SIMSBURY, Conn. (WFSB) – As America marks its 250th year, researchers are uncovering stories of people whose names didn’t make history books but whose sacrifices shaped the nation.

In Simsbury, one such story centers on Esther Wallace Jackson, a woman born free to formerly enslaved parents who became the anchor of a multigenerational military family whose service spans nearly every major American conflict.

Jackson’s story was almost lost, scattered across probate records and fading documents.

Connecticut researcher John Mills spent years piecing it together, uncovering a formerly enslaved family whose military contributions include service from the Revolutionary War through the Civil War.

Mills, a genealogist and founder of the nonprofit Alex Breanne Corporation, discovered the family while tracing the family tree of a Civil War soldier from Bloomfield.

“It turns out he was a grandson of Peter and Esther Jackson. And so, I started chasing down that story and discovered that Peter Jackson had been enslaved in Simsbury,” Mills said.

The family’s military legacy runs deep. Jackson’s father, London Wallace, served in the French and Indian War.

Her three brothers fought in the Revolutionary War.

Generations later, seven of Peter and Esther’s grandsons served in the Civil War, and six never returned home.

“With every major conflict, this family is deeply involved,” Mills said.

For men who were enslaved or newly freed, military service carried deeper meaning.

“You’re fighting for the country while you also don’t have the same freedom as others,” Mills said.

Mills partnered with the Simsbury Historical Society and the Department of Veterans Affairs to install a burial marker honoring the family’s military legacy.

The marker was placed next to the headstones of Peter and Esther Jackson.

In June, descendants gathered to see their family’s untold story commemorated.

“The intent was to have every person that we knew of who fought in one of these U.S. conflicts that were a part of their family on this monument,” Mills said.

Jackson’s obituary described her as a respected community member who walked two miles to her church on Hopmeadow Street well into her nineties.

Her legacy now lives in the Simsbury Public Library, where a hand-painted portrait depicts her likeness using features of her descendants.

“We unveiled it on June 19, 2025. Now, we have something visual so that the family and the community have to align with the story of Esther Jackson,” Mills said.

Mills said the research serves a broader purpose beyond memorializing individuals.

“The information we find, the research we do, is not only for them to be memorialized. It’s to create something that the public and the community, that specific town, has something that gives them the history,” Mills said.

The Wallace-Jackson descendants say they plan to return to Simsbury this Memorial Day to place flags at the monument bearing their family’s name.

Click here for more information about the Alex Breanne Corporation.

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Maine is joining a multistate lawsuit against the Trump administration challenging recently proposed limits on support for long-term housing for people at risk of becoming homeless.

The suit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island by attorneys general and governors from 20 states and Washington, D.C. It accuses the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development of illegally upending support services for tens of thousands of Americans with changes that will limit access to long-term housing.

The suit comes in response to plans the department announced this month to cut funding for long-term housing assistance in its Continuum of Care grant program and redirect resources to transitional housing and short-term supports like emergency shelters.

“Winter is coming here in Maine and now the administration is redirecting congressionally appropriated funds that keep over 1,200 Mainers housed,” Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said in a written statement. “While there is little doubt the courts will agree that the administration has once again overstepped, the chaos and uncertainty these decisions create are harmful and unnecessary.”

The complaint alleges HUD violated its own regulations by not engaging in rulemaking before issuing the changes and violated the law by not receiving congressional authorization for the new conditions, many of which the states say are contrary to congressionally passed statutes and HUD regulations.

The states also argued that HUD’s actions are arbitrary and capricious, and said the agency hasn’t made an effort to explain why they are abandoning their own policies or failing to consider the consequences for people who as a result will be at risk for eviction.

HUD has said previously that the changes restore accountability to homelessness programs.

“Our philosophy for addressing the homelessness crisis will now define success not by dollars spent or housing units filled, but by how many people achieve long-term self-sufficiency and recovery,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a written statement earlier this month.

A media contact for HUD did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday afternoon seeking comment on the suit.

The Maine attorney general’s office said HUD previously has directed about 90% of Continuum of Care funding to support permanent housing, but the agency’s new rules would cut that by two-thirds for grants starting in 2026.

Similarly, HUD has long allowed grantees to protect around 90% of funding year to year — essentially guaranteeing renewal of projects to ensure that individuals and families living in those projects maintain stable housing — but has reduced that number to 30%, the office said.

Continuum of Care programs support more than 1,800 people across Maine, and state officials have said the federal government’s proposed changes jeopardize housing for more than 1,200. Most are served through the Permanent Supportive Housing Program run by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

The program provides rental subsidies to people with disabilities and their families, while also connecting them to services to keep them successfully housed, such as treatment for substance use and mental health disorders.

“As I have previously warned, this callous change by the Trump Administration — as we begin the holiday season — would jeopardize stable housing for 1,200 Maine people and drive up costs for Maine municipalities,” Gov. Janet Mills said in a written statement. “The Trump Administration should withdraw this unnecessary directive.”