"Celebrity" Ancestors & Cousins

While I have not yet found us closely related to any current celebrities you would recognize (although the odds are good, considering the size of our family), we have a few notable ancestors who were famous in their time:

Wallace Stevens - Pulitzer prize winning poet and insurance professional. We share a common ancestor, our 9th great-grandparents on our father's side, Jacques James Sellaire (Zeller) and Clothilde de Valois (who was famous in her own right). More on the Zellers in a future entry.

George DeBinder - personal physician of the Marquis de Lafayette, and served with Lafayette in the American Revolution. His son, Joseph DeBinder married the native American (Mohawk), Mary Bill. Their daughter, Ann, was Mary Dempsey Monaghan's mother.

Joseph Wambaugh - author of many true-crime and fictional crime books; his family and ours share the Wambaugh paternal grandfather, Louis "Napoleon" Wambaugh/Wambach who arrived in America in 1848 or thereabouts.

The Goodyears (originally Gutjar) - by marriage in the Buzard/Buzzard family.

 

Speculated but unconfirmed: The House of Valois - through as yet unsubstantiated claim by the Zeller family, though they are still quite enthusastic about it after 300 years!

Daughters (and Sons) of the American Revolution Links

After several months of research and cross-referencing, it appears that we have at least four legitimate links to the American Revolution, which would enable anyone in our family to become official Daughters/Sons of the American Revolution, if we so chose to join that organization. I'm not sure if this topic comes up in cocktail-party conversation, but it may make for amusing trivia at your next family reunion.

There is an entire generation of Hawk/Keppel/Yerian/Buzzard and Snyder men who were age eligible to participate in the Revolution. Of those men, I have determined the following ancestors that have a listing in the DAR records with the details of their claim:

Our 6th Great-Grandfather:

YEARIAN, GEORGE

Ancestor #: A118164

Service: 

PENNSYLVANIA    Rank: CIVIL SERVICE

Birth: 

(ANTE) 1739    PENNSYLVANIA

Death: 

(ANTE) 11-20-1804     MT. PLEASANT TWP WESTMORELAND CO PENNSYLVANIA

Service Source: 

WESTMORELAND CO.,PA, 1781-1793 MINUTE BOOK A, P 1; OLD WESTMORELAND, NOV 1980, VOL 1, NO 2, P 17

Service Description: 

1) SUPERVISOR OF ROADS 1781-2.
2) ALSO SUPERVISOR 1781-2.

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Our 5th Great-Grandfather:

HAWKS, GEORGE

Ancestor #: A053577

Service: 

PENNSYLVANIA    Rank: PRIVATE

Birth:  9- -1760    NORTHAMPTON CO PENNSYLVANIA

Death:  (ANTE) 3-31-1836     ALLEGHENY TWP WESTMORELAND CO PENNSYLVANIA

Service Source: PA ARCH, 3RD SER, VOL 23, PP 221, 222, 320; 5TH SER, VOL 3, PP 631, 648, 649, 650; 6TH SER, VOL 2, P 351

Service Description: 

1) CAPT GEORGE BUSH, NEW 11TH BATTALION
2) RANGER, CAPT TRUBY

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Our 6th Great-Grandfather:

BOSSART, JOHN (later spelled BUZZARD or BUZARD)

Ancestor #: A012355

Service:

PENNSYLVANIA Rank: PRIVATE

Birth:

(ANTE) 1725 CUMBERLAND CO PENNSYLVANIA

Death:

3- -1803 NEAR CHAMBERSBURG PENNSYLVANIA

Service Description:

1) CAPT.SAMUEL PATTON,COL.SAMUEL CULBERRSON
2) 4TH BATT. MILITIA.                               

1) County: CUMBERLAND CO. - State: PENNSYLVANIA

SPOUSE:

      

1) CATHERINE LA RUE

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Our 6th Great-Grandfather (originally spelled COPPLE then KEPPEL):

KEPPLE, NICHOLAS

Ancestor #: A065107

Service: 

PENNSYLVANIA    Rank: PATRIOTIC SERVICE

Birth: 

2-4-1724    HERBITZHEIM FRANCE

Death: 

1804     WESTMORELAND CO PENNSYLVANIA

Service Source: 

BUSCHE, REP OF THE COMM TO LOCATE THE SITE OF THE FRONTIER FORTS OF PA, 1896, VOL 2, P 373

Service Description: 

1) OWNER OF THE KEPPLE BLOCKHOUSE, HANNASTOWN, WESTMORELAND CO

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This relationship is not proven, but is very possible based on geography, names of sons, and other sources:

Our 5th Great-Grandfather:

SNYDER, MATHIAS

Ancestor #: A133455

Service: 

PENNSYLVANIA    Rank: PRIVATE

Birth: 

(CIRCA) 1758     NORTHAMPTON CO PENNSYLVANIA

Death: 

(POST) 1813     HEMPFIELD WESTMORELAND CO PENNSYLVANIA

Service Source: 

PA ARCH 5TH SER, VOL 8, P 516

Service Description: 

1) CAPT ADAM DIEHL,8TH CO 4TH CLASS MA
2) SAGLER,COL GEIGER,6TH BATT

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