USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. III > Part 58
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REV. WILLIAM McKENNAN, the ancestor of the McKennan family, of Wash- ington, Pennsylvania, came to America about 1750. He was born of Scotch lineage in the north of Ireland, in 1719. He was licensed by the Newcastle Pres- bytery before May, 1752, and was sent by the Synod of Philadelphia to supply North and South Mountains, Timber Grove, North River and Cook's Creek, and at John Hinson's in Virginia. He spent seven or eight months in the south. Before May, 1756, he was settled at Wilmington and Red Clay. He resigned the charge of the First Presbyterian Church of Wilmington in 1794, but contin- ued at Red Clay until his death. He was venerated for his years and his piety. He died at Red Clay, Pennsylvania, in 1809, and is buried in the Red Clay Creek burying ground. He married Wilson, of Winchester, Virginia.
WILLIAM McKENNAN, son of Rev. William and - - (Wilson) McKen- nan, was born in Delaware in 1758. He was commissioned second lieutenant in
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Captain Thomas Kean's company of Colonel Samuel Patterson's battalion of the "Flying Camp" in June, 1776, and second lieutenant in Colonel Hall's Delaware regiment, Continental Line, November 29, 1776, and became first lieutenant, April 5, 1777, and captain in 1780. He was in service in the neighborhood of Amboy, under General Hugh Mercer, in 1776, and participated in the invasion of Staten Island, under General Sullivan, in 1777; also he was in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and in winter quarters at Wilmington, Delaware, under General Smallwood, 1777-78. His regiment joined the main army at Valley Forge in May, 1778, and participated in the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778. After a long season of inactivity on the Hudson and in New Jersey the regiment took part in the southern campaign under General Lincoln, in 1780, Captain McKennan being one of its most efficient officers. After this unfortu- nate campaign Captain McKennan with several others was sent to Delaware on recruiting service, where he arrived in December, 1780. In August, 1781, he was with one of the detachments ordered to join the army for the Yorktown campaign, actively participating in that movement, and being present at the sur- render of Cornwallis at Yorktown. After the surrender, with the troops of General St. Clair, he marched to join the army in South Carolina, under General Greene, where he arrived with the Delaware detachment of which he had coni- mand after a long, fatiguing march, January 1, 1782. In South Carolina his detachment joined William Washington's legion. He remained in the south in active service during the remainder of the war, and was in command of the Delaware detachment on its return to his native state in January, 1783. The march was long and wearisome. Leaving headquarters on the Ashley river where he lay encamped, and taking up its march by the way of Camden, Salisbury and Petersburg, the detachment crossed the James river at Carter's Ferry, pushed on through Maryland, and in exactly two months after the date of its departure from the main southern army, arrived at Christiana creek, near Newcastle. Here the battalion was encamped until October of the same year when it was perma- nently disbanded. Captain McKennan, then in command, was appointed to set- tle and adjust the accounts of the officers and men of the battalion with the United States auditor, as also "to issue both certificates for past services as well as land warrants to the individuals claiming, or their attorneys for them, which duty he performed to the general satisfaction". After the war he was a resi- dent of the state of Delaware for a time, and there was a colonel of the state militia until he removed to West Virginia. He was the first secretary of the Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati, and serving from 1784 to 1795. In 1798 he removed to Charleston, now Wellsburg, West Virginia, and in 1800 to West Middletown, Washington county, Pennsylvania. In 1801 he was appointed prothonotary of the county by Governor Mckean, and took up his residence in Washington, the county seat, where he lived until his death. He was a trustee of Washington Academy and Washington College. He died January 14, 1810, from the effects of a wound received in the battle of Germantown in the war of the Revolution.
He married Elizabeth, daughter of John and Dorothea (McKean) Thompson, and niece of Governor Thomas Mckean. Children: 1. William, who was ed- ucated in Washington College, and became a teacher in Ohio, where he died. 2. John Thompson, died in Reading, Pennsylvania, September 14, 1830. He was
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educated in Washington Academy, and became cashier of Monongahela Bank in Brownsville; married Harriet Bowman, and left issue. 3. Thomas McKean Thompson, mentioned below. 4. David, died without issue. 5. James Wilson, mentioned below. 6. Ann E., died young; married Thomas Gibbs Morgan, son of Colonel John and Margaret (Bunyan) Morgan. He was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and removed to Louisiana about 1824, there becoming one of the leading lawyers in the state; he codified the laws of that state. Child: Philip Hickey, judge of the Court of Claims in Cairo, Egypt, and later United States Minister to Mexico.
THOMAS MCKEAN THOMPSON MCKENNAN, son of Captain William and Elizabeth (Thompson) McKennan, was born in Newcastle county, Delaware, March 31, 1794. He was educated in Washington College, and such was his rank as a scholar that in February, 1813, he was appointed tutor of ancient languages in that college, and acted in that capacity for eighteen months. In April, 1818, he was chosen a member of the corporation of the village, in which position he continued to serve for thirty-four years. He studied law in the office of Parker Campbell, and was admitted to the Washington county bar, Novem- ber 7, 1814. At the next term he became deputy attorney for the county, and served until March, 1817. His rise at the bar was rapid, and he held front rank in his profession during his entire life. He was a representative in Con- gress, 1831-39, and in 1842, at the urgent solicitations of his people, and the de- mands of his party, he again consented to serve for the unexpired term of Jo- seph Lawrence, deceased. As chairman of the committee of the whole for the space of two months in the first session of that congress he rendered efficient aid to the paramount industrial interests of the country, and increased a repu- tation already national. He was a presidential elector in 1840, and president of the Pennsylvania Electoral College, in 1848. For a short time he was secretary of the interior during President Fillmore's administration, but wearied by the uncongenial details of official business he resigned his place in the cabinet almost as soon as it was accepted. Soon after this retirement from the cabinet he ac- cepted the presidency of the Hempfield Railroad Company. He died in Read- ing, Pennsylvania, July 9, 1852, while engaged in the administration of affairs of that company.
He married, in 1815, Matilda, daughter of Jacob Bowman, of Bowmanville. Children : William, mentioned below; Thomas, mentioned below; Jacob; John, graduated from Washington College, in 1851; Matilda Bowman, married George W. Reed, born in 1839, and had William McKennan, mentioned below.
WILLIAM McKENNAN REED, son of George W. and Matilda Bowman (Mc- Kennan) Reed, is a descendant in the fourth generation from the Revolution- ary soldier, Lieutenant William McKennan, who served from the state of Delaware (see William McKennan). He was born in Allegheny City, Penn- sylvania, March 5, 1874, was educated in the public schools, and after leaving school obtained a position with the First National Bank, as messenger, and was promoted to the position of assistant cashier. He remained with this bank for nineteen years, and on January 16, 1910, was made president of the Third National Bank of Pittsburgh, which position he now holds. He married, De- cember 14, 1910, Ruth Linky Miller. In politics he is a Republican ; in religion,
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a Presbyterian. He is a member of the Pittsburgh Golf, and the Pittsburgh Athletic clubs.
JAMES WILSON MCKENNAN, son of Captain William and Elizabeth (Thomp- son) McKennan, was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, September 2, 1804. Graduated from Washington College in 1822, and after leaving college he stud- ied law, and was admitted to the bar, beginning practice of his profession at Millersburg, Ohio. His career at the bar was brief, for dedicating himself to the work of the ministry he studied theology with the Rev. John Anderson, D. D., of Upper Buffalo Church, Pennsylvania, and was licensed by the Washing- ton presbytery in 1828. In 1829 he was ordained and installed as pastor over the churches of Lower Buffalo and West Liberty, where he remained until 1835, when he took charge of the Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. His health becoming impaired he was compelled to resign, and after spending some time in traveling he took charge of the church in Florence, Pennsylvania, sub- sequently in Elizabethtown, Lower Ten Mile and Frankfort Springs. He was an earnest and impressive preacher. Later he served as rector in the prepara- tory department, and as adjunct professor of languages in Washington College, and for some time was engaged in teaching in Wheeling and Moundsville, Vir- ginia. He received the degree of D. D. He died in Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1861.
He married Children : I. Isabelle Bowman, born October 10, 1843, married Major George M. Laughlin, November 16, 1865. Mrs. Laughlin died in New York City, December 5, 1891. Children: William McKennan, born March, 1868, died May 12, 1873; Pauline, born September, 1877, died June 29, 1880. 2. Thomas Mckean Thompson, born March 21, 1845, civil engineer. 3. Emma Willard, born November 5, 1846, married William W. Smith, June 13, 1867, and died August 30, 1879. Children : William McKennan, of Washington ; Hugh Grant, diplomatic service. 4. Henry Sweitzer, M. D., born October 14, 1848, died January 9, 1889; unmarried. 5. Samuel Cunningham, born July 8, 1850, died unmarried. 6. John D., born May 12, 1854, admitted to bar, 1879; lawyer. 7. Gertrude Marie, born February 1I, 1856, married, 1892, William M. DeMoyne, of Chicago; no issue. 8. Ann, born December 31, 1857, married, June 19, 1879, Abe Williams Biddle, of Philadelphia. Five children: Pauline, married John Pembrock, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania; two children, Ann and Horace Pembrock; Christine; Julia Ruch; Isabelle, married A. J. Drexel Paul; Alexander. 9. David Wilson, born April 10, 1860, died December 15, 1893. 10. William, Jr., born October 30, 1862, admitted to the bar; now in Chicago, where he is in business.
WILLIAM McKENNAN, son of Thomas Mckean Thompson and Matilda (Bowman) McKennan, was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, September 27, 1816. He was graduated from Washington College in 1833, and after leaving college studied law, and was admitted to the Washington county bar in 1837. He was deputy attorney general for Washington county, 1837-39, and afterward practiced his profession in his native town for many years. He was a member of the fruitless Peace Congress in Washington, D. C., in 1861. He held high rank in his profession, in recognition of which he was appointed, by President Grant, United States circuit judge for the third circuit in 1869, upon the creation of that court. In politics he was originally a Whig, but became a Republican
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when that party was organized. He died October 27, 1893. He married, Oc- tober 13, 1842, Pauline Gertrude de Fonteveaux, a native of Paris, France. She died May 7, 1886. They had ten children, among whom was John D.
THOMAS MCKENNAN, son of Thomas Mckean Thompson and Matilda (Bow- man) McKennan, was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, May 21, 1825. He was graduated from Washington College, in 1842, and received the degree of M. D. at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, in 1846. He practiced his profession in Washington, Pennsylvania, of which he was the leading physician for many years. He was a member of the Pennsylvania elec- toral college in the presidential election of 1880. In 1859 he was a ruling elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Washington, and in 1863 a commissioner to the O. S. General Assembly. He was a trustee of Washington College, trustee of the Washington Female Seminary, manager of the Presbyterian Reformed School in Morganza, and director of the Western Theological Seminary in Al- legheny. He married Margaret Stockton. Children: James W .; Jacob Bow- man; Annie E .; Rebecca S .; Henrietta S.
SOPHIA LORD (CASS) HUTCHINSON
SOPHIA LORD (CASS) HUTCHINSON (Mrs. Francis M. Hutchinson) is a charter member of the Pennsylvania Society Daughters of the American Rev- olution, as is indicated by her national number 743. She derives membership from the military services of her great-grandfather, Jonathan Cass, who en- listed as a private and rose to the rank of major in the War for Independence.
JOHN CASS, the pioneer ancestor of the family, came from St. Albans, Eng- land, to Hampton, New Hampshire, in 1644. He bought of William English a house lot and house, and April 5, 1664, bought the farm of Rev. John Wheel- wright and removed there. He became a man of great influence and served as selectman for many years. He was a farmer and stock raiser, and of considera- ble wealth for his day. He married Martha, daughter of Thomas and Eliza- beth Philbrick. Children: Martha, Joseph, Samuel, Jonathan, Mercy, Abigail.
JONATHAN CASS, a descendant of John Cass, was born in East Kingston, New Hampshire, in 1753. He was a captain in the Continental army, afterwards a major in the United States army, and was in command of Fort Hamilton (near Cincinnati). He was a private at Bunker Hill in 1775; second lieutenant, Au- gust 4, 1777; first lieutenant, May I, 1778; transferred to First New Hamp- shire Regiment, January 1, 1781 ; captain, December 8, 1782, and served to the close of the war. He removed his family from Exeter to Marietta, Ohio, and a narration of the long and arduous journey over the country and down the Ohio river is in the archives of the Historical Society in Columbus, Ohio. He after- wards moved to a tract of land on the Muskingum river, near Dresden, where he died August 4, 1830. He married, October 20, 1781, Mary, daughter of Theophilus and Deborah (Webster ) Gilman, of Exeter. Being a personal friend of General Washington he named his oldest son for him, George Washington, the next Lewis, then Charles, then John Jay.
GEORGE WASHINGTON CASS, son of Jonathan Cass, lived on the farm where his father died. He married Sophia Lord, of Marietta, daughter of Colonel Abner and Mary (Selden) Lord, the latter of whom was a daughter and grand- daughter of the two Samuel Seldens, of the Continental army.
GEORGE WASHINGTON CASS, JR., son of George Washington Cass, was born March 12, 1810, on the farm of his grandfather. He was graduated from West Point, was captain of engineer corps, United States army, stationed at Browns- ville, Pennsylvania. In 1852 he moved to Allegheny City, being made president of Adams Express Company. He was president of the Ohio & Pennsylvania Railroad, building the road through to Chicago, becoming the president of Pitts- burgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago. In 1872 he was elected president of the North- ern Pacific Railroad and moved to New York, where he died March 21, 1888. He married Louise Dawson.
SOPHIA LORD CASS, eldest child of George Washington Cass, Jr., was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. She was married at the home of her father, "Cassella", February 8, 1866, to Francis Martin Hutchinson, Jr., son of Fran-
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cis Martin and Mary Hutchinson, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. Hutchin- son died August 23, 1882. Their children are: Francis Martin Hutchinson, George Cass Hutchinson and Ellen Dawson (Hutchinson) Nettleton.
JAMES LEDDY PEQUIGNOT
Z. J. PEQUIGNOT, father of James L. Pequignot, was born in Switzerland, July 17, 1845. He came to this country when a young man and engaged in the watch and jewelry business. He died June 3, 1909. He married, January, 1878, Annie E. Leddy, born in Philadelphia, May 13, 1858, daughter of James Monroe Leddy, born in Philadelphia, 1822, died there December, 1881, and his wife, Ann (Hesser) Leddy, was born in Germantown in 1819, died in Philadelphia, April, 1873.
John Hesser, the great-great-grandfather of James L. Pequignot, was born at La Trappe, Philadelphia, now Montgomery county, August 10, 1761, died at Orwigsburg, Schuylkill county, in 1837. He was a soldier of the Continen- tal army during the Revolution. His service began August 5, 1777, as a pri- vate in Captain Jacob Peterman's company in the Sixth Battalion, Philadelphia County Militia. He married, at Germantown, September 25, 1783, Elizabeth Frey, who was born at Germantown, January 5, 1766, died there December 20, 1848.
Charles Hesser, son of John and Elizabeth (Frey) Hesser, and father of Ann (Hesser) Leddy, above mentioned, was born at Germantown in 1788, died in South America about 1850. He married, at Germantown, in 1825, Cath- arine Wunder, of a well known Germantown family, born 1800, died in Phila -- delphia, 1867.
JAMES LEDDY PEQUIGNOT, son of Z. J. and Annie E. (Leddy) Pequignot, was born in Philadelphia, February 1, 1879. He is engaged in the banking busi- ness with H. W. Halsey & Co. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Society Sons of the Revolution.
SARA PATTERSON SNOWDEN MITCHELL
WILLIAM SNOWDEN, earliest ancestor of Mrs. Sara P. S. Mitchell, of whom we have any record, was a resident of Edwinston, county of Nottingham, Eng- land, when, on July 7, 1677, he purchased a tract of land in New Jersey.
JOHN SNOWDEN, "son and heir of William Snowden some time of Edwinston, county of Nottingham, England," born near Knaresborough, Yorkshire, Eng- land, about 1632, came to Pennsylvania presumedly about the date of the pur- chase of the land in New Jersey by his father. He signed the "Concessions" as proprietor of West Jersey in 1676. He was a resident of Falls township, Bucks county, April 13, 1682, when he married at Burlington Meeting, Ann Barrett. He was, however, a resident and land owner in Mansfield township, Burlington county, August 28, 1682, when he made a deed of trust to Benja- min Scott and John Hooten for the benefit of his wife Ann as a marriage set- tlement. The record of the birth of their daughter Ann on March 17, 1682-83, at Burlington Meeting, gives the residence of the parents as Mansfield town- ship. He was associate judge in Bucks county in 1704. John Snowden died in Philadelphia in 1736, aged one hundred and four years. His first wife, Ann (Barrett) Snowden, died in the same city in 1688. He married (second) in 1715, Elizabeth Swift.
JOHN (2) SNOWDEN, son of John (1) and Ann (Barrett) Snowden, was born 1685, and married, October 4, 1720, his second wife, Ruth (Fitz Randolph) Harrison, widow, a sister of Nathaniel Fitz Randolph, who gave land to Prince- ton University, of an old and prominent family of New Jersey. She was born at Piscataway, New Jersey, April 8, 1695, and died at Maidenhead, now Law- renceville, New Jersey, September 5, 1780. They later located in Philadelphia where John Snowden died March 24, 1751. John Snowden was the first Pres- byterian elder in America. He was ordained in First Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, 1704.
ISAAC SNOWDEN, son of John (2) and Ruth (Fitz Randolph) (Harrison) Snowden, was born in Philadelphia, April 14, 1732, and died near Chester, Penn- sylvania, December 26, 1809. His son, Rev. N. R. Snowden, was pastor at that time there, and Isaac Snowden is buried in the old Middletown graveyard. Isaac Snowden was prominently identified with the patriotic cause during the Revolu- tion. At the first organization of the Associated Companies in the different coun- ties of Pennsylvania in 1775, he became a member of one of the Associated Com- panies of Philadelphia and when these companies were reorganized into the Fourth Battalion under Colonel Thomas Mckean, Isaac Snowden was commis- sioned quartermaster of the battalion and he continued to act in that capacity until the fall of 1777. He is mentioned in the Journal of Congress in 1777 as quar- termaster of Pennsylvania militia. From 1777 to 1779 he was one of the com- missioners appointed by congress to sign the continental currency, and several notes of this currency, signed by him, are on exhibition at Independence Hall,
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while others are in the Library of Harvard University and that of the His- torical Society of Pennsylvania. He was treasurer of Philadelphia county, 1780- 82. During the Revolution he sent his family to Princeton, New Jersey, for safety. He was president of the board of trustees of the College of New Jer- sey, now Princeton University, of which his five sons were graduates, and four of whom became Presbyterian ministers. He was also a charter member and an elder of the Second Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, where the family has since continuously worshipped. Isaac Snowden married, March 17, 1763, (second wife) Mary (Cox) McCall, widow of Samuel McCall. She was born in 1735, died at Cranberry, New Jersey, June 30, 1806.
NATHANIEL RANDOLPH SNOWDEN, son of Isaac and Mary ( McCall) Snow- den, was born in Philadelphia, January 17, 1770. He was graduated from Princeton University in 1787, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, in 1794, where he had formerly been tutor in Dickinson College. He then took charge of the Presbyterian churches at Harrisburg, Paxtang and Derry, where he labored for several years with zeal and success. Resigning these charges he went to Middletown Presbyterian Church near Chester, then to Williamsport, lived for a short time in Philadel- phia, and finally located at Freeport, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, where he died November 3, 1851. He married, at Carlisle, May 24, 1792, Sarah Gus- tine, born in New York City, June 2, 1775, died at Freeport. Pennsylvania, April 28, 1856.
Dr. Lemuel Gustine, father of Sarah (Gustine) Snowden, was born at Say- brook, Connecticut, 1749, and died at Carlisle, Cumberland county, 1807. He was a son of Lemuel Gustine, Sr., of Saybrook, and grandson of Samuel Gus- tine, of Stonington, Connecticut, and great-grandson of Johr. Gustine, who served in King Philip's war.
Dr. Lemuel Gustine married Susanna Smith, of Rye, New York, a daughter of Dr. William Hooker Smith, and accompanied his father-in-law to the Wy- oming Valley in Pennsylvania and served with him as assistant surgeon of the Continental army. He is referred to in the Wyoming correspondence as active in the Patriot cause and also active in the cause of the Connecticut settlers at Wyoming in opposition to the "Pennanites" as the representatives of the pro- prietary government of Pennsylvania were called by the Connecticut settlers. Dr. Gustine was present at the surrender of Forty Fort, and signed the capitu- lations, and with his infant daughter, Sarah, escaped the massacre of July 3, 1778, by flight to Carlisle.
Dr. William Hooker Smith was born at Rye, New York, March 23, 1735, died at Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, July 17, 1815. He removed to Wyoming, 1772, and there enlisted May 15, 1775, in the Third Company of the First Regi- ment of Connecticut raised in the Wyoming Valley at the first call for troops, and served with it at the siege of Boston. He marched with this regiment from Boston to New York in the latter part of June, where they were en- camped until September at Harlem. About September 28, 1775, the regiment under General Schuyler marched to the Northern Department, New York, and took part in the campaign along lakes Champlain and George and assisted in the reduction of St. John in October. Dr. Smith left this regiment in Decem- ber, 1775, and enlisted in the Tenth Continental Regiment of Connecticut un-
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der Colonel Parsons in 1776, and marched under General Washington to New York City and assisted in its fortification, taking part in the battle of Long Island, August 27, 1776. In 1777 he was commissioned captain of the Twen- ty-fourth Regiment of Connecticut raised in the Wyoming valley and usually referred to as the Westmoreland Regiment. On May 27, 1778, he was com- missioned surgeon of this regiment and served in this capacity during the re- mainder of the Revolutionary struggle. He assisted in the building of Forty Fort but was away with the army at the time of the massacre. The most au- thentic report of the garrison is in his handwriting, and was made to General Hand, June 14, and June 21, 1779. He returned with Colonel Zebulon Butler to Wyoming Valley after the massacre and was active in reorganizing the scat- tered militia of that section.
Dr. William Hooker Smith was a son of Rev. John Smith, who was born at Newport-Pagnall, county of Bucks, England, May 5, 1702, died at White Plains, New York, February 26, 1771. He married at Guilford, Connecticut, May 6, 1724, Mehitable Hooker, born at Guilford, May I, 1704, died Septem- ber 5, 1775. Rev. John Smith graduated at Yale, 1727, and was ordained a minister at Rye, New York, December 30, 1742. After some years he removed to White Plains but continued to preach at Rye on alternate Sabbaths until his death in 1771.
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