When I started researching Isaac Frye, I had the easy-to-say idea of tracing his path on a map as he made his way through the American Revolution.
So, how can you really know where someone walked, slept, or rode two hundred and forty years ago? Read more
Though The War has Begun is a work of fiction, the people and events were real. Part of my work for the book included genealogical research to learn the age and sufficient history of each person. For members of SAR and DAR, I thought a list of patriot ancestors who appear in the book would be of interest.
Main Characters:
Isaac Frye (b. Feb 6, 1748, Andover, MA)
Elizabeth (Holt) Frye (b. Nov 25, 1749, Andover, MA)
Lieutenant Stephen Peabody (b. Sep 3, 1742, Hampton, NH)
Colonel James Reed (b. Jan 8, 1722, Woburn, MA)
Lieutenant Colonel Israel Gilman (b 1729, Exeter, NH)
Lieutenant James Otis (b 1751, Montville, Connecticut)
Minor Characters:
Nahum Baldwin (b. May 3, 1734, Sudbury, MA)
James Blanchard (b. Sep 20, 1742, Dunstable NH)
James Brown (b. Oct 28, 1723, Boston, MA)
Will Burton (b. 1764, Wilton, NH)
Lieutenant Butterfield (???)
Josiah Crosby (b. Nov 24, 1730, Billerica, MA)
James Frye (b. 1709, Andover, MA)
William Goforth (b. Apr 1, 1731, Philadelphia, PA)
James Gray (b. Oct 8, 1749, Newburyport, MA)
John Greele (b. Apr 26, 1759, ?)
Jonathan Greele (b. Apr 24, 1756, ?)
Nathaniel Greele (b. Oct 28, 1744, Hudson, NH)
Thomas Grover (b. Mar 19, 1738, Grafton, MA )
Nathan Hale (b. Sep 23,1743, Hampstead, NH)
Thomas Hartley (Sep 7, 1748, Colebrookdale, PA)
William Adrian Hawkins (b Jan 18, 1742, Bordeaux, France)
Jacob Hind (b. Jan 22, 1730, Shrewsbury, MA)
Elizabeth (Holt) Holt ( b.Jun 1718, Andover, MA)
Hannah (Holt) Whitney (b. Jan 18, 1754, Andover, MA)
Sarah (Holt) Pierce (b. May 31, 1757, Andover, MA)
Timothy Holt Sr ( b.Jan 17, 1721, Andover, MA)
Timothy Holt Jr. (b. May 19, 1746, Andover, MA)
Archelaus Kenney (b. Mar 14, 1758, Middleton, MA)
David Kenney (b. 18 Sep 1760, Middleton, MA)
Ebenezer Kingsbury (?)
Rev. Jonathan Livermore (b. Dec 7, 1729, Westborough, MA)
Samuel Osgood (b. Feb 3, 1747, North Andover, MA 1st Postmaster General of U.S)
Phebe (Greeley?) Parker (b. 1743, ?)
Henry Parker (b. 1705, Dunstable, MA)
Sarah (Farwell) Parker (b. Dec 4, 1706, Dunstable, MA)
Jonas Perry (b. 1747, Lexington, MA)
Samuel Pettingill (b. Mar 16, 1731, Andover, MA)
Sarah (Taylor) Rideout (b. Nov 20, 1748, Wilton?)
Paul Dudley Sargent (b. 1745, Salem, MA)
Nathaniel Sawyer (b. Jul 10, 1750, Dracut, MA)
James Sawyer (b. 1745, Woburn, MA)
Alexander Scammell (b. May 16, 1742, Milford, MA)
Phillip Schuyler (b. Nov 20, 1733, Albany NY)
Levi Spaulding (b. Oct 23, 1737, Hudson, NH)
John Stark (b Aug 28, 1728, Londonderry, NH)
John Stephens (b 1731, ?)
Ephraim Stone (b. Jan 22, 1745, Harvard, MA)
Ezra Towne (b. Apr 30, 1736, Topsfield, MA)
John Trumbull (b. Jun 6, 1756, Lebanon, CT Artist, who painted “The Declaration of Independence” and other well-known paintings of the American Revolution)
Nathan Whiting (b. Apr 6, 1750, Pelham, NH)
Richard Whitney (b. Apr 22, 1743, Oxford, MA)
Isaac Wyman (b. Jan 18, 1724, Woburn, MA)
-CEF
In The War has Begun, I include transcripts from the two letters my family has preserved. One is from Isaac to his wife, Elizabeth, in 1775, and the other from Elizabeth late in 1776. I spent hours thinking about the story between the lines of these letters, and am grateful my cousin found these in the attic of Isaac’s house in the 1990s.
Fast forward to this past Monday evening. I was having dinner in North Hampton with my uncle and cousin, celebrating getting the book published. My uncle asked to get scans of the two letters so he could share with others in the family. Last night we learned the steamer trunk where our two letters were found also contained five more documents wrapped within non-descript paper!
The above letter is one of the five documents. How cool is that? This letter was written two weeks after the alarm, and confirms the militia were being supplied by their families and towns during the early days of the Siege of Boston. The part about whether Isaac owed money to Jeremiah Abbot illustrates the difficulty the wives, who were forced into the role of agent for their husbands. Note: there were no banks in these days–IOUs served as contracts between neighbors.
Enjoy
-CEF
The War has Begun is the first of four books I am writing about Major Isaac Frye in the Duty in the Cause of Liberty series. These books are the product of fourteen years of research about a my ancestor, who served longer than any other as an officer in the Continental Army. A few people in or near Wilton, New Hampshire may have heard of Isaac Frye, for living near or driving on Major Isaac Frye Highway. Wilton named the road in the 1920s among several others to honor the town’s preeminent war veterans. Read more
Duty in the Cause of Liberty 