Thomas Hayton was born in 1772, in London, England. He was the second son of a shoemaker, and although he was taught how to make shoes, due to English law he would not inherit the family business. So, taking what he knew, he signed a contract to come to the colonies, and ended up in Canada in 1792 as an indentured servant. His master was a violent man prone to drinking to excess, and when he was deep in his cups he took to beating Thomas for no other reason than that he could, this went on for a number of months, until one day, his master took a horsewhip to him, striking him across the face and leaving a scar from the point of his chin up to above his hairline all the way along his jaw. Thomas wore a beard for the rest of his life to cover that scar. He ran away from his contract after that as well, and fled to the area around the Great Lakes that would someday become Wisconsin. There he became like many of his contemporaries a jack of all trades and master of none, he farmed, made shoes, was a lumberjack, and times when it became neccessary, a member of the area's militia, and served as a citizen soldier.
This is how my family got its start in this country, and I can think of no better character to portray than a guy who ran away from civilization, and all of its problems to get a fresh start for himself, and help build something meaningful. Sometimes I wish there was a great frontier that I could escape to myself...
Sounds good to me! The Wisconsin area was a beehive of activity during that time frame...
check out http://traditionalmuzzleloadingcheap.com/forum/index.php?topic=7000.0 (in this thread titled "this is me")
I portray my 4X Great Grandfather who was from the Fox River Valley area of Wisconsin He was born around 1770 and what history we have on him is very sketchy... mostly word of mouth and a few letters written by him telling his son what he was doing...
I'da cut the masters liver out and eatin it. But thats just me.
thmbsup Proud ta know ya "Trout" thmbsup