The Reality of War

I am getting a little closer to finishing volume two of the Wyeth and Wythe Families of America so I thought I would share a bit of research for next month's Veterans' Day about Wayne Harvey Wyeth, who died at age 80 on this date in 2003. Wayne was a descendant of Gad Wyeth whose father, Ebenezer Wyeth Jr., fought in the first battle of the American Revolution on 19 Apr 1775. Following in his fourth great grandfather’s footsteps, Wayne’s obituary mentions he was in the military and was held as a prisoner of war in Nazi Germany during World War II. 

Four months before his capture, Wayne, in Company A, 116^th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, was in the first wave of assault troops landing on Omaha Beach’s Dog Green sector shortly after H-Hour (6:30 AM) on D-Day, 6 Jun 1944. The troops of riflemen were the spearhead of the massive Allied invasion aimed at restoring freedom and liberty by smashing Hitler’s tyrannical grip on the European continent. Company A suffered devastating casualties within minutes of reaching shore and was among the hardest-hit American units of the invasion.

D-Day Omaha Beach Into the Jaws of Death

Although he survived the deadly landing at Omaha Beach, Wayne later reflected that he did not fully understand the reality of war until reaching Saint-Lô, France, where he saw the bloated body of a German soldier lying in the street. The experience brought home the human cost of the conflict in a way that combat alone had not.

Sources: "Wayne H. Wyeth," St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO), 31 Oct 2003, citing Newspapers.com page 92; Wayne Harvey Wyeth, I did it my Way, 1995, story courtesy of his grandson, Matthew Joseph Wyeth; Samuel J. Cox, "H-Gram 031: Operation Neptune, 6 Jun1944–Special "D-Day" Edition" (Naval History and Heritage Command, 6 Jun 2019), 16, H-Gram 031; Sons of Liberty Museum, "Wayne H. Wyeth," 29th Infantry Division World War II Records, accessed 26 Oct 2026; Joshua Shepherd, “D-Day Landing at Omaha Beach,” Warfare History Network, May 2019 and Robert F. Sargent, Into the Jaws of Death, photograph, Omaha Beach, Normandy, France, 6 Jun 1944, National Archives and Records Administration.

Wyeth Brothers at the Largest Battle of the Revolutionary War

“History does not move you more than when it’s in the iron of your own blood.” ~ J.R. Thompkins

250th Battle of Brooklyn Reenactment (Flatbush is through the trees)

Here is a reminder of the price of our freedom from 250 years ago.

The three oldest sons of my 6th great grandfather, Ebenezer Wyeth Jr. (1727-1799), served in Captain Eliphalet Newell’s company of Colonel Henry Knox’s artillery. After Ebenezer III, Jonas Jr. and Joshua Wyeth helped to defeat the British in the siege of Boston on 17 Mar 1776, the brothers were among 19,000 men in the Continental Army who marched south with commander-in-chief George Washington to defend the port city of New York.

Shortly after the joy of hearing the Declaration of Independence read on 4 Jul 1776, the three brothers fought on 27 Aug 1776 in the largest battle of the Revolutionary War. With the British fleet numbering over 400 ships, including 73 warships, and 32,000 troops camped on Staten Island, Washington split his army in half. Part of the army remained on Manhattan and the rest were dispatched to Long Island.

Ebenezer, Jonas and Joshua were among 1,000 soldiers defending the Flatbush Road in Brooklyn. Joshua was captured in a skirmish there a few days before the main battle. He apparently escaped as he went on to fight in later battles on Manhattan and in White Plains.

Christina Wyeth Baker Traveling the same route
on the East River Ferry as the Army did from Brooklyn to Manhattan  

With the East River at his back, Washington used the only exit route available to him. He evacuated his entire army on small boats from the Brookland Ferry across the river to Manhattan. Under cover of darkness, rain and thick fog, the Continental Army appeared to the British to have vanished. With the artillery, Ebenezer, Jonas and Joshua were on one of the first boats. Washington was on the last boat.

During the Battle of Brooklyn, about 300 Americans were killed and over 1,000 captured. When the British starved and denied medical attention to the prisoners, more than half of them perished.

Following the defeat in Brooklyn, the 29 Aug 1776 escape allowed the Continental Army to fight in at least 10 more major battles before the British finally surrendered five years later after the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.

Until the end of the war, all three Wyeth brothers continued to take up arms against the tyrannical British government. Jonas joined the Continental Navy and was held for a time as a POW. His health weakened by exposure during his military service, Jonas died young. Ebenezer and Joshua were affected by ill health for the rest of their lives due to wounds, sickness and injuries suffered while they helped to give us the freedom we now enjoy.

Sources: “Abstract of pay for Captain Newell’s Company in Henry Knox’s regiment,” Gilder Lehrman Collection, Jan 1776; "Joshua Wyeth prisoner at Long-Island," Long Island Star (Brooklyn, NY), 28 Sep 1826, Newspapers.com citing page 3; U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, Ebenezer Wyeth III and Joshua Wyeth; Battle of Long Island, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Long_Island

The Wyeth Brothers were not Sunshine Soldiers

John Trumbull painting of the Battle of Bunker Hill, Public Domain

250 years ago, on 17 Jun 1775, 16-year-old Joshua Wyeth spent a sweltering summer day fighting at the Battle of Bunker Hill. When he was only 15, Joshua threw tea into Boston Harbor on the freezing winter night of 16 Dec 1773.  At age 17, Joshua enlisted in the Continental Army with his two older brothers, Ebenezer and Jonas.  Suffering through crushing defeats in New York and losing New York City to British troops, Continental Army soldiers deserted by the thousands.  But the three Wyeth brothers were not sunshine soldiers. They believed the American cause was just and continued military service long after their Army enlistment contracts ended.  

Gertrude May Wyeth a Self-made Woman

Gertrude May Wyeth photos are
courtesy of her niece Marian Gertrude Wyeth

We know of many self-made men in our family.  Lesser known, but equally as important, are the contributions of Wyeth / Wythe women.  For Woman’s History month 2024, we honor Gertrude May Wyeth.  She more than fills the bill of a self-made woman. 

Gertrude was born Sarah Lelia Wyeth to George Wyeth and Jennie Sullivan on 12 Aug 1896 in Nashua, New Hampshire.  After service in the U. S. Army, George left Nashua to fight with the British Army in The Boer War.  George’s abandonment sent Gertrude’s mother over the edge.  Already distraught about being disowned by her family for marrying outside of the Catholic faith, Jennie was unable to care for her three children and was institutionalized for more than 57 years until her death at age 93. 

 Growing up in a series of foster homes, somewhere along the way, Gertrude lost her birth name.  Without parental support, she struggled to put herself through the Boston Normal School Teachers College.  Throughout her trials in foster homes, Gertrude did remain close to her grandfather, Oren T. Wyeth.  His death on 15 Jun 1920 made her graduation ceremony on 23 Jun 1920 bittersweet.
 
Shortly after Gertrude began her 44-year career in the Boston public school system, on 2 Nov 1920, she was among the first women able to vote in a presidential election.  Although unknown at the time, perhaps Gertrude drew strength as an independent woman from the Wyeth genes.  One particularly strong woman in the family was Grandfather Oren’s fifth cousin, Susan Brownell Anthony.  Susan, who famously played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement, descended from Jonathan Ward.  Oren was the third great grandson of Jonathan’s sister, Deborah Jackson Ward Wyeth.

Gertrude on a binder in the Saskatchewan fields 

 Gertrude took advantage of her summer vacations to reconnect with her father while George was living on the prairie in Saskatchewan, Canada.  On visits there, for a city girl, she was amazingly adept at playing the farm hand.  Nevertheless, Gertrude’s consummate skills were in teaching and administration.  Bolstered by earning bachelor's and master's degrees in education from the Teachers College of the City of Boston, Gertrude held many supervisory positions during her long career in education. 
 
When she passed away in 1996, just a few months shy of age 100, Gertrude had contributed promise to countless lives.  Undoubtedly, she knew teachers have the most important job in the world. They not only have the power to favorably change the lives of the students they teach, but to positively impact society as a whole.

Wyeth and Wythe Book is in the LOC and several Libraries across the USA

Christina Wyeth Baker in the Cambridge Room 

The Library of Congress (LOC) and the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Library in Washington DC both hold The Wyeth and Wythe Families of America book.  For all their help during the nine years it took me to write the book, I gifted the 558-page Wyeth/Wythe history to two libraries in Massachusetts... The New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston and the Cambridge Public Library.  

It is most appropriate for the Cambridge Room to hold this history on their shelves since the Wyeth and Wythe families of America started in Cambridge shortly after Nicholas Wyeth purchased a house across from Cambridge Common in 1645. The donated volume honors Nicholas Wyeth's 9th great granddaughter, Jennifer Lena Wyeth (1988-2020), of Malden, Massachusetts. 

Other libraries who have purchased the Wyeth/Wythe book show at the bottom right.  If you would like to own this book for your personal library, please contact me at the email address shown above.

Navy Lt. j.g. Sidney Wyeth Brinker's LCT First to Land on Omaha Beach

LCT-30 commanded by Sidney Wyeth Brinker (insert) 

on the sands of Omaha Beach, 6 June 1944

When the fog lifted over the Normandy coast on this day, 6 Jun 1944, the German officer in command of Omaha Beach fortifications reported seeing 4,000 ships headed directly at him. His men fired their guns on the Allied landing crafts until they ran out of ammunition. Navy Lieutenant j. g. Sidney Wyeth Brinker, veteran of invasions in North Africa and Sicily, was the skipper of LCT-30, the first Landing Craft Tank to land on Omaha Beach at 10:10 AM about three and a half hours after H-Hour. 

Sidney said the tide just pushed his boat ashore right into the sand. The LCT-30 carried tanks, troops and gear of the 29th Infantry, many of whom never made it more than a few yards onto the beach. 

Sidney's college picture here is inserted into a photo from footage showing the LCT-30 in Victory at Sea, mark 26 min 05.  The documentary ends with allied soldiers moving forward after the breakthrough. The narrator states, "Behind the survivors lie those who died to enslave the world and those who died to free it." 

Although Sidney was wounded during World War II, he blessed the day when he returned home to the loving arms of his mother, Lorna Alice Wyeth. For Christmas 1943, it had been Lorna's fervent wish her other son, Lt. Comdr. Robert M. Brinker, would be found. Robert's submarine had been lost at sea near the Philippines on 9 Sep 1943. Lorna's hopes were kept alive until Robert was officially declared dead on 3 Jan 1946.

Sources: Samuel J. Cox, "H-Gram 031: Operation Neptune, 6 Jun 1944–Special "D-Day" Edition" (Naval History and Heritage Command, 6 Jun 2019), 16, H-Gram 031 and Joshua Shepherd, “D-Day Landing at Omaha Beach,” Warfare History Network, May 2019 and Victory At Sea - D-Day - Episode 15, YouTube, photo accessed 11/23/2024, www.youtube.com/watch?v=K75yDdY-fGQ and "Long Memories of 'Longest Day'" Daytona Beach News-Journal (Daytona Beach, FL) 5 Jun 1994 Genealogybank.com citing page 1 and "Navy Wounded," Daily Times (Chicago, IL) 3 Jul 1944, genealogybank.com citing page 9 and "Mother Still Hopes Brinker will be Saved," Daily Times (Chicago, IL) 24 Dec 1943, Genealogybank.com citing page 2.

Joshua Wyeth Honored with Medallion Grave Marker

Engraved Boston Tea Party Participant Marker
 installed at Joshua Wyeth's Cenotaph in
Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio

On 16 Dec 1773, Joshua Wyeth helped change the course of history by destroying chests of East India Company tea. Joshua was the first to call the act of defiance and protest that propelled America on the road to Revolution “The Boston Tea Party.”  In honor of his bravery and participation in the historic event, the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, Revolution 250 and the Cincinnati Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution (CCSAR) honored Joshua Wyeth with a medallion grave marker during a ceremony on 8 May 2023 at his memorial monument in Spring Grove Cemetery.  

Along with a musket salute, contributions included were from the individuals pictured.  Michael Gunn represented CCSAR.  Christina Wyeth Baker spoke about her 4th great grand uncle's actual grave below Washington Park in downtown Cincinnati and the effort to obtain his memorial tombstone from the VA.  Kristin Harris and Evan O'Brien, of the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, presented Joshua's personal history.  Heather Amos, Spring Grove Cemetery Docent, talked about the History of Spring Grove and Cincinnati’s connection to the Revolutionary War.  Cathryn Philippe, portraying Phillis Wheatley, installed Joshua Wyeth's commemorative plaque.  Here is a link to a video about the event.

Pat King Harms Responded to Nation's Call in Rosie Legacy Fashion

Pat "Rosie" King at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Foundry

During Women’s History Month 2023, we recognize the contribution of Patricia Ruth “Pat” King Harms for her work in the defense industry.  During World War II, every man, woman and child was called upon to defeat the Axis Powers.  Recruited in national "Rosie the Riveter" campaigns, women responded to our nation’s call by filling jobs traditionally held by men.  

Pat's life intertwined with much of the history of the 20th century.  Her grandfather, Louis Wyeth, developed the famous Wyeth’s Sage and Sulphur hair tonic that was advertised in newspapers coast to coast.  After his business failed, Louis settled on homestead land in Nebraska.  Pat's parents John and Dorothy Wyeth King homesteaded, rented and developed land into a 10,000-acre cattle ranch.  Since Pat was born during Prohibition, the doctor who delivered her asked to be paid in bootleg whiskey.  Those merry times were followed by banks’ failing, the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and loss of the King family ranch.  Pat moved west to work in her sister's apple orchard.  In 1942, after deciding business school wasn't for her, Pat signed up to sell war bonds and make metal castings at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard foundry.  At age 18, she worked alongside much older men.  The young men, like her boyfriend, Vince Harms, were away fighting deadly battles overseas.  

When the war ended in 1945, young servicemen returned to jobs the women had been doing.  For Pat it was fine.  She married Vince, took up volunteer work for the blood bank and Cancer Society and started her family.  Born with underdeveloped lungs, tragically, Pat lost her only son at 13 months.  With strong resolve, Pat poured devotion and love into caring for Vince and raising their three daughters.  In 2011, Pat proudly accepted the honor of recognition on the Washington Women in Trades “Rosie Legacy” calendar for her nontraditional role as a laborer to support the war effort of the 1940s. 

Photo of Pat King Harms (1924-2016) courtesy of her daughter Judi Harms Edwards; Sources: Rae Hight, Pat Harms "A Brief Memoir" (prepared 6 Sep 2005), 4-5; Christina Wyeth Baker, The Wyeth and Wythe Families of America (Berwyn Heights, MD: Heritage Books, 2019), 93, 395-396; Keeley Smith, "Calendar honors Port Orchard resident's wartime shipyard work," The Kitsap Sun (Bremerton, WA), 18 Jan 2011.

35 Wyeth and Wythe Men Fought to put down the “Slaveholders' Rebellion"

 Private John Jasper Wyeth, 44th Mass. Infantry

On this date, 160 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. It declared all slaves, in states still engaged in rebellion against the Union, would be free on the first day of 1863. The declaration turned the Civil War into a crusade against slavery. Many descendants of Nicholas Wyeth fought and died for America’s democratic ideal that all men are created equal. One of them, John Jasper Wyeth, wrote a memoir called “Leaves from a Diary Written While Serving in Co. E, 44 Mass.” In his book, John did not refer to his service in “The American Civil War” or in “The War Between the States” or “The War of Secession." John unequivocally called the war the “Slaveholders' Rebellion.” The Wyeth and Wythe Families of America book charts on pages 79-83 the names of 35 Wyeth and Wythe men who fought to put down that “slaveholders' rebellion.” Nine of those men died to keep the Union whole, destroy slavery and maintain the Constitution.  Photo of John Jasper Wyeth (1841-1906) is courtesy of his great grandson Keith L. Wyeth.  

Washington took Command of the Army a Stone's Throw from the Wyeth Farm

Cambridge Common, 3 Jul 1775, Currier and Ives Engraving

One of the days that made this country possible occurred 247 years ago on Cambridge Common.  Our ancestors had a front row seat to that history.  Across the road from the Common was the farm Nicholas Wyeth purchased in 1645 when he first settled in the New World.  On 3 Jul 1775, when George Washington took command of the Continental Army there, the Wyeth house was then occupied by Jonas Wyeth Sr.  Undoubtedly, Jonas’ nephews, Joshua, Jonas, and Ebenezer Wyeth III were stirred by the ceremony, for they soon joined the Continental Army.  The three brothers fought in several losing battles, but they had such respect for General Washington, because of his incomparable character, they served their full enlistment and supported the General's ideals long after many other soldiers dejectedly deserted the Army.  Please see pages 63-72 of the Wyeth/Wythe book for more information on the three brothers’ service.

Not all Wyeths and Wythes Across the Globe are Descended from Nicholas Wyeth

V. J. Wythe died in World War II

You will not find information on every Wyeth or Wythe across the globe in this book.  If you want to verify a relationship to Nicholas Wyeth, please contact the author at the Gmail address above right to find out if and how you are related to Nicholas. The name V. J. Wythe appears on this monument honoring war dead between 1939 and 1945 from St. Michael's church in Framlingham, Suffolk County, England. We don’t know how, but V. J. Wythe is likely descended from a brother or cousin of Nicholas Wyeth of Saxtead who came to Cambridge, MA circa 1644.  St. Michael’s in Framlingham joined with All Saints in Saxtead long before Nicholas was baptized in Saxtead in 1600.  Early Suffolk County probate records show a proliferation of Wyeths and Wythes with similar first names.  Of course, many people did not leave wills.  However, for those who did, it would be impossible to determine how the families match, even if all recorded wills were read.  This is why researchers have not been able to verify the legend that Nicholas Wyeth was related to Declaration of Independence signer George Wythe.  For theories of their connection, please see pages nine through 16 of The Wyeth and Wythe Families of America.

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.

Remembering the World War I Service of Mary Elizabeth Wyeth

Mary Elizabeth Wyeth (insert) and the Army Nurse Corps, Base Hospital 68, A. E. F.

For Women’s History Month 2021, we honor World War I nurse, Mary Elizabeth Wyeth.  Mary was named for her great, great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Brewer, the wife of Boston Tea Party and Continental Army veteran, Joshua Wyeth.  

A few years after graduating from Union Hospital’s nursing program in Terre Haute, Indiana, 27-year-old Mary set sail on 16 Sep 1918 for France with 100 other young women of the Army Nurse Corps of the American Expeditionary Forces.  Their destination was the newly purposed Base Hospital No. 68 in Mars-sur-Allier. 

Since the sea crossing took place at the height of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, the deadliest in history, Mary’s nursing work for the Corps actually began aboard ship.  Once in France, none of Mary’s nursing experience prepared her emotionally or physically for caring for the vast numbers of soldiers wounded by high-explosive artillery shells, poison gas burns and "shell shock" who arrived by the trainload at No. 68.  Many men were sickened by flu that in turn took the lives of several of Mary's fellow nurses.  

When Hospital No. 68 closed on 15 Jan 1919, Mary transferred to Base Hospital No. 93 in Cannes, France.  There in May 1919, Pvt. John McLaughlin, a young man from her hometown, on leave from the 8th Battalion, 20th Engineers, wrote his mother about seeing Nurse Mary on the sunny coast.  After 59 years of marriage, Mr. and Mrs. John McLaughlin and their military tombstones now rest side by side in Terre Haute’s Highland Lawn Cemetery.  

Sources: Ethel Ross Wyeth Canion; Alpha Sawyer, US Base Hospital 68 A.E.F (Boston: Griffith-Stilling Press, 1920), 26, 40, 43 and 124; Christina Wyeth Baker, The Wyeth and Wythe Families of America (Berwyn Heights, MD: Heritage Books, 2019), 211; and the Terre Haute Saturday Spectator, 17 May 1919, 24.

The Daughter of Rebecca Parks Andrew Wyeth Fox is Depicted in Thomkins Matteson's 1855 Painting

Thomkins Matteson painting from Wikimedia Commons

On 26 May 1698, Mary Wyeth, the 49-year-old unmarried daughter of Nicholas Wyeth and Rebecca Parks Andrew Wyeth Fox, wrote in her last will and testament that anything “due from the estate of my Father Wyeth and my Mother Fox my will is it be disposed of to my five Brothers Thomas Andrew, Daniel Andrew, Nicolas (sic) Wyeth, John Wyeth and William Wyeth and to my sisters Sarah Fiske and Rebecca Jacobs.” The sister Mary mentioned, Rebecca Andrew Frost Jacobs, is shown here with her hands raised in anger at her daughter Margaret for accusing her grandfather George Jacobs Sr. of witchcraft. This painting has been widely used to depict the trials that started on 1 Mar 1692 in Salem, MA. For more information on Mary’s will and her siblings accused of witchcraft, please see pages 41-56 and 153-154 of The Wyeth and Wythe Families of America book. 

First Lieutenant Peter Wyeth Johnson was a True American Patriot

Vietnam Wall Memorial, Washington, DC

Today on 13 Feb 1968, 23-year-old 1st Lt. Peter Wyeth Johnson, U. S. Army Special Forces Green Beret, was killed instantly by rifle fire while leading an assault on enemy positions near Qui Nhon, Vietnam.  Following in the footsteps of his grandfather, World War I veteran Marion Sims Wyeth, Peter also was a true American patriot.  John Kerry, now U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, in his book, Every Day Is Extra remembered his high school classmate, Peter, as a good friend who loved to read and write poetry.  See this link to the Wall-of-Faces for more on Peter's service.

Joshua Wyeth Coined the Phrase “Boston Tea Party”

First Steps toward a Democratic Government

247 years ago, on 16 Dec 1773, 15-year-old Joshua Wyeth, a Boston blacksmith in training, smeared his face with soot and helped trash an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company.  Joshua was a brave member of the generation of American patriots who fought a war against the tyrant English King George and set the United States on its course to democracy.  Spoiling the tea was a political protest in reaction to the tax British Parliament added to it without input from the Colonies.  Years later, Joshua would playfully be the first person to call the actions of that night in 1773 a “Tea Party.”  However, at the time, the protest was a serious act of rebellion.  He and others in the secret society, Sons of Liberty, saw themselves as patriots fighting to give a voice to American Colonists, but had they been caught, they would have been executed as traitors.  Joshua’s story, and the details of 19 of his children, whose names can be verified, show on pages 211-218 of The Wyeth and Wythe Families of America book. Public domain photo credit: John Andrew, artist, Yale University Art Gallery.

Pfizer purchased WYETH Pharmaceuticals in 2009

Airplane Distribution of WYETH Polio Vaccine 

With Pfizer’s COVID vaccine now rolling out around the world, we are reminded the Wyeth name has been cutting edge in medicine since 1860 when brothers John and Francis Wyeth founded the company that would become the pharmaceutical giant WYETH. The Wyeth and Wythe Families of America book details Pfizer’s purchase of WYETH for a $68 billion cash-and-stock deal. Photos of the brothers, furnished by Pfizer appear, with their stories, on pages 397 and 398 of the Wyeth/Wythe book. The polio vaccine rollout photograph shown here is courtesy of the Wyeth brothers' 2nd great grand nephew William Maxwell “Max” Wyeth IV.

The book includes the children of the seventh generation from Nicholas Wyeth

Because Nicholas lived in the 1600s, his descendants in generation seven were born in the late 1700s or early 1800s. For many people, this book will end at the generation of their great grandparents or great, great grandparents. If you have trouble figuring out your most recent ancestor in the book, please drop the author a note at the Gmail address above right to get the lineage from Nicholas Wyeth to you.

Now available to order directly from the author

The Wyeth and Wythe 
Families of America 

Seven Generations of the Descendants of 

Nicholas Wyeth

Compiled & Written by 

Christina Wyeth Baker

Based on the Research of Jeffrey Micheal Wyeth and Christina Wyeth Baker

Foreword by James Browning "Jamie" Wyeth

Published by Heritage Books of Berwyn Heights, MD, 2019, 8½x11, paperback, 558 pp.  B5897 - $55.00 plus shipping and handling... to have your book personally inscribed, please write to the Gmail address shown in the top right box of this blog.

Recently published by Heritagebooks.com

The Wyeth and Wythe Families of America 

Seven Generations of the Descendants of Nicholas Wyeth

Compiled & Written by Christina Wyeth Baker

Based on the Research of Jeffrey Micheal Wyeth and Christina Wyeth Baker

Foreword by James Browning "Jamie" Wyeth

2019, 8½x11, paperback, 558 pp.  B5897 - $55.00 plus shipping and handling

The Wyeth and Wythe Families of America contains over 40 years of research which took over nine years to compile, verify and write. The book is enhanced with numerous photographs and documents provided by over 100 individuals and organizations.  It has endnotes, a bibliography and a name index.  It is divided into two sections.  The first section includes the Wyeth / Wythe family beginnings in the English countryside when Nicholas Wyeth was baptized on 20 Jan 1600 in Saxtead, England; theories for the connection of Declaration of Independence signer George Wythe to Nicholas Wyeth; Nicholas’ emigration from Saxtead, England to Cambridge, Massachusetts; Nicholas’ wife, Rebecca, the ancestress of almost everyone in the book, and her children who were accused of witchcraft; the heroism and sacrifice of individual family members in conflicts from King Philip’s War to the Philippine-American War; a history of the bigamy charge brought against one of Cambridge’s most affluent Wyeths; and details for some of Nicholas Wyeth’s famous descendants including Kurt Russell.  The second section uses the register numbering format to name and give statistics for the descendants of Nicholas Wyeth from his children to his fifth great grandchildren.