USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > Commemorative biographical encyclopedia of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania : containing sketches of prominent and representative citizens and many of the early Scotch-Irish and German settlers. Pt. 1 > Part 29
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95
.
- AYRES, WILLIAM, son of Samuel Ayres and his wife Margaret Richmond, who came to Philadelphia with his family in 1745, was born in 1720 in the county of Antrim, Ire- land, came to the Province of Pennsylvania previous to 1745, in advance of his father's family, and settled in the country contiguous to the Pennepack, then Philadelphia county, Pa. In the year 1773 William Avres with all his family, excepting Samuel and Charles, who remained in the old locality, moved to the west, then in Paxtang township, Lancas- ter county, now Middle Paxtang, Dauphin county, Pa., and purchased land on the east side of Peter's mountain, where the turnpike crosses, three miles above Dauphin. The common road terminated at that point, and when supervisor of roads, in 1781, he con- structed the first road across the mountain. In the map of purchase from the Indians,
-
--
1
172
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA
only twenty-four years previously (1749), the country west of the mountain is entitled "Saint Anthony's wilderness." He was sev- eral times elected to township offices. Al- though nearly sixty years old, we find him doing Revolutionary service in Capt. Richard Manning's company of the Fourth battalion of Lancaster county, Col. James Burd, March 13, 1776. In the winter of 1784-5 he was acci- dentally drowned in Fishing creek, near old Fort Hunter, his wife having died previ- ously, and both were buried in the old grave- yard above Dauphin, where sleep all the oldest residents of that section of the county. William Ayres married Mary Kean, daugh- ter of Charles Kean, of the same locality.
HALDEMAN, JACOB M .- Honeste Gaspard Haldimand (Caspar Haldeman), of Thun, Switzerland, became a citizen of Yverdun, Canton de Vaud, in 1671. His grandson, Jacob, born October 7, 1722, in the Canton of Neufchatel, died December 31, 1784, in Rapho township, Lancaster county, Pa., where he settled on first coming to this country, and purchased a considerable tract of land. He was a member of the Committee of Safety for his adopted shire on the breaking out of the war of the Revolution.
·
Jacob Haldeman's near relative was the noted British general, Sir Frederick Haldi- mand, K. B., who served with distinction in the armies of Sardinia and Prussia, entered the military service of King George II. in 1754, was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Sixtieth regiment, Royal Americans, 1756. In 1776 he was commissioned a general in America, and subsequently commander-in- chief of His Majesty's forces as governor of the Province of Quebec, where he received the honor of knighthood, May 19, 177S. A tablet has been erected to the memory of General Haldimand in Westminster Abbey, in the chapel of Henry VII. A niece of Sir Frederick was Jane Haldimand, Mrs. Dr. Alexander Marcet, a distinguished woman, and the first writer to attempt to popularize science by the publication of her “ Conversa- tion on Chemistry, Natural Philosophy, Bot- any, Mineralogy, Language, and Politieal Economy." Of this last work Macaulay said, " Every girl who has read Mrs. Marcet's little dialogues on political economy could teach Montague or Walpole many lessons in finance," and Faraday gleaned his first knowledge of seience from the book which heads the list.
Jacob Haldeman's son John (1753-1832) settled at Locust Grove, Lancaster county, Pa. John's fourth son, Henry Haldeman, was the father of the distinguished Samuel Stehman Haldeman, LL. D., professor of comparative philology in the University of Pennsylvania.
John Haldeman was an enterprising and influential citizen. He was a large land- owner and engaged largely in business pur- suits, in partnership with Robert Ralston, of Philadelphia, in the Chiina trade, and he was a member of the Bingham Court and first General Assembly of Pennsylvania. He re- sided at Locust Grove until late in life, when he removed to Columbia, in the same county, where both himself and wife died.
Jacob M. Haldeman, second son of John and Mary (Breneman) Haldeman, obtained a good English and German education un- der the private instruction of an English officer, and seemingly inherited practical ideas from his father. At the age of nine- teen he was sent on horseback by his father to Pittsburgh, making his journey through many Indian settlements, to purchase flour to send down the river in flat-boats to New Orleans.
About 1806, assisted by his father, he pur- chased the water power and forge at the mouth of Yellow Breeches creek and estab- lished himself in the iron business. He added a rolling and slitting mill, and by his energy and industry soon became one of the foremost iron manufacturers in the State. His superior iron found steady market, and upon the establishment of the arsenal at Harper's Ferry he supplied the Government with iron, especially during the war of 1812-14, which he forwarded across the South mountain on mulebaek to the Ferry, where it was manufactured into guns, many of which may be seen to-day, stamped 1812. At that time he founded Haldemanstown, now called New Cumberland, at the junction of the creek and river, and it may be here remarked that it had been one of the points in question in the Congress at New York as the proposed site of the national capital, and he also built a saw mill and grist mill at the same place.
Following the war of 1812, during the de- pression, he invested largely in farms, and real estate, and engaged in the management of the same, a business so varied and so large as to require his constant attention, and he managed it all without the aid of an
3
:
:
1
1
F
173
DAUPHIN COUNTY.
assistant or clerk. In 1830 he removed to Harrisburg and purchased a residence built by Stephen A. Hills, architect of the capitol building, on Front street, on the bank of the Susquehanna, where he continued to re- side until his death. His connection with the Harrisburg Bank and the Harrisburg Bridge Company as president, with the Har- risburg Car Company as one of its founders, and a director with the Dauphin Deposit Bank, as one of its founders, made his name familiar in business and financial circles during his residence here, and made him known to the community as a man of sterling integrity, discretion and superior business ability. He was never solicitous of public place or the emoluments of office, and led a strictly business life. As a citi- zen, he was independent in his political views, was an attendant of the Presbyterian Church, and a contributor to all worthy local enterprises.
.
His wife, Eliza E., daughter of Samuel Jacobs and Sarah Templin, and grand- daugliter of Richard Jacobs, of Wales, was born June 13, 1789, at Mount Hope Fur- nace, Lancaster county, Pa. Mrs. Haldeman is a member of the Presbyterian Church. Their children are Sara Jacobs, widow of the late William W. Haly, of Cork, Ireland, a distinguished lawyer of Philadelphia, and author of " Troubat & Haly's Practice," re- sided at the homestead in Harrisburg. Mary Ewing was the wife of Robert J. Ross, a banker of Harrisburg, and died in 1873. Caroline Jacobs, Elizabeth Templin and Anne died young. John, born September 19, 1821, died in Denver, Col., July 13, 1865. Jacob S., born October 13, 1823, for many years president of the State Agricultural So- ciety, ex-member of the State Legislature, and ex-Minister to Sweden, resided in Har- risburg. Susan Frances, wife of Dr. Morti- mer O'Connor, a graduate of the Dublin schools of medicine, and formerly a surgeon in the British service, and Richard Jacobs Haldeman, born May 19, 1831, educated at Yale, Heidelberg, Germany, and Berlin, was editor and proprietor of the Harrisburg Pa- triot for several years, and the founder of the Harrisburg Daily Patriot, and member of Congress for two terms.
"EGLE, CASPER, born October 16, 1725, in the city of Zurich, Switzerland ; died Septem- ber 3, 1804, in Harrisburg, Pa. He was the son of Marcus and Elizabeth Egle, who emi-
grated to Pennsylvania prior to 1740. His father was the twelfth in descent from Ulric Egle, or Egli, who was a citizen of Zurich in 1386, coming down in direct line to Mar- cus Egle, the emigrant. Casper Egle was brought up on his father's farm, a wine- grower; received a good education, and with the other members of his family, came to America prior to 1740. His father, as before stated, located in Cocalico township, Lan- caster county, Pa., but the son settled in Al- sace township, Berks county. He was nat- uralized in October, 1762, as appears by the Pennsylvania Archives. In 1770, he was en- gaged in merchandizing at Reading, while in 1774 he established a brewery at Laneas- ter. He took the oath of allegiance August 24, 1777, served as a private in Capt. John Hubley's company, and performed several tours in the militia during the struggle for independence. He remained at Lancaster until 1794, when he and his wife removed to Harrisburg, Pa., where they both died at the residence of his son Valentine. Casper Egle was twice married. His first wife was Elizabeth Mentges, born about 1730; died January 3, 1760; the daughter of Francis Mentges, Sr., a Swiss-Huguenot. His second wife was Catharine Bintling, b. 1738; d. 1811, at Harrisburg, Pa. There were chil- dren by both marriages.
BURD, JAMES, a Scot, was born at Ormis- ton, near Edinburgh, in 1726, son of Edward. He came to Philadelphia in 1747 ; married, 1748, Sarah, daughter of Edward Shippen, born 1730. Both died at Tinian, near Mid- dletown, in Dauphin county, Pa. (Colonel Burd in 1793, Mrs. Burd in 1784), and are buried in the graveyard at Middletown. Colonel Burd resided from 1750 to 1753 at Shippensburg, as manager of the affairs of Mr. Shippen. About 1755 he came to Tin- ian, where he resided until his death. He entered the Provincial service (1755) as a commissioner with George Croghan, Will- iam Buchanan and Adam Hoopes to lay out a road from "Harris' Ferry to the Ohio." He was then a captain; he is soon heard of as major, then lieutenant colonel, and colonel in 1760. As there were but two regiments in service, his rank was a very prominent one. He fulfilled with great uprightness and punctuality all the public duties with which he was intrusted for quite twenty years. Then the stirring days of the Revolution came, and with it disaster to
1.44
1
174
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA
Burd as a public man. He seemed to. have entered heartily into the contest, but just when such experience as he had acquired would have been of the highest benefit, an unfortunate dispute about rank occurred ; that, with insubordination in his command, and some criticism in the Committee of Safety, caused him to resign his civil and military employments. His sons and son- in-law were good patriots, and a pretty thor- ough examination of the hasty conduct of Burd convinces us that he was, notwith- standing this affair, in accord with the lead- ing patriots with whom he was surrounded. He was a man of fine form, hardy and healthy, an advanced and prosperous farmer, hospitable in his intercourse with his neigh- bors, and respected for his integrity as a civil officer from 1785, when Dauphin county was formed, until his death, in 1793. He died holding position as one of the county judges.
-AWL, JACOB, was bern August 6, 1727, in the north of Ireland; and died September 26, 1793, in Paxtang township, Dauphin county, Pa. The name should properly be spelled Auld, and the first settler wrote it Aul, which the descendants have changed into Awl. He learned the trade of a tanner; was a man of means when he came to America, and settled, at an early date, in Paxtang, near his relative, John Harris, of Harris' Ferry, where he took up a large tract of land, which he improved, erected a tan- nery, and on which he lived to the time of his death. He became a prominent person- age in Paxtang, was an ensign and lieuten- ant in Col. John Elder's battalion of rangers in the frontier wars from 1756 to 1764, and at the outset of the war for inde- pendence, aided, by his counsel and his purse, in organizing the associated bat- talions of Lancaster county, which did such effective service in the Revolution. When the new county of Dauphin was erected, Mr. Awl was appointed one of the commissioners in the act relating thereto, and John Harris afterwards appointed him one of the trustees or commissioners for the public grounds ceded by him, at the laying out of the town of Harrisburg, for public uses. He was a representative man, influ- ential and potential in the county, yet pre- ferred domestic retirement to the struggle for office, and when he was offered the nom- ination for representative in the General
Assembly, he positively declined. Jacob Awl married, July 26, 1759, by Rev. John Elder, Sarah Sturgeon, born September 1, 1739 ; died June, 1809, in Paxtang, and with her husband there buried. She was the daughter of Jeremiah Sturgeon, one of the first settlers.
CROUCHI, JAMES, was born about 1728, in Virginia. The Crouches were an old family, who emigrated at an carly day from Eng- land and settled in King and Queen county, near the court house. James Crouch re- ceived a good education, came to Pennsyl- vania prior to 1757, purchasing about three thousand acres of land in York county, where the town of Wrightsville now stands, on which he settled for a few years, but which he subsequently sold and removed to then Paxtang township, Lancaster county, Pa., where he bought one thousand acres of land. Hc was a soldier of Quebec, being a sergeant of Capt. Matthew Smith's company of Paxtang volunteers. On his release from captivity he became an officer of the associa- tors, and subsequently paymaster of the bat- talion. He served during the whole of the Revolutionary war with honor and distine- tion. He died at his residence, Walnut Hill, near Highspire, Pa., on the 24th of May, 1794, aged 66 years. Colonel Crouch mar- ried, September 22, 1757, Hannah Brown, born 1727; died May 24, 1787. Their chil- dren werc: Edward, Mary, married Col. James Cowden, Elizabeth, married Matthew Gilchrist, removed to Washington county, Pa., and Hannah, married Roan MeClure.
- MURRAY, JAMES, son of William Murray, was born about 1729, in Scotland; died Feb- ruary 15, 1804, on his farm adjoining the borough of Dauphin, Dauphin county, Pa. For this farm he entered an application in the Land Office in 176S. In 1775 he was chosen to represent Upper Paxtang township in the Committee of Safety for Lancaster county and attended the meetings of the committee in Lancaster on the Sth, 9th and 10th of November. At this time he was a captain of a "company of foot in the Fourth battalion of associators in the county of Lan- caster." On the fourth of July, 1776, at a military convention representing the fifty- three battalions of associators of Pennsylva- nia, he was present as captain. With John Rogers and John Harris, on the Sth of July, 1776, by appointment of the Provincial Con-
175
DAUPHIN COUNTY.
ference, he superintended the election at Gar- ber's Mill for the Sixth district of Lancaster county, to choose delegates to the convention that assembled on the 15th of the month, and which framed the first Constitution of the Commonwealth. During the remainder of that and the following year he was almost in constant active military service with his compnay. His company, a roll of which ap- pears in Dr. Egle's Notes and Queries, First Series, p. 7, and in Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, vol. xiii., p. 310, went into the Continental service in July or early in Au- gust, 1776. In a return of the troops quar- tered in and near Philadelphia, made Au- gust 27, of that year, it is reported sixty strong. It participated in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. He commanded one of the com- panies of the Tenth battalion, Lancaster county militia and was with the expedition up the West Branch in 1779. The exposures to which Captain Murray was subjected dur- ing the Revolutionary struggle brought on an attack of rheumatism, from which for many years prior to his death he was a constant sufferer. He married Rebecca McLean, a native of Scotland, who died August 7, 1795. The remains of both rest, side by side, in the old Dauphin cemetery.
-WHITLEY, CAPT. MICHAEL, was born in 1730, in the north of Ireland. He came to America when a young man, and settled in what was then Paxtang township, Lancaster county. He was a farmer by occupation and was in good circumstances when the war of the Revolution aroused the war- eagles on the Susquehanna. He raised a company of associatois for Col. Robert El- der's battalion, and was in active service in the Jersey campaign of 1776, and the battles of Brandywine and Germantown. On the 6th of December, 1777, he was severely wounded in a skirmish at Chestnut Hill, taken prisoner, and died a few days there- after at Philadelphia. Captain Whitley was a brave and gallant officer, and the com- mendations of his superior officers show how highly he was esteemed. He left a wife Martha, who died in Paxtang, November 11, 1813, aged about ninety years.
.
.
SHERER, JOSEPH, was born in 1730 in Ire- land. ITis father, Samuel Sherer, was among the earliest of the Scotch-Irish emigranis. He came from near Londonderry, Ireland, to the Province of Pennsylvania in the au-
tumn of 1734, and located in Paxtang town- ship, Lancaster, now Dauphin couuty. He was a man of means, was well educated, and became quite prominent in the Scotch-Irish settlement. The son was about 4 years old when his parents came to America. He se- cured a fair English education and was brought up to the life of a frontiersman, that of a farmer. During the French and Indian war he served as a non-commissioned officer, and was in active service as a scout or ranger on the frontiers. When the thunders of the Revolution reverberated along the valley of the Susquehanna, with all his Scotch-Irish and German neighbors, he entered into the contest for liberty. In 1775 and 1776 he was in command of one of the conipanies of Col. James Burd's battalion of associators, a roll of which is to be found in the recent history of Dauphin county. Colonel Burd's farm at Tinian joined the Sherer homestead, and the two patriots were intimate friends. Captain Sherer was a member of the Com- mittee of Observation for the county of Lan- caster, and was chosen by the vote of the people a member of the first Constitutional Convention of the State of Pennsylvania, which met at Philadelphia on the 15th of July, 1776. While in attendance on this representative body of the Revolutionary era he took ill, returned home, and died on the 1st or 2d of December following. His remains were interred in the burial ground of old Paxtang church, of which he was a consistent member. Captain Sherer mar- ried, first, February 6, 1759, Mary McClure ; subsequently married Mary McCracken, of Northumberland county, Pa.
MURRAY, JOHN, son of William Murray, was born about 1731, in Scotland ; died Feb- ruary 3, 1798, in Dauphin county, Pa. In 1766 he took up a tract of land called the " Indian Burying Ground," lying on the Susquehanna, immediately above his brother James' farm, which adjoined the present town of Dauphin. He commanded a rifle com- pany, which in March, 1776, was attached to Col. Samuel Miles' battalion, and participated in the battles of Long Island, White Plains, Trenton and Princeton. He was promoted to major April 18, 1777, and lieutenant colonel of the Second Pennsylvania regiment in 1780, serving until the disbanding of the army in 1783. He then returned to his family and farm. Governor Mifflin ap- pointed him a justice of the peace August
176
BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA
29, 1791, the only political office he ever held. He was an ardent Whig of the Revo- lution, and a brave officer. Colonel Murray married, Dceember 29, 1762, by Rev. Jolin Elder, Margaret Mayes, born 1733, in the north of Ireland; dicd June 22, 1807, in Upper Paxtang township, Dauphin county, Pa .; buried by the side of her husband in the old cemetery near Dauphin borough ; daughter of Andrew and Rebecca Mayes.
- MONTGOMERY, JOSEPHI, son of John and Martha Montgomery, emigrants from Ire- land, was born September 23, 1733 (O. S.), in Paxtang township, then Lancaster, now Dauphin county, Pa. He was cducated at the College of New Jersey, from which he graduated in 1755, and was afterwards ap- pointed master of the grammar school con- neeted with the college. In 1760 the Col- lege of Philadelphia and Yale College con- ferred upon him the Master's degree. About this time he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Philadelphia, and soon after, by request, entered the bounds of the Pres- bytery of Lewes, from which he was trans- ferred to that of New Castle, accepting a call from the congregations at Georgetown, over which he was settled from 1767 to 1769. He was installed pastor of the congregations at Christiana Bridge and New Castle, Del., on the 16th of August, 1769, remaining there until the autumn of 1777. when he re- signed, having been commissioned chaplain of Colonel Smallwood's (Maryland) regiment of the Continental Line. During the war his home was with his relatives in Paxtang. On the 23d of November, 1780, he was chosen by the General Assembly of Penn- sylvania one of its delegates in Congress, and re-elected the following year. He waselected a member of the Assembly of the State in 1782, serving during that session. He was chosen by that body, February 25, 1783, one of the commissioners to settle the difficulty between the State and the Connectiont set- tlers at Wyoming. When the new county of Dauphin was erected the Supreme Execu- tive Couneil appointed him recorder of deeds and register of wills for the county, which offiee he held from March 11, 1785, to Oe- tober 14, 1794, the date of his death. " Mr. Montgomery filled conspicuous and honora- ble positions in church and State in the most trying period of the early history of the country. In the church he was the friend
and associate of men like Witherspoon, Rog- crs and Spencer, and his bold utterances in the cause of independence stamp him as a man of no ordinary courage and decision. .. . . He enjoyed to an unusual degree the respect and confidenec of the men of his generation." The Rev. Mr. Montgomery was twice married; married, first, in 1765, Elizabeth Reed, died Mareh, 1769, daughter of Andrew and Sarah Reed, of Trenton, N. J. Mr. Montgomery married, secondly, July 11, 1770, Rachel (Rush) Boyce, born 1741, in Byberry ; d. July 28, 1798, in Harrisburg, Pa .; widow of Angus Boyce, and daughter of Thomas and Rachel Rush.
KELKER, ANTHONY, son of Henry Kelker and Regula Braetscher, was a native of Herrleberg, near Zurich, Switzerland, born on December 30, 1733. At the age of ten years, in 1743, his parents emigrated to America and located in Lebanon township, Lancaster county, now Lebanon county, Pa., four miles north of the town of Lebanon. Anthony was brought up on his father's farm, receiving the meager advantages of the schools of that period. He was commis- sioned August 28, 1775, lieutenant in the Second battalion of Lancaster county as- sociators, and was in active service during the campaign of 1776. In 1777 he was an officer in the militia at Brandywine and Germantown. He was appointed January 19, 1778, wagon-master of Colonel Greena- walt's battalion, and the same year was sent on a sceret expedition to Virginia and Mary- land. Until the close of the war Captain Kelker was an active participant. He was deputy sheriff of Lancaster county in 1781- 82, and upon the formation of the county of Dauphin was commissioned the first sheriff in 1785, and subsequently elected, serving until 17SS. He was a member of the Penn- sylvania House of Representatives 1793-94. He was a very active member and vestryman of the German Reformed church, and treas- urer of the same during the ercction of the old (First) Reformed church in 1794. Mr. Kelker died at Lchanon March 10, 1812. He married Mary Magdalene, daughter of George Meister, a Moravian. She died at Lebanon, December 30, 1818. Mr. Kelker was a man of strict integrity, an unflinch- ing patriot, and highly esteemed by his fel- low-citizens.
6
177
DAUPHIN COUNTY.
-GREEN, TIMOTHY, son of Robert Green, was born about 1733, on the "Monoday," Hanover township, Lancaster, now Dauphin county, Pa .; died February 27, 1812, at Dau- phin, Pa., and is buried in the old graveyard there. IIis father, of Scotch aneestry, eame from the north of Ireland about 1725, locat- ing near the Kittochtinny mountains on Manada creek. The first record we have of the son is subsequent to Braddock's deteat, when the frontier settlers were threatened with extermination by the marauding sąv- ages. Timothy Green assisted in organizing a company, and for at least seven years was chiefly in active service in protecting the settlers from the fury of the blood-thirsty Indians. In the Bouquet expedition he commanded a company of Provincial troops. For his services at this time, the Proprieta- ries granted hin large traets of Jand in Buf- falo Valley and on Bald Eagle creek. At the outset of the Revolution, Captain Green became an earnest advocate for independ- ence, and the Hanover resolutions of June 4, 1774, passed unanimously by the meeting of which he was chairman, show that he was intensely patriotic. He was one of the Com- mittee of Safety of the Province, which met November 22, 1774, in Lancaster, and issued hand-bills to the import that "agreeable to the resolves and recommendations of the American Continental Congress, that the freeholders and others qualified to vote for representatives in Assembly choose, by bal- lot, sixty persons for a Committee of Obser- vation, to observe the conduct of all persons toward the actions of the General Congress; the committee, when elected, to divide the country into distriets and appoint members of the committee to superintend each dis- trict, and any six so appointed to be a quo- rum, etc." Election was held on Thursday, 15th December, 1774, and, among others, Timothy Green was elected from Hanover. This body of men were in correspondence with Joseph Reed, Charles Thompson, George Clymer, Jolin Benezet, Samuel Meredith, Thomas Mifflin, etc., of Philadelphia, and others. They met at Lancaster again, April 27, 1775, when notice was taken of General Gage's attack upon the inhabitants of Mas- sachusetts Bay, and a general meeting called for the 1st of May, at Lancaster. Upon the erection of the county of Dauphin, Colonel Green was the oldest justice of the peace in commission, and, under the Constitution of 1776, he was presiding justice of the courts.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.