Wanta Bes, Relatively Speaking

My hobby is finding dead relatives. I often get requests to help others find dead relatives. Often times, I am asked to find a fictional character in their family. They want to be related to some famous or infamous person from the past or want to prove their relative was a Cherokee Indian. Why is it always a Cherokee? Why does no one wanta be a Navaho or Apache or Iroquois? Often times, if I find a real ancestor for them, they want to shape the real ancestor to fit their fictional ideal relative. I can never understand why someone would want to hang on to a fictional relative so desperately that they would deny their real relatives.

I have found some almost relatives in Mama’s family that are almost famous, or famous for almost reasons. Mama’s grandmother was Phebe Ann Cox, and the Cox family were Quakers. The Quaker religion mandated that its members married only other Quakers, could not participate in violence, and could not participate in government. And, they kept better records, relatively speaking, than other Early American religions. This has made it possible to trace this branch of Mama’s family back to the 1600’s, father back than any of our other ancestral lines.

The first almost relative is Herman Husband, brother-in-law and step son-in-law of Isaac Cox. Isaac was Phebe Ann’s great-great-grandfather. Herman Husband married first Mary Cox, Isaac’s half sister, second Amy Allen, Isaac’s step daughter, and third Mary Pugh. You see, when a religion mandates you marry only within your religion, in early times, the pool of possible partners was very small. You can google Herman Husband and find out more about his life, because he was a major figure in early American history. His is a very interesting story. He was a leader and spokesman for the North Carolina Regulators prior to the American Revolution. He was a Quaker, but his alliance with the Regulators and other activities brought about his exile from their Church.

Herman Husband was an extremely wealthy land owner who was elected to the North Carolina legislature, and yet he was a radical sympathizer with poor farmers that made up the ranks of the Regulators. The Regulators were protesting against corrupt officials in their local government by refusing to pay taxes long before the famous Boston Indian tax incident. He wrote extensively on the subject of self government. If you read his “Shew Yourselves to be Freemen", except for the old world grammar, you could be reading about our own times. He says “In vain will you search for a Remedy until you find out the Disease.” After being elected to represent his neighbors, he famously arrived at the first legislative session, threw down a bag of hard money and said here are your taxes. We refuse to pay corrupt government officials. Herman’s story is overflowing with many wonderful patriotic quotes.
When the Regulators got into a gun battle with Governor Tyron, Herman Husband fled instead staying and getting killed or captured as did many of his neighbors. Herman Husband fled back to Somerset County, Pennsylvania from whence he came, hiding out on land owned by his friend and relative, Isaac Cox. Being a famous fugitive necessitated a change of name for Mr. Husband. He choose the name Tuescape Death, to escape death. Isaac Cox later sold this parcel of land to Herman Husband.

In spite of being in fear for his life, as evidenced by his name, Tuscape Death did not avoid the limelight in Pennsylvania. He remained an active participate in local government, still raging against unjust taxes. His vocal participation in the Whisky Rebellion resulted in his being arrested and marched to Philadelphia in chains in 1794. Although he was released from prison in 1795, at the advanced age of 70 plus years, he did not withstand the imprisonment well and died soon after his release. He received a pardon signed by George Washington in July, 1795, a few months after his death.

Herman was almost a relative, and he was and is a famous participant in early American history, but now for the wanta be part. When I first started searching the net for Herman Husband, I found stories about a declaration of independence that pre-dates THE Declaration of Independence. You can google the Mecklenburg Declaration and find what may or may not have been the first declaration of independence that is noted on the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina. Weather this document is fact or mostly fiction, Herman Husband is still an almost relative to be proud of.
And, this is not the only wanta be in this particular family tree. Mary Pugh, no relative of ours as far as I know and the third wife of Herman Husband, had a brother name James Pugh. James Pugh famously took part in the North Carolina Regulators Battle of Alamance with his brother-in-law, Herman Husband killing many government troops with his excellent marksmanship. Unlike Herman, James Pugh, did not slip away and avoid punishment. He was arrested and sentenced to death by hanging. On June 19, 1771, James was escorted to the gallows where he was asked if he had any last words. The story goes that James Pugh had so much to say that, after 30 minutes of railing against injustice, he was silenced. His famously said: "The blood that we have shed will be as good seed sown in good ground, which soon will reap a hundred fold." Or did he?

Although this is the story that is repeated again and again by many of his descendants, other researchers have found that James was mentioned in his father’s will of 1794 as if he were still living and had a will of his own dated 1810 naming his wife Jane and his two known children. Odd that a man that went to the gallows in 1771 would have a will dated 1810. Either these two stories are of two different James Pugh’s, or, one of the stories is in error. The gallows quote feels like a wanta be ancestor story, but James is only an almost relative, so I am going to let him lay wherever his descendants wish him to lie.