Our Ancestors’ Stories at the Time of the American Revolution: Posts & Live Chats
Announcing a novel new series that brings together our diverse Anglophone genealogy community to share stories about our ancestors’ roles at the time of the American Revolution nearly 250 years ago.
As an American who spent much of my childhood outside the mainland United States, I’ve been fascinated by the stories of my ancestors who lived here during the early years of our national story. So many of you, my friends in this genealogical pursuit, also have family who were touched by that revolution. Our ancestors’ roles in those remarkable years ranged from patriots to loyalists, servants to spies, and princes to paupers.
After speaking with many Projectkin members from around the English-speaking world, I’ve realized that we have a unique opportunity here to share the experiences of our ancestors across borders.
A Family View of History
Personal stories about historical events can be compelling ways for present and future generations to understand history. These stories create a context that can also be useful for assessing modern reinterpretations. Most importantly, they help us anticipate how future generations might interpret our current events.
I’ve planned a new series inviting members to share their stories with this audience to encourage this kind of storytelling. Each month, I’ll ask a guest to share one story as a post, then join me for a Substack Live event to talk about the story, the historical context, and to answer audience questions.
It’s a simple idea that honors Projectkin’s diverse anglophone community. I expect it will also broaden our shared perspective about this historical period.
I welcome posts that describe daily life, specific events, and curiosities during this consequential period in world history. I’m most interested in tales not captured in history books. These are the unexpected stories that deserve more attention.
This is not about collecting war stories. I’m intentionally not limiting the series to verified patriots, war heroes, or events that occurred specifically during the American War of Independence (a.k.a., the Revolutionary War). I am, however, interested in the period leading up to and immediately following the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war between the American states and Britain in 1783.
I’m hoping this will create an opportunity for all of us to share stories about this transformative period with friends and family. Though research has shown me that many of my ancestors in the colonies during the late 18th century, I know our family stories are complicated and sometimes slightly contorted. I hope this will allow us to learn from each other and overcome the glorified myths.
For example, a common myth connects me to my maternal cousins. As kids, we were all apparently told that we were related to Betsy Ross, the fabled designer of the American flag. I don’t believe that story was intentionally passed on as a lie, yet it’s untrue.1 Betsy’s fame and two known war veterans in our maternal Ross line, have led to generations girls being named Elizabeth, Liz, Betty, or Betsy.2
The pull of a story is strong, and it gets even stronger when shared with an appreciative audience. Often, that’s true regardless of the veracity of a story. Modern politics and social media compound that tendency, making it easier than ever to gloss over nuance.
We’re not here for that. I want this effort to create a space where true family stories can be respectfully shared and discussed in context.
The Inspiration
In some ways, this idea expands on my Lafayette Project from earlier this year. That project coincided with the 200th anniversary of the Marquis de Lafayette’s tour of America, which took him to all 24 states nearly 50 years after the founding declaration was signed on July 4th, 1776. To build my timeline of Lafayette’s journey, I explored the significant historical events celebrated during the 13 months of his journey.3
While building the timeline, I learned about historical events I’d never heard of in my disjointed American History courses in high school. For example…
James Armistead Lafayette’s crucial role as a spy in the lead-up to the Battle of Yorktown. (Suddenly, the Yorktown scene in Hamilton, where reference is made to a “man on the inside,” made a lot more sense!)
I’ve already been thinking about creating a shared timeline of the historical events leading up to the war, supplemented with links to member-contributed stories. I included a few in the Community Connection ribbon in my Lafayette Timeline. It turned out to be easy to link directly to member posts. I’d love your thoughts on whether this might be interesting.
In developing this idea, I realized that I’d already seen many stories contributed by Substackers, either as analyses of historical facts or retellings of family stories during this revolutionary period. Among the surprises were…
How the first Africans in America played complex roles in the Revolutionary War in Georgia and South Carolina, as retold by the historian Annette Laing in “The Resolution of Black Patriots.”
- ’s remarkable 9-part series about her ancestor, Richard Lang (1744-1817). Her series follows his shifting identity from Loyalist soldier to refugee, then Spanish citizen, and eventually an American citizen. You can start that series with Part 1 here.
- ’s recent post about “A German Teenager in the American Revolution,” made me realize that Hessian soldiers weren’t necessarily from Hesse.
At the time, I was working on stories about different Quaker lines in my family. They arrived in America in the 17th century and, over the next hundred years, migrated from the religious intolerance of New England to the less restrictive swamps and mountainous regions of North Carolina. Their stories, following traditional retellings, are full of piety and heroism.
In my inherited records, the human side has been blurred to celebrate their upstanding national contributions. I know their contributions were real, but I also wanted to peel back layers of lacquer to understand their involvement in the struggles of their time. Thoughtful academic work has started to explore this period in Quaker communities, but family stories can contextualize it and make it accessible to families.
Jumping ahead to modern times, part of the inspiration for all of this was the
launched last month by two fantastic Substack writers, and . The idea is to collect our memories from the summer of 1976 when we, as Americans, celebrated the 200th anniversary of that first July Fourth.
The hormones of high school life complicate my memory of that summer. It was a presidential election year, and I’d recently returned from another semester overseas, this time in London. I was too young to vote, but I’d had my political awakening during the turbulent decade that included the Roe v. Wade decision, the end of the Vietnam War, the proposed ERA, and Nixon’s resignation.
My contribution to their project is still on my to-do list. In the meantime, I’ve been distracted by the political implications of the next significant milestone: the coming semi-quincentennial. Fifty years after the bicentennial, the spirit of our times has changed entirely. Whether you agree or disagree with the direction, foundational changes are underway in how we share our founding story.
Maybe all of us as individuals can step in to capture our family stories about that period.
The Opportunity: “Stories250”
I’ve consistently found that in Projectkin’s diverse, anglophone community, we’ve all benefited from stories centered around a common theme and historical timeline. Given the scope of generations, the “My Sixteen” theme, for example, had us exploring the mid-19th century together. We’ve shared stories of the American westward expansion and the Industrial Revolution's impacts in England.
This is a similar opportunity: Let’s share our family stories about the period around the Declaration of Independence 250 years ago. I have already learned a great deal from all of you about historical context, facts, and techniques. I’m hopeful that the Substack Live component of the series will spotlight some of the best work among family historians on the platform.
The details
Projectkin has supported various forms of contributed content: Our Members’ Corner in 2024, the March 2025 RootsTech Ride Along, and our new Speakers’ Corner premiering next month. That experience has demonstrated how clearly defined requirements can help avoid misunderstandings. At its simplest level…
This series will include one guest-authored article each month plus the author’s guest appearance in a Substack Live session on the third Sunday/Monday of the month.
I will publish and email the selected post on my Projectkin publication under the author’s byline. The author’s profile description and a subscribe button will appear with the post. More about how this works.
Though only one guest post will appear on Projectkin, I welcome individual posts that might be part of a larger series on a guest’s publication. Authors are also welcome to cross-post their posts to their subscribers. To support your storytelling effort with the best possible visibility, I’ll make sure your guest post on Projectkin includes an index to other posts you may have written that are relevant to the same period.
As always, my mission is to encourage families to get their stories told — in any way that works. The goal for this project is to encourage each other with this thematic series. Though we’ll only be able to celebrate a small selection of stories, I’ve selected the arbitrary term, “Stories250,”4 that we can all use to draw on SEO to find other articles in this series, much as we did with “My Sixteen.”
How to Participate
To make this all work, there are just three requirements.
Requirements:
A Publication: Selected authors must have Substack accounts and have published two or more articles.
New Material: The chosen post must be new, though it may cover a person or topic covered in an existing post. (More about post proposals below.)
Substack Live: The author must be open to joining me on a short (20-30 minute) Substack Live program to discuss the new piece.5
There are a few constraints, however:
Posts
Any Media: Posts can be in any Substack-supported media type: (Text, video, or audio). Stories don’t have to be entirely new, but posts do.
I’ll welcome authors who want to use the opportunity to retell a story in a new form, while linking to the original.
Original: The material must be your work, and permissions must have been obtained for any included copyrighted material, such as photos or music.
Factual: Stories should be accurate to the best of your knowledge.
Collaborative Edits: I’ll offer light editing and adjustments to the layout. We will both approve the final copy before publication.
Any length: Stories can be any length, though posts below 2,000 words tend to do better. You’re welcome to serialize your post to continue on your publication.
Your Family: Your posts do not have to cover stories about the lives of your family members, though I will favor those that do.
Let’s Get You on the Calendar
Have an idea or want to talk something through now? I’d love to hear from you:
Once we agree on a topic and release date, I’ll get you scheduled on the calendar for the Substack Live program. From there, we’ll work against the deadline.6 As guests are selected, I’ll create a queue with just one guest per month until July 2026. You can see the list of dates, including those already booked, here:
To be clear, this is about encouraging storytelling and sharing work that relates to the same extraordinary period in time. If you’d like, feel free to slip the phrase “Stories250” into your relevant posts to make them a little more visible to others exploring this remarkable 18th-century generation.
See all posts and recorded Live sessions so far here:
Update: A Timeline & a Map
A few weeks after this initial post I realized how powerful a timeline and even a map could be for all of us to see where our ancestors fit into a shared timeline and on a map.
So, voilá, I created one. Learn more and join in with stories published to your own Substack!
Stories250: Share Your Ancestors’ Stories at the time of the American Revolution
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A few weeks ago, I shared a post about a new program celebrating community stories about our ancestors 250 years ago.
Let’s Start with a Conversation: August 17/18
To get a head-start on the series, I’ve invited Jane Chapman of
in Wellington, New Zealand to join me on Substack Live on Sunday, 17 Aug (that’s Monday, 18 Aug in Australia and New Zealand), to talk about the series.Many of you will recognize Jane for her nine-part series about Richard Lang (1744-1817), who was a Loyalist before becoming an American citizen, or perhaps for her post about Samuel Gray (1752-1837), who fought for the Continental Army.
Our conversation will explore the ideas behind the series and how Substackers can make the most of it. I hope you can join us on Substack Live on August 17th (or 18th across the International Date Line). Details below:
Betsy Ross née Elizabeth Griscomb (1752-1836), married John Ross, Jr. in November 1773. Like her, John was an upholsterer and part of a local militia. They had been married for less than three years when John was killed while guarding a cache of ammunition. Betsy and John Ross had no children.
When informed that the story was untrue, a cousin corrected me, “Well, we’re not related to THAT Betsy Ross.” Fair, but... that sort of misses the point.
You can still explore the timeline here: Projectkin.org/lafayette-timeline. I am considering building out a timeline of historical events referenced in this series. I welcome feedback—and even participation—on that. Interested?
Note: Substack’s superb SEO features make this kind of term powerful in combination with search. However, like hashtags, you can’t claim exclusive use for any individual term. I know others may be using the term “Stories250,” but it’s appropriate to our purpose and is significantly less noisy than America250, and alternatives.
Authors will get a copy of the video recording to use as they wish. My copy of the recording, including links to the post and series and any show notes will be shared to Projectkin.org/live.
This is a pre-scheduled Substack Live program held each Sunday at 2/5 pm PT/ET, 10/11 pm BST/CET, and Monday at 9 am AEST. We’ll slot these in on the third Sunday of the month in North America and Europe, Monday in Asia/Pacific. (Times will change with the seasons; for projected times, please see Projectkin.org/chat-times)
I love everything about this series and the addition of a timeline is a big bonus!
I can easily imagine clouds of contributed stories rising up around the featured story as we stitch family stories and histories together and maybe even come to find our people standing shoulder to shoulder on the line or across the field of battle or market stall with the kinfolk of others we’ve gotten to know here.
My lines didn’t arrive from Prussia until 1887, but my husband’s family has more than enough characters and stories to cover us both!
Well done you for getting this idea up and running. I am particularly impressed that you want to focus on the human aspects and not the war itself. I am very much dug into looking at the last two World Wars through the lens of my house and my local area in Berlin, totally fascinating. But I'll be avidly looking to see how you tease out deeper stories about lives that were lived so long ago. When I wrote about my 5x GG, the old soldier, Alexander Simon Fraser, it was a struggle to find anything about him at all.