Does this qualify me for the DAR?

I love Ancestry.com and more than just for the obvious reason! I was playing with my tree and accepting hints and I came across a treasure of family history information on one of my lines that is well researched and documented!

It turns out my 6th great Grandfather, William Edward Stacy (great-grandfather of Joseph Stacy Murdock) is a Revolutionary War hero and pioneer! There is an interesting (and well-sourced) Wikipedia article about him here.

He was born in Gloucester, Massachusets in 1734 and worked as a shoemaker- a profession he learned from his father. He may have also worked in the seafaring business. After he married his wife, Sarah Day, they moved away from the coast to New Salem and was a farmer, shoemaker and later became a commercial banker.

In 1775, he was 41 yrs old and was an active revolutionary and reportedly helped rally the militia of New Salem to the American cause at the beginning of the war. He served in the battle of Bunker Hill. He then served in a regiment who were sent to Cherry Valley, New York that was attacked by Native Americans and loyalists who had banded together. William Stacy was captured and became a prisiner of war. At one point in his captivity, he was going tied to a stake to be tortured and burned to death. William was a Freemason and reportedly appealed to an English-speaking Native American who was also a Freemason to save him and he was spared.

George Washington tried to arrange a prisinor exchange for Col. Stacy but he wasn't released until the end of the war.

In 1788, when he was 51, he became a pioneer to the Ohio Country and helped establish Maretta, Ohio. There he helped build a stockade to protect settlers from Indians, and owned one of the Flour Mills in town. There is a story that in Dec of 1790 he skated 30 miles up a frozen river to warn his sons of an impending Indian attack.

You should read the wikipedia article- it has lots more detail and is really interesting! This is a great find!