon’s casket being overturned. I am not sure if Solomon appeared or stayed in his casket. The casket was placed in a touring car and proceeded to the burial.

The Camp Dix soldiers were upset with the careless driving that endangered them, and before they could harm the jitney driver, he was arrested and settled on the spot to avoid being placed in jail. I wonder if any of the soldiers were aware that the procession that was interrupted was that of a Union Civil War veteran.

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ANCESTORS- PRESERVE YOUR FAMILY HISTORY, TODAY

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