The Schmidt, Burnes, Dwyer Family Photo Trove

A couple years ago I opened an old, moldy box in my Grandpa Schmidt's basement and found hundreds of old unidentified photos. I have finally uploaded all of these to a single post for other family members to look through. As I do more research I will undoubtedly make better estimations of dates and locations as well as identify more people within the photos. As I do I will update this page with my findings. If you recognize someone in any of the photos after the "Photos of Immediate Family" section, I would greatly appreciate it if you could let me know.

All information on photo studios originally from http://www.mnhs.org. Specifically, I combined information from the photographer and studio directories. On some I also referred to newspapers during the time period to ensure they were actually operational. These directories are not 100% accurate in the years work, but should serve as a solid guideline.

Isaac Van Wart: Shoemaker, Father of 11, and Patriot

Today's post will tell the story of my 7th great grandfather, Isaac Van Wart. Before I begin I would like to preface that this is not the Isaac Van Wart who captured Major John Andre during the Revolutionary War (although they are related). This Isaac, like many others, was one of the revolutionary war veterans who weren't honored with a section in the history books, but whose sacrifices should not be forgotten.

Throughout records he is most commonly known as Isaac Van Wart (1) and is sometimes also referred to as Isaac Van Waert (2). Isaac was born in about 1750 (3) to his parents Abraham Van Wart (2)(11) and Anna Maria May (12). On the 13th of April, 1751, he was baptized in the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow in North Tarrytown, New York (2).

The Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow. (source)

Upon reaching adulthood Isaac began working in the cordwainer trade (8), crafting shoes out of leather (8).

In the year 1777 Isaac, unmarried and just 27 years old, was commissioned as a 1st Lieut. in Capt. Jacob Wright, Company in the late Philip V Cortland Regiment, on the continental Establishment in which company and regiment he served as Lieut. from that time until the spring of the year 1780, when he retired from the service of the revolutionary war (5). During his service he was engaged in the battles of St. John's, Quebec, White Plains, Hackensack Bridge, Saratoga, Monmouth, and Stony Point (18).