03/20/2026
My 5x maternal great grandfather, Adam Mealman (Mehlman, etc), came to the "colonies" with the British Army in 1753, but wound up fighting with the Colonists in the Revolutionary war, as part of the Pennsylvania militia, three different times beginning in 1776 and continuing on until 1781, when he finally retired to the Homestead he had built in the Pennsylvania mountains. He's buried up in those mountains with his family, and I was blessed enough to be able to visit the area this last summer (thanks to the generosity of my brother) where the foundation of the old Homestead still exists, the spring well that Adam built and the graveyard where he is buried. It's incredibly satisfying and moving to visit the places that my ancestors roamed, especially when it's during a time of foundational growth. He was the first of the Mealman line to set foot on land in "the New World". Family stories tell of how Adam learned to live among the natives that were friendly and open to newcomers and of battles that were fought against indigenous peoples who were not friendly.
 It is both humbling and rewarding to look back at the past, to ancestors who forged their way alone, often times with nothing but their hands and their minds. It is my singular wish that were these people alive today they would look up upon us with pride, the same as I look back on them with respect.
