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Sometimes, the reward of a journey can't be measured by how
much it advances my original goal. This
piece is among the most striking, of the many I handled on my September 2016
trip to New England, even though it doesn't concern my "direct line."
The branch of the Roundy family I’m interested in lived in
Rockingham, Windham Co., Vermont. Some
of the family lived across the Connecticut River, in Lempster, then Cheshire
Co., now Sullivan Co., New Hampshire. When I visited the
New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord, the welcoming staff was eager to
help me connect with the history of my family.
They produced a remarkable document.
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| Asahel Roundy letter, 1777, from the collection at the New Hampshire Historical Society |
This letter was written by a young man during the
Revolutionary War, Asahel Roundy. As a son
of Samuel Roundy, he was nephew and cousin to my ancestors, the John Roundys,
Sr. and Jr. I could lift and smooth my
hand over the actual paper he used out in a camp somewhere (after the battle of
Stillwater, NY). I wish now I'd taken
more time getting the perfect image with a different device. But as so often happens, I was rushing to
find one more source, in one more repository, before day’s end.
The two inserts below show my attempt at
a transcription, and the typed explanation sent, when the letter was donated to
the New Hampshire Historical Society. It
broke my heart, knowing that this young soldier would die four short months later, after “a littel butter and a littel shugar” had made him so happy.
I will always remember his story.
Note: Evidence of Asahel’s service and death can be found in the
roll of Col. Benjamin Bellow’s New Hampshire regiment, the bounty paid for his
enlistment, and notation of his death in January, 1778 in the original,
handwritten battalion roll. More about
the circumstances faced by his unit is found in the book, "Death Seem'd to
Stare": The New Hampshire and Rhode Island Regiments at Valley Forge,” by
Joseph Lee Boyle.
