CHAPTER 1
Patriot Biographies
Presentation of the Declaration ofIndependence, Philadelphia, PA, July 4, 1776Artist: John Trumbull, Oil on canvas, 12' x 18'Commissioned 1817, purchased 1819, placed in theCapitol Rotunda 1826, Washington, D.C.
Many members in the DAR can trace their family heritage back toancestors which included signers of the Declaration of Independence.Yet most members' ancestors include the many thousands of rankand file soldiers, the privates, the officers, supply and logisticssupporters, who together made the founding of our country possible.Moreover, this wide variety of individual histories, when taken in fullcontext with the biographies of their wives, children and other familymembers, reveals a rich tapestry of lives and personal struggleswhich collectively made such a great history and birth of our nationpossible.
This book is a collection of the individual patriot biographies fromour current active members, compiled into this one document. Wehope seeing the wide ranging stories of all these patriots and theirdescendants can also help reveal how important it is to preserve ourhistory and pass it on to the next generation. At the same time, wewish to illuminate how even a small collection of biographies fromour one chapter provides a useful snapshot of the types of characterand dedication that were needed at the founding of our country.Ours is a rich and diverse history, and as with all history we are stilllearning about our past so as to inform ourselves more completely increating a better future. Perhaps current and future generations canreflect on these stories to find the unique essence of the Americancharacter that can continue to inspire us to strive in making ours agreat country for current and future generations.
Sias Billingsley
By Robin Alice LaCroix Kamradt andJennifer Robin Kamradt Allen
Sias Billingsley, Private, War Committee 1775 & Association ofFreemen 1776, Harford County, MD
b. 1737/38, St. Mary's County, MD, d. Dec. 1818, Monongalia Co., VA(now WV)
Summary of Sias Billingsley Biography
Sias Billingsley, Harford County, Maryland, (PS):
—Elected to War Committee, Deer Creek Upper Hundred,Harford County, Feb 10, 1775, at about age 37;
—Signer, Association of Freemen, Deer Creek Upper Hundred,Harford County, 1776, at about age 38;
—Petit Juror, Harford County, 1783, at about age 45;
—1783 Harford County, Maryland, Tax List: Assessment to raisemoney for the war effort against Great Britain; Deer CreekMiddle Hundred, Harford County, MD, Sias's Range, 166acres, at about age 45.
Sias Billingsley was born about 1737/38 in St. Mary's County,Maryland, the fourth son and the eighth child of...