1781 New York

1781- Sheldon's Horse became the first American unit to conduct a combined combat operation with our French Allies in Tarrytown, New York. Rochambeau's staff considered Sheldon's Horse, Second Continental Light Dragoons as " . . . incontestably the best on the continent. . . ."

1787 New York

1787- Amea Wasson is born to John Wasson and Amea Turner Wasson in Stephentown, New York.

August 12, 1787- John S. Randall is born to John Randall and Mary Seamans Randall in Rensselear County, New York.

1810 New York

1810- John Samuel (or Seamans) Randall marries Amea Wasson in Colesville, Broome, New York.

1811 New York

August 24,1811- Hiram Randall is born to John Samuel Randall and Amea Wasson Randall in Rensselaer County, New York.

1816 Photo from New York Times

1817 Letter to Wales

October 14, 1817- A letter sent from New York from David Jones, a joiner by trade, to his wife in Wales:

'This is the best place under the sun for earning money; but hundreds of men here kill themselves by drinking. A man who keeps himself sober will get respect and a job, and the best wages you can imagine. I shan't be pestering any of you on that account. Hundreds of people came here last year very poor, and many children, and not a trade to their name either, and on this account they become a burden on the state. They have room here for everyone to get his bellyful of food without begging from house to house. It's a very poor look out for the labourer here; but men on the land get land on credit immediately and pay when they can. But a little money is needed to start clearing the ground ... From the beginning cultivation here has almost all been done by newcomers. The people of the land are wild Indians; they live far off in the country, living by fowling and hunting wild beasts, and coming with skins to sell to the merchants. They are the inheritors of the land, but they sell the lot to great men, and get very little for it. These in turn sell it to all who come to buy'.

'There is every sort of religion here, and first rate chapels. 1 saw 28 Baptists dipped on Sunday morning every one of them in white gowns. There is great danger of fire here on account of the greater number of the Houses being built with Timber. There is more freestone here than of any other kind of stone; plenty of white marble; and plenty of bricks only labour is very dear. The Americans are an uncommonly clever people. You never saw anything like their kindness to strangers. I can earn as much money as I want. No one need work more than ten hours a day here; eating our breakfast before going out to work and begin to work at 7; knocking off at 12 and going back to it at one; and knocking off at six. There's a good place here for small jobs and ready money; there is a dollar for shoeing a horse. But people always take care to grumble, the Welsh worse than any. There is too much small change for drink; the best rum at a shilling a quart English money, and all other liquors at similar rates. This is a land that ruins its inhabitants, and that on account of its fruits. The women lose their teeth before they are twenty years old the greater number; men at 45 years old look very old; there are here no old people to be seen. They commonly ruin themselves with drink. It is a good place for fowling: every sort of fowl to be had...........................................

1816 New York

Lucinda "Lucy", wife of Hiram Randall, born in New York.

1820 New York

My great great grandfather Aaron C. Johnson is born in New York.

(1827) Rev. Nathaniel Paul Hails The End Of Slavery In New York

In 1827 Rev. Nathaniel Paul, a minister in Albany, New York, hails the final abolition of slavery in that state. His address given on July 5, 1827 in Albany marks that occassion. The address appears below.

We look forward with pleasing anticipation to that period, when it shall no longer be said that in a land of freemen there are men in bondage, but when this foul stain will be entirely erased, and this, worst of evils, will be forever done way. The progress of emancipation, though slow, is nevertheless certain: It is certain, because that God who has made of one blood all nations of men, and who is said to be no respecter of persons, has so decreed; I therefore have no hesitation in declaring this sacred place, that not only throughout the United States of America, but throughout every part of the habitable world where slavery exists, it will be abolished.

However great may be the opposition of those who are supported by the traffic, yet slavery will cease. The lordly planter who has his thousands in bondage, may stretch himself upon his couch of ivory, and sneer at the exertions which are made by the humane and benevolent, or he may take his stand upon the floor of Congress, and mock the pitiful generosity of the east or west for daring to meddle with the subject, and attempting to expose its injustice: he may threaten to resist all efforts for a general or a partial emancipation even to a dissolution of the union. But still I declare that slavery will be extinct; a universal and not a partial emancipation must take place; nor is the period far distant. The indefatigable exertions of the philanthropists in England to have it abolished in their West India Islands, the recent revolutions in South America, the catastrope and exchange of power in the Isle of Hayti, the restless disposition of both master and slave in the southern states, the constitution of our government, the effects of literary and moral instruction, the generous feelings of the pious and benevolent, the influence and spread of the holy religion of the cross of Christ, and the irrevocable decrees of Almighty God, all combine their efforts and with united voice declare, that the power of tyranny must be subdued, the captive must be liberated, the oppressed go free, and slavery must revert back to its original chaos of darkness, and forever annihilated from the earth.

Did I believe that it would always continue, and that man to the end of time would be permitted with impunity to usurp the same undue authority over his fellow, I would disallow any allegiance or obligation I was under to my fellow creatures, or any submission that I owed to the laws of my country; I would deny the superintending power of divine providence in the affairs of his life; I would ridicule the religion of the Saviour of the world, and treat as the worst of men the ministers of an everlasting gospel; I would consider my Bible as a book of false and delusive fables, and commit it to the flames; nay, I would still go farther; I would at once confess myself an atheist, and deny the existence of a holy God.

But slavery will cease, and the equal rights of man will be universally acknowledged. Nor is its tardy progress any argument against its final accomplishment. But do I hear it loudly responded,—this is but a mere wild fanaticism, or at best but the misguided conjecture of an untutored descendant of Africa. Be it so, I confess my ignorance, and bow with due deference to my superiors in understanding; but if in this case I err, the error is not peculiar to myself; if I wander, I wander in a region of light from whose political hemisphere the sun of liberty pours forth his refulgent rays, around which dazzle the star-like countenances of Clarkson, Wilberforce, Pitt, Fox and Grenville, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Hancock and Franklin; if I err, it is their sentiments that have caused me to stray….We do well to remember, that every act of ours is more or less connected with the general cause of emancipation.

Our conduct has an important bearing, not only on those who are yet in bondage in this country, but its influence is extended to the isles of India, and to every part of the world where the abomination of slavery is known. Let us then relieve ourselves from the odious stigma which some have long since cast upon us, that we were incapacitated by the God of nature, for the enjoyment of the rights of freemen, and convince them and the world that although our complexion may differ, yet we have hearts susceptible of feeling; judgment capable of discerning, and prudence sufficient to manage our affairs with discretion, and by example prove ourselves worthy the blessings we enjoy.

1827 New York

1827- My great great grandmother, Elizabeth Johnson, wife of Aaron C. Johnson, is born in New York.

1836 New York

January 10, 1836- My great great grandfather, John Edward Randall, was born to Hiram and Lucy Randall in Masonville, New York.