Evidence of My Ancestor

As I noted on the previous page, my husband and I shouted and danced the day a copy of "A History of Williamsburg in Massachusetts" arrived in the mail. It was written by Phyllis Baker Deming on the 175th anniversary of a beautiful town in the heart of Massachusetts woodland, in the region of glorious Berkshires.

It seems now like one moment I was spotting a mention of the book on a chat board and the next moment I had ordered it. Because it was published in small numbers for an enthusiastic, but limited audience, it has very limited availability. Fortunately, I found a few copies were offered by small sellers working though Amazon.com. The one I bought was a bit pricey, but described as in "good condition." It is a treasure.

What did I learn?

From "A History of Williamsburg in Massachusetts":

"One British soldier, worn out and tired of fighting for what seemed a lost cause, dropped out from the irregular line of march at Springfield and returned to Williamsburg. There on an old road, leading from Williamsburg to Goshen, he built a log cabin. Later this man, Daniel Prince, married a Miss Packard of the neighborhood and reared a family. Among them were twin sons, James and Daniel, born in 1785. A great-great-grandson of one of the twins, William F. Miller, living in Searsville, erected a boulder, roughly but painstakingly carved, to mark the site of his great-great-grandfather's home."

In the fall of 2009, my husband and I visited Williamsburg. Led by local historian Ralmon Black and accompanied by cousins and a nephew, I visited the site of the log cabin and we found the Prince Monument. What had been the Prince Farm — cleared of trees for planting — has long since become woodland again.

That's me in the photo, above, after chalking the lettering and the Union Jack on the monument to make them more visible. The carving says, "Site of log cabin built by Daniel Prince a Burgoyne vet — 1782."

The "Burgoyne vet" reference is to General John Burgoyne, the leader of the British army faction to which my ancestor was attached when he came to America as a young soldier.