Major John Starke or Colonel John Starke?
While researching the Starke family of early Hanover County, it became clear that there is a lot of "online confusion" involving Major John Starke and Colonel John Starke. Online trees showed that their military ranks were so interchangeable that I began to wonder if the two men were actually just one man. To know for sure, I decided to do a land tax analysis for Major John Starke and Colonel John Starke. But before we get to the results of the land tax analysis, a quick summary of military rank should be explored. Today, a Colonel holds a higher officer rank than a Major. But did the same hold true during the 1780s? Fortunately, Steven A. Bingaman's The History of American Ranks and Insignia provides an excellent description of military rank during the Revolutionary War and confirms that as early as 1775, Colonel was a higher officer rank than Major. With this in mind, please take a look at the land tax analysis d isplayed in the below table followed by a descr...