|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
Military Veterans
Harrison Harding
Samuel Lett's Civil War Headstone Dedication Service The Grand Rapids Press Article
African-Americans fought in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. Before the Civil War was over 180,000 Black soldiers fought with the Union, and another 10,000 served in the US Navy. African American’s played a heroic and largely unknown struggle for freedom in the “War between the States.” Black soldiers received one-half the pay rate of White soldiers.
Basil (Bazeel) Norman (1750 – 1830) fought in the Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783).
Jim Guy fought in the War of 1812.
James Guy, assignee of Mary Robinson, widow of
Simon Robinson, Private served as Simon Robertson, Captain Thorp’s
Company, 35 Regiment, US
Bazeel (Basil) Norman came to Marietta, Washington County, Ohio around 1800 and received 25 acres of land in Marietta for his Revolutionary War service. Between 1810 and 1820, he sold his land in Marietta and moved to Roxbury Township, Washington County, Ohio. Roxbury Township later became part of Morgan County, Ohio. This Revolutionary War Marker for Basil Norman is in Historic Mound Cemetery, Marietta, Ohio. Mound Cemetery is noted as the burial site for the highest number of Revolutionary War officers of any cemetery in the United States.
Researched by Wilbur Norman, Zanesville, OH
The History of Bazeel Norman
Jane ‘Molato’ Norman was born in 1715. Jane gave birth to Bazeel (Bazil/Basil) while living at Richard Keen’s place in Prince George County, Maryland. His father was a free Mulatto person. Dorothy Harris-Allen says, “My (6th) sixth Great Grandmother Elizabeth Norman, born approximately 1695 and was the servant of Benjamin Belt in 1715 when both she and her ‘mallatoe’ child were sold to Richard Keene.” Most free African Americans descended from White women who had children by African American men. There were a number of marriages between White women and slaves by 1664 until Maryland passed a law that made free people and their children slaves for life. The Prince George’s County, Maryland Court ordered Belt to keep Elizabeth and her “Mallatoe” child until the November court date. Elizabeth Norman had three children in Prince George’s County between 1715 - 1722 and was convicted of “Mulatto Bastardy.” The court sold Elizabeth and her child to Richard Keene, the constable for £3,600 pounds of tobacco later that year on 22 November. Five years later on 22 November 1720, she confessed to the court that she had another illegitimate child by a “Mullato man belonging to William Digge.” The court sold her to her master for seven years and sold the child to William Maccoy until the age of thirty-one. On 28 August 1722, she confessed to having another “Malatto” child, and the court ordered her sold to Richard Keene for seven years and gave her child to William Harris until the age of thirty-one. In March 1749/50 the court allowed her £200 of tobacco a year for her support [Court Record 1710-5, 693, 721, 790; 1715-20, 4; 1720-2, 20-1, 84, 622-3; 1748-9, 133]. She was the mother of Jane (1715), Edward (1720), and Bridget (5 May 1752) [DB H-1, 329-30].Jane Norman, born say 1715, was referred to as “a Mallatto woman named Jane (no last name) living at Mr. Richard Keen’s” on 23 August 1737, when she confessed to the Prince George’s County court that she had an illegitimate child by a “free Mallatto.” The court ordered that she receive twenty lashes and serve her master an additional year and a half and sold her two-month-old son James to Edward Swann until the age of twenty-one. She had another child by a free person before 28 November 1738, when the court ordered that she receive fifteen lashes and serve her master twelve months for the trouble of his house, bound her male child to Keene until the age of twenty-one years, and ordered Keene to give the boy a year of schooling and a decent suit of clothes at the end of his indenture. She was called “Jan Molato Norman” on 26 November 1745 when the court bound her son Joseph to her master until the age of twenty-one. On 28 June 1748 and 28 March 1748/9 she was convicted of having illegitimate children by a free person. On 27 November 1750 she confessed to having another illegitimate child named Bazil (Basil) who was bound to her master until the age of twenty-one [Court Record 1736-8, 497, 505; 1738-40, 192, 200; 1744-6, 248, 279; 1747-8, 168; 174; 1748-9, 181; 1749-50, 244]. She was the mother of James (June 1737), Henrietta (1745), Catherine (1790), George (1790), Delpha (1810), Bazil (Basil) (1750), head of a Frederick County, VA household of 7 “other free” in 1810 (Reprinted from www.freeafricanamericans.com)
Bazeel Norman
From the American Revolutionary War through Desert Storm, African Americans have answered the call to military duty. Here in Washington County, Ohio the share of young men were sent to win and maintain America's freedom. One of the early African American military veterans in Washington County, Ohio, was Bazeel Norman. He was one of 5,000 African American colonists to fight against Britain in the War of Independence (1776-1783).
Bazeel was born "free" in Frederick County, Maryland on July 12, 1760. He was raised in a rural setting on a prosperous but modest tobacco plantation. Preceding the war, Bazeel had often heard debates about the English Colonies separating from England and the principles of freedom excited him. Quite possible he thought, as many free mulattos of that time did, that all the slaves in the English Colonies would be freed if the Americans won independence. At the onset of the war, General Washington had declared freedom for any slave that fought with the Americans.
In 1777, at the age of seventeen, Bazeel joined Col. John Gumby's Infantry Regiment. The year 1777 also marked the turning point of the war in favor of the American cause. Bazeel served in many campaigns. As the prospects for winning grew, many of the colonists that owned slaves began to fear that all their slaves would join the Continental Army and thus secure their freedom. They voiced their concern, and the numbers of slave enlistments were curtailed from that point on.
On August 14, 1781, Washington received word that deGrasse was bringing the French fleet to Chesapeake Bay. He immediately decided to attack Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. The troops of Washington and Rochambeau marched south, leaving a containing force to watch Clinton in New York. De Grasse's fleet arrived at the Chesapeake Capes on August 30, drove off a British fleet under Admiral Thomas Graves, and established a tight blockade of Cornwallis's army. Some 16,000 American and French troops and Virginia militia, under Washington's command, laid siege to Yorktown. Cornwallis made several vain attempts to break through allied lines, but on October 19, 1781, he was obliged to surrender.
Bazeel was discharged from military service in 1781 and returned to his home in Maryland. He married Fortune Stevens in 1782 and moved to Virginia for a while, where he worked on a tobacco farm. A provision of the Ordinance of 1787 allowed for land grants in the Northwest Territory to veterans of the Revolutionary War. Bazeel was granted land in 3rd Ward of Marietta and settled here.
Eventually Bazabeel settled on a farm in Roxbury Twp., Washington County, Ohio where he died in 1830. (The area of Roxbury Twp., Wash. Co. is now part of Morgan County). Bazeel is probably buried there, but the Daughters of the American Revolution have placed his marker among his fellow Revolutionary War Veterans in Mound Cemetery, Marietta, OH.
Bazeel has many descendants in Ohio today, including Mr. Wilbur Norman of Zanesville, Ohio, who did the Norman family’s genealogy. Another branch of Bazeel's descendants moved to Michigan, where they settled around the town of Remus.
Source
Friday - July 13, 1996 MARIETTA TIMES "Windows to the Past" by Henry Robert Burke
There were Old Settlers and sons of Michigan Pioneers who served in the Civil War. Among them were: Thomas W. Cross, Louis Gross, Benjamin F. Guy, Elijah Guy, Ezekiel Harris, Isaac Cook, Eldridge Flowers, Harrison Harding, Thomas Harris, Jr., Charles Lett, Samuel Lett, John Nelson, Grandison Norman, Horace Norman, William Norman, Henry Thompson, James Porter, Elisha Reed, Rev. Mortimer and Stephen Todd. If there are accounts of their enlistment, it is outlined here.
Elijah H. Guy (March 11, 1840 – February 3, 1870) was born on a farm in Meigs Township, Muskingum County, Ohio. On August 31, 1864 Elijah and his brother Benjamin F. Guy age 27, enlisted as Privates in Co. 1, 102nd USCT Volunteer Infantry in Grand Rapids. During the one-year he served, Elijah contracted consumption and rheumatic fever. Elijah and Benjamin were both mustered out on September 10, 1865 at Charleston, SC. They were paid and discharged in Detroit on October 17, 1865. On June 22, 1863, at the age of 37, Thomas Cross enlisted into the Army in Athens, OH. He spent three years with the Wager Co. 5 Reg. US Colored Infantry of the Civil War. He served with the Ambulance Detail in Virginia and the Carolinas. He mustered out of the Army on September 20, 1865, and returned to Ohio. Samuel Lett’s (1839 – 1903) parents were Elijah Lett and Susan Stevens. Samuel was born in Morgan County, Ohio, and later served in the Civil War, enlisting from Grand Rapids, Michigan, August 31, 1864. Samuel served in Company G, 102nd USCT. He mustered out in Charleston, SC September 30, 1865. Aquilla Lett (Jan 12, 1829 - Feb 20, 1903) was a volunteer in the Union Army, 1864-1865 in the 13th Michigan Infantry.
Horace Norman was born in Ohio in 1843 and died in the Civil War on April 24, 1865. He was in Co. D, 5th, USCT, corporal and is buried in Hampton, VA, interred in the National Cemetery, Row 8, Section F, Grave No. 44. He was appointed corporal October 1, 1863. His brother William shown above also served in the 5th Regiment. Elisha Reed enlisted in the army on January 30, 1865, and was discharged in New York City, September 9, 1865. He was born in Canada. John Nelson enlisted in the US Army in March 1865. He was inducted at Lockport, NY, USCT, Co. C and sent to Massachusetts. He was discharged at Wilmington, NC in April 1865 for medical reasons. Stephen Todd was born in 1826 and enlisted in the US Army on September 22, 1864. He was 38 years old and served in the 8th Regiment, US Colored Infantry as a substitute for Andrew J. Huff of Washington Township, Marion County, IN. Stephen enlisted for three years was mustered out May 19, 1865 in Indianapolis, IN. The others who served are listed below:
Links
http://civilwaroldsettlers.tripod.com
Samuel Lett's Civil War Headstone Dedication Service The Grand Rapids Press Article
Old
Settler's Reunion Discussion Group
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
