Fourth of July 2022 Party On!

Fourth of July 2022 Party On! This year we will be able to do what America does best – celebrate the birth of our nation. We can once again celebrate the land we love with family and friends.

We will display our colors of red, white and blue. My flag will be out for my neighborhood to see, and we will hear our favorite patriotic songs being sung or listened to.

The fireworks tent will open up in the last week of June all over town, ready for their first customers of the year.

There will be picnics, family reunions, parades, carnivals, and so much more. There will be a watermelon eating contest, making homemade ice cream, fixing mom’s favorite potato salad and BBQ that will melt in your mouth. These are the memories we have each year in small or large towns everywhere. We have not been able to do such a celebration in the fashion we are used to because of Covid-19. So we are ready to get back to our party.

American 1776 Flag

Even though our party is back, do we know why we celebrate on this day The 4th of July also known as Independence Day? It commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. It allowed the original 13 colonies free from British rule.

The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, secured these colonies’ independence from Great Britain. Fighting began on April 19, 1775, followed by the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The American Patriots were supported by France and Spain. The conflict took place in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. There were many ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War this is the information on my fourth great grand-uncle John Michael Boltz, Jr.

Resource: The Boltz/Puls/Pulse/Pults/Pultz Family of America was published in January 1995 by Paul and Bea Boltz and Robert and Carolyn Gerard. John Michael Boltz, Jr. is my fourth great-granduncle.

John Michael Boltz, Jr. served in the Revolutionary War as a Private, 5th Class, 2nd Battalion, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Militia in 1782, He moved to Berkeley County, Virginia sometime between 1784 and 1787 and is shown paying taxes there in 1787.

During the American Revolution, many local state militia units were created to help defend the rights of the colonies. The 2nd Battalion of Riflemen Lancaster County (1776–77), a militia unit from Pennsylvania, fought in support of the American cause.

Coming from all 13 colonies, soldiers were native-born and immigrants of almost every nationality as well as free and enslaved African-Americans. Several women also disguised themselves as men in order to fight. The army accepted volunteers as young as 16. A 15-year-old could join with a parent’s permission.

John Michael Boltz, Jr., was born on January 22, 1758, in Lancaster County, Pennslyvania, and died in January 1806, Berkeley County, West Virginia. He was the son of John Michael Boltz, Sr., and Eleanor Veronica Firnssler. He married Eve Zombro about 1777 in Pennsylvania.

Children:

John Peter Boltz was born December 7, 1778, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and died before 1806 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
John Jacob Boltz was born June 23, 1780, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and died before 1806 in Lancaster County.
Henry Pulse was born on April 2, 1782.
John Michael Pultz was born on July 17, 1783.
George Boltz was born in 1783.
John Boltz was born on February 25, 1787, in Berkley County, Virginia, and died between 1840-1842 in Ripley County, Indiana.
Catherine Boltz was born on December 16, 1788.
Elizabeth Boltz was born on February 23, 1790, in Berkeley County, Virginia married Thomas Rutherford on December 25, 1806
George Jacob Humphreys Boltz was born on February 5, 1793, in Berkeley County, Virginia, and died before 1806.
Andrew Boltz was born on September 18, 1794, in Berkley County, Virginia, and died before 1806. David Boltz was born on September 15, 1796, and Frances Boltz was born on January 18, 1800. Several family members are buried at the Union Church Cemetery in West Virginia.