As I wrote, I heard the voices of my grandmother and her sisters whenever Sarah spoke. (see Rushton Pedigree Chart, Sarah Hall & Jeremiah Rushton Descendant Chart, Sarah Hall Rushton, the Cordwainer's Wife ~ Chapter One, Revolutionary Cowboy in New York ~ Jeremiah Rushton Stole for King and Country Parts One and Two) In Chapter One, we met Sarah Rushton on her land grant in Westchester, Nova Scotia, walking her favorite path with her daughter Elizabeth and grandchildren. Sarah, her husband Jeremiah, and his family had run a successful cordwaining business in New York City during the Revolutionary War, earning good silver money serving thousands of people jammed into a city under occupation. When peace came and Jeremiah's regiment was disbanded, the Loyalist family faced exile. Elizabeth, fretting over her own husband's plans to move the family to Upper Canada, challenged her mother: it wasn't Sarah's choice to leave New York, she said. Danger forced her. The S...
Photos, stories, and memorabilia across generations