From: jesus475073@webtv.net   
      
   What Became Of the 56 Men that Signed The Declaration of Indepencence?   
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   news:alt.discuss.clubs.public.issues.current-events.retiredusafwife   
   Date: Sun, Jul 3, 2011, 12:52pm (EDT-3) From: retiredUSAFwife@webtv.net   
   (MisInfo Busters)   
      
     What Became Of The 56 Men Who Signed the Declaration of   
   Independence? By Author Unknown   
      
    Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 signators of the   
   Declaration of Independence ?   
      
    Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured   
   before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two Lost   
   their sons in the revolutionary army, another had two sons captured.   
   Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the   
   revolutionary war.   
      
    They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their   
   sacred honor.   
   What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven   
   were merchants, nine 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 McKeam 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 his reward.   
      
    Vandals or soldiers or both, looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer,   
   Hall, 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.   
   The owner quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home   
   was destroyed, 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 grist mill 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 sacred honor."   
       
   In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is   
   distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest   
   in receiving the included information for research and educational   
   purposes.     
       
      
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