The Revolution Will Be Televised
Be thee Loyalist or Patriot?
The declaration of independence from England is hitting 250 years old in 2026 so of course there is going to be a re-release to celebrate. Not unlike the Patti Smith Horses re-issue celebrating fifty years of ground breaking punk rock, the Founders are coming our way to re-visit the past in a way in which we will re-examine and appreciate where we were, where we are now, and where we’re going. One of those re-examinations will come in the form of a six- part Ken Burns documentary. Be ready to get rocked. If you thought the backlash to the 1619 Project was heavy, then buckle up for this one. It’s going to look at our founders as more than cameos on our money. It’s going to portray them as complicated, conflicted, heroic, brave, and flawed. It’s going to ask you—“Be thee a Loyalist or be thee a Patriot?”
At one point, as George Washington pondered frost at Valley Forge, my ancestors were waist deep in the mire of that question. How do I know? The clues came to my fingertips two summers ago as I sweltered in a Philadelphia Air BnB for a July with nothing but time on my hands, sciatica, and the internet.
Swipe back ten years prior. My friend Tara Key, a research librarian at an Ivy, helped me to fill in the blanks on an entire half of my family tree. She gave me some names on my mother’s side, the side of the family where outside of several of her cousins and my two uncles, I never knew. I realized I didn’t even know her mom’s name. A silent Swede from the silent generation, said mum about her own mum. Or her dad. Tragedy was behind it all, and who would heap that upon children? But as she lay dying, my dad laid it all out for me. And then in my early fifties, my friend gave me the receipts. And names. German names.
Why did I grow up calling myself Italian-Swedish with no correction? My mom’s maiden name was Swedish, but you know, my uncle’s middle name was German, and that happened to be my grandmother’s maiden name. Gunderman. Tara led me there to what should have been obvious all along, but hey, I hadn’t been searching, and nobody before Tara led me there.
Fast-forward Philadelphia, the city of liberty bells and constitution halls and the crucible of the U.S. origin story. I thought I might seek out some history as long as I was there. I branched out from Tara’s initial research and found immediately that in the years since, the hyper-links on names I had, started to move the needle. After several exhilarating hours down the rabbit hole I had more branches on the family tree to shake a stick at. One name, Shoemaker, directly descended from my great-grandmother Amber St. Clair Gunderman (nee Saylor).
Sail on Saylor, I did. Amber’s parents were Steward Saylor and Ellen Shoemaker. Ellen, sweet Ellen, born in 1854, departed in 1940, was the direct descendent of George Heinrichs Schumacher. All I had to do was follow the “her father was ____” and “his father was ____” links. It was simple and easy. It was simple and easy to go back to the O.G., Arndt Schumacher (1600-1654), in Dollendorf, Germany where his son, George was born in 1635. I can trace this far back so easily because they were famous. Not Taylor Swift famous, but founding of America famous.
The facts:
—George Schumacher immigrated to America in 1686.
—He was a Quaker on board with a bunch of other Quakers including his offspring, on a ship owned by William Penn, The Friendship.
—George never got off the boat. He died of smallpox docked in Delaware Bay.
—My predecessor, his son, George Heinrichs Schumacher, did set foot in Philadelphia where his brothers and sisters rebranded as The Shoemakers.
—His brother, Isaac, became the Sherrif of Germantown in 1695, under Governor Penn.
—Isaac’s son, Benjamin became mayor of Philadelphia (terms:1743, 1752, 1760)
—Benjamin’s son, Samuel, became mayor in 1769 and held that position when George W. came a’knockin with Patriots.
Samuel Shoemaker, my great-great 10x uncle was the famous guy who made this plunge so easy. I picked up gads of primary docs along the way, including Samuel’s diary after he fled to England when the Pats, hot tar bucket in collective hand, chased him out of America. Thing was, while Sam was labeled a loyalist since he was the Philly mayor under British rule, he claimed that he was neutral and wrongfully exiled. As a Quaker, he had no dog in the fight. He didn’t believe in the fight on either side. A few years after the war, Benjamin Franklin petitioned for him to come back to America, which he did, reuniting with his wife, Rebecca Rawle at Laurel Hill Mansion which had been confiscated during the war. I visited the house which overlooks the Schuylkill River and Samuel’s spyglass was on display.
So, Loyalist or Patriot? I’m going to watch the documentary. I’ve always seen myself as a patriot, proud of my country, admiring the cunning and leadership of George along with the ingenuity of Ben and intellect of Tom. I read Johnny Tremaine to my middle school classes and rooted for the Bostonians, although that got a bit sketchy when looking at some of the documents surrounding the Boston Massacre. The British had overstepped their authority in preceding years and debased the colonists, but those colonists weren’t always so ethical either. And how much of the Revolution hinged on the land speculation of the upper classes who were also slave owners? Multiple sides to many accounts (mostly written by the historical victors and taught in American classrooms), will be considered in the new doc.
And then there is the question of whether I could have gone to war and killed other colonists for the cause. Some were neighbors, some were friends, some were even family. Be thee a patriot? My gut churns.
Fantastic!