It’s the Fourth of July, time to commemorate our Revolutionary ancestors.  This should be easy for me since all but one branch of my family tree were living in the American colonies at the time (the last family came in 1830).  But the fact is a large number of those families were Quakers and so did not participate in the fighting.  Others, not Quakers, must have been working hard on their farms to feed the armies since they do not show up on the enlisted rolls.  I can document only two examples of “founding fathers” in my family tree.

Both come from my father’s side and both lived in Hopewell Township in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.  Each served in their own ways.

Thomas Drake was a Lieutenant in the New Jersey Militia and was at least prepared to fight—I don’t know if he ever had to.  His son Enoch Drake served as well, first as a Private in Captain Tucker’s Company, First Regiment, Hunterdon County Militia, and later as a teamster in “Captain Seaman’s Team Brigade,” whatever that was. 

Years ago, probably in the 1930’s, a long lost cousin submitted an application to join the New Jersey Sons of the American Revolution based on Thomas and Enoch Drake’s Revolutionary War service.  About the same time, my father’s aunt also used the Drake’s service records to join the Daughters of the American Revolution.

While the Drakes joined the militia, another ancestor served as a “civil officer.”  Jared Sexton, “Esquire,” was more “well-to-do” so he was one of two men appointed in 1777 to carry out two important responsibilities.  One was to somehow get clothing for all the county’s soldiers.  The other was to serve on a committee to report the names of anyone in the county loyal to the Crown and thus disloyal to the revolutionary cause.

By mid-1778, the Governor appointed Jared as a Commissioner authorized to sell the confiscated land of Tories.  Jared was one of three such Commissioners in Hunterdon County, and the three held “juries of inquiry” (or “inquisitions”) around the county focusing on a long list of their neighbors.  It is unclear whether all the persons named were true Tories, or whether they simply failed to enlist in the militia or make some financial contribution.  Others have shown a majority of the names on the list were Quakers.  After a big final inquisition in Trenton, where the accused were told to show up and plead their case or be considered guilty, Jared and the other commissioners did confiscate the estates of at least some of the loyalists.  They sold the property at auction to raise money for the war.   Also in 1778, in November, Jared served on a court of appeals that fined militiamen who were delinquent.  Apparently if you ran away from your unit they levied fines. 

Prominent before the war, Jared Sexton’s work to support the Revolution did not go unnoticed.  In 1779 he was elected to the New Jersey legislature, filling the seat of the late John Hart (signer of the Declaration of Independence).  When that term ended he became Judge of the Hunterdon County Court of Common Pleas and served there until his death in 1785. 

Thomas Drake, Enoch Drake, and Jared Sexton were all buried in the churchyard of the Hopewell Baptist Church.  All served in their own patriotic way.  But while countless Americans now base their membership in the DAR or SAR on Thomas Drake’s service of one month as a militia lieutenant, I have to argue that Jared Sexton is the one who risked “his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor.”  Jared is the one who, at the county level for all to see, confiscated and sold off the houses and farms of Tories.  If the Revolution had failed, Jared truly would have lost everything.