Last muster in England

One of the things I've been doing in England is spreading the word about The Last Musters and hoping to locate images for volume two. Visited with a photo specialist at the National Archives at Kew and handed out flyers at the Who Do You Do Think You Are Live show in London. the book has a UK distributor. There have been quite a bit of interest in the book. No UK magazines Re interested in reviewing it yet though.

Publication Date Revealed

Thank you to everyone who's emailed me about this book. I just heard from the publisher that the book should be in print by June of 2010! Cross your fingers.

Last Muster: Images of the Revolutionary War Generation

It's been a whole year since I posted to this blog. Here's the good news. The book is DONE! Kent State University is the publisher. It should be released in spring 2010.

The Book!

It's been a busy few months compiling missing pieces of information on the men and women being included in The Last Muster. Photo permissions take a lot longer than you can imagine. Here's the good news--I've finished a draft of the manuscript. It's not too late to add images of your Revolutionary War veterans and their wives.

If you have any pictures and haven't contacted me yet, please do so soon via email mtaylor@taylorandstrong.com. I'm looking forward to wrapping up six years worth of research and writing.

Thank you,

Maureen

Interviewed by the Genealogy Guys

As a new feature on my website you can listen to an interview David Lambert and I did with The Genealogy Guys. Drew Smith sat with us at the 2006 Federation of Genealogists conference and talked with us about our Revolutionary War project. Check it out.

Rebecca Mayo Missing

In 1904 a photograph of Rebecca Mayo and her Virginia home appeared in the Boston Globe. At this time she was one of two surviving widows of the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Mayo had the “most notable pension granted by the last session of Congress” given to her. The sponsor of this pension was Col Campbell Slemp, who was the only Virginian republican congressman. Mrs. Mayo’s pension increased from $8 per month to $25.

Her husband was Stephen Mayo who fought from 1776 to 1781. She lived in Newberne, Pulaski County, Virginia, and was over 90 years old, helpless, paralyzed and almost entirely deaf. She required the constant help given to her by her daughter, also widowed.

Does anybody have the original picture of Rebecca Mayo, or know where it is? If you do send me an email at photodetective@gmail.com

Finding the Last Men (and Women)

As I'm writing this book, I'm still hoping for a few more images. It's not that we don't have "enough." David and I would like to find a photo of each of the last living Revolutionary War vets and last living Revolutionary War widow from each state. We know these images are out there. Every state had one.

Can you help us by asking your local historical society if they have any daguerreotypes of very elderly men and women? We'll do the research to verify the connection and give you credit for the find.

Right now, I'm looking for an image of Caleb Harrington of Lexington, Massachusetts. He attended the 75th anniversary celebration of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. His image isn't in the collections of the Lexington Historical Society or the Concord Public Library.

Thank you to all the people that have already provided tips!