On Monday, a small group gathered for the dedication of a historic marker commemorating the march of Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum to the Battle of Bennington in 1777.
The marker, located on County Route 113 a quarter-mile south of Route 29, identifies the location of German Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum’s encampment on August 11, 1777.
According to diary records, Baum’s troops looked across the river to view the estate of Phillip Schuyler and the first church they had seen since they started their trek from Montreal, nearly three months earlier. The “Baum Encampment” historic marker is one of two signs funded by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, marking sites five and six of the Road to the Battle of Bennington interpretive tour.
The tour, from Route 4 in Fort Miller to the Bennington Battlefield State Historic Site, was produced by Lakes to Locks Passage and the Washington County Historical Society with funding from the Historic Hudson-Hoosic Rivers Partnership and Stewart’s Shops.
The print and web materials for the tour can be found on www.lakestolocks.org.
Photo: (From left) Donna English, Town of Easton Historian and Daughters of the American Revolution; Kay Tomasi, Washington County Historical Society (WCHS); Pat Niles, WCHS; Dan Shaw, Town of Easton Supervisor; and Drew Alberti, Lakes to Locks Passage (bottom). Photo courtesy of Drew Alberti.
THIS MESSAGE IS FOR DONNA ENGLISH. MARY ELLEN HESSIAN (SHEA) WAS MY GREAT GREAT GRANDMOTHER. SHE WAS WORKING FOR A FAMILY BY THE LAST NAME OF ENGLISH IN THE LATE 1840’S AND EARLY 50’S. IN RESEARCHING FAMILY HISTORY ,WE FOUND SHE HAD A DAUGHTER NAMED MARY E. HESSIAN ALSO. WE ASSUMED THIS LITTLE GIRL BELONGED TO HER AND HER HUSBAND TIMOTHY SHEA,(A WORKER FROM A NEIGHBORING FARM) WHOM SHE MARRIED IN THE EARLY 1850S. IT SEEMS THIS LITTLE MARY E. HESSIAN WAS ILLIGITIMATE. WHEN THEY MOVED HERE TO MINNESOTA ,SHE GOT THE LAST NAME OF SHEA.. DO YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON WHO THE FATHER OF THIS GREAT GREAT
AUNT OF MINE IS? KIND OF CURIOUS.
LITTLE MARY GOT MARRIED TO A HOEY FROM ST. HENRY MINNESOTA AND HAD MANY CHILDREN BY THE WAY. THANK YOU
PATRICIA STASNEY