Happy Independence Day!

I often name characters for members of my family.

Those of you who read the westerns will recognize the name of my father's grandfather, Andrew Jackson Sinnickson, whose fore-fathers settled in the Fenwick colony in 1638.

The Warne and Sinnickson branches of the family knew one another and fought together against the British.

We are directly descended from George Warne and Thomas Sinnickson who crossed the Delaware beside George Washington. They fought the British in the battles of Trenton and Princeton.

General Howe considered Thomas Sinnickson such a danger that he put a price on his head of 100 pounds dead or alive.

Thomas went on to serve the new nation in the first Congress of the United States. Later, during World War 2, a Liberty Ship was named the USS Thomas Sinnickson.

The father-in-law of Thomas Sinnickson was killed by the British in the ‘Massacre of Hancock Bridge.’ I hope I will write the story one day. (For further reading you can look up this Revolutionary War incident on line. )

My Papa Tom (Tommy, of Shiloh Autumn) is named after Thomas Sinnickson as is our son, Thomas Luke, and little Tommi Jane (his daughter) who also inherited the name.

Our family heritage is American from the earliest Colonial settlements.

Our hearts are deeply rooted here in this beautiful nation where God planted us.

May God bless America and God bless and protect us all from the everpresent, increasing tyranny.

Happy Independence Day!