The Wyeth and Wythe Families of America: Risking Everything for an Abstract Ideal called Democracy

Monday, April 19, 2021

Risking Everything for an Abstract Ideal called Democracy

Battle of Lexington by William Barnes Wollen, 1910

Today marks the 246th anniversary of the beginning of the American Revolution. Burdened by increasing taxes and diminishing liberties, at least 14 descendants of Nicholas Wyeth were among the patriots on 19 Apr 1775 willing to risk everything for an abstract ideal called democracy. Nicholas Wyeth's great grandson, Thomas Fessenden III, present on Lexington Green, heard Lexington Militia captain John Parker order his men to disperse after seeing his troops vastly outnumbered by the British. Thomas later testified the Red Coats shot first in the battle that killed eight Americans. While the British continued their fight at Concord, Parker assembled his survivors and the newly arrived Cambridge Militia near the Lexington and Lincoln town line. Joseph Wyeth, brothers Jonas Wyeth, Noah Wyeth and Ebenezer Wyeth Jr. and Ebenezer’s son, Jonas Wyeth Jr. were Cambridge minutemen present in the battle which came to be known as “Parker’s Revenge.” The Wyeth and Wythe Families of America book details family heroism in the Revolutionary War on pages 57-72.

THE WYETH AND WYTHE FAMILIES OF AMERICA

Written by Christina Wyeth Baker and published by Heritage Books of Berwyn Heights, MD, 2019, 8½x11, paperback, 558 pages, B5897, ISBN-10 0788458973 is $55.00 plus shipping and handling. To buy the book and have it inscribed by the author, please click here to email Christina Wyeth Baker. Additionally, the publisher, Heritage Books, sells the book on their website as well as through several well-known booksellers. For more information, please check out and like our Facebook site @WyethWythefamilies

About Jeff Wyeth

In 1977, while stationed with the U.S. Army in Germany, Jeff began writing letters of inquiry to family all over the U.S. One of the first responses came from Palm Beach architect Marion Sims Wyeth who designed the exterior of Mar-a-Lago. Marion sent Jeff his privately published booklet detailing the discovery of Nicholas Wyeth's birthplace in Saxtead. On page three of the booklet, Marion said he “is issuing this account at the present time in its very incomplete condition for fear that the notes might be … lost to some other member of the family who may be interested in carrying on this search.” Jeff took the word "search" literally. Finally after 33 years of searching, in 2010, Jeff convinced his sister to write a book based on his collections. Jeff and Christina are from the line of Nicholas' 3rd great grandson, Stephen Wyeth, who transplanted the Wyeth name from MA to OH. Stephen’s father Ebenezer Wyeth III, the oldest child of Ebenezer Wyeth Jr. and Mary Winship, grew up on the shores of Cambridge’s Fresh Pond. In 2020, Jeff and his wife Teresa celebrated 40 years of marriage. They are the proud parents and grandparents of one son and three grandchildren. Jeff serves as an evangelist for the Church of Christ in Grayling, MI.

ABOUT JAMIE WYETH

Celebrated artist, James Browning “Jamie” Wyeth really needs no introduction. Undoubtedly, Jamie is now the most famous Wyeth-named descendant of Nicholas Wyeth. For over six decades, Jamie has painted portraits of pigs, presidents and ballet dancers with equal skill. Walking in the legendary footsteps of his father, Andrew, and grandfather, Newell Convers "N. C.", Jamie has distinguished himself in his own right as a contemporary realist painter. Like his father and grandfather, Jamie’s creativity thrives in the unique environments of the Brandywine region of Pennsylvania and Delaware as well as the mid-coast of Maine. Jamie descends from Nicholas Wyeth’s great grandson, Noah Wyeth. Interestingly, when her mother died, Jamie’s third great grandmother, Lydia Convers Francis, age nine, went to live with Christina and Jeff’s ancestors, Ebenezer Wyeth Jr. and Mary Winship, on the shores of Cambridge’s Fresh Pond. At age 25, Lydia married the nephew of her benefactors, Captain Job Wyeth.

Library Holdings for Christina Wyeth Baker's Book

The Wyeth and Wythe Families of America is owned by The Library of Congress, Washington, DC; the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, MA; the Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN; the Saint Louis County Library, St. Louis, MO; the Mid-Continent Public Library Independence, MO; the Wichita Public Library, Wichita, KS; the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Washington, DC; the Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge, MA and the Licking County Genealogical Society at the Licking County Library, Newark, OH.