Charter member of Euclid Lodge No.65 and first Worshipful Master

William Colbreath

Daniel Green

Thomas Hartwell

Joshua Hatheway

Thomas Selden

Stephen White

Dr. Thomas Hartwell b. 15 Jul 1759, Frederickbury, Duchess, NY; d. 16 Aug 1838; was the first physician in Hoosick Falls [Falls Quequick], from New London, CT, in 1778. He was one of the founders of Federal lodge, No. 33, organized in 1782. m. 16 [26] Aug 1874 Hannah Ashe. 12 years later he moved to the Ohio Valley ca 1800-05.

Thomas Selden, (22 Sep1732, Hadley, MA-1821, Rome, NY), served with the Vermont troops at the battle of Bennington under Capt. Samuel Robinson and, 1781, enlisted under Capt. William Hutchins.

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Captain Stephen White, of Ballston, New York, of the revolutionary army [12th Regt., NY Militia]. He was in command of Fort Stanwix or Fort Schuyler, as it was usually known, in 1777. It is said, on good authority [??], that the first flag bearing the stars and stripes was made by his wife and given to the breeze at that fort, August 6 of that year. His wife was Mary Quintard, of Huguenot descent, daughter of Peter Quintard and Elizabeth De Mille.

http://books.google.com/books?id=rn0_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA26&dq=%22Stephen+White%22+%22ballston%22&hl=en&ei=hPSxTtLrM4ju0gHth5HTAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Stephen%20White%22%20%22ballston%22&f=false page 26.

Stephen White, a brother [cousin?] of Epenetus White, came from CT to the new settlement in Ball Town [Ballston] in 1771. He was a Captain in Col. Van Schoonhoven's Regiment during the Revolution, and also in the regiment of Col. Marinus Willett. The late Judge Scott received from his father, James Scott, the following interesting reminiscence: "Capt. Stephen White in 1781 commanded a company of nine months men in Col. Willett's regiment. In the fall [25 Oct 1781]] of that year this company distinguished itself in the battle of Johnstown. Capt. White, with several of his men, after a gallant struggle, was captured and taken to Canada. They did not return home until after the peace. During their march to Canada, the Indians formed the death ring around Capt. White, and while the tomahawk hung suspended over his head, he, with a courage and presence of mind seldom equalled, wrested it from the savage, while the other savages exclaimed "brave," and all proceeded on their march." He was exchanged in the Fall of 1782.

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William Colbreath/Colbreth/Colbrath/Colbraith (1760-1839] was a Revolutionary War soldier in Leonard Bleecker's (8th) company, Third Regiment, New York line: Ensign. 21 Nov 1770; Lieutenant, 20 Nov 1778; mustered out, Jan 1782; Sheriff of Herkimer County, 1791; Sheriff of Oneida County, 1796. In 1792 petitioned Grand Lodge for a warrant to Amicable Lodge, No. 22, New Hartford, Herkimer County; raised in Masters' Lodge No. 2, Albany, 1777.

In Rome is land that formerly belonged to Gov. [George] Clinton who sold it to Major William Colbrath who sold it to Dominick Lvnch the year Oneida County was organized, March 12th 1798.

William Colbreath, a soldier at the fort, wrote in his diary (still extant): "Aug. 3d. Early this Morning a Continental Flagg made by the Officers of Col. Gansevoorts Regiment was hoisted and a Cannon Levelled at the Enemies Camp was fired . . .”

Marker at Stanton Cemetery, Stanton, Haywood County, Tennessee >

Order of the Cincinnati -- Quebec, Champlain, Tarry Town, Brandywine, Monmouth, Trenton, Philadelphia, Valley Forge, York Town

When Bro. Colbreath died the Stanton Cemetery was not established; someone may not have known his whereabouts but wanted to honor him with the marker.

Institution of the Society of the Cincinnati . . ., by John Schuyler, page 185.

http://books.google.com/books?id=L5YLAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA185&dq=%22william+Colbrath%22&hl=en&ei=2mCxTuOOHMbf0QH_6sXjAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=20&ved=0CJIBEOgBMBM4FA#v=onepage&q=%22william%20Colbrath%22&f=false

WILLIAM COLBRATH - Lieutenant and Quartermaster 2d New York Regiment.

Appointed on the 21st of November, 1776, Ensign in the 3d Regiment, New York Continental Infantry, on recommendation of Colonel Gansevoort.

In a certificate signed by Colonel Frederick Weissenfels at Quebec, on the 15th of April, 1775, and approved by General Wooster, then Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Forces before Quebec, he is mentioned with officers of his—then Colonel Nicholson's—Regiment as a Second Lieutenant.

Transferred to the 2d Regiment, Continental Infantry—Colonel Van Cortlandt's—on the 1st of January, 1781, and appointed Regimental Quartermaster, Captain (by brevet) on the 30th of September, 1783. Honorably discharged with his regiment on the 3d of November, following. His name appears on the Half-Pay Roll.

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http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA18&dq=%22william+Colbrath%22&ei=kF2xTtqNGMjf0QG7jamkAQ&ct=result&id=ISkVAAAAYAAJ#v=onepage&q=%22william%20Colbrath%22&f=false page 18.

The second town meeting in Whitestown was held at the barn of Capt Needham Maynard, in said town, April 6, 1790. "The following persons were elected: — Major William Colbrath, Supervisor . . .

"Montgomery County, ss.:—This certifies that the freeholders, and other inhabitants of Whitestown, being met in said town for the purpose of choosing Town Officers, on Tuesday, the 6th day of April, 1790, did on said day collect fifty votes for Maj. William Colbrath, and thirty-four votes for Col. Jedediah Sanger, for Supervisor, and William Colbrath was declared to be Supervisor. Then proceeded to the election of other officers, but many people being deprived of the privilege of voting for Supervisor, etc., moved to have the proceedings of the day made null and void, which passed in tie affirmative. The meeting being then adjourned to Wednesday, the 7th inst, at 10 o'clock in the morning, at this place. Wednesday, 10 o'clock in the morning, met according to adjournment, and the poll list being opened and kept open till about five o'clock in the afternoon, at which time the poll list was closed, and upon canvassing the same, found that Jedediah Sanger was unanimously elected Supervisor, with the number of 119 votes, which choice was publicly declared in said meeting, and that he hath produced a certificate from Hugh White, Esq., that he has taken the oath of office.”

http://oneida.nygenweb.net/misc/wager/ch9.html

Before Whitestown was organized as a town (March 7, 1788) there was living therein, and near Fort Stanwix, William Colbraith (or Colbreath). The year he came cannot now be stated. He was captain of a company under Peter Gansevoort, in the Sullivan expedition of 1779 against the Indians in the western part of New York.

Under date of Sept. 14, [1779] Col. Shreve at Fort Sullivan, orders a "Detachment of 100 men, property officered, one three pounder and artillery men sufficient to work it, twenty small boats with a hundred boatmen under the care of Major Morrison to be Immediately turned out, the whole to be under the command of Captain Reed. Lieutenant Colbrath, from his knowledge of the ground, is requested to go with the party.'' They set out for Kanawaholla the next day.

He was the first sheriff of Herkimer County in 1791, and then resided near Fort Stanwix as above stated. He was also first sheriff of Oneida County, in 1798. He cannot be traced further.

When Oneida county was formed William Colbraith was appointed sheriff and held the office until December of that year. History and tradition are silent as to his life and career after that date.

William Colbraith, resided on the road from Fort Stanwix to what is now the village of Stanwix, in Rome, was made sheriff. He was a jolly Irishman, had been in the war of the Revolution and was captain of a company in Sullivan's army in the expedition against the Senecas in 1779; before 1790 he had settled in Rome on the road before mentioned.

http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA313&dq=%22Colbreth%22%20%22sullivan%20expedition%22&ei=KVixTun3GIrX0QGap9nBAQ&ct=result&id=WtwTAAAAYAAJ&output=text page 313.

Among the officers who served under Col. Gansevoort at the siege of Fort Stanwix, now Rome, N. Y., in 1777, and later under General Sullivan in the Indian Campaign of 1779, was Lieut. William Colbreth of the Third New York Continental Line. There were eight regiments of troops from New England, New York and New Jersey in General Sullivan's army and the stories told upon their return home by the veterans of these regiments resulted in the immigration to this locality and westward, of great numbers of very high grade men and women, including a host of the best educated men the East possessed.

Lieut. Colbreth settled at Fort Stanwix at the close of the war, became the first sheriff of Herkimer County and the first sheriff of Oneida County.

At the first term of a court, held in January, 1794, within the limits of Oneida County, as now constituted, Sheriff Colbreth was in attendance and the weather was intensely cold. The Church building in New Hartford, in which the court was convened, was unheated and as night drew near, the members of the bar found the condition unendurable, so they induced the sheriff to repair to a neighboring inn and procure a jug of spirits. "Upon the jugs appearing, it was passed around the bar table and each of the learned counselors in his turn upraised the elegant vessel and by the simplest process imaginable, partook of so much as he deemed a sufficient dose of the delicious fluid.''

While this operation was proceeding, the three judges who presided held a consultation and the first judge announced that he saw no reason why they should sit there and freeze to death and ordered the crier to adjourn the Court, whereupon, Sheriff Colbreth hastily passed the jug to the bench, saying, "No, no, no, Judge, don't adjourn yet; take a little gin, Judge, that will keep you warm.''

The Court did not adjourn just then.

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Proceedings of the New York state historical association with the ..., Volume 10, by New York State Historical Association, page 163.

http://books.google.com/books?id=DYc-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA162&dq=%22William+Colbreath%22+%22stanwix%22&hl=en&ei=s7mwTtr0Dcjg0QG3naSlAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22Colbreath%22&f=false

Fort Schuyler, formerly Fort Stanwix, was defended by the Third New York Regiment under its colonel, Peter Gansevoort, and one of the eight companies of that regiment, the fourth, had as its captain, Abraham Swartwout, and the junior commissioned officer of the Eighth Company was Ensign William Colbreath. Each of these men kept a diary of the events of the siege. Fort Schuyler, formerly Fort Stanwix, was built in 1758, nearly twenty years earlier, and early in the spring of 1777, Gansevoort was sent to this place to put it as speedily as possible in a good condition of repair. Later he was joined by the Lieutenant-colonel of the Regiment, Marinus Willett, with further troops, and still later Lieut.-Col. James Mellon of the Ninth Massachusetts with some two hundred men arrived to reinforce him, getting to the post the afternoon of Saturday, August second, within an hour of the time when Barry St. Leger's advance forces, thirty men under Lieut. Bird, with some Indians under Brant, reached the post. The supplies and reinforcements Mellon brought had speedily been gotten within the walls of the post before this happened.

The Swartwout Chronicles were published less than a dozen years ago in a limited edition of but 100 copies. They were most carefully and skillfully edited by Mr. Arthur James Weise of Brooklyn, New York, and I am told that Major William Merrill Swartwout of Albany expended over $10,000 in preparation of these chronicles. The Colbreath Journal has never been published, though parts of it have been quoted in several publications. In the main they support each other quite fully and unitedly they show a state of affairs which may be briefly stated about as follows:

While the news of the flag statute enactment of the 14th of June was not officially promulgated by Congress until September third, it did get abroad and was printed in the newspapers. One of these reached Albany on the 31st, the day when Lieut.-col. James Mellon's party of the Ninth Massachusetts, referred to above, was starting with his reinforcements of two hundred men up the Mohawk River to the relief of Gansevoort. They took along news of the enactment. When they arrived at the fort, about 5 o'clock Saturday afternoon, and the provisions, arms, munitions of war and other supplies were rushed into the post, the knowledge of this statute was received by the garrison.

On Sunday morning, having no ensign and being greatly interested by the news of the statute, the garrison set about the manufacture of a flag. White cloth was found in plenty. According to one rumor, it was supplied by hospital bandages and according to another, from men's shirts. Red also was available. This again, rumor has it, was supplied by the scarlet petticoat of a soldier's wife. But of blue cloth a ransacking of the garrison displayed no trace until Captain Abraham Swartwout sacrificed his blue military cloak to furnish the canton or field upon which the white stars could be sewn. A year later, in fact, we find him writing from Poughkeepsie to Gansevoort, still stationed at Stanwix, requesting an order on the "Commissary for clothing of the State" to supply him, according to promise, with "Eight yards of Broadcloth in lieu of my blue cloak which was used for coulours at Fort Schuyler."

In this manner the ingenuity and the patriotism of the garrison, deeply interested in learning of this flag regulation, and with a strong desire to have an ensign floating above them, supplied the flag which we described.

We are told at considerable length in the pages of the Swartwout Chronicles that it was constructed during the forenoon of Sunday; that in the afternoon a flagstaff was prepared and planted on the northeast bastion, that which was nearest to the enemy's camp, and that the finished flag, which had been so hastily constructed, being fastened to the halyard, the drummer beat the assembly, the garrison congregated in response to the summons; then as the Adjutant of the day stepped forward to read from the paper the resolution of Congress designating the insignia of the new Republic, it was hoisted to the top of the staff and for the first time in history the brilliant colors, the red, the white, and the blue of the Stars and! Stripes, floated over a besieged garrison and for the first time, troops, in battle array, were gazing reverently upwards regarding it as their banner and ensign. It is further stated that a cannon was loaded and fired at the enemy, and from that day to the end of the siege, which lasted about three weeks, not only did it float above these brave defenders, but for some considerable portion of the time it had the honor of flying above five captured ensigns, taken from "Butler's Rangers" of ignoble fame, one of the bodies constituting Barry St. Leger's forces. "They were rather super-abundantly supplied with ensigns considering the amount of honor possessed by this very notorious corps,'' is the remark made by Trevelyan.

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Brothers who served in the War of 1812

Walter Colburn

Edward Crannis

Archibald T. Frisk/Frink/Frinck

Joshua Green

John P. Hartwell

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