Family History

SIGNIFICANT FAMILY EVENTS

+ Ancestors traveled from Germany & England to America, first arriving in 1646.

+ Purchased 11 acres from local Native Americans, paid in gold.

+ Family founded the township of Lancaster, Massachusetts in 1653.

+ Descendant of Francis Hopkinson, who signed Declaration of Independence. He was a Lawyer, Judge, Harpsichordist, and Composer, as well as the designer of the American flag, and the Great Seal of the United States. He made peace treaties with the Delaware, Onandagoes, Cayugas, Oneidas, Mohicans, Nanticokes, Tutiloes, Conoys and Iroquois tribes. He was also known for his sarcastic wit, and didn't suffer fools well. He wrote political satires (jeux d'esprit) in the form of poems and pamphlets, openly mocked anyone who opposed civil liberties. In 1776, he wrote a satire about King George, called "The Prophecy". He also is known for his essays,"Typographical Method of Conducting a Quarrel", "Essay on White Washing", and "Modern Learning". He was also active in the Library Company and the American Philosophical Society, and an ex officio Trustee to the University of the State of Pennsylvania. He also won the Magellanic Premium award for major contributions in the field of navigation.

+ Related to Colonel William Polk who commanded the Ninth Regiment, North Carolina Continental Line, fought at the Battle of Brandywine, was wounded at the Battle of Germantown, and survived the winter at Valley Forge. Later sought to help freed slaves to resettle in the newly formed colony which later became Liberia. Appointed as Trustee of the University of North Carolina.

+ Related to Captain Ezekiel Polk, a militant Jeffersonian and Deist. Elected a delegate to the South Carolina Provincial Congress in 1775, in 1776, he commanded the 10th Company, 3rd South Carolina Regiment of the newly-formed Continental Army.

+ Related to James K. Polk, who was elected to be the 11th President of the United States. He brought Washington, Oregon, California, and Texas into the Union, founded the Smithsonian Institution, and was the last strong & effective President until Lincoln.

+ Great Great Grandfather was a staunch abolitionist who at age 22, volunteered to join the Union Army to fight against slavery in the Civil War. Later became a Corporal in the 8th Infantry. Eventually became a homesteader in Kansas, and worked as a Carpenter and Bridge Builder. As he moved west, he eventually became the Sheriff of Lander, Wyoming and was a Commander in the fraternal order of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR).

+ Great Grandfather enlisted in the Army Medical Reserves in 1917 and served in World War I. Upon returning from the war, he contracted tuberculosis during the outbreak in 1919, survived it, and went on to become a doctor himself, serving as the Presiding Physician at a major hospital in Denver, Colorado.

+ Great Grandmother was a Homemaker who lived to be 100.

+ Grand Uncle was a Corporal in the U.S. Army Air Service training some of the first American pilots in 1925.

+ Grandmother (Mom's side) worked as a Mathematician and a Journalist in an era when women did neither. Quit the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) at the same time as First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, when they refused to let African-American opera contralto Marian Anderson sing at Constitution Hall before an integrated audience.

+ Grandfather (Mom's side) worked as an Industrial Printer, and taught the art of publishing to students at the Morganthaler Linotype School in Brooklyn, NY and at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pennsylvania.

+ Grandmother (Dad's side) was a Homemaker.

+ Grandfather (Dad's side) worked for IBM in the lab working as a Model Maker & Tool Analyst, starting in 1934. During World War II he volunteered for the Navy after Pearl Harbor, but it was decided that because of his expertise, he'd be of better use to the war effort staying with IBM and working to create precision instrumentation for fighter planes. He ended up inventing a chemical milling & manufacturing process that literally made a better bull's eye in their targeting systems. The prior mechanism was far too fragile, and kept breaking in combat. Eventually became a Staff Engineer in charge of $25 million in IBM resources until his retirement.