Prepared from the research records and notes of M. Virginia Armstrong One of the earliest settlers in America and the first of the Treadway family was Nathaniel Treadway. Nathaniel, born in Semley, England in 1604, was a weaver who immigrated to Sudbury, Massachusetts with his wife Sufferance Haynes. They later settled in Watertown, MA where they raised their seven children. Josiah, their sixth child, is my bloodline ancestor. Josiah and his wife Sarah Sweetman had eleven children, and their second one, James, is my ancestor. Of historical interest -- Josiah's second wife was the niece of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone. James Treadway was also born at Watertown, MA where he married Sarah Bond in 1702. He continued his father's commitment to procreation contributing eleven Treadways to American's 18th. Century population boom. James and Sarah later moved to Colchester, Connecticut where they lived until their deaths. Their second son, William, was my ancestor and was born at Farmingham, MA in 1705. He married Mary Tubbs at 42 years of age, but they still managed to produce seven offspring. Their sixth child, Jonathan, is my ancestor. William was a weaver, as was his great-grandfather Nathaniel, and as it turned out, he had some connection with General George Washington that would ultimately give his son Jonathan a role in the birth of our nation and to participate in one of the most important chapter's in American history. Jonathan was born in Watertown, MA in 1755. By the early 1770s, history provides us the picture of a young man in Lebanon, CT who did not want to be overlooked in the planned revolution, but was too small to enlist as a regular soldier. Alma Howcroft, who apparently knew Jonathan, wrote: Jonathan, being too small for a soldier, enlisted as a drummer boy, beat his drums to call to arms at Lexington, MA, was in the Battle of Bunker Hill and White Plains, besides other engagements, served under Captain Wells and Colonel Lans Wythe, and was with General George Washington at Valley Forge. At some point after America won its independence from Britain (prior to 1795), Jonathan and Hannah moved to Shoreham, VT where they raised their family of seven boys and two girls. A deposition made by Jonathan for his friend Briggs Rood, whose sister Hannah he married, tells us that Jonathan signed his own name and was literate. A touching picture of love between a father and son has endured, as tradition says that William died at 101 years of age (1806) at Shoreham, VT; that he came from Salem, MA in a 2-horse wagon, riding in an armchair. He died the next day at the home of his son Jonathan. On March 30, 1818, while living in Shoreham, Jonathan applied for a government pension which was subsequently granted. Jonathan had been making his living as a farmer, but was unable to farm any longer after having been kicked by a horse. An account of the life of Jonathan's granddaughter Miss Harriet A. Treadway (Thomas Jefferson Armstrong's daughter), states that Jonathan was born near Lexington, MA and was a patriot soldier of the Revolution, in which he served as a drummer boy, subsequently receiving a pension. He 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 obituary of Jonathan at Ticonderoga, NY provides some additional insights to his service and life: In the last (American Revolution) war, also having been necessarily near the lines on a journey and having been pressed to carry provisions into Canada, he very dexterously eluded the guard and made his escape home. Mr. Treadway, moreover, toward the close of his life, became a soldier of the cross and at his death a member of the Congregational Church of this place. Jonathan was buried at Streetside Cemetary in Ticonderoga in November 1843. His grave there is decorated by the Daughters of the American Revolution. More than a dozen descendants of Jonathan have joined the D.A.R. on the basis of being related to him. Jonathan's second son, Alanson, was born in Lebanon, CT and is my bloodline ancestor. Alanson married Polly Willson in Shoreham, VT and together they contributed five daughters and two sons to the population of Shoreham where they both resided until their deaths. Their second daughter, Sarah, is my bloodline ancestor. More than 50 years after Sarah's death, a biography on the life of her son, Jerome Bonaparte Armstrong (rf --, page 177) provides some additional history on both the Treadways and the Armstrong: The ancestors of the Armstrong family were of Irish birth, while the Tredways (sp) were of Scotch lineage. Both families were founded in America in the seventeenth century, settling first in Connecticut. The grandfather of our subject and three of his uncles, two on the paternal side and one on the maternal, served throughout the Revolutionary war. Two of the number held commissions, seeing official duty in connection with the struggle for independence. One of the uncles was shot in the neck at the capture of Fort Ticonderoga and the bullet, passing through his body, ranged downward and was taken out of his back. He recovered from his wound, however, and is said to have lived to a good old age. This interesting summary is probably based on folklore and family tradition and, as we have already seen, such stories are prone to distortion as they are passed from generation to generation. For example, this rendition appears to deviate from the facts in the following ways: 1. The origins of the Treadways were English, not Scottish. 2. While the Armstrongs may have settled initially in Connecticut, the Treadways settled first in Massachusetts where they remained for at least four generations. 3. The above refers to Jerome's grandfather and three uncles who served throughout the Revolutionary War. This would appear to refer to either his grandfathers Elliott (Armstrong) or Alanson (Treadway), but we know that this is not possible as Elliott was only one year old when the war began, and Alanson was not born until 1779. We must, therefore, assume that it is Jerome's great-grandfather Jonathan that is being referred to. While we know something of Jonathan's role in the Revolutionary War, it is hoped that additional National Archives research will provide corroboration of the involvement of other Armstrong and Treadway ancestors.