Brooks-Curry Genealogy

England, Ulster, Virginia

Zach Rexroad - The Patriot!

This week I watched a quick video from the NSDAR on resources for finding service. This was part of the Continental Congress that had been done virtually due to the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Anyway, it was really very interesting and offered up a whole lot of new resources for me to check out. I was really excited and, while watching the presentation I was able to find source material to prove Zach Rexroad as a patriot - yea!

Here's what we know - Zach came to the country from Germany and settled in PA. He married his wife, Anna Vogel there and had four children. They later moved to Virginia and settled in Augusta County. The area where he lived morphed into Rockingham County and then Pendleton County. And records are also found in Highland County. So there are lots of places to look and many spelling variations.

In Virginia they had four more children, including our ancestor, Leonard. In the book, Johann Zacahrias Rexroth The Pioneer, the author states that both Zach and his son, John, served in Militia Company No. 6 in this county. While Zach didn't serve as a soldier, he did receive a voucher for the contribution of five horses. (If you are interested, I can get you a pdf copy of this book.)

Pay vouchers are available in the Library of Virginia. They consists of lots of little sheets of paper that have the information on them. To find the original, you would have to go through boxes and boxes to find the particular piece of paper you want - they call them "feet" which designates how long the boxes would be if you lined them up!

Anyway, I had found a book that listed the vouchers from Rockingham County earlier so I had the service done - yea!
RW-Rexroad-Residence-Rockingham2

But you also have to prove residence at the time. Not an easy thing to do. The video showed me how to locate some tax lists for Rockingham County and….hooray! I found the image listing him on a tax list in 1783 (see image). So now I can submit him as a new patriot. The author of the above book also did quite a bit of research on the land and taxes but the problem is the changing of the county name. Although NSDAR may accept it, Zach had lots of parcels. AND his older son, Zach Jr. is already a PA patriot and confusion can abound. So I really need to be accurate in the records.

Findagrave also has an interesting story on the reburial of Zach and Anna - find it here.

Scoop on the NSDAR:
The National Headquarters of the Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) was closed due to the COVID-19 lockdown. They began sending in a small crew in mid-June and work resumed on membership applications and supplementals. I am a member through the Curry line - this is a line through my mother's family (Brooks-Curry). But, once you are a member, you submit supplementals to add patriots to your membership. Once I have a supplement approved, then that patriot is part of my line. So far I have Dr. Robert Curry, Jonas Friend, and William Brooks approved. All are on the Brooks-Curry line so any of my relatives can do a short-cut through me to membership.

Waiting in line are these patriots: Jacob Conrad, William Currence (sent in on 4-8-2019), George Rymer, Sam Pullen, Loftus Pullen, Robert Young (sent in on 1-3-2020) and Joseph Bennet (sent in on 1-30-2020). They are currently working on submissions sent in around 3-26-2019. As they get approved, I'll add a patriot bio to the blog for each of them. Once Goerge Rymer is approved, I can send in Zach's application. I also plan to send in the ones for George Caplinger, Henry Henry, Leonard Simmons and Balser Hammer. Can't argue with the fact that our family is very patriotic now, can we?

My family line starting with my Grandmother (Generation 3):
Gen 3: Hazel Julia Brooks Betler Houchin
Gen 4: Richard Thomas Brooks & Landona Belle Curry
Gen 5: Luke Perkizer Brooks & Barbara Julia Rexroad
Gen 6: Thomas Rexroad & Sarah Pullen
Gen 7: John B. Rexrode & Eleanor Rymer
Gen 8: Leonard Rexrode & Elizabeth Caplinger
Gen 9: Zacharias Rexrode & Anna Maria Voegelin