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Lloyd had just married his sweetheart Thelma. Miss Thelma Beach. It was 1922. Things were going well but in just a few weeks he would be leaving Thelma for Camp. He had come back from WWI in 1919 a little different but he was an outstanding solider, well liked and had a promising future. When Lloyd heard that Battery A was going to be organized by the National Guard again he joined as soon as he could. As did his best friend and war buddy Emil Krueger. In a few weeks he would be leaving again with his Troop for “Maneuvers” out to Fort Mead. Lloyd was proud of his continued service. They were Veterans. They were Calvary.

Lloyd had joined the South Dakota National Guard on April 4th 1917 into old “Troop D”. War was here and he needed to do this. Troop D was mustered into the regular Army on July 15th and Lloyd was sent to France. His best friend Emil had joined up with him as did the other Moody County local farm boys; Roy McFarland, Cort Wheatly, Homer Hales and Ray Bowen. They all served together in France. Emil and Lloyd had some very narrow escapes from the Germans in the last few months of the war. It had made them closer, better friends.

Off to Camp. Lloyd did not want to leave Thelma but he would be gone for a few weeks to Fort Mead. Thelma would stay with his mother and father, Walter and Laura Dora and his younger brother Ervin Marvin at home. Lloyd’s other brother Harry was living in Pueblo. Thelma would be safe. Ervin would look after her and Lloyd would be home soon.

It happened so quick. It was almost noon and Lloyd was waiting at the Vilas train depot with his best friend Emil and the rest from Battery A. They were tasked with bringing the Batteries horses back from Camp. Just a few more minutes and the train would arrive and they could be closer to home and to his wonderful Thelma. It the commotion of getting there side arms and other equipment ready so they could board the train it happened. One shot. One errant shot. A mistake. An accident…… A tragic accident. Emil was having trouble with his sidearm or was he cleaning it? As he was placing it into his holster, it fired. One round. The round hit the floor. Thank goodness no one was hit….? The round didn’t stop. It glanced off the floor and hit a seat in the depot. A seat Lloyd his best friend was sitting in. Thank goodness it hit the seat….but it didn’t stop. The bullet, accidently fired by Emil, glanced off the seat and had struck Lloyd in the back of the head near his right ear.

Twenty five miles to the hospital. Just down the road. They put Lloyd in the back of a truck and drove like hell. Lloyd was having some trouble breathing but was still alive. They could make the 25 miles to Madison. They arrived in Madison and the hospital. The boys of company did all they could getting him there so quickly. They operated as quickly as they could and were successful in removing the bullet but it was too late. The bullet had severed leading arteries. Lloyd died shortly after 8 o’clock.

They brought Lloyd back home to Flandreau and his Thelma on Friday July 28st 1922. Lloyd was taken to his grandfather’s home to lie in state. On Monday July 31st, 1922 at 10 o’clock the whole town turned out for the funeral at the Catholic Church. All of the business were closed as a sign of respect. The flag draped coffin was carried on a caisson drawn by six black stallions of Battery A. Lloyd’s pallbearers were Emil, (his best friend who had accidently killed him), Vincent Watters, Fred Bates, Homer Hales, Merle Sherburne and Ray Bowen. The American legion was there too as an escort. A firing squad from Battery A was standing ready. Francis Watters playing taps on the bugler. A Company of men from the Madison Battery had also come to show their respects. Father Kelly conducted the ceremonies and Lloyd was laid to rest at St Simon and Jude Cemetery. It was one of the largest funerals the county had ever seen.

So Paul….what of Thelma? Well I can sum that up with this….One year and eleven days. One year and eleven days isn’t very long. A lot can happen in 1 year and 11 days. On June 5th, 1923 Thelma married her brother in law, Ervin Wilcox, younger brother of Lloyd, 1 year and 11 days after Lloyd’s passing.

So the question was: If your brother was shot by his best friend would you marry his wife? Answer: In this case….Yes.

Location of the sod hut. To the right outof the photo is the Sioux River. Look at the picture and then close your eyes and imagine a sod hut sitting here looking over the Sioux River. Not a lot of trees would be here. They would have only been next to the river. Tall grass all around and fresh oxen cut rows of thick sod showing that were used to build the sod house.

Photo – A very young pioneer family. Left to right Gustavus, John, Berthine, Kristi and Joseph Thompson.

The first white child born in Minnehaha County????? Weird sounding now but Berthiine Beroline Thompson was the first white child born in Minnehaha County. I think most of us have heard some part of this story.

On 26 May 1867, Berthine was born in John and Kristi’s Sod shanty on the side of the Sioux River North of Sioux Falls. Berthine is my Great Grand Aunt.

In 1867 John received a letter from his previous pastor B. J. Muus dated Feb 19th, 1867. Muus was the pastor of the Holden Church in Goodhue County, Minnesota where he and Kristi had been married. The letter was a reply to John who had asked about his marriage certificate. The pastor was concerned about John and his impoverished soul and wanted to make sure John did not settle in a place that they could not also set up a church. A small group of Norwegian’s settlers met in the sod hut or dugout of John Thompson’s on Aug 11, 1868, and had divine services in the Lutheran faith conducted by the Rev. Emil Gustav Andreas Christensen. Two infant children were baptized that day. Berthine Thompson (first white child born in Minnehaha County) and Anne Nelson. On the following day Aug 12th, 1868 a group of 50 Norwegian settlers gathered again at the sod hut of John Thompson and to organize a church. John Langness made the motion to name the new church the Nidaros congregation.

They would later build a church…which eventually became three, which included a world famous traveling church on the prairie which I’ll tell you about soon.

This is a sketch of a 30th Wisconsin Infantry camp in Bowling Green, KY (Dec 1864).

Where did John Thompson go after he was with Sullys Northwest Expedition? Companies A, C, F and H (John’s) commanded by Colonel Dill, left Fort Rice, Dakota, Friday, October 12, 1864, and descending the Missouri river in flat boats built by themselves, arrived November 2, 1864, at Sioux City, Iowa. Continuing their journey down the river they arrived at St. Joseph, Mo., November 17, 1864.

Company H (John’s company) having been detained by floating ice, had Captain Bedal abandoned his boat a few miles above St. Joseph, and marched his command to the city, rejoining the other companies November 23d.

Leaving St. Joseph MO on the 24th of November 1864, and proceeding by rail, they arrived on the following day at Quincy, Ill., and thence proceeded by way of Springfield, Ill., and Indianapolis, Ind., arriving on November 29, 1864, at Louisville, Ky., where they went into camp. On the 12th of December 1864, the nine companies of the 30th WIS left Louisville by rail, and next day went into camp at Bowling Green, Ky. This is the Camp in the sketch. Here the Regiment was assigned to the Second Brigade, Second Division, Military District of Kentucky Colonel Dill took command of the Brigade, and Major Clowney that of the Regiment. On the 10th of January, 1865, the Regiment left Bowling green for Louisville, arriving on the 12th, where they were assigned to duty as guard to the military prison in that city.

John and the rest of the 30th WIS regiment was mustered out of service at Louisville, Ky., September 20, 1865, and immediately started for home, arriving at Madison, Wis., September 25, 1865, where it was paid and disbanded. The Camp where they went to in Madison is Camp Randall (where they trained when they joined the war) which is now where the Wisconsin Badgers stadium is located at.

After the war John went to Goodhue County, Minn. and married a Valders girl, KRISTI HAUGEN daughter of Sivert Haugen, at the Holden church (The church is North of and between the cities of Kenyon and Wanamingo MN.) They pioneered to Minnehaha County, South Dakota, in 1866. John and Kristi left with John Nelson and Nelson’s wife, Anne Marie Dalemo and their 4 yr old child on June 4th 1866. Both couples had a team of oxen and a wagon (prairie schooner). Their common property was a dog and three cows. They arrived on June 29, 1866, John’s Birthday, near the school for the deaf in what is now Sioux Falls, SD.

John and Kristi settled north of Sioux Falls next to the Sioux River on what he would later call Walnut Grove.

1864 Drawing by PVT. William S. Peck, 30th Wisconsin Infantry, Company D. Drawing of Fort Sully, Dakota Territory.

So why did John Thompson settle in South Dakota? Well he had already been in “DAKOTA” with General Sullys Northwest Expedition! He must have know the land was opening up again at the end of the war.

John was a Union soldier in the 30th Wisconsin Company H.
John mustered into Company H, 30th Wis. on Aug 21, 1862. John had first been in the 7th Wisconsin Infantry but had mustered out because of ill health. But as my Norwegian ancestors would say “He was of good Tronder stock and could not be kept down….don’t you know.” John was promoted to Corporal and was mustered out on Sept 20th, 1865. John’s duty was at Green Bay, West Bay and other points in Wisconsin was enforcing draft (There were riots that they had to help quell), etc., till March, 1863. Headquarters of Regiment at Camp Randall till December 26, 1862, then at Camp Reno, Milwaukee, Wis.

On April 20th, 1864 the 30th WIS INF Companies “A,” “C,” “F” and “H” (John’s company) left Milwaukee, Wis., to join General Sully’s Northwestern Indian Expedition. The 30th WIS moved from St. Louis to Fort Sully, Dakota Territory then to Fort Rice until Oct 1864. When I say “moved” I mean they built their own flat boats in St Louis and poled them up river to Fort Sully.

John Thompson also helped build Fort Rice in North Dakota! In April 1864 Col. Dill from 30th WIS took four companies of the 30th WIS, Co. A, C, H (John’s), from Wisconsin out to Dakota and up the Missouri to Fort Sully. They took on Companies F and D stayed at Fort Sully and went to the mouth of the Cannon Ball river then to Fort Rice. Reaching there on July 15th. There is also a reference to July 9th as the start of the building of Fort Rice.

John also helped rescue some pioneers! On Sept 11th 1864 Gen Sully dispatched Col. Dill and the four WIS companies to rescue a train of emigrants near the Montana Dakota boarder. They enlisted men did not have horses….they walked and maybe had a wagon or two. They reached them on Sept. 20th and returned to Fort Rice on Sept 28th.

This is the steamship Bergen. John Thompson, his parents and sister family took this ship from Bergen Norway to the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg on the second leg of their journey to America.

The Meråker 8. John’s Trip to America.

April 13th, 1854. Eight families from Meråker, Norway started their journey to America. Nils Fosmo, wife Susanna, their three sons and one daughter; Jonas Mehaugen, wife Bertha and one daughter beside his brother Ivar Mehaugen; Olava, midwife, her husband and two children; Lars Anderson Oien, wife Mali and two children; his brother Ole the younger and their father’s brother Rolog Svedjoan; Erick Hemmingson Kirkebytro, wife Elsa and their son and daughter; Arnt Johanson Haugtro and wife Karena and two children; Guttorm Johnsen Kirkeby, wife Bertha with son (John Thompson) and daughter Serie (Sigrid); Peter Einarson Halse, wife and two children. I’ve taken to calling this group “The Meråker 8”, representing the 8 pioneer families from Meråker that traveled to America in 1854. I have attached the immigration document from Meråker below. Norwegian’s keep great records and they recorded the group leaving for their journey to America.

There is an account of this trip that was first published in the “Scandinavian” in Feb. 1906 which was an account of the travels of the first group of immigrants from Meråker by Hemming Erickson. The article was called “An American Journey”.

The trip, at least to Wisconsin, followed this route:
• Meråker to Stjordal by road
• Stjordal Bay to Bergen by the Sloop Maria Sophie following the coast to Bergen
• Bergen to Hamburg, German Confederation, by steamship
• Hamburg to Hull, England by steamship
• Hull to Liverpool, England by train
• Liverpool to Grosse Île, United Province of Canada (Quarantine Island) then to the City of Quebec, United Province of Canada, by large sailboat (most likely a bark or large steamship)
• Quebec to Montreal by canal steamer arranged by Elias Strangeland
• Montreal to Niagara Falls on the same canal steamer arranged by Elias Strangeland
• Niagara Falls to Buffalo by train arranged by Elias Strangeland
• Buffalo to Milwaukee by steamship arranged by Elias Strangeland
• Milwaukee to Koshkongong and Stroughton Wisconsin by train arranged by Elias Strangeland

(I am trying to locate the specific lines and trains etc. but the research has been difficult and I have not been successful. )

There was no shipping company in Trondhjem so the Meråker 8 went to Bergen to board an immigrant ship. They journeyed the approximately 75 km from Meråker to Stjordals City either by road from Meråker or by the Stjørdalselva River. The river appears to be able navigable by a flat bottom boat possibly but this seems unlikely. There was no rail at the time. The rail line called Meråkerbanen started in 1882. It is literally the rail line from Hell. The line starts in Hell, outside Stjørdal, through the municipalities of Stjørdal and Meråker in Nord-Trøndelag County, Norway, to the village of Storlien in Sweden.

The group departed from Stjordals Bay to Bergen on a small sloop by the name of Maria Sophie which was commanded by the brothers Peter and Tollov from Fetten in Aasen. The trip took quite a long time as they had to go into port each night. If you want to see how crazy this actually is get a map or Norway and look at the route by sea….MADNESS. They arrived in Bergen the immigrant ships had all departed so they contracted with an English line to get to America. They left on the steamship named Bergen (Bergen, 476 tons, built 1852 and wrecked at Mandal 1871) to Hamburg where they purchased tickets to Quebec. The cost was $43 dollars for an adult fare and half that for a child. From Hamburg they left on a steamship to Hull England then took a railroad line to Liverpool. They then boarded a large sailboat which had just come back from Quebec taking 700. There were only 500 souls on this trip so they had plenty of room. (I have tried to find a ship departing from Liverpool arriving in Quebec but I cannot find one during this time. The records are not complete but I have found four ships arriving in Aug 1854 but found none that departed from Liverpool until I came across the following from an account of Karl E. Erickson in 1896. Karl was the clerk in the Strangeland office in Quebec in 1854.

“During the season when the Wisconsin agency was stationed at Quebec, twenty-eight Norwegian ships landed 5,488 persons at that port. All of them came directly by Norwegian vessels, except forty who arrived via Liverpool. Nine ships had taken on their passengers at the port of Christiania, nine at Bergen, two at Drammen, two at Stavanger, two at Kragero and one at Porsgrund. – Karl E. Erickson in 1896. This is the only ship from Liverpool in 1854 that Strangeland handled. The Meråker 8 party had at least 38 members.” So I have found the ship but not the record or the name as yet.

The trip across the Atlantic took 7 weeks. The wind was against them and the trip was partly windless. A little boy belonging to Lars Oien died on the trip and was buried at sea. They sighted land in late August and traveled up the St. Lawrence. When they landed (a port before Quebec) they got off ship so the ship could be cleaned. This port is likely Grosse Île, an island located in the St. Lawrence River downstream from the City of Québec. Unprecedented immigration on the St. Lawrence River required Quebec to take steps to prevent major cholera and smallpox epidemics. In order to help control the spread of the diseases, the quarantine station at Grosse Île was established in 1832 and operated until its closure in 1937. Meråker 8 member, Hemming Erickson said “When we came up to the pier the ship dropped anchor, and all emigrants went ashore, as the ship was to be cleaned, and we then first heard that cholera had raged quite dreadfully among the emigrants that summer, up throughout the land and the hospitals along the pier were full of sick emigrants”. They got back on the ship that evening (So just a half day on land) and by the next morning, they were in Quebec.

In the short time it took the ship to travel the approximately 46km from Grosse Île to Quebec, Sigrid 17, John Thompson’s sister and a boy named Ivan Mehaugen, 22, came down with cholera and were removed from the ship and taken to the hospital in Quebec (Aug 1854). This means they made it past the quarantine station and are not buried on Grosse Île but somewhere in Quebec City. In 1854 there were 95 burials on the Grosse Île.

During the summer of 1854 a severe cholera epidemic was prevalent at the seaports, and it extended throughout the western part of the country. Quite a number of Norwegian immigrants were detained and placed in hospitals at Grosse Isle, the regular quarantine station situated on the St. Lawrence River some distance below Quebec, on British territory and managed by officers under that government. At this place all incoming ships had to stop for inspection. Immigrants were there subjected to rigid examination by physicians and all sick persons were ordered ashore. A gang of men were then sent aboard from the hospital to fumigate and disinfect the entire ship with all there was in it. This done, the ship was allowed to proceed up the river to the city; the sick ones had to remain at the hospital. This was the first trial the newcomers had to endure after reaching the happy shores. Friends, companions, and often members of families were ruthlessly separated, in many eases never to meet again. Many would die and their remains be interred; those who got well often had to start on their way alone and follow their friends as best they could, often not knowing where they could be found. – Karl E. Erickson in 1896

Quebec had two competing agency’s vying for the Norwegian immigrants during the 1850’s. One headed by Elias Strangeland and the other by John Holfeldt. In Quebec the Meråker 8 chose the Wisconsin Immigration Agency to help them to get to Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Immigration Office in Quebec, headed by Elias Strangeland and his staff of five, represented companies that used the St. Lawrence Seaway, the canal, rail and the Great Lakes to funnel immigrants to Wisconsin. Strangeland was appointed as Immigrant Agent for the State of Wisconsin on 1 May 1854 for a term of 6 months. He was to open an office, hire a staff and entice Norwegian immigrants to come to Wisconsin and to help them arrange their travel to the state. Holfeldt, who was a hunchback, would jump over the railings of ships arriving in port, usually beating Strangeland in getting the ship captain’s business. “You will see an elderly thick-set man with a big hunchback and a stovepipe hat,” they said.

Strangeland contracted with Maxell and Patten a shipping company from Buffalo to funnel emigrants to Wisconsin. The Meråker 8 contracted with Stangeland in Quebec who then used the firm of Maxwell and Patten to get them to their final destination. Joshua Maxwell and Julius C. Patten are listed in the 1853 and 1854 City directory’s as Forwarding and Commission Merchants in Buffalo, NY located on Long Warf, which ran along the harbor from the foot of Commercial. They came together from separate businesses to form a partnership in 1850-1851. In 1855, J. C. Patten is still in business (later with Patten and Munderback) but it appears he is not affiliated with Maxwell. Maxwell was later an agent for a company called NWTL and others.

Before Stangeland went to the old country on his visit he apparently had made arrangements with the owners and managers of the particular line of transportation that he commended, Messrs. Maxwell and Patten of Buffalo. When immigrants arrived at Quebec they were (sometimes) transferred without much delay to large river steamers that carried them to Montreal, which is at the head of ocean navigation on that river. Then passage was taken on canal steamers some twenty-five miles to a place called La Chine; sometimes this journey was made by railroad. The canal has a number of locks, and the passage through them was a novel experience to newcomers. At La Chine passengers boarded large lake steamers that carried them through the Thousand Islands and Lake Ontario, in the western part of which liners were running to different landing points. One of these liners took the passengers to the city of Lewiston, and from there both passengers and luggage were carried about seven miles to Niagara Falls on large stagecoaches drawn by horses, thence to Buffalo by rail, and then on steamers over the Great Lakes to Milwaukee or Chicago. The trip from Quebec required about seven days. – Karl E. Erickson in 1896.

By the time the Meråker 8 arrived in Montreal, Guttorm and Berit, John’s parents, were dead of cholera. They were taken off the ship in Montreal and it is unknown where they were buried. (August 1954).
Several in our company became ill, namely Guttorm Johnson Kirkeby and his wife and the husband to Olava, the midwife and their two children. All died that night. The next morning the ship lay at the wharf in Montreal. There stood two men with coffins nailed together of rough boards, wherein they laid the dead and took them away to be buried. That was the last anyone saw of them. – Hemming Erickson, Feb 1906

The steamship continued to Niagara Falls. From Niagara Falls they took a train to Buffalo, NY where they stopped for a day. They lodged in a large warehouse that was full of coffins and clothes from other immigrants who did not make the hazardous trip. Ole Oien took ill in Buffalo, NY that day and when his brother Lars went to see him the next day, Ole was already dead and buried. From Buffalo they boarded a steamship to Milwaukee then on rail to Koshkonong, Jefferson County, WI and Stoughton, Dane County, WI. Both which are near Madison WI.

The story is muddled from here on until John enlists at Madison. Did he stay with his Uncle and Aunt? Most likely but I can not find the 1860 census record. I have hand searched the records of almost all of central Wisconsin and I can’t find them. If anyone has the record please let me know.

Little John possibly stayed with his “Gilseth Aunt” (I can guess but I am still trying to figure out who she is exactly) I believe and also with his friends the Jonas Nelson’s family. Nelson’s family later went to Minnesota to pioneer and John might have stayed around Mount Morris, Wis with his relatives. John would later travel to Madison to enlist in the 7th Wisconsin for the impending war.

John went to Minnesota, Goodhue County after the war and met up with his friend Jonas Nelson. There John married a good Valders girl, Kristi Haugen, there at the Holden Church. They soon after made their way to Dakota for the promise of land John and Jonas had earned by being Union Soldiers.

This is baseball before Babe Ruth. This was the era of Honus Wagner The Flying Dutchman! When I think of baseball, I think of my favorite teams slugging it out trying to win the penant. Some years are bad and some are real bad but what about the worst ever?

My first cousin 2x removed, Alfred Willard Beach (Born 1888) was a professional Baseball player. He played in the class -D minor leauge called the Washington State League located in South Bend Washington. They had a 21 week schedule and had 10 teams. The leauge had a salary cap of $850…per month and was kind of rough. In July 1910, Montesano Farmers second baseman Otto Moore was struck on the head with a baseball pitched by Harold Cross. As a result, Moore fell into a coma.

Alfred was a Shortstop with the South Bend River rats and he had a .236 batting average. …and the river Rats claim to fame? Well the 11 games they won, VS 44 losses in 1911, a .200% winning percentage, is recognized as one of the worst ever in minor league baseball history!

https://www.statscrew.com/minorbaseball/t-sr14630

Depends on what side you view it from. Our 5th great grandfather fought on the wrong side of the American Revolution…. and he wasn’t British! These are Prussian examples of mlitary uniforms similar to what Andreas would have worn.

In researching Grandma Beach’s side and looking at Adeline Legault, Lewis Beach’s wife, I have found that her mother, Mary Cheffer (Schaeffer), was the granddaughter of a Hessian soldier who fought for the British in the Revolutionary War!

Brunswick soldier and great grandfather of ours, Andreas Gerhart Schaeffer, was born around 1756 in or around Wuerzburg (or Kussingen, depending on source) Germany. Germany was not a state as we know it at this time in its history. The “State” would really be areas of territory under the control of the House of Brunswick (Later the Duchy of Brunswick). Andreas fought as a Brunswick soldier for the British in the American Revolution.

In early 1776, King George III of England hired units from the various houses or states of Germany to assist with bringing the colonist’s rebellion to order. The hiring of foreign troops to supplement a country’s army was a normal procedure during this time of history. Several of the German rulers, needing hard currency and being “between wars”, were only too happy to oblige. About 18,000 “Hessian” troops arrived in North America in 1776, with more coming in later, of this about 3/4 of them were from Hesse-Kassel. The colonist’s newspapers referred to all of them as Hessians and the name stuck. The units were used to help the British and to protect Quebec and other British holdings in America.

Andreas joined a new regiment being formed for the American expedition. He joined the Light Battalion of Major (later Lieutenant Colonel) Friedrich Albrecht von Barner. He was part of the second company, the elite Jäger Company, lead by Captain Maximillian Ernst Schottelius. The von Barner Light Battalion consisted of 24 Officers, 56 NCO’s, 14 Drummers, 528 Men and 36 Servants.

The Jaegers (Hunters) were recruited normally from game-wardens, sons of wardens and other persons working in the forests. They used the traditional green for their uniforms. They were equipped with a heavy barreled rifle.

On February 22, 1776 he was one of 2,282 officers and men who left Braunschweig and marched to Stade on the Elbe River. Andreas got on the ship Margaretha Alida, of Dutch Registry, bound for America (via England) on May 27, 1776 near the village of Stade on the River Schwinge, near Hamburg, in northern Germany. On board were Major Ferdinand Albrecht von Barner, Captains Maximillian Christoph Ludwig Schottelius (Jäger), Gottlieb Joachim von Gleissenberg, Lieutenants Johann Andreas Bode, Johann Friedrich Pflueger, Caspar Friedrich Rohr, Regimental Surgeon Kuntze and 308 men of the Jaeger Company and the Company of Major von Barner, Leib company. The ship went to England and was part of small fleet that left for America on June 25th 1776. The ship was slower than the English ships and von Barner’s ship had to be towed a few times because it could not keep up. One of the officers on another ship in the fleet wrote about this in his diary and said the officers were all having a good laugh kidding Barner about this. Andreas and the fleet arrived in Quebec in Sept 1776. They went into camp with the Jaeger-company, under Captain Schottelius and were quartered in Yamaska, Quebec. They eventually came out of the winter of 76/77 and went on to fight the rebels in the spring, summer and fall of 1777.

Saratoga
On October 11, 1777 General Gates and the Americans, after some morning confusion, are able to surround Burgoyne’s Army and are positioned upon the heights overlooking the British camp enabling artillery and rifle fire into it. Burgoyne, Riedesel, Hamilton and Phillips meet to discuss possible options for an attack or further retreat. After reconnaissance shows that no clear opening existed for further retreat and von Riedesel’s pledge that the Brunswick regiments could cut a pathway for Burgoyne’s Army is denied then all was indeed lost.

SURRENDER
On October 14, 1777 Burgoyne calls a counsel of war and discusses the capitulation of his forces which was agreed upon by the senior officers. A armistice was agreed upon by General Gates and Burgoyne until 10:00 AM on October 15th, capitulation to occur at 3:00 PM and grounding of weapons by 5:00 PM. Burgoyne stalls for time and demands from Gates the full honors of war, that the troops would be returned to England, on condition that they would not serve in North America again. A treaty is signed by both commanding Generals, capitulation being changed to convention, on October 17th.

At 10:00 AM on October 17, 1777 the troops of Burgoyne’s army march out with the honors of war, ground their weapons by the river, and begin the 200-mile march to Boston. This convention army consisted of: 5,895 men of all ranks – 3,018 British, 2,412 Germans, 465 ‘auxiliaries’ – plus 215 British women and 82 German women, and an assortment of camp followers, and a menagerie of local wildlife pets of the German troops. The march through Massachusetts, to internment at Winter Hill near Cambridge, took 21 days. I am sure but still need to prove it, that Andreas’s wife followed him and settled in Quebec with him in 1783.

On November 17th 1777 the Brunswick regiments were placed in the old American barracks built during the siege of Boston. The officers and men were stripped of their personal effects, a violation of the treaty. Further violations of the treaty occur when the Brunswick troops are scattered throughout Massachusetts with private families and forced to work for food and clothing, and induced to desert. With the help and supervisions of General von Riedesel, at the end of December 1777, the Brunswick convention regiments had only lost 20 men to desertion.

1778 – 1783
Further American violations of the treaty occurr when the Continental Congress refuses to accept terms of the treaty and consider the “conventioneers” prisoners of war. The Brunswick troops remain scattered until November 1778 when Congress decides to march the “conventioneers” to Virginia. The Brunswick regiments are marched through severe winter weather, without tents or adequate supplies, and arrive at Charlottesville, Virginia in the middle of January 1779. With no provisions for shelter the troops were required to construct a small village to house themselves, grow their own food and generally provide for themselves, and it is here that many remained until the end of the war. In May of 1780 there were still 1,503 Brunswick troops still in Virginia. The conclusion of the war in Fall of 1783 enabled the remaining Brunswick troops to return to their homeland. Of 5,723 total men who came over to America during the war only 2,708 returned and under 500 of these returning troops were from the convention army. A good number of the soldiers stayed in America or Quebec instead of going back home.

Andreas shows up on the Brunswick Deserter-Immigrants of the American Revolution. (German-American Genealogical Research Monograph, 1.) Thomson, IL: Heritage House, 1973. [54p.] p. 37. So he spent less than a year fighting then ended up as a prisoner until 1783 when he either deserted instead of going back home or he left the army to stay in Quebec.

Still looking for his wife (our 5th great grandmother), Johanna Dorothea Mayer, I believe she would be one of the camp followers mentioned above. His wife died and he remarried in 1806.

Sir please pull your canoe over……this is my 7th Great Grand father on the BEACH side – This artist rendition of Noèl legault dit Deslauriers was published for the first time by Labatt Breweries of Canada (in black and white).

Noël Legault dit Desiauriers was the son of Roch Le Goff and Mary Galion. He was a native of France. It is believed that he was born in 1674. Noel was a soldier, a Marine actually, in the Army of the King of France sent to New France from approx. 1695-1701. Noel’s commander was François Le Verrier Roussonet who had been a Musketeer in the Kings employ. One of the jobs that Noel’s company were detailed to preform was to keep settlers from going into the Montreal country without approval. They were to take up positions on both sides of the river from Villa Marie (Montreal) and stop all of the canoes and check for their papers and permissions. Noel’s commander didn’t do this job very well and the King made a comment that he wasn’t very enthusiastically carrying out his duties.

On November 18, 1698 at Notre-Dame de Montreal (The old Notre Dame church before the basilica was built) , Noel married Marie Besnard, daughter of Mathurin and Marguerite Viard who was a filles du roi. (*** A King’s Daughter). The day before the wedding, on November 17, the couple signed their contract wedding in front of the notary Pierre Raimbault. Some of the witnesses at the marriage were other soldiers in his company.

**Noel’s mother in law was a KINGS DAUGHTER (filles du roi). These were women who were paid to come to Quebec by the King of France. They had to meet certain standards to qualify. One of the standards was they had to be fit and hardy. They were not prostitutes. They were paid to go to New France by King Louie XIV to promote immigration….Hey Louie…. Quebec’s got girls! They were wards of the King and were paid money and land when they were married.

In the summer of 1701, more than 1,300 Indians, from forty different nations, gathered near Montreal. The peace treaty, Great Peace of Montreal, was signed in 1701 in Montreal by 39 Indian chiefs and the French. They came from the Mississippi Valley, the Great Lakes, and Acadia. Many were lifelong enemies but all had responded to an invitation from the French governor. Their future and the fate of the colony were at stake. Among them was the great Huron chief Kondiaronk of Michilimackinac, the most influential of France’s allies. It appears Noel left the Marines after the treaty was signed and had bought 120 acres of land bordering the Saint-Pierre river. The family soon settled on land in the parish of Lachine with their nine sons and five daughters. Legault died in Pointe-Claire on the 10th of April, 1747.

It is speculated that Noël Legault received the name “des lauriers” (to be crowned with laurel) during his army service for his courage or bravery. The word “gault” meant woods or forest in old French; “Legault” probably described a dweller by the woods.

What does a Pigeon, a cheating wife of a soldier, a Gonzague?, an adulterer, the church, sacrilege, a bigamist, a NARC and an Official Excommunication all have to do with one another? Sounds like a Tabloid article for someone famous or should I say infamous.

Well they all have to do with Louis de Gonzague Deshetres dit Pigeon and his wife (Not really) Louise……..or you can just call him our 5th great grandfather. Or just pops. lol. (This is the family that later changed their name to Beach when they immigrated to the USA from Canada. )

Just a personal note here. It was tough writing this story. Two things I hate most in the world are Pigeons and Cheese Eating surrender monkeys. I’m having a hard time mentally coming to grips with the fact that the Beach line is not just French but UBER French….It’’s killing me. lol

He wouldn’t let the church stand in the way of his love…… at least until things got real tough.

Louis de Gonzague Deshetres dit Pigeon was born in 1736 and died in 1809. He was a wheelwright when he died. (A person who repairs wheels) I understand he was also a trader, trapper and an interpreter. His father Antoine Deshetres was possibly from New England and the story goes he was kidnapped by Indians and taken to live with them escaping when he was older. Sounds like a story but I’m still looking.

“Our Scandal and Horror” “Public and stubborn adulterers” “Whore” “Calmly and even blacker more gross” Nice huh? These were the words in the Official Excommunication of Louis and Louise. Here is what happened.

Louise was a new Immigrant to the country. She lied and was an imposter saying she was a widow so she could marry Louis. Well she wasn’t. Her husband, a soldier in the Kings guard was still alive. Louise tried to cover it up, say it wasn’t so then told more lies to try and get out of it. She told the church that her husband was married before and even had children before they were married…… So they banned them from church until the matter could be investigated.

Well they got found out. They were confronted and fell to their knees. The next day after they were found out they threw themselves down at the priest’s feet, cried mercy and profound tears saying they would stop. The priest gave in to them and believed them as they had exterior marks of sincere repentance each carrying a candle to church in front of a large crowd who had come to witness such a sight. The reverend father absolved them and let them enter the church……BUT…….PSYCH! They didn’t stop. In fact after they said they would stop living together etc. it appears they had at least three children of a marriage that was not legal. Things moved a little slower back then. So the church went to them again to punish them and they repented again and the church believed them again. (The priests got real mad when talking about the chances they gave them in the document)

Enter the NARC!
A person who is not named in the Excommunication went to the church and told on them! It appears they couldn’t hide the fact she was pregnant again.
Nine days after a notice was sent to them Louis de Gonzague Dehestre and Louise went to the Church of Notre Dame de I’Assomption and publicly married each other. Well it appears the priests had a cow and a conniption fit. (Conniption was in my spell check!) I guess they had more time on their hands. (Insert joke about little boys and priest here.) It didn’t take long after that and they were Excommunicated.
Louis disappears for two years. The church’s ruling kept them apart. They had the power back then to bring them to justice (Jail and imprisonment).

c’est la vie…..
I can’t be too worried over this horrible story. If the church didn’t Excommunicate them we wouldn’t be here. Louis turns up in Montreal two years later sans Louise and marries Marie Francois Fortier my 5th great grandmother!