USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. III > Part 44
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1798-9-1800. James McMurtrie.
1801-2-3.
John Patton.
1804-5-6.
Joseph Miller.
1807-8-9.
John Patton.
1810-II-12.
Patrick Gwin.
1813-14-15.
John Patton.
1816-17-18.
Patrick Gwin.
1819-20-21.
John Patton.
1822-23-24.
Patrick Gwin.
1825-26-27.
Wm. Spear.
He was a most efficient and popular official. He was a man of great powers of endurance and was said never to have worn an overcoat or to have warmed himself by the fire. He was a fine looking man and in the continental dress which he always wore (top boots and silver knee buckles) he was a striking figure.
He was engaged on the construction of the Pennsylvania canal in 1831. He was connected with the Presbyterian church and is buried in Riverview ceme- tery at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Lieutenant John Patton married, April 16, 1801, Rebecca Simpson, born April 8, 1777, in Paxtang township, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, who died October 13, 1845, and is buried in Riverview cemetery at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Lieutenant John and Margaret Murray Simpson of the same locality.
The Revolutionary record of John Simpson, born 1744, died 1807, is as fol- lows: "He was second lieutenant Captain James Murray's company, Fourth
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battalion Colonel James Burd, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania militia, August 15, 1775, detailed to Continental service at Bristol, Pennsylvania, January 28, 1777."
The children of Lieutenant John and Rebecca (Simpson) Patton were nine, all born in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania: Margaret Murray, born Feb- ruary 16, 1802, died November 30, 1823, and buried in Riverview cemetery. William Moore, born November 16, 1803. He married Rebecca Boal, of Law- rence Furnace, Ohio, January, 1842, and four children were born to them. He removed to Catlettsburg, Kentucky, where he died. John Simpson, born June 15, 1806, died at Pennsylvania Furnace, Kentucky, August 30, 1850. He built a section of the Pennsylvania Canal in 1831 and was captain of one of the first boats run on the canal to Philadelphia. He was later a collector of tolls on the Juniata division of the canal. He removed to Kentucky where he died. He married Catherine Huyett of Blair county, Pennsylvania, and had four children. Eliza- beth (twin), born June 30, 1808, died March 3, 1811. James (twin), born June 30, 1808, died September 16, 1836, from injuries received from falling from a barn at McConnellstown, Pennsylvania; both buried in Riverview cemetery at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. He married in March, 1832, Elizabeth Vander- vander and had three children. Joseph, born October 6, 1810, died October 21, 1885, at Catlettsburg, Kentucky. He was the owner of several Ohio river flouring mills. He married, (first), January 9, 1840, Nancy Given, who bore him five children, (second) Eliza Johnson, by whom he had four, (third) Mary Brook- over, who had no issue. Benjamin Franklin, born November 26, 1812, died at Altoona, Pennsylvania, July 6, 1885, and is buried in Fairview cemetery. He was a merchant of Warriors Mark, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, and jus- tice of the peace. He was elected sheriff of the county and in 1856, associate judge and re-elected in 1861. He removed to Altoona in 1867. Judge Pat- ton married, January 23, 1836, Eliza Addleman and had eight children. Rebecca Simpson, born March 14, 1815, died December 13, 1862, and is buried at McCon- nellstown, Pennsylvania. She married, December 24, 1840, James Campbell, postmaster for many years at McConnellstown, Pennsylvania, and the principal merchant there. They were the parents of five children. George Washington, born on the Woodcock Valley farm in Walker township, September 6, 1817, died March 7, 1882, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is buried in Fairview Ceme- tery, Altoona, Pennsylvania. He is the next in direct line.
GEORGE WASHINGTON PATTON (born and died as above stated), was the ninth child and sixth son of John and Rebecca (Simpson) Patton. He grew up on the home farm and afterward became manager of Blair Furnace and still later one of the lessees of the Union Furnace, Huntingdon county. In 1853 he removed to Altoona and in that year was elected the first chief burgess of that borough, being re-elected in 1854. In 1861 he was appointed postmaster of Altoona by President Lincoln, serving eight years. In 1871 he was elected associate judge of Blair county, Pennsylvania, serving five years. In 1876 he removed to Philadelphia where he ended his days. He was brought up a Pres- byterian, but afterward became a Lutheran. He was a devoted Christian and was strict in the performance of his religious obligations. He was of a careful, me- thodical turn of mind as is evidenced in his keeping a diary all his life and jotting down each day the important items in his own life. This diary (kept in separate
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year books) is highly prized by his children. In one of them he records a trip to Philadelphia to purchase merchandise, and the return trip to Huntingdon county, taken on the canal packet in 1845. In that same year he records his wed- ding trip by buggy across the mountains and country to Pittsburgh, thence by boat down the Ohio river to Cincinnati. The purchase of the buggy some weeks previous is noted but not the purpose for which he intended it. The hotels stopped at for meals and lodging are noted with comments on the quality of the meals served and disposition of the landlord. Each Sunday is noted the church attended and comments on the sermon. An unfailing item was the condition of the weather, it being always, first noted. If collected, these diaries would prove a correct weather report of his locality covering his entire manhood. The work of the Sunday-school attracted him and he was a regular attendant for many years. He was a member of the Masonic Fraternity and attained the degree of Knight Templar. George W. Patton married (first) June 10, 1845, Mary Bur- ket, born November 1, 1825, in Sinking Valley, Huntingdon county, Pennsyl- vania, who died March 28, 1856, at Altoona, Pennsylvania. She was the daugh - ter of Peter and Barbara (Neff) Burket. She is buried in the Sinking Valley Lutheran Cemetery. Three sons were born of this marriage as follows: Theo- dore Blair, born May 6, 1847, at Blair Furnace, Blair county, Pennsylvania. He was for twelve years postmaster of Altoona, Pennsylvania, and now general superintendent of the Pennsylvania Industrial Reformatory at Huntingdon, t'ennsylvania. He married, March 9, 1871, Sue L. Ramey, of Altoona, and had sons : David R., born November 10, 1872, married, April 14, 1898, Martha T. Akers, and died August 28, 1907, and Frank Blair Patton, born July 31, 1879, married Margaret Bell, June 19, 1907, both were born in Altoona. William Augustus, born October 21, 1849, at Union Furnace, Huntingdon county, Penn- sylvania. At the age of sixteen he entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Rail- road Company at Altoona, and has risen through the several gradations of ser- vice and is now assistant to the president of the Railroad Company and president of the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad Company. He resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He married, December 13, 1876, in Philadelphia, Katherine J. Linn of Perry county, Pennsylvania. They had one son, John Linn Patton, a student at Princeton University at the time of his death, October 6, 1900. The third son was John Howard Patton, of the next paragraph. George W. Patton married (second) December 19, 1861, Emma Jane Hawksworth, born August 24, 1834, in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, who died October 18, 1898, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, daughter of George and Sarah Hawksworth. Two children were born of the second marriage: Mary Virginia, born November 3, 1865, married January 29, 1890, to Harold A. Freeman, of Philadelphia, and has a son, Clarence Patton Freeman. Margaret Murray, born July 3, 1870, in Altoona, died December 15, 1889, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
JOHN HOWARD PATTON, youngest son of George W. and Mary (Burket) Pat- ton, was born at Union Furnace, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, July 29, 1851. He was educated in the public schools of Altoona and at the age of nineteen entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and spent eleven years in the general superintendent's office at Altoona. In 1885 he removed to Claridge, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, where he opened up the Claridge Gas and Coal Company's works of which he is still in charge. In 1889, he
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removed to Greensburg, Pennsylvania, which is now (1909) his home. He is interested in many of the business activities of Westmoreland county, but is principally engaged in the coal business. He has organized and is president of the following companies, Atlantic Crushed Coke, Lucesco Coal, Huron Coal and Howard Gas Coal Company, and Greensburg Storage and Transfer Company. He is in sympathy with the Republican party and gives that organization his loyal support. In religious faith he is a Lutheran, belonging to Zions Lutheran Church at Greensburg. His fraternal connections are Masonic, holding all the degrees including that of Knight Templar in the York Rite and all up to and including the thirty-second in the Scottish Rite. He is a Shriner of Syria Tem- ple, Pittsburgh. Mr. Patton married (first) April 13, 1880, A. Louisa Cun- ningham of Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, who died November 24, 1882, at Altoona. She left a son Howard Cunningham Patton, born February 15, 1881, who is now the superintendent of the Howard Gas Coal Company of Greens- burg, and connected with many business ventures of Greensburg. Mr. Patton married (second) May 17, 1888, Jessie R. Geiger, daughter of the late Judge Levi and Rosalinda Geiger, of Urbana, Ohio.
(The Murray Line)
James Murray, born 1729, died 1804, was the father of Rebecca Simpson, grandmother of J. Howard Patton. His military services were as follows : "James Murray was a member of the Committee of Observation of Lancas- ter county, Pennsylvania, November 8, 1775; captain of Colonel James Burd's battalion, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania Associators, forming part of the "Flying Camp" 1776; captain of the First company, Tenth Battalion, Colonel Robert Elder, August 26, 1780; captain in Colonel Robert Elder's battalion April 17, 1781, Lancaster county militia; delegate to the military convention held at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, July 4, 1776, to choose brigadier-generals, for the Associated battalions of Pennsylvania." Was in battles of Trenton and Princeton. The Murray genealogy is an interesting one and leads back to the mountains of Scotland from whence in 1732, came John Murray with his two sons, William and John, with their families. William settled on the Swartara, in Pennsylvania. His son James, owned a farm in the borough of Dauphin, Dauphin county and entered an application for more, in the Land office in 1768; he represented Paxtang township on the Committee of Safety (See Cap- tain James Murray). His wife was Rebecca McLean and they rest side by side in the old Dauphin cemetery. Their daughter Margaret Murray married John Simpson, who was second lieutenant in his father-in-law's (James Murray) company. He is said to have been in command of a company of his own toward the close of the war. It was Rebecca, a daughter of John and Rebecca ( Mur- ray) Simpson who married John Patton. Rebecca (Simpson) Patton lived to a good old age. She was a woman of education and refinement and her grand- son J. Howard Patton has family records written in her own hand, that are marvels of legibility and neatness. A court record signed "John Patton, Sher- iff", who was Rebecca's husband is also preserved. A descendant of John Mur- ray, the first, was Lindley Murray, the author of "Murray's Grammar." Many of our older readers will remember him with feelings of gratitude and love.
EDWIN L. STEVENSON
The Revolutionary ancestor of Edwin L. Stevenson was his great-great-grand- father, Robert Agnew, a soldier from Pennsylvania, who served under Anthony Wayne. The earliest known of the Stevenson family to come to America was Francis Stevenson, who was of county Antrim, Ireland, where he was born in 1778. He died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, June 26, 1862. He came to the United States in 1818, located in Washington county, Pennsylvania, but later settled in Pittsburgh. His wife was Margaret, daughter of Robert and Sarah (Gray) Stewart, of Islandbawn, county Antrim, Ireland. Francis and Margaret (Stewart) Stevenson had three sons: I. Robert, who was born in 1819, died in 1897. He was a resident of Pittsburgh. His wife was Violet Waundless, who was born in 1828, died June 10, 1901. 2. William, born November 28, 1822, in Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, died February 15, 1901, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was educated in the common schools and under private tuition. He became the senior member of the firm of Stevenson, Foster and Company, printers and binders. This business was founded by John Cooper, who in 1815 printed the first directory of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and by him handed down to his son- in-law, William S. Haven, husband of Helen Mar Cooper, who in turn passed it to his son-in-law, William Stevenson, husband of Helen Mar Haven. The Ste- venson family still hold their interest and are represented in the business, which is now over one hundred years old and is conducted under the name of "The Stevenson-Foster Company". With the marriage of William Stevenson to Helen Mar Haven, the genealogical connection of the Stevenson family with Robert Agnew, the patriot soldier, is established as she was a great-granddaughter of his. The line of descent is traced below. 3. James, a resident of St. Cloud, Minnesota.
Robert Agnew, the Revolutionary ancestor, was born in Ireland in 1757, died at Clinton, Findlay township, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, in 1840. He settled in New Jersey at Pennington, Mercer county (or Burlington, Burlington county ). He enlisted probably at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and served as a private in Captain John Lacey's company of the Fourth Battalion, Colonel Anthony Wayne commanding. He served later as private under Captain John Nelson. He was at the battle of Three Rivers, Canada, where he was captured and confined a prisoner on board a British prison ship at Quebec, Canada, for three months. He was later engaged with the army under General Crawford, at the latter's defeat at Sandusky, Ohio, June 5, 1782, by the British troops and their savage allies, the Indians, under command of the renegade, Simon Girty (see Pennsyl- vania Archives, second series, vol. 10, page 129). When Robert Agnew came to Western Pennsylvania, he settled first at Cannonsburg, Washington county, but in 1790 moved to Beaver county. His wife was Esther Carnegie, who died in 1792 and is buried at Clinton, Pennsylvania. They had issue and the line of descent is by way of their daughter Sarah.
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Sarah Agnew, daughter of Robert and Esther (Carnegie) Agnew, became the wife of John Cooper (the Pittsburgh pioneer book-binder, who in 1815 pub- lished the first directory of the city). The line of descent is again through one of their daughters, Helen Mar Cooper.
Helen Mar Cooper, daughter of John and Sarah (Agnew) Cooper, married William S. Haven, who continued the business of her father, John Cooper. The children of this marriage were: William, Charles, Frances, John, Robert, Helen Mar, Curtis, Samuel, Benjamin.
It is with the daughter again, Helen Mar Haven (surname Haven), that the line continues.
Helen Mar Haven, daughter of William S. and Helen Mar (Cooper ) Haven, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was educated at the Misses Par- dee's Cooper Seminary, Dayton, Ohio, the Pittsburgh Female College and Irv- ing College, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania She married William Stevenson (of previous mention in this record). The children of this marriage are: I. Mar- garetta M. 2. Helen Mar. 3. Walter E., who is prominently connected with the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, a member of the Man- ufacturers, Oakmont Field and Pittsburgh Field clubs. He married Marguerite Maple, of Revolutionary and Colonial ancestry. 4. Alan C., a member of the firm of The Stevenson-Foster Company. He married Marguerite Lynn, daugh- ter of Thomas W. and Mary P. (Wood) Smith, and has a daughter Marguer- ite, born July II, 1908. 5. Mary S. (Mrs. Frank Keller McCance). 6. Edwin L., see forward. 7. Bertha M. 8. William D. 9. Malcolm R., superintendent of blast furnaces of the National Tube Company at Mckeesport, Pennsylvania. He is a member of the University Club. 10. Paul V. II. Donald C. 12. Ken- nett S. William Stevenson and wife were members of the United Presbyterian Church. The daughters above mentioned, of William and Helen Mar (Haven) Stevenson, were educated at Wilson College, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania College for Women at Pittsburgh, Pa. The sons were edu- cated at the Pennsylvania State College and are members of the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity excepting Walter E., who is a member of the Beta Theta Phi fraternity.
EDWIN L. STEVENSON, sixth child and third son of William and Helen Mar (Haven) Stevenson, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, September 28, 1871. He was educated at Pennsylvania State College. He was for eight years a clerk and for the past six years has been secretary and assistant treasurer of "The Stevenson-Foster Company". He is a member of The Phi Kappa Sigma fra- ternity of State College, Stanton Heights, Golf and Pittsburgh Athletic asso- ciations. He belongs to the Lutheran Church. Edwin L. Stevenson married Agnes Marguerite, daughter of John C. and Agnes (McGregor) Aufhammer. They have one child, Marjorie Stevenson, born June 14, 1907.
Mrs. Edwin L. Stevenson (Agnes Marguerite Aufhammer) is a descendant of Adam Burchfield, who was an early settler of Pittsburgh, residing on what is now known as Squirrel Hill and Shenley Park. His son Samuel, one of a family of twelve, married Margaret (Peggy) Barnett, whose brother served in the Revolutionary War and was captured by the Indians who held him captive many years. Sarah Eliza Burchfield, daughter of Samuel and Margaret ( Bar- nett) Burchfield, married John Wilson McGregor, whose family settled at an
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early day in York county, Pennsylvania, emigrating from the North of Ire- land. John Wilson McGregor, born in 1815, was the oldest of a large family. Mary Agnes McGregor, daughter of John Wilson and Sarah Elizabeth (Burch- field) McGregor, married John Charles Aufhammer, and they were the parents of Agnes Marguerite (Mrs. Edwin Livingston Stevenson).
C
CHILDS FAMILY
EPHRAIM CHILD, born in England in 1593, came to America in 1630, admitted freeman, Roxbury, Massachusetts, May 18, 1631, died February, 1663; left no children. With him came to this country his nephew, Benjamin Child, arriving at Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1630. Benjamin's wife was named "Mary". No record has been found giving her full name, or date of marriage. Benjamin was one of thirty who built the first church at Roxbury. He was admitted to membership in the Roxbury church in 1658; died October 14, 1678.
CAPTAIN BENJAMIN (2) CHILD, son of Benjamin (1) and Mary Child, born at Roxbury in 1656, married, March 17, 1683, Grace Morris.
CAPTAIN PENUEL CHILD, son of Captain Benjamin (2) Child, born Roxbury, September 3, 1699, died 1760. He was deputy from Killingly to the General Court of Connecticut for five terms; commissioned ensign, 1737, of the com- pany of Thompson; lieutenant of the Second Company at Killingly, Connec- ticut, 1744, and captain of the South Company of the Eleventh Regiment in same town, 1753. He married, March 7, 1724, Dorothy, daughter of the Rev. Josiah and Mary (Partridge) Dwight, of Woodstock, Connecticut.
RICHARD CHILD, son of Captain Penuel Child, born March II, 1733, married, February 1, 1759, Abigail Green.
TIMOTHY CHILD, son of Richard Child, born Thompson, Connecticut, March 17, 1760, baptized June 23, 1760, died in Sullivan county, New York, in 1825. On page 197 "Records of Connecticut Men in the Revolutionary War", Tim- othy Child is recorded as a member of Captain Childs' company, Fifth Regi- ment, Connecticut Continental Line, Colonel Philip Bradley commanding. He enlisted May 26, 1777, and served eight months. On page 462 of same volume, he is recorded as a private in Lieutenant Tucker's company, Eleventh Regi- ment Connecticut Militia. This regiment was in New York in 1776. He mar- ried, May 15, 1788, Amy Parrish.
JOHN G. CHILDS, son of Timothy Child, was born in Sullivan county, New York, October 10, 1805. He married, in 1829, Lois Ann Grant, born in 181I, in the town of Neversink, Sullivan county, New York, died at Napanoch, New York, daughter of William Grant. On page 9 of "Records of Connecticut Men in the Revolutionary War", William Grant is recorded as a sergeant in the company from East Windsor, Connecticut, that marched on the occasion of the Lexington Alarm. On page 65, same volume, he is recorded as a private in Captain Whiting's company, Colonel Waterbury's regiment, serving from May 9 to November 16, 1775. On page 210 he is on record as a private in Colonel Douglas' regiment, Connecticut Line, Captain Leavenworth's company, enlisted August 26, 1778, served ten months. On page 555 he is shown to be a private in Captain Williams' company, Colonel Gallup's regiment, Connecticut Militia, stationed at Fort Griswold, 1779. Served as a marine on the ship, "Tartar", of Massachusetts, Captain Cathcart, 1782.
JOHN TRAVERS CHILDS, son of John G. Childs, was born in Saugerties, New
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York, May 16, 1831. He married, in 1859, Louisa Maria Holmes, born in Pitts- burgh, June 3, 1841, died December 5, 1876, in Pittsburgh, daughter of Dr. Shep- ley Ross and Mary (Skelton) Holmes, and granddaughter of Obadiah and Jane (Richardson) Holmes. Dr. Holmes was born July 16, 1791, died November 16, 1854. He married for his second wife, Mary Skelton, born February 26, 1815, died March 10, 1852.
CAROLINE HAMILTON CHILDS, daughter of John Travers Childs, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 5, 1867. She married, October 5, 1886, Charles A. Wolfe, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is a great-granddaughter of two Revolutionary soldiers-Timothy Childs and Obadiah Holmes, from whom she derives her membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution. Obadiah Holmes was a soldier with the ill-fated Crawford Expe- dition against the Indians in 1782, when the brave Colonel Crawford was cap- tured and afterward cruelly tortured by the savages, with the white savage and renegade. Simon Girty was an observer (at least) of the barbarious treatment Colonel Crawford received ere death mercifully ended his agony. Obadiah Holmes escaped capture and died in Pittsburgh in the year 1834. His wife was Jane Richardson.
ROBERT KELSO CASSATT
The name Cassatt is said to be of French origin, a corruption of the name Guizot, and the Pennsylvania family descendants of a Huguenot refugee. The environment of the Pennsylvania family, however, strongly suggests Scotch- Irish origin. It was at least much intermarried with early Scotch- Irish families who were among the first settlers in central Pennsylvania, some of whom had migrated from more eastern portions of the state. The subject of this sketch is a son of the late Alexander Johnston Cassatt, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and a descendant of Francis Cassatt, an early settler at Hunterstown, York, (now Adams) county, Pennsylvania, whose sons, David, Peter, Jacob and Daniel, born between the years 1743 and 1755, migrated furth- er westward and were identified with the development of the western counties of the state.
DANIEL CASSATT married Lydia, daughter of John Simpson, an early Scotch- Irish settler near the Maryland line in Adams or Franklin county, and had two children : Robert S., and Mary, married a Dr. Gardiner.
ROBERT S. CASSATT, son of Daniel and Lydia (Simpson) Cassatt, was prom- inently identified with the industrial interests of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, and was the first mayor of Allegheny City. He afterwards removed to Phila- delphia and established there the banking house of Lloyd, Cassatt & Company, one of the prominent financial institutions of the city. Robert S. Cassatt mar- ried Katharine, daughter of Alexander and Mary (Stevenson) Johnston, and granddaughter of James Johnston, who was born in Oxford, Chester county, Pennsylvania, and while yet a young man removed to the section westward of the Susquehanna, and served throughout the Revolutionary War as a soldier of the Continental Line.
James Johnston first enlisted, February 10, 1776, in Captain John Nelson's Independent Company of Riflemen, which under resolve of Congress, January 30, 1776, was officered, and directed to form part of the expedition against Canada. It was completed and ordered to New York, March 12, 1776, and on its arrival was ordered to Albany to be attached to the First Pennsylvania Bat- talion under Colonel de Haas, and participated in the trials and hardships of the campaign on the borders of Canada. After de Haas left Ticonderoga, Novem- ber 17, 1776, Captain Nelson's company was attached to Colonel Wayne's Fourth Pennsylvania Battalion. January 1, 1777, James Johnston was promoted to ensign of Captain James Taylor's company, in the same battalion and, March 14, 1777, both Taylor's and Nelson's companies were transferred to the Fifth Battalion, Colonel Francis Johnston, with which Ensign Johnston served until his resignation in 1778. After the close of the war James Johnston settled in that part of York county which was later incorporated into Adams county, and in June, 1790, when the formation of the new county was first agitated, was one of the commissioners selected to fix upon a site for the county seat, and secure its incorporation. He later removed to Pittsburgh, where he died De-
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