This research submitted by Mr. Edmund L. Trafford on March 30 & April 3, 2000

Jonathan Treadway’s Revolutionary War service is frequently cast in the romantic vision of a "drummer boy," as though he were a plucky lad running off to support the cause for independence from England. In fact, Jonathan was a full-grown man of 20 years at the outbreak of the Revolution (born, according to his own testimony, on April 18, 1755 [Pension S41265]). Jonathan’s papers in application for a pension mention his service as "a drummer" in several places. The first mention of Jonathan as a "drummer boy" is in a biographical sketch of his granddaughter, Harriet A. Treadway, daughter of his youngest son Thomas Jefferson Treadway (Leading Citizens of Clinton and Essex Counties, New York. Boston: Biographical Review Publishing Company, 1896, pp. 507-508). It is this source, presumably based on information provided by Harriet, which also says that Jonathan "was for a time stationed at the headquarters of General Washington, with whom he had a personal acquaintance, being with him at the crossing of the Delaware."

The only mention Jonathan himself made of George Washington in his pension application was that he enlisted in the Continental Army in May 1775 for a period of eight months, "and served out the time of my enlistment and at the expiration of said term at the request of General Washington I agreed to reenlist in the service two months longer . . ." It might be suspected that the later claim of his being in company with Washington at the crossing of the Delaware was harmless historical embellishment, based on the fact that Jonathan mentioned Washington once in his testimony. A reader might think that if a person were present at so legendary an event, the testator might have played it up for all it was worth. However, two aspects of this story should be considered. First, Washington was probably the single best-known name in the Revolution; "dropping" his name would prove nothing as everybody already knew who he was. It was far more important in the pension papers to refer convincingly to the various captains and colonels and dates and engagements to prove that one actually took part in these events, rather than parading a famous name to demonstrate one’s bona fides. So Jonathan’s single mention of Washington does not necessarily mean that he was not part of the crossing of the Delaware. Second, events which seem epochal to us today might not have seemed "larger than life" to those who participated in them. Jonathan could very well have been at the crossing of the Delaware, but it may have constituted just one more event in a long war, possibly not worth recounting. With these points in mind, it seems probable that Jonathan actually was at the crossing of the Delaware, and the story was preserved within the family and publicly recorded in Harriet’s biographical sketch.

Jonathan Treadway’s application for a pension based on his Revolutionary War experience is heart-wrenching. His deposition of June 12, 1820 states that "he is by occupation, a farmer—that by means of a fall from a horse about 19 years ago [that is, about 1801], he has been so much disabled as not to be able, during that period, to labor to any effect; and a great part of the time not at all . . ." and further "that he has for many years depended on the charity of his children for support . . ." According to Jonathan’s deposition, his assets consisted of 1 cow, 10 sheep, 2 pigs, 1 pot, 1 tea kettle, and 6 iron spoons, among other meager possessions.

About 1825, Jonathan moved to Ticonderoga, New York; more accurately, the elderly Revolutionary War veteran and his wife probably went to Ticonderoga because he was living with one of his sons who relocated the family from Shoreham to Ticonderoga to pursue a business opportunity.

There were longstanding links between Ticonderoga and Shoreham. History of Essex County, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers (H.P. Smith, editor; Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Publishers, 1885) mentions the "general prosperity of the county" and how "busy times on the lake [i.e., Lake Champlain] led to demands for more ferries and soon after 1825 several were authorized by special acts," including service established in April 1827 between Ticonderoga and Shoreham (p. 185). An early pioneer is recorded as saying that "When we came here in 1800-09, there was no man to care for our souls . . . Pious men were here, but they were few, separated, and without organization, leader or instructor. Some of us used to cross the lake to Shoreham and other towns in Vermont to receive the instruction and consolation of religious exercises." (p. 397) Ticonderoga, Patches and Patterns From Its Past (Vol. I., Jane M. Lape, editor, Ticonderoga Historical Society, Ticonderoga, NY: Adirondack Resorts Press, 1969) notes that mail service among the Vermont towns on the east side of Lake Champlain commenced three times per week in 1816, and in November 1816, the first Federal post-master was appointed in Ticonderoga: "We can readily surmise that the regular mail service to Shoreham sparked regular service from Shoreham to Ticonderoga and thus necessitated a post-master." (p. 107)

Ticonderoga:Lape records that "The progenitor of this family [i.e., the Treadways] came here about 1825 with some of his 9 children(1). Jonathan Treadway was then seventy years of age. His sons, Hiram(2) and Thomas(3) came as new owners and operators of woolen processing plants in the Lower Village." It appears that Hosea and Thomas bought two small woolen factories, then added to the facilities, and by 1834 erected "a much more extensive" factory. "Here under changing management but increasing volume this local and valuable product was washed, carded, dyed, spun, and woven into cloth for close to 50 years. . . . The end of the sheep boom came as the west opened up. 1850 saw the industry here beginning to shrink although into the 70’s Treadway cashmeres were featured in local stores."(4) After Thomas Jefferson’s death in 1868, his business duties were assumed by his son John Quincy Adams Treadway, "continuing in the manufacture of cloths and cassimeres until his death in 1893" (from Harriet’s biographical sketch).

An obituary for Thomas J. Treadway (died March 23, 1898; contained in Obituaries, Crown Point, Essex County; Ticonderoga, Essex County, New York 1885-1899: Genealogical Records Committee, National Society of DAR, pp. 5-6) notes that he was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas J. Treadway who came to Ticonderoga from Shoreham, Vermont in 1826 (that is, he was a brother of Harriet A. Treadway and grandson of Jonathan) . The obituary mentions other members of the family, including Harriet (who had treated her brother with "devoted care .. . to make his confinement to the sick room as comfortable as possible") and J. Q. A. Treadway, the deceased’s brother, who "built the Roger Rock Hotel which opened in July 1876, with T.J. Treadway, manager, a position he has ever since occupied."(5) Thus, John Quincy Adams Treadway handled his father’s business interests in the H&TJ Treadway firm after Thomas Jefferson Treadway’s death in 1868 and, with his brother (also named Thomas J. Treadway), extended the family’s interests to some local real estate as well. (The elder Thomas J. Treadway, Jonathan’s son, was Ticonderoga town supervisor in 1842-1844; his son. T.J. Treadway, was "present officer of the town" as supervisor [i.e., 1885, publication date of Essex:Smith, p. 414] and was also a director of the water company [p. 430])

In Shoreham, another of Jonathan’s grandsons, Lewis, son of Joseph Treadway, was active in community affairs. He was a Selectman in 1856, 1857, 1859, and 1860 (History of the Town of Shoreham, Vermont by Rev. Josiah F. Goodue, Middlebury, VT: A.H. Copeland, 1861; p. 54) and in 1860 offered "to support all of the poor now on the town and all transients for one year for $458" (Shoreham, the Town and Its People, Shoreham, VT: Shoreham Historical society, 1988; p. 11).

The result of all of this civic and commercial activity by Jonathan’s sons after 1825 is that Jonathan and Hannah probably did not remain in such dire condition as originally indicated in his pension application.

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(1) The fact that Jonathan Treadway had 9 children is reported accurately. Note that this history says "some" of his 9 children. (p. 97)

(2) Certainly the name should be Hosea (1797-1838), who was Jonathan’s fifth son; the name Hiram does indeed show up in the Treadway family but only as Jonathan’s great-grandson (b. 1857), a grandson of Jonathan’s son William Darwin (1795-1861) and his wife Elizalbeth Miller (1797-1882); the name may have been confused with Hosea.

(3) That is, Thomas Jefferson Treadway.

(4) It now seems significant that Alanson’s occupation in the 1850 and 1860 US Censuses is recorded as "clothier" and that the Ticonderoga history states that only "some" of Jonathan’s children moved to Ticonderoga. A reasonable speculation is that Alanson remained in Shoreham to handle the family affairs at the Vermont end of the business. It may be no coincidence that concurrent with the expansion of the woolen mill in 1834 (erecting a "more extensive" factory) is the employment of George Denton Clark, Hosea’s and Thomas Jefferson’s nephew, to "run a boat" on Lake Champlain, presumably between operations in Ticonderoga and Shoreham. Essex:Smith (p. 690) carries a mention of George Denton Clark, born February 19, 1816; he was the son of Harmony Treadway (Jonathan’s fifth child and second daughter) and Alexander Denton Clark. (Harmony and Alexander were married April 28, 1815, by Elisha Bascom, Justice of the Peace; Shoreham Book of Marriages, page 103.) At the age of 19 (about 1835), George "engaged with the firm of H&TJ Treadway, to run a boat for them on the lake . . "

(5) "The Rogers’s Rock Hotel is a commodious and pleasant summer resort which is conducted by the Treadway Brothers near the foot of Lake George; it has accommodations for two hundred and fifty guests, and is sought by many tourists in the summer months." (Essex: Smith, p. 425). "In 1874 . . . a unique construction project was undertaken by J.Q.A. Treadway in co-operation with his brother, Thomas. On a lovely location at Lake George, close by the base of Roger’s Slide . . . they began construction of a splendid, gothic style summer hotel. . . . This Roger’s Rock Hotel was to be a mecca for summer visitors for years, being finally torn down in 1948." (Ticonderoga:Lape, p. 149)