John Crane has whipped out his American credentials as a descendant of a Revolutionary War soldier to other kids before, he said.

G.J. McCarthy photos

Bragg Stanley, left, chats with James Scott of Kansas City as the two wait with the Sons of the American Revolution color guard yesterday before a ceremony at Columbia Cemetery. Samuel Elgin, a Revolutionary War soldier, was honored during the event sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

"It feels pretty honorable and kind of lucky. Fortunate," John, 13, said yesterday at the grave marking of Samuel Elgin, a veteran of the Revolution who is buried at Columbia Cemetery.

"He saw George Washington," John said.

Elgin is John’s fifth grandfather in lineage. John is the son of Boone County Prosecuting Attorney Kevin Crane.

More than 60 people, including 11 descendants, attended the Daughters of the American Revolution ceremony yesterday to honor Elgin, a member of the Maryland Militia during 1776 and 1777.

Elgin enlisted in June 1776 as a private in a Maryland Militia company of volunteers raised in Port Tobacco. He served six months, during which he was called down to the Potomac River to help guard the coast, according to sworn his statement for a pension request to Judge David Todd of the Boone County Circuit Court in 1833.

After a short time, his company was ordered to join the main army under George Washington at York Island, or Manhattan. His company left York Island and went up to Linakaka Light, where they narrowly escaped an engagement with the British.

"There the British surrounded us and we crept off in the night, got clear, marched all night and at break of day joined Washington again at White Plains," Elgin wrote.

Elgin re-enlisted in 1777 and served an additional three months.

He moved to Boone County in 1826 to live with his daughter, Margaret Robinson, and died Dec. 27, 1844.

A commemorative plaque, above, marks the back of Samuel Elgin’s gravestone. The front of the stone, at right, identifies him as a veteran of the American Revolution.

Two descendants - Kevin Crane and former Gov. Roger Wilson - though on opposing sides of the political spectrum, said yesterday they were proud to be related to each other and to a Revolutionary War soldier.

While relating some of Elgin’s history, Crane joked with the crowd that "Samuel Elgin was a Democrat but strongly favored the Crane side of the family."

"In my opinion, nothing can make you prouder than to have the blood of a Revolutionary soldier coursing through your veins," Wilson said.

Another Elgin descendant, Anne Scott King of Tampa, Fla., told the audience being a Revolutionary soldier wasn’t easy. Elgin, in his statement to the Boone County Court, told of the 23 days it took him to get from New Jersey back to Maryland. "They were given nothing for their service," King said.

Elgin described starving in an area where begging for food was forbidden.

King said Elgin and the McClanahan family, the family of his future wife, went to Fort Pitt after the war and traveled down the Ohio River to Kentucky.

"It was a very dangerous journey," King said. "They were shot at by Indians the whole way."

Elgin eventually made his way to Missouri, moving to Pike County in 1817 with sons William and Hezekiah, who ran a freight line from Kentucky to St. Louis. The service also made forays to Boonville, Columbia and Arrow Rock.

Elgin’s military service and journey West live within his descendants as more than family folklore, King said. "We do have an adventurous spirit that came from Samuel Elgin."