On this, our nation's 250th birthday, I would like to share my personal celebration of this historic day. After a close encounter with death a year and a half ago when an Arkansas deer jumped in front my Harley, I decided there were things I was dedicated to completing before I ever found myself in that position again. For more than two decades, I've been researching my ancestry and have made many previously unrecorded breakthroughs that would never had been shared had I died that night on the side of the road. All of my research would've died with me. I am a Daughter of the American Revolution through my ancestor, Thomas Eastman of New Hampshire, whom I visited at his grave there last summer. But my main focus all these years has been trying to prove lineage to my 5th great grandfather, William Cotanch of New Jersey. In the 130 years since DAR's inception, no one has found records to document lineage to him, mainly because most of the colonial records in New Jersey have been destroyed by war, fire, and flood. In honor of America's 250th Birthday, I intended to change that and have spent the last year doing so. Late last summer, I finally found the two missing pieces of the puzzle which proved my lineage to William Cotanch who served in the 3rd NJ Regiment of the Continental Line and then NJ State Troops from 12 Feb 1776 until 1 Jan 1782; the entirety of the Revolutionary War. The first was a set of 1871 property deeds in Dryden, New York which proved the lineage between my 3rd great grandfather, also William Cotanch, and my 4th great grandfather, Benjamin. This William had left NY for Wisconsin prior to 1850 and none of his records or census' in Wisconsin ever named him with his father or siblings. His parentage was always assumed because he lived near his three brothers in Wisconsin, but it had never been proven. Until now. In 1871, he and all his siblings sold the property they inherited back in New York after their mother died, with it clearly stating they were heirs of Benjamin Cotanch. The next hurdle was to finally prove Benjamin as the son of NJ Patriot William. There are no church, cemetery, probate, and only few other county records that exist for the period they lived in Sussex (now Warren) County, NJ. The only records I had on William were his military records, and he died well before pensions were authorized, so there were no post-military records, which normally include information on family members. Benjamin moved from NJ to the Finger Lakes region of NY in 1813. When he sold his homestead inherited land, whom he co-owned with the minor son of his brother, Peter, he was required by the Orphans' Court to post an ad in the newspaper on behalf of his minor nephew. The ad explicitly stated the land had once belonged to William Cotanch, and they were his heirs. It was a long 20+ year journey making those discoveries. As part of my commitment to preserving my family’s history, which was nearly lost for good on the side of a road in Arkansas, I submitted my information to DAR to formally have William Cotanch recognized as my ancestor. I'm told the approval process takes upwards of two years, which is shamefully slow, given our digital age. My second commitment to preserving my ancestry research was to write a book about Captain William Cotanch. That goal dramatically expanded when I learned just last August that his father, John Coutanch who had sailed from the Isle of Jersey in 1734, had a brother. A well-known Colonial Figure, in fact. Michael Coutanch and his brother, John (my ancestor and William's father), sailed the colonies together for five years after arriving from the Isle of Jersey until separating to raise their families. Michael moved to Bath, NC and became a wealthy and influential merchant and legislator. His house still stands there today known as the Palmer-Marsh House Museum. Michael’s daughter, Susanna Coutanch Evans, is widely known in the Eastern Carolina region as the founder of Greenville, NC. Surprisingly, I could not find anywhere where anyone had ever documented a dedicated story of their lives. Just bits and pieces. And, also surprisingly, it appeared only four of Susanna's seven children had previously been proven. Until now. In December, I began writing their stories. John, Michael, William, and Susanna Coutanch. Spending 10-15 hours a day at my desk, the research and writing were the easy part. Learning how to turn it all into a physical book was a massive learning curve of trial and error. But in the end, its 316 pages, 502 footnotes, 67 images, and eight generations firmly documented, I could not be more proud to finally be able to say it is completed, and is a beautiful work of art which will now live on forever for their descendants, well beyond my own life. I always tell anyone learning about their family history that there is at least one ancestor you will fall in love with. I am fortunate to have many, among them, a B29 pilot and genuine WWII hero; William of Wisconsin for what he endured at age 43 marching through the heat of Mississippi in 1864; Patriot William for how much he endured at Ticonderoga and Valley Forge and every major battle in between from the very first call for volunteers until the very end when the British surrendered; Benjamin and his wife, Sarah Hiles, for taking care of her mother and many young siblings after her father died, and then doing it yet again for their own 11 children all while carving a town out of the wilderness of the Finger Lakes region just after the War of 1812; their daughter, Phebe, who suffered an utterly cruel decade amidst the Civil War chaos when she lost her husband, father, mother, and two young children in a span of just 6 years but carried on to become a nurse snd lived into the 20th century; Michael Coutanch for his sheer determination to make Bath the center of Colonial NC politics and for his clear devotion to God and family; and especially his daughter, Susanna, who suffered immeasurable tragedy as a young woman losing her entire family, then becoming a widow at age 30 pregnant with her 7th child, all during a period of revolution and ended up standing firmly as a Patriot with her cousin Major George Evans and her uncle Brigadier General Alexander Lillington, all while protecting her children’s future for the emerging new world. Her grandson, Judge James Lewis Evans of Selma, AL, showed immense grace in the face of multiple deaths of most of his immediate family during the post reconstruction years; yet another grandson, James G Shepherd, stood in 1841 as an official of the Texas Republic in Matagorda County near Galveston. These a just a few of the amazing stories of the people in our family. Today may be July 4th, but I've been celebrating Americas 250th birthday for many months already while writing this book. You don't need to be a Cotanch descendant to appreciate it because it tells the story of real Americans who carved towns out of wilderness, created churches, local governments and schools. They fought wars, found love, suffered tragedy, illness, and debt. My family’s story is the story of America and I can't wait for you to meet them. COUTANCH: Jersey to Colonial America is now available in paperback, hardcover, and ebook at Amazon: amazon.com/dp/B0H6NPR372 Available on Ingramspark for bulk order, as well.

Somewhere on that beach is a future pilot, engineer or astronaut. That’s why we fly. An incredible weekend over Huntington Beach with our @NASA team at @PacificAirshow. America has big missions ahead, and we’re going to need the next generation ready to take them on.

I apologize. I have a serious problem of skepticism when it comes to anonymous accounts. I should be more discerning and less reactive. I was during the pontificate of Francis, on a pendulum of support vs criticism. Since Oct 2023, when Jesus slapped me upside the head, I came to realize who am I to doubt Christ’s vicar on earth as if I am smarter, holier, or more prayerful than the Pope. Since then I see things I never saw or realized before about trusting Jesus and His divine mandated authority on earth and also our human nature to want to be the smartest one in the room with all the answers.

Just try it, California.

I will be making a comprehensive list of all of Cancer Owens’ sponsors by the end of the week, including their contact emails. Any company continuing to stand by this monstrous creature should face the consequences.