Sharon's Deborah Sampson Park evokes Steve Connolly's memories of childhood baseball games.

Connolly now is exploring the history books' memories of Deborah Sampson.

Inconsistencies about the Sharon Revolutionary War heroine's history -- including how the proper spelling "Samson" became "Sampson" -- are being explored in a series of Sharon Community Television documentaries that grew out of Connolly's ongoing research, which he started a year ago.

He has read more than a half-dozen books, visited her homes, spoken with actors portraying her ancestors, and made over 100 contacts toward identifying where facts don't jibe.

"Stories about her enlisting and fighting in the large battles through the war," Connolly said, citing an example, during a recent interview in the SCTV studio.

"Like, 1781, she was supposedly at the Battle of Lord Cornwallis, which essentially ended the war. She didn't enlist until 1782. So, somehow stories started."

The first half-hour installment aired around Thanksgiving and covered 1620 to about 1760, "because of her lineage. The lineage was so strong that I wanted to show where she came from," Connolly said.

The latest episode, covering 1760 to 1778, "her formative years," debuted Tuesday.

Connolly said inconsistencies in the spelling of Samson -- a number of places include the "p" -- spelled the end of plans for a postage stamp honoring her.

He said he has viewed her grandparents' and great-grandparents' gravestones, plus "her letters of intention of marriage. No 'p.'"

Connolly said he's unsure how many shows he will do, only that he will end in the present.

Connolly said the project "almost" has been like a mission for him.

"It was one of those organizational dilemmas that I hate to have. I hate to have something that's disorganized," he said.

"So for me, it's just a massive jigsaw puzzle. It's a 260-year-old jigsaw puzzle, and I'm putting it together."

SHARON PATCH

So, how did you start? I imagine so much has been written about her.

STEVE CONNOLLY

You read all the books. So, I've read over a half-dozen books on the subject. And then you start downloading information off the 'net. And then, for example, the Massachusetts Archives, West Point, and the Andover-Newton Theological Society, they all have information about her.

I've been to every re-enactment you can think of.

SHARON PATCH

It sounds like what you're doing is taking everything that is out there on her and verifying everything, and almost coming up with the first definitive history.

STEVE CONNOLLY

What's really exciting about it, because I'm an engineer, the pieces, when they fit, it's the greatest feeling in the world.

All the pieces fit. You just have to find the right pieces.

SHARON PATCH

Has there been a case where the pieces "sort of fit"?

STEVE CONNOLLY

They were just oriented wrong.

They listened to how something sounded rather than how it was relly written. When you say "Samson," you can easily think you heard a "p." And then there's her descendants. They're all over the country.

SHARON PATCH

Have any of the inconsistencies that you've found totally rewritten history in a way that may be controversial?

STEVE CONNOLLY

There's a story of her father going to sea during the war (and) drowning.

That never happened. He left his family and went to Fayette, Maine to start a new life, because of drinking and alcohol and poverty. But maybe they started that story to make things easier for Deborah.

You have to remember: Deborah was disconnected from her mother when she was five years old. She didn't know how her name was spelled. It was just passed down verbally.