The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
Birth: 23 Dec 1755 Smith Creek / Frederick / VA Death: 16 Mar 1847 Stanley / Page / VA
Qualifying Service Description:
Pvt in Captains Rowsch, Denton, Prince,, Sharps Companies,
Colonels Bowman, Edmunds Regts, Gen Washington
Crossing the Delaware among ice floes on the cold Christmas Eve 1776 as a soldier in General Washington's Continental Army, when they routed the unsuspecting Hessians
Siege at Yorktown, with General George Washington. Even though his term of service had expired, he stayed on, along with his brother Henry, to witness the surrender of British General Cornwallis
Additional References:
PENSION # *S17816
Genealogical, Burial, and Service Data for Rev War Patriots Buried in Virginia (M.E. Lyman, 2016)
Virginia Historical Inventory. WPA Cemetery Survey Reports, pg County. Library of Virginia, Richmond. See Service Code 75
1790 Census pg 64, John Conrad Aleshire
Patriots Index 1966, pg 7
SAR Patriot Index Edition III (CD: PP2210, Progeny Publ, 2002) plus data to 2004
John Conrad (Ailshite) Aleshire was born on Smith Creek, Frederick County, Virginia on December 23, 1755, son of Johann Conrad Elscheid and Maria Catharina Goessel.
Most of his life's history is told in his service in the Revolutionary War which included highlights:
1) Crossing the Delaware among ice floes on the cold Christmas Eve 1776 as a soldier in General Washington's Continental Army, when they routed the unsuspecting Hessians.
2) Siege at Yorktown, with General George Washington. Even though his term of service had expired, he stayed on, along with his brother Henry, to witness the surrender of British General Cornwallis.
At the commencement of the war of the Revolution, he was mustered into service, and underwent many hardships in the struggle for freedom. He was one of Washington's forlorn hope, that crossed the Delaware amid the floating ice on Christmas night, 1776, and attacked and routed the hessians under Rahl at Trenton. After this engagement his term expired and a dissolution of the old army occurred. Though much worn down with hardships incident to a severe winter campaign, yet he beheld with a patriot's heart, and the critical situation of his country, and with a lofty zeal characteristic of gallant spirits that periled their all in behalf he again entered the service, and in a few days participated in the bloody conflict at Princeton.
He continued in the army during three tours, and was in several of the hardest contested battles. For a time he retired from the field, but was not inactive in furthering the common cause. His frequent sallies against the Tories caused them much discomfiture, and his name among them struck terror in their ranks. In the last campaign, when liberty and slavery seemed suspended in the balance, and so nicely equipped that even the most sanguine contemplated these with trepidation--with a shout of defiance to the British Lion, he shouldered his knapsack and musket with a firm resolve in the preponderance of freedom.
John Conrad is lauded in an article published in the Philadelphia Saturday Courier, 1847, "Relics of Seventy Six", "How sleep the brave who sink to rest with all their country's wishes blest." "Another Veteran Gone" "Died at the residence of his son, Col. Jonas Aleshire, in Page County, Va. on the 18th, Mr. John Conrad Aleshire, age 91 years, 2 months and 22 days.”
After the war, John Conrad Aleshire married 25 Feb 1784 in Shenandoah, VA Susannah Pangle. They had six children.
1) Daniel (1786-1850) died in Cumberland County, IL
2) Henry P. (1790-1868) died in Greenup, Cumberland IL
3) Catherine (1786-1847) married 3 Jan 1811, Shenandoah VA Abraham Decious.
4) Elizabeth (1793-?) married 21 Oct 1813, Shenandoah VA John Hollingsworth.
5) Margaret "Peggy" (1798-1840) married 28 Jul 1829 Shenandoah VA Henry W. Mauck.
6) Col. Jonas (1801-1878) married 22 Jul 1833, Page VA Mary Christian Branham. They had nine children. Died 2 Jun 1878, Hancock, IL.
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