FOURTH OF JULY FIREWORKS

Lorain offers a jazz concert from 7 to 10 p.m. at Black River Landing, followed by fireworks at dusk across the river at Lakeside Landing. A fireworks show will also be held at the NorthCoast Knights baseball game at the Pipe Yard in Campana Park off state Route 58.And Independence Day reprised from the two Independents !

by Loraine Ritchey and Paula Tobias ( Two of the INDEPENDENTS )

Here we are –The 4th of July– known as Independence Day when the Colonists decided the government in abstentia ( England) was no longer worthy of governing her citizens in the Americas. We all know what happened next

and now those who followed in ships and planes across the centuries enjoy the freedoms as won by a group of very determined men.

Paula Tobias found these thoughts:
Some 4th of July thoughts. It’s good to be reminded and display our flags in remembrance.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM?

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

• 5 signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died.
• 12 had their homes ransacked and burned.
• 2 lost theirs sons serving in the Revolutionary Army.
• Another had two sons captured.
• 9 of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardship of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their scared honor.

What kind of men were they?
• 24 were lawyers and jurists.
• 11 were merchants.
• 9 were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
• Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in rags.
• Thomas McKearn was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him and poverty was hits reward.
• Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge and Middleton.
• At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was detroyed and Nelson died bankrupt.
• Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife and she died within a few months.
• John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year, he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.
• Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged:
“For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the
protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each
other, our lives, our fortunes and our scared honor.”
They gave you and me a free and independent America.

The history books never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn’t fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government! Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, and we shouldn’t.

So, keep in mind that the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and baseball games and take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July Holiday to silently thank these patriots. It’s not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember! Freedom is never free!
http://www.lasan.org/meditations/daily-bread/db-01/db-1%20(61).htm

Whilst I ( Loraine) was thumbing through my US passport I found this thought on page 8 of the Visa Page
LET US RAISE A STANDARD TO WHICH THE WISE AND HONEST CAN REPAIR George Washington

Just a note from the ex pat– George III of course was a German King and the City of London refused him the right to “conscript troops” from within her boundary and actually helped finance the colonists, pity about all that tea though – Loraine

Mark- The Demolition List

Mark Teleha’s work once again brings results:
http://www.locophotogblog.com/?p=371