yeoldenews: yeoldenews: ace-in-blue-n-gold: yeoldenews: yeoldenews: This is one of the most interest
yeoldenews:yeoldenews:ace-in-blue-n-gold:yeoldenews:yeoldenews:This is one of the most interesting conditions I’ve ever seen in a will…“To my oldest Son who shall survive me I give my broad Sword & Fusee [musket], the Companions of my revolutionary Toils, which I bequeathe as a precious Deposit, never to be used against a fellow Being except in self defense or to defend the liberties of the Country when invaded by foreign or domestic foes.”(source: The will of Benjamin Tallmadge, dated August 24, 1831.)So I just spent like four hours trying to track down what might have happened to this damn sword, and I got nothing.At the time of his death Ben had three living sons: Henry, Fred and George Washington. His sons William and Ben Jr. both predeceased him without issue.If the conditions of the will were followed, the sword would have passed to Henry. Henry died in 1854 in New York City and left everything to his wife Maria. Maria died in 1858 and there is no mention of a sword or gun in her oddly specific will (there is half a page about who gets what pieces of lace though if someone needs that information for some reason).If Henry passed the sword and gun down before he died, and it just wasn’t in the will for some reason, I’m assuming it would have gone to one of his two living sons (he had one son who drowned in his teens): Benjamin (who I’m calling Ben3 for the sake of clarity) and Montgomery. (btw Montgomery Tallmadge would be a totally badass secret agent name.)Ben3 died unmarried in his forties, and the only specific item he mentions in his will is a gold pocket watch and chain he leaves to Montgomery’s son Ben4. Ben3 did however add two codicils to his will two years before he died, that removed a cousin who was supposed to receive a large sum of money and instead gave that money (equivalent to over $120,000 today) to his friend Spencer Clark who was then also named one of his executors. (I have to admit there is part of me that wonders, taking into consideration the fact that Ben3 never married, whether Spencer was a friend or a “friend”.)Anyways, no sword there.Montgomery ended up in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin of all places (which is 20 minutes from my grandmother’s house), and while I found his probate records, I haven’t found a copy of his will yet.At this point I was getting frustrated and decided to see if there was any chance the sword had been donated somewhere. I found that in 1909 Ben1′s powder horn, epaulets and spurs were being displayed by the Sons of the Revolution in New York City, however there is no mention of a sword or musket.So I give up, it’s a mystery.Edit: Forget everything I just said, I think I may have found it. I just sent out an email, but if this isn’t a typo it could be a while before I hear back…The sword is in the American History Smithsonian Museum in DC. I have seen pictures, but cannot find them! Also, I loved how Maria’s will basically said, “All the children get this that and the other thing..but not you, Augustus (Frederick). You’re good. Dad and I agreed on this.”All right, so to continue this mystery (because I’ve spent too much time on this and am invested now), the last reference I can find to the sword being in the Smithsonian is the link you provided (THANK YOU <3) from 2013. Since then, that link has become inactive and there is no record whatsoever of the saber in the Smithsonian collections catalog. Also, based on a photo I came across, it appears that the sword was originally displayed with an officer’s coat, powder horn and musket. I have no confirmation these items were originally associated with Tallmadge as well, but if they were, none of those items are in the collections catalog either.I shot off an email to the Smithsonian archives to see if the sword is still in the collection, and asking what happened to it if it is not.I also contacted the Fraunces Tavern Museum in New York, where I believe the sword was originally donated (along with Tallmadge’s powder horn, epaulets and spurs) in 1902 by Augustus’ son Frederick Samuel Tallmadge as part of a collection of “Revolution relics” specified in his will.So it seems that Augustus may have gotten the sword instead of Henry for some reason, and then passed it down to F.S. Either that or Henry/Henry’s heirs gave it to F.S. as he, at one point being the president of the Sons of the Revolution, obviously had an interesting in the topic.So I guess we’ll wait and see what happens.(I also feel the need to mention, for people who follow the other things I post, that Rachel’s cousins Jack and Will were the great-great grandsons of Joshua Mersereau, of the Mersereau Spy Ring (aka The Staten Island version of the Culper Ring that no one has really written anything about). So I feel like all my posts this week are really coming full circle.)So it seems, that despite not being listed as a part of the Smithsonian collections in their online catalog, the sword is indeed still there!Or at least it was a month ago when @juehs34 took these pictures. (Thank you!)It also seems that the other items displayed with the saber are not associated with Tallmadge, which does leave the question as to what happened to his powder horn. Maybe the Fraunces Tavern Museum will be able to shed some light on that if they get back to me.As for the musket… I’m going to let that be a mystery for now as this blog is in imminent danger of becoming Ye Olde Stuff that Ben Tallmadge Once Owned.But at least one mystery seems solved.(I also want to thank @ace-in-blue-n-gold for pointing me in the right direction and being a general Benjamin Tallmadge expert). -- source link
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