Мичиганка проследила родословную семьи Бредстрит до участников основания Бостона и войны за независимость

MASON COUNTY- Penny Fort, a Michigan native, has traced her maiden name, Bradstreet, to key events in early American history, uncovering ancestral connections to the founding of Boston, the Salem witch trials and the American Revolution. Fort’s genealogical research began when her aunt sought to join the Daughters of the American Revolution in the 1960s. The research was passed down to Fort as a three-page document in the 1970’s. She has since expanded using historical books and the website Find a Grave into a comprehensive binder. Fort introduced her research collection, explaining how she inherited the family history materials. “it ended up in my lap, It’s three pages. What I ended up with and I have those in here, but I don’t know. It’s a good question. I think I’m the youngest of the Bradstreets in our generation and maybe they just said, ‘give it to Penny’,” Fort said. The Bradstreet family first settled in Salem, Massachusetts after arriving with the fleet associated with the Mayflower. Fort discovered that her ancestor Simon Bradstreet arrived with the Winthrop Fleet in 1630, served as governor of Massachusetts and helped found Boston. His wife, Anne Bradstreet, was the first American poet. “Simon Bradstreet came to the new world with Winthrop Fleet, which I just found that out. He was a governor of Massachusetts and helped found Boston in 1930. His wife was Anne Bradstreet as a poet. She was the first American poet,” Fort said. The family history also includes John Bradstreet, who was accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials. The accusation came from his own brother, who served on the board for the trials. John Bradstreet fled Salem with his family, though town officials executed his dog in the town square. He later returned to Salem after the witch trials concluded. “John Bradstreet was accused of being a witch and by his brother of all people who set out on the witch trials, he was on the board, you know, for the witch trial. So he took his family and left. They hung his dog in the town square,” Fort said. The lineage continued through the American Revolution, where Fort’s sixth great-grandfather, Samuel Bradstreet, served as a Minuteman. Samuel Bradstreet, who lived from 1729 to 1777, responded to the alarm and fought at the Lexington Alarm and the Battle of Concord. “He marched on the 19th and while they didn’t really march, they ran, rode horses, got there however they could to Boston or to Lexington to meet the regulars. He was a part of that group. He lived from 1729 to 1777 and fought at the at the Lexington Alarm and at the Battle of Concord,” Fort said. Minutemen played a distinct role during the Revolutionary War, leaving their farms and work at a minute’s notice to oppose British forces. “They left their horses in the fields. They left their tools in the fields. As soon as they got the call to alarm at Lexington, they left. They left their families, they ran. They got there however they could and they did not march in a line. They left their farms and went because they were to be ready at a minute’s notice,” Fort said. Fort elaborated on the conditions surrounding the conflict in Boston. “British were, which they called the regulars, but they, they brought people to take over Boston to teach them a lesson and to make them, you know, straighten up. That didn’t that didn’t really fly with the countrymen because they had always been able to, legislate their own towns and their own cities and they did not want to be told what to do and mean. There was a lot of underlying factors. When the British came to Boston and took it over, the small cities were put on alert,” Fort said. Fort noted that her family has maintained a tradition of public service across generations. Fort worked in public education, her husband and son served as sheriff’s deputies, her daughter and sister work in education and her two oldest grandsons work in public service and law enforcement. “The branch streets are very community...and family oriented. We do tend to put our families first. We are civic servants....I worked in public education. My husband was a sheriff’s deputy... my son is, sheriff’s deputy. My daughter works in education. My sister works in education. My two oldest grandsons are also in public service and police work,” Fort said. She reflected on her family legacy. “We’re Bradstreets. We have history in this country. And I think that’s pretty, pretty special,” Fort said. Fort continues to search for more answers regarding her family tree and has left blank pages in her binder for her grandchildren to add future discoveries. In the coming weeks, 9&10 News will feature a dozen stories of local residents to celebrate America 250.