[Brenda Collins Dillon]

To everybody on the forum,

I wanted to take this time before I got too busy with the family to wish you all a very safe and happy fourth of July. We are staying home this year. Our little village that we just moved into is haveing a small fireworks display over the river tonight and we should be able to see it from our house. Tomorrow the entire family will be here for a cook out and I will enjoy all the little ones.

I know this country is not perfect in many ways but I think we all should realize that there is a lot of people in this world living under worst conditions and without many of the luxuries that we share here in America. Take a few mintues to enjoy the link below and remember the very first 4th of July.

http://www.tracone.com/fireworks/

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed

the

Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and

tortured

before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their

sons

serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons

captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the

Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and

their

sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants,

nine

were

farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well

educated,

but

they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well

that

the

penalty

would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw

his

Ships

swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and

properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced

to

move

his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress

without

pay,

and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken

from

him, and poverty

was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall,

Clymer,

Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the

British

General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his

headquarters.

He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The

home

was

destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy

jailed

his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying.

Their

13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill

were

laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and

caves,

returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.

Some

of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we

shouldn’t.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday

and

silently thank these patriots. It’s not much to ask for the

price

they

paid.

Have a great day,

Brenda Collins Dillon

[tasheaka]

Brenda,

Thanks for sharing that information, I think sometimes we may take things for granted, a terrific price was paid then and we are still paying to maintain it. I will be staying at home on the fourth as well and maybe take a quiet swim. Everyone is out of town visiting friends, relatives.

Everyone who will be travelling somewhere, please do so with care.

Many Blessings

Margaret

[Author]

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