30 Fathers in 30 Days: The First Ten

 

I've now completed the first third of my series of men in my family tree, Great Grandfathers of various distance, and even my own. I began with my own biological father, who passed only a few years ago. And followed with

• John Query, a Scotsman and Patriot from Mint Hill who was a signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.
• Connor Dowd, an Irishman of much wealth and industry who wished to stay out of the fray and ended up on the wrong side of history, being deported away from his family and losing almost everything he had.
• Andrew Dennis, a mysterious man who appeared out of nowhere and created a dynasty of descendants from his home in the old ghost town of Henderson in Montgomery County.
• Colby Randle, a Patriot from Southside Virgina who was one of the earliest settlers of the area around the Narrows, in an area now known as Old Whitney.
• Hezekiah Herrin, with roots in Chatham County, whose family liked straddling county lines, and whose legacy founded a church.
• Benjamin Hathcock, an orphan boy raised by his grandfather, who lived an incredilby long life.
• Jarvis Winfield, 1st Generation American in his father's line of those spreading out of Jamestown along the James River.
• Erasmus Preslar, a man who died young and never married, whose existence was only recorded in his father's acknowledgement of his illegitimate family.

Among the next ten will be two Patriots, one who served in both the Revolution and the War of 1812, and nearly made it to the Civil, and another who fought in the battle of Kings Mountain, but then committed murder, an immigrant who arrived as a boy, a couple of far-traveling ministers and a man who founded a town.