Louisa Laurence RANSOM

Family/Spouse: Arthur FRINK. Arthur was born in 1763; died on 21 Feb 1847. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: 02 Mar 1774, Selectman of Westmoreland and a Surveyor of Highways

Notes:

Samuel purchased land on April 28, 1757 from DANIEL LAURENCE, JR. of Canaan, in the County of Litchfield and Colony of Connecticut. He paid 50 pounds.

In the summer of 1773, he sold all of his lands in Litchfield County and emigrated to Wyoming Valley.

On August 24, 1776, it was voted at a town meeting, to erect certain forts "as a defence against our common enemy," the British and Indians. Among the forts erected in compliance with this resolution, was one on Garrison Hill, in Plymouth; and for this Samuel hauled the first log.

Samuel was commissioned by Congress, a Captain of the company August 26, 1776, Wyoming at that time being in Westmoreland Co., then within the jurisdiction of Connecticut. He served in New Jersey and Pennsylvania during the years 1777 and 1778, and was killed at the Wyoming massacre July 3, 1778.

Excerpt from "the Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys": Samuel Ransom during the French and English war was a soldier in one of the Connecticut battalions. His name first appears on the pages of Wyoming history, October 2, 1773, when he purchased of John Ransom "lower tier lot No. 10" in Plymouth township, Wyoming Valley. About this time he was admitted an inhabitant of Plymouth, and removed there from Canaan with his family. On March 2, 1774, he was selectman of Westmorland (Wyoming) and surveyor of highways, and in 1775 was constable of the town. He hauled the first log for the erection of Fort Shawnee, August, 1776, and at this time was captain of the Third Company, Twenty-fourth Regular Connecticut militia, having been commissioned in October, 1775; but having been commissioned captain in the continental service August 26, 1776, he gave up command of the militia, and with Captain Durkee began to raise the two Wyoming independent companies. Captain Ransom and his men were with Washington in the campaign of 1777, at Bound Brook, Mud Creek, Brandywine, Germantown, and other points, and went into winter quarters at Valley Forge. In May, 1778, he hastened back to Wyoming and took part in all the events preceding and during the battle. Early in the fight he was wounded in the thigh, was left on the field and fell into the enemy's hands and when the bodies of slain Americans were afterward gathered for burial, Captain Ransom's body was found near the ruins of Fort Wintermoot, covered with gashes and with the head cut off. After the battle the widow, Esther Ransom, fled with her six children to the Delaware, and finally made their way back to Connecticut. Early in 1780 she returned with the children to Plymouth.

Samuel married Esther LAWRENCE on 06 May 1756 in Canaan Township, Litchfield Co., Connecticut. Esther (daughter of Daniel LAWRANCE, Jr. and Rachel KINGSBURY) was born in 1739 in Windham County, Connecticut; died in Aug 1794. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]